Yes the worst start for Spurs since records began, or close to it. Jol was facing the sack at this point and in a better position too. I guess after spannering so much on players for Ramos the board are stuck with him, for now. Villa are looking good and could grab that mythical top four slot if they carry on this way.
Posibly the most significant win for Pool since the CL. Deinied top of the table by a team who steamed past Man City despite being a man down. Could be Chelseas year? Very likely.
For Man U a fairly bad start and Chelsea next week. Should be interesting.
So Keggers has gone, again, and Toon are a shambling wreck of a club unlikely to attract top managerial talent. I mean really, look at them. 8 managers over the past 11 years, not to mention the timings of some of the sackings, a football director or two in London, madness. This time for Keggers the issue seems to be a similar one with many managers and clubs now, who has control of bringing in or selling players? Lets face it some managers have wasted millions on some right dross, Newcastle being a prime example of having a string of managers who filled the club with players best left on the dole. Mike Ashely, who it transpires brought the club before waiting for a due diligence report (that’s checking the books to you), found himself unexpectedly several more million quid out of pocket. That he wants to keep an eye on the cash and perhaps not make the mistake of previous owners and keep the managers purchasing of the crippled and the talentless in check is understandable, but why Dennis Wise? In London? He was a marginal manager at best and as yet seems to have done nothing in terms of bringing in some talent to Newcastle. That the choice came to Keegan or Wise and Keegan lost is surprising to say the least. Curbishley also went this week citing similar circumstance, players being sold when he wanted to keep them etc. while the club have said quite the opposite that he was told in all circumstances, but the complaint is the same. Benetez also appears to have had problems with getting players he wants, and he doesn’t have to deal with dross being brought in by a sporting director, he can buy his own dross, if the owner lets him.
Worse for these owners who are seeking to protect their cash and reign in bad managerial purchases is that the game is full of sporting directors who aren’t really up to the job. Comolli at Spurs appears to be a bit of a comedian, 16 million for Darren Bent? Come on! There also appears to be questions asked of his failure to sign another striker before the transfer deadline and the list of attempted signings is farcical. There are others but the point is that many are just not doing any better than the managers.
Whatever the situations managers & clubs appear to need a reality check. Theres too much money at stake to allow most managers free reign on who they buy and for how much. Players often want to move and there’s naff all that can be done about it. Players who look a good prospect turn out to be a bit shit, no matter why buys them and worse a class player is brought but has left his magic boots at his old club. It happens, a lot.
Worryingly for English managers, what are the odds that an English manager will be offered either job? Blackburn took the bold and pretty much unprecedented step of appointing Paul Ince, a manger who did at least have a good record at a lower level. If English football is lucky maybe another young English manager will be given a chance and maybe one day the England team will be managed by and Englishman, or will we have our clubs and country managed (badly) by italians? Im looking at you here West Ham, the only managers linked with your club appear to be Italians? Why? While there is no doubting the credentials of some of the Italian talent saying they are interested in coming here, why not look to the Championship, there are some talented English managers who, if given the chance, could well prove themselves. Is there really such a risk? Same for Newcastle, who are you going to appoint? Dont drag out the still twitching corpse of failure that are the unemployed ex preimiere league managers, pick someone who hasnt had a chance at the top level. The clubs already have Sporting Directors to stop them making expensive mistakes and the coaching staff is in place, unless the new guy comes in and really changes everything the team at least should be able to continue on wards without a dramatic drop in performance even if they are a bad choice. Hell Avram Grant got Chelsea to a Champions League final and he apparently didnt do anything at all! Neither are top 4 anyway and now Man City appear to have limitless fund they are unlikely to be able to be top 4 without the sort of money the owners dont seem to have. Realistically they can only be expecting mid table mediocraty now and maybe a fight for a UEFA cup spot which has just got one place harder to get. So whats stopping you? Newcastles last choices of Reoder and Allardyce were sound in this way at least, trying to give a fairly proven manager a chance at a bigger place. Ok so they failed, but there are no certainties in life and both Newcsatle and West Ham hardly have the worst squads in the league or anything to loose right now.
Uniteds hugely dodgy signing of Berbatov looks to go unpunished, what does the Premiere League do exactly? What are the rules there for? Shame on United for their bullying brazen behavior, shame on Spurs for taking the money and shame on the PL for letting it happen. Every contract is now worthless, every club should feel no compunction to follow the rules of transfers. After whinging about Madrid all summer and then tucking up Spurs for Berbatov in the same way, if not worse, Man U deserve some form of punitive action. In fact if I was a manager who wanted a player, just go to their current clubs training ground and ask if they want to join. Give back the fines to Chelsea for the Ashley Cole affair, what does it matter now?
