I watched both Tottenham and Chelsea play over the weekend, with neither team looking very impressive. Tottenham suffered the embarrassment of losing to a Djibril Cisse debut goal...for a second time (that's gotta hurt), while Chelsea just about scraped past Wigan, despite Frank Lampard's best efforts. First, to Tottenham.
Berbatov needs to be sold, and soon. This much is clear. What I don't understand is why a club managed by Alex Ferguson want to sign him. Yes he's a talented player, but he's got an abysmal attitude, and in my mind, he represents a big gamble. If Berbatov comes in, then in all likelihood that means Tevez gets relegated to the bench. Tevez isn't a genius, but he works as hard as anyone when United don't have the ball, and he chips in with his fair share of goals too. Think of all the time on the ball any backline will get if United are relying on Berbatov and Ronadlo to chase things down. Sure you might have a red-faced Rooney running around like a red card waiting to happen, but will that be enough given the sheer unwillingness of either Ronaldo or Berbatov to do any sort of defensive work? I think not.
And then there's Berbatov's present attitude. I see no reason why he can't give his all for Tottenham right now and then move along to United should a deal go through. A real pro should concentrate on playing football for his present club, instead of talking about 'following his dream' and moving to Manchester. That sort of talk stinks of Cristiano Ronaldo, and I'm beginning to wonder why Ferguson is putting up with these heartless, soulless footballers who think of little else than money and fame. (Read this if you want to see how a proper player approaches the game). Maybe Ferguson just doesn't care enough anymore, which is certainly not good news for United. (My gut feeling is that they might struggle this year, but just like those damn Germans, you can never right them off).
Against Sunderland, Tottenham looked a bit all over the place. Not the good kind of all over the place that Barcelona exhibit so well, but the kind of all over the place that leaves Jermaine Jenas as your most attacking threat. Spurs, like Arsenal, lack any real bite in midfield, but unlike Arsenal, they also lack any real goal threat. A lot of people tipped Darren Bent to step up the the plate this season, but so far my prediction that 'a rubbish player is still a rubbish player no matter who plays behind him' stands. That may change, and he may start banging in goals (though I hope not, for fantasy football's sake), but if I were Juande I'd start looking to buy a new main striker, and soon.
Talk of Arshavin coming in has yet to cease, which perplexes me. Arshavin is a talented player no question, but is he what Spurs need? Maybe I'm wrong here, but to my knowledge he's basically the exact same player as Luka Modric. Now I do love the playmakers of this world, and if I had my way every starting 11 would be full of them, but I'm also well aware that that would not be a good idea, especially if you have ambitions of, you know, winning games and stuff. As intrigued as I would be to see Modric and Arshavin line up alongside each other, I don't think that would be the answer to Spurs' problem. In fact I'm sure it wouldn't.
Simply put, they need a defensive midfielder and a striker. If they get both then they may push for fourth place. If they don't, then mid-table mediocrity it will be, and the magic Juande could find himself conjuring up his tricks elsewhere. (Right now his record is actually worse than that of Martin Jol's. If you ask me, I think Ramos is just getting by on his looks, but that's neither here nor there).
As for Chelsea, it seemed like everyone just wanted to hand them the Premier League trophy after last weeks destruction of Portsmouth. I mean I wouldn't have been surprised to hear of a bookie paying out on Chelsea winning the league already, given that one bookie actually payed out on Stoke going down [!]. Funny stuff.
Admittedly, Chelsea were good. But they weren't that good. Two of their goals came directly from David James mistakes (England's number one people), and another from the penalty spot. In the second half, Chelsea really were average at best, and they continued that trend in Wigan over the weekend.
But for a sublime freekick from Deco (reminiscent to this one scored by the greatest player of our generation), Wigan would have secured at least a draw, and maybe even a deserved win. Chelsea looked their age in the middle of the park, and Anelka looked out of sorts, as he has done since he moved to Chelsea in January.
Frank Lampard continued where he left off for England in midweek by remaining a ghostly figure throughout this match, while Joe Cole was just very, very poor (though of course none of this was mentioned on MOTD 2). The Wigan midfield worked their socks off, no question, but against high quality opposition mere hard work shouldn't be enough to deter them. If Chelsea continue to play like this away from home, then while they may not concede many goals, they may not score many either.
That said, if you forced me to put money on a team to win the league, I'd probably back Chelsea, but only just. I certainly don't think they are invincible, and just like last season, I think things will be quite competitive at the top - provided Arsenal sort out those problems I mentioned previously, and Liverpool, um, eh...Ah who am I kidding? Liverpool really don't have a chance of winning the league, but that's another post for another day.
