Rangers Hunt The Wolves: Wolverhampton 0-3 QPR
For me this match was more of a fight between two clubs who are worthy enough to create any sought of upset in the EPL. Wolves have done it in the past season and with the kind of squad the Hoops have build during the transfer window they are very much the Upset-iers of this season. Wolves were playing at home to get over the 0-2 loss last weekend whereas the Rangers were on a high after a well deserved draw against their captain’s former club Newcastle United. And that is how both the clubs played the game and hence the Air Asia fliers came out as deserving winners at the Molineux. Goals included a scrappy but an ice breaking goal by Barton, a long range screamer by Faurlin and late night show by DJ Campbell. But for me the man to watch out is the man involved in all of the three goals former Chelsea and Man City man Shawn Wright-Phillips. And as for Wolves McCarthy needs to go back to the drawing board as the Wanderers don’t want to wander in the relegation lanes again.
McCarty – “I didn’t see it coming. If I had, I would have done something about it.”
Warnock – “It was probably as complete a performance as you are going to get away from home.”
And The Swans Mesmerise At The Liberty Stadium:
It took them 374 minutes after coming into top flight English football to score their first goal and who better to do that than their very own talisman Sinclair. After a disappointing 0-1 loss at home last weekend against Arsenal everyone thinking it to be a one sided affair with Shane Long or Odemwingie creating havoc. But for everyone to know Swansea city played as if they have been in the EPL forever and it is said when you play as a unit results follow you and that’s what happened. OH yeah before I forget Swansea thrashed West Bromwich Albion 3-0 at the Liberty. This match did leave a dent on the management at Chelsea and forcing them to think why did they ever let Sinclair leave who provided an assist and also scored one.
Hodgson – “”I thought we played poorly and Swansea played very well and when you get that combination it is going to be difficult to get a result.”
Toffees Too Bitter For Lactics: Everton 3-1 Wigan
As one of my friend said it on twitter said last season Everton at this time were hovering in the relegation zone with off the team in the hospital so they should be happy with their present situation. For me Moyes is one of the most interesting mangers in England and can be world-class if Everton ever in their club lifetime are able to gather enough transfer kitty for Moyes to dig into. Surprisingly Wigan started on a positive note with Di Santo scoring from a deflection after he was given ample of space to roam around the box. But it was then time for Captain Jageilka to lead from the front when he equalised with a diving header after the ball was saved by Al-Habsi from Cahill’s towering header and then Phil had some amazing celebration style. Substitute Vellios and Drenthe scored late to secure Everton’s first home victory of the season.
Moyes – “All I was thinking about today was the three points. I think we deserved it but we can play better.”
Martinez – “You cannot be a soft touch at places like Goodison Park but if you are going to lose, this is the way to do it.”
Sweet Taste Of First Win: Bolton 1-2 Norwich City
This completed a treble as all the three newcomers to secure victories in one weekend. This was also Norwich first victory in the top flight in 2011-12 season since 1994 against Crystal Palace. Both the Canaries goals were bit scrappy which could have been saved if Bolton had not been clumsy in their defense but a goal is a goal till it gets you a win. Then came the moment just before the half time when Croatian striker Klasnic was needlessly sent off as Howard Webb saw a nod of head by Klasnic to be a head butt which actually made things worse for Bolton. Petrov did pull one back in the second half from the spot after Norwich made another record by giving a penalty in all of their first five matches. As it is said all is well that ends well, this should give some peace to Lambert but at the same time give Owen Coyle another sleepless night.
Coyle – “We’re all designated markers and we haven’t done well enough in that department.”
Lambert – “They seem to bounce back whether they draw or get beaten, and that is testament to the way they played today.”
Two words Cabaye & Given: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle United
Both Villains and Magpies were unbeaten in EPL till now which is a great feat to achieve so both the teams were not only playing for victory but to continue their unbeaten run. Villa broke the deadlock first with CB Coloccini not able to be physical enough against Agbanlohar who jumped to the opportunity to slot the ball between the legs of Krul into the net. That also marked the end of playing time for Villa because remaining first half and second half was all about Newcastle who gave no chance for Villa to make any moves. Which also resulted in Best scoring his third goal of the season, after that only two things happened Cabaye keep shooting at Villa goal and Given kept on coming up with extremely good saves to keep the Lions in the game. One of the most entertaining games not many goals but courage and competition on display. Pardew should be happy with this 1 away point but you can stop yourself from thinking Newcastle were good enough to get all three points only if it wasn’t Given between the posts.
McLeish – “We started in a blistering way. Then we had a couple of problems with [Stiliyan] Petrov and [Stephen] Warnock and we lost a bit of momentum with these injuries.”
Pardew – “We conceded a soft goal by our standards, but overall we defended well again today. Our performance was controlled and exuberant. We looked a good team today.”
Misery Continues: Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal
Yes you read it right at Ewood Park that’s what the score was at the end of 90 minutes so all the last weekend victory happiness over the Stokes turned into blissful woes for the Gooners. But this time the responsible factor for the downfall was not the strikers not the keeper not the midfielders clear and simple not up to the mark defense. When you give a lot of space to a striker, when you let go of your lead twice in the match and if that’s not it you score 5 goals in the match but sadly two in your own goal that’s the recipe for disaster. For me Yakubu had also gone to UAE like many have done this transfer season but he comes from nowhere to score a brace which completed the downfall for Gunners. As I have said before and I say it again Blackburn were not that good but Arsenal were just horrible. Kean has sent a thank you card to Song and Koscielny for letting him keep his job for another week.
