goodfootballerornot

So a transfer deadline passes with barely a whiff of interest.  Apart from Robbie, I used to support that club as a kid, Keane heading off to Celtic.  His journey north has always been expected but probably not at the very end of a January Transfer window.  One suspects a ploy to generate interest in the move of a player very much on the wane right now.  His move to Liverpool and back to Spurs and his subsequent lack of return to form is well know.  However what is less commented on is the Transfer polcies of Spurs and Harry Rednapp.  That ‘Arry was always going to plunder Defoe from Portsmouth was a given, but much of the rest of his transfers are questionable to say the least.   Wilson Palacios is the pick of the bunch who has been good, sometimes supurb as the motor in midfield.  But Crouch flatters to decieve and what on earth is Younis Kabul doing back in the squad?  He might have looked good at Portsmouth but I suspect he will be a bit dodgy, again.  Looking at it you can’t see much rhyme or reason to the signings, Eidur Gudjohnsen has been signed why exactly?

Well new season and the only real surprise is that Spurs managed to stay top.  If that Lennon fella keeps playing like that he should get a shout at a place in the England squad.

Liverpool are uninspiring to say the least.  They really only beat Bolton because they were a man up.

Same for Man Utd who were lucky to win (aren’t they always?) and Arsene Wenger was stupidly sent to the stands, where he had to stand in front of the ManU supporters, who obviously extended him a warm and friendly welcome.

Stoke I suppose are the other surprise, playing well one week and getting tonked the next.  If they can level out thier form and play reasonably consistently they will stay up for sure as they seem to have much more about them than the other so called “lesser” teams.

Please can Hull get relegated.  Awful football.

Oh dear.  Liverpool may be top of the table but the blew a chance for a 3 point lead agaisnt a sorry West Ham.  Robbie Keane is often a late starter goal wise but hes looking like a bad investment right now, I wonder if he regrets leaving Spurs yet?

Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal : Dodgy off sides or not, for Chelsea to blame the ref for their lack of ability to score against an Arsenal side who look very suspect all round is just poor indeed.

Man City 0-1 Man Utd : Rooney finally scores after six games to get the winner in a messy game which showed how much work City will need to do to compete despite any money they may have.  Ronaldos handling of the ball for his second yellow was just odd and rather silly.

Portsmouth 3-2 Blackburn : Good win for Pompey and Admans who finally gets a home win.  Blackburn fought hard but were unable to get the draw.  Time running out for Ince.

Tottenham 0-1 Everton : Not many chances all round with the Rednapp luck, magic touch or just not being Ramos running out here.  For a home game they would have wanted at least a point here.

Aston Villa 0-0 Fulham : Villa miss a chance to creep up a place, although credit to Fulham who are proving difficult to get results against.

Middlesbrough 0-0 Newcastle : Poor stuff all round in poor conditions.

Stoke 1-1 Hull  : Another game with few chances but at least the fans got to see their side get a goal.

Sunderland 1-4 Bolton : To get spanked by Bolton is embarrassing, especially when the manager has spent so much money and has such a large squad to draw from.  Keane deserves all the criticism he gets having had little so far.

Wigan 2-1 West Brom : Many more chances from two supposedly inferior sides – Boro and Toon take notes please.  Wigan were a bit lucky, but thats the game at times.

Everton doing thier bit to keep the table tight.  Poor stuff from the “best league in the world”.  Football quality low, interest high as its a real competition so far this year.

Tottenham 1-0 Blackburn:  Aaron Lennon showed he can play well for extended periods of time, well in the same game at least.  He completely embarrassed Martin Olsson who was sent off for trying to tackle a player who was so much better than him.  Gomes made it through without cocking up, well he didn’t concede a goal.  Still looking nervy and less than convincing.  Blackburn tried to make something and should have done better.  Its not clear if the squad lacks a player of sufficient quality to raise them or if Paul Ince isn’t up to the job at this level. Thanks to the tight point situation Spurs charge up the table but no one is safe in the bottom 10 or so.

