Cityzen’s mauled by Wolves

Shots. 20 to 7.

On Target. 8 to 3.

Possession. 63% to 37%.

Passes. 556 to 350.

Pass Accuracy. 87% to 78%.

The above are standard-issued stats for a Manchester City game since Pep Guardiola arrived in 2016. What is not as common-placed is his City side being on the receiving end of them, as was the case on Friday in the West Midlands of England. Wolverhampton Wanderers became the first team to win both regular season games against the Champions since the introduction of Guardiola as manager and they did it from 2-0 down.

The game started fast and City were down a man on 12 minutes as goalkeeper Ederson raced from his line to try clear a through ball only to be beaten to it by Diogo Jota, clattering his knee into the Wolves striker in the process. Referee Martin Atkinson wasted no time in showing the Brazilian keeper a straight red and a VAR check determined it was the correct decision.

Despite being a man down City looked the most threatening and were awarded a penalty as Leander Dendoncker was judged to have fouled Riyad Mahrez in the box by a busy VAR system. Raheem Sterling stepped up and saw his penalty saved by Rui Patricio in the Wolves goal. Unfortunately for Patricio, Conor Coasy was deemed to have encroached before Sterling striked the penalty (again by VAR) and a retake was called. Despite Guardiola seemingly screaming from the touch line to change the taker, Sterling again stepped up and… missed again! Patricio could only palm the effort right back into the England forward’s path though and Sterling, on a third attempt, calmly stroked home the rebound. 1-0 City.

Five minutes into the second half the traveling Cityzen fans were in full voice as Sterling extended the reigning champions lead and added his second of the game. As Wolves pressed City played out from the back quickly and De Bruyne found the striker with a pinpoint through ball, leaving Sterling the easy task of slotting past Rui Patricio. That was the last of City pressure until injury time as Wolves turned up the heat on a City defense that has looked shaky at the best of times this season.

Adama Traore pulled one back for the home side five minutes later and was instrumental in the equalizing goal with eight minutes remaining as he put pressure on Benjamin Mendy, who dilly-dallied on a clearance, gaining possession on the byline and sliding the ball across for Raul Jimenez to easily convert passed Claudio Bravo.

City were completely shocked and Wolves were beating them at their own game, something not a lot of teams can do, getting their just rewards with a minute to go.

Irish International right back Matt Doherty picked up the ball just inside the opposition half and with no one closing down cut inside and ran towards the City goal. A lovely one-two with Jimenez and a side step of a Nicolas Otamendi challenge later, he struck a beautiful left footed shot passed Claudio Bravo from just outside the box, sending Molineux into complete pandemonium.

City had a late free kick from Sterling hit the bar but ultimately the best team took all three points as evident by the opening stats. The only shock being those stats didn’t favor the reigning champions as their grip on the Premier League title slips with each passing day.

English football has a problem

Once again a Premier League weekend has been ruined by a few moronic fans who think Racism is okay. No-one is talking about the masterclass put on by Kevin De Bruyne as Manchester City came from a goal down to easily beat second placed Leicester City 3-1. No-one is talking about bottom of the table Watford beating 13 time Champion Manchester United 2-0 or Mikel Arteta watching his new Arsenal side for the first time draw 0-0 with Everton. Instead everybody is talking about Antônio Rudiger and the abuse he received from a section of Tottenham fans that is uncalled for and unwarranted in this day and age.

And rightly so! Nothing else should matter. It should be the center of all Premier League talk shows and podcasts for the foreseeable future, with the hope it finally pressurizes the Premier League, Football Association and Professional Footballers Association into much needed action.

This is the second time in 15 days a player has been subjected to this sort of treatment with Fred and Jesse Lingard victims of abuse during the Manchester Derby earlier in the month, yet it continues to happen.

According to Kick It Out, an organization that tries to tackle discrimination of all kinds, discrimination in both professional and grassroots football rose significantly in the 2018/19 season with reports up by 32 per cent. Racism was the most common, constituting 65 per cent of reports – a 43 per cent rise from 2017/18. How is this still acceptable as we enter a new decade in just over a week?

