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Winners
Liverpool
Even if the nature of their winning goal was fortunate, Liverpool's victory at Villa was both deserved and an almost-perfect statement of intent. Afterwards, Rafa Benitez spoke of the season-long need for "perfection", an encouraging indication that the Spaniard has finally realised that the margin for error in the Premier League is now wafer thin. Every stumble is a step backwards.
In that respect, Liverpool made a vital jump forwards at Villa Park, winning on the opening weekend for the first time since 2002 and banishing the memory of losing five of their opening six away fixtures. "Finally we have three points from the first league game," exclaimed Dirk Kuyt. "It's very important that you don't lose many points at the start. We have been too far behind in the last few seasons."
Belief and home advantage will be on Liverpool's side next weekend when Chelski travel north, a match that seems bound to define the opening quarter of the campaign. League dates with Derby, Sunderland, Pompey, Birmingham and Wigan then follow for Benitez's side. If Chelski are defeated on Sunday, put your mortgage on Liverpool being top at the end of September.
Arsenal
The reawakening of last season's familiar failings - profligacy, the inability to convincingly defend a corner, the concession of a soft goal from their opponents' first attack - will not have their Big Four rivals quaking, but relief rather than belief still constituted a great escape for Arsene Wenger's side against Fulham.
"This kind of result can change a team's season," beamed the Frenchman, and his assessment was largely accurate: The consequence of defeat could have been catastrophic for such a young and vulnerable side. Otherwise engaged in midweek whilst the Premier League continues without them (and Liverpool), the scenario in which Arsenal trailed the league leaders by nine points next Sunday after a setback at Blackburn loomed large. There would have been no way back for Wenger's young guns after being written out of the title race in the third week of August.
Alex Hleb
Never doubted him.
Chelski
Injury crisis, what crisis? Chelski's interminable hypochondria does nothing for their appeal, other than to reinforce accusations of paranoia. Of the 11 players assumed to be first-choice picks this season, only John Terry was not available this weekend. Didier Drogba, supposedly out for the first two weeks of the season, was capable of a half-hour run-out, while Michael Essien, billed as 'another casualty' on Sunday night, has not even been ruled out of the midweek fixture at Reading.
As with so much of the Chelski era, the distorted public pronouncements are not only an irritant but a self-harming distraction. Far better to rejoice at Jose Mourinho, following a little prompting from Roman Abramovich, finally appreciating the value of "good attacking football". Two defensive lapses, the second by the pathetic Glen Johnson, flattered the visitors. On another day, Chelski's vibrancy would have produced a crushing margin of victory.
Shaun Wright-Phillips has impressed in pre-season and did so again against Birmingham, while Malouda looks to that rarest of things at Chelski: a big-money bargain signing.
Blackburn Rovers
In the short term at least, it is hardly to Blackburn Rovers' detriment that Mark Hughes continues to provide a very skilful and convincing audition to be Sir Alex's successor.
Look closely at Rovers and two things become apparent. The first is that they possess a decent team. The second is that they are structured on the successful formula endorsed at Old Trafford: a strong defence, a combative midfield, with two wide wingers supplying an athletic strike duo.
Not quite the real thing, but David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pedersen can provide decent impersonations of David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. Nor has Hughes failed to notice the established value of possessing a large array of strikers. After being hemmed in for the opening 60 minutes, Rovers were able to defeat Middlesbrough courtesy of their two substitutes, Matt Derbyshire and Roque Santa Cruz. The latter could prove to be buy of one of the coups of the summer.
By contrast, Boro were blunt. Jeremie Aliadiere impressed with his work rate -but then so would a professional 5,000 metre runner.
Everton
One of only two Premier League teams - ManYoo being the other - not to include a summer signing in their starting line-up. The Toffees will be a formidable prospect if David Moyes can add a new striker before August 31 .
Sunderland
How things change. On their last appearance in the top flight, it took Sunderland 18 attempts before they finally achieved a home victory - against Fulham in May 2006.
