5 Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Thirteen

1. Godspeed Gary
Yesterdays games were inevitably overshadowed by the news of Gary Speed’s sudden death. As the details behind his passing remained completely unclear, a wave of shock passed through football as the sport said goodbye to a hugely likeable character. A genuine Premier League legend, only his fellow countryman and friend Ryan Giggs has stopped Speed from holding several records for his longevity in the top flight. A loyal and reliable pro wherever he went, Speed’s death couldn’t come at a worse time for Wales, who finally looked to had turned the corner with a squad centred around its cluster of new young stars.  Ultimately though for all the superlatives that have poured in since his death, thoughts turn to his family.  One hopes that the media gives them the privacy and respect they deserve over the coming weeks.

2. Gareth Bale might be quite good after all
After last year’s absurd hyperbole based on two good performances, I was the first person to criticize Gareth Bale and accuse him of lacking consistency. This season, consistency has been has middle name and he has been instrumental in Spurs march up the table since those opening fixtures.  Redknapp is playing on the counter away from home and when you have wingers such as Lennon and Bale who can carry the ball 40 yards in about 3 seconds; it’s easy to see why Spurs sit deservedly in 3^rd place looking upwards, not downwards on the league.  Bale has scored or created 10 league goals already this season, just 4 away from his total figure last time around.  He is playing with the energy and enthusiasm we expected but his delivery has been consistent and he has become much more intelligent in his running.  He’s not Lionel Messi, but the claim that he is the best left sided midfielder in the world now doesn’t look quite as absurd as it was a year ago.

3. Alan Shearer is getting worse
I for one didn’t think it was possible, but Alan Shearer managed to sink to even lower depths on Match of the Day Saturday night as his usual banal punditry descended into utter gibberish. In his defence, he could well have been put off by Mark Lawrenson’s incomprehensively sinister beard or Gary Lineker’s “ode to paedophiles” moustache. Either way, upon being asked to provide “analysis” on a match Shearer continued to stumble over his words, regularly losing his train of thought and at one point when describing a play just cutting himself off with the words “and he’s right.” Who’s right Alan? Not you that’s for sure... and certainly not the BBC who continue to pay money to have the equivalent of an untrained chimp providing comment on premier league football matches.

4. The sack race is on
December is not a good month to be a football manager. Far from looking forward to Christmas like most people, this is the season when Chairmen get itchy fingers and wonder if somebody else could do a better job with the January transfer window looming. Steve Keen remains the bookies favourite to get the chop first, based largely on him lacking any ability whatsoever to manage a football club. Behind him though, the axe hangs over Martinez, AVB, Mick McCarthy, Owen Coyle and, certainly after Saturday’s result, Steve Bruce. Losing at home to Wigan is justification for getting sacked on its own and Steve Bruce’s 3rd new team in 3 years at Sunderland has failed to gel in any way since the summer. With new owners in charge he needs to turn things around quickly or it will be him getting the p45 in his stocking this year. Which will at least make a change from his usual tactic of chirping on about loyalty and then leaving for a “bigger club.”

5. Man City are beatable
Liverpool didn’t actually win yesterday, failing to silence my blog article from last week and indeed make the title of this point a touch questionable, but they deserved to take all three points and were only a Joe Hart wonder save away from doing so. What would please their fellow title challengers the most was that City still look like a team who struggle when faced with a setback. The midweek result seemed to hang over them for much of this game and Liverpool dominated the second half and Adam and Levia completely controlled the midfield.  Indeed, if Daglish had perhaps opted for Maxi, Spearing or my Nan over the invisible Jordan Henderson and perennially useless Stuart Downing, Pool could have capitalised on their good work and made away with the win. As it is City played poorly and still came away with a point in one of the hardest fixtures in the calendar. Whilst somebody is still going to have to beat them to create any sort of a genuine title race, that feat now at least looks achievable again.

