Sunday 13 September 2009

Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Another action-packed weekend saw no game without a goal, 35 goals in total, no draws, six home wins and four away - unpredictable and breathtaking:


Top game: Man City's home win against Arsenal left hardly any time or room to blink or breath. The result is harsh on the Gunners, the had plenty of chances, misfortunes and decisions that did not go their way, they probably feel, they should have gotten more out of it. Man City were hungry and intimidating, intense and gripping to watch.

Top team: Liverpool had it the easiest, Man City and United were the most ruthless, productive and worth-every-penny, whilst Chelsea looked the cheekiest and luckiest, leaving both their goals deep into injury time of both halves against Stoke.

Top player: Emmanuel Adebayor drew most of the attention onto him, without a doubt. He was on fire, which can quickly spread and escalate matters, especially facing his former side, making the tension over-exasperating between them. Wayne Rooney starred for United, omnipresent and with a great individual effort goal.


Top goal: Tottenham could not have wished for a better start against United when Jermain Defoe's right-foot overhead kick gave them the lead in the first minute. Rooney's individual effort, nutmegging Spurs goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, finished off a great United break from their own half, the Scouser only having eyes for the back of the net. Great to see, especially after his side went down to ten men.

Top manager: Roy Hodgson's half time talk and changes were decisive in Fulham's turnaround of the game against Everton. Alex Ferguson's changes also kept United ahead eventhough they were down to ten men. He took Dimitar Berbatov off for Michael Carrick, keeping his side tight and compact, leaving no gaps for Tottenham to capitalise on. Genius - as usual.


Flop game: Wigan's win against West Ham needed a goal to wake the game, teams and crowd up, but the referee did not even give that when he blew the half time whistle and left Carlton Cole frustrated and with a sarcastic smile having netted the ball a split-second later. Cruel.

Flop team: Portsmouth have lost five out of five now after giving away the game to Bolton with a fragile defence and some embarrassing misses.

Flop player: Adebayor could not have acted more idiotic or shambolic, when he kicked his former team mate Robin van Persie in the face and then, to make things worse, running to the Arsenal end of the ground after he scored, causing all sorts of havoc. Consciously or not, both actions were unprofessional and should be punished. The referee Mark Clattenburg dealt with the latter situation professionally and brilliantly, further actions still pending.


Flop goal: Hull City defender Craig Fagan's clumsy handball cried for a penalty and conceded a goal. Kamil Zayatte gave away two more to Sunderland to thrash them, one own goal and letting off Darrent Bent unchallenged as if he had no care in the world. It proves that nightmares can come true.

Flop referee: As mentioned above, the half time whistle went at the same moment Carlton Cole scored for West Ham - how cruel can you be?! Especially when you regard how much the game needed a goal to brighten things up...

My Predictions - Actual Results
Blackburn 1:1 Wolves - 3:1
Liverpool 2:0 Burnley - 4:0
Man City 1:3 Arsenal - 4:2
Portsmouth 0:1 Bolton - 2:3
Stoke 1:2 Chelsea - 1:2
Sunderland 1:1 Hull City - 4:1
Tottenham 2:2 Man Utd - 1:3
Wigan 0:2 West Ham - 1:0
Birmingham 1:2 Aston Villa - 0:1
Fulham 0:2 Everton - 2:1

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