The WEEKEND REVIEW: 25th-26th August
Thu 30 Aug 2007, 09:10
Performance of the Week
After being under immense pressure after his team had lost their first three games this season, conceding eight goals along the way, lil’ Sam has to get this honour this week with his side’s 3-0 victory over a good Reading team. Unfortunately for Sammy Lee the problems don’t appear to be over just yet, however, because by this Saturday morning he might well have reluctantly had to sell his star forward (Nicolas Anelka), his first choice attacking midfielder (El-Hadji Diouf) and his starting centre-back (Abdoulaye Faye) from the opening game of the season. If that is actually the case it could be a long season for everyone at the Reebok.
Stat of the Week No.1
The Everton and Blackburn clash at Goodison Park contained 38 fouls – Everton the winners with 20 compare with only 18 committed by Blackburn.
Goal of the Week No.1
Mark Viduka’s close control, spin and finish versus his former club was superb, especially when you consider the player he was making look ordinary was Jonathan Woodgate.
Goal of the Week No.2
Liverpool’s break-away goal versus Sunderland in the early Saturday kick-off. A fine break with some fine passing and movement ended with a nice finish by Andriy Voronin after he stepped inside Greg Halford’s challenge.
Route-one goal of the week
This week’s winner was close to being a three touch gem, but Frank Lampard took that extra touch - long free-kick clearance by Petr Cech, brought down by Didier Drogba and back heeled into the path of Frank Lampard, who took one touch towards the area and hit his shot under David James.
Coaching Performance of the Week
Even though we have given the performance of the week to a coach (above) we have to give out this award as well, but to a different performer. Martin Jol deserves a mention for putting up with awful goings on by the Tottenham board. We have our own concerns about Jol and his constant choice of poorly performing players throughout last season, but throwing the Dutchman under a bus by openly trying to replace him while he is in place is just poor senior management. For Jol’s team to play the way they did reflected how well he prepared them this week throughout the turmoil. The result unfortunately didn’t help matters.
Ten observations from the Weekend
1. The BBC beat us to it, but Pascal Chimbonda was fantastic against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. His tackling and positioning were superb. In fact his tackling was excellent last season, but his marking was poor at times – committing six of his 13 goal costing errors in such fashion last season. We commented in this year’s book that if management could get him to work on his positioning and cut out the marking mistakes, he could move his defensive rating to above-average quality to match his obvious attacking strengths. On Sunday’s evidence they might have done just that.
2. West Ham fans should still beware because the team’s defensive woes continue. There doesn’t appear to be much continuity among the back four and how Wigan only managed a point with some of the calamity continuing in the Hammer back line is beyond us. The quality is there, with Upson, Neill and McCartney all being integrated since Curbs arrived, but the unit just looks all over the place at times at the moment.
3. It was interesting that Jolean Lescott did not start this week for Everton versus Blackburn at Goodison Park. After being a substitute in the first two games of last season Lescott has started 39 straight Premier League games for the Toffees. Yes he has been at fault for a couple of goals conceded already this season, but Everton’s defence is far better with him in the lineup. With the addition of Baines, Everton have a decent traditional left-back, but that doesn’t mean Lescott should be dropped. Everton would benefit more from resting the aging Stubbs whenever Baines is included and moving Lescott over to centre-back his ‘natural’ position.
4. Man City’s defence was finally breached after 350 minutes and it also brought their 100% record to an end. Whether the international break was a factor or not is unknown, but a number of City’s players looked incredible tired by the end of the game. None more so than the two players partially at fault for the winning goal - young starlet Micah Richards, who was slow to read and react to the danger of Cesc Fabregas making a run into the area, and Ditmar Hamann who did nothing to track the Spaniard’s run. Richards certainly looked fatigued from international duty during the second half and as we suggested in ‘The Football Review 2007’, Hamann will need regular rest at this stage of his career to remain seriously effective.
5. Ashley Young versus Chris Baird = extreme mismatch.
6. ….come to think about it Chris Baird versus any Premier League left-midfielder = mismatch so far this season.
7. Once the new members of the Liverpool front line gel and start to be more ruthless in front of goal an opposing team is going to be on the wrong side on a heavy score-line.
8. Momo Sissoko finally opening his Liverpool goal account and according to Richard Keys no one could have predicted that. Our player projection model SIMprofilerTM did Richard.
9. If Aiyegbeni Yakubu makes his reported move to Everton it will mean Middlesbrough have lost a staggering 59% of their goal output from last season. Can Jeremie Aliadiere, Tuncay, and Ahmed Mido match Yakubu and Viduka’s 26 goals combined? It is highly unlikely.
10. Fulham continuing their run of 2-1 score-lines for the fourth week in a row. Can they make it five next week?
What to watch out for next week
Keane returns to Old Trafford – will he and Sir Alex shake hands. Alternatively, you could just watch the football.