EPL Roundup
Mid-Week
While you were at work or doing some shopping after the Black Friday kickoff weekend teams in the EPL were busy with a hefty slate of mid-week matches. The significance of some of them are worthy of note.
On Tuesday Sheffield United took all three points at Watford with an 87th minute header from Webber in a scrappy contest 1-0. If you see a replay watch closely as there may have been more than a hint of offside on the play. While this match won't be one of those long remembered affairs Warnock's guys showed yet again that when you face them on the pitch you better be ready to play every second of the match. This result tied United with Blackburn and Newcastle on 13pts pulling them into the relegation zone fight separated only by goal difference.
The Wednesday action had some key games on the schedule. None more important than the Everton visit to Old Trafford. The Red Devils punished the Toffees 3-0 to maintain their 3pt advantage over Chelsea with goals from Ronaldo, Evra (his first for the club) and O'Shea.
Those Blues visited Bolton and won that closely fought contest 1-0 on a 1st half stoppage time header from Ballack to keep the margin at the top to 3pts. Despite being dominated by the Blues for much of the match Bolton had their chance at the end to snatch a point from their talisman Diouf whose left footed strike wasn't good enough to get the job done.
The most satisfying match on the day was the 2-1 victory of Fulham over that team that is too good for English lads, Arsenal. It was Fulham's first win over the Gunners since 1966. McBride opened the scoring with a perfectly executed glancing header off a corner in the 5th and in the 19th Radzinski made it 2-0 Fulham off a fine cross from Boa Morte whose skillful play on the wing created the opportunity. Out of form Arsenal have now taken only 5pts from their last 6 games. Believe it or not bottom side Charlton have actually taken more points (6) from their last six games than the Gunners.
The only reason Arsenal haven't fallen even farther down the table is that the cluster of pretend challengers to the title have all been off their game of late with Bolton, Pompey and Everton joining the Gunners in the bad patch. Along the way over those last six games Arsenal have scored more than one goal only once (their 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool) as these supposed challengers have watched ManU and Chelsea pull away from the pack. Arsenal (6th) are now 16pts behind top of the table ManU and tied on 22 points with Liverpool (7th) and EPL first timers Reading now 8th. Pompey in third is 14pts off the pace.
Liverpool's difficulty scoring goals saw them held by that Portsmouth side at Anfield 0-0 on Wednesday. The Pool have managed only 15 goals in 15 games, and guess what? They've also conceded (you guessed it) 15! Benitez is surely feeling the heat as now he blames Pompey for time-wasting throughout the match as if that was why the Reds can't finish a chance. To contrast that with the leader's ManU have scored more than twice as many (33) while conceding only 7.
Despite all that Liverpool has actually made progress. Slight and hard to see but since that thumping 3-0 loss to Arsenal the Reds have not conceded a goal. The downside is they have scored only one of their own winning once with 2 draws but it is progress, however slight.
Speaking of progress Man City got their 1st win on the road with a solid 3-1 victory over Aston Villa. The loss at home was Martin O'Neill's first since taking charge at Villa. City goals from Vassel, Barton and Distin did the job for Pearce's men. Villa's tally came from Gavin McCann's brilliant 25 yard strike after Petrov's free kick that deflected down off the crossbar was ruled to have not crossed the line.
The challengers have a lot of work to do if their words are to have any meaning . Some of them have been blowing smoke recently saying their still in it. While they've been deluding themselves and that smoke is blown away by the early winter winds Chelsea and ManU have been showing just how far adrift the pretend challengers really are by extending the margin at the top.
Third place 14pts behind the leader after 15 games is not a challenge no matter how thick that smoke screen.
EPL Review
Round 14
With all the hype and apprehension about the clash of the Titans if you were a visitor from Mars you’d think that the EPL was really only two teams. Some pundits even suggested that both teams losses early in the week in their Champions League encounters were brilliant strategic moves by the managers that are smarter than everyone else. In all too familiar fashion the big match was something else and left us where we were before a ball was kicked.
Man United 1
Chelsea 1
An exquisite left footed curling ball from Louis Saha put ManU 1 up in this one as the Blues were unsettled and unable to generate much of a threat in the first period. The second was a different story as Chelsea always seemed the more likely to go on and win this thing. The pressure on the United end finally led to a goal off the head of Carvalho in the 69th to get the match level and thats where it stayed.
Set that aside for the moment because the fact is, this match could very well have gone a long way to determining who will be on top in May ’07. Since the result was a “push” it did no such thing. That in itself could be viewed as advantage Chelsea I suppose because when they meet again it will be at Stamford Bridge in the spring. Jose will settle for this draw for now and hope that his Blues will regain the scoring touch that torched the league the past two seasons before they meet again. But will they?
The match leaves a big question in mind; why isn’t Chelsea even better than they were the past two seasons? After all, they added Ashley Cole, Ballack and Schevcenko to the team that won two EPL titles on the trot, yet they are not the team they were. Two of those players were deep in the running for World Player of the Year and if you were to ask Ashley Cole he’d say that he should have been there too. An embarrassment of riches has Chelsea out of sorts if you ask me as both Ballack and Schevie are unable to play the role they excelled in for their previous teams and having them on the pitch has upset the balance, especially in the attack, that was Chelsea of the past two seasons. Along with that, Lampard is only a shadow of the player he was in the past two seasons and you have a Chelsea team that is too good to fail but may not be good enough to win the title this time around.
