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The Premiership Weekend Winners And Losers
Winners
Chelski
Slowly but surely, Chelski are working themselves back into the title race. Given that their opponents since defeat at Old Trafford have been Fulham, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Man Citeh and Wigan, did anyone expect anything else? And given that the players at his disposal almost won three successive Premiership titles, why the rush to acclaim Avram Grant? As a manager in his own right, rather than one enjoying the benefits of a bountiful inheritance and the return of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, he remains unproven.
Arsenal
Arsenal celebrated at the final whistle as if they had won a game and well they might. William Gallas' equaliser was as good as a winner, causing a three-point swing at the top of the table.
Psychologically, a home defeat to their nearest rivals would have been a debilitating and possibly terminal blow to the self-belief of a side that, because of its inexperience, remains vulnerable. Witness last season's sudden collapse, when the Gunners crashed out of three competitions in 11 days.
Manchester United
The nature of the scoring and Sir Alex's silly whinging has distracted from the reality that Saturday's scoreline represented an excellent result for the champions. They wouldn't have settled for a point after 90 minutes, but it was the result they set out to achieve in the fluid 4-3-3 formation on which their Champions League quest will be built. The trick worked a treat.
Anderson, in particular, was excellent as a spoiler in front of an underworked defence - even if he did act like a spoilt brat later on. The concession of such a late equaliser galled Ferguson into idiocy, but once his equilibrium returns the Manchester United manager will reflect with satisfaction on a decent job reasonably well done. Of less satisfaction was the performance of Ryan Giggs. It was the Welshman who squandered possession in the build-up to Arsenal's first goal. Sadly, it was his only notable contribution all afternoon.
Darren Cann
If, as Jamie Redknapp sort of observed, Gallas' goal "was so quick even the human eye couldn't see it", then Darren Cann, the "lying" linesman of March's Carling Cup Final, either had a lucky guess or possesses the vision of Superman.
The Value Of Playing To The Final Whistle
A quarter of the Premiership's 25 goals this weekend were scored during injury-time: Rooney and Gallas in Arsenal v ManYoo, Carsley and Vaughan in Everton v Birmingham, Healy in Fulham v Reading, and Nolan in West Ham v Bolton.
Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers
It's Arsenal v ManYoo at the top and 'Arsenal' v 'ManYoo' in the battle to be the best of the rest. A touch exaggerated, admittedly, but it is apparent that both Harry Redknapp and Mark Hughes have learnt well at the schools of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson respectively.
Having been a mainstay in ManYoo's domination of the 1990s, it is no surprise that Mark Hughes has used a 4-4-2 formation, with two wide men pinging in crosses for an old-fashioned pair of centre forwards, as the blueprint for his success as a club manager. By aping Sir Alex, he also put himself in pole position to be his successor.
Pompey's imitation is in form rather than formation. Like Wenger's Invincibles of 2004, Redknapp's current team is athletic and physically imposing, full of Africans rather than home-grown talent. An Arsenal fan as a boy, Redknapp has even previously admitted signing a player on Wenger's recommendation.
Both sides now face an interesting set of fixtures: Hughes returns to Old Trafford next weekend with Blackburn while Pompey's next four opponents include Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton.
Lawrie Sanchez
His job is safe for now but Fulham's performance offered no assurances of long-term security.
Losers
Rafa Benitez
For how much longer can Liverpool's luck last? They were second-best at Blackburn, despite what the MOTD highlights may have suggested. Only in the final ten minutes did the Reds offer a sustained threat, with Rovers' overall superior for the previous 80.
On the morning of the match, Stephen Warnock, now of Blackburn, once part-time of Liverpool, spoke out trenchantly against Rafa Benitez's rotation system. "Even if you'd played really well one week, you never thought you would play the next," he reflected forlornly. That complaint must have resonated with Peter Crouch. Having excelled as a second-half substitute against Arsenal, he was omitted at Blackburn in favour of Steven Gerrard pairing the desperately out-of-form Dirk Kuyt. The decision was obstinate, perverse and wrong.