Sunderland 0-1 West Ham:  Roy Keane will, I’m sure, take a piss on the respect campaign from a great height after having a couple of penalty decisions go badly against them.  Still is Cisse had put his chances away then it shouldn’t have been  a problem.    West ham will be very happy with the win, as will Zola who could have seen himself sacked soon if he didn’t get a result soon.  The little Italian has made steps to putting something that resembles a defence into the team but they offer precious little up front.  With no money to spend it would seem its going to be difficult.  For all Sunderlands spending there’s little to show for it really and even less in terms of progress over last season.  Maybe if Keane had less players to choose from it would focus his choices and the minds of those in the squad.

This season is looking to be one of the most dramatic for some time with only 8 points separating 20th from 7th and 6th to 3rd only 3 points apart.    A two horse race at the top but there’s a new runner in contention.

Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd : Tight stuff and not too many real chances.  Villa lost an opportunity to beat a misfiring Man U who would have benefited from Rooney being part of the England squad as Capello seems to have a positive impact on his game and he really needs an upturn right now .

Chelsea 0-0 Newcastle: Newcastle parked the bus and would be much happier with the result than a baffled Scolari.  A better result for Toon.

Liverpool 0-0 Fulham:Liverpool were lucky as they played poor and Chelseas failure to get round the Newcastle bus was unexpected.  A wasted opportunity.

Man City 3-0 Arsenal : The good half of the Man City Schizoid team showed up to make Arsenals week end as bad as it could have without them having more injuries.  The praise heaped on the way Arsenal play thier football is looking extremely misguided.

Middlesbrough 1-3 Bolton: Undone by 2 early goals Borough never really got back into the game.  Bolton were Bolton.

Portsmouth 2-2 Hull: Unlucky for Porsmouth as they were on course for a deserved win until a rather unfortunate own goal.  Encouraging for Tony Adams who just needs a bit of luck to get the results coming in.

Stoke 1-0 West Brom:  A late winner for one of the two Championship sides playing.

All in all a case of missed opportunities and some fairly poor performances all round.

A great derby game, hell just a great game.  Bentlys blinding goal kicked off a roller coaster of a game which had Spurs unfairly down 4-2 until the 90th minute when Jenas scored a brilliant goal followed by a surprising equaliser.

Lots of talk of the naievity of the Arsenal squad and how age lost them the game, lets analyse that shall we;

Woolwich team

Almunia, Sagna, Silvestre, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas,
Denilson, Nasri, Van Persie, Adebayor

Average Age: 24.6

and here’s the spurs team

Gomes, Hutton, Corluka, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Modric,
Jenas, Huddlestone, Bale, Pavulychenko

Average age: 23.8.

So in fact the Spurs “Kids” played a good game and made a stunning late comeback.

Depressingly its business as usual for the Prem.  All of the “top 4″ won, with scary good score lines for Chelsea and Man U.

Boro were spanked in the second half and although Chelsea were fortunate for a couple of them Boro had no response apart from capitulation, loosing 5-0 at home is not very good is it. Man U also turned in a far superior second half performace than thier opponents, doing West Brom 4-0.  Everton should be rather annoyed at converting a 1-0 lead at half time to a 3-1 loss, but it does fit thier current form.  Liverpools run of playing badly and winning, with some luck in the form of a Wigan red card, continued with a late 3-2 win over Wigan.

The teams with a shout of breaking into the Champions League spots, Villa and Portsmouth, managed a fairly rubbish draw together, hard fought it might have been but a win is required for the top 4.  Villa who have looked at times like a top 4 team, until they got rolled over by Chelsea, will regret thier lack of scoring here I’m sure.   Jermaine Defoe showed why he won’t get a start for England, we have better play makers and more accurate shooters.   By the end of today Hull, of all teams – come on be honest your thinking the same, could be in the top four with a draw against West Ham and frankly they have a very good chance of doing so.

Later today Spurs play Stoke for Ramos job and anything other than a win must spell the end for him.  Loosing will leave Spurs deep in the shit with only 2 points, no confidence and the players wondering who will be managing them in a couple of weeks.