Match Of The Day a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
October 30, 2016
2,139 Views
- Arsenal opened up proceedings yesterday with what in the end was a comfortable 4-1 win over Sunderland.
- After going ahead through Alexis Sanchez many felt it was going to be routine run out for The Gunners but it wasn’t without a second half scare
- With Duncan Watmore bundled down by Petr Cech, The Black Cats were presented with the perfect opportunity to draw level and Jermain Defoe obliged as he slammed home a penalty to level things up at 1-1
- If you were a Sunderland fan you would have every right to think ‘Do you know what we can this’
- But just 11 minutes you would be saying ‘Right I’ve had enough, I’m going home’
- As Sunderland not only collapsed they pretty much melted in the rare autumnal sun, conceding three goals in just the space of 6 minutes
- A miserable end to the game for Sunderland who now just have 2 points from their first 10 matches. The worst start to a Premier League campaign ever, even worse than Aston Villa.
- The question now is will David Moyes stay in the job on the other side of the international break. Defeat next week and surely Ellis Short will have to throw up the signal for Sam Allardyce to return
- For Arsenal, Alexis Sanchez bags a brace and he is not a recognised striker while Oliver Giroud scores twice with his first two touches. A nice dilemma for Arsene Wenger to have
- Thankfully for Manchester City it wasn’t the not so magnificent seven as they breezed past West Brom at The Hawthorns to get back to winning ways
- A 4-0 demolition job for Pep Guardiola’s men as Sergio Aguero found his shooting boots with a brace of goals
- That said West Brom did have a go in the second half but they couldn’t find a goal that would have given them a foothold in the game
- With West Brom having given it their all they then had to dig in to keep the score at just 2-0 unfortunately for them Ilkay Gundogan got a brace of his own to end Arsenal’s very temporary stint at the top of the table
- At Selhurst Park it was a case of anything you can do we can do just as well as Liverpool recorded a 4 goal haul of their own
- Once again they failed to keep a clean sheet but they certainly won the award for the most entertaining game of yesterday
- Twice they went infront but twice Palace hauled them level. James McArthur scoring not one but two headers to restore parity for The Eagles
- But Liverpool’s gung-ho approach once again paid dividends as Joel Matip made it 3-2 before the break and Roberto Firmino killed off a spirited Palace with a second half strike to make the score 4-2
- This game last year was embroiled in penalty drama and it was more of the same this time around as Alan Pardew felt his side should have had three penalties
- I think three is being a bit generous but they definitely should have had one when Wilifried Zaha was felled by Emre Can with the score being 3-2
- Had a penalty been awarded and Can been shown what would have been a second yellow card we would have been looking at a different outcome
- But Liverpool keep pace with Manchester City and Arsenal as the three sides have a three point gap over Tottenham
- You can read my thoughts on Tottenham vs Leicester here – http://realfootballman.com/football/tottenham-vs-leicester-quick-thoughts-2/
- As 0-0’s go the one at Old Trafford was not a run of the mill offering as Manchester United recorded 37 shots at Tom Heaton’s goal but failed to get an all important goal to go home with three points
- In a game which saw United reduced to 10 men after 65 minutes when Ander Herrera was sent off for a second bookable offence and Jose Mourinho set to the stands at half time you just felt that it was perhaps not going to be The Red Devils’ day
- Should Matteo Darmian have had a penalty? Well Mourinho felt it should have been awarded and it was his half time conversation with Mark Clattenburg which saw him not welcome on the touchline after the restart
- On the pitch Zlatan Ibrahimovic once again failed to score as his run without a goal is now 6 Premier League matches and he hasn’t scored since the Manchester derby on September 10th
- He probably should have scored yesterday had it not been for the sheer heroics of Tom Heaton
- The best save of the lot was from Ibraimovic’s near post volley which arrowed to net only for Heaton to launch himself in the flight of the ball to keep the ball out
- Burnley were nothing short of heroic as they picked up their first point on the road as for United they are now 8 points behind the trio of teams at the top. It’s going from bad to worse for Mourinho as of late as the possibility of a Old Trafford stadium ban looms large
- Middlesbrough picked up their first win in 8 matches to give them a bit of breathing space between themselves them and the bottom three. Their 2-0 win over Bournemouth now sees them move up to 14th and it also ends Eddie Howe’s side unbeaten run of four matches
- Gaston Ramirez opened the scoring with a fantastic individual goal, a run that started from his own half ended with a shot nestled past Artur Boruc to give the home side the lead.
- After the break Alvaro Negredo and Stuart Downing linked up to double Boro’s advantage to give them all three points and a welcome return to winning ways
- And finally Watford may have left it late but they got all three points at home to Hull. It was a harsh way for Hull to lose as Michael Dawson’s 83rd minute own goal was the difference.
- Although Hull had tightened up at the back they weren’t tight enough as they fell to their 6th straight defeat. A run of form that will have new permanent boss Mike Phelan very concerned
- As for Watford that win takes them above Manchester United and into 7th place, it’s fair to say Walter Mazzari’s transition to English Football has been a smooth one.
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