Getty ImagesGive Mourinho and Wenger a hand: 11 tweets that sum up the weekend's games
The coldest handshake ever, Sunderland kept in the dark, and Troy Deeney’s new shoes - this is the very best/worst of the footballing weekend on social media...
1. Mourinho and Wenger grudgingly complete formalities
With so much toxic water under their bitter bridge, it seemed rather optimistic to expect Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger to follow the Premier League’s official pre-match protocol of 1) the oh-fancy-seeing-you-here greeting by the bench; 2) emphatic handshake; 3) brief, unintelligible chat; and 4) slightly patronising head pat.
“Hi, hope you lose, please vacate my personal space immediately, bye.”
2. Man Utd v Arsenal satisfies the new generation of football consumers
That’s why the broadcasters, home and abroad, are paying the big bucks. If only Phil Jones was back on corners, that would really enhance the global brand.
3. His name is Rio and he’s tempting fate in the back of a van
Courtesy of Rio Ferdinand, here's a two-part Instagram crash course in the art of
1) Speaking too soon
2) Brutal football schadenfreude
Still, nice to see the excruciating, but thrilling, experience of listening to football on the radio in the car being given some honest exposure. Nothing good ever comes from listening to your team play on the radio.
4. Toure party conference
An unexpected return from the wilderness for Manchester City’s colossus apparently also meant some hasty graphics work for the club’s social media department.
“Mark, do you know where the yaya_toure_smiling.jpeg file is these days?”
“Yeah, try the 2014 folder. I’ll get Photoshop sorted.”
5. Honesty is the best policy for Stoke
Partisan, blinkered live tweeting seems to be par for the course in the Premier League now, so it was refreshing to see Stoke City’s social media bod weighing up the situation on Saturday and deciding that, yes, Ryan Shawcross had been a very naughty boy.
Kudos also to the first reply from a Stoke fan, which read simply: “Delete. Too honest.”
6. Speculative effort from distance
It’s hard to guess just how far out a shot is at a glance (top tip from a nerd: count the lines on the pitch, it’s usually six yards each) so BBC Sport deserve some sympathy here, but 150 yards is definitely, definitely pushing it.
BBC Sport
7. Light entertainment
Look, if you’re going to name your ground The Stadium of Light, you have to first bear in mind that, at some point, the floodlights will fail and large broadcasters will then have some straightforward fun at your expense.
8. Sacary Bagna
Chris Kamara here, committing the finest spoonerism in modern football history, but Manchester City’s Bacary Sagna was thoroughly entertained nonetheless:
Maybe it does work better that way round.
Mictor Voses? Rayne Wooney? Weo Thalcott? Paul Pogba? Hang on...
9. Forté Winks
A first Premier League goal, a big dad-hug from Mauricio Pochettino and...well, just look at his little face.
10. It’s Just a Starting Line-up, Guys: Pt.1,407
Super-serious stuff from Athletic Bilbao, meanwhile, whose contribution to the very modern trend of over-engineered team news was apparently soundtracked by a Christopher Nolan blockbuster movie.
11. Troy shop
At the end of a week where Wayne Rooney’s social skills suggested that elite footballers did have it in them to appear to mix with mere mortals every now and then, here's some comforting reassurance that they do, in fact, exist on a whole other planet.
Ladies and gentlemen, we leave you with these:
Troy Deeney’s new trainers.
Absolutely no idea.
