Friday 27 December 2019

5 Things we've learnt from the 19/20 season so far – in an alternate Universe


Liverpool stare relegation in the face

After the dizzy heights of last season, it was to prove yet another false dawn for the luckless Scousers, who spend Christmas Day entrenched in the relegation zone having won just 2 matches all season, both against Everton. Saido Mane has now extended his goal drought to 15 games after the selfless Mo Salah picked him out again and again during last nights heavy defeat by Leicester.

At the back, Virgil Van Dijk was recently rated above Phil Jones and Jack Stephens as the league’s worst central defender. Whilst Lovren has done his best amongst the shit alongside him, the same can’t be said for Liverpool’s meek full backs. Klopp has steadfastly refused to drop Andrew Robertson, despite a county wide poll demanding the recall of Alberto Moreno to the club. The Scotsman has looked lost on the pitch, barely breaking into a jog most matches and at one point refusing an overlapping run to campaign for independence instead. On the other side Trent Alexander Arnold has now put in 234 unsuccessful crosses in a row. He is without an assist in 4 months.

Klopp has not been seen smiling since last Easter and has vowed his team’s form will shift “the second this fucking weather does.”

McGoldrick blasts in 20th goal already

David McGoldrick scored his third hat trick of the campaign against Watford and propelled himself to the top of the Premier League scorers table in the process. The prolific Bladesman has carried his team this season, which is just as well owing to their disorganised defence. John Lundstram continues to play as a deep lying centre back in a role clearly unsuitable for him. He has been part of a backline that has shipped 40 goals already. He sits in 0.01% of FPL teams.

McGoldrick credits his recent form to copying the playing style of Ashley Barnes, who sits second in the top scorers table. “Me and Barnsey are two peas in the same pod really… we’ve always managed to run around like mentalists and rough up the opposition, but now we’ve added the actual ability to shoot to our impressive armouries.”

McGoldrick ended by expressing his disappointment that despite his recent exploits, he was yet to have his own train.

Xhaka leads Arsenal to summit

Top of the table and unbeaten so far, the decision to employ Granit Xhaka as player manager in the summer has been hailed as a “masterstroke” by Arsenal fans around the world. The Swiss midfielder has taken on more roles than an army knife, but has succeeded in them all. Xhaka was superb this weekend, and instrumental in beating Bournemouth, the league’s most inconsistent team (some things will never change). He set up the first for the returning Emmanuel Eboue, before lashing in the second with a 40-yard free kick that would have made Roberto Carlos blush.

Xhaka was quick to praise himself after the match in his usual style – “people like to talk about the team, and yeah, they’re doing okay… but I prefer to talk about myself. 15 assists and 10 goals this season don’t happen by accident. I’m leading from the front and my relationship with the fans has never been better. They love me here. Almost as much as I love myself.”

Meanwhile, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally scored his first goal of the season whilst on loan at Tranmere Rovers.

Hammers hammer Palace thanks to strength at both ends

In one of the most open matches of the season, West Ham and Palace went toe to toe on Boxing Day but only one side came out blowing bubbles. The scoreline of 4-0 told nothing of the real story, as both teams had 25 shots on goal. West Ham, with the fully fit Lanzini pulling the strings, helped themselves to goal pie as the tireless Anderson and Yarmolenko both bagged braces. 

At the other end though, it was once again thanks to the signing of the season, Roberto Jimenez, to save his team again and again. Breaking the league record with 15 saves in a single match, Roberto has now not been beaten in a month. His manager Pellegrini said “when the owners came to me and said look Manny, we’ve got this guy who is ripping up the soft core porn scene and we wanna give him a shot at the club… I’ll be honest I had my doubts… I mean sure he might well have the best hands in the business when it comes to fluffing cock, but is he gonna be able to keep out balls of a different size coming at him from all angles.”

The Chilean added that he was delighted to have been proven wrong… and that before most games the pre-match warm ups had now been replaced with group watching of Roberto’s blue movie highlights. 

Sherwood return sets up second half of the season for the ages

Almost as unexpected as “Granit’s Arsenal” has been the success of Tottenham Hotspur since controversially moving to reappoint Tim “Tactics” Sherwood. After sacking Pochettino after 5 successive losses, all of which featured Heung-Min Son being sent off and reinstated upon appeal, Daniel Levy shocked the footballing world by moving again for Sherwood. In a bizarre statement Levy said that he had “finally realised, that every single success this club has had, came from the foundations that Tim laid.” Glossing over a near 12 year wait for a trophy, Levy added that “Tim is the boy… the absolute fucking boy… and he’s going to show it.”

Since taken over Spurs have been beaten just once, when they were outclassed by the random results generator that is Manchester “Ole’s at the fucking wheel” United. Sherwood has guided them to second and has brought the best out of Moussa Sissoko; who has responded well to Tim’s idea that “he needs to get in the fucking box more” by reinventing himself as a number 9 and poaching 15 goals so far.

