English Premier League
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An eventful day in the Premier League that saw upsets galore. Roberto Mancini may have announced the title was already Chelsea’s, but he watched his Manchester City side overcome them 1-0 in the Early kickoff. It was also a bad day for Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs. Man United fans must be rubbing their hands together – they don’t play untill tomorrow, against Bolton.
It was an ex-United player – Carlos Tevez who gave City the win against Chelsea, in teh defending Champions first real test of the season. Arguably all the good morale work done by those big wins against the weaker opponents at the start of the season has now been undone, as the first time they’ve come up against an arguable title contender, they’ve been beaten.
It is surely time to start believing in Roberto Mancini. Not only do his mind games about Chelsea already having won the title seem to have worked, but tactically he got the game spot on. Sure his team is not Holland 74 or Brazil 82, but crikey it worked.
Elsewhere, Liverpool were looking to bounce back from their Carling Cup defeat midweek, but only managed a draw against Sunderland in a highly contentious match. Liverpool took in the lead in farcical fashion, as Sunderland were adjudged to have taken a FK, and then Liverpool nicked in to score.
A couple of Darren Bent goals gave the Black Cats the lead however, and it fell to Steven Gerrard to score late on to salvage a point for the Reds.
Arsenal fared badly as well, suffering a 3-2 defeat against West Brom in a thrilling game at the Emirates. West Ham outclassed Arsenal, and went 3-0 up after missing a penalty, and two late goals from Nasri could not prevent a famous victory for the Baggies.
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Not a great morning to be a Liverpool fan. Last night a (second string) Liverpool side were beaten by Northampton Town as the club lurches into more talk of crisis at the club.
It was no doubt a meek performance, and shows the dangers of playing a below-strength team in the Carling Cup. Of course This isn’t just a Liverpool have lost one game in the cup they are in crisis post – they’ve had a pretty indifferent start to the season – just five points from the opening five matches. A decent run in the Carling Cup would surely have at least raised morale?
Anyway, this is a bit of a crossroads for Liverpool. After they went from title contenders to Europa League contenders last season, they clearly had some work to do. This lost won’t exactly help, but its up to the big names (who will come back into the side at the weekend) to step up their game and turn the team around.
Can they do it?
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“No-one really knows that muich about Ben Arfa”
Really? Alan Shearer delivered those words on Saturday night on BBC Staple Match of the Day, met with a splutter from serious football fans from around the land. Really? We don’t know that much about Ben Arfa? The Ben Arfa that’s been playing in the Champions League on a regular basis? The one who has been capped by his country and that even Raymond Domenech realised would be a good player to take to the World Cup?Sheesh! As a Geordie, I assumed Shearer would have at least have done his research to find out about this new guy Newcastle had signed on loan. Especially if that is EXACTLY WHAT HIS JOB WAS.
Still, its nothing new. TV stations constantly employ “pundits” who are invariably famous ex-pros, who usually don’t actually know very much about the game. It seems odd, you would think being an ex-pro you would know all about the game, but that obviously isn’t the case. There are some aspects of the game that only a pro can really relate to – say the feeling of scoring in a cup final – but of actual game analysis, footballers aren’t required to be that knowledgeable.
Yet reading newspapers (and often, blogs) you find intelligent, cutting analysis. Goodness knows why these people aren’t on TV, you know the ones that understand the game, because they’ve spent their whole life analysing it.
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I have to admit, I quite like Dimitar Berbatov. There are a couple of reasons. He has always seemed quite lazy, and I can relate to that. The way he plays on the pitch, is not dissimilar to my style when my friends have a kickabout. The other main reason is that, well, I picked him with a month to go in his first season at Spurs for my Fantasy Football team, and he was the difference that won me the league I was playing in that season.
He always looked impressive in that free scoring Spurs side (conceded an absurd amount of goals sure, but Keane and Berba were constantly scoring) but since moving to Man United, there have been question marks. This season he looks like he’s finally going to put those question marks to bed.
Of course at the weekend he grabbed a hat-trick against United’s forever-rivals Liverpool, but it isn’t just about that. He’s looked impressive all season. When he was dropped to make way for a returning Wayne Rooney against Rangers in the Champions League, Sir Alex rued the fact that Berba would have probably scored.
So the big question is, can he keep it up?
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There is a disarmingly friendly air around the build up to tomorrow’s clash between Man United and Liverpool at Old Trafford, with Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Hodgson exchanging pleasantries, the two good friends taking to the dugouts of the two biggest teams in the land, for the biggest fixture in the land.
Its a big change from when Rafa Benitez was Liverpool manager, his relationship with Fergie was far more strained. Make no mistake though, the two will put their friendship on hold, and on the pitch, and in the stands, there will only be acrimony. It is the biggest fixture of the season – similar to El Classico or the Derby d’Italia.
It doesn’t matter how either side is doing – which is fortunate, as both sides have been all over the place. Man United are coming off the back of a collapse against Everton last week, and a draw with Rangers midweek in the Champions League, while Liverpool’s Jekyll and Hyde performances have seen a struggle to get a point against Birmingham, followed by a 4-1 win in midweek.
