Give Ange a break.

Spurs fans have got to cut big Ange a bit of slack. I love watching his team play. Right now Spurs and Brentford are the teams to follow if you want the sort of excitement that Postecoglou talked about in his press conferences last week.

He’s right. Absolutely spot on. There are plenty of teams to watch that play sideways and backwards. Guardiola loves coming up against disciples that sit off City and let them play. Teams like Southampton. He’ll talk glowingly about coaches like Russell Martin because they slavishly follow his lead, despite the fact their own teams aren’t good enough to play like City.

Postecoglou doesn’t. Nor does Frank. Spurs’ fans weren’t happy watching their side drop points against Fulham and actually booed them off - but what do they want ffs?

Spurs were brilliant at City. I said - tongue in cheek - in my last blog, they’d started a trend that would never catch on - they passed the ball forward and ran forward. It’s so refreshing to see.

Brentford play like it as well - taking risks and occasionally paying a price for it - but the excitement that style of play generates is what we pay to see isn’t it?

Yes, Spurs can be frustrating at the same time as being entertaining, but they’re good value. Tottenham have tried everything during the PL years and nothing has worked so why not give Postecoglou backing until he runs out of steam?

Would Spurs fans prefer Mourinho? I’m an admirer, but they weren’t. Would they prefer to have Conte back? Nunes? No. Of course not.

My advice is give Postecoglou time and support. He’s the best chance I’ve seen of someone producing ‘push and run’ football at Spurs again - and maybe, just maybe he’ll win a trophy to go with it.

Liverpool were terrific again Sunday. They’re breaking the mould now as well.

I read a piece by Oliver Brown in the Telegraph Saturday suggesting Slot is Bob Paisley to Klopp’s Shankly. Strange Oli - I said exactly that to Andy on beINSPORTS a few weeks back. Were you holidaying in our region or do great minds think alike?

I had my doubts about Slot as regulars know, but I’m more and more impressed by what he’s doing.

Paisley inherited a good side from Shankly - and made it better. He ‘softened’ Liverpool. Shanks liked rock and roll football - crosses and long balls for Toshack and Keegan - whereas Paisley’s mantra was ‘get it - give it - go’. As long as the passing was crisp and smart he was happy. And boy did it bring success.

Slot’s Liverpool are taking on that mantle. The three in midfield played as well as I’ve seen them v City. In fact, they were all good - front to back.

Van Dijk was imperious. Salah a box of tricks. Liverpool can’t afford to lose either of them.

When Salah stroked that pen in - and it took some bollocks to step up - it didn’t win the title for Liverpool but I believe it ended City’s ambitions.

Guardiola has got trouble. Big trouble. His three in midfield were poor. Now we know why Gundogan wasn’t starting for Barca. He’s gone. Silva is toiling. And Lewis isn’t ever going to win you a game.

He can’t tackle. He doesn’t open teams up. He can’t head a ball nor does he get goals. He’s neat and tidy in a tippy tappy team, but he needs incisive players around him.

I said last week we’d know when Guardiola named his team at Anfield whether De Bruyne had a future at the club. It would appear he hasn’t.

If he did - surely he’d be starting games by now? That’s seven consecutive times he’s been on the bench. That - allied to the fact that Guardiola was talking publicly about De Bruyne knowing when the time would be right to leave, suggests he’s done as well. I read Guardiola's comments as an invitation to De Bruyne to leave now.

Thank goodness Arsenal have found a bit of form or Liverpool would be nailed on to win it. We’ve got to hope the Gunners keep winning if that’s what Liverpool are going to do. We need a race not a procession.

Chelsea won’t win it but they might just be good enough to have a say in who does. They swept Villa away almost without breaking sweat.

Emery says teams have worked Villa out. I agree. They’re too slow. They’re another team determined to try and pass the opposition to death. It’s hard to work out why when you think back to the way they swept Arsenal and City away in consecutive home games last season.

If Emery wants a side that play possession football he’s got to impress on his players that it’s got to be with a purpose. Pissing about with the ball in their own half isn’t going to win games. If I had Postecoglou’s number I’d ‘pass’ it on.

Fair play to Amorim. Although United didn’t have to work too hard to beat Everton, I sensed a totally different feeling around OT. Punters were smiling again.

Let’s hope the brains trust have got this one right. I still believe big money is going to be needed in the long run, but beating poor teams well is a good start.

And Everton are poor. It’s a worry. They’ve gone four games without scoring now. They’re a hard watch. There’s no sign of the proposed take-over and I fear a long, hard winter lies ahead at Goodison.

They’re only two points outside the drop zone again and if Wolves beat them this week there might just be another full blown crisis at the club. In recent seasons they’ve never been far away from the next one.

All smiles and hope - but then normal service was resumed United.

It’s not often that Manchester United fans have a better matchweek their City rivals - but they did yesterday.

What a start the new coach got off to - a goal up after only 80 seconds or so, but don’t mention the shanked cross that turned into a really good ball!

And just for a moment it looked as though Marcus Rashford had re-discovered his appetite for the game. He was even smiling.

I loved the way Amorim reacted to the goal. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was motionless. Class.

But - the freshness, the optimism, the joy all faded too quickly and it was clear that despite the system - and there’s nothing wrong with it - this United team is in terminal decline and Amorim has got a hell of a job on his hands.

But we knew that didn’t we? There’s no short term fix. He simply doesn’t have enough players who are good enough to wear the jersey.

Look at the starting line-up. How many of them would you keep? Three? Certainly no more. And where do you get rid of the rest? Who’s going to take Rashford and pay him £350,000 a week? Casemiro? Eriksen? Evans? De Light? Ugarte? Fernandes? Mount? Zirkzee? It’s scary.

