Football Orphan: The pressure is building in the Premier League…
This weekends Premier League fixtures throw up a few intriguing match up’s. The centre piece of the action will be served up at Anfield, where Manchester City take on Liverpool. City will be fresh from their midweek disappointment in Naples, and will be either a “wounded animal” or wallowing in self-pity come Sunday afternoon. Dalglish’s men on the other hand will be buzzing after a fine performance at Stamford Bridge to send Roman Abramovich scampering for the location of AVB’s P45, just in case. The league leaders have only dropped 2 points so far this season and the law of averages will favour City dropping more points in the coming games. I don’t see City taking all the shares from Merseyside in the circumstances, I’ll stick my neck out and say that Liverpool will enjoy upsetting another one of the big boys and end Mancini’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Fresh from losing their own unbeaten record, Newcastle face a daunting trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. If United fail to overcome the Geordies, serious questions will be asked of Fergie’s men having leaked so many goals this season, whilst stuttering their way through their Champions League campaign. Alan Pardew has been a revelation in the North East this season so much so that, in sections of the english media he has been touted as a possible successor to Fabio Cappello. For me, this smacks of flavour of the month in a similar vein to when Steve Mcclaren was appointed. It would be impossible to see a defeat for United at home, in fact Ferguson’s team are at their most dangerous when they’ve had a shaky result such as the calamity of the 2-2 against Benfica on Wednesday. I’ll plump for a comfortable home win on this one.
At the other end of the table I fear for certain clubs this weekend as we might see one or two being cut adrift so early in the season. In previous years we’ve witnessed the likes of Sunderland, Derby County stare relegation in the face from the starters’ pistol. This time around I believe it’s Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers who will entertain this notion untill the last whistle of the season. Both will in my opinion be on the other end of an away day hiding as both Stoke and Sunderland are certain to steady the ship after a little early season turbulence.
Other games don’t look so clear-cut, so gamblers beware of the likes of Swansea entertaining Villa, Everton at the Reebok to face Bolton, Norwich at home to QPR and Champions League chasing Tottenham away to West Brom. If the majority of these games don’t end in stalemate, they’ll only be won by the odd goal. Last but not least, the late kick off on Saturday see’s a Fulham team lacking any sort of continuity, travel to the Emirates to attempt to upset Arsenal. This is potentially the trickiest fixture of the weekend to call. While Wenger’s men have qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League with a game to spare, Fulham tend to blow a little hot and cold against The Gunners. Arsenal supporters will be hoping that this the former of the two come Saturday evening.
Football Orphan: The New Invincibles?
Lee Clark is well on his way to becoming a top manager.
Last weekends action saw vital wins for Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal as they are desperately trying to keep the red-hot pace at the top of the Premier League. Blackburn, Wigan and Sunderland, and Fulham all threading water at the other end, picked up heartening points also. None of the above even came even close to the relief, delight and deserved celebration of Huddersfield Town as they beat Notts County 2-1 to surpass Nottingham Forest’s 42 game unbeaten run. The record remained untouched until the 2004 as “Arsenal Invincibles” claimed it for themselves, until they were toppled at the 49 game mark by bitter rivals Manchester United.
Ironically the man who stopped Forest’s unbeaten charge was the man currently assisting Huddersfield manager Lee Clark, Terry McDermott. Liverpool overcame Brian Clough’s men 2-0 at Anfield. Given that the Lee Clark’s team’s exceptional 43 game unbeaten run stretches over two seasons, taking in the bitter disappointment of play off heart-break is phenomenal. Manager Lee Clark who himself had two spells at hometown club Newcastle United where he worked under the tutelage of assistant McDermott, has produced a squad of players the envy of all of League 1 and most of the Championship.
Players such as Jordan Rhodes who gained his first international cap for Scotland last week has had scouts clambering over each other for a peek. Rhodes currently on a white-hot goal scoring streak for club and country, is certainly capable of mixing it at a higher level. The question is, who will be first to show their hand with an offer? It’s only a matter of time before the sharks start circling the water for the Huddersfield manager as the “Sack race” has yet to really gain any momentum. I hope for the sake of this small South Yorkshire club, who once won the old First Division title three times in a row, they can hold onto their prized assets for long enough succeed in promotion this season where they failed last campaign.
