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25th February 2007
Big Sam will be shaking his head that Bolton handed Spurs a 3 goal start with 2 goals from long clearences by the keeper and then allowing the left back to run to the byline unchallenged. The fact is that they have a plus one goal difference and whilst only 7 clubs or so are in credit it does reflect they are not the 5th best side - Everton +11 for instance. They'll do well to hang on but good management can carry a team beyond its limits.
Maybe it is bias but I cannot help feeling having a better all round player up front in front of an attacking 442 makes a difference. Unfortunately Keane will miss one after what seemed a literal interpretation of the law and more clumsy that deliberate. However as with Adebayor's child outburst Keane and others could learn this simple fact of life real men leave the field and get off the pitch quickly when given a red card. Berbatov is beginning to look like a champion and it will be interesting to see what happens when he has to make do with Captain Lightweight again for a game.
Blackburn reversed their opening day stuffing at Fratton Park. They in contravention of all the pundits rules rested their main striker and duly got 3 with 2 from Nonda. Just as when Doyle went down Reading did not stop piling on the agony. The point I want to make is this that teams who become reliant on one immobile/lightweight striker who offers little become addicted to players who don't make for consistent teams. It is why I believe United dumped van Nistlerooy to play rotating strikers who play for each other. One player should never be a team and you win and lose together would be my managerial watch words.
Harry will no doubt feel they contributed to their own loss and it will be instructive if they can challenge Chelsea next up.
Wigan made Charlton's joy short lived and unless Charlton go on a run more commensurate with a team above them they have a mountain to climb. Not having seen the game I wonder if the 6 bookings were something of a representation of the fight in Wigan. Now at least they are a point from putting the Blades between them and the London 3. Filan managed some heroics and frankly I wonder if their fans miss Kirkland.
Newcastle are as near Wigan as Reading so a lot can change in mediocrity land but this is not a club going forward despite its squad, money, fans, ground and wage bill - if the fans no longer care then why should the rest of us..... If Geordie fans really cared they'd force the den of spivs and cunts to resign by with-holdin' their foldin'.
United Grab Chance in Cottage Thriller
24th February 2007
If history is any guide I am about to write a load of bollocks criticising Steve Coppell but here goes: Duberry was a busted flush in the premiership 5 years ago: Does Coppell think he is an alchemist in a league 10 mph an hour faster than that: For the 1st goal Dubes gave away a bad free kick and then played everyone on side... He's shite.
On Boro it always looks good when your big gun forwards are scoring but if you play with 2 strikers good at limited headline grabbing aspects of the game then you will rise and fall. The fact is that top teams increasing have strikers who defend, get and hold the ball and move well off it. Indeed in the top 4 only the lamentable Shevchenko would appear to be a one dimensional striker - no dimensions for much of this season. Indeed look at Drogba played in a widthless 442 he has grabbed more and more goals as the team gets less effective. Even United's 442 has Ronaldo outscoring the strikers and useful contributions from Giggs - Rooney, Saha, Ole Gunnar and Larsson play for the team. A long winded way of saying that if you credit Yakubu and Viduka when things go well do not make the mistake of blaming the other 8 when it is not. One dimensional strikers get an easy ride as when they fail to fire it is always the service that is blamed as though they should have no other responsibility. Football is an 11 man game and few outfielders who are not a weakness only contribute goals. An even more long winded way of saying Boro will seemingly have similar seasons until they can play a more expansive game less reliant on poaching.
On United strikers working for the team any win from 1-0 down is a good win. A win where the opposition could easily have taken the points is a good win as well. That the win was fashioned from pieces of magic from Rooney and especially Ronaldo showed quality can be decisive. What I think people could learn from United is that when you have a shakey defense and wide players like Ronaldo you make attacking a form of defense by holding the ball. Think how many goals Rio and co would concede if the opposition had the ball more than 40 odd percent of the time? (43% Sky 48% BBC for Fuhlam, 8 on 8 off shots by Fulham v 6 and 9 BBC) Oh and Rooney showed for the first goal he can play out wide and has everything but attitude to play wide in a 4321 and indeed it should suit him. Credit to Fulham who did not sit back and try and win 1-0.
van Der Sar showed himself a good goal keeper and his dark genius B side again. van der Saar just never gets mentioned when people rattle on but as he showed for Holland and against Lille he is the master of referee conning and uses it at the best of times - not wasting it when it is not required. He put his body where it blocked off 2 Fulham players without being an obvious enough foul, genius.
