Another Monday morning…
Well not quite just “another Monday” as it’s the first one of the 2008-09 season and nothing can really be said about what will happen the rest of the season despite Chelsea already being crowned champions by many – which may happen but the headlines to this point have been nothing short of ridiculous . Perhaps it sells newspapers in S.W.6?…
Anyway I managed to watch several matches over the weekend and here are some of my brief observations…
Bolton 3 Stoke 1…Not a particularly good game with Stoke” doing a Bolton” with their long-ball game and Bolton playing some decent stuff on the ground against the struggling newcomers. These are the games Bolton must win if they are to survive and they did so quite comfortably…
Middlesbro’ 2 Tottenham 1…Southgate’s lads played with a lot of determination and no shortage of skill whilst Spurs were poor and their new signings, particularly Modric and Bentley in the middle, just didn’t show up. If Berbatov leaves, as is very likely, then I cannot see where the goals needed to push them into the top six will come from. Borough might do quite well, I feel, but their away form will be crucial if they hope to finish in the top half – and first up it’s a trip to Anfield!…
West Ham 2 Wigan 1…Another mediocre match with neither team showing any improvement on last year. It’s early days of course but these two are not going to push for any Euro spots and will consider mid-table a decent enough season…
Sunderland 0 Liverpool 1…Liverpool were much the better team although Sunderland probably think they deserved a point. Torres’ goal was superb and despite all the efforts put out by Keane’s team their was a big difference in class as will be seen by the final league standings…
Villa 4 Man City 2…A fine display by O’Neil’s men but the score line at 4-1 was a little flattering. Ashley Young was always dangerous, Petrov very solid in front of the back four, and the two new fullbacks had useful debuts in front of the very capable Friedel. Agbonlahor seemed a little out of sorts and then he scores three in seven minutes – I’m still not sure what sort of season he will have. If Barry stays, and I don’t think anyone knows at this stage one way or another, then Villa have got a good side that will push for the top spots just below the Big 4…
Man U 1 Newcastle 1…A disjointed Man U performance against a surprisingly resilient Newcastle team. I particularly enjoyed seeing Rio Ferdinand getting into it with Ryan Giggs, and his foul-mouthed tirade – “pass the f*ckin’ ball…pass the f*ckin’ ball”, summed up Fergie’s team’s day…Having said that, I wouldn’t want to play them next week – good luck Pompey!
Chelsea 4 Portsmouth 0…A very good performance by Chelsea against a strangely subdued Portsmouth. David James was very unconvincing for the xth time in his career and the whole side looked poor. This will obviously change but their efforts certainly helped Chelsea look as good as they did – or are The Pensioners that good?…
That’s it for now, I’ll be back on a little later in the week for a bit of this, that, and the other…
Claret & Light Blue and enjoying the runners-up spot for now!