A month earlier, Michael Chopra had also celebrated in front of the home support after coming off the bench to score. Unfortunately, as he was clad in the black and white of Newcastle, their response wasn't quite as rapturous as Saturday's.
Losers
Tottenham
Martin Jol's outburst against his strikers following the defeat at Sunderland was surely deliberately misleading. As in their pre-season fixtures, it was unmistakably apparent at the Stadium of Light that Spurs are painfully deficient in midfield. Aaron Lennon was desperately missed.
Darren Bent
The most expensive third-choice striker ever seen in English football.
Unless Jol opts to introduce a three-pronged strike-force, the question of whether the Tottenham manager would have been wiser to spend big on a central midfielder could haunt him all season.
ManYoo
The season wasn't supposed to start like this. As per last August's opening-day mauling of Fulham, ManYoo were meant to record another perfunctory day's work and hit the ground running. Instead, their star striker hit the ground with a broken foot and the champions dropped half as many points on home turf as they did in the first seven months of last season.
Rooney's demise will hit England harder than ManYoo, yet it is nonetheless a severe setback for Sir Alex Ferguson. The striker's first untroubled pre-season at Old Trafford has gone to waste and the coveted unveiling of his partnership with Carlos Tevez will be delayed by at least two months. Mid-way through a season is hardly the ideal time for a partnership to develop either.
Tevez is an outstanding replacement for Rooney, and the interminable saga of his transfer has suddenly become indisputably worth the hassle. Yet the rushed nature of his introduction - now likely to be against Portsmouth on Wednesday night - is anything but ideal for a player who took around five months to adapt to his new surroundings at West Ham last season.
Sir Alex Ferguson
Credit to Sir Alex. Rather than take understandable umbrage with Reading's eleven-men-behind-the-ball tactics, the ManYoo boss credited his opponents on a job well done. "I can understand anyone coming here and doing that," he gracefully concluded.
It is an irony of the Premier League that most diversions from predictability tend to be achieved in the most soporific manner.
Alan Curbishley
Even Curbishley's growing band of detractors could not have expected the pressure to be ratcheted up so quickly or the odds on the West Ham manager becoming the first Premier League casualty to plunge so spectacularly. Only Wigan's Chris Hutchings is now regarded as more vulnerable.
While Sven took the plaudits on Saturday night, Curbishley took the brickbats. Nor did matters improve on Sunday morning with Paul Konchesky, managed by Curbishley at both Charlton and Upton Park, telling The People: "There was, and still is, a lot of unhappy players at the club who don't like him. I know there are a lot of players who don't think he is any good. I am sure that is one of the main reasons Carlos Tevez didn't stay at the club, and also why Darren Bent refused to sign for West Ham. It was because of the manager."
The BBC
Judging by their back-page headline of 'Allardyce lets win do the talking', The Sunday Telegraph is in cahoots with Match of the Day.
Contrary to speculation that he was ready to lift his boycott on the BBC following his appointment at Newcastle, Allardyce refused to share his thoughts with the corporation after the Toon's terrific win against his former charges. Big Sam continues to act like a little man.
The boycott, lest we forget, stems from allegations of impropriety being levelled against the then-Bolton manager by a Panorama investigation. Despite Allardyce's immediate promise of legal recourse against the Beeb, none has been forthcoming. Given that his new bosses at Newcastle have sanctioned a full-scale investigation into the club's financial dealings, it is even more surprising that Allardyce has served up a reminder of this unpalatable state of affairs by continuing to shun BBC reporters.
For MOTD viewers, a tedious side-affect was the appearance of Nigel Pearson, the Newcastle assistant manager, in Allardyce's place. It is doubtful that anyone outside the Pearson household paid the slightest attention to his musings. The BBC should grow some balls and announce that, unless Allardyce either speaks up or finally issues that long-awaited writ, they'll refuse to broadcast any post-match interviews from the Newcastle camp.
Aston Villa
There can be no sympathy for a club that, in early August, is already publicising its willingness to whore out their headquarters for a Christmas party.
Pete Gill
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_2658427,00.html
----------------
Man City or Sven should have been in the winners section.