A line from an old movie comes to mind (even if I change it a little bit for affect); “what we have here is failure to be a team”. I really do believe that. Chelsea have not really jelled, don’t seem to come together on the attack and be of “one mind” as they might say in England. And, tis true. That is what ails Chelsea right now. And it makes a point that I really do put a lot of faith in; a winning team is more than just the sum of its parts. And right now if you added them up Chelsea should be head and shoulders above the rest and they are not. Not yet anyway.
Credit to ManU for taking them off their game but the truth is that task has been far too easy to do this season. So far that is. If Jose can get this Blues team back to where they were as a unit they’ll win it again. We’ve all heard this song before where the best team on paper doesn’t win it and this could be another one of those in the making. Chelsea truly are, man by man down the roster the best professional club in Europe. Right now that club is just not quite the team they used to be.
In case you didn’t notice there actually was another hard fought battle at the top of one of Europe’s big leagues this weekend even if the Chelsea v Man United confrontation turned out to settle nothing at this point.
Palermo 1
Inter 2
This one also saw top versus 2nd place. In this one both teams came determined to win the match! There would be no draw. Still undefeated Inter meant to blunt the challenge of Palermo and they did just that from the off. A blistering drive from 35 yards by Ibrahimovic in the 7th minute put Inter on top and they kept up the pressure for most of the opening half. Palermo fought back and got into the match with a beautiful stoppage time one touch strike of their own by Amauri just inside the post and it was game on again. The match winner came in the 70th minute from a man EPL fans will recognize, Patrick Vieira, as he blasted his shot from about 15 yards high into the near post corner off a perfectly executed lay off into his run by Adriano. Palermo would show why they had been 2nd in Serie A before the match by pressing Inter to the wall for the remainder and hitting the post twice before it was over. In fact, they had Inter hanging on by their fingernails at the end. With the win Inter goes 4 points clear of Roma whose win put them 2nd 1 point up on now 3rd placed Palermo.
Back to the rest of the pack in the EPL.
Charlton 1
Everton 1
The Toffees difficulty finding a quality finish continues as their goal came by way of an own goal in the 51st and Reid got the match level in the 67th for bottom side Charlton. AJ’s dry spell drags on and the loss of Tim Cahill builds to an even bigger problem than many would have thought.
Aston Villa 1
Middlesbrough 1
Yet another PK by Gareth Barry got Villa level in first half stoppage time. Neither side could find the quality finishing touch and Angel’s disallowed goal became the crucial decision on the day. Villa have yet to lose at home in league play but the eight draws (3 of them at home) need to be wins to stay in contention for a European place.
Liverpool 1
Man City 0
Gerrard’s first EPL goal of the season (can you imagine 14 games in before he gets his first) carried Liverpool to the win as they remained unbeaten at Anfield. Like Liverpool, City remains winless away from home.
Fulham 0
Reading 1
A 16th minute red card and subsequent penalty (Doyle) put Fulham down a man and a goal as the challenge from newcomers Reading looked too big for the Cottager’s to manage, at home or not. McBride saw the best chances for Fulham come his way but a solid header was saved at the near post and his strong drive in the 78th minute shaved the post at the top corner. The 10 man Cottager’s kept Reading on the back foot for much of the match but couldn’t find the answer to get one by Hahneman as the Royals got their 7th win of their first ever campaign in the top flight. Reading sits 7th in the table with the win.
West Ham 1
Sheffield United 0
The spunky Blades tested the Hammers at Upton Park but Hayden Mullins header won the day for the new owners at West Ham. More big news for the future at West Ham is that Chelsea have acknowledged their bid for Shaun Wright-Phillips and that the Hammers and their new ownership have the inside track. Looks like a winter window move is in the cards and we’ll see SWP getting some time on the pitch this season after all. Drat! I was hoping he might move to Blackburn Rovers. Warnock’s guys make you play each and every second and if you don’t you might drop some points.
Bolton 3
Arsenal 1
The only team that scored more than one goal on Saturday was Bolton as they thumped the Gunners at the Reebok. Anelka’s brace won the day as his first (and his first for the Wanderers) was a terrific strike in that special category. This one saw two goals scored in 1st half stoppage time; Anelka’s first, after Faye’s 8th minute strike, made it 2-0 Bolton and Gilberto Silva’s free header pulled one back for Arsenal less than a minute later. The win puts Bolton 3rd ahead of the Sunday games in spite of their winning only 4 points from their last 5 games. That fact emphasizes the difference in quality between the two top sides and the best of the rest.
Newcastle 1
Portsmouth 0
Sibierski’s 68th minute strike won the day for the Toon army and may have saved the job of Glenn Roeder in the process.
Tottenham 3
Wigan 1
Wigan opened the scoring with Henri Camara in the 24th minute before Spurs found their legs and ran off three unanswered goals at White Hart Lane. DeFoe got them level in the 42nd before the match winner from Berbatov one minute later. Lennon closed the book in the 90th for Spurs who go to 10th and Wigan drops to 11th spot.