Berbatov needs to be sold, and soon. This much is clear. What I don't understand is why a club managed by Alex Ferguson want to sign him. Yes he's a talented player, but he's got an abysmal attitude, and in my mind, he represents a big gamble. If Berbatov comes in, then in all likelihood that means Tevez gets relegated to the bench. Tevez isn't a genius, but he works as hard as anyone when United don't have the ball, and he chips in with his fair share of goals too. Think of all the time on the ball any backline will get if United are relying on Berbatov and Ronadlo to chase things down. Sure you might have a red-faced Rooney running around like a red card waiting to happen, but will that be enough given the sheer unwillingness of either Ronaldo or Berbatov to do any sort of defensive work? I think not.
And then there's Berbatov's present attitude. I see no reason why he can't give his all for Tottenham right now and then move along to United should a deal go through. A real pro should concentrate on playing football for his present club, instead of talking about 'following his dream' and moving to Manchester. That sort of talk stinks of Cristiano Ronaldo, and I'm beginning to wonder why Ferguson is putting up with these heartless, soulless footballers who think of little else than money and fame. (Read this if you want to see how a proper player approaches the game). Maybe Ferguson just doesn't care enough anymore, which is certainly not good news for United. (My gut feeling is that they might struggle this year, but just like those damn Germans, you can never right them off).
Against Sunderland, Tottenham looked a bit all over the place. Not the good kind of all over the place that Barcelona exhibit so well, but the kind of all over the place that leaves Jermaine Jenas as your most attacking threat. Spurs, like Arsenal, lack any real bite in midfield, but unlike Arsenal, they also lack any real goal threat. A lot of people tipped Darren Bent to step up the the plate this season, but so far my prediction that 'a rubbish player is still a rubbish player no matter who plays behind him' stands. That may change, and he may start banging in goals (though I hope not, for fantasy football's sake), but if I were Juande I'd start looking to buy a new main striker, and soon.
Talk of Arshavin coming in has yet to cease, which perplexes me. Arshavin is a talented player no question, but is he what Spurs need? Maybe I'm wrong here, but to my knowledge he's basically the exact same player as Luka Modric. Now I do love the playmakers of this world, and if I had my way every starting 11 would be full of them, but I'm also well aware that that would not be a good idea, especially if you have ambitions of, you know, winning games and stuff. As intrigued as I would be to see Modric and Arshavin line up alongside each other, I don't think that would be the answer to Spurs' problem. In fact I'm sure it wouldn't.
Simply put, they need a defensive midfielder and a striker. If they get both then they may push for fourth place. If they don't, then mid-table mediocrity it will be, and the magic Juande could find himself conjuring up his tricks elsewhere. (Right now his record is actually worse than that of Martin Jol's. If you ask me, I think Ramos is just getting by on his looks, but that's neither here nor there).
As for Chelsea, it seemed like everyone just wanted to hand them the Premier League trophy after last weeks destruction of Portsmouth. I mean I wouldn't have been surprised to hear of a bookie paying out on Chelsea winning the league already, given that one bookie actually payed out on Stoke going down [!]. Funny stuff.
Admittedly, Chelsea were good. But they weren't that good. Two of their goals came directly from David James mistakes (England's number one people), and another from the penalty spot. In the second half, Chelsea really were average at best, and they continued that trend in Wigan over the weekend.
But for a sublime freekick from Deco (reminiscent to this one scored by the greatest player of our generation), Wigan would have secured at least a draw, and maybe even a deserved win. Chelsea looked their age in the middle of the park, and Anelka looked out of sorts, as he has done since he moved to Chelsea in January.
Frank Lampard continued where he left off for England in midweek by remaining a ghostly figure throughout this match, while Joe Cole was just very, very poor (though of course none of this was mentioned on MOTD 2). The Wigan midfield worked their socks off, no question, but against high quality opposition mere hard work shouldn't be enough to deter them. If Chelsea continue to play like this away from home, then while they may not concede many goals, they may not score many either.
That said, if you forced me to put money on a team to win the league, I'd probably back Chelsea, but only just. I certainly don't think they are invincible, and just like last season, I think things will be quite competitive at the top - provided Arsenal sort out those problems I mentioned previously, and Liverpool, um, eh...Ah who am I kidding? Liverpool really don't have a chance of winning the league, but that's another post for another day.
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