Weekend EPL action

Jivin Turkey

Villa one nil up.

Baros already off the mark for them.

Wigan leading Sunderland, Jason Roberts peno.

Brian017

That Styles is a joke.

mike65

Early game result - WBA 2-3 Brum. Heskey on the mark twice so expect an England call up for Norn Iron and Wales.

Typical of Baros! Thank Gawd Villa were'nt scheduled to play Pool.

Mike.

Brian017

Spurs 0-1 Chelsea

Pacifico

What was Mido sent off for?

thewools

Pacifico wrote:

What was Mido sent off for?

He creamed Del Horno

Brian017

Pacifico wrote:

What was Mido sent off for?

He was jumping for a ball and his arm collided with a Chelsea player. Very harsh imo.

WhiteWashMan

more like he had his arm up and del horno jumped up into it.

Brian017

City 0-1 Pompey, Viafara

PHB

I think it was a red card tbh.
He jumped into Del Horno, with his arm raised, and unsuprisingly whacked him in the back of the head with his elbow.
Very annoyed at Mido, saw Chelsea get pushed by Spurs, and then he screws up for utterly no reason

Brian017

Fulham 1-0 Everton, McBride

Brian017

West Ham 0-1 Bolton, Nolan

Brian017

City 1-1 Pompey, Reyna

PHB

How the **** does every single ****ign Chelsea mis-hit go into the net?

Brian017

City 2-1 Pompey, Cole
Spurs 0-2 Chelsea Duff

Davei141

Mido is a fool, the game was ruined from that point on.

Necronomicon

Was the Spurs game supposed to be on RTE? I could've sworn I saw it advertised, but when I turned it on there was GAA on. But everybody seems to be commenting on the match.

thewools

Necromomicon wrote:

Was the Spurs game supposed to be on RTE? I could've sworn I saw it advertised, but when I turned it on there was GAA on. But everybody seems to be commenting on the match.

was on setanta

eirebhoy

Ahh. I'm getting to the stage I want Duff to move to another top club as he's so bloody boring to watch under Mourinho. His first premiership goal since Christmas and hasn't set up a goal in months. This is not the Duff that was voted best left winger in the world less than 3 years ago.

therecklessone

Couldn't travel for the Spurs game today due to illness,so made do with Setanta in my mum's gaff.

Very disappointed with Mido. Cast iron red card for me, at first I thought it was accidental (that he wasn't aware of Del Horno's position) but after seeing the replay you can see him take a look at DH advancing and then jump with his arm up.

Whether he meant to do damage or not? I don't know, from what I've seen of him to date it was out of character (and once he wen't off you could see he realised what a f*ck up he made). Nonetheless, the game was over as a contest from then on.

What irked me was the fact that Chelsea's two goals came from defensive mistakes from Spurs. No one picking up Del Horno for the first, and Kelly allowing SWP in on the left wing to cross for Duff's (who should have been picked up by Staltieri) mi****/goal.

Andy Reid impressed for me, and Aaron Lennon looked sharp when he came on. Carrick didn't do enough, that was the sort of game he should thrive on, with Chelsea playing with little width from their midfield three there should have been opportunities for him to spray ball to Reid and Lennon on the wings. Defoe looked lost up front on his own.

eirebhoy

therecklessone wrote:

Andy Reid impressed for me, and Aaron Lennon looked sharp when he came on.

Spurs player of the month or not quite? He's on form anyway which he couldn't have timed any better for Ireland.

evad_lhorg

how can you say MIDo didnt deserve his red card? it wasnt harsh at all. he wasnt even looking at the ball and went straight into the back of his head with an elbo/forearm.

therecklessone

eirebhoy wrote:

Spurs player of the month or not quite? He's on form anyway which he couldn't have timed any better for Ireland.

Worked his socks off anyway. Despite what Fat PatDolan said on Setanta, he's been doing a lot of defensive work (has had to with Edman at LB until today).

I'd say Dawson edges it for player of the month though.

Necronomicon

Just watching MOTD and saw Mido's sending off, really harsh I thought. It wasn't an elbow into the head, he was jumping up with his fore-arm out like 99% of players do.
I don't like Rob Styles, he's far too trigger-happy with his cards.

therecklessone

Aye, watched it again and I have to agree. No way Mido should have walked for it, particularly with Styles telling Robbo that he didn't see an elbow but had sent him off for excessive force in the tackle...wtf does that mean? How can you tackle when you're both jumping for a ball? I notice Styles ignored his lineo who flagged for the offence, so sure of himself as he pulled that red card.

I'd have given a yellow at most to Mido, it was silly of him to raise his arm as high as he did. But there was no elbow.

After the red it was 10 men against 12 TBH (Chelsea + Styles). How did Essien get away with his persistent fouling after the yellow card in the 1st half? How did Lampard get away with his abuse of the lineo when Andy Reid got a yellow for dissent in the 2nd half? Joke of a ref, always has been.

redspider

Another solid win for Chelsea.

I dont think Mido should have been sent off. A yellow was the right decision there. In terms of the Essien foul, difficult to call but a yellow was perhaps fair given that the ball was very close to Terry from the Ref's viewpoint (the proper one to use, not the various cameras). Carrick needs to practice his free-kicks a bit and get more pace on them but he is a good player, Hoddle-like but with a higher workrate.

