Weekend full of surprises

The weekend started with Ferguson getting Manager of the Month award and Torres running away with the Player of the Month award but these were not the surprises this week.

Bolton 2-2 Tottenham

Tottenham have been flying really high this season with exceptions of their games against Manchester United and  Chelsea. They have been ruthless to all other opposition they have faced but against Bolton it was another story. Bolton took the lead twice and all Spurs could manage was a draw.

Burnley 2-1 Birmingham

Turf Moor has already got the reputation of a fortress this season but Birmingham have not been beaten on this ground since 1976. The record was broken finally with Fletcher and Bikey giving Burnley the win.

Hull City 2-1 Wigan

This was a contrasting change of fortunes for both teams. Wigan won last weekend against Chelsea while Hull were demolished by Liverpool. Yet, Hull managed to win this one.

Wolves 0-1 Portsmouth

Played 7 lost 7. Scored 3 conceded 13. This was Portsmouth story before this game. But finally they are off the mark with a win. Hassan Yebda, a loan signing from Benfica breaking the deadlock.

Manchester United 2-2 Sunderland

Who would have thought that a team with 9 consecutive wins in all competitions under their belt would come so close to losing all 3 points against Sunderland. The first half was all Sunderland. Nani, Wellbeck were not even visible. Scholes’ passing was wayward. Rooney and Berbatov were not getting any time on the ball. And Bent’s quickness caused them to concede pretty soon into the game. There was no shot on target by United in the first half. Second half saw them equalize through Berbatov’s brilliance but then Jones restored the lead with little help from Foster (who again disappointed in goal). It was Manchester United’s resilience that paid off finally when Evra’s shot which was going off target was deflected by Anton Ferdinand into his own net robbing Sunderland of the 3 points.

Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn

Blackburn took the lead twice before Arsenal placing the ball into Blackburn goal as and when they wanted to. It was a scintillating display from the Arsenal team who after going down made the scoreline look as if the 2 goals from Blackburn were just consolation. Vermaelen seems to have invented another position in football – Central Attacking Defender.

Everton 1-1 Stoke City

Everton went behind in this one before Osman equalized. Everton are unbeaten in 6 games now.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

The first half was good play by Liverpool but all their balls in the box were being cleared well by the Chelsea defence except once when Torres came really close to scoring. Chelsea on the other hand were causing trouble for Liverpool defence from set pieces getting free headers twice or thrice. But 2nd half saw Chelsea take the lead and ensure the win which takes them to the top of the table.

Sevilla 2-1 Real Madrid

Many thought that Madrid’s run till now didn’t have any real tests and this was the first time they are facing real quality opposition. If this was the case the result has failure written all over it for Real Madrid. With Barcelona winning again this weekend, this means Madrid are now 3 points adrift the pace.

Athletico Madrid 2-1 Real Zaragoza

Finally, Athletico Madrid manage to win. But they were lucky as Zaragoza got two penalties and missed one. Its surprising though that a team with talented strikers namely Aguerro and Forlan are barely able to register a win the Liga.

And now we are headed into the internationals break. Hope the internationals continue the same excitement as the leagues have.

Time for Manchester derby..doesn’t get better than this…

12 November 1881 – West Gordon (St. Marks) hosted Newton Heath. Result was Newton Heath winning by 3 goals to nothing. It was described as “a pleasant game”. West Gordon (St. Marks) went on to become Manchester City and Newton Heath went on to become Manchester United and the games between these two were no longer pleasant.

so much for pleasantness

In the 152nd derby meeting between these two, Manchester United (un)welcome Manchester City with there multi million $ signings to Old Trafford. Previous 151 meetings have resulted in 49 draws with United wining 61 times and City winning 41 times.

This is a hugely anticipated clash since Manchester City have given themselves the big club tag with their star signings namely – Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Barry, Toure, Lescott (not sure how exactly these guys are stars, they are good players though). Manchester City are expecting themselves to be knocking on the top 4 door and with their display last weekend against Arsenal, everyone is thinking that they might just. But Arsenal are one thing and Manchester United are another. Arsenal are an amazing team but are many times undone by their own flamboyancy while Manchester United get the job done when needed to even if means without their usual style of play.

Manchester City are without their star players – Tevez, Robinho, Santa Cruz, Ireland (all injured) and Adebayor (out due to suspension for the tackle on Van Persie). Without these players, City look the same as last year with the exception of their defence – which conceded two over the weekend. Its difficult to see where the goals would be coming for City considering their major strike force and creative midfield missing. Their only hope is to prevent United from scoring and getting a 0-0 draw or probably try and nick 1 on the counterattack using the pace of Bellamy and Wright Phillips.

