It was a special win, special because we beat the current English and Europe Champions; special because we had not won against them in our previous 15 encounters. Also, the fact that they took all 6 points against us last season which turned out to be the difference between the winners and second spot made this win even sweeter.
The score line of 1-0 doesn’t show the true picture. Man City showed fight but we restricted them to only 4 shots in those 90 minutes – least under Pep’s since 2010 going back to his Barcelona’s reign. The stalemate ended when a half-time, electrified substitute Gabriel Martinelli shot was deflected from Nathan Ake’s face to the City’s goal. Ederson was in no position to stop that deflection. It was a lucky one, but luck only favors the brave. We had some luck in our way when Declan Rice did a brilliant goal line clearance in the opening minutes of the game. Gabriel and Saliba made sure to kill the Haaland hype who had exactly zero shots. Martinelli is a chaos and I’m sure is the worst player to play against, in the league. Mikel is learning, he rested Saka and asked Gabriel Jesus to play at RW which everyone was calling for, and saw we needed to shake things up at the left and brought in Martinelli at half time. I doubt a year younger Mikel would have done that.
We have talked this enough but mate it’s happening every week. Mateo Kovacic received a first yellow when he did a late ankle-breaking tackle on Martin Odegaard. It was reviewed and was deemed only yellow-worthy. To anyone else, it was a RED. But that wasn’t the all of it, he did a similar challenge to Declan Rice and was punished with only a foul. It should have been a yellow again, Mateo Kovacic should have been sent off IN THE 35th MINUTE. We don’t know how the game would have ended; may be with a much better score line but when was the last time referee favored us?
The win leaves us unbeaten in Premier League, with 20 points in 8 games. We are 2nd, as Spuds have scored more goals but have the same point tally. Spuds hangover won’t last long, and I’m sure comes the January break, there will be clear picture of title challengers and top 4s.
Right, short one today. Hope you are still talking about the Saliba x Haaland clash because I am and Haaland falling like a pack of cards begging referee for a foul when there was a none, was a delight to watch.
A City was conquered this Sunday. The Bridge is next!
Tony-sorry for the tardiness, I’m in full blown travel mode presently…Vancouver for 4, San Fran for 3, home for a few days, then off to NYC, to visit my son, which will hopefully lead to a Vegas excursion to checkout the Sphere…you’ll want to have a looksee at that venue, if you haven’t heard and/or seen already
we should be fully healthy, so to speak, and as such, with the right tactics, they’re no match for us presently…if we get things wrong we could end up missing out on 2 points…I’m in such a positive frame of mind I’m leaning towards the cup half full side of the ledger, so here goes, 3-1 good guys
TRVL all good and happy to hear of your travels; all very cool places with great diversities and places to bake. 🙂 I’m enjoying a very sticky Thai cross with Big Sur for this weekend that’s been drying for just over 2-weeks. If you’re into photography I’m in the process of getting the X2D-100c and the 907x-50c with full complement of XCD lens that fit both cameras and will be hopefully arranging a Nepal trip for LIR to find the finest temple balls and take pictures. Maybe the other way round will work better. 🙂
I know Vegas well or at least I did way back when. When I take Mrs T on the PCH1 San Diego to Nappa drive, we’ll stop at Vegas and detour to Palm Springs. We’ll definitely do the Sphere and have some fun. I saw Siegfried & Roy back in the 90s enjoying all the pomp and regalia, and still have no idea where the elephant went – smoke, mirrors & holograms, I guess.
Enjoy your vacation and hope you can pick up the game somewhere. Laughlin is a great drive and Vegas by the sea. It was discovered by a pilot who had a regular flight over the Davis Dam. You got sleepy Bullhead City on one side of the Colorado river and a bunch of casinos on the other Nevada side.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=laughlin&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Hurrahs at the end was a cool place to stay. The Riverside used to have a bikers bar – maybe still does. It’s about a 90 minute drive from Vegas, up the I-15 I think.
Eddie is a £100k a week waste of space.
Wrong selection once again has cost us points. Zinchenko can’t defend Jorginho is just past it for the PL.
Arteta never learns. Have I missed anything?