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The Premiership Weekend Winners And Losers
Posted 20/08/07 08:22EmailPrintSave
Luck can be a formidable opponent and a helluva help...
Winners
Micah Richards
An immense talent. On the evidence of 2007/08, England will not miss Jamie Carragher.
For all the fuss generated by Sven-Goran Eriksson's spending spree, the Swede's best move this summer was identifying Richards, previously deployed at right-back, as Sylvain Distin's replacement alongside Richard Dunne.
Manchester Citeh
Last season, it was impossible to discuss Citeh at length because there was nothing to say once their tedium had been berated. This year's difficulty is the impossibility of fathoming whether their revival is founded on Swedish genius or simple good fortune. Against ManYoo, they were pummelled yet somehow prevailed. Rope-a-dope? Only the dopey would argue as much. With the honourable exceptions of Richards and Dunne, the Citeh performance actually verged on the horrendous.
Chelski
Their resilience is remarkable, yet without Rob Styles' botched meddling then Jose Mourinho's disingenuous insistence that his side sought victory at Anfield would have been indisputably refuted: Frank Lampard's penalty was the visitors' only shot on target.
Liverpool
Ignoring Rob Styles' ineptitude (as this column will do because the subject is covered at length elsewhere on the site, and what else is to be said other than Styles is inept and Chelski suffer from convenient myopia?), there were plenty of positives for Rafa Benitez to take from Sunday's fractious encounter.
Foremost will be the satisfaction of his side's balanced, poised and superior display. If this was a test of their title credentials, it was passed comfortably. That the adjudicator's incompetence besmirched the integrity of the examination was an unfortunate side-show. So much for Keith Hackett's eve-of-season directive that 'his officials to adopt the lowest possible profile this season'.
Fernando Torres made a more welcome dash into the stoplight, speeding past a startled Ben Tal Haim and converting adroitly. The Spaniard's goal was both instant vindication of his £20m-plus price-tag and Steven Gerrard's central deployment. The scenario in which an accomplished striker sped on to a searching through-ball from the Liverpool captain was exactly the type conspicuous by its impossibility last season.
Quite how Peter Crouch regarded Torres' goal on his Anfield debut is a different matter, however. While both Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin are capable of delivering a support act, Crouch is, like the Spaniard, an out-and-out centre forward. Whenever Torres' stock rises, Crouch's fall drops exponentially - and it suffered the equivalent of last week's Stock Exchange crash on Sunday.
Portsmouth
A vital win considering that Pompey's next four league fixtures are Chelski (a), Arsenal (a), Liverpool (h), and Blackburn (a).
Tottenham Hotspur
But it counted for so little that whispers of Martin Jol's imminent departure grew significantly louder throughout the weekend. In the history of English football, has a manager ever been sacked in the aftermath of a 4-0 victory?
Darren Bent and Andy Johnson
Of the five strikers named in the England squad for the friendly with Germany, only Bent and Johnson started matches at the weekend. Alan Smith completed ninety minutes for Newcastle in midfield while Harry Redknapp inadvertently vindicated Steve McClaren's decision to omit David Nugent by demoting his £6m striker to the bench.
Losers
ManYoo
The champions weren't in crisis in midweek and the debit of another point to their championship rivals hardly justifies an amendment. Nonetheless, the nature of their third successive setback was concerning.
Playing both ahead of his best position and schedule, Carlos Tevez could not disguise his inadequacy as a centre-forward. The designated replacement for Wayne Rooney is not suited to spearhead an attack and, as a consequence, too much of United's play was convoluted, thereby restricting the ratio of possession to goalscoring opportunities. Both Ryan Giggs and the disappointing Nani were guilty of drifting inwards - a tendency probably motivated by a desire to support the struggling Argentine but which only succeeded in reducing the potent service available. 62% of possession produced just four tests of the erratic Kasper Schmeichel.
While comparisons with last year's cross-shy, possession-obsessed Arsenal were obvious, it was the contrast to previous ManYoo teams that was most striking. A hallmark of the Ferguson regime has been his side's willingness to pack the opposition's penalty box in the expectation of incisive delivery from wide. Against Citeh, the value of maximising the width of the pitch was neglected at a heavy price.
Yet it would be remiss to pin the blame squarely on Ferguson's team.
