Here's a fun little party game -- invent your own AC/DC chorus. It's not hard, just come up with a simple phrase and channel your inner Brian Johnson. (Add the word 'fire' if you please.)
For instance, toss out a phrase like -- "Take it all the way" -- and then stretch out to "Taaaaake itttttttttt (pause) alllll the way" and there you have it.
The reason to bring this up is that it almost felt like the Premier League was getting a little too predictable. You know that every weekend Newcastle is going to lose. Chelsea is going to win. The cannon fodder will beat itself up. Arsene Wenger will complain. Tottenham will sink to new levels of disgrace.
Rise, lather, repeat.
Maybe a lot of those things did indeed transpire this weekend, but overall it felt fun and fresh to me for the first time in a while.
This is probably due to Liverpool's emphatic and euphoric 3-2 comeback win at Manchester City. For whatever the reason, Liverpool is like TNT, it knows drama. In this case, Fernando Torres was "The Closer" except it's hard to figure he's a fan of sassy Southern detectives, though he and Kyra Sedgwick might share the same hair-highlights. (For the records, never seen the show.)
Down 2-0 at the half on a really fluky goal by Stephan Ireland and a nice freekick by Garrido, Liverpool never seemed out of the game and fought back with the kind of resolve we've only seen recently with Chelsea under Mourinho, or Turkey at Euro 2008. Oddly enough, at exactly the same time Liverpool went down 2-0, Chelsea had gone ahead 2-0 over Aston Villa on a Niclas Anelka rebound goal. It would have been a clear mental advantage for Chelsea to go into the International break with a three point gap over Chelsea.
Though Torres scored twice (in pedestrian fashion for him), somehow Liverpool won the match with a) Steven Gerrad not scoring (huh?) and b) Torres missing a sitter in front of the goal that would have made it 3-2 in the 85th odd minute. Leave it to Sloth to swing in down the sail and save the day, as Dirk Kuty scored his first goal in the Premier League in forever off a deflection. (Can't forget to praise Yossi Benayoun's run that set up the goal from the left flank.)
Hey you guys?
More like, who the hell are these guys?
Taking three points, when zero seemed likely almost offsets the dreary 0-0 draw with Stoke City a couple weeks ago. Liverpool hasn't lost in 12 straight games across all competitions. As nice as Sunday's win was, we'll see if Rafa's men are for real in a testing week of Oct. 19 when they play away to both Athletico Madrid and Chelsea.
Take the bows, they're deserved but it's still only October. As we know, there's only one October. And one Steven Gerrard, right?
Around the league:
Hull of a job, cont.: Hull City (14 points) is alone in third place, a point clear of Arsenal and Aston Villa. Add betting on Hull City, alongside buying Google stock, as one of the first things to do when Doc Brown perfects the flux capacitor. The one Hull caveat, if the Tigers are counting on Geovanni to provide magical, dazzling long range bombs all season, it might all fall apart quicker than Michael Richards post-'Seinfeld' standup career. Still, Hull has as many points are the other two promoted teams -- Stoke and West Brom -- combined. Phil Brown for P.M. Along with Rafa, it's got to be the goatee. Quick poll, which Prem manager would you most like to see rock the goatee? Yes, Wenger would look like a 50s beatnik and space-and-time might stop if Sir Alex tried it. For my money, it goes to Steve Bruce, especially if it came in silver since he'd look like the Snowman from the Rankin Bass Christmas specials. Think on it.
Best goal: Writing this before the Sunday highlights, but did anything top Wayne Rooney's picture-perfect strike into the upper 90 on the feed from Ronaldo at rainy Ewood Park?
So yeah, that Rooney effort gets topped by Peter Crouch's unreal bicycle kick for Portsmouth. Bicycle might not even be the right nomenclature. Penny Farthing might be more accurate. (Be seeing you.)
And of course, Crouchie was topped perhaps by Matty Taylor's bullet free kick for the final goal in Bolton's 3-1 away win at West Ham. The shot had chem trails following it.
