Hail GFOP!  

What a weekend back in Liverpool. An astonishing experience and not just because of the sunburn on the back of my neck I received from three straight stunning sunny days, which made the city crackle as if it was the greatest on Earth. 

The highlight of my stay, apart from the time with my lovely mum Val, was my visit to Everton's new stadium. To be given a tour was an out of body experience, because to witness it is to glimpse a bold future for Everton Football Club. The architecture is stunning. To look down from the South Stand, with its acute 34.99-degree pitch and safe standing area is a pulsating experience, even without 15,000 other fellow Blues bellowing alongside you. The way the Mersey surrounds you is to be reminded of the force which built the city. The creative details etched into the stadium walls tell the story of the club and the port which once stood there, and that is perhaps the greatest achievement. Bramley Moore Dock has lain dormant for so long with disused warehousing left to rot. To experience it now, in this current form, is to feel both a city resurgent and the football club I love echoing that renaissance. Everton reconnecting to its past, and reimagining itself in the present. After all we have been through in the last decade, I found it incredibly moving. As sad as I am to leave Goodison Park, I cannot wait to return and experience this new home with 52,887 other Blues. If you read this newsletter and travel to England to watch games on the regs, this stadium has to become instant bucket list.

The other astonishing aspect of the trip was meeting so many American fans visiting Merseyside to take in the game. The hotel was packed with GFOPs. Every restaurant we went to – including the new Georgian Quarter pub and lounge, Dog and Collar – had American Premier League fans coming over to pay witness in person. It is hard to overstate how remarkable this is for two reasons:  

When I grew up in Liverpool, you never heard a foreign accent – a southerner felt exotic. Now, there are football fans from all over the world making the pilgrimage. The fact that Americans are front and center is magical in its own right when you realize that when I moved to the US ahead of the 1994 World Cup, it felt like no one cared about the sport. Project that forward and the vision is dizzying to contemplate.

Courage,

ROG

Newcastle Are Flying, United Are Barely Trying 📊

- Written by Tommy Stewart

Newcastle 4-1 Manchester United

Eddie Howe has steered Newcastle’s ship so astutely since he arrived in 2021, that results like this against wounded beasts like Manchester United are no longer novel. Unfortunately, due to hospitalization, he wasn’t on the sideline at St. James’ Park yesterday, but his assistant, Jason Tindall, assured reporters that Eddie was watching proudly from his hospital bed. The fact that Tindall was left to his own devices with no input from his manager is evidence that Newcastle are the real deal, designed to navigate through waters smooth and rough, and built to last. Sandro Tonali put them in front, but an overdue Garnacho toe-poke leveled United, and 1-1 at half time seemed just about right. That was before Harvey Barnes realized Thomas Tuchel was in the stands, and decided to display his penetrative running and decisive finishing, with a double that will surely turn the head of the England manager. Barnes is 27 and only has one England cap, which he received five years ago, but Tuchel has proved in the belated call-up of Barnes’ 32-year-old teammate, Dan Burn, that if you play well, your hat is in the Three Lions ring. 

No Onana? Just the Same.

André Onana is on Ruben Amorim’s naughty step, which given his double-blunder in Lyon last Thursday, is absolutely fair enough. Step in Altay Bayındır, a cult hero amongst United fans, because in a rare outing away at Arsenal in the FA Cup in January, he transformed into prime Gianluca Buffon, almost single-handedly winning the tie for his team. Sadly for everyone involved, that may have been a one-night stand rather than a sign of things to come, because his error in the form of a gift of a pass to Joelinton’s head, quickly ended up in Bayındır’s own net, following a simple finish for Bruno Guimarães. Being a backup goalkeeper must be a tough existence, and mistakes are inevitable when ring rust is constant, but this was an avoidable, self-inflicted mistake that will have Amorim pulling out his tanned-chino pockets to find nothing but fluff. Only he knows where he'll turn next, but it can’t be totally out of the question for 38-year-old third-choice keeper Tom Heaton to play his first game of competitive football in over two years.

