‘IT WAS THE BEER’, SAYS BARTON
Number of the week? 4. That’s how many pints former footballer turned-manager Joey Barton claims to have had when he first started climbing the hill that he seems determined to die on.
He initially took to social media to rail against women’s involvement in men’s football, specifically commentary and TV analysis. “I was playing snooker with the lads and I had a couple of pints and it came up as a topic as the Champions League was on and they were pontificating again,” Barton said this week.
“I’d had four pints and I made the tweet and that initial tweet was what made the furore, it had something like 10 million impressions or something like that. Clearly, I have touched on a topic.”
And yet, he hasn’t backed down from his initial tweet: “Women shouldn’t be talking with any kind of authority in the men’s game. Come on. Let’s be serious. It’s a completely different game.” What is it that they say? Never tweet when you’ve been drinking or when you’re angry? But even in the cold light of day Barton isn’t backing down.
GOALKEEPERS SUFFER ON BOXING DAY
Technically it wasn’t Boxing Day itself, with the latest round of Premier League fixtures spread over three days, However, the 39 goals that came from all 10 matches set a record for the Boxing Day round. The previous highest Premier League tally was 35, scored in 1999.
Obviously, the most famous reference was that crazy 26th December 1963, when 66 goals flew into the net. But this 2023 vintage shows what this column has been saying for months: if you’re a punter, go high on goals to build up a betting kitty.
Eight of the 10 games saw three goals or more and only three teams kept a clean sheet – Bournemouth who beat Fulham 3-0, Liverpool (2-0 vs Burnley) and West Ham, who upset Arsenal 2-0 at The Emirates. As the dust settled, both Aston Villa and Arsenal squandered chances to finish the round on top of the log, both teams losing.
Liverpool meanwhile trampled through the wreckage and lead by two points as we hit the halfway point of the season.
YOUNGSTERS DO THE JOB FOR CHELSEA
Chelsea’s season, or should that be recent seasons, have been such rollercoaster affairs that fans should take anti-nausea tablets before watching a game. Within a space of three days over the Boxing Day period they lost to Wolves 2-1 and beat Crystal Palace 2-1.
That left them 10th at halfway, scoring 31 goals and conceding 29. However, against Palace they fielded their youngest side in the club’s youngest Premier League-era side, an average age of 23 years 21 days.
That’s the youngest age average since Jose Mourinho sent out his Manchester United side in 2017 to also beat Palace.
However, the record for youngest average age in a starting XI belongs to Middlesbrough. On the final day of the 2005/06 season Steve McLaren fielded a team that averaged 20 years 181 days against Fulham. Boro lost 1-0.
‘YOU CAN’T WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS’
It was Liverpool legend Alan Hansen who famously said on the BBC’s Match Of The Day after Manchester United had lost 3-1 to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995/96 season: “I think they’ve got problems. I wouldn’t say they’ve got major problems. Obviously, three players have departed. The trick is always buy when you’re strong, so he needs to buy players. You can’t win anything with kids. You look at that line-up at Manchester United today and Aston Villa, at quarter-past two, when they get the teamsheet, it’s just going to give them a lift, and it’ll happen every time he plays the kids.” Hansen said.
The quote didn’t age well. United’s “kids”, who included David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt, went on to win the title that season and later secured the famous Treble in 1999. Hansen meanwhile has become infamous for the quote and now sees the funny side.
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