@alexlukasnathan
Do you feel the same way about football as you used to? Which players keep you excited? Is anyone built to compete with Liverpool? All these and plenty more existential questions asked and answered.
Pep pops as City are rocked at Anfield, but is the Catalan approaching the end of a cycle?
Arsenal can’t keep up with Leicester who are on their bicycle, Chelsea are riding high still, and Pochettino looks like he might cry.
All Chelsea & Ajax do is score in a 4-4 draw, Inter take the lead against Dortmund but can’t close the door, and against Slavia Prague, Barcelona are frighteningly poor.
McTominay and Aubameyang save their respective incompetent managers as fans of both clubs look at their teams and think “you aren’t the same person I fell in love with”.
Call him Quique Sanches Florist because Watford are as easy to walk through as a bunch of flowers, Spurs lose away from home again, this time at the King Power, Phil Jones calls for Solskjaer to sacked and gets an Ed Woodward glower, Aubameyang saves Emery like the Prince saving Repunzal from the tower, and Liverpool beat Chelsea in second gear to the extent that they may not have even needed a post game shower.
It’s no surprise that the Canaries pressed high and you could see the fear in Otamendi’s eyes as Buendia slipped it to Pukki to steal the prize, similarly Sokratis was out of practise as Arsenal deflated like a torn water mattress…
A wave of the magic Wanda and Icardi arrives in Paris, so too does a misused goalkeeper by the name of Keylor Navas, Mkhitaryan flies to Rome and promptly gets stuck in traffic, and Alexis Sanchez to Inter is unlikely to leave many defences in a panic.
Davinson Sanchez did alright given what he was up against, but he is not remotely a right-back. Kyle Walker-Peters is injured, but even if he wasn’t, he’s barely played any Premier League football. Juan Foyth is injured, but even if he wasn’t, he’s not a right back. Eric Dier is injured, but even if he wasn’t, he’s got the turning circle of a woolly mammoth and is not a right back.
Nicolas Pepe is like watching through binoculars as an army slowly sails towards your port town, brandishing their weapons. They can’t hurt you right now, but in a few days you know that they are going to f*** you up.
Arsenal go top, Manchester United flop, Liverpool beat the Alpine Klopp and Spurs put City’s winning run to a stop. Elsewhere Lampard’s finding it damn hard unlike Pukki who’s got four in two, see?
The Premier League is back, City and Liverpool went on the attack, they’ve made signings but it was Eriksen that Spurs lacked, Arsenal finally gave Chambers a crack, and don’t worry Chelsea fans, Lampard is safe from the sack. For now.
City win the league as Liverpool concede defeat in a title race that held Pep’s feet to the heat but ultimately couldn’t push him off his seat.
The Canadian Premier League begins as Pacific FC record the first win,
Van Dijk and Sterling get personal awards, United and Chelsea play out a draw,
North London crumbles, Liverpool win, and City retain first place by about an inch.
More importantly, however, the seats were comfortable and the leg room was decent. Not quite as good as a VIA train, not nearly as bad as Air Canada. Someone behind me was vlogging. A man two rows back shouted “send him!” at two minute intervals. It was unclear who was to be sent and where, but it wasn’t a terrible idea.
Dier is likeable. He’s positionally and tactically versatile. His attitude and teamwork are beyond reproach. He’s intelligent, has (sort of) spoken out against Brexit, and he’s one of very few English people players that speaks another language, in this case, Portuguese. These are all good reasons to want to have him around. But he needs less coddling.
In the FA Cup Wolves chomp United, Swansea give City a fright and
a great weekend for the Scousers as Everton beat Chelsea and Liverpool are back in with a shout it’s, all to play for in the Premier League.
Elsewhere for Messi against Betis it was three of quite literally the best, Real under Zidane pass their first test and Inter win the Milan derby as the race for third in Serie A sees no rest.
Big games across Europe as Manchester United react to the derby loss by falling back on their full backs, Barcelona lose at home for the first time since the Spanish civil war, Solari gets to stay at the party and Higuain gets Higwound up as Milan land in trouble.
