The Man in The Shed

The Man in The Shed 29th December –  Back to North London So another game already and another game in London ! Such have been the problems for Arsenal this season that I was struggling mentally to categorise them as still being a top six team. It was yet another game against a team who had just sacked a manager; I was hoping that the “new manager bounce” would not be in evidence today. The Chelsea team was relatively unchanged yet again. You are mentally geared up for 4 or 5 changes each game over the festive period – a nightmare for all of us Fantasy Football players. The main point of note today was tactical with the 3-4-3 formation again being set up. The less said about the first half an hour of the game the better. Whilst the previous away game was all about dominating Spurs this was the exact opposite – with Arsenal seeming to have the upper hand. Yet again Lampard gave up on 3-4-3 to try to wrestle the game back. This meant sacrificing Emerson (who h...

The Man in The Shed 26th December –  Too many turkeys The craziness of the English football fixtures over Christmas was taken a step further this year in that all of the games on Boxing Day were being broadcast by Amazon. In the end it turned out to be to my advantage. Family commitments meant that I couldn’t attend the Southampton game – I had the benefit of a few days at my daughters (who did not have a SKY sports subscription). It turned out though that she did have Amazon Prime so I was able to watch the second half. It felt in many ways like I was watching two teams – the one that travelled well and the one that toiled helplessly at home. This was Bournemouth (and West Ham) all over again. There appeared little in the way of squad rotation. It was more painful viewing. The 3-4-3 formation was ditched at half time but little seemed to change. Inevitably as more players were pushed forward in search of the equaliser Southampton picked us off on the cou...

The Man in The Shed 22nd  December –  No way Jose Whilst you can never say never in football I had to admit that I was surprised that Jose had taken the Tottenham job. Almost as surprising as Spurs sacking their previous manager; they were hardly staring at relegation following an appearance in the Champions League final. Credit Jose with lifting the North Londoners, with 4 wins in 5 games compared to our 4 defeats in the last 5. I wasn’t feeling optimistic watching the build-up on SKY. The biggest surprise on the teamsheet was the return of Alonso and the 3-4-3 formation. With a week of preparation Lampard clearly thought this was a way to outthink Mourinho. Alonso was clearly the pantomime villain for the Spurs fans who booed his every touch (he hasn’t been that popular with the Chelsea fans of late either). Well the first ten minutes were a revelation. Chelsea were in complete control. A corner from Willian to Kovacic and back to Wil...

The Man in The Shed    14 th December –  An unhappy home Sitting sipping my pre-match coffee I began to speculate over the January transfer window. Chelsea had a sizable chunk of money in the bank following the sale of Hazard and others in the summer. The question was if or who might they set their sights on and who might actually be persuaded to come for an acceptable price ? Marina Granovskaia was turning out to be a pretty shrewd operator. The likely casualties / outgoing players seemed clear – Giroud, Pedro, Alonso and perhaps even Barkley. An ever increasing list of potential arrivals was circulating from the possible (lesser knowns) to the impossible (Chilwell, Zaha) to the ridiculous (Mbappé). My main hope was that we didn’t ship in a prima donna to upset what appeared to be a great team spirit in the camp. The weather had improved after almost a week of wet and windy days and nights which was a relief. Like Lille, Bournemouth had announc...

The Man in The Shed 10 th December – Lille Well I have to say that if you’d have asked me after the home loss to Valencia if I would accept the chance to progress in the Champions League by winning the final group game I would have bitten your arm off ! It was a foul evening in London with rain and strong winds. Not the ideal conditions for a game of football but my lofty view meant that I was largely protected from the worst of it. No real surprises on the Chelsea teamsheet other than the return of Barkley to the bench. With nothing to play for it was no surprise to see a very second string Lille eleven meaning a start for former Chelsea striker Loic Rémy. Credit to the away fans then for turning up in large numbers despite only having pride to play for. They were doing their best to impersonate Man City fans in the early stages of the game with noise, bouncing up and down facing away from the pitch. The weather really was doing its worst and just over ...

The Man in The Shed 7 th December – You just knew The one thing you don’t need before a game is for a previously struggling opponent to sack their manager. Somehow even the most inept interim appointment manages to get at least a couple of games’ worth of improved performances out of the same players. I guess it is just the release of pressure and frustration that allows those same human beings to play with more freedom. So the idea of an Everton team driven by a passionate Duncan Ferguson was very concerning to me. He was a real old school player in his time and a very passionate Scot with Everton in his blood. So it was no great surprise to see that passion transferred to the crowd, the players and specifically Calvert-Lewin. Despite the vast majority of possession and decent overall match stats. the Chelsea defence seemed to be overwhelmed by Everton and coughed up individual errors which helped the home team score three goals. It would have been easy to tak...

The Man in The Shed 4 th December – He’s back ! The best remedy for the feeling of disappointment following a home defeat is always another game straight away. So sitting in the Shed on a cold December evening just a few short days after “that” result against West Ham I was looking forward to another great opportunity to collect three more points. A 7.30 kick-off is certainly a rarity these days meaning I should be safely home before midnight but clearly a struggle for many to arrive much before kick-off. So of course most of the pre-game media chatter was the return of John Terry to Chelsea. It seemed a little silly to me as the guy seems to spend half his spare time either at Cobham or in the posh seats at the Bridge. OK, so this was his first time in the away dugout but nevertheless, he’s hardly going to need directions to his seat. The welcome was suitably impressive – just who funds all of these great big flags ? Anyway, he must have “felt the love”. ...

The Man in The Shed 30 th November – Get well soon fella Sitting in the Shed drinking my coffee and a guy wanders over and starts directing his son to a seat in the row behind. As he struggled a little to sit down we strike up a conversation, as you do, and after ten minutes I know that he’s walking on plastic knees, has had three heart attacks and a bypass operation. I was kind of expecting to be discussing the team sheet or the Valencia game but when we did talk football it was all about how hard it was for members to get tickets these days. For the first time this season (excluding the Carabao cup) the manager was having to rotate the team – it seemed clear that after two tough games (at Manchester City and Valencia) there were a few players in need of a rest. So in came Tomori, Emerson, Mount, Pedro and Giroud. The game started pretty much like most home league games this season with the underdog visitors pulling men behind the ball. After seven games with...