Premier League Round up ...

Premier League Round up - Sat 27th & Sun 28th August



Here we have a brief round up of some of the talking points of the weekend's Premier League action.

Aston Villa 0 v 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

People were expecting a feisty Midlands derby, but ended up with a fairly event-less 0-0 draw. Villa piled on the pressure in the second half and Mick McCarthy thought Wolves had a fair shout for a penalty when Stephen Ward collided with Herd in the penalty area, but still neither team could manage to break the deadlock.

Both teams remain unbeaten so far in the Premier League. I think it's fair to say on the back of the relegation scare both sides experienced last season, they will both be OK this year.

Blackburn Rovers 0 - 1 Everton

I don't think even Everton and Blackburn fans could believe how this one panned out! After a pretty event-less first half, Blackburn were awarded a penalty when Formica was brought down in the box. Hoilett stepped up to take the penalty, only for it to be saved by Tim Howard. Shortly afterwards, Formica was again brought down in the penalty area, this time by Jagielka. Formica decided to step up to the plate this time, only for the penalty kick to rebound back off the foot of the post and away from the danger area.
Blackburn fans must have then felt extremely sick to the stomach, as - after the heartbreak of seeing two penalty misses -Samba was judged to have impeded Fellaini in the area during injury time, and a penalty was awarded to Everton. Mikel Arteta gladly slotted past Paul Robinson into the Blackburn net; rounding of a truly terrible day for the Ewood Park faithful.
In my previous post regarding "The Great Sack Race", I said Steve Kean was already under pressure. This game will not have helped and the fans will be beginning to get very frustrated with it all.

Swansea City 0 - 0 Sunderland

It's not getting any better for Brucey is it? After losing 1-0 away to Brighton in the Carling Cup and 1-0 to at home to Newcastle in their previous Premier League fixture, they travelled to the Liberty Stadium, only to come away with just a point and a 0-0 draw.
Both sides had chances to go ahead, with Swansea keeper Vorm producing yet more magnificent saves to deny Gyan in the first half. O'Shea had a shot which hit the woodwork, with Swansea's Danny Graham and Nathan Dyer also narrowly missing getting the opener with headers that were mide of the mark. The second half was on the most part controlled by Swansea, but with Sunderland still looking threatening on the counter attack.
Although Swansea are still searching for their first Premier League win, they have already managed to gain 2 draws and keep two clean sheets, and appear to be more than holding their own so far. Sunderland's results tell a different story, with this being only the second point picked up so far in 3 games. Based on last year's 10th place finish, and the number of players that have been brought in, the fans and the board at Sunderland will be expecting more from Bruce and his team than 0-0 draws with the Premier League new boys.

Manchester United 8 - 2 Arsenal

Wow! Now that is a scoreline none of us saw coming. Sure, most of us were predicting a comfortable United win considering the state of Arsenal's squad at the moment, but Arsenal conceding 8 goals? What is going on?
Danny Welbeck headed United into the lead in the 22nd minute before coming off with a hamstring strain later in the first half. Arsenal then had a chance to level the scores when Theo Walcott was brought down in the box, only for United's keeper De Gea to compensate for some of blunders in previous games and pull off a save from Robin Van Persie. This set Manchester United off, and only 1 minute later the score was 2-0. Rooney then scored from a free kick on 41 minutes, with Theo Walcott replying with a goal in first half injury time. During the second half De Gea once again made some fine saves to deny Arsenal, with Rooney putting away another free kick for United in the 64th minute. Then came goals from Nani, Park Ji-Sung, Ashley Young and a Rooney penalty, with Van Persie scoring another consolation goal to make it 8-2.
I think it's safe to say that this was a definite statement of intent from United and Sir Alex. After City's win convincing 5-1 win earlier in the day, United definitely replied and reminded City, and Arsenal, why they are the current Premier League Champions.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 5 Manchester City

After a Saturday that saw only 11 goals in the 6 games, we were treated to a super goal Sunday with an amazing 20 goals in the four games played. Manchester City were another team out to make a serious statement of intent against one of the other teams competing for one of the league's top spots.
Edin Dzeko, with his newly found scoring skills, went on the rampage in this one, scoring 4 of City's 5 goals. The first came when Samir Nasri flew in a cross for Dzeko to poke into the net. Nasri again impressed on his City debut; swinging in another ball for Dzeko to head past Brad Freidel. Joe Hart made some fine saves from Van der Vart's efforts, but after the break Dzeko popped up again to tap in his 3rd in the 55th minute. Instant City hit Sergio Aguero scored the side's 4th, before Kaboul grabbed Tottenham a consolation goal, heading in from a corner in the 68th minute. Dzeko still wasn't done in injury time when he curled in a fine shot into the top corner, and rounded off Tottenham's annihilation.
Tottenham are not a bad team, but it seems that City are finally starting to show their immense quality, and that Mancini has found a way to utilise all of these big names and turn out the results they need. They are certainly a team to look out for this season.

Blackburn's Chicken Balls



As you are no doubt aware, in November last year Blackburn were took over by a company called Venky's, an organisation that basically sell chicken. Upon their arrival they made such promises as securing Champions League qualification within 4 years, an ambition to challenge for the Premier League title, and an interest in signing Ronaldinho.

At one point the new Chair of Blackburn Rovers and head of the Venky's group, Mrs Anuradha Desai, stated that maybe her brother could scout players, as "he is a football fan". Sorry but I am also a mere football fan, and I sure wouldn't trust myself heading off with £25 Million to buy quality players without a proper scouting structure in place. As you can see, these people have no clue about running a football club. "Who needs a medical? I have a cousin who had physiotherapy once who could help!"