Well a quick read of the Kick It Out website informs you that ‘The FA have not informed Kick It Out of the outcome in seventy-nine per cent of the 109 cases reported in grassroots football. Forty per cent of these reports were from youth football (under-18). Of this figure, The FA have not informed Kick It Out of 80 per cent of the County FA verdicts.’ This screams “Lets just push it under the rug” doesn’t it? Where’s the accountability? Where’s the name and shame? These same people could still be attending games. Or worse, playing.

Rebecca Lowe asked her colleague Robbie Earle how Rudiger would feel during NBC’s post game discussions and you can’t help but notice the cracking of his voice as he nears the end of his point by saying “It hurts. It really hurts.” No player, former player, coach or person in general should ever have to feel this way. EVER. And I applaud Robbie Earle for being able to articulate his points during what must have been a really difficult time for him, having suffered racial abuse during his playing days.

Gary Neville, a former player and current media pundit in England, had some very harsh words on Sky Sports after the game, calling out politicians, the Premier League, FA and PFA to stop pointing fingers at other countries and fix their own problems. Sky didn’t come out of it good though as host David Jones reminded the audience these were only the views of Neville and not of Sky. So Sky condone Racism? If so can I get that in writing from their owners Comcast? Jones has since apologized but the damage has already been done.

There is no place for racism in Football or any sport for that matter and the quicker these morons are banned from every sporting event available to them the better.

Is Arteta right for Arsenal?

Arsenal have been given permission from Man City to speak to Mikel Arteta about the vacant managerial position and it seems likely within the next 24 hours their search for Unai Emery’s replacement will be over. Emery was sacked at the end of November with Freddie Ljungberg taking control on an interim basis, however with 1 win in 5 games the urgency to name a permanent replacement is red hot.

Arteta now seems to be the Arsenal board’s answer, despite having no managerial experience on his resume. Arteta has been assistant to Guardiola since 2016 and has been touted as a future replacement for his fellow Spaniard at the Ethiad should he walk away from the City job, with some suggesting that could be as soon as this summer. With that unconfirmed though Arteta had become the front runner for the Arsenal position and as a former player is likely to be a popular choice, however just because you are a good assistant doesn’t make you a good manager. It doesn’t matter if you are assistant to one of the greatest managers of his generation, which Pep currently is, as current City coach Brian Kidd can attest for having been Alex Ferguson’s right hand man during some of Manchester United’s biggest nights, only to have a short forgettable stint as manager of Blackburn Rovers. Arteta could be different, but here are a few reasons I think it’s a bad deal for both Arteta and Arsenal.

Arsenal are in turmoil. This is possibly the worst team in recent history and is a first time manager really going to get the time and backing to rebuild this team? It could take 3, 4, 5 years and $100’s of millions of pounds to even think about challenging for a title. If Arteta is the man will the board and fans tolerate a season or two of dross? Recent history says no, which could leave Arteta’s reputation in tatters and Arsenal back to square one in their search for success. Even the great Pep Guardiola spent a season learning the trade with Barcelona’s B team before stepping up. Arteta would be stepping straight into the fire.

Add to that the fact Arteta is use to working with the very top talent at Man City. The financial clout of the Manchester club has meant he’s working with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and David Silva to name but a few. At Arsenal he’ll be walking into a dressing room in complete turmoil with the likes of David Luiz, Granit Xhaka and an unenthusiastic Mesut Ozil to work with. Not to mention Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the drama that seems to follow him and Instagram quotes from family members. It may take 3 or 4 transfer markets to get even a resemblance of a team with his stamp on it.

Not to mention the fact he will be challenging Man City and Liverpool for transfer targets of any real quality. The reality of the drop in quality and the realization that he will have to build a team of younger players with potential will need time and patience. Neither of which are a staple of any Premier League team due to the huge monetary implications.

Are Leicester the biggest concern to Liverpool’s title conquest?

