No case for the defence
It was another good weekend for those with a vested interest in the branding of the Premier League as the greatest in the world. With 35 goals in nine games, teams coming from behind to draw or win, late goals, and plenty of controversial incidents that will not result in a Football Association inquiry. The underlying cause of much of this drama was defending so bad that it would be an insult to the playground to call it schoolboy.
There were some decent individual performances and cohesive defensive displays – Nemanja Vidic impressed in Manchester United's 1-0 win at Goodison Park, Fulham were solid in victory at the DW Stadium while the pairing of Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger in Liverpool's defence gave Kenny Dalglish's side a mobile and solid look to the heart of their back four. But that's about it. Stamford Bridge was the main "look away now" arena for defensive purists. Andre the Giant would have contributed more to Arsenal's defensive unit than André Santos while André Villas-Boas may be committed to playing with a high-line at Chelsea, as he did at Porto, but on the evidence of Saturday he needs to sit down and explain it to his team a couple more times because they do not seem to have the hang of it. Not that anyone will dwell on that as the game gets filed away on the shelf labelled "Classics" alongside the two 4-3 matches between Liverpool and Newcastle and various other imperfect afternoons.
This season the four games between this season's Champions League sides have seen 29 goals scored. In the 12 matches last season between teams competing in the Champions League there was 32 goals. Does that suggest a new emphasis on attacking, expansive play or merely a new low in the gradual deterioration of the top sides in English football? Sadly it may be the latter. And nearly everyone involved in marketing the Premier League loves it. EF
Cech can't catch
Rightly or wrongly, Monday's headlines will probably focus on John Terry, with the defender kindly recreating his slip of 2008 to give a laugh to all those ABCs out there. Perhaps, though, those headlines should focus on the performance of Peter Cech who had one of his worst ever games in the Chelsea goal. Admittedly the Chelsea defence were poor and there was not much he could do about Arsenal's first and fourth goals but on three occasions the Czech keeper committed the cardinal sin of all goalkeepers: he got beaten at his near post. The final goal, and Robin van Persie's third, will be of particular irritation to his manager, André Villas-Boas. Despite José Bosingwa doing his job and covering the angles, Cech, for some reason, moved to his left when the only real place the Arsenal captain could aim for is the keeper's right. He duly conceded when he really should have saved.
He will also be angry to be beaten by Theo Walcott, a man whose goals come about as often as insightful analysis from Alan Shearer. Chelsea conceded five goals at home in the league for the first time since December 1989 when they lost 5-2 to Liverpool and have kept a clean sheet only once in the league this season.
Nevertheless Villas-Boas said after the match he would be sticking to his open style "because the philosophy is a personal value and a club value. You should never sell it cheap. We will stick to this philosophy." But if they are to have any success in the league, or indeed Europe, Chelsea will need to change something and they will need Cech, and the defence in front of him, to recover the form that once made them one of the most formidable back lines in England. IMc
Downing is failing to deliver
Plenty of criticism has been heaped on the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, for spending £35m on Andy Carroll and in many respects that criticism has been justified. But it seems Dalglish has got off scot-free for what may be his worst purchase of the summer, Stewart Downing. Whereas Carroll, at 22, has enough time to develop into the player his transfer fee expects him to be, Downing, at 27, does not. Traditional wisdom states that the former Aston Villa and Middlesbrough winger should be coming into the prime of his career but he has been desperately below par since joining the Merseyside club. While his passing is, for the most part, accurate too much of it is in areas that do not hurt the opposition.
And even when he does get into good positions, he wastes his crosses. The match against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday was the perfect example of this. He had a 72% pass completion rate but the vast majority of his passes and crosses near the penalty box failed to find a Liverpool player or trouble the West Bromwich defence. He has also failed to assist or score a single goal for Liverpool in the league this season. For a winger, and one that cost £20m and is a regular start for Dalglish's side, these are damning statistics. Liverpool may have spent big on Carroll but Downing, in the long run, may end up costing them more. IMc
An assistant finally provides some assistance
Lee Mason was right to award Liverpool a penalty at The Hawthorns on Saturday evening. Jerome Thomas's collision with Luis Suárez would have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch, so why not in the box? Just because there was no appeal from Suárez does not render the claim any less valid. It is not an lbw decision. What was remarkable about the incident is that it was a rare occasion when a referee's assistant volunteered to make himself useful. Mason gave the penalty on the say-so of his assistant, Gary Beswick. Far too often the man with the flag will slink into the background when a big call is needed leaving a referee to make it on an incident he is not always in a position to judge. So credit where it is due to Beswick. The problem is that even though he got the decision right, the resulting 83 minutes of abuse he inevitably received as he ran the line may have led him to wonder if it was really worth it. EF
Dan O'Hagan may be Britain's oddest commentator
Watching Match of the Day remains an enthralling experience but thanks to Messrs Lineker, Hansen, Shearer and Motson, listening to it has become a pretty banal pursuit. However, if Saturday's edition of the show is anything to go by there may just be a fresh reason to take that finger off the mute button. Those who tuned in for the highlights of Norwich's 3-3 draw with Blackburn could not fail to have been engrossed by a match that contained two goal-of-the-month contenders, a dramatic comeback and referring controversy, but they may well also have been distracted by the ever-so-odd commentary of Dan O'Hagan.
The BBC's man at Carrow Road started well but then came Blackburn's second goal, scored by Yakubu Ayegbeni after 62 minutes. O'Hagan expressed a textbook grunt as the striker lashed a long-range shot at goal ("Yakubuuuu!!"), but then, as the ball hit the back of the net, nothing. No emotion, no wonder, no recognition that the visitors had just retaken the lead. A one-off, perhaps? Not so. A couple of minutes later Christopher Samba made it 3-1 to Blackburn and this time O'Hagan did not even grunt. His voice remained flat from the build-up to the goal through to the moment the men in blue and white were celebrating.
It was as if he was commentating on another incident entirely. In fairness to the man with the microphone, he reacted to Blackburn's opening goal, scored by Junior Hoilett, as well as Norwich's three, in an appropriate fashion but it was hard to escape the feeling that in O'Hagan – who is described as "one of the world's leading freelance television football commentators" on his official website – we may just have a maverick on our hands. SN
