Weekend Review: Manchester United throw title, Tottenham get over-excited, City go top as refs cock up
Oh boy - controversy, controversy and more controversy (and despair for Manchester United fans as the champions fall 7 points behind league leaders Manchester City after the first week of fixtures (it’s all going to hell, I tell you)).
At least we have something to talk about, eh?
Anyway, on with the weekend review, a look back at our predictions AND a look forward to the next week of football. Come in and have your say.
Portsmouth 3-1 Bolton Wanderers
I wrote about this game earlier - bottom line, Portsmouth have done really well and full credit to Harry, but it must be remembered (for the sake of Bolton and other misfiring teams in the Prem) that their main reason for success is that they got the basics right.
Pompey players fight for each ball, they play together as a team and move up and down the pitch as a team.
On the other hand, Bolton repeatedly made basic errors, looked disjointed in their movement and were it not for Anelka’s presence up front, Pompey could have gone full-tilt and score more. Sammy Lee needs to get this team on the training pitch and get their shit sorted out. An easy game at home against Derby will help as well.
Birmingham City 0-1 West Ham United
I predicted that Birmingham would win, and I remember after watching the Pompey-Bolton game that I was probably wrong, that West Ham would hopefully turn it around and get a win here.
Some controversy in the match as there were calls for a penalty for a foul early on Dyer and the only goal of the game came courtesy of a Mark Noble penalty won by Bellamy. Steve Bruce talked about Bellamy playing for the penalty - he’s within his rights to bitch about it but have some integrity man, against Sunderland midweek you guys were lucky to not give away a penalty in the middle of the game.
Fulham 1-2 Middlesbrough
I remember thinking that it would be hilarious if Mido scored, but overall the match and especially it’s conclusion pissed me off. It’s never good to see any player get injured the way Brian McBride did, but for Warner to make that mistake, and for the linesman to not give that goal at the end for Fulham - criminal.
Credit to Southgate for admitting that Middlesbrough got lucky with the disallowed goal.
The thing with these situations is - why can’t the FA or the Premier League simply come in and say - hey, we saw that mistake, we know it was wrong, so let’s fix the situation, give Fulham the goal and readjust the points.
There will rarely be a better case for video evidence in football than this - with Fulham and Boro expected to be in the bottom 10 (sorry folks) come the end of the season, how costly will those 2 points be?
And Warner…well, all I can say is, hopefully he doesn’t make that mistake again - Fulham have enough to worry about without such keeping.
Middlesbrough will be happy to get the points and credit to them for fighting hard.
Two of the hardest working sides in the Premiership and a match worth watching. The match was decided by a defensive mistake (although Everton could have been penalised with a penalty as well) and to be honest Everton not only edged the game in domination but if things had gone a bit differently they could have come away with a draw at least (that James McFadden looping shot that hit the crossbar - damn!).
There were sounds before the season started that Reading would suffer from the ’second-season syndrome’ and I myself said that they needed to reinforce the squad. They’ve started well and I don’t think they’ll do badly, but they still feel a couple of players short of a side that can be confident of a top 10 spot.
Everton - at the end of the day, they had the discipline but not the drive or quality to break Reading down (not many teams do, especially away from home). Could Yakubu help? Look at this way - if he gets Everton 8 points this season by turning 4 draws into wins, that’s worth how much? In the long run, it could mean European football and that’s surely worth 11m, right?
Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Derby County
Fun to watch the goals, but it was disappointing to see the amount of space Derby defenders gave the Spurs midfield. After the first two home games (where they drew with Pompey and troubled City), this was very disappointing.
Spurs? Well the fight isn’t over yet, it’s just started. They have United next, and if all goes according to plan (Fergie’s plans, that is), Spurs will have 3 points from the first 4 games. All is not well, yet. Playing Derby at home has got to be the easiest game of the season, so winning that isn’t going to be big deal.
Spurs have United, Arsenal and Liverpool up in the next 6 games - that should be fun, eh?
