1. Ledley King – what a waste.
Of all the injury wrecked careers few have more been prolonged and frustrating of that of Ledley King. Imperious once more on Sunday, King had Van Persie in his pocket for 90 minutes on his way to claiming his 8th straight win for Spurs. The trouble being, he only plays 1 in 3 matches. Indeed, in the last four seasons King has played 54 league games out of a possible 152 in what should have been any defenders prime years. A masterful defender on his day, you’d think if Spurs are to have any chance of making the Champions League again, they’re going to have to hope he can stay fit. When he plays, there remains few better in the division. Indeed, if there was any justice in the world… it is King, not England’s brave John Terry who would have been leading our country for the past half-decade.
2. Steve Kean might just be on his last legs.
Of all the injury wrecked careers few have more been prolonged and frustrating of that of Ledley King. Imperious once more on Sunday, King had Van Persie in his pocket for 90 minutes on his way to claiming his 8th straight win for Spurs. The trouble being, he only plays 1 in 3 matches. Indeed, in the last four seasons King has played 54 league games out of a possible 152 in what should have been any defenders prime years. A masterful defender on his day, you’d think if Spurs are to have any chance of making the Champions League again, they’re going to have to hope he can stay fit. When he plays, there remains few better in the division. Indeed, if there was any justice in the world… it is King, not England’s brave John Terry who would have been leading our country for the past half-decade.
2. Steve Kean might just be on his last legs.
A strange appointment at the best of times, there remains an endearing degree of awfulness to Steve Kean. He doesn’t whine, he doesn’t moan… he just gets on with it and isn’t very good at his job. A muddled victory over balsa wood Arsenal aside (where own goals attributed to half their total) Blackburn have been pretty dreadful so far this season, also failing to beat an Everton team who really, really wanted to lose against them. A defeat by Man City isn’t a fair benchmark for anyone, but it’s not so much the result as the inability to… well, manage his team in any sort of a reasonable manner that is clearly grating Rovers fans right now. Rovers just collapsed when the first goal went in on Saturday. As if Kean has said to them all “we’re playing for nil nil, keep defending, keep harassing and if they score… well... er… we’re fucked.” I don’t like to see any manager sacked (unless his name is Mick McCarthy) – but parting ways with Kean would be more akin to putting a confused and sickly dog to sleep.
3. Newcastle – the unexpected leaders in the lost art of defending.
This weekend saw another two total spankings to add to a list that has already reached double figures by October. Either teams are giving up much easier than before, or the standard of defending in the league is dropping (we don’t, with the best will in the world, have the world’s best attacking talent right now, although we do certainly have some of it). Alan Pardew then, despite possibly being the Anti-Christ, deserves enormous credit for guiding Newcastle to an unbeaten 4th place so far with a defensive record the pick of anyone in the league. 4 goals shipped in 7 games is a fine effort and Newcastle are playing with real belief and fluency. So much so, that they actually look a better team without Andy Carroll in it. The run will end soon, but for now Newcastle fans have good reason to be cheerful. As a further aside, is there currently a better defensive midfielder in the league than Tiote? Strong, skilful and with an engine that Van “60 minutes” de Vart would kill for. Expect Arsenal to be in for him come May. And ruin his career…
This weekend saw another two total spankings to add to a list that has already reached double figures by October. Either teams are giving up much easier than before, or the standard of defending in the league is dropping (we don’t, with the best will in the world, have the world’s best attacking talent right now, although we do certainly have some of it). Alan Pardew then, despite possibly being the Anti-Christ, deserves enormous credit for guiding Newcastle to an unbeaten 4th place so far with a defensive record the pick of anyone in the league. 4 goals shipped in 7 games is a fine effort and Newcastle are playing with real belief and fluency. So much so, that they actually look a better team without Andy Carroll in it. The run will end soon, but for now Newcastle fans have good reason to be cheerful. As a further aside, is there currently a better defensive midfielder in the league than Tiote? Strong, skilful and with an engine that Van “60 minutes” de Vart would kill for. Expect Arsenal to be in for him come May. And ruin his career…
4. Consistency remains the key.
If there’s one thing that drives me mad (well actually there’s several but let’s move on) it’s players on a “hot streak” of 3 or 4 games who are suddenly talked about as being fucking amazing. Step forward Gabby Agbonlahor who has been really, really good for a grand total of two homes games this season and is now been talked up as “ready for England again.” Is he? For me, playing well over a period of 20-30 games for your club should be what gets you noticed for your country. I accept there will be the odd very young and prodigious talent who it’s probably worth chucking in there, but when people are calling for a recall for SWP you may as well just give up. And on a similar point, can somebody please remind pundits that Phil Jones played 40 times for Blackburn; he isn’t some child who has just emerged from Alex Ferguson’s womb.
If there’s one thing that drives me mad (well actually there’s several but let’s move on) it’s players on a “hot streak” of 3 or 4 games who are suddenly talked about as being fucking amazing. Step forward Gabby Agbonlahor who has been really, really good for a grand total of two homes games this season and is now been talked up as “ready for England again.” Is he? For me, playing well over a period of 20-30 games for your club should be what gets you noticed for your country. I accept there will be the odd very young and prodigious talent who it’s probably worth chucking in there, but when people are calling for a recall for SWP you may as well just give up. And on a similar point, can somebody please remind pundits that Phil Jones played 40 times for Blackburn; he isn’t some child who has just emerged from Alex Ferguson’s womb.
5. Madness on Merseyside.
The early kick off this weekend was marred not just be a truly terrible decision by the referee (played the ball, didn’t even follow through, Suarez just ran into him, made a complete meal of it, not even a foul let alone a red sodding card...) – but more worryingly by clearly disgruntled Everton fans resorting to base levels of idiocy. Unlike other City Derby’s – Liverpool v Everton has in recent years been shot through with a degree of calmness (at least off the field) and a mutual respect between supporters. After all, unlike the likes of Glasgow and Celtic, Merseyside derbies often split whole families down the middle. A shame then that Everton fans didn’t so much cross the line as hurl shit over it again and again yesterday with their disgraceful raining down of objects onto the field. Carroll had three bottles thrown at him when he scored, Suarez several more and the last ten minutes descending into a total farce as corners were almost stopped due to safety concerns. These are not scenes we want to see anymore of in our game and Everton fans should be completely ashamed of themselves. As, it has to be said, should Martin Atkinson.
The early kick off this weekend was marred not just be a truly terrible decision by the referee (played the ball, didn’t even follow through, Suarez just ran into him, made a complete meal of it, not even a foul let alone a red sodding card...) – but more worryingly by clearly disgruntled Everton fans resorting to base levels of idiocy. Unlike other City Derby’s – Liverpool v Everton has in recent years been shot through with a degree of calmness (at least off the field) and a mutual respect between supporters. After all, unlike the likes of Glasgow and Celtic, Merseyside derbies often split whole families down the middle. A shame then that Everton fans didn’t so much cross the line as hurl shit over it again and again yesterday with their disgraceful raining down of objects onto the field. Carroll had three bottles thrown at him when he scored, Suarez several more and the last ten minutes descending into a total farce as corners were almost stopped due to safety concerns. These are not scenes we want to see anymore of in our game and Everton fans should be completely ashamed of themselves. As, it has to be said, should Martin Atkinson.
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