Three talking points from the weekend

1. Man United’s priority is not getting back Wayne Rooney, but sorting out a defence that is lacking in cohesion.
   All the hype surrounding Everton’s remarkable comeback against Man Utd on Saturday focused on the absence of Wayne Rooney. Although it was a surprise and bound to create extra tabloid fodder, that it remained the headline at the end of the game was a disappointment. Both teams deserved more. Everton started superbly and by scoring two goals in injury time did to United what no team has done for almost ten years, cancel out a two-goal deficit with Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.
   Both teams attacked with creativity and imagination, the game flowing from end-to-end, but United’s weakness lies in an unsettled defence. Patrice Evra’s wild attempt at a clearance led to the first goal, while Johnny Evans is struggling alongside Vidic at centre back. Neville is no longer a first choice, but Brazilian Rafael appears to have lost favour with Ferguson for the time being.
   

   Johnny Evans is struggling to fill Rio Ferdinand's boots

   However, up front, Berbatov played well, stretching the Everton defence at every opportunity and taking the third goal with the confidence of a 40 goal-a-season striker. Rooney was hardly missed, while Nani delivered two superb crosses for the goals. Unlike the media love-in for Scholes, I didn’t feel he had a great game. Everton restricted his presence going forward by having Cahill and Fellaini as their attackers, both tough-tackling midfielders.

2. Don’t believe everything you read in the media about players’ form or confidence:
   If Fernando Torres wakes up this morning and feels a little harshly treated by the media, well it’s because he’s been a little harshly treated by the media. Football writers around the country sat in stunned silence as Jamie Redknapp lambasted Torres for his first-half performance at half-time in Liverpool’s 0-0 with a superb Birmingham side.
   

   Reina shows off his Safe Hands

   The same writers then took their lead from the Sky pundit as newspapers criticised the man they claim is not right, still unfit, looks like he “doesn’t care” was another oft-repeated quote. This then the same Torres that got the winner against West Brom the previous Liverpool game and got two for Spain the following week, admittedly against Liechtenstein, but the two were good goals and Spain only managed four.
   The same writers were also slamming Pepe Reina after his mistake against Arsenal on the opening day. And they were asking questions as to whether he retained the confidence of his teammates. Well he made some of the best saves you’ll see this season (as he did against Arsenal too by the way) to show that form is exceptionally temporary, class is permanent. Oh and Torres will come up against Vidic next Sunday. If that doesn’t boost his confidence I don’t know what will.

3. The league table is lying.
   Fair enough, Chelsea and Arsenal deserve to be up there. No-one is about to begrudge Blackpool their spot, but the likes of Everton shouldn’t be in this position after four games. Outstanding commitment and skill, Moyes’ men will start climbing the table very quickly with a decent run of games put together. West Ham are another team who deserve better than the zero points they currently have. With some tough games already behind them and a manager whose demeanour doesn’t exactly scream “give me some time because I’m loveable”, it’s been a tough start but the table is all topsy-turvy right now and we are going to boldly predict West Ham will finish in the top ten. Boom. Please keep reading the blog, I regret nothing.

Saturday’s Premiership preview: 10/09/10

Thank god for that we can stop talking about Rooney and his effect on the England team and can start talking about…Rooney and his effect on the Man Utd team…

Everton V Manchester United

After surprising no-one here at TheFC100 by scoring first against Switzerland, Rooney will be Man Utd’s star man against Everton tomorrow in the early kick off on Sky Sports. The Everton fans quite rightly get stuck into Rooney whenever he returns to his boyhood club due to the fact he buggered off just after breaking onto the Everton first team in a big money move to Manchester. However he has stuck the boot in several times since with the usual badge-kissing, Moyes-bashing shenanigans and now the Everton fans will be relishing their chance to chant several brands of filthy at the former Toffee.

This game is more interesting in determining Rooney’s state of mind. The England fans gave him a great reception on Tuesday but tens of thousands will be doing their best to wind him up. That Everton have had a nightmare start to the season makes the pressure fall on both Rooney and Everton. A good start to the game for the home side is crucial, if they can get their noses in front and get Rooney and company frustrated then this could be a bad day for Man Utd fans. In fact, despite their problems so far, we fancy Everton to nick something here and we’ll throw in a card for Rooney at the same time
Prediction: Everton 2 Man Utd 1

Arsenal V Bolton

Arsenal have lost another few players for their game against Bolton (what are they feeding them at Arsenal, cereal with barbed wire?). Walcott, van Persie and Thomas Vaermaelen all miss out this weekend, however Samir Nasri could return from injury sustained against Liverpool on the opening day. Bolton are missing their inspirational keeper Jussi Jaskelaainen though, after the Finn was sent off last time out.

Premiership preview. #football #premiership

Slightly early perhaps, but as Italy beckons for a week they will have to do.

An interesting weekend to come, an interesting weekend indeed.
While the Premiership has already begun to assume a familiar leaderboard at a worryingly early stage of the season, there may well be slip-ups this weekend.

Sam's got a twinkle in his pie (hole)

Starting with Blackburn Vs Arsenal. Wenger’s men never liked a face-off with Sam Allardyce’s Bolton teams of the past. And why would they, starting with Big Sam himself there were some real bruisers.
But now the man who would be England manager (unless the FA start taking things seriously) will put out his Blackburn team against the Gunners, high from a 6-0 rout of Blackpool.
There may be a surprise here though. Blackburn, as expected, are well organised under Allardyce and after a good opening day win were unlucky to lose to Birmingham having taken the lead and missed a penalty.
Fabregas and Van Persie should start (finally) for Arsenal, but may still lack sharpness. While Nasri misses out for Arsenal, they are slowly coming back to their best, but this will be a nice early test to answer the usual criticism that they can’t handle the more physical side of the Premiership.

