• Power Outage & a Blow Up Doll

Just a few moments before my Saturday looked set to be a brilliant day of football, a pursuit of all things leisurely, and with Manchester United up 3-1 away to Everton at Goodison, my power suddenly and mysteriously went out. Upon its recommence, Everton, through Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta, had scratched themselves level while I, like United, were left in tears picking up the pieces. What was the reason for this odd occurrence with only a light rain drizzling outside? I pondered, were the football Gods whispering a sign of things to come into my ignoring ear?

All variables pointed to me being able to see out my morning without a snag. Multiple devices were plugged in and working quite well. In just a few short moments, what I had personally considered a success came crashing down upon me not unlike United’s capitulation at the hands of Everton in the final moments. United’s power outage had nothing to do with the absence of Wayne Rooney, the ill-timed distraction of an inflated blow up doll hurled upon the pitch, yet had everything to do with a mysterious twist of fate not unlike the surge of electricity towards the end of my AM that eventually fried my router, seized my Internet connection and ruined United’s, no, my morning.

What was ultimately not a sign from the football Gods but a heroic fight back from an Everton side in desperate need of points was the main theme of Saturday, while a veteran United side unable to see out what would have been an important three points away from home remains nothing short of a major power outage.

In other notable weekend occurrences of normalcy, Chelsea continued their perfect start to a new campaign through an impressive Michael Essien while West Ham remain pointless at the bottom of the table. Avram Grant, once a Champions League final manager, will now surely fight relegation all year long. Rafael van der Vaart made a decent enough debut on the left side of midfield for a Spurs side who ultimately lacked enough gusto to see off West Brom. Jermain Defoe’s absence through injury marred Spurs effectiveness in attack, yet forward thinking minds assure Spurs fans there are options left to consider.

Blackpool, The Tangerines (don’t call them Orange), continued an up-down start to the Premier League with an impressive three points gained away to Newcastle. Ian Holloway named four strikers in his starting line up against an unchanged in four Newcastle who lacked cohesion. Blackpool went into the half up by the slimmest of margins while Newcastle continually pressed throughout the second half until they were finally caught by an impressive Blackpool counter attack when DJ Campbell sealed it for The Seasiders.

Honorable Mentions -

Christopher Samba, Blackburn Rovers- If Nikola Kalinic was the effective target man up front for Blackburn, then Samba was the equally as effective rock at the center of defense who saved a point for Blackburn with his defensive prowess. Specifically, the French-born defender’s late game dive at a Jo shot that was surely goal bound from close range. It was the kind of epic, late game heroics defenders live for, while it was the aforementioned Kalinic who opened up the scoring for Blackburn as Joe Hart again proved he’s human after all.

Samba’s a big unit with natural defensive abilities. Because of his height, he’s reliable and strong in the air. Reliable enough for Sam Allardyce to make Samba Captain as Blackburn look to build on last season’s tenth place finish.

Tim Howard, Everton- The final scoreline saw Everton’s Tim Howard concede three goals to Manchester United yet Howard’s heroics in the first half kept Everton in the game as the match entered the half level. As good as great saves can possibly get, Howard produced one of sheer brilliance in the first half when a flailing right foot resulted in an unbelievable kick save from a Paul Scholes trademark blast. Precision and timing from the American who definitely did his part in the kind of hard fought draw where goals were easy to come by.

Steven Pienaar, Everton- The spry South African midfielder gave Manchester United’s defense, more specifically Gary Neville, fits during the first half of their eventual 3-3 draw on Saturday. His pace and movements cutting into the middle of the pitch were effective enough to create multiple chances on goal for Everton in the first half. If it wasn’t for some last ditch defending by United, Everton could have been 2 or 3 up early.

Pienaar deservedly opened up the scoring when he matched pace on the break with Mikel Arteta and cleaned up the rebound from an Edwin van der Sar save.

Pepe Reina, Liverpool – Lastly, the Spanish keeper had an embarrassing international break with Spain when he gifted Argentina the easiest of all goals. On Sunday away to Birmingham City, Reina was at his best. On more than one occasion, Reina made that ever so difficult low diving last ditch save a la Gordon Banks v Pele in 1970 that assured Liverpool weren’t beaten and left Birmingham with a point.

Premier League Footballer of the Week -

Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal- Arsenal produced another strong performance at home against Bolton where they hit four goals through four different goal scorers. Fabregas and Co. were brilliant on the day as Arsenal ran riot on Bolton in a complete team performance.