Below we see the next stupid idea to come out of the Blackburn boardroom. If you don't appreciate highly cringe-worthy fried chicken adverts, then look away now... (Post continues below)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYwf2SBWa5o]

Ah. Right. Now, I'm no nutritionist, but I'm thinking this probably contributes to the fact the players don't perform too well on matchdays, and why they are currently sitting rock bottom with a grand total of zero points.

Joking aside, Blackburn are in trouble, and I can't see anyone around Ewood Park at the moment with the experience required to keep them in the Premier League. Steve Kean, by no fault of his own, was installed with no previous Premier League First Team Manager experience, and the board clearly don't have the slightest idea of how to run the damn thing.

I can seriously see Blackburn going down this year. They just do not have enough quality in my opinion. As I write this they have missed two penalties against Everton and have just now lost 1-0 from - you guessed it - a penalty. The pressure is mounting and I'm sure the fans will begin to get more and more restless as the weeks go by. We will just have to wait and see.

The Great Sack Race



Now the new season has well and truly kicked off, our attentions turn to which managers are already under pressure for their jobs. Traditionally at this time everyone has a good guess of who will be the first of the season for the chop. Therefore sit back and have a look at my take on the current season's Premier League Great Sack Race!

Steve Kean - Blackburn Rovers



I feel a bit sorry for Steve Kean. The Blackburn board gave him the managers job based on his experience as an assistant manager and his performance as Caretaker boss after Allardyce left the club, which was never going to go down too well with the fans. While Kean has been in charge managers such as Roy Hodgson and Alex McLeish have been snapped up by teams with a similar budget and stature as Blackburn - which can only be frustrating to the fans.
The fact he has no previous first team manager experience will be a stick that the fans will return to continually beat him with whenever Blackburn have a bad result. Maybe they should be asking why their board installed him in the first place? But don't get me started on Blackburn's board. I may well do a post in the near future regarding these clueless people.

Nevertheless, Steve Kean will be under immense pressure already in the season. If the next few games don't yield any points or major improvements, the fans will become restless, and if the Blackburn board have any clue what they are doing, he may be gone by January.

Neil Warnock - Queens Park Rangers



Rumours were already rife of Warnock's departure before the first ball of the season was even kicked. This was allegedly down to a rift between a director of QPR and Warnock, with reports at the time even suggesting he had walked!

Currently Warnock is second favourite to be the first for the chop. With the latest money-spinning takeover that has occurred in the last week or so at QPR, the board seem to have the cash to bring in a more experienced premier league manager if they find themselves being cud adrift in a relegation battle. But, they are splashing the cash at the moment; Joey Barton signed on a four year deal on Friday, and rumours are flying around mentioning such names as Shaun Wright Phillips and Scott Parker. These sort of signings are definitely going to add quality to an already fairly strong squad.

I think Warnock will be given a fair amount of time by the board to bed in his new signings. But if they are in the relegation zone by January, there may well be someone with more premier league experience on the market by then.

Steve Bruce - Sunderland



I'm worried for Brucey, I really am. I have lost track of all the incomings at the Stadium of Light, in addition to the money Bruce spent during last years transfer window for the likes of Gyan and Titus Bramble. It's obvious the board at Sunderland are trying to back Steve Bruce in the transfer market as much as possible, I'm just worried that they are not going to perform together on the pitch.

People have been talking about a potential push for Europe for Sunderland this year; given the success of finishing 10th last year. On Tuesday evening they travelled to Brighton for the Carling Cup. I thought Brucey may have given it a good go, considering it is a possible way into Europe to win the Carling Cup. Saying that, quite a few big names were on the team sheet that night, but they ended up losing 1-0. In their previous premier league fixture, at home to Newcastle, local pride was at stake for the fans, yet Newcastle left with all 3 points.

I know it's early days, and the board aren't likely to be too hasty in giving him the sack given how they've backed his choices of players in the market for the past couple of years, but if their results don't start to reflect the quality they have in their squad, it could end up being 'bye bye Brucey'.

The Championship's Front Runners

It seems that the bookies are placing Andy Thorn of Coventry City as the favourite, with the other front runners being Sean O'Driscoll of Doncaster Rovers, Simon Grayson of Leeds United, Paul Jewell of Ipswich and Steve McClaren of Nottingham Forest.

Wenger's World



Wenger's world is a scary and lonely place. Everyone is against you, yet you can't see where you or your players have ever done anything wrong.
Yesterday Arsene Wenger was moaning about Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside, who said he had made a derisory bid for Bolton defender Gary Cahill. Wenger said it was not derisory. Yet how many times did Arsenal criticise Barcelona for putting up what they knew was a very low offer for Febregas? Wenger's double standards are apparent yet again.

Wenger needs to do something. Two of the most gifted players he had at his disposal, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, have gone on to pastures new, with no replacements on the horizon as of yet. With 6 years and counting without silverware at Arsenal, the supporters are now becoming restless with Wenger's stubbornness to spend. With about £60 Million in the bank from the Nasri and Fabregas deals alone, you would expect more activity would already be happening at the Emirates, but no. I am still seeing rumours such as "Arsenal chase highly rated youngster".

One look at the various Arsenal message boards shows a growing murmur of supporters who think that Wenger's time is up. I may have to agree as I can't see any silverware coming this season either, unless in the next 3 days they go on a Manchester City style transfer blow-out, which I wouldn't really recommend for any club. He has already said he wouldn't resign as Manager of Arsenal, so at the end of the season their board has a very tough decision to make.

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