BARCA OPENING A WORRY

Let’s start with Liverpool watch. They smashed Norwich. Not sure there was much doubt that was going to happen, but it was interesting listening to the ESPN commentators say the atmosphere around the stadium was very odd. Fans weren’t quite sure how they were supposed to be behaving. Their next game is Chelsea at home, not sure I hold out much hope for Poch, but it’ll be interesting to see how the performance looks.

I’d heard some rumblings on Friday that Fabio Vieira might be back in the mixer for the U21s, it wasn’t to be, apparently there’s been a minor set back, but he will partake in the next few weeks. It’s interesting that the player has dropped off the radar and we’ve barely noticed. If anyone looked like he needed a loan, it was him. He’s been out since November, there’s always the hope that he’ll come back and give us a ‘like a new signing’ bounce. There’s something there, he just struggles to pull it together consistently, and he’s not quite the end product king we’d hoped for. Regardless, it’ll be good to at least have an additional attacking option to draw on for the rest of the season.

Thomas Partey training pictures were on show again this weekend. The club is keen to show the world the Ghanaian is ready to put in a shift in the back half of the season. I would say I’m confident of him showing up in this Nottingham Forest squad, but let’s be honest, after Friday’s miss, and the player not being the most reliable, I might just sit this one out and suggest we all pray to the footballing gods for a healthy return. Does that work for you?

FA Cup weekend was pretty good to Arsenal. City and Liverpool stayed in the mixer which keeps stretched legs nice and, er, stretched.

Keeping with FA Cup. Marcus Rashford has found himself in hot water again, this time, he was caught in a nightclub in Belfast and he called in ill. What is going on at United? I don’t understand how a club culture can be so, successive managers can’t get hold of the United culture? What is so unique about United? Why can’t someone do a clean-up job? How can Rashford go from the darling of United, to a player approaching middle-age in footballing terms (27 this year) that is behaving like a baby? It really is a mystery. Their new CEO has got a job on his hands when he finally joins up.

Spicy managerial news kept on flowing this week, this time with the news that Barcelona’s Xavi is packing it in. He also claimed he lacked the energy. Getting savaged by the media and the fanbase that used to love you cannot be easy. I doubt he has another job lined up, but it does put another major job up for grabs this summer.

My guess:

United: Not sure they’ll renew EtH at this rate.

Liverpool: Klopp is out.

Barcelona: Xavi out.

Madrid: Carlo currently struggling in a race with Girona.

PSG: I have no idea, but usually, right?

The Barcelona one worries me a bit. Mikel Arteta hasn’t signed his new deal with the club. He trained at La Masia. We know Barcelona love to chat about ‘BARCA DNA.’ My hope is that he sees the troubles they’ve been having with money and is happy with what he has built at Arsenal. But who knows. We have to offer him good money, but more importantly, the sort of transfer budgets that will allow him to compete for top honors. If Arsenal are good on their side, hopefully whatever interest they fly his way will be waved away.

Arteta is one of the hottest coaches in world football at the moment, everyone wants their version of him, we have to deal with the reality of the market and having someone in the dugout who will attract offers from clubs he has a past with (City, PSG, Barca).

Ok, short post today. See you in the comments. x