02 October, 2015

Gameweek 7: Money can't buy you goals...........or luck..........or even the ability to beat Spurs

Well..........that was some weekend (and Monday) of games. After the dreary hell of the previous week in which the worst of the game was showcased, this weekend saw the light and (for the most part) the best of football was on display. At the very least, most fans could point to this weekend and say: “Why do I watch football? That's why”. High-tempo goal-fests nestle alongside raucous upsets and ,hell, even United seem to have gotten their shit together. It was a good weekend. Unless you're a Chelsea fan. In which case, hahahahahahahaha............

Spurs Vs Man City: Lamela derails the money teams gravy train..........
For all the guff being blown about who has the “strongest eleven” it's very often missed that leagues are won by the team, usually, with the strongest depth. City are a living example of this. While they have by some margin the best starting XI in the league on paper, they've yet to be able to field it this season and the injuries they've sustained and the hectic schedule of the premier league will ensure they won't be able to for at least the couple of months. City's soft underbelly lie in the comparative weakness of their understudies, despite the team still being worth somewhere in the region of 300 million. While the focus in the aftermath, understandably, was on the lack of the first-choice centre-backs (Kompany in particular) it's clear form this and previous games that City miss Silva more. Shorn of their wizard and there is a noticeable lack of cohesion to how City play. They create less, concede more and have less possession. For now, De Bruyne is decent replacement but he has no-where near the impact on the game for City even with his goals. How they'll cope without Toure now will be interesting to see. City's fast start to the season seems to be unraveling even faster.

Poor decisions helped Spurs out too. Not that this should detract from how well Spurs played. Even after conceding the first goal they never stopped attempting to play their way and it paid off. The opening goal came from a mistake from Walker which allowed Toure to rumble 60 yards through midfield and he fed De Bruyne who thumped past Lloris. There was a hint of offside about the goal but it was nothing compared to how far off Walker was in the build-up to the equaliser. Son had a good shot parried back by Cabellero and it fell to De Bruyne. His pass to Fernandinho was beyond awful and cut out by Dier whose shot skidded in off the post. De Bruyne's sloppiness was to become a theme for all of City's players today and was personified by Cabellero for the second goal. Running out to challenge for a ball he had absolutely no chance of ever getting he left the net wide open for Alderweireld to head home and give Spurs the lead. Had he stayed where he was the ball would have been delivered straight to him. If there was any doubt as to why he will never displace Hart in goal it's surely gone now. The third goal was from a superb Erikson free-kick which smacked off the upright and fell to an offside Kane who thumped home and wheeled away to celebrate. Lamela iced the cake in the 80th when, sent clear through, he rounded Cabellero far too easily, left the stumbling goalkeeper on his arse along with Demichelis and stroked home the fourth goal. To his credit, after the match, Pellegrini did not blame the poor officials for his sides loss but rather their abysmal performance. With a midweek champions league game and a possibly resurgent Newcastle next weekend it will a race against time to get his team back together. Spurs have Monaco in the Europa league on Thursday followed by Swansea and this result will have them flying high for the foreseeable future.

Leicester Vs Arsenal: The red beast of London is back.......
A game between two, free-flowing attacking sides was always going to be good. But this match took the biscuit with end-to-end thrills, goals and none of the disdainful theatrics of previous weekends, this match galvanised the notion of football as “the beautiful game” and gave the Gunners' spirits a further boost after dispatching their Derby rivals in midweek. Arsenal are a confidence team and that result along with this one will ensure that they will be a force to be reckoned with over the next few games. Such was the display of skill at times that even the Leicester fans were applauding. Leicester came to impose their, now signature, brand of all-out assault football on Arsenal only to find a team that can not only play that way too but add a bit more on top. That Alexis was back to his best will give Arsenal and it's fans no end of joy and he was a joy to watch today. Hunting for his first goal he wound up netting his first hat-trick at a stadium where visiting players are used to walking away with nothing but frustration. His protracted adjustment back to the Premier league following his Copa America win was disconcerting but all worries were erased today with a stunning performance. Raneiri summed it up best himself: “The ball and him are born together”.

