Hello good people… well, I’m sure most of you had your hearts with the ‘Hammers’ on Saturday and somehow they managed to beat the ex-league leaders despite being played off the park for most of the game.
I have to repeat what I’ve been saying for weeks now, Chelsea just aren’t playing THAT well, definitely not to the same kind of level we’ve seen with Liverpool and City.
It’s strange, I was chatting at the barber before the game about that corrupt farce that calls itself ‘Ballon d’Or’ and how the hell Edouard Mendy wasn’t recognised as the best in the keeper category?
He burst onto the world stage from relative obscurity in France and set the position alight, equalling Petr Cetch statistically in his first season, helping his side lift the Champions League trophy.
Let’s not even get into Lionel Messi grabbing top prize… What a lot of bollox!
But anyway, just had to be on the same day the huge Senegalese stopper had a proper nightmare. He could be somehow forgiven for not protecting his inside post from the deflected long range cross that proved to be the winner, but the penalty he gave away was absolutely unforgivable.
I love the way the Blues have been drilled to play out from the back, it’s top quality possession football, pass and move, always a man spare and all very neat and controlled.
There’s never a sense of panic. But I think this has helped lull Mendy into sometimes taking a split second too long to release the ball or most annoyingly trying to beat an oncoming attacker. Over the last couple of weeks his distribution has been particularly dicey and it has to be said, the f*** up he made (from a bad back pass) was always gonna come. Unfortunately for Thomas Tuchel’s side it came at a crucial ‘moment’ which put West Ham right back in the contest.
It allowed Liverpool and City to capitalise, but to all you (Liverpool) w@nkers who are taking the piss after a poor performance put you top of the league, slow down guys.
We’re not even halfway into the season. It really doesn’t matter who’s top of the pile until the last day of the season. Is that hard to understand?
Or is there some mid-league mini-trophy that I don’t know about? Also, before running your bek’s, don’t forget Afcon, which will mean losing Sadio Mane and Mo Salah for four Premier League games should the club not win their request to have the players leave late for the tournament.
I understand it, but personally think it’s disrespectful to their national teams, who will be left with little time for the players to train with their respective squads. If Jurgen Klopp is granted his request, his players will miss just the two Premier League games (and a few cup ties).
The big winners for me this weekend were Man City (and Newcastle grabbing their first three points). Barring a late flourish from Watford, Pep Guardiola’s lot showed what real quality is all about. There’s a lot of football to be played over the next month including Chelsea up against Liverpool and City in the first two weeks of the New Year, realistically we’ll have a clearer idea of who’ll be competing for the title at the end of January.
Who knows, despite United looking k@k as usual (v Palace) but getting the points, they might even have ideas of a top four place. Same with Spurs for that matter!
Anyway, bad weekend at the office for me, hope you’re all having a good week. Huge game next weekend as Man United travel to Norwich, so hard to call a winner there?
Both playing awful disjointed football. What’s your predictions? Haha, must be hard.
On a more serious note, this bastard ‘Omicron’ variant really is with us…
Do the right thing even if you’re unsure, it’ll help slow it down and protect you and your family (especially the older ones).
Get vaxxed… chat next week.