1. Yakubu still has it.
As Everton continue to regard the art of scoring as a lost pastime, the man they released in the summer has racked up 10 goals in as many matches for an otherwise inept Blackburn. Scoring all 4 goals this weekend, Yakubu may not be as quick as he once was, but how David Moyes must be missing the big Nigerian now. A genuine finisher, Yakubu remains a powerful centre forward who, on his day, can give any defence a hard time. Saturday was one such a day, and you suspect if Blackburn have any chance of staying up, there will have to be plenty more of them to come...
2. Capello might need to have a word with Alex Mcleish.
Having taken just a few games to successfully turn Aston Villa into the most boring team ever to play football, the repercussions for England could be significant. Not so much negative as just completely disinterested, the 9-0-1 formation that Mcleish perfects is leaving Darren Bent both confused and isolated. Given Rooney is not going to be playing in what looks like a very taxing group (despite what the media may think) - it is likely that Bent is currently first in line to lead England’s attack come June. At this rate, he will have died of boredom by then and certainly won’t be getting much shooting practice. Capello could do worse than pick up the phone to the Villa boss and beg him to start playing anything resembling positive football. If this goes on much longer he could be forced to pick Jermain Defoe. And nobody wants that. Not even Defoe himself...
As Everton continue to regard the art of scoring as a lost pastime, the man they released in the summer has racked up 10 goals in as many matches for an otherwise inept Blackburn. Scoring all 4 goals this weekend, Yakubu may not be as quick as he once was, but how David Moyes must be missing the big Nigerian now. A genuine finisher, Yakubu remains a powerful centre forward who, on his day, can give any defence a hard time. Saturday was one such a day, and you suspect if Blackburn have any chance of staying up, there will have to be plenty more of them to come...
2. Capello might need to have a word with Alex Mcleish.
Having taken just a few games to successfully turn Aston Villa into the most boring team ever to play football, the repercussions for England could be significant. Not so much negative as just completely disinterested, the 9-0-1 formation that Mcleish perfects is leaving Darren Bent both confused and isolated. Given Rooney is not going to be playing in what looks like a very taxing group (despite what the media may think) - it is likely that Bent is currently first in line to lead England’s attack come June. At this rate, he will have died of boredom by then and certainly won’t be getting much shooting practice. Capello could do worse than pick up the phone to the Villa boss and beg him to start playing anything resembling positive football. If this goes on much longer he could be forced to pick Jermain Defoe. And nobody wants that. Not even Defoe himself...
3. The FA Cup just got interesting again...
In dire need of an image change, the FA Cup at least got a massive dose of fortune yesterday with a third round tie which will have Adrian Chiles salivating like the cuddly, portly bear man he really is. Whilst Chelsea were handed their 1000th consecutive home draw to a rubbish team, Manchester United were paired with their neighbors for a mid-season clash of the titans at the illegally sponsored Etihad Stadium. Given the recent match up, not to mention the obvious rivalry, it’s likely both managers will select full strength teams and start the 3rd round off with a bang. Hopefully, it will remind people how good this famous competition once was. Failing that, I’m sure Balotelli will do something to make it worth tuning in...
4. Ref’s... they’re just not getting better are they.
In a weekend littered with poor decision making, nowhere was there more of a contrast in how a sending off can change a game than at Newcastle and Spurs. In the early kick off at the sporting direct dot com stadium or whatever the hell it’s called now, Mike Dean inexplicably opted to show David Luiz a yellow card despite there being no rule in the game existing to do so. With Demba Ba clean through, Luiz hauled him down in what was a stonewall, all day long red card decision. If the ref had not deemed it a foul, it would have been the wrong decision but at least could have been explained as a genuine error. Instead, by giving the free kick for the foul and then deciding for no reason whatsoever to show Luiz a yellow, Mike Dean effectively said “I have no idea what the rules of this game are.” Elsewhere, Spurs got a big helping hand via the perennially hapless Stuart Attwell, who deemed Gary Cahill’s tangle of legs with Scott Parker to be a professional foul despite it being on the half way line, with a man covering. It’s hard to know which decision was worse, but both refs should be hung out to dry for calls which there was simply no excuse whatsoever to get wrong. A three match relegation to the lower leagues, 2 weeks wages and being asked to stand naked whilst Ba and Cahill get to pelt them with rotten fruit ought to do it.