Man Utd will be confident of getting back to winning ways against Arsenal, likewise Liverpool over West Brom, but Man City may be brought down off their perch following an exhilarating win over Liverpool on Monday.
City will be up against a team desperate for its first three points of the season, and while they were superb against Liverpool at home, City were woeful away at Spurs the week before. Steve Bruce has been arguing that he may have made too many changes to the squad leading to an unsettled atmosphere in the team, but Darren Bent’s two goals in the Carling Cup in midweek will get a bit of confidence flowing again and on Sunday they will look to bounce back, while City have another game tomorrow night in the Europa League to get the team playing as a unit.

The most intriguing game may be at Villa Park, where two teams arrive short on confidence after unsettling starts to Premiership life this season. Everton have only registered a point from two games they would expect to win, while Villa took a 6-0 hiding from Newcastle on Sunday, a game in which debutant Stephen Ireland barely got a kick.

Moyes will need playmaker Mikel Arteta at his best against Villa

While it is far too early to say it is a must-win game, the clash will tell us an awful lot about the future of both teams.

For one thing, Kevin MacDonald is rumoured to have been given two games to land the Villa job on a permanent basis. This then, is a must win for the man who would be boss. Everton meanwhile are fully fit and would have expected to set a blaze early on. However the blue side of Merseyside tend to be bad starters and this is a very tough game to try to get their season going. With Manchester United their next opponents, David Moyes will be itching to register three points while defeat would leave Everton looking sorrowfully into the distance at the top of the table.

Elsewhere, the focus hasn’t really been on Spurs yet, despite their solid start to the season Their next four fixtures are against the four Ws:  Wigan, West Brom, Wolves and West Ham. All four are games Spurs will expect to win, meaning they could be looking pretty come October. For Wigan however, and boss Roberto Martinez, this game is needed like a kick in the nads. Spurs may have had a tough Champions League tie to get out of the way but despite injuries and any fatigue, they will expect a win. Injuries and fatigue may not even matter. Wigan have been woeful to-date and the fans are staying away as the half-empty JJB Stadium showed against Chelsea. Defeat could leave Martinez in big trouble, especially after the lacklustre comments in support of him by chairman Dave Whelan.

Predictions in a semi-serious sort of fashion:

Chelsea won’t beat Stoke 6-0. In fact they will struggle, but yeah of course they’ll win.
Liverpool will thump West Brom by three goals or more. West Brom fans will sing tributes to Javier Mascherano.
Wolves bring Newcastle back down to earth to continue their impressive start to the season. Andy Caroll will be sent off.
Man Utd thump West Ham, including a penalty not taken by Nani. Ferguson will thump a BBC reporter.
Blackburn will beat Arsenal. And Wenger will not be happy with their “physical style of play.”

What the second Premiership weekend taught us:

(1): There are plenty of unhappy strikers kicking their heels on benches.

Tuncay is out of favour at Stoke

It was a difficult weekend for some established Premiership strikers. Tuncay is clearly not a favourite of Tony Pulis at Stoke and had to sit on the bench while Jon Walters made his debut just days after signing. Emile Heskey watched on from the bench as John Carew had a stinker for Villa, perhaps wondering whether he should have drawn the line at international retirement. Louis Saha was relegated for Everton and watched Jermaine Beckford being talked up by boss David Moyes after a game in which he failed to score and Everton failed to win. Not to mention the lads at Man City who may never play for the club this season.

But most interestingly, when Javier Hernandez was selected for Man Utd against Fulham, we wonder if Michael Owen

Michael Owen looks on from the bench

regretted all his media statements about being “happy to be selected less regularly for Utd than selected all the time for another club.” While we understand the sentiment, Mr Ferguson can’t have been particularly enthused to hear that Owen was content to sit on the bench.
Wonder if that had anything to do with Hernandez getting the nod away to Fulham, a team that possess a top-class central defender in Brede Hangeland and are a difficult team to break down at all, for nearly any striker. With Stockdale again deputising for Schwarzer in goal, did Ferguson not think Owen’s experience could be crucial in any one-on-one scenario. Granted, Hernandez looked good in pre-season, but then again it was pre-season. Owen must have been wondering what he has to do to get a starting place while Ferguson must be wondering what he has to do to get a win at Craven Cottage.

(2): A little confidence goes a long way.

-Villa miss a penalty, Newcastle score. Villa are denied a legitimate goal, Newcastle score another five.
-Wigan dominate the first half hour, Chelsea score. Wigan heads go down, Chelsea score another five.
-Arsenal score, Blackpool look dangerous on the attack. Arsenal penalty, Blackpool man sent off, Arsenal score another five.

(3): Any English striker who bangs in a few goals will be “on the verge of an England call-up”.

Andy Carroll was very, very good against Villa. He plundered a hat-trick including a swivel and low shot, left foot volley and one-on-one with Brad Friedel. All very impressive. Unfortunately watching it you couldn’t help but feel that ‘Carroll for England’ would be the inevitable cry from the press. And this morning, true to form, people seem to think he’s worthy of a place in the squad.