Football Orphan: Liverpool sink toothless Gunners.
Liverpool were without doubt the biggest winners of the weekend with a solid performance taking maximum points from the Emirates. After a disappointing home draw against Sunderland last week, Kenny Dalglish’s men made no mistake as Arsenal failed to impress yet again. An own goal from Aaron Ramsey and a reminder of how the Gunners used to do it, a fine passing move resulted in Luis Suarez almost walking the ball into the Arsenal goal to seal the victory. With so many new signings still settling into life with the Merseysiders, this sort of result is enough for any cynical Reds fan to get excited about the prospects of the coming season.
For the most part Liverpool are unrecognisable from the team that made an abysmal start to last season’s campaign. The change in fortune is miraculous given there are no guarantees when a club legend returns to an old stomping ground. Without long-term casualty Steven Gerrard for the beginning of the season, it would have been easy to understand a pessimistic expectation from the Anfield faithful. Conversely with Suarez having been away on Copa America duty he has hit the ground running with two goals from two games.
It may be of some concern that powerhouse striker Andy Carroll has provided very little, if any form whatsoever. King Kenny is sure to be on the lookout for at least one new striker as back up with David N’gog rumored to be on his way out of the club sooner rather than later. With a home game against Bolton next week to look forward to, there is no reason to think Liverpool won’t make some of the early running in this years title race. At very least, Kopites have reasons to be cheerful with the encouraging start to this season, as compared to last season’s disaster.
Football Orphan: Season opener.
During this summer’s transfer window some of the bigger clubs were throwing money around like snuff at a wake, while others were a little more hamstrung financially. It looked abundantly clear that certain clubs had just plain missed the boat. Well now that the boat has set sail, whether your club is on it or not, it appears that no one club has put down an early marker at the starter’s pistol. Well, that is until we see what becomes of Swansea when Manchester Citytest how well the Welsh club has progressed since their play off glory in May later this evening.
At first glance of this group of Premier League teams it appears to be less of a task to pick out the ones who will struggle, rather than the ones who will ignite. By all means it looks like Manchester United, Manchester City and if Chelsea don’t crumble with an inexperienced Premier League coach, they should all comfortably retain the top three spots. Arsenal need a GPS to find their way towards success again, and may count themselves lucky to get fourth. Liverpool and Sunderland bought so many new players they’re still being introduced to their colleagues.
It’s hard to see any of the teams who were promoted last season staying up, but in my opinion Swansea may be the club best positioned to surprise us. Just like feeding a greyhound a big meal before a race, there will always be at least one club who never gets going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Blackburn, Newcastle, Wigan and Fulham give relegation a good run for its money.
I expect the likes of Everton, Stoke and West Brom to be inseparable in mid table while Spurs and my dark horses Aston Villa might look to invade the top four. It’s seldom a season goes by without something coming from way out of the blue, it remains to be seen what this season’s surprise will be. My odds on favourite to win the sack race is Blackburn’s Steve Keen. Not only is he clueless, so are the people who appointed him.
Season predictions:
Top four
1. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Chelsea
4. Spurs
18. Swansea
19. Norwich
20. QPR
Football Orphan: Liverpool’s loss has been West Brom’s gain.
Hodgson begins happier times at West Brom
You’ve got to hand it to Roy Hodgson. He could never have imagined that after being handed another shot with a big club he would see it go so horribly wrong, and still have time to save West Brom from relegation, all within the same season. The one time Inter Milan and Blackburn Rovers coach inherited the worst Liverpool team since they last won the title, and endured six months of hell as he saw them struggle like a Sunday league team. That may even be harsh on Sunday league teams.
