1. Arsenal remain so very, very predictable.
Over the course of the last five seasons the most predictable side in England has been, by some distance, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. I’ve moaned about Wenger’s tactics before (or lack of them) and he, more than any other manager, has expertly managed to craft a team who you could pretty much bet on every week and win. You see, Arsenal have one way of playing and it’s a way that is very effective if the opposition aren’t as good... and downright useless if they are. Arsenal consistently beat the teams from the bottom half of the table with ease. Labour to narrow victories or get draws with those from middle to top and lose to those teams above them. It’s not a domestic thing either. Arsenal have, in many ways, as good a record in anyone in the Champions League over the past decade. They always make it through the group, because there will tend to be two teams at least who they are superior to. But as soon as they come up against a Munich or a Barca (unluckily early it has to be said of late) they just lose. Arsene Wenger is a wonderful manager in many ways but he is curiously deluded. When faced with a better team, he doesn’t attempt to work out a way to beat them, he just puts his team on the pitch and says “go play.” Seemingly hoping that the planets will align and they will play out of their skin whilst the oppositions better players will have off days. It does happen from time to time of course, as does the other end of spectrum and Arsenal lose to an inferior team. But these are exceptions not rules, and the reason Arsenal finish 4th in the league each and every year is because, when the dust settles, they have the 4th best squad and Wenger is physically incapable of getting the extra mile out of them. Arsenal have played well this season, and unsurprisingly followed up defeat by Munich with a thrashing of Sunderland, but they have the worst record against their rivals of any team over the past 5 years. Wenger has shown no ability to be able to change that, and so until they manage to go away at City or Chelsea and grind out a win, the trophies will continue to elude them as they have for the past near decade. Oh and if people mention the fact that they keep beating Spurs? Well... you don’t need me to spell it out about a team who can’t beat Norwich do you.
2. Roy Hodgson has a very easy job picking this squad.
It’s simply Roy, you pick on form. And right now any ticket to Merseyside is going to show the England manager how many inform, talented players are available to go to Brazil and lose in the group stage. If Everton have stumbled of late, still playing well but shorn of Lukaku to actually put the ball in the net, the same can certainly not be said about Liverpool. The leagues top scorers have Sturridge, Sterling, Gerrard and Henderson all playing to a level that many deemed impossible 12 months ago. Four points off the top and with the most favourable fixture list remaining, let’s not hide from the fact that Liverpool are very real title contenders. They had to score four times this Sunday to beat Swansea but score four times they did and they sit on the shoulder of City and Chelsea with both having to visit Anfield. It’s hard to know which of the players mentioned above deserves the most credit, so I’m going to go ahead and give it to Rodgers, who must be nailed on for manager of the year barring a late and dramatic collapse. Sterling has 5 goals and 5 assists in his last 14 games, Henderson bagged a brace today and is playing just as well as Aaron Ramsey was before injury curtailed his season. And as for Sturridge? 18 goals at a rate of one every 82 minutes this season? That’s better than Van Persie, Rooney, Giroud, Negrado. Oh and the player of the year, Luis Suarez. The race for 4th may now be over, but the race for the title is anything but. Liverpool remain very much 3rd or 4th favourites and rightfully so, but games are running out for people to keep saying they can’t do it despite all the evidence to the contrary. You can be sure that when City and Chelsea roll into Liverpool, they won’t be making the same tactical errors as Arsene Wenger. They will know exactly how seriously to take this team.
3. Cardiff are, let’s be fair, fucked.
Three points adrift of safety and with a manager new to the Premier League hotseat, Cardiff managed to lose 4-0 this weekend to one of their nearest rivals in a performance so naive it could have appeared on Jeremy Kyle. Whereas Hull have bought proven Premier League goalscorers this January, Cardiff have bought from the Norwegian League. The Welsh side have eleven games left to save themselves and realistically need to win five of those. Spurs away? No. Fulham at home? Maybe. Everton away? No chance. Liverpool home? Nope. I could go on but take it from me that a betting man would wager them getting seven points at best from their final eleven games. Either Ole is going to have to get them playing at a level which hasn’t been produced all season, or he’ll be managing a Championship club before too long. Still, I’m sure neutrals everywhere will be feeling for them after the respectful and fair way they got rid of Malky Mackay...
4. Where has this West Ham been all season?
It’s almost as if Big Sam was playing with us. Luring us all in under the false hope that he would take West Ham down and we might be rid of him for good. What fools us. West Ham have now won four games on the spin, drawing at Chelsea before that, with an aggregate score of 9-1. Not only are they now all but safe, they are playing with pace, width and freedom again and in Kevin Nolan, have got the biggest contender for zero to hero this year. Sent off away at Liverpool and then again to Fulham, the Captain has been blowing nothing but bubbles since then and has bagged six goals in his last six games. All of this sadly means that West Ham will still be with us next year. But then, what power would Hell hold if those living there cannot dream of Heaven?
5. What does Gary Cahill have to do to get some credit?
The best Premier League defender this season has been John Terry, so the Match of the Day punditry team keep telling me. So his manager keeps telling me. So most of the press keeps telling me. Yet when I watch Chelsea play I come away with the belief almost each and every time that their best player is Gary Cahill. This Saturday the boys at the Beeb did a feature on John Terry vs Phil Jagielka to seemingly show how the former should go to the World Cup instead of the latter. Putting aside that Terry is retired and Hodgson has been resolute about that remaining, the “evidence” was based around a couple of woeful examples in a single match, of which Chelsea were at home and have the better attackers. At one point Hansen tried to make a case that Terry was two footed and Jags wasn’t. I’m sorry, but to suggest JT is some sort of Ronaldo like figure who’s comfortable sweeping it around the park with both pegs is so much of a stretch it could have been pitched by Michael Gove. No, John Terry has had a good season but he’s done so because he’s had a consistent partner alongside him who has played with class and verve in almost every game. All but one clean sheet that Terry has kept this season he’s done so with Cahill alongside him, failing when the Englishman has been removed. Cahill has a better goals per minute conceded record than anyone playing in the league, keeping a remarkable 11 clean sheets in just 20 matches. He can carry the ball out of defence, he makes last ditch tackles, headers and clearances and averages the same amount of goals per season from the back as Terry does. He has also, crucially, actually won a Champions League as opposed to tipped up at the end with his kitbag and claimed it was “the proudest moment” of his life. Cahill will be on the plane to Brazil this summer and rightfully so. He is currently the best centre half that England possess and is probably second only to Kompany in the league as a whole. The press and even his own manager are doing him an enormous disservice and it is time he was given the respect he has earned.
I’d like to thank the academy...
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