Mediawatch: Hold on, isn’t Alexis Sanchez at Man City?

Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez

Egg Custis
Now Mediawatch is not saying that we doubt the veracity of Neil Custis’ ‘TRANSFER EXCLUSIVE’ about Manchester United wanting Alexis Sanchez on the back page of The Sun, yet we cannot help but cast our minds back three weeks to transfer deadline day when Custis…

* ‘Exclusively’ claimed that ‘PHILIPPE COUTINHO is on his way to Barcelona with the Spanish giants preparing to make an announcement at 7pm this evening’.

* ‘Exclusively’ claimed that ‘MANCHESTER CITY will make a final £70million bid to land Alexis Sanchez with the deal now set to go through by tonight’.

* ‘Exclusively’ claimed that ‘JOSE MOURINHO has made an audacious last gasp bid to land Willian from Chelsea’.

That is one hell of a strike rate for our friend Neil. 0/3 and counting.

Odd that Custis was so certain that Manchester City would make a ‘final £70million bid to land Alexis Sanchez’, and now three weeks later claims that ‘City tried to get Sanchez in the summer but had a final bid of £60m rejected’. It’s definitely not all guesswork. Oh no.

 

It’s getting hot in here
True or not, you would think that the nation’s biggest-selling newspaper claiming a possible move from Arsenal to Manchester United for Alexis Sanchez would get tongues wagging.

But not according to friends of Sky Sports, Football Whispers. According to their algorithm, number 2) on their list of ‘the top 10 hottest whispers right now’ is Joey O’Brien to Bolton.

We haven’t stopped talking about it all morning.

 

The ‘curse’ of terrible churnalism
What’s big in football this fine-ish Wednesday morning? According to the Daily Mirror it is this…

‘Liverpool fans are convinced they’ve unearthed an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain conspiracy theory after cup defeat’

Can you ‘unearth’ a theory? Surely you simply have a theory? And what is this ‘conspiracy theory’ anyway?

Oh, the ‘conspiracy theory’ is that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ‘cursed’. It’s hardly David Icke and the bloody lizards, is it?

And there we were thinking that a conspiracy theory was a theory that somebody had actually, you know, conspired.

Mind you, we still live in a world where searching on Twitter for ‘Ox’ and ‘curse’ is not considered journalism. Silly, anachronistic Mediawatch.

 

Caulked
Mediawatch is embarrassed for the Daily Telegraph’s Chris Bascombe. Not because a great journalist has been reduced to rating Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool signings in gallery form, but because he forgot Steven Caulker and his 94 minutes of football for Liverpool. We can help you out, Chris; he was 10/10.

 

Ney problem
You may have read that there is beef between Neymar and Edinson Cavani; 101 Great Goals have certainly noticed and they are desperate for the clicks.

They write:

‘It was noticed on Monday that Neymar had stopped following his PSG team mate on Instagram.

‘In recent hours, Neymar has sent another message to Cavani on Instagram Stories.

‘Whilst in London this week, Neymar posted a picture of himself on Instagram Stories with the following message in Portuguese: “Nao desejamos mal a quase ninguem”.

‘This translates to: “We do not wish badly on almost anyone”.

‘According to a number of sources close to Neymar this was aimed at Cavani…’

Firstly, he did not post a picture of himself; he posted a video of himself singing the song ‘Toda Forma de Amor’ by Brazilian musician Lulu Santos.

He also posted a picture of Lulu Santos himself, accompanied by lots of different coloured hearts. It doesn’t look like a dig at Edinson Cavani.

Indeed, it has been interpreted elsewhere as Neymar showing his support for gay rights. But then they’re not 101 Great Goals’ Ben Green with his ‘sourses close to Neymar’.

 

It’s not that it’s a slow day but…
‘Manchester City’s squad laugh and joke in light-hearted training session ahead of Carabao Cup clash’ – MailOnline.

Sub-headline: ‘There seems to be a real sense of excitement around the club at the moment.’

Opening paragraph: ‘Manchester City have made an encouraging start to the season and it was clear from their training session on Tuesday that has brought about a real sense of excitement.’

Caption: ‘There is a clear sense of excitement around City right now as Leroy Sane joins in on the jokes.’

Do you think there may be a real sense of excitement? Or just desperation at trying to make a ‘story’ out of some pictures of men smiling?

 

Sherwood of the week
On Ruben Loftus-Cheek:

“I’ve watched that boy play [for] many years now. If he cannot play for Chelsea, they must have some midfield.”

Yes, yes they do. They have a midfield that has just won the Premier League and they have improved that midfield further this summer.

“The kid should be in and around the squad.”

He was. Last season. But he only played six times in the Premier League (off the bench) because Chelsea have an excellent midfield. Were you not listening?

 

Truly awful intro of the day

‘Crystal Palace’s fourth manager in ten months could have been forgiven for wanting to avoid anything that sounds remotely like the word sack, but beggars cannot be choosers.

‘With Christian Benteke needing a rest and no other strikers available, Roy Hodgson started with Bakary Sako up front…’

Matt Hughes of The Times, we really do expect better.

 

Recommended reading of the day
Marina Hyde on Romelu Lukaku and racial stereotyping
Michael Cox on whether the Premier League is more defensive