Of Peter Pan and Supermodels: EPL Week Eight in Review

photo by Loren Javier	via PhotoRee

o Mario Balotelli's overhead kick aside, Manchester City looked a bit pedestrian in the first half without Kun Aguero and David Silva in the lineup against Villa on Saturday. Not that you couldn't say the same thing about Manchester United earlier in the same day, with Wayne Rooney, Nani and Chicharito on the bench. I guess these stars really do earn their paychecks...! City pulled it back around in the second half, and Aston Villa never looked as if they were in the contest after the break. The stage is now. set for quite the Manchester derby next weekend, but the  question is which Roberto Mancini-led team will show up: the cantennacio, defensive-minded one, or the more attack-minded side that has featured more often this season.....

o I'm beginning to think Baltotelli's hairdo is a stick-on strip  It changes much too often to be real.

o Owen Hargreaves limped onto the pitch for the Sky Blues on Saturday without pulling a muscle in the process. Will wonders never cease....?

o Alex McLeish had Villa looking in form on Saturday; or rather, that should be he had them looking in the same form that he had Birmingham City last season. Hope the Villans fans didn't get overly excited about their undefeated start.

o I thought I'd heard just about everything in an English accent, until I heard the commentator during the Chelsea - Everton game refer to the Blues' owner as Ro-MAN Ab-ra-MO-vitch.  I don't speak much Russian, but isn't that a case of putting the accent on the wrong syl-LA-ble?


o I've decided that the Man-Child who is Andres Villas-Boas has a bit of the Peter Pan look about him, standing high on the prow of the sideline with his ultra-slim pants, jacket and narrow black tie. AVB really looks as if he can fly, he can fly, he can fly whenever Chelsea score a goal, which meant he was airborne a fair bit on Saturday afternoon.

o Acting not unlike a pimply high school sophomore in bed with a Supermodel, Steve Bruce's men couldn't last 30 seconds against Arsenal on Sunday. And this an Arsenal side that has not exactly been raining golazos into the net this season. I love Steve Bruce from his United days, but after Sunday's 2-1 loss to Arsenal, I'm afraid his Sunderland days may not be much more in number.

o I have a new job suggestion for Referee Chris Foy, who oversaw the 145th Black Country Derby on Sunday, when Wolves took on West Brom: professional wrestling referee. Christophe Berra took down Jonas Olsson in a move that wouldn't be sanctioned in the WWF, let alone the EPL (which I prefer to the BPL, by the way) in a play midway through the second half that had to be seen to be believed. Making no effort to play the ball, Berra literally arm-wrapped Olsson and flung him to the ground, as referee Foy stood by and watched.

o Proving both that corner kicks are only as good as the people that take them, and that statistics are relatively meaningless in the game of football, Woves had 10 corners in Sunday's game to a paltry two corner kick for the Baggies -- and still lost the game 2-nil.

o I can't decide whether I love or hate Spurs' new purple kits. On the one hand, they kind of look a bit like Northwestern out there, mimicking a program that has not had exactly the greatest collegiate sporting tradition. On the other hand, they're sporting a look that no other team in the League has, which is kind of cool. There are way to may claret and blue, or black and white kits to go around. In the end, I'll give it up to Spurs for their creatvity and originality -- well done, Tottenham.

This is farlieonfootie for October 17.