It’s Now Europe or Bust for United

Amorim will have been satisfied with his team’s first half performance, and the 1-1 scoreline at the break, that was reflective of a well-balanced match. No one other than he and his team know what he said in the annals of St. James’ Park at half time, but you can guarantee a 4-1 embarrassment was not what he asked for. By the 93rd minute, his shoulders had slumped and the disdain painted on his face was that of a teen being confronted with a "No skating allowed" sign. But despite Onana’s efforts last week, United still have a good chance of progressing to the Europa League semi-final on Thursday, where they’ll field their best starting 11 and Old Trafford will loudly project and collectively expect. This former behemoth of a football team are having to get used to clinging on to second-tier European competitions and domestic trophies to recover slumping league seasons, but this feels bigger than it has before. Whatever happens, Ruben Amorim should keep his job and be given a few more transfer windows to build a team in his own image, but if United don’t snatch European football next season via a scrappy Europa League win, full stops will become question marks.

Late Liverpool Limp on Thanks to Big Virg ❤️

Liverpool 2-1 West Ham

With six games to play, two wins take Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th title, and now that Salah’s signed on, their fans will pray and beg for skipper and match-winner, Virgil van Dijk, to borrow his teammate’s pen and scribble on that dotted line. The Hammers can hold on to the hope that, with a full transfer window behind him, Graham Potter can take this team to better places next season, and were it not for the man in black – Alisson in goal – they might not be singing the Anfield Blues. Andy Robertson and van Dijk got closer than Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at Coachella for a catastrophic own goal, but three minutes later, Big Virg said “not today” and headed his boys to victory from a corner in the dying embers of the game. Mo Salah’s perfectly-timed assist to Luis Díaz for Liverpool’s first goal, takes him just two away from tying the all-time record of 47 goal contributions in a Premier League season. This will be music to the ears of a man who lives to break records.

Manchester City 5-2 Crystal Palace

This could be a preview of what Pep Guardiola’s blend of youth and experience might look like next season, as millennial men meshed with Gen-Z boys to comprehensively recover from an early 0-2 deficit. Palace played through City like a prime Pep team for their first goal, which was finished with precision by Eze, while the second was an old fashioned corner kick to head, put away by a returning Chris Richards. But then City’s sky blue storm erupted without discrimination, and goals from De Bruyne, Marmoush, Kovacic, McAtee, and O’Reilly rained down. Although we’ve reached the final chapter of the adventures of KDB in the Premier League, it was touching to see how much his artful free kick that found Dean Henderson’s bottom corner meant to him. In rare Manchester sun, Pep’s young pupils, particularly Nico O’Reilly and James McAtee, showed a screenshot of his team’s potential near future. It’s concurrently beautiful and terrifying, depending on who you support.

Arsenal 1-1 Brentford

Thanks to this tepid draw at the Emirates yesterday, and Liverpool’s late win at Anfield, Mikel Arteta seems to have conceded title-race defeat in every way other than actually saying, “It’s over.” Unsurprisingly, he made changes aplenty to his side, ahead of a midweek trip to the Bernabéu that could define Arteta as a manager, as well as Arsenal’s modern legacy as a club. Declan Rice reminded the world that not only can he bend it like Beckham, but the boy can run and run and run, fast and straight like Forest Gump, as he proved with his 70-yard sprint and perfectly weighted pass to assist Thomas Partey. Yoane Wissa once again showed that post-Ivan Toney life for Brentford is a breeze, with his 15th Premier League goal of the season, which is good enough for sixth in the league (and just one spot behind his running mate, Bryan Mbeumo). He’s come a long way, as the last time Wissa scored that many was five years ago in France’s Ligue 2 and he’ll back himself to net a few more before the season’s over.

Wolves 4-2 Tottenham

“First the points, then the pints,” said one of the great football flags, which was unveiled by Wolves fans in homage to their manager, Vitor Pereira. Not only has he kept his team in the Premier League, but he’s become a cult hero at the Molineux, where the lager flows gold like the team’s kits. With goals from Ait-Nouri, Strand Larsen, and Matheus Cunha, along with a Spence OG, this is the first time Wolves have won four consecutive top flight matches since 1972. For Ange Postecoglou, it’s all gotten a bit silly now – his Spurs team are no longer Spursy, they’re just a reflection of a man driving through unknown terrain with no Google Maps, no phone charger, and only a raindrop of gas remaining. That being said, win in the Europa League on Thursday night, and his stay of execution will be extended. Probably. 