Having pipped former Liverpool legend Dalglish to the job last summer, he then had to go about his task under the watchful eye of the Scot, as he regularly watched from the stands. The Anfield faithful were blinkered with their faith, when both Rafa Benitez and Gerard Houllier were spectacularly failing, but they insisted upon showing their displeasure within months at Hodgson’s slow start.
Hodgson previously took over a Fulham team struggling for confidence and form, and without doubt were on their way towards the drop. The cottagers needed to win at Eastlands against Sven Goran Eriksson‘s Manchester City to keep survival hopes alive. Trailing 2-0 at half time and staring the Championship football in the face, against the odds Fulham won the game 3-2 and went on to clinch survival.
With West Brom playing beautiful football but plummeting towards an immediate exit from the top flight, Roberto Di Matteo was relieved of his duties. Chairman Jeremy Peace would have been a fool to look any further than the supremely experienced Roy Hodgson. Since his return to management Hodgson has made West Brom look anything but relegation fodder.
Football is a cut throat business. It is very often unforgiving and arguably unfair. Liverpool gave Hodgson very little chance to prove himself before they cut him loose. The same could be said of Roberto Di Matteo. The Italian led West Brom to the Premier League at the first attempt, but in my opinion this should have afforded him a full season to secure their safety. The irony is that Hodgson found of himself out of work because of a shortsighted chairman, but conversely wouldn’t have been back in work with West Brom, unless a fellow manager suffered the same fate.
The Liverpool hangover has now been well and truly cured. The modern game allows for the heartache period of managers to be little more than a fleeting thought. The managerial roundabout will invariably spit managers out without sensitivity, and promote inconsistent appointments. In equal measure, it’s always great to see a fine coach like Roy Hodgson resurface at a club with successful results. I hope the same will eventually be said for Roberto Di Matteo.
Football Orphan: Houllier never had the heart to be a top manager.
Gerard Houllier is in the midst of another heart scare but will not need surgery thankfully. While I have every sympathy for a man not in the best of health and would like to wish a speedy recovery, I feel this appointment has been an unmitigated disaster from the outset.
I don’t doubt that the Frenchman is indeed a football man, or eats, sleeps, breathes football, or any other clichés you’d like to conjure up, but while he appears placid and mild-mannered his football management skills are gruff, ill fitted to Premier League football and sub standard for The English top flight. I can’t help feeling that this latest episode will help to brush all of the negativity under the carpet yet again.
Whatever failings occurred at Liverpool under Houllier, I believe they were forgotten under the cloud of his first health scare. Most would name the heart attack as the most memorable part of his reign, NOT that he failed at Liverpool only after Roy Evans picked up all the pieces and made Liverpool competitive again after Graham Souness‘ miserable time in charge.
I also refute that football management is solely to blame for health scares. When compared to others such as Mick McCarthy, Tony Pulis or closer to his own age Kenny Dalglish,
Houllier likely to quit management after second health scare
Houllier doesn’t look to me to be a man who looks after himself, even after a big heart scare previously. This looks to be the end of the road for the former French national team coach. I personally hope it is before his health scares him again, but for football reasons, I believe this appointment at Aston Villa shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Football Orphan: Manchester City looking to impress on the road once in a blue moon.
Liverpool go into tonight’s game with Manchester City with their season completely in limbo. With no chance of qualification for the Champions League, and at best facing another frustrating campaign in the Europa League to hope for. If nothing else, this is a useful workout for Liverpool measuring up against a City team now sitting comfortably in a top four slot.
Tonight’s game is a welcome opportunity for City to show just how far they have progressed under Mancini. Not many were impressed when a rather defensive tactic saw them earn a point at the Emirates earlier this season, and a repeat of that negativity with be greeted by derision from all quarters.
Once the loose ends of the Anfield clash are all tied up, Manchester City will head back to Eastlands to start plotting how to conquer the Champions League, with qualification for next years tournament completely in their own hands. Liverpool can settle into their armchairs tomorrow evening and enjoy a mouth-watering clash between Manchester United and Chelsea with the rest of us, knowing that it’s as close as they’ll get to the Champions League for at least another season.
Football Orphan 