goodfootballerornot

Chelsea 2 – 0 Arsenal :  You could apply the same comments  to both teams as you could two years ago.  Arsenal can’t shoot or save and what Does Michal Ballack do apart from foul other players?

Hull 2-1 Man City:  To loose to the Championship team that is Hull should be an embarressment to a sqaud with such ambitions and money.  Mancini has a lot to prove now.

Man Utd 5-0 Portsmouth:  That Portsmouth are to be relegated is now a given.  And the title will be given to Man Utd if teams can’t start to play against them properly.  3 own goals are bad enough, game over.  For the league to have a squad that relies on the clogging ability of  Neville, Brown and Fletcher and that this team can be top shows how bad the rest are.  If not the players then the managers.

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.

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.

So Man U win the title thanks to a Ronaldo Penalty and a Giggs (possibly offside) goal. For Chelsea they managed to draw with Bolton. Chelsea also looked like a bunch of blokes not a team, a collection of individuals who don’t seem to get on. Leadership on and off the field was lacking. Next season with a decent manager and a clear out of some of the less team minded players should give them some decent improvement.

At the bottom end Birmingham and Reading go down and frankly they should have sent Fulham down as well. Reading scoring 4 on the final day, but I don’t suppose Coppel knows what irony is. Other interesting result was Borough 8 Man City 1. Not a great end to what seems likely to be Svens brief stay.

In fairness it was a fair result at the top which summed up both teams seasons, Man U just a little too good and Chelsea just not good enough. At the bottom it was touch and go and made for an dramatic day, but there is still too much disparity between the top and bottom of the table.

To make it really interesting and the best league in the world there needs to be a much, much smaller point difference between the winners and the bottom – excluding the pathetic Derby. 50 points is way too much and something needs to be done.

Arsenal 2 – 0 Reading.  The fact that Arsenal didn’t get six or more against a woeful Reading is a perfect summary of why they have won nothing this season.  They could easily have put five past a side who should be in the Championship.  Wenger really needs to start some coaching in putting the ball in the net rather than just passing practice.

Middlesbrough 0 – 1 Bolton.  Boro should have been in front first half as Bolton didnt seem to have turned up till the second.  Precious 3 points for Bolton and Southgate needs to work on that half time team talk.

Wigan 1- 1 Tottenham.  Spurs are seriously lacking some consistent creative play from Midfield, Huddleston looks like he might have it and did in the first half to set up Spurs goal.  But often he gives the impression of not giving a shit.  For this one he seemed to give a shit but couldn’t produce any consistent decent play.  A Spurs defensive cock up cost them the points here, King will either have to play more games or a replacement found if Spurs want to get back to challenging for a top four slot.

Blackurn 1 – 1 Man Utd.  Blackburn nearly did it, but typically United found a late goal to snatch a point.  They only really need to draw at Chelsea and the remaining two games should take care of themselves to give them the title.

Fulham 0 – 2 Liverpool.  A fairly easy game for Liverpool who will be more concerned about Gerrards injury than anything else.  While not a one man team they will need him for one of the CL games to get past Chelsea I would think.