5 Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Twelve

1. Chelsea are the new Arsenal
Anybody who thought AVB would be the new Jose was gravely mistaken.  Other than his nationally and youthful good looks, the former and current Chelsea manager couldn’t differ more when it comes to their team ethos and set up.  However, for all those who criticize Jose’s brand of anti-football, few can deny it gets results.  Thus far AVB’s Chelsea have been pleasing on the eye, often charging forward like the light brigade in search of goals, but are making both individual and tactical errors at the back.  Much like Arsenal then.  David Luiz is so bad a defender he wouldn’t actually get in the Arsenal team; and John Obi Mikel is the worst midfielder in the premier league, his continued selection above anybody who can walk is an insult to football and all humanity in general.  Around them Chelsea just don’t look interested in defending anymore and Cech is half the goalkeeper he was 5 years ago.  Chelsea, like Utd have done, have to go back to basics and learn how to defend before they can consider anything else.  At the moment they are playing worse than any team around them and don’t even have Robin Van Persie like Arsenal to win games on his own.  All of that said though, AVB remains a breath of fresh air in his attitude and any decision to move him on after paying a ridiculous £13m release clause would smack of genuine madness from Abramovich.  After all...

2. It’s becoming increasingly likely nobody can stop Man City.
As understatements go, Steve Mclaren’s at 4.50 on Saturday was right up there.  “I think this result finally proves City have what it takes to compete for the title.”  Ok then Steve...  Having now scored a staggering 14 goals against the three teams closest to them in the league (including the two best defences) – the question isn’t whether City can win the title, it’s can anybody stop them winning it.  City didn’t play well on Saturday and in reality haven’t played well since Old Trafford, but they’re not grinding out results by the odd goal, they’re banging in a minimum of 3 or 4 every single week.  Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool loom for them over the next few games but short of Van Persie and Suarez having a miracle match, it’s almost impossible to make a case for how any of those teams will beat them.  If they don’t, and City get to the half way stage unbeaten and sitting pretty near the 50 point mark, then it’s probably time to start playing for 2^nd for the foreseeable future.

3. Can Wigan play Blackburn every week?
Whilst both these teams look doomed to be relegated already, matched against each other this week saw their collective ineptitude level the playing field to create a fixture littered with rich comedy and entertainment.  A 3 all thriller in every sense of the word, Wigan can certainly consider themselves unlucky after having a stonewall penalty turned down and having to watch in disbelief as Blackburn scored a goal that Yabuku and Pederson made no attempt to conceal the comedy of afterwards.  Both defences went about things with the same casual disregard for their day jobs as they have all season and the drama wasn’t finished until the last kick of the game when Paul Robinson won a penalty with a courageous lunch into a Wigan boot.  First class entertainment from two teams who probably won’t be all that missed when they slip into the Championship come May.  Given Norwich, Swansea and QPR continue to play to sell out crowds each week, the 17,000 that watched this remains a pretty damning statement on how poorly supported both of these clubs are.

4. Stoke look short of confidence.
I don’t like to write about Stoke too often as I feel it gives justification for allowing Tony Pulis to continue to live in a world which would be infinitely better off without his presence; but Stoke have for the most part been a very interesting addition to the league and have performed admirably.  This season however it seems the dual pressures of Europe and the League are beginning to take their toll on Pulis’ smallish squad and Stoke looked out of sorts at the weekend against a QPR team far from full strength.  It’s admiral that Stoke are taking the Europa seriously (unlike Harry Redknapp’s bunch of juvenile delinquents) – but they have to arrest their league form sharpish to stop them falling into the bottom 3 during the busy winter period.  Away from home they’ve always been pretty average, but it’s their home form which will worry their mentally unstable manager the most.  Previously a fortress, Stoke are conceding and losing games with alarming regularity and when you’re not picking up points, it becomes increasingly harder to get back to winning ways.  It should probably be said that Stoke had a similar run this time last year and bounced back impressively, although none of that excuses Tony Pulis getting to breathe the same air as me each day...

5. What has happened to Tim Cahill?
In 2010 Tim Cahill scored more goals for Everton than Robin Van Persie did for Arsenal, even allowing for injuries.  In 2011 Van Persie is the most prolific striker in the league whilst Cahill, has scored less goals than Phil Neville.  Or indeed, anybody who has hit the net... at all.  His barren run has now stretched to over 20 games and despite being moved back into his favoured number 10 position, the goals are still not coming.  As Everton laboured to a home victory over Wolves on Saturday, Cahill needs to re-find his form and sharpish if the Toffees are going to climb up the table.  At present Moyes is committing that most cardinal of sins and keeping somebody in the team based solely on his past achievements.  Whilst the likes of Vellios, Rodwell, Osman, Saha & Drenthe all fight for a couple of spots, the time may well have come for Tim to be benched. 