Not that Arsenal nor Alexis had it all their own way. In fact, they went 1-0 down in 13 minutes and were lucky not be more down had it not been for the post and Petr Cech. Kante picked Ramsey's pocket and let Drinkwater loose to swing in a cross that Vardy smartly headed down and finished past Cech to send the King Power into eruption. He hit the post a few minutes later. This spurred Arsenal into life and Ozil fed Cazorla who threaded a neat through-ball for Walcott (who was excellent throughout the game) who finished low with his left foot into the far corner, a proper strikers finish. The second Arsenal goal came from a similar lightning fast breakaway. Vardy was dispossessed by Koscielny, Ozil claimed the ball and played a reverse-pass to set Bellerin up to cross. Walcott scuffed his attempt but the ball fell for Alexis to drive home. Blood in the water, Arsenal never stopped going for more goals and Alexis claimed his second when Ozil dinked a peach of a ball over the entire defence perfectly for Alexis to beat Schmeichel with a header. While his first two goals were set up brilliantly by his team-mates his third was all Alexis. Picking up from near the halfway point a deft touch found him space 25 yards out and he rifled a ball low in the corner to cap his hat-trick. Leicester went full “Kitchen sink” mode and Arsenal did well to repel the onslaught but Vardy's second was signposted and well deserved. A brief box scramble saw the ball fall to him and, with literally no-one moving, he finished sweetly into the far corner of the net. Giroud would gloss the finish a minute later sweeping home Monreal's cut-back for a much-needed goal for the maligned striker. Leicester can be proud of their game and how they played and should be able to continue their fine form when they host Norwich next week. Arsenal have Olympiacos midweek and desperately need a win to keep their Champions league hopes alive followed by Man United on Saturday which will really test this Arsenal team.

Liverpool Vs Aston Villa: Sturridge saves Rodgers' Bacon..........
Under a kind of pressure not usually seen outside of a political sex scandal Rodgers welcomed a Villa side under a similar, but not nearly as intense a, pressure. Sherwood's youngsters haven't won since the start of the season and the deficits in their squad are starting to be shown up with alarming regularity. Their careless play is really starting to cost them huge amounts of points and it was only further carelessness on Liverpool's part that allowed them a measure of hope that their performance did not even remotely merit. Villa fans should really start be concerned and you could tell by Villa's line-up it was going to be a long day. Despite great success against Liverpool in recent seasons away from Villa Park, Sherwood clearly didn't fancy his chances with a conservative line-up that essentially isolated Gestede up front and they didn't come out of their shell until they were 2-0 down, relieved of the expectation of getting anything from this match. Which was when Liverpool nearly conspired to shoot themselves in the foot by allowing Villa to saunter back into the game.

Liverpool certainly didn't waste any time at the start, however, as they were 1-0 up after 66 seconds. The Villa central midfield pairing of Sanchez and Gana were clearly given orders to charge down Coutinho at every opportunity and this left a chasm of space for Milner. Coutinho put him through and, with literally no-one near him, Milner controlled the ball and fired home inside the left post. Villa had two chances to equalise later on when Liverpool twice failed to deal with crosses from Hutton, the first was “cleared” by Can to Gestede on the edge of the box only for him to fire wide, the second was meekly palmed away by Mignolet (to groans from the home support) into the path of Westwood who also fired wide. Milner then created the second when he finished a one-two with Sturridge by lobbing the ball over the defence to the striker who twacked home his volley for his first goal since March. More worryingly, it's the first time Liverpool have scored more than once in a game since May. Villa pulled one back from (yet again) a Hutton cross that Liverpool's defence and goalkeeper decided to ignore and Gestede headed in at the back post. Despite being partially at fault himself for the goal Sahko was seen screaming at Mignolet. Sturridge restored the two-goal cushion only seconds later when his snazzy one-two with Coutinho finally produced the result they'd been threatening all game with a solid finish into the left corner. That should have been that but for Sahko again failing to mark Gestede properly from a cross, this time from Amavi, setting the game up for a nail-biting finish. Liverpool have a brief respite now ahead of their weekend game against the Toffees that's sure to be a good one whereas Villa lurch towards a potential tipping point match against Stoke. Lose and Sherwood's grip on the team will fade rapidly, Win, and they gain the respite they granted Liverpool today.

