Hey all. It's been a couple of weeks but the pesky international break got in the way. Thankfully, most of the Liverpool squad got through unscathed (though now we have one functional left back and calling him functional is a compliment) so let's look ahead to this weekend's matches, where I'll presumably get almost every prediction wrong.
Everton 1-2 Liverpool
Call me biased but I think we have enough firepower to win the derby. Suarez has been a scourge to the men in blue since he joined the club and is in the form of his life. Sturridge has apparently been playing with a dead leg for weeks, which explains how he's managed to go 2 league games without scoring. But it'll be close and Everton have a very good team, the likes of Lukaku will be a real test for whatever defenders Rodgers sends out. I still think we'll edge it though.
Arsenal 1-1 Southampton
Southampton have the best defence in the league so I don't think for a second that this'll be an easy game for the Gunners. They also have a lot of young English talent in all areas of the pitch and in Lallana, Rodgriguez and Lambert, a quality attacking trio. If Arsenal are at their very best, they should win, but anything less than that and if Southampton play well, I can see this one ending in a draw.
Fulham 1-2 Swansea
Fulham have been in wretched form and can't seem to find goals consistently against teams with a decent back four (sorry Palace fans). They're playing appalling and I can't see Swansea losing this game. If Fulham play well, Berbatov grabs a goal or two then they could get a draw but the Swans are too good a team with too many quality players to expose the horror show that has become Fulham's back four. Nevertheless, this is a must win game for Martin Jol.
Hull 2-0 Crystal Palace
Palace have been awful so far this season and I see absolutely no reason why Hull shouldn't beat them fairly comfortably here. Hull have by no means set the league alight but they've certainly been disciplined and have kept clean sheets when they've needed to and picked up a very good set of results. This is a no-brainer for me but it won't be as easy as it should be.
Newcastle 2-1 Norwich
Neither of these sides are particularly strong but Newcastle are in good form with a couple of great results and Norwich got a good win last time out. This will be a scrappy affair but Newcastle should have just about have enough fire power to secure all three points in this one. Norwich might score though, Newcastle's defence has been patchy at best though, so I imagine Norwich can cause them more than a few problems.
Stoke 1-0 Sunderland
This is a tough one to predict. Stoke don't score many, Sunderland have real problems keeping clean sheets. Stoke don't concede many, Sunderland have potential to score but have struggled. As much as I'd love to say this one has 0-0 written all over it, I think Stoke will just have the edge. Peter Crouch to score a 21st minute header, you heard it here first.
West Ham 2-1 Chelsea
Chelsea have an appalling away record and their form is somewhat lacking. They're struggling to score goals and I reckon if things work out in West Ham's favour, they could cause a real upset here. Ravel Morrison is in red hot form and they have some really good players. They've already shocked Spurs, can they shock Mourinho?
Man City 2-1 Spurs
I've been saying all season that City have the best side and Spurs are struggling to score goals. But City's form is pretty poor and they're not playing as well as they can. Without Kompany at the back they look vulnerable and they lost to Sunderland last time out. You can never quite tell what you're going to get with City but I suspect they'll have enough here to beat Spurs, if they play well. And that's still a big if.
Cardiff 1-3 Man U
United are finally starting to put together a decent run of games, even though the majority of those have been against sides they should be beating comfortably. That said, Cardiff are a side they should be beating comfortably. They've had an alright start to the season but shouldn't pose too much of a threat if United play well.
West Brom 1-1 Aston Villa
A tough battle in the Birmingham derby and one which I think will be decided by the odd goal. Neither side is playing particularly well or particularly badly and the fact that they're separated by only one goal on goal difference so far this season in mid-table suggests this one will be a pretty low scoring draw, so I'm going for 1-1.
Take these with a pinch of salt, football has a way of coming back to bite those who think they have a fucking clue what's going on.
Friday, 22 November 2013
Sunday, 10 November 2013
What a weekend
Wow. Talk about a bad weekend for London clubs...
In a weekend in which just about all the underdogs put on a show, Manchester United stormed back into the title race and Liverpool fans were licking their lips with glee.
Arsenal - Downed by United.
City - Lost to Sunderland
Spurs - Outplayed by Newcastle
Chelsea - Scraped a point through a last minute dive
Everton - Drew with the side bottom of the league
This was not a weekend for the favourites, with only Liverpool and Southampton winning from inside the top 8. And both did so emphatically, Liverpool putting four without reply past a dreadful Fulham whilst Saints put Hull to the sword. And make no mistake, as bad as we were last weekend against the Gunners, Liverpool were well and truly on fire yesterday. Suarez was causing all kinds of problems and got himself on the scoresheet twice, meaning he is now the joint-leading scorer in the league despite missing the first 5 games, but it was Steve Gerrard's set-pieces that caused all the problems, as first Amorebieta put through his own net before a bullet header from Skrtel off a corner made it 2-0. In my mind though, Jordan Henderson was the best player on the pitch, picking out raking passes, beating defenders and snapping at heels all day long. That said, Kieran Richardson was as bad as I've ever seen a left back play and Fulham were lethargic, uninterested and quite frankly dire. If Jol doesn't go soon, I'd be very surprised, unless they turn it around quickly.
