That's On Point: The Web Site

Mouth-watering affair, eh?

Once again we hit the point in the English Premier League season when the weather gets cold, the pitches get icy and the powers that be decide its best to cram in as many games as possible hell be damned for the players. We'll get into that a little more later, but for now it's games ... games ... and more games

City of Blinding Lights

Kind of unfair to "hed" this section of the roundup with a song title from U2 when this part is going to be about Manchester City's 1-0 Arsenal considering the ground formerly know as the City of Manchester Stadium probably plays the best music during the breaks in action than anywhere in the world.  (See: The Smiths.)

In any event, this was the highlight, marquee, five-star match of the weekend and ... well ... not much to really, or at least we didn't learn too much we didn't already know, mainly that Manchester City is -- in fact -- a wee bit better than Arsenal, especially at home. Nice bounce-back for City six days after losing at Chelsea, no doubt, but anything revelatory? Umm?

What? ... Theo Walcott being widely inconsistent and or invisible in a big game is something new?


If anything, it's a marvel City didn't score two or three goals considering Arsenal played its best defender -- Thomas Vermaelen -- at left back, meaning 90 minutes of Per Mertesacker paired with Laurent Koscielny (not so much a joke anymore, actually) with Johan Djourou and later Ignacio Miquel on the right. The amount of standing around in front of Wojciech Szczesny's goal was alarming, especially since Roberto Mancini again tried to find a way to play his Smurf lineup of Kun Aguero, David Silva and Samir Nasri all at once, with Mario Balotelli drifting to a wide left position recalling his Inter Milan days.

Something else that strikes me as unusual is the way Mikel Arteta has fit into Arsenal. Obviously his presence and consistency is a boost to the team, yet he doesn't seem to have such an impact on games as he once did with Everton.

Whatever attacking options Roberto Mancini wants to deploy, he does have a true rock in goal in the form of Joe Hart, who makes up for a lot of the rapidly slack defending in the back by City, which did do something special by keeping Robin van Persie off the scoresheet -- a close offside call helped on that front.

All-and-all, nice, fun entertaining game. Wish there was more to say, but why force it? Especially when we can watch Samir Nasri and Mario Balotelli attempt -- stress attempt -- a high five.




Hurting:

If I were ever rich enough to own a proper soccer team, first thing I'd invest in wouldn't be players or a coach. Nope, first thing I do is hire the best set of doctors and trainers I could afford. Either that or find an online wholesaler of horse placenta. Maybe see if one of those tanks they threw Luke Skywalker in at the beginning of "The Empire Strikes Back" is a real thing.

Not sure what it is, but it seems your average soccer player in 2011 -- not even the van Persie's of the world -- are increasingly fragile. It seems like every week top players are fighting to get to full fitness with strains and pulls or we lose somebody to said ailment, this week Aaron Lennon for Tottenham with a torn hamstring.

The answers are usually the same cliches about too many games, or new boots causing foot issues. Maybe players in 2011 aren't nearly as manly or "tough" as their predecessors.

However you slice it, it seems counter-intuitive that as everything moves forward and progresses in soccer, players health seems to go backwards.

The Weed:

Maybe my favorite (strained) pop culture comparison I've ever made on this slice of Internet was calling Wigan Athletic, "a weed in Hitler's bunker" via George Costanza's ill-fated time at Play Now Sports. Fair or unfair, Wigan are the post-apocalyptic cockroaches of the Prem.

Saturday the Latics were at it again, grabbing a late equalizer to stun Chelsea 1-1 and halt the Andre Villas-Boas feel-good freight train. Jordi Gomez was the right man at the right place to capitalize on some slack Blues' defending, offsetting an earlier tally by the rapidly improving Daniel Sturridge.

Definitely two bad points for Chelsea to drop (duh), considering the Blues are now nine points behind Manchester City and just two points ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool for the final Champions League spot. You could always look at it, though, suppose Chelsea drew Man City on Monday and then beat Wigan, it's still four points, right? Nah, let's point to the fact Chelsea dropped points in a game Frank Lampard started and Ramires sat on the bench. Maybe point a pitchfork in the direction of AVB, while we're at it.

As for Wigan, can Roberto Martinez pull off another miracle escape? Generally Wigan survives because three teams are slightly more inept than they are. We've got two this year in Blackburn and Bolton, so might be well-served to send Mick McCarthy, Martin O'Neill or Neil Warnock a poisoned fruitcake to increase Wigan's chances. Couldn't hurt.

Waking Up is Hard to Do:

Executive decision was made Saturday ... no chance in hell of waking up for a 7 a.m. QPR/Manchester United kickoff. There's a fine line between dedication and insanity --there just is -- and a week before Christmas your humble author didn't feel like fully crossing said threshold.

Saw the highlights, including Wayne Rooney's first minute tally. Michael Carrick's darting run from midfield and finish was a nice piece of work, while Phil Jones continues to save Sir Alex Ferguson's bacon by being able to play in central midfield. (Jones has the second most minutes logged for United behind Patrice Evra.)