Tomas Rosicky was instrumental in central midfield distributing the ball and linking play to the forward Arsenal attackers. His first half ball from just inside the center circle split the Bolton defense to shreds and found Andrei Arshavin just outside the box. It was a stunning pass that the Russian should have done better with. However, what Rosicky can do, so too can Fabregas. Over the course of the full 90, Fabregas was the main creative threat for Arsenal. His perfect 57th minute cross found the head of Marouane Chamakh for Arsenal’s 2nd while he had already assisted on Arsenal’s 1st. His stunning chip ball to Carlos Vela tapped off Arsenal’s 4th and was as perfect a team goal as Premier League fans have seen this season. Fabregas back fully fit is not only an asset to the Gunners, but a credit to Premier League and football fans in general as he embodies the definition of a world class midfielder.

It may only be just over a month since the World Cup has ended but that time has dragged by with very little football to watch and very few interesting transfer stories. What a relief then that the first weekend of the Premier League season would prove to be so unpredictable unless you were at Stamford Bridge. This little article will break down the best and worst of the first weekend of the Premier League season.

Best Players:

1. Joe Hart: It was obvious wasn’t it, Hart was immense and even Shay Given couldn’t help but smile as his English counter-part, quite literally, single-handedly kept Tottenham at bay. In the first game of the season Man City fans had reason for both hope and despair. In Joe Hart they have one of the finest Goalkeepers of this young England generation.
2. Gary Taylor-Fletcher: Marlon Harewood may have taken all the headlines with 2 goals and an assist but do not be fooled this performance was built around Taylor-Fletcher. A seasoned Football League campaigner, Taylor-Fletcher was everywhere in his Premiership debut and every time Blackpool had cause to celebrate he wasn’t far from the action.
3. Didier Drogba: It really speaks for itself, a hat-trick to end last season, a hat-trick to start this one, Drogba is the form player in the Premier League and through his free-kicks has added another string to an already very fine bow.

Worst Players:

1. Basically any Wigan player: But let’s go with Alcaraz, the Paraguayan defender who played quite well at the World Cup made it look like Titus Bramble could’ve taken his place if eligible; lethargic, slow and couldn’t find a pass this was a debut to forget then forget again.
2. Basically most Goalkeepers: It was the weekend of Howlers as a few goalkeepers couldn’t emulate Joe Hart. Tim Howard and Pepe Reina gifted other sides goals whilst Chris Kirkland, Scott Carson and Robert Green all showed why two Under-21’s were called up to the England Squad.
3. Joe Cole: Couldn’t get involved in the game until a wild lunge took him out of it. There was nothing dubious about this red card. The referee saw the play develop, saw the speed with which Cole went in shin high and game down hard. Kocielny escaped relatively unscathed but you do not take an injury or the reputation of the player into account when deciding these things. If you did Lee Cattermole would have been off, earlier, for leading with the elbow on Gary O’Connor. As for Joe a 3 game ban to start his Liverpool career? At least there’s the Europa Cup.

Best Goal of the Weekend: Has already been covered here in much more detail, even if you’ve read this article watch it again as it truly was a joy.

Best Team of the Weekend: The obvious choice is Blackpool, the plucky promoted side thrashing an established Premier League side away and in style. However, is it really that obvious, on my viewing Blackpool were not that great, a few lucky bounces presented them with opportunities and a fluke from Baptista gave the their fourth. You can only beat what is put in front of you and Blackpool had no challenge from Wigan (more on that later) at times it looked like it was how many they could score than would. To give this to Blackpool without recognition of the great team-work of Tottenham in the face of Man City’s 100 million pound team would be poor. Blackburn and of course Chelsea, who do what they always do, also deserve mention but my Team of the Weekend was Aston Villa. In the face of the disruption of losing their Manager 5 days before kick-off and the thought of losing one of their best players in the very near future, Villa had every right to lie down for West Ham at the weekend and no-one would’ve blamed them. Instead they brought on Marc Albrighton and let him wreak havoc, supported by the lovable giant John Carew (he’s bigger than me and you apparently) and a stoic James Milner, the Villains put on a show of attacking football and destroyed West Ham, granted much like Wigan, any side that features James Tomkins as a centre-half are likely to be beaten.

Worst Team of the Weekend: Without equivocation, Wigan. In the BBC text coverage of the game Garth Crooks summed it up best:

“I am disgusted. This is a disgraceful performance from Wigan. These are Premier League players we are talking about.”

