Something to Behold: Rounds 20 & 21 in the BPL

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o Led by their wantaway striker Demba Ba, the Newcastle offense is something to behold: seven goals in its last three games, and against top opposition at that. The only unit currently more adept at putting the ball into the back of the net is whichever team happens to be playing the Magpies on any given day.

o Dimitar Berbatov looked like a chess Grand Master against West Brom on New Year's Day. Gesturing where he wanted the ball passed -- and not alway to him -- Berbs was thinking three to four moves ahead of anyone else on the pitch. And warping the time /space continuum, Bebatov seemed to float above the game, consistently popping up in the most unexpected places for a man who is reputed to move at very leisurely pace.

o Resting Ashley Cole, Ramires, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard at the same time may not have been the smartest decision by Rafa Benitez, but the real dope of Round 22 was Referee Lee Mason, who chose to flash only a yellow card at Chelsea's Marko Marin for his clear-as-day red card offense, which could easily have resulted in a broken leg for Stephen M'Bia.

o Player of the Week Javier Hernandez bagged a brace against Wigan on New Year's Day, but that's not what won him the Award -- or else his Flying Dutchman teammate would have been in contention, too. No, instead it was the Little Pea's superb movement off the ball and stunningly quick reaction time -- in which the mexican appears to speed up just as others slow down -- that gave Chicharito the honors and have made him one of the most lethal predators in the League today.

o The shirt message thing hit a new low when Edin Dzeko took a yellow card to display the latest words hidden under his kit. And for those of you wondering what's happened to City's offensive creativity this term, the answer, it seems, is written on the shirt. Last year was all about Super Mario's "Why Always Me?" display. But apparently the best a City striker could come up with this season was "Happy New Year...?!" We guess Dzeko's not the imaginative type.

Remember When: Week 15 in the BPL

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o Chelsea finally showed some signs of life on Saturday, scoring their first goal in three games under new coach Rafa Benitez. Unfortunately for Rafa, West Ham scored three of their own and were deserved winners at Upton Park. The Hammers looked a constant threat during the second half, and after 2 points from a possible 9 for the interim Bossman, here comes the inquest....

o And in reflecting on West Ham's magnificent performance, remember when Venky's decided that Big Sam wasn't the right man to lead Blackburn?  We wonder how that decision's working out for them....

o Marouanne Fellaini's fantastic goal against Manchester City this weekend cements his status as the best player of the season to date. The Afro'd one's drive and determination -- not to mention his physicality -- were all on display as he never gave up on a ball that was whipped in by Leighton Baines to earn his side a draw. Another draw for the Toffees -- this is beginning to get a bit repetitive....

o And add City super sub Edin Dzeko to the growing list of Premier League play actors. Dzeko' dramatic fall may have conned referee Lee Probert -- whose decision may also have been influenced by Fellaini's deserved "who me?" reaction -- but television replays confirmed that the contact in the box was minimal at best, and the resulting City penalty and point can most charitably be described as fortunate rather than earned.

And Speaking Of: Week 11 in the BPL

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o Could it be that Olivier Giroud is finally coming good?  We're happy to recognize when we need to eat our words, and we didn't think we would ever need to type the following, but the Frenchman has scored a bunch lately, both for club and country. Aberration, or a preview of things to come?

o 4 points for QPR after 11 games?  We've heard of patience, but the Rangers current situation is being ably assisted by borderline irresponsibility from owner Tony Fernandes.

o And speaking of QPR, how excited is everyone for Rangers vs Southampton next week?  We've got some laundry to do, so let us know how it turns out.

o Memo to AVB: The game is 90 minutes long. Not 75. Not 80. Not 85. 90. Please tell your team.

o Super Subs: The City of Manchester is holding a competition to determine the best substitute in world football -- Edin Dzeko or Player of the Week Javier Hernandez.  No matter who wins, their respective teams would be in a world of hurt without them.

o We've said this before on this page, but Ramires is an out and out thug with few redeeming qualities. King of the cheap shot, Chelsea fans need look no further than the Brazilian to figure out that the John Terry blow came from friendly fire, after Ramires intentionally pushed Luis Suarez in the back and straight into Terry's knee.

o Did Chelsea flatter to deceive early in the season, or are they just hitting a bad patch of form?  We think its the former, and the early schedule may have helped the Blues rack up more early points than they deserved.