I was going to launch at why West Ham wasted 19 million on weak players like Upson and Quashie and a full back in Neill when they need goals. However watching the highlights you can see why even if it was a mistake. I have no idea where they go from here and how they did so well last year. The fact is that West Ham did not make a single tackle seemingly and defend by waiting for the opposition to score or lose the ball. Things can turn around but they need maybe 15 points and I cannot see where that is coming from. 15 points in 10 is what Everton are getting over the season. Uphill task even before one considers they are a worse team than any other time in the season.
Sorry to Charlton fans the opposition were so bad I cannot say other than the 3 points what today said for your boys. For West Ham fans I laugh after all the nonsense written about how great it was to get two Argentineans, one a fringe player the other a standard issue holding player. Indeed they shouted down anyone who questioned the spivs who ran those players. Frankly if I am FA/Premier league I hope West Ham survive by a point so they can be deducted points for breaking the rules and sent down. Sympathies to Curbishley and the new owners but for everyone else associated with West Ham tough - there is no such thing as a free player.
Everton deployed Arteta, Cahill and Johnson and frankly only 2 or 3 teams would not want those boys added to their squad. 3-0 is a good win over Watford away at present and frankly they could have got more with bad misses from Beattie and Cahill. Personally I am actually slightly surprised Everton do not do better but they are up to 7th. There is even a chance a couple of goals sparks Beattie who has 2 20 goal seasons more than Rooney (OK OK he is not even 21!) and Owen. Andy Johnson is of course the exception to my crack about Northern Europeans not being targetted for cheating. Indeed Johnson at absolute worst makes the most of contact but from what I have seen always has a reason to go to ground - he's not Gerrard, Joe Cole or Wayne Rooney. Seriously he surely has to play some part against Israel even if off the bench especially if we get 1 up.
As opponents are increasingly finding the first cut is the deepest with a bullying team like Liverpool, especially at Anfield. It surely helps when the ref hands out soft penalties to England's under dog meister. Then Liverpool run it up. You can see why they like Europe where they will often be underdogs. I hope Rafa can start to make them a challenger for the title next year as at present I find it hard not to believe United must win next year: seriously are Chelsea advancing and their best hope must be a United collapse this year: Arsenal are a lot of nice players but have a huge gap to close in one year: So sadly we need a competitive Liverpool and how Rafa turns a bunch of bullies who get cowed by the first goal and being favoured to win is beyond me. Fowler is still a classy player when he does not have to move.
Spurs No Longer The New Fulham?
21st February 2007
Jol's boys having beaten Chelsea from one down and reached semis and quarters in the cup finally got a 2nd away win. Of course Berbatov broke his duck and no doubt it helped him playing with a guy who has had no trouble winning away in the cups Keane. Quite what the ludicrously over sized Jermain Defoe fan club can say to defend their boy is anyone's guess. Lightweight forwards who do not hold the ball, make runs off the ball, get up for it away from home need to score 25 a season and Jermain is not that good. Quite how he is on the fringes of the England squad is beyond me.
Everton will probably point to no A J or Cahill. Defoe fans might point to only playing 1 of Lennon and Malbranque as well and having an extra midfield body even if it was another nothing player who bizarrely is in the England squad - Jenas. Then again fans of the King Of The Nothing Players Jenas will no doubt point to his sublime and beautiful strike as Moyes gradually reduced his team to 9 defenders and Beattie and they still did not close someone down on the edge of the box..... Anyway a good night for Spurs unless you are a selfish herbert they were apparently desperate to off load, last year, called Defoe.
With Foster pulling up lame it was nice to see Robinson make a few nice saves - although that has never been the reason he is a below average premiership keeper. Quite why he was beaten at his post by a 30 yard free kick being more of a marker of his lack of standing in the best keeper stakes, albeit he is not the first done by Arteta.
