Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Seventeen

1. The time has come for the FA to take action at club owners
Even in a Premier League littered with foreign owners, dodgy takeovers and a shameless lack of loyalty, the situation currently unfolding at Cardiff has taken things to yet another low. Let us move past the obvious details, given I think any sane football fan can see Mackay deserves to be lauded, not sacked, for his efforts with Cardiff. Instead I want to focus on the current lack of respect that is afforded to managers up and down the country; certainly in comparison to the unrivalled player power that is now on offer. It used to be you got sacked for having a bad season, which in recent years has evolved into simply having a bad run. This year however, you can get sacked off the back of a single result (AVB) or simply for not being the new owner’s “choice.” Incredibly, after being told to “resign or be sacked” – Mackay has been given a stay of execution as his clueless owner was presumably visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future during his long haul flight back into the country. AVB on the other hand, was not so lucky. I myself was guilty of slamming his teams efforts last week (it was, quite literally, the worst performance I’ve ever witnessed) – but the facts are that this was a manager with the best points per game average of any Spurs manager in over 100 years. He was sacked with his team a mere 3 points from the Champions league places and into the quarter finals of the League Cup and last 32 of the Europa Cup. Many would argue that if you lose the dressing room you have to go, and AVB certainly didn’t do himself any favours with some of his tactics, but the point still stands that managers are now getting sacked for not achieving things that the club they’re managing has NEVER ACHIEVED BEFORE. That, quite frankly, is ridiculous. It is time the FA got involved. Fining, or better still, deducting points for clubs who fire their manager’s mid-season. Yes they are protected by big payouts, but they still earn considerably less than the players and it wrecks careers with far more frequency. The mentality of “when a club is doing well it’s the players and when they’re doing badly it’s the manager” simply has to change. The Telegraph wrote this weekend that “Arsene Wenger is the only true manager left in the league.” On this evidence, it’s hard to disagree.

2. Ross Barkley and Adam Lallana have to be on the plane to Brazil
Sometimes experience really does count for nothing. Roy Hodgson has a tough job narrowing his squad down to the 23 players who will go out in the group stage, but two names that should be etched in ink onto his sheet are that of Barkley and Lallana. The two stand out performers (Coleman and the reanimated corpse of Adeboyer aside) of the weekend; both combined grace, skill and a dead eye for goal in all round displays that showed all sorts of ability. The way Gary Neville waxed lyrical about Lallana’s vision suggested he should already be reaching for his passport. He was everywhere in a performance that gave new credence to the phrase “did not deserve to be on the losing team.” Barkley meanwhile capped off a lively all round display with a brilliant free kick that propelled his team into the top four. England need players who compete without fear in Brazil… and those players aren’t those who have frozen in the headlights countless times before (Lampard take a bow). Lallana and Barkley are the two most inform English players in the entire league alongside Wayne Rooney. If either of them don’t make the trip on account of Tom Cleverly somebody needs to be assassinated.

3. Sunderland are probably going down
Despite a moral boosting win over Chelsea in the League Cup this week, the Black Cats chance of survival is looking bleaker and bleaker with each passing fixture. The initially promising victories over Newcastle and Manchester City have now faded into obscurity by a run of six games without a victory. Sunderland haven’t scored in four of those matches. That is hardly a surprise when you possess the league’s worst striker in Jozy Altidore and continue to pick Seb Larsson in every… single… game… no matter who the manager is for no possible… reason… on… earth. Sunderland have Everton away before a run of matches against teams in the bottom half that they simply have to get some points in. Gus Poyet was right this week when he said Sunderland were looking unlikely to get to the 40 point mark. The good news for any Mackems out there however, is that with so many teams challenging for the top spots, it is likely that 34-36 points could well be enough this time around. On the evidence of the last fortnight however, Sunderland will do well to get even that.

4. Cabaye is increasing his value by the week
Following a bid so embarrassingly low it could have been made by David Moyes, there were a few comments in August that Cabaye was not good enough to go and play for Arsenal. The irony is with a sea of creative midfielders now added to by the talismanic Mesut Ozil, that may now be the case. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Frenchman’s stock is rising by the week. He has been the central figure in a Newcastle surge that has carried them to just six points from the top spot. Indeed, the Geordies are now a full 9 points clear of Stoke who sit in 10^th and are very much a part of the “upper echelon” of a tight knitted league. Cabaye has score three and made three in that run of games but he is far more than the sum of his parts. He is a delightful footballer to watch, full of shoulder drops and caressed passes. Pardew’s formation is working wonders, especially away from home where Cabaye is afford more space and is central to everything that is good about Newcastle right now. Keeping him at the club at January is of vital importance to any hopes Newcastle have of European football next season. Without wanting to agree with Garth Crooks, he is currently making the £27m paid for Fellaini look laughable. And while we’re on the subject…

5. Thus far, Fellaini hasn’t been the worst signing of the season
It’s true. Despite contributing a single red card and a handful of performances so bad he has made his manager play a defender and a pensioner ahead of him, Marouane Fellaini has not been the most questionable signing of the season to date. Step forward Erik Lamela. The Argentinean has plenty of time on his side to prove his doubters wrong, but after 15 appearances he is now starting from a level of base zero. £30m is an awful lot of money, even in today’s inflated market, and it is not an amount where players are afforded time to “grow” without at least some criticism. I wasn’t expecting Lamela to hit the ground running, but I was at least expecting to see some sign of any natural ability. He has been unequivocally dreadful since signing with the possible exception of a single half in a cup game that didn’t ultimately matter. Nani at least tries to be good before he falls over or slices horribly wide. Even Willian has smashed in a couple of strikes and shown flashes of ability to suggest he may be worth around a tenth of the price Chelsea paid for him. Lamela has offered literally nothing. I’m not sure he completed a pass before he was hauled off against Southampton this weekend and his substitution was the catalyst for Spurs to go on and win the game. He looks so short of confidence he seems unable to even run, let alone dribble, cross or show anything like the form which lit up Serie A last year. There are many conclusions that can be drawn from this. The first is he’s an imposter. The real Lamela has been kidnapped and replaced by somebody who may or may not be Bebe. The second is his performances last year were doctored by a highly skilled marketing executive and, in reality, he only actually played twice. The third is that Serie A is now a league so bad most Championship clubs would compete for the top four spots. Personally I hope it’s all three…

Merry Christmas

https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Sixteen

1. Can Liverpool win the league?

It is a testament to how well Liverpool are playing this season that their fans have moved already from dreaming of the return of the Champions League… to dreams of the Holy Grail itself. Liverpool have been indifferent away from Anfield so far, but dismantled Spurs yesterday in possibly the most brutal slaughter of a “big team” in Premier League history. The scoreline was harsh enough, but this felt different to other away day horror shows. City’s 6-1 away at Utd turned on a sending off and a foolish United still pouring forward at 4-1 down. The same team’s dismantling of Spurs earlier that season was one of those games when every shot went in. There was nothing lucky about this. There were no mitigating circumstances. Liverpool had 60% possession, 20 shots on goal, 9 corners and completely dominated a Spurs team who failed to muster a single… shot… on… target. It was impossible to believe that at the start of the season these two were probably on an even keel. There is an irony to all of this of course. And that in many ways Liverpool have become what Spurs were last season. Which is the ultimate one man team. Sure they were winning games without Suarez, but not like this. Plus Suarez was still at the club, which makes a huge difference. All the players would have seen him in training, chomping at the bit and would have known they have to perform each and every week or one of them would be moving aside as soon as he was back again. In fairness to Liverpool they are a good team anyway, even if their squad remains thin. Jordan Henderson can hardly be described as “a bargain” like one over enthusiastic fan stated on 606, but he is completely reborn and can play in a variety of roles. The defence is solid enough and Coutinho moves the ball with such casual grace that the midfields of Spurs and Man Utd must look on in whimsical envy. But despite this, there is no denying that Suarez towers about this team like a colossus. Since his return from suspension he has scored 17 goals and created a further 10. He has scored or assisted 13 in his last 3 games and has been involved, in some way or another… in 85% of all goals since he returned. That is dominance of an astonishing level. This is a team that plays through one man, and keeping him fit and happy remains the only chance this club have of lifting the big prize again come May.

2. Can AVB recover from this?
As I’ve already mentioned, this was not just a lucky or freak away win, this was a total embarrassment from start to finish that asked every question that could be asked about the managerial ability of AVB. Everybody gets stuffed at the Etihad, there is no shame in that, but getting torn apart in front of your own fans by a team who spent considerably less than you in the summer is something else. Four of Spurs summer signings started here, at a collective cost of £60m. They were made to look like school children by the likes of Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling. AVB has stuck rigidly to his 4-2-3-1 formation and seems physically unable to accept that it isn’t working. He does not have the personal to pull it off and would be far more suited to a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3. For starters Spurs only have one real winger in Aaron Lennon. All their other wide players cut in and shoot rather than providing genuine width. This limits the supply to the front man and also crowds the midfield, leaving them vulnerable down the flanks. 4-3-3 is fine with inverted wingers, as Jose perfected during his first spell at Chelsea. It would enable them to get an extra body in midfield without compromising the attack. Soldado is not a bad player, but he is being made to look bad by a system that woefully fails to play to his strengths. Spurs formation looks like a lopsided 4-5-1 when teams attack them and the only way to get around this would be to play a false 9 and flood the midfield to control the game. Soldado is not a false 9. He is a proper, genuine number 9 who needs balls played into the box to thrive. Systems aside though, the most damning thing about Spurs yesterday was that some of the players completely gave up. The last three Liverpool goals all featured the unforgivable sight of Spurs players walking. Walking? I don’t care if you’re 20 nil down. If you’re getting paid as much money as this lot are you should be giving 100% in every minute of every match. You cannot protect your players when they do that, and the best thing AVB could have done was come out and say he was fining everyone involved in the match two weeks wages. They let him down and they let their club and fans down. As the final whistle blew Spurs had been humiliated, destroyed and absolutely disgraced. A lot of soul searching is in order and unless they respond and quick, this could be the final nail in AVB’s Premier League career.