It would have a good booing exercise for United fans if Tevez would have played who snubbed United to join City.

I won't be sitting in this chair this weekend

Manchester United dispatched another top 4 contender in Spurs over the weekend and got an away win in Turkey in the Champions League. This is a chance for them to show Manchester City that they do not belong in top 4. Paul Scholes is ineligible for this game due to his red card in the game against Spurs. Ryan Giggs has played the most derby games and would be relishing another chance to run at City defence. Ferdinand should be back to full fitness after missing the game against Besiktas. Fletcher was rested during midweek fixture and should be starting this one. His steel in the midfield would be an important asset for United.

Line up that I would like to see on the pitch would be:

Foster

O’Shea – Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra

Valencia – Fletcher – Anderson – Giggs

Rooney – Berbatov

Man Utd have an incentive of going top with a win (since Chelsea are playing after United game) and also opening up the gap against City while City can leapfrog United into 2nd place with a win.

I expected a fast paced game with United being too good for City. 3-0 to United for me.

Watch it live this  Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

Other games this weekend:

• Burnley v Sunderland – Sunderland win. Live Saturday 17:10 IST on ESPN
• Arsenal v Wigan – Win for Arsenal. Live Saturday 19:25 IST on ESPN
• Aston Villa v Portsmouth - Easy win for Villa. Watch it Live Saturday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Bolton v Stoke City - Bolton win. Watch delayed telecast Saturday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Hull City v Birmingham - Scored draw.
• West Ham United v Liverpool - Liverpool win but West Ham would make it difficult for them. Watch it Live Saturday 21:55 IST on ESPN
• Wolves v Fulham - Should be an easy win for Fulham. Watch delayed telecast Sunday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Everton v Blackburn - Buoyed by their win in Europa League, Everton should win this one. Watch it Live Sunday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Chelsea v Tottenham - Another big four test for Spurs. They dispatched Liverpool at start of the season but were beaten by Manchester United. Spurs would be looking to get better of Chelsea to make a statement that they can still be considered a threat for the top 4. Chelsea have quietly kept winning points and this would be their first big test. Spurs are capable of beating anyone on their day but its always the question of which Spurs comes out to play. Scored draw for me. Watch it Live Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

EPL season… review till now…

There have been some surprises and some usuals in the EPL season till now. Here is a run down of every team.