Arteta just keeps giving goals and assists for Everton however the mess of refereeing and particularly his assistant helped here and Spurs would have felt hard done by without their winner. Everton can still make Europe if they can get Andy Johnson, Arteta and Cahill consistently on the field together. They need that to happen soon. Their resiliance with a dangerous 3 like that would be wonderful for them - a few penalties when Johnson is consistently fouled would not go amiss either.
21st February 2007
Having shown less sympathy for Jewell than most even I felt for him when Davis got his marching orders for as safe and fair a sliding tackle as you can make. As someone who advocates more reds and less equation of a couple of cheap fouls with a full blooded people in the air tackle I am pleased to see a ref be prepared to straight red but he could pick an incident that was much more clear cut - then again do players need to be told not to do run sliding into tackles 40 yards from goal with no immediate threat. At present the violent and the competitive get the same treatment and Styles has muddied the waters. Again Wigan's grown men whining at the ref tempers any sympathy or care - the decision is done real men get on with the game. Anyway Uriah Rennie is next up to see if he can rob the man with the jumper - after his usual performance at Goodison he's likely to make and ruin some people's day.
A month ago I am sure this would be 2 points lost and indeed Wigan will feel doubly unlucky having outplayed the opposition and had been unjustly down to 10 men. Still they have 6 points on the London 3 now and whilst that is 1 3 game run it is a huge advantage with 11 games left against teams not taking a point a game or even 3 in 4.
Emirates : Robbery But Not Daylight Robbery
11th February 2007
I feel for Paul Jewell in his 80's dad pastel jumper and trying to be a premiership manager. He manages a team whose crowd generally turn up expecting to watch a Rugby League game and leave half way through the 2nd half when it dawns on them the ball is the wrong shape. Then again I am not too sympathetic for a club who cannot fill their stadium unless the opposition do.
Nor when blatent time wasting is used as a tactic, that is cheating - thought I'd clarify that in case Sky don't tell you because it involves white Anglos. Plus if your striker wants to go down and leave it up to the referee then you will not always get satisfaction. Henry was right to show Kirkland up. Lehmann must wonder why he gets booked and not a good ole English boy like Kirkland for the same offense.
Given Arsenal had a goal disallowed and their later one, for me, fell into the category of benefit of the doubt to the attacker moaning was not deserved in the hyperbolic manner Jewell launched.
Shame for Wigan as 3 points would have seen them all but home or at least in reach of putting other teams between them and the capital's trio of dreck. Nonetheless they are not in trouble because of one game but losing 8 straight. The premiership will not miss them or Watford and their crowds frankly.
Fulham to echo yesterday's theme turned up a long way from home and dutifully lost - they have won 2 in 30 away. Although using the Chelsea at Liverpool's tactic of not trying and giving up and then trying to catch their opponents cold at least allowed Bolton fans to fidget and warm themselves up late. Chelsea could not even manage that at the depths of Mourinho's self loathing. Unlike Spurs' away fans at least Fulham's don't travel in hope or expectation.
Too Many Teams Who Give Up Away
10th February 2007
Spurs travel poorly and frankly one cannot see Martin Jol surviving long as his expensive squad of bits and pieces continues to mis fire. The Blades are probably not complaining as 3 more points all but assured Warnock's boys of staying up. Maybe one team from below can catch them but 2? Indeed they have chances to overhaul some of the teams like Siddy, Fulham, Spurs and others already hoping for next season when they have another chance to be mediocre.
Charlton for the 2nd week were not embarressed by one of the top 2 but equally never looked like scoring or winning. Whether this means they can play the winning football they need to to stay up is very much open to question, mind. Wycombe drew with Chelsea but are not guaranteed to get out of Div 2. Darren Bent's return may help as they need goals but they need first to create chances.
Young Wayne on highlights had the kind of game he needs to have more of. I know people want to marvel at what he does but effectiveness is measured over a season and talent is not its own reward. Mind again you wonder if he truly comes alive at 1-0 when he gets time and space. Then again his link work in the first goal showed he can play deeper, as people keep claiming with little evidence. Ferguson talked about young player plateauing then going on about David Beckham once and he plateaued for the next 5 years before falling off a cliff. Lets hope Rooney can go on after a hiatus of a year or two. Also Rooney has to start affecting bigger games than Charlton at home. Aside from his jug eared boy genius Sir Alex would have been encouraged by the work of Park and the team without the seemingly talismanic Ronaldo. Plus Kuszczak playing whilst vdS has his nose reset made a decent save and looked comfortable.
