FA CUP

What is there not to love about it? First the rich boys of ManU get beaten (albeit with a very dubious goal), then at half time we have Kidderminster 1 WHU 0 and Plymouth 1 Chelsea Russians 0. The scores may change but the romance continues.

Can we start a campaign for the final to be returned to 3pm on a Saturday?

TRANSFER DEADLINE

Everton confirm Frank Lampard – he was not bad at Chelsea so we will see how he goes. Nice children’s books. Everton have been going down the pan recently, but have some excellent players, and possibly a good signing in Danny van Der Beek. Aston Villa seem to have made some good signings. Newcastle are hoping their signings will save their bacon. Lots of other rumours – Mbappi to Real Madrid (confirmed on twitter) ? Then the other big potential signings – Haaland – I suspect someone has sorted out a summer transfer.

FOOTBALL

Benitez goes – Duncan Ferguson takes over. Interesting as Everton are/were sliding downwards.

Liverpool in contract discussions with Salah – will they sell hi to pay for Haaland? Or will ManC come up with £250 million, or will he be off to Real Madrid (Barca probably cannot afford him?), or PSG (pocket a couple of hundred million and move on).

FOOTBALL -Predictions

Despite games in hand for Spurs and ManU the top 4 look to have it sewn up this season. manC look the strongest with Liverpool second and then Chelsea. Will Arsenal keep their top 4 position? At the bottom it looks grim for Norwich and Newcastle (although maybe a half billion might change things?). Burnley re gritty, Watford have moments of inspiration, Leeds seem dogged by bad luck and injuries. Everton and Southampton are probably the fatal’ too good to go down’ whilst I suspect Brentford will take the plunge at the end of the season.

FOOTBALL

5 more postponements for the weekend. The FA will need to act soon before the disruption to the fixture list becomes unbalanced. Already we have seen no postponements for the top 3, whilst Spurs are already 3 games in arrears, Brentford and Burnley 2. The top clubs may have large enough squads, but with the African Nations Cup coming up there needs to be forward planning. It also needs to be set out clearly in advance to ensure fairness.

WOMEN

Why are women football teams always named women as a suffix? American sports use different suffix for different sports – we should do the same for womens’ sport.

FOOTBALL BLAGGING

The latest table shows the field bunching up. Harvey and Lola are catching up. With 16 points available for the winner each week the table can change rapidly.

playedpoints
adam14126
kate14125
aaron14120
mart14117
garaeth13111
maz14104
jamjam1499
andy1498
john 1496
archie1494
harvey991
lola978
di1067
gas632