The critical benefit of the 4-3-3 formation which Ferguson's increasingly-influential assistant Carlos Queiroz has apparently persuaded the Scot to adopt is the likelihood of midfield control. The downside is the distinct possibility of the main striker being isolated against two central-defenders. Against Citeh, both conditions existed as ManYoo dominated yet lacked a cutting edge. Possession literally become pointless.
Bolton Wanderers And MOTD Viewers
A pity that Saturday's edition of MOTD failed to include the reaction of Kevin Nolan when the Bolton skipper was substituted after 55 ignominious minutes at Pompey because it must have been a fascinating moment on what was otherwise a low-interest day.
Nolan has become the embodiment of Bolton's failure to prosper under the management of Sammy Lee -who will continue to resemble a call-centre supervisor in a cheap suit unless he removes that ridiculous earpiece. Having been touted as a future England international by stint of his work for Sam Allardyce, Nolan has born the brunt of Lee's modernization. Patently uncomfortable at right-midfield on the opening day against Allardyce's rampant visitors, he was no better at Fulham in midweek and floundered as a support striker on the south coast.
Nolan's face must have offered a telling tale when he was hauled off with over an hour still to play. "I'm not happy. I don't know where I am supposed to play," he later told reporters in an interview that wasn't broadcast by the Beeb either.
For the moment, Lee retains the backing of chairman Phil Gartside. The Bolton chairman is a committed supporter of his plan to introduce entertainment at the Reebok. Yet a reassuring victory is essential, while a dressing-room revolt against the manager would be fatal. As with his on-pitch strife, Nolan's position remains frustratingly unclear.
Birmingham City
Even without a forensic examination of recent events, Steve Bruce's "big club versus little club syndrome" interpretation of the "two absolute howlers in three days against us" can be immediately discounted; Birmingham's opponents this week were Sunderland and West Ham.
Sunderland
The bets can be cashed in. Just one week of the season had elapsed before Roy Keane's calm façade erupted into vein-bulging anger. "There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity, and no doubt I've been stupid - it won't happen again," the Sunderland boss informed a delighted press pack after defeat at Wigan.
As both players were replaced at half-time, it is reasonable to assume that Dwight Yorke and Anthony Stokes will be at the eye of Keane's raging storm.
Arsene Wenger
Taken in the context of the mounting evidence that the power of the Big Four is finally being properly challenged, a point at Ewood Park was a decent result against a decent team. However, two significant events during the draw at Blackburn posed awkward questions of Arsene Wenger's recent decision-making.
First, an injury to William Gallas has laid bare the folly of the Arsenal manager permitting Johan Djourou to depart on loan to Birmingham. If Philippe Senderos - who is, in any case, an inferior alternative to Djourou - or Kolo Toure are laid low during Gallas' scheduled three-week recuperation, Wenger's only feasible option would be midfielder Gilberto Silva.
Second, another mistake by Jens Lehmann has bolstered opinion that the German is a liability who should not have been offered a contract extension after a slack 2006/07 campaign. To compound that error, Wenger has boxed himself into a corner by failing to provide an adequate alternative. If Manuel Alumnia offered a long-term solution then he would have been installed months ago, and if summer signing Lukasz Fabianski was deemed ready then he, rather than the Spaniard, would have occupied a seat on the bench at Blackburn.
Fulham
Fulham fans will not appreciate the connection following's officialdom refusal to award David Healy's 'goal', but Bolton were relegated from the Premiership ten years ago by a solitary point from Everton just a few months after match officials failed to spot a 'winning goal' clearly crossing the Toffees' goal-line.
Lawrie Sanchez's side are approximately fifth-favourites for the drop, yet bad luck is a formidable opponent. Aside from being denied a point against Middlesbrough, Fulham have already been peculiarly prone to freak injuries this season. The consequence of the wrist injury suffered by Antti Niemi during the warm-up at Arsenal has been two dreadful mistakes in as many matches by stand-in Tony Warner. Niemi should return next week but Brian McBride, crocked in the process of scoring, will be out for three months with a dislocated knee while Hameur Bouazza, who bizarrely dislocated his shoulder on Saturday, will not return until mid-September at the earliest.
Derby County
Making an embarrassing lie of the cherished adage that there are no easy games in the Premier League.
