2009-2010 Premiership

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26 August 2006

Stop Messing About And Ban Him Permanently

So, the Ben Thatcher forearm smash on Portsmouth player Pedro Mendes has been the talking point of the last few days.

Referee Dermot Gallagher - who only gave Thatcher a yellow card - has been downgraded and is
no longer a Premiership referee. Fair enough.

Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce, a man not known for mincing his words, has suspended Thatcher for the Arsenal game and launched an
internal investigation. Good. You would expect no less.

The F.A, have, of course, charged the player with serious foul play. OK, but...

Harry Redknapp was quoted on Sky Sports News as saying "If he ever does something like this again...he should be kicked out of the game...you can't do things like that".

Right, well, here's the problem. Thatcher has already done something like this before. Only a few months ago. He left a player in hospital with a punctured lung on that occasion.

This was in a supposedly 'friendly' game against Shanghai on City's pre-season tour of China.

So, the Mendes incident already is Thatcher doing "something like this again".

Just kick him out of football and stop messing around making excuses and offering second chances when this was his second, even third or fourth chance.



23 August 2006

Premiership Results So Far

Here are the Premiership results so far this season. Far be it from me to show bias, but that Berbatov is a bit good, isn't he:

22 Aug 2006
Tottenham: 2 Sheffield United: 0

Goalscorers: Berbatov (Spurs, 7) Jenas (Spurs, 14)

Watford: 1 West Ham: 1
Goalscorers: King (Watford, 63)Zamora (West Ham, 65)

20 Aug 2006
Chelsea: 3 Manchester City: 0

Goalscorers: Terry (Chelsea, 11) Lampard (Chelsea, 26) Drogba (Chelsea, 79)

Manchester United: 5 Fulham: 1
Goalscorers: Rooney (Man Utd, 16, 64) Ronaldo (Man Utd, 19) Saha (Man Utd, 7) Pearce (Fulham, 13 own goal)Ferdinand (Man Utd, 41 own goal)

19 Aug 2006
Bolton: 2 Tottenham: 0

Goalscorers: Davies (Bolton, 9) Campo (Bolton, 13)

Arsenal: 1 Aston Villa: 1
Goalscorers: Silva (Arsenal, 84) Mellberg (Villa, 53)

Everton: 2 Watford: 1
Goalscorers: Johnson (Everton, 15) Arteta (Everton, 82) Francis (Watford, 90)

Newcastle: 2 Wigan: 1
Goalscorers: Parker (Newcastle, 38) Ameobi (Newcastle, 64)McCulloch (Wigan, 59)

Portsmouth 3 Blackburn 0
Goalscorers: Todorov (Portsmouth, 26) Kanu (Portsmouth, 62 , 84)

Reading 3 Middlesbrough 2
Goalscorers: Kitson (Reading, 43) Sidwell (Reading, 44) Lita (Reading, 55) Downing (Middlesbrough, 11) Yakubu (Middlesbrough, 21)

West Ham 3 Charlton 1
Zamora (West Ham, 52 , 66) Cole (West Ham, 90) D. Bent (Charlton, 15)

Sheffield United: 1 Liverpool: 1

Goalscorers: Hulse (Sheffield Utd, 46) Fowler (Liverpool, 70)



Hargreaves : It Just Keeps Getting Better

Regular readers of this blog will know of my love for Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves. You know the guy - scary curly hair, wants to play for Man Utd, played nearly 2 decent games for England and is now the 'nation's hero'.

Well, his attempts to get himself transferred to Manchester United got even more amusing today as he is
threatening to hold a press conference to basically plead with Bayern Munich to let him go.

Aw. Sweet. Funny. Sad. Owen Hargreaves, once more, I salute you.



22 August 2006

Bayern Munich Get Stroppy

Seems like Manchester United - that most honourable and upstanding of Premiership football clubs (cough) - are doing it again.

It's hardly a secret that they are after Owen Hargreaves. In fact even Hargreaves himself has mentioned their interest.

Only one problem for Utd - Bayern Munich think he's quite a good player and don't want to sell him.

This
doesn't seem to have stopped Man U , however and now those lovely Germans at Bayern are threatening to report United for tapping up.

Their Chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, commented : "We have told Manchester United to drop their interest, or we will have to turn to FIFA...A club can only contact a player when the club, who owns the player's registration, is in agreement."

