MAN UTD'S perfect record went up in smoke at the Britannia Stadium on the same weekend ‘Merlin’ inspired Manchester City to move joint-top of the Premier League standings. Fernando Torres produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance at Stamford Bridge while teammate Frank Lampard disappeared from both the starting line-up and then the substitute’s bench.
WINNERS
David Silva
Aptly nicknamed ‘Merlin’ by his teammates, David Silva underlined his importance to Manchester City’s title aspirations with a magical display in the 2-0 defeat of Everton. Silva has created more goal scoring opportunities from open play than any other individual in the league this season and has assisted five goals in Man City’s last four fixtures.
The little Spaniard’s impudent pass to set up James Milner for City’s match-winning goal was the highlight of an otherwise run-of-the-mill victory. Marquee signings such as Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko grabbed the summer transfer headlines at the Etihad Stadium but with each passing week Roberto Mancini’s chances of usurping their noisy neighbours rests squarely on the shoulders of David Silva.
Alan Pardew
THE Newcastle United manager has overseen his club’s best run of form for eight years and the Magpies fully merit their top four placing after six rounds of fixtures. Pardew’s close-season signings drew plenty of criticism but Demba Ba repaid his manager’s faith with a terrific hat-trick in the home victory over Blackburn while Leon Best - the Republic of Ireland international signed to replace Andy Carroll – is also producing the goods on a regular basis since his arrival at St. James’ Park. Pardew’s achievements are even more noteworthy when you consider the financial constraints he currently works under as well as the watchful club owner Mike Ashley.
Robin Van Persie
Van Persie’s decision to organise a midweek team get-together had the desired effect as Arsenal easily accounted for Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium. The Dutchman reached 100 goals in all competitions for the North London club courtesy of a well taken brace and has ability has never been more vital to an Arsenal side struggling for consistency.
Injuries have blighted much of the Arsenal striker’s career making his century milestone all the more impressive. Arsene Wenger faces a monumental task in persuading Van Persie to extend his contract next summer and can ill afford to lose one of his most trusted players having seen Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri exit in recent months.
David De Gea
THE young Man Utd goalkeeper has endured plenty of criticism since making his big money move from Atletico Madrid but produced a marvellous individual display to earn his side a point at the Britannia Stadium. Andy Wilkinson, Jon Walters and Peter Crouch each saw goal bound efforts tipped away by a flying De Gea on an afternoon United surrendered their 100% record.
LOSERS
Fernando Torres
DIFFICULT to believe a striker that has scored twenty four goals against twenty eight different Premier League opponents can polarise opinion as much as Fernando Torres does. The Spaniard walloped home Chelsea’s opening goal in the 4-1 win over Swansea before being issued a straight red card ten minutes later for a wild lunge on Mark Gower.
Whilst Torres’ reputation is not that of a malicious player his erratic form is causing manager Andre Villas-Boas plenty of headaches and rumours of a possible January loan move out of Stamford Bridge refuse to go away. The return of Didier Drogba and arrival of Juan Mata gives Villas-Boas plenty of alternative attacking options and Torres needs to rediscover the form which made him such a deadly striker at previous club Liverpool as soon as possible.
Bolton Wanderers
OWEN Coyle faces the biggest challenge of his managerial career as Bolton prop up the Premier League table with a solitary win (4-0 at a pre-Tony Fernandes QPR) to show for their dreadful start to the season. Even a midweek victory away to Aston Villa in the Carling Cup failed to paper over the cracks of a side with the worst goal difference (-8) in the Premier League.
A fixture-list which pitted Wanderers against the likes of Man United, Man City and Liverpool in the opening weeks of the season was never going to be easy but underwhelming defensive displays, absence of a consistent goal-scoring threat and chronic lack of confidence suggests Bolton are set for a relegation battle.
Frank Lampard
The undisputed darling of Stamford Bridge and first name on the Chelsea team sheet of previous years, Frank Lampard has found his first-team appearances limited since the arrival of new manager Andre Villas-Boas. The former West Ham midfielder is Chelsea’s third highest goal scorer of all time and has made over five hundred appearances for the Pensioners. Lampard’s decision to allegedly walk away from the Chelsea bench after failing to come on as a substitute in the home win over Swansea has drawn unwanted media headlines.
Luis Suarez
Another player to make the weekend headlines for his off-field antics was Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. ‘El Pistolero’ didn’t take kindly to being substituted in the 2-1 win over Wolves and petulantly kicked out at a bottle of water when approaching the Liverpool bench. The Uruguayan international made no secret of his displeasure at being withdrawn and this petulant latest incident follows hot on the heels of a booking at White Hart Lane for sarcastically clapping the referee. Kenny Dalglish needs to take his star striker to one side and remind Suarez of his responsibilities to his new club.
*Follow Ger on Twitter: @offcentrecircle
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/3J7_bR_5hiE/post.aspx
Fifa US politics North Korea Kevin Pietersen Cheltenham festival Neal Ardley
No comments:
Post a Comment