He was right too; this was the single worst performance from any team that I have seen since Charlton played under Les Reed. The Wigan ‘players’ were diabolically bad in the first half and only really bad in the second. They couldn’t pick out a four yard pass to each other, didn’t pressure the ball and when they were beaten, stayed beaten. Every. Single. Time. That the ball went into the box, Blackpool players went in after it whilst the Wigan players stood and looked and hoped nothing would come of it. After the opening minute salvo from Blackpool, Chris Kirkland roared at his defence, after the corner he roared again but he got no response. I wouldn’t be surprised if he packed it in then and let the game get away from Wigan but he is too much of a professional for that he simply had a bad game too. Wigan did not present any of the quintessential Premier League virtues of pressure, pace and at times brute strength. They didn’t even have the common decency to get frustrated and start picking up cards (just kidding!). If anything Wigan took that game for granted and it showed, Blackpool won and deservedly so and with Chelsea and Tottenham due up next may god have mercy on them.

Best Moment of the Weekend: Was the return to refereeing of Mark Halsey and the black-armband he sported in respect to and memory of Adam Stansfield.

Worst Moment of the Weekend: Seeing Kenwyne Jones roll about in pain after a clumsy challenge from Jody Craddock, there is still no word on any possible injury but as he left the field it didn’t look good.

There we have it the first Premier League weekend in the books, now I know Manchester United haven’t played yet so much of the above could be premature and I hope so, because that should make it an interesting game tonight.

Agree? Disagree? I might have time to respond to you below but I’m going to guess it’s about Blackpool. Or Joe Cole.

The last three permanent managers of Liverpool have all overseen a familiar pattern of events. Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez all enjoyed moderately successful starts – Evans had a decent first full league season, Houllier a distant third place and a (very fortunate) cup treble, Benitez’s Champions League triumph rightly overshadowed a fairly poor fifth place – followed by a genuine title challenge or two before it all went stunningly wrong. Evans took a team 90 minutes away from being top of the table in May 1997 to 15 points back in 12 months; Houllier took a team finishing above Manchester United for the first time in gazillions of years to 30 points off top spot in 2 years, via a £20m splurge from 2nd to 5th the previous year; whereas Benitez took his team from a very strong 2nd to an embarrassing seventh in twelve months, the trophy well having dried long ago. History would dictate thus that his successor would have a similarly up and down tenure in the Anfield hot seat, where all of his previous good work is immediately tarnished by the chaos that regularly surrounds Liverpool Football Club every five years or so.

And so the next man, Fleet Street ‘flop’ turned ‘saviour of the Kop’ (don’t worry, he’ll be rubbish again soon enough) Roy Hodgson, steps into the breach. He inherits a comically restrictive financial situation – to the point where the signing of Luke Young, a versatile full back of modest quality and a far from perfect age, becomes almost impossible. His first signing, Joe Cole, required no transfer fee from Chelsea. Cole was a very exciting enigmatic talent at West Ham and performed very well for Mourinho and Avram Grant at Chelsea. His creativity and footballing intelligence may well remain undimmed from those heady days but his injuries may well have wrecked his career. It is further difficult to see how Cole fits in at Liverpool. In a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 he has neither the pace, work rate or consistency of delivery required to play wide, and in a 4-2-3-1 it is difficult to see how he and Gerrard can co-exist centrally. A diamond midfield may be the alternative, but as an attacking fulcrum he has proved only really effective at home recently against poor sides. It is difficult to see how he offers anything that is not offered by anyone else in the squad, so as a marquee signing he may not be guaranteed to starting place he supposedly wants.

Fernando Torres is World Class at his best but if his performances at the World Cup are anything to go by, he may not be able to access that best for a while. Similarly, aspects of Hodgson’s first choice XI may well be on the wrong side of the illustrative hill. Jamie Carragher, even though we are constantly told he ‘never relied on his pace’ every time he is skinned by a kid half his age, has shown signs of wear and tear and is 32, while first choice left back Fabio Aurelio is 30, like club captain Steven Gerrard. Gerrard endured one of his worst seasons in memory last time out, followed by an indifferent World Cup, and while he may be soon back to his best, it is by no means certain. It would be a brave manager to leave out Carragher indefinitely, even at this advanced stage of his career, given his loyalty and service to the club.

Javier Mascherano is a genuinely World Class holding midfielder, but is allegedly looking to leave Anfield in search of Champions League football. Alberto Aquilani can be a devastating footballer when he’s not injured, but he is generally injured. Daniel Agger is a very competent centre half, and Pepe Reina a superb goalkeeper, but there are still gaps in the squad that require filling: Dirk Kuyt was always fairly poor technically, saved by his indefatigable work rate – but in a team lacking in quality, his weaknesses are exposed. The sale of Emiliano Insua to Fiorentina may have fallen flat, but if he is subsequently sold, as is Hodgson’s reported wont, the options behind the ageing Aurelio at left back would be poor to minimal. The options behind Torres too are not great, the improving David N’Gog and Daniel Pacheco have shown little to suggest themselves to be capable of sustaining a Champions League challenge. Ryan Babel remains a complete enigma, combining the physical attributes of Cristiano Ronaldo with the technical proficiency and end product of Carlton Palmer to create an infuriating footballer. The cunning transfer of Milan Jovanovic makes his impact on the squad less important at the moment, but if the expected-in-some-areas fire sale of players rocks into gear, he could be flushed into prominence.