Best save: Shay Given denying Mikel Arteta at the death to perserve Newcastle's 2-2 draw with Everton. It's a shame a player of his class is rotting away at St. James Park.
Grant "Yellow" Leadbitter's loopingly, crazy hit to fool Manuel Almunia for Sunderland was also top-drawer.
Getting cheeky: Why I wonder this stuff, I don't know. Anyway, do Aston Villa teammates Gareth Barry and James Milner get jealous of each other's resounding cheekbones?
Lookalikes: Fulham fullback Paul Konchesky and Dr. Manhattan, of "Watchmen."
Best Cantona impersonation: Martin Skrtel for his kung fu kick to the solarplexes on Manchester City's Jo.
Just a thought: Maybe I'm the only person on the planet to think this way, so be it. Arsenal seemed scared to come out and play against Sunderland, which wasn't intimidated by the Gunners. Meanwhile Blackburn seemed petrified to try anything against Manchester United, which had its way with Rovers in the rain. Was this because of the difference in experience between Sir Alex proteges Roy Keane and Paul Ince? Was it because Arsenal's forwards don't really scare you unless they're in the box? Or it because the Manchester United machine is starting to gear up? Perhaps Keane channeled his inner Bobby Knight via Brian Dennehy from the unforgettable ESPN Orginal Entertainment presentation of "Season on the Brink". Remember those incessant ads a few years ago? "He throws an elbow, you punch him in the mouth." Yeah, time to stop typing and move onto a new topic.
Quickfires: Tottenham is three points worse than Newcastle. What can you even say? Even "The Love Guru" didn't have bad an opening. Gomes did his best Paul Robinson impression, watching Geovanni's freekick curl into the net. ... I guess hearing c*** 100 times this week from Joe Kinnear triggered something in the Magpies, coming back from 2-0 to Everton to salvage a draw. ... Seriously, West Brom can't find a shirt sponsor for a team in the world's most popular sporting league? ... Bolton, three goals? Where did that come from? ... Begrudingly, Chelsea was pretty slick vs. Aston Villa, though it did lose Niclas Anelka, prompting a surprise insertion of Franco Di Santo, huh? ... Steven Taylor must have had some good self reflection in his red card suspension, since he seemed to play a part in both Newcastle goals Sunday.
Dropping deuce: So Clint Dempsey got his first start for Fulham as Andy Johnson was suspended. The USMNT-er looked a threat in the first half with a couple off-target shots. In the second half, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson must have changed tactics at the Hawthornes since Dempsey dropped deeper and began fouling Baggies left and right. My notes have him fluffing a chance late in the match, but I don't even remember, which sums up the performance to me. Hope he brings it against Cuba, because he does have the talent to make things happen.
Line of the weekend: "Alongside his organic porridge, Roy Keane will be eating Kieran Richardson Monday morning." -- Pat Dolan, Setanta Sports. If you've seen the pudgy English-Irishman it's hard to believe he actually played the game as a youth with the Arsenal trainees. Richardson allowed Fabregas to get completely free for the leveling header for Arsenal.
Fantasy team of the week: Goes to...drumroll...yours truly for a 72-point showing thanks to Torres. We're going paddle boating together next weekend. Sorry Spain.
For instance, toss out a phrase like -- "Take it all the way" -- and then stretch out to "Taaaaake itttttttttt (pause) alllll the way" and there you have it.
The reason to bring this up is that it almost felt like the Premier League was getting a little too predictable. You know that every weekend Newcastle is going to lose. Chelsea is going to win. The cannon fodder will beat itself up. Arsene Wenger will complain. Tottenham will sink to new levels of disgrace.
Rise, lather, repeat.
Maybe a lot of those things did indeed transpire this weekend, but overall it felt fun and fresh to me for the first time in a while.
