Easily forgotten Spurs goal of the day: Gareth Bale against Swansea (I love this one because we hardly ever talk about it as a great Bale goal, but it’s actually a very well-taken goal that requires wonderful touch and an ability to get the ball out of your feet quickly and generate a lot of power in tight quarters.)
The big news of the day yesterday is that Everton sold John Stones to Manchester City for £47.5m and then turned around and spent £30m to bring Crystal palace winger Yannick Bolasie to Goodison. Put another way, Crystal Palace had a pretty nice day yesterday and look primed to swap Yannick Bolasie and £15m for Andros Townsend (two years younger than Bolasie and probably of similar quality) and Christian Benteke.
This weekend’s opponents, Everton, meanwhile... well, Everton fan and Carty Free friend Mike Goodman said it best:
The best argument against selling stones was always what they'd do with the money. https://t.co/SAO21sfdOV
— Mike L. Goodman (@TheM_L_G) August 9, 2016
On to the links:
In a normal Premier League season, Watford’s summer hiring of widely respected Italian manager Walter Mazzari would probably be a significant news item. The Guardian has more on Watford’s fiery new manager.
The Set Pieces takes a closer look at post-takeover Wolverhampton Wanderers and wonders if a renaissance is coming at one of England’s most storied clubs.
Lots of people raving about Carvajal’s goal in the Super Copa yesterday. Am I the only one more amazed by how bad the Sevilla defending is?
El GOLAZO de @DaniCarvajal92 pic.twitter.com/91W3C6E1vo #SuperCOPE
— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) August 9, 2016
Matt Clough makes the case that we don’t appreciate how good Nicolas Anelka actually was.
If Mourinho is going to get the best out of Paul Pogba, he may need to use a 4-3-3.