Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Week - Week 26

(the censored, no swearing edition)

1. Lampard still has a lot to offer.
It is probably stating the obvious now, such has been the fanfare surrounding the decision by Chelsea to not offer Frank Lampard a new contract, but given I’ve been unkind to the tubby little Londoner before (apparently) - it’s only fair I laud him for his achievements at this juncture. Apart from being a loyal servant, solid role model and but a few deflected shots away from being Chelsea’s all time leading scorer, Lampard clearly still has the ability to play at the top level. In a team that has struggled of late, he has plundered 8 goals in his last 9 starts. His passing range is back up to the level it was a couple of years ago and like Gerrard, he has finally adapted to playing a deeper role. Lampard would get in the midfield of Utd, Arsenal and Man City, so quite why Chelsea are prepared to let him go for nothing when he visibly still has so much to offer is extraordinary. Perhaps Roman has only watched him play for England over the past decade and not his own club? Or perhaps it really is time to clear the decks of the Chelsea old guard and start afresh. Lampard isn’t a box to box midfielder like he used to be, but he is just as fit as Ryan Giggs was five years ago and he is still playing approaching his 40th year. Chelsea’s loss will be someone’s else gain this summer, barring a dramatic and late change of heart. For a man who has given his all to his club and has been vocal in saying he’d like to keep playing for them, he probably deserves a bit better.

2. Will Fulham ever stop giving the game away?

By Fulham’s standards, a nil nil draw to a struggling team is a perfectly decent result on the road; but after several seasons in the top flight, the question remains whether Fulham will ever truly learn to play away from home. Managers and players have come and gone, but the one constant thorn in the Cottagers side has remained. Fulham play attacking, quick passing football at home... and generally seem to forget what to do with the ball away. In their last 100 Premier League home games stretching back across six seasons, Fulham have won 50 times. A hugely impressive stat and one only bested by the Champions League teams. The last 100 away games? 14 wins. A ridiculous discrepancy, which doesn’t even take into account that Fulham tend to lose away, let alone draw. Craven Cottage is a tightly knit and wonderfully old fashioned stadium, and perhaps the players struggle to express themselves on the bigger, more spacious grounds up and down the country. But no manager has come close to solving the problem and in six years Fulham’s best effort has been 4 victories away from the Cottage. Just to put that into perspective, Swansea have achieved that already this season. Fulham are struggling at the moment wherever they play, and whilst they’re unlikely to get dragged into the relegation mire, giving their poor away fans something to cheer about more often would make things a lot easier for them.

3. It could be more remiss than remy for QPR.

Loic Remy is used to talking bollocks (sorry) bullshit (and again) in a potentially inaccurate way... so his comments this week have to be taken with a pinch of salt. This, after all, is a player who announced upon joining QPR for £8m and £80,000 a week that it was in “no way a decision based on financial reasons... it’s an interesting challenge.” Interesting is one way of looking at QPR’s desperate yet seemingly cash laden plight, and they are not being helped by a player who hasn’t been fit enough to play in the last three matches due to a niggling knee injury. This week, Remy was quoted saying “when I have a small problem things get difficult... I’m like an F1 car but when I get a small problem it’s straight in the pits.” Simply looking at his Wikipedia page would have told Harry Redknapp that Remy has been in and out of the treatment room over his career and has also had countless problems off the pitch. Indeed, in the same interview Remy went on to say that “when something’s not right in my head... bothering me... then it becomes a bit difficult.” Well done QPR. You’ve spent £10m trying to stay up on someone who will phone in sick for physical AND mental reasons.

4. Pochettino deserves more than a little bit of praise.

Say what you want about the Nigel Adkins dismissal (I did, but I won’t repeat myself here, mainly because it would be impossible not to swear) his replacement has hit the ground running. Two draws from his first three games didn’t even begin to tell the full story and with Manchester City making up a grueling quartet of opening fixtures, Pochettino has an impressive five points from his first four games. Beyond that though, the manager has added a new layer to Saints play that is straight out of La Liga. Pressing. Southampton didn’t give City an inch on Saturday and it was that mentality that was key to the Champions making critical errors that ultimately cost them probably more than just three points. Saints look like a real team and should be looking up the table not down it on current form. They have lost just twice in a dozen league games and it’s hard to see how any of Villa, Reading, Wigan or QPR are going to finish above them. None of which should discredit for even a second the work Adkins did, but at least the fans can be safe in the knowledge that some genuine thought appears to have gone into his replacement.

5. Europe is crucial for the Premier League.

Over the next five weeks (thanks to a ridiculously drawn out schedule) Manchester Utd and Arsenal will bid to stay in this seasons Champions League at the expense of Munich and Madrid. The odds are not good. Utd have a small chance in that Real have stumbled often this season. In the highly unlikely event that Rafael and um... Phil Jones, can shackle Ronaldo, Utd do at least possess the firepower to outscore Madrid if things go their way over the two legs. Arsenal have no such hope and them beating the German league leaders would represent a huge shock. Arsenal have lost already this season to Bradford, Norwich, Chelsea, Olympiakos, Swansea, Schalke and both Manchester clubs. Munich haven’t lost at all since October. The real problem though, is how such defeats could ripple through the league’s current global standing. Two of our teams have already bailed out in the group stages and to have no representatives at all in the Quarter Finals would be a major blow to a league that still claims to be “the best in the world.” Of course, at the risk of being an “armchair” critic, let us not cast judgement until the die has been cast. After all, Chelsea proved last year that miracles... sometimes really do happen.