Saints still lack cutting edge
After five wins and a draw from their last six, this season’s surprise package came unstuck against a disciplined and organised Swansea City. The problem for Saints certainly wasn’t possession (64%), corners (9) or shots (15)... but too often they got into great positions only to pick the wrong option. Indeed, Clyne and Bertrand must have successfully overlapped the last man on around 300 occasions only to utterly fail to pick out anyone in the middle. Having said that, the person in the middle was all too often Pelle and four Swansea defenders. On the rare occasions the centre forward did get a shot in, he found literally every effort he had on goal blocked by a leg. Saints have been a revelation this year, but that has mainly been because of their defensive nous and superb organisation. Their numbers have been flattered by that absurd result against Sunderland and if you strip away that it’s 30 goals in 22 matches. Far from poor, but certainly a surprise for a team 1 point off third in the table. As it is, this result is unlikely to rock a side who have already come through one sticky patch smelling of roses again. But if Saints are to fend off the increasing challenge of Utd, Arsenal and even Spurs and Liverpool, they need to have a bit more about them in the areas where it really hurts. It would be incredibly dull after all of this, they were to finish 7th or 8th after all.
No team in world football needs to be relegated more than Aston Villa
Aston Villa have contested every single Premier League season and since the dizzy heights of the Martin O’Neil years, it’s safe to say their stock has dropped year by disastrously dull year. At this stage of a campaign, there is statistically no duller team in history than Villa. They are on track to “better” Derby County’s woeful goals for column from that infamous season and currently stand on a ridiculously poor 11 strikes from their 23 matches. They don’t have the resources of the big boys, but they certainly have a lot more than Derby County did and still possess one of the hottest young strikers in World Football. Villa now haven’t scored a league goal since the 20 December, a staggering 622 minutes ago. It is the second longest drought in league history and they have Chelsea next. Nobody likes watching them. Nobody has any offensive players from their team in their fantasy football squads. Playing them is like a pick me up for any defender, all but guaranteed of a clean sheet to add to their collection. They are a plague on a league which promises entertainment and for the good of all football need to be removed from the elite right now.
Who is going down?
Four points continue to separate seven teams from 13th-19th and even the seemingly doomed Leicester are far from cut adrift just yet. It’s not a massive surprise to see the three relegation candidates occupying four of the bottom spots. Starved of the resources of longer term players, none of them have managed to secure a signing that looks likely to rescue their season. There is English talent at both Burnley and Rangers, but the former’s start is continuing to cost them and QPR have played 12, lost 12 away. Surely they cannot stay up doing literally nothing on their travels? In between them are Hull, who just look awful. But unlike the other three clubs, Hull will likely sack their manager shortly and have the finances to get somebody vaguely competent in to steer them to safety. West Brom and Sunderland are too organised to fall much further and that only leaves Palace, who will surely have enough, and the aforementioned Aston Villa of the previous point. So to answer my own question, Leicester and Burnley to go... with Villa and QPR contesting the final spot.
Old fashioned centre forward play and a complete inability to defend vs old fashioned, backs to the wall defending and a complete inability to score. I think we all know who’s side we're on.
Hold on, nobody wants QPR to stay up?
Fuck this. Team Burnley.
It’s probably time to give Liverpool a little bit of credit again.
Unbeaten in seven games since their humbling at Old Trafford, Rodgers has returned to basics to finally inject some stability into Liverpool’s ailing season. One wonders if he has taken a leaf out of his old mentors books, given whilst this is still far from the free flowing attacking beast we saw last season, Liverpool have now becoming increasingly harder to score against. Liverpool have conceded just two goals in their last six fixtures across all competitions, and both of those were to Chelsea. Rodgers has done in 5 games what Van Gaal could not do in 5 months by making a three at the back system actually work. Key to this has been the superb repositioning of Emre Can as part of the three. The German youngster has proved highly versatile and has brought much needed composure to a back line that utterly lacked that a few weeks ago. What Rodgers has also done, is get a fluid, interchanging midfield which, finally shorn of the shackles of Steven Gerrard for most weeks, looks well capable of passing and moving it in the Liverpool style of old. Rather than giving it away two times out of three and then making it all alright by landing an 80 yard hail mary on the feet of Sterling. Liverpool have a tough little run of fixtures to get through before anyone will be considering them for 3rd/4th again just yet, but they have steadied, are within striking distance and finally... finally... have Daniel Sturridge back. And doing in 10 minutes what Aston Villa haven’t done in over 600.
I mean over SIX HUNDRED MINUTES. Come on!
And they didn’t even score in the game before that one either.
Harry Kane. He’s one of ours.
There aren’t too many players who have come from comparatively nowhere quite as quickly as Harry Kane. We have a habit of eulogising over any young English talent that rears it’s head, but rarely do such players back up such praise with statistics quite as impressive as this. Kane has 20 goals in 33 matches this season and a better strike rate than anyone in the land bar Aguero and Costa. Gary Lineker tends to be quite reserved for his praise for English youngsters, more conscious perhaps than many of his media pals of the dangers of overselling those who have achieved little. But it is telling that when Lineker speaks of Kane he cannot hide the glint in his eye. He again made comparison of Kane to Shearer on Saturday night and it’s amazing that not only does that claim seem valid, but that Shearer himself went on to declare that Kane was probably a little bit better in certain areas. Along with his fellow, handsome, World War II fighter pilot throw back buddy Christen Eriksen, Kane is utterly carrying Spurs at the moment to a position where they can once again dream of finishing 4th only to, well... not. Kane has not even been capped by England yet, such has been the rapidity of his ascent. He is quick, strong, ruthless, fearless and incredibly intelligent in his movement. When the next squad is announced England shouldn’t just be naming him in it. They should be starting him and building the entire team around his strengths.
Shameless hyperbole? Hell yeah... but in a month this fucking dull, who cares. Right?
Team Harry.
Team of the Weak
Take the 22 players that started for Hull and Aston Villa. Put them in a pot. Draw 11 names. That’ll do.
What you may have missed
Steve Bruce still having a job. John Carver now having a full time permanent job. For four months. Everton keeping back to back clean sheets. Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing coming back to Liverpool and showing everyone what they’d been missing. LVG finally being ground down by players, supporters, coaches, the tea lady and his own dog into playing any system in the world other than 3-5-2. Watched as a rampant Utd won easily within 32 minutes before just taking the rest of the day off. QPR playing brilliantly, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Stoke only to be completely outdone by three horrible, horrible defensive lapses. That let Jonathan Walters score a hat-trick. Jonathan. Walters. Burnley reverting back to their toothless selves. A Sunderland striker actually scoring. West Brom forgetting they were managed by Tony Pulis now. Arsenal thrashing Villa without their best player. Jonjo Shelvey leaving it late to claim the goal of the week prize and Chelsea and Man City huffing and puffing and dear god that was a dull game wasn’t it.
Seriously Jose, is this the best you can do? At least try and entertain us? You unimaginably successful bastard.
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