In September I watched Leicester dismantle my team, Luton Town, in the Carabao Cup. It finished 4-0 but could have easily been more as Youri Tielemans carved open our defense at every opportunity and without breaking much of a sweat. I was devastated at the time, despite Leicester being a full division higher than us and monetarily much better off, as going into the game I felt we could possibly cause an upset.

Since that September 24th game Leicester has put five past Newcastle (5-0 home win on September 29th), nine against Southampton (0-9 away win on October 25th) and made Arsenal look like relegation candidates despite only scoring twice last Saturday. In fact, Leicester has lost only once since that Carabao Cup win, the last-minute defeat to Liverpool at Anfield thanks to a very controversial penalty, and are comfortably in the top three.

That shouldn’t be a surprise given it was only four seasons ago that the 5000-1 odds Foxes shocked the sporting world by winning the Premier League, but a lot has happened since then. Claudio Ranieri is gone and so is his replacement Craig Shakespeare. In fact, Brendan Rodgers is their fourth manager in as many years having taken the reigns from Claude Puel. N’Golo Kante made a big-money move to Chelsea as did Danny Drinkwater. Riyad Mahrez sulked for a year before finally getting his move to Man City and Leicester struggled with the demands of Premier League, Champions League, and domestic Cup Competitions. One pivotal player remained loyal though and has scored 20 goals in the 22 games since Brendan Rodgers’ appointment. Jamie Vardy.

Vardy’s story reads like a Hollywood story, scratching and clawing his way back from the brink of non-league football to become one of the Premier Leagues’ greatest success stories. And he only cost Leicester £1 million. Vardy was told he wasn’t good enough at the age of 16 by Sheffield Wednesday, but where there is a will there is a way and now England International started the come back at Stocksbridge Park Steels before moving on to FC Halifax and Fleetwood Town. His 31 goals in 36 games for the latter prompted Leicester, then in the Championship, to splurge the cash on what was then seen as ‘a huge gamble’.

Vardy’s goals shot them to the Premier League before shocking everyone with 24 goals in his second season in the top flight to shoot Leicester to the most unlikely of success. Top teams came calling with Arsenal triggering a £22 million release clause only for the striker to turn down the move and sign a new contract with the Foxes.

Youri Tielemans was another gamble that has paid off for Leicester ten fold. Having shone at Anderlecht in the Belgian League, Tielemans struggled at French Ligue One side Monaco, leading to a loan move to Leicester at the beginning of the year. Having impressed in the final months of last season, Leicester wasted no time in snapping up the 22-year-old midfielder for £40 million in the summer.

So far this season the Belgian midfielder has 3 goals and 3 assists in 12 games and with Man City’s 3-1 collapse against Liverpool on Sunday, Brendan Rodgers men, with Vardy and Tielemans being pivotal pieces, now sit in second place behind his former club and have become the best hope for the Rebel Alliance (Everyone) against the Galactic Empire (Liverpool) in the race for the Premier League.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman looking to purchase Manchester United

Rumors are circulating that controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is on the verge of a £4 billion-plus takeover of English Premier League giants Manchester United. Current owners, America’s Glazer Family, have come under much scrutiny from fans in recent years and despite the club being a cash cow for the family they finally may be ready to sell. This means a number of things for the 13 times Premier League Champions both positive and negative.

Pro: Ole Gunnar Solskjær has an open checkbook. If the rumors are true United will rival neighbors Manchester City and French Ligue One side Paris Saint Germain in buying power. The city is owned by ‘The City Group’ which involves Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family while PSG has unlimited spending power from ‘Qatar Sports Investments’ which is funded by the state of Qatar. United would find themselves in this company with bin Salman looking to invest heavily to return the sleeping Giants to their rightful place and make a nice bit of change in the process.

Con: Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s time is running out. While the above is true the new owners will also have less patience with the underperforming Norwegian and the fact he was a fan favorite as a player will mean absolutely nothing to them as they look to win at all costs.