Man United Vs Sunderland: Come on, not even Van Gaal could cock this one up......
On paper this looked like three easy points for United. Facing a plodding Sunderland that were also shorn of their main striker, Defoe, leaving the striking responsibility on the shoulders of Borini. And while the scoreline and stats will paint a picture of near total United dominance the actual match didn't really play out like that. At least the first half didn't. With Sunderland already playing like a team setting up for championship football next season United should have put them to the sword but the first attempt of note came from Sunderland when Lens was let through, thanks to some woeful defending, and fired straight at De Gea. The only other attempt of note resulted in the first goal. Blind slung a lovely 35 yard cross to Mata on the right, he served the ball across the box and Memphis tapped home for his first league goal in the 49th minute. United notched up a second one within a minute of the second half starting when Martial raced down the right, cut into the box and fired the ball into the net off Rooney's knee. Rooney was one minute off going 1000 minutes without a goal.

Sunderland had two attempt afterwards with a floated free-kick to the near post and Cattermole releasing Van Aarnholt with a magnificent through-ball, both stopped by De Gea. Memphis was put through one-on-one but fired straight at Pantillimon. It was set to end 2-0 until the 90th minute when Rooney created space for Young on the left who slung in a low cross for Mata to thump into the roof of the net. No defender moved to prevent him from scoring. Sunderland are looking like a team devoid of any spirit due to their position and lacking any ability to get out of it. They are surely dead-set to go down. United will now go top of the table for at least a week and face a resurgent Arsenal on Sunday who will have a day more rest ahead of their Champions league exertions after United face Wolfsburg on Wednesday. Sunderland will host West Ham next weekend with even less hope of salvaging anything from this match or this season.

Southampton Vs Swansea: Saints smash the swans to stay in the top ten.........
Games between these two tend to be tight affairs even though the Saints' record against the Swans is three wins, two draws and one loss since their top-flight return. Swansea have seemingly lost their good form at the start of the season and arrive without a goal in three games. Soton, in contrast, had an awful start to the season and have steadily picked themselves up over the last few weeks. Their first goal came in the 11th minute when Cork failed to track Van Dijk on a corner and he headed home at the near post. Goals from set-pieces are a rarity at Soton and not being able to threaten at set-pieces is a glaring weakness for a team (just ask Arsenal, whose corners are no more than gilded chances for the opposition to counter-attack) so their ability to do so this season is a nice addition. The first half saw Swansea restricted to shots from range and Stekelenburgs' shaky hands were starting to worry the fans.

The second half saw Swansea throw on Montero to shift into “speedster” mode. He has made a name for himself exploiting defensively suspect full-backs and both of Southampton's have clouds over them; Bertand just returning from injury and Cedric never being that good anyway. Fans need not have worried, however, because Swansea did not show up for the second half at all. The Southampton attack turned up the style and while the second goal had a bit of fortune about it no-one could say it hadn't been coming. Following a fine move from Pelle with a looped pass Tadic's cross was diverted into the net by Ki. Mane nailed the coffin shut less than ten minutes later when Bertrand started off a great counter-attacking move than ended with Pelles' shot being blocked, but only as far as Mane who swept home. Swansea restored some semblance of pride when Fonte stupidly cleaved down Taylor in the box on the 83rd minute and Sigurdsson slotted home from the spot. The Swans face an uphill battle to right their ship with a weekend travel to a (they hope) mid-week match drained Spurs whereas Southampton have the (still) daunting task of taking on Chelsea.

Stoke Vs Bournemouth: Injury blight strikes as the walking dead finally win......
Bournemouth could be forgiven for feeling optimistic heading into this fixture. They had over twice as many points as Stoke who were enduring their worst start to a season ever. Plus they'd an in-form striker in Wilson who'd racked up five goals in six games. By the end, neither of those would be true. Eight minutes in, Wilson appeared to badly twist his knee, he received some treatment, hobbled back on and then promptly collapsed to the ground in agony. Scans later revealed that he's done his ACL in and will be out for six months. Bournemouth will now have to rely on an unproven prospect in King and Glenn Murray as strikers.

Stoke pulled ahead on the 34th minute with close range strike from Walters which will do his request for a new contract no end of good. Arnautovic (MOTM by a country mile) pegged down the left flank, skinned Francis and pulled the ball back for Walters. Bournemouth, over the shock of the Wilson injury, now steamed forward but the half ended 1-0. They resumed their pressing attack in the second and equalised 14 minutes from the end when Pughs' shot bounced back to Gosling who fired low. Bournemouth kept up the pressure and Stoke capitalised with a solid counter. Johnson slung in a cross and Diouf met it with a diving header that sealed all three points for Stoke. Bournemouth can count themselves unlucky to lose, regardless of the injuries (which are now starting to become an issue). Stoke really flattered to deceive here and I agree with Hughes' assertion that they've “played much better and lost”. Bournemouth, now without their main striker, must bring their same pressing style to Watford if they hope to gain more ground and Stoke will revel in this victory for a bit and will seek to chalk up another when they play a beleaguered Villa next weekend.