5 Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Eleven

1. Happy 25^th Anniversary Sir Alex.
In amongst all the accolades and awards this week, Fergusons latest starlets turned in a performance so abject that they could only have beaten a team managed by Steve Bruce.  Star struck and dizzy, as if they’d just met the manager not played under him for years, Utd even have to rely on an old player to score for them in a game that was generously called “terrible” by one paper the next day.  Still, a win remains a win and that has what Ferguson has done for a quarter of a century.  I’ve never personally been interested in comparing managers and players to other eras which I didn’t witness.  Ferguson is the best manager of my generation, period.  Comparisons to anyone who managed in the main before him are ultimately irrelevant, but in his current role he has seen off many peers over my lifetime.  He has lost the occasional battle, but always the subsequent war.  His last challenge may be his sternest yet though.  Many people thought beating this great Barcelona team would be the one thing left on his CV to achieve, but the neighbours from the across the road have given Ferguson a more immediate and pressing challenge.  And 25 years or not, continuing to play Wayne Rooney in central midfield just isn’t gonna cut it.

2. Ryan Taylor is surely worth an England cap.
In an England squad inexplicably not containing the figure of Micah Richards, currently the best right back in the league (although in fairness, Kyle Walker is also playing brilliantly) – one should probably not be surprised that nobody has seen fit to mention why no-one in the best defence in the league should be worthy of a call up for a couple of friendly matches.  Leighton Baines has not cut it at International level and we all know how good Ashleigh Cole is, so why not see if Ryan Taylor can do a job at being a long term backup solution on our troublesome left flank.  A tenacious and pacy defender, Taylor reads the game brilliantly and has a delivery every bit as good as Baines (he has more assists than any defender so far... apart from Richards).  He has been reborn at Newcastle in a back line featuring 3 young Englishmen.  In a squad featuring a police probed John Terry, an out of form Gary Cahil and a marauding right back who isn’t a right back in Phil Jones, Capello could have done a lot worse than just pick the Newcastle back line. 

3. Liverpools Midfield is abject.
So far this season King Kenny’s home form has been worse than under Hodgson, which given he’s spent millions redesigning his own midfield, is pretty damning.  It is still early days (although Hodgson was being crucified by now), but four home draws have shown that Liverpool’s new look midfield is struggling trying to break teams down.  Adams and Lucas are a solid central base, but it is on the flanks where Pool have really struggled with Henderson neither one thing nor the other and Stuart Downing yet to create or score a single goal since his absurd 20m transfer from Villa.  Downing has always been a player who’s treaded a thin line between brilliance and ineptitude and in his defence, he has laid on several decent crosses for Carroll to miss.  But even still, Kenny would have wanted much more from his unit to date given they are all proven Premiership players.  Gerrard and Kuyt both need to play to inject some urgency into proceedings and the decision to move on Raul Merilles, an infinitely better player than either Downing or Henderson, now looks more bizarre than ever.

4. Spurs are made of sterner stuff.
After a haunting start to the season being taught a lesson in finishing by the Manchester clubs, Spurs have won 7 out of 8 and drawn the other in a run only matched by City.  Their midfielder was always a strength and Scott Parker has only made it better, but it’s at the back that Spurs have been much improved so far this season.  They have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat twice already away from home, with the sort of rearguard showings not associated with this club for decades.  Brad Friedel may only be a short term signing, but he’s an inspired one and was the man of the match yesterday in a game Spurs really should have lost, let alone won 3-1.  Kaboul has silenced his doubters and the full backs are both playing with strength and guile.  6 into 4 doesn’t go now that Arsenal have refound their mojo but in the battle for the Champions League places Spurs are looking ominously good.  I rated them on a par with Everton before the season began.  A comparison that now looks absurd.  And yes, this entry was mostly written just to annoy Gareth Stockey...

5. All hail the “all new” match of the day studio. Not.
Both match of the days celebrated a makeover this weekend following a move to Manchester which Lineker appeared to imply was in direct homage to Alex Ferguson.  What is more likely is that the licence payers were on their backs for continuing to fly and taxi their entirely Northern based punditry team down south every week.  Whilst a studio remains a studio, all be it a curiously camp one, the real comedy was drawn from the show’s “flashy graphs” that looked like they were created on Microsoft excel circa 1995.  Splitting the screen, producing pie charts and generally looking really pleased with themselves; almost everything about the new format was seemingly done to distract you from the people talking.  Of course, when Alan Shearer returns to the couch that can only be a positive thing; although it still doesn’t mean it’s very good...