As for Southampton, they continue to be the shock of the season. People were laughing when they said they were aiming for Champions League football at the start of the season. Nobody's laughing now. They were on song today as well, the main trio of Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez continuing to impress. They're all hammering on the door of the England squad and deservedly so. But Southampton have been unmatched at the back, with only Spurs coming close to the 5 goals they've conceded all season, never more than one in a game. Only Norwich have beaten them this season (I know right) and they're deservedly ahead of the likes of Chelsea, United and City, sitting pretty in 3rd spot.
Hull themselves will be very disappointed how poorly they were defensively, especially considering their solidity in recent weeks, but they're in a good position nevertheless. Their fellow newly promoted side Cardiff may only be 2 points behind them, but Hull have been superior to them so far this season.
Speaking of newly promoted sides, Crystal Palace produced a dogged display to secure their first draw of the season and stop an alarming slide that saw them lose 7 games straight. Against Everton of all people, who missed their chance to climb into the top four. They weren't the only ones. Failing to score against Crystal Palace is an exceptional feat that nobody else has managed so far. Only Sunderland and Spurs came close to that, scoring just the one but frequently, Palace have been shipping goals in the 2s and 3s. Lukaku must've been rubbing his hands together before kick off.
Speaking of struggling to score, Spurs fans have been increasingly vocal at their annoyance at their manager. I personally find it odd to criticise a manager for setting up to not concede, indeed AVB's style is straight out of the Mourinho school of management and look at how successful he has been. But when your team only has 9 goals in 11 games and a sizeable chunk of those have been from dubious penalties, I can understand their frustration. Much has been made of Soldado and the lack of inverted wingers but often the problem is simply that teams will put 10 men behind the ball and the majority of teams in the league would struggle to react to that. Manchester City are a prime example, as today they failed utterly miserably to break down 2nd bottom Sunderland and lost 1-0 also. Sunderland defended resolutely and City, missing a good number of key players (again) simply weren't good enough. Their away form has been wretched and although they're only 6 points off the top, they need to improve and quick. They're now behind their arch rivals.
Ah yes United. I'd been wondering when you'd reappear. I've been wholly unconvinced by United this season. Scraping wins against Palace, Stoke and Sunderland left me in doubt they were struggling. They improved against a Fulham side who have slipped off the rails, but today was as much a test for them as it was for Arsenal. A chance for United to prove they could still play with the big boys. A test they passed, but it is fair to say it was much more a case of a test failed for Arsenal. Ozil was awful, Cazorla and Ramsey not much better and Arsenal, quite frankly, were a shadow of the team that comprehensively outplayed us last week. I'm just annoyed it wasn't the other way round and they didn't flatten United instead of us. But credit to United. Phil Jones was immense yet again, Carrick and Cleverly defended well and Rooney did a Rooney. There's no denying RVP is a disrespectful piece of shit, but he did what he does best, scored a goal and is now only 1 goal behind the leading scorers (with a little bit of help from dubious penalty awardings as per).
As for dubious penalties, this brings me to the Bridge. The Bridge where Jose Mourinho has never lost a single league game for Chelsea. By nothing short of a miracle. With West Brom (who have been magnificently resurgent since their win at Old Trafford) leading 2-1, Ramires flung himself to the ground via th midriff of an Albion defender, only for the ref to point to the spot, because quite frankly he couldn't deny Jose a penalty at Stamford Bridge with his team 2-1 down in the 93/94/95/90whateverth minute and that home record on the line. West Brom were robbed, Chelsea dropped two points.
Credit before I go to Norwich, for a brilliant win but Big Sam's West Ham need to be looking over their shoulder. They're only out the drop zone on goal difference and they've won just one of their last 10 now. Not good enough and nowhere near enough goals scored. And also, there were 3 goals in the three live games today. Swansea managed that in a half. For goodness sake guys, between Arsenal, Tottenham and City you couldn't manage one goal against teams conceding 51 goals between them this season...Pull your socks out.
On a final note, how close is it at the top?! Eight teams, six points and any of them could finish top four or even win the title (and yes I know how crazy that sounds but give Southampton some credit).
In a weekend in which just about all the underdogs put on a show, Manchester United stormed back into the title race and Liverpool fans were licking their lips with glee.
Arsenal - Downed by United.
