Untitled Premier League Monday Post
6 Comments Published by Cardillo on August 31, 2009 at 12:01 PM.
Bear in mind I tried to squeeze this post betwixt a Saturday wedding and a Sunday afternoon fantasy football draft. So apologies up front if this is sloppier and crummier than you've come to expect.
That said, cue up the late 1980s Vince McMahon voice.
"Anything can happen here in the World Wrestling Federation."
Maybe we ought to amend that to the Barclay's Premier League, since this was a weekend which why we all remember why it's the most popular sporting competition in the world. Excitement be thy name.
Saturday morning we got three televised thrillers, preceded by Chelsea's by-the-numbers 3-0 win over Burnley in the early morning ESPN2 scenario.
Let's start with Steven Gerrard, again, bailing out Liverpool.
For the last couple years I've convinced myself that Rafa Benitez is a smart guy. You know, organized, tactical, astute. Probably spends 15 minutes a day immaculately grooming his goatee even if he still ends up sharing the shame look as Chumlee on the History Channel's "Pawn Stars."
Yet again, on another weekend, Liverpool's success comes down to Gerrard doing something spectacular -- this time with a patented rocket tucked right under the crossbar to give the Reds a 3-2 win at Bolton. Credit the King of the Scouse since he is absolutely lethal with shots from inside the penalty area straight on goal, regardless of the goal mouth traffic.
In the short term, Gerrard and his running mate Fernando Torres can mask a lot of Liverpool's problems. Right now, the defense is a total mess. Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos proved to be a disaster, or as Ace Cowboy told me in an email, "He should just get it over with and wear a toga and drink strained feta cheese out of the water bottle."
In the NBA we've seen that two superstars and a smart coach -- say the Shaq/Kobe Lakers -- can win a title. Doubt that can happen in the Premier League in 2009-10, especially while trying to mount a run in the Champions League. (You can only ask Dirk Kuyt to huff-and-puff so many times before his legs give out. As Lou Brown might say, "these are professional ballplayers, they get strains." Oh and Kuyt, what a chest pass to Torres.)
Liverpool will find a way to sort itself out, but long term? What's the upside of this team? Sometimes you think with its collective body language they simply expect somebody to hand them over the title, as if it's their divine right.
Moving on, our next thriller came at White Hart Lane, where Spurs made it 12-for-12 in typical heart-attack-inducing fashion.
Realistically, I was about 30 seconds from writing the line, "That's why Spurs is Spurs" until Aaron Lennon converted a gift goal triggered when Birmingham defender Stephen Carr tripped over the ball at midfield. Thankfully blogs and typewriters don't mesh.
And if Roman Pavlychenko doesn't do another thing in a Spurs uniform before moving to Siberian pastures, at least he threaded the needle to Lennon with one of the best, under-pressure passes you'll see all season. Long, diagonal, through three defenders? Safe to say, he'll never do it again, but it shouldn't matter since it happened when Tottenham needed it.
This was Spurs being Spurs.
They absolutely dominated the first half and could have had about four goals and should have had at least one. I'm half surprised Harry Redknapp didn't put up an lawn chair inside the Brum box.
Finally through hard work they go ahead 1-0 on Peter Crouch's header, only to cough it up minutes later in a comical display of miscommunication between Alan Hutton and Carlo Cudicini allowing Lee Bowyer to tap it in. Funny thing is, since Spurs won its not a big deal. However, if they lost, would Cudicini have been racked over the coals like Gomes or some other keeper with a bad reputation? Doubt it.
Still, Spurs found a way and sit top of the league. I'm pretty certain Spurs is a talented team? Good enough to sustain a push for the league title and or Champions League spot? We'll get a good sense when play resumes on September 12 when Manchester United descends on North London.
When you're good you make your own breaks and get away it on time-to-time. Nobody knows this better than a certain Sir Alex Ferguson.
We could triple that statement for Manchester United's 2-1 win over Arsenal.