Chelsea beat poor travellers Boro 3-0. Not a lot to say except an own goal and 2 free kicks from the Drog hardly smacks of real creativity and flow in their football- the best 2 man team ever? The fact that at free kicks Drogba is taking them implies Chelsea no longer have the ammunition to score from set pieces in the box even with Terry back. I suspect they will get a wake up call sooner or later most likely in the Champion's League.
Saloman Kalou looks a nice prospect but he does not affect football games enough and he must know he has till the end of the season to establish himself when in all likelihood, and sense, Mourinho goes and a new guy comes in with trucks of cash going all over the place for more players.
West Ham may have dominated Watford but they lost and even if they had got a point it would not have been enough. Most people's interest in this game would have been Foster in the Watford goal and he made some nice saves. However he was caught flapping and being unassertive at set pieces. One hopes that some joined up thinking is happening and England are ensuring he and his manager get every support in his development so poor are England at that position. At least Anton Ferdinand went some way to showing why they spent so much on Upson. You wonder if Curbishley's buying of anglo players in defensive positions was wise, better to lose 5-1 and win 3-2 say than draw 2 or lose narrowly.
Newcastle having taken a point off United from behind rode their luck and beat Liverpool from behind. Liverpool have dropped 4 points from 6 to make 2nd a remote possibility with Chelsea no longer imploding. I know they will spend more money on better players now but whether they have the base to move from is beyond me. Newcastle moved up to 9th and just demonstrated to me that they should be higher and are a club of players who lack ambition and prefer underdog status.
From a league PoV I hope Reading grab a UEFA slot. Some will argue that will put pressure on their squad like Ipswich but I doubt it. Coppell seems able to perform alchemy finding untold players Harper, Hunt, Oster, Sidwell, Little, Lita, Doyle, Ingamarsson, Sonko and more. Then again he just bought Duberry, maybe Dubes is better than I recall. One thing it does show is that Chelsea finished 3rd with 73 points with Dubes playing in a back 3 with world cup winners le Boeuf and Desailly with Flo up front. That team would struggle to finish outside of relegation now. That is how far things have moved in well under 10 years.
Reading showed the US has at least 2 keepers better than England as well as Hahnemann made serveral good saves. At one point this season Stephen Hunt was merely notable for his alleged ammoral delight in his assault on Cech. However he was all over this game and is the kind of player who just plays. Villa another team waiting for next year when they will hope Carew, Agbonlahor and Young will make them more of a threat than they were here.
Steve Sidwell will leave Reading it seems and it is to Coppell's credit he has not behaved like a spoilt child as Monkey Heid did in the same circumstance - putting kid in the reserves to rot showing he was a rotton cunt as well as a rotton manager. Anyway for me as he was the only player with expectation from Reading he has been a disappointment but could have had 4 goals here. Quite whether he will go to a better club next year than Reading is debatable but no doubt he will be better paid.
I have indulged Joey Barton since he seemed to take control of his life and began to speak for himself. Indeed with a manager no more able to evaluate talent than the distance between stars this knack of getting quoted got him in the England squad over Nolan and Davies from a far better club like Bolton. However his 70's style thug rake of an achillis tendom that had Mendes carried off was shocking whether intentional or not.
Mendes and Mattie Taylor may have between them nearly matched a Matt Le Tissier season of wonder goals - without wishing to start an internecine riot on the south coast. I was also struck by Glen Johnson's work for the decisive goal showing more deception than he did trying to sneak bog seats and taps out of B&Q (or somewhere!). What a shame Johnson does not appear to want to be a top footballer as he does have talent forward. He may end up thinking back to playing Barcelona at 19 and wonder where it all went.
Like MoTD we come to Everton Blackburn last. Two teams who fought out a hard but fair game decided by Andy Johnson's opportunism. Mainly notable for me because both manager's seemed not to be ranting or complaining after - maybe I was not concentrating enough.
