Well then! Quite a busy weekend eh? Mel & Magath get off the mark, Southampton's British contingent look to push on and secure a World Cup spot, and Everton leave it late to win with one of the jammiest goals I've seen in a long time. The sort of goal that you'd be embarrassed to celebrate too actively.
In the big games - let's go chronologically...Villa pulled off a shock win against a Chelsea side looking to extend their lead at the top. It was all square until Will-i-an received a second booking midway through the second half, for what was perceived to be an innocuous challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't have my glasses on at the time, and it looked to me as if he macheted the back of Delph's knees as if he were a gazelle on the savannah. The rewind button on my TV was also broken temporarily so I was unable to check whether my initial impression was correct once I'd located my glasses. What I did watch over and over was the bloody good goal Villa scored. Great build up play from our antelopine friend before a cheeky/total fluke finish left Cech looking rather ungainly. There was still time for a trademark Ramires Reducer from the flithiest Kenyan since
this bloke. A disgusting tackle, which deserved the straight red, and caused some chaos on the pitch. Moaninho was sent to the stands for being a generally huge
arschloch, and he bleated on about loads of other people committing the same crime with no punishment. Unfortunately, every single pixel on my TV screen except for the immediate LED halo around Mou broke temporarily at that exact moment, so I can neither confirm nor deny if that was true. I did however find my glasses, so a good night for mankind, I feel.
However, all that was overshadowed by the events of Sunday. Due to poor (I blame the wife) planning, I was otherwise engaged all day with preparing for a family event - and therefore missed the game at Old Trafford as well as the North London Derby. Having watched the games later on, let's discuss.
NorthWest correspondent: I thought Liverpool looked pretty good - rapid, counterattacking play beat some ponderous defending. Vidic may well be leaving before he's pushed, Rafael is an utter liability and Man Utd are finally paying for neglecting Midfield as an area of the team, having now lost a football genius who through a variety of techniques (many psychological) are now massively exposed. You can see his loss due to the 3 penalty awards! To lose at home to major rivals is upsetting; to do so without an attack of note is galling. The question is now, does David Moyes get the backing of the board to carry out the major overhaul needed to come back and compete, after ~£70m already spent to go backwards. This summer, whoever's in charge will not only have to improve the current squad, but also replace at least 2 centrebacks, likely 1 striker and the squadplayer part played by Giggs (as seen midweek). It's serious, serious work and I'd personally like Davey Moyes to stay there forever.
North London correspondent: Someone else I'd like to stay in the dugout forever is the artist formerly known as Gilet. I've long been an advocate of AVB - I don't think he's perfect but I think he's essentially had the rug pulled out from under him both at Chelsea and at Spurs in a very unfair way. There's no point bringing in a guy with a philosophy and backing him if you're not willing to give him a chance to succeed (a la Rodgers). Let's be clear - Spurs are at best, 5th favourites, if not 6th for CL football. That they have flirted with 4th in the last few years is due to underperformance from big guns. That they have got so close, has been in no small part to a Welsh left foot, now stamping to a flamenco beat of a Sunday night. When he decided to leave, it was never going to be an easy task to sustain that kind of form, regardless of the crowing coming from the more knuckle-dragging elements. The decision to fire him, in my opinion was remarkably short-sighted. Spurs shouldn't be anywhere near the Champions' League places given their relative resources. To perform a juggling act of integrating new players and maintaining a semblance of a challenge is a pretty decent achievement in my book, even if the results are inconsistent and the football somewhat turgid. This doesn't mean there wasn't improvement to be made, just that being trigger happy in favour of Tiny Timmy is a hole entirely of their own making.
Anyway - the game was largely reminiscent of Arsenal at the latter end of last season. We scored early (and what a hit) and then backed themselves to hold out against a blunt Spurs attack. Sacking a guy for not being Danny Blanchflower and Ossie Ardiles' lovechild and then replacing him with this mug - y'all deserve what you get.
Quite a lot on other clubs this week - and probably managed to alienate the majority you. Meh...
Let's get statty:
This week, 23 people played
The most predicted results were Everton & Man City WINS (23/23)
The most disputed result was Man Utd vs Liverpool (7-7-8 split)
The highest odds were: 2851/1 Josh Daniels (obvs)
The lowest odds were: 1585/1 Sam Ruback
Average odds: 2207/1
Best predictors: WhoScored.com, Sam Ruback and Charlie R (6/10)
Worst Predictors: Loads of people - see below (4/10)
Average score: 4.66
Best predicted results: Man City & Everton WINS (23/23)
Worst predicted result: WBA & Villa WINS (1/23 - well done Feneley & Charlie respectively)
Everyone's scores:
To the leaderboard, for those who have played >2/3 of available weeks (19/28):
To this week's predos:
Chelsea vs Arsenal - ARSENAL (1000 games, Mou to lose his home record. Written in the stars)
Cardiff vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Everton vs Swansea - EVERTON
Hull vs WBA - DRAW
Man City vs Fulham - MAN CITY
Newcastle vs Crystal Palace - DRAW
Norwich vs Sunderland - NORWICH
West Ham vs Man Utd - WEST HAM
Spurs vs Southampton - DRAW
Aston Villa vs Stoke - ASTON VILLA
Total odds: 8596/1 (PaddyPower) ----> This is THE WEEK!
Midweek games are those postponed from a few weeks ago that were not counted, so will not be included. See you back next week
Good luck guys
