i'm beginning to enjoy this nonsense. clearly, i'm not very good - all of my posts so far have been obscenely long, an unfortunate consequence of the fact i am a verbose bore. but, of course, that also means i'm going to keep on and on and on. so, with that in mind, this weekend's premiership! i was very excited last weekend. this weekend i'm not really. one look at this rather desperate looking list should suffice.
however...
there are still a few games that look interesting. i guess the big one would be liverpool against middlesbrough at anfield. as i've previously mentioned, benitez's side were shocking against sunderland and liege, whilst boro are looking good: i doubted gareth southgate at the start, but i admire his quest to turn them into a real footballing side, and he's imbued the side with youth and enough verve to make them a dangerous proposition this season. the squad is thin and a little callow in places, to the extent that i can't see them doing any better than (a still creditable) 8th place finish this season - but there is real potential throughout, and they may catch a few 'bigger' opponents out whilst the pitches are still good and the inevitable injuries and suspensions haven't begun to wear them down. last week's performance against spurs was impressive, even if they were aided by terrible defending; they had a goal rightfully disallowed, allowed numerous good chances to slip away and could've won by a lot more. as an aside, i think justin hoyte is a potentially astute signing - as my brother will know, i actually made the rather premature claim a couple of seasons ago that he could be in the england squad, but despite his shaky performances last year i still rate him. he's a good footballer, as befits a product of arsene wenger, and i feel that given a regular first-team place he can regain his confidence and develop into the player i thought he was becoming.
i won't waste my time moaning about liverpool though. if you managed to drag yourself through my first post on the premiership, you'll already know my thoughts , but just in case: benitez has ruined the successful shape he stumbled onto last season by trying to force an ill-suited robbie keane into the starting 11; xabi alonso is out of favour, damian plessis doesn't look quite good enough and the team has no real width. as such, i fancy middlesbrough to get at least a draw.
elsewhere, wigan and chelsea on sunday is definitely intriguing. i may not care for steve bruce - i will never, ever forget the period at brum when he started playing his utterly hopeless son, alex, in defence, for no apparent reason - but to his credit he's done a good job at wigan. he's another manager that tries to play something a little more progressive, and i like some of his signings - i'm particularly interested in the progress of lee cattermole and amir zaki this season. but i'm mainly singling this out because of chelsea: as i have said, i'm dubious as to whether their win against pompey last weekend was anything more than a fluke result against a dreadful side, so i'll be watching them intently until things become a little clearer. this is exactly the type of game in which i would expect a good performance from frank lampard though, as he takes refuge from the typical england hostility in the snuggly warmth of chelsea. we shall see.
for similar reasons, i'll also be watching man united and pompey on monday. i have pompey pegged for a decline this season, and i'm on record saying i expect united to win the league again. i think we'll see united rebound and pick up a win, but they still need to pick up a striker. pompey have seen the gaydamak millions dry up a bit, and i believe that they desperately need one more quality midfielder - preferably a winger - if they are going to match last season's achievements.
No comments:
Post a Comment