In February-March, the Premier League clubs will keep playing their matches.
We’ll all wonder where the prizes will end up.
I reckon all the big teams have flaws that the top sides didn’t have in the Noughties, so the standard of play isn’t as high as it has been in the last eight seasons.
Does that make the league more interesting? Yes.
But there is no reference point, not even Man City, who are quite inconsistent, even though they’ve only lost two of their 22 league matches.
City have Kompany back tonight at Everton, always a hard game for them.
We’ll see the Manchester clubs stagger on next month. Not being in the Champions League will help them but playing on Thursdays won’t.
Valencia and Smalling really stepped up to the plate against Liverpool at Anfield but Liverpool beat them 2-1 in the FA Cup. Evra switched off in 88, allowing Kuyt to run onto an Andy Carroll flick-on and smash home the winning goal.
David de Gea looks too young and small to make it as a keeper in the Premier League. He has a nightmare coming up tonight. Stoke have eight players as big and rough as Andy Carroll !
Joe Hart is superb but that doesn’t mean Citeh will walk the title.Roberto Mancini looks more demented every week.
Chelsea will miss Ramires a lot but can call on Lampard, Essie and big Romeu.
The $64,0000 question is : Will Spurs have a blip?
Or will Harry’s Tottenham reap the reward for keeping Luka Modric by finishing third.
They play Wigan tonight and the most bizarre story on Deadline Day is : Rodallega might play against Spurs, then sign for them after the game.
The media love to ask : Will it go to the wire?
I don’t think so, somehow.
I reckon the champions and fourth place will be sorted out long before May.
It’s been a recession season, really. Nobody has enough money to improve glaring flaws in their team. Clubs now pay their existing players such obscene wages that they can’t afford to buy from within the division.
To move, players want a mega pay rise. Chelsea offered 50 and Gary Cahill wanted 90 and it took many weeks to agree on 80.
If you want a balanced, fair overview of Arsenal’s current position, read Steve Tongue’s Arsene Wenger : Pariah?
The Australian Open was great, wasn’t it?
Andy Murray, the finest British tennis player ever, produced the game of his life in the semi against Djokovic but lost an epic battle that lasted five hours.Those two had never played four sets before, let alone five sets. I saw the last four. Missed the first set because I was writing ANR.
Thought Djokovic would beat Nadal and didn’t reckon it would take five hours and 53 minutes. How often does a big final go to 4-4 in the fifth and you still don’t know who ‘s gonna win?
Long games! If some games take 10 or 12 minutes, it’s no wonder a set can take 88.
Roger, Rafa and Novak have raised the bar. Roger is the best tennis player of all time and he’s never had an injury. By competing with each other, and improving hugely, they created a new standard.
New coach Ivan Lendl improved Andy in only three weeks.
Andy’s Mum Judy missed his semi because she was coaching in England. I’m sure her absence helped. It can’t be about how the family feels. It can’t be about how the family feels about how Andy played today. If it is, he’ll never win a slam.
Pete Sampras would not have lived with Federer, Djokovic or Nadal.
City-based Arsenal fans might know the Innovation/Global Risk Blog where Shlomo Maital wrote When the Ref Is The Story