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Short one this week as there were only a handful of games, one of which was ours and has already been covered. So four games to get through, starting with the return of my boy Ivan Toney against Forest. Cracking game. Danilo volleyed Forest into an early lead but Toney levelled in contentious circumstances. Firstly, it looked like a dive by Damsgaard to win the free-kick, but the thing that had Forest so angry they wrote to PGMOL about it (I’ll get to this) was Toney moving the ball a foot to the right to give himself a bit more leeway to bend it around the wall and into the bottom corner (which he did, superbly). It’s not just that he moved the ball, it’s that he waited until the refs back was turned and also moved the spray foam so it looked like the ball was where it was supposed to be. I’ve seen loads on twitter (most of them not Forest fans, some where Reds, bizarrely enough) really going after Toney and calling him a cheat. Fuck off you huge snowflakes!! Is it cheating? Technically yeah. It’s also crafty, sneaky, clever, streetwise, whatever you want to call it. Good luck to him if he can get away with that. He probably won’t next time as there’s been so much hysterical whining over it that everyone is going to be watching him from now on. Toney himself said “you can move it half a yard either side and if I hadn’t scored no-one would care”. Can you move it half a yard either side? I don’t think that’s right you know but he seemed pretty sure of himself. The ref doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head so it’s not his fault. And VAR isn’t allowed to get involved in something like that, so it’s not their fault either. The Forest players should have spotted it and moved the wall accordingly, but they weren’t paying attention and paid the price. Shit happens. But then Forest, not for the first time, took their grievance to a completely unacceptable level and fired off a letter of complaint. Soft cunts. So many teams have suffered far worse than them but this is the second time they’ve leaked to the press that they’re putting in an official complaint. I’m embarrassed for them, especially as like I said, VAR is literally not allowed to intervene in this as it’s against the rules set out by FIFA. If anything they should be writing to FIFA. Never mind the PSR charges, dock them 10 points just for being massive babies. A thumping header by Ben Mee gave Brentford the lead but Wood equalised from a Hudson-Odoi cross. Maupay won it with a really nice finish. He’s done alright since going back there, he’s got five goals now which means he’s reverted to the mean. He was always good for 8-10 goals a season until he ended up in the black hole that is Everton. He must feel like a released P.O.W. right now, just enjoying life again.

It might have seemed quite close in then end, but this to me never felt in any doubt. We had another gear to go to if needed but we just did what was required to get the job done and now we’re in another final. I’ve lost count of how many we’ve had under Klopp, I heard someone say this was his 10th semi final and I can’t remember us losing any, so presumably this is final number 10. It doesn’t matter, it’s a lot anyway.* I expected more from Fulham but for once we actually started well and played a good first half. I thought Fulham would come flying at us but they didn’t really get the opportunity as we smothered them in that first half. Their players had no time on the ball and we just kept them penned in for most of the half. It’s the best we’ve started an away game in ages. We even scored early! That never happens these days. There was an element of fortune about the goal but Diaz can argue that he made his own luck. The cross field ball by Quansah was ace but it shouldn’t have led directly to a goal. The reason it did was because aggressively attacked it with his chest which took Castagne out and gave him a run into the box. Fulham still had two defenders covering, which ended up being costly as the ball deflected off both of them which might have been why Leno made such a mess of it. He has to save that, but he didn’t and Diaz won’t care in the slightest how it went in. It was interesting that Diaz lined up on the left. When I saw the line up I assumed he’d be on the right again but instead we saw Gakpo over on that side. That doesn’t necessarily suit him but Gakpo is almost like the attacking version of Joe Gomez, he just gets moved around all over the place. He isn’t currently as good at it as Gomez but he’s doing his bit and I like his willingness to get stuck into whatever job he’s given.

Monday Jan 15: Seems like all our kids are being recalled from loan this month. Beck was needed here, but Carvalho, Williams, Phillips (not a kid, but the point stands), Koumetio and probably others have been called back. Chambers has been sent out to Wigan now that Beck has come back, but we probably need to look a bit more closely at where we’re sending these lads as for the most part it’s like we’re wasting everyone’s time. Tyler Morton is doing well at Hull though, and he did well at Blackburn last year too. He’s a rare success story. Balagizi was another one we called back, I almost forgot about him. Ramsay as well. Fucking hell, this is turning into a long list. Meanwhile, Everton are in trouble again. Another charge and from what I can tell it’s basically the same as the last one. Even the time period is similar. I don’t really understand this one fully as I haven’t looked that deeply into it, but it seems that it’s a three year rolling period that includes two of the years they’ve already been docked ten points for. I can’t be arsed wasting time reading up on it this time as I wasted far too much time and energy looking into the last one. The rules are there, everyone knows what they are and Everton have put in accounts that put them in breach of the rules. The case is open and shut again so presumably they’ll get punished again. Have to say, as giddy as I’ve always been about the prospect of them going down, this is doing nothing for me. I don’t have sympathy for them, this mess is entirely of their own making, but I’m getting no real pleasure from it either. Another 10 point deduction might get them relegated but not if Forest also get one. That would be the most Everton thing ever, getting deducted 20 points but still finishing 17th. The reason it’s doing nothing for me though is that all I can think of is that City are still just carrying on regardless, while teams who have done nothing even remotely as bad are sweating about having points deducted. Everton and Forest will deserve whatever comes their way, but it fucking stinks that because City have cheated to such an incredible extent, they get to wait years before having to answer charges. I know why it takes time, but that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach. I said on the forum that Everton are shoplifters and City are serial killers, but it’s easier to prosecute the shoplifter. Doesn’t make it any more palatable though does it. Those cunts are probably going to pip us to yet another league title while this drags on. It’s not right, and when they do get punished anything less than every title they have being stripped is not acceptable. I’ll keep saying it, but the only punishment that is appropriate is one that makes them think “wow, it wasn’t worth it”. Otherwise what’s the point? Even a severe sanction means fuck all if at the end of it City think “yeah if we could do it over we wouldn’t change a thing”. Forest’s beef seems to be that they would have been under the allowable loss if they’d sold Brennan Johnson in June, but they didn’t do it then because they knew they’d get considerably more money if they sold in August when clubs were more desperate. Tough shit, you don’t get to pick and choose. Maybe don’t spend money if you know you’re sailing close to the wind? They bought about 30 fucking players in their first summer back in the top flight. If you can’t do that within the rules then don’t do it. Look at Wolves, they knew they were in trouble so they sold Neves and stopped buying new players. Their manager quit over it, but guess what, they came in under the number and aren’t getting docked any points. Do you know what the funniest thing about all this is though? Today is “Blue Monday”.