Matchdays 1 & 2
The Press makes uncomfortable reading a lot of the time for any Tottenham manager, reminders of past glories haunting the failure to emulate them. The current incumbent is getting his fair share of brickbats following on from the plaudits for spending freely in the Summer. Following on from defeat at the death in Sunderland, the home defeat to Everton has enabled the policy to be used against him. That their opponents on Tuesday are one of the teams who can reasonably expect to occupy a UEFA Cup spot at the end of the season is conveniently ignored.
However, whilst there is a certain schadenfraude to be had in their current position, we are still only two games into the season and there is one way that Tottenham will go, upwards into a UEFA Cup space. The current plight though is a significant warning sign that spending money is not the problem, getting the team to gel is with new players involved.
Last season’s top two both appeared to have relatively straightforward opening assignments; both made them look incredibly difficult. Reading to their credit, overcame the dismissal of Dave Kitson within a minute of his entry to the pitch as a substitute to come away with a creditable point from Old Trafford. The hardest start imaginable to a Premiership season continued when the entertained Chelsea on Wednesday. Despite taking the lead through Bikey and Harper squandering a glorious opportunity to give them a two goal advantage, it was the visitors who followed up their 3 – 2 victory over Birmingham by taking all three points. Defensively, Chelsea were vunerable, Cech’s flap at a cross and lax marking gave the hosts the lead, Bikey shooting into an empty net with his first touch of the ball.
Manchester United meanwhile lost Wayne Rooney to injury during the opener, fielding Carlos Tevez for their match at Portsmouth. Unable to match Jon Stark – Football Mercenary For Hire, the Argentine missed several good opportunities to consolidate Paul Scholes opener at Fratton Park. In true footballing fashion, Portsmouth made them pay, equalising in the second half through Mwaruwari’s thumping header. The night got worse with Ronaldo’s headbutt late in the game. Predictably Sir Alex turned the tables and blamed weak refereeing for the petulance of his player. His tedious tirade was not without humour though, feeling sympathy for the fine of £90k that his player had to suffer. One less visit to the Trafford Centre must really hurt the boy.
At The Emirates, Jens Lehmann’s Soft Shoe Shuffle gave the ball to David Healey who promptly gave Fulham the lead within a minute. Two late goals from van Persie and Hleb gave Arsenal the three points, the match overshadowed by Lawrie Sanchez’s comments about diving. It appears though that Sanchez was shooting from the lip, his disappointment at coming away with nothing having led for eighty three minutes detaching his designer glasses from reality. It is to his credit that he admitted he had been wrong in his assessment, even though he almost choked on the words of the apology.
The final member of the ‘Big Four’, Liverpool, emerged victorious from Villa Park, thanks to Steven Gerrard’s thunderous freekick two minutes after a Gareth Barry penalty have cancelled out Laursen’s own goal that gave the visitors the lead. Aston Villa cannot really feel hard done by as the Liverpool had controlled large parts of the game despite ‘only’ giving Fernando Torres from their summer shopping spree, a Premiership debut from the start. The two other big name arrivals on Merseyside this summer Voronin and Babel, both made late substitute appearances.
Another team with a seemingly bottomless pit of wealth is Manchester City, there new manager Sven Goran Eriksson being a somewhat surprising choice given how low his stock had fallen after his failure to propel England to the heights to which we were told that the so-called Golden Generation could rise. Two victories, two clean sheets were probably more than anyone could have hoped for and possibly the first time it has happened to City since pre-decimalisation. Eriksson though has proven, in the short term at least, that melding a group of players into a cohesive unit is not an obscure science and possibly more importantly for himself, that he still has the ability to manage at Club level. Derby County though found enough gaps at the City of Manchester stadium to suggest that the rarified heights of the top six may be a step too far for City this season but they should find themselves in the group of teams that comfortably occupy mid-table each season.
The promoted teams fared reasonably well on the opening days; Sunderland got off to their flyer with their win over Tottenham. Chopra’s goal gave Ross Wallace’s marvellous turn and cross the finish that his effort’s deserved. However, it looked as if they would be brought down to Earth with a bump at St. Andrews, especially with Stern John hitting the bar in the final minutes. That was merely a prelude to the drama that followed, John burying a chance with Blues ‘keeper Colin Doyle pinned to the floor in a move that would make any wrestler proud. Derby meanwhile held Portsmouth to a 2 – 2 draw at Pride Park, a decent enough result but before the start of the season it was probably a fixture Billy Davies would have pencilled his side in for a fair chance of three points.
Everton started well, an opening day victory was followed by a procession at Tottenham. Moyes team may lack the star names of their counterparts but they possess a work ethic that makes good players function as a good team. Despite the pundits predictions that they will occupy one of the bottom three spots, Wigan were victorious in midweek, Middlesbrough’s lacklustre performance in front of goal was a key reason for signing Mido, feeding speculation that Yakubu would be on his way to Goodison Park for around £11m. Not that it helps Gareth Southgate much immediately as they were one of three teams without a point by the final whistle on Wednesday. Following on from a home defeat to Blackburn, this is probably about as bad as Southgate had expected, aside from when he stepped up to take his penalty at Euro ‘96.
Newcastle United took Bolton Wanderers to the cleaners for the opening half an hour, ending the match as a unsurprising to everyone bar Sammy Lee who said, ‘I can’t put my finger on why we were so poor but I will find out why‘. Perhaps he could try starting with the opposing manager knowing pretty much everything about the players and the style of play. Arsenal’s involvement in the Champions League Qualifiers deprived them of the chance to build upon their impressive win at The Reebok but the manner of their victory serves as notice that Big Sam is looking for Bolton Mark II accompanied by a bit more flair.
