Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: The biggest game of the season so far fails to deliver, while the close title race is due to inconsistency rather than quality.

So what did we all think about the match that Sky billed as “the biggest game of the season so far”: the clash between Liverpool and Manchester United last Sunday? Titanic struggle full of drama, excitement and entertainment, or damp squib through which even self-confessed football obsessives found it difficult to keep our focus on […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Will the new normal make the new Premier League season any different to what we have become used to?

As brilliant as Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool were right up to their sealing of the title with seven games still to play, and as much as we expect Manchester City to bounce back and target regaining their status as champions, even without the acquisition of a certain Argentinian megastar, would it be right to suggest that […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Reflections on Liverpool’s dominance, VAR, Leeds United’s return, relegation and football without fans.

So that’s it! After more than eleven months, the most bizarre, surreal and frankly weirdest season that English football has ever known is all but done and dusted. With just the FA Cup Final tomorrow and the Championship Play-off Final next Tuesday to be decided before the campaign can be called complete, what have we […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Congratulations Liverpool – more than worthy Champions- but what can we expect for the future for the new English football rivalry?

Reading the thoughts of uber football expert Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian last week (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/26/dont-be-tempted-to-think-klopps-blueprint-has-superseded-guardiolas) in the immediate aftermath of Liverpool being crowned champions, one fact from his piece stood out: “It is a measure of what an astonishing season this has been from Liverpool that if Manchester City had won every match they played […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Project Restart gets underway successfully… but what have we learnt about football in the “new normal”?

Yet more technology controversy. 100 days after Coronavirus pandemic-enforced lockdown, the Premier League returned but it wasn’t the same as we remember it. After a minute’s silence to remember those who have sadly fallen victim to this unprecedented and devastating virus, referee Michael Oliver sounded his whistle to signal the fulfilment of Project Restart then […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings- Liverpool fall short of invincibility while travelling fans are shown their place yet again.

Liverpool falter at Watford So that’s it! After 422 days Liverpool’s hugely impressive run is at an end. A shock 3-0 defeat at Vicarage Road by Nigel Pearson’s Watford, who started the day in the midst of a relegation dogfight a whopping 55 points behind the runaway leaders, finally brought the seemingly unstoppable Red juggernaut […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings- A mixed bag for the Premier League clubs as European battle lines are re-drawn, while Arsenal’s familiar chickens come home to roost.

There is always a frisson of excitement for football obsessives when the battle-lines are redrawn on the European front and the Champions League and Europa League start their knockout phases. With the domestic season having turned into a procession thanks to Liverpool’s utter supremacy, this season the continental stage potentially offers more intriguing competition. After […]

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings – the FA Cup has lost a significant part of its lustre but the powers-that-be are actually making it worse.

It has become traditional at this time of year for anyone who comments upon, writes about, or simply watches English football to express a view on the world’s oldest cup competition, the FA Cup, and whether it has lost its ‘magic’? There are essentially two schools of thought at play: either that the Premier League […]