Crouch's overdue appearance as a substitute duly inspired Liverpool's only period of decency. Perhaps Benitez regards him as an impact player. But with Blackburn hitting the woodwork twice, and a justifiable penalty claim against Jamie Carragher rejected for a third successive weekend, the game's real impact should have already been made.
Having only won two of their last seven matches, the Reds now require a lengthy run of victories to save their season. Otherwise, with a Carling Cup quarter-final at Chelski looming and early elimination from the Champions League distinctly feasible, it is all to easy to foresee Liverpool crashing out, either literally or figuratively, of every competition bar the FA Cup next month.
Tottenham Hotspur
Just where are Tottenham heading? Not to the Champions League certainly. Not to the Championship, despite what the current table threatens. And probably not even to the UEFA Cup with so many teams and so many points already between Spurs and the consolation of limited qualification for Europe.
The ugly sister of the Champions League isn't an attractive alternative, but at least it provides the European competition that the leading players demand. Something is always better than nothing.
Having failed to take the next step from fifth place, Spurs have fallen backwards and are in danger of landing in the vicious cycle that has swallowed up Newcastle in recent years. How will they attract the players capable of achieving their stated ambition of Champions League football if they cannot even offer the UEFA Cup or the type of potential that persuaded Darren Bent to move to White Hart Lane in the summer?
Spending £16m on Bent may have been a mistake but it is the type of mistake Tottenham will not, on current form, be able to make next summer unless Juande Ramos can spark an instant and longstanding revival.
The Importance Of Winning
If the current league table is maintained from now until the end of the season, survival would be guaranteed by 26 points.
Sir Alex Ferguson
The only rational explanation for Sir Alex's irrational post-match bleating is that his loss of sense was borne of the frustration of seeing his side squander the victory their cautious performance didn't quite warrant.
In response to the claim that Howard Webb "favoured Arsenal", much has already been said of the shirt-pull by Vidic that the referee chose to ignore. It's strange that so little fuss was made of the offside call that saw Emmanuel Adebayor denied an unhindered run through on goal despite Wes Brown playing him onside. It was a pivotal moment in the match. Had Adebayor scored then Sir's tactical masterpiece would have been ripped up.
Incidentally, Webb cautioned Cesc Fabregas last week for celebrating his goal with the Arsenal fans at Anfield. On Wednesday night, in a Carling Cup tie refereed by Webb, Manchester City's Elano ran into the crowd at Bolton after converting a late penalty. He wasn't punished. If Webb favours Arsenal, he has a strange way of showing it.
Arsene Wenger
As a talent spotter, the Arsenal manager is unmatched - at £37m, Wenger's team cost approximately a third of the £103m spent by Sir Alex assembling this weekend's ManYoo eleven. As a tactician, he is less convincing. Playing Alex Hleb as a withdrawn striker was vindicated at Anfield but it was a mistake to select the same formation for a match in which the Gunners were cast as aggressors. By overlooking Theo Walcott and Eduardo da Silva, Emmanuel Adebayor was left stranded and the home side were restricted to openings rather than chances.
In fairness to Wenger, he wasn't myopic to his mistake. "Adebayor was a bit too isolated," he admitted. "I went for a different approach. Without Van Persie the balance in the final third was not completely right. That's my fault."
Walcott was belatedly introduced as a substitute, but only as a winger, and on the right instead of the left where the sluggish John O'Shea finished the game. Patrice Evra had the pace to contain the youngster and then, as warned in commentary by Andy Gray, sped past the sleeping Walcott to create ManYoo's second goal. The 18-year-old was culpable, but it was Wenger's error.
Chris Hutchings
In his first incarnation as a Premiership manager, Hutchings was sacked by Bradford on November 6 after just 12 league matches. Seven years later, Hutchings is barely clinging on to outlive his previous self. Managers are not generally sacked after defeats to Chelski, but the five successive league defeats that preceded Saturday's loss have pushed Hutchings to the brink. With trips to Tottenham and Arsenal next, he has the job security of a suicide bomber.
Newcastle United
Supporters leaving after 12 minutes must be some sort of record.
Derby County
The only side in the top four divisions yet to score an away league goal this season.
