As a long time hater of Crooks (I view Lawro with a mere mild disdain in
comparison), it was only a matter of time that once again he irked me enough to
appear in my blog. The crime of both these “pundits,” aside from being
supremely annoying, is that neither seem to have the faintest idea about
current football. Crooks “team of the week” features Steven Gerrard by default,
a keeper seemingly picked by random generator and any defender who has scored,
regardless of whether or not they actually played well... in defence. This week
he announced that, behind Van Persie, Utd’s player of the season so far was
Patrice Evra. A full back who’s positional sense is now so bad he’d get in the
Arsenal team. Lawro meanwhile, each and every week treats us to a series of
banal predictions which are ALWAYS 2-0/2-1 to the home/big four team or 1-1 if
it involves two of said big four playing against each other. He has written the
words “you never know what to expect from Wigan” 132 times. Despite that fact
that the Premier League is more of a goal fest season on season, Lawro has
predicted to date that 422 goals will have flown in by the close of the 20th
round of games, an average of 21 a week. The real figure is 567, an average of
close to 29 per week. And that figure is rising. The real fun though, comes
with the “Lawro League Table” in which you can see how your team would be doing
if all of his predictions came true. There are many stand outs, not least Man
Utd having conceded just four goals in 20 matches. But Norwich on just 10
points? Reading to have scored just 12 goals all season? Almost nothing is
right... but in a sea of so much wrong... QPR in 7th place really takes the
fucking biscuit. Both of these idiots need someone to check their work for
them...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20790407
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20790407
2. What will become of Theo Walcott.
Theo Walcott has played four games in the last few weeks in a central strikers role, a position he has been chirping about filling for several years. In that time he has been fantastic twice and invisible twice. What is clear though, is that if you give him the ball in behind and play to his strengths, he can be lethal. The odds were on Walcott filling his boots again vs Southampton but Adkins team are becoming more wise to the Premier League and they defended admirably against a misfiring Arsenal. Just three days before, Walcott and Co had blown away Newcastle (who inexplicably opted to play a high line) with a mixture of madness, magic and mayhem. Whether Theo truly craves the number 9 shirt or a bigger pay cheque remains unclear, but what is certain is that he’s not going to be walking into the centre forward role at any team currently bigger than Arsenal. The only large club who have a striker shortage are Chelsea, who would no doubt be interested, but have already all but signed Ba and will be looking at bigger fish in the summer. Liverpool also have such a shortage. But they’re not a big club. At Arsenal, Theo has a trio of creative, penetrative central midfielders to provide him with through balls and it would probably suit all parties if he stayed put. Whether or not he has the credentials to get anywhere near the rather huge mantle of “Henry’s Heir” remains very unclear. But it should at least be fun watching him try.
3. Robin Van Persie was worth every penny.
Barring injury, it’s impossible to see how Robin Van Persie won’t be the first person since Thierry Henry to win back to back Golden Boots. The Dutchman has carried on for Utd where he left off for Arsenal, and Mancini for once wasn’t playing mind games when he said he was currently the difference between the two Manchester clubs. Van Persie scores easy goals, wonderful goals and weighs in with assists as well. He has scored or created 25 league goals so far this season, more than any other player. His nearest rival is Suarez, who’s combined total stands at 19, a full 6 behind Utd’s new talisman. Van Persie was brilliant against Wigan, the man of the match by such a distance that others should have been happy to just be on the same pitch as him. He scored two, created one and could have had a couple more. Utd may have a defence that is capable of conceding a goal at any given time (a possible byproduct of making Jonny Evans your first choice centre back) - but with Van Persie playing like this, the 20th league title is looking increasingly more likely. If they do land it come May, with RVP snaring the golden boot, the money spent on him will look like a snip.
4. Ba Humbug comes late for Newcastle.
Newcastle’s grueling festive period never looked like yielding too much in the way of results, but conceding 13 goals surely can’t have been on the agenda. Given the way he has played this year, it’s likely retaining Demba Ba was top of many Geordies Christmas lists. That hasn’t happened and despite the faint silver lining of freeing up Papiss Cisse to play in his favoured role, it’s unlikely that Newcastle fans will be pleased in anyway by the way their season has unfolded to date. 2 points clear of the relegation zone after 21 games, the Toon army have just lost the one player who was keeping them from falling further into the nether regions of the Premier League table. Where Ba will fit in at Chelsea remains to be seen. He probably fits their style much better than Torres and by rights should go straight into the first team. That seems unlikely to happen though, and how he adapts to rotation rather than week in week out football will probably decide how long he stays a Chelsea player. Ba is a decent signing for Chelsea, but if they were looking for a strong, powerful forward who can hold the ball up and has an eye for goal... it would have been cheaper to just recall Lukaku.
5. Rafa Benitez is no mug.
Few pundits would praise the decision making of Rafa Benitez after a home defeat to the worst team in the division, but by “resting” the likes of Mata, Cole & Hazard for the visit of QPR, Rafa told us a lot about his priorities. Most managers would be playing the big guns in the league before giving them a break in the FA Cup this weekend, but then most coaches haven’t been given the dubious job title of “interim” manager. It’s barely plausible to believe that Chelsea will win the league, and highly unlikely they’ll finish 5th or below, so with that in mind, what is there for Rafa to play for during his 6 months with the club? In a word, cups. If Rafa had knackered his star players out against QPR and lost either of the two cup games his team have next up, it would have far greater repercussions for his future than the difference between finishing 3rd or 4th in the Premier League come May. As it is, several of his players have had a nice rest and in a weeks’ time will likely be in the 4th round of the FA Cup and have one foot in the final of the Capital One. Given the desperate inconsistency of Spurs & Arsenal, Rafa knows exactly what he’s doing...
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