The Red Devils were briefly top and lo-and-behold are still two points behind City for first. Christmas comes for Sir Alex with the remaining 2011 fixtures being at Fulham and then home for Wigan and Blackburn. United get Newcastle and Bolton before going to the Emirates on Jan. 22.

Awful, Simply Awful:

Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 Sunday morning. Villa played without Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent, rendering them about as unwatchable an XI as possible, saying nothing of their inability to defend corners. Should have finished in the 5-0, 6-0 range by Luis Suarez is too much like Larry David in that he simply respects wood way too much.

Writing anything more about this game would give it too much credit.


Win and a loss:

As aforementioned, Spurs beat Sunderland 1-0 at White Hart Lane, but lost Aaron Lennon. The winner came from Roman Pavlyuchenko (him?) on a nice sequence set up by Rafel van der Vaart.

Tottenham began the game without the injured Gareth Bale and lost Lennon, meaning it played the majority of the match sans its speedy wing players. Spurs do have, theoretical replacements in the forms of Steven Pienaar and Danny Rose, but as my Twitter pal @Rev215 pointed out to me during the matchso much of the club's success is built around the interplay on the outside between Bale and Benoit Assou-Ekotto on the left and Lennon and Kyle Walker on the right that dropping in two new players will jam things up.

Guess it might be time for Luka Modric to take on an increased role. Plenty say he's among the best in the Premier League, my friend's father thinks he's massively overrated. Time to prove it one way or another.

Around the League:

Basically, I've run out of nice things to say about Clint Dempsey, who scored in Fulham's 2-0 win over Bolton. ... Grant Holt's goal vs. Everton was deceptively incredible, as he turned and shot from three yards away and pinged it off the far post. Good on him. ... Stoke City have now won four straight, coming back from 1-0 at Wolves to win 2-1. At least the club is ambitious and trying to break up the league's monotony. ... Not sure if there's a more tonally off-putting set of commercials than those for WorldSoccerShop.com where the guy in it seems to be the biggest creep on Earth. ... Also, Fox Soccer, don't bring back the ProActiv ads, but I could live without the spots promoing "American Idol." Thanks.


Fantasy Team O' the Week:

Chris Kendrick's Shandy Boys take weekly honors with 73 points. Top scorers were Rooney, Sturridge, Silva and Vorm. (If you don't have Vorm as your keeper at this point in the season, why even play, right?)

Midweek Picks:

Tuesday:

* Wolves v. Norwich City --Wolves don't have enough quality to ever win two or three and a row and thusly will hover over the drop zone all season. Norwich are weaker on paper than Wolves, yet keep finding ways to just do enough, easing the pressure on the Canaries. ... Wolves 1, Norwich City 1

* Blackburn v. Bolton -- These two have combined to allow 74 goals this year, but wouldn't it be fitting it it ended scoreless? ... Blackburn 2, Bolton 1

Wednesday:

* Aston Villa v. Arsenal -- We're veering very close to Alex McLeish pulling a Coach Taylor (via his first season at East Dillon) and waving a white flag at halftime. If not that, expect him to boil the water for Arsene Wenger's pre and post game tea. ... Aston Villa 1, Arsenal 3

* Manchester City v. Stoke City -- (Live, FSC+, 2:30 p.m.) Revenge for the FA Cup Final in May for Stoke? Not likely, however if Roberto Mancini fields his Smurf lineup of Silva/Aguero/Nasri the Hessian-like Stoke defense could muscle them around. On the other end, Jon Walters and Peter Crouch are an effective front tandem, but not the kind of guys to trouble Man City, are they? ... Man City 2, Stoke City 0

* Newcastle United v. West Brom -- Demba Ba did everything but score Saturday vs. Swansea. Ben Foster isn't nearly the player Michel Vorm has been this year, so figure on the Magpies to break their winless skid here. ... Newcastle United 2, West Brom 0

* Fulham v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC, 3 p.m.) Maybe if Fulham can sign Papa Babe Dioup they have a fighting chance here, via goal he scored against United five years ago. ... Fulham 0, Manchester United 2

* QPR v. Sunderland -- QPR have a habit of playing teams "tough," but it's not showing in the table as they sit in 16th and have a -13 goal difference. Sunderland will probably be better under Martin O'Neill long term, if only because the players will give more of an effort. Problem is, Connor Wickham and Nic Bendtner aren't going to score consistently enough to make life anything but a struggle for Sunderland the rest of the way. ... QPR 2, Sunderland 1

* Everton v. Swansea City -- Who spends more per annum on haircuts, Royston Drenthe or Mario Balotelli? ... Everton 0, Swansea City 0

Thursday:

* Tottenham v. Chelsea -- (Live, ESPN2, 2:50 p.m.) Ian Darke. Steve McManaman. Christmas comes early for yours truly. ... Tottenham 2, Chelsea 1

Last round: 5-5
Season: 82-77

One Other Thing:

Think this is enough writing and rambling, so in case we get behind schedule or anything, Merry Christmas.

Labels: Arsenal, EPL, fox soccer, manchester city, manchester United, Monday recaps, Soccer, tottenham hotspur