Thus while the Liverpool squad contains players of great talent and potential, its uneven depth and the inability to rectify those problems makes Hodgson’s position difficult. Only with preposterous luck with injuries in certain positions, combined with the unforeseeable ascent of three or four enigmas is it possible to see Liverpool even remotely challenging for the title. As for fourth place, they would require one of the other ‘big three’ if they struggle with injuries, or Manchester City to struggle really badly despite their excellent signings, as well as Spurs and Villa to stagnate. Hodgson would further have to overcome a number of problems within the squad on a shoestring budget, with players desperate to leave, something that he is unused to dealing with in recent times. It would therefore appear to be a long shot for Liverpool to challenge strongly for a top four place.

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The first noises started when Real Madrid were humbled at Anfield.  Then Liverpool managed to make up ground on United since what seems like the first time since the winter break with a thumping of the champions at Old Trafford.  It got noisier still.  Then, what seemed like an impossibility happened: Man U dropped three more points and Liverpool still managed take three points.  The lead was reduced from an untouchable 7 points to one point.

After a ridiculous 13 goals in the past three games, the buzz surrounding Liverpool grew to an equally ridiculous pitch.  First came the expected declarations from Gerrard, Riera, Carragher, and Skrtel that the Reds have what it takes to win the Premier League and end the title drought.

“The pressure is on United, we have conviction, form favors us, etc.”

We’ve heard it before, always at the end of a season when the front-runner stumbles and the doomed runners-up suddenly look lively.  Chelsea last season actually were level with United on points but behind on goal difference at a later stage of the season, and players made similar statements but failed to edged out the Red Devils for the title.

The difference between this year and last year is that it ended with the title race, whereas in the past week or so Liverpool players have been earning huge acclaim.

The Steven Gerrard praise is acceptable.  On form, he’s the best in England.  He was recently declared better than Kaka, which has been true over the past few months, but if I had to choose between the two based on the performance of their careers, I’d choose the Brazilian.

Zidane disagrees and said Gerrard is the best in the world, ahead of Messi.  I’d once again have to disagree, as I think the Argentine will absolutely cement his status as world’s best in the upcoming Champions League clash against Bayern, in the Copa del Rey final against Bilbao and when Barcelona secures La Liga.  Thankfully, Gerrard recently agreed with me and has stated he doesn’t think he is the best footballer on the planet.

Some praise is totally out of control though, such as the idea that Pepe Reina might actually score someday because the Spaniard’s distribution from the box is excellent.  Goalkeepers have scored before, but the idea that Pepe Reina will get within shooting range and beat a EPL or UCL class shot-stopper is a little insulting.

The point is that the people at and around the club need to stay calm.

Realities need to be faced, the most important being that Man U still have a game-in-hand, and Liverpool need them to have two more slip-ups in the remaining nine games.  Given recent form this is possible, but given that five of the nine are at home, where United have dropped 5 points all season, and that the four away fixtures are against Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hull, and Wigan, I can’t really see many problems for the Champions.  Wigan can force a draw from the Red Devils, and Arsenal can surely beat them at Old Trafford, but even then Liverpool would have to be perfect for the rest of the season to win.

Liverpool can do it, and United can certainly fail.  The key is not to get carried away.  The Reds have a remaining eight games of similar caliber, and injuries aside, should be able to make the race tight till the final one or two games.

The international break is coming up, and I think it is a great time for both Sir Alex and Rafa to settle their squads before the final push.  Whoever does it more effectively will probably end up champions.

 Late Liverpool Halt Chelsea’s Faltering Challenge

It’s a cold Sunday afternoon and I’ve parked my backside on the sofa to watch Liverpool vs Chelsea, a clash of the title contenders. Man United’s ominous form coupled with their rivals inability to keep pace means we all know that the team that loses Sunday’s game is well and truly out of the title race…in January.

The game itself is perhaps no thriller, Chelsea apparently toothless in attack registering a meagre 2 attempts on target to Liverpool’s 9. The first half was far from an enthralling affair but from the first whistle a hungrier, more dyanimic Liverpool were the only side who could have saved the game from being labelled a bore-draw.