West Ham Vs Norwich: Injury-time switch off rescues a point for the Hammers......
Given their form the first question people ask themselves when playing or watching West Ham should be: “Which West Ham will show up?”. Away from the Boleyn they look indestructible, at home their record is 1 win, 1 draw and two losses. Not so indestructible. In fact, such is the abject nature of their home form that this draw, snatched deep into injury time with practically the last kick of the game, feels like a win. The Norwich supporters will be happy with that result even though, if their team had held it together for another minute or so, they could have left with all three points. They'll also be happy with the solid nature of their performance although it says something that in a game with four goals the MOTM is a goalkeeper (Ruddy). Norwich are starting to become indebted to their keeper, he kept them in it against Liverpool and he was certainly the main reason they were in with a shot of a win today.

So what can be the excuse for the poor home form? Complacency certainly has a look in, the first goal could be laid down to that. Noble received the ball from a throw-in and did the thing that absolutely no defender should ever do, pass square across his own box (I think Alex Ferguson used to actually fine defenders who did that). His pass was undercooked and Brady stole it, jinked into the box and scored. West Ham still didn't wake up and only awful finishing prevented them from going two down, Howson smashing a volley just over the bar after he was left un-marked in the box and Jerome thumped a lovely chance into the side netting. West Ham finally woke up on the half hour when Sahko found Payet free on the flank and his run was perfectly timed to meet the return cross to slot home. The second half saw fingertip saves form Adrian and Jerome, clearly incensed at the Hammers keepers skill, blasting a ball point-blank into the keepers face. Then, in the 83rd minute, Redmond took the ball into the box, the defence went to sleep and his shot bobbled slightly on the way into far corner. West Ham threw everything forward, including Andy Carroll for Christ’s sake, until Payet floated in a free-kick in the 92nd minute and from the resultant scramble, Kouyate fluffed the ball home to salvage the point. The Hammers now travel to Sunderland and, surely, all three points. Norwich can take heart from this display and will pit their own pressing aggressive play against Leicester next weekend.

Newcastle Vs Chelsea: Magpies blow two goal lead as the Chelsea boat lists.......
The build up to this match could be summed up with: “How much are Newcastle going to lose by?”.McClaren entered the this game with his head firmly in the crosshairs. Their meek loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup had ratcheted up the temperature on his seat to boiling point and it seems as if he could finally be the manager to drive away, arguably, the most loyal die-hard fans in the league. Mourinho arrives looking to stop the lack of urgency in his players that has crippled them in recent weeks both in the Premier league and in Europe. There is no passion in the starting lineup to take the game to their opponents. It took going two goals down to one of the most pointless teams in the league to finally rouse them from their torpor (and it took 75 fucking minutes for that to happen) and get them going. The fact that his substitutions made a huge impact should give Mourinho some food for thought on who should be starting games.

That said, the intensity of the Newcastle pressing game surprised everyone, probably even Newcastle themselves. The Chelsea central pairing of Zouma and Cahill were completely unable to deal with Mitrovic (probably out of fear he'd eviscerate one of them) and Mbabu had Pedro in his pocket the entire game. The lack of any wide play by Chelsea played straight into Newcastles' hands too. Mbemba and Janmaat both had great games repelling what little they had to deal with until Chelsea woke up. The first goal was a direct product of that sleepyness when Ivanovic and Zouma did a “You deal with this”, “No, you deal with this” when Anita slung in a long ball and it dropped straight into Ayozes' lap and he had all the time he needed to line up a shot and score while the two defenders discussed the philosophic consequences had one of them bothered to tackle him. If the crowd were delighted at half time with the scoreline they were properly euphoric on the 60th minute when Ayoze served in a weak corner a Wijnaldum scored with an even weaker header. On went all three subs for Chelsea and then the game started to turn. Hazard finally had someone to pass to that wasn't being overtaken by stationary objects and his cut-back pass on the 79th was thumped home by Ramires. Chelsea then steamed forward and Willian equalised from a free-kick on the 83rd when it bobbled through the defence with no-one touching it. Ending 2-2 was a sigh of relief for both teams, Newcastle's was because they were beginning to buckle heavily and Chelsea's because a loss here would have been humiliating. Now it's only embarrassing. They host Southampton next and Koeman will be praying for another Chelsea performance like this, they'd be out of sight in half an hour if so. Newcastle take on City next and, with City's defensive frailties now, if they apply their game like they did today and not crumble towards the end they may salvage another point which would be some tonic for them. Or they'll get smashed........yeah probably smashed....

