JOE takes a look back at the second weekend of the Premier League season and picks out its heroes, villains, favourite goal and best manager.
By Conor Hogan
Heroes of the weekend
Ben Foster: Eight months out with a cruciate ligament in 2007-2008, and a mystique grew about Ben Foster. This was a man named Watford Player of the Season in 2006-2007, with then Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd saying, “He’s better than current Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. He is going to be the best goalkeeper in the world.” He was undoubtedly going to be the future of Manchester United. This expectation was fuelled further by his penalty saves in the 2009 League Cup final.
With Edwin van Sar’s injury last season, Foster finally got his run in the first team. That’s when it all went wrong. Never mind best goalkeeper in the world, Foster was rarely the best goalkeeper on the pitch. Mistakes against Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland transformed him into something of a scapegoat, and saw him fall behind Tomasz Kuszczak in the Manchester United pecking order once Van der Sar returned.
Inspired by England number one Joe Hart’s successful loan spell at Birmingham in 2009/2010, Foster signed for the Blues and had a solid first game in a 2-2 draw against Sunderland. His second game of the season, against Blackburn, was even better. He made several crucial saves, including a spectacular one from Morten Gamst Pedersen’s penalty that is an early contender for save of the season.
Brede Hangeland: A terrific performance by the Finn against Manchester United was almost sullied by an unlucky own goal in the 84th minute. Hangeland didn’t let his head drop and showed determination and desire to get back into the game.
“I looked at the clock straight after I scored the own goal and saw we had five minutes to do it,” he said in his post-match interview. “I just hoped we’d get a corner and we did and I scored. It was a great feeling to get it.” Hangeland wasn’t the only Fulham hero though. David Stockdale’s save from Nani’s penalty in the 86th minute was just as crucial.
Andy Carroll: “The main problem for Newcastle is up-front. Andy Carroll has shown potential, but it remains to be seen if he is capable of performing at the highest level.†That’s what I wrote in my Premier League preview of Newcastle. It is perhaps too early to say, but I think his exploits this weekend have proven that he is more than capable.
The hat-trick hero’s all-round play was absolutely phenomenal, and there are already people calling out for him to be selected in the England team. World Cup reject Theo Wallcott also looked impressive this weekend, netting thrice in Arsenal’s 6-0 destruction of ten man Blackpool. At times he looked absolutely unplayable, though unfortunately for him, he won’t get to play against the Tangerines every week.
Villains of the weekend
The Villains: Villa fans’ anxiety after losing Martin O’Neill was relieved by a convincing 3-0 win over West Ham on match-week one. As such, confidence was high going in to their clash with newly promoted Newcastle United. In their wildest nightmares, they couldn’t have possibly predicted anything close to a 6-0 loss.
Caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald selected a strong team that included Stephen Ireland on his debut, Richard Dunne, John Carew, Ashley Young and Brad Friedel, as well as a couple of youngsters who’d done well so far this season – Marc Albrighton and Ciaran Clarke. Practically none of them came out of it with any credit.
It started badly, when John Carew blasted the ball over the bar from the penalty spot in the tenth minute. Stephen Ireland was anonymous, Dunne and Clark played like two people who had never seen each other before, while Joey Barton completely bossed the midfield. Nolan, Routledge and Carroll tore them to pieces. With each goal that went in, MacDonald watched his slim chances of getting the Villa job full-time evaporate.
Javier Mascherano: The Argentinean has made no secret of the fact that he wants to leave Anfield, and his desired location is undoubtedly Barcelona. The Catalan club have tried to use this fact to get Mascherano on the cheap, offering a miserly £12million. Liverpool, rightfully, have tried to get more.
Prior to the match against Manchester City, Mascherano refused to play, or as Hodgson put it, “wasn’t in the right frame of mind to playâ€.The Liverpool manager also admitted that he had absolutely no idea where his top central midfielder was while the match was taking place. It is likely now that Mascherano will never play for Liverpool again.
Paul Chialton: Is there man more delusional on the entire planet than Wiganlatics.co.uk’s Paul Chialton? The man who headlined his match report of Wigan 0-6 Chelsea with: “Latics unlucky not to come away with result after brave performance.â€
Wigan were decent in the first half but frankly collapsed in the second, as Roberto Martinez’s team have a tendency to do. Chialton, the most unintentionally hilarious man since Comical Ali, didn’t describe a single goal in the report. Gems from his report include, “[Wigan’s performance] went a long way to banishing the memories of their opening day defeat,†and “if luck had of (his mistake not our’s) been on their side maybe they would have been coming away with what they deserved.â€
If he was talking about Stoke you could perhaps understand, as the Potters could count themselves highly unlucky to lose 2-1 to Tottenham. But Wigan, a team who managed to concede five second half goals! With fans like Chialton, maybe Martinez’s job is safer than we think.
Goal of the Weekend
Gareth Bale: It is a cliché to call Bale one of the most improved players in the Premier League. Let’s forget that nonsense and call him what he is – one of the best players in the Premier League. If there will be a better goal this season than his astonishing volley in Spurs’ 2-1 victory over Stoke, everyone at JOE will collectively eat our hats.
Manager of the weekend
Chris Hughton: There were a couple of contenders this week. Carlo Ancelloti guided Chelsea to their second 6-0 win in a row, while Roberto Di Matteo guided West Brom to a much needed victory against Sunderland. The manager of the weekend, though, has to be Newcastle’s Chris Hughton, after the Magpies’ astonishing battering of Aston Villa.
Hughton, a man who never wanted to be a manager, has absolutely excelled as Newcastle manager since taking over a year ago. Suddenly, our pre-season prediction of 16th seems incredibly pessimistic.