Oh and Darren Bent goes to the ground way too easily. Too easily.
Wigan Athletic 3-0 Sunderland
Surprised at this, I expected Sunderland to do better. So much for playing this by heart than by mind, eh?
Two penalties given away, plus several other penalty claims in the game, not Keano’s day at all.
The mere fact that Wigan went top of the table is enough to give a few shivers…
Newcastle United 0-0 Aston Villa
Disappointing game - although given Aston Villa’s tactical discipline and the freshness of Newcastle, this was perhaps to be expected.
Newcastle fans have been quick to criticise their team’s display but like the reaction to the Spurs game, I think it’s a bit over the top. Newcastle will take some time to gel together as a team, especially with the new faces in the squad. Martins will not be there every day to win the day, and I’m sure that eventually, players like Smith, Owen, Viduka and even Milner and N’Zogbia will contribute greatly to Newcastle’s season.
It’s a matter of allowing them to settle in and play together. Half the Newcastle team was comprised of fresh faces and that can cause coordination problems and even if you are defensively sound (relatively), that killer edge in front of goal often suffers.
Aston Villa - good point for them - Martin O’Neill is a good tactician, he knows how to play the big tough games and his team executed the plan to the letter. Now if only Aston Villa could win games with the same quiet confidence that they defend with.
Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United
At the moment it seems that Manchester United are ‘carrying’ a couple of their players, who might / should make space for others, even if those others are Chris Eagles and Frazier Campbell.
As far as Manchester City are concerned - they’re doing well but their league position flatters them at the moment.
Read the match report through the link above.
Read the match report through the link above.
League Table
This should entertain you 
# Team Games GoalDifference Points
1 Man City 3 4 9
2 Chelsea 3 2 7
3 Wigan 3 3 6
4 Everton 3 2 6
5 Portsmouth 3 2 5
6 Newcastle 2 2 4
7 Arsenal 2 1 4
8 Blackburn 2 1 4
9 Liverpool 2 1 4
10 Reading 3 0 4
11 Sunderland 3 -2 4
12 Tottenham 3 1 3
13 Fulham 3 -1 3
14 Middlesbrough 3 -1 3
15 West Ham 2 -1 3
16 Man Utd 3 -1 2
17 Aston Villa 2 -1 1
18 Birmingham 3 -2 1
19 Derby 3 -5 1
20 Bolton 3 -5 0
Fun days ahead, indeed. And as I’ve said before, just a week’s gone by
Comments are very welcome.
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Discussion - 21 Responses
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[…] This match report was originally put up at Soccerlens.com, and is part of this weekend review. […]
a great day 4 united haters. lookin @ how close otha seasons hav bin. united look 2 hav thrown away da title
Ahmed the work of a good football writer is not to be biast, say aomething bad about your beloved GoalShyGunners ???
When is the EPL going to institute a limited review process? Come on, every season there are blown calls that result in good goals being disallowed. It has nothing to do with rubbing the refs face in it, no one can get everything right all the time. The Fullham goal is just the latest example. I can think of two off the top of my head from last season that were similar. In the case of a important calls, the teams should have the right to have at least a certain number of them reviewed. In the case of goal line situations, there’s not an official on the pitch who has an excellent view. The lines when are miles away and their view is obscured by the goal. The referee usually can’t tell if the ball has completely crossed the line. Add the bloody reviews.
some nice match reports, allbeit some points too negative… Yes Spurs weren’t really up against it for Derby, but you fail to mention the boost it will give us. Man Utd is looking more like a mid table fixture right now, id happily take our match against them now rather than when they start gaining speed.
chumbs united started the 98/99 season with 2 draws and we went on to win the treble, as a united fan i have a bad feeling about this season but for you i suggest you wait a couple of weeks and check the premier league’s history before you gloat about being a united hater.
can’t understand why the website is not called. One-eyed biased, arrogant Emirates fan fantasy. It might then not be misrpresented as journalism on newsnow pages and save genuine fans the trouble of clogging up valuable website space. Isn’t there a childrens section for this sites listing??