Liverpool find Chelsea Hazardous but rescue a point through Sturridge at the Bridge, United go 3-5-2 but it provides no shelter from Anderson while Pogba joins Salah in the awkwardly early substitute club, there are routine wins for the North London sides and Manchester City continue to have more possession than the kid in the Exorcist.
Subscribe to the Coshcast on iTunes and find all episodes on Pippa. Ok, it’s the second week in a row that I don’t have a proper intro. I can only apologize. That said, you’ve had 6 seasons of rhymes, puns and raps so stop complaining, it was always going […]
Captain’s Pog’s in the captain’s log,
Sissoko plays but Spurs still please Poch.
Kante’s goal and Jorginho’s slot,
Liverpool rampant West Ham lost the plot,
Speaking of which Cech’s passing’s dross…
Positionally, however, it feels as if he can’t help but be sacrificed. If Ozil is fit, Mkhitaryan won’t play in his best position – as a #10. Due to the lack of other good wide options, his most-likely role will be on the right, where he’ll be expected to come inside and link up with Ozil and the striker, leaving space for Bellerin to overlap (and put in terrible crosses).
That a club with the stature, expectations and standards of Juventus were willing to replace their greatest ever goalkeeper with Wojciech Szczęsny should have been the subtlest of clues to Arsenal that they shouldn’t sell. When their options were a visibly declining Cech and a too-short-to-ever-be-good-enough Ospina, and one of Europe’s leading clubs wanted their man, Arsenal perhaps should have realized what they had. Instead, the Pole was sold to Turin for a pitiful 12m Euros.
“What a year!”, they’d say. “Slobodan Milosevic was tried, the Queen Mother died, Switzerland joined the UN and England won the World Cup. The people swam in golden rivers of lager and ‘Eng-er-land Naa Naa’ was the default ringtone on every phone.”
It’s the final day of the Premier League as City reach a century, Arsene departs eventually, Liverpool secure top four as it was meant to be, who would have predicted United winning sensibly, Spurs and Leicester lose their minds defensively, and Chelsea don’t care, ostensibly.
Arsenal finally pull their finger out as it’s Wenger out at the Emirates – we look back at the career of the Gandalf of football – the glory and the yawns, the glamour and the false dawns, and ask who is the right man for this brave new era, from Max Allegri to Patrick Vieira.
Elsewhere there’s FA Cup action to discuss as Mourinho mourinhos his team past Spurs who spurs themselves right in the spurs, and in things you never thought would happen, Giroud goes on a mazy dribble, and Napoli beat Juventus in Turin.
This week on the Coshcast, Manchester City get handed a title, ironically by the son of a wealthy aristocrat, Arsenal are like a 5 year old on their first play-date, struggling away from home, like L’oriel’s reputation Chelsea get saved by a beautiful Frenchman, and Liverpool reach 300 pops under Klopp.
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This week on the Coshcast, we use the international break to talk about anything other than the internationals. Instead, it’s a manager special, with a special guest. Enjoy.
This week on the Coshcast, Reds left red faced by Rash as United beat Liverpool, Spurs lose their Kane but manage to walk past Bournemouth anyway, Arsenal, City and Chelsea get routine wins and we find out what happened when West Ham decided to put Joe Hart back in goal.
Of course, in real life, any chance any of us had of becoming footballers ended when a 14 year-old Mohaned’s parents said “no” to a trial at Newcastle, due to the lack of education he’d receive if he were join them. Fair. Understandable. Incredibly frustrating.
This week on the Coshcast, much like on the altcoin exchanges it’s an absolute transfer frenzy.
Arsenal win but lose on social media, Lingard adds a Latin element to his dance squad and Chelsea Brighton their own mood after links with Andy Carroll. All this and we’re joined by the wonderful Laura Armstrong of the Toronto Star. Enjoy.
Yes ladies and gentleman like the plausible but threat of nuclear war, the Coshcast has returned. And what a week to do so!