This is probably due to Liverpool's emphatic and euphoric 3-2 comeback win at Manchester City. For whatever the reason, Liverpool is like TNT, it knows drama. In this case, Fernando Torres was "The Closer" except it's hard to figure he's a fan of sassy Southern detectives, though he and Kyra Sedgwick might share the same hair-highlights. (For the records, never seen the show.)
Down 2-0 at the half on a really fluky goal by Stephan Ireland and a nice freekick by Garrido, Liverpool never seemed out of the game and fought back with the kind of resolve we've only seen recently with Chelsea under Mourinho, or Turkey at Euro 2008. Oddly enough, at exactly the same time Liverpool went down 2-0, Chelsea had gone ahead 2-0 over Aston Villa on a Niclas Anelka rebound goal. It would have been a clear mental advantage for Chelsea to go into the International break with a three point gap over Chelsea.
Though Torres scored twice (in pedestrian fashion for him), somehow Liverpool won the match with a) Steven Gerrad not scoring (huh?) and b) Torres missing a sitter in front of the goal that would have made it 3-2 in the 85th odd minute. Leave it to Sloth to swing in down the sail and save the day, as Dirk Kuty scored his first goal in the Premier League in forever off a deflection. (Can't forget to praise Yossi Benayoun's run that set up the goal from the left flank.)
Hey you guys?
More like, who the hell are these guys?
Taking three points, when zero seemed likely almost offsets the dreary 0-0 draw with Stoke City a couple weeks ago. Liverpool hasn't lost in 12 straight games across all competitions. As nice as Sunday's win was, we'll see if Rafa's men are for real in a testing week of Oct. 19 when they play away to both Athletico Madrid and Chelsea.
Take the bows, they're deserved but it's still only October. As we know, there's only one October. And one Steven Gerrard, right?
Around the league:
Hull of a job, cont.: Hull City (14 points) is alone in third place, a point clear of Arsenal and Aston Villa. Add betting on Hull City, alongside buying Google stock, as one of the first things to do when Doc Brown perfects the flux capacitor. The one Hull caveat, if the Tigers are counting on Geovanni to provide magical, dazzling long range bombs all season, it might all fall apart quicker than Michael Richards post-'Seinfeld' standup career. Still, Hull has as many points are the other two promoted teams -- Stoke and West Brom -- combined. Phil Brown for P.M. Along with Rafa, it's got to be the goatee. Quick poll, which Prem manager would you most like to see rock the goatee? Yes, Wenger would look like a 50s beatnik and space-and-time might stop if Sir Alex tried it. For my money, it goes to Steve Bruce, especially if it came in silver since he'd look like the Snowman from the Rankin Bass Christmas specials. Think on it.
Best goal: Writing this before the Sunday highlights, but did anything top Wayne Rooney's picture-perfect strike into the upper 90 on the feed from Ronaldo at rainy Ewood Park?
So yeah, that Rooney effort gets topped by Peter Crouch's unreal bicycle kick for Portsmouth. Bicycle might not even be the right nomenclature. Penny Farthing might be more accurate. (Be seeing you.)
And of course, Crouchie was topped perhaps by Matty Taylor's bullet free kick for the final goal in Bolton's 3-1 away win at West Ham. The shot had chem trails following it.
Best save: Shay Given denying Mikel Arteta at the death to perserve Newcastle's 2-2 draw with Everton. It's a shame a player of his class is rotting away at St. James Park.
Grant "Yellow" Leadbitter's loopingly, crazy hit to fool Manuel Almunia for Sunderland was also top-drawer.
Getting cheeky: Why I wonder this stuff, I don't know. Anyway, do Aston Villa teammates Gareth Barry and James Milner get jealous of each other's resounding cheekbones?
Lookalikes: Fulham fullback Paul Konchesky and Dr. Manhattan, of "Watchmen."
Best Cantona impersonation: Martin Skrtel for his kung fu kick to the solarplexes on Manchester City's Jo.