Rooney is Not Even United Player of 2007 So Far?
4th February 2007
What this game said about where Spurs are going and what kind of team they are is beyond me. They could change managers but will he really turn them into a team from a collection of players? Maybe some truth needs telling about how good some of their players are. Lennon once again did not impress with his Jesper Gronkjear impersonation as crosses failed to clear the first man or cleared the box altogether. Even Berbatov appears like a plastic version of himself in big games and away games. Is John O'Shea better than Robinson 1 on 1? I don't see this front line as being as strong against good opponents as Mido and Keane last year. Maybe Jol needs to rotate.
United continued their title charge with an almost routine dismisal of the opposition - Spurs. Once again the players who counted at 0-0 were not jug eared with a questionable first touch that makes them more effective when the play becomes stretched - normally as a result of his team being 1 up. Ronaldo flitted in and around but in the end he was decisive winning and scoring the penalty. Vidic is a real find and nailed the match by being the latest to make me wonder if Dawson stays in the England squad because he is not well enough known to have someone notice he is shite. Vidic is a teak tough defender who is maybe as good if not better than John Terry in the opposition box at corners.
Such is the need of some to endorse Rooney they do the contribution of Scholes, Neville, Giggs, Vidic, Ronaldo, Evra and Saha a dis-service. Given the sheer number of goals United get and the amount of time they are 2 or 3 to the good Rooney's return is what a decent player would be expected to, never mind a top forward. United centre forwards will always have healthy goals and assists totals. Rooney's are not exceptional albeit improving, how much of that is the team and how much is him is a debate. His performance here said given he must be confident that his problems are imposing himself on games when the going is hard early.
In the press on Sunday Wayne Rooney's supporters came out of the woodwork after 4 goals in 3 games writing long spiels of praise to their Boy. Yet when I watch United teams are invariably opened up by Scholes, Ronaldo and Giggs. Indeed Larsson and Saha are at least as important up front so far this year and maybe more so. Rooney has scored strikers goals at 0-0 but most of the fantasy stuff comes when games are very much running in United favour. In this game his early contributions resulted in the ball being given away too much. In addition he cannot be a striker at set pieces where Nemanja Vidic is making United like Chelsea when they had Terry and Gallas. Indeed people ascribe goal creation qualities to the Kid but I do not see Theirry Henry level assists in a side scoring for fun like United. Indeed on this year so far Saha can consider himself unlucky to make way for Larsson. However one can understand a manager on that with all the attention and press more likely to subdue anyone replacing Rooney he would need a big gap in achievement to make that call - indeed likely to be a 1 game break to liven the kid up.
Possibly the most bizarre Rooney piece was by Lineker who said England should play 442 and stretch the field with Lampard and Gerrard together. Did he think Eriksson gave up on this because he wanted to do worse? Is he blaming Beckham which is a point! but not an explanation? The point being England have tried and failed that way many times since Rooney came in. Indeed contrary to Lineker's piece I would argue Rooney has played as a 2nd striker (or where he liked as Saha dovetailed depending on where Rooney played) in 80 or 90 % of the games he has played for club or country in the last 3 years. Does anyone rational believe that Ferguson's desire to play 4321 comes from anything other than mixed experience over 10 years in Europe of being outnumbered in midfield and the knowledge his best attacking player Ronaldo is lightweight coming back wide for a 442. For England the stretched 442 ends up with us pushed back and needing a holding player ala 2002 and 2006. I really wonder if people watch games or only from the selfish perspective of their favourite players.
Frank v Manc, Carson for England? Hammers Panic?
3rd February 2007
West Ham may think relegation is expensive but does 18 million and the same on contracts that does not guarentee safety seems worse? Frankly one wonders what direction they are heading in before considering Neill and Boa Morte are the age where re-sale is not a great amount - indeed given alleged salaries will cost them to dump them. For the Hammers this was a bad loss to Villa who are there for the taking after their start.