*AVB was sacked 2 minutes upon completion of this blog. So I could just have written "no" - and moved on...

3. Man City are now the team to beat.
If anyone finishes about Man City this year they will win the title. City are now so good at home that even with such indifferent away form they will probably collect enough points to get over the line. Would anyone bet against them getting 57 from their 19 home games? They have already played five of the seven clubs around them there and they have scored an astonishing 35 goals at an average of 4.4 per match. They still have to play the bottom six clubs at the Etihad… who must be all looking at that date in the fixture calendar with something amounting to total fear. Arsenal were always likely to lose the game off the back of a tough midweek fixture, but in truth the scoreline flattered them. They were brutally dismantled by a team who, in full flow, are attacking as a collective unit better than any club I’ve witnessed on these shores since the Man Utd team of 1998-2000. At their current rate they will score 112 goals and have netted more times than Sunderland, Palace, Cardiff and West Ham combined. Sometimes all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Unless, like me, you’re a Man Utd fan and a terrible fantasy football player who has elected to not include a single City attacker in his line up all season…

4. Steve Clarke can consider himself a little unlucky.
If Jol’s sacking was about as expected as Christmas, Steve Clarke getting the boot this weekend was a little more out of left field. West Brom had been on a poor run, and anyone who pays money for Victor Anichebe probably has to answer a few hard questions. Losing Lukaku was always going to unsettle the team given they played through him so often last season, but replacing him with someone who averages a goal every 7 games wasn’t the answer. That said West Brom have been a little unlucky this season, most notably against Chelsea when they deserved to win and break the most detestable home record in football. They have never been in the relegation zone and it was hard to make a case for Clarke’s team finishing below three of Sunderland, Palace, Fulham, Cardiff, West Ham and Norwich. No, ultimately Clarke was a victim of his own success and can consider himself very unfortunate to have been relieved of his job. Especially when the favourite to take over is Mike Phelan. Who despite claims that he “ran Man Utd” for the last two years has no experience as the main man whatsoever and represents a clear gamble.

5. What is wrong with Garth Crookes?
There is probably no short answer to that question, but even compared to himself Crookes has managed to become every stranger in his aggression this year. His team of the week feature for the BBC regularly include bizarre rants, questionable choices and needlessly confrontational comments. Following on from a terrible Rooney anecdote, Crookes last week implied that Jose’s decision to take off an injured Schurrle was “laughable.” Despite him being… er… injured. This week however Crookes plumped new depths. His keeper choice was Pantilimon… who conceded 3 goals? Crookes defended his choice by saying he “could have taken the easy option with Mignolet” – who didn’t make a single save?? Had he not watched the game at Hull? Where Asmir Begovic once again grinded out a nil nil draw for his side? Could he not even have bothered checking some stats at the least? Seemingly not. Crookes then went on to select Phil Jones at centre back, who could probably have slept through the Villa game and kept a clean sheet. But the thing that really irks with Crookes, other than the chip the size of the titanic on his shoulder, is that he never picks real formations for his weekly column. He included four strikers this week and his graphic implies that Danny Welbeck played as an inside right? When he played the entire match as the number 9? Garth mate, you can only pick two strikers each week… that’s kind of the point. You don’t have to pick Wayne Rooney every single week without fail… especially when he didn’t even play that well. Was Leon Osman not worth a mention? Or Peter Whittingham? Did he only watch 3 games all weekend?

Sometimes one word says more than hundreds ever could.

Wanker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25390693

https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Fifteen

1. Is this really an open title race?

The most open title race for years. One of six could win it. This one will go all the way to the wire. You could pick any of those statements at random and find them in almost any newspaper every weekend at the moment. However, all of these statements continue to rely on something that, at this stage, still hasn’t happened. And that is Arsenal suffering a bad run of form. Consider this for a moment. Sir Alex Ferguson is still at Manchester United and after 15 games his team find themselves 5 points clear at the top of the table. They find themselves in good form, scoring goals, with the best defensive record to boot. They possess the stand out contender for player of the year and all of their rivals continue to drop points almost every week, especially away from home. Would anyone be saying this was an open title race? No. They would be saying the writing was on the wall and this could be over by March. Arsenal of course, aren’t Ferguson’s United. Even if they are a more credible alternative than David Moyes’ United. But January looms closer and the Gunners injury list is shortening. Centre forward aside, they are well stocked in every area. Indeed, their midfield cup runneth over with such riches that their rivals must be sick of the sight of pacy, creative magicians coming off the bench if the first lot haven’t done the job. Arsenal didn’t even win this weekend and still extended their lead at the top. They have two huge games up next in City and Chelsea, but even if they get say, one point from those two they would remain top and see themselves playing the current bottom quarter in 5 of their next 6 fixtures. Of course, if pushed, I too would probably not put any money on them winning the league. But it will be interesting at what point people stop considering them to be merely having a very good run... and realise that they are quite clearly the team to beat.

2. Jose’s defence is full of holes

It’s safe to say that this weekend’s result at the Britannia was right up there with any shocks we’ve had this season. A badly out of form Stoke, who hadn’t scored in 4 hours of football, coming from behind to draw and eventually beat Chelsea by 3 goals to 2. Jose bemoaned his attackers afterwards, and he had good reason to given a Chelsea centre forward has still not netted an away league goal in 2013. But 99% of the time, scoring two goals against Stoke is gonna be enough to win the game. The reason Chelsea lost on Saturday wasn’t because Fernando Torres missed a string of chances, it was because Mourinho’s side currently cannot defend a set piece to save their lives. After conceding 3 goals in this manner to Sunderland midweek, the Chelsea boss saw his team pegged back by yet another terrible set piece mix up. To rub salt into his wounds he then witnessed several mistakes in the build up to Sunderland’s second, before the sight of Assaidi turning Ivanovic like he was a duck on ice and hammering in the winner. Chelsea have stuttered this season like everyone with the exception of Arsenal and Everton. But they key to any title winning team remains the defence. The ability to grind out 1 nil wins when you’re not playing well being far more important than scoring half a dozen when you are. Chelsea don’t look capable of doing that at the moment. Ashley Cole can’t get a game, John Terry is playing every minute despite question marks over his fitness and Ivanovic is a sham of a right back. Sure he’s brilliant going forward, but only really from set pieces. He has continuously given his best performances for Chelsea from centre back so it baffles me why he is still deployed out wide whilst Azpilicueta, the best right back in the league, is using his wrong foot on the other side. Jose hasn’t really changed four of his back five all season, and with different options and personal available... perhaps it’s time he did.

3. Tony Pulis could organise a damn good piss up in a brewery

Three games, two wins, two clean sheets, two goals for Chamakh. It’s early days but this is already a miracle healing job from Tony Pulis. Crystal Palace obviously haven’t bought anyone since Pulis took over, and indeed the most negative manager outside of Greece has actually started playing two up front. What has changed though is plain and simple organisation. And there are few people better at it than our Tony. Crystal Palace have been a regimented unit of efficiency in their last two games. Closing down space, marking intelligently and actually learning the art of defending a set piece. They are still in the relegation zone, but only on goal difference and are now just a win away from 15th spot. Chelsea away is next up which should give us more of an idea how Tony is doing. If Chamakh can score against England’s Brave John Terry then anything is possible. Expect a recall for his beloved country hopefully.

4. Martinez & Pardew should be happy to be ignored
Arsenal and Man City’s home team aside, the two clubs who should be getting the most credit at present are Everton and Newcastle. The former are playing some truly wonderful football and have, seemingly overnight, evolved into a squad full of young attacking talent harnessed by a rock sold defence. The latter are the best example of a “team” in the league - with each and every player doing a job for the good of the unit. Alan Pardew’s men have beaten Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd in the last month with a collective scoreline of 4-0 in their favour. A feat that won’t be matched by anybody come May. They sit in 5th and 7th respectively, both within striking distance of the Champions League spots. They also, of course, both won at Old Trafford this week and on both occasions were not given their fair share of praise from a media more focussed on the wreckage of Alex Ferguson’s title winning side. They should be grateful for this though. Football is a fickle business and, as a general rule, if nobody is talking about you it’s probably because you’re doing a very good job. Both these managers are, in highly contrasting ways. But they both deserve huge credit in a season that is really separating the men from the David Moyes.