Chelsea 2-2 Ipswich

Enzo Maresca’s side came into this one as the only team in the Premier League to lose at Ipswich this season when they visited Portman Road in December, and that was before Cole Palmer’s internal compass got knocked off its axis, resulting in now 12 games since the Blues’ biggest offensive threat last located the back of the net. Much like this season as a whole, Chelsea found a way to at least stay relevant in this one, charging back for a point in front of the disgruntled home home crowd after the Tractor Boys ended the first half up by two. But exactly like last weekend’s draw at Brentford, Palmer had a chance to give his team a much needed win in the 94th minute and yet continues to miss shots that would’ve been as good as in before they’d even left his boot earlier this season – unlike Jadon Sancho, who made it look easy for the Blues’ equalizer in the 79th minute. With games against Liverpool, Newcastle, and Forest still to come, sixth-place Chelsea are going to need some of those shots to land if they want to insure a spot in next year’s Champions League.

And Now, Rog’s Super Chill Thoughts on WTF Happened to Everton this Weekend 💙 

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Everton

Rog writes: Who saw this coming? A game not on English television, and I had to watch via NBC from my hotel room, continuing my proud record of Everton's 100% record whilst staying in Room 135 of the Municipal Hotel (one game played, one game won in that stunning building). A fascinating clash between two ultra-defensive teams, neither used to the word "possession." Credit Everton who seized initiative, and Sir David Moyes who changed the game with his substitutions. Forest had not so much as conceded a goal at home since January. Ecstasy and utter shock in the 94th minute when that human fortress known as Murillo coughed up the ball just inside the Everton half, empowering Dwight McNeil to break and slide a happy accident of a pass to Abdoulaye Doucouré, that master of the heavy touch, who three times out of 100 does something spectacular. This was one of those times. His finish over Sels was delicious and thus, Everton scored the most Nuno-era Nottingham Forest goal ever scored against Nuno-era Nottingham Forest. Forest are Moyes's spirit animal, they’re who we want to be: fighting for our lives one season, Champions League pedigree the next.

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Some Weekend Worldies, Just for You 🚀 🥅

There were a lot of great goals this weekend, but these three get tops marks:

On the Continent 🇪🇺

🇮🇹 Serie A: With Inter’s comfortable win over Cagliari, they now sit six points above second-place Napoli, who play this afternoon with a game in hand. Atalanta and Juventus both won this weekend as well, but at this point, Serie A looks and feels like a two-team race as we approach the last month of the season. A bit lower down in the table, ninth-place AC Milan won 4-0 away against Udinese, including a league-leading 10th assist of the season for the one and only, Christian Pulisic.

🇪🇸 La Liga: Barcelona win 1-0, Real Madrid win 1-0, and so we’ll wait and see if Atlético still fancy this title fight in their clash against Valladolid later today. Were it not for the heroics of Barcelona’s Wojciech Szczęsny, a smoking goalkeeper who flips and flops in and out of retirement like Rocky Balboa, and the nervy finishing of 19th-place Leganés, Madrid’s breath might have been hot on the Catalonian’s necks, but these are the margins that decide championships. Los Blancos narrowly beat Alavés thanks to an Eduardo Camavinga goal, but the headline of a nasty affair where both teams saw red, was Kylian Mbappé’s abhorrent challenge that could have ended Antonio Blanco’s career. Not only does it damage his reputation and his opponent’s shin, it will also result in a ban that could impact his team’s title hopes. Very, very silly, Kyli.

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Both title-hunters blinked in their Bundesliga stare-off, with draws that meant the point deficit between leaders Bayern Munich, and chasers, Bayer Leverkusen, remained untouched. Xabi Alonso’s current champions disappointingly drew 0-0 against Union Berlin, failing to capitalize on Bayern’s 2-2 stalemate in an always-intense Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund. Six points is a lot to recover against habitual winners, Bayern Munich, but as vultures from Madrid circle around Alonso, he’ll want to finish the season with silverware. 

