Positively Funereal: Round 26 in the BPL

photo by e³°°°	via PhotoRee

The Round may not be complete but it's good enough for us.  Our thoughts on Round 26 in the BPL:

o The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was positively funereal on Saturday, despite the home side's 4-1 victory win. Both managers dressed in black and the crowd showed its respect by dutifully observing more than 85 minutes of silence during the match. We guess three victories in nine home games will do that to you.

o Meanwhile, over in another erstwhile challenger's camp, Joe Hart's form continues to deteriorate. At the rate he's plummeting Roy Hodgson may be tempted to give Robert Green another shot at grabbing the England number one kit.

o Gareth Barry had a Man of the Match performance for the Southampton Saints with a fine assist and an exquisite, composed finish to put Manchester City's season in critical condition.  We didn't realize Barry had that type of finishing in his game -- as in putting a finish to City's title defense.

o Meanwhile, Yaya Toure showed he's no Joe Willie Namath with his bold prediction that the momentum in the title race would swing City's way upon his return. Looking a toothless version of the dominating midfielder who went off to the African Cup, Toure was three steps off the pace and played as if his plane still hadn't landed yet.



o As if the 2-0 loss to West Brom wasn't panic inducing enough for even the staunchest Scouser supporter, consider the following statistic: Liverpool are now three points worse off than they were last year at the same time.  And there's no Cup final to boot.  Is it too early to bring back the King...?

o What is it with the name Gareth this weekend?  He may not be the Best Player in the World™, but he is our Player of the Week: Take a bow, Gareth Bale. While the Welshman scored a brace, he could've -- should've? -- had four on Saturday's entertaining early encounter at the Lane.  Cue the media frenzy; Correspondent Ed's all lathered up....

This is farlieonfootie for February 12.