Man of the moment Andy Carroll

Now to be fair, if he carries on that way he’ll be in the 2012 squad as England need a good quality striker. However let’s all calm down for a moment and realise that he scored Newcastle’s third, fourth and sixth goals when Villa heads were not so much dropping rather plummeting. He missed a good opportunity against Man Utd the week before but didn’t enjoy himself as much up against Vidic and co. Had Richard Dunne been employed to mark him, maybe the result would have been different. Excellent performance Andy, now do it week-in, week-out.

And in brief:

• Alex Ferguson has earned Man Utd a £1,000 fine by refusing to speak to the BBC. It is inevitable he will have to speak to them at some point. We cannot wait.
• West Ham were good in the first half against Bolton. They lost 3-1. A bad start to the season, especially when the likes of Bolton, Wolves and even West Brom and Blackpool have picked up early points.
• Theo Walcott is far from the genius people are willing to portray him as this morning. Arsenal could have had 10-12. His final ball and decision is still in vast need of improving. However if it does and he stays injury free, he can rule the world. And he should definitely be in the England squad. Shaun Wright-who?
• If you decided on removing Gareth Bale and Andy Carroll from your fantasy football team in favour of Martin Petrov and Jermaine Beckford, now would be a good time to kill yourself.

Pre-Season is over

As I sit in the airport waiting to fly to London, it occurs to me that this seems to have been the shortest period without football I can ever remember.

Granted it seemed a lot longer when you were a kid, dying to see your team for the first time in a new season, but with the World Cup, exciting signings and interesting pre-season happenings, it seems the summer break barely occurred. Which in our book, is a good thing.

Tomorrow’s festivities kick-off with a cracker. Spurs V Man City at White Hart Lane is the 12.45pm kick-off. Will City play one or five of their new gaggle of galacticos? Will both sides go for the jugular, aware that an early win against a big rival will do their squad the world of good. Will Spurs look tired as the same team without any new faces, or will they be able to play like a team unlike City’s superstars playing together for the first time.

Our money is on goals, and a potential thriller. City don’t look like they’ll be sitting back this season, with their new signings. Spurs play fast attacking football too and might fancy their chances of nicking it. We’ll go with a 2-2 draw.

Elsewhere this weekend all eyes will be on Anfield as a new-look Liverpool team take on Arsenal. Much has been made of Arsenal’s injury problems this week but expect a strong team with Fabregas involved at some point. However there is something slightly lacking with Arsenal, they still desperately need a new keeper, we’re gonna go with Liverpool to nick it 2-1.

Newcastle and West Brom get the ultimate reward for promotion, trips to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge respectively. Both will struggle to get points early with these clashes, with home wins in both. Manager-less Aston Villa take on West Ham with their new man in charge Avram Grant. How the past week has taken its toll on the players will be interesting to see.

Enjoy it folks, it’s back and it’s going to be closer to call than ever….

Scott Parker bid rejected

Has there ever been a summer with more transfer activity surrounding English players? For a team that did pretty poorly in the World Cup it would appear that the likes of Cole, Gerrard, Milner and co are still hot property.

Berbatov feels the brunt of a Parker challenge

However one man who didn’t make it to the World Cup is Scott Parker. Spurs have the right idea in bidding for one of the Premiership’s top midfielders in Parker. Outstanding for West Ham last year, Parker played like a man attempting to lift his team to a Premiership crown, rather than a man playing for a team on the slide in West Ham. That Fabio Capello thought he wasn’t worth a place in the squad is to the Italian’s detriment as Parker would surely have played with passion and intensity that was lacking elsewhere. Which is why Hammers fans will be thrilled to hear some pretty strong words coming from chairman David Sullivan when quizzed about Parker’s future.

On the club website, Sullivan said: “I made a promise that I would not sell Scott and I will not, for any amount of money, break that promise to the West Ham supporters. Scott is not for sale at any price, to anyone. West Ham supporters, for far too long, have had owners that sell their best players and promise one thing and do another. This is a new era. We are building a bigger, better West Ham and when we make a promise, we honour it.“

A statement added: “The club would like to state that regardless of the size of the bid, nothing will break the promise that chairman David Sullivan made to our supporters. As repeatedly stated, Scott Parker is not for sale and there are no circumstances and no amount of money that will cause us to break that pledge to the fans. The club informed Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy prior to him making the offer that we would not welcome any approach to unsettle the player. Scott Parker has three years left on his contract and the club has opened talks with his agent over a new five-year deal.”

Liverpool are also believed to be sniffing around Scott Parker if, as expected, Javier Mascherano leaves for pastures new and for a hefty fee. However the smart money has to be on Parker going nowhere as Sullivan would be made to look like a complete fool if the 29-year-old leaves now, although he would command a bigger fee now than he will in a years time.

The only question now is whether Parker’s interest in a move will come to the fore. Playing for Spurs would be an attractive proposition, particularly given the lure of Champions League football. Player power has never been more prevalent in the modern game, so watch this space.