Only surgery is going to sort the mess out and that will require Ratcliffe to find someone money - big money. Factor in wages, I reckon it’s going to need a billion - £500m on players at least - the rest in wages and agents fees.

Is Ratcliffe going to spend that kind of money? Is he hell. Don’t bet on United re-joining everybody else at the top table any time soon. I genuinely wish Amorim all the luck in the world. He seems like a really nice guy, but that won’t be enough.

What on earth is going on at City? I was right that Guardiola was planning to leave. He’s admitted it now. If I knew that, I’m quite certain his players did and I initially thought the speculation inside the club was having an unsettling effect on them, but after watching them torn apart by Spurs I’m not sure it’s as simple as that.

They were flat footed. Out of energy and ideas. In short - way off.

One or two of them might be in decline, but I don’t believe they won’t be at it again soon. Unlike United, there are too many good players on the books for the slump to last.

One question though. Has Guardiola tired of De Bruyne? He’s had him on the bench for the last five games now. Why isn’t he starting?

Could it be that Guardiola is trying to find a different way and that De Bruyne’s race is run?

As Roberto Martinez found out when De Bruyne blew the Belgian squad up before a ball was kicked at the last World Cup, he can be a difficult boy to manage. But you could never question his ability.

Spurs were fantastic. I say again - what are we to make of them? Hopeless one week - brilliant the next. But keep going Ange. Passing the ball forward and running forward - that will never catch on mind you!

Any truth in the rumour that Southampton’s players get the win bonus after the defeat to Liverpool? They certainly did more than the leaders to earn them the points. I watched with incredulity as the first goal went in. We all did. I tweeted ‘there are no words….’

It’s one thing having principles - it’s quite another being both naive and stupid. No wonder so many different managers are complimentary about Russell Martin. He’s Vincent Kompany in disguise. Perhaps he thinks he’ll get the Real Madrid job at the end of the season?

I’m sorry for Steve Cooper that it didn’t work out at Leicester. I think he’s one of the good guys, but he was always going to be up against it. Who made the decision to appoint him though? How come he gets away with what quickly turned into a hugely expensive error? If it was director of football Jon Rudkin shouldn’t he be shown the door as well?

Andy Madley certainly didn’t help Cooper - just as Chris Kavanagh and Michael Oliver eventually did for ten Hag with that ridiculous penalty award at West Ham.

Madley was hopeless at the King Power. Ndidi has got to go. That was an awful challenge. And why no pen before the one Leicester did get? If you didn’t think Fofana’s challenge on Mavididi was a pen why did Madley give a free-kick for an identical challenge less than 30 seconds later in the middle of the field?

When Madley did finally get one right - after a VAR intervention, why wasn’t Lavia sent off for a denial? It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t an intentional challenge.

Cooper was rightly furious about it all, but once again the real culprits walk away.

In general there was far too much inaccurate VAR intervention this weekend. They got involved when they didn’t need to and missed a whole lot more that should’ve got their attention. Lallana should’ve been sent off. And Norgaard’s dismissal at Everton was a joke. Thomas Frank was spot on with his post match comments.

The Celebration Police loved Gary O’Neil’s fist pumps and roar of delight at the end of Wolves’ game at Fulham. I know ‘it was only Fulham’ but O’Neil has been suffering recently and deserved his moment. Incidentally - Cunha won’t be at Molineux next season. He’s quality.

And finally. I want you to use your imagination. What do we think would’ve happened if the Ipswich Town fan who called out Roy Keane on Sunday (Neil Finbow) had walked from the terraces - calmly and with plenty of time to gather his thoughts - to Keane at his broadcast point and called him out - ranting about wanting a fight in the car park?

Yea. I think so too. He would’ve been arrested. I wonder what Scott Law (look him up) was thinking when he saw the incident?

Aren’t we trying to get people that watch football to behave a little better than they do?

If I’m wrong tell me. Or perhaps Sky are planning a new series we haven’t yet heard about - Footballers’ Fights? They’re half way there. It’ll make great family entertainment. Smashed it Roy.

Don’t sack Coote

Don’t sack David Coote. I’ll guarantee you didn’t expect that from me, but I’ll justify those four words in what follows.

Coote has been a fool. Tick. I’ve been there. But there isn’t anybody reading this who hasn’t, least of all of all a raft of newspaper reporters, who always have plenty to say when something like this happens, but haven’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to outlandish behaviour and opinions they’ve shared in a pub with their mates.

‘Ah, but we’re not refs’ they’ll argue. No. You’re not. You have more power. The power to bury people by shaping opinion, exactly as is happening now. Tick. I’ve been there.

There isn’t a reporter working that hasn’t left a press conference and said exactly what Coote did about Klopp - probably worse. And likely every other manager working.

Coote has been silly - that’s all. He should never ever have made the video that some sneaky weasel has leaked in order to cause him harm. Tick. I’ve been there too.

What he said wasn’t smart, but if the recording was made on the evening of his clash with Klopp (as I’ve read) no wonder he was all fired up. How often have we been told refs are only human?

We all have feelings. We all have likes and dislikes. Refs are no different.

We’ve known for years that big clubs get decisions. There’s bias for you right there.

We know that Graham Poll once said he never wanted to fall out with Fergie because if he did he wouldn’t get a game at Old Trafford for six months. I can only presume that he went soft on United as a result?

We know that Mike Dean has admitted to not sending his mate Antony Taylor to a VAR monitor because ‘I didn’t want to cause him more grief than he already had’. That after Taylor had missed Spurs’ Romero pull Cucurella’s hair. There’s a clear case of bias - intended or otherwise.

Jose Mourinho would court favours from refs by looking after his favourites. It happens for goodness sake. And in return I’m certain he’d get decisions that he might not have done. There’s always something a ref can turn away from - not see - half see - ignore.

