Football Orphan: Premier League review. Will the real Fernando Torres please stand up?
Which Torres will we see on Sunday? The unhappy Liverpool one, or the miserable Chelsea one?
The most obvious fixture of the weekend can only be the visit of Liverpool to Stamford Bridge. While Chelsea are not without their troubles, Liverpool are carrying a rather expensive Geordie at the moment. This coupled with the Luis Suarez racism case will eventually weigh down on the team very heavily, and could halt any progression in a pivotal season. While the Sky cameras are delighted to drink up the action in east london, for me the one to look out for is at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City take on an unbeaten Newcastle United. Now that the international football is taken care of, the honeymoon stage of the season is over. One, or both of these teams will wake up on Sunday with a slight hangover having dropped vital points, although clearly a point would suffice for Newcastle.
Arsenal face a tricky trip to Carrow Road in attempt to continue their recent good form. While Arsene Wenger has no new major injuries to concern him, this game will be far from being a pushover against a plucky Norwich team. At the other end, an early season six pointer between Wigan and Blackburn at the DW stadium should offer us some good old-fashioned Premier League drama. Unsackable Steve Kean will be his usual bulletproof self, regardless of the result. He always somehow manages to piece together a determined post match interview to paper over the cracks.
The almost forgotten Monday night slot goes to White hart Lane, as Spurs take on an unispiring Aston Villa. Spurs will hope to make another stride towards Champions league qualification, while Villa will surely be content with slipping under the radar to secure safety this season. Champions Manchester United face a straight forward trip to Swansea and West Brom host a struggling Bolton. The games likely to be squeezed in towards the end of Match of the day are Wolves trip to Everton, Stoke against QPR and Fulham’s excursion to the Stadium of Light to face an under pressure Sunderland.
Football Orphan will return on Monday to round-up the highlights of the weekends action.
Enjoy your weekend!
Football Orphan: Never Ghana get any Moah chances at the big time.
Football gifts us with some of the most supreme talent from time to time, there can be a lot of mediocrity, but when football delivers failure and waste, it does it spectacularly. I can understand the timing of Eric Cantona‘s retirement, but bluntly walking out on one of, if not the best league in the world is unforgivable for the likes of Stan Collymore, or as recent as last weekend with Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan.
There are players with equally as much talent as Gyan in every corner of the globe who would give everything to get as close to the summit that he has neglected and forfeited for a cash reward. This is a player that most of us felt a little of his pain when he missed an injury time penalty against Uruguay in the knock out stages of the world cup in south Africa to put Ghana through.
If I’d realised that the glory only meant a fraction as much to him as the financial gain I wouldn’t have bat an eyelid.
The fact is, I now have more respect for Luis Suarez for handling the ball on the line to give away the penalty in the first place. He then missed the Quarter Final game due to the red card, having fallen on his sword for the cause. No lack of passion there, a player who wants to get to the top of his profession for the glory in my eyes. For anyone who might be interested, you can catch Asamoah Gyan playing for his new club, against who gives a monkey’s armpit FC on live streaming online. It’ll be the game on the sawdust pitch and he’ll be the one with the diamond encrusted boots and the gold teeth.
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 