EPL Week In Review August 30th
- Not all is lost for Arsenal after losing to Manchester United but it was a sucker punch heading into the international break. Thankfully football is not decided by judges like Boxing/MMA but one could make the claim Arsenal were the better team against Manchester United and lost due to bad luck.
- This is were people will often say Manchester United are the luckiest team in football. Quite frankly it isn’t luck when you can almost count on Manchester United grabbing the win in a tight game. The main difference between Manchester United and Arsenal is the fact even if Manchester United are not at their best they can still pull out a result. Despite all the question marks United have going into the season the swagger of being Champions is still there. For Arsenal to take the next step they will need to overcome adversity when fate hands them a cruel hand.
- Referees often say the home crowd doesn’t effect their decisions. I’m not buying it. While watching the game kept wondering if this game was played at the Emirates stadium would Fletcher tackle on Arshavin be called a penalty and no penalty being given on Almunia block on Rooney?
- If you are an Arsenal fan you must love the fact it seems Andrei Arshavin saves something special for the best games. Last season with his four goal game against Liverpool and yesterday with his goal against Manchester United. Even if Ben Foster should of done better it’s still a top class goal.
- The bloom may be coming off the rose when it comes to Ben Foster being England’s future number one.
- What a week it was for Abou Diaby. First he scores two goals against Portsmouth. As a result Raymond Domenech calls him into the French national side then scores in his own net to decide the Arsenal-Manchester United match. Here I was thinking Lucas Leiva own goal against Aston Villa was awful but Diaby takes the cake. At least Lucas Leiva could claim to be in a crowd of players. On Diaby’s goal no one was even close to him. Peter Crouch would of been proud of that well placed header.
- Well done Arsène Wenger going into the crowd after being sent off by the 4th official. Happy to read Wenger is about to get an FA apology over it as well. Common sense should of prevailed but sometimes common sense is too much to ask for.
- Burnley had their chance to play giant killer yet again but when Martin Paterson slipped his clear chance on goal wide you just had a feeling it was never going to be Burnley’s day. Once Nicolas Anelka tapped in Drogba pass late in the first half it was game over. The only thing worst than battling for the entire first half only to give up a late goal is for that to happen in the second half. Burnley were never able to recover and it wasn’t long into the second half Michael Ballack made it two. Once Ashley Cole made it three, Carlo Ancelotti pulled in the reigns or else the scoreline could of gotten out of hand.
- Speaking of Ashley Cole, he must be watching some of the goals Glen Johnson has been scoring and decided to get in on that action himself.
- It’s not often I agree with Gary Megson on anything but he was right when he said Bolton’s repetition proceeded them. Lucas Leiva clearly was trying to draw the second yellow card on Sean Davis and unfortunately he was granted his wish which turned the game on it’s head. At that point Liverpool were a desperate team making silly mistakes. It seems like Arsenal’s lack of defending set pieces last year has caught on to Liverpool with Bolton’s first goal and when you are trying to get a result it’s stupid to come out for the second half flat and were punished by Tamir Cohen for Bolton’s second goal.
- For 83 minutes Steven Gerrard was having an awful game. Then as he often does for Liverpool saves the day and becomes the hero once again. I’ll say one thing about his goal. Someone should make a video of his goal and use it to teach kids how to strike a ball on the first touch. Simply perfect which left Jussi Jääskeläinen with no chance.
- Considering the mess of a game between West Ham-Milwall this week I’m sure Gianfranco Zola didn’t mind an uneventful 0-0 game against Blackburn who themselves will be happy getting their first point of the season.
- It only took fourteen months but £5.5 million dollar signing Dave Kitson sure picked a great time to score his first goal for Stoke. With Tuncay now in the fold Kitson needed to get that monkey off his back if he was to have any future at Stoke.
- Hull scored three minutes into the first half and Wolves scored one minute into the second half. The rest of the two halves weren’t nothing to write home about.
- On the topic of nothing to write home about we have the first 72 minutes of the Tottenham-Birmingham game. Alex McLeish must of felt good going into this game as it was in his first game in charge for Birmingham a last minute Sebastian Larrson stunner won them the game.
That was 2007
This is 2009 (Fast forward clip to 1:40 mark)
For the second week in a row Aaron Lennon’s winner gives Spurs a perfect start to the season. The way 2009 has started for Tottenham reminds me of the way 2008 started with Liverpool as all the breaks going their way. Harry Redknapp must hate the fact he’ll need to release most of his squad over the international break instead of being able to keep this momentium going.
- Sad to hear the news of Modric breaking his leg against Birmingham. After getting used to the English game last season Modric was well on his way to coming into his own before this injury occured.
- Manchester City start to the season reminds of a highly regarded boxer who fights nothing but bums in his first dozen fights to pad the record. The true test for Manchester City will come September 12 and 20 when they face Arsenal and Manchester United.
- If you are an Everton fan you must feel like a dark cloud has been lifted from their shoulders. After a boring first half followed up by an opening Wigan goal Leighton Baines last minute penalty against his former team might of turned Everton’s season around.
- Fulham reminds me of Sam Allardyce Bolton teams minus the dirty play. They have one game plan and if that is undone like it was against Aston Villa thanks to the early goal they have no answer the rest of the game.