Hanging by a Thread: Manchester City 2 - Ajax 2

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o The hot seat beginning to warm up, Roberto Mancini left little to chance, playing an attacking triangle that included Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure up front against the men from Amsterdam. Bearing in mind that his City side will play Spurs at home this weekend, the Italian likely gambled -- correctly or not, still to be determined -- that five days rest would be enough when playing their next game at home.

 

o Coming as it did against the run of play, the double deflection for the Ajax opener was likely not what Mancini envisioned in his pre-game planning. Nor was De Jong’s uncontested header that made the scorline 2-nil a short six minutes later. On defense City look disorganized, demoralized and generally out of sorts – the same way they’ve appeared for much of the Champions League this season.

 

o Yaya Toure’s fantastic takedown and sidewinding goal which cut the deficit to one showcased the Ivorian’s game in one flowing move: the brute strength of an NBA power forward, combined with the finesse and footwork of a petite midfielder.

 

o Mancini doubled down at halftime, replacing Javi Garica with Mario Balotelli. While the move paid off with initial pressure, the ultimate dividend Mancini was hoping for was not immediately apparent.

 

o Kun Aguero reminded us a bit of Evan Lysacek. Playing as if he had ice skates on, the Argentine hit the deck and slid repeatedly…. Just askin’, but shouldn’t a player know which boots to wear on his home pitch…?

 

o Not content to use only three of his strikers, Mancini took one last chance at the 65 minute mark to throw in a fourth with the addition of Edin Dzeko – although he took off Tevez in order to do so. But it wasn’t super sub Dzeko who evened the scoreline – as was often the case last year, it was none other than El Kun who pulled the Citizens back to level terms with just over 25 minutes to play.

 

o Even when moving forward, City looked less like a team than a collection of individual superstars. Each offensive move was less a flow from one player to another than it was a piece of individual brilliance.

 

o When the winner came, it came from an offside position – and was rightly denied. The resulting 2-2 draw succinctly summed up Manchester City’s season to date – there is no “I” in team -- and left the Citizens and their Manager right where they were when the game kicked off: hanging by a thread.

 

This is farlieonfootie for November 7.

The X Factor: Five Thoughts on Manchester City

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A recently received postcard from Correspondent Ed:

I wanted to write about Spurs this week, but...that West Bromwich Albion versus Manchester City game was just too good to ignore, so here's five thoughts instead:

1. Ben Foster's reckless decision to come out and attack a Carlos Tevez free kick was so bad that it honestly made me wonder if he had money on City.  West Brom had an easy 3 points against a City side down to ten men after a first half red to Milner, when Foster just plain choked. Even his execution was terrible. Uggh.

2. Turning to James Milner, he was caught trying to recover from yet another poor play by Vincent Kompany, who's terrible season continues. That said, Milner's decision was not noble, but terrible, as well. You've got enough great players to recover from a goal - which was anything but certain, by the way - and leaving your team a man down just seems crazy even though it worked out.

3. How about Edin Dzeko? The guy puts two in the back of the net in about 15 minutes of play -- remind me, why isn't he starting? Not unlike their cross-town rivals United, City is stacked up top with Tevez, Kun Aguero, Dzeko and Mario alotelli.

Please Cancel the Fruit Basket: Week 8 in the BPL

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o We have no idea what Andre Villas-Boas was furiously scribbling in his notebook on the sideline of spurs' 4-2 loss to Chelsea on Saturday, but we hope it had something to do with teaching his players how to hold onto a second half lead.

o farlieonfootie held an office competition this week, in which the loser was forced to watch all of Fulham hosting Aston Villa on Saturday at Craven Cottage. Needless to say, the boss lost -- twice. Although Fulham may have nipped the win in the dying moments, we were long asleep by that time despite the daytime kickoff.

o So if it's time for the Tyne-Wear derby it must be time for the referee to perform a pre-game check on the whereabouts of his red card. This time is was Cheick Tiote playing the part of the unwilling participant, a victim of his own aggressiveness and the natural order of things when these two rivals collide. Of course, it took about 45 minutes for Sunderland to figure out they were the team with the man advantage, but by the time they worked it out it was all they could do to manage a draw with an undermanned Toon side.

o We'll bet James Milner isn't planning to send any fruit baskets Vincent Kompany's way this week. After finally being handed a rare start in midfield for the Citizens, Milner may be forgiven for being slightly peeved at his Captain, who momentarily forgot his role as last line of defense while he was busy daydreaming what it must feel like to be Cristiano Ronaldo. Needlessly stripped of the ball while attempting to carry it across the midfield line, Kompany left Milner totally exposed.

