Hello and good afternoon sports fans, my name is Ayyaz Malik aka The Sports Buff. I am very grateful to say that I am a sports journo of six years and now a sports broadcaster of two years.
Now, just like with the more experienced journo’s, I made two predictions, which were arguably a bit bold.
The first prediction, I said, even on national TV too, that due to Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk’s injury, which is ultimately a season ending one, would cost Liverpool the title and they would struggle badly, especially after the 7-2 mauling by Aston Villa.
Now, of course the season isn’t over, but I genuinely feel the need to say, “fair play lads, I was wrong”. Joel Matip, Fabinho and Nico Williams have been the players to fill the centre back berth.
Joe Gomez, would have been a definite starter, but he too is on the treatment table. What lead me to this thinking was comparisons of last season.
Last year, Manchester City came into the season as defending champions, but in the early part of the season, disaster struck as Aymerick Laporte was injured and miss a huge bulk of the season as a result.
So seeing those comparisons, I came to what seemed like the natural conclusion that Liverpool would struggle without their Dutch centre back.
The Reds however, have proved us wrong. The season is still young, but if this blog gets dug up, I will take the loss on this one. The second thing, I will have to retract and I am happy to do so, is Leeds United and their stay in the Premier League.
Now, I wrote a piece arguing that Leeds could go down. Now I don’t 100% believe this, but after the defeat against Manchester United, I put this out there, that Leeds are too open with this expansive style that they play.
I even said that they might go down, but after two wins, scoring six goals and conceding zero in the process, the Lillywhites have earned more points than Sheffield United did last season, and everyone really applauded The Blades and rightly so. Sometimes in life, it’s necessary to eat humble pie, now I think is one of those times.
The Bearded Captain 