Watford Vs Crystal Palace: Eagles claim yet another road victory as the Hornet lack sting...
It's funny how time sometimes repeats itself. These two teams last met in the 2013 Championship play-off final and Palace scored only from a penalty despite playing the much better football with the lions share of the chances. Zaha was the player fouled that day. Both those happened again today. Hell, Cabaye even put the penalty in the same direction. Palace have now won three from four away games this season and, sitting in sixth, are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. They expertly exploited Watfords near total lack of any threat on the flanks outside of Anya running from left back. Telling stat for Watford is that none of their wide midfielders have registered an assist this season.
Even though Ranieri will forever be known as the “Tinkerman” despite the fact he's been fielding pretty much the same team every game this season, maybe that moniker should pass to Pardew. He rotated his players on the pitch so often it was actually confusing. Sako started on the right flank, shifted to the left, then inside to the centre before finishing back out left. Puncheon started on the right and finished in the centre. Bolasie was started on the left and finished on the right. But for all these the best chance fell to the one forward who didn't shift, Gayle, he somehow got to Sakos' arrowed low cross and fired into into the right corner of the post only to see it whack back and land in Gomes' hands. Hangeland had a point-blank bullet header incredibly saved by Gomes. Nyom then cleared out Zaha to give away the penalty in the 71st minute. Cabaye stayed calm and buried the ball in the top left corner for the win. Palace host West Brom next weekend and will need all the pace they can muster to gain a win. Watford need to start scoring and soon and a trip to high-pressing Bournemouth may not be the best platform to start off from.

West Brom Vs Everton: Toffees unstick themselves in the second half to win through....
Truly there was not a match that better defined the “game of two halves” saying. An insipid first half, in which Berahinos' opener was the only action of merit, led to a four-goal second half and the first home win for Everton. But they sure went the hard way to getting it. Ending a thoroughly dreadful first half a goal down they furthered their misery by conceding another wihin ten minutes of the re-start. Berahinos' first goal was from a brainless piece of play form Mori, on his debut on less, running out from deep he was tackled by Dawson. The resulting ball was fluffed by Barry straight to Morrison who threaded a perfect ball through to Berahino, who simply ghosted into the box, and he fired home first-time. More brainless action resulted in the second goal although, this time, it was the entire defence that went “slack-jawed yokel”. Allowing one player a free header in the box is bad, two is deplorable. Both Fletcher and Evans were allowed free to head at Berahinos' corner which was needlessly diverted wide, Brunt took this one and Dawson shrugged off Jagielka to head past Howard for 2-0.

This was when Everton woke up. The exact moment they woke up too, because it took a mere 27 seconds for Everton to pull one back. West Brom fans were actually still celebrating when the goal went in. Deulofeu picking the ball up from the kick-off and serving in a perfect cross for Lukaku to head home. It should have two a few minutes later when he set up McCarthy running into the box. McCarthy, however, decided that running and shooting were far too much effort and dove theatrically to the ground over Gardner who was no-where near him with the tackle. He was duly booked for his swan dive to the turf and if there is any justice in the world Martinez will be having a a stern, very threatening, word with him. Lukaku had shifted into high gear by this point and his second set-up, this time for Kone, met an Everton player who wanted to stay on his feet and he pelted the ball past Howard from around six yards out. Then Lukaku crowned an epic comeback with a headed goal when Deulofeu , again, picking him out with a cross with six minutes remaining. It would end 3-2 with a brief flurry of activity. Everton now host Liverpool who are surely going to have to produce something special to get anything from this game, assuming Everton don't roll out the red carpet like they did today. West Brom will lick their wounds, lament at points lost and try to pick up again at Crystal Palace.
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