5. Manchester United could get worse, before they get any better

With the parting words of Sir Alex ringing in their ears, it is likely that the board of Manchester United will give David Moyes until the end of the season to prove to them that he is the right man for the job. After 15 league games, he looks anything but that. People can criticize the squad he was left with all they want, but it was still a squad that won the title by a near record margin and Moyes was well aware of the flaws within it even before he took over. Of course, the Fergie Factor goes a long way, but even without that, the time has very much come for Moyes to be judged on his own two feet. Put bluntly, he is failing on every single level that you can judge someone on. His team selection is seemingly random, with no hold of the art of rotating players for the right fixtures whatsoever. His defence is creaking, error strewn and lacking in basic organisation. Something that he was famed for at Everton. His midfield doesn’t function either as a creative force or a protective one. He has killed, stone dead, the careers of Nani, Young, Cleverly, Fellani, Kagawa and Valencia in 4 months. Players who clubs would have fallen over themselves to sign a year ago (ok maybe not Cleverly) and now couldn’t be sold to Sunderland. His attack has become hopelessly one dimensional, reliant completely on Rooney to the extent that the striking talent of RVP and Hernandez looked like they had no idea what they were doing on a pitch together. But worst of all, worse even than his insipid, cowardly post match interviews, is his complete lack of man management. 



Looking around the pitch during the last four games, none of them victories, I could see nobody bar Rooney and De Gea who looked bothered about winning. Many people pointed to the good work on a limited resource Moyes had done at Everton as why he should be given a shot at the Utd job. Others, and I wasn’t one of them then, instead looked at a record against big clubs or in big games of somebody who did not possess the necessary nous, bottle, ability... whatever you want to call it... to get his team over the line when it mattered. Right now those people are laughing. Because as manager of Manchester Utd, League Champions, every game is a big game. And right now it’s becoming increasingly clear that David Moyes simply cannot handle the pressure.

 Utd obviously won’t win the league and they probably won’t get near the top four bar a complete collapse from both Merseyside clubs. To be honest, it’s probably best if they finish mid-table, take it on the chin and realise that whilst Fergie did more good for his club than any in its history... he left them up shit creek without a paddle when he choose his replacement.



https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey




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

1. Stalemate at the Lane leaves both teams chasing shadows
Spurs v Man Utd was, as ever, an entertaining match filled with moments of quality, refereeing controversy and lots of goals. But as the game eventually ended with the teams locked together, it had becoming increasingly clear that neither of these teams have the quality to challenge for the title. Utd have fine attackers; Rooney was at his imperious best yet again and is forming a decent partnership with Kagawa in the absence of the still brilliant Van Persie. I cannot be bothered to even think, let alone write, about the midfield deficiencies anymore. Let me just say that when a 40 year old man is the best the club can still offer, you have problems. Behind even that obvious problem lies a defence where only Jonny Evans seems capable of going 90 minutes without making a mistake. That’s right… Jonny Evans.  Spurs meanwhile find themselves changing their team not by wholesale but by incessant one tweak there, one fiddle there measures. Whatever you call it, it isn’t working. And nor are Roberto Soldado’s shooting boots. Spurs have a good, solid spine and over the season won’t concede a lot of goals, despite the 8 they have just shipped to Manchester. But both of these teams lack the ability throughout the squad to put together a run of 7 or 8 wins and challenge for the main event. No, it is likely both will be competing for a single Champions League spot with the Merseyside clubs come May. Although given both are still below Newcastle… maybe even that is wishful thinking.

2. Chelsea have the best reserve number 10 in the world
The reason Juan Mata can’t get a game, as Jose tells us, is because Oscar is playing in his position and playing out of his skin. That may well be true, but as the Brazilian limped off before half time on Sunday, Mata stepped into his chosen role and from there on in pulled the strings in a second half performance of real quality. Chelsea were outplayed and tactically out thought in the first half. They deserved to be behind to a Southampton team who closed them down all over the pitch. But they came out second half playing longer balls over the middle and were a blur of movement around the Saints penalty box. Key to all of this was Mata. Whether ghosting into space, laying off deft touches or playing mesmeric cross field passes with his instep… the Spaniard reminded everyone that he is simply far, far, far, far too good a player to be on the bench. So should Jose drop Oscar? Clearly not. But given the kid has played 200 games in the last 18 months it wouldn’t hurt to have a slightly more liberal approach to rotating him. Plus even on the flanks Mata remains a handful. Especially when one of your options is Willian. Who is so bad he belongs in a very unique club which I like to call “The Nani’s.”

3. Pascal Chimbonda is a legend
Let us take a break from the top flight for a moment to remember somebody who used to be in it. Pascal Chimbonda, once of Spurs, Sunderland, Wigan and France… and purchased 18 times by Harry Redknapp during transfer windows, is currently playing for League 1 Carlisle United. The phrase “how the mighty have fallen” doesn’t really apply here. For starters Chimbonda never really looked like a footballer to begin with; more of an actor who’d wandered onto the pitch between takes and kind of thought he knew what he was doing. But also because prior to joining Carlisle, Chimbonda had been playing for first Doncaster and then non-league Market Drayton Town. The time has come though, for Pascal to not be mocked for his fall from grace, but celebrated for it. This is a player who clearly loves the game. A man who has no interest in football for the cash, but just for the feeling of stepping on a pitch every Saturday and giving his all. Chimbonda is a dying breed. Hell this is a player who loves the sport so much he agreed to play with El Hadji Diouf. Three fucking times. Pascal. I salute you. And if Harry gets back in the big time soon, I for one will cheer your inevitable signing.

4. Jol had to go
Martin Jol’s position this weekend was just about the dictionary definition of “untenable.” Fulham have now lost five games in a row and are entrenched in the relegation zone. Conceding to the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool is one thing, but conceding three goals to West Ham is something else. Hell, conceding any goal to Carlton Cole is worth the sack alone. Jol ended the last season badly and has never got started this one. Fulham aren’t scoring, are shipping goals like the Titanic did water and look almost completely leaderless. Jol is a likeable man, and I for one would like to see him back in the big leagues with a team solid enough to be able to compete as well as play pretty stuff with almost zero end product going forward. Fulham wasted no time in turning to Rene Meulensteen to rectify the damage caused by Jol’s entertaining but ultimately sub Chris Coleman reign. The Dutchman is highly thought of because he once urinated next to Sir Alex Ferguson. Well that and the fact David Moyes got rid of him. Which right now is just about the highest compliment you could pay anyone. So I’m sure he’ll do fine.

5. Hull aren’t just cultured off the pitch
Having just spent a surprisingly nice weekend in Hull (it had trees and everything) – I thought I’d do them the honour of my final blog piece. Of course, they somewhat helped me on that front by putting together an inspired display this afternoon where they played Liverpool off the park. Brendan Rodgers men have hit a bit of a wall away from Anfield, and one that won’t be helped by the news that Daniel Sturridge is out until the New Year. It wasn’t entirely clear why Sterling was on the pitch instead of Coutinho… or anyone, but it’s hard to think of a more ineffective performance since Willian last started a gig. Sorry, a game. Anyway, with Suarez not at the races it was left for Steve Bruce’s team to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. Which they duly did, led by pub captain Curtis Davies. Hull have been relegation fodder waiting to happen all season, so I was amazed not only that their city had some nice areas… but that they now sit a barely believable single place back from Spurs in the table. Two back from the champions themselves. If that isn’t a reason to forget about a name change I don’t know what is. Well, Arsenal away in two days maybe.

Goodnight.

https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

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

1. Merseyside Madness
The Merseyside derby has been lacking a bit in recent years. Not so much in passion or full heartedness, but certainly in terms of quality and genuine entertainment. All that changed this weekend with a match that wasn’t just the best derby in recent times, but the best the top flight had offered for several years. Liverpool fans may well point to the incorrect decision to award Kevin Mirallas a yellow rather than a red for a recklessly high tackle on Suarez, but such an act would have ruined what then evolved into a farcical end to end battle of attacking intent. The managers deserve full credit. Gone was the pragmatism of previous derbies, replaced instead by passing, pressing football and a desire to score goals. Rodgers brought on two extra attackers in the last 20 minutes when his team were merely drawing. Everything you could want from a football match was here, from wonderful goals and moments of sublime skill (anything involving Countinho) all the way through to hopeless defending, misplaced passes and blood curdling tackles. A draw, ultimately, was the fair result. Everton’s superior number of chances offset by that Mirallas decision and a ridiculous open goal miss from Joe Allen. I watched the match in a large pub filled with probably around 200 fans made up of both sets of supporters, enthralled neutrals and tragic fantasy football followers. There was huff, bluster and a lot of heckling throughout. But come the final whistle almost everybody in the entire pub stood up and applauded, an action I have never witnessed in a non-international match. This was football as it was meant to be. Pure and simple, theatre.

