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The shock news of the week revolved around the figment of our imagination known as Oussama Assaidi. Despite going out on loan to gain more playing time — and technically any minutes are more minutes than zero minutes — Assaidi has only appeared six times for Stoke City, with half of those appearances coming in the League Cup. Assaidi started in Stoke's League Cup match-up against recent-ish champions Birmingham, and the Potters advanced to the next round after an eight goal match forced the match to end 4-2 on penalties.
Assaidi opened the scoring in the 10th minute, and below is video evidence because otherwise no one would believe it happened.
After starting the season going ten games without a win, Almeria finally bagged all three points with a come from behind win vs Valencia on Wednesday. Suso had direct involvement in the goal that drew his club level by delivering a well placed corner right to the waiting cranium of teammate Marco Torsiglieri. Aleix Vidal put Almeria ahead eight minutes later, and Suso ended his day by acquiring a yellow card in the 85th minute.
Almeria followed up with a 1-0 win against Real Valladolid, although the controversial winning goal was scored by striker Rodri's hand. Suso was subbed in the 73rd minute, but commiserated with his teammates back on Merseyside later in the day.
Another win. Good game and perfomance of the team. Also unlucky Liverpool. We'll get strongher for the next game YNWA
— suso30fernandez (@suso30fernandez) November 2, 2013
Elsewhere, Pepe Reina was on the positive side of two 2-1 Napoli wins in the last week, with the club defeating Fiorentina mid-week in a card-rich affair that saw each side reduced to ten men by the end of the match. The younger lads fared not nearly as well, with Jack Robinson ruled out of Blackpool's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Conor Coady remaining an unused substitute in Sheffield United's 2-0 loss to Shrewsbury, and Andre Wisdom earning a yellow card in Derby County's 2-1 loss to Queens Park Rangers.