HELLO my good football people... I trust all is okay with you. It’s not great my side.
On top of a long, slow, recovery from a back operation, I have to contend with watching Chelsea play like a bunch of numpties every week.
As mentioned a number of times, we are going be incredibly lucky to hit a top-five place.
In fact, only a miracle can save a Chelsea team that only really showed any form of appetite in the opening five minutes of the second half against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
We’ve got a difficult set of games to finish the season and if we’re going 2-0 down at home the frikkin Tractor Boys, what hope can we have?
Look, I’m not a supporter of hiring and firing managers every season… I’m of the school that believes you need to give a coach a chance, let him buy players that suit his system, give him time to really bed in his philosophy.
But Enzo Maresca isn’t doing me or anyone who backs him any favours. I’m convinced the excitement of the Premier League is being gnawed away by an approach that leaves players scared to take a risk (Maresca is very much part of that).
They’re micro-managed down to every pass, with every single mistake highlighted, dissected and added to the growing fragility players are feeling.
It’s plain to see that the few clubs who still attempt to play a fast-paced attacking game are the ones at the top end of the standings, most noticeably Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Aston Villa.
The rest of them are such a f*****g bore. Ok, Spurs can be exciting to watch because they’re so s**t under the guidance of a coach who demands forward movement and a high line.
But as for the likes of Chelsea? Man, my patience is wearing thin. Centre-backs getting so much time on the ball, playing left, playing right, waiting for movement ahead.
It’s predictable, slow and a proper snore-fest. The same routine happens in the last third.
Backwards and across the 18-yard line countless times, waiting for a shooting chance or threaded through ball.
Manchester City were good at that once, breaking anyone down eventually, with super skilled players buzzing in and out of the inevitable double line defence set-up’s they faced for the majority of the season.
But even Pep Guardiola’s tactics have looked drawn out and ineffective. We want to see teams getting out there and trying to win football matches right?
Playing for the f*****g badge. Running at and dribbling past defenders, putting in committed tackles (within VAR’s restrictions) and playing with emotion.
We want to hear fans in the stands getting behind their sides come win or lose, not whining nerdy anoraks on digital platforms making a couple of dollars off their clubs doing badly.
By in large it’s gone… all of the above.
That’s why I got so irritated with the stick Newcastle fans took for turning out to celebrate the League Cup. They’re one of the few “bigger” clubs that’s kept that real football culture which has been lost elsewhere at the more “fashionable” outfits. Anyway, I rant.
There’s still plenty of good stuff to talk about, not least Declan Rice’s two free-kicks that helped the Gunners to a brilliant win in the Champions League.
But where the f**k did that come from? He’s never scored a free-kick in senior football?
I hate Arsenal, but like every other real fan around the world feels, those goals were
magnificent! I found myself watching them again and talking about them a number of times for days. It felt like football used to be… talking about amazing players and the things they did on a weekly basis. I’m not a huge Rice fan, I think he is over-rated, but hats off to him.
The other positive I’m going to highlight is Liverpool… they’re making the cliché “champions win even when they are playing badly” so true. They were great for 25 games, but have been average since.
Sunday was no exception… but, they’re winning. It’s a really second-rate season, no one is challenging and the “Scousers” are cantering to the line.
As it stands, Liverpool won the Covid-19 title and now the s**t title. But hey, a title is a title.
Oh and Mo Salah signing an extension should be good news for dem dam Kopites. Is it a risk?
Signing a 32-year-old for two years? I think he is very much like Cristiano Ronaldo, super fit and has at least a season at the top level left in him. Sometimes, however, we’ve seem over the years, a player hits 32, 33 and suddenly falls off the pace.
Great football this week, Champions League quarters and a cracking game on Wednesday as Palace travel to St James. Chat next week, bye-bye...