This Newsletter Has Been Postponed
This Newsletter Has Been Postponed
Well, I chose the title for this week's newsletter on Sunday and it seems to have been something of a premonition... I'm certainly not sending this later than usual as some kind of meta joke, instead a number of stressful personal issues got in the way and at one point I was going to forgo sending this entirely. However I had the vast majority of what's below written already and it seemed a shame to waste the effort. So this week please enjoy a compressed newsletter. Fingers crossed we'll be back to normal next week.
The Week In Ball
On Celebrating Draws and the North London Derby
The life of a football fan can be a miserable one. A poor run of form and you start to question all your life choices and why you chose to take the path you have. It’s hard to be balanced and keep your emotions out of it. After Arsenal's defeat by Forest I removed Twitter from my Home Screen (*Day Today face* for an hour) because I was so frustrated. It’s childish and reactionary but so it goes. Better to do that than tweet like I did when Man City beat Dortmund in the UCL last year and I had to sheepishly delete a string of C word tweets the day after.
This is why you sometimes feel as happy with a draw as a win. When you're on a bad run of form or have had a terrible result the previous game, and go into a match assuming you’ll get nothing from it, that the opposing team will tear you to shreds or your performance will be weak and lacklustre and it doesn’t happen, it’s pretty joyous. Which is why I didn't feel the need to remove Twitter from my Home Screen after the first leg of the Carabao Cup Semi Final against Liverpool last Thursday.
You want your players to fight for the badge. You want them to want to be there. You want the manager to be in control and to make good decisions. All of these things add up to give a sense of pride and optimism and that’s what we want right? Sure Xhaka did something stupid but the way the team played after was inspiring. We did the same against City. Why we couldn't do that against Forest I don't know, but the fact is that it's there and it's the last memory. Maybe we'll be OK after all.
Now I had finished this section with a nod to the North London Derby, which we all know by now didn't take place. I hated the banter around the Carabao postponement and it's even worse when your team is the leading character. That's not to say that I haven't both made and RTd jokes about it, however they've been fairly gentle and I've tried my very best to keep out of the argument. It's just too stressful and for the first time in a while it's made football, English football, leave a nasty taste in my mouth. So I'm not going to start anything here, except to say that I think Micah Richards said it best when he tried to ignore David Jones' desperation to make it tribal and claimed all teams would do it if they could. Thank you Micah.
League Round Up
In the games that did happen this weekend we started off with a pretty decent "M23 derby" on Friday with Brighton yet again providing a wild xG with no (well, one that stood) goals to back it up. They were the best team by far for me (despite the missed penalty that Jonathan Pearce thrillingly described as 'wretched' and my own personal biases against Palace) and I felt bad that Palace scored, though grateful for the FPL points for Gallagher and relieved when Brighton scraped the equaliser, again, thanks to Maupay for the assist points.
I also want to shout out Marc Cucurella. I really rate him. Apart from having absolutely fantastic hair he's a brilliant player. In the Brighton set up he's generally a left back, however he can also play wide mid and he was everywhere on Friday both clearing the lines and playing in some excellent crosses.
On Saturday a confused Chelsea lost to City; Chris Wood was unable to make an impact on his debut for Newcastle; Wolves managed to score three times and win, while James Ward-Prowse had to console himself with an incredible free kick and Norwich put the final nail in Rafa Benitez's coffin.
I'm ashamed to say I have a bit of a blank spot when it comes to Everton. Sure, they've got Pickford and Calvert-Lewin and I'm aware of haunted child soldier Anthony Gordon but otherwise? They're a bit of a mystery to me, so if you want any analysis of the sacking, Rafa's tenure and where they should go from here, go anywhere but here! (I normally try and put this out before the first Stadio of the week but due to the delays this week I've had a chance to listen to it and they do a really great job of dissecting what's going on at Everton right now)
During the late game on Saturday Aston Villa were able to pull back from going down 0-2 to Manchester United thanks to excellent play from Jacob Ramsey and a star debut from Philippe "Little Phil" Coutinho. I thought it was a really great match.
On Sunday there were two games, a comprehensive win from Liverpool against Brentford and a surprising win for a depleted Leeds side against Top Four contenders West Ham.
One of my rare moments of clarity came in late 2020 when I declared Raphinha to be a great player and he hasn't let me down since. He's a real gem in that Leeds team and despite Jack Harrison getting a hattrick (and allowing Mike Dean to do his hilarious 'oop no, not giving you the ball, hahaha, only joking mate' schtick), as detailed in the Guardian's Ten Talking Points article yesterday, he was the stand out performer.
Over in Europe, there was no La Liga while various cup competitions took place. Real Madrid beat Athletic Club to win the SuperCopa held in the fantastic Spanish city of *checks notes* Riyadh, after winning an exciting Clasico semi on Wednesday, while Betis vs Sevilla's Copa Del Rey tie was abandoned after a large missile was thrown from the crowd. The rematch on Sunday saw Betis come out on top leaving Seville "verdiblanca".
In Germany Dortmund finally won emphatically, beating high flying Freiburg 5-1 with braces from Thomas Meunier and Erling Haaland as well as a last minute goal from my beloved Mo Dahoud, with a brace of assists from stalwart Julian Brandt too. As Lewis Ambrose said:
One benefit of this newsletter being delayed is that I'm able to talk about the drama in Serie A yesterday evening. In the early kick off, Milan missed the opportunity to go top with an incredibly dramatic stoppage time at 1-1 where a goal was scored post whistle, when advantage should have been played, and then Spezia pelted down the other end to score a lovely goal with almost the last kick of the match.
Then, in the later kick off, Fiorentina went on a rampage against Genoa, who sacked Shevchenko at the weekend, scoring 6 with goals from five different scorers.
However, the best bit of Serie A for me this weekend was Dennis Praet scoring for Torino and the ball going right through the net and into the hoardings behind...
The {Offside} Thirst Trap
OK, so I'm writing this on Tuesday 11th, I've only just sent my last edition and by the time you get this I'm sure it will all be forgotten. However, I simply cannot ignore the outpouring of thirst on my timeline for the GQ article and fashion shoot with Mo Salah. Everyone has collectively lost their minds and the TL is shuddering with everyone just yelling 'FUUUUUUUCK!'
Anyway, we've all known for as long as he's been at Liverpool that he's a beautiful man inside and out but as we're mainly concerned with the outside in this section, let's bask in his megawatt smile and ridiculous abs for a moment:
Extra Time
I find the whole NFT situation ridiculous and also just extremely ugly on every level. This article is a great explainer on what they actually are and how football has become involved.
Please PLEASE listen to this Wrighty's House Extra with the one and only Hector Bellerin. He's amazing. I'm so happy about how happy he is <3
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