5. Arsenal are very much back in business.
Ok so Van Persie still scored, but his fellow team mates had already hit the net three times by then and Arsenal swept aside Wigan with the sort of arrogance and casual disregard not seen in a long time. 4 straight away wins and unbeaten since that reverse by Spurs have seen Wenger’s little pocket dynamo’s stumble their way up the table to 5th and only 2 points off the Champions League spots. Such a transformation seemed implausible 2 months ago and Wenger deserves credit for steadying the ship and slowly, but surely, getting the confidence back into the side again. His front 6 are all playing well and the return of Vermalen at the back cannot be underestimated enough. Put simply, Arsenal’s defence are 50% better when he plays. Ok so Wigan are essentially a joke, but the Gunners are passing the ball around with real fluency again, not least in a 34 pass movement that resulted in their 3rd goal on Saturday. With some big games to come, including Man City in a fortnight, Arsenal now have genuine reason to look forward to Christmas expecting a cracker... and not another turkey (sorry).
In dire need of an image change, the FA Cup at least got a massive dose of fortune yesterday with a third round tie which will have Adrian Chiles salivating like the cuddly, portly bear man he really is. Whilst Chelsea were handed their 1000th consecutive home draw to a rubbish team, Manchester United were paired with their neighbors for a mid-season clash of the titans at the illegally sponsored Etihad Stadium. Given the recent match up, not to mention the obvious rivalry, it’s likely both managers will select full strength teams and start the 3rd round off with a bang. Hopefully, it will remind people how good this famous competition once was. Failing that, I’m sure Balotelli will do something to make it worth tuning in...
4. Ref’s... they’re just not getting better are they.
In a weekend littered with poor decision making, nowhere was there more of a contrast in how a sending off can change a game than at Newcastle and Spurs. In the early kick off at the sporting direct dot com stadium or whatever the hell it’s called now, Mike Dean inexplicably opted to show David Luiz a yellow card despite there being no rule in the game existing to do so. With Demba Ba clean through, Luiz hauled him down in what was a stonewall, all day long red card decision. If the ref had not deemed it a foul, it would have been the wrong decision but at least could have been explained as a genuine error. Instead, by giving the free kick for the foul and then deciding for no reason whatsoever to show Luiz a yellow, Mike Dean effectively said “I have no idea what the rules of this game are.” Elsewhere, Spurs got a big helping hand via the perennially hapless Stuart Attwell, who deemed Gary Cahill’s tangle of legs with Scott Parker to be a professional foul despite it being on the half way line, with a man covering. It’s hard to know which decision was worse, but both refs should be hung out to dry for calls which there was simply no excuse whatsoever to get wrong. A three match relegation to the lower leagues, 2 weeks wages and being asked to stand naked whilst Ba and Cahill get to pelt them with rotten fruit ought to do it.
5. Arsenal are very much back in business.
Ok so Van Persie still scored, but his fellow team mates had already hit the net three times by then and Arsenal swept aside Wigan with the sort of arrogance and casual disregard not seen in a long time. 4 straight away wins and unbeaten since that reverse by Spurs have seen Wenger’s little pocket dynamo’s stumble their way up the table to 5th and only 2 points off the Champions League spots. Such a transformation seemed implausible 2 months ago and Wenger deserves credit for steadying the ship and slowly, but surely, getting the confidence back into the side again. His front 6 are all playing well and the return of Vermalen at the back cannot be underestimated enough. Put simply, Arsenal’s defence are 50% better when he plays. Ok so Wigan are essentially a joke, but the Gunners are passing the ball around with real fluency again, not least in a 34 pass movement that resulted in their 3rd goal on Saturday. With some big games to come, including Man City in a fortnight, Arsenal now have genuine reason to look forward to Christmas expecting a cracker... and not another turkey (sorry).
Showing a remarkable lack of bias I would like to make the point that spurs were one-nil up before the red card and would have rolled Bolton over regardless, and that while Arsenal are one of the finest plc's I know, they will never, ever, win anything ever again. Ever.
ReplyDeleteTheir last 4 league games demonstrate this brilliantly - wins against West Brom, Wigan and Norwich don't speak as loud as their failure to beat Fulham at home, needing Vermaleen to rescue them from disaster at the death.
Europa league becons.