Toon’s transfer woes
Another transfer window + another load of broken promises by the Newcastle board = more angry Geordies! First, we were supposed to have three to four new players in by 20th January, then when that didn’t happen the fans were told we were willing to break our transfer record for a striker. Following that, we were linked with pretty much every below-average striker going, and currently, with less than 24 hours to go, we haven’t got anyone, again.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rafa walks away following this, although he will probably wait until the end of the season when we get relegated. I’m not his biggest fan so I can’t say that would disappoint me too much, his defensive and boring football has contributed to our poor showing this season, although to be fair to him he is working with a Championship quality squad according to most fans and pundits out there.
In order to stay sane and avoid too much anger building up, I’m probably not going to bother watching transfer deadline day this year. If I don’t watch it, I can pretend it isn’t happening and forget about all the lies, broken promises and all the teams around us strengthening while we sit back and do nothing.
Guardiola gets angry again
Following Man City’s easy, routine win over Cardiff on Sunday, Pep Guardiola decided to make a show of himself again and storm onto the pitch, before unleashing a shower of complaints onto the referee and his assistants. Cardiff spent the whole game trying to make as many tackles on City’s players as they could, which resulted in in Leroy Sane coming off with an injury that will see him sidelined for around a month.
This rubbed Guardiola up the wrong way after he had already complained earlier in the season that his players were not being protected enough by referees. While he was within his rights to make his views heard to the referee, he could have waited until everyone had left the field and aired his concerns in the referee’s office, behind closed doors. Similar to the incident with Nathan Redmond earlier this season, Guardiola saw the need to make himself the centre of attention, which caused some amusement among viewers.
Will Grigg’s on fire
The FA Cup saw some more shocks this past weekend. Will Grigg scored twice to help Wigan defeat West Ham 2-0 in a game that saw the Hammers’ Arthur Masuaku receive a second yellow card for spitting at an opponent. West Brom knocked Liverpool out at Anfield, leaving the Reds with no realistic trophy opportunity this season. Possibly the biggest shock of them all was Newport County holding Spurs to a 1-1 draw and a replay. Harry Kane came to the rescue late on for Spurs to keep them in the running, which was crucial as this is also their only realistic trophy opportunity this year. No disrespect to either Spurs or Liverpool, but I don’t think they will win the Champions League this season and Man City are running away with the Premier League.