Perhaps Spurs have been using their scouting department to look at videos such as this:

Results from and reaction to Saturday’s Premiership Games: 15/09/07

• Tottenham 1 (Bale) Arsenal 3 (Adebayor x2, Fabregas)
• Chelsea 0 Blackburn Rovers 0
• Birmingham 1 (Kapo) Bolton 0
• Wigan 1 (Koumas, pen) Fulham 1 (Dempsey)
• Portsmouth 0 Liverpool 0
• Everton 0 Manchester Utd 1 (Vidic)
• West Ham 3 (Bowyer, Young o.g., Ashton)  Middlesbrough 0
• Sunderland 2 (Jones, Wallace) Reading 1 (Kitson)
• Playing Sunday, 18th: Man City Vs Aston Villa
• Playing Monday, 19th: Derby Vs Newcastle

So, new leaders (Arsenal), same old problems (Spurs) and winning games like potential champions (Man Utd). Throw in a poor performance from Liverpool, the goal that got away for Chelsea, Sunderland doing it for the old boy, West Ham playing like Brazil, Fulham and Wigan getting a draw as predicted by anyone who’s ever watched football and Birmingham taking another valuable three points, and it looks like the Premiership is back.

Unfortunately, Saturday kicked off with three entertaining games being played at overlapping times. Utd’s trip to Everton is rarely easy, sometimes comical (last season’s 4-2 win) and occasionally dull as a politician’s wife (see yesterday’s game). Utd toiled, Everton toiled and 0-0 looked about right until the game’s outstanding performer Nemanja Vidic powered what is fact becoming a signature bullet header into Everton’s rarely tested net. While the goal was seemingly harsh on Everton, Vidic has established himself as an absolutely vital part of Utd’s team. Everton may wish they had shown greater attacking threat and they could have been the happier of the teams, however Ferdinand and Vidic were in no mood to be bullied by Yakubu and Johnson.

Liverpool were desperately dissapointing in their stalemate at Fratton Park. Portsmouth occasionally played some outstanding football, creating excellent chances and having a penalty saved, Jose Reina diving to his right to keep out what Harry Redknapp later described as Kanu’s “crap” penalty. While the decision to award the spot-kick caused controversy, thefc100 stands by the decision. Arbeloa clearly uses his grip on Kanu to gain an advantage in getting to the cross, the fact that Kanu barely thought it was a penalty shows how far wrestling in the box goes unpunished these days. Liverpool didn’t conjure up enough, James had a quiet day in goal for the home side, and the midfield of Benayoun, Alonso, Sissoko and Pennant never sparkled.

Arsenal racked up another impressive win to keep confounding the critics, this time winning at Spurs, who continue to struggle against the top 4 sides. Spurs took the lead through Gareth Bale’s free-kick that will have had Lehman giggling at his deputy’s attempt to keep it out. Does Lehman giggle though? Or even laugh? Probably not. Probably goes hunting to express his amusement. Local sheep beware. Spurs had several excellent chances against a makeshift Arsenal back four. Berbatov’s one-on-one the pick of the bunch, rounding Almunia before attempting to round Kolo Toure. One too many attempts to round methinks. The kind of situation, according to RTE pundit Graeme Souness, that will have Martin Jol “tearing his hair out”. Really Graeme. Which hair is that then?     

Goals from Adebayor (why Robinson went charging out to swipe at thin air we’ll never know), Fabregas (why Robinson went for it with his left paw we’ll never know) and an absolute beauty for Adebayor’s second (why Robinson bothered diving we’ll never know) ensured Arsenal fans went home absolutely delirious. Top of the league. Oh and Spurs are kicking their heels down by the relegation area.

Elsewhere, West Ham put on a great show for their fans. Lee Bowyer got to perform his ‘i’m the world’s biggest scumbag’ celebration for the second time in three weeks. Nice. Dean Ashton in silly blonde hair and shiny red boots prodded in the third. His first goal in nearly a year and a half. And it showed; celebration was a bit rusty. Birmingham beat Bolton 1-0 to leave the Trotters in the relegation area and looking in big trouble. Failure to pick up points is one thing, but against potential relegation rivals…..uh-oh. The only team Bolton have beaten this year is Reading who lost again, this time to Resevoir Dog wannabe Roy Keane’s Sunderland. Kenwyne Jones apparantly played a blinder on his debut. Gotta wonder how impressed Keane is by the man’s ‘cirque du soleil’ impression for a celebration. Man wasn’t built to do ridiculous flips through the air. Just ask Lua-Lua. So Sunderland are back on track. Fulham are not. Kinda. Despite dominating for periods against Wigan, a ridiculous challenge by Bouazza on Melchiot (ooh if I just knee him from behind chances are there won’t be a goalscoring opportunity. What? Penalty? Ah so that’s the downside…..) meant Wigan continue their decent start to the season.

European Previews will be up shortly. Peace.

Transfer Talk: 17/08/07

 

Chelsea’s talks with Sevilla are ongoing after the Spanish club rejected a reported offer of around £24 million from the Londoners for versatile right-back Daniel Alves. Alves, who has attracted the biggest names in European football over the last two seasons, is known to favour a move to the Premiership and to Chelsea above Real Madrid whose interest may be waning due to their recent signings and the proposed signing of Chelsea’s Arjen Robben. Alves would make a hugely impressive signing for Chelsea, a player with the flair that they are so often accused of lacking, the Brazilian is hugely effective going forward and would probably be given more of a free licence to roam forward under Mourinho who favours attacking wing-backs alongside an impenetrable centre-back pairing. However, given that Roman Abramovich has been tightening the purse strings recently, Chelsea may struggle to justify spending closer to £30 million on the player after splashing out on Florent Malouda recently and with the squad still containing high-profile, expensive flops such as Shaun Wright-Philips and Mr. Shevchenko*, Abramovich may be waiting to see some cash from the sale of Robben before he gives the green light for Alves’ signing.  