Kean – “I think we have got character in the side and have been unfortunate in the last few games.”
Wenger – “We had so many chances in the game and we scored two own goals so it is unbelievable to understand.”
Clash Of The Titans: Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea
This was the most anticipated matchup of Matchday 5 in the EPL and why shouldn’t it be when it involves The Red Devils and The Blues. It was also the clash of one of EPL’s oldest manager Sir Ferguson and the new boy coach of Chelsea Villas-Boas so in some way it was clash of old school coaching and modern day coaching tactics. But it was the old school thinking which overpowered all of Chelsea’s tactics with goals coming from Smalling, Nani & Rooney for the Devils and Fernando ‘El Nino’ Torres for the AVB Boyz. Few things I realised after the end of 90 minutes at Old Trafford were:
- Anything bad is happening to the Blues blame it on El Nino fin he missed a sitter in the second half but what about Ramires weak open goal shot in the first half and even if I forget that Torres had one of his most promising performance in a long time.
- Nani has actually opened his wings since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and there is no stopping him, what a run to split Chelsea’s defense then perfectly finished with a screamer of a goal.
- Don’t you dare think keeping Rooney off the scoring sheet, surely a man on a mission.
Overall a very exciting encounter, with both team having ample of chances it had everything. Missed penalty, exciting plays, stunning goals, blooper of the weekend and yes finally welcome to AVB hope now you know what your mission is. For God sake guys get over ‘This is what 50million buys’ headlines.
Ferguson – “In the second half we should have finished them off but they kept at us. It was a fantastic football match.”
AVB – “It was a strange game, it was very competitive and the scoreline does not show the difference between the teams.”
This Was Bruce’s Sweet Victory: Sunderland 4-0 Stoke City
Sunderland bought almost 9-10 players during this past transfer window and they start their season with four losses in a row which led to Steve Bruce being surrounded by mass hysteria or in simple words a storm of allegations. But with this romping of Stoke City, Bruce has been given a sigh of relief and a new hope to the Black Cats faithful that things aren’t that bad. Goals included Bramble’s goal from set piece, a Jonathan Woodgate own goal (that adds to the misery of a player who could have been the greatest), Gardner’s deflection goal and a well taken free-kick by Larsson. In short Sunderland finally have their first victory in their kitty. Whereas Stoke were at their usual physical best but sometime you feel Pulis plays with the very same tactics every time which makes it easier for opponents in understanding the Potters game.
Bruce – “The job is never easy up here but this will help the mass hysteria calm down.”
Pulis – “We had chances blocked or cleared off the line but it was Sunderland’s day.”
At Last One Half Of Manchester Is Forced To Take A Breather: Fulham 2-2 Manchester City
The new look Citizens had scored 15 goals in the first four matches before coming to Craven Cottage to face Fulham who were in the relegation zone with 2 home draws and 2 away losses. So knowing this it seemed like it was going to be another easy outing for Mancini’s men and it seemed hugely possible with Aguero continuing his amazing start to life in EPL by scoring his seventh and eighth goal of the campaign & by doing so City had a two goals lead. But Fulham had other plans when they pulled back the two goals deficit in the second half with strikes from Bobby Zamora and Liverpool legend Danny Murphy. The way Fulham played in the second half it was like their first-half lethargy had vanished thanks to I guess words of Martin Jol and this also ends Blue Manchester’s perfect start to the season.
Jol – “It was a fantastic achievement to come back against them. I am not sure if they will give away leads like this in the future.”
Mancini – “This could be a lesson for us. Because when you dominate a game like we did today, and you score only two goals, it’s a problem.”
Spurs Shined Like Never Before: Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool
I would like to start this review by saying I don’t know what Redknapp say to the squad but the way Spurs played the whole 90 minutes that’s what you get to see when a team is enjoying playing the world’s most beautiful game. This match ended with only 20 players on the field thanks to bad temperament play by Liverpool players. I don’t actually agree to all the red cards given by Lee Probert but all these cards were due to the frustration building in the Kops sole reason being ‘magical plays of White Hart Laners’. Modric 20-yards strike was just mesmerizing who says it would take him time to settle and that is what you get when you keep a player in place of increasing your balance by 40M. Adebayor played as a perfect loan signing scoring just perfect brace and Defoe adding one. Dalglish has a lot of thinking to do specially with Skirtel & Adams suspended and Agger injured whereas Mr. Redknapp can have a good sleep if his team keeps playing the same way throughout the season. I forgot to add Van der Vaart was not even playing, imagine this Spur’s side with VDV returning to full fitness.
Redknapp – “I thought we played some fantastic football. We absolutely dominated.”
Dalglish – “We can look at ourselves and the start we had in the game because that dictated what was going to happen to us.”
The Guardian journalist Amy Lawrence wrote in one of her recent articles, “the obvious candidates to be Arsenal’s next captain are Sebastian Squillaci, Marouane Chamakh and Park Chu-young,” and she wasn’t wrong in saying this after all why would Wenger or as a matter of fact Arsenal want to lose another of their influential players. Fine they would go through the season with a lesser charismatic character to lead the team, fine for a season Arsenal would be known as Chamakh’ Arsenal, fine the captain’ armband would be around the arms of a player whose arms are not strong enough to cater for the teams needs but at least, like every season Arsène Wenger won’t be left like a lonely mid-60 man who has no clue what wrong did he say or did to his son who had no choice but to leave.