Pro: United will finally be able to attract the caliber of player they need to fight for both the Premier League and Champions League without worrying if any of the ‘richer’ clubs can outbid them. They will obviously need to get back to the Champions League to do that, but money talks and players of a higher caliber than Fred, Harry Maguire and Daniel James will now find the red side of Manchester an interesting destination.

Con: The club’s identity has been built on young players brought up in the club culture mixed with experienced heads. If a takeover was to happen it would become a win-now mentality, circa Chelsea when Roman Abramovich took over. This often leads to a drought of young talent, local and otherwise, coming through as every year the check-book is opened for a world-class player who has already earned his stripes.

Pro: United is one of (if not) the biggest clubs in the World. A takeover of this magnitude would just send them to a whole other level. Sponsorship, TV Deals, Advertising would all go through the roof as Bin Salman would look to use the club to also line his own pockets. Any fans who think this wouldn’t be the case need to take a close look at themselves and realize Soccer has become a for-profit business. The United brand would be back to were it belongs before long.

Con: Not all media attention is good and having a controversial figure like Bin Salman at the helm would mean fighting negative narratives on an almost daily basis. You could run the Man City approach of “it has nothing to do with the club” but ultimately you are taking money from this figurehead and in return making him money. You can hardly come out against him meaning most likely just keeping your mouth shut. That will give opposition fans a lot to chant about every Saturday in the stands.

Xhaka’s Breakdown overshadows History makers Leicester

The Premier League was born in 1992 and Manchester United set a record in 1995 for biggest win, beating Ipswich Town 9-0. That record was equaled over the weekend, but you’d be forgiven for not realizing. I’ll give you a minute to think who it could be without googling the answer.

Normally a win of this magnitude would be met with weeks of press coverage, catchy, clever tabloid punchlines and a rundown of what the players ate for breakfast or how long their naps were before taking the pitch. United got that level of coverage back in 1995. Instead, Leicester’s 9-0 trashing of Southampton on Friday night, at St Marys Stadium, has all but gone unnoticed after Granit Xhaxa threw his toys out of the pram in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday to grab all the headlines.

The Switzerland International has been the focal point for Arsenal fans this season who are upset with the team’s performances and results, with it all coming to a head this weekend during another lackluster display by the Gunners.

After taking an early two goal lead and blowing it against Palace, Unai Emery tactically decided to replace his captain with a half hour remaining to try win the game (which they could have done if not for VAR). His removal was met with sarcastic cheers from the fans which soon turned to loud boos as he sauntered off the pitch at a snails pace, throwing the captains armband at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

You also don’t need to be a professional lip reader to see he twice mouthed the phrase ‘fuck off’, once after throwing the armband at his teammate and secondly as he finally left the pitch cupping his ear in a poorly thought out idea to rile the fan base even more than it already was, before removing his shirt and crumpling it up in a ball and heading straight down the tunnel to the dressing room.

Emery admitted after the game his captain was wrong, but insisted on keeping what would happen next in house. The only problem is that Xhaka has now put Emery between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn’t apologize, which he hasn’t as of writing, Arsenal fans will want him stripped of the captaincy and sold at the earliest convenience, something Emery will be reluctant to do as he struggles to get a Champion League spot.

If he does apologize and remains in the team the manager’s handling of Mesut Ozil becomes even more bizarre, having blackballed the German star nearly all season for his supposed attitude. If all it takes is an “I’m Sorry” can Ozil, possibly the most creative player Arsenal have, not do the same and reclaim his place?

Xhaka will not play Wednesday night as Arsenal face Liverpool in the EFL Cup which means Emery will face the full backlash of fans, with the majority wanting both manager and player gone. The irony of it all is, If Emery survives until the end of the season he may find himself finishing lower than record breaking Leicester City, a team managed by Brendan Rodgers. The same Brendan Rodgers who was ridiculed when his name was brought up as a possible replacement for Arsène Wenger two summers ago. I wonder who Arsenal fans would rather have now?