2. Where have England’s wingers gone?
Not so long ago you looked to the national team and saw several viable options to play on the flanks. The midfield conundrum remained and England have never really found a number 9 since Michael Owen, but out wide you had Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon, Ashleigh Young, Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson all in form and impressing. Now only Theo Walcott remains of that group to have a chance of going to the World Cup, and he wants to play as a striker. Injuries and confidence eroded the form of Cole some time ago, whilst Lennon never looked as comfortable in the white of England as he did at Spurs. But few players have faced such career nose dives as Young and Johnson. Two years ago the former was England’s best player in qualifying for the European Championships. He’d just moved to United and had started his career in fine style; creating chances, winning penalties without the aid of absurd swan dives and scoring goals. Since that opening season he hasn’t scored at all, a barren run now stretching over 30 matches. He has become the poster child for cheating and his career looks, if not over, in huge need of a change of direction. Johnson has fared arguably even worse. Not because he’s been playing badly per se, but because people seem to have genuinely forgot that he exists. Playing in a team who have won less than 10% of their matches since his arrival has not helped, but Johnson still has ability in his locker and, at 25, remains somebody who could yet turn his career around. So now England’s options, besides Walcott, seemingly consist of Andros Townsend and Adam Lallana, both fine prospects, but two people who have only been capped in the last few weeks. Oxlaide Chamberlain is a talent, but an injury prone one. And then there is James Milner. Which is so depressing a thought I’m just going to end this here…

3. If referees should be consistent, why can’t managers?
If there’s a cliché that gets thrown around more than “referees need to be consistent” I’m yet to hear it. Referees will continue to get things wrong because they are human and are expected to make decisions in less than a second. Plus it’s hard to be consistent, week in week out, with nine other people all taking charge of different matches each with their own set of unique circumstances. No, what I’d like to see more of is much easier and attainable… and that’s manager consistency. It’s part and parcel of the game that there will be times when you get a decision that goes for you and times that you don’t. But do managers really have to be so, so obvious with their post-match analysis? There have been some absolute howlers from referees these last few weeks, yet no manager has had the courage to come out and lambast a referee for making the wrong call in their favour. Jose Mourinho may have been correct regarding his apology rant, but he certainly wasn’t correct by claiming that Ramires deserved a penalty for falling over as the opposition player got within a yard of him. Would it really have hurt Roberto Martinez this weekend, after just witnessing his team be involved in the game of the season, to put his hands up and say he was very lucky that Mirallas didn’t get sent off? No, instead the usually affable Spaniard claimed he “didn’t think it was a red.” Really Roberto? I’d hate to see what you do consider a red card if a wild, knee high lunge isn’t worthy of one. But if I’m going to single out anyone it has to be Mark Hughes. Fresh from getting a point at Swansea with the most invisible penalty decision in the history of the game (“I can see why the ref gave it,” mused Mark – no… no you can’t) – Hughes followed that up this week by claiming Wes Brown deserved to be sent off for a challenge that took precisely none of the man and all of the ball. It was “reckless” claimed Mark. When it wasn’t, it was merely fast. It was a “poor challenge,” he added. It wasn’t, it was a great challenge. “It took the shine off our performance, we played really well today.” No they didn’t. Sunderland dominated the game early and were undone by a decision that will be overturned within 3 seconds of an appeal. I understand football is all about mind games and managers defending their players… but for fucks sake guys, there is surely no harm in admitting you got a lucky break once in a while. It will make next week’s rant when you do get a howler far more credible for starters.

4. Man City are now barely credible
City’s record doesn’t tell the whole story, but it still paints a decent picture so it’s worth mentioning it straight up. At home it reads played 6, won 6, scored 26 (26!) and conceded 2. Away from home it’s played 6, won 1, drawn 1, lost 4; scoring 8 and conceding 10. That’s a big difference whichever way you look it and you’d be hard pushed to find two back to back games that highlight the difference more than the two City have just played. Anaemic and gutless at Sunderland, City once again tore into a team on their own patch from the moment the whistle was blown. AVB is a meticulous tactician so he must have known City were going to come at his team from the off? Was this really the game to throw Erik Lamela into? City, and Aguero, Nasri and Toure in particular are as ruthless at home as they are toothless away. Which begs the question… why? This is a team which now has a goal difference the same as their points tally. A team which boasts, in Aguero, the only current candidate for player of the year with Aaron Ramsey. City have Swansea next before three away fixtures and Arsenal. You feel that Pellegrini has to get 10 points from that run if his team are going to be considered a genuine title threat. At the moment, they remain a curious and wonderfully entertaining enigma. I hope for Michael Laudrup’s sake he has done his research going into next Sunday. Here’s a clue. For the first ten minutes. Just. Keep. The. Ball.

5. Who is the worst striker in the league?
This season has been dominated by strikers so far with Sturridge, Suarez, Aguero, Remy, Van Persie, Rooney, Lukaku and Giroud all banging in the goals. Only Aaaron Ramsey is averaging a goal every other game as a midfielder, a far cry from last year when the likes of Mata, Hazard, Walcott, Santi and Bale were helping themselves to goals a plenty. But at the other end of the spectrum some are struggling worse than ever. Berbatov has scored once in over 15 hours. Cisse hasn’t scored at all in 11. But when comparing the worst of the lot three in particular stand out, all from clubs propping up the foot of the table. The first is Modibo Maiga, who has not scored for West Ham this season and has played so badly that his manager would rather play no striker at all, at home, then put him in the starting line-up. His confidence probably not helped further by missing an open goal on Saturday. Marouane Chamakh is well used to be slated in blogs up and down the country, mainly because he is a truly terrible footballer. But, crucially because he has scored two premier league goals in three years. And then, finally, there is Jozy Altidore. Who is yet to score for Sunderland since joining them for a barely credible £7.5m. The American had previously flopped at Hull a few years back and has so far scored a single Premier League goal in… wait for it… 35 hours. Just to break that down. That’s the equivalent of watching the entire extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, three times over. With the Hobbit chucked in for good measure. But seriously if you want to go home and recreate Altidore’s feat, consider one thing. Don’t watch the Hobbit. It was shit.

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

1. The title race is back on... for everyone.
Just 6 points separate 8 teams following Man Utd’s “hard fought” (Citation: painfully ground out) victory over Arsenal. Sky once again suffered a “Super Sunday” meltdown as three games featured successive 1 nil wins; whilst over at the Britannia the fans were treated to a 3-3 thriller featuring late drama, wonderful football and well, crucially, lots of goals. City’s away blues returned whilst it was another collective failure in front of goal for AVB’s men. Granted, Tim Krul had one of those games which keeper’s dream of, but Spurs have scored one goal in five hours of league football. And that was a penalty. It’s not entirely clear what Jermaine Defoe has to do to get a start in the league, presumably wear a Soldado mask or teleport into the misfiring Spaniard's body? All of which brought us to Old Trafford where we were all treated to the worst match of the season to date. Yep, even ones involving West Ham. Utd scored with just about the only chance of the game and that was through a set piece. Arsenal were horribly jaded and badly need some players back to rest the likes of Ozil, Ramsey and Giroud. Utd meanwhile, as they always seem to do against Arsenal, did enough to get the points and no more. Rooney was his usual self, RVP scored with his single touch of the ball all match, but other than that only Phil Jones can claim he played well of the 20 plus players who graced the pitch. Keeping Jones fit and playing every week is vital to Utd finishing in the top 4 each season. Not because he’s that good a player, but because he has the spirit of Fergie flowing through his veins. He never gives up or gives less than 100% every minute of every match. How Utd wish they could channel that sort of effort, commitment and focus from a collection of midfielders now so inept that I’m pretty sure Rooney is playing all of their positions for them. As we lunge into an international break (translation: reading week) with all the enthusiasm of Shinji Kagawa in a 50/50, let us consider for a moment that when we return Arsenal host Southampton. And if they lose that match... Saints will be top of the league. Rule Britannia.

2. Anfield is a fortress once more

5 wins from 6 and with 13 goals for to 3 against, Anfield is finally looking the home ground it was of yesteryear again. Since Rafa left, the problems with Liverpool have been countless, but few more so than the crumbling ruins that had become their home record. Rodgers finally looks to have arrested that slide; and only Southampton have come away with any points this season. Indeed, that result is looking for from an embarrassment given their current league placing. Liverpool were back in the groove on Saturday, dismantling a Fulham team which, in all honesty, my 6-a-side club could have beaten. Jol’s time looks up; his team are full of flair but lack honesty and fatal individual mistakes are creeping in at will. There are few strikers in the world, certainly this side of Ronaldo and Messi, who are capable of taking advantage of such flaws as Luis Suarez. I remain unconvinced by Suarez in the bigger fixtures, and some Champions League football would certainly do him no harm, but against anyone who is struggling he is ruthless. He is the home test, flat pitch Indian batting line up of footballers. If the conditions are right, there is no stopping him. Suarez took himself to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts this weekend. Which is ridiculous given he missed the first five games through suspension. It was also nice to see the club keep a clean sheet again with Daniel Agger restored to the starting line up. Proof, once again, that the big bosses read the best blogs...

3. Cardiff need goals

Discussions over Cardiff city and relegation seem to have mostly passed like ships in the night thus far this season. The Welsh club have always managed to win a match when it looks like they might get in trouble, plus the failings of some of the teams below them have been more obvious or... well, interesting. The general consensus has been that as long as their owner doesn’t do anything stupid, Cardiff have enough organisation and defensive nous about them to stay up. That may or may not prove to be the case. Over 38 games, it remains goals that tend to keep you in a division rather than clean sheets, and right now Cardiff do not look like scoring very many. 9 in 11 games isn’t disastrous, but given 3 of those came in one absurd match... 6 in 10 really doesn’t look good at all. No striker has scored since that Man City game and their top scorer is currently a centre back. There is much to admire about Cardiff. They have a strong work ethic and seem to have a genuine relationship with their fans which several top flight clubs lack. But, crucially, they are fucking boring. And if there’s one thing this blog hates... it’s boring.