* Thefc100 still believes Shevchenko may come good this season, while SWP has been showing some good form so far already. We don’t mean to be unnecessarily harsh. All the time.

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Mido has completed his move from Tottenham to Middlesbrough for a fee of around £6 million. The forward has secured a move away from White Hart Lane after having talks with Birmingham and Sunderland but deciding the team with two defeats in two games best visualises his dreams for future footballing success. Or maybe it’s because they’ve agreed to pay him the most money and have probably included a buy-out fee.

The Egyptian was a hit at White Hart Lane after arriving on an initial 18 month loan stint from Roma and formed an impressive partnership with either Keane or Defoe in most Premiership games. Boro become Mido’s eigth professional club and with the volatile Egyptian having fallen out with numerous coaches over the years, Gareth Southgate’s first job will be trying to fit the striker in with Boro’s squad. Whether or not he has the Midos touch remains to be seen……(apologies.)

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Could be worse though. Friends Reunited. Lovers, Colleagues, All-Round Nice Guys (felt the need for a lot of Capital Letters there) Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer are back together and Alan Curbishley may well be absolutely insane. Bellamy, Dyer, Bowyer, Lucas Neill, Anton Ferdinand, Luis Boa Morte…..it’s like some sick experiment to see how many hot-heads you can put in one squad without a significant case of death occurring. This signing surely cements West Ham’s status as relegation contenders. The fact is, Kieron Dyer could be a hell of a player. In fact this site would love to see him get back to his best. But putting him in with players who are known trouble-makers could be a serious mistake. Curbishley was in the press yesterday biting back at ex-left back Paul Konchesky’s comments that he doesn’t hold the support of the playing staff and that he was the reason Tevez left and Darren Bent decided not to sign for the Hammers. This move further undermines his status at the club: something of a headless chicken, Curbishley seems to be signing as many good players as possible without forming them into a better team. The fact that Dyer has had years of injury problems will also worry the Hammers fans, as Neill, Upson, Ashton, Green and even new signing Freddie Ljungberg have all had serious histories of injury problems, Dyer is simply another name on the list. However, if (and we stress the word IF) Curbishley can get Dyer back to his best, the signing could prove vital. The final fee is reportedly around £8 million, a further sign of weakness from West Ham as Newcastle have basically taken another £2 million after agreeing to sell him for £6 million, only to remember West Ham are now loaded and seemingly willing to pay whatever it takes to capture their transfer targets.

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Premiership Round-Up

Roy can’t believe “chops” nicked it in extra-time. 

As the dust settles on the opening weekend of the new Premiership season we are left with many things to consider. Have Manchester United already fallen behind in their title bid? Do the new boys stand a realistic chance of staying up? And has Jens Lehman eclipsed Massimo Taibi in the most ridiculous blunders contest?

Sunderland kicked off the new season in style with a 1-0 win over Spurs at the Stadium of Light. Granted it was fortuitous but some solid work and a never say die attitude got them into the position to win the game. One could say that Spurs threw it away with a complete loss of concentration in the last five or ten minutes but the truth is that they were mis-firing all day. Berbatov looked liked he wanted to be somewhere else and did something we never saw last season and got involved in the moaning matches between other players. Twice he could be seen turning around to his own team-mates with a face like Quentin Fortune giving out about the lack of accuracy with their passing. Keane was the only one that looked relatively dangerous, and Malbranque. Spurs thought they were supposed to win and started slowly. They never really hit any sort of level while Sunderland were industrious. Sunderland will be caught out this season though. They have very few attacking options and if Stokes doesn’t improve he may well find himself at another club. Dwight Yorke was found out in the middle and even though Etuthu looked good and knocked down everything that came near him a passing game and intuitive awareness he has not. The big plus from the game was the centre back pairing of Nosworthy and McShane. McShane was immense. Nothing got past him and he made some very clever interceptions. Without McShane on Saturday, Sunderland would have lost. No question.

The pick of 3 o’ clock kick offs was Big Sam back to face Little Sam. Newcastle V Bolton. The war of words that has erupted since Allardyce moved to Newcastle is is as unsavoury as old men shouting dirty words at each other in a supermarket. Allardyce has been the more reserved of the warring parties and decided to do his talking on the pitch and, as it turns out, he made a very good point. Newcastle raced into a dominant lead having scored 3 without reply inside a half an hour. N’Zogbia with a free kick that fooled everyone, Martins with a delightful overhead kick and he duly added another shortly after. Bolton managed a tame response with a consolation from Anelka. Newcastle played well but were by no means impressive. Bolton succumbed to Allardyce’s 4-4-3 far too easily and the goals flew in. It’s inexplicable really but as Kevin Nolan said himself, smiling: “They just played like us last year”. They did Kevin, and that’s why they won. Despite his often unatractive style, Allardyce knows how to win football matches and that could be a telling factor for a decent enough squad who never had a proper manager. Bolton on the other hand were toothless without the unhappy Diouf who was puzzled by the decision to leave him on the bench. When he appeared second half, Bolton automatically reverted back to Allardyce tactics and they had much more about them. Interesting… Derby were up against Portsmouth in their opener and everybody’s favourite for the drop got off to a flier with captain, Matt Oakley slapping one home to get the fans excited. Pompey were level after twenty odd minutes through Benjani and looked solid. They increased the pressure and were starting to show some real class but a determined Derby held them off until the last ten minutes when new boy Utaka fired home but Derby would not be stopped. Another new boy, Andy Todd, headed Derby to parity a minute later and Derby earned their point. Billy Davies got his tactics dead on and managed to keep Pompey quiet for most of the match. They were never going to be able to keep them scoreless and sit on their goal for the entire game but they had the will to get one back after going behind. Harry will be happy enough with his sides performance also as they looked very good at times. He should be confident before Manchester United arrive on Wednesday to the place they lost last year.