He makes good runs, takes up good positions, but his teammates just don’t find him. Maybe he’s too short? They can’t see him? He must be terribly frustrated. Both by his size, and lack of service.
I know he plays for us now and I don’t want to spoil it but choosing Canada shouldn’t have been difficult for Junior f***ing Hoillet
Pep vs. José. Mourinho vs. Guardiola. Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. Manchester United vs. Manchester City. Speaking about two of the best working coaches in the world is to refer to a great chasm in the philosophy of football. Indeed, it could be said that the abyss that divides them pertains to a crucial question: Why do we play, watch and love football?
This week on the Coshcast, Manchester City slap Spurs to bits, Liverpool hit back at their critics, somewhere an old white man probably criticizes analytics, has Lukaku found his stride? Moyes has definitely hit his, and even old Roy is doing the business.
Like the Seattle Sounders’ feelings of insecurity and inferiority, the Coshcast is back.
Where else to start but with Toronto FC and the MLS Cup as we’re joined by former TFC employee Asif Hossain as we look back at the big game, bask in the warm glow of a drunk Jozy Altidore, and look at who may be shown the door this winter.
With Diego Costa’s imminent return to the Atletico side, it will be absolutely fascinating to see how the pair combine in a partnership that looks, on paper like it should work brilliantly. Costa the aggressive, sociopath bully ready to drive defenders bonkers, Griezmann the impish magician, darting around him into the spaces the opposition barely registered.
In the North London derby it was Mustafi and Alexis,
Chelsea make West Brom pay and it’ll be the last time Pulis collects his,
Pogba comes back and immediately connects with
Lukaku meanwhile De Bruyne is so good on his left, it’s almost as good as Salah who scored two and clicked ‘next’ while Moyes can’t save West Ham – who amongst us would have guessed?
It would not surprise anyone if I say that Marcelo Bielsa is by far one of the most enigmatic figures in the world of the beautiful game. After all, why do players, coaches, fans and even journalists speak so highly of a coach whose record boils down to three Argentine League titles and an Olympic gold medal with Argentina’s U-23 team?
The most outstanding game of the week past was the Copa Libertadores semi-final match between the two remaining Argentinean contenders, River Plate and Lanus. River Plate, arguably the favourites to win the continental tournament, had the upper hand for roughly two thirds of the game: not only had they carried forward a one-nil lead from the first game, but they had a two-nil lead in the second-leg…
It’s the Coshcast! We know you have a choice so thank you for flying with us. We start in the MLS playoffs as Toronto FC progress and Jozy Altidore is forced to take the Bulls by the horns.
Madison Solow is a Canadian midfielder playing in Italy for Chievo Verona. We interviewed her in the summer to find out how the move came about, and here Madison tells us more about little Verona, its four Serie A clubs and the upcoming local derby between her newly […]
This week on the Coshcast, we’re joined by a special guest.
It’s the Coshcast and this week we’re chatting about what happened in New England as Toronto FC lost their second game in a row, and old England where Crystal Palace lost their sixth.
In the Premier League City smash Liverpool as the curse of Oxlade Chamberlain continues and Sadio Mane creates a profile on Faceboot so that he can send his thoughts and prayers to Ederson. Elsewhere, Arsenal take a bite of the sour cherries, Mourinho is the only person in the world pining for Fellaini and for Swansea, we Renato ways to say that Sanches had a bad game.
It can surprise nobody that Alex Oxlade Chamberlain is choosing to leave Arsenal. His playing time has been hampered by injuries, his development stalled by mismanagement, his expectations messed with and his value to the club taken for granted until it was too late.
“I took some wrong turns and lost a lot of time, but fortunately I eventually got my game footage in front of the President at Fimauto Valpolicella here in Italy and she decided to take a chance on me.”
Ronald Koeman has stated that Ross Barkley will definitely leave Everton this summer. The Cosh discuss whether Barkley has made the right choice, where he may want to go, and what his realistic choices may be.
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