4. Man City really can’t win at Sunderland.

4 games... 4 one nil defeats. Man City cannot score at Sunderland let alone beat them. The big wolves from Manchester huffed and puffed on Sunday afternoon but once again were repelled by stoic defending, wonderful goalkeeping and some very bad luck. Sunderland, and the superb Wes Brown in particular, stood firm. This remains an impossible to predict season, a fact epitomised by Newcastle turning around their form with back to back clean sheet victories against Chelsea & Spurs. City must have thought they’d put their away form to bed with that thumping win at West Ham, but this was very much a return to their frustrating worst. Aguero aside, the creativity was nil and Ya Ya Toure once again went completely missing away from the safe confines of the Etihad. Vincent Kompany remains a big miss in these sort of fixtures, especially when the manager picks his other defenders by random generator. City are still in the hunt for the title, as if everyone down to 8th such is the tightness of the league and Arsenal’s history of implosion. But they cannot afford too many more of these performances if they are to still be in with a chance come May.


5. Jose still has the luck, if nothing else
A stuttering Chelsea salvaged a draw and preserved Jose’s implausible unbeaten home record in the process this weekend. The late penalty however, an absurdly generous decision which almost redefined the term “a homer,” could not mask the failings of the special one’s team for the second successive game. Chelsea did not, to all extensive purposes, improve their squad in the summer. They didn’t buy anyone of note up front, in central midfield or defence and instead littered their team with more inverted winger/number 10’s. This was a Chelsea team who did not challenge for the title in any way last year remember. A Chelsea team who’s best player, Juan Mata, can no longer get in the starting line up. Frank Lampard hasn’t scored since the opening day, a barren spell of 10 games for a player who historically averages a strike just over every 2. And now, finally, the defence is starting to concede again. John Terry’s “form” at the start of the season looked more like an anomaly of statistics than the farcical calls to get him back into the England team would have you believe. He has been terrible the last two games, showing his age and unable to prevent his team conceding 4 goals to Newcastle and West Brom. Many people, myself included, thought this was a great Chelsea squad that was underperforming. That the mere presence of Jose back in the dugout would be enough to see them claim another Premier League title in a wide open race. Of course, the latter statement still being true, they are far from out of it. But this is not a convincing second spell so far. Chelsea have not noticeably improved in any way from last season; and indeed look blunter going forward than they ever have. Whisper it... but Rafa Benitez was doing a better job.


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Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Ten

the concise, sleep deprived with sickly child edition

1. The fallen one trumped the special one.

Jose Mourinho has never won at Newcastle, and this weekend he was once again outdone in the grim, post-apocalyptic wasteland that is the North East. Alan Pardew is many things, questionably human being the first that springs to mind, but he remains a fine manager and this was a good a tactical performance as this season has yet offered. Pardew dropped his most creative player and instead played with highly disciplined wingers that tracked back and offered continuous cover to the defence. He matched up with Chelsea in midfield, dropping one of his strikers deep to pick up Lampard or Ramires and gave constant, fine tuning instructions to his troops throughout the match. Chelsea started well but appeared to give up after the break, as if lacking the mental nous to break down such stubborn resistance. Jose was lost as to why, but he shouldn’t have been. This was very much the Chelsea team who have finished 15-20 odd points off the pace for the past two years. This was Newcastle’s day and they, and their manager, deserve full credit for the win.

2. What are Crystal Palace doing?

Rock bottom and with little to no chance of survival anyway, you’d have thought Crystal Palace would have sped up their search for a manager a little by now? Since sounding out Tony Pulis they have turned their attention to Alex Mcleish (for no reason) and Chris Coleman (for literally no reason). Pulis is a hugely unlikeable manager, both in terms of persona and playing style. But at least he’s decent at his job and is a miles better option than those two? They also spoke to Martin O’Neill. A call which probably lasted about three seconds. Perhaps they’ll just give it to Millen for the hell of it. Palace’s squad is just about the worst I’ve ever seen in a Premiership and if they stay up this year it will be the footballing equivalent of the Titanic emerging from the sea 100 years later with everyone on board alive and well. I mean... Marouane Chamakh. Why Palace? Why?

3. Why can’t Daniel Agger get a game?

Liverpool started the season with a centre back duo of Agger & Toure and kept three, successive clean sheets. Following an injury Agger then missed the next game and only played part of the one after. Since then though, he has been fit as a fiddle and benched for five games on the spin. Two further things have also happened in the 7 games since his injury. Firstly, Liverpool have changed to playing 3 centre backs rather than 2. Secondly, they have not once kept a clean sheet. Is Rodgers suggesting that Agger cannot play in a back 3/5 and only in a 4? Or has he genuinely forgotten the Dane is comfortably the best defender at the club? Given how flat footed Liverpool’s defence was on Saturday, it is fast becoming an inexplicable omission that almost nobody seems to be mentioning.

4. Aston Villa lack creativity of any description.

West Ham being involved in a 0-0 draw with anyone isn’t news (4 out of 10 matches so far... expansive) - but whilst Villa have taken big strides to shore up last seasons leaky defence, they seem to have done it at the expense of going forward. They created next to nothing on Saturday and have now scored in just one of their last six games. Indeed, they haven’t scored at all in over 6 hours. Paul Lambert needs bodies back and fast. And he needs to make someone to supply the goals to Benteke the absolute priority in January. Villa’s new found resilience will probably be enough to keep them up, but the big Belgian won’t be around again come the summer if he is starved of service to this level.

5. The stats never lie.

I’m so tired I’m now barely capable of speech, so instead of a final point here is the Opta/Premier League Stats team of the season so far. Based on algebraic formulas that nobody understands... and goals. Mostly just scoring goals.



Boruc

Walker Lovren Fonte Vertonghen

Ramsey Ya Ya Toure Lallana

Aguero Rooney Sturridge



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Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Nine

1. Is the Partnership back in fashion?

One of the things that interests me most in football is how formations come and go over time. I grew up very much in the 4-4-2 era before modern shifts placed more emphasis on midfield and creativity. Nowadays, most teams line up in a 4-5-1/4-3-3. This season there has been a bit of a shift backwards though, particularly of late. Indeed, there have been almost twice as many goals scored in the last 5 game weeks as there were in the first 4 and, whilst we can’t credit them all to Luis Suarez... he has certainly helped. Sturridge & Suarez looks a real partnership in every sense of the word. They feed off each other, create space for each other and have currently scored ten goals in four games together. Elsewhere, Man City had blossomed with the Aguero/Negrado axis before dropping it this weekend and dropping three points. Swansea have pushed Michu up alongside Bony to good effect and lower down the league Norwich, Fulham, West Brom and Newcastle have all been played 2 up for most of the season. And then there is RVP & Rooney, lauded by Hansen this weekend as the most fearsome partnership in the Premier League. In short, what utter tosh. RVP and Rooney are phenomenal players, but they are not a partnership. Indeed, the Utd striker conundrum is a good example of how important a partnership is. Good partnerships don’t just score goals, they create space for their team mates, work defensively and offensively and set the tone and balance of the whole team. Utd could lay claim to having the three best strikers in the whole league if you look at finishing (RVP), the number 10 (Rooney) and the super sub (Hernandez). But none of the three work together and Man Utd’s lightweight midfield is struggling as a result. It is no surprise that all of Utd’s good performances this season have come in cup games (and the first match vs Swansea) when one of Rooney or RVP have been absent. Ferguson knew this. It is why he bought Kagawa and it is why he tried to push Rooney out of the club. Moyes, ailing as he is, is faced with an impossible problem. Dropping one of his only two genuine world class players for the sake of the balance of the team. He won’t do it of course, and Utd will continue to struggle to dominate games. Even if, ironically, because the said two players are that good... they may well still bail them out of enough games with moments of genius.

2. West Ham. If in doubt... play no strikers at all.

Of course there is always the other option to playing 4-4-2 (or in Liverpool’s case, what appears to be 2-3-1-1-1-2) - and that is going away to the might of Swansea and playing with no strikers whatsoever. Now I’m the Swans biggest fan these days, but going to the Liberty Stadium is not like going away to Man City (previously Man Utd). Indeed, Swansea have a better record away from home this season. Big Sam of course, spent most of the summer buying the same player over and over again (average winger, who can cross sometimes) in order to feed his Plan A - Carroll & Nolan. West Ham’s Plan B hasn’t really got going this season, that freak, planet aligning Spurs result aside. Sure they’re defensively sound, as any team managed by Big Sam would be. But they’ve scored less than a goal a game even including that Norton Coin moment at White Hart Lane. Big Sam had one thing in mind this weekend. Kill the game and hope for a long shot to go in to sneak the points. Part one happened and as part two didn’t, the game was as much of a wash out as the weather. It’s ok though, soon we’re have Tony Pulis back in the league again as well...

3. How far can Saints really go?

Can anyone explain this one, very simple point to me? Fitness issues aside, of which there should be none at the highest level, why don’t more teams press? I mean, people can look at Barca and Spain all they want and say “we’ll never be able to pass the ball like that” - and they’ll probably be correct. But the thing both teams also do so well is harry you all over the pitch to get the ball back once they’ve lost it. Man Utd would sometimes do it under Ferguson, like wise Chelsea under Jose. Arsenal, to name but one team at random, never do it. The mind boggles how good they might be if they did. (Citation: Flamini has been doing it great this year, and they have already struggled badly in the last two games without him). All of which brings us to Southampton. Who press the hell out of you, defend in numbers, are organised in every position and can hit you on the break just as well as from a set piece. The Saints are 5th in the league at the end of it’s first quarter and still boast the best defensive record in Europe. In. Europe. They are ahead of both Manchester clubs and play two of the bottom four next up. What’s more, is that they’re not reliant on any one player. I mentioned a month ago about how they were achieving all this with English players and it’s a point worth reiterating following the weekend. Both of their goals were made in England with Lambert, Jay Rodriquez and Adam Lallana directly involved. Indeed, Saints front four were all English and all played exceptionally well. I don’t expect them to finish the season in the top spots, but a European place remains an outside bet if they carry on playing like this. If they get anywhere near that come May they will deserve every accolade going and their manager needs to be consulted by every young coach in the land about how to get their team playing like this. With... er... a translator.