Everton and Wigan was a poor game. Any team with Titus Bramble, Jason Koumas and Kevin Kilbane must be as horrible as they sound. Everton weren’t firing on all cylinders bar Mikel Arteta who was imperious but they didn’t need to be to see off a Wigan side destined for the drop. Nothing doing up front, not much going on in midfield and a defence that doesn’t look like it could cope with a cold means that you just add a sprinkle of managerial astuteness from Hutchings and Wigan are well and truly f***ed. Two goals from young striker, Victor Anichebe and not so young, Leon Osman meant Everton were comfortable throughout and even though Wigan got one back through substitute Sibierski, the result was never in doubt. Everton will need to tighten up to push on from last season while Wigan might aswell call it a day now because it’s all over for them. Middlesbrough entertained Blackburn at the Riverside and it turned out to be an entertaining affair. Benni McCarthy got knocked out, Santa-Cruz came off the bench and looked like a messiah getting an equaliser after Downing’s free kick found a Pedersen-shaped gap in the wall, and Derbyshire came off the bench to get a saucy winner! Blackburn looked good but surprisingly, so did Middlesbrough. Inventive in attack and with Downing looking in good form Middlesbrough took to the new season like sven to Man city. Blackburn were caught out by their opponents bright start but soon got to grips and their class told in the end. (Didn’t think we would ever saying that about Blackburn). Santa-Cruz looks like a bargain and is sure to be getting on the scoresheet more often. Exciting times if you’re part of the Ewood Park faithful!

Speaking of all things Sven, his Manchester City (allbeit revamped and better than ever) went to Upton Park to have a look at West Ham. Slick passing, creative flair and threatening attacks were all features of City’s game. It was unbelievable. Sven is proving his critics wrong and showing that he is a decent manager after all and just because the Sun say something, doesn’t make it true, in fact it’s usuall complete b***ocks. Elano, whom we tipped to be their best signing, showed why he cost £8 million even though not many people had heard of him. The creative hub of an accomplished City side, he ran the show in midfield and waltzed past the West Ham players to literally hand Bianchi the ball for the opening goal. West Ham, for their part, were not at the races at all and were left behind very quickly. Onuha (best guess spelling) was impressive at the back for City and powered his way up the touch-line and into the box to setup Geovanni for City’s second goal. Even though he has every reason to despise the English media, Sven was polite and dignified in the pre and post match press conferences. What a gentleman. City are now a team to watch like one might watch any of the top four. Seriously. Aston Villa played host to Liverpool in the late kick-off and were under the cosh from the get go. Liverpool were full of pace, aggression and ideas as they played good stuff all over the park. The inevitable came after 31 minutes as pressure forced Laursen into putting the ball past his own ‘keeper. After getting the goal, however, Liverpool took the foot off slightly and allowed Villa slowly back in. The second half proved alien to the first as Villa came out hungry and attacking. They made use of Carew’s height and after a while Carragher et al. stopped challenging for arial balls with the big man. Constant pressure down the wings eventually reaped reward as Carew’s flicked header came up on to Carragher’s arm. It seemed almost impossible for him to get his hand out of the way but the referee was all out of sympathy and Carragher didn’t even complain and up stepped Barry to draw the two sides level. With five minutes left a draw would have been the fairest of results on the balance of the whole game but Gerrard managed to con the referee into giving him a free-kick in prime Gerrard position and scored an absoloutely wonderful goal high in the top-right hand corner of the net. A cruel and bitter blow for Villa but good news for Liverpool who start their campaign with a win.

Sunday saw the top two from last year and Arsenal in action. Arsenal had Fulham round theirs and immediately fell prey to the precocious talent of David Healy. He has been waiting a long time to shine in the Premiership and now he has arrived and it was marked in style as he got on the scoresheet inside one minute. A ridiculous blunder by Lehmann see here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFChawnpIAM) What was he thinking? Arsenal dominated long stretches of the game and their passing was a joy to watch but again they were lacking an experienced head to orchestrate a goal. All their possesion wasn’t getting them anywhere and Fulham were enjoying some good spells of their own. They might not be fancied by many to stay up but they looked good yesterday. Fulham were six minutes away from a famous victory when Arsenal, whose players had been diving all day long, were awarded a penalty. Sanchez was furious after the game as he though the referee was too leniant on the persistent simulation and he was right. The recent meeting between the managers and Hackett the head of the referee people added simulation or diving to the new list of offences which would be punished this season but Phil Dowd obviously didn’t get the memo because although he turned down 3 penalty shouts because they were clearly dives he didn’t do anything about the players. On the 4th attempt the spotter was given and Van Persie put away a nice one high into the roof of the net. All Fulham’s hard work was undone. Heads clearly dropped and what had seemed like 3 points turned into 1 suddenly dissolved into 0 as Hleb got into the box in the 90th minute and managed to squeeze one past the ‘keeper. Daylight robbery at the Emirates. Arsenal will do well this season but they will be there for the taking by the big sides. Fulham were a broken team at the final whistle and Arsenal were doing their best to revive the hatred they aroused when Keown, Winterburn et al. were still there.

