goodfootballerornot

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.

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.

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.

Arsenal 4-0 FC Twente (agg 6-0)

Well McClown cant manage for shit, hilarious Dutch accent mind you. I guess Wengers hairdryer treatment after the Fulham debacle worked.

Liverpool 1-0 S Liege (1-0 agg)

Liverpool are taking this whole idea of playing badly and (just) winning to extremes now. This was a side which Liverpool should have dispatched with ease. Instead it took until the 118th minute to scrape a goal.  Still Man U have won most of thier trophies under SAF based on playing rubbish and the last minute goal, maybe it will work for them too.

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.

So a few ramblings and rants about the first weekends games and TV coverage.

Man U:

Does Fergie really hope to win the Champions League again while still holding onto Scholes and Giggs? Even the League? Those two were looking out of touch, if not their depth at times last season. Very much on last legs, yet both still didnt have the sense to retire. Darren Fletcher is not a world class midfielder either, but this is the core of thier Midfield! They will undoubtedly do well enough in the league, maybe even 2nd considering how bad Liverpool look to be right now and Arsenal only a couple of injuries away from Disaster. Frankly if they get past the quarter finals of the Champions League then they will have done well. Euro 2008 showed how to contain Ronaldo, it was made to look quite easy in fact. If Ronaldo gets as many goals again this year then it will be an embarrassment to suggest the Premiere League is the best league around, all the best defenders certainly aren’t here if he does. Rooney is still a petulant child with a lack of end product, hes a striker so where are the goals? Greatest of his (or any) generation? Balls! If hes going to be a play maker then move him into midfield otherwise hes a striker with potential. Hes actually looking like a gifted young player with nothing left or the brain or ability to carry it though. Although I was moderatly impressed with his lack of swearing (so far).

Spurs:

WTF does Ramos think hes doing? Did he think that Borough were going to be an easy 3 away points? They have signed a bunch of midfielders, attacking ones, no real striker of established quality to replace Kane and a probably departing Berbatov and have no true defensive midfielder apart from Zokora, who played at right back?! Modric is a playmaker who will need someone covering the defense while he pushes forward, Huddlestone could do that, are the defenders to rubbish they cant consider player 3 at the back and packing the midfield? Its not like they are short of them!

Everton:

No transfers in. You what? Is the squad really that good? The squad that lost 4-2 to Cambridge United pre-season? Don’t know about you but I’d be really rather concerned about that if I was manager. While they are a solid side (good footballing term that) they are not going to get top 4 without some decent players in. If they get a top 4 it will be because Liverpool implode and stuff things up and/or Arsenals injuries mount up. While either are likely it doesn’t do much for the notion of the best league in the world does it.

Chelsea:

So fantasy football manager with all the money cheats on is looking to pay off. Yes I know one game isn’t enough to decide anything, but looking at an already impressive squad with a much better coach than they have had so far you would have to put money on Chelsea winning the title and Champions League this season and maybe throw in an FA or Carling cup win just to buff things up? Although I do hope they don’t do an unthinkable quadruple, they are obnoxious enough without managing that.

Newcastle:

Go Keggers. Personally I don’t rate him that highly as a manger, he lacks tactical nouce and has a proven record of bailing out if somethings not right or following up by showing he can get better. However as a manager who quit the England job when he knew it was going wrong and without hanging on for the sack and a big payout I rate him, very highly indeed. I would love it, love it if Newcastle were to do well and maybe even, dare I say it? Ok I will, win something!

Match Of The Day:

Ye gods it gets WORSE! To rant against MOTD is too easy, but so necessary. We pay a license fee and they spanner god knows how much on Lineker to sit there, be smarmy, pretend that the so called pundits are saying something insightful and wise, give me a break. Oh and can they not find a better writer for his “jokes”? Hansen has become a cliché of himself but does on rare occasions say something thats moderately intelligent and actually analyses the game.

Who has decided to keep that barely literate, no-insight, no-talent commentator Shearer on? Hes useless! Does Shearer really expect to manage a Premier League team? Based on what we hear on MOTD the day he is appointed, at whatever level, the rest of the managers in that league will be pissing them selves at the prospect of playing a side coached by him. Man most likely to never win a game as a manager, ever.

Having Martin O’Neill do stints on the show only make you realise how piss poor the rest of them are.

Sky:

Jamie Redknapp, from the latin name – thick twunt, who should stick to producing a stupidly expensive exclusive magazines. His brain is also exclusive, so much so it doesn’t do public appearances. Despite what I said about Shearer above, Shearer is an erudite genious compared to this chucklehead. In fact Sky should prise Shearer off the BBC and make them their dream studio team for Super Duper Sunday or whatever ridiculous title they give it now. Until then the sooner him and Shearer have a go at management the better to give us all a good laugh, so long as its not at my club!

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.