Good morning, dear reader. I suspect you were expecting me to open up today with a bit of chat around Man City beating Wolves in the Premier League, were you not?
Well, we will get to that.
We need to have a talk about David Wagner and Huddersfield Town first of all.
I am probably alone in this, but I feel that it is a real shame that Wagner has left Huddersfield by (genuine) mutual consent.
Am I going soft? Possibly, but hear me out. Huddersfield were pretty much nothing other than a Championship club punching above their weight by even being in the Championship when Kloppo’s best mate got the job.
What he has achieved by getting Huddersfield into the Premier League and keeping them in the Premier League is a miracle, really.
Yes, they are pretty much guaranteed to go down this season due to their inability to stick the ball in the net. But this is a team who are predicted to go down with a squad that is not really good enough, hence the prediction.
Who else is going to keep them up? Nobody.
So why not persuade Wagner to stay knowing he is the best man to get you promoted again next season?
Now the Huddersfield fans could well be subjected to relegation AND Sam Allardyce or, worse, David Moyes.
Haven’t they suffered enough this season, already?
Hopefully, and there is no chance that they will, Huddersfield will be brave and appoint a young up-and-coming coach and be planning for the future.
The chances are it will be one of the old firefighters though. Meh.
Anyway, Man City beat Wolves 3-0 at the Etihad to move back to four points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool. Gabby Jesus got a brace, Willy Boly got a red and Conor Coady scored yet another Premier League OG for this matchday.
After the game, Peppy G said his team have to ‘forget Liverpool’ and that he ‘has no magicball’ when asked how many points he thinks City need to get to if they are to win the Premier League this season.
Wolves didn’t help themselves going down to ten men after just 20 minutes as Peppy G rotated his squad once more, reminding the world that Phil Foden is one of his ‘favourite players but he is not in my 18.’ Well, at least he likes you, Phil.
Should we be worried about Harry Kane’s ankles yet? The Tottenham captain could well be out for a month after picking up another ankle injury in Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United at Wembley. He’s going to miss the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg and is already a doubt for the visit of Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on February 13. This is not good news for Spurs, not good news at all. With Heung-min Son also off to the Asian Cup, Tottenham could be forced to actually start Fernando Llorente in a proper match.
Bournemouth are demanding that Chelsea give them £75m for their striker Callum Wilson. That sounds like quite a lot of money. I mean, are Bournemouth as a club even worth that?
West Ham are thought to be interested in signing yet another footballer who won’t be available every week, though at least this time it won’t be because he is injured all the time. It will be because he is suspended. The Hammers have offered Newcastle £10m for Jonjo Shelvey and, unsurprisingly, Newcastle have said no.
Claudio Ranieri has assessed the issues at Fulham and has given the board the name of the player that will turn their season around and lead them away from relegation. The name of that player is….. Ryan Babel. Oh, Claudio.