4. Do Spurs feel lucky?

The league table doesn’t lie is the old chestnut. Perhaps at the end of the season, but right now it puts Spurs in 4th and just 3 points behind Arsenal. You have to go down to Man Utd in 8th to find anyone playing worse than AVB’s side, yet there they remain thanks to the brilliance of Hugo Loris and continuous Roberto Soldado penalties. Spurs have had an easy start, of the two tough games they have played, they have just a point from. They have won half of their games 1 nil and have scored just 4 goals, discounting penalties. But, like Man Utd in the past, they seem to so far have the one quality that you also need to make you champions. Luck. Spurs are not playing fluent football, although they are highly organised. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise given over half the entire team has been changed and, it is worth noting, they didn’t play well for the last ten games of last season either. Then they had Bale to bail them out. Now they have fortuitous penalty decisions. As with Arsenal, the next month should tell us whether Spurs are serious title contenders, or vying for the last champions league spot with an increasingly large number of other clubs. They play Everton and Man City away and Man Utd at home in their next four league matches. Of course, there is an argument that Spurs are being unlucky rather than the other way around. They are dominating games and perhaps it’s only a matter of time before they start opening up and beating teams by 3 or 4 every week? That’s not an argument I’me going to make. But someone could...

5. Where’s the heart Gareth, I can’t see it...

Given I’m bashing Spurs for a change, I’ll round off this week’s elongated blog with a short entry on everyones favourite Simian.



Gareth... it’s not going well is it. That is all.



https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Eight

1. Arsenal’s opening goal was worthy of any stage
Arsenal managed to take their intimidating start to the season to new levels this weekend with a three act play worthy of any bard. The second, the tragedy, flirted with an improbable comeback before the heart stopping third combined pace, artistry and clinical finishing leaving the audience in raptures. But I’m here to talk about Act One. The score sheet will simply record the details Wilshere, 18 by it. But such words could never do justice to a goal that was sent from all the gods themselves. Team goals rarely get as much praise as individual pile drivers do; and in a sense that’s right. Argentina’s famous 25 passes goal sounded impressive… but let’s be honest, it was dull to actually watch. Passing football is at its best when it is so quick it takes the breath away. Usually only Barca and Spain are capable of this fast paced tiki-taka, with the other great teams of recent times relying on quick counter attacking (Man Utd, Real Madrid), resilience and strength (Chelsea) or being German (Dortmund, Munich). Wilshire’s strike against Norwich combined some of the most ridiculous first touches you’ll likely to see. The build up to the build up was good enough, but the build up to the goal itself between Santi, Giroud and Wilshere was jaw dropping. Hell, Arsenal deserve to win the title for this goal alone. Sure they’ll get injuries, run out of steam and probably fade away come May. But for every Arsenal fan come the end of the season… at least they’ll have this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jh6Cpkpg0

(which doesn’t even feature the outrageous bit of skill in his own half to set the move going)

2. City finally banish away blues
With 1 point from 9 following on from last season’s tame effort; much has already been written about Manchester City’s away day blues. The jury is still out on Pellegrini’s team after they almost let West Ham back into things, but in truth this was a routine away win from a squad who should be clear favourites to win this year’s title. Chelsea and seemingly Arsenal remain key challengers, but neither of those teams possesses anyone in the class of Sergio Aguero. Despite being prone to incessant niggling injuries, Aguero has scored 43 goals in the 72 Premier League games he has played for City. A record bested by nobody who hasn’t played for Man Utd during that time. The core of City’s team is better than anyone and with David Silva sparkling again, Nasri having refound his mojo and the return of Micah “the human wall” Richards; few would bet against them retaining their title come May. Much of that will depend on results such as this though. City retain the ability to switch off at any moment and seem to genuinely consider Javi Garcia to be a better defender than Joleen Lescott. On their day, they remain unbeatable. Capable of scoring in a blink of an eye and out muscling anyone. Their fans will hope this win goes some way to banishing their away day blues and kicks them on to bigger and greater things once more.

3. Writing about Stoke City doesn’t get any easier
People like Mark Hughes. They want him to succeed. No honestly. I know this to be true why? Because um… Mark Hughes says so. Need more proof? Well… um… er… how about the fact that after starting the season with some vague promise Stoke have defaulted instantly to their old ways? What about the fact that their best player remains their goalkeeper, who single-handedly keeps them in every single match they play? Or their goals for column!? Four in eight games! One in the last SIX HOURS. That’s worth shouting about isn’t it? What about Peter Crouch? He scored that amazing goal against Man City didn’t he!? Was that the last time he actually scored? I think it might be. Was that the last time Stoke scored? No, no… that cheeky chappy Jermaine Pennant popped up a few weeks ago didn’t he? Oh wait, that’s it. Jermaine Pennant! Everybody loves him! That must have been what Hughes was on about when he said people want him to succeed!?

Mark. Nobody wants Stoke to succeed. Or you to succeed. Except Stoke fans. And you.

Infact probably just you.

You twat

4.  Roberto Martinez is doing a very good job
Four points off top, four points above Man Utd and just one defeat in 8 games. Roberto Martinez has taken a lot less time to settle in his new role than David Moyes has. Unlike Utd, Everton have retained the qualities of their departing manager whilst adding new ones into the mix. Martinez had a reputation for poor defensive management at Wigan, but Everton currently look as good as ever in that regard. The back five picks itself and it’s a solid, dependable unit full of attacking thrust from the flanks. What the Spaniard has added, is fluent, passing football combined with genuine movement. Barkley has been a revelation this season and there is a certain irony that the area where Utd continue to struggle the most is the main area Everton have strengthened in. The new look midfield of McCarthy, Barry and Barkley looks better than any combination Moyes’ new team can put together and Everton are starting to control games as well as win them. Everton fans cannot have expected this in their wildest dreams. Whilst Utd fans clung to what are fast becoming very false hopes and belief in a squad quite clearly not good enough, Evertonians spoke of a slide from any European challenge and some even mentioned relegation. That looks absurd right now. The season remains young, with 30 games still to play. But three months ago you would have been put in an asylum for suggesting Everton would finish above Man Utd this year. Injuries permitting, it now looks more like even money.

5. Watching England was almost fun again…                      
And so England are going to Brazil. And the whole country waits… and expects… well not much this time actually. If there is one thing Roy Hodgson deserves credit for, it’s managing the expectations of England fans so that even the most deluded follower of St George doesn’t believe we can win it. None of which should take away from some of the good work that Hodgson has done. After a slow start to the group England eased to the top of the table with two convincing victories against sub rate opposition (waves flag). If Roy wanted to get England to the moon, he found the right Space Monkey for the job (sorry). The best thing about Andros Townsend’s performances last week wasn't his ability or youthful abandon, is what that he approached the games without fear or apprehension and that rubbed off on all the other players. England played some of their best attacking football in years and much of it went through the freshman astronaut (sorry again). England can’t win the World Cup, but they have earned the right to be there and not being seeded will at least put to bed some of the ludicrous delusions of grandeur. We have some very good young players, mixed with experienced old heads. People who talk of our centre backs not having proved it at the highest level seem to have misplaced the knowledge that our number one defender, Gary Cahill, started, played and won the Champions League final and Europa final in successive seasons. If that isn’t proving it at the highest level, I’m not sure what is. Gerrard seems to have finally settled into the setup as the elder statesmen and he has proved himself a dependable captain. A team of Hart, Walker, Jones, Cahill, Gibbs, Wilshire, Barkley, Townsend, Welbeck, Rooney and Sturridge could well get to the Quarter Finals and all would be under 27. Add in Gerrard, Cole, Baines, Walcott and for no possible reason that I can fathom… Jermaine Defoe. And England are going to… ah who I am kidding. I don’t even care.

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Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Six

1. Content is key MOTD… not computers.
There are few shows that get more abuse on television than Match of the Day. Everyone has an opinion on football; and being the central round up show for all top flight action, airing at a time when most people have come back from the pub after a few beers, it’s little wonder that over the years its pundits and presenters have come in for some serious flak. Of late, the show had reached a nadir of banal analysis from preened, overpaid presenters whose names usually began with Alan. It was refreshing then, to see none of its usual pundits in action this weekend and instead listen to Danny Murphy giving the regulars a lesson in how to actually do their job. Roberto Martinez offered likeable light relief, but Murphy’s defensive dissection of Manchester United was the best piece of analysis for years on the show. It was, in short, exactly what Sky do every week. Contrast this to last week’s horror show of an MOTD2 where we had to witness a standing Alan Shearer try and explain physicality with Mark Chapman. It didn’t work… at all. Because it was Alan Shearer. Sky may have fancy gadgets and computers, but the reason it continues to be the standard bearer for televised football is the content itself. I’m sure we’ll be back to the two Alan’s comparing whose shirt is more starched before long, but this Saturday, it was refreshing to be educated rather than bored for a change.

