Opening Weekend: Guts, Goals and Injuries
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…
It was a topsy-turvy weekend (and I’m not even going to talk about the fantasy football aspect of it - damn you Rooney!) - depending on who you support and who you hate with a vengeance, you probably went through the whole range of the emotional spectrum.
There are a bunch of matches midweek (one tomorrow, 7 on Wednesday) which I’ll preview tonight - right now, there’s a lot to discuss about the weekend games.
1. Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham
Wrote in detail about this game here and here and here.
It was encouraging to see Sunderland play the way they did but to be honest, they are going to have a lot of problems and Roy Keane would be working his team hard tactically before Wednesday’s away game against Birmingham City.
Tottenham - same old problems as last season, Jol hasn’t solved ‘em.
Really impressed by Paul McShane of Sunderland and Younes Kaboul of Tottenham - quality players both of them.
Disappointed by Kieran Richardson and Anthony Stokes, although both players looked to be trying hard.
2. Bolton Wanderers 1-3 Newcastle United
Newcastle played on the good spirit in the squad that has been there since Sam’s arrival. Bolton were nervous and paid dearly for it. The commentators were throwing about the word ‘humiliation’ but I don’t think it’s that bad.
For Newcastle though, the signs are quite encouraging, although the expectations will now be sky-high. Nothing like more pressure, eh?
Didn’t watch the game in whole but surely Anelka should move on to a bigger club now? And why is Geremi captain? Shay Given when fit, and Nicky Butt when he’s playing, surely stand ahead of Geremi.
Or is Big Sam playing the same cards as Wenger and nominating a captain in order to motivate the player?
3. Derby County 2-2 Portsmouth
Another game I couldn’t watch, but on all accounts it was a good fight by Derby and Portsmouth will be kicking themselves for not winning this game. First day and of course you don’t base the whole season on it but on evidence the promoted teams are going to put up a good fight this season?
Not sure if we can say that about some of the other teams though…
Loved the Andy Todd flying header - some of the goals this weekend were just great, I think.
Wigan got in a consolation goal but it was going to be an uphill battle from the start, not surprised at the result.
Everton are still a striker short though.
Whether Wigan’s buying will pay fruit or not (Sibierski did get a goal) will tell in their home games when Bramble will be expected to help them keep a clean sheet.
5. Middlesbrough 1-2 Blackburn Rovers
Disappointed by Boro as a whole - despite the injuries they should have won this game. Credit to Mark Hughes - limited resources and all that (although with Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Pedersen and Bentley you can’t exactly complain).
And what a goal by Derbyshire…
6. West Ham United 0-2 Manchester City
A lot of people will be praising Eriksson and City’s new signings after this (deservedly so), but let’s not get carried away. West Ham were listless and proof that money and players don’t make winning teams, good managers do.
Ouch, did I just call Eriksson a good manager? Better than Curbishley, at least.
Stylish goals by City, if they can keep it up they’ll be fun to watch.
7. Aston Villa 1-2 Liverpool
This is why he’s Captain Fantastic. He may have theatrically won the foul but the resulting free kick was blameless and based just on that they deserved the win.
Overall - Villa did enough to hold Pool. Better players at Rafa’s disposal but he’s not going to change in his approach (which manager does?) and as a result all we could do was admire Babel’s cameo and Carew’s height (which should have been the target of more crosses).
Gareth Barry, shame on you for diving.
If I was an Arsenal fan and I had to watch Arsenal play all season the way they played the first 45 minutes, I would have committed suicide or stopped watch football altogether.
The Fulham goal was a fluke and although I think that Lehmann is not the same as he was two seasons ago he’s better than that.
Not sure why Persie should be going wide on the flanks when he’s supposed to be the target man in the box.
Eboue is ok but no replacement for a specialist in the right-midfield position and Rosicky has this extremely annoying tendency to cut in after making a pass instead of running up the wing. Rumours abound that Wenger is after Pedersen - God knows they need a player like him.
Impressed by Hleb’s work-rate, as I’m sure all Arsenal fans are. Why was Flamini playing and not Denilson or Diaby?
And Gallas as captain, that’s what having a big ego will get you.
Arsenal were denied a penalty in the first half but they made up for it in the end, props to them for winning the game in the end.
I like David Healy, he had a good game and there’s a good chance he’ll move up to a ‘better’ team if Fulham don’t do as well as expected.
I don’t think that anyone expected Hleb to score until he actually did - I don’t think his own teammates did either…
9. Chelsea 3-2 Birmingham City
Kapo and Malouda, take a bow lads, great goals and if you guys keep playing like this all season it’ll be a helluva Premiership.
I remember Arseblogger and some other Arsenal fans talking down Malouda because he was an ‘average’ winger. Arseblogger, there is no team in the Premier League, Arsenal included, that wouldn’t be improved if Malouda were to join them. Arsenal blew it with Malouda and Ribery, but that’s for another day.