Pete Gill
Posted 20/08/07 08:22EmailPrintSave
Luck can be a formidable opponent and a helluva help...
Winners
Micah Richards
An immense talent. On the evidence of 2007/08, England will not miss Jamie Carragher.
For all the fuss generated by Sven-Goran Eriksson's spending spree, the Swede's best move this summer was identifying Richards, previously deployed at right-back, as Sylvain Distin's replacement alongside Richard Dunne.
Manchester Citeh
Last season, it was impossible to discuss Citeh at length because there was nothing to say once their tedium had been berated. This year's difficulty is the impossibility of fathoming whether their revival is founded on Swedish genius or simple good fortune. Against ManYoo, they were pummelled yet somehow prevailed. Rope-a-dope? Only the dopey would argue as much. With the honourable exceptions of Richards and Dunne, the Citeh performance actually verged on the horrendous.
Chelski
Their resilience is remarkable, yet without Rob Styles' botched meddling then Jose Mourinho's disingenuous insistence that his side sought victory at Anfield would have been indisputably refuted: Frank Lampard's penalty was the visitors' only shot on target.
Liverpool
Ignoring Rob Styles' ineptitude (as this column will do because the subject is covered at length elsewhere on the site, and what else is to be said other than Styles is inept and Chelski suffer from convenient myopia?), there were plenty of positives for Rafa Benitez to take from Sunday's fractious encounter.
Foremost will be the satisfaction of his side's balanced, poised and superior display. If this was a test of their title credentials, it was passed comfortably. That the adjudicator's incompetence besmirched the integrity of the examination was an unfortunate side-show. So much for Keith Hackett's eve-of-season directive that 'his officials to adopt the lowest possible profile this season'.
Fernando Torres made a more welcome dash into the stoplight, speeding past a startled Ben Tal Haim and converting adroitly. The Spaniard's goal was both instant vindication of his £20m-plus price-tag and Steven Gerrard's central deployment. The scenario in which an accomplished striker sped on to a searching through-ball from the Liverpool captain was exactly the type conspicuous by its impossibility last season.
Quite how Peter Crouch regarded Torres' goal on his Anfield debut is a different matter, however. While both Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin are capable of delivering a support act, Crouch is, like the Spaniard, an out-and-out centre forward. Whenever Torres' stock rises, Crouch's fall drops exponentially - and it suffered the equivalent of last week's Stock Exchange crash on Sunday.
Portsmouth
A vital win considering that Pompey's next four league fixtures are Chelski (a), Arsenal (a), Liverpool (h), and Blackburn (a).
Tottenham Hotspur
But it counted for so little that whispers of Martin Jol's imminent departure grew significantly louder throughout the weekend. In the history of English football, has a manager ever been sacked in the aftermath of a 4-0 victory?
Darren Bent and Andy Johnson
Of the five strikers named in the England squad for the friendly with Germany, only Bent and Johnson started matches at the weekend. Alan Smith completed ninety minutes for Newcastle in midfield while Harry Redknapp inadvertently vindicated Steve McClaren's decision to omit David Nugent by demoting his £6m striker to the bench.
Losers
ManYoo
The champions weren't in crisis in midweek and the debit of another point to their championship rivals hardly justifies an amendment. Nonetheless, the nature of their third successive setback was concerning.
Playing both ahead of his best position and schedule, Carlos Tevez could not disguise his inadequacy as a centre-forward. The designated replacement for Wayne Rooney is not suited to spearhead an attack and, as a consequence, too much of United's play was convoluted, thereby restricting the ratio of possession to goalscoring opportunities. Both Ryan Giggs and the disappointing Nani were guilty of drifting inwards - a tendency probably motivated by a desire to support the struggling Argentine but which only succeeded in reducing the potent service available. 62% of possession produced just four tests of the erratic Kasper Schmeichel.
While comparisons with last year's cross-shy, possession-obsessed Arsenal were obvious, it was the contrast to previous ManYoo teams that was most striking. A hallmark of the Ferguson regime has been his side's willingness to pack the opposition's penalty box in the expectation of incisive delivery from wide. Against Citeh, the value of maximising the width of the pitch was neglected at a heavy price.
Yet it would be remiss to pin the blame squarely on Ferguson's team.