Matches Worth Faking a Meeting for 📺 

The Champions League

Aston Villa vs. PSG (Tuesday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

Luis Enrique has made PSG fun, likable, and above all, very good at football. After they humbled their former manager, Unai Emery, and his exciting Aston Villa team in a 3-1 romp in Paris last week, it’s advantage Enrique. But Unai isn’t any old manager, he’s a man who’s won four major European trophies with unfashionable clubs, and although he’s not yet conquered the big-eared pinnacle of club football, with Villa Park and Ozzy Osbourne behind him, this one is nowhere near done. 🔥

Real Madrid vs. Arsenal (Wednesday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

After Declan Rice decided he was David Beckham (twice) at the Emirates last week in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over European Champions, Real Madrid, their Brummie midfielder, Jude Bellingham, said, “If there's one place where crazy things can happen, it's our house." The thing is, he’s right, because Madrid have decades of form in overturning a first-leg existential crisis in this, the competition they habitually win. Despite Jude’s perpetual confidence, Arsenal are favorites, and if they can jump this white wall, the Champions League is their oyster. Fingers, toes, and Prada gloves crossed for Anne Hathaway’s Gunners. 🤞

Premier League

Newcastle vs. Crystal Palace (Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. ET, USA)

322 miles separate these two clubs, but that will not deter the loyal and loud Palace faithful from making their way up the motorway, midweek, for a match that was rescheduled for Newcastle’s League Cup victory. Fifth spot now guarantees Champions League football in the Premier League, and after the Magpies’ ruthless decimation of Manchester United on Sunday, and this their game in hand, a win could all but seal a place in Europe’s hottest club for Eddie Howe’s boys next season. 🧮

Europa League

Manchester United vs. Lyon (Thursday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

Some call it Manchester United vs. Lyon, but we now know it as the Onana vs. Matic derby. Were it not for the United keeper’s brace of errors last week in Lyon, his team would be on much firmer ground for the return leg at Old Trafford this Thursday, but Ruben Amorim’s men will feel cautiously optimistic about progressing to the semi-finals with the tie level at 2-2, and with backing from a raucous Stretford End. Without a win, it’s season over for the Red Devils, so absolutely no pressure here then. 😬

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Tottenham (Thursday, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

This could either be Tottenham’s worst season in a very long time, or one of the best in their history, which is probably why we will always consume this relentlessly unforgiving game. Their league position is inexcusable, despite Ange’s protests against injury, the media, and his club’s own fans, but if they can steal a victory in a very strong Frankfurt team’s Waldstadion, and somehow win this Europa League, all will be forgotten and a statue will be commissioned. The tie is currently level at 1-1, so we’ll leave you with the words of Elbert Hubbard: “The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we often are on the line and do not know it." Courage, Spurs fans. ✊

Some Non-Football to Start the Week Off Right 📖

• Where Will We Eat When the Middle-Class Restaurant Is Gone? The “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” for a new generation.

• ADORED this from the ever-cuddly Hedgehog Review: The Department of Everything.

• Can Cowboy Fever make bull-riding the new UFC. So many potential head injuries, so little time.

• Richard E Grant: ‘Love again? I’m not looking for it. (Reads story, immediately considers purchasing a brown tuxedo.)

• This article filled “The Americans”-shaped hole in my life. “I'm not who you think I am": How a KGB Spy recruited his own son.

It’s MiB Trivia Time 🤔

Thinking caps on, it’s time for some trivia. 🧢

This week’s question: After Mohamed Salah signed a new contract for Liverpool, we want to know: where does he stand on the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer list?

Reply to this email with your answer for a chance to win a coveted MiB patch.

Last week’s answer: Congratulations to our winner, Craig Miller, who correctly identified the joint top goal scorers in Manchester derby Premier League history: Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero. ❤️🩵

The patch is on its way, Craig. 🚚

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