Brucey’s men gave Chelsea a good game, but I don’t think it’ll be so tight for Chelsea in the future.
10. Manchester United 0-0 Reading
No excuses. We had the chances, we didn’t take them. Fair play to Coppell and Reading, they came with a good plan and when they got overrun they kept their shape and stuck to the task.
The foul which led to Kitson’s dismissal was a yellow card offense although if you consider that Kitson tackled Evra in United’s half, that might have influenced the ref’s decision. Still, seen far worse tackles go unpunished, so we do need some sort of consistency, which can possibly come through post-match reviews.
Rooney is injured (fuck, fuck, fuck), but if you’re a United fan this picture will cheer you up a bit:
Spare a thought for Benni McCarthy though (pic at top), who was stretchered off after an head injury. With Essien also going off for Chelsea and two more games coming this week, there’s a good chance that the Prem will be struck with a big number of injuries by next Monday.
All the latest football headlines.
Ahmed, that photo you posted of the ManU vs Reading game really brought joy to my heart. It went a long way in brushing aside our “defeat”. Have to give credit to Reading though. They did brilliantly!!! United, played very nice, but 0/25 shots… in-excusable.
Good shit, Rooney is injured and I hope the ugly prick doesnt recover for the rest of the year.
Manchester Utd, If they play like they did against Reading they will be lucky to finish 3rd. But, May I say that all teams challenging for the title or a UCL place did shit except for Liverpool and Newcastle. Although Arsenal had some guts to come back and get 2 goals in the last 7 minutes, And Hleb what a goal Mate!
man utd is still going to win the league. 37 games still remain and def other teams will lose points. we are lucky we lost only two points..wait till you see chelsea lose three points coming weekend lol!
0-0 against Reading and Rooney crocked, talk about an anticlimax - especially after he’d been looking shit-hot in friendlies…and has anyone noticed that United have now failed to score from open play in 6 League & Cup matches since Eagles’ injury-time goal at Everton (just the pen at City since)? That’s a 570-minute drought for the most free-scoring side in the country! And how is it possible that we have to resort to O’Shea (!!!) as an emergency striker for f***’s sake?
But yes seeing Anderson & Tevez on the sidelines boosts morale…from Sunday’s anemic effort, looks to me as if the new blood is needed sooner and more urgently than we supposed.
The way I see it Man U are a bit one dimensional. They are great in an open game where they can use their pace and the creativity of their players to find gaps and play through balls. But that won’t help you break down a team set out to defend.
In a game like that you need good crosses and a tall, strong centre forward with a good head to convert them. And we do not have that player and for the most part our crossing is pretty woeful.
Most of our best chances actually came from corners where we could use the height of Ferdinand and Vidic to cause problems.
KyleAusGooner-what planet you from mate?? Lucky to finish 3rd?? Over 70% possession, god knows how many shots on(alright off:)target- I don’t see play like that coming from many of the other so-called top teams, not least Arsenal. United were criminal in their lack of effciency, they had the bit between their teeth from the off but Reading (who have given all the so-called top teams problems) were marvellous, they played their socks off, it’s not easy coping with a relentless (toothless as well on the day) United, and I’m not just saying this cos I like Reading, and hats off big time to them for snuffing us out, good looking football doesn’t just constitute attacking football, it’s also defending and boy that was good looking defending from Coppell’s boys, they were tight all over the park, disciplined and walked away with the job done. Oh and KyleAusGooner? Arsenal fans and Wenger alike would’ve criticised Reading for the way they played were it the case at The Emirates or elsewhere, it’s credit to Fergie and the United staff for not bad-mouthing Coppell’s tactics- remember Bolton and Wenger’s tirade(s)? Hmmm..
I’ve seen that picture of Cesc and Hleb now several times, and I can’t stop laughing every time I see it! Cesc is making the face I would expect a mother to make when her daughter tells her that she’s pregnant (and married, of course).
I think i am very encouraged by what I saw of Man Utd’s game against Reading. If we create as many chances as this in every game we play with the exception of having a couple of strikers and not makeshift forwards, I think we are in for back to back league titles. The game was tottaly dominated, tell me one team that did that in the opening day. NONE!
Adam - I thought it looked like Fab was ready to fuck Hleb, that’s how happy he was (and surprised too).
After all the abuse Hleb has received from Arsenal fans, especially notable fans who last season claimed that Hleb couldn’t do the job at Arsenal nor could he score many goals, this must have been good for Hleb.
Smins - with United it looks like how we were in 2005/2006 at the start or the season before that when Ruud was injured.
well Smins, against a 10 men reading side bent on defending and nothing more i would be surprised if united did not dominate possession.