The critical benefit of the 4-3-3 formation which Ferguson's increasingly-influential assistant Carlos Queiroz has apparently persuaded the Scot to adopt is the likelihood of midfield control. The downside is the distinct possibility of the main striker being isolated against two central-defenders. Against Citeh, both conditions existed as ManYoo dominated yet lacked a cutting edge. Possession literally become pointless.
Bolton Wanderers And MOTD Viewers
A pity that Saturday's edition of MOTD failed to include the reaction of Kevin Nolan when the Bolton skipper was substituted after 55 ignominious minutes at Pompey because it must have been a fascinating moment on what was otherwise a low-interest day.
Nolan has become the embodiment of Bolton's failure to prosper under the management of Sammy Lee -who will continue to resemble a call-centre supervisor in a cheap suit unless he removes that ridiculous earpiece. Having been touted as a future England international by stint of his work for Sam Allardyce, Nolan has born the brunt of Lee's modernization. Patently uncomfortable at right-midfield on the opening day against Allardyce's rampant visitors, he was no better at Fulham in midweek and floundered as a support striker on the south coast.
Nolan's face must have offered a telling tale when he was hauled off with over an hour still to play. "I'm not happy. I don't know where I am supposed to play," he later told reporters in an interview that wasn't broadcast by the Beeb either.
For the moment, Lee retains the backing of chairman Phil Gartside. The Bolton chairman is a committed supporter of his plan to introduce entertainment at the Reebok. Yet a reassuring victory is essential, while a dressing-room revolt against the manager would be fatal. As with his on-pitch strife, Nolan's position remains frustratingly unclear.
Birmingham City
Even without a forensic examination of recent events, Steve Bruce's "big club versus little club syndrome" interpretation of the "two absolute howlers in three days against us" can be immediately discounted; Birmingham's opponents this week were Sunderland and West Ham.
Sunderland
The bets can be cashed in. Just one week of the season had elapsed before Roy Keane's calm façade erupted into vein-bulging anger. "There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity, and no doubt I've been stupid - it won't happen again," the Sunderland boss informed a delighted press pack after defeat at Wigan.
As both players were replaced at half-time, it is reasonable to assume that Dwight Yorke and Anthony Stokes will be at the eye of Keane's raging storm.
Arsene Wenger
Taken in the context of the mounting evidence that the power of the Big Four is finally being properly challenged, a point at Ewood Park was a decent result against a decent team. However, two significant events during the draw at Blackburn posed awkward questions of Arsene Wenger's recent decision-making.
First, an injury to William Gallas has laid bare the folly of the Arsenal manager permitting Johan Djourou to depart on loan to Birmingham. If Philippe Senderos - who is, in any case, an inferior alternative to Djourou - or Kolo Toure are laid low during Gallas' scheduled three-week recuperation, Wenger's only feasible option would be midfielder Gilberto Silva.
Second, another mistake by Jens Lehmann has bolstered opinion that the German is a liability who should not have been offered a contract extension after a slack 2006/07 campaign. To compound that error, Wenger has boxed himself into a corner by failing to provide an adequate alternative. If Manuel Alumnia offered a long-term solution then he would have been installed months ago, and if summer signing Lukasz Fabianski was deemed ready then he, rather than the Spaniard, would have occupied a seat on the bench at Blackburn.
Fulham
Fulham fans will not appreciate the connection following's officialdom refusal to award David Healy's 'goal', but Bolton were relegated from the Premiership ten years ago by a solitary point from Everton just a few months after match officials failed to spot a 'winning goal' clearly crossing the Toffees' goal-line.
Lawrie Sanchez's side are approximately fifth-favourites for the drop, yet bad luck is a formidable opponent. Aside from being denied a point against Middlesbrough, Fulham have already been peculiarly prone to freak injuries this season. The consequence of the wrist injury suffered by Antti Niemi during the warm-up at Arsenal has been two dreadful mistakes in as many matches by stand-in Tony Warner. Niemi should return next week but Brian McBride, crocked in the process of scoring, will be out for three months with a dislocated knee while Hameur Bouazza, who bizarrely dislocated his shoulder on Saturday, will not return until mid-September at the earliest.
Derby County
Making an embarrassing lie of the cherished adage that there are no easy games in the Premier League.
Pete Gill