• Chelsea: Sitting on top of the table. Perfect record till now. Surprised? I am not. They did not sell anyone in the transfer window and added a couple of players which actually makes them stronger considering most of their rivals sold out their star players. They do have the criticism of having players on the wrong side of 30 but their starting XI generally has a mix of players on both sides of 30.
• Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Redknapp had a good run with them since taking over. Season has started with a perfect record in 4 games. They always had the money and were very active in the transfer window. In my opinion Harry is a great manager. He did wonders at Portsmouth. Then why were they not expected to do well? They generally are very unlucky with injuries and they will hit them sooner or later. (They have started with Modric going out).
• Manchester United: The traditional slow starters of the EPL. And they do tend to give a surprising result every season (Liverpool 4-1, Burnley 1-0). They are like a marathon runner. Slow to start with and then pick up pace and surprise everyone with there run while everyone else starts getting tired. Their squad depth always gives them an advantage and it is already being tested this season.
• Manchester City: 3 wins in 3 games. The big spender tag. Supposedly big star names though in my opinion Tevez, Santa Cruz are not exactly big stars. Very active in transfer market. Nobody expected their ‘star players’ to gel in so quickly. But they did start well. And Mark Hughes is a good manager. He showed that with Wales. He can make a team perform well even without the stars. So considering that he got some ‘stars’ why was it a surprise that they are performing well? Also, they barely have been tested till now.
• Stoke City: There 7 points from 4 matches have been against Sunderland, Burnley and Birmingham. Liverpool beat the hell out of them. To survive in the premiership they have to get points off these teams and that is exactly what they did.
• Arsenal: 6 points from 3 matches. Only loss being against Manchester United. They always play with amazing style no matter who is on pitch. Lost Toure and Adebayor during the summer. But they have always relied on youth to perform. Then why is everyone shocked to see their young team perform admirably. Though in my opinion they would start tiring off and then the results will start going against them.
• Liverpool: 2 losses from 4 matches. They lost just 2 games entire last season. Lost Alonso to Real Madrid. Barely any new signings and the ones that they did sign are injured. They rely too much on Gerrard and Torres and like last season are predictable. When you lose your spine, you are bound to be in pain and they definitely are in pain.
• Aston Villa: 3 games 6 points.  Loss against Wigan but win against Liverpool. They had Europa League distraction and don’t have a huge squad. To add to it, they barely have a defence. Laursen retired, Knight sold off. Not properly replaced. Lack of squad depth would always haunt you. Though better support from fans can do them some good.
• Sunderland: Currently lying at 9th place but would usually be expected to be in bottom half of the table. They are close to that, aren’t they. Lost to Chelsea which was expected but their loss to Stoke was probably a surprise. But the games which the teams at the wrong end of the table have to win can always spring a surprise.
• Burnley: They were tagged giant killers last season for their performances against big teams and they have a good manager in Owen Coyle. Wins against Manchester United and Everton have given them 6 points and 10th place. They are pretty much unchanged from last season and considering they are newly promoted team, can always cause a surprise or two and didn’t they surprise with their results.
• West Ham United: 4 points from 3 games with a loss against Spurs (who are in an amazing form). Zola has gelled this team well but they were not very active in the transfer window. They are currently 11th and they are expected to be languishing mid table or close to bottom half.
• Birmingham: They won against Portsmouth (who hasn’t), lost to Spurs and drew with Stoke. The 6 pointers at the wrong end of the table can always go either way. They are expected to be in the bottom half of the table and are currently 12th.
• Wolves: They are not expected to be any giant killers or spring any surprises. But they can surely cause trouble in the 6 pointers and they have got their 4 points from those. Losses against Man City and West Ham were barely a surprise.
• Hull City: Whoever was linked with them over the summer, would run away. They were barely able to sign anyone during the transfer window. Currently 14 and are expected to be in fight for relegation.
• Fulham: Aston Villa game was a 6 pointer for them considering that Villa would be one of their rivals for Europa League spot. Roy Hutchinson did a good job last season with them and added a few decent players to the squad. Loss is 1 game they would be expected to get points in should not be a worry for their fans.
• Everton: They wouldn’t have been expected to win Arsenal game but it was the manner of defeat which surprised everyone. Loss to Burnley was again a surprise but considering giant killing form of Burnley they can do stuff. Good for them that the Lescott saga is over while their new signings might take some time to gel in but David Moyes should be able to get them back on track.
• Wigan Athletic: They started off well with a win over Villa but 3 defeats against Wolves, Man Utd and Everton pushed them back. They have a good manager in Martinez but bottom half of the table should be there place.
• Blackburn: They are not getting points off their 6 pointer opponents. Sam Allardyce is a shrewd manager and can get scrappy wins but somehow it hasn’t yet started working for them. Relegation dog fight is their game and that is what they would be preparing themselves for.
• Bolton: Yet to get off the mark. Another team losing their 6 pointers. They play the same way season and season again and rely too much on set pieces and Kevin Davies. Sunderland and Hull are opponents they should be getting points off if they want to stay up.
• Portsmouth: Involved in the takeover saga all summer. Sold almost everyone from the team and tried to sign everyone available on loan. This is where they will be entire season.

Martin O’Neill’s reaction at Anfield

Your team is up 3-1 at Anfield against Liverpool. A victory against a giant at their home ground seems like just few minutes away. Considering that your team lost 5-0 the previous season in the same fixture, considering that your team lost first game of the season at home against Wigan, you should be ecstatic with what you are seeing at Anfield. But you in this case, Martin O’Neill, barely had a reaction. Why is that?

Aston Villa were booed off at Villa Park against Wigan at half-time. Reason: they were 0-1 down. This criticism did not go down well with Martin O’Neill and was clearly visible in his post match comments about the same incident. When asked his comments were  “We have won at Anfield and the players were simply brilliant. I said at the time if you are booed off at the end of the game when you have not played well and you deserve that then fine, but I was disconcerted by it at half-time against Wigan. I didn’t hear Liverpool being booed off at half-time when they were two goals down here.”

I think he made an excellent point. It was only the first match of the season not a cup final. Moreover, it was half time. Why was it that Villa were booed off and Liverpool were not? After all Liverpool were 2-0 down to Villa and Villa are no pushovers by any standards under Martin O’Neill.

In the first match of the season, not every team hits ground running but booing after just 45 minutes of play just doesn’t make any sense. What kind of support was that? Or was there some hidden reason behind those boos?

Whatever be the case, Martin O’Neil and his team could not have given a better response. No matter how badly Liverpool play, a win at Anfield would be a great feeling for Villa fans and they should thank their manager for such a feeling. Hope he doesn’t get booed next time Villa are 1-0 down to another team.