The London side’s supporters were clearly never going to leave Anfield happy. An indifferent performance by goalkeeper Petr Cech, who was twice nearly caught in possession and Didier Drogba again left on the bench as Chelsea lined up 4-3-3 with Anelka, Malouda and Kalour preferred, no doubt to the Ivorian’s frustration to lead the attack.  The Blues created nothing all afternoon, Pepe Reina a spectator in the Reds goalmouth for much of the game.

Just after the hour mark Chelsea’s midfield finally featured in one of the games major talking points but not in the way that manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari would have wanted. Frank Lampard lunging for 50/50 with Xabi Alonso catching his opponent in the follow through was bizarrely adjudged by trigger-happy official Mike Riley to be worthy of a red card, Lampard and Chelsea justifiably furious.

Enter the 88th minute and it’s still Liverpool on top as it had been from the first whistle and Liverpool finally deliver a telling blow in the shape of a Fernando Torres’ late double. First a fantastic glancing header at the near post from Riera’s cross, minutes before Ashley Cole’s poor judgement not to clear first time let the ball fall to Yossi Benayoun to nip in behind and although Cole did well to get a foot in the way the ball fell into the path of the £20 million Spaniard to slot in his second.

Moments later and cue the final whistle, Anfield in raptures and Rafa Benitez delighted with the pressure momentarily eased on their own faltering title challenge. Scolari and Chelsea fans have to wonder why they have only taken one point in any of the games against the so-called ‘big four’ in five games so far this season.

Scolari though in his first season in charge (with glistening C.V in his defence) can be the only man to rationalise why Anelka and Drogba have never been paired together for any significant amount of time as  a traditional front two and the lack of starting opportunities for the effervescent Joe Cole. The board at Stamford Bridge have certainly tightened the purse strings after previous years of free-flowing spending and this is no major surprise, no club could ever sustain this (I’m sure Man City fans may not agree for now!) but the budget transfer budget needs to be at least £30-£40 million in the current climate to stay with the pace. The Portuguese duo of Deco signed (free) and Bosingwa (16 Million) the only Major arrivals at the bridge this summer.

My personal opinion of why Chelsea don’t score enough goals, is the absence of Essien in the engine room coupled with a three -prong attack that often resembles a negative looking 4-5-1 leaving Anelka isolated. Kalou and Malouda simply do not look like players who belong in a title winning team.

Should Scolari still be at The Bridge this summer in what is current an uncomfortable climate to be a manager at a top club, then a major rebuilding job is needed to make the Blues currently feeble title ambitions realistic.

If Liverpool fans have dreams of winning the Premier League this season, they can kiss them goodbye. Today at Anfield, Liverpool escaped with a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough with a woeful performance that was rescued by an own goal and then an injury time goal by Steven Gerrard.

This was a cruel blow to Middlesbrough who played a strong defensive game for most of the match under a 4-5-1 formation. Despite creating far fewer chances in front of goal, Boro looked more dangerous after Tuncay spun around a Liverpool defender and his shot was saved by Reina. Then in the 70th minute, Middlesbrough took the lead after Mido struck the ball into the corner of the net.

Liverpool’s equalizer came later when Jamie Carragher’s shot took a wicked deflection off Pogatetz and into the Middlesbrough goal. Then, with the last strike of the ball, Gerrard popped up to rescue Liverpool by striking the ball into the back of the net to send the fans in The Kop into ecstasy.

While the result will go down as three points won for Liverpool, there were several major concerns about Liverpool’s performance today. After they were outplayed for portions of last week’s match against Sunderland, you would expect Liverpool to raise their standard of play for their first home league match of the new season. That was entirely not the case. Liverpool did create plenty of chances, but they were as wasteful as Arsenal are renowned for. Gerrard and Benayoun were practically invisible for most of the match, while Torres and Robbie Keane have still yet to strike up a good partnership.

But most of all, what was missing from Liverpool’s performance is their ability to strike the killer blow. For large portions of the match, especially in the first half, Liverpool almost put Anfield to sleep by playing at a slow tempo that was easy for Middlesbrough to defend against.

To me, that’s one of the major differences between Liverpool and Manchester United. With Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, you can often sense a goal when a goal is coming when they start their blistering attacks. With Liverpool, so far, they’re too predictable and will find it very difficult to outperform Man United, Chelsea or Arsenal this season.

Liverpool needs to improve considerably if they’re serious about trying to stay a top four club this season. Defensively they look strong as long as Hyypia stays on the bench, but they have issues in midfield and up front. The team is relying too much on Fernando Torres just as they did last season when they seemed to be waiting for Gerrard to create something magical.

This is going to be a long season for Liverpool based on their last two poor performances.