{"id":13030,"date":"2026-03-15T00:11:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13030"},"modified":"2026-03-16T22:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:06:13","slug":"the-day-we-won-the-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13030","title":{"rendered":"The Day We Won The League"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I had a busy day today and managed to turn the match on a tad late, missing the first twenty-two seconds. As it turned out, this was better than missing the last twenty-two seconds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having missed the team sheets, I had to work out early on who was playing and what the positions were. Calafiori was left-back, Madueke was left-wing, Eze was at 10 and, after almost two minutes before our striker came on screen, I was chuffed to see it was Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great selection from the boss. Could they deliver?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short answer is yes. It took until the 89th<\/sup> minute for us to take the lead, but there was a lot to like about our play throughout the game. Madueke was at least as effective as our other left-wing options have been recently. After seven minutes he cut in and took a right-footed shot that the excellent Pickford saved. Havertz up front is vital for us going forward. He is not only the best striker at the club, but also the striker who best suits our game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eze had an excellent game. He took shots, he was involved in play, and he wanted to take responsibility. Calalfiori showed what he brings to left-back, he\u2019s just a brilliant player. He made an insane block when he was on the floor, placed both hands on the turf and threw up an athletic scorpion kick to stop Dwight McNeil (lovely player) from scoring. I\u2019d say he is the only player in our team who makes that block, but he\u2019s probably the only player in the league who makes that block! He\u2019s just magic. As play continued, McNeil hit the inside of the post with a wonderful strike and the follow up from the silky Ndiaye went just wide. Fine margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everton were really good. They have a deserved reputation as being a defensively robust side, but they showed a lot of attacking intent and no small amount of skill. Raya made a handful of excellent saves today. As an aside, apropos of nothing: I really like David Moyes. He is just quality. There is plenty of him in Mikel Arteta and, as I shall return to later, I love our gaffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am glad we won this game for many reasons. But not least is that it gives me the chance to talk through the penalty incident involving Keane and Havertz without it being decisive and sounding like sour grapes. Eze played a good ball through, Havertz took a great first touch to take it into his stride, and Keane made a challenge that took our striker down. It was hard to tell on the TV screen what had happened, but it was immediately clear that Kai was in no doubt. He was sure it was a penalty. The coverage showed two replays which were unclear but showed no obvious foul. VAR cleared the incident very quickly. Then the TV showed a third replay which was unequivocal in showing it was a clear penalty. Keane rakes his foot down the back of Havertz\u2019s ankle. There is no debate, no potential difference of opinion; it is a nailed on penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, now we need to talk about VAR process. Either, 1: VAR looks at all the replays and decides it is not a penalty. That would be unbelievable. Or, 2: VAR makes the decision before looking at the third replay and then are unable to change their minds when they realise they have made a mistake. This is what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect Howard Webb to issue an apology that they got this one wrong. I know the idea of referee credibility is laughable, but they got this one wrong in both decision and process. We regularly wait minutes at a time for them to make decisions that no-one understands, so for them to dismiss a clear penalty after mere seconds without looking at all the relevant angles is just a disgrace. Speaking of disgraces, I cannot tell you how much PL referees break my heart with their abysmal performances. Madley, truly, deeply.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough. Let us move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beto is good. Decent PL striker but no more, but he plays like a physical striker and then (crazy notion, I know) does not fake injury whenever he gets challenged. He just gets up and gets on. It is indicative of this Everton side. They are tough but they don\u2019t look for cheap fouls at every opportunity. Much respect. The league would be far better if more teams had that attitude. It comes from the manager. Did I mention I like David Moyes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber started the game but I would have played White. When Timber came off injured in the first half, White still didn\u2019t get on. Mosquera did well though. When are we gonna see Benny Blanco?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half, we continued to be good. The setup was encouraging and looked much more fluid than some of our recent turgid performances. All of our players had good games and there was a lot of promise, but they were not quite used to each other and didn\u2019t generate as many chances as they could have. Although, we also hit a lot of shots wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gy\u00f6keres came on and showed why he is such a valuable player, although behind Havertz in the pecking order. Hincapi\u00e9 has been a wonderful signing. Exactly what we needed. Zubimendi came off for Dowman and I don\u2019t want to overegg the young man\u2019s performance. It was good but not as transformative as some would claim. There will be plenty of time to big Dowman up. He is an interesting option for the run-in, but let\u2019s keep our heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd were brilliant today. All the way through. They were behind the team. Personally, on 86 minutes I sent a message to some friends on a whatsapp group that said simply \u201cBelieve. COYG\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two minutes later we were ahead. Dowman hit a decent cross, Pickford touched it with a crisp-packet hand and it came off Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s belly\/willy into the path of big Vik who was in the right place at the right time. I went mental. My throat still hurts. Was that the moment we won the Premier League?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our striker celebrated, Dowman choked the shit out of him. Watch the replay, very funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just before the end of the game, Pickford came up for an Everton corner and Dowman scored from the breakaway. You don\u2019t need me to describe it. Go and watch it online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seriously, what are you doing still reading this? Go and watch the Dowman goal, you nutter. The celebrations from the players and fans were special. But our manager lived this match and everything he did was stellar. Seeing him celebrate made my day. Make no mistake, the most important person at our club is our manager. He is our leader, and I would follow him into hell and back. Wait until he is done. All-time great in the making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Ham drew with City later in the day. Cake. Icing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine points ahead with seven games to go (they have 8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re gonna win it, aren\u2019t we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make it happen Gooners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time, \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a busy day today and managed to turn the match on a tad late, missing the first twenty-two seconds. As it turned out, this was better than missing the last twenty-two seconds! Having missed the team sheets, I had to work out early on who was playing and what the positions were. Calafiori […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13034,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13030\/revisions\/13034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}