The Gain, possibly, is for City. Robinho is a world class player, a world class player who may well find himself a touch surprised to be playing for Manchester City, not United and in the UEFA cup and not the Champions League. Its unlikely to happen this season but we could certainly see a large gathering of top players at City next year. As for their new signing, lets see if he actually wants to play for them or not. Since he has yet to be displayed by the club and considering the clubs status right now you have to feel there’s a good chance he might not actually want to play for them. The new owners are going to have to pay him a lot of money to get the best from him.
The Pain is for all the clubs not owned by rich backers now. With City throwing down a massive gauntlet which is grasping a platinum (that’s solid platinum as well, not just some plastic painted thing) billionaires credit card, the rest are going to find life very hard indeed. Spurs have spent an awful lot of money aiming for the top four and are having a bad start already. Next season they are going to have an even harder time of it getting into the Champions League, unless Liverpool and Arsenal implode. Liverpool and Arsenal have stadium issues, one cant get the cash to buy one it needs and the other is struggling to pay off the debt for theirs, what future for them without some extra backing now?
Transfer rules are being ignored and the Premiere League is doing nothing. Contract and transfer chaos looms, at least I hope so. I certainly hope to see Man U loose some players next season, maybe City can do a Ronaldo and Berbatov double? We can only hope for a massive shakeup around transfers unfortunately. Clubs are being brought by backers who will want thier money back, with some serious interest. Abramovich might just love the game, but he still has only loaned the money to Chelsea. I suspect Citys new owners are also going to go into this with a harsher deal than what Chelsea are under.
Ye gods that was dull. You have to expect this from games every now and then, especially with 2 managers not known for taking risks but as a spectacle it was poor, poor stuff. Villa had a prime opportunity to take Pool apart after their dodgy performances so far and blew it big style. Benetez will probably be happy enough, still didn’t loose and every point is valuable.
Or Lampard Pointless shot count 5, Darren Bent pointless headers forward 5.
Tottenham needed something from this game and could have nicked the full 3 points. Tottenham started well and thier early possetion lead was largely wasted with Bent on his own and support very slow in coming. Why Bent feels the need to head the ball onto a player who isnt there is beyond me, is he that dumb?
Bentlys role and play is strange to say the least. Given a dead ball position and some time he definatly is Beckham lite. But as a player whos supposed to offer attacking runs, well mostly the attacking runs he made started in his own half, and ended there mostly as well. He also seems to be a really lazy player, his tracking back was very poor, as is his ability to stay near the touchline, taking some needed width away. Tottenham lacked width, mainly due to his postioning, even when he was switched to the left second half.
Ramos needs to get the players to understand that if they are going to hoof it to Bent, or any lone striker, then they need to drag thier lardy arses up the field to back him up and the striker needs to keep hold of the ball or at least try and head it back to a teammate.
Chelseas defence is way too organised for Bent to have been a problem on his own, hell most defences are too good for him to be a threat on his own. The goal he scored came from a miskick/pass from Lampard, not some good Tottenham play. When Spurs did get forward in numbers they did play good footbal and look to produce some chances, although really they only looked top 4 good when Ohara, Huddleston and Lennon were on. Bale did some good runs and Lennon looked dangerous going at Cashley Cole who had been rather untroubled by Bently in the first half or by Des Santos after a half time switch round.
For Chelsea Deco had an off day and it was noticable that Ballack wasn’t there either. Anekla squanderd thier best chance right in front of goal and only Lampard produced a shot of note, forcing Gomes to full streatch to tip over a sublime chip. Which doesnt make up for all the wasted chances and pointless shots. I can see the temptation of making use of Essiens versatility in many postions, but the evidence is that Lampard should be on the bench and Essien and Deco should be the forward drive from the midfield, preferably with Ballack. The goal came from a corner which possibly shouldnt have been and Bent failing to clear a simple ball.
Late on there was an incident when Terry fouled Modric, standing his ground I believe its known as. However if hes not tackling then he should get out of the way, I really dislike the notion that you can just stand there and block an opponents movement. Defenders do this a lot when covering the ball to run out, for me if they arnt playing it they should be allowed to be nudged out of the way.
