Laughed at Leeds getting a kicking. Then promptly went to Huddersfield (vs Fulham) and got a piece of the same 5-1 pie (except we were also at home). Oh well here comes another long season, but at least it wasn’t wet and cold.

Caher – he wasn’t picked to start. And when he came on he was useless. Being the main man at United suits him and he’s some bloody player.

No Kane in the Spurs squad

Who’d have thunk it?

He’ll be in a City shirt by next weekend then? I wonder how much Levy ratcheted up the asking price with the shenanigans of the last couple of weeks?

Just read on the BBC that Gerd Muller has passed, predated me a little but his records were phenomenal. 547 goals in 594 competitive games and 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany.

It is a good stadium they now have at spurs, it has to be said.

City looked leggy, still more to come I think.

First whole match I have watched this weekend, excellent refereeing, if the others have matched it looking forward to a much better season of refereeing, some players will have to adapt a little.

That was a pretty good performance by Spuds. Tanganga was superb.

Early days yet, but the weekend it’s been great to see that a lot of the ridiculous refereeing and VAR nonsense from last season seems to have stopped. Here’s hoping…

At the risk of starting another LOAF circlejerk with Chromolyolly

Early days yet, but the weekend it’s been great to see that a lot of the ridiculous refereeing and VAR nonsense from last season seems to have stopped. Here’s hoping…

the referees get the blame for the ‘ridiculous refereeing’ but so much is dictated to them in the way the governing bodies / PGMOL see things. I’m sure many times the refs also think the interpretions are ‘wrong’ (can an interpretation be wrong? it’s an opinion?) but they have to comply for consistency. When the authorities get their interpretations right, the referees get better overnight in the eyes of the public.

I’m not blaming the refs at all. It was the ridiculous interpretation of the rules they were made to enforce that was the problem last season. The handball rule, for example, was an utter farce that changed the results of plenty of games

I’m sure the refs are a lot happier this season, as are the rest of us. The games are definitely flowing more and not constantly stop/start, and that can only ever be a good thing

So City have lost their last three games without scoring? Champions League, Community Shield and today. Pep out!

An interesting change to the formats this year..

1st place puts you into last 16 of Europa.

2nd place, puts you in to a last 16 EL playoff with CL 3rd place. (an extra round before last 16)

3rd place, put you into a last 16 conference playoff with 2nd place conference. (an extra round before last 16)

Worth winning yer Europa or conference league group if possible.

For those doing the fantasy league, I’ve started listening to this podcast while doing my late night nappy changes and feeding. It’s with Jon Richardson and Matt Forde.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wb2RjYXN0Lmdsb2JhbC5jb20vc2hvdy81MDM0OTQ5L2VwaXNvZGVzL2ZlZWQ?ep=14

Champions League

Europa League

Stupidly named League

Lack of interest in Europe from our Englandshireists always bemuses me.

Set up is class this year. Just need a bit more wealth redistribution from the CL into the EL.

New 3rd trophy is interesting.

I want us to win it one year, would be class.

well I didn’t see that coming

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58359561

Bruno’s not going to like this! 20 less penalties for him to take this season.

Is the huge ‘welcome back to Manchester’ billboard up on the side of Victoria Mill yet? 😂

I suspect the City thing may well have been a wind-up

Binnerette number one is very very excited about his return

Wow. Good to see him back. If only the other guy had gone to Citeh…

Suspect the City story was a ploy by him and his agent to engineer the move to Utd.

Thats what I suspected as well.

Not sure he is going to have much of an impact on the pitch as a player this time around, but wouldn’t be surprised if he took over from Ole as manager in 12 months time.

I don’t know if it will be a positive, he’s going to expect game time but his style of play isn’t something I think Man U are working towards. He’s not going to be aroundes long term so will it help or hinder the development of the promising youngsters like Greenwood?

He’s an out and out centre forward now – he’ll play in the middle. Rashford, Greenwood and Sancho will rotate, two out of three, as wider forwards. Nice to have Cavani on the bench to chuck on! Martial too, if they’re really desperate.

Pressures really on Ole now. They couldn’t not sign him I guess.

He’ll not be playing against Norwich on a Monday night, but he’ll start champions league games.

so will it help or hinder the development of the promising youngsters like Greenwood?

