Darren Bent is the only man to score against all of the ‘big 4’ this season and has a strike rate to be admired with 9 goals in 13 games, it sees Sunderland up to eighth in the table. Despite this, my thoughts don’t change one bit, the former Spurs striker won’t be heading to South Africa with the rest of the squad.
What was interesting though is that Arsenal looked fragile and really lacked the free flowing passing that we are used to seeing. Arsenal, unbeaten in their previous 13 games, failed to score for the first time in 20 matches this season. Could the absence of the injured Robin Van Persie be as catastrophic as the loss of Xavi Alonso to Liverpool?
Football in Scotland is in a period of uncertainty and rarely do we look there for footballing talent, but one man hasn’t let this inhibit his own performance. That man is the ‘Flying Scotsman’ Darren Fletcher whos majestic volley set Manchester United on the path to a comfortable victory against Everton yesterday. Undoubtedly the Scotland captain is vital to United’s success this season and a name that I would imagine goes down first on Sir Alex Fergusons team list. The more I see the 25 year old the more he proves that his presence is pivotal to Manchester United’s performance. Michael Owen started, didn’t bag a goal but looked great if he isn’t given a seat on the plane to South Africa, surely Rio can squeeze him in his holdall. England need him and learning from Sven's errors should take 5 strikers.
Against the odds, Hull managed to drag a point from their game with West Ham and once again they have the cheeky Jimmy Bullard to thank for this. His ability to lift the players with a never say die attitude is worth its weight in gold. No doubt Phil Brown is smiling like the Cheshire cat that got the cream this morning as he gets out of jail again!
Chelsea continue to look sensational despite missing several key players. What pleases me most is that Joe Cole is back to business carving up teams ready to play a key role next summer. Gael Kakuta made his debut and he didn’t disappoint, for the controversy that surrounds him, I hope for Chelseas sake he is the prodigy they are hoping for! Overall in the words of their manager Mick McCarthy Wolves got “mulllerd”, indeed they did, churned like an out of date yogurt!
Anfield yesterday provided the worst half of Premier League football I have seen so far this season and both Liverpool and Manchester City failed to convince they will finish in the top 4. Steven Gerrard the Whiston Wizard predictably was on form, but even he couldn’t add light to the dreary display. Not sure they can bounce back from recent results, not even a placenta could heal their wounds!
On the continent Thierry Henry no doubt feeling distant and removed certainly put the ‘lona’ in Barcelona as came on against Athletic Bilbao last night. Boos from the crowd suggested the effects of his actions are widespread and it will be a long time before he can say adios to the incident! In the same game the 19 year old striker Bojan incredibly made his 100th performance, I’d love to see this kid in the Premier League he scored over 1000 goals for Barca’s youth team!
Bojan's going *NOWHERE* ;-)
ReplyDeleteI actually went to Bilbao and confirm that Henry did cop abuse from their fans. Barca's Socis, however, aren't backing or barracking him; they rarely care enough about Spain, so whether he handballed for France is the least of the fickle Catalan's concerns. Woeful Barca performance, though.
Fletcher is ace and should be first on Fergie's teamsheet every week. Giggs is still getting the accolades, but it's been evident - this season especially - that Fletcher holds United's midfield as a unit. When United were paying for Rooney on the drip and in screws and washers and Carling Cup squad members, the one lad I hoped we'd end up with at Goodison was Fletcher. United need to forget subpar players like Anderson and mercenary-in-the-making Nani and get building their future midfield around a Scotland's captain!