Liverpool
Even if the nature of their winning goal was fortunate, Liverpool's victory at Villa was both deserved and an almost-perfect statement of intent. Afterwards, Rafa Benitez spoke of the season-long need for "perfection", an encouraging indication that the Spaniard has finally realised that the margin for error in the Premier League is now wafer thin. Every stumble is a step backwards.
In that respect, Liverpool made a vital jump forwards at Villa Park, winning on the opening weekend for the first time since 2002 and banishing the memory of losing five of their opening six away fixtures. "Finally we have three points from the first league game," exclaimed Dirk Kuyt. "It's very important that you don't lose many points at the start. We have been too far behind in the last few seasons."
Belief and home advantage will be on Liverpool's side next weekend when Chelski travel north, a match that seems bound to define the opening quarter of the campaign. League dates with Derby, Sunderland, Pompey, Birmingham and Wigan then follow for Benitez's side. If Chelski are defeated on Sunday, put your mortgage on Liverpool being top at the end of September.
Arsenal
The reawakening of last season's familiar failings - profligacy, the inability to convincingly defend a corner, the concession of a soft goal from their opponents' first attack - will not have their Big Four rivals quaking, but relief rather than belief still constituted a great escape for Arsene Wenger's side against Fulham.
"This kind of result can change a team's season," beamed the Frenchman, and his assessment was largely accurate: The consequence of defeat could have been catastrophic for such a young and vulnerable side. Otherwise engaged in midweek whilst the Premier League continues without them (and Liverpool), the scenario in which Arsenal trailed the league leaders by nine points next Sunday after a setback at Blackburn loomed large. There would have been no way back for Wenger's young guns after being written out of the title race in the third week of August.
Alex Hleb
Never doubted him.
Chelski
Injury crisis, what crisis? Chelski's interminable hypochondria does nothing for their appeal, other than to reinforce accusations of paranoia. Of the 11 players assumed to be first-choice picks this season, only John Terry was not available this weekend. Didier Drogba, supposedly out for the first two weeks of the season, was capable of a half-hour run-out, while Michael Essien, billed as 'another casualty' on Sunday night, has not even been ruled out of the midweek fixture at Reading.
As with so much of the Chelski era, the distorted public pronouncements are not only an irritant but a self-harming distraction. Far better to rejoice at Jose Mourinho, following a little prompting from Roman Abramovich, finally appreciating the value of "good attacking football". Two defensive lapses, the second by the pathetic Glen Johnson, flattered the visitors. On another day, Chelski's vibrancy would have produced a crushing margin of victory.
Shaun Wright-Phillips has impressed in pre-season and did so again against Birmingham, while Malouda looks to that rarest of things at Chelski: a big-money bargain signing.
Blackburn Rovers
In the short term at least, it is hardly to Blackburn Rovers' detriment that Mark Hughes continues to provide a very skilful and convincing audition to be Sir Alex's successor.
Look closely at Rovers and two things become apparent. The first is that they possess a decent team. The second is that they are structured on the successful formula endorsed at Old Trafford: a strong defence, a combative midfield, with two wide wingers supplying an athletic strike duo.
Not quite the real thing, but David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pedersen can provide decent impersonations of David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. Nor has Hughes failed to notice the established value of possessing a large array of strikers. After being hemmed in for the opening 60 minutes, Rovers were able to defeat Middlesbrough courtesy of their two substitutes, Matt Derbyshire and Roque Santa Cruz. The latter could prove to be buy of one of the coups of the summer.
By contrast, Boro were blunt. Jeremie Aliadiere impressed with his work rate -but then so would a professional 5,000 metre runner.
Everton
One of only two Premier League teams - ManYoo being the other - not to include a summer signing in their starting line-up. The Toffees will be a formidable prospect if David Moyes can add a new striker before August 31 .
Sunderland
How things change. On their last appearance in the top flight, it took Sunderland 18 attempts before they finally achieved a home victory - against Fulham in May 2006.
