After Chelsea's somewhat surprising but certainly comprehasive defeat at home to Sunderland last weekend, the title race is 'wide open again'. Sure is. If Arsenal beat Spurs in today's lunchtime kick off, the Premier League will have a new leader for the first time since the opening afternoon. Man Utd face Wigan at home (a team that has not beaten them at 10 tries in the Premier League) coming off the back of a Great Escape against Aston Villa last week, and Wayne Rooney could see some action (on the pitch). Chelsea go on the road without Terry, Lampard and Essien to face a Birmingham team that held them to a 0-0 draw last season (the now departed Joe Hart had a large part to play in that result). Momentum appears to be shifting.
Losing John Terry for what could be an extended period (althought I suspect may only be a few weeks-especially since Alex has delayed what is presumably necessary surgery) will not help-he's not the best centre back in England, but he gives 100% and at least he knows the position-starting a game with 2 nominal full backs, one of which was playing on the wrong side of the centre, is not a recipe for a clean sheet. In addition, Chelsea lack impact players on the bench-Kalou aside, you don't expect to see goals from Sturridge, Kakuta or McEachran. On last weekend's evidence, Chelsea looked to have taken the wrong Danny from Manchester-Welbeck looks a much better prospect than Sturridge.
Looking ahead for each of the Top 3 is interesting:
Chelsea
20/11 A v Birmingham
28/11 A v Newcastle
4/12 H v Everton
12/12 A v Spurs
Prediction 5 points from 12
Arsenal
20/11 H v Spurs
27/11 A v Villa
4/12 H v Fulham
13/12 A v Man Utd
Prediction 7 points from 12
Man Utd
20/11 H v Wigan
27/11 H v Blackburn
4/12 A v Blackpool
13/12 H v Arsenal
Prediction 12 points from 12
If I'm right, by xmas the table will be
Man Utd 37 points
Chelsea 33 points
Arsenal 33 points (trailing by a few goals)
Italian managers really got people's goat on Wednesday night. Fabio Capello played Steven Gerrard for longer than he agreed with Liverpool in England's friendly over France, and Gerrard ended up aggrevating a hamstring injury and will miss a few weeks. 'Il Trap' decided that a meaningless home friendly against Norway was not the time to give a debut to Seamus Coleman, who is perhaps Ireland's outstanding/in form player in the Premier League at the moment. What exactly anyone was to learn from watching Aiden McGeady for 20 minutes at the end of the game is beyond me, and much of the Irish support as well I would think. The old Italian man is living off 60 minutes of football against a wretched French team and a reputation forged long ago in European club football (his record with Italy-a 2nd round exit on the 2002 World Cup to South Korea and a dismal Euro 2004).
And on a more sombre note....on my way to work on Wednesday morning I was listening to Des Cahill reading the sports news on RTE Radio 1. Des was singing the praises of the Munster rugby team, who had beaten the Aussies the night before. 'Thank God for Munster, they've lifted the mood in the province....' This after these stories were reported in the news the day before. Stay classy Des.
Friday 19 November 2010
Friday 12 November 2010
Warning-may contain inappropriate content
Well, at least I'm not writing this on my laptop at work, and I'm not actually going to rate anyone, just give my opinion, without pictures.
I always thought that Ray Wilkins was a dull enough individual to be honest, and dull is an apt description of what we have seen from league leaders Chelsea since I last posted. Since the Special One departed, I am alaways worried when Chelsea go a goal down-they are no longer a team that seems to be able to wrest momentum from the opposition. For much of the 2nd half last weekend, they bossed the game, but never really looked convincing to the point you could say that they deserved anything more than they got from the game. The difference in the end was a timely return to form for Fernando Torres-without his goals Liverpool will not amount to much. Fortunately for them, he is certainly showing signs of life of late, and it's hard to believe that this team was in the bottom 3 around a month ago.
For Chelsea, Michael Essien was both hero and villan during the week. A crucial goal, and then an ill-judged (and potentially dangerous) lunge at Clint Dempsey deep in injury time, means that Chelsea will now be without both him and Frank Lampard for at least the next 3 Premier League games (home to Sunderland, away to Birmingham and Newcastle), at a time when they are struggling to score goals (5 in the last 5 domestic games, after starting with 21 in their first 5). Of course, the opposition has been better in some cases, but all through those 6-0 victories, Chelsea never convinced me that they were going to run away with the Premier League this year. A case of "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" I guess.
Man Utd had cut Chelsea's lead to 1 point before their stalemate at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night, and that was without the recuperating Wayne Rooney, who, you have to believe, will come back from the US with a vengance in time for the glut of fixtures over the festive period. At the moment, I'm watching them struggle against Villa, but they are very much still in the game, and Villa are missing some key players, especially in the middle. Remember, Chelsea were held here not so long ago, it will be interesting to see if Utd can better that result.