Whether Berbatov would have made a difference is of course irreleavnt, it is likely that he would have held the ball up better while waiting for the rather slow tottenham support to arrive. But if Bently can be coached into doing something better and give Huddleton and Lennon more time on it should give Tottenham the edge they need to turn “not bad performances” into wins.
In the end a good showing for Spurs who are looking like a good unit. After they Sell the pain in the arse that is Berbatv, they should move on with confidence now. Chelsea wasted some opportunities and the Lampard pointless shot count needs to be converted to Lampard decent attacking passes to a striker, how he gets so highly rated is beytond me. Scolari needs to sub Deco when hes playing pants and get Essien further forward more of the time. They are a good team, but not unbeatable by any means.
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Bit of a spanking for Toon who failed to take any of thier scant chances. Barton got the welcome he deserved and Van Persie appears to have made it through without injury.
Bolton 0-0 West Brom
Yep, pretty dull stuff.
Everton 0-3 Portsmouth
Much better from Portsmouth, Everton need some better players.
Hull 0-5 Wigan
Surprise spanking for Hull, Wigin really arnt a five goal better side than them either. Still if it gives them a dose of reality they should be able to get some results like the first two games.
Midlesbrough 2-1 Stoke
Stoke did well for a team a man down after 36 mins but needed an own goal to keep them in it.
West Ham 4-1 Blackburn
Late goals gave the game a much better shine for West Ham than they deserved.
Blackburn 1- 1 Hull
Both teams going well, Blackburn still adjusting to a new manager it seems.
Fulham 1 – 0 Arsenal
Rather embaressing for Arsenal who only had a couple of chances.
Liverpool 2 – 1 Middlesbrough
Late win for Pool who look like making a run for the title if they can grasp back a win from what should have been a draw if not a loss.
Newcastle 1 – 0 Bolton
Deserved win thanks to an Owen goal.
Stoke 3 – 2 Villa
Same Villa as last year, great one game a bit pants the next. Good for Stoke to say the least.
Tottenham 1 – 2 Sunderland
Spurs were booed off, which was perhaps a tad harsh. They do lack a certain something without Keane and Berbatov. If none of the current squad can do it then Ramos needs to make a very good purchase with little time to do so.
West Brom 1 – 2 Everton
A win for Everton who didnt show up till the last 30. West Brom however really dont have anything that looks even slightly worrying for defenses.
Chelsea 4 – 0 Portsmouth.
Has Abramovich finally spent enough money to win everything? Looking that way.
Man United 1 – 1 Newcastle
Man U werent exactly great and the retirement of Scholes and Giggs is probably overdue. That Darren Fletcher was playing as a right winger must be somewhat of concern for Fergie. Newcastle were kept in game early on by Given but did get better.
Villa 4 – 2 Man City
The game was fairly close until a late Agbonlahor hatrick(69, 74, 76). Hughes may have made a mistake by moving but really too early to tell and how the owner situation plays out will probably be the deciding factor.
Lets start with a comparison of two teams who most certainly wont like to be mentioned together, Arsenal and Spurs. I make the comparison becuase they both seem to have carried on exactly the same as last season.
Arsenal 1 – 0 WBA:
Arsenal produced some, a lot, of well constructed football and only managed to score once and luckily at that. WBA had some chances so its not all grim for them. Arsenal look beatable and by anyone.
MID 2 – 1 Spurs:
Spurs started this season as they did the last, which really doesnt bode well for them at all. Loosing away to a side they must beat to have chance of a top 4 slot. This time round I suspect there will be less calls for a change in manager, unless they really do want to implode. If they loose Berbatov they will in all likely hood fail to win anything. Thier targeted replacements just arnt in the same class and for all his supposed lazyness he creates so much.
Sunderland 0 – 1 Liverpool:
Liverpool were lucky to win against Sunderland, Keane will be pleased that they have shown they can compete at this level, but the side needs to start getting some results against the top teams unless they are content to just make up the numbers in the PL.
Everton 2 – 3 Blackburn:
Good start for Blackburn and Paul Ince. Too early to see how much change there will be in the team under Ince or what sort of manager he can be, but the best sort of start an away win.
Bolton 3 – 1 Stoke:
Oh dear. Taking a 3 goal spanking from Bolton of all teams doesnt bode well. Perhaps Stoke are trying for the lowest points record?
West Ham 2 – 1 Wigan:
A couple from Ashton, who isnt worth 15 million. Wigan made somechances without ever really convincing.
Hull 2 – 1 Fulham.
Hull got themselves a win against a stunningly ordinary Fulham who were unable to hold a lead or beat a team who looked pretty shakey.