Next was Chelsea against newly promoted Birmingham. Chelsea were looking to protect their foreboding home record and didn’t expect much trouble against lowly Birmingham. Steve Bruce’s side opened the scoring on 15 minutes through Forsell. A stunned Stamford Bridge was brought back to life with a debut goal 2 minutes later from Pizzaro. Malouda added to that but another debut goal, this time from Birmingham’s Kapo, brought the sides level. The deadlock was broken in the second half when Essien, on 50 minutes produced a terrific shot from outside the box and it managed to squeeze in despite the attention of Colin Doyle. Birmingham were lively during the game and went to the Bridge to play football and not to shut up shop. Understandably they were outclassed by, to be honest, a magnificent looking Chelsea but at least they gave it a shot and without Terry at the back Chelsea were always vulnerable. Once Essien scored the game quitened down a bit and Chelsea played keep ball. Surprisingly enough, O’ Connor didn’t feature for Birmingham even though this game would have suited the fiesty Scot. A big target man up front rustling a few feathers would have not sat well with Chelsea and could have afforded Birmingham some more chances. Unfortunately for Colin Doyle, who was heralded toward the back end of last season,  he was simply to blame for two of Chelseas’ goals and even though they were likely to score anyway gifting them two was not ideal. 

Last up yesterday was the visit of Steve Copell’s Reading to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. A frustrating day for United saw them draw with Reading. The game started in a positive manner but once United hit a rythm Reading found themselves doing a Faroe Islands on it. They stuck 9 men behind the ball and left Hunt up front to chase the long ball. Copell knows his tactics and Reading did not go there for the win. Michael Duberry did a fantastic job snuffing out Wayne Rooney and Shorey set to work on Giggs and Ronaldo. Even though man-marked, Rooney was the most promising on the field and was a constant threat to Reading. Ronaldo had some flashes but didn’t see enough of the ball and Giggs hit the post with a nice volley. Duberry got too close to Rooney in the end and stood on his foot accidentally, causing a hairline fracture. Rooney didn’t come out after the break and that was it really. The focus was gone and United huffed and puffed but couldn’t get it in the net. O’ Shea came on and was asked to play up front with Giggs. He got one save out of an inspired Hahnemann but didn’t recieve enough service. Duberry was far and away Reading’s best player, snuffing out everything that came into the box (including Rooney apparently) while Hunt was full of running and gettingup people’s noses. Kitson came on to do a hatchet job and recieved his marching orders 31 seconds later for a high and dangerous tackle on Evra. It was a small bit surprising to see the red and most other referees would probably have given a yellow. It was a dangerous challenge however and he had to get something. Reading were never in any danger of scoring and Doyle was surprisingly subdued. Tevez looks set to step into the breach for Wednesday’s game against Portsmouth with Saha and Solskjaer still recovering from injury.  

The Fight For Fourth

Dunno who this bloke is but he won the league so he must be handy. 

Even though we all like to think, somewhere deep in our hearts, that there is a true element of competition in the Premiership the top three are pretty much cemented at this non-stage of the season. While it would be superb to see an English version of what happened in La Liga this year with four teams going right down to the wire and two teams able to win it on the last day, it will more than likely be Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool in some variation at the top with one team in particular crowned Champions in early April. So, what is left to predict? Many people would include Arsenal in a guaranteed top four but to be fair, the North London outfit have been shaky over the past few seasons and while they will definitely be there or there abouts come may next year, it is by no means a certainty. Now the rest of the teams in the premiership talk of a league excluding the so called Big 4. Fifth is usually top of that league but it appears that Arsenal have slipped into the “second tier” and are involved in this fight for fourth. So who are the contenders?

Arsenal

Seem obvious contenders considering their status as one of the best footballing sides in Europe. They’re pre-season went well and if they play the way they did for their first ten minutes against PSG then they will win everything going. They lost their way though and the lack of an experienced head was telling. If they hit a rough spot along the way it is hard to pick out the players who will drag them out of it. Wenger obviously has faith in his squad and everyone could be eating their words this season but their lack of activity in the transfer market, player exits and the unsettled nature of the boardroom could see the Gunners turn into the Liverpool of a few years back. Will Arsenal fans be talking about the glory days of old for the next few years?

Tottenham Hotspurs

Spurs are next in line for the throne. They have been pushing their North London rivals for some time now and over the past two seasons have been looking more and more capable of ousting the Gunners. Martin Jol is certainly not shy when it comes to spending money and this summer he has brought in a number of both promising and proven players. Gareth Bale, who was arguably one of the best players in the Championship last season, is likely to solve Spurs left-back problem while Bent will provide even more competition up front for Berbatov, Keane and Defoe. Three more signings including French U21 defender Younes Kaboul, the finalising of Adel Taarabt’s loan deal from Lens and Kevin-Prince Boateng from Hertha Berlin make the full package an attacking midfielder, a defensive midfielder, a left-back, a centre-half and a striker. What more could you ask for? If they get the right breaks at the beginning, expect Spurs to be pushing the top three hard this season.