Maybe this time, someone really will report Man Utd to FIFA or UEFA, because this is far from the first time this has happened. But I really doubt it. The problem with the top European clubs is that they all sell and buy players from each other and are always wary of offending the other elite teams.

It would be nice to think it might happen though.



Why All The Interest In Terrible Strikers

Every year, managers in the Premier League chase after European strikers who had one good season (usually a couple of years before) and are, in fact, not up to the job.

The latest in a long line of these hopeless cases? Step forward Obafemi Martins. Martins - who is either 21 or 28 depending on which set of possibly dodgy documents you believe - currently plays for Inter Milan. However, it is now looking almost certain he will move to Newcastle United, a club that used to know a goalscorer when it saw one.

The fee? Somewhere around £10 million. Ten million quid for a guy with this domestic record ?!?


02-03: Inter Milan - 1 Goals, 4 Games
03-04: Inter Milan - 7 Goals, 25 Games
04-05: Inter Milan - 11 Goals, 31 Games
05-06: Inter Milan - 9 Goals, 28 Games


So he gets about a goal every three and a bit games. Um, is this really ten million pounds worth of player. Remember he is totally untried and untested in English football. You would expect a solid 1 in 2 record for that kind of money, wouldn't you?

Surely, these Premiership managers will someday realise that for 10 million quid you can buy 2 or 3 proven English players who have played English football in, um, England.

Here's some examples: Darren Bent cost just over £2 million pounds. Andy Johnson went from Birmingham to Crystal Palace for nothing as part of the Clinton Morrison deal. Kevin Phillips cost Sunderland virtually nothing. Get the idea?



21 August 2006

Anelka To Spend Some Time In Lancashire

It looks likely that sulky French forward Nicola Anelka will join Bolton on a - wait for it - four year deal.

In an interview
reported in The Telegraph and elsewhere he said: "I have an agreement with Bolton on the basis of a four-year contract. I hope it will be finalised this week."

I don't want to put a downer on this marvellous, pleasing news for Bolton fans, but here's the thing. A four year deal for Anelka means you may, if you are lucky, get a whole season out of him.

Signing Anelka will guarantee the following things:

i) Some goals. Possibly a lot of goals. It depends on how he is feeling at the time.

ii) Anelka getting mysteriously dropped for reasons that will remain "behind closed doors".

iii) A public falling out with another player. I suggest El Hadj Diouf as the perfect candidate.

iv) A few games when Anelka looks like he can't be bothered to do all that tiresome running around, passing and shooting stuff.

v) A transfer to another over-optimistic club. Possibly in Portugal as it's warm and he hasn't played there yet.



20 August 2006

O'Neill and Warnock Liven Up The Premiership

It hardly needs me to say that Premiership footballers are not the brighest of people. Their interviews are frequently the barely articulate ramblings of confused minds.

Thankfully, managers at the top level tend to be a lot more articulate and brighter than their charges. Granted there's one or two Glenn Hoddles, but for the most part, they seem a fairly intelligent bunch.

In recent years, though, Premiership managers have become a dull, predictable lot (Jose Mourinho excepted). Who really wants to listen to Glenn Roeder, Rafa Benitez or Chris Coleman mouthing the same platitudes every week?

Not me, that's for damn sure.

So, it is with great pleasure I welcome Martin O'Neill and Sheffield United's Neil Warnock to the Premiership.

How many managers other than O'Neill would
say this after a very creditable 1-1 draw away to Arsenal:

"I cannot do anything about the expectation but we are not going to become a really decent team overnight."


O'Neill's combination of disarming honest, wit and intelligence will liven up the Premiership this season and, if he can get dull old Villa playing some decent football, that would be a bonus.

Warnock, on the other hand, is just the kind of passionate, old fashioned manager that the Premiership is lacking. Off the field, he is charming and witty and totally unafraid to say what he thinks.

Commenting on Sheffield United went 1-0 up in the first game of the season, he observed:

"Hey, I was top of the Premier League there for a few minutes, which was great. That's something to tell the family..."

On the pitch, he is just as unafraid to say what he thinks, scream at referees, players, random passers-by, anyone who he thinks is doing his team down. That might explain why he is starting the 2006-2007 Premiership season with a two match touchline ban.

Whatever your views of each man, they are sure to make this season's football more entertaining and for that should be saluted.




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