Someone once said a week is a long time in football. In literal terms it is exactly the same. There is no extra day that is only present in the football industry. As far as I know FIFA haven’t slipped “Blatterday” in between Thursday and Friday. Or perhaps the FA waited until everyone was looking the other way and then shoehorned in “Cappelloday”. I am pretty sure that this didn’t happen though, if it has I would have expected my Sky subscription to have doubled in price and the government would have put another 7p on a pint of cider.
So how in the name of the lord do we see such huge swings in football over the course of a week (7 days). Ignoring the tabloid media’s overactive minds and lack of creative skills, which means they have to brand every player who scores a goal a world class legend, there is still these seemingly crazy changes in fortune everywhere. Looking back at the good old days, or before Sky invented real football, teams used to reverse their fixtures over Christmas. So Arsenal might play Spurs at the library on Christmas eve and then again at shite hart lane on Boxing day. It was quite normal to see one team win 5-3 and then succumb in the reverse 6-1. However there was one differing factor then, Bitter. Gallons of the stuff would be consumed by the players and the result was defined by which team was the least pissed. So what happens nowadays when the only vice players are allowed to have is in their garage.
Just over a week ago Arsenal were the best team on the planet following their win over Barcelona. A few days later and the team, albeit with a few different players, couldn’t beat Leyton Orient. No offence to Barry Hearns boys but how can you beat the glittering luminaries of Catalonia and then draw with a team of ex plumbers and teaching assistants from the Orient? They are not alone in their shoddy ways though. Manchester United sat proudly atop the Premier league after defeating Manchester City, a team put together at astronomical expense by an oil billionaire. A few days later they huffed and puffed and snuck past Crawley, a team that came free with a happy meal. Spurs were at it as well, they defeated the mighty AC Milan at the San Siro during the week. They then responded by getting battered by Blackpool on a council park pitch.
It is a quandary that can only be answered by the players themselves, but they are probably too busy dogging their way to the bookies.
