Chelsea beat Liverpool
Man Utd beat Arsenal
Liverpool beat Man Utd
Chelsea have lost 2 games already
Man Utd have lost 2 games already
Arsenal have lost 2 games already
Liverpool have lost 3 games already
Just who is the best team in the current edition of the Premier League?
Although Chelsea sit at the top of the table, Arsenal could move ahead of them on goal difference if they win their game in hand, and, were the better team for long stretches of their visit to Old Trafford. But, they shipped 4 goals to Man City and just blew a 2 goal lead at West Ham. Man Utd have been beaten by Burnley, needed an injury time equaliser to get a draw at home to Sunderland and beat Man City in similar fashion. Chelsea looked disinterested when losing 3-1 at Wigan and defensively naive when losing to Aston Villa. Liverpool have lost to Sunderland.
So, we might just be looking at one of the more competitive Premier League season in some time now. Note that 'competitive' does not imply that we are going to see a lot of quality-look at last Sunday's clash of Liverpool and Man Utd-the standard of play-flashes of brilliance from Fernando Torres and the odd cameo from Yossi Benayoun aside-was poor. Liverpool won despite the fact that they had surely the worst Brazilian ever to kick a ball in the middle of the field, and were helped by a largely anonymous display from Man Utd's midfield and an ineffectual display from their front 2. It's worth noting however that Man Utd still looked like a more natural attacking force when they got forward in the 1st half, and Liverpool's first instinct appeared to play the ball sqaure or backwards. How they miss the drive of Steven Gerrard.
Sure Man Utd might have benefited from the industry and strength of Darren Flethcher, and maybe even the likes of Park and Andersen would have made an impact, but Carrick and Valencia are first choice and hardly looked the part on Sunday. Fernando Torres seems to be Nemanja Vidic's kryptonite. It is debatable as to whether Liverpool really played well enough to win the game, but equally, it is a stetch to say that Man Utd deserved anything other than a defeat. Makes sense? Good.
November could make the picture a little clearer with Chelsea playing host to Man Utd and facing Arsenal at The Emirates. Clashes between the 'Big 4' don't always tend to matter greatly in determining the Premier League winner, but in a year where parity appears to have returned, points taken from your closest challengers could be more important than in recent years.
Thursday 29 October 2009
Wednesday 14 October 2009
I think I smell a rat......
Hmmm. The svelte Eamon Dunphy must be around. It was a bit much to listen to Eamo ranting and raving after Ireland had secured a place in the World Cup play-offs by virtue of a 2-2 draw with Italy (World Champions Italy as King George kept reminding us over the course of the evening)-we have had worse results recently, but Stephen Hunt couldn't avoid coming down to Eamo's level to hit back at Dunphy's 'shameful' comments. Dunphy came out and apologised (fair play to him for that I guess), but it wasn't as if he was goaded into making the comments in the first place, so you would wonder what he was smoking when he lashed out last Saturday. At least Trap didn't seem to let it bother him, but no surprise there I guess.
Eamo is right enough in one respect-it is 'shameful' that Andy Reid can't get in the Ireland squad, but at this stage, it's time to build a bridge. Ireland are where we expected/hoped to be at the start of this qualifying campaign, and for that, the current manager and squad should be congratulated. But, it doesn't take from that we led twice against Italy and failed to win. Indeed, the truth of it was that Italy looked like they score whenever they wanted or needed to do so-the point gained in Dublin was enough for them to win the group and qualify automatically. We also failed to beat Bulgaria, despite having led both home and away (and Bulgaria looked very average on both occasions) and Montenegro on 2 occasions (albeit the Croke Park game was a dead rubber). So Ireland were unbeaten, but their 4 wins during the campaign were single goal victories over Cyprus and Georgia (more than other Ireland managers could manage, which is a sign of progress I suppose). That doesn't look likely to get us through a play-off when our potential opponents will be one from France, Portugal, Russia or Greece.
Of that lot, it's hard to know who we should be hoping to draw next Monday. On paper, Greece appear to be the weakest of the 4, Russia the least desirable place to go at this time of the year, while Portugal and France have the star names and big reputations, but appear to lack form. Some of the match-ups are pretty daunting-Ronaldo v Kilbane; Arshavin v. St Leger; Ribery v. O'Shea; anyone in Greece v. the Irish midfield.
Whoever Ireland end up playing, not everyone will be welcome at the game. The FAI were offering an incentive to buy tickets for last night's game against Montenegro-post your ticket stub to them and you would have first preference for buying tickets to the play-off game in Croke Park. A few (un)lucky fans may not be there-because of displaying this banner-the FAI took umbrage to the banner, confiscated it and the fan's ticket stub, and asked the Gardai to get involved. It turns out that the guys got there tickets back, but only after the FAI had scanned/photographed them. What next? RTE actually showed footage of the banner at the end-will they be stripped of their rights to broadcast future Ireland games? Godwin's Law decrees I should say nothing further about the FAI.