And I’ll tell you this. I guarantee no ref would work again if you turned up with a mic at their regular get togethers.

It was inevitable that the conspiracy memes would surface. Some of the incidents Coote missed in Liverpool games are outrageous. But we knew this. We said so at the time.

That wasn’t as a result of bias - it’s because he isn’t a very good ref. And that’s not a revelation - his bosses clearly think that or he’d have been given bigger games during his six years in the PL.

The bigger reason for the anger about the compilations we’ve seen is because when those things happened the PGMOL hid behind a raft of excuses - as they always do - instead of admitting they were wrong. This happens week after week.

They send people like Dermot Gallacher to tv channels to try and justify poor decisions.

It’s embarrassing watching them - arguing one week that a ball hit ‘above the arm pit’ but the next it was ‘handball’. That a push ‘wasn’t strong enough’ but the next it was. That holding a shirt wasn’t an offence because a defender ‘let it go quickly’ (and nowhere in law does it state that) but the next week it’s a pen.

All this of course because Howard Webb wants to try to convince us that mistakes are less frequent. No they’re not - just admit it. Just say ‘yep, we got that wrong’. We could all move on then.

Instead the excuses - and often lies - come back to bite them as they have done with Coote. We’re not daft. Don’t treat us like fools. It’s not possible to achieve perfection in any area of football.

Returning to Coote’s indiscretion. It was in private. It was to ‘friends’. I’ve had people say to me ‘he didn’t spit on a 14-year-old girl in public’. That’s not relevant. That’s ‘whataboutery’. But I understand why that incident always comes up at times like these.

There should be a full and transparent investigation into what happened with Coote. And it must NOT be brushed under the carpet as happened with David Elleray. Somehow he still sits on the IFAB board.

Clearly Coote can’t ref again in the PL, but to destroy his life over this would be wrong. Right now he’s in a very dark place. Tick. I’ve been there.

I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t continue with his job in the EFL. I know I’ve argued that PL refs shouldn’t be demoted to the EFL when they’re in poor form, and I stand by that, but this is different.

Bobby Madley - who found himself at the centre of a storm a while back - put his life back together working in the EFL (after a spell abroad) and I don’t see any reason why Coote can’t.

If we genuinely believe in ‘well being and mental health’ we have no choice but to sanction Coote and then let him get on with his life. Anything else might lead to a devastating outcome. Tick. I’ve nearly been there.

All of the above of course depends on Coote’s problems not getting any worse. I’ve seen the video that some allege shows Coote sniffing substances. I think you’d struggle to get a conviction in a court of law. And be wary of edited videos. They never tell the whole story. Tick. Been there as well. Let’s wait for the outcome of the enquiry.

But his condition in the original clip has bothered me since I first saw it. Not for a minute am I suggesting he’s under the influence of illegal substances, but what this incident does prove is that refs now need to be randomly drugs tested. Right now they’re not. They must be going forward.

Doug wants to be King.

The first thing I’ve got to do this week is to apologise to all those viewers who watched me scratch my way through our Soccer Sunday show on BeINSPORTS.

I know I could probably do that on any given weekend, but I’m not referring to what I said - simply the fact that I struggled to say it!

I’ve no idea what happened, but it felt as though I’d been hit by a truck Saturday night and the problem got worse during the show. It’s not Covid - I do know that. I tested before I went to work. Anyway - my voice has completely gone now (Monday) much to the amusement of everybody around me. Silenced at last. 😂.

Except…..I can still type. So here we go.

The first thing to address is Mark Robins sacking. Before I say anything else - of course I respect the right of any owner or chair to make decisions about his/her football club.

I was very clear about that during Mike Ashley’s time at Newcastle. Geordies didn’t like many of the decisions Ashley made nor me for appearing to back him. I didn’t defend the decisions he was taking - only his right to make them.

And the same applies to Doug King. He can do as he likes at Coventry. But this time I am happy to pass judgement on his decision to sack Robins. He’s fucked up. What on earth possessed him to make that call?

I don’t want to bore you all by talking about Coventry for too long, but for the few that care let me try and explain the decision.

I believe King has wanted Robins out for a while. Ah bollocks - I’ll go further. I have it on good authority that he has.
He’s been waiting for a chance to pull the trigger for weeks.

Why? Well one reason is that I don’t think he liked the attention Mark got. When a chair has a massive ego decisions are often made to satisfy it. I found myself exchanging messages with a former owner last week- who now earns his money in the media - and I asked him if he recognised that kind of behaviour? He didn’t reply. 😂.

King was at the heart of a terrible summer of transfer business at Coventry. He believes he knows best and wants a say on everything. Again - that’s his prerogative, but when you don’t know what you’re talking about that brings real pressure. And mistakes are made.

He landed Robins with an unbalanced squad - desperate for a 6 and a left full-back - let our best player walk out of the club - lost another on deadline day - signed a bang average goalkeeper who isn’t good enough - paid a small fortune for a League One player - refused to take good loan players - and over time stripped the dressing room bare of men. Warriors.

Is it any wonder we made a bad start? But I didn’t care. Mark Robins saved our club. He took us to Wembley four times. He delivered two promotions - whilst playing home games at Northampton and Birmingham. He is quite simply the best manager we’ve ever had.

And I say that as someone old enough to remember watching Coventry play under Jimmy Hill. Robins’ achievements eclipsed what Jim did.

Robins could’ve taken us down for all I cared. He had so much credit in the bank. He was the best manager in the Championship. A class act. And he’ll turn up somewhere else with a proper job. I wish him nothing but success.

As for King - having ripped Robins from those magnificent fans that took Wembley over as recently as last May - he’d better deliver something special now. Only promotion to the PL will do to make up for this.

