Welcome to this week’s TWTWTW.
The League Cup was on the agenda this week. And Wednesday and Thursday night brought us the second legs of the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Trailing 9-0 from the previous meeting, Nigel Clough’s Burton were oddly unfancied to score the 10 goals required to advance into the final at Man City’s expense.
Knowing Pep Guardiola would play a second string side, I took advantage of this opportunity to stick a fiver on Burton achieving a miracle, and defeat the Champions of England 10-0. They lost 1-0. I’m joking of course. You’d have to be an absolute nutter to waste a fiver on that.
I put on a tenner.
Alvaro Morata’s nightmare at Chelsea looks set to end, at least for the time being, as his loan move to Atletico Madrid edges closer. With this obviously leaving Chelsea short on strikers, Gonzalo Higuain has completed his switch from Juventus until the end of the season. He has never played in a country with a Greggs, so I suppose one man’s nightmare is another man’s dream.
Higuain was not signed in time to make his debut for his new club against rivals Spurs in the second Carabao Cup semi-final, but he has already reached more cup finals in England than Spurs have in the last 10 years. The match proved to be a great watch, which obviously meant Eastenders had to be recorded. After finishing 2-1, the match skipped the gruelling extra half-an-hour of extra-time and went straight to penalties.
As I was watching Eric Dier and Lucas Moura miss their penalties to send Chelsea through, I began thinking, whatever happened to the ABBA format for penalty shootouts? Did I just imagine it? Or do I just have an unhealthy obsession with Abba’s music?
Anyway, it means another trophy-less year for Spurs and rightly more questions to be asked over Mauricio Pochettino’s appetite for cup competitions. Let’s face it, a penalty defeat with an injury-ravaged squad suffering from underinvestment is disgraceful for a club of this stature!
During a week where Crystal Palace came so close to picking up an unlikely point at Anfield in a match they lost 4-3, rumours began circulating that Wilfred Zaha was wanted by Borussia Dortmund. Currently top of the Bundesliga table, Zaha could do worse.
Although it’s probably just another case of an agent trying to earn their client more money. And to that I say, no butter no parsnips.
Scott McTominay, yes, THE Scott McTominay, has signed a new contract at Manchester United. The news will surely quell any worries from the United supporters that the soon-to-be-out-of-contract trio of De Gea, Rashford and Martial will refuse the club’s offer of a contract extension.
Why? Because he is the heir to Billy Bremner. And I for one, would follow in McTominay’s path.
I must admit, I wasn’t surprised to see Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santos get charged for running onto the pitch to celebrate Jota’s last-gasp winner over Leicester City. Finishing 4-3, it was a thrilling game that a winner at that stage of the game would have caused even the most apathetic football fan to display a bit of emotion.
Oh, I suppose the charge did take me by surprise after all.
Huddersfield have a new man at the helm. Nope, not the bloke from the crowd mistaken for Jan Siewert by Sky Sports that was watching Huddersfield’s 3-0 defeat by Man City. The new manager is in fact, the real Jan Siewert, who has left his post as Borussia Dortmund’s under 23s coach.
With his new side being 10 points from safety, I say good luck to him.
A final word on Emiliano Sala, the Cardiff City footballer who disappeared across the English channel along with pilot David Ibbotson. Needless to say, football pales in significance this week. However, I would just like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of both men.
At 28, Emiliano had just embarked on the biggest move of his career and was looking forward to playing in the Premier League for the Bluebirds. Likewise, us Cardiff fans exalted the Argentinian as our saviour and were eagerly awaiting the abundance of goals that a man of Sala’s goalscoring prowess would certainly have delivered.
Emiliano Sala may not have played for us. But the moment he signed that contract and held up that shirt, he became an eternal member of the Cardiff City family.
Once a Bluebird, always a Bluebird.