City - Lost to Sunderland
Spurs - Outplayed by Newcastle
Chelsea - Scraped a point through a last minute dive
Everton - Drew with the side bottom of the league
This was not a weekend for the favourites, with only Liverpool and Southampton winning from inside the top 8. And both did so emphatically, Liverpool putting four without reply past a dreadful Fulham whilst Saints put Hull to the sword. And make no mistake, as bad as we were last weekend against the Gunners, Liverpool were well and truly on fire yesterday. Suarez was causing all kinds of problems and got himself on the scoresheet twice, meaning he is now the joint-leading scorer in the league despite missing the first 5 games, but it was Steve Gerrard's set-pieces that caused all the problems, as first Amorebieta put through his own net before a bullet header from Skrtel off a corner made it 2-0. In my mind though, Jordan Henderson was the best player on the pitch, picking out raking passes, beating defenders and snapping at heels all day long. That said, Kieran Richardson was as bad as I've ever seen a left back play and Fulham were lethargic, uninterested and quite frankly dire. If Jol doesn't go soon, I'd be very surprised, unless they turn it around quickly.
As for Southampton, they continue to be the shock of the season. People were laughing when they said they were aiming for Champions League football at the start of the season. Nobody's laughing now. They were on song today as well, the main trio of Lallana, Lambert and Rodriguez continuing to impress. They're all hammering on the door of the England squad and deservedly so. But Southampton have been unmatched at the back, with only Spurs coming close to the 5 goals they've conceded all season, never more than one in a game. Only Norwich have beaten them this season (I know right) and they're deservedly ahead of the likes of Chelsea, United and City, sitting pretty in 3rd spot.
Hull themselves will be very disappointed how poorly they were defensively, especially considering their solidity in recent weeks, but they're in a good position nevertheless. Their fellow newly promoted side Cardiff may only be 2 points behind them, but Hull have been superior to them so far this season.
Speaking of newly promoted sides, Crystal Palace produced a dogged display to secure their first draw of the season and stop an alarming slide that saw them lose 7 games straight. Against Everton of all people, who missed their chance to climb into the top four. They weren't the only ones. Failing to score against Crystal Palace is an exceptional feat that nobody else has managed so far. Only Sunderland and Spurs came close to that, scoring just the one but frequently, Palace have been shipping goals in the 2s and 3s. Lukaku must've been rubbing his hands together before kick off.
Speaking of struggling to score, Spurs fans have been increasingly vocal at their annoyance at their manager. I personally find it odd to criticise a manager for setting up to not concede, indeed AVB's style is straight out of the Mourinho school of management and look at how successful he has been. But when your team only has 9 goals in 11 games and a sizeable chunk of those have been from dubious penalties, I can understand their frustration. Much has been made of Soldado and the lack of inverted wingers but often the problem is simply that teams will put 10 men behind the ball and the majority of teams in the league would struggle to react to that. Manchester City are a prime example, as today they failed utterly miserably to break down 2nd bottom Sunderland and lost 1-0 also. Sunderland defended resolutely and City, missing a good number of key players (again) simply weren't good enough. Their away form has been wretched and although they're only 6 points off the top, they need to improve and quick. They're now behind their arch rivals.
Ah yes United. I'd been wondering when you'd reappear. I've been wholly unconvinced by United this season. Scraping wins against Palace, Stoke and Sunderland left me in doubt they were struggling. They improved against a Fulham side who have slipped off the rails, but today was as much a test for them as it was for Arsenal. A chance for United to prove they could still play with the big boys. A test they passed, but it is fair to say it was much more a case of a test failed for Arsenal. Ozil was awful, Cazorla and Ramsey not much better and Arsenal, quite frankly, were a shadow of the team that comprehensively outplayed us last week. I'm just annoyed it wasn't the other way round and they didn't flatten United instead of us. But credit to United. Phil Jones was immense yet again, Carrick and Cleverly defended well and Rooney did a Rooney. There's no denying RVP is a disrespectful piece of shit, but he did what he does best, scored a goal and is now only 1 goal behind the leading scorers (with a little bit of help from dubious penalty awardings as per).
As for dubious penalties, this brings me to the Bridge. The Bridge where Jose Mourinho has never lost a single league game for Chelsea. By nothing short of a miracle. With West Brom (who have been magnificently resurgent since their win at Old Trafford) leading 2-1, Ramires flung himself to the ground via th midriff of an Albion defender, only for the ref to point to the spot, because quite frankly he couldn't deny Jose a penalty at Stamford Bridge with his team 2-1 down in the 93/94/95/90whateverth minute and that home record on the line. West Brom were robbed, Chelsea dropped two points.
Credit before I go to Norwich, for a brilliant win but Big Sam's West Ham need to be looking over their shoulder. They're only out the drop zone on goal difference and they've won just one of their last 10 now. Not good enough and nowhere near enough goals scored. And also, there were 3 goals in the three live games today. Swansea managed that in a half. For goodness sake guys, between Arsenal, Tottenham and City you couldn't manage one goal against teams conceding 51 goals between them this season...Pull your socks out.
On a final note, how close is it at the top?! Eight teams, six points and any of them could finish top four or even win the title (and yes I know how crazy that sounds but give Southampton some credit).
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