Villa 0-1 Sunderland…An awful game, a fact which probably doesn’t concern Roy Keane and Sunderland who secured three vital points in their fight against relegation. Villa were dreadful. Lacking any flair or creativity, and with the effort of certain players in question, they seem to be on their summer holidays already. They may well finish as low as 9th after a season which until quite recently saw them on the edge of European qualification. The recent losses to Fulham and Sunderland, and a home draw with Middlesbro’, are ugly blots on Martin O’Neil’s previously spotless copy book. The purchase of Knight and Davies coupled with the sale of Cahill to Bolton have left a porous central defense and there hasn’t been a true right back all year. Meanwhile Carson in goal has gone from arguably England’s best to a player who should be playing in the reserves in record time…All this, and the match against the BlueNoses is only four weeks away!!!
Newcastle 2-0 Fulham…Finally, a win for the “Messiah”! They deserved it against a poor and ineffective Fulham who are now probably doomed. Hopefully Keegan will not act as if he has won the League and get all smug with his detractors. He has been a disappointment and his side are a bottom-half team no matter what your friendly neighbourhood Geordie may say…
Man U 3-0 Liverpool…The best team won and not just because Mascherrano had a bit of an “Argie” moment and left his teammates to fight on with ten men. United were the better team prior to the sending-off and Reina had kept them in it to that point. The Champions now look very likely to retain the trophy and Liverpool are left to rue a mid-season slump, some managerial errors, and yet another season of under-performing in the domestic competitions…
I had to chuckle….Chelsea captain John Terry says he would back plans to stamp out the hounding of referees. Terry was speaking in light of criticism directed towards Chelsea for their disrespectful behaviour towards Mike Riley on Wednesday night. It was the latest in a series of incidents which have led for calls to introduce new rules that would only allow captains to speak to referees…And this comes from the finest Ref Molester in the Premiership. How ironic, eh!? Surely the ref of a Chelsea game would rather be confronted by any of the Pensioners other than an angry, grimacing, threatening, and incensed John Terry…
So the England strikers for this week’s friendly against France are Rooney – not scoring but playing really well, Owen – not playing well but scoring, and Crouch and Walcott – neither are playing nor scoring for their clubs…It’s all a little troubling. With Villa’s Agbonlahor and Young, Alan Smith, and Darren Bent all out of form and Jermaine Defoe and Andrew Johnson consistently inconsistent, it is a mess. I suppose Rooney and Owen at their best are a good partnership but that rarely happens and so, with the strength of the team being in midfield, perhaps the 4-1-4-1 formation is the best option…
For me it’s James in goal (I can’t beieve I just wrote that); a back four of Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, and Bridge…Barry in the holding role…Across the middle, I’d go with Bentley, Gerrard, Lampard, and Cole, with Rooney up front…Of course Beckham will get his 100th cap – and I’m fine with that…Much of which I am not convinced about!
