Nottingham Forest have grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons, while the Premier League could be set for a flurry of managerial changes. Gary Lemke highlights a few talking points ahead of the weekend’s football.
BLADES DEFENCE CUT TO SHREDS
Not sure what works best here, the good news or bad news, for Sheffield United fans. The bad news is that the four goals they conceded against Man United in midweek took their total of goals against to 92, with four games to go. That broke the previous “record” of goals shipped in the English Premier League, by Derby, who leaked 89 in 2008/09, The good news? Both Sheffield United and Derby will be playing in the Championship next season, although a bit more bad news for the Blades is that Derby were relegated to League One at the end of last season.
They have bounced back though at the first attempt. More good news – well, you have to take the scraps from where they come – is that Derby only won one match in their last EPL campaign, whereas Sheffield United have won three of their 34.
Derby County have officially lost one of their 2007/08 records this evening. Bruno Fernandes’ 61st minute penalty was the 90th goal conceded by Sheffield United this campaign - beating The Rams’ record of 89. pic.twitter.com/xDU2mVzdEk
— Khai Smith (@KhaiSmith_) April 24, 2024
KEEP AN EYE ON THE MANAGERS
They say that a week is a long time in football. And so it has been when the picture around managerial comings and goings have changed almost daily. Arne Slot is certain to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. Xavi has backtracked on his decision to leave Barcelona. But, will Mauricio Pochettino keep his job at Chelsea? What’s happening with Erik ten Hag at Man United? Is Graham Potter taking over at Ajax? Who is going to replace David Moyes at West Ham? There’s an unwritten rule among coaches and managers that “you get hired to get fired”, and that’s often how things end – although the pain is masked by the comfort of a financial payout.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season is that only four managers have lost their jobs since the start of the campaign – Julen Lopetegui (technically dismissed by Wolves before the season started) and then Paul Heckingbottom (Sheff United), Steve Cooper (Nottingham Forest) and Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace). The law of averages suggests there’s going to be a whole lot more managerial coming soon!
CHEERS! GUINNESS LOOK TO JOIN EPL
I was today years old when hearing the news that the English Premier League has an official “beer partner”. I recall that Budweiser used to sponsor the FA Cup, but the EPL? It’s unlikely to cause much of a froth, but word this week has been that Guinness will replace Budweiser as their new beer partner in a £40m deal. Guinness a beer?
That’s a debate for another day. My biggest visual between Guinness and football is when England’s Paul Ince suffered a head injury in England’s draw in 1997 against Italy in Rome. Ince was bandaged up, leading to his teammate, Paul Gascoigne saying, “he looks like a pint of Guinness”.
Guinness vs Heineken for the Premier League and it’s Guinness that gets the deal…it’s only 40M pounds. pic.twitter.com/m2Ap9iCKSt
— Pankaj Kumar (@1wineenthusiast) April 24, 2024
FOREST OWNER ‘SHOWS UP’ THE EXPERTS
Social media is an increasing influence on society, and it has spawned an entirely new profession within journalism. However, Nottingham Forest’s owner Evangelos Marinakis pulled rank this week when he ordered a tweet (X?) to be published on the club’s official website, basically calling the VAR official a Luton fan who was biased in the Luton game against Forest. It was a rare deviation from the norm as the EPL clubs have huge numbers of social media employees running their accounts.
On Instagram alone, the 20 clubs have a combined following of 300 million. Arsenal have six full-time social media content creators, and West Ham have four. The irony is that the Forest post, “penned” by their owner, was the most viewed tweet in the club’s history.
"That's like a fan in a pub" 😮@carra23 says Nottingham Forest's response is an embarrassment 😳 pic.twitter.com/PeTiYNvzVW
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 21, 2024
ODDS CONFIRM LIVERPOOL’S CHALLENGE IS OVER
Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour has taken a turn for the worse. From a goodbye “quadruple” to the consolation of the Carabao Cup, with the midweek defeat to Everton seemingly ending Liverpool’s title aspirations for the current season. It’s virtually impossible to pluck any positives from the wreckage of the latest defeat and the bookmakers have the same message.
Ahead of this weekend’s round of EPL fixtures, Hollywoodbets have stretched out their odds to 28/1 on Liverpool winning the League. They’ve still got Man City as 5/10 favourites, with Arsenal at 16/10. One would imagine there might still be a lot of interest and betting activity from Gunners fans, given they have the extra point on the board, for now.
"They've overperformed" 🗣
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 24, 2024
@carra23 on what Liverpool have accomplished this season 👇 pic.twitter.com/0te504fbYG
EVERTON BREAK THEIR GOAL DROUGHT
South African sports fans will be familiar with the figure “438”, the total that they put up in beating Australia in their ODI in 2006. However, Everton also created their own “438” moment. When Jarrad Braithwaite put them 1-0 ahead in their derby win over Liverpool, it was the first time in 438 minutes that Everton had scored against their Merseyside neighbours in the League.
That drought dates back to 2021. Three of the previous four League games had all finished 2-0 to Liverpool, with one 0-0 draw. And even when Everton last scored, it came in a 4-1 defeat.
Every single emotion 💙
— Everton (@Everton) April 26, 2024
📷 @MMcanaulty pic.twitter.com/CjRk06PDiI