As I write King hasn’t delivered a replacement for Robins. I’d go for Rob Edwards and Matt Bloomfield is clearly doing something right at Wycombe - but why replace the best Championship manager with one of the best in League One? A novice.

Only because King could control perogatvie. He couldn’t entirely control Robins and he didn’t like the resistance that Robins often put up.

I’ve seen Frank Lampard’s name mentioned. I can definitely see why King would do that. He’d love to surround himself with some of Frank’s celebrity mates.

King enjoyed his day out at Wembley last May and all the media fuss that went with it. I had a good day too (and we won) but the energy that went into it probably cost us three - maybe six points - and therefore a play-off place. That’s what we should’ve concentrated on - but King told Robins he wanted a cup run.

Whoever gets the job I wish them well, but they’ll have remember one thing - to let Doug be King.

I didn’t enjoy the game at The Bridge. It appeared to me I was watching two teams more concerned about not losing - rather than trying to win. That appears to be Arsenal’s default position. They won’t win the title like that.

Chelsea have clearly made progress and could be good enough for a top four finish.

So might Brighton. It’s brilliant to see them going so well. I didn’t expect it. In fact, I was quite fearful about them at the start of the season, but they’ve been a revelation. Good for them.

I keep reading City’s injury crisis is tearing them apart. Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. How can a team that’s had the best part of £2b spent on it be short of players? They’re not.

But what’s wrong is a puzzle. Might it be the speculation about Guardiola’s future is affecting them?

If he’s staying why can’t he sign a contract now? What’s he holding out for? More money? I doubt it. More control? I doubt that as well. So what’s the issue?

He’s leaving isn’t he? That’s the only conclusion to be drawn. If he’s not why can’t he sign an extension now? Or at least confirm that he’ll be doing so?

Arsenal look out of ammo.

Well that’s a bit of a turn up. No-one saw this one coming. Edu is leaving.

That’s all we know right now but you can be sure more of the details will emerge over the next 24 hours or so.

It’s funny - I’m not suggesting for a minute that I had any idea, but I was going to ask the question ‘what’s really wrong with Arsenal’ today.

I intended to make the argument their slump couldn’t simply be because Odegaard is missing. A club the size of Arsenal should be able to absorb the loss of one player - no matter how good he is. That’s why I don’t buy into the argument that Rodri is irreplaceable at City.

Arteta has looked out of sorts recently. Having said that - I’m not convinced that knowing Edu’s plans (Arteta will definitely have had knowledge) should’ve affected things in any way at all on the pitch. It’s just all a bit odd. But there’s definitely something not right.

They were way off the pace you expect from a team with title ambitions at Newcastle. The Toon didn’t really have to work that hard to beat them. Arsenal had just one shot on target over the 90 mins - nothing in the second half when they were trailing. That’s poor. Really poor. They were completely out of ammo.

As Arsenal appear to be running in mud, Liverpool impress more and more. Brighton were terrific most of the afternoon and might have got out of Anfield with a win but for two minutes and two seconds of madness.

That’s how long it took Liverpool to overturn Brighton’s lead and they weren’t really ever in trouble after that.

I keep saying there will be sterner tests to come for Liverpool - and they keep pushing back on that brushing aside every challenge they’ve faced.

Mo Salah’s latest cryptic tweet has caused a bit of a stir, which is exactly what he wanted of course.

Two seasons back he was definitely leaving the club - that was until Liverpool had a dramatic of mind  - sold Mane and decided to make Salah the highest paid player at the club.

The article in Saturday’s Mail, based on Simon Hughes’ new book Chasing Salah, must have made interesting reading for some. It confirmed what I’d been saying during the period the two of them played together. Do you remember? Liverpool fans used to hammer me for it. They didn’t like each other.

My information now is that Salah wants to stay, but it’ll take a 3-year deal to settle him down.

Broken City? Seriously? Broken? I’ve read one headline after another like that all weekend. Broken? They started 11 internationals at Bournemouth.

Amongst their subs were de Bruyne, Lewis, Doku and Savinho. Guardiola chose to make only two changes during the game. Broken? No. Nowhere near broken and to suggest that undermines what a fantastic performance Bournemouth put in.

And more credit where it’s due - well played Forest. Well played Chris Wood - again. What a season he’s having. Forest won’t finish anywhere near the position they hold now, but for the time being they should enjoy what they’re doing.

Leicester keep plugging away. I’ve always thought they might just have enough, but there’s clearly trouble at Wolves and West Ham.

West Ham’s problems are all of their own making and I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for them. It’ll get worse there before it gets better. They’re certainly going in another direction since forcing David Moyes out. It’s just not the one they wanted to go in. Frank Lampard?

Wolves is a difficult one for me. I like Gary O’Neill and I thought they might have turned a corner by now - but it’s not happening. 

Palace stumble on. One minute you think they’ve sorted things out then they slip up again. Gareth Safegate?

And of course we can’t finish without a word on United. Why has it taken so long for every pundit working to wake up and admit how bad they are? We know why don’t we? Because doubtless they were all asked to go easy on ten Toast - just as they were on the subject of Sancho last season. And the PGMOL this.

This is how bad it is at United. It’s going to take £1b to get the team right. They are way off. There’s little or nothing for Amorim to work with, although I must say I’m looking forward to seeing his ‘pressing pentagon’ in action. Perhaps the brains trust should re-sign ten Toast’s ‘pressing monster’ Nout Workhorse to help him with that?

At last….but why did it take so long? The mess is on you Sunny Jim.

When everybody is talking about the same thing my natural instinct is to go in another direction, but on this occasion that’s impossible.

At last. But what on earth took United so long? What a shambles of a club they are right now.

