Tuesday Morning FOOTY Thoughts – Nov. 10

Cute to see Wayne Rooney slapping big men around the same way opposing defenses slap him around on the pitch now. Rooney smacked British big boy Wade Barrett at last night’s WWE RAW taping in Manchester. This is the only time I will ever talk about wrestling on this page.

Cristiano Ronaldo is also making the most of his time off. At the premiere of his self titled movie last night in London (which I can not wait to see mind you), CR7 set a Guinness world record for taking the most selfies in a 3 minute period. Now there’s an accomplishment to really celebrate. What the hell is wrong with the world?

David Moyes to Chelsea? Probably not. But boy, that would be something. Real Sociedad pulled the plug, with the squad winning just 12 of Moyses’ 42 games in charge. They’re just two points off the bottom. Was 12 months on the continent enough time for Moyes to get over his United failure? Only time will tell.

I am very excited to see Patrick Viera manage in MLS. But Jason Kreis got a raw deal there from NYCFC. There really is no loyalty left in football. Coaching a brand new team with 3 guys on $6 million a year and everybody else making $60k is not easy. Kreis will not be out of work long though.

I’m not excited at all for this international break. And neither is Roy Hodgson. More than a quarter of the Premier League’s 142 English players are injured right now. That’s 37 England qualified players to be exact. Crazy, but really, who cares?

It wasn’t that long ago we were joking about Garry Monk for the England job. But then Swansea went out and dropped 5 of 8 and now Huw Jenkins expects his former centre-back to hire an experienced assistant to ‘right the ship.’ Yea, good luck with that Garry.

Jesé Rodriguez would be a great pick up for Arsenal. I don’t see that happening. And I don’t think Karim Benzema would be a wise purchase. The Frenchman’s career can be defined with one word: inconsistent. That’s the last thing The Gunners need right now. They’ve had enough of that for a long time.

Dimitri Payet is a big reason West Ham are sixth in the table. But for the next three months, Slaven Bilic’s side will have to try to keep pace without their high-flying French talisman because of an ankle injury suffered in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Everton.

Aston Villa might be keen to unload forgotten Frenchman Charkes N’Zogbia in January, but new boss Rémy Garde has given him two months to prove himself. And his £65,000 a week wage packet.

A couple of former Villa managers in completion for the QPR job. The Super Hoops would be wise to choose Tim Sherwood over Paul Lambert. With Fulham also hiring, I expect both men to be house hunting in London soon.

If you didn’t know, America loves the Premier League. Especially Big Money Amurica. Bournemouth’s Russian owner Maxim Demin has sold a 25% stake in the club to a Chicago-based private equity firm. I can’t wait for the big AFC Bournemouth v Chicago Fire friendly at the end of July!

3 Things We Learned From The Prem This Weekend – Nov. 24

If you headbutt a taller man, you won’t get sent off because you’re physically incapable of making head-to-head contact
Seriously, how did Jack Wilshere get away with that on Saturday?

Marouane Fellaini’s height has worked to his advantage many times in his career. That might have been the first time it worked against him.

Funny that Young Jack played so disciplined in his defensive midfield role for England last week but played it like a pissed off idiot with an Arsenal shirt on.

United had no business winning that match. In my last blog I wrote “there’s no way Arsenal lose this”. I’m ok with being wrong with my predictions. But I’m not ok watching good teams throw it away. The key word in that sentence is that Arsenal are simply a good team. Saturday proved just how far they still are from being great.

GoonerLand is turning on Arsene Wenger, again. If they underperform against Dorttmund on Wednesday, Wenger might just lose the board’s faith finally as well.

Crystal Palace would be a Top 4 side if they could play Liverpool every weekend
I wasn’t expecting much from Liverpool at Selhurst but like Brendan Rodgers, I was expecting more than that.

It started so well. But after half an hour Liverpool looked just as flat and uninspired as they have all season. And now here LFC are having lost four in a row for the first team in five years.

That was just Palace’s second win in 11 PL meetings with LFC, and separated by over 10yrs!

Paul Lambert is getting greedy
Villa have the worst goal scoring record in the Premier League. Up 1-0 on the best defensive team in the country, and you take off your World Cup calibre defensive midfielder Carlos Sanchez, to throw Darren Bent on in search of another goal? I don’t think he even touched the ball!

A win over the second place team in the table would have done wonders for Villa’s confidence and might have just turned the club back in the right direction. My bias aside, Villa are a decent side. Their problem over the last few years is that they’ve become incapable of playing well for a full 90 minutes.

NOTABLE MENTION
If Dwight Gayle could replicate a fraction of his success versus Liverpool against everybody else, he’d be a very rich man. A speedy and underrated but inconsistent striker, the former Dagenham & Redbridge frontman has bagged four goals in three matches against the Reds. Remarkable.

It’s interesting to see how Harry Kane helps Roberto Soldado. By creating space for the rare-firing Spaniard, Soldado had a couple of chances away to Hull on Sunday that he never would have had last season. If they both can get on the scoresheet consistently, Spurs will be alright.

Remember when Gaston Ramirez was good? It was such a coup for Southampton when they bought him from Bologna. But his game has only declined since moving to England. He wasn’t guilty of “violent conduct” on Sunday. But his reaction was pathetic. He is not the type of player (like Jack Wilshere) that will get the calls to go his way in those situations. I’d be surprised if he walks back into the side when his suspension is up.