Really though, above all this game made me feel sorry for Arsene Wenger. (Yeah, I know hard to do.)
Here's Wenger. His long-term, no-mega-money buy, believe in youth system is finally bearing fruit. The Gunners are scoring goals and looking incredible doing it.
For about 50-odd minutes -- without Cesc Fabregas no less -- they were running Manchester United off Old Trafford, leading 1-0 thanks to a brilliant strike from Andrei/y Arshavin. (One note, they dominated clearly, but didn't have that many outright chances that should have been goals.)
Then, like the final act of "District 9" is all fell apart.
The Manuel Almunia/Wayne Rooney penalty decision clearly changed the game. In full speed it looked like the Spanish keeper/adult film actor took down the striker and a clear penalty. On replay, not so much. Considering the hubbub over the Eduardo dive vs. Celtic only days earlier, this was scripted straight from a Gooner nightmare. (By comparison, on Sunday Emmerson Boyce pulled down Jo in the Everton/Wigan match and it was indefensible.)
For conspiracy theorists, take into consideration that Rooney is Rooney and he's not a diver. It probably could have gone either way, but Rooney's rep may have pushed it over in United's favor. Yeah, not a good answer, but it wasn't the most blatant example of United's favor with the refs, but it'll go in the scrapbook of those that are convinced there is an agenda.
If all that wasn't bad enough for Wenger, five minutes later Ryan Giggs fires in an innocuous freekick that Abou Diaby flicks backward into his own net.
Sacre bleu! Is there a way to translate "fart in the mouth" to French?
The final insult for Wenger is that after he reacts -- normally I might add -- by kicking a water bottle after a stoppage time goal for Arsenal was waved off by the offside flag, he's sent off by the fourth official. Wenger tried to walk out of the coach's box and up the stairs, finally standing at a platform with his hands out incredulously.
At that point, what neutral didn't feel like Wenger? He's certainly easy to mock due to his inherent Frenchy-ness, but what unfurled at Old Trafford was cruel and unusual.
Arsenal did everything it should have to win the match and declare it's serious intentions as a realistic title contender only to be snakebitten in two incidents across the run of play.
How much this effects the rest of the season remains to be seen. For the time being it keeps Manchester United in the Top Four conversation. Don't forget how poor the Red Devils were against the top clubs last season.
For Arsenal this match could galvanize the team? In the big picture, losing at Old Trafford isn't the end of the world. When the season starts you pencil in maybe one point and would be considered happy. Gooners fans, however, must wait until Jan. 30 for another chance to even the score with United.
Rising:
* Emmanuel Adebayor -- Three goals in three games. Nobody owns the bad teams like him. City's next opponent? Arsenal. Methinks that might be a big game at Eastlands.
Falling:
* Fulham -- Let's just say at this point, like milk on a hot day, the Europa League is a bad choice.
Broadcast zone:
* ESPN's Saturday morning show regressed a little bit this week. Georgie Bingham, god bless her, could use some polish as a studio host as the interplay between her and Robbie Mustoe was painful at times.
One other grip, ESPN, if you're going to show the league standing, you may want to consider adding the point totals to the graphic. It's kind of a big deal.
And for every single, Premier League lead play-by-play man, please don't speculate that a match is over until the final whistle. With five stoppage minutes for Arsenal on Saturday, a lot could have happened. If not for a William Gallas offside, it was 2-2. I know they want to add drama, but the late goal happens far too often when the big teams play each other.
British Lion Zone:
* Since last year's Champions League, commentator extraordinaire 30f and I have gone back and forth about Derek Rae's Brett Favre-like fawning over Ryan Giggs.
That sort of fanaticism has oozed into the broadcast booths during these Premier League matches this season. Any time an English player does anything you're about two steps away from a squeegee crew needed to wipe down the booth.
This weekend when Ashley Cole scored for Chelsea vs. Burnley, the announcers went ga-ga how he's the best left back in the world. (Really?)
That was nothing compared to the lionizing of Wayne Rooney against Arsenal, at one point they declared how lucky they were that he plays for England. I love Rooney Tunes as much as the next guy, but let's not forgot that this is a global broadcast.
Miscellany:
* Don't look now, but slowly and surely Tony Pulis is building a rather competent team at Stoke City. The additions of ex-Middlesborough charges Robert Huth and Tuncay should only help the Potters.
* Eddie Johnson made the actual game-day squad for Fulham in the absence of Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora.
* Speaking of Americans, Tim Howard made a great kick save to deny Wigan's Scott Sinclair late in their rainy match at Goodison Park. Of course, had Sinclair simply passed to his four wide-open teammates, it's another story.
* Everton? Johnny Heitinga? Why would Atletico Madrid be so quick to sell? They are in the Champions League. Interesting.
* What to make of Ben Foster? One second he's totally lost, flapping away at crosses, yet manages to make a perfect reaction save to deny Robin van Persie early in the second half vs. Arsenal.
* Per its Wikipedia page, Liverpool has six -- SIX -- goalkeepers on its first team roster.
* Luka Modric out for up to six weeks and the rumors have Tottenham pulling some business as usual, linking Spurs to Rafael van der Vaart. Is Martin Jol back at White Hart Lane?
I reserve the right to retract that statement should Modric's shattered leg keep him out for a longer spell. Then again, anything that involves more Sylvie van der Vaart is a good thing.
* We'll have to get into this a little more as the season progresses, but I was blown away by the story of Burnley super-fan George Bunrley, who legally changed his name in support of the club. Here's a story written about him. Honestly, this might be the best story of the season. (Clocking in as the anti-George Burnley? My father who decided this weekend to support the Clarets. Why? "Because I've never had a team and they're scrappy.")
If anyone knows how to get into contact with him, I'd love to throw him on the site. Really, the more about this guy the better. Amazon.co.uk, you'll be hearing from my credit card soon.
* On the subject of George Burnley, open question -- which team in North American pro sports would be the funniest if a fan changed his name in honor of them?
* Birmingham's Christian Benitiz is taking the whole shaving patterns in your hair to levels that might make even Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer blush. Too bad for him, his artwork makes me think of Beetlejuice of Howard Stern fame.
* And yeah, it might have been proven this weekend that Birmingham's Lee Carsley also played McGloin in "Gangs of New York."
* It's safe to say there's not a player hated more by his own supporters currently than Liverpool fans and Lucas.
* Wigan, about those neon tangerine away strips? Barcelona can pull that off. You're not Barcelona.
* David Moyes can exhale, slightly. That was a little too close for comfort.
Fantasy team o' the week:
* A possible newcomer, Piaras O'Sullivan's Happy Campers takes top spot with 77 points thanks to defenders Leighton Baines and Ashley Cole.
Closing Thought:
* So, did Dynamo Kiev play Pearl Jam's "Life Wasted" at the press conference to announce it was bringing back Andriy Shevchenko?
That said, cue up the late 1980s Vince McMahon voice.
"Anything can happen here in the World Wrestling Federation."
Maybe we ought to amend that to the Barclay's Premier League, since this was a weekend which why we all remember why it's the most popular sporting competition in the world. Excitement be thy name.
Saturday morning we got three televised thrillers, preceded by Chelsea's by-the-numbers 3-0 win over Burnley in the early morning ESPN2 scenario.
Let's start with Steven Gerrard, again, bailing out Liverpool.
For the last couple years I've convinced myself that Rafa Benitez is a smart guy. You know, organized, tactical, astute. Probably spends 15 minutes a day immaculately grooming his goatee even if he still ends up sharing the shame look as Chumlee on the History Channel's "Pawn Stars."
Yet again, on another weekend, Liverpool's success comes down to Gerrard doing something spectacular -- this time with a patented rocket tucked right under the crossbar to give the Reds a 3-2 win at Bolton. Credit the King of the Scouse since he is absolutely lethal with shots from inside the penalty area straight on goal, regardless of the goal mouth traffic.
In the short term, Gerrard and his running mate Fernando Torres can mask a lot of Liverpool's problems. Right now, the defense is a total mess. Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos proved to be a disaster, or as Ace Cowboy told me in an email, "He should just get it over with and wear a toga and drink strained feta cheese out of the water bottle."
In the NBA we've seen that two superstars and a smart coach -- say the Shaq/Kobe Lakers -- can win a title. Doubt that can happen in the Premier League in 2009-10, especially while trying to mount a run in the Champions League. (You can only ask Dirk Kuyt to huff-and-puff so many times before his legs give out. As Lou Brown might say, "these are professional ballplayers, they get strains." Oh and Kuyt, what a chest pass to Torres.)
Liverpool will find a way to sort itself out, but long term? What's the upside of this team? Sometimes you think with its collective body language they simply expect somebody to hand them over the title, as if it's their divine right.
Moving on, our next thriller came at White Hart Lane, where Spurs made it 12-for-12 in typical heart-attack-inducing fashion.
Realistically, I was about 30 seconds from writing the line, "That's why Spurs is Spurs" until Aaron Lennon converted a gift goal triggered when Birmingham defender Stephen Carr tripped over the ball at midfield. Thankfully blogs and typewriters don't mesh.
And if Roman Pavlychenko doesn't do another thing in a Spurs uniform before moving to Siberian pastures, at least he threaded the needle to Lennon with one of the best, under-pressure passes you'll see all season. Long, diagonal, through three defenders? Safe to say, he'll never do it again, but it shouldn't matter since it happened when Tottenham needed it.
This was Spurs being Spurs.
They absolutely dominated the first half and could have had about four goals and should have had at least one. I'm half surprised Harry Redknapp didn't put up an lawn chair inside the Brum box.
Finally through hard work they go ahead 1-0 on Peter Crouch's header, only to cough it up minutes later in a comical display of miscommunication between Alan Hutton and Carlo Cudicini allowing Lee Bowyer to tap it in. Funny thing is, since Spurs won its not a big deal. However, if they lost, would Cudicini have been racked over the coals like Gomes or some other keeper with a bad reputation? Doubt it.
Still, Spurs found a way and sit top of the league. I'm pretty certain Spurs is a talented team? Good enough to sustain a push for the league title and or Champions League spot? We'll get a good sense when play resumes on September 12 when Manchester United descends on North London.
When you're good you make your own breaks and get away it on time-to-time. Nobody knows this better than a certain Sir Alex Ferguson.
We could triple that statement for Manchester United's 2-1 win over Arsenal.
Really though, above all this game made me feel sorry for Arsene Wenger. (Yeah, I know hard to do.)
Here's Wenger. His long-term, no-mega-money buy, believe in youth system is finally bearing fruit. The Gunners are scoring goals and looking incredible doing it.
For about 50-odd minutes -- without Cesc Fabregas no less -- they were running Manchester United off Old Trafford, leading 1-0 thanks to a brilliant strike from Andrei/y Arshavin. (One note, they dominated clearly, but didn't have that many outright chances that should have been goals.)
Then, like the final act of "District 9" is all fell apart.
The Manuel Almunia/Wayne Rooney penalty decision clearly changed the game. In full speed it looked like the Spanish keeper/adult film actor took down the striker and a clear penalty. On replay, not so much. Considering the hubbub over the Eduardo dive vs. Celtic only days earlier, this was scripted straight from a Gooner nightmare. (By comparison, on Sunday Emmerson Boyce pulled down Jo in the Everton/Wigan match and it was indefensible.)
For conspiracy theorists, take into consideration that Rooney is Rooney and he's not a diver. It probably could have gone either way, but Rooney's rep may have pushed it over in United's favor. Yeah, not a good answer, but it wasn't the most blatant example of United's favor with the refs, but it'll go in the scrapbook of those that are convinced there is an agenda.
If all that wasn't bad enough for Wenger, five minutes later Ryan Giggs fires in an innocuous freekick that Abou Diaby flicks backward into his own net.
Sacre bleu! Is there a way to translate "fart in the mouth" to French?
The final insult for Wenger is that after he reacts -- normally I might add -- by kicking a water bottle after a stoppage time goal for Arsenal was waved off by the offside flag, he's sent off by the fourth official. Wenger tried to walk out of the coach's box and up the stairs, finally standing at a platform with his hands out incredulously.
At that point, what neutral didn't feel like Wenger? He's certainly easy to mock due to his inherent Frenchy-ness, but what unfurled at Old Trafford was cruel and unusual.
Arsenal did everything it should have to win the match and declare it's serious intentions as a realistic title contender only to be snakebitten in two incidents across the run of play.
How much this effects the rest of the season remains to be seen. For the time being it keeps Manchester United in the Top Four conversation. Don't forget how poor the Red Devils were against the top clubs last season.
For Arsenal this match could galvanize the team? In the big picture, losing at Old Trafford isn't the end of the world. When the season starts you pencil in maybe one point and would be considered happy. Gooners fans, however, must wait until Jan. 30 for another chance to even the score with United.
Rising:
* Emmanuel Adebayor -- Three goals in three games. Nobody owns the bad teams like him. City's next opponent? Arsenal. Methinks that might be a big game at Eastlands.
Falling:
* Fulham -- Let's just say at this point, like milk on a hot day, the Europa League is a bad choice.
Broadcast zone:
* ESPN's Saturday morning show regressed a little bit this week. Georgie Bingham, god bless her, could use some polish as a studio host as the interplay between her and Robbie Mustoe was painful at times.
One other grip, ESPN, if you're going to show the league standing, you may want to consider adding the point totals to the graphic. It's kind of a big deal.
And for every single, Premier League lead play-by-play man, please don't speculate that a match is over until the final whistle. With five stoppage minutes for Arsenal on Saturday, a lot could have happened. If not for a William Gallas offside, it was 2-2. I know they want to add drama, but the late goal happens far too often when the big teams play each other.
British Lion Zone:
* Since last year's Champions League, commentator extraordinaire 30f and I have gone back and forth about Derek Rae's Brett Favre-like fawning over Ryan Giggs.
That sort of fanaticism has oozed into the broadcast booths during these Premier League matches this season. Any time an English player does anything you're about two steps away from a squeegee crew needed to wipe down the booth.
This weekend when Ashley Cole scored for Chelsea vs. Burnley, the announcers went ga-ga how he's the best left back in the world. (Really?)
That was nothing compared to the lionizing of Wayne Rooney against Arsenal, at one point they declared how lucky they were that he plays for England. I love Rooney Tunes as much as the next guy, but let's not forgot that this is a global broadcast.
Miscellany:
* Don't look now, but slowly and surely Tony Pulis is building a rather competent team at Stoke City. The additions of ex-Middlesborough charges Robert Huth and Tuncay should only help the Potters.
* Eddie Johnson made the actual game-day squad for Fulham in the absence of Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora.
* Speaking of Americans, Tim Howard made a great kick save to deny Wigan's Scott Sinclair late in their rainy match at Goodison Park. Of course, had Sinclair simply passed to his four wide-open teammates, it's another story.
* Everton? Johnny Heitinga? Why would Atletico Madrid be so quick to sell? They are in the Champions League. Interesting.
* What to make of Ben Foster? One second he's totally lost, flapping away at crosses, yet manages to make a perfect reaction save to deny Robin van Persie early in the second half vs. Arsenal.
* Per its Wikipedia page, Liverpool has six -- SIX -- goalkeepers on its first team roster.