I don’t know about stifling players like Greenwood, I think the opposite. If you watch the Ronnie documentary he’s the absolute consummate professional. That’s why he’s still going at 36. I reckon the young players will benefit enormously from having him and Cavani around. That’s a masterclass right there

I don’t suppose we need to ask who gets to wear that number shirt…

Kevin Keegan?

Ronnie could always get a big curly perm?

Agree Binners – great signing for the young lads, Greenwood especially who there’s been a few murmurs about re dedication and discipline. As a bit of an aside is it true Phil Jones refused to give up the number four shirt for Varane?!

Who?

Always seemed a weird fit for Pep/City

I don’t know if it will be a positive, he’s going to expect game time but his style of play isn’t something I think Man U are working towards.

Put good players on the pitch and hope they come up with something is very much Ole’s style so it’s a.good fit imo.

Who gets sacked ??? Pep Tuchel Ole … 100 mill 98 mill 148 mill (ish) ……. 3 teams …. all spent huge to win the Premier or The Champions League …. the respective owners might even expect both for that outlay !! 3 teams 2 competitions…doesn’t go!!!

Not strictly true.

One clubs owner will sack a manager even if they win the champions league, but not in the right style.

Another clubs owners want to be up there competing at the very top level, but are realists and are just happy for people to be talking about the lack of a recognised centre forward and not human rights abuses.

The other clubs owners couldn’t give a flying **** whether the team wins owt or not as long as shirt sales are strong in Malaysia and they’ve just signed a deal with a new donut partner in Wisconsin

So obviously it’s Tuchel who’s getting sacked first. That’s just inevitable. Actual results from all 3 teams will have little bearing on that. It’ll just be down to how soon Roman gets bored

Oh dear Arsenal, not a good start.

Not sure I quite agree but an interesting take:

Three years ago, Juventus paid £100m for a 33-year-old and gave him a basic salary of £26.6m a year, a deal that must now rank as one of the worst in history. Ronaldo was signed to take Juventus, who had lost in two Champions League finals in the previous four seasons, to European glory. Instead they lost in the quarter-final to Ajax, then in the last 16 to Lyon, then in the last 16 to Porto. Juve had won seven scudetti in a row before Ronaldo arrived. They won it again in their first two seasons with him, but finished fourth last year. He may have scored 81 league goals in three seasons, but Ronaldo made Juventus a worse football team.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/aug/28/cristiano-ronaldo-held-juventus-back-just-what-is-that-manchester-united-see-in-him

Definitely not hearing ‘Glazers out’ very often these days anyway 🙂

Arsenal really don’t like coming up to Manchester on the 28th of August, do they? Ten years to the day since this….

I wonder if City will let them off with 8? They certainly won’t be getting 2 back.

I bet on 5-0 at 26/1. When do I cash out? 2 minutes into the second half when Citeh get their fourth?

Hmmm. Maybe Arsenal will be better without Xhaka. So just the 6.

I think the feel good factor with Ronaldo around certainly won’t hurt, no Man U fan will be mad with him returning. I’m intrigued to see how he gets on, I’m not sure either way tbh. I kind of agree with the article (having only read the title of course), Juve didn’t need help in the league, Ronaldo was signed for the CL and he didn’t help at all. Perhaps none of this was directly his fault but the money should have gone elsewhere to strengthen the squad

I think Arsenal might be threatening Sheffield United’s record from last season.

I bet on 5-0 at 26/1

Don’t let off the gas City!

Excellent, £26 for Binners.

I cashed out for 18 quid when the 5th went in as I didn’t think Citeh were done.

I have a running thing with my Citeh mate that I put a quid bet on them winning 5-0 every game. It’s been a good bet so far this season. I had it last weekend at 15-1 too

Arsenal are a total shambles of a club. They’re bottom and thoroughly deserve to be so. The only challenge anyone made on a City player for the whole 90 minutes resulted in a straight red card. Absolutely pitiful!

At least it gets easier for Arsenal now, but it’ll be a long old season again with them sitting around mid-table most of it!

Easier? I’m not so sure about that. Surely everyone’s going to be fancying their chances of putting a few past that shambolic defence?

It’s not just the top teams. Brentford managed it easily enough.