Ten Hag should’ve been sacked in the summer. He wasn’t a United manager when he was appointed. He wasn’t a United manager when he was in post. He was never going to be a United manager.

He was weak. He cut a pathetic figure week after week on that touchline. He was clueless. All he had to offer in both pre and post match conferences was ‘we schtick together. We schtick to the plan’. Nonsense. In recent weeks I don’t think even he was convinced he was the right man for the job.

If he’d had any pride or dignity he’d have walked out in the summer when he found out Ratcliffe and his brains trust were hawking his job all round Europe. In the end he was their fourth choice for his own job.

It was typical of Ratcliffe’s penny pinching that ten Hag was kept on. The bottom line is Ratcliffe wouldn’t pay the going rate for a top coach. So they triggered an extra year in ten Hag’s deal and then tried to persuade us he’d been handed a new contract. That lie quickly back-fired.

Instead of firing ten Hag they sacked his back room team and started appointing people they’d chosen to put round him. Is anyone even a teeny bit surprised van Nistelrooy has been given the job?

It was the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana who famously warned that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.

That strategy never works. Never, ever works. It didn’t go too well for Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers did it? There are so many examples of failed tinkering down the years - keeping the coach but changing everything around him.

So that makes another famous philosopher, Aldous Huxley correct - the English writer said ‘the most important thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history’.

Ratcliffe’s bungling last summer was of monumental proportions. As if United didn’t have enough bad players at the club he somehow sanctioned the purchase of de Light. Is he really an upgrade on Maguire? What does Zirkzee do? Who else was in for him?

If Ugarte was a player he would never have been allowed to leave Paris. I know those guys well. They’re not stupid. Even ten Hag wouldn’t play him.

Yoro? Who knows. Maybe. But he wasn’t going to change anything in the first X1 at his tender age.

Sekoun Kone? I’ve no idea - but again, he wasn’t one that was going to fix things immediately.

United are a mess and Ratcliffe and his brains trust have done nothing to suggest they know how to fix it. Of course - as soon as Ratcliffe started feeling some heat he was doing to act and that’s why ten Hag has gone now.

Ask yourself this. Which top player would sign for United right now? The answer is no-one. Even if they could persuade one - where would the money come from to buy him?

Go right through ten Hag’s signings - how many of them would they get money back for? Antony? Hojlund? Perhaps they’d get half of what they paid for him. Onana? Maybe, but I’m not convinced. He proved to be what I said from the outset - a liability and nowhere near as good as de Gea.

How did United end up buying so many duds? The list is almost endless. It’s actually really scary. Of course they’re not all down to Ratcliffe and co, but they only a made things worse in the summer.

Somewhere in America the Glazers must be sitting pissing themselves. They no longer get mentioned. There’s no blame on their shoulders anymore. They’re still taking huge chunks of money out of the club in dividends - and that’s after banking £1.25 billion - and they still own three quarters of it.

What actually did Ratcliffe buy? What was he thinking? From the Glazers point of view it wasn’t just the sale of the century - it was the sale of this and any other century you care to mention. Madness.

I wait with bated breath the next act from beneath Ratcliffe’s big top circus tent. Fred Karno would be proud to have put on a farce like the one we‘re witnessing now.

On the field - top marks to Arsenal for standing firm in serious adversity. Arteta played it exactly right hanging onto what could yet be a very valuable point.

Everton battled well for a point as well. Sean Dyche should be applauded for changing things around and getting something from the game v Fulham.

Of course Guardiola was going to applaud Russell Martin and Saints. Any opposition team rolling over and playing as Guardiola wants will get his seal of approval.

There maybe trouble ahead for big Ange. I really can’t work Spurs out.

Ipswich were unlucky at Brentford - who I really like watching. Frank has got them playing some really exciting football. They go from back to front so quickly - with no frills - and it’s refreshing to watch.

It was another really poor weekend for our officials - but how many times do I say this? As bad as it was - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like the pen West Ham got. Michael Oliver should be stood down for a few weeks. He indulged himself and made a complete fool of a colleague.

David Coote did not make a ‘clear and obvious’ error. Oliver should never have got involved in the process. You could see as Coote turned away from the monitor he knew he was doing the wrong thing. So is that three VAR errors now Howard? 😂.

And after more lengthy delays - some three minutes long - to call ridiculously tight off-side decisions - can I ask again where our automated technology is? It’s long overdue now and there still no sign of it. Why not?

Turns out it wasn’t much of a test for Liverpool.

It was billed as Liverpool’s first big test of the season. Turns out it wasn’t.

I thought Chelsea were passive and largely ineffective and that description would sum up Cole Palmer’s contribution as well. I’m a massive Palmer fan, but he had a day to forget - just four shots - none on target and he created only one chance for his team mates. In total, Chelsea only had two shots on target. Forest provided a much stiffer test - and Liverpool failed that one.

But on this occasion fair play to Liverpool - they beat what was in front of them, despite a series of bizarre decisions from the ref.

My first question about his appointment would be why? This was only his second game of the season. It was too big for him. He was way off the pace. Why give him such a big game when he hasn’t been reffing?

Chelsea should’ve had a pen before Brooks eventually gave Liverpool one. Sancho’s foot was clearly trodden on Kop end. Pen. Why was there no review?

Salah tried to con one out of Brooks before Curtis Jones did. You could hear Brooks’ mind working ‘damn, I’ve just turned one down l, I’ll have to give this’. Yes, there was contact but it was no more or less than there had been on Sancho. It certainly wasn’t enough to send Jones tumbling.

I thought the next one might have been. Ok, Sanchez got something on the ball, but it continued towards goal and had Jones not been brought down he might easily have scored.

Incidentally - Chelsea won’t win anything with Sanchez in goal. He’s not good enough.