An EPL Voyage of Rediscovery

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o It's good to see that Edin Dzeko has rediscovered his old form from last season. After a torrid start to this year's campaign, the hat trick plus one against Spurs seems to have been his last gasp at scoring. My prediction after Saturday's abysmal performance is that he'll start to spend a bit more time on City's "other" roster, probably slotted in right next to Carlos Tevez on the bench.

o Howard Webb has redicovered his run of crappy form that began at the 2010 World Cup.  In perhaps the most blatant incident of ignoring a clear-as-day foul, Webb stood just two or three feet away from Louis Saha as Vincent Kompany blocked the Frenchman's progress and bowled him over just outside the box. How Webb could have failed to see the obvious impediment is beyond me, but it's only the latest in a growing string of poor calls by England's "top cop."

o Chelsea's defensive signing of the year last season, the guy who was going to reinvigorate the Chelsea back line, the Portuguese wonder boy David Luiz, has rediscovered what it feels like to be on the outside looking in.  Luiz now has one of the best seats in the house to watch a lineup that's managed to keep only one clean sheet in its last ten league games.  As always, though, there's a silver lining: at the very least, Luiz' time riding pine should give him more time to consider alternative hair care prodcuts.

o Fernando Torres is back...in the doghouse. Chelsea's ladyboy can't seem to get out of his own way: last week a goal that led to the Miss Of The YearTM, and this week a goal and assist leading to a two-footed challenge and a straight red, courtesy of farlieonfootie's favorite whipping boy Mike Dean. Now that Torres has seemingly rediscovered his goal scoring form, he gets to spend the next three games watching from the stands.  Can you hear the boos, Fernando...?

This is farlieonfootie for September 26.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

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A few things I noticed on an EPL Super Sunday that would have been better off billing itself as "Sleepy Sunday":


o Two years ago Norwich City was playing the likes of Colchester United in the First Division, and yesterday they were unlucky not to take all three points from Stoke City in the big leagues.  You've come a long way, baby.

o Wow!  Someone spent some money on the Molineux in the off season. Last year the turf looked like a goat patch, and this season it looks like the Emirates. Kudos to the shepherds... err, I mean groundskeepers.

o Matt Jarvis doesn't look like a prototypical EPL winger. He's kind of short and stubby, actually. He does wear his socks up over his knees, though, almost as if he's Spanish, and he repeatedly gets the job done: a goal and an assist to show for his efforts yesterday. What in the world was I thinking when I transfered him out of my Fantasy team.....?.

o And speaking of Fantasy Football mistakes, why in the world did I bury Richie De Laet on my bench?  The once and future Man United man -- on loan to Norwich City this season -- had a nice glancing header to give his side a deserved first half lead. He almost grabbed another four points for the shutout, as well, before a late late Kenwyne Jones stoppage time header denied him a fantasy four and his real life team two very costly points. Some amount of blame has to be laid at the feet of referee Neil Swarbrick, who blew the major call in the game and forced the home side to play a majority of the second half with only ten men.

Reflections on a Weekend Full of Football

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Some scattered thoughts from a scatter brain, after a weekend full of games, derbies and otherwise: 

Manchester City - Wolves: City finally figured out how to turn on the offense this weekend. Having scored only 11 goals at Eastlands so far the entire season, the addition of the big Serbian Edin Dzeko inspired City to put four past Mick McCarthy's Wolves on Saturday. The only problem with the game plan was that Roberto Mancini was speaking to his offense when he talked about playing "wide open football," not to his defense. 

The City players certainly appeared confused, as they gave up three goals to Wolves, and could easily have left their home ground with a single point, if not for a timely intervention of Vincent Kompany and another by the woodwork.  Having been criticized before for a lack of offensive effort, it will be interesting to see of Mancini can get his team playing on both sides of the ball in the same game.