“can’t understand why the website is not called. One-eyed biased, arrogant Emirates fan fantasy. It might then not be misrpresented as journalism on newsnow pages and save genuine fans the trouble of clogging up valuable website space. Isn’t there a childrens section for this sites listing??”
It’s not called that because, primarily, Ahmed is a Man Utd fan. I regularly read this website, and Ahmed is certainly one of the least biased bloggers I know of. So don’t start with this crap about bias, especially if you’re linking in from somewhere else and read one post.
Rather than spouting some derisive shite, why don’t you try to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way? If you object to something, why not say what you’re objection is and your reasoning behind it? Or is that so much harder than idiotic, knee-jerk reactions?
That being said, I had the rare opportunity this weekend to watch 4 matches. The Reading-Everton game was by far the best; the two sides were evenly matches and easily could have gone either way. Reading continues to impress me, and I think they’ll do well this year again. 4 points from Chelsea, Man Utd and an inform Everton is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. Their schedule can only get easier from here.
But oh my fucking god, Oh my god….This day has finnally come, City have won the Manchester Derby! How awesome! Waaaay to gooo Bluuuueeess!
Im gunna give some utd fans at school some serious stick for that!, Now Chelsea, Arseanl and Liverpool to win the leaugue, Fuck off you Mancurian cunts
And i got my tipping right for the City game an the scoreline was correct too!, that is just 1 wrong for this round!
Bolton are my tip to go down now…
But, cosidiring it wqas a 1-1 draw, and not being biased the Blackburn Arsenal game was the most entertaining besides the city derby!
Its too early to say anything. Agreed there’s something wrong at Old Trafford, but like i said its too early. Either manu ot spurs will get it next weekend and thats a pleasant thought. But i dont think you should write man u off. 38 games is a really long season. But of all the teams so far, man city have been the most impressive. Nothing ‘in you face’ but certainly the most disciplined………..
when manutd lifts the trophy i’d like to read what u haters out there have to say
Take that, and that, and that. In your face United. After all that waffle last week your team is even lower than Spurs. Fergie out! Lol
Manchester United will rise again!!!
When - not if - we do, watch out cause there’ll be big shit for our opposition.
To all ManU haters - Enjoy it while you can!
giggs is shit,make way for nani, ronaldo we need back, tevez hurry up and start scoring goals, rooney get better soon, vidic you either do your job fuck of back to russia or where ever the hell your from and make way for pique, neville, we need you, and heinze, rot in hell you scouser scum.
Ferdinand is a worse defender than Vidic and also Vidic is from Serbia. We need a new attacking right back not a forward.
I really hope you guys beat chelsea in a couple of weaks I might have been raised by my friends and family to hate man united but i must say chelsea have maybe come closer in my bad books.
Liverpool must not get arrogant and big like Chelsea we must relize sometimes bad things happen to our team we shouldn’t have won a Villa and shud have at Chelsea a case of what goes around comes around the Title race s still open to anyone (Apart from Derby
) just hope it ends the dominance of Chelsea and Man united (Mostly Man United they are really catching up on us)
Still hoping for Chelsea to fall back I know they are hard to catch i have watched Man u do it and we were involved in 2006 Man united vs Chelsea when it comes please beat them
oh and Dan you do relise Rooney is scouse
and by the way giggs hasent made the best start but i still think he is better than Nani (although ive only watched him about 4 times) maybe he isnt Fit yet idk.
Tevez is great but he relys very much on confidence and losing agaisnt a Rival isnt a big Boost. im not really sure what United need i just cant understand their play its weird but maybe they are getting too predictable and need to mix things up owell
wash your mout with soap you scouser scum, if he liked livershite he would of stayed in livershite. sumbag liverpool fan, torres sucks toes.
Yes even if Torres does suck toes Rooney is still a scouser he say it loud and say it proud I AM A SCOUSER!!!
At least Torres sucking toes doesnt change his football