Newcastle United

New man, new fortunes? Big Sam seemed to breathe new life into the sleeping giant that is Newcastle United when he was appointed a few months back and already he has attracted the type of players which the club deserve but previous managers couldn’t quite capture. As well as bringing his scientific outlook from Bolton, Allardyce has imparted his personality on the board, demanding transfer activity and one can only wonder why Newcastle didn’t hire him two or three years ago. Having brought Bolton from nothing to a decent premiership side with top six aspirations the possibilities at Newcastle are far wider. A bigger club in all aspects means that Sam will be desperate to be considered a top manger and make newcastle a top club again. An already decent squad has been supplemented by new faces and much needed defenders. Geremi, Cacappa the Lyon captain, Rozhenal from PSG and Enrique, a left-back from Villareal have all arrived to bolster the back four. Add this to the arrival of Joey Barton, Alan Smith, Mark viduka and the presence of Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen and never ever forgetting Shay Given and Newcastle have a strong team which could easily compete in Europe. They lack slightly in midfield  but if Duffer is back and Emre continues his fine run of form from Pre-Season into the new campaign then they shouldn’t have to worry too much about it. Newcastle could prove to be more than a match for anyone in the premiership this season.

Everton

After a great season three years ago when they qualified for the Champions league, Everton have been struggling slightly. A good solid campaign last season has lifted spirits in the blue half of Liverpool and Moyes is hoping to improve again but it is difficult to see it happening considering their transfer activity. Granted, Moyes did well in getting Baines but his other signings leave a lot to be desired. Jagielka from Sheffield United and Steven Pienaar on loan from Dortmund. Both could turn out to be very astute buys but Moyes isn’t really inspiring confidence among the Everton faithful. A new striker should be on the cards for the toffees with Johnson, and youngsters Vaughn and Anichebe the only strikers at the club. Everton have been accredited with an interest in Middlesbrough’s Yakubu but things have been going so slowly it appears unlikely to go through. One of the main things Everton have going for them is Moyes himself. A great manager who knows how to motivate and get results from a team, Moyes has had Everton punching above their weight for quite some time now and this season should be no different. Expect some good results against supposed better teams but slip-ups against sides they should be beating.

Portsmouth

Pompey have been steadily improving under Harry Redknapp’s guidance and the chairman’s money. They had a great spell last year where they were tipped for Europe before inconsistency let them down. A couple of great signings last year in Sol Campbell and Lauren have set up Portsmouth’s back line and this has been added to this summer by Distin from Manchester City, Crainie from South coast rivals Southampton and Charlton’s Hreidarsson. Muntari in midfield and the exciting prospect of Nugent and former Rennes hitman, Utaka, up front means that Portsmouth can only be stronger for their experiences last season and build on that with new blood from the summer window. Inconsistency could prove the downfall once more for Redknapps men but if they can create a never-say-die attitude in the dressing room who knows what they could achieve.

Blackburn Rovers

Mark Hughes has been turning Blackburn slowly into a good solid team which doesn’t lose easily and knows hoe to keep a lead. After getting a reputation for being a bit heavy in the tackle, Blackburn were suffering from having a lot of heart but not very much in the way of class. Pedersen’s form over the past few seasons has been outstanding and all credit to Hughes for keeping him at the club. An inspirational signing last summer in Benni McCarthy gave Rovers an attacking outlet to rival Didier Drogba at Chelsea and the emergence of Matt Derbyshire has given Blackburn great attacking options and after this summer’s activities, Hughes has an embarrassment of riches up front. Rigters, who finished top scorer at this summer’s U21 European Championships and Roque Santa Cruz who scored a hat-trick this summer against Colombia in the Copa America, have been thrown in the mix with Nonda, Roberts, McCarthy and Derbyshire. Bentley is continuing to impress on the right and with Reid and Savage both coming back from injuries which took away most of last season from them, Blackburn look to be in a promising position. Another one for the motivation, Hughes does not like to lose and Ewood Park may be one of those places teams don’t like to play at this season. The capture of Santa Cruz signals intent from Hughes and this season they will be pushing hard for Europe again.

Manchester City

6 months ago I would have whispered this so nobody would hear me and think I was mad. Having spent over £40 Million on new players, however, City could be a revitalised outfit this season. It always takes time for new players and especially foreign players to gel at a club and make themselves comfortable but if this can happen sooner rather than later then City fans could be in for a treat. To be perfectly honest thefc100 isn’t too familiar with some of his signings but the captures of Elano and Martin Petrov are gems. Whether they will suit City is another thing but Elano is a player who did well in an unorthadox Brazil side at the Copa America this summer and will add some creativity to the team and Petrov is a player who was in huge demand around Europe after an impressive season at Atletico Madrid before Sven whispered in his ear. Sven has the capabilities to succeed at City and he has the ability to attract big players. A good season and a top-six finish this year and I shudder to think who they will be linked with next year! The English and other players who were there before Sven arrived mustn’t know what to do with themselves. If thefc100 spoke a bit of Italian we could probably have been signed for City! The money which has changed hands at eastlands means that instant results will be expected by Shinawatra. It is difficult to see them doing it this year but they will certainly be exciting. 

There is also Bolton, Villa, West Ham if they play their cards right and reading. Can’t really see any of those sides breaking the dominance of the other challengers though. Bolton will miss Allardyce’s influence. Villa haven’t brought in enough players and Reading may well “pull a Wigan” and be fighting relegation this season.

Ok, hand on heart this is how we think it will go down:

4. Tottenham

5. Arsenal

6. Newcastle

7. Blackburn

8. Portsmouth 

9. Manchester City

10. Everton