I can understand why Arsenal fans were furious that Chelsea’s Tosin wasn’t sent-off in a replica of the incident that saw Saliba dismissed the previous day. Perhaps the difference was that Howard Webb wasn’t at the game?

The PGMOL tell us that Webb had nothing to do with Saliba’s sending off so we must believe them. But who was he texting? Was he ordering pizza? A car home? Dinner somewhere? We’ll never know. What I do know is that it wasn’t a good look to get caught on the phone at that moment.

Back to the football - I don’t believe either incident was a red card offence. I’ve no idea why VAR got involved at Bournemouth. It was a subjective call therefore the decision should’ve been the on-field refs. Yellow was the correct card. They should’ve stayed with it.

There was a lot of fuss about City’s winner as well. The first thing to say here is that Silva wasn’t offside, but that wasn’t the offence that should’ve been looked at. Silva clearly impedes Sa’s ability to get to the ball. The series of pictures below clearly show Sa complaining about Silva blocking him on his line at the previous corner. Silva did. The video is better but I’m not allowed to post that.

This is something that needs to be looked at. Arsenal do it all the time as well. Officials have got to be better at spotting these things. 

I’ve got sympathy with Gary O’Neil’s view that there is unconscious bias when contentious calls are made. We’re always told ‘refs are human’. So it follows doesn’t it? They’re bound to be intimidated by big names.

Two other things from that game. There’s a glaring foul as Wolves build towards City’s goal in the 93rd minute. Nunes fouls Guedes - tackles him from behind - catches him and brings him down. If Wolves get that free-kick, they keep the ball and get a point. Chris Kavanagh waves play on. It was a shocking decision.

O’Neil pointed out post-match that Wolves had a goal ruled out in a game v West Ham last season that was very like Stones’. He right. They did. Where is the consistency?

There isn’t any - and it drives us all mad. For Webb to claim that VAR has made only two wrong calls this season is laughable. The guy should be sacked if he really thinks that.

What was he doing appearing on Gary Neville’s Overlap podcast? Why? I know they pay guests well but surely he didn’t take a fee? Isn’t his own programme Sorry! the place to be expressing this thoughts during another grilling from Michael Owen?

So according to reports in The Telegraph MbS controlled the Newcastle take-over. No. I don’t believe it. They go further suggesting whats app messages allege British govt involvement as well. No. This can’t be true. I distinctly remember Tracey Crouch, in her review on football governance, stating the game needed an independent administrator and casting doubt on the Newcastle deal going through if one had been in place.

Independent? Perhaps she meant govt regulator? Which is really what we’ve been talking about all along. And the Newcastle deal was always going to happen because the govt at the time wanted it to.

Did you see the piece with Trevor Birch in the Times? Birch is chief exec of the EFL - a good man. I was delighted to read the EFL have no plans to introduce VAR any time soon because Birch and his colleagues believe his league’s emphasis is on ‘authentic’ football. Good decision Trevor. The EFL is exactly that. Don’t ruin it.

I’m delighted with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel. England need a ‘winner’ in charge and Tuchel fits the bill. For the first time since 1965 I now genuinely believe England might just win the World Cup. That’s what Alf Ramsey promised a year before he did it - and Tuchel is making the same noises. Good luck to him.

Never mind all this racist nonsense that the England team should have an English manager. Carsley is Irish for goodness sake - which is why he didn’t sing the national anthem in Dublin.

And to those that claim international football isn’t that if national teams don’t have one of their own in charge I’d say this. Tuchel becomes the 47th coach working for a ‘foreign’ team. And weren’t you all screaming for Guardiola to get it? He wants Brazil. They want Ancellottti.

If you really do want an English leader why not Emma Hayes? She’s the most successful English coach working right now. Why not? Or are you all the misogynistic sexist you accuse me of being?

I don’t care too much that Eddie Howe wasn't interviewed, but I would like to know which BAME candidate was - in line with FA policy.

Under the heading RECRUITMENT the FA say this in their guidelines:

‘Shortlists for interview will have at least one male and one female, Black, Asian or of mixed heritage candidate’. So….? Names please Mr Bullingham.

Of course it’s your decision Jim.

I’m not kidding. I can’t recall watching a worse PL game than Villa v United.
It was awful. Coaches are going to have the game done away with if they keep serving up rubbish like we saw at Villa Park.

Newcastle/City was bad enough for 45 minutes the week before, but the pain went on from start to finish at Villa. At one point I thought I was watching walking football. Dreary doesn’t cover it.

How many times did Martinez and Onana stand outside their box with a foot on the ball? I know the idea is to invite the press and then work the ball out - but no-one ever pressed.

Clearly Villa were feeling the effects of their big night against Bayern, but that’s not really an excuse. If they want to mix it with the big boys they’ve got to do better, especially when there’s nothing to beat in front of you.

United were scared stiff. Putrid again. Ten Hag has excelled beating his own record for their worst ever start. How bad has it got to get before Ratcliffe and the brains trust act?

Sunny Jim told the BBC’s Dan Roan Friday it wasn’t his call whether ten Hag stays or goes. That doesn’t wash Jim. Of course it’s your call.

There’s so much I could say about the shambles at OT, but I’m so tired of it I can’t bring myself to go there again.

It’s beginning to look as though Sunny Jim’s has done it again though. His foray into football hasn't worked out at all well so far. If you want to know what I’m referring to watch this. It’s long but a really well researched piece by the award winning journalist Alfie Potts Harmet. Sunny Jim doesn’t come out of it too well.

We Need To Talk About Sir Jim Ratcliffe

What’s going on at Spurs? Not only did they make complete fools of themselves at Brighton - they did me as well. I really enjoyed watching them in the first 45 at the Amex and said so on beINSPORTS. They were good. And on the back of the win at OT I found myself thinking they might just have got it right at long last.