2. Jol may be back under a bridge before too long.
Fulham have not started the season well. A fortunate win away at struggling Sunderland aside, they have now mustered a single point from 5 games and sit firmly entrenched in the relegation zone. Jol could point to a difficult start and niggling injuries to his forwards. But goalkeeper aside, Fulham were at full strength on Saturday as they were humbled at home by promoted Cardiff. The big Dutchmen resembles a creature that belongs under a bridge, picking off wandering farmyard animals as they attempt to cross to the other side. If he’s not careful, he’ll… he’ll… I’m sorry this metaphor is making about as much sense as Jose’s egg speech. I’ll cut to the chase. Fulham have a new man up top and Jol needs to start winning games and fast. Or a Michael Jackson statue won’t be the only thing leaving Fulham Football Club this year.

3. Ramsey is Reborn.
I’ve refrained from writing a Ramsey piece until now for two reasons. Firstly is that a lot of people have already penned something about his dramatic change in form and I wanted to see if he could keep it up for a few more games. Secondly… last season against Swansea I wrote a piece absolutely slating him and holding him up as an example for everything that was wrong with Arsene Wenger. Well… he showed me. The Welshman has got better and better with every game he’s played this season and currently isn’t just the in-form player for Arsenal, but for the entire league. His team sit at the top of the table and have started well in Europe. In the 8 games Ramsey has been involved in since that opening day reverse Arsenal have scored 18 goals and Ramsey has scored or created 12 of them. He is currently the Premier Leagues top scorer. Numbers of course, don’t always tell the whole story. Ya Ya Toure scored again to join Ramsey at the top of the scoring charts but was woeful against a determined and slick Aston Villa. Ramsey, by contrast, has been the man of the match in almost every game he’s played since August. Wenger maintains that he always had this ability in his locker and famously courted him as much as any player during his Arsenal career. Many purists would love for the Gunners to still be top of the tree come May and for Ramsey himself, anything like that as an end game would represent a remarkable turnaround from last season where he was continuously hopeless and bereft of form. I have rarely seen such a poor performance as the one he gave away to Swansea in January, but he has turned his entire game on its head and is now playing with confidence and vigour. There is however, one final point regarding his turnaround which is relevant to all of the bigger squads in the league. Ramsey was maligned and playing poorly, but he was often stationed out of position and wide on the left (seemingly the stock “out of position” role that any attacking player must be subjected to). His form has coincided with being moved into his favoured central role where he can burst forward from deep. My point about Ramsey was that he wasn’t a bad player per se, but that he wasn’t good enough for an Arsenal team who had the likes of Wilshire, Rosicky and Santi playing in his position. It is very much a modern day football decision to become a “squad player” at a bigger club or a first choice regular at a smaller one. I felt that Ramsey at his age could benefit from playing 10-20 games in a row at a club that would play him in his favoured role. As it happens, Arsenal ended up doing that and both player and club have reaped the rewards. So, just to clarify Ollie Harris… technically I was right all along. Now if only Man Utd would try and do this with Shinji “45 minutes at left wing and replaced by a teenager reserve” Kagawa…

4. Saints are all marching to the same beat.
It seems remarkable that so far this season Maurico Pochettino has come under criticism. Everything from “he hasn’t picked up the language quick enough” to “why has he bought players he doesn’t even need?” Southampton currently sit in 5^th place, boast the best defensive record in the league and possess a team who, above anything else… are simply that. A team. Since taking over in January Pochettino has managed Saints for 25 games and only lost 6 of them. That’s less than both Manchester City and Utd, just so we’re clear. Pretty good going for a team tipped to be relegation strugglers throughout most of that time. The Argentine has installed a calmness at St Mary’s but more than that, he has coached his team into playing as a wonderful unit. The likes of Swansea and Arsenal continue to win admirers for their style but there is nothing less pleasing about the way Southampton work and play for each other. The signing of Wanyama was derided in some quarters but he has been instrumental to their success this season. Jay Rodrigquez has been converted into an old fashioned inside right and Pochettino has used the dead ball specialism of Lallana and Ward-Prowse to solid effect, without ever trying to shoe horn both into the team to do so. The most remarkable thing about the transformation of both Swansea and Southampton over the past 12 months hasn’t been the managers though; it’s been the completely English spine that runs through both teams. Here are two clubs playing attractive, passing football in a continental style with predominantly English and British players. Any future manager of this country should be taking a long hard look at both clubs and asking for some serious tips. As well as stopping picking the reserves of Man Utd and Liverpool for no fucking reason whatsoever.

5. Qatar probably wasn’t a good choice.
Everybody knows Fifa is corrupt. It’s not even worth saying anymore such is the obviousness of the statement. It’s like saying the Tories don’t care about the NHS or that America might just have a gun problem. But when the dust settles on the disgraceful reign of Sepp Blatter, the Qatar world cup bribe bid will probably be held up as the poster of it. Awarding the biggest sporting tournament in the world to a country with absolutely zero pedigree in the sport was strange to begin with. But it was seemingly done without even a cursory amount of research into how the country would accommodate so many teams, so many fans and so many matches in a climate that averages a cool 41 degrees in July. Recent stories have now broken about human rights, health and safety and a simply appalling level of human fatalities during the construction phase of the event. Add to this the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and we have a back to back campaign of racial and homophobic hatred to look forward to as well. Talk of a shift to winter is stupid for so many reasons that I can’t be bothered to name them here; but the only one that matters is that it’s stupid to continue to consider Qatar as a viable option for a World Cup anyway. Blatter and his cronies need to suck it up, realise they’re probably rich enough anyway and give back the huge pile of money they were certainly NOT given in order to award the tournament to Qatar in the first place. This just wouldn’t happen with Cricket. I mean the ICC is a fine body of upstanding gentlemen free from any sort of corruption, woeful decision making or possible ulterior motives.

Hmmm… I’ve lost you haven’t I…

https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

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

1. Arsenal fans are starting to believe.
Top of the league, a fantastic start in Europe, Aaron Ramsey playing like he’s Mesut Ozil and well… signing Mesut Ozil. If you offered that to Arsenal fans after the season started with them being beaten at home by Villa they wouldn’t just have bitten your hand off, they would have checked you into a mental asylum to boot. Football is a funny old game and you should never underestimate how important one player can truly be to a team. Arsenal were on a good run before Ozil joined their ranks, but his very presence seems to have given them that extra bit of belief that they have lacked for so long. The German was simply mesmeric on Sunday afternoon, not so much passing the ball but making gentle love to it with his boot. Questions remain about Arsenal’s defence and concentration levels, not least under pressure; but if they can get to Christmas with this sort of momentum anything remains possible. It already looks like one of four teams could win the title this year. The biggest surprise so far, isn’t that Man Utd aren’t one of those four… but that Arsenal are.

2. Norwich are all kids of boring.
Last season only Stoke and QPR scored less goals than Norwich City. The former sacked their manager and the latter sacked one and finished bottom with the other. Indeed, Norwich’s paltry haul of 41 goals was swelled by two final dead rubbers, without which they had scored 34 goals in 36 matches. It was clear then where Chris Hughton needed to strengthen and strengthen he did this summer, bringing in three new strikers and a couple of attacking midfielders at significant cost. The result? Norwich have scored 3 times in 5 games and once in the last 400 minutes. There’s no way to flower that up so I’ll just cut to the chase, Norwich are fucking boring. They don’t create enough chances and they don’t take enough chances, a combination to make nobody but opposition managers happy. They have only had 2 shots on target in over 3 hours of football. Whatever is going on down at the training ground, it just isn’t working. Norwich are away at Stoke next and then have Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City in their next four games. Paulo Di Canio did everything he can to win the first manager sacked race, but if Norwich win none of those games and are bottom in November, it will be hard to make a case for the Hughton to carry on either.

3. Chelsea have a lot of unanswered questions still.
Chelsea stuttered past a miserable looking Fulham on Saturday evening to record a well overdue first victory since the opening week. 2 points off the top doesn’t sound so bad but the truth is everyone has stumbled to some extent so far and Chelsea were many peoples favourites for the title. Woeful in midweek against Basel, Chelsea look like a collection of overrated individuals rather than a fully functioning team. It’s early into the second reign of Jose, but given his history it’s a shock to see Chelsea playing as badly as this. Unanswered questions you say? Well here are five for starters. One: Why praise Mata all summer, fail to sell him and then make a speech how he was never going to fit into your plans anyway? Nobody is denying the ability of Oscar, Jose, but to treat the club player of the season for two years like this is perverse. Two: Why try and fix the one part of the team that isn’t broken? The central attacking trident of Oscar, Mata and Hazard sung in unison last year, tearing teams apart and driving Chelsea to Europa League glory. Where Chelsea needed a change was defensive midfield, full back and up front. Instead Jose has added an absurd three players to his strongest area (Willian being the most shamelessly unnecessary) and none to his weaker ones. Three: Why allow your best striker to go on loan and then buy someone who’s 32 on four times the wages? Lukaku took what, twenty minutes to score on Saturday? Eto has been indescribably bad to date. Four: Why turn down a £35m bid for David Luiz from a club not even in your league and then make him your 4^th choice centre back and admit you’ll never play him in midfield? This one is just stupid. Five: Why talk about trying to play attacking, open and fluent football when the evidence on the pitch could not point further in the opposite direction? Nobody likes a liar Jose. But a boring liar… hell that’s really bad. And boring.