A month earlier, Michael Chopra had also celebrated in front of the home support after coming off the bench to score. Unfortunately, as he was clad in the black and white of Newcastle, their response wasn't quite as rapturous as Saturday's.
Losers
Tottenham
Martin Jol's outburst against his strikers following the defeat at Sunderland was surely deliberately misleading. As in their pre-season fixtures, it was unmistakably apparent at the Stadium of Light that Spurs are painfully deficient in midfield. Aaron Lennon was desperately missed.
Darren Bent
The most expensive third-choice striker ever seen in English football.
Unless Jol opts to introduce a three-pronged strike-force, the question of whether the Tottenham manager would have been wiser to spend big on a central midfielder could haunt him all season.
ManYoo
The season wasn't supposed to start like this. As per last August's opening-day mauling of Fulham, ManYoo were meant to record another perfunctory day's work and hit the ground running. Instead, their star striker hit the ground with a broken foot and the champions dropped half as many points on home turf as they did in the first seven months of last season.
Rooney's demise will hit England harder than ManYoo, yet it is nonetheless a severe setback for Sir Alex Ferguson. The striker's first untroubled pre-season at Old Trafford has gone to waste and the coveted unveiling of his partnership with Carlos Tevez will be delayed by at least two months. Mid-way through a season is hardly the ideal time for a partnership to develop either.
Tevez is an outstanding replacement for Rooney, and the interminable saga of his transfer has suddenly become indisputably worth the hassle. Yet the rushed nature of his introduction - now likely to be against Portsmouth on Wednesday night - is anything but ideal for a player who took around five months to adapt to his new surroundings at West Ham last season.
Sir Alex Ferguson
Credit to Sir Alex. Rather than take understandable umbrage with Reading's eleven-men-behind-the-ball tactics, the ManYoo boss credited his opponents on a job well done. "I can understand anyone coming here and doing that," he gracefully concluded.
It is an irony of the Premier League that most diversions from predictability tend to be achieved in the most soporific manner.
Alan Curbishley
Even Curbishley's growing band of detractors could not have expected the pressure to be ratcheted up so quickly or the odds on the West Ham manager becoming the first Premier League casualty to plunge so spectacularly. Only Wigan's Chris Hutchings is now regarded as more vulnerable.
While Sven took the plaudits on Saturday night, Curbishley took the brickbats. Nor did matters improve on Sunday morning with Paul Konchesky, managed by Curbishley at both Charlton and Upton Park, telling The People: "There was, and still is, a lot of unhappy players at the club who don't like him. I know there are a lot of players who don't think he is any good. I am sure that is one of the main reasons Carlos Tevez didn't stay at the club, and also why Darren Bent refused to sign for West Ham. It was because of the manager."
The BBC
Judging by their back-page headline of 'Allardyce lets win do the talking', The Sunday Telegraph is in cahoots with Match of the Day.
Contrary to speculation that he was ready to lift his boycott on the BBC following his appointment at Newcastle, Allardyce refused to share his thoughts with the corporation after the Toon's terrific win against his former charges. Big Sam continues to act like a little man.
The boycott, lest we forget, stems from allegations of impropriety being levelled against the then-Bolton manager by a Panorama investigation. Despite Allardyce's immediate promise of legal recourse against the Beeb, none has been forthcoming. Given that his new bosses at Newcastle have sanctioned a full-scale investigation into the club's financial dealings, it is even more surprising that Allardyce has served up a reminder of this unpalatable state of affairs by continuing to shun BBC reporters.
For MOTD viewers, a tedious side-affect was the appearance of Nigel Pearson, the Newcastle assistant manager, in Allardyce's place. It is doubtful that anyone outside the Pearson household paid the slightest attention to his musings. The BBC should grow some balls and announce that, unless Allardyce either speaks up or finally issues that long-awaited writ, they'll refuse to broadcast any post-match interviews from the Newcastle camp.
Aston Villa
There can be no sympathy for a club that, in early August, is already publicising its willingness to whore out their headquarters for a Christmas party.
Pete Gill
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_2658427,00.html
----------------
Man City or Sven should have been in the winners section.
