In case you missed it (as if!), the self-proclaimed “Special One” is back, after using his brief stint as a pundit on Sky Sports to issue some thinly veiled “come and get me” soundbites, he seemingly helped convince the powers that be at Tottenham that the only way to salvage their season, even this early […]
Start of the season thoughts- https://football-nerd.org/2018/08/10/football-nerd-weekly-ramblings-the-premier-league-is-back-will-anyone-be-able-to-stop-manchester-city/ As October reached its end, with each of the Premier League teams having now played a quarter of their matches, it feels like an appropriate time to take stock of how things are shaping up. Going into the season considered opinion suggested that the push for the title […]
So here we are, the FA Cup final is done and dusted for another season and just before we head into the strange limbo-land ahead of the start of the four week football extravaganza that is the World Cup, there is only the small matter of the Champions League Final for us self-avowed football obsessives […]
The increasingly public spat between José Mourinho and Paul Pogba, sparked by the French midfielder’s recent underwhelming form, has provoked a lot of debate across the football-focused media about which of the two parties should carry the blame. Is it Mourinho’s fault for not playing Pogba in his reportedly preferred position? Or does the blame […]
Normally I try and take everything that self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ José Mourinho says with a large dollop of salt, mindful of the fact that every single soundbite has been calmly and carefully crafted with a specific purpose and intention. However this weekend the Machiavellian manager’s utterings about the Old Trafford crowd and the lack of […]
On these pages last week, I touched upon the seemingly ever-increasing sensationalist hype that is associated with the Premier League; and how the ongoing quest to generate storylines to sate the appetite of the new type of football fan causes knee-jerk reactions from the media, fans and owners alike. On Monday, after defeat to Arsenal […]
In the end, seemingly comfortable victories for Manchester City and Liverpool, finally condemned Arsène Wenger and Arsenal to the Europa League as they missed out on the Champions League gravy train for the first time in 20 years. So often over past seasons qualification for a place at European’s top table has been something of […]
Well that wasn’t how I thought last weekend was going to turn out at all! As I wrote on these very pages last week (https://football-nerd.org/2017/05/05/football-nerd-weekly-ramblings-abject-arsenal-plumb-new-depths-while-feyenoord-could-make-the-dream-a-reality-this-weekend/), I thoroughly expected Tottenham to keep the pressure up on table-toppers Chelsea, but instead their single goal defeat at the London Stadium saw them virtually hand Antonio Conte’s side the […]
The main hope for the chasing pack in this midweek’s round of league fixtures was that Liverpool would shake off their recent woeful form and do everyone a favour and take points off Chelsea; in the end it was only Manchester City that were able to capitalise and Antonio Conte’s men actually increased their lead […]
Unlike any other of the major leagues in Europe, the Premier League programme intensifies over the festive period. This year in particular offered a test of survival for the clubs with all of them having to play 3 league matches within at most 10 days. The scheduling this year saw a number of teams playing […]
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