Eamo is right enough in one respect-it is 'shameful' that Andy Reid can't get in the Ireland squad, but at this stage, it's time to build a bridge. Ireland are where we expected/hoped to be at the start of this qualifying campaign, and for that, the current manager and squad should be congratulated. But, it doesn't take from that we led twice against Italy and failed to win. Indeed, the truth of it was that Italy looked like they score whenever they wanted or needed to do so-the point gained in Dublin was enough for them to win the group and qualify automatically. We also failed to beat Bulgaria, despite having led both home and away (and Bulgaria looked very average on both occasions) and Montenegro on 2 occasions (albeit the Croke Park game was a dead rubber). So Ireland were unbeaten, but their 4 wins during the campaign were single goal victories over Cyprus and Georgia (more than other Ireland managers could manage, which is a sign of progress I suppose). That doesn't look likely to get us through a play-off when our potential opponents will be one from France, Portugal, Russia or Greece.
Of that lot, it's hard to know who we should be hoping to draw next Monday. On paper, Greece appear to be the weakest of the 4, Russia the least desirable place to go at this time of the year, while Portugal and France have the star names and big reputations, but appear to lack form. Some of the match-ups are pretty daunting-Ronaldo v Kilbane; Arshavin v. St Leger; Ribery v. O'Shea; anyone in Greece v. the Irish midfield.
Whoever Ireland end up playing, not everyone will be welcome at the game. The FAI were offering an incentive to buy tickets for last night's game against Montenegro-post your ticket stub to them and you would have first preference for buying tickets to the play-off game in Croke Park. A few (un)lucky fans may not be there-because of displaying this banner-the FAI took umbrage to the banner, confiscated it and the fan's ticket stub, and asked the Gardai to get involved. It turns out that the guys got there tickets back, but only after the FAI had scanned/photographed them. What next? RTE actually showed footage of the banner at the end-will they be stripped of their rights to broadcast future Ireland games? Godwin's Law decrees I should say nothing further about the FAI.
Friday 9 October 2009
A Machiavellian Outcome?
The Greek playwright Sophocles wrote in Electra (c 409 B.C.), "The end excuses any evil". I've never read it, I probably never will. Heck, I've never even seen the film Elektra.
No, this blog has not 'got culture' all of a sudden. The above represents Geovanni Trappatoni's modus operandi it would seem, based on what we saw in the 2-1 victory in Cyprus where the performance wasn't really much better than that which saw us beaten 3-0 by Australia-the main differences being the result (better) and the quality of the opposition (worse), and indeed what we have seen from the septuagenarian Italian's Ireland XI's to date. Indeed, it was not surprising to stumble across this piece, which may give some insight into his seemingly ultra-conservative nature.
Ireland will take the field on Saturday without one of the most in-form Irish midfield players in the Premier League at the moment, one who actually wants to play for his country. Andy Reid's absence has become more baffling as his fitness and form has improved considerably since the last round of games, and it beggared belief when Martin Rowlands (who I have to admit I have not seen play, but given that he is now 30 years of age and has never played Premier League football, I have to believe is not a better player than Andy Reid) was called up as cover for the injured Damien Duff during the week. Ireland just don't have the luxury of leaving out players like Andy Reid-he's no world beater, and may not neatly fit in the manager's preferred system, but he has the ability to create-something that is severely lacking among the rest of the fit midfielders in the squad.
Il Trap appears to have brought some defensive stability to the Irish team, and you cannot argue that results have not improved, but I get the impression that this team is not set up to win the games that will really matter-if Italy come to the Northside to play, we will not be able to stand toe to toe with them. Ireland have trundled along with the attitude that its is the result rather than the performance that matters (or the end justifies the means), which is well and good, but sooner or later, mediocre performances catch up with you. I am waiting for a last minute sucker punch to do for us at some stage in this campaign-the knock out may not come on Saturday, but given the recently announced seeding system, I fear it will come via the play-offs.
In other news, Steve Staunton appears to have found his level-amazing that he managed Ireland before he was given the job at the team lying at the foot of League 2.
No, this blog has not 'got culture' all of a sudden. The above represents Geovanni Trappatoni's modus operandi it would seem, based on what we saw in the 2-1 victory in Cyprus where the performance wasn't really much better than that which saw us beaten 3-0 by Australia-the main differences being the result (better) and the quality of the opposition (worse), and indeed what we have seen from the septuagenarian Italian's Ireland XI's to date. Indeed, it was not surprising to stumble across this piece, which may give some insight into his seemingly ultra-conservative nature.
Ireland will take the field on Saturday without one of the most in-form Irish midfield players in the Premier League at the moment, one who actually wants to play for his country. Andy Reid's absence has become more baffling as his fitness and form has improved considerably since the last round of games, and it beggared belief when Martin Rowlands (who I have to admit I have not seen play, but given that he is now 30 years of age and has never played Premier League football, I have to believe is not a better player than Andy Reid) was called up as cover for the injured Damien Duff during the week. Ireland just don't have the luxury of leaving out players like Andy Reid-he's no world beater, and may not neatly fit in the manager's preferred system, but he has the ability to create-something that is severely lacking among the rest of the fit midfielders in the squad.
Il Trap appears to have brought some defensive stability to the Irish team, and you cannot argue that results have not improved, but I get the impression that this team is not set up to win the games that will really matter-if Italy come to the Northside to play, we will not be able to stand toe to toe with them. Ireland have trundled along with the attitude that its is the result rather than the performance that matters (or the end justifies the means), which is well and good, but sooner or later, mediocre performances catch up with you. I am waiting for a last minute sucker punch to do for us at some stage in this campaign-the knock out may not come on Saturday, but given the recently announced seeding system, I fear it will come via the play-offs.
In other news, Steve Staunton appears to have found his level-amazing that he managed Ireland before he was given the job at the team lying at the foot of League 2.
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