I will agee with Mourinho on one thing and that is that the Chelsea team are stronger this year. Shaun WP and Essien add depth to the squad and Shaun will shine in such a team. He will become a sure-pick for England, as he will get a chance to perform as compared to lumbering with Man City. Del Horno also looks good so far, and the other positions are as strong as they've been last season. Crespo also looks like he wants to be sharp, and Hansen was able to spot that Crespo is a better forward than Drogba.

Unless some teams start winning against Chelsea and denting their confidence, I can only see them getting better and better and winning all the time. Last years total points tally at this rate will be beaten.

So, who could ruffle the sails of Chelsea? Well, Arsenal certainly didnt in a sterile attempt last week. Man U, perhaps could as Ferguson will raise the motivation of his players, I could see a few fouls in that. Kick them might be a winning policy as it has worked for Man U against Arsenal. Maybe, just maybe in the CL comp, Liverpool who know Chelsea so well, could inflict some sort of "mental damage" to the Chelsea onslaught. However, Liverpool are perhaps not as good as last season, although Gerrard is better, and Chelsea are better. So, far from perhaps being a mental damage opportunity against Chelsea, it could work worse on Liverpool if they lose one game and lose or draw the other.

Things are looking very ominous ..... who can beat Chelsea?

redspider

smuckers

therecklessone wrote:

Worked his socks off anyway. Despite what Fat PatDolan said on Setanta, he's been doing a lot of defensive work (has had to with Edman at LB until today).

Bloody hell I thought it was Jabba the hut, the analysis was shocking on setanta yesterday

Necronomicon

redspider wrote:

Another solid win for Chelsea.

I dont think Mido should have been sent off. A yellow was the right decision there. In terms of the Essien foul, difficult to call but a yellow was perhaps fair given that the ball was very close to Terry from the Ref's viewpoint (the proper one to use, not the various cameras). Carrick needs to practice his free-kicks a bit and get more pace on them but he is a good player, Hoddle-like but with a higher workrate.

I will agee with Mourinho on one thing and that is that the Chelsea team are stronger this year. Shaun WP and Essien add depth to the squad and Shaun will shine in such a team. He will become a sure-pick for England, as he will get a chance to perform as compared to lumbering with Man City. Del Horno also looks good so far, and the other positions are as strong as they've been last season. Crespo also looks like he wants to be sharp, and Hansen was able to spot that Crespo is a better forward than Drogba.

Unless some teams start winning against Chelsea and denting their confidence, I can only see them getting better and better and winning all the time. Last years total points tally at this rate will be beaten.

So, who could ruffle the sails of Chelsea? Well, Arsenal certainly didnt in a sterile attempt last week. Man U, perhaps could as Ferguson will raise the motivation of his players, I could see a few fouls in that. Kick them might be a winning policy as it has worked for Man U against Arsenal. Maybe, just maybe in the CL comp, Liverpool who know Chelsea so well, could inflict some sort of "mental damage" to the Chelsea onslaught. However, Liverpool are perhaps not as good as last season, although Gerrard is better, and Chelsea are better. So, far from perhaps being a mental damage opportunity against Chelsea, it could work worse on Liverpool if they lose one game and lose or draw the other.

Things are looking very ominous ..... who can beat Chelsea?

redspider

I'd agree with pretty much everything there. After two opening pretty mediocre performances (though 6 points) Chelsea look like they're getting into their stride already. They are a stronger team than last year.

So, who could ruffle the sails of Chelsea? Well, Arsenal certainly didnt in a sterile attempt last week. Man U, perhaps could as Ferguson will raise the motivation of his players

Arsenal seemed to run out of options against Chelsea. They play slick football, but don't have a target man to play route 1 stuff to when they need it. I think United would be better equipped to beat them. United also have hit the ground running this season, in stark contrast to last.

Everybody was waiting for a Chelsea blip last season that never came. But surely they can't go flawlessly through each season. There's a lot of points to be dropped at the top, so let's not jump the gun yet!

Jivin Turkey

Mourinho's main goal is the CL this year I would imagine, and while they obviously have to squad to compete on more than one front, when it comes to the crunch I think this could be a deciding factor on where the league title goes.

This could give Arsenal a chance to get in there, as we all know the CL probably won't be a distraction for them.

Personally I can't see United competing with them over the whole season unless a proven player is signed before the close of the transfer window. A midfielder ideally.

Drag00n79

redspider wrote:

I dont think Mido should have been sent off. A yellow was the right decision there.

I think he deserved the red. He lead into the challenge with his elbow and even giving him the shadow of doubt as in if he really was trying to put his "arm between his and del Horno's head", how is any ref supposed to realise this? I think the ref had no choice but to send him off.

redspider wrote:

Carrick needs to practice his free-kicks a bit and get more pace on them but he is a good player, Hoddle-like but with a higher workrate.

I agree on Carrick. A very underrated player — not sure about the Hoddle comparison though.

redspider wrote:

Shaun WP and Essien add depth to the squad and Shaun will shine in such a team. He will become a sure-pick for England, as he will get a chance to perform as compared to lumbering with Man City.

While I agree SWP is deserving of a starting berth with England, whose place would he take? Under the current formation there is no way Sven will drop his golden boy Becks from the right side.

redspider wrote:

Unless some teams start winning against Chelsea and denting their confidence, I can only see them getting better and better and winning all the time. Last years total points tally at this rate will be beaten.

Not sure about winning all the time but I agree that they should win the Prem convincingly.