Fergie has said that this fixture is “the one” and that no English fixture compares to it, and he’s right. In the playgrounds at school everyone had a team, and also cheered on either Man United or Liverpool when the sides met. The preference might change for whatever reason, but most supporters will want one side or the other to win, regardless of how their team is doing on Sunday.
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The Champions League is a notoriously hard beast to predict. Last season, it seemed certain to be a Real Madrid/Barcelona final, but neither even made the last two. English clubs had an off year too last year, compared with the domination of previous seasons. But will they bounce back this season?
Last night the first two English clubs kicked off – Spurs against Bremen and Man United against Rangers. Both drew. Man United in a 0-0 draw that the Scottish side played for, in a match that would be forgotten really quickly, except for Antoinio Valencia’s horror ankle break. The winger went down after a relatively innocuous tackle, but was stretchered off and given oxygen as he left the pitch. His season is likely over. We wish him all the best in his recovery.
Spurs meanwhile, led 2-0, but couldn’t kill off the game, and Bremen came back late on to earn a 2-2 draw. Still, an away draw against Bremen is not a bad buiding block for the rest of the group, although Harry Redknapp will be frustrated his side didn’t get three points in a difficult group – Inter and Twente await, though they drew yesterday as well.
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So after the international break, the Premier League was back with a bang, and a number of huge stories. Wayne Rooney not picked to play against Everton! Joe Hart makes a mistake! Manchester City don’t win! Lets have a look at what we learned.
1. Joe Hart is not invincible afterall.
He dropped the ball nervously for England in midweek, and everyone cringed, but at least that didn’t lead to a goal chance or anything. Sadly he isn’t as invincible as he seemed at the start of the season, as his mistake led to Man City conceding a (rare) goal from open play. He has held his hands up, but presumably Shay Given is rubbing his gloves together.
2. And so, Money can’y buy you wins
City ended up drawing the game 1-1. They’ve been tough to score against so far this season, but considering the amount of money they have spent on attack minded players, they’ve hardly been free-scoring entertainers either. Maybe its Roberto Mancini’s predilection for playing 459 defensive midfielders. Although one of them – Patrick Vieira -scored a nice goal.
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So, for those who don’t know, I grew up in the terrible football void that is The South West of England. For someone deeply interested in football it is a terrible place to grow up. My youth is dominated by watching football involving teams from nowhere near where I live – often abroad, especially Italy – and a sideshow of watching my local team play. It is a strange one.
There is an interesting article in this months FourFourTwo – Page 28, titled Where Do England Players Really Come From. It takes all the players that have ever been capped for England, and tells you where they come from. 179 come from London. 84 from Manchester. 77 froim Lancs, 70 froim the Tyne. Bristol is the 8th most populous city in the UK. How many Bristolians have played for England? 16. (Gary Mabutt, left is one). As for the rest of the Westcountry, as many players born in India have played for England as those born in Devon (7).
It is a similar story in club football. Bristol has two teams, City and Rovers. City last played top flight football in the late 1970s. Rovers – my team – have never reached the top tier of English football. Ever. The closest City have ever got to winning a major trophy was in 1909 when they got to the FA Cup final. They’ve also reached the League Cup final twice, and erm, won the Welsh Cup.
On the other hand, City are the only club in English Football to have been relegated three times in a row (which is oddly impressive when you consider it). Rovers meanwhile, since you ask, have got to the Football League Trophy final twice and lost (its the one that changes name all the time. Its currently the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy) and that is about it.
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So after six years away from the Premier League (and it feels like about 4 of those were speculation he was joining Villa – can you believe its been less than a month?) Gérard Houllier has officially been confirmed as manager of Aston Villa.
So the immediate question – will he be a success? He’s had a mixed bag of a career. He was last in the Premier League as manager of Liverpool, where he set about dismantling the Spice Boy Era, and bought a bit of success to the club (including a UEFA Cup win) before leaving the club in a bit of a mess after failing to qualify for the Champions League. Not that dissimilar from his successor then.
He did help turn Steven Gerrard into the Steven Gerrard we all know today, and he did get the best out of Michael Owen (who hasn’t really been the same player since). Although it wasn’t all roses, he also bought El Hadji Diouf instead of Nicolas Anelka. If you are going to buy one sulky foreigner, you want to make it Anelka.
They key, I think is that the Premier League is a pretty different beast than it was in 2004. Since then English Clubs have come to dominante in the Champions League (last season excepted) the status of the League has grown, the money is crazier, it is an altogether different beast. Although having some experience is better than none.
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It was the big story yesterday, two hours before the transfer deadline and just after the Dutchman’s move to Bayern fell through, Harry Redknapp swooped and tried to pick up Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid for a measly £8m. Everyone was a bit unsure whether he got the deal done on time, but it has officially been ratified by the Premier League, so he’s all good.
The dutch midfielder has very much been second choice at Real, but he could give Spurs a bit of stability in the middle of the park that makes him a really good buy for Redknapp.
Side thought – must be weird as a footballer on transfer deadline day. You’re negotiating moving your whole family out to Germany or whatever, and then that falls through, so you’re still in Madrid, and then two hours before the deadline, you find you have a chance to go play and live in London. That’s presumably alot to process so quickly if it really works as we’re told it does.
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