Harry Kane continues to marshal the defence as captain and gilet sales have increased 450% year on year. 


Happy New Year

HM

Monday 2 December 2019

Premier League (FPL) Team of the Weak - GW Fourteen


ALISSON (6.0 LIV) – Charging off his line like a tooled up spartan, Alisson’s handball and subsequent red card means Liverpool head into the Merseyside derby without their number 1. However, given the last time Everton won at Anfield, @KylieFpl was in nappies, one shouldn’t worry too much

COOK (5.0 BOU) – A 78% pass completion is bad for a midfielder, it’s awful for a centre back. The inexplicably only one year older than Jesse Lingard defender, mixed this with winning just 2 out of 8 headers and completing zero blocks or clearances. As useful as a white crayon.

STEPHENS (4.3 SOU) – Arguably the worst defender in top flight football, I refuse to believe that Saints don’t have other defenders that can take the place of Jack Stephens. Yes they have 5 pretty rum centre backs, but Stephens is still the worst. Lacking even the most basic of abilities to make it in a professional capacity… here we still are… watching him try to defend every week. He has started 6 games in the Premier League this season and has amassed a staggering 5 FPL points with 0 clean sheets. Just. Stop. Picking. Him. Please.

BARDSLEY (4.3 BUR) – From one shit show to another, Phil Bardsley is basically that guy who wanders around the local park begging teams for a game. He finished the match on Saturday by completing just 17 passes at a rate of little over 50%? You are paid to play football for fucks sake. Absolutely bollocks.

LUIZ (5.8 ARS) – 0 tackles, 0 headers, 0 fucks given – it is now one clean sheet in 13 appearances for David Luiz this season and his keeper has had to make more saves than anyone in the league. Is he on holiday? Arsenal are a laughing stock. And I say that as Manchester United fan for fucks sake.

HOJBJERG (4.8 SOU) – Kicking things off with yet another error that led directly to a goal, the Southampton “captain” then spent most of the first half wandering around the pitch like he was a detectorist looking for loose change. A supremely untalented footballer, how Hutch hasn’t worked out that his problems begin in the centre of his team yet remains beyond me. You wonder, at this stage, if the penny will ever drop.

SALAH (12.2 LIV) – Visibly unfit and with just 18 touches in the entire match, it is time for Salah to be given a rest. No other team can win the Premier League this season, but Liverpool could still lose it. Wrecking their star asset for the long term would certainly be a start.

PULISIC (7.5 CHE) – 5 attempts in the box. FIVE. 2 of which me Nan would have scored… and Pulisic got zero on target. A genuine horror show of a performance attacking wise from Chelsea. We can give the West Ham keeper credit for not being Roberto, but it’s a bit like giving me credit for not being Boris Johnson. It’s not a fucking benchmark to rate anyone on.

Chelsea have Villa up next, who seem reborn since Jack Grealish came back from injury as Roy of the fucking Rovers. Predictions for that one? Not a fucking clue.

IWOBI (5.7 EVE) – Like a swimming pool with no water, Alex Iwobi is the Becks Blue of football players. Not even good enough to be a real fucking beer. He did not affect the football game for the entirety of the 78 minutes we were forced to watch him try to against Leicester. His xG a solid 0.00. He had just 25 touches, with 0 attempts at goal. He didn’t set foot in the opposition box at any point. Literally. He didn’t go in it. Not once. How is that even possible for a forward? The Everton right back ended up playing both roles to try and cover for how invisible he was. Bring back Theo Walcott.

WOOD (6.2 BUR) – 3 clear chances, all wasted, this was a poor showing for the Burnley front man after a recent return to form. Beaten by 2 goals to 0 by Crystal Palace is a terrible state of affairs for any team. This is a team that can’t even average the bare minimum of a goal a game. Wood has had an astonishing 17 big chances this season. Only Vardy has had more. He has scored just 5 of those.

I’ve been full of praise for the Burnley strikers as is well known… but their midfielders, especially the near farcically underrated McNeil, are putting it on a plate week in week out for them to fluff their lines.

DEULOFEU (6.1 WAT) – All strikers stats pale into comparison to Gerard Deulofeu, statistically the worst shooter in the league, backed up by the worst shooters in the league. The Spaniard has had 33 shots and created 23 chances for his teammates. His conversion rate is just 6%. No other forward comes close to that who has had more than 25 shots. Indeed, you need to go down to McGoldrick at Sheffield United and Joelinton at Newcastle to find equitable levels of excrement. The two “strikers” have amassed 46 shots between them for a single goal.

Lads… come on… it’s what you’re paid to do. Wake up.

Happy Hunting

HM