Arsenal, shorn of their better players through injury much of the time, appear too inconsistent to mount a season long challenge, and this weekend face perhaps the toughest test of the Top 4 with a trip to Everton, who, like their Merseyside rivals, have begun to get things going. History is on Arsenal's side; they are unbeaten in the last 6 games at Goodison and won the corresponding fixture 6-1 last season. Still, I don't have much faith in a centre back pairing of Djourou and Squillaci doesn't augur well in an away game. Arsenal do have van Persie back in the frame, and can pair him with a striker in form in Marouane Chamakh.
Elsehere in the league, Spurs may be winning plaudits for their exploits in Europe, but conceding 4 to Bolton isn't likely to help should they wish to play in next season's Champions League. Rafael van der Vaart certainly looks worth every penny of the reported £8m transfer fee, and Roman Pavlyuchenko is beginning to show more and more flashes of class. However, at the back, they are a mess and this will be their downfall. Also, at home to Inter Milan, they showed the usual British shortcomings-they cannot keep the ball, their only have 'attack' and 'defend' modes, with little control exhibited in between.
Ian Holloway had a good old rant during the week (on whether the Premier League would fine him for making 10 changes to his lineup for a midweek game away to Villa, fielding a nominally weaker team), I have to say I probably agree with him, he's the manager, and a 3-2 defeat doesn't smack of a team that wasn't in a postion to get something from the game. Good for you Ian, let's hope the LMA come out and support you.
I always thought that Ray Wilkins was a dull enough individual to be honest, and dull is an apt description of what we have seen from league leaders Chelsea since I last posted. Since the Special One departed, I am alaways worried when Chelsea go a goal down-they are no longer a team that seems to be able to wrest momentum from the opposition. For much of the 2nd half last weekend, they bossed the game, but never really looked convincing to the point you could say that they deserved anything more than they got from the game. The difference in the end was a timely return to form for Fernando Torres-without his goals Liverpool will not amount to much. Fortunately for them, he is certainly showing signs of life of late, and it's hard to believe that this team was in the bottom 3 around a month ago.
For Chelsea, Michael Essien was both hero and villan during the week. A crucial goal, and then an ill-judged (and potentially dangerous) lunge at Clint Dempsey deep in injury time, means that Chelsea will now be without both him and Frank Lampard for at least the next 3 Premier League games (home to Sunderland, away to Birmingham and Newcastle), at a time when they are struggling to score goals (5 in the last 5 domestic games, after starting with 21 in their first 5). Of course, the opposition has been better in some cases, but all through those 6-0 victories, Chelsea never convinced me that they were going to run away with the Premier League this year. A case of "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" I guess.
Man Utd had cut Chelsea's lead to 1 point before their stalemate at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night, and that was without the recuperating Wayne Rooney, who, you have to believe, will come back from the US with a vengance in time for the glut of fixtures over the festive period. At the moment, I'm watching them struggle against Villa, but they are very much still in the game, and Villa are missing some key players, especially in the middle. Remember, Chelsea were held here not so long ago, it will be interesting to see if Utd can better that result.
Arsenal, shorn of their better players through injury much of the time, appear too inconsistent to mount a season long challenge, and this weekend face perhaps the toughest test of the Top 4 with a trip to Everton, who, like their Merseyside rivals, have begun to get things going. History is on Arsenal's side; they are unbeaten in the last 6 games at Goodison and won the corresponding fixture 6-1 last season. Still, I don't have much faith in a centre back pairing of Djourou and Squillaci doesn't augur well in an away game. Arsenal do have van Persie back in the frame, and can pair him with a striker in form in Marouane Chamakh.
Elsehere in the league, Spurs may be winning plaudits for their exploits in Europe, but conceding 4 to Bolton isn't likely to help should they wish to play in next season's Champions League. Rafael van der Vaart certainly looks worth every penny of the reported £8m transfer fee, and Roman Pavlyuchenko is beginning to show more and more flashes of class. However, at the back, they are a mess and this will be their downfall. Also, at home to Inter Milan, they showed the usual British shortcomings-they cannot keep the ball, their only have 'attack' and 'defend' modes, with little control exhibited in between.
Ian Holloway had a good old rant during the week (on whether the Premier League would fine him for making 10 changes to his lineup for a midweek game away to Villa, fielding a nominally weaker team), I have to say I probably agree with him, he's the manager, and a 3-2 defeat doesn't smack of a team that wasn't in a postion to get something from the game. Good for you Ian, let's hope the LMA come out and support you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