4. Swansea are the best run club in the league.
I try and remain impartial on this blog (coughs) but I’m not afraid to admit that I fucking love Swansea City. The way they play, their ethos, their manager, their fans… everything. Swansea have gathered a preposterous amount of steam since they regained their place in the Championship back in 2009. Since their promotion to the Premier League they have managed themselves and their finances in the best possible way without once compromising their commitment to passing, attractive football. They are perhaps helped by the fact that their supporters own 20% of the club. The most high profile example of any such involvement from fans in this country. After a slow start to this season not helped by a vindictive fixture list, Swansea have gone from strength to strength and are unbeaten in their last four games. After stopping Liverpool’s run they completed a comfortable win today, but it was the midweek destruction of Valencia that really stood out. For a little team from Wales to go away to a La Liga superpower and receive a standing ovation from the home fans takes some doing. Swansea won’t keep hold of Laudrup forever, but the best thing you can say about the club is that when he does leave, almost every ambitious, unsettled or unemployed manager across Europe will be sending their CV to the Liberty Stadium.

5. David Moyes is not good enough to manage Manchester Utd.
I’d like to clarify from the off that this heading is not calling for David Moyes head. I don’t think he is a manager currently capable of the biggest job in English football, but that is not to say he won’t become capable given adequate time and resources. Whether he will get that time remains to be seen following a start to the season that can politely be described as “disappointing.” Moyes has not inherited the strongest squad Utd have ever had, which made the decision to not strengthen it this summer even more baffling. Releasing feeble statements that the manager had only been in place for a short space of time just don’t cut it. The board and even Ferguson himself should have ensured there was adequate provision to ensure summer targets were sought and secured. But even that aside, Utd have been woeful for all but two half’s of football this season (the second against first Swansea and then Leverkusen). They have played three of their rivals in Chelsea, Liverpool and City and have scored one consolation goal, which was direct from a free kick. They have created next to nothing in all of those games, won none of them and have just been humiliated (again) by their noisy, local neighbours. City have flattered to deceive so far this season but they blew Utd away on Sunday simply by possessing the ability to pass the ball and actually make tackles. Moyes has to take some responsibility. His tactics have been negative in all of the games to date and he doesn’t appear to know how to set his team up to win a match. He has never been a good reactive manager and that simply has to change at Manchester Utd. Ferdinand and Vidic haven’t played three games in a week for half a decade so I have no idea what Moyes was thinking when he selected them for each of the past few fixtures. Both were visibly jaded against City and it’s not even open to debate that Ferguson would have rotated both in and out of the team ready for the bigger games. Did either need to play against Crystal Palace at home when Jonny Evans was fit, unused and the best centre back at the club for two years? No is the simple answer David. There have been several rumours of tough, draconian training measure leaked to the press and it’s worrying that Van Persie has already picked up a couple of niggling injuries again. Add to this the miserable form of any winger associated with the club, whilst the best player in preseason (Zaha) doesn’t get in the squad. The golden chance overlooked to actually play Kagawa in his favoured position against City once Van Persie got injured. The pathetic undervaluing of Leighton Baines whilst he hammers in two match winning free kicks for Everton. I could go on, but I’m depressing myself. As a measured critic I find myself a bit baffled that Utd have started the season so flat footed and are already playing catch up. I’d have thought at least the desire to impress a new manager would be there and carry them over the first few games. As a bias, heartbroken and prone to massive exaggerations fan… I am witnessing the top to bottom destruction of the greatest football team this country has known for the past twenty years.

I’m a Swansea City fan now.

https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey

Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Four

1. Gareth has still got it.
No not the $100m Simian with the trademarked celebration. I’m talking about Gareth Barry… who over 90 minutes on Saturday evening gave a lesson in how to close down space, find the right pass and play composed, intelligent football. Barry has always come in for unfair stick over the years; primarily for just being English and thus… well, having the misfortunate of having to play for England. It seems forgotten that he was Aston Villa’s best player for near a decade and was one of  the most sought after midfielders in the land in his prime. He has been consistent for City ever since he joined them and was a lynchpin in their title winning team. Sure he doesn’t have much pace… but then a good defensive midfielder shouldn’t need pace. Barry outplayed Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle et all on Saturday… all of which would probably reduce him to dust over 50 yards. He read the game better and controlled the game better. He was the man of the match in a performance of real quality from Everton, especially in the second half. It’s early days in the Martinez reign, but thus far he seems to be turning Everton into an easy on the eye, passing team whilst retaining their defensive qualities. If he can get Lukaku playing and scoring, the sky’s the limit. Or, you know… 6^th.

2. Does David Moyes actually know what he’s doing?
Utd recorded a seemingly comfortable win this Saturday, but as is often the case, that only told half the story in what was another worryingly disjointed performance shorn of any pace, zest and creativity. Fergie got by on sheer force of will at times and, in truth, Utd have struggled in the bigger fixtures for a couple of years. But this was the sort of the game where a Ferguson team would have showed no mercy. Palace were there for the taking and Utd were far too slow out of the blocks. Moyes seems too apprehensive a manager and whilst that might change, the decision to not start Fellani after the farce that the summer transfer activity had become was strange to say the least. Rooney huffed and puffed but beyond him it’s hard to make a case for any offensive Utd player looking dangerous. RVP needs service to survive and can’t always rely on Ashley Young diving to win penalties. Valencia is getting worse every week, Anderson should have been sold three seasons ago and one can only assume the 5 year contract given to Nani this week was a bet that went very, very wrong. Nobody even knows where Shinji Kagawa is… except not on the football pitch. Moyes has so far got away with a slow start from a difficult set of fixtures because Chelsea and City have also stumbled. But with a tough Champions League draw and Arsenal and Spurs clearly improved, Utd cannot afford to slip up. Next league game? Away to City. Who look about as toothless as Utd do. Can’t wait. No… really.

3. How did Spurs get Eriksen so cheap?
In a summer of record breakings dealings across Europe, it seemed that Fergie’s famous words of the transfer window offering “no value” had finally come true. But, as last summer’s outrageous £2m for MIchu proved… there are always bargains to be had. Christian Eriksen has been one of the most talked about young midfielders across Europe for three or four years. Yet another product of the famous Ajax youth team (all be it sourced late), Eriksen has been capped 39 times for his country and in his 150 matches for Ajax, has scored 32 times and contributed a further 54 assists. Which is pretty good going for a central midfielder… who is only 21. Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Munich have all been linked with the Dane over the past couple of years yet it seems Spurs were able to swan in at the end of a transfer window and pick him up for next to nothing. £11m can never be considered cheap in the broad scheme of things, but in this climate it’s almost a free transfer. Eriksen slotted seamlessly into the Spurs line up this weekend, looking generally superb and creating one goal with a Cantona esque piece of vision (he’s not even looking where’s he’s passing it! – exclaimed a perplexed Alan Shearer). Spurs have spent and spent big this summer and if their team can gel they have a genuine chance of winning what looks like a pleasingly wide open title race. Eriksen, which his twinkling toes and dashing, world war fighter pilot haircut, could prove to be the best of the lot.

4. Could this be Ben Arfa’s year?
Amidst all the Joe Kinnear comedy, transfer failings, stadium renaming, a manager who is the Anti-Christ and general soap opera running of one of the league’s BIGGEST clubs… it is worth remembering that Newcastle have some very, very good players. Their problem of late has been two fold; firstly a general sense of malaise and harddonebyness (it’s a word…look it up) and secondly, getting everyone on the pitch at the same time. Krul, Coloccini, Santon, Cabye & Ben Arfa remain quality players and if the forwards can actually find their shooting boots at some time, any fears Newcastle fans had of a relegation scrap will be quickly forgotten. Of all the aforementioned players though, it is Ben Arfa who remains the most enigmatic. The Frenchman has struggled with injury since he arrived on Tyneside but now looks fully fit and is playing with composure and self-assurance. Ben Arfa is a similar player to Nani, if Nani was actually any good. He can dribble, pass and head the ball but his real weapon is a fearsome shot. Having won his side all three points before the soul destroying international break, he was the man of the match again away to Aston Villa. Scoring one and creating another, his all round play was fantastic. Being the sort of player that he is (i.e. almost entirely dependent upon confidence) – one hopes he can continue this form for some time and kick on properly. At his worst, Ben Arfa is frustrating and hopeless, but at his best… he is the reason people pay their money to watch the game.

5. Are West Brom dark horses for relegation?
Tipped by a few to go down last year, Steve Clarke’s strong start and the form of Lukaku soon silenced the doubters and West Brom finished in an impressive 8^th spot. That position only tells half the story however, literally in this case. The Baggies had a shocking end to last season and have picked up where they left off this time around. With Lukaku gone and a previously creative midfield firing blanks, it’s hard to see where the goals are going to come from. In 2013 West Brom have played 22 Premier League games and they have won just 3 of them. Indeed, they have taken just 12 points from their last 66. Numbers that scream relegation form whichever way you look at it. Nobody really mentioned them as possible candidates at the start of the season but they sure look like it now. Especially with the strong start made by some of the other contenders. Still, there is good news on the horizon in the fact they play Sunderland at home next, the team currently worse than they are. Of course, should they lose that they then play Arsenal at home and Man Utd, Stoke and Liverpool all away. So no pressure then.

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