But oh no. The wheels came off again second-half in a very Spursy way. What is it about them? No wonder big Ange couldn’t take his eyes off the floor when he spoke afterwards! At best - they might win another cup one day, but it looks as though Fergie was right all those years ago - they’ll never win the title again.

Having said that - let’s add that Brighton were terrific as they turned the game on its head. Good luck to them. Regulars know I’ve got a really soft spot for Brighton. Roberto who?

Chelsea/Forest was really good as well. Both teams will hear from the FA as a result of the fight and Nicolas Jackson will be on a charge of his own. How funny was it watching Cole Palmer take a front row seat as manbags were being thrown about? He’s class.

The game was good though. Forest deserved something, despite Chelsea creating 38 attempts at goal. Based on Sunday’s game it would take Villa and United an entire season to make that many chances.

Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game v Saints. A year ago we were all scratching our heads wondering why Arsenal had paid £65m for him. I’m sure I’d have had something to say, but fair play to Mikel Arteta. Havertz is now undroppable.

And while we’re on this subject - it looks as though the Arsenal boss was right about changing his keeper as well (hands up) but it was really good to see Aaron Ramsdale get such a good reception on his return to the club.

As Bayern Leverkusen fail to follow up on last season I wonder if Xabi Alonso is having any regrets about bottling a return to Anfield?

Have you seen the top of League One? Never mind Birmingham and Wrexham - how about Mansfield in third place? Nigel Clough is at it again. It’s probably too late for Clough jnr to get another crack at a big club, and that’s a shame. Like Cole Palmer, Clough is a class act. Keep it going Nige.

In his column in the Telegraph today the former head of the PGMOL - Keith Hackett - writes that we saw ‘a number of strange decisions this weekend’. That’s an understatement Keith.

Rashford should’ve gone for two yellows at Villa. He was petulant when he lashed out at Leon Bailey and deserved a second yellow.

Arsenal should’ve had a pen first-half when Havertz was wrestled to the ground v Saints. Palace should’ve had one v Liverpool when van Dijk pulled Guehi back. No foul said the PGMOL’s Matchday centre, claiming van Dijk let go quickly. Really? How come Eriksson was booked for an exact same offence in the opening five minutes at Villa then?

Arsenal’s second should’ve been disallowed. Merino is off-side and clearly affecting play as he goes to head the ball. It’s baffling as to how that was given. Bournemouth had one disallowed that was virtually identical.
And Leicester should’ve had a pen for handball when Zabarnyi handled.

It was a shambles of a weekend, but I guess Howard Webb will tell us his guys have only made one mistake all season on the next episode of Sorry! Nothing to see here…..

Hapless. And hopeless. But it’s not all his fault.

This is going to surprise a few people.
I actually felt a little bit sorry for ten Hag yesterday (Sunday).

What must he have been thinking as he stood on that OT touchline, in the pouring Manchester rain, watching the team he assembled for £600m being torn to shreds by Spurs?

‘It’s United lads….’ That’s all big Ange will have to say when they meet again in February.

Ten Hag was lost. He didn’t have a clue what to do. Hapless and hopeless. He wasn’t a Utd manager when they appointed him. He isn’t a Utd manager today. He never will be.

He’s insipid. Weak. Full of excuses. There are so many stats that condemn him, but here’s the most damning of all. In their last 15 league games Utd have picked up 19 points. Everton have collected 21.

So why did I feel a little bit sorry for him? Well - because it’s not all his fault. Granted - if he’d had any pride or dignity he’d have walked in the summer when Ratcliffe was hawking his job around Europe. In the end he was 4th choice to keep it. How degrading.

So this is all on Ratcliffe and his brains trust now. Of course they should’ve sacked ten in the summer, but the man who’s cancelled staff lunchboxes, stopped the supply of free matchday programmes for some, demands people use Uber’s, sacked the kit manager of some 27 years service and the media guru, didn’t want to pay the going rate for a top coach. What’s that old saying about paying peanuts?

Ratcliffe, Brailsford (what was in the Jiffy bag Dave?) Ashworth and Wilcox also wanted someone who’d do as he was told. Thomas Tuchel decided he could afford to say ‘no’.

So here we are. United are 12th, having scored fewer goals at OT than either Liverpool or Spurs - facing a tricky European tie this week and almost inevitable defeat at Villa Park. Surely they’ll bring the curtain down on this sorry saga then? I hope they’ve still got Tuchel’s number?

I’d love to be able to talk about the first-half at Newcastle - but I fell asleep. What a bore-fest again City. They really can be a hard watch. I read they completed 249 passes before getting three shots on target. Wow. Newcastle hit the target twice from 168 passes.

What would Kevin Keegan - the King of the entertainers - make of it all? Knowing him as I do I’m pretty sure he’d hate it.

Post match Guardiola complimented Eddie Howe on Newcastle’s approach. ‘They try to do the right things’ he said. Really? Who decides what the right things are Guardiola?

Ask any Geordie whether he/she would rather watch what these two served up Saturday - or a Keegan team ripping into the opposition. I know the answer.

There is perhaps a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Have you noticed how many teams are now lumping the ball into opposition territory from the kick-off? It’s something I’ve been talking about for a long time so I was grateful to Gregor Robertson in The Times at the weekend for putting a number on it.

It was 15 of the 20 PL teams the previous match week. Bournemouth and Brentford have been doing it for a long time. By getting the ball forward, Thomas Allardyce’s team scored goals in just 12 and 13 seconds in their previous two games. We flagged this on beINSPORTS Saturday - only for them to do it again - this time after 37 seconds.