On Upson Steve Bruce is a child 6 million for a centre half who has never quite made the grade does he think Gold and Sullivan got so rich being stupid? Seriously they have got the thick end of and maybe more than 20 million for Pennant, Heskey and Upson. Shows it is not just Chelsea who over pay for moderate players.
Villa will be happy to see their signings, Carew and Young, combine for a goal and it is next season when O'Neill's side will be expected to show what he can do.
Bolton got an unimpressive win at Watford but as they say a win is a win. Their plus 3 goal difference in 5th showing that over the piece they are probably not any better than a whole host of teams. However like those just behind them Reading +5, Portsmouth +9, Everton +8 and Blackburn -7 they are motivated to win the close games by probably the best managers not called Arsene, Alex and Jose. Spurs, Newcastle and other managers merely seem to collect players to similar or this year less effect.
Wigan left West Ham and Charlton in the deep and sticky stuff 5 points adrift when up to now they [WHU & CA] only take less than .8 of a point a game. Portsmouth if they are running out of motivation who can blame them.
Liverpool manager Rafa chose to have a go at Everton for 'parking the bus', of course unlike Jose M he could not manage an amusing turn of phrase and called them a "small team". I guess they are not very tall unlike Rafa's giants in stature, small in breaking down determined opponents when favourites. 2nd looked on but now the gap is 7 points again which is a lot over 12 more games. Liverpool as usual when they cannot break people down dominated possession and had lots of shots and no doubt corners (they lead the league in this stat). You'd think they'd be better at set pieces with that height.
If you want to know how Chelsea can be so toilet and have 57 points from 26 games, 2 words Frank Lampard. As my Man U fan friend texted me Frank v Manc. As good a player as there is in the division whatever cretinous knocks people want to make. Sure he may have written a book, lacks self criticism these days, has a skinny pointless WAG and have had a poor world cup but we play playground and I have first pick.... It's Frank. Charlton huffed and puffed but their best effort was a mishit. Cech looked imperious and a bit like Jonny Wilkinson it is like he has not been away. If it is 0-0 I want Frank at 1-0 Rooney and at 0-1 Gerrard and that is why the so called 'Fat' Frank is the most valuable. Joey Barton could provide the laughs.
Talking of England the fact Scott Carson was considered man of the match after recent foolery from Robinson and Kirkland is good.
Just like old times Arsenal 10 men and down a goal and it was the opposition who are in trouble. Indeed Boro will wonder how 1 up late on they let Lehmann throw to Toure and then long ball knock down and Henry all from their corner. Turning your corners into their attacks used to be a particular penchant of Arsenal and I know Gooners who will be misty eyed even if they dropped points to Chelsea who look less likely to wobble enough for Liverpool or Arsenal at present than a couple of weeks ago.
I cannot help but think that it says much for Coppell and selecting the right players from the Championship and below that they are so well whilst West Ham buy obvious players with age and no upside. Reading and Man City are in reverse position to what one would expect and the reason is????? Seriously Doyle scores lots gets injured No Problem, (NP) get Lita up front. Maybe England should approach Coppell to manage young men - after all his Berkshire Base is closer to London. I know Brentford fans who talk about all their players like Hunt and Sonko (out for the season, NP again!!!). Ironically the stress of the Man City job is probably the major blot on Coppell's CV. However all this shows is a bout of depression or stress can hit anyone and should not have the stigma it does - it is often a sign of drive and wanting to be too good.
The Wigan win and the Blades loss at Blackburn ensured that the comfort zone of clubs needing to pass Sheffied United closed but only marginally. Now a win by Wigan and Charlton or West Ham getting on a 3 game run and they are in the zone. Blackburn renewed themselves with a win over the Blades to go 9th albeit not that far away from amid table morass of more expensive poorly managed teams. My only question, what was anybody tugging Dunn's shirt late on? why let that wastrel have a hand in beating you?
Fulham's bad loss at Blades left then needing 3 points to remove any chance of a relegation fight. Seemingly one of many clubs whose players seem to do just enough and get comfortable quickly although unlike others Fulham are more of a budget outfit. Indeed Newcastle are the expensive version of Fulham and no doubt welcome visitors when they are comfortably top half and you need 3 points this season. Indeed Nicky Butt got the assist for Fulham's first - which was nice of him.
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