Just a thought: Maybe I'm the only person on the planet to think this way, so be it. Arsenal seemed scared to come out and play against Sunderland, which wasn't intimidated by the Gunners. Meanwhile Blackburn seemed petrified to try anything against Manchester United, which had its way with Rovers in the rain. Was this because of the difference in experience between Sir Alex proteges Roy Keane and Paul Ince? Was it because Arsenal's forwards don't really scare you unless they're in the box? Or it because the Manchester United machine is starting to gear up? Perhaps Keane channeled his inner Bobby Knight via Brian Dennehy from the unforgettable ESPN Orginal Entertainment presentation of "Season on the Brink". Remember those incessant ads a few years ago? "He throws an elbow, you punch him in the mouth." Yeah, time to stop typing and move onto a new topic.
Quickfires: Tottenham is three points worse than Newcastle. What can you even say? Even "The Love Guru" didn't have bad an opening. Gomes did his best Paul Robinson impression, watching Geovanni's freekick curl into the net. ... I guess hearing c*** 100 times this week from Joe Kinnear triggered something in the Magpies, coming back from 2-0 to Everton to salvage a draw. ... Seriously, West Brom can't find a shirt sponsor for a team in the world's most popular sporting league? ... Bolton, three goals? Where did that come from? ... Begrudingly, Chelsea was pretty slick vs. Aston Villa, though it did lose Niclas Anelka, prompting a surprise insertion of Franco Di Santo, huh? ... Steven Taylor must have had some good self reflection in his red card suspension, since he seemed to play a part in both Newcastle goals Sunday.
Dropping deuce: So Clint Dempsey got his first start for Fulham as Andy Johnson was suspended. The USMNT-er looked a threat in the first half with a couple off-target shots. In the second half, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson must have changed tactics at the Hawthornes since Dempsey dropped deeper and began fouling Baggies left and right. My notes have him fluffing a chance late in the match, but I don't even remember, which sums up the performance to me. Hope he brings it against Cuba, because he does have the talent to make things happen.
Line of the weekend: "Alongside his organic porridge, Roy Keane will be eating Kieran Richardson Monday morning." -- Pat Dolan, Setanta Sports. If you've seen the pudgy English-Irishman it's hard to believe he actually played the game as a youth with the Arsenal trainees. Richardson allowed Fabregas to get completely free for the leveling header for Arsenal.
Fantasy team of the week: Goes to...drumroll...yours truly for a 72-point showing thanks to Torres. We're going paddle boating together next weekend. Sorry Spain.
Labels: Arsenal, manchester United, Monday recaps, Premier League, Soccer, Wayne Rooney
It's really amazing to look at how quickly Spurs have gone from 4 strikers to 1. Pavlychenko has had moments up top, but selling Keane was likely the biggest mistake of the window. While Spurs truly do have the potential in the midfield to be a poor mans (OK, a destitute mans) Spain in Euro 2008, there's simply no Fro Torres or David Silva at the top.
I'd prefer not even begin to start discussing the mess in goal. I still think Ramos needs to be given until the break, but you have to start wondering if by that point the ship might be sunk.
It's been an amazing fall from just a few years back, where we were some bad lasagna away from the Top 4.
High point of the weekend for me was the commentators. While I always enjoy the minimalist play-by-play, I thought the dry humor and general smart ass tone taken this weekend was exceptional. Gary O'Reilly and Steve Barnyard were phenomenal during the ManU-Blackburn game and Davy Proven and Daniel Mann (i think) were not far behind in the Citeh-Pool game on Sunday. Hell even senile old man John Champion got in the act making jokes about Joe Kinnear missing the goal at the beginning of the 2nd half.
Just all in all a really enjoyable viewing/listening experience that highlighted the disparity between overproduced american sports and the more simplistic game for the game's sake english style.
You can begrudge them all you want, but they are playing with class and Chelsea are top of the league in every respect this year so far.
I have to agree with cardinal about the announcing I noticed it and loved listening to them during the ManU-Rovers match as well, great, refreshing stuff.