Weekend Roundup – 24th Ocotober 2010
Would the Man City game have been any different if Boyata had stayed on the pitch? I’d say so, he deserved to be sent off as he was the last man and even if it is only the 4th minute the rules are the rules. Man City are a good side with some quality players and as good as Fabianski has looked recently the arsenal defence is not impenetrable so 11 men would have made a big difference to this game. After the sending off Arsenal didn’t exactly control the game and Man City were still putting pressure on them as they moved to a 432 formation. It seemed to work well for a while, except arsenal scoring their first - a beautiful goal, very much an arsenal goal. Mancini was right to come out and say that he was pleased with the way his side played as they stood up well until the second goal went in. That goal killed the game and arsenal started to look more like the normal arsenal, if they had managed to play that way for the whole game the they would have put 4 or 5 past Hart.
The other side of Manchester enjoyed a much better weekend to add to the good news about Rooney staying (for now!) as they did something which they haven’t managed to do this season. I watched Man Utd sit a goal up against a Stoke side who have shown they have the ability to score late goals and almost throw away two points again until ‘The Little Pea’ stepped up to take all the points back from the Britannia. Hernandez had a really good game, not just that unbelievable header for the first goal. He is quick and full of energy and seems to be doing a good job of fitting into the Man Utd team, good job really as who knows how Rooney will play when he returns to the side. This victory will surely lift the spirits around Old Trafford and should see them kick on from here and get on with the job of catching Chelsea. They are the only team unbeaten in the league at this stage of the season so it’s not a bad position to be in. Funny how at the start of the week they were losing their best player, not getting in the champions league and ending their time as one of Europe’s elite yet by the end of the week everything is fine at Utd again.
Another notable performance of the weekend for me was Charlie Adam, the boy has been great in the Premier League so far this season and it’s a delight to see a Scotsman performing well in England’s top division. What was he thinking when that ball dropped to him, he seemed to think he had an age to take a touch and get the ball clear and obviously realised what a mistake he’d made as he put his head in his hands after Zigic nicked it and stabbed it in. Not great from Adam, and Blackpool will hope they can stop those kind of things happening or they’ll be going straight back down. I suspect that they have enough about them to avoid relegation and I hope so because listening to Ian Holloways press conferences on a Friday is a treat, got to wander what he’s having for breakfast!
Someone who must be feeling somewhat different to Charlie Adam today would be Roberto Di Matteo, going into today’s games West Brom were in a champions league place. Ok, it won’t last and I’m sure he knows that but they have had a fantastic start to the season and its nice to see as the last time they were in the top flight they played nice football but couldn’t do much else so I’m enjoying seeing the way they play along with the fact that they have clearly learned a few lessons from last time and will probably end up in a safe place come the end of the season.
Now a lot of people may not care about this, and to be honest I find it all rather boring sometimes, but it was the first Old Firm derby of the season today and it had to be worth watching. I do live in Glasgow so it would be a little wrong of me to not watch its two biggest teams fighting it out. It was an enjoyable game as both sides went for it from the start, fast paced and with some good chances. After Rangers second however Celtic seemed to have no reply, I don’t recall Neil Lennon making any significant changes to go and win the game and that is a bad thing for a Celtic boss to be doing at Parkhead. No doubt Lennon will be moaning about referees and all sorts in the paper tomorrow morning and for once he may be right to moan, about the penalty anyway. I don’t think that was a penalty, Broadfoot was on his way down before Majstorovic touched him. Not good at all but Rangers did deserve their win.
- (added Tuesday 26th) Just a quick add on which relates to Neil Lennon, it emerged this morning that assistant referee Steven Craven has quit the game because he and his children were being abused after his involvement in the Celtic vs Dundee Utd game last weekend. This is a disgrace as I have seen the incident and Pernis got the ball so in my mind the assistant referee did the right thing by getting the ref to change his decision to the correct one. If the manager is seen giving the officials no end of abuse because he thinks he is in the right then it will encourage the fans to do the same and then a man loses his job. Shocking, absolutely shocking.
