Welcome to this week‘s TWTWTW.
We simply must speak about deadline day Enthralling, wasn’t it? You know it was dull when the biggest story of the day was 38-year-old Ibiza aficionado Peter Crouch heading to Burnley, with Sam Vokes going the other way.
The threat of thousands of Newcastle fans refusing to renew their season tickets was enough for Mike Ashley to reluctantly sanction the loan deal of Monaco full-back Antonio Barreca, and the permanent signing of Miguel Almiron from Atlanta United.
Paraguayan attacking midfielder Almiron cost the club £20m, breaking their transfer record set by Michael Owen 14 years ago.
Random question for you. Were your internet and phone lines working ok on Thursday night? Because if it was and you’re from Girondins or Swansea, then the football teams representing these places have a lot to answer for.
In a bid to sign right back Youssouf Sabaly, Fulham met his £12m release clause. And according to Sky Sports, the deal fell through after Girondins failed to respond to multiple emails and phone calls about the player.
Swansea pretty much did the same regarding their Welsh winger Dan James. The youngster travelled from Swansea to Leeds because he wanted the move.
Having passed his medical and agreed personal terms, it left Swansea to give it the go-ahead. They didn’t. Perhaps their phone just died and nobody around the office had a charger for an iPhone 4?
I shouldn’t laugh but, how could I not?
And that was pretty much as exciting as it got.
Thankfully, the midweek round of matches was littered with surprises.
If you were a gambling man, you’re likely to be devastated with at least one of the so-called bigger English sides. And the biggest surprise of them all came at the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal overcame the odds to beat Cardiff City 2-1.
In all seriousness, I must commend Newcastle for the way they set up to defeat Manchester City 2-1.
The result opened up the chance for Liverpool to go seven points clear, which they failed to capitalise on. Jurgen Klopp, a fantastic manager who is known to make bizarre excuses after dropping points, continued this trend when he blamed the snow for disrupting Liverpool’s passing game.
There’s snow way he was serious. After all, Leicester also had to battle against the elements.
While Fulham’s defensive deficiencies are clear for all to see, the likes of Schurle, Mitrovic, Babel and Vietto has always made sure that scoring goals are never a problem. After going behind 2-0 at home to Brighton, the Cottagers proceeded to win the game 4-2.
Bournemouth inflicted Chelsea’s heaviest league defeat since 1996 when they smashed Maurizio Saari’s men 4-0. Young player of the year (I only state facts, not opinions) David Brooks’s man-marking job on Jorginho, the Sunday League Sean Longstaff, proved to be very effective in hindering Chelsea’s build-up play.
Welshman Brooks also picked up a deserved goal for his efforts.
To most Manchester United fans, their favourite memory of supporting the club was when they won the treble in 1999. Today, if you ask a young supporter what is their favourite memory as a United supporter, they’d probably say 01/02/2019.
Of course, that is the date they sold Marouane Fellaini to a club in China.
Obviously, there were a lot of transfer rumours to be branded about in January. However, I don’t think any side was quite as prominent in the transfer news as much as ‘Unnamed Chinese club’.
They seemed to be tabling transfer offers for everybody.
Have a great weekend everyone.
