EPL weekend 10: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Premier League’s 2015-16 season turned ten weeks old last weekend. And it did so with a mix of matches that seemed right out of a Sergio Leone western, with long periods of inactivity being punctuated by sudden bursts of brilliant activity. So what better way to look back at events than in the form of one of his best-known films: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (just for being innovative, we decided to add “and the Ordinary”)
The good:
Harry Kane
You cannot keep a good striker down, can you? After being the goal scorer supreme, Tottenham Hotspur’s target man Harry Kane, had been enduring the scoring blues this season, missing often and seldom being on target. Well, Bournemouth proved to be the perfect cannon fodder for him as he notched up a hat-trick even as Spurs thumped the Premiership newbies 5-1. And they were all typical striker goals too – a penalty here, a nudge here, a tap there and so on and so forth. Harry raised Kane…or rather, Caine, all right.
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Premier League round up: Ten things that did NOT happen
Premier League Round Up: Eight numbers that summed up the weekend
English Premier League: The Weekend in Ten Quotes
Awaiting first goal of Premier League season, Wayne Rooney frustrated by critics
The Week in EPL: Tottenham and Everton come out on top on Derby Saturday
Mesut Ozil
The man they called the “magician” had not really been living upto expectations (which were pretty high given the kind of cash Arsenal splurged to get him from Real Madrid) in the past, but has been in prime form this season. And when Everton came visiting to the Emirates, the German maestro was at his sublime best, gliding past tackles and threading passes through spaces that lesser mortals did not even know existed. He might not have got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 (Giroud and Koscielny did that) win but he was arguably the difference between the two teams in an intensely fought battle. Small wonder that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said that he would rather watch him than talk about him.
Jamie Vardy and Leicester City (and vice versa)
The man does not stop scoring, does he? He might not have even figured on most people’s list of potential goal scoring chart toppers, but the Leicester City striker has hit double digits and became one of the few players to have scored in seven (yes, seven) consecutive EPL matches. Yet another goal against Crystal Palace (the only one in a slightly dull encounter)kept him atop the scoring pile and also continued Leicester City’s amazing run in the Premiership thus far – the team has lost just once, is playing some thrilling football, and is in fifth place, a mere three behind the two top sides, Manchester City and Arsenal.
West Ham
If someone had told us at the beginning of the season that West Ham would beat Liverpool at Anfield, Arsenal at the Emirates and Manchester City at the Etihad at the beginning of the season, we would have accused them of being delusional. If they had then added that after doing all this, they would beat Chelsea, we would have recommended getting their breaths analysed for alcohol. Well, Slava Bilic’s Hammers have done exactly that this season. They stunned the defending champions Chelsea 2-1 (with goals by Zarate and Carroll) in a match that saw as much action off the pitch as on it, and left the Hammers at third place, just two places behind Manchester City and Arsenal. Their draw against Sunderland a few weeks ago had seen Sunderland’s coach Dick Advocaat put in his papers, and their defeat of Chelsea might well have moved the sword closer to the managerial neck of Jose Mourinho.
Sunderland
They were propping up the Premiership table and for the first half seemed set to stay there, as city rivals Newcastle pillaged their defence and did everything but score. But then, a refereeing decision that even Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce considered a tad fortunate saw them get a penalty and Newcastle lose a player. That opened the floodgates and by the time the final whistle blew, Sunderland had recorded their first win of the season (3-0) were off the bottom of the Premiership, although Newcastle manager Steve McLaren could have been forgiven for feeling being ill-done by fate.
The bad
The Manchester Derby
It was supposed to be the clash of the weekend, featuring two bitter rivals and title contenders, stars galore on the pitch (Rooney, Toure, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sterling, De Bruyne, Martial, et al) and two of the most high-profile managers in the league (Louis Van Gaal and Manuel Pellegrini). In the end, it was a match that saw a total of two shots on target and zero off sides, as both teams seemed content to hang back and play for a point. The teams below them in the table did not complain but the fans were less than delighted.
Tim Sherwood and Aston Villa
“Ayew” the cry rang out at Villa Park and while it was the name of the man who scored the winner for Swansea City, it might well have been a cry of agony from Tim Sherwood, the man in charge of Aston Villa. For, that 87th minute goal by Ayew pretty much ended whatever chance Sherwood had of staying in charge of the club he rescued from relegation last year. Sure enough, Sherwood got his walking orders as Villa ended up at the bottom of the table at the end of a forgettable week – there is already talk of Brendan Rogers and David Moyes taking over the reigns as we write this.
The ugly
Jose Mourinho
The man who likes to refer to himself as the Special One had an extraordinarily ordinary weekend. With Chelsea stuck in the lower half of the league table, a win against West Ham was supposed to be par for the course for a team bursting at the seams with superstars. That did not happen. Chelsea lost a player, shipped two goals and lost the match to end the week not too far from the drop zone (they are fifteenth). As if that were not enough, Mourinho was also sent off and relegated to watching the match from the stands for the second half, where he was pictured looking like gloomy ghost in a Shakespearean play even as the West Ham supporters celebrated around him. No, that’s not the end of it all – the Chelsea manager refused to attend the press conference after the match ended, putting himself in line of disciplinary punishment from the FA. Mind you, pundits feel he should be more worried about hanging on to his job than about FA action right now.
And the painfully ordinary
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool
Kloppmania might have arrived at Anfield but victory has not. Notwithstanding all the witty press conferences and feel good gestures (the waves at spectators, the hugging of players at the touchline), the man who many felt would rejuvenate Liverpool, has yet to record a victory in spite of facing three opponents that a club of Liverpool’s stature would have expected to overcome. The Merseyside Reds did seem in line for a win against Southampton when Benteke scored late in the second half but sloppy defending saw Sadio Mane sneak in and put the Saints level with four minutes to go. Yes, optimists will point out that the team does seem to have a spring in its step and is playing energetically, and are unbeaten under their new manager. But the cynics will point out that they have not won a match under him yet. And they will need to rise above the ordinary if they have to get into contention for Europe!