Maybe this virus will spread? Let’s hope so. That teams will want to put the ball in areas where they can actually hurt teams? Where chances can be created and goals scored?

I guess Big Sam was right after all? That there is no ‘right way’ to play. That set-pieces are important as well. Allardyce was the first set-piece ‘specialist’ in the game. Remember? Graham Taylor will be smiling somewhere as well I guess.

I’ve nothing but sympathy with Forest’s belief that the poor standard of refereeing is blighting the game. What a joke that pen award was at The City Ground. Whatever happened to ‘the referee’s call’? Remember? It was point 1 in a six point review conducted by Howard Webb - more on-field decisions and less VAR intervention. Can’t help themselves can they?

Before we leave the subject of refs - no more Saudi moonlighting for Michael Oliver I see. Quite right too. I was surprised no-one mentioned his part-time job last weekend.

Leicester were unlucky at Arsenal. They had a real go didn’t they? If they keep it up a first win won’t be far away. Fair play to the Gunners though. They got the job done.

Ipswich were good as well. Delap looks like a player. Who would you say is better value right now - him or Zirkzee? Didn’t Delap used to play his football in Manchester as well? Right under the noses of the brains trust?

A quick question on Zirkzee. Where does he fit in when Hojlund is fit?

Finally - Cole Palmer. Wow. What a player. He’s streets ahead of Bellingham. I can’t think of better money ever being spent. What a rick Guardiola dropped letting him go. He’s already worth £100m more than Chelsea paid and he’s only going to get better. I love watching him.

The Gunners were six seconds from a statement win

Six seconds. That’s all there was of the game left. Michael Oliver ended the match exactly six seconds of playing time after City’s equaliser. That’s how close the Gunners were to a statement win.

I thought they were terrific. If they’d held on they would’ve deserved the win. I don’t buy the accusation their performance was ‘anti-football’. No it wasn’t.

There are two sides to a game of football - offence and defence. Arsenal took the game to City in the first-half - then, after shooting themselves in the foot again, put on a magnificent show of dogged defending.

It made me laugh when I read David Silva making those allegations - and whining about Arsenal’s ‘dirty tricks’. My goodness, what a glorious irony. Guardiola teams have always engaged in dirty tricks. He invented them at Barcelona and developed them at Munich and City.

Having said that, you’ve got to be careful if you go down that route. I’ve no sympathy for Trossard. What he did was just plain daft, so soon after Declan Rice was punished for kicking the ball away. He deserved to go.

But if he hadn’t been booked for doing that, he could easily have been booked for the foul that led to the incident. There was no need make that clumsy challenge - right on half-time, handing City a chance to have a crack at goal from the free-kick.

I do agree with Arteta that Doku should’ve been booked. He too kicked the ball away, but let’s not forget it would’ve been a simple yellow. Trossard was on a yellow when he committed his crime. The guy must have the brains of a rocking horse.

There’s no question Oliver dropped a bollock by not booking Doku. We want consistency.

He was also a bit naughty allowing Arsenal to take the free-kick - from the wrong place by the way - in the build-up to Arsenal’s first goal. Walker was a bit slow getting back in position, but protocol demands he should’ve been allowed to do so.

There’s an argument Arsenal’s second should’ve been disallowed. Ederson is clearly stopped from getting to the corner by two Arsenal ‘blockers’. They do it all the time and I’m a little surprised officials haven’t cottoned onto it yet. I thought it was a foul.

So both sides have reason to be a little miffed, but I enjoyed the game. It was great to see Arsenal go toe-to-toe with City, whilst also believing they could win it. That was a massive change in their mind set from last season

Oh dear Rob Jones. What were you thinking? Let’s take the sequence of events, that led to three red cards being shown at Brighton, in order.

Gibbs-White’s challenge on Pedro was poor and he should’ve been booked. In fact, there’s a case he should’ve seen a straight red. There was an identical challenge by Preston’s Sam Greenwood that saw him sent-off in their game v Blackburn.

The problem at Brighton was that Jones saw nothing wrong with Gibbs-White’s tackle. He clearly signalled he thought Gibbs-White got the ball and he gave a throw to Brighton.

It was the 4th - Antony Taylor - that changed his mind. I know there’s always a conversation between the 4th and a match ref, but Taylor shouldn’t have got involved once Jones had made his decision.

And it got worse. As all hell let loose in the dug-outs you can see Taylor telling his more junior colleague to send Nuno off. That can’t be right. Suggesting yes. But making decisions from the touch-line? No. It was not Taylor’s place to do that and he made Jones look a fool.

There was a lot of confusion as to why Tottenham’s Vicario wasn’t sent-off for handling outside the box. I’m not convinced John Brooks saw the offence as Vicario got himself into a real mess, juggling the ball on the edge of his box, but it didn’t matter.

The first two times the keeper touched the ball he was inside his area. The third time he wasn’t, but it wasn’t a red card offence. It would’ve been if Vicario had denied Brentford a clear and obvious scoring attempt, but that wasn’t the case - so VAR couldn’t get involved and Brooks was off the hook

Interesting times at West Ham eh? For the first time in their history they’ve lost their first three homes games. They were poor - very poor - against Chelsea and fans were leaving the Taxpayers Stadium long before the end.

I read Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian Saturday morning referencing the ‘style revolution’ that’s supposed to be happening at West Ham. ‘It’s moving slowly’, he wrote. Adding ‘West Ham look no less dowdy after swapping David Moyes for Julen Lopetegui’.

Is that the David Moyes who picked the Hammers up when they were in the drop zone - took them to a sixth-place and seventh-place finish and delivered a European trophy? How many times have we said ‘be careful what you wish for’?

And finally. At last - execs at the European Clubs Association are talking about shutting the transfer window before the season starts. I hope they do it. It makes a lot of sense.