WOW!
The relegation clash between Aston Villa and QPR was a battle-and-a-half! It was end-to-end stuff which had hearts rushing and nerves crushing at an exhausting, breathtaking rate. Villa second-choice keeper Bradley Guzan made a couple of point-blank, breathtaking saves, helping his side to a crucial 3-2 win. It was the second week running Paul Lambert's side came from behind to win moveing them six points clear of the relegation zone, whilst QPR remain stuck at the bottom of the table, seven points from safety. But Harry Redknapp can take heart and spirit from this match, his Rangers still having fight and goals in them to stay in the relegation battle with more than a shout! OMG!
Man City never turned up at Goodison Park. No offence to Everton and David Moyes, who mastered the plan of closing down the opponents, giving them hardly any air to breath or space to go and ending up on top, 2-0 winners and deservedly so, even after being reduced to ten men. But Roberto Mancini's men were not only missing Yaya Toure but there was no fight or spirit in the side like last season. The Blues never pushed or created much of a threat and the result could have been worse if Kevin Mirallas' disallowed goal would have stood. They are 11 points worse off than this point last season and the gap showed much more and was underlined in this match. They look nowhere near the side they were last season and lightyears away from their local title rivals United (= 15-point-gap compared to only three points at this stage last season)!TOP!
Manchester United eased to a 1-0 win against Reading at Old Trafford. It was a risky tactic by Sir Alex Ferguson against a relegation-battling side, making eight changes from their European heartache against Real Madrid and choosing a more passive, laid-back approach of play. But it all payed off in the end thanks to a deflected Wayne Rooney goal and showed what champions are made of, winning even if and when they are giving nowhere near their 100% and the game was everything else than breathtaking. The Red Devils are now 15 points clear at the top, with their name most certainly engraved into their 20th title, whilst The Royals are sitting deep in trouble, second from bottom, seven points from safety.FLOP!
Once again Liverpool capitulated just when you thought they were finding form. No discrediting Southampton with a stubborn, solid display, but The Reds could have been thrashed by four or five the shambolic way they played! Brendan Rodgers' men were obviously missing experienced defender Jamie Carragher leaking, shaking and clumsy, it was awful to watch. The south-coast club have now beaten Liverpool in four of the last five
league games at home and the defeat stretches the gap and their chance of European qualification to nine points whilst the win puts Mauricio Pochettino's Saints four points clear of the drop in 16th.HERO! & ZERO!
Arouna Kone's
last-minute winner for Wigan in a controversial win against Newcastle
will prove to be double-crucial in the relegation battle, keeping the
gap to safety at three points. But the game was marred by Callum McManaman's horrendous tackle
on defender Massadio Haidara and should have been a red card. Ok, the referee could not see the incident as his view seemed to be blocked by another player, but what about his assistant?! Or the fourth official?! It is pathetic, no, shambolic, that nothing can be done during the match where every shout, every decision, every goal, every point counts, is so crucial and can be worth thousands if not millions of pounds for a club! It also looked like a hand ball was overlooked before Wigan's match winning goal, plus a list of penalty shouts... All in all, the referees were horrendous once again this weekend! 
Sunderland and Norwich ground out a 1-1 draw also with loads of controversial decisions by the officials. After a harsh sending off, battling through over an hour reduced to ten men, penalties given and not given, handballs in- and/or outside the box, the visitors will be the happier with the point whilst Sunderland will feel it is more like two points dropped than one point gained. And that is just one match, one more example, of many which make me doubt the referees are doing their job. It is an utter shambles! Like Wigan's McManaman's tackle or the free kick given against Marouane Fellaini's handball eventhough his offence took place inside the box, I could go on and on with examples of where replays showed the offence and clarified the mistake made within seconds, so, why the hell can't the fourth official feed that back to the officials on the pitch so the right decision can be made!!! Suspensions after the match cannot influence or change the result, bring back the players or goals or points lost! It makes me sick!!!My Predictions => Actual Results:
Everton 1-2 Man City => 2-0
Aston Villa 1-1 QPR => 3-2
Southampton 1-3 Liverpool => 3-1
Stoke 1-0 West Brom => 0-0
Swansea 1-1 Arsenal => 0-2
Man United 2-0 Reading => 1-0
Sunderland 2-0 Norwich => 1-1
Tottenham 2-0 Fulham => 0-1
Chelsea 3-0 West Ham => 2-0
Wigan 2-1 Newcastle => 2-1
No comments:
Post a Comment