I think you cant determin how the season will end right now but hats off to the mighty stevie and im glad to see us on the attack away from home
It just amazes me how footy fans can applaud the cowardly defensive posture exhibited by Reading yesterday. The game is going totally to the dogs. Setting up a wall in the 18 yard box and defending like 300 Spartans or the men at the Alamo may seem brave to some but all it tells me is that Reading is an untalented, uninspiring, unimaginative minnow who belongs in a lower flight of football. Everybody can be down on Man Yoo for not being able to penetrate the Great Wall of China but, at least their aim and tactical scheme was designed to SCORE GOALS. After all isn’t that the aim of this game? What football needs in all the top flights in Europe is fewer teams and a point given for every goal scored. That I’m sure would weed out the minnows and allow the big fish to play. Let Reading enjoy the spoils of the lower divisions. That’s where they and about 6 other clubs in the Prem belong. I’d rather see an 11 team league where every team played each other 4 times a season. Now that would be exciting watching the cream rise to the top. In that kind of league even the tenth or eleventh place teams could compete with the best.
yeh I hate it when the small teams do that but reading are a talented team but the were a bit cowardly but thats football it all comes round a bites you in the butt
I think Man city are great now, Newcastle are gonna be a tough team this year and i think birmingham put up a good fight agaisnt chelsea interesting season so far
(even though chelseas main boys are out of action.
@Matt
Uhmm.. 25 shots at goal kinda says “We could not finnish” NOT “We could not break the team down”. 25 shots at goal shows LOTS of creativity. (Imagine if Ruud were there?).
People can shout at Reading all they want, but at the end of the day, “that’s part of how you play football”. We do the same in certain games (everyone remember a certain FA cup final?)
I agree with Karl I mean it’s not like we didn’t have problems against Reading last season, they drew 1-1 with us at the Madejski and then lost 3-2 at OT and could have nicked a goal in the last couple of minutes. One draw no matter how dissapointing is not the end of the world. If we beat Pompey and City then we are right up there again because this weekend is ‘Pool and Chelski and one of them has to drop points at least.
come on arsenal, we can stay above united for the rest of the season. great play by hleb to get the second goal. i would like to have a go at the second-rate manager that is lawrie sanchez who called arsenal divers. firstly, hleb was fouled, his leg was caught by baird. secondly, toure was fouled no question, he is definitely not a diver. I would also like to point out that stephen davis tripped himself up, cesc did not touch him, and then sanchez has the nerve to say that arsenal were claiming penalties that weren’t fouls. he was also saying that fulham deserved something from the game, when you don’t score as many goals as the other team and you didn’t have a wrong pen decision go your way or a disallowed goal, then you lost and deserve nothing. he will be sacked soon anyway, i know he did well with n ireland but its different being manager of a team playing every week. lets not forget that he got wycombe relegated to the old div 3.
We got chelsea to play next then alot of easy ties
sunderland, birmingham and Derby not too bad now is it?
Ask Spurs how ‘easy’ Sunderland is and ask Chelsea about Brum
To Karl, 25 shots does not mean creativity. I disagree. Most of those shots were poor efforts and not even regarded as half chances. The Reading keeper had to make 4 or 5 top level saves, and United just missed the net about 2 to 3 times. The rest of the shots wouldn’t have troubled a nine year old nor Roy Carrol playing goal. I actually would have preferred more of an Arsenal approach which means fewer shots but better overall chances. This of course is hard to accomplish given the way Reading set themselves up defensively. Better width and and more competent crossing to forwards who can actually head a ball was the only real way to break down this style of defense. I find United very wanting in this area. David Beckham crossing to Ruud van Nistelrooy would have done the trick. In similar type games Chelsea always seem to find a way to break through due to Drogba’s tenacity in the box. Rooney for all his skills quite often plays the game like Paul Scholes, as an attacking midfielder. He’s great coming in from deeper positions, awesome on the counter attack, but he is not good at holding up the ball , heading or finding that perfect goal poachers position. His goals usually are beautiful finesse jobs. United need a striker partner who can score ugly goals as well as head goals. Tevez, despite his height is a solid header, but still plays a similar game to Rooney.
This is why United made an error by not signing a layer like Huntelaar, Klose or Luca Toni. Perhaps a bigger mistake was letting van Nistelrooy go or even not having the proper depth at the striker position. Ruud’s goals were rarely pretty, but he certainly scored enough of them. Also, they should never have let Rossi go. As for Reading and Steve Coppell, don’t be proud of yourselves with this one point accomplishment. Your negative style and lack of ambition was a disgrace to the game. If a team’s aim is not to outscore their opposition in league play, then frankly they don’t belong in that league.
theatrical? gerrard?
do you know the difference between theatrical and appealing for a foul?
u say rafa dint change his away games strategy?
alonso and gerrard played cmf.
Yeh but we are Liverpool
What i meant from “easy” is bottom leaguers
@sandbagger1
“The Reading keeper had to make 4 or 5 top level saves, and United just missed the net about 2 to 3 times.”
That equals 6-8 goals if we took the chances (only needed 1 to win). That’s creative enough for me.
Rest of your comments I fully agree. Just feel that our “wingplay/crossing” days are over (for now at least). I think SAF want to employ ‘total football’. A Ruud type player (as much as I love him) does not feature in it.