The encouraging form of two Irish strikers, the smooth functioning of the Man City machine and the hilarious demise of John Terry were all notable aspects of the Premier League weekend just passed.
Long and Walters are raising the stakes
It’s an extremely long shot (pardon the pun), but Ireland could conceivably be going into the Euros next summer with a different strikeforce to the Keane/Doyle axis that has served us so well in recent years.
Sure, Robbie might have provided the match-winning assist in the LA Galaxy’s MLS Cup Final success last night, but considering it is in a dire league and that it was his last club game until March, there is ample opportunity for the pretenders to his throne to stake their claim in the meantime.
Shane Long and Jonathan Walters both did just that at the weekend, with Long scoring a lovely glancing header for the Baggies against Bolton and Walters blasting home in Stoke’s defeat to QPR. It was the fourth goal of the season for both players, two better than Kevin Doyle, whose recent malaise is beginning to become a major worry.
Trap is a loyal chap and will almost certainly keep faith in his skipper and in Doyle, but a lot can happen between now and next June and if Long and Walters keep banging them in, they’ll be increasingly hard to ignore. Certainly, it’s encouraging that they at least provide an option.
John Terry is a shell of his former self
We can’t say we don’t openly enjoy the sight of the odious John Terry making a fool of himself week after week at the moment, but it’s patently clear that he has become a shell of his former self so far this season. He might say otherwise, but the whole racism scandal is clearly taking its toll, while he is also the most obvious victim of Andre Villas-Boas’ preference for a high defensive line and pressing opponents higher up the pitch.
The recent demise of John Terry has been extremely pleasing to watch
Against Liverpool, Terry went in for at least two desperate tackles that were horribly mis-timed and although he wasn’t directly at fault for either goal, Liverpool should have capitalised on his defensive cock-ups on more than two occasions. To repeat, seeing John Terry struggle is not something that bothers us in the slightest.
Man City are becoming unstoppable
Here are a couple of stats to emphasise the extent of Manchester City’s dominance of the Premier League so far. First of all, 34 points from 12 games is the best start to the league by any team since its inception in 1992 and secondly, City have scored two or more goals in each of their last 14 league games.
It is starting to become a bit of a cakewalk for City, who did away with what was a supposedly formidable Newcastle challenge with ease. And all that without the brilliant David Silva. With Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal to come in three of their next four games, they will have a tougher time coming up to Christmas, but if they can survive that period intact, it will begin to look ominous for the chasing pack.
Man United, meanwhile, are now officially dull
While their noisy neighbours are blaring their title credentials loudly for all to hear, across Manchester, United have reacted to the humbling derby defeat by retreating into their shell and going all defensive. Gone is the ‘You score four, we’ll score five’ attitude of the start of the season and in its place is a defensive, dour mentality that is pretty turgid to watch.
Sir Alex will argue that three league wins and three consecutive clean sheets has justified the change in approach but United are currently playing without the hallmarks of champions. It’s also a far cry from the spirit of so many of Fergie’s great sides over the years.
Wigan can’t buy a break
When you’re down, you’re really down and what happened to Wigan at the DW on Saturday was the equivalent of your girlfriend cheating on you with your best mate and then giving you a kick in the balls for good measure.
How no official failed to spot the fact that Yakubu hadn’t touched the ball before placing it on the corner flag in the run-up to Junior Hoilett’s goal was a travesty. And then, to make matters even worse, they had to go and concede a last minute equaliser after the opposition goalkeeper was fouled in the penalty area.
Normally, a sentence such as the last one would cause more than a few raised eyebrows but such was the crazy nature of what unfolded at the DW was that it was no more than a routine occurrence in an extraordinary game.
Roberto Martinez’s reputation means that he might hang onto his job for a while longer, but more results like this and the writing will soon be on the wall for the affable Spaniard.
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