Pete Gill
Winners
Chelski
Slowly but surely, Chelski are working themselves back into the title race. Given that their opponents since defeat at Old Trafford have been Fulham, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Man Citeh and Wigan, did anyone expect anything else? And given that the players at his disposal almost won three successive Premiership titles, why the rush to acclaim Avram Grant? As a manager in his own right, rather than one enjoying the benefits of a bountiful inheritance and the return of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, he remains unproven.
Arsenal
Arsenal celebrated at the final whistle as if they had won a game and well they might. William Gallas' equaliser was as good as a winner, causing a three-point swing at the top of the table.
Psychologically, a home defeat to their nearest rivals would have been a debilitating and possibly terminal blow to the self-belief of a side that, because of its inexperience, remains vulnerable. Witness last season's sudden collapse, when the Gunners crashed out of three competitions in 11 days.
Manchester United
The nature of the scoring and Sir Alex's silly whinging has distracted from the reality that Saturday's scoreline represented an excellent result for the champions. They wouldn't have settled for a point after 90 minutes, but it was the result they set out to achieve in the fluid 4-3-3 formation on which their Champions League quest will be built. The trick worked a treat.
Anderson, in particular, was excellent as a spoiler in front of an underworked defence - even if he did act like a spoilt brat later on. The concession of such a late equaliser galled Ferguson into idiocy, but once his equilibrium returns the Manchester United manager will reflect with satisfaction on a decent job reasonably well done. Of less satisfaction was the performance of Ryan Giggs. It was the Welshman who squandered possession in the build-up to Arsenal's first goal. Sadly, it was his only notable contribution all afternoon.
Darren Cann
If, as Jamie Redknapp sort of observed, Gallas' goal "was so quick even the human eye couldn't see it", then Darren Cann, the "lying" linesman of March's Carling Cup Final, either had a lucky guess or possesses the vision of Superman.
The Value Of Playing To The Final Whistle
A quarter of the Premiership's 25 goals this weekend were scored during injury-time: Rooney and Gallas in Arsenal v ManYoo, Carsley and Vaughan in Everton v Birmingham, Healy in Fulham v Reading, and Nolan in West Ham v Bolton.
Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers
It's Arsenal v ManYoo at the top and 'Arsenal' v 'ManYoo' in the battle to be the best of the rest. A touch exaggerated, admittedly, but it is apparent that both Harry Redknapp and Mark Hughes have learnt well at the schools of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson respectively.
Having been a mainstay in ManYoo's domination of the 1990s, it is no surprise that Mark Hughes has used a 4-4-2 formation, with two wide men pinging in crosses for an old-fashioned pair of centre forwards, as the blueprint for his success as a club manager. By aping Sir Alex, he also put himself in pole position to be his successor.
Pompey's imitation is in form rather than formation. Like Wenger's Invincibles of 2004, Redknapp's current team is athletic and physically imposing, full of Africans rather than home-grown talent. An Arsenal fan as a boy, Redknapp has even previously admitted signing a player on Wenger's recommendation.
Both sides now face an interesting set of fixtures: Hughes returns to Old Trafford next weekend with Blackburn while Pompey's next four opponents include Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton.
Lawrie Sanchez
His job is safe for now but Fulham's performance offered no assurances of long-term security.
Losers
Rafa Benitez
For how much longer can Liverpool's luck last? They were second-best at Blackburn, despite what the MOTD highlights may have suggested. Only in the final ten minutes did the Reds offer a sustained threat, with Rovers' overall superior for the previous 80.
On the morning of the match, Stephen Warnock, now of Blackburn, once part-time of Liverpool, spoke out trenchantly against Rafa Benitez's rotation system. "Even if you'd played really well one week, you never thought you would play the next," he reflected forlornly. That complaint must have resonated with Peter Crouch. Having excelled as a second-half substitute against Arsenal, he was omitted at Blackburn in favour of Steven Gerrard pairing the desperately out-of-form Dirk Kuyt. The decision was obstinate, perverse and wrong.
