Well, they do say even a broken watch is right twice a day.
And that phrase could be thrown in the direction of at least one item on today’s Super Six list.
In a week where Jose Mourinho could probably take the moral high-ground, Joe Hart had a training pitch named after him and England fans were shocked to hear that they haven’t been awarded the 2022 World Cup title just yet, there has been plenty to point the finger-of-fun at.
#1 Jose Mourinho
I said in yesterday’s column that I was starting a very slow u-turn on my feelings towards Jose. He is starting to grow on me a bit. It is a rare day when Mourinho is able to take the moral high ground but one of those days did occur at Stamford Bridge where Jose leapt out of his seat having been provoked by some chap called Ianni (Sarri’s assistant, apparently).
Now, before we get too sympathetic towards the United manager and call for some of that respect he keeps going on about, let’s remember Jose is the guy who poked Tito Vilanova in the eye when he was the manager of Real Madrid.
But, we were witness to another Mou Masterclass in the post-match chat with Sky, where he was very keen to make it clear that they’d all shaken hands it was sorted whilst very clearly putting down Ianni as the complete nobody he could well be.
#2 Maurizio Sarri
In the other corner was the Italian with the least amount of wardrobe style I have ever seen, yet he is possibly the most likeable Italian manager to have landed on these shores since Gianluca Vialli. And, he is clearly a little bit better than Vialli too.
Sarri handled the incident with dignity, claiming total responsibility for what happened and apologising for his assistant’s behaviour.
Can we honestly believe the same would have happened had it been the other way round? Of course not, Jose would have blamed the media. Or Pogba. Or Martial. Or the media.
#3 Vincent Kompany
It is not a rare sight to see Vincent wondering whether his match might be over with barely a minute on the clock. It might have been his calf. Or his knee. Or his back. All three are the normal reasons why Kompany (in fairness, used to) fail to complete 90 minutes for City. On Saturday though, he was looking likely to be heading to the dressing room once again after barely 60 seconds and not for an injury.
What has Aaron Lennon ever done to Vincent? Something quite mean, I am guessing, considering where Komps slammed all six studs leading to being wrongly shown a yellow card. Wrong in the sense that it was the most nailed on red of the day.
#4 The refereeing team at the Etihad
It is quite obvious that the refereeing team up at City did not have their best day out. As we have just mentioned, they missed a blatant red card in the first minute taking as back to the days where a big centre back would probably get the first tackle for free.
But, in the build-up to City’s second goal, they peaked.
Error number one: Sane took a blatant dive and should have been booked for doing so. Error number two: David Silva was technically offside when he took advantage of the fact that the game was being allowed to go on. Error number three: The ball was so far out when Silva crossed it was nearer Old Trafford than the Etihad.
Sean Dyche had good reason to have a moan.
#5 Graeme Souness
Credit to Souness for his ongoing commitment to slating Paul Pogba and, finally, Pogba actually deserved it. Souness was rubbing his hands with glee as United’s number six completely forgot to mark Rudiger from Chelsea’s corner. Hearing a 65-year-old pundit call a World Cup winner a ‘dope’ doesn’t happen enough for me.
#6 Arsene Wenger
What better way for Arsene to spend his 60th birthday than to watch Arsenal play some of their best football for many years the season after he retired. Still, at least he can say he signed Ozil and Pierre-Emerick.
