Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The Good
- Southampton. That’s how you end a streak of not winning in 5 matches by thumping Arsenal 4-0 at home, in fairness to The Saints it could have been 7 had Shane Long not had a goal ruled out and hit the post and not forgetting Virgil Van Dijk having a header ruled out also. Ronald Koeman had to read the riot act after their defeat to Tottenham saying that if his players weren’t careful they would find themselves in a relegation battle come 2016. They answered in the best possible fashion with a memorable Boxing Day win and what a strike by Martina the Right Back. It was almost Roberto Carlos like, it must have started about 2 or 3 foot outside the post and then wickedly swung past the helpless Petr Cech, a goal of the season contender that’s for sure. That win doesn’t move Southampton up the table but it will certainly do their confidence a world of good.
- Manchester City, probably the big victors of the day as Leicester and Arsenal both slipped up and they managed to take full advantage by closing the gap at the top to 3 and pretty much nullifying their Emirates defeat on Monday. No Sergio Aguero yesterday but they didn’t need him thanks to the efforts of Kevin De Bruyne, his two assists and second half goal played a massive part in their comfortable win over Sunderland. It could have been even more had Wilfried Bony not missed a Penalty to make it 5-1. City will have a couple of blots on their copy book though. Again there was a failure to keep a clean sheet and also Vincent Kompany. He came on for a second half cameo and that’s all it was as less than 1o minutes later he was replaced by Martin Demechelis. Manuel Pellegrini will now be sweating on whether Kompany’s injury is another long term one but surely he must regret bringing him on in such a needless situation.
- Tottenham. There’s now clear daylight between them and Manchester United in the race for 4th and with two of the title challengers losing yesterday maybe Spurs have every right to be looking ahead of themselves instead of over their shoulder. That talk is probably a little premature but performances like the one against Norwich will do them no harm whatsoever. Harry Kane bagged another brace and Dele Alli run the show in Midfield. Their link up play is becoming a real joy to watch this season and Mauricio Pochettino will have to make sure he manages their game time correctly to stop Tottenham’s campaign from burning out by Springtime.
They can also point to the meanest Defence in the league and the joint least amount of defeats so far this season, if they only there hadn’t been so many draws we could have been looking at a 4 way race at the top. The question is can Spurs now kick on when it really matters. - Liverpool. They managed to get their first win 4 matches over league leaders Leicester yesterday, it wasn’t the most convincing of performances but Jurgen Klopp will definitely be happy with the marked improvement of performance compared to their miserable outing at Watford last Weekend. That win also saw them move up to 8th place in the table as Klopp managed to get his tactics right to stifle the men of the moment Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. It could have been a more comfortable win were it for a farcical last 60 seconds. Christian Benteke was yards offside with Kasper Schmeichel out of his net but he somehow contrived to miss a near open goal. There could have been a final twist in the tale as Andy King nearly scored a header straight down the other end. A heart raising finish but Jurgen Klopp will be happy that Liverpool are back to winning ways and managed to get a clean sheet under their belts. Still some work to do at Anfield though.
- Swansea their first win in 14 matches and a vital one which saw them move out of the Top 4. It wasn’t particularly pretty but when you’re down that end of the table they never usually are. Ki’s goal had a stroke of luck as it squirmed out of Boaz Myhill’s hands but credit must go to the South Korean for his anticipation of the loose ball. The Swans may have rode their luck as West Brom could point to two possible Penalties but Swansea won’t care as to how they won, they’ll just be glad they have and are now at of the drop zone. The big thing for Huw Jenkins now is does he persevere for Alan Curtis for the remainder of the season or will they finally get a replacement in for Garry Monk. With the transfer window opening soon, Jenkins is going to have to decide whether to stick or twist, then again if he can’t actually find a replacement that decision may be made for him.
The Bad
- Arsenal. Have the chance to go top….lose 4-0, that is just so Arsenal isn’t it. Monday they were riding high as their win over Manchester City made them the bookies favourites for the title. By 10pm they were bought back down to earth after a thumping on the South Coast by Southampton. Arsene Wenger could perhaps point to some contentious issues for two or maybe three of the goals but that doesn’t mask the fact that they were simply outplayed. With that defeat all their efforts on Monday have been wiped out and the gap between the two title rivals is just a point, last night was a real opportunity to throw down a marker and go top of the table one that they failed to take. Arsenal won’t have a better chance to win the league since 2004 then this season but if they keep stuttering when it really matters then it looks like they’ll pass up another title. Does Wenger push the panic button and bring in some new faces to bolster the challenge or does he keep confidence in what he already has. Wenger knows best.
- Manchester United. Another defeat for United as Louis Van Gaal inches slightly closer to the exit door. It looks like he’ll still be in charge for the visit of Chelsea tomorrow but another defeat and could that spell the end and the start of the Jose Mourinho era at Old Trafford. It’s no coincidence that the pressure has been cranked up by since the sacking of Mourinho but performances on the pitch certainly haven’t helped either. 3 defeats in a row, no win in 5 and out of the Champions League the ticks in the negative column are starting to stack up against Van Gaal. They offered very little away at Stoke yesterday in a game that was summed up by Memphis Depay’s tame back header that led to Stoke’s opener. They may have improved in the second half when Wayne Rooney came on but by that point the game was already a lost cause, will Van Gaal’s employment situation be the same come Monday night.
- Chelsea. Turns out it’s not the Manager’s fault after all then. After the brief respite of a win at home to Sunderland last week it was back to square one yesterday as they slipped up (literally) at home to Watford. They were the bookies favourites as many, me included felt the new manager bounce and return of Guus Hiddink would be enough to start off the Chelsea revival. Only no one took into account the form of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney for Watford. Chelsea managed to get their noses in front through Diego Costa, who it must be said had one of his better matches bagging a brace and then subsequently a Yellow Card which sees him miss the trip to Old Trafford but the Defensive frailties are still apparent as Watford managed to get themselves in front in the second half. Credit to Chelsea they did battle back and level things up but when you’re lucks not in, it’s really not in. Presented with the chance to win the game, Oscar slipped on the spot and ballooned his Penalty over the bar. 4th place and Champions League Football next season must be all but a pipe dream now for Guus Hiddink, if he’s going to get Chelsea their he’s going to have to do it the hard way and win the competition outright.
- Newcastle. It’s their turn to occupy the bottom 3 this weekend as Norwich have a better Goal Difference and Swansea got their first win since August. They had their chances yesterday but Alexsander Mirtovic’s finishing was pretty bad last night in what was the front of a pretty toothless Newcastle attack. Steve McClaren would have been happy with a battling point at home to Everton to extend their unbeaten streak to 4 matches but they switched off right at the very end. They must have thought a point was secured when Chancel Mbemba’s last ditch tackle stopped Romelu Lukaku from pulling the trigger but they fell asleep from the subsequent corner and that allowed Tom Cleverly to snatch a late, late winner. It looked like progress was being made on Tyneside over the past few weeks, now it looks like it’s back to square one for The Magpies.
- Aston Villa and West Ham. Two teams who can’t buy a win and manged to cancel each other out yesterday. It’s no win in 8 for West Ham as they slip to 10th in the table while Aston Villa still haven’t won since the opening day of the season as Remi Garde is still on the hunt for that elusive first win since taking charge of the club.
West Ham have got a long injury list at the moment and were probably there for the taking yesterday but Villa still don’t have enough in them to beat teams. Villa are getting slightly better but they need to improve at a much quicker rate if they are to survive. As for West Ham their season is petering out before their very eyes, the bubble has well and truly burst.
