No great revelations in opening weekend
Last week’s action in the initial skirmishes of the Premier League was just a trifle underwhelming — a bit like opening a box of chocolates and not finding anything exactly to your taste.
Maybe it was a hangover from the excitement of the World Cup, but there were no real upsets, little controversy and few hotly disputed decisions. Basically, it was not a good weekend for underdogs, something the Premier League traditionally thrives on.
You can’t learn anything of substance from one game, but Manchester City look the real deal again and Arsenal don’t, while Liverpool suggest they could well be City’s main challengers. But it’s early days. One thing we know for sure is that win, or lose, Jose Mourinho will keep on moaning, if he stays at Old Trafford that is.
If Arsenal continue to play it out of the back every time, they will concede some very embarrassing goals. The home crowd at the Emirates groaned every time the ball was passed back to a nervous-looking goalkeeper Petr Cech who on one occasion was fortunate not to score an own goal in his team’s 2-0 loss to City.
There were a few talking points. One was Wolverhampton Wanderers fielding five Portuguese players in their starting line-up, under the helm of fellow countryman Nuno Espirito Santo.
It raised the question when was the last time so many players from one foreign country played in a Premier League line-up. Only five years ago Newcastle United fielded seven French players against Liverpool, while back in 2003, Fulham did the same against Middlesbrough.
In 2013, Newcastle were said to have 14 French or French-speaking players in their squad, which of course prompted assorted jokes. Alan Pardew was the manager at the time. On one Newcastle website a fan wrote: “Just saw Pardew at the training ground on a bike, wearing a beret and a string of onions around his neck.”
The newspapers had a field day, of course and among the headlines was the inevitable “Allez the Lads”, and there were plenty of journalists grappling with their schoolboy French.
Thankfully for Wolves, journalists are less familiar with the Portuguese language. Despite being held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Everton, Wolves appear to be a decent outfit spearheaded by Ruben Neves who contributed with a goal from a sparkling free-kick.
Wolves looked the best of the newly-promoted clubs. Fulham will not be happy with losing at home to Crystal Palace in their opener, with Roy Hodgson’s Eagles still flying after last season’s amazing recovery. Even better for Palace was the news that the club’s talisman, Wilfried Zaha had signed on for another four years.
With an away fixture against Spurs at Wembley today, the Cottagers are facing a tough fight to earn their first points of the season.
Cardiff City succumbed to Bournemouth 2-0 although it took a goal in added time for the Cherries to finish things off. To have any chance of survival the Bluebirds will have to pick up points at home and today’s early game against Newcastle will be an indicator of whether they are capable of this.
Although no VAR is employed in the Premier League it was encouraging that there appeared to be less shirt-pulling and ugly grappling in the penalty area than in previous seasons. Let’s hope this trend is maintained.
The goal-line technology that is being employed also worked well, showing Tottenham’s first goal against Newcastle being just a fraction over the line. Without the technology the referee would probably have not awarded the goal.
Despite their 2-1 win, Spurs do have some problems off the pitch with delays in the opening of their new stadium. This means their upcoming home matches against Liverpool and Cardiff City will be played at Wembley. It is now possible their first real home game will be as late as Oct 28 when they host Man City.
Leading the way in the Championship are Middlesbrough, although they have played one game more than most teams. However, the club to keep an eye on looks to be Leeds United with a 100% record after convincing wins against two teams heavily tipped for promotion, Stoke City and Derby County.
The Whites blew away Frank Lampard’s team 4-1 at Pride Park and Marcelo Bielsa’s impressive squad look like they will be setting the early pace, giving their fans hopes of a return to the top flight for the first time since 2004.
The two bottom teams in the division, Reading and Queens Park Rangers, both without a point, curiously are the only clubs in all four divisions whose colours are blue and white hoops. Maybe this is not the season for teams of a hooped persuasion.
There was a big moment for Accrington Stanley last weekend with Sean McConville’s two goals against Bristol Rovers being the first ever scored by Stanley in League One as they went on to win away 2-1.
There has already been one management casualty in the lower divisions with Blackpool boss Gary Bower, who had been manager for two seasons, quitting after just one game. But this was no sacking. He apparently wanted to spend more time with his family.
Probably the most entertaining moment in League Two came at the match between Macclesfield and Grimsby when we had a case of “goose stopped play”. With 20 minutes to go a goose ran on the pitch at the Moss Rose stadium. According to the match report: “The goose showed some nifty footwork and ran flapping towards one of the goals, but was eventually tackled.”
As Macclesfield have yet to register a point this season, perhaps they should give the goose a trial.