A boil that needs lancing
WHILE the fallout over Manchester City’s nefarious dealings continues, there’s no doubt that the blow to the Premier league’s hard-won prestige is enormous and it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that, among all the footballing scandals of recent times, this is the Daddy of them all.
Whatever the end point of this saga it needs to be ended asap. The longer it takes, the bigger the hit to the Premier League and the more uncertainty that would naturally follow.
Unfortunately, the dead hand of politics also comes into play, with the current UK Prime Minister having been heavily involved with City’s owners while Mayor of Manchester, as they funded many of his pet projects.
He can’t be seen to officially intervene, though his injudicious and ill-advised statement last week in support of those owners came pretty close to doing just that, but behind the scenes?
It should also be acknowledged that Citeh still deny all charges and claim that they can prove their innocence, but even if they do overturn the decisions, they’ll still be cheats in the eyes of the world and the Premier league will be further diminished.
Much ado about nothing?
Anyone who thinks the effects of the Man City and Chelsea cheating scandals are being exaggerated only need to consider this: of the past 14 Premier League titles, 10 have been won by clubs that are proven cheats.
No wonder the other big leagues are laughing at us while preparing to make hay from the situation.
‘Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea’
With the seeming inevitability that Premier League clubs that didn’t cheat (everyone except Chelsea) will sue Citeh for compensation, it seems that the most wronged clubs were my beloved Spurs, followed by Liverpool.
With that in mind, I suggest that Citeh send us Erling Haaland and we’ll call it quits. Seems fair, right?
The most impressive thing. . .
About England’s 7-0 win in Croatia wasn’t the margin of victory, nor was it how good England were all across the field with no exceptions.
For me, it was the sight of the country’s record goalscorer, soon to be record cap winner, and the man with most caps as captain, immediately after setting up Saka for goal number six moving back into what looked like a third centre-back position.
The game was obviously done and Harry Kane was on a hat-trick, and yet there he was at the back covering both centre backs and left back Lewis Hall.
You still get numpties criticising the man, which is clearly utterly ridiculous, but then there’s no accounting for partisan stupidity.
And then on Monday
France were trailing 1-0 to a resolute Belgium and the Parisian locals were getting restless until the 67th minute when, to great acclaim, Zinedine Zidane sent on Michael Olise, Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki.
All was quiet for the next 10 minutes, then in the final 13 minutes some absolutely brilliant football saw Doue equalise, Cherki put France ahead, and Olise scoring twice.
When it comes to strength in depth, the firepower the French have is way ahead of everybody, including Spain, while Olise is probably, at this time, the best player in the world, which is particularly galling when you consider that he is London born and bred (sob).
September chant of the month
“You’re just a s--- Brian Brobbey” – the chant from Sunderland fans towards Erling Haaland after Brobbey had scored a hat-trick in a losing cause at Man City.
Haaland, as is his way, laughed it off and encouraged the Mackems to carry on singing it, which they duly did. It’s fun interactions like this between player and fans that make Haaland impossible to dislike.
Oh dear quote of the week
From the Labour Party conference: “He’s [Andy Burnham] our star striker, he’s Erling Haaland.”
Should the eternally vacuous and loathsome Lucy Powell really be comparing Burnham to the star player in a team that has lied and cheated its way to the top and may be about to take a massive fall? One would almost think she was talking about the Labour Party.
This week’s games
Premier League today 2:30; Arsenal vs Leeds. 5pm; Villa vs Brentford, Chelsea vs Bournemouth, Ipswich vs Fulham, Sunderland vs Brighton. 7:30; Man Utd vs Spurs. Tomorrow 4pm; Palace vs Forest, Hull vs Everton. 6:30; Liverpool vs Man City. Monday 10pm; Coventry vs Newcastle.
Selected Championship today 2:30; Swansea vs Norwich, West Brom vs Birmingham. 5pm; Middlesbrough vs Wolves. Tomorrow 2pm; Southampton vs Portsmouth. Tuesday 9:45; Millwall vs Swansea. 10pm; Stoke vs Middlesbrough. Wednesday 9:45; Norwich vs Southampton. 10pm; Lincoln vs West Ham. Friday 10pm; Burnley vs Wolves. Selected Scotland today 5pm; Rangers vs Hibs. Tomorrow 2pm; Motherwell vs Celtic.
Europe
Selected Champions League Tuesday 10pm; Arsenal vs Lille, Atletico vs Man Utd. Wednesday 7:45; LASK vs Liverpool. 10pm; Villa vs Fenerbahçe, Man City vs PSG. Selected Europa League Thursday 7:45; Lyon vs Palace, Torreence vs Sunderland. 10pm; Benfica vs Celtic. Selected Europa Conference Thursday 10pm; Brighton vs Kauno Zalgiris, Hearts vs Nordsjaelland.
Game of the week
Not much doubt about this one given the current situation: it can only be Liverpool vs Man City – occasionally the Premier League fixtures computer shows immaculate timing, along with a healthy sense of mischief, and this is one of those occasions.
As stated above, Spurs may have lost out the most to Citeh’s dodgy dealings, but at least they had the small satisfaction of being their bogey team, whereas Liverpool lost out on the league title twice to Citeh by the margin of a mere point in both 2018-19 and 2021-22.
The loathing between the clubs was already palpable, expect to see this dialled up big time by the Scouse fans tomorrow, should be fun.
F1
Singapore Grand Prix tomorrow 3pm.
And finally
Last week’s question: what links the following? Matt Le Tissier, Dion Dublin, Dwight Yorke, Roque Santa Cruz and Brian Brobbey?
They are the five players who have scored Premier League hat-tricks in a losing cause: Le Tiss was first and second up with his treble in Southampton’s 4-3 defeat at Oldham in 92-93 and in the 3-4 home loss to Forest in 95-96.
Earlier that same season Homes Under the Hammer star Dublin produced the goods as Coventry went down 4-3 at Sheffield Wednesday.
The following season it was Yorke’s turn as his Villa side were beaten 4-3 at Newcastle. Then came a gap of 11 years before Santa Cruz took his turn in a 5-3 Blackburn loss at Wigan, while Brobbey’s, of course, came just the other week as Sunderland were beaten by Manchester Cheats 5-3 at the Etihad.
This week: what connects Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane?