Another weekend in the wild, wacky world of the English Premier League brought to you by Barclays. Apparently it was the first time in the history of the division that all 20 teams scored a goal in the same weekend.
That's Entertainment:
"'Arry and Woy
'Arry and Woy
Up on the great white waaaaay."
That off-kilter diddy is a result of watching Larry David flub his way through "The Producers" during that season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," not from actually watching the musical on Broadway. Something about the god-awful attempt to be a serious song-and-dance man by Larry hits my comedy sweet spot, since he and I seem to share a similar ambivalence toward lavish Broadway musicals.
For yet another weekend, the bright lights of the Premier League shone on White Hart Lane.
And for another weekend Tottenham rescued points from a losing position, beating Liverpool with two second half goals in a 2-1 result. All told Spurs have come from behind to get points six times this year, winning a remarkable five of those. Is it a fluke, a trend or something else entirely?
Maybe some of us nerds in the America internet soccer closed society community give a guy like ESPN's Bill Simmons crap for (pretending) to be a Spurs fan, for not being authentic. The thing is, Tottenham's been on television in the States a lot over the last 11 months. If you're tuning into these games it's hard not to be walk away both impressed and entertained.
Or put it this way. Say you weren't much into soccer but Landon Donovan's "Gold Goal/Go Go USA" got you into the sport and when the Premier League season rolled around in August, you were intrigued. If you watched the games at face value, Spurs have certainly been more exciting that Manchester United and on par with Arsenal or the early season ass-kicking Chelsea.
Spurs games, they're never dull.
It's high-wire, rollercoaster, high-incident soccer every week in 90 minute doses. Doubled on Champions League weeks.
Maybe it all boils down to one thing: speed.
Tottenham have fast players across the field. Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Luke Modric, etc. That speed kept Liverpool on the back foot for most of the second half as Paul Konchesky was beaten on like a bald, rented mule who just about every on the red side of Merseyside want to take behind the nearest tool shed and put out of his misery.
Of course Spurs' theatrics in the second half were the result of Liverpool's inability to go up 2-0 at the end of the first half and start of the second. Maxi Rodriguez's missed chances, including one set up on a beautiful little flick from Fernando Torres are part of the reason the Reds share the identical 5-4-6 as the three promoted teams: Newcastle, West Brom and Blackpool.
Adding insult to injury is that Spurs' winner came from Aaron Lennon -- who's been pretty much useless this season until today -- and his Kriss Kross approved haircut and eyebrows. Or as Jon Champion put it, his "the man with the go-faster stripes in his hair."
Speaking of injuries, Spurs limped through the game with Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul both leaving in the first half with knocks. Not sure why Redknapp rolled the dice by starting the Dutchman, who needed to come off after about 10 minutes after attempting a ridiculous back-heel attempt on goal with his momentum going in the other direction.
Spurs also got through a game with the "defending" of Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who's tactics seem to be running at a player and hoping he stops to laugh as his muppet-approved hairstyle. Off the bench, Sebestien Bassong -- playing with a gold stud in his nose -- looked he thought he was playing for 2009 Newcastle.
No idea how Spurs keeps doing this? Eventually it has to level out, right?
Hopefully it doesn't though, or if it does, it's Spurs coughing up late leads causing Redknapp's face to look even more downtrodden.
Sports are entertainment, first and foremost. Spurs are giving us that in spades, even if you're a neutral.
The Count:
Channeling my inner, horribly lame pan-Eastern European accent.
How many goals did Dimitar Berbatov score for Manchester United in it's 7-1 pwnage of Blackburn on Saturday at Old Trafford?
One ... two (hahahah) ... three ... four ... five (hahahaha)
"Sesame Street" references? Crickets? Is there a "Yo Gabba Gabba" equivalent?
Not much to say about this match, honesty. It wasn't like Blackburn appeared in the mood to muster much of a fight even before Berbatov's goal within two minutes. Pascal Chimbonda eventually made sure of that.
If you're a United supporter you certainly take heed in the fact that the Red Devils are right now atop the heap of a very mediocre group of 20 teams. Eight wins, seven draws and zero losses is best in England, which is hard to fathom.
Better yet, United can hang its hat on the fact an improving Wayne Rooney seems to bring out the best in Berbatov, who is easily the most frustrating player around. The Bulgarian is capable of such wondrous goals and impressive skill, yet it's not a week-to-week thing for Berbatov.
Consider him the anti-Bruce Springsteen. You know with Bruce he's bringing his best for a two and a half hour concert regardless of the town. He's doing it for the folks. Take it from Peoria to Pretoria, "Spirits in the Night" is going to bring down the house.
Berbatov is more like a long-touring "Jam" band. The kind of band that has message boards devoted to fans dissecting performances and determining when the band is "bringing it" or when they're going through the motions on a 20-minute experimental "noodling" session.
Doubt there's a chance in hell Berbatov has ever heard a song by Phish, Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee, .moe, Disco Biscuits, etc.
Tying Bravely:
It made perfect sense, naturally, that Bolton gets a week's worth of praise evolving from unwashed, long ball Allardyce philistines to enlightened soccer evangelists under the Church of Coyle, then the team goes out and falls behind to Blackpool with both goals coming from headers on corners. Doesn't this happen every time, no matter the sport?
The kneejerk reaction is that it's all Stuart Holden's fault for failing a fitness test on his hamstring. Guess it does go to show how important the American midfielder is inside the Bolton midfield puzzle.
Down 2-0, Bolton could have rolled over, could have pretended they were still playing for the hapless Toby Flederson lookalike, Gary Megson.
Nope. The stat community doesn't love the intangible of "heart" but Bolton certainly showed that with two goals in the final 14 minutes. Three points are three points, and at best Bolton is looking at a place in UEFA Cup, so in a weird way rallying in such rousing fashion is almost more impressive than a ho-hum win.
Once Martin Petrov slapped in the first goal, it seemed like Bolton almost knew one way or another it would find a way to level. Figures that a total unknown, Mark Davies, finds the way to get that second goal.
The usual question moving forward with a team like this is how does talent and belief mesh over the coming games? Bolton don't have a ton of players in reserve after its first 14 or 15 players, Saturday at least the club showed its got plenty of guts.
Tying Lamely:
Whomever the first British media hack was to coin the term, "Smash-and-grab," bravo. It's a perfect summation of what we see plenty of times. A favored, more talented team gets dominated or frustrated by a scrappy underdog, only to break their hearts with a goal from out of nowhere in the final 10 minutes.
Saturday at Stoke City, Micah Ricards, smashed, grabbed, dummied and left defender Danny Collins with his pants on the ground ... which it should be noted was covered in a thin layer of snow in certain places around the Britannia. Pretty sure Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez had an unofficial contest to see who could a) wear the bigger neck warmer and b) trigger the fastest exit story in the Brit tabs due to their hatred of the English winter. Good times.
Up a goal from nowhere, City got a little sloppy and let Tuncay play a ball beautifully off his chest to an on-running Mathew Etherington in stoppage time. Great effort by Stoke, which was in the relegation zone a month ago and is now up to eighth. Lesson of the season -- keep grindin', jack like Clipse.
Again City are undone at the end, unable to close out a game.
And again, too, the team has to wonder about the enigma that is Balotelli, who has the physical gifts to rival any player in the world, but the mentality of a 13-year-old girl who got skunked on Jonas Brothers tickets.
With a single-table, non-playoff system in the EPL you could conceivably do it every match, wondering about dropped points. Since the league is so wide-open, City could realistically contend for the title. These two points will sting.
Good teams win games. Great ones know how to kill them off.
Patrick Fabregas Theory?:
Conventional, probably true, wisdom is Cesc Fabregas is the undisputed best player on Arsene Wenger's traveling soccer circus. Influential, blood-and-guts midfielder. Captain's armband. Engine. Fulcrum. Talisman.
Once again this weekend Arsenal played without their oft-injured captain, looking strong (offensively) in a 4-2 win at Aston Villa.
When and if Cesc's wandering heart returns to the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Arsenal might not miss a beat.
Are the Gunners better with Fabregas? Sure.
Can they live without him? Probably.
Saturday we saw Samir Nasri drop deeper in the Arsenal midfield triangle, with Tomas Rosicky (wearing the captain's armband) taking over on the right wide forward spot ahead of Theo Walcott. It helped, too, that Andrey Arshavin was active from the get-go, playing one of his best games in red-and-white. Russians must love playing in the cold, or at least that's what the "Pine Barrens" episode of "The Sopranos" taught me.
On a more cynical note, it's pretty much proven that the framework and structure of the Premier League eventually turn players muscles, tendons and sinew into chewed up grist. Perhaps Fabregas, only 23, doesn't have a lot of prime years left. It's concerning how often his hamstring is starting to waylay him.
Wenger be wise to sell him while his value is still near it's peak, and use that windfall from Catalonia to buy, you know, a goalkeeper or a central defender that knows how to mark and win a header inside the penalty area.
When and if Fabregas leaves, the sky won't fall from the Emirates. It's not like the Gunners have won anything with him leading the way, have they?
Obligatory Clint Dempsey is God mention:
Burly header from up close, powering over a pair of Birmingham defenders to get Fulham a 1-1 draw. Par for the course.
Ssssh. Pay no attention that Fulham is 17th in the table.
Around the League:
Blackpool's Gary Taylor-Fletcher might be the most nonathletic-looking player in a long time. There are guys playing beer league softball that look more Premier League-worthy than him. ... Didn't see much of this one, but where did Wolves 3-2 win over Sunderland come from? ... Also, had to sleep through Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Chelsea after a looooong Saturday night's journey into morning. As bad as Chelsea's been the last month, the Blues are only two points off the pace. It's going to be that kind of year. ... Speaking as a person with no dog in the fight, let's see a lot more Nathan Delfouneso the rest of the season instead of John Carew. Intersting how as recently as two years ago Villa had the smallest senior squad in the League, now they seem to pull some unknown 19-21 year old into the lineup on a weekly basis. Ciaran Clark and his two goals filled the role Saturday vs. Arsenal. ... Weird incident in West Brom's 4-1 beatdown of Everton. West Brom's Gonzalo Jara threw two burly elbows at Everton players. No calls. Mikel Arteta went in on him hard and attempted a stamp while the Chilean was on the ground. Rare moment of madness from the classy Spaniard, though he did get in that Three Stooges slapping/finger pointing kerfuffle with Gamst last season. ... The unintentional comedy was off the charts for ESPN's telecast. From Ian Darke's officially licensed MLS mittens -- purchased from the Toronto Airport (YYZ!) duty free shop, no doubt. And Steven McManaman dropping into the live game commentary mid-bite of a meat pie? Can't make this stuff up. ... On the other end of the spectrum David Pleat's analysis during Liverpool/Spurs was cringe-worthy, especially bringing up and praising the positive qualities of Robbie Keane mid-match. Dreadful stuff.
Great Job!
Can you hit a free kick better than Chris Brunt's curling effort that left Tim Howard screaming into the cold English wind?
Absolute beauty.
For that moment of brilliance, Great Job! (Pencil noises.)
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Much love to Luke Sebastian's Paddy's Pub putting up 95 points behind Berbatov's 50 in the captain's role. Well done sir.
Almost as strong as this season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," which has experienced a Berba-like return to form this year. ... Go suck an egg if you don't agree.
One other thing:
Actress Paz de la Huerta is in the midst of a Cristiano Ronaldo circa 2008 goal-scoring streak. Well, instead of scoring, let's call it casual (and graphic) pay cable nudity on "Broadwalk Empire."
The gauntlet, or in this case, baggy 1920s underwear has been thrown down.
Add in the degree of difficulty since the show is set almost 90 years ago in Prohibition-era America and this is like the Babe Ruth of television nudity.
That's Entertainment:
"'Arry and Woy
'Arry and Woy
Up on the great white waaaaay."
That off-kilter diddy is a result of watching Larry David flub his way through "The Producers" during that season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," not from actually watching the musical on Broadway. Something about the god-awful attempt to be a serious song-and-dance man by Larry hits my comedy sweet spot, since he and I seem to share a similar ambivalence toward lavish Broadway musicals.
For yet another weekend, the bright lights of the Premier League shone on White Hart Lane.
And for another weekend Tottenham rescued points from a losing position, beating Liverpool with two second half goals in a 2-1 result. All told Spurs have come from behind to get points six times this year, winning a remarkable five of those. Is it a fluke, a trend or something else entirely?
Maybe some of us nerds in the America internet soccer closed society community give a guy like ESPN's Bill Simmons crap for (pretending) to be a Spurs fan, for not being authentic. The thing is, Tottenham's been on television in the States a lot over the last 11 months. If you're tuning into these games it's hard not to be walk away both impressed and entertained.
Or put it this way. Say you weren't much into soccer but Landon Donovan's "Gold Goal/Go Go USA" got you into the sport and when the Premier League season rolled around in August, you were intrigued. If you watched the games at face value, Spurs have certainly been more exciting that Manchester United and on par with Arsenal or the early season ass-kicking Chelsea.
Spurs games, they're never dull.
It's high-wire, rollercoaster, high-incident soccer every week in 90 minute doses. Doubled on Champions League weeks.
Maybe it all boils down to one thing: speed.
Tottenham have fast players across the field. Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Luke Modric, etc. That speed kept Liverpool on the back foot for most of the second half as Paul Konchesky was beaten on like a bald, rented mule who just about every on the red side of Merseyside want to take behind the nearest tool shed and put out of his misery.
Of course Spurs' theatrics in the second half were the result of Liverpool's inability to go up 2-0 at the end of the first half and start of the second. Maxi Rodriguez's missed chances, including one set up on a beautiful little flick from Fernando Torres are part of the reason the Reds share the identical 5-4-6 as the three promoted teams: Newcastle, West Brom and Blackpool.
Adding insult to injury is that Spurs' winner came from Aaron Lennon -- who's been pretty much useless this season until today -- and his Kriss Kross approved haircut and eyebrows. Or as Jon Champion put it, his "the man with the go-faster stripes in his hair."
Speaking of injuries, Spurs limped through the game with Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul both leaving in the first half with knocks. Not sure why Redknapp rolled the dice by starting the Dutchman, who needed to come off after about 10 minutes after attempting a ridiculous back-heel attempt on goal with his momentum going in the other direction.
Spurs also got through a game with the "defending" of Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who's tactics seem to be running at a player and hoping he stops to laugh as his muppet-approved hairstyle. Off the bench, Sebestien Bassong -- playing with a gold stud in his nose -- looked he thought he was playing for 2009 Newcastle.
No idea how Spurs keeps doing this? Eventually it has to level out, right?
Hopefully it doesn't though, or if it does, it's Spurs coughing up late leads causing Redknapp's face to look even more downtrodden.
Sports are entertainment, first and foremost. Spurs are giving us that in spades, even if you're a neutral.
The Count:
Channeling my inner, horribly lame pan-Eastern European accent.
How many goals did Dimitar Berbatov score for Manchester United in it's 7-1 pwnage of Blackburn on Saturday at Old Trafford?
One ... two (hahahah) ... three ... four ... five (hahahaha)
"Sesame Street" references? Crickets? Is there a "Yo Gabba Gabba" equivalent?
Not much to say about this match, honesty. It wasn't like Blackburn appeared in the mood to muster much of a fight even before Berbatov's goal within two minutes. Pascal Chimbonda eventually made sure of that.
If you're a United supporter you certainly take heed in the fact that the Red Devils are right now atop the heap of a very mediocre group of 20 teams. Eight wins, seven draws and zero losses is best in England, which is hard to fathom.
Better yet, United can hang its hat on the fact an improving Wayne Rooney seems to bring out the best in Berbatov, who is easily the most frustrating player around. The Bulgarian is capable of such wondrous goals and impressive skill, yet it's not a week-to-week thing for Berbatov.
Consider him the anti-Bruce Springsteen. You know with Bruce he's bringing his best for a two and a half hour concert regardless of the town. He's doing it for the folks. Take it from Peoria to Pretoria, "Spirits in the Night" is going to bring down the house.
Berbatov is more like a long-touring "Jam" band. The kind of band that has message boards devoted to fans dissecting performances and determining when the band is "bringing it" or when they're going through the motions on a 20-minute experimental "noodling" session.
Doubt there's a chance in hell Berbatov has ever heard a song by Phish, Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee, .moe, Disco Biscuits, etc.
Tying Bravely:
It made perfect sense, naturally, that Bolton gets a week's worth of praise evolving from unwashed, long ball Allardyce philistines to enlightened soccer evangelists under the Church of Coyle, then the team goes out and falls behind to Blackpool with both goals coming from headers on corners. Doesn't this happen every time, no matter the sport?
The kneejerk reaction is that it's all Stuart Holden's fault for failing a fitness test on his hamstring. Guess it does go to show how important the American midfielder is inside the Bolton midfield puzzle.
Down 2-0, Bolton could have rolled over, could have pretended they were still playing for the hapless Toby Flederson lookalike, Gary Megson.
Nope. The stat community doesn't love the intangible of "heart" but Bolton certainly showed that with two goals in the final 14 minutes. Three points are three points, and at best Bolton is looking at a place in UEFA Cup, so in a weird way rallying in such rousing fashion is almost more impressive than a ho-hum win.
Once Martin Petrov slapped in the first goal, it seemed like Bolton almost knew one way or another it would find a way to level. Figures that a total unknown, Mark Davies, finds the way to get that second goal.
The usual question moving forward with a team like this is how does talent and belief mesh over the coming games? Bolton don't have a ton of players in reserve after its first 14 or 15 players, Saturday at least the club showed its got plenty of guts.
Tying Lamely:
Whomever the first British media hack was to coin the term, "Smash-and-grab," bravo. It's a perfect summation of what we see plenty of times. A favored, more talented team gets dominated or frustrated by a scrappy underdog, only to break their hearts with a goal from out of nowhere in the final 10 minutes.
Saturday at Stoke City, Micah Ricards, smashed, grabbed, dummied and left defender Danny Collins with his pants on the ground ... which it should be noted was covered in a thin layer of snow in certain places around the Britannia. Pretty sure Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez had an unofficial contest to see who could a) wear the bigger neck warmer and b) trigger the fastest exit story in the Brit tabs due to their hatred of the English winter. Good times.
Up a goal from nowhere, City got a little sloppy and let Tuncay play a ball beautifully off his chest to an on-running Mathew Etherington in stoppage time. Great effort by Stoke, which was in the relegation zone a month ago and is now up to eighth. Lesson of the season -- keep grindin', jack like Clipse.
Again City are undone at the end, unable to close out a game.
And again, too, the team has to wonder about the enigma that is Balotelli, who has the physical gifts to rival any player in the world, but the mentality of a 13-year-old girl who got skunked on Jonas Brothers tickets.
With a single-table, non-playoff system in the EPL you could conceivably do it every match, wondering about dropped points. Since the league is so wide-open, City could realistically contend for the title. These two points will sting.
Good teams win games. Great ones know how to kill them off.
Patrick Fabregas Theory?:
Conventional, probably true, wisdom is Cesc Fabregas is the undisputed best player on Arsene Wenger's traveling soccer circus. Influential, blood-and-guts midfielder. Captain's armband. Engine. Fulcrum. Talisman.
Once again this weekend Arsenal played without their oft-injured captain, looking strong (offensively) in a 4-2 win at Aston Villa.
When and if Cesc's wandering heart returns to the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Arsenal might not miss a beat.
Are the Gunners better with Fabregas? Sure.
Can they live without him? Probably.
Saturday we saw Samir Nasri drop deeper in the Arsenal midfield triangle, with Tomas Rosicky (wearing the captain's armband) taking over on the right wide forward spot ahead of Theo Walcott. It helped, too, that Andrey Arshavin was active from the get-go, playing one of his best games in red-and-white. Russians must love playing in the cold, or at least that's what the "Pine Barrens" episode of "The Sopranos" taught me.
On a more cynical note, it's pretty much proven that the framework and structure of the Premier League eventually turn players muscles, tendons and sinew into chewed up grist. Perhaps Fabregas, only 23, doesn't have a lot of prime years left. It's concerning how often his hamstring is starting to waylay him.
Wenger be wise to sell him while his value is still near it's peak, and use that windfall from Catalonia to buy, you know, a goalkeeper or a central defender that knows how to mark and win a header inside the penalty area.
When and if Fabregas leaves, the sky won't fall from the Emirates. It's not like the Gunners have won anything with him leading the way, have they?
Obligatory Clint Dempsey is God mention:
Burly header from up close, powering over a pair of Birmingham defenders to get Fulham a 1-1 draw. Par for the course.
Ssssh. Pay no attention that Fulham is 17th in the table.
Around the League:
Blackpool's Gary Taylor-Fletcher might be the most nonathletic-looking player in a long time. There are guys playing beer league softball that look more Premier League-worthy than him. ... Didn't see much of this one, but where did Wolves 3-2 win over Sunderland come from? ... Also, had to sleep through Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Chelsea after a looooong Saturday night's journey into morning. As bad as Chelsea's been the last month, the Blues are only two points off the pace. It's going to be that kind of year. ... Speaking as a person with no dog in the fight, let's see a lot more Nathan Delfouneso the rest of the season instead of John Carew. Intersting how as recently as two years ago Villa had the smallest senior squad in the League, now they seem to pull some unknown 19-21 year old into the lineup on a weekly basis. Ciaran Clark and his two goals filled the role Saturday vs. Arsenal. ... Weird incident in West Brom's 4-1 beatdown of Everton. West Brom's Gonzalo Jara threw two burly elbows at Everton players. No calls. Mikel Arteta went in on him hard and attempted a stamp while the Chilean was on the ground. Rare moment of madness from the classy Spaniard, though he did get in that Three Stooges slapping/finger pointing kerfuffle with Gamst last season. ... The unintentional comedy was off the charts for ESPN's telecast. From Ian Darke's officially licensed MLS mittens -- purchased from the Toronto Airport (YYZ!) duty free shop, no doubt. And Steven McManaman dropping into the live game commentary mid-bite of a meat pie? Can't make this stuff up. ... On the other end of the spectrum David Pleat's analysis during Liverpool/Spurs was cringe-worthy, especially bringing up and praising the positive qualities of Robbie Keane mid-match. Dreadful stuff.
Great Job!
Can you hit a free kick better than Chris Brunt's curling effort that left Tim Howard screaming into the cold English wind?
Absolute beauty.
For that moment of brilliance, Great Job! (Pencil noises.)
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Much love to Luke Sebastian's Paddy's Pub putting up 95 points behind Berbatov's 50 in the captain's role. Well done sir.
Almost as strong as this season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," which has experienced a Berba-like return to form this year. ... Go suck an egg if you don't agree.
One other thing:
Actress Paz de la Huerta is in the midst of a Cristiano Ronaldo circa 2008 goal-scoring streak. Well, instead of scoring, let's call it casual (and graphic) pay cable nudity on "Broadwalk Empire."
The gauntlet, or in this case, baggy 1920s underwear has been thrown down.
Add in the degree of difficulty since the show is set almost 90 years ago in Prohibition-era America and this is like the Babe Ruth of television nudity.
Labels: dimitar berbatov, English Premier League, EPL, manchester city, manchester United, Monday recaps, Soccer
It's Thanksgiving week. If I had more time I'd spend this space waxing poetic about guys like Tuncay, Nihat, Arda Turan, Servet Çetin, Joe Cranberry Sauce, etc.
Alas, it's been a busy week, and who's sitting around on their computer screens the day after the best holiday this side of Arbor Day? You should be running wind sprints around your nearest Target trying to save 14 percent on flatware.
Allow that to be my long-winded way of saying, you're just getting picks from me this weekend. Not sure you'd want them since I'm currently hovering in the 42 percent range on the year. All things considered, that's not horrid.
Call me the Tony Pulis of EPL prognosticators. I'll even provide my own ball cap.
Saturday:
* Aston Villa v. Arsenal -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) If I had any acumen in computer stuff, beyond knowing how to turn my laptop on, then I'd mash up a video of the Arsene Wenger bottle slapping *GIF to the sounds of Hot Chip's "Over and Over." Like that monkey banging the cymbal, the Gunners continue to repeat the same pattern of the last five seasons: flash brilliant football, tease, but fail to finish off games.
Oh, and Cesc Fabregas' hamstring is once again dinged up, making it perhaps the most sensitive part of an athlete's anatomy since ... Chad Pennington's shoulder. (C'mon admit you thought there was going to be a Brett Favre joke there.) You'd think that with Wenger's propensity for advanced training metrics and such, Arsenal would have the best medical training staff in the world. Instead it's star players always seem dinged out, taking months and months to recover.
Part of me feels for Wenger. If we pretend goalkeeper and central defense don't matter, Arsenal might have the most depth of any team in the Premier League, with quality players like Robin van Persie, Nic Bendtner, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott all unable to crack the starting XI. The French manager probably wishes he could've found a way bring Robert Pires in the fold, if only for the Premier League-winning experience.
For all the talent assembled at the Emirates, there's not a ton of winner's medals hanging on the players' mantles. Gael Clichy was on the 2003 title-winning side, but he played in just 12 matches. Cesc won a World Cup, as a fringe player for Spain. Andrey Arshavin lifted the UEFA Cup for Zenit, Maroune Chamakh won Ligue 1 at Bordeaux. So it's not completely barren, but when you rely on young players and bring them along, sooner or later these guys have to win something or maybe you move on.
Aston Villa? The club is strong at home -- unbeaten in 2010-11 -- but still struggles to score goals, especially late in matches. Gerard Houllier certainly knows how to suck the life out of games, if he so inclines. The Gunners are the best road club in the League, so there's something to build on. ... Aston Villa 1, Arsenal 2
* Manchester United v. Blackburn Rovers -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Waaaaaay back when, okay, 2006 Blackburn beat United 4-3 at EwoodTyler Chicken Park on a hat trick from David Bentley. Here's the video if you don't believe me.
Bentley's gone, but former United-killer Morten Gamst Pedersen is still around. Thing is, aside from a free kick from the Norwegian not sure how Blackburn can trouble United. Sam Allardyce is probably thinking under the old paradigm, that it's still 2006, and a club like Blackburn can't even begin to think of winning away to United. If you're a United fan you're probably waiting for the game when the club breaks out the 4-0 whooping stick, not sure they have it in them, though ... or at least until the real Wayne Rooney returns. So nice that he decided to apologize to the United fans for his petulant, contract posturing last month. Figure this will be another typical 2010 United win, but Beware the Ides of Diouf. ... Manchester United 2, Blackburn Rovers 0
* West Ham United v. Wigan Athletic -- Maybe Roberto Martinez' merry band of traveling nobodies can put Avram Grant out of his misery. Err, umm, wait. No one has ever seen Grant smile, so you know what I'm getting at.
West Ham are in the unenviable some where the pressure from the fans, coaches, boardroom are all weighing down the club. Unlike in 2007, when the team staved off relegation on the last matchday, there's not talismanic player like Carlos Tevez to rally around. At least Hugo Rodallega is suspended for this one, making the job a little easier. ... West Ham 2, Wigan 1
* Stoke City v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) If Roberto Mancini reverts back to 4-3-3, this has the potential to either be a) the boring game in PL history or b) feature a bareknuckle death tag team death match betwixt Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross vs. Nigel de Jong and Ax from Demolition. Call it the EPL Survivor Series. With the overall size and physicality of Stoke, Man City might need to work something on a direct kick set piece to break through. ... Stoke City 1, Manchester City 1
* Wolves v. Sunderland -- Compare and contrast. Wolves currently have on-loan at the club: Marcus Bent, Michael Mancienne and Geoffrey Mujangi Bia. Sunderland have on-loan, John Mensah, Nedum Onuoha, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi and Danny Welbeck. Not sure what kind of inner-working go into these loan deals, but suffice to say Mick McCarthy could have done a little harder search for some dynamic players, which Wolves sorely lack. ... Wolves 1, Sunderland 1
* Fulham v. Birmingham City -- Probably too early to start thinking this way, but Fulham would be well served to get its home form in gear. Craven Cottage has hardly been a fortress, with Fulham's record just 2-3-2 on the banks of the Thames. It's a big reason the team is in 17th place. Granted he's injured, but goes to show what a surprise Bobby Zamora's play was last season. Clint Dempsey can't do it by himself. ... Fulham 1, Birmingham City 2
* Bolton v. Blackpool -- Cue up the Ric Ocasek voice at the Reebok Stadium. "Let the good times roll." Who would have thought this would be an attractive, absolutely interesting match? Both teams pass the ball around well. Both like to score. Both have managers that seem to know what they're doing. Just hope Stuart Holden's hair doesn't blend in too much with the neon orange Blackpool shirts. Guess that's not a problem. What is a problem? The classic scenario where Bolton gets nothing but praise for a week, then lays an egg at home. ... Bolton 2, Blackpool 1
* Everton v. West Brom -- Feels like Everton are due for an easy one. ... Everton 3, West Brom 0
Sunday:
* Newcastle United v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Admittedly, any result from this match wouldn't surprise me. The Mapgies could run riot, or so could the Blues. It could be a dull slog between 22 tired sets of legs. For what it's worth here are the fantasy totals of Didier Drogba over the last four matches: 1, 2, 2 and 2. Not quite up to snuff. ... Newcastle 1, Chelsea 1
* Tottenham v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Finally, a great matchup at a tolerable watching time in the States. Thanks Richard Scudamore. Kudos.
Could Spurs be flying any higher? A win away to Arsenal. Progress in the Champions League? Younes Kaboul scoring goals at a rater higher than seemingly everyone not named Messi or Ronaldo.
But football is fickle. Trouncing Werder Bremen and taking plenty of bows on Wednesday is one thing, but it means nothing once the whistle sounds at White Hart Lane, especially if the talismanic Rafael van der Vaart watches from the bench. Shame the Dutchman misses out, but guess it levels the playing field since Steven Gerrard remains sidelined, too.
Then again, the midfield war between Wilson Palacios and Luke Modric vs. Raul Meireles and Lucas is well worth the price of Fox Soccer Channel on your monthly cable bill, right?
And for as great as season as it's been for Spurs, if Liverpool were to win, the two clubs would be level on points.
For Liverpool its all about mentality. Will Roy Hodgson, as per usual, on the road play narrow and close to the vest? Will he shackle the players and hope for a penalty call or Fernando Torres magic? Will he realize that Spurs defense is about as stout as the "other" brand paper towel in a head-to-head comparison commercial?
If there's hope for Spurs it's Gareth Bale running circles around Glen Johnson so hard that his cornrows pop loose.
If there's hope for Liverpool it's Torres or goofy Dirk Kuyt catching Tottenham napping on the counter attack.
Spurs have gotten nearly every weird bounce or break this season, while Liverpool can't get out of its own way. Harry Redknapp has been King Midas, whilst Roy Hodgson has been more like King Hippo. ... Spurs 2, Liverpool 1
Last week: 3-7
Season: 59-81
Alas, it's been a busy week, and who's sitting around on their computer screens the day after the best holiday this side of Arbor Day? You should be running wind sprints around your nearest Target trying to save 14 percent on flatware.
Allow that to be my long-winded way of saying, you're just getting picks from me this weekend. Not sure you'd want them since I'm currently hovering in the 42 percent range on the year. All things considered, that's not horrid.
Call me the Tony Pulis of EPL prognosticators. I'll even provide my own ball cap.
Saturday:
* Aston Villa v. Arsenal -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) If I had any acumen in computer stuff, beyond knowing how to turn my laptop on, then I'd mash up a video of the Arsene Wenger bottle slapping *GIF to the sounds of Hot Chip's "Over and Over." Like that monkey banging the cymbal, the Gunners continue to repeat the same pattern of the last five seasons: flash brilliant football, tease, but fail to finish off games.
Oh, and Cesc Fabregas' hamstring is once again dinged up, making it perhaps the most sensitive part of an athlete's anatomy since ... Chad Pennington's shoulder. (C'mon admit you thought there was going to be a Brett Favre joke there.) You'd think that with Wenger's propensity for advanced training metrics and such, Arsenal would have the best medical training staff in the world. Instead it's star players always seem dinged out, taking months and months to recover.
Part of me feels for Wenger. If we pretend goalkeeper and central defense don't matter, Arsenal might have the most depth of any team in the Premier League, with quality players like Robin van Persie, Nic Bendtner, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott all unable to crack the starting XI. The French manager probably wishes he could've found a way bring Robert Pires in the fold, if only for the Premier League-winning experience.
For all the talent assembled at the Emirates, there's not a ton of winner's medals hanging on the players' mantles. Gael Clichy was on the 2003 title-winning side, but he played in just 12 matches. Cesc won a World Cup, as a fringe player for Spain. Andrey Arshavin lifted the UEFA Cup for Zenit, Maroune Chamakh won Ligue 1 at Bordeaux. So it's not completely barren, but when you rely on young players and bring them along, sooner or later these guys have to win something or maybe you move on.
Aston Villa? The club is strong at home -- unbeaten in 2010-11 -- but still struggles to score goals, especially late in matches. Gerard Houllier certainly knows how to suck the life out of games, if he so inclines. The Gunners are the best road club in the League, so there's something to build on. ... Aston Villa 1, Arsenal 2
* Manchester United v. Blackburn Rovers -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Waaaaaay back when, okay, 2006 Blackburn beat United 4-3 at Ewood
Bentley's gone, but former United-killer Morten Gamst Pedersen is still around. Thing is, aside from a free kick from the Norwegian not sure how Blackburn can trouble United. Sam Allardyce is probably thinking under the old paradigm, that it's still 2006, and a club like Blackburn can't even begin to think of winning away to United. If you're a United fan you're probably waiting for the game when the club breaks out the 4-0 whooping stick, not sure they have it in them, though ... or at least until the real Wayne Rooney returns. So nice that he decided to apologize to the United fans for his petulant, contract posturing last month. Figure this will be another typical 2010 United win, but Beware the Ides of Diouf. ... Manchester United 2, Blackburn Rovers 0
* West Ham United v. Wigan Athletic -- Maybe Roberto Martinez' merry band of traveling nobodies can put Avram Grant out of his misery. Err, umm, wait. No one has ever seen Grant smile, so you know what I'm getting at.
West Ham are in the unenviable some where the pressure from the fans, coaches, boardroom are all weighing down the club. Unlike in 2007, when the team staved off relegation on the last matchday, there's not talismanic player like Carlos Tevez to rally around. At least Hugo Rodallega is suspended for this one, making the job a little easier. ... West Ham 2, Wigan 1
* Stoke City v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) If Roberto Mancini reverts back to 4-3-3, this has the potential to either be a) the boring game in PL history or b) feature a bareknuckle death tag team death match betwixt Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross vs. Nigel de Jong and Ax from Demolition. Call it the EPL Survivor Series. With the overall size and physicality of Stoke, Man City might need to work something on a direct kick set piece to break through. ... Stoke City 1, Manchester City 1
* Wolves v. Sunderland -- Compare and contrast. Wolves currently have on-loan at the club: Marcus Bent, Michael Mancienne and Geoffrey Mujangi Bia. Sunderland have on-loan, John Mensah, Nedum Onuoha, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi and Danny Welbeck. Not sure what kind of inner-working go into these loan deals, but suffice to say Mick McCarthy could have done a little harder search for some dynamic players, which Wolves sorely lack. ... Wolves 1, Sunderland 1
* Fulham v. Birmingham City -- Probably too early to start thinking this way, but Fulham would be well served to get its home form in gear. Craven Cottage has hardly been a fortress, with Fulham's record just 2-3-2 on the banks of the Thames. It's a big reason the team is in 17th place. Granted he's injured, but goes to show what a surprise Bobby Zamora's play was last season. Clint Dempsey can't do it by himself. ... Fulham 1, Birmingham City 2
* Bolton v. Blackpool -- Cue up the Ric Ocasek voice at the Reebok Stadium. "Let the good times roll." Who would have thought this would be an attractive, absolutely interesting match? Both teams pass the ball around well. Both like to score. Both have managers that seem to know what they're doing. Just hope Stuart Holden's hair doesn't blend in too much with the neon orange Blackpool shirts. Guess that's not a problem. What is a problem? The classic scenario where Bolton gets nothing but praise for a week, then lays an egg at home. ... Bolton 2, Blackpool 1
* Everton v. West Brom -- Feels like Everton are due for an easy one. ... Everton 3, West Brom 0
Sunday:
* Newcastle United v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Admittedly, any result from this match wouldn't surprise me. The Mapgies could run riot, or so could the Blues. It could be a dull slog between 22 tired sets of legs. For what it's worth here are the fantasy totals of Didier Drogba over the last four matches: 1, 2, 2 and 2. Not quite up to snuff. ... Newcastle 1, Chelsea 1
* Tottenham v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Finally, a great matchup at a tolerable watching time in the States. Thanks Richard Scudamore. Kudos.
Could Spurs be flying any higher? A win away to Arsenal. Progress in the Champions League? Younes Kaboul scoring goals at a rater higher than seemingly everyone not named Messi or Ronaldo.
But football is fickle. Trouncing Werder Bremen and taking plenty of bows on Wednesday is one thing, but it means nothing once the whistle sounds at White Hart Lane, especially if the talismanic Rafael van der Vaart watches from the bench. Shame the Dutchman misses out, but guess it levels the playing field since Steven Gerrard remains sidelined, too.
Then again, the midfield war between Wilson Palacios and Luke Modric vs. Raul Meireles and Lucas is well worth the price of Fox Soccer Channel on your monthly cable bill, right?
And for as great as season as it's been for Spurs, if Liverpool were to win, the two clubs would be level on points.
For Liverpool its all about mentality. Will Roy Hodgson, as per usual, on the road play narrow and close to the vest? Will he shackle the players and hope for a penalty call or Fernando Torres magic? Will he realize that Spurs defense is about as stout as the "other" brand paper towel in a head-to-head comparison commercial?
If there's hope for Spurs it's Gareth Bale running circles around Glen Johnson so hard that his cornrows pop loose.
If there's hope for Liverpool it's Torres or goofy Dirk Kuyt catching Tottenham napping on the counter attack.
Spurs have gotten nearly every weird bounce or break this season, while Liverpool can't get out of its own way. Harry Redknapp has been King Midas, whilst Roy Hodgson has been more like King Hippo. ... Spurs 2, Liverpool 1
Last week: 3-7
Season: 59-81
EPL Monday: Tweakin' the Night Away
6 Comments Published by Cardillo on November 22, 2010 at 11:29 AM.
"I don't know what to believe! You're eatin' onions, you're spottin' dimes, I don't know what the hell's goin' on!" -- Jerry during the "Seinfeld" episode, "The Glasses."
So another weekend in the books for the 2010-11 Premier League.
Or as I now like to think of it as the November 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average, well, without people losing their life saving after the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst.
Remember checking the stock ticker those days? The market would be down 700 points, or it would be up 300. Nobody knew nothing. The unexpected and the uncharted became the norm. Up was down. Left was right. Fortunes were lost. Panic in the streets. Dogs and cats living together.
You'd think a weekend that saw Tottenham end a nearly two-decade losing streak away to Arsenal and Chelsea lose a second straight league game would raise eyebrows, but that's the state of the Premier League in 2010.
Expect the unexpected. Crazy is the new normal.
Tweakin' Tottenham:
Question: Could a man with the face of Harry Redknapp coach an American professional sports team?
I say no. Look at Brad Childress with the Minnesota Vikings. Granted he's an awful NFL head coach, but wouldn't he be given a slightly bigger leash if he wasn't bald with a laughably out-dated mustache? Wasn't he doomed in terms of earning his players respect from the start?
With his jowly, permanently red face there's little way Redknapp survives in the ESPN world.
Love him, hate him, laugh at him, Redknapp is tapping into something that's working at Tottenham since he took over.A Carling Cup trophy (terrible job, that was Juande Ramos. Oops.), a place in the Champions League and now the most satisfying victory of all, Arsenal on the road.
And you've got to love the way Redknapp went about it.
Quick aside. Two weeks ago in Fantasy Football I played my friend Mike, a rabid, diehard Oakland Raiders fan. Needing a wide receiver for the week, I added Darius Heyward-Bey. Okay, not the smartest move ever, but if I were able to win with "Hey-Bey" in the lineup it would be all the more satisfying. A classic tweak. As it turned out he put up a big, fat, goose egg, but there aren't any regrets. It was worth it to go for the double, tweak-aided win.
That's why I have nothing but respect for Redknapp handing over the captain's armband to ex-Gunner William Gallas to stick his finger in the eye of Arsenal fans everywhere, who's love for Gallas falls somewhere between dog poo on the bottom of their shoe and lukewarm halibut. The mercurial Frenchman repaid Redknapp with a very sound, defensive performance, only made seem more Herculean since he was paired with the walking punchline of Younes Kaboul.
Speaking of Kaboul it couldn't have been any other way, right? Could Tottenham have ended two decades of futility without Kaboul scoring an 85th minute header, capping a 3-2 comeback? In a season that's not making a lick of sense, the craziest stuff seems sane.
It was Kaboul, naturally, who was nutmegged by Maroune Chamakh in the first half, which made it 2-0 and on track for another Gunners romp. This came on the heels of Benoit Assou-Ekotto's comedic "defending" on Samir Nasri, who simply out-worked the Cameroonian international for a really fluky goal. Nasri, mind you, snubbed Gallas in the handshake line, setting the tone for the match.
Arsenal, even up 2-0, weren't exactly dominating the game even if Luka Modric playing as a holding midfielder alongside Jermaine Jenas allowed Cesc Fabregas a space the size of Hyde Park. For reasons unbeknowst to anyone -- first and foremost water bottle-slamming Arsene Wenger (animated .GIF?) -- Arsenal stopped playing. The Gunners were high-and-dry, so was it as simple as Redknapp taking off Aaron Lennon for Jermain Defoe and moving Rafael van der Vaart to the right?
Does that explain the Gareth Bale goal, set up by three passes, starting at the back from Assou-Ekotto, long to Defoe, who flicked to van der Vaart, who then headed it to Bale galloping in stride?
Or Fabregas deciding to stick up his hand, pulling Chamakh's with it, to gift van der Vaart a penalty? Even Pink Floyd's "Momentary Lapse of Reason" was more reasonable than the Spaniard's indefensible move in that spot.
Or letting Kaboul -- a dude known more for his piercing than his skills(*) -- for rising up and scoring a historic winner off a deep set piece?
(*) Kaboul is like the French Titus Bramble, well, at least he's taken the mantel away from Jean-Alain Boumsong. He's not much when it comes to defending, but he's not a horrible player, at least in the opponents end of the field, as an attacking right back.
At halftime I emailed by friend Hirshey, you know the Arsenal lover over at ESPN.com, this brief salvo, "Brilliant strategy by Arsene. Don't do anything special and wait for Spurs to shoot themselves in the foot, repeatedly."
Not sure what the hell happened. An hour later Hirshey, who apparently was in Amsterdam, was contemplating jumping in one of the Dutch capital's many canals.
By virtue of Chelsea's loss, Arsenal didn't lose ground, simply it lost an opportunity to move up in the table. The title is still asking for the Gunners to take, as if it's wearing an Alice in Wonderland (or John Blutarksy) approved, "Eat Me" sign.
Maybe, though, Redknapp is crazy as that old fox ... even if he looks like a bloodhound.
Perhaps he's embracing this new era of the Premier League, where the giants no long tower over the rest of the league. Where a team like Tottenham can show some ambition and try to win it all.
Ben Foster(s): English for Keeper:
Glad Fosters are bringing back their "Australian for beer" ads. The world is a better place with giant, novelty sized beer cans and Australian stereotypes. Anything that might get Yahoo Serious working again. (Keep the giant booting to yourself, Oz.)
Bad, dated, pop culture jokes aside, hard to think we'll see a better performance by a goalkeeper in the Premier League over a sustained amount of play than Ben Foster for Birmingham City in its 1-0 win over Chelsea. Crazy to think under Alex McLeish Birmingham is unbeatable by the big clubs at home and nothing but mediocre vs. everybody else.
Birmingham's goal was besieged as Chelsea must have thought it was Stalingrad, not St. Andrew's. It felt like 90 percent of the second half was played with eight or nine Blues -- in neon green as it were -- camped out around the penalty area.
Set pieces, crosses, corners, open play? Nothing Chelsea tried seemed to work.
The best chance for Chelsea was a through ball played to Ramires, stopped by an excellent (clean) sliding tackle by Roger Johnson. It left Ramires floored and Chelsea fans wondering if they'd purchased this decade's Kleberson.
Nice win by Birmingham, since nine times out of 10, Chelsea finds a way to get a goal in that game and salvage a draw.
Chelsea? Call it a continued run of poor form. Once Lee Bowyer -- yeah him -- scored a nice, quick goal on Birmingham's one shot on target, the Brum closed up shop and played defense.
When Chelsea was straight merc-ing teams, it was in quick, rapid transition. Stuck in "half-court" game, Chelsea didn't have any idea, nor a pinball Frank Lampard deflection to bail them out.
The way this season is going, impossible to count out Chelsea. The Blues just need to keep their ends above water for the rest of 2010, with games against: Newcastle, Everton, Tottenham, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bolton. It might even serve Chelsea to drop off a bit, instead of coping with the pressure of leading the pack each and every week. The title is going to go all the way to the finish in May, so the one priority is to stay in the mix, which shouldn't be too difficult.
Dead Team Walking:
Liverpool erupted for a, gasp, easy 3-0 evisceration of woeful West Ham on Saturday. Nice job for the Reds, who won without Steven Gerrard and with Glen Johnson.
Priority No. 1 for the club has to be consistency and making sure every week isn't a life-or-death referendum on the team and Roy Hodgson. Showing some guts at White Hart Lane next weekend is a start.
Meanwhile, West Ham is teetering on the brink of 3-point ATM status.
This club is lacking everything, spark, vision, pride and most of all, talent.
In 2008-09 West Ham was 10th and respectable. Bear in mind the precarious financial situation the club faced, excellerated by it's Icelandic ownership group going broke, but look at some of the quality players the team let go: James Collins, Lucas Neill and Mathew Etherington. Throw in the injuries that ended Dean Aston's career and this is a club that's lost more talent that it's brought in.
Avram Grant, a miracle worked at Portsmouth last year, has been anything but that.
Tired of Hanging Around:
It makes perfect sense that Manchester United, playing very "meh" soccer is now joint-leaders with Chelsea. Figures the Red Devils labor for a 2-0 win over eventual nine-man Wigan, getting headers from Patrice Evra -- huh? -- and Chicharito -- duh -- to pull up into the penthouse.
In a year nobody is setting the world on fire, it might be cagey old Sir Alex Ferguson with the last laugh, sitting back, grinding out results.
Oh, right, Wayne Rooney played ... and no it wasn't in the non-stop "FIFA 11" ads. He actually played on the field at Old Trafford. Didn't do anything memorable, though he looked a little slimmer.
And after having its obituary written, here's Roberto Mancini's boring old Manchester City blasting Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage, sitting only three points off the pace.
Hey, guess all City needed were a pair of shanked defensive clearances and a night of partying with Diego Maradona to turn a slow, uninspired team into a bunch of ass-kicking world beaters.
Nice to see Yaya Toure decide to take a shot, instead of holding up the play and waiting for something. Guess playing Jô was the answer all along. (Question, pardon my ignorance. Does the accent over the "o" in Jo mean anything? It certainly doesn't seem to change the way it's pronounced.)
Two Little Broadcast Notes:
* Adrian Healy filled in for MLS Cup-bound Ian Darke during the North London Derby. Healy -- who's work has been praised here in the past -- kept the puns to a minimum and generally meshed well with Efan Ekoku. One thing that jumped out at me was during the break ESPN panned the expansive Emirates, focusing in on the duo's perch in the upper tier calling the match. Like most British Stadiums, the broadcasters are exposed to the fans and not encased in some glass, protective booth which keeps them away from the fans and the elements. Guessing there's no way Joe Buck would be able to call a game in Europe, since the exposure to the fans would clearly result in a punch to the face. Multiple punches to the face.
* Kevin Davies has usurped the unofficial crown away from Ryan Giggs as the players English commentators love to lionize. During Bolton's 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle the slobbering from the booth was almost as bad as John Madden and circa 1996 Brett Favre. (Really, this pre-kick guessing on the penalty kicks is getting absurd.)
Around the League:
Was it me, or did Maroune Chamakh seem on the verge of tears all game? ... The ref in the Chelsea/Birmingham match was wearing a mauve shirt. Found that interesting. ... Another nice goal by Blackpool's Luke Varney. Good little player. This is just a gloriously hit volley. ... Starting to think West Brom might not be that good after all. Not sure the Baggies have that much Premier League ready talent once opponents start to get enough of a "book" on them. ... Stoke City: six wins, one draw, seven losses. All the way up to eighth. ... One team that's for real is Bolton. Owen Coyle figured something out as this team is rolling, Tupac-style. Every part of the team is clicking on the field, with Johan Elmander in Swedish Beast Mode. Amazing to think the universally derided Gary Megson signed him. As a U.S. fan, every time I see Bolton I just pray Bob Bradley is thinking of ways to utilize Stuart Holden in the middle of the field. ... Favorite play of the weekend was Dickson Etuhu going in hard on Nigel de Jong. Hope it starts a trend. Hey, I just want to see more of Patrick Vieira playing for City. I'm selfish like that.
Great Job!:
Obligatory (Great Job!) this weekend go out to my old favorite, Morten Gamst Pedersen who's brace for Blackburn sunk Aston Villa 2-0 at Ewood Park in front of Rovers new Indian poultry-magnate owners.
Over the last month Pedersen has been downright lethal on long free kicks from the extreme right side of the field. Sunday he duped former Rover Brad Freidel, no small feat.
There's not a lot to excited about Blackburn under Sam Allardyce and his worldwide football Walmart shopping, but Gamst -- a holdover from the Mark Hughes era -- makes watching the team tolerable on an occasional basis.
It might even be time for Gamst to release a new Norwegian pop song.
So even if Blackburn's new Indian owners want to rename Ewood Park after their poultry company, Gamst still gets this week's Great Job! (pencil noises.)
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Lots of goals. Lots of points this weekend. If you're into the fantasy, teams with Johan Elmander are roaring past the Didier Drogba-lead teams. Top scores go to Jared Dunn's Sparta FC, with an all around big week, with Foster, van der Vaart, Elmander and Tevez.
One other thing:
As I've said in the past, it'd be nice where we get to the day the talk surrounding MLS is about the actual, on-field stuff, not the schematics of how Don Garber runs the league.
Then again, for the second-straight season, a mediocre regular season team -- this time the Colorado Rapids -- lifted the Cup, in wintry Toronto, as it were. Figures MLS is decided by a tough own goal and Connor Casey scoring a from flat on his ass.
Now, I'm not a person who's hell-bent on a single-table, non-playoffs situation. Playoffs one of the original ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. They're not going anywhere and in Garber's mind they're unalienable.
That said, adding two playoff teams for the 2011 season, devalues the regular season even more, even with 18 clubs in the mix. Knockout, one-off soccer is so much different than that 30+ game regular season, not sure how MLS can adjust to this fact.
Look at it this way in the other major American sports:
* NFL: 16 regular season games, four rounds of playoffs, i.e. 25 percent ratio (regular season-to-playoffs.)
* MLB: 162 regular season games, three rounds, at most 19 games, i.e. eight percent ratio.
* NBA: 82 regular season games, four rounds, at most 28 games, i.e. 34 percent ratio.
With MLS, you play 30 games, then your fate is decided by two games in the first round, then two one-offs if you want to win it. Doesn't seem to reward the strong regular season teams enough. You run a marathon then it's a quick 5K sprint at the end.
Garber seems open to changing things, though adding teams isn't the best course of action. Byes, making the opening round three-games, with the higher seed getting two home games.
Something, anything.
So another weekend in the books for the 2010-11 Premier League.
Or as I now like to think of it as the November 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average, well, without people losing their life saving after the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst.
Remember checking the stock ticker those days? The market would be down 700 points, or it would be up 300. Nobody knew nothing. The unexpected and the uncharted became the norm. Up was down. Left was right. Fortunes were lost. Panic in the streets. Dogs and cats living together.
You'd think a weekend that saw Tottenham end a nearly two-decade losing streak away to Arsenal and Chelsea lose a second straight league game would raise eyebrows, but that's the state of the Premier League in 2010.
Expect the unexpected. Crazy is the new normal.
Tweakin' Tottenham:
Question: Could a man with the face of Harry Redknapp coach an American professional sports team?
I say no. Look at Brad Childress with the Minnesota Vikings. Granted he's an awful NFL head coach, but wouldn't he be given a slightly bigger leash if he wasn't bald with a laughably out-dated mustache? Wasn't he doomed in terms of earning his players respect from the start?
With his jowly, permanently red face there's little way Redknapp survives in the ESPN world.
Love him, hate him, laugh at him, Redknapp is tapping into something that's working at Tottenham since he took over.
And you've got to love the way Redknapp went about it.
Quick aside. Two weeks ago in Fantasy Football I played my friend Mike, a rabid, diehard Oakland Raiders fan. Needing a wide receiver for the week, I added Darius Heyward-Bey. Okay, not the smartest move ever, but if I were able to win with "Hey-Bey" in the lineup it would be all the more satisfying. A classic tweak. As it turned out he put up a big, fat, goose egg, but there aren't any regrets. It was worth it to go for the double, tweak-aided win.
That's why I have nothing but respect for Redknapp handing over the captain's armband to ex-Gunner William Gallas to stick his finger in the eye of Arsenal fans everywhere, who's love for Gallas falls somewhere between dog poo on the bottom of their shoe and lukewarm halibut. The mercurial Frenchman repaid Redknapp with a very sound, defensive performance, only made seem more Herculean since he was paired with the walking punchline of Younes Kaboul.
Speaking of Kaboul it couldn't have been any other way, right? Could Tottenham have ended two decades of futility without Kaboul scoring an 85th minute header, capping a 3-2 comeback? In a season that's not making a lick of sense, the craziest stuff seems sane.
It was Kaboul, naturally, who was nutmegged by Maroune Chamakh in the first half, which made it 2-0 and on track for another Gunners romp. This came on the heels of Benoit Assou-Ekotto's comedic "defending" on Samir Nasri, who simply out-worked the Cameroonian international for a really fluky goal. Nasri, mind you, snubbed Gallas in the handshake line, setting the tone for the match.
Arsenal, even up 2-0, weren't exactly dominating the game even if Luka Modric playing as a holding midfielder alongside Jermaine Jenas allowed Cesc Fabregas a space the size of Hyde Park. For reasons unbeknowst to anyone -- first and foremost water bottle-slamming Arsene Wenger (animated .GIF?) -- Arsenal stopped playing. The Gunners were high-and-dry, so was it as simple as Redknapp taking off Aaron Lennon for Jermain Defoe and moving Rafael van der Vaart to the right?
Does that explain the Gareth Bale goal, set up by three passes, starting at the back from Assou-Ekotto, long to Defoe, who flicked to van der Vaart, who then headed it to Bale galloping in stride?
Or Fabregas deciding to stick up his hand, pulling Chamakh's with it, to gift van der Vaart a penalty? Even Pink Floyd's "Momentary Lapse of Reason" was more reasonable than the Spaniard's indefensible move in that spot.
Or letting Kaboul -- a dude known more for his piercing than his skills(*) -- for rising up and scoring a historic winner off a deep set piece?
(*) Kaboul is like the French Titus Bramble, well, at least he's taken the mantel away from Jean-Alain Boumsong. He's not much when it comes to defending, but he's not a horrible player, at least in the opponents end of the field, as an attacking right back.
At halftime I emailed by friend Hirshey, you know the Arsenal lover over at ESPN.com, this brief salvo, "Brilliant strategy by Arsene. Don't do anything special and wait for Spurs to shoot themselves in the foot, repeatedly."
Not sure what the hell happened. An hour later Hirshey, who apparently was in Amsterdam, was contemplating jumping in one of the Dutch capital's many canals.
By virtue of Chelsea's loss, Arsenal didn't lose ground, simply it lost an opportunity to move up in the table. The title is still asking for the Gunners to take, as if it's wearing an Alice in Wonderland (or John Blutarksy) approved, "Eat Me" sign.
Maybe, though, Redknapp is crazy as that old fox ... even if he looks like a bloodhound.
Perhaps he's embracing this new era of the Premier League, where the giants no long tower over the rest of the league. Where a team like Tottenham can show some ambition and try to win it all.
Ben Foster(s): English for Keeper:
Glad Fosters are bringing back their "Australian for beer" ads. The world is a better place with giant, novelty sized beer cans and Australian stereotypes. Anything that might get Yahoo Serious working again. (Keep the giant booting to yourself, Oz.)
Bad, dated, pop culture jokes aside, hard to think we'll see a better performance by a goalkeeper in the Premier League over a sustained amount of play than Ben Foster for Birmingham City in its 1-0 win over Chelsea. Crazy to think under Alex McLeish Birmingham is unbeatable by the big clubs at home and nothing but mediocre vs. everybody else.
Birmingham's goal was besieged as Chelsea must have thought it was Stalingrad, not St. Andrew's. It felt like 90 percent of the second half was played with eight or nine Blues -- in neon green as it were -- camped out around the penalty area.
Set pieces, crosses, corners, open play? Nothing Chelsea tried seemed to work.
The best chance for Chelsea was a through ball played to Ramires, stopped by an excellent (clean) sliding tackle by Roger Johnson. It left Ramires floored and Chelsea fans wondering if they'd purchased this decade's Kleberson.
Nice win by Birmingham, since nine times out of 10, Chelsea finds a way to get a goal in that game and salvage a draw.
Chelsea? Call it a continued run of poor form. Once Lee Bowyer -- yeah him -- scored a nice, quick goal on Birmingham's one shot on target, the Brum closed up shop and played defense.
When Chelsea was straight merc-ing teams, it was in quick, rapid transition. Stuck in "half-court" game, Chelsea didn't have any idea, nor a pinball Frank Lampard deflection to bail them out.
The way this season is going, impossible to count out Chelsea. The Blues just need to keep their ends above water for the rest of 2010, with games against: Newcastle, Everton, Tottenham, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bolton. It might even serve Chelsea to drop off a bit, instead of coping with the pressure of leading the pack each and every week. The title is going to go all the way to the finish in May, so the one priority is to stay in the mix, which shouldn't be too difficult.
Dead Team Walking:
Liverpool erupted for a, gasp, easy 3-0 evisceration of woeful West Ham on Saturday. Nice job for the Reds, who won without Steven Gerrard and with Glen Johnson.
Priority No. 1 for the club has to be consistency and making sure every week isn't a life-or-death referendum on the team and Roy Hodgson. Showing some guts at White Hart Lane next weekend is a start.
Meanwhile, West Ham is teetering on the brink of 3-point ATM status.
This club is lacking everything, spark, vision, pride and most of all, talent.
In 2008-09 West Ham was 10th and respectable. Bear in mind the precarious financial situation the club faced, excellerated by it's Icelandic ownership group going broke, but look at some of the quality players the team let go: James Collins, Lucas Neill and Mathew Etherington. Throw in the injuries that ended Dean Aston's career and this is a club that's lost more talent that it's brought in.
Avram Grant, a miracle worked at Portsmouth last year, has been anything but that.
Tired of Hanging Around:
It makes perfect sense that Manchester United, playing very "meh" soccer is now joint-leaders with Chelsea. Figures the Red Devils labor for a 2-0 win over eventual nine-man Wigan, getting headers from Patrice Evra -- huh? -- and Chicharito -- duh -- to pull up into the penthouse.
In a year nobody is setting the world on fire, it might be cagey old Sir Alex Ferguson with the last laugh, sitting back, grinding out results.
Oh, right, Wayne Rooney played ... and no it wasn't in the non-stop "FIFA 11" ads. He actually played on the field at Old Trafford. Didn't do anything memorable, though he looked a little slimmer.
And after having its obituary written, here's Roberto Mancini's boring old Manchester City blasting Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage, sitting only three points off the pace.
Hey, guess all City needed were a pair of shanked defensive clearances and a night of partying with Diego Maradona to turn a slow, uninspired team into a bunch of ass-kicking world beaters.
Nice to see Yaya Toure decide to take a shot, instead of holding up the play and waiting for something. Guess playing Jô was the answer all along. (Question, pardon my ignorance. Does the accent over the "o" in Jo mean anything? It certainly doesn't seem to change the way it's pronounced.)
Two Little Broadcast Notes:
* Adrian Healy filled in for MLS Cup-bound Ian Darke during the North London Derby. Healy -- who's work has been praised here in the past -- kept the puns to a minimum and generally meshed well with Efan Ekoku. One thing that jumped out at me was during the break ESPN panned the expansive Emirates, focusing in on the duo's perch in the upper tier calling the match. Like most British Stadiums, the broadcasters are exposed to the fans and not encased in some glass, protective booth which keeps them away from the fans and the elements. Guessing there's no way Joe Buck would be able to call a game in Europe, since the exposure to the fans would clearly result in a punch to the face. Multiple punches to the face.
* Kevin Davies has usurped the unofficial crown away from Ryan Giggs as the players English commentators love to lionize. During Bolton's 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle the slobbering from the booth was almost as bad as John Madden and circa 1996 Brett Favre. (Really, this pre-kick guessing on the penalty kicks is getting absurd.)
Around the League:
Was it me, or did Maroune Chamakh seem on the verge of tears all game? ... The ref in the Chelsea/Birmingham match was wearing a mauve shirt. Found that interesting. ... Another nice goal by Blackpool's Luke Varney. Good little player. This is just a gloriously hit volley. ... Starting to think West Brom might not be that good after all. Not sure the Baggies have that much Premier League ready talent once opponents start to get enough of a "book" on them. ... Stoke City: six wins, one draw, seven losses. All the way up to eighth. ... One team that's for real is Bolton. Owen Coyle figured something out as this team is rolling, Tupac-style. Every part of the team is clicking on the field, with Johan Elmander in Swedish Beast Mode. Amazing to think the universally derided Gary Megson signed him. As a U.S. fan, every time I see Bolton I just pray Bob Bradley is thinking of ways to utilize Stuart Holden in the middle of the field. ... Favorite play of the weekend was Dickson Etuhu going in hard on Nigel de Jong. Hope it starts a trend. Hey, I just want to see more of Patrick Vieira playing for City. I'm selfish like that.
Great Job!:
Obligatory (Great Job!) this weekend go out to my old favorite, Morten Gamst Pedersen who's brace for Blackburn sunk Aston Villa 2-0 at Ewood Park in front of Rovers new Indian poultry-magnate owners.
Over the last month Pedersen has been downright lethal on long free kicks from the extreme right side of the field. Sunday he duped former Rover Brad Freidel, no small feat.
There's not a lot to excited about Blackburn under Sam Allardyce and his worldwide football Walmart shopping, but Gamst -- a holdover from the Mark Hughes era -- makes watching the team tolerable on an occasional basis.
It might even be time for Gamst to release a new Norwegian pop song.
So even if Blackburn's new Indian owners want to rename Ewood Park after their poultry company, Gamst still gets this week's Great Job! (pencil noises.)
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Lots of goals. Lots of points this weekend. If you're into the fantasy, teams with Johan Elmander are roaring past the Didier Drogba-lead teams. Top scores go to Jared Dunn's Sparta FC, with an all around big week, with Foster, van der Vaart, Elmander and Tevez.
One other thing:
As I've said in the past, it'd be nice where we get to the day the talk surrounding MLS is about the actual, on-field stuff, not the schematics of how Don Garber runs the league.
Then again, for the second-straight season, a mediocre regular season team -- this time the Colorado Rapids -- lifted the Cup, in wintry Toronto, as it were. Figures MLS is decided by a tough own goal and Connor Casey scoring a from flat on his ass.
Now, I'm not a person who's hell-bent on a single-table, non-playoffs situation. Playoffs one of the original ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. They're not going anywhere and in Garber's mind they're unalienable.
That said, adding two playoff teams for the 2011 season, devalues the regular season even more, even with 18 clubs in the mix. Knockout, one-off soccer is so much different than that 30+ game regular season, not sure how MLS can adjust to this fact.
Look at it this way in the other major American sports:
* NFL: 16 regular season games, four rounds of playoffs, i.e. 25 percent ratio (regular season-to-playoffs.)
* MLB: 162 regular season games, three rounds, at most 19 games, i.e. eight percent ratio.
* NBA: 82 regular season games, four rounds, at most 28 games, i.e. 34 percent ratio.
With MLS, you play 30 games, then your fate is decided by two games in the first round, then two one-offs if you want to win it. Doesn't seem to reward the strong regular season teams enough. You run a marathon then it's a quick 5K sprint at the end.
Garber seems open to changing things, though adding teams isn't the best course of action. Byes, making the opening round three-games, with the higher seed getting two home games.
Something, anything.
Labels: Arsenal, Chelsea, EPL, gareth bale, Monday recaps, Premier League, Soccer, tottenham hotspur, Wayne Rooney
"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others." -- George Orwell, Animal Farm.
Is this the season that the dreaded "p" word -- parity -- hits the English Premier League?
All signs point to ... maybe.
First-place Chelsea are still a comfortable nine points clear of teams Nos. 5-7, all on 19 points. It's who those teams are that's surprising -- Bolton and Sunderland.
More than ever, it seems week-to-week anyone can beat anybody, highlighted by Chelsea actually losing a league match at Stamford Bridge.
Without hoping into the Delorean and hitting 88 mph, what is the future of the English game going to look like? And how will that trickle down to the rest of world soccer? (Remember, it's all interconnected.)
Remember, the Prem took the first step toward leveling the playing field in earnest by capping the rosters for games at 25. Couple that with Michel Platini's new UEFA "financial fair-play" regulations that will force clubs to a) play more homegrown players and b) curb debts in line with revenues, i.e. even free-spending Manchester City will have to shake up its roster when these rules are enacted. You'd think the super-spending clubs will eventually hit a cap of how many players they'll be able to keep around at one time, instead of stockpiling assets.
So it begs the question, why aren't clubs challenging the established "Big Four"? Better yet, why aren't clubs even thinking about it? Have the "Thought Police" erased that part of their brains?
It wasn't always this way in England.
Prior to the Premier League era in 1992, which has seen the trophy only lifted by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn. Since 2000, only three teams have won.
In the 1960s seven clubs won the old First Division. In the 1970s it was five, the same total as the 1980s through the start of the Premier League.
Why don't clubs think big any more? When the season startedonly seven of the league's 20 teams realistically could sell to their fans the idea of winning. Granted, it's not the NFL, but why concede before it even starts?
It all brings me to my other point for today, the case of Jordan Henderson.
This week, or at least until England took a dump on the grass at Wembley Stadium, the stock was soaring for the young Sunderland midfielder, with links to both Manchester clubs for upwards of $30 million for the 20-year-old.
Money is money, but what is Sunderland telling to its fans if it sells off a promising, home-grown player? Yeah, the long-standing equation in England -- or elsewhere -- is the big fish eats the little one, but isn't Henderson the kind of player you try to build around? Especially when you splash out the money on Asamoah Gyan in August? Or when you have a nice, new-ish Stadium of Light with passionate fans?
Unless Henderson forces the issue and demands an exit, shouldn't the club hold firm?
Running a soccer club is business, but is this the good kind?
Shouldn't the rest of Premier League take a look at what Tottenham did by finishing fourth and breaking up the Manchester United -- Arsenal -- Chelsea -- Liverpool cabal? (Granted, Spurs did spend a ton of money ...)
By the same token, take a gander at the side Aston Villa last weekend vs. Manchester United, when it fielded a lineup that included three U-21 players: Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfounseo and Barry Bannan, along with home-grown product Gabby Agbonlahor.
What's the long-term incentive for Aston Villa, a solidly run, financially sound club?Play these players while they're young and face losing them to a bigger club if they show signs of improvement?
Or what of the possible plight of surprise fifth place Bolton? Will it be forced to sell off Johan Elmander or Gary Cahill when Arsenal or others come calling?
Maybe the best answer to all this is changing the perceptions in the media. Perhaps the English press needs to stop fanning the flames of speculation or writing that a club like Bolton isn't allowed to have bigger ambitions than finishing in eighth place. This will allow the people running the club to hold firm and care about the product on the field, and less so on the bottom line. It's not an exact equation, but shouldn't winning or improved play eventually lead to increased revenues?
A wild, exciting Premier League where half the team could have a realistic chance of winning?
Nah, who would want that?
Round 14 Picks:
Saturday:
* Arsenal v. Tottenham -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Never understand why the best game of the weekend happens to fall so often at the start of the slate, particularly on the U.S. West Coast. Suppose it works out in England since this is a standalone game, which everybody can watch. Doesn't quite work with the worldwide broadcasting. Then again, it's hard to complain about something that actually puts the English fans ahead of us unwashed worldwide philistines.
So here we are. The North London Derby. Red vs. White. Cesc vs. Luka. Arsene vs. 'Arry. ... Hirshey vs. Simmons. (You know Simbo loves The Spurs almost as much as Josh Freeman.)
One thing, for certain, we'll learn from this match is there's no stopping the cult of Gareth Bale. In the form of Bacary Sagna, Arsenal has a right back perfectly suited to drap over the young Welshman and lock down his runs, especially if Alex Song prevents the cuts inside. If the Gunners are unable to slow down Bale, I wouldn't be half surprised to see him making that goofy heart symbol with his hands next to Taylor Swift on a Thanksgiving float.
I'm also fully intrigued to see what Rafael van der Vaart brings to this ultra-heated derby. The Dutchman is certainly a showman, with the flair for the dramatic. On the huge stage of the Emirates, will be conduct a Tottenham symphony? A Spurs' symphony that might include the returning Jermain Defoe.
Spurs will need him to show up, since the midfield won't quite be the same without Tom Huddlestone involved. Wilson Palacios is who we think he is. If Redknapp gambles with Sandro, chances are he's be more out of his element than Donnie in "The Big Lebowski." The task will probably fall to the surprisingly decent Jermaine "Rhymes With" Jenas, who's been an actual contributor this season at White Hart Lane.
As for Arsenal? Not only does the club need to put up a showing to appease the fans, but the Gunners are now in prime position to jet by Chelsea in the league table. Can this team take care of business? Maroune Chamakh certainly has the physical skills to tool all over the Spurs defense. Hell, if he gives a hard look in Ledley King's direction it might sprain the knee of the Spurs' captain.
Be aware of young Jack Wilshere, who might want to steal some of Bale's U.K. teen-idol heat. Granted, he's more of the "bad boy" model, what with his ankle-crunching Scholes-ian tackles and drinking imbroglios and all.
However it breaks down, it's hard to envision this being a dull slog, even if the actually Gunners squad itself is, well, rather milquetoast. They all seem so mild-mannered. ... Arsenal 2, Spurs 2
* Manchester United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) The boy is back in town. Spread the word around. Guess who's back in town. Is there a more underrated band from the 1970s than Thin Lizzy? Is there a more underrated player in the Premier League than Charles N'Zogbia? Oh right, Wayne Rooney might be on the bench for this one. Figures. In this match up Manchester United are the roadrunner and poor Wigan are the Coyote. Roberto Martinez, be on alert for falling boulders while leaving Old Trafford. ... Manchester United 2, Wigan 0.
* West Bromwich Albion v. Stoke City -- Since the Kansas City Wiz -- still miss the "Follow the Yellowbrick Road" jerseys -- became Sporting Kansas City this week, a nice Twitter hashtag trend of "FutureMLSfranchises" popped up, as people started applying "traditional" soccer names like Athletic or Sparta or Rovers or Wanderers to American cities. Didn't see too many Albions, which explains what I have to say about this match. ... West Brom 2, Stoke City 0
* Bolton v. Newcastle United -- Too bad Fox Soccer couldn't "flex schedule" into this match, since it's a much better watch at the moment than Manchester United/Wigan, pitting the surprise fifth and eighth place teams. Better yet, you've got American Stuart Holden in the mix for a suddenly tolerable Bolton side, coupled with the rollicking band of bros from Newcastle. Couldn't be more excited for this match, well, unless Nigel de Jong was locked up in jail and Hatem Ben Arfa was still fit to play. Of teams still playing 4-4-2 in England, has the midfield partnership of Holden and Fabrice Muamba evolved into the League's best? Finally, obligatory Andy Carroll mention. ... Bolton 2, Newcastle 1
* Blackpool v. Wolves -- If Blackpool is going to survive the drop, the club will have to continue to win home games against teams in their weight class. The way Wolves play, defensively and clogging the midfield, it might cause some issues for the free-wheeling Tangerine attack. ... Blackpool 1, Wolves 1
* Birmingham City v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Birmingham City are a team that hasn't been able to find its footing this year. Finding a way to get a result vs. Chelsea would represent a shot in the arm. Problem, for me, with El Brum is Alex McLeish is still putting too much faith in Cameron Jerome. What's the old saying, never trust a guy with two first names? Birmingham are solid at home against the top teams in the league and Chelsea has been misfiring on the road.
Chelsea supporters might taken in encouragement from Flourent Malouda's display for France during the midweek, even if the opponent was, um, England. Meanwhile, I'd be worried with both Alex and John Terry out until at least Christmas, it's putting a lot of pressure on Obi Jon Mikel Obi in the center defensive cog. He's certainly gotten better and matured the last few seasons, but without the defensive safety valve behind him, can he be trusted? Surprised how Ramires has been unable to adjust to the Premier League, too.
Or about about Paolo Ferreira? He's like one of those fringe characters on a TV show that eventually worms his way into the opening credits in, say, the 9th season of the show when most of the original cast has moved on to greener pastures. This probably happened on "ER," which I've never watched. ... Birmingham City 1, Chelsea 1
* Liverpool v. West Ham United -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) No Gerrard. No Lucas. No problem? Fortunately Liverpool welcomes woeful West Ham to Anfield Saturday, where the power of the Kop should be enough to beat the Hammers. Well, maybe. Granted the Gerrard injury looks bleak, but Liverpool would be well-served to see what life without Stevie G would be like -- a lot less Phil Collins, obviously. The guy won't play forever. He's not Gary Speed. One day they'll have to move on without him. Too bad there's no faith in Roy Hodgson, who is playing match-to-match, not thinking long term. West Ham are likely without Scott Parker, which further tips the scales in favor of the Reds, though the way this season is going that might be a massive, err, red flag. ... Liverpool 1, West Ham 0
Sunday:
* Blackburn Rovers v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Not sure why Gerard Houllier felt the need to sign Robert Pires, considering left-sided wide players like Ashley Young and Stewart Downing are already at the club. Seems like a guy, who at 37, would be more inclined to signing with Blackburn under Sam Allardyce. ... Blackburn 1, Aston Villa 2
* Fulham v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Fulham, in the black-eyed form of Clint Dempsey, have more fighting spirit than all of Manchester City put together. Guess it makes sense since Mark Hughes is now in charge of Fulham and his nickname was and still is, "Sparky." Will that matter come Sunday at Craven Cottage. Better yet, with City put America to sleep once again before NFL kicks off minutes after the opening whistle? Funny how it seemed a lock that Mark Schwarzer would quit Fulham for Arsenal in August and Shay Given would be the replacement. Wondering if Hughes can channel his anger and loathing toward City onto his team? ... Fulham 1, City 1
Monday:
* Sunderland v. Everton -- Would it surprise anyone for Sunderland to lay an egg in its first game after lodging the upset of the season? Does Everton really need Landon Donovan at this point when it can get a reasonable facsimile of him in Seamus Coleman? Is Darren Bent really going to rush back from his injury in time for this? Will Tim Cahill score another headed goal. If Job Gruden broadcasted this version of "Monday Night Football" would it be able to find nice things to say about Titus Bramble? Will Steve Bruce once again where his grandmother's quilt as a jacket? ... Sunderland 2, Everton 1
Last round: 2-8 (ouch)
Season: 56-74
Is this the season that the dreaded "p" word -- parity -- hits the English Premier League?
All signs point to ... maybe.
First-place Chelsea are still a comfortable nine points clear of teams Nos. 5-7, all on 19 points. It's who those teams are that's surprising -- Bolton and Sunderland.
More than ever, it seems week-to-week anyone can beat anybody, highlighted by Chelsea actually losing a league match at Stamford Bridge.
Without hoping into the Delorean and hitting 88 mph, what is the future of the English game going to look like? And how will that trickle down to the rest of world soccer? (Remember, it's all interconnected.)
Remember, the Prem took the first step toward leveling the playing field in earnest by capping the rosters for games at 25. Couple that with Michel Platini's new UEFA "financial fair-play" regulations that will force clubs to a) play more homegrown players and b) curb debts in line with revenues, i.e. even free-spending Manchester City will have to shake up its roster when these rules are enacted. You'd think the super-spending clubs will eventually hit a cap of how many players they'll be able to keep around at one time, instead of stockpiling assets.
So it begs the question, why aren't clubs challenging the established "Big Four"? Better yet, why aren't clubs even thinking about it? Have the "Thought Police" erased that part of their brains?
It wasn't always this way in England.
Prior to the Premier League era in 1992, which has seen the trophy only lifted by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn. Since 2000, only three teams have won.
In the 1960s seven clubs won the old First Division. In the 1970s it was five, the same total as the 1980s through the start of the Premier League.
Why don't clubs think big any more? When the season startedonly seven of the league's 20 teams realistically could sell to their fans the idea of winning. Granted, it's not the NFL, but why concede before it even starts?
It all brings me to my other point for today, the case of Jordan Henderson.
This week, or at least until England took a dump on the grass at Wembley Stadium, the stock was soaring for the young Sunderland midfielder, with links to both Manchester clubs for upwards of $30 million for the 20-year-old.
Money is money, but what is Sunderland telling to its fans if it sells off a promising, home-grown player? Yeah, the long-standing equation in England -- or elsewhere -- is the big fish eats the little one, but isn't Henderson the kind of player you try to build around? Especially when you splash out the money on Asamoah Gyan in August? Or when you have a nice, new-ish Stadium of Light with passionate fans?
Unless Henderson forces the issue and demands an exit, shouldn't the club hold firm?
Running a soccer club is business, but is this the good kind?
Shouldn't the rest of Premier League take a look at what Tottenham did by finishing fourth and breaking up the Manchester United -- Arsenal -- Chelsea -- Liverpool cabal? (Granted, Spurs did spend a ton of money ...)
By the same token, take a gander at the side Aston Villa last weekend vs. Manchester United, when it fielded a lineup that included three U-21 players: Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfounseo and Barry Bannan, along with home-grown product Gabby Agbonlahor.
What's the long-term incentive for Aston Villa, a solidly run, financially sound club?Play these players while they're young and face losing them to a bigger club if they show signs of improvement?
Or what of the possible plight of surprise fifth place Bolton? Will it be forced to sell off Johan Elmander or Gary Cahill when Arsenal or others come calling?
Maybe the best answer to all this is changing the perceptions in the media. Perhaps the English press needs to stop fanning the flames of speculation or writing that a club like Bolton isn't allowed to have bigger ambitions than finishing in eighth place. This will allow the people running the club to hold firm and care about the product on the field, and less so on the bottom line. It's not an exact equation, but shouldn't winning or improved play eventually lead to increased revenues?
A wild, exciting Premier League where half the team could have a realistic chance of winning?
Nah, who would want that?
Round 14 Picks:
Saturday:
* Arsenal v. Tottenham -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Never understand why the best game of the weekend happens to fall so often at the start of the slate, particularly on the U.S. West Coast. Suppose it works out in England since this is a standalone game, which everybody can watch. Doesn't quite work with the worldwide broadcasting. Then again, it's hard to complain about something that actually puts the English fans ahead of us unwashed worldwide philistines.
So here we are. The North London Derby. Red vs. White. Cesc vs. Luka. Arsene vs. 'Arry. ... Hirshey vs. Simmons. (You know Simbo loves The Spurs almost as much as Josh Freeman.)
One thing, for certain, we'll learn from this match is there's no stopping the cult of Gareth Bale. In the form of Bacary Sagna, Arsenal has a right back perfectly suited to drap over the young Welshman and lock down his runs, especially if Alex Song prevents the cuts inside. If the Gunners are unable to slow down Bale, I wouldn't be half surprised to see him making that goofy heart symbol with his hands next to Taylor Swift on a Thanksgiving float.
I'm also fully intrigued to see what Rafael van der Vaart brings to this ultra-heated derby. The Dutchman is certainly a showman, with the flair for the dramatic. On the huge stage of the Emirates, will be conduct a Tottenham symphony? A Spurs' symphony that might include the returning Jermain Defoe.
Spurs will need him to show up, since the midfield won't quite be the same without Tom Huddlestone involved. Wilson Palacios is who we think he is. If Redknapp gambles with Sandro, chances are he's be more out of his element than Donnie in "The Big Lebowski." The task will probably fall to the surprisingly decent Jermaine "Rhymes With" Jenas, who's been an actual contributor this season at White Hart Lane.
As for Arsenal? Not only does the club need to put up a showing to appease the fans, but the Gunners are now in prime position to jet by Chelsea in the league table. Can this team take care of business? Maroune Chamakh certainly has the physical skills to tool all over the Spurs defense. Hell, if he gives a hard look in Ledley King's direction it might sprain the knee of the Spurs' captain.
Be aware of young Jack Wilshere, who might want to steal some of Bale's U.K. teen-idol heat. Granted, he's more of the "bad boy" model, what with his ankle-crunching Scholes-ian tackles and drinking imbroglios and all.
However it breaks down, it's hard to envision this being a dull slog, even if the actually Gunners squad itself is, well, rather milquetoast. They all seem so mild-mannered. ... Arsenal 2, Spurs 2
* Manchester United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) The boy is back in town. Spread the word around. Guess who's back in town. Is there a more underrated band from the 1970s than Thin Lizzy? Is there a more underrated player in the Premier League than Charles N'Zogbia? Oh right, Wayne Rooney might be on the bench for this one. Figures. In this match up Manchester United are the roadrunner and poor Wigan are the Coyote. Roberto Martinez, be on alert for falling boulders while leaving Old Trafford. ... Manchester United 2, Wigan 0.
* West Bromwich Albion v. Stoke City -- Since the Kansas City Wiz -- still miss the "Follow the Yellowbrick Road" jerseys -- became Sporting Kansas City this week, a nice Twitter hashtag trend of "FutureMLSfranchises" popped up, as people started applying "traditional" soccer names like Athletic or Sparta or Rovers or Wanderers to American cities. Didn't see too many Albions, which explains what I have to say about this match. ... West Brom 2, Stoke City 0
* Bolton v. Newcastle United -- Too bad Fox Soccer couldn't "flex schedule" into this match, since it's a much better watch at the moment than Manchester United/Wigan, pitting the surprise fifth and eighth place teams. Better yet, you've got American Stuart Holden in the mix for a suddenly tolerable Bolton side, coupled with the rollicking band of bros from Newcastle. Couldn't be more excited for this match, well, unless Nigel de Jong was locked up in jail and Hatem Ben Arfa was still fit to play. Of teams still playing 4-4-2 in England, has the midfield partnership of Holden and Fabrice Muamba evolved into the League's best? Finally, obligatory Andy Carroll mention. ... Bolton 2, Newcastle 1
* Blackpool v. Wolves -- If Blackpool is going to survive the drop, the club will have to continue to win home games against teams in their weight class. The way Wolves play, defensively and clogging the midfield, it might cause some issues for the free-wheeling Tangerine attack. ... Blackpool 1, Wolves 1
* Birmingham City v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Birmingham City are a team that hasn't been able to find its footing this year. Finding a way to get a result vs. Chelsea would represent a shot in the arm. Problem, for me, with El Brum is Alex McLeish is still putting too much faith in Cameron Jerome. What's the old saying, never trust a guy with two first names? Birmingham are solid at home against the top teams in the league and Chelsea has been misfiring on the road.
Chelsea supporters might taken in encouragement from Flourent Malouda's display for France during the midweek, even if the opponent was, um, England. Meanwhile, I'd be worried with both Alex and John Terry out until at least Christmas, it's putting a lot of pressure on Obi Jon Mikel Obi in the center defensive cog. He's certainly gotten better and matured the last few seasons, but without the defensive safety valve behind him, can he be trusted? Surprised how Ramires has been unable to adjust to the Premier League, too.
Or about about Paolo Ferreira? He's like one of those fringe characters on a TV show that eventually worms his way into the opening credits in, say, the 9th season of the show when most of the original cast has moved on to greener pastures. This probably happened on "ER," which I've never watched. ... Birmingham City 1, Chelsea 1
* Liverpool v. West Ham United -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) No Gerrard. No Lucas. No problem? Fortunately Liverpool welcomes woeful West Ham to Anfield Saturday, where the power of the Kop should be enough to beat the Hammers. Well, maybe. Granted the Gerrard injury looks bleak, but Liverpool would be well-served to see what life without Stevie G would be like -- a lot less Phil Collins, obviously. The guy won't play forever. He's not Gary Speed. One day they'll have to move on without him. Too bad there's no faith in Roy Hodgson, who is playing match-to-match, not thinking long term. West Ham are likely without Scott Parker, which further tips the scales in favor of the Reds, though the way this season is going that might be a massive, err, red flag. ... Liverpool 1, West Ham 0
Sunday:
* Blackburn Rovers v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Not sure why Gerard Houllier felt the need to sign Robert Pires, considering left-sided wide players like Ashley Young and Stewart Downing are already at the club. Seems like a guy, who at 37, would be more inclined to signing with Blackburn under Sam Allardyce. ... Blackburn 1, Aston Villa 2
* Fulham v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Fulham, in the black-eyed form of Clint Dempsey, have more fighting spirit than all of Manchester City put together. Guess it makes sense since Mark Hughes is now in charge of Fulham and his nickname was and still is, "Sparky." Will that matter come Sunday at Craven Cottage. Better yet, with City put America to sleep once again before NFL kicks off minutes after the opening whistle? Funny how it seemed a lock that Mark Schwarzer would quit Fulham for Arsenal in August and Shay Given would be the replacement. Wondering if Hughes can channel his anger and loathing toward City onto his team? ... Fulham 1, City 1
Monday:
* Sunderland v. Everton -- Would it surprise anyone for Sunderland to lay an egg in its first game after lodging the upset of the season? Does Everton really need Landon Donovan at this point when it can get a reasonable facsimile of him in Seamus Coleman? Is Darren Bent really going to rush back from his injury in time for this? Will Tim Cahill score another headed goal. If Job Gruden broadcasted this version of "Monday Night Football" would it be able to find nice things to say about Titus Bramble? Will Steve Bruce once again where his grandmother's quilt as a jacket? ... Sunderland 2, Everton 1
Last round: 2-8 (ouch)
Season: 56-74
Labels: Arsenal, arsene wenger, EPL, EPL picks, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
My night "day job" came into collision Wednesday, so it was logistically impossible to post immediately following the USMNT's nice, spirit-building 1-0 win over South Africa in Cape Town at the Nelson Mandela Challenge.
The reason? My "day job" as a sportswriter entailed me covering a state playoff soccer game, which ended in penalty kicks, 8-6, with the losing keeper employing an Edwin van der Sar 2008 Champions League Final tactic of pointing in the direction the kick taker would go. (The winning team won it's quarterfinal Monday in penalties, too, so apparently he studied the tape.)
Since Nic Anelka wasn't lining up for kicks, it didn't quite work.
It didn't dawn on me until I sat down to finally blog the proverbial night away, that many of the kids on the field I peered down on Wednesday were just as old, if not older than the U.S.'s goal-scorer vs. the Bafana Bafana, 17-year-old Juan Agudelo.
Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in thinking how players around the world are plucked up and dropped into academies or pro clubs at ages as young as eight and this is the right course of action if the U.S. is ever to get serious about making a dent on the world stage. Then you remember just how foreign that concept itself is Stateside. Hell, the NCAA made a deal with the NBA so talented high school basketball players had to put on the charade of being a "student athlete" Dick Vitale can slobber over, instead of letting them apply for the NBA.
For instance one player on the winning team from that high school game I covered tonight is legitimately good. Lethal left foot, skilled on the ball, vision to pass ... just about all you could want from a kid at that level. Tallied an actual dipping, golazo from the edge of the box.
So if this kid is that good, what does that make Agudelo?
And that's not to hype the young New York Red Bulls Academy product, even if, like Chuck Norris when he attempts a push-up, he's not pushing up, but actually pushing the Earth down. It's trying to contextualize something that's a rarity in American sports -- a young talent on the world stage.
However you want to look at Agudelo's late winner -- set up by Mix Diskerud's fancy footwork -- this result turned out as great as possible for the U.S. as it could.
Beyond finishing the season with a record above .500, it seemed to give U.S. fans still angry or disallusioned or apathetic toward four more years of Bradley, some hope for 2011. The fresh, skilled displays by Agudelo and Diskerud in limited minutes were things to get excited about. The cultured, composed defense by Tim Ream and Eric Lichaj were things for the team to build on.
For the first time I can remember, watching the U.S. felt, dare I say it, fresh. Maybe not as fresh as when Bruce Arena started integrating a young Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley into the mix before the 2002 World Cup, but it felt different than the boring, old, predictable stuff we've seen post-World Cup 2010.
And most of those positive feeling can be chalked up to a moment of brilliance from a kid, who up to a couple years ago, probaly would be waking up this morning getting ready for his Social Studies test on Teapot Dome Scandal.
Other Stuff:
* Definitely loved Agudelo's "gee-whiz/aww shucks" interview after the game with Jeremy Schaap, with some honest reactions, including how he thought he might be offside.
* If there's a big takeaway from this match, it's that the new-guard of "new" players (Lichaj, Ream, Agudelo, Mix, Bunbury.) should be given more looks than the old, "new" players (Robbie Rogers, Eddie Gaven, Robbie Findley). The latter group has had ample chances to shine, and not to overreact over one meaningless game in November, but the new guys are more deserving at this point. (I'll explore this more when I'm not so tired, ok?)
* Let's be fair, too, South Africa was woefully poor. Steven Pienaar? If I'm David Moyes, don't let the door hit you on the way out of Goodison Park.
* Nothing noteworthy to mention from my pal Ian Darke today, who again made John Harkes tolerable to listen to for nearly two hours. Darke did get a little too hung up on South Africa forward Davide Somma saying he was going to destroy the U.S. Let it go Ian.
Steve McManaman was candid in ESPN's U.S.-based studio. Not sure we needed Sal Masekela's super-depressing feature about the immediate impact the World Cup had on South Africa. Grim. Real Grim.
* Very impressed again by Eric Lichaj. Hard to see him getting much run this season at Aston Villa, barring injuries, but he seems like a player the club does have plans for.
* Also, guess it doesn't matter that Brad Guzan is not playing week-in, week-out in the Premier League as Brad Freidel's understudy. The ex-Chivas USA keeper was sure-handed and an impressive in the air vs. the Bafana Bafana.
* Bob Ley mentioned in passing that guys like Bunbury and Mix could still switch national allegiances since it wasn't a full FIFA game. Is that true?
* Not sure why nobody could track down Roy Wegerle for some discussion on the U.S/South Africa international relations.
The reason? My "day job" as a sportswriter entailed me covering a state playoff soccer game, which ended in penalty kicks, 8-6, with the losing keeper employing an Edwin van der Sar 2008 Champions League Final tactic of pointing in the direction the kick taker would go. (The winning team won it's quarterfinal Monday in penalties, too, so apparently he studied the tape.)
Since Nic Anelka wasn't lining up for kicks, it didn't quite work.
It didn't dawn on me until I sat down to finally blog the proverbial night away, that many of the kids on the field I peered down on Wednesday were just as old, if not older than the U.S.'s goal-scorer vs. the Bafana Bafana, 17-year-old Juan Agudelo.
Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in thinking how players around the world are plucked up and dropped into academies or pro clubs at ages as young as eight and this is the right course of action if the U.S. is ever to get serious about making a dent on the world stage. Then you remember just how foreign that concept itself is Stateside. Hell, the NCAA made a deal with the NBA so talented high school basketball players had to put on the charade of being a "student athlete" Dick Vitale can slobber over, instead of letting them apply for the NBA.
For instance one player on the winning team from that high school game I covered tonight is legitimately good. Lethal left foot, skilled on the ball, vision to pass ... just about all you could want from a kid at that level. Tallied an actual dipping, golazo from the edge of the box.
So if this kid is that good, what does that make Agudelo?
And that's not to hype the young New York Red Bulls Academy product, even if, like Chuck Norris when he attempts a push-up, he's not pushing up, but actually pushing the Earth down. It's trying to contextualize something that's a rarity in American sports -- a young talent on the world stage.
However you want to look at Agudelo's late winner -- set up by Mix Diskerud's fancy footwork -- this result turned out as great as possible for the U.S. as it could.
Beyond finishing the season with a record above .500, it seemed to give U.S. fans still angry or disallusioned or apathetic toward four more years of Bradley, some hope for 2011. The fresh, skilled displays by Agudelo and Diskerud in limited minutes were things to get excited about. The cultured, composed defense by Tim Ream and Eric Lichaj were things for the team to build on.
For the first time I can remember, watching the U.S. felt, dare I say it, fresh. Maybe not as fresh as when Bruce Arena started integrating a young Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley into the mix before the 2002 World Cup, but it felt different than the boring, old, predictable stuff we've seen post-World Cup 2010.
And most of those positive feeling can be chalked up to a moment of brilliance from a kid, who up to a couple years ago, probaly would be waking up this morning getting ready for his Social Studies test on Teapot Dome Scandal.
Other Stuff:
* Definitely loved Agudelo's "gee-whiz/aww shucks" interview after the game with Jeremy Schaap, with some honest reactions, including how he thought he might be offside.
* If there's a big takeaway from this match, it's that the new-guard of "new" players (Lichaj, Ream, Agudelo, Mix, Bunbury.) should be given more looks than the old, "new" players (Robbie Rogers, Eddie Gaven, Robbie Findley). The latter group has had ample chances to shine, and not to overreact over one meaningless game in November, but the new guys are more deserving at this point. (I'll explore this more when I'm not so tired, ok?)
* Let's be fair, too, South Africa was woefully poor. Steven Pienaar? If I'm David Moyes, don't let the door hit you on the way out of Goodison Park.
* Nothing noteworthy to mention from my pal Ian Darke today, who again made John Harkes tolerable to listen to for nearly two hours. Darke did get a little too hung up on South Africa forward Davide Somma saying he was going to destroy the U.S. Let it go Ian.
Steve McManaman was candid in ESPN's U.S.-based studio. Not sure we needed Sal Masekela's super-depressing feature about the immediate impact the World Cup had on South Africa. Grim. Real Grim.
* Very impressed again by Eric Lichaj. Hard to see him getting much run this season at Aston Villa, barring injuries, but he seems like a player the club does have plans for.
* Also, guess it doesn't matter that Brad Guzan is not playing week-in, week-out in the Premier League as Brad Freidel's understudy. The ex-Chivas USA keeper was sure-handed and an impressive in the air vs. the Bafana Bafana.
* Bob Ley mentioned in passing that guys like Bunbury and Mix could still switch national allegiances since it wasn't a full FIFA game. Is that true?
* Not sure why nobody could track down Roy Wegerle for some discussion on the U.S/South Africa international relations.
Labels: bob bradley, Friendlies, juan agudelo, Soccer, south africa, USMNT
"Who are these F--in' guys?" -- Clevelanders during an opening Spring Training Montage in 1989 cinematic gem, "Major League."
Before delving into Wednesday's USMNT friendly in South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup, a moment's thought on FIFA.
Votes for sale? Fake sting interviews? Qatar possibly hosting the 2022 World Cup? Chuck Blazer's beard? The looming disaster of 2014 CONCACAF qualification.
FIFA is beyond self-parody. The more you think of the backward logic and the political glad-handing which grease the wheels of the FIFA machine -- well that or middle aged men in sashes -- and you want to scream out like Charlton Heston in some 1970s era drama.
Sadly, we as fans of the beautiful game are at the mercy of an organization so corrupt, so short-sighted, so caught up with running itself with the pomposity of a Banana Republic dictator that it makes even Washington lobbyist blush.
Thus we have, in the middle of November, an international day for most federations to open up their national stadiums and line their pockets with games that range from action packed rivalry: Argentina v. Brazil; nice on paper England v. France; meh: Austria v. Greece and utterly meaningless: China v. Latvia.
Somewhere in the middle is the USMNT's third trip to South Africa (Wednesday, 2:30, ESPN2) in the last two years. It's a mild shock Bob Bradley hasn't shown up in the backround of a video from Die Antwoord.
This match had all the potential of being a grand waste of time, airing on the middle of the day on ESPN2, with it's only real benefit being it would knock Skip Bayless' airtime for the week down from 77 hours to a much more tolerable 74.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, Bradley actually decided to make this no-win situation at least mildly interesting by calling in a bunch of new names, in no short order: Gale Agbossoumonde, Tim Ream, Mikkel Diskerud, Juan Agudelo and the Crayola-tastic Teal Bunbury.
The MLS playoffs hamstrung Bradley's options to begin with and mercifully he reasoned Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, et al a long flight for a game that doesn't count. Okay, it's not totally meaningless as the U.S.'s record in 2010 sits at 4-4-5 (W-L-D), so for all the progress this year, at least from an interest standpoint it's still a sub-.500 year.
So Bradley used his Princeton-educated noodle and began in earnest the "process" (over/under that word is said by John Harkes on Wednesday is 22) for building toward 2014. There's no doubt we could see in the neighborhood of 60-70, if not more, players called into a U.S. camp between Jan. 2011 and June 2014.
Judging by the inclusion of players like Bunbury -- born to a Canadian father -- and Diskerud -- born to a Norwegian father -- the USSF might have learned its lessons from losing players like Nevan Subotic, Gio Rossi, Vedad Ibišević, etc. who had the chance to represent the U.S., but went in other directions.
On the subject of Diskerud and others of his ilk, who the hell knows how these players will be until we can get a look at them on a regular basis. Granted there's probably someone out there pirating feeds and watching Stabæk in the Tippeligaen on a regular basis -- or at least I hope there is since it'll make me feel about 34 percent less pathetic.
Overall though, nobody knows. The unknown is always more treasured that the known.
Oh, and Ian Darke is apparently announcing the game for ESPN.
Doubt he's seen any of these players outside of Eric Lichaj or Jonathan Spector.
Doubt, too, in the long-term it'll matter all that much.
Miscellany:
* Full name: Mikkel Morgenstar Pålssønn Diskerud. Assuming he's the first USMNT player to use those unique Scandinavian characters.
* One guy I've actually seen play a few times is Tim Ream. Love what I've seen, especially his delivery from dead ball situations. Composed and polished, at least at MLS level, are the best attributes for him.
* Ream, Lichaj and Agbossoumonde aren't going to lock down spots on Wednesday, but the U.S. defense is crying out for fresh, able bodies, so they can start to impress Bradley with a strong outing. Agbossoumonde, is only 18, so he's certainly a much more long-term project. Either way, most countries don't go into a World Cup with a 22-year-old center back.
* Jonathan Spector is definitely in the category of "Bob's Guys." He's locked onto the bench at West Ham -- a team desperate for quality defenders -- yet he keeps getting U.S. looks, while others remain frozen out. Guess we can assume Bobby Convey said something mean about Jonathan Bornstein -- your probable captain for this match -- somewhere down the line.
* Bradley keeps giving Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven looks. Not sure what exactly he's looking for from the Columbus duo? Not to pick these two out -- they're fine MLS players -- but they weren't good enough for 2010 and are now being pushed by the new wave of players behind them.
* File this away for a rainy day, but the once rock-solid, bulletproof U.S. keeping situation isn't as sturdy as it once was. On these roster Bradley has two guys -- Brad Guzan and Dom Cervi -- who aren't exactly getting regular minutes for their respective club teams, Aston Villa and Celtic. It's not reason for alarm, but this year at Everton Tim Howard hasn't quite been as sharp in years gone by. He's still a solid keeper, but he's moving down the rung in the Prem. Or put it this way, when was the last time you saw Howard come up with a big save for club or country?
This shouldn't be taken as a knock on Howard. Upwards of 90-percent of countries would be happy for him to don the No. 1 shirt, yet, assuming he's the undisputed starter might not be the best course of action moving forward.
If you're Bradley, how do you integrate new defenders with a veteran keeper? Or do you take a different direction, possibly starting to give Chicago's Sean Johnson a look?
* Robbie Findley. Grumble, grumble.
* Juan Agundelo. Very nice, Bob.
* Does Bradley dream ofelectric sheep coaching Manchester City and its fleet of uncreative, defensive midfielders?
Lineup Guess:
There are guesses, and then there are blind leaps of faith, like this possible XI.
GK -- Guzan
DEF -- Lichaj -- Goodson -- Ream -- Bornstein (c)
MID -- Bedoya-- Pause -- Diskerud -- Carroll -- Rogers
FOR -- Findley
No clue here, honest. If Bradley is ever going to tinker with a three-man defense or implementing wingbacks, this would be the match, but logically with the short coaching turnaround it seems very unlikely.
Final thought:
In the grand scheme of things, maybe in a couple years, on the eve of the next World Cup someone will mention this match. Or you'll hear a vuvuzela or think, "Didn't some weird U.S. lineup play in South Africa after the World Cup?"
It's not a big match and instantly forgettable.
Although, it bears mentioning, the U.S. did take on South Africa exactly three years ago in a match that featured the international debut of Jozy Altidore.
Before delving into Wednesday's USMNT friendly in South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup, a moment's thought on FIFA.
Votes for sale? Fake sting interviews? Qatar possibly hosting the 2022 World Cup? Chuck Blazer's beard? The looming disaster of 2014 CONCACAF qualification.
FIFA is beyond self-parody. The more you think of the backward logic and the political glad-handing which grease the wheels of the FIFA machine -- well that or middle aged men in sashes -- and you want to scream out like Charlton Heston in some 1970s era drama.
Sadly, we as fans of the beautiful game are at the mercy of an organization so corrupt, so short-sighted, so caught up with running itself with the pomposity of a Banana Republic dictator that it makes even Washington lobbyist blush.
Thus we have, in the middle of November, an international day for most federations to open up their national stadiums and line their pockets with games that range from action packed rivalry: Argentina v. Brazil; nice on paper England v. France; meh: Austria v. Greece and utterly meaningless: China v. Latvia.
Somewhere in the middle is the USMNT's third trip to South Africa (Wednesday, 2:30, ESPN2) in the last two years. It's a mild shock Bob Bradley hasn't shown up in the backround of a video from Die Antwoord.
This match had all the potential of being a grand waste of time, airing on the middle of the day on ESPN2, with it's only real benefit being it would knock Skip Bayless' airtime for the week down from 77 hours to a much more tolerable 74.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, Bradley actually decided to make this no-win situation at least mildly interesting by calling in a bunch of new names, in no short order: Gale Agbossoumonde, Tim Ream, Mikkel Diskerud, Juan Agudelo and the Crayola-tastic Teal Bunbury.
The MLS playoffs hamstrung Bradley's options to begin with and mercifully he reasoned Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, et al a long flight for a game that doesn't count. Okay, it's not totally meaningless as the U.S.'s record in 2010 sits at 4-4-5 (W-L-D), so for all the progress this year, at least from an interest standpoint it's still a sub-.500 year.
So Bradley used his Princeton-educated noodle and began in earnest the "process" (over/under that word is said by John Harkes on Wednesday is 22) for building toward 2014. There's no doubt we could see in the neighborhood of 60-70, if not more, players called into a U.S. camp between Jan. 2011 and June 2014.
Judging by the inclusion of players like Bunbury -- born to a Canadian father -- and Diskerud -- born to a Norwegian father -- the USSF might have learned its lessons from losing players like Nevan Subotic, Gio Rossi, Vedad Ibišević, etc. who had the chance to represent the U.S., but went in other directions.
On the subject of Diskerud and others of his ilk, who the hell knows how these players will be until we can get a look at them on a regular basis. Granted there's probably someone out there pirating feeds and watching Stabæk in the Tippeligaen on a regular basis -- or at least I hope there is since it'll make me feel about 34 percent less pathetic.
Overall though, nobody knows. The unknown is always more treasured that the known.
Oh, and Ian Darke is apparently announcing the game for ESPN.
Doubt he's seen any of these players outside of Eric Lichaj or Jonathan Spector.
Doubt, too, in the long-term it'll matter all that much.
Miscellany:
* Full name: Mikkel Morgenstar Pålssønn Diskerud. Assuming he's the first USMNT player to use those unique Scandinavian characters.
* One guy I've actually seen play a few times is Tim Ream. Love what I've seen, especially his delivery from dead ball situations. Composed and polished, at least at MLS level, are the best attributes for him.
* Ream, Lichaj and Agbossoumonde aren't going to lock down spots on Wednesday, but the U.S. defense is crying out for fresh, able bodies, so they can start to impress Bradley with a strong outing. Agbossoumonde, is only 18, so he's certainly a much more long-term project. Either way, most countries don't go into a World Cup with a 22-year-old center back.
* Jonathan Spector is definitely in the category of "Bob's Guys." He's locked onto the bench at West Ham -- a team desperate for quality defenders -- yet he keeps getting U.S. looks, while others remain frozen out. Guess we can assume Bobby Convey said something mean about Jonathan Bornstein -- your probable captain for this match -- somewhere down the line.
* Bradley keeps giving Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven looks. Not sure what exactly he's looking for from the Columbus duo? Not to pick these two out -- they're fine MLS players -- but they weren't good enough for 2010 and are now being pushed by the new wave of players behind them.
* File this away for a rainy day, but the once rock-solid, bulletproof U.S. keeping situation isn't as sturdy as it once was. On these roster Bradley has two guys -- Brad Guzan and Dom Cervi -- who aren't exactly getting regular minutes for their respective club teams, Aston Villa and Celtic. It's not reason for alarm, but this year at Everton Tim Howard hasn't quite been as sharp in years gone by. He's still a solid keeper, but he's moving down the rung in the Prem. Or put it this way, when was the last time you saw Howard come up with a big save for club or country?
This shouldn't be taken as a knock on Howard. Upwards of 90-percent of countries would be happy for him to don the No. 1 shirt, yet, assuming he's the undisputed starter might not be the best course of action moving forward.
If you're Bradley, how do you integrate new defenders with a veteran keeper? Or do you take a different direction, possibly starting to give Chicago's Sean Johnson a look?
* Robbie Findley. Grumble, grumble.
* Juan Agundelo. Very nice, Bob.
* Does Bradley dream of
Lineup Guess:
There are guesses, and then there are blind leaps of faith, like this possible XI.
GK -- Guzan
DEF -- Lichaj -- Goodson -- Ream -- Bornstein (c)
MID -- Bedoya-- Pause -- Diskerud -- Carroll -- Rogers
FOR -- Findley
No clue here, honest. If Bradley is ever going to tinker with a three-man defense or implementing wingbacks, this would be the match, but logically with the short coaching turnaround it seems very unlikely.
Final thought:
In the grand scheme of things, maybe in a couple years, on the eve of the next World Cup someone will mention this match. Or you'll hear a vuvuzela or think, "Didn't some weird U.S. lineup play in South Africa after the World Cup?"
It's not a big match and instantly forgettable.
Although, it bears mentioning, the U.S. did take on South Africa exactly three years ago in a match that featured the international debut of Jozy Altidore.
Labels: bob bradley, Friendlies, ian darke, Soccer, USMNT
EPL Monday: Bolo Zenden's Super Terrific Dance Party
2 Comments Published by Cardillo on November 15, 2010 at 11:45 AM.
... And a man named Nedum Onuoha shall lead them.
Write this down, file it away as one of those dates to remember -- Nov. 14, 2010. The day Sunderland -- a team with two away wins in the last 15 months, who'd been beaten 5-1 two weeks ago by Newcastle -- beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The day, according to Opta Sports, the Blues were scored on at home for the first time in over 900 minutes of game action. The day the mighty Blues tank could barely muster the strength to fire a shot on goal with the fearsome presence of Titus Bramble (him again) contributing to a clean sheet.
Or better yet, remember it as the day Bolo Zenden joined the ranks of Mark Madsen and Elaine Benes in the Awkward White Person Dancing Hall of Fame.
Really, the Dutchman's late-arriving boogie alongside the much more coordinated (and prepared) Asamoah Gyan, after the Ghanian's goal which made it 2-0, was about as insulting as just about anything that could have happened at Stamford Bridge short of Asier Del Horno or Adrian Mutu returning to West London to drop a turd on the center line.
And it was glorious to watch from an ocean away.
In recent years my disdain for Chelsea has thawed. Aside from John Terry and Ashley Cole there's not a ton of personalities to dislike at Stamford Bridge, what with Ricardo Carvalho bringing his hatchet to Madrid and Michael Ballack returning to der Fatherland. Also, Manchester City has even trumped Roman Abramovich on the rich list. Hell, even Didier Drogba has moved into that transcendent realm where he's so talented you have to question if you like sports if you don't enjoy watching him play.
Still, to see Chelsea humbled by Steve Bruce and his attempt at a fashionable jacket was a delight.
The loss kept Chelsea in first place, but the Blues have three losses -- one more than fifth place Bolton and sixth place Sunderland.
Credit goes out to Sunderland for limiting Ashley Cole's forrays forward, which cut down any creative spark in the Chelsea lineup, which lacked any midfield creativity from Obi Mikel, Ramires and Yuri Zhirkov. At some point it seemed like Chelsea were turning to the old NBA tactic where the four other players stand around and wait for the superstar -- think Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant -- etc. to make a play as the shot clock expires. The Black Cats then kept up its attacking threat, forcing the Chelsea defense to stay active and Petr Cech to make a bunch of saves.
Emailing my friend Tom, a Chelsea fan, he chalked it up to a collective poor run of form. Hard to argue with that assessment. After opening the season red hot and staking his claim to the Prem's best XI, Flourent Malouda has shrunk to invisible status. Nic Anelka is still lethal in the penalty area, but is a player that shows up in flashes or individual moments, either finishing a movement of playing a part in its completion, not it's creation.
Perhaps, as usual, the simplest answer is the most telling. This team misses the football brain of Frank Lampard. Love him or hate him, Lampard does produce week-in, week-out when healthy. By any list, if we're only counting club games not internationals, he's among the best 50 players in the world when healthy. At his best, Lampard is a guy who's always in the right spot, making positive offensive contributions, something Ramires isn't and Zhirov can't do for a sustained level of time. Even the classy Michael Essien isn't able to replicate the Lampard role. The player in the team most able to step into the England midfielder's shoes is Yossi Benayoun, who himself is hurt.
The sky, of course, isn't falling for Chelsea. The team is still in first place, even if the central defense looks patchwork with both Alex and Terry injured. Cheslea, as it stands, are the best of flawed, if balanced, bunch of teams.
It's hard to see Sunderland representing the first Visigoth arriving on the streets of Rome, as it were, either.
If anything, it seems Arsene Wenger might have been right, in retrospect. Arsenal maybe did out-play Chelsea, despite losing 2-0 at the Bridge on Oct. 3. This was a week after Chelsea lost to Manchester City. Since beating Blackpool 4-0 on Sept. 19, the Blues haven't been quite as good as their blinding start, which saw them out-score opponents 21-1 in the first five matches of the season.
Chelsea sleptwalk to a 0-0 draw at Villa. Struggled vs. both Wolves and Blackburn and then were beaten by Liverpool and now Sunderland.
The Blues calling card has been defensive muscle and power, complemented by the pace of Cole on the left and the sheer force of will up top by Drogba. Teams might be figuring them out a bit and Carlo Ancelotti, with the state of the current roster doesn't have options. He'll have to figure something out quick, because December is hellish for Chelsea -- v. Everton; @ Spurs; v. Manchester United; @ Arsenal and v. Bolton.
Sunday the Italian manager said the team lacked, "fighting spirit."
Never thought I'd see that day at Stamford Bridge.
No wonder Zenden felt the need to boogie.
Bruce Bruced:
Now, from a journalistic standpoint, what's the story on Sunday? Sunderland pulling the shocker or Chelsea laying the stinker?
For me, it's simply easier to write about the negative, which is probably the case for most writers. It's the nature of the beast.
It's unfair to under-sell the win by Sunderland, since the club took apart Chelsea as comprehensively as anyone I've ever seen. Sunderland was confident and composed, taking down Chelsea. Even down a goal, it never felt like Chelsea was on the verge of equalizing.
It's fitting that it was quality that broke Chelsea's will.
Onuoha's stunning, slaloming goal before the stroke halftime put half the Blues' defense in a clown suit. Almost as importantly it doubled as the most exciting play by anyone under contract to Manchester City this season. That's some delicious irony, or at least coincidence on the weekend City put us to sleep with another 0-0 draw, no?
Two other quick Sunderland thoughts.
1. Jordan Henderson raised his eventual transfer fee. (More on this later in the week.)
2. Darren Bent ... possible Ewing Theory potential?
Guess this is a problem Bruce wouldn't mind, two borderline world class forwards in the fold, with Bent and Gyan, but do they work together? Gyan has scored in two straight games in Bent's absence, which might only be coincidence. Bent is a proven scorer and bagged over 20 last season, which is impressive but also glosses over that he was about the only weapon on the team.
Bent is certainly the craftier, savvier player, while Gyan has the game-changing pace. Sunderland almost seem better suited for a 4-5-1 type lineup with the Ghanian at the top of the spear, racing forward.
Let's see how this develops. If Gyan -- who himself limped off -- and the on-loan Danny Welback keep it up expect Bent's name to be thrown around in January. Wouldn't be crazy to see Tottenham buy him back, might be somebody Liverpool targets.
Laying in the Weeds?:
Sir Alex Ferguson really is Murdock from "The A-Team."
Here it is, Manchester United does nothing for about 80 minutes, falling behind 2-0 at Villa Park, needing a frantic rally spearheaded by Frederico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic to pull out a single point.
It looked like a lost weekend for the Red Devils, but like that silver-haired devil George Peppard, Sir Alex, "loves it when a plan comes together." Chelsea lose, so United actually gain in the standings despite playing a game featuring Dimitar Berbatov creating a wormhole of sunken-eyed languidity.
United have an eye-popping seven draws, but without a loss, the club is only three points off the top.
Sunday, Arsenal were the big winners, doing the business 2-1 at Everton and moving up to second place, only two points behind Cheslea.
If Onuoha scoring wasn't fluky enough, then Bacary Sagna (didn't he switch it to Bakari? Am I nuts?) certainly was. Frankly I didn't think the flamboyantly-coiffed Frenchman knew how to shoot, but there he was ripping a rocket to beat Tim Howard near post.
Cesc Fabregas made it 2-0, before late consolation from Tim Cahill.
Nothing much on the memorable side of the ledger for the Gunners, simply another solid road win and three more points to heap on the pile. The biggest thing for Arsenal to take away is a sold showing from the oft-injured Johan Djourou in the middle of defense.
And that's what it's going to take this season, grinding away 90 minutes after 90 minutes. Nobody is running away with this. Nobody, yet, is a total pushover. The standard of play might not be as high as days gone by, but it should make for a more exciting title chase.
Ambien Not Required:
So much for that alleged soccer revolution that was going to be ushered in by the oil barons at Manchester City, eh? A third of the way into the season all Roberto Mancini was done is lead a one-man 1990s Serie A revival.
And that's not really a compliment, either.
In the span of three days many of us watched 180 minutes of Manchester City soccer. Fair to say, 99.9 percent(*) of us want those minutes back.
(*) Perhaps the descendants of Helenio Herrera were the 0.01 percent that enjoyed those dual snooze-fests.
Nothing typified the unfounded conservatism of City than late in Sunday's eventual 0-0 draw with Birmingham City -- at home no less -- Mancini withdrew Carlos Tevez for ... Gareth Barry. The irony here, is that for a change the Italian manager broker up the Power Trio of Barry, Yaya Toure Yaya and Nigel de
Didn't seem to matter. City had no ideas, further confirming whatever offensive skills Yaya Toure displayed at Barcelona were through osmosis playing next to Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. These three could make anyone look like a borderline star player, well, expect if you're a big tall, unlikeable Swede with the initials "ZI."
For all that's been written -- and spent -- by Manchester City, few have addressed the team's ambitions. The team is spending at the top of the world pack, but it's dreams are almost too modest. The unstated goal is a top four spot and a place in the Champions League first, then setting the sight son the league.
The villainous Miami Heat, these Citizens are not.
In fact, it's hard to register any type of emotional toward the Eastlands outfit other than apathy or indifference. Other than de Jong, there's not a player on the field that's easy to loathe. Despite the rumors linking it to every player on the planet, City hasn't bought a galaxy of star, either.
The club just sort of is. It's like the Middle Eastern owners have assembled the world's most expensive luxury yacht, but don't know where it should make its first port-of-call. Hell, the diamond encrusted water slide on the top deck might sparkle, but it's a boring, slow descent into the pool below.
Mancini, it seems, isn't the man to wear the captain's hat -- or scarf for that matter.
The one comparable to City's rise from the pack is Chelsea, but the difference was the Blues under Roman Abramovich made their intentions known from the start. And as we know, Jose Mourinho would never publicly state fourth place would be go enough.
Money is buying a lot of things at Manchester City, but not excitement. The way the Prem is shaping up, 0-0 draws might be enough to linger around fourth place, if not higher, but the way they're coming about are rapidly morphing City into the "Waterworld" of super-teams.
And, Mancini's scarf aside, City can't even match the unintentional comedy(*) of Kevin Costner's soggy would-be epic.
(*) Yes, if you clicked that link, it is indeed Jack Black flying the Smokers scout plane.
Old Man Hodgson:
I'll admit it, I fell for the conventional wisdom. Roy Hodgson was a revelation at Fulham, leading the Cottagers to the Europa League final last season. Ipso facto, given the funds and players available at Liverpool, it would be a match made in heaven, coming off that dream run at Craven Cottage.
Wrong.
And not just wrong, but wrong for falling into a stupid media trap without looking into the facts.
A week ago Hodgson had moved off the fire as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0. Since then it's two awful road results, a 1-1 draw at Wigan and a eye-stabbingly depressing 2-0 defeat at Stoke City, with Ricardo Fuller scoring the sloppiest goal you'll ever see.
The buzzword against Grandpa Roy this week is rotation. With three games in six days, Hodgson made two change, included an unchanged XI from Chelsea on Sunday to Wigan on Wednesday. Finally at Stoke he swapped out Martin Kelly for Sotirios Kyrgiakos, moving Jamie Carragher to right back. Liverpool aren't exactly a young side, aside from Lucas, so naturally this caught a ton of scorn from hardcore Liverpool supporters, who began chanting for Kenny Dalglish in the corners of the Britianna Stadium.
Figured it would be interesting to see how Hodgson dealt with this issues at Fulham, where he was hailed for his "system" en route to losing to Atletico Madrid in Hamburg last May.
First off, after that wild, historic 4-1 win at Craven Cottage vs. Juventus, Fulham went 2-2-5 (W-D-L) in its final nine Premier League games. Fulham weren't in relegation trouble, nor were they serious chasers for Europe, so Hodgson could be forgiven for minimizing the Prem games.
In the Europa League knockout stages, beginning with Shaktar Donetsk, Hodgson only made at most three changes. In matches with Juventus and Wolsburg the players used were very similar to what was seen on the weekend in the Premier League, with the bigger shifts in formations from 4-4-1-1 to more defensive 4-2-3-1. It wasn't until the final was in sights, when Fulham beat Hamburg in the semifinals that Hodgson relieved his tired, veteran squad with wholesale changes on the weekend, giving more run to the Erik Nevland/Jonathan Greening/Stefano Okaka's of the world.
Maybe the only defensive for Hodgson is that he figured if greybeards like Danny Murphy and Simon Davies, as well as, vets like Zoltan Gera, Chris Baird and Aaron Hughes could live up to the grind of 180 minutes over three or four days, why couldn't Liverpool's comparable squad? It's not sound logic, but it at makes some sense, although it sounds like Hodgson has definitely made enemies with guys like Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson and Ryan Babel, freezing them out.
Is rotation the only reason Liverpool crashed back to earth after the Chelsea win?
Obviously not, but it's another indictment against a manager that seems over matched and grasping at straws. The irony here is that the constant lineup shifts is part of what got Rafa Benitez in trouble, or at least was something his detractors pointed to as a weak point.
Once again, though, the best course of action for John Henry and NESV might be to clean house. Everyone is expendable, except for the King of the Scousers, Steven Gerrard, if only from a P.R. standpoint.
***
Hate selling Stoke City's effort short, but is anyone wrapped up by the Potters? Nice, gritty win, either way. Stoke embody that large middling group of teams that are certainly stronger and capable of better things that the bottom half of the table even as short as two years ago. When he shows up and decides to play hard, Kenwyne Jones is a load to handle.
Dueling Dempsey:
It's fitting, that the big heavyweight boxing match this week was in Texas, since Clint Dempsey is rapidly becoming the most combative player in England -- a Texas Tornado of jangly elbows and overhead kicks.
Saturday when Mark Hughes and the Seamonsters, err Fulham, played Newcastle at St. James Park, Dempsey was once again a man with slight anger issues. Midway through the 0-0 draw Dempsey was pushed near midfield by Cheick Tiote. It was nothing malicious, but it bumped the U.S. midfielder off his run.
Dempsey reacted like a man who's girlfriend had just been dissed by a punk kid in a movie theater, getting in the Ivorian's face with a facial expression that combined the Teutonic growl of Oliver Kahn and the Demon from that old Aphex Twin video. This is on the heels of his mid-week dust-up with Michael Essien and Jose Bosingwa at Stamford Bridge.
Not sure why Dempsey has all of a sudden became this warrior, but it might warrant a remix of "Don't Tread."
Other stuff:
In the states we talk about "contract years" and players boosting their level for a fat new deal. Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia is on that kind of path now, trying to work his way out of the DW Stadium. Saturday he made a really nice run up the field vs. West Brom, slipped near the top of the box, got up, kept his balance and threaded a pass for Victor Moses to run unto for the winner. ... ESPN's halftime feature about the bricks outside Villa Park was immediately forgotten. ... West Ham and Blackpool combined for about 40 chances on goal for a chance that ended 0-0. In case you hadn't noticed, Ghana keeper Richard Kingson has hooked up with the Tangerines. ... If Joey Barton ever crosses the line fully, and gets a lifetime suspension he could probably find work in an Interpol cover band. ... Fairly typical Tottenham game, beating Blackburn 4-2. Roman Pavlyuchenko missed a penalty, then scored a nice header. Peter Crouch got on the scoresheet in Premier League action, oh and, Gareth Bale scored twice, including a diving power header. Guess the on-paper mismatch between he and Miguel Salgado was even more pronounced in real life. Bears noting I finally dropped the Welshman from my fantasy team this week after mimimal production in two months. Figures. ... Don't want to short-change Aston Villa for a spirited second half, at least for about 35 minutes vs. Manchester United early Saturday. Like what I'm seeing from the young players being integrated into the lineup, including burgeoning USMNT-er Eric Lichaj. Will expand on what this means in the big picture on Friday, promise.
Great Job!:
New weekly feature here, inspired by "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job." Simply, it'll be handed out to someone who deserves the pencil noises.
This week it goes to Stuart Holden for scoring his first Premier League goal in Bolton's 3-2 win at Wolves. (Highlights here.)
It wasn't the most memorable goal of all time, slapping in a squared ball from Lee Chung-Yong, but it was a composed finish from a player who's been nothing less than steady since moving away from the Houston Dynamo. Better yet, Bolton is fifth in the table with only two losses this season. Holden is a big part of that rise along with Johan Elmander and his six goals.
For that, Stuart Holden, Great Job!
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Jack Fu's "Local Sports Team" had one of the highest single-week totals I've seen, 86, thanks to Cesc Fabregas (captain), Bale, N'Zogbia, Kenwyne Jones and Scott Dann.
One Other Thing:
One thing that's nice about the presentation of the Premier League, at least from an overseas standpoint, is it doesn't wrap itself in the Cross of St. George. This is a welcome, refreshing change from most American sports -- even the god-awful Faith Hill NBC "Sunday Night Football" theme song has the words "star-spangled" in it.
Granted the Premier League -- officially the Barclay's Premier League, not the EPL -- is a world league watched across the globe.
It was still nice this weekend for the League observing a moment of silence in honor of Remembrance Day before kickoffs, as well as honoring veterans with poppies on the team uniforms. It wasn't obnoxious or xenophobic, but considering the EPL/BPL is about as secular a league as there is, it was a welcome, earnest moment from the heart for a league that is usually driven by one thing and one thing alone -- cold hard cash.
Labels: Arsenal, clint dempsey, Liverpool, manchester city, manchester United, stuart holden, sunderland
What's that old cliche? A professional sports season is a marathon, not a sprint?
Can we make that a double for the (English/Barclays) Premier League, which runs from August to May?
Believe it or not, the 2010-11 Premier League will be more than one-third complete after the final whistle sounds on Sunday.
Not that I'm a marathon runner, but is this some sort of milestone, a third? Guess I ought to consult Jared from Subway, a.k.a. America's foremost distance runner.
Sandwich chain human mascots aside, 33 percent of a season seems significant, to my feeble chimp brain. On that subject let's create a handy, dandy list of specific players who'll impact the league the rest of the way, using a arcane pop culture reference for a title.
John Terry, Chelsea -- Not sure how I personally feel about the fact the Chelsea captain will turn 30 years old about two weeks after I do, come Dec. 7. Nowadays 30 isn't exactly old and it's not like Terry spent his life working by day in a Chilean mine and a coal factory by night. Yet he's no spring chicken, even if his god-awful/hilariously tragic haircut hasn't changed for the last decade.
Oh right, scandalous personal imbroglios playing out on the ever-so-sensitive British tabloid media might add a year or two of stress on someone.
Opponents have gotten past Terry with more regularity than year's past. If he's not at his best Chelsea's best only other viable option is moving Branislav inside, as opposed to rolling the dice with some of the Ancelotti kiddie core.
With the rest of the Chelsea XI essentially in cruise control, Terry might be the one chink in the armor.
Edwin van der Sar, Manchester United -- Meanwhile, there's no debating that the angular Dutch keeper is old.
(Audience) How old is he?
That he began his career in the 1980s? That he was in the Dutch 1994 World Cup team. That he still owns a audio tape deck in his car. Yeah, that kind of old.
We all know van der Sar is retiring at the end of the season, as Sir Alex Ferguson has quietly begun goalkeeping version of "American Idol", err, okay, "X-Factor" or whatever you want to call it in England. Anyone with a pair of gloves under the age of 25 has seemingly been linked to Old Trafford.
All van der Sar needs to do is be competent for another six months. He's been poor this year. Can he find a second wind and do enough down the stretch to help United keep pace with Chelsea? United doesn't have the firepower of year's past, so leaking goals are tougher for the club to recover from.
Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal -- In short, is Mr. Arsenal healthy? Is it physical or a case of Barca-itis?
Ever since breaking his leg in the Champions League loss to those pesky Catalans last spring, Fabregas hasn't been the same influential player.
Oddly enough, thought it might sound like blasphemy, Arsenal have done well both with Fabregas on the sidelines injured or without him dominating matches. Arsene Wenger's full commitment to 4-3-3 and the emergence of Jack Wilshere and Alex Song haven't made the team completely reliant on the Spanish World Cup winner. Still, without Fabregas Arsenal is only 1-1-2 (W/D/L), including back-to-back losses to West Brom and Chelsea.
Realistically, Arsenal's bigger question marks are still in the middle of defense and in goal, but why beat a dead horse? Who wants to read 100 words about Sébastien Squillaci?
Mario Balotelli, Manchester City -- Let's pose a question: Could Balotelli one day become one of the world's best attacking players? Or is he a temperamental, pouting, spoiled brat who only decides to play when he wants to, spending more time shopping for shiny leather coats than on the training ground? Better yet, if you're under the belief Balotelli has the skills to pay the proverbial bills, is Roberto Mancini the man to consistently extract that talent from him?
Maybe those are questions for the next two, three years. Right now we know he was the highest priced English transfer of the summer window, around $40 million from Inter, as Massimo Moratti probably cartwheeled down a cobble-stoned Milan street to the nearest bank.
If Balotelli adapts to the English league, providing another scoring punch to complement "Charles" Tevez it would do a lot to propel City for its much-needed top four finish. If Balotelli remains inconsistent, City's "revolution" will sputter along like it did in Wednesday's dull 0-0 draw with Manchester United. You never know, Balotelli could even force Mancini to stop playing with three ultra-defensive midfielders every match. Nah, let's not get that crazy.
Either way, I'd love to see Balotelli take a page from Chad Johnson and change his named to Mario "Quattro-Cinco." (Yes, I know that's Spanish not Italian. Sounds better for my weak attempt at humor, ok.)
Jermain Defoe, Tottenham -- Through 12 matches, only one striker has scored for Tottenham this season, the much-maligned Roman Pavlyuchenko who has three. Forgotten right back Alan Hutton has two, which is more than Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch combined.
Rafael van der Vaart leads the club with five, but there's no way the Dutchman keeps up his 100 percent scoring record at White Hart Lane. The onus might fall to Defoe, who's track record shows him around an every-other-game scorer.
If he comes back healthy -- as well as Michael Dawson -- Spurs might be able to retain last year's fourth place showing, though the overall inconsistency of the club seems to make that extremely unlikely.
Fernando Torres, Liverpool -- Is El Niño back? Sure is beginning to look that way, after almost an eight-month spell where his form was a shadow of its former pomp and glory. Admit it, when he crumpled to the ground in extra time of the World Cup final in Johannesburg in July, it appeared his career was at a major crossroads.
If Torres is back to full strength; healthy and happy he's probably the most exciting striker in England. Granted this is a matter of personal taste. Didier Drogba is more of the bulk, raw-power scorer, but Torres has the knack for routinely notching jaw-dropping, holy shit, museum piece stuff.
Suffice to say, if Torres is back to his circa 2007/2008 form Liverpool should have few excuses for failing to maintain the fighting spirit to push for a Champions League spot.
Collective Team Sanity, Newcastle United-- Call this a bonus pick, since the Magpies aren't going to contend for the title, but their swashbuckling, rag tag, rougue's gallery have been fun to watch. With the table so bunched up the Magpies might finish sixth or it could finish 18th. Joey Barton is in trouble for trying to punch Morten Gamst Pedersen. The beginning of the end?
Round 13 Picks:
Good slate of matches, but nothing jumps out off the table.
Saturday:
* Aston Villa v. Manchester United -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Going out on a limb here, but it probably, stress probably, doesn't bode well for Aston Villa that it needed a stoppage time winner from James Collins to beat Blackpool's second stringers 3-2. Manchester United figures to be fresh and rested after that leisurely snooze-fest Wednesday across town, highlighted by Rafael getting into Carlos Tevez's face (which language were they swearing in?). If United didn't blow those two memorable games in the last minutes at Fulham and Everton, the Red Devils would be even with Chelsea atop the table. If that's not an indictment on the growing mediocrity of the league, what is? ... Aston Villa 0, Manchester United 1
* Wigan Athletic v. West Brom -- Wigan ought just rebrand itself as Spoiler Athletic or FC Torn-in-the-Side. The unloved boys again tripped up a team that thought it had its act together -- this time Liverpool -- with Hugo Rodellega personifying the spoiler-ness of the club. Joking aside, this Ronnie Stam fellow isn't too bad. Another Twente player making an impact. Steve McClaren wasn't so clueless after all, eh? ... Wigan 2, West Brom 1
* West Ham v. Blackpool -- Call this a must win game for West Ham. Blackpool will be ready, since Ian Holloway rested 10 of his usual starters then went on a rant about quitting if he was fined for fielding a weakened side. This, again, goes to show the cluelessness and short-sightedness of the powers running this league. Sure, let any clown buy majority interest into a club and allow it to plunge into debt, but yeah, let's fine a guy for saving his emaciated squad from burning out in November. Definitely makes a lot of sense. Glad Richard Scudamore et al have their priorities in line. ... West Ham 2, Blackpool 1
* Tottenham v. Blackburn Rovers -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Will Tottenham, Gamst, into the fire! A fatal strike is all we need. ... Spurs 2, Blackburn 1
* Newcastle United v. Fulham -- On the list of most exciting players to watch across the globe Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are probably jostling for Nos. 1 and 2. Moving up that list with a bullet is Andy Caroll, certainly in my personal Top 10. And in case you were wondering Emile Heskey is No. 3,401. Carroll, obviously, is a different kind of player than the two La Liga stars. He's not so much a threat with the ball at his feet, but in the air, wow. There's something fascinating about a big, burly dude with a wild ponytail throwing his head around.
Speaking of quality headers of the ball, how about Clint Dempsey getting in a little gamesmanship with Chelsea Wednesday. First he elbowed Jose Bosingwa, then helped to get Michael Essien sent off for exaggerating a stomp by the Ghana midfielder using maneuvers taught in the C-Ron handbook. In other words, don't mess with Texas. ... Newcastle United 2, Fulham 0
* Wolves v. Bolton -- For better, or (probably) worse I've read as many books as I can about the history of soccer. Think ancient history. Victorian droopy mustache history. One quirk that I've never read about, was why when the first clubs were founded in the 1860s, why the name "Wanderers" was so popular. It was like the Wildcats of its day. Call it a minor miracle an MLS franchise hasn't co-opted the name, although, say, St. Louis Wanderers doesn't sound half terrible. It's better than Crew or Burn. On an unrelated note. ... Wolves 1, Bolton 1
* Manchester City v. Birmingham City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Funny thought occurred to me during the Manchester derby Saturday, between urges to dooze off. Arguably the best performances by City this season have come from Carlos Tevez, Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart. The first three came to Eastlands under the auspices of Mark Hughes, who is now with Fulham. How maddening must it have been for a City fan on Wednesday for the ball to come for Yaya Toure in an advanced position only for him to slow it down and wait for a teammate. ... Manchester City 2, Birmingham City 0
* Stoke City v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) The unofficial team song for Liverpool for the 2010-11 season? "Roadhouse Blues," as sung by Howlin' Roy Hodgson. ... Stoke City 1, Liverpool 2
Sunday:
* Everton v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC+, 9 a.m.) Congrats are in order for Maroune Chamkh for rocking the world's largest neck warmer Wednesday against Wolves, wresting the honor away from Pepe Reina. Unlike some of his table rivals, Arsene Wenger seems a little more adept at rotating his squad, or at least using the options he has. Much like Andy Carroll did last weekend, Tim Cahill presents an aerial target-man Arsenal doesn't cope very well against. Like this match up overall. ... Everton 1, Arsenal 1
* Chelsea v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) One of these days Chelsea is going to lose a match at Stamford Bridge. Doubt this is that day, though Sunderland played very well in the second half at White Hart Lane. Not sure Lee Cattermole avoids two straight games without a red card. We shall see. The pace of Asamoah Gyan could trouble Terry and Alex, though it's doubtful they have a comedy collision like William Gallas and Younes Kaboul did on Tuesday. ... Chelsea 3, Sunderland 1
Last round: 4-6
Season: 53-66
Programming note:
I'll address the USMNT game/roster for the South Africa team next week. Hope you can wait for it.
Can we make that a double for the (English/Barclays) Premier League, which runs from August to May?
Believe it or not, the 2010-11 Premier League will be more than one-third complete after the final whistle sounds on Sunday.
Not that I'm a marathon runner, but is this some sort of milestone, a third? Guess I ought to consult Jared from Subway, a.k.a. America's foremost distance runner.
Sandwich chain human mascots aside, 33 percent of a season seems significant, to my feeble chimp brain. On that subject let's create a handy, dandy list of specific players who'll impact the league the rest of the way, using a arcane pop culture reference for a title.
Eight Heads in an (English) Dufflebag:
John Terry, Chelsea -- Not sure how I personally feel about the fact the Chelsea captain will turn 30 years old about two weeks after I do, come Dec. 7. Nowadays 30 isn't exactly old and it's not like Terry spent his life working by day in a Chilean mine and a coal factory by night. Yet he's no spring chicken, even if his god-awful/hilariously tragic haircut hasn't changed for the last decade.
Oh right, scandalous personal imbroglios playing out on the ever-so-sensitive British tabloid media might add a year or two of stress on someone.
Opponents have gotten past Terry with more regularity than year's past. If he's not at his best Chelsea's best only other viable option is moving Branislav inside, as opposed to rolling the dice with some of the Ancelotti kiddie core.
With the rest of the Chelsea XI essentially in cruise control, Terry might be the one chink in the armor.
Edwin van der Sar, Manchester United -- Meanwhile, there's no debating that the angular Dutch keeper is old.
(Audience) How old is he?
That he began his career in the 1980s? That he was in the Dutch 1994 World Cup team. That he still owns a audio tape deck in his car. Yeah, that kind of old.
We all know van der Sar is retiring at the end of the season, as Sir Alex Ferguson has quietly begun goalkeeping version of "American Idol", err, okay, "X-Factor" or whatever you want to call it in England. Anyone with a pair of gloves under the age of 25 has seemingly been linked to Old Trafford.
All van der Sar needs to do is be competent for another six months. He's been poor this year. Can he find a second wind and do enough down the stretch to help United keep pace with Chelsea? United doesn't have the firepower of year's past, so leaking goals are tougher for the club to recover from.
Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal -- In short, is Mr. Arsenal healthy? Is it physical or a case of Barca-itis?
Ever since breaking his leg in the Champions League loss to those pesky Catalans last spring, Fabregas hasn't been the same influential player.
Oddly enough, thought it might sound like blasphemy, Arsenal have done well both with Fabregas on the sidelines injured or without him dominating matches. Arsene Wenger's full commitment to 4-3-3 and the emergence of Jack Wilshere and Alex Song haven't made the team completely reliant on the Spanish World Cup winner. Still, without Fabregas Arsenal is only 1-1-2 (W/D/L), including back-to-back losses to West Brom and Chelsea.
Realistically, Arsenal's bigger question marks are still in the middle of defense and in goal, but why beat a dead horse? Who wants to read 100 words about Sébastien Squillaci?
Mario Balotelli, Manchester City -- Let's pose a question: Could Balotelli one day become one of the world's best attacking players? Or is he a temperamental, pouting, spoiled brat who only decides to play when he wants to, spending more time shopping for shiny leather coats than on the training ground? Better yet, if you're under the belief Balotelli has the skills to pay the proverbial bills, is Roberto Mancini the man to consistently extract that talent from him?
Maybe those are questions for the next two, three years. Right now we know he was the highest priced English transfer of the summer window, around $40 million from Inter, as Massimo Moratti probably cartwheeled down a cobble-stoned Milan street to the nearest bank.
If Balotelli adapts to the English league, providing another scoring punch to complement "Charles" Tevez it would do a lot to propel City for its much-needed top four finish. If Balotelli remains inconsistent, City's "revolution" will sputter along like it did in Wednesday's dull 0-0 draw with Manchester United. You never know, Balotelli could even force Mancini to stop playing with three ultra-defensive midfielders every match. Nah, let's not get that crazy.
Either way, I'd love to see Balotelli take a page from Chad Johnson and change his named to Mario "Quattro-Cinco." (Yes, I know that's Spanish not Italian. Sounds better for my weak attempt at humor, ok.)
Jermain Defoe, Tottenham -- Through 12 matches, only one striker has scored for Tottenham this season, the much-maligned Roman Pavlyuchenko who has three. Forgotten right back Alan Hutton has two, which is more than Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch combined.
Rafael van der Vaart leads the club with five, but there's no way the Dutchman keeps up his 100 percent scoring record at White Hart Lane. The onus might fall to Defoe, who's track record shows him around an every-other-game scorer.
If he comes back healthy -- as well as Michael Dawson -- Spurs might be able to retain last year's fourth place showing, though the overall inconsistency of the club seems to make that extremely unlikely.
Fernando Torres, Liverpool -- Is El Niño back? Sure is beginning to look that way, after almost an eight-month spell where his form was a shadow of its former pomp and glory. Admit it, when he crumpled to the ground in extra time of the World Cup final in Johannesburg in July, it appeared his career was at a major crossroads.
If Torres is back to full strength; healthy and happy he's probably the most exciting striker in England. Granted this is a matter of personal taste. Didier Drogba is more of the bulk, raw-power scorer, but Torres has the knack for routinely notching jaw-dropping, holy shit, museum piece stuff.
Suffice to say, if Torres is back to his circa 2007/2008 form Liverpool should have few excuses for failing to maintain the fighting spirit to push for a Champions League spot.
Collective Team Sanity, Newcastle United-- Call this a bonus pick, since the Magpies aren't going to contend for the title, but their swashbuckling, rag tag, rougue's gallery have been fun to watch. With the table so bunched up the Magpies might finish sixth or it could finish 18th. Joey Barton is in trouble for trying to punch Morten Gamst Pedersen. The beginning of the end?
Round 13 Picks:
Good slate of matches, but nothing jumps out off the table.
Saturday:
* Aston Villa v. Manchester United -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Going out on a limb here, but it probably, stress probably, doesn't bode well for Aston Villa that it needed a stoppage time winner from James Collins to beat Blackpool's second stringers 3-2. Manchester United figures to be fresh and rested after that leisurely snooze-fest Wednesday across town, highlighted by Rafael getting into Carlos Tevez's face (which language were they swearing in?). If United didn't blow those two memorable games in the last minutes at Fulham and Everton, the Red Devils would be even with Chelsea atop the table. If that's not an indictment on the growing mediocrity of the league, what is? ... Aston Villa 0, Manchester United 1
* Wigan Athletic v. West Brom -- Wigan ought just rebrand itself as Spoiler Athletic or FC Torn-in-the-Side. The unloved boys again tripped up a team that thought it had its act together -- this time Liverpool -- with Hugo Rodellega personifying the spoiler-ness of the club. Joking aside, this Ronnie Stam fellow isn't too bad. Another Twente player making an impact. Steve McClaren wasn't so clueless after all, eh? ... Wigan 2, West Brom 1
* West Ham v. Blackpool -- Call this a must win game for West Ham. Blackpool will be ready, since Ian Holloway rested 10 of his usual starters then went on a rant about quitting if he was fined for fielding a weakened side. This, again, goes to show the cluelessness and short-sightedness of the powers running this league. Sure, let any clown buy majority interest into a club and allow it to plunge into debt, but yeah, let's fine a guy for saving his emaciated squad from burning out in November. Definitely makes a lot of sense. Glad Richard Scudamore et al have their priorities in line. ... West Ham 2, Blackpool 1
* Tottenham v. Blackburn Rovers -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Will Tottenham, Gamst, into the fire! A fatal strike is all we need. ... Spurs 2, Blackburn 1
* Newcastle United v. Fulham -- On the list of most exciting players to watch across the globe Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are probably jostling for Nos. 1 and 2. Moving up that list with a bullet is Andy Caroll, certainly in my personal Top 10. And in case you were wondering Emile Heskey is No. 3,401. Carroll, obviously, is a different kind of player than the two La Liga stars. He's not so much a threat with the ball at his feet, but in the air, wow. There's something fascinating about a big, burly dude with a wild ponytail throwing his head around.
Speaking of quality headers of the ball, how about Clint Dempsey getting in a little gamesmanship with Chelsea Wednesday. First he elbowed Jose Bosingwa, then helped to get Michael Essien sent off for exaggerating a stomp by the Ghana midfielder using maneuvers taught in the C-Ron handbook. In other words, don't mess with Texas. ... Newcastle United 2, Fulham 0
* Wolves v. Bolton -- For better, or (probably) worse I've read as many books as I can about the history of soccer. Think ancient history. Victorian droopy mustache history. One quirk that I've never read about, was why when the first clubs were founded in the 1860s, why the name "Wanderers" was so popular. It was like the Wildcats of its day. Call it a minor miracle an MLS franchise hasn't co-opted the name, although, say, St. Louis Wanderers doesn't sound half terrible. It's better than Crew or Burn. On an unrelated note. ... Wolves 1, Bolton 1
* Manchester City v. Birmingham City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Funny thought occurred to me during the Manchester derby Saturday, between urges to dooze off. Arguably the best performances by City this season have come from Carlos Tevez, Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart. The first three came to Eastlands under the auspices of Mark Hughes, who is now with Fulham. How maddening must it have been for a City fan on Wednesday for the ball to come for Yaya Toure in an advanced position only for him to slow it down and wait for a teammate. ... Manchester City 2, Birmingham City 0
* Stoke City v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) The unofficial team song for Liverpool for the 2010-11 season? "Roadhouse Blues," as sung by Howlin' Roy Hodgson. ... Stoke City 1, Liverpool 2
Sunday:
* Everton v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC+, 9 a.m.) Congrats are in order for Maroune Chamkh for rocking the world's largest neck warmer Wednesday against Wolves, wresting the honor away from Pepe Reina. Unlike some of his table rivals, Arsene Wenger seems a little more adept at rotating his squad, or at least using the options he has. Much like Andy Carroll did last weekend, Tim Cahill presents an aerial target-man Arsenal doesn't cope very well against. Like this match up overall. ... Everton 1, Arsenal 1
* Chelsea v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) One of these days Chelsea is going to lose a match at Stamford Bridge. Doubt this is that day, though Sunderland played very well in the second half at White Hart Lane. Not sure Lee Cattermole avoids two straight games without a red card. We shall see. The pace of Asamoah Gyan could trouble Terry and Alex, though it's doubtful they have a comedy collision like William Gallas and Younes Kaboul did on Tuesday. ... Chelsea 3, Sunderland 1
Last round: 4-6
Season: 53-66
Programming note:
I'll address the USMNT game/roster for the South Africa team next week. Hope you can wait for it.