Crouch's overdue appearance as a substitute duly inspired Liverpool's only period of decency. Perhaps Benitez regards him as an impact player. But with Blackburn hitting the woodwork twice, and a justifiable penalty claim against Jamie Carragher rejected for a third successive weekend, the game's real impact should have already been made.
Having only won two of their last seven matches, the Reds now require a lengthy run of victories to save their season. Otherwise, with a Carling Cup quarter-final at Chelski looming and early elimination from the Champions League distinctly feasible, it is all to easy to foresee Liverpool crashing out, either literally or figuratively, of every competition bar the FA Cup next month.
Tottenham Hotspur
Just where are Tottenham heading? Not to the Champions League certainly. Not to the Championship, despite what the current table threatens. And probably not even to the UEFA Cup with so many teams and so many points already between Spurs and the consolation of limited qualification for Europe.
The ugly sister of the Champions League isn't an attractive alternative, but at least it provides the European competition that the leading players demand. Something is always better than nothing.
Having failed to take the next step from fifth place, Spurs have fallen backwards and are in danger of landing in the vicious cycle that has swallowed up Newcastle in recent years. How will they attract the players capable of achieving their stated ambition of Champions League football if they cannot even offer the UEFA Cup or the type of potential that persuaded Darren Bent to move to White Hart Lane in the summer?
Spending £16m on Bent may have been a mistake but it is the type of mistake Tottenham will not, on current form, be able to make next summer unless Juande Ramos can spark an instant and longstanding revival.
The Importance Of Winning
If the current league table is maintained from now until the end of the season, survival would be guaranteed by 26 points.
Sir Alex Ferguson
The only rational explanation for Sir Alex's irrational post-match bleating is that his loss of sense was borne of the frustration of seeing his side squander the victory their cautious performance didn't quite warrant.
In response to the claim that Howard Webb "favoured Arsenal", much has already been said of the shirt-pull by Vidic that the referee chose to ignore. It's strange that so little fuss was made of the offside call that saw Emmanuel Adebayor denied an unhindered run through on goal despite Wes Brown playing him onside. It was a pivotal moment in the match. Had Adebayor scored then Sir's tactical masterpiece would have been ripped up.
Incidentally, Webb cautioned Cesc Fabregas last week for celebrating his goal with the Arsenal fans at Anfield. On Wednesday night, in a Carling Cup tie refereed by Webb, Manchester City's Elano ran into the crowd at Bolton after converting a late penalty. He wasn't punished. If Webb favours Arsenal, he has a strange way of showing it.
Arsene Wenger
As a talent spotter, the Arsenal manager is unmatched - at £37m, Wenger's team cost approximately a third of the £103m spent by Sir Alex assembling this weekend's ManYoo eleven. As a tactician, he is less convincing. Playing Alex Hleb as a withdrawn striker was vindicated at Anfield but it was a mistake to select the same formation for a match in which the Gunners were cast as aggressors. By overlooking Theo Walcott and Eduardo da Silva, Emmanuel Adebayor was left stranded and the home side were restricted to openings rather than chances.
In fairness to Wenger, he wasn't myopic to his mistake. "Adebayor was a bit too isolated," he admitted. "I went for a different approach. Without Van Persie the balance in the final third was not completely right. That's my fault."
Walcott was belatedly introduced as a substitute, but only as a winger, and on the right instead of the left where the sluggish John O'Shea finished the game. Patrice Evra had the pace to contain the youngster and then, as warned in commentary by Andy Gray, sped past the sleeping Walcott to create ManYoo's second goal. The 18-year-old was culpable, but it was Wenger's error.
Chris Hutchings
In his first incarnation as a Premiership manager, Hutchings was sacked by Bradford on November 6 after just 12 league matches. Seven years later, Hutchings is barely clinging on to outlive his previous self. Managers are not generally sacked after defeats to Chelski, but the five successive league defeats that preceded Saturday's loss have pushed Hutchings to the brink. With trips to Tottenham and Arsenal next, he has the job security of a suicide bomber.
Newcastle United
Supporters leaving after 12 minutes must be some sort of record.
Derby County
The only side in the top four divisions yet to score an away league goal this season.
Pete Gill
