Newcastle put Sunderland 5-1 to the sword as Aston Villa fired blanks at home to Birmingham City as the teams drew 0-0. Nolan was on a hat-trick as Ameobi bagged a brace. It was a great performance by the Magpies, even though they let Darren Bent dent their clean slate in the 90th minute.
The real story of the weekend should be Liverpool's victory away at the Reebok Stadium. Liverpool earned 3 points in the 86th-minute when Maxi Rodriguez that gave the Reds a 1-0 win in their Premier League encounter. Before then, it seemed both teams were headed for a share of spoils as Fernando Torres looked nervous in front of goal. However, the out of form Spaniard had a defty touch through the legs of a defender for Rodrigues to score the vital goal.
Kevin Davies played his heart out as usual justifying Fabio Capello's confidence in him, after the Italian gave him his debut in the last England match. Bolton forced a fine save from Pepe Reina when Stuart Holden came in with a fierce long-range strike in the 22nd minute, but it was a rare chance in a cagey half that saw neither side creating clear-cut chances or looking particularly comfortable on the ball.
Joe Cole sustained a hamstring injury and Liverpool's top scorer David Ngog was introduced to partner the struggling Fernando Torres. The Reds victory moved out of the bottom three for a change and hopefully for good, but they need the confidence of Torres to come back and quickly. The better bet is to offer him out for sale and get youngsters who are looking for a chance in the limelight. It will be a while for Torres to get his reputable dangerous self back.
Meanwhile, Manchester City coach, Roberto Mancini, may lose his his job due to player power. Reports that the players want the Italian out and now. It has always been my humble opinion that the Eastland side needed someone more flamboyant and likeable like Jose Mourinho, Harry Redknapp or Arsene Wenger. Anyone else will be just buying time and squandering the petrodollars of the Abu Dhabi billionaires. Some UK newspapers claimed to have sources saying, "There is hardly a player in the dressing room who has any time for Mancini. The place is a complete mess. There are times when he tries to be a hard man but no one takes any notice. Team spirit is falling apart because there is no respect for the manager and some players are even guessing when he could go. They don't know who they want in, they just want Mancini out."
There was an issue with Yaya Toure who drove home at half-time after being substituted. Man City issued a bizzare statement that they allowed him to drive home early to beat the traffic. Other players on the field of play had traffic to beat too. Carlos Tevez's everyday cry about being home and love sick were the tip of the iceberg. A quality squad that City has, should be able to grind any positive result here on earth or at the moon. The week that Arsenal ran rings around City at the City of Manchester Stadium, Mancini said his team were better and deserved to win. He claimed they played their best match of the season. The Wolves defeat left him speechless and visibly shaken as he professed utter dismay at the display.
We will not discuss Nani's dive in the box, picking up and hugging the ball, and then over reacting to Gomes trying to get him booked, his escape of the red-card and a feat of a tantrum he threw by kicking the ball hot-heatedly coming from an offside position or taking advantage of having been in an offside position and then interfering with both play and the player involved in active play. I did not see how the money exchanged hands between Nani and the linesman as his eyes had dollar signs written all over when the referee confronted him for his flag up. He claimed he had recognised a familiar nice face across field and was waving to say 'Hie, see you after the match'. Harry Redknapp had this to say about the referee, "He made a cock-up, but he'll come up with some excuse." Life goes on for both Man U and Spurs. Fans will never agree on the foolishness of Gomes, the incompetency of the referee and the unsporting behaviour of Nani. Where is fair play in all this?
No comments:
Post a Comment