* Luka Modric out for up to six weeks and the rumors have Tottenham pulling some business as usual, linking Spurs to Rafael van der Vaart. Is Martin Jol back at White Hart Lane?
I reserve the right to retract that statement should Modric's shattered leg keep him out for a longer spell. Then again, anything that involves more Sylvie van der Vaart is a good thing.
* We'll have to get into this a little more as the season progresses, but I was blown away by the story of Burnley super-fan George Bunrley, who legally changed his name in support of the club. Here's a story written about him. Honestly, this might be the best story of the season. (Clocking in as the anti-George Burnley? My father who decided this weekend to support the Clarets. Why? "Because I've never had a team and they're scrappy.")
If anyone knows how to get into contact with him, I'd love to throw him on the site. Really, the more about this guy the better. Amazon.co.uk, you'll be hearing from my credit card soon.
* On the subject of George Burnley, open question -- which team in North American pro sports would be the funniest if a fan changed his name in honor of them?
* Birmingham's Christian Benitiz is taking the whole shaving patterns in your hair to levels that might make even Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer blush. Too bad for him, his artwork makes me think of Beetlejuice of Howard Stern fame.
* And yeah, it might have been proven this weekend that Birmingham's Lee Carsley also played McGloin in "Gangs of New York."
* It's safe to say there's not a player hated more by his own supporters currently than Liverpool fans and Lucas.
* Wigan, about those neon tangerine away strips? Barcelona can pull that off. You're not Barcelona.
* David Moyes can exhale, slightly. That was a little too close for comfort.
Fantasy team o' the week:
* A possible newcomer, Piaras O'Sullivan's Happy Campers takes top spot with 77 points thanks to defenders Leighton Baines and Ashley Cole.
Closing Thought:
* So, did Dynamo Kiev play Pearl Jam's "Life Wasted" at the press conference to announce it was bringing back Andriy Shevchenko?
Labels: Arsenal, English Premier League, everton, manchester United, Premier League, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
not only did EJ make the game day roster he played 14 minutes and completed passes...ohh how far have the strikers have fallen in the absence of zamora and AJ at Fulham
they need to gel as a team after all of the random signings this summer, but they did look lifeless yesterday.
As a West Coaster - my exposure to ESPN's coverage so far has been minimal. Their games often start at 5am out here and thus I don't get to see the points-less table except on the rare Monday 'night game' that tWWL has.
As a Fulham supporter, I won't read too much into that one game and the 'meaning' of future league matches that come after road trips in the Europa Ultimatum. FFC was crap on the road last year and Villa finished ahead of them in the table - so a cruddy away game performance against a top team might have nothing to do with Akmar Perm and their Grim Reaper costumed fans. Or maybe it does - I reserve the right to panic later.
The Brit announcer thing is crazy sauce. Jamie Carragher, Giggs, Scholes and so forth all get the kid glove treatment from the UK media. Giggs is still a useful player (when applied sparingly, IMO) but to hear some commentator chirp 'Giggsy is still as quick as ever' makes me wanna send him off with Peter King to the Betty Ford Clinic for Recovering Washed-up Sucker-Uppers.
@30f
if you read fulham's message board, you would think they have already been kicked out league play. the fans (if you want to call them that) are so pessimistic.
i would love to post there, but they get so tiffed yanks support their club.
anywho, you can totally get caught up espn360 for games or unfortunately download matches from bittorrent.
fulham will gel once everyone gets used to each other and they did take 3 points on the road from portsmouth.
Maybe something like Jimmy Penguins or Ronnie Jazz. Possibly moving into gay porn territory.
Then, there's always Johnny Padres or Billy Packers.
The UEFA Cup/Europa League was created by The Big Four to keep middle-rung teams from making the leap into their pot of gold. Very similar to how the CIA introduced crack into poor neighborhoods to keep them down. I saw it on the History channel.
How about Hollis F. Red Wing(s) for all you Bob Dylan fans?