Well after the transfer deadline mayhem this was actually a pretty unremarkable week for analysis we thought, without droning on about Liverpool's travails which have been covered in far too much detail everywhere else for us to bore you with our views as well.
Aston Villa fans must be going into the international break with a newfound sense of optimism after their performance against Newcastle. After their deadline day dealings we were fearing the worst for the Villains. Their signings consisted of League One players and a 21 year old striker from the Belgian league. Villa have very little experience in their side and it says something when Stephen Ireland is one of the most senior players in your squad. The thing about young players though, as commentators love to remind us, is that they are fearless and Sunday’s result could show this. It’s about time Shay Given was dropped after his terrible Euros and start to this season, but the central defence seems too inexperienced. James Collins was sold which is strange considering Richard Dunne is still injured from the Euros. Up front, Villa look very light weight, as mentioned in previous posts, and it really does seem like they will struggle this year to score goals. But if one man can do it it’s Paul Lambert. He weaved his magic with Norwich bringing in League One players such as Elliott Bennett and Anthony Pilkington who made the step up with aplomb, and he must be hoping Jordan Bowery and Ashley Westwood do the same, and who knows maybe they will?
In the football league, Sheffield Wednesday fans finally found out that Dave Jones does not in fact walk on water and is still a horrible, bitter man and the sorest loser in football. After his first defeat as boss of Wednesday, he blamed the officials for changing the game by changing their minds about giving a penalty against his team, claiming it incensed the Crystal Palace crowd and created a feeling of injustice which spurred the Palace players on to victory! Ridiculous.
Roundup
QPR produced arguably their best half of the Premier League season away at Manchester City on Saturday evening. In spite of what the clueless Jon Champion and Chris Waddle might have made you believe, the R's did offer something to the game at the end of the first half and through most of the second half. They began playing some neat passing football after half time and were rewarded for being more daring with a goal to make it 1-1 and have City worried. Perhaps they could even have scored a second if the ball had fallen to someone other than Ryan Nelsen. Maybe City took their foot off the gas, but given how abject our football has looked this season to date, this was tons better from Rangers and gave the away support plenty of encouragement that all these signings might actually gel to form a decent team. (Note from J – as a United fan the most annoying thing of this game was that when QPR put some passing together their football was excellent, but this happened all too infrequently – one friend said to me Mark Hughes is the wrong manager for the new crop of players and I’m starting to agree).
After 2 games of this season Manchester United have already recovered more points from losing positions this season than they did throughout the whole of last season (6 v 3, thanks Opta Joe!). The signing of Robin Van Persie already looks like it is paying off and United look very confident in front of goal. He has taken no time at all to bed into the team and looks totally at home in this team, even praising Paul Scholes to the heavens yesterday. It seems like this is a match made in heaven and hopefully it will inspire Wayne Rooney and Chicharito and Welbeck to keep up with RVP as well. The defence is still looking susceptible to goals and the time may come sooner rather than later to see how Alexander Buttner can adjust to being thrown into the first team as Patrice Evra’s form continues to slip. The problem with him and Rafael as full backs is that their main strengths are both attacking rather than defending, though Rafael is improving - but he had no chance against Rickie Lambert on Sunday!
A return to winning ways for the mighty Crewe was most welcome. The Railwaymen saw off a sorry looking Coventry thanks to a scrappy looking goal from Max Clayton after he'd missed a sitter earlier in the game. Who needs Nick Powell or Ashley Westwood eh? Let’s hope the fabled academy produces someone else to step up though as there is a lot of burden on Abdul Osman and Luke Murphy at the moment!
Unfortunately, the news on Monday night wasn't quite so positive from the Alten Försterei as 1.FC Union Berlin went down 2-1 at home to city rivals Hertha BSC. Union pulled the game back to level terms but, just like the City v QPR game, parity lasted just a few minutes. On a side note, we were surprised to see that Ben Sahar has turned up at Hertha!
What we learned this week:-
- Steven Fletcher looks like exactly what Sunderland needed and is already looking like he can justify his price tag
- As expected, Andy Carroll and West Ham looks to be a match made in heaven
- Liverpool could do with another striker before the transfer window clo-... Oh.
- The Albion continue to make a mockery of J's league prediction
- Neil Warnock and El Hadji Diouf are best friends, honest!
- Paulo Di Canio will take you off after 21 minutes if he thinks you're having a bad game, whatever position you play in, and then criticise you for reacting badly when substituted even though he demanded to be substituted in a game against Bradford City in 2000!
- Finally J got the first correct score of the season with the City v QPR result – psychic I tell you!
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