Would the Man City game have been any different if Boyata had stayed on the pitch? I’d say so, he deserved to be sent off as he was the last man and even if it is only the 4th minute the rules are the rules. Man City are a good side with some quality players and as good as Fabianski has looked recently the arsenal defence is not impenetrable so 11 men would have made a big difference to this game. After the sending off Arsenal didn’t exactly control the game and Man City were still putting pressure on them as they moved to a 432 formation. It seemed to work well for a while, except arsenal scoring their first - a beautiful goal, very much an arsenal goal. Mancini was right to come out and say that he was pleased with the way his side played as they stood up well until the second goal went in. That goal killed the game and arsenal started to look more like the normal arsenal, if they had managed to play that way for the whole game the they would have put 4 or 5 past Hart.
The other side of Manchester enjoyed a much better weekend to add to the good news about Rooney staying (for now!) as they did something which they haven’t managed to do this season. I watched Man Utd sit a goal up against a Stoke side who have shown they have the ability to score late goals and almost throw away two points again until ‘The Little Pea’ stepped up to take all the points back from the Britannia. Hernandez had a really good game, not just that unbelievable header for the first goal. He is quick and full of energy and seems to be doing a good job of fitting into the Man Utd team, good job really as who knows how Rooney will play when he returns to the side. This victory will surely lift the spirits around Old Trafford and should see them kick on from here and get on with the job of catching Chelsea. They are the only team unbeaten in the league at this stage of the season so it’s not a bad position to be in. Funny how at the start of the week they were losing their best player, not getting in the champions league and ending their time as one of Europe’s elite yet by the end of the week everything is fine at Utd again.
Another notable performance of the weekend for me was Charlie Adam, the boy has been great in the Premier League so far this season and it’s a delight to see a Scotsman performing well in England’s top division. What was he thinking when that ball dropped to him, he seemed to think he had an age to take a touch and get the ball clear and obviously realised what a mistake he’d made as he put his head in his hands after Zigic nicked it and stabbed it in. Not great from Adam, and Blackpool will hope they can stop those kind of things happening or they’ll be going straight back down. I suspect that they have enough about them to avoid relegation and I hope so because listening to Ian Holloways press conferences on a Friday is a treat, got to wander what he’s having for breakfast!
Someone who must be feeling somewhat different to Charlie Adam today would be Roberto Di Matteo, going into today’s games West Brom were in a champions league place. Ok, it won’t last and I’m sure he knows that but they have had a fantastic start to the season and its nice to see as the last time they were in the top flight they played nice football but couldn’t do much else so I’m enjoying seeing the way they play along with the fact that they have clearly learned a few lessons from last time and will probably end up in a safe place come the end of the season.
Now a lot of people may not care about this, and to be honest I find it all rather boring sometimes, but it was the first Old Firm derby of the season today and it had to be worth watching. I do live in Glasgow so it would be a little wrong of me to not watch its two biggest teams fighting it out. It was an enjoyable game as both sides went for it from the start, fast paced and with some good chances. After Rangers second however Celtic seemed to have no reply, I don’t recall Neil Lennon making any significant changes to go and win the game and that is a bad thing for a Celtic boss to be doing at Parkhead. No doubt Lennon will be moaning about referees and all sorts in the paper tomorrow morning and for once he may be right to moan, about the penalty anyway. I don’t think that was a penalty, Broadfoot was on his way down before Majstorovic touched him. Not good at all but Rangers did deserve their win.
- (added Tuesday 26th) Just a quick add on which relates to Neil Lennon, it emerged this morning that assistant referee Steven Craven has quit the game because he and his children were being abused after his involvement in the Celtic vs Dundee Utd game last weekend. This is a disgrace as I have seen the incident and Pernis got the ball so in my mind the assistant referee did the right thing by getting the ref to change his decision to the correct one. If the manager is seen giving the officials no end of abuse because he thinks he is in the right then it will encourage the fans to do the same and then a man loses his job. Shocking, absolutely shocking.
0 Response to "Well that was another interesting weekend on planet football"
Post a Comment