Hope his good form carries through

Those long winter nights must fly by round your place.

More like mosquitos flying around my place. So a miserable night indeed, although not long by your standards.

And its going to 38C and humid tomorrow .

This time last year, Decaf I was in Franschhoek and Cape Town. Bugger the mossies - it was the power cuts that pissed me off. Are they still going on?

Yes indeed. Regular 'load shedding' plus in our town powerfailures all the time and water outages too. The country is in a sad state.

I'd forgotten about running around in a shower trying to get wet - and collecting your shower water afterwards. Also having to ask at Reception for a bath plug, even in the poshest hotels - and getting frowned at for asking!

Having said that, you're very lucky to live in such a stunning country. I know you're eastern cape but Cape Town is a fantastic city while Franschhoek and its wineries are just a brilliant place to be. I'll be back.

I was there a couple of weeks ago. Yes the load shedding is still going on.

Every time that I go there I worry that it may be the last. The whole set up there has every possibility of imploding.

A good crop of young players for sure. AMN hasn't played lately, so he's had no chance to impress. Can't help thinking he'd do a decent job instead of Bellerin though, who doesn't look to be properly over his injury yet.

The wheels coming of the Liverpool season. They look tired and lack the dynamism of earlier in the season.

But I thought they were the greatest team of all time.

‘The greatest team of all time’TM

Haven’t they got Atletico coming up again? I’ve always liked that Simeone, decent and fair chap. Paragon of virtue etc etc

You just had to bring me down didn’t you

For future reference these are the topics that will cause me to have the vapours so please kindly do not mention them:

1. How good we used to be. Because it reminds me of how rubbish we are now.

2. How rubbish we are now. Because it makes me realise how rubbish we are now.

3. How hard it’s going to be to not be as rubbish as we are now because the future is uncertain and scary and we might still be as rubbish as we are now for an indeterminate period of time.

So as long as you don’t mention the past the present or the future you have my blessing to talk about whatever you like. Honestly some people...

Liverpool is looking like they are having a week like we had in April in our invincible season. They will win the league but the CL is looking a bit tougher. They are losing games in Europe even though for most of the season they are visibly the best team in the world.

That week in April 2004 for us was heartbreaking. We really could have won the treble that season. The FA cup game against Man Utd was against a weak Man Utd team that was spiraling down in bad form. Wenger thowing Cygan at wing showed you how he panicked.

It was a week from hell fixture wise. Man Utd in the FA Cup, Chelsea over2 legs in he CL with Liverpool after.
The FA cup tie could have been drawn. Even won with a bit of luck. The CL was the most egregious. Up 2-1 agregate with 45 minutes to go. We reached from depths to beat Liverpool in the 2nd half being down 2-1 at the half but it could have been a glorious week. The CL was there for the taking. We could have beaten Porto.

Anyway, If Liverpool fails to win the CL in a strange way some will see their season as a downer despite winning the league for the first time in 30 years. They will win the league well before the season is over. I wonder if the media will still treat them? They will be overjoyed playing up the 30 years but it won't be the same possibly because they were chasing our records.

If City win the domestic double in cups, how much lustre will that take from Liverpool?

Exciting times ahead for us. Of the lot, I think Bellerin is going downhill (sadly). His fantastic pace is no longer there, and he is much more tentative with his forages. Hope AMN respond positively to Arteta's feedback. He has the size and ability to be just as good as Saka.

I believe a much more motivated AMN will do a much better job than Bellerin

Was he ever up there ; to go downhill .

My view is Bellerin never mastered his trade in either direction . Rubbish going forward and rubbish in defence .

Supposedly faster than Walcott ; plus earning us a draw at Chelsea his only claims to fame .

Should have sold him to Barcelona three seasons back when everyone thought he showed promise .

Man City v Arsenal in the premier league will take place next Wednesday. Premier League have hastily slotted in this game which was postponed because of the League Cup Final.
Not much consideration for the travelling Arsenal fans. Arsenal have offered to subsidise away travel

The away tickets haven’t gone on sale yet. Wonder when they will as there’s not much time for posting them out?

They're going to win the PL by a dozen or more points Gunfire. I wish Arsenal's wheels were coming off like that.

Yep just feels like we have a few years in the wilderness now.



https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/02/mikel-ar ... -12330870/

We are now reaping what has been sown for the last 5 years or more. If we don't get CL, and let's face it we're unlikely to, then getting £100 - £120m in for Aubameyang and Lacazette is a no brainer, especially given that we have Eddie, Martinelli and Balogun coming through. Get Saka signed up and try to get another centre half and centre mid in.

Basically rip it up and start again, as the song goes.

I have my doubts AMN has much of future at the club. If Sokratis is filling in at rb and AMN isn’t making squads, where does that leave him??

That’s the same night as Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid then.

And not forgetting Cédric Soares - another in a lengthening list of players who join us but don’t play.

The thing is if Saka doesn’t sign a new contract he’ll presumably be sold next summer as well. For me that will tell us everything about where the club is going under Kroenke. Downhill in a virtually vertical direction.

Is anyone still glad Red & White didn’t take us over rather than KSE? I accept we don’t know whether Usmanov would have been a good owner. But we sure as hell know what Stan is like as an owner and I’m struggling to see how Usmanov could have been any worse.

Indeed. One thing cashing in on 30 year olds in the last year of their contract. Quite another if we sell our best young prospect for the same reason. Hopefully Kroenke will eventually bugger off. Sooner rather than later would be nice.

Seems it is his attitude that needs changing. Arteta obliquely stressed that aspect of him. If he does get his head down, and work hard, he can be a good player.

Klopp won't talk to The Sun. He's "blocked" them. They were probably trolling

All things are relative. I think they will win the league but given the start they had pre Christmas I feel there might be a twinge of disappointment i they don't add another trophy.

At least Usmanov was a fan and cared about the club and football. Nothing positive about the Kronks

That signing looks totally bizarre. He divided opinion among saints fans and was signed on loan for 6 months for a large fee for a loan even though he was injured until late March ! I mean ffs

It looks entirely done By Edu as a favour to his own agent Kia Joorbachin who also has Soares as a client apparently. How much better an option is that guy instead of Niles or Sokratis on the basis it was obvious we are finishing mid table regardless.

I've got a feeling that this one's going to work out ok. We need depth at full back, with the type of game Arteta seems to want to play. Sok isn't a full back, and Ainsley while better suited to the position doesn't seem to want to play there and Arteta doesn't seem very impressed by that. Cédric is a Portuguese international full back. We'll sign him on a Bosman this summer and he'll be settled in and ready to go from the off next season. I can see the logic in the whole thing.

Sheffield Utd away in the cup

Looks like Spurs will win the CL this season because that’s all that is left in Jose’s trophy magic this season. Spurs out on pens.

Tottenham are out. Drew 1-1 but Norwich beat them in the penalty shootout.

So did they lose the game or...?

Joking, don’t know and don’t care. I felt sorry for all of them in the moment... it’s tough to watch someone miss under all the pressure and see them crumble under the realisation. It was the youngster Troy Parrot and the new signing Gedson - really rough. I wish it would have been Kane and Alli.

Not sure in the slightest we’ll get past Sheffield Utd

Eric Dier has just run up in to the stand and had an ‘altercation’ with a spurs fan. Video on twitter

Aways nice when Tottenham loses and especially out of a cup.

As an aside, do they have their own version of St. Totteringham day?