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| Like brothers? |
Man Utd 3-1 Chelsea
Extremely entertaining game with lots of goals, lots of dramas and most importantly, lots of MISSES! What are the odds of Rooney missed a penalty and Torres missed an open goal attempt after that? Unbelievable.
MUN: Not the most convincing victory at Old Trafford, but 3 points are 3 points and no complaints about that. Smalling's goal was offside, but he won't get that chance if he was not courageous enough to run and bang the ball with his head; Nani's goal was offside when he received the ball, but to be left so open by Chelsea's defender to score such a magnificent shot - you can only blame Terry and co for that. Phil Jones was very determined to get the ball - which he indirectly helped Rooney to get the third goal for United. Applause.
In overall the team looked very confident and determined despite the fact that it was Chelsea who were actually having the edge in the game. Clear title favourites. The central midfield is still weak, but the strength of the flanks will overcome it easily.
What interests me is when will United lose their first game, and how will the young players react with it. Big confidence hit, and the title race may be wide open; otherwise expect the young blood of Red Devils to march their way to 20th.
Pick: Nani, Rooney, Young
Watch: Smalling, Jones
CHE: Torres resurrected? Quite close. The pack of faster players really had positive impact on him. Much better runs, better courage, better skills. Too bad the miss did flaw his performance by a lot.
Ramires was good for some of the passes, but for beautiful pass by Torres - should he let it go and allow Sturridge to shoot instead of attempting a forceful shot, well much to improve on offence despite having numerous beautiful runs.
One thing to note though, Torres and Lampard are mutually exclusive players - they simply can't and won't link well. Torres needs players to play around him and Lampard's speed prohibits that.
In short, great job by AVB to dominate the play at Old Trafford - 22 shots, and I can see things to improve sooner rather than later for Chelsea to close down the leading duo.
Watch: Torres, Mata, Ramires
Drop: Lampard
Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool
Not the kind of result that fans expect, but no surprise as Liverpool played terribly bad. With or without the red cards I would still believe Tottenham will win.
TOT: Modric screamer is clearly on the list for goal of the season. Harry Redknapp will be glad that he actually kept him during the summer transfer window. Adebayor was wreaking havoc throughout the game and at £8.1m, he's a mega steal. I can see the Togolese's price to hike up to £9.0m or even £9.5m at the end of the season.
Surprisingly it seems that Adebayor's presence has powered up Defoe too, with the English scoring 19 points over the past two gameweeks when Adebayor played both games. Both are good, although I will definitely pick Adebayor on any day.
With Van der Vaart returned too, the tri-core (VdV, Modric, Parker) midfield line-up will definitely supply the front duo lots of ammunition for goals. Having at least one Tottenham attackers is simply a must for this moment.
Pick: Adebayor, Defoe
Watch: Van der Vaart, Parker, Modric
LIV: Pathetically weak throughout the game. Defence was nonsense, especially at the right flank where Skrtel was dominated totally by Gareth Bale. The red card was really, really expected with his frequent mistakes and terrible judgments. Charlie Adam way too reckless and impatient when defending - he needs to keep his cool. Lucas was helpless as Tottenham's attack was too quick - he had no backup.
Carroll still didn't find his way into the team - he acted more like a statue rather than a player. Suarez, once again, was helpless upfront. Dalglish and Comolli really shouldn't let both Meireles and Aquilani - the rare creative directors in midfield - to go.
Fans will be eager for the return of Steven Gerrard, and hopefully he will cure the current mediocre Liverpool at least by a bit.
Watch: Suarez
Drop: Adam, Skrtel, Carroll
Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal
Weird game? Arsenal led twice only to be let down by the worst defence of the league - they leaked 14 goals already.
BLA: It was Yakubu's day, really. The Everton outcast was influential he scored 2 important goals (the other 2 were own goals though). Solid striker which will also be the pivot of the Rovers' survival. He is a must if Rovers' can pick up their form and bang in some goals.
N'Zonzi had a good run which caused Koscielny's own goal, but he isn't historically productive so don't be hasty to make decisions about him.
Pick: Yakubu
Watch: N'Zonzi
ARS: Defence was once again a let down. I thought Mertesacker will turn the situation around but seriously, Koscielny is too big a tumour to be removed. He was at fault for at least 2 of the goals. Before Vermaelen's return or Wenger's decision to kick Koscielny into the reserves, avoid Arsenal defenders.
There's also problems offensively. While Arteta and Gervinho both got their first goal for their new club, Gervinho's selfishness is questionable. In fact he was scolded by captain Robin van Persie for his selfish attempt instead of feeding the ball to the Dutchman who was clearly unmarked. The ending would be much different if Arsenal led by 3-1 instead of 2-1 by half-time.
Pick: Van Persie, Gervinho, Arteta
Drop: Koscielny, ARS defence
Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle
AST: Satisfactory performance. Given was influential again as he saved some of the tricky shots especially the long-distance cannon from Cabaye. Offensively it's yet again Agbonlahor who scored - he feet are on fire.
Pick: Agbonlahor
Watch: Given
NEW: St. James' Park has their new Carroll - Leon Best. In fact I'm torn between choosing Agbonlahor and him: Gabby is more clinical, but Leo is cheaper. Both are great third forward.
Cabaye was unlucky - he could have scored double digits on any other game with that kind of performance. Instead, it was Tiote who scored 7 points - I seriously cannot see that to repeat frequently.
Pick: Best, Cabaye
Bolton 1-2 Norwich
BOL: Klasnic got a red - that butt-hurted a lot of managers. N'gog grabbed the chance and earned the team a penalty. Unfortunately Bolton's next two games are tricky - Arsenal and Chelsea - won't bring too much good to the young French.
Martin Petrov scored through the spot, and is surely claiming the #1 fantasy spot at Bolton.
Pick: Petrov
Watch: N'gog
Drop: Klasnic
NOR: Holt started from bench - the captain is becoming less and less influential as the team won without him for majority of the playing time.
It's only the Canaries' first win, and is far too soon to deduce anything about any of their players yet.
Watch: Pilkington, Morison
Drop: Holt
Everton 3-1 Wigan
EVE: Slight disappointment from Tim Cahill as he only assisted one - not so solid captain choice. Vellios is receiving good reviews from football pundits - a superb steal if he starts.
Watch: Vellios
WIG: It's Di Santo who's the ace of the team instead of Moses who remained rather silent over these weeks.
Pick: Di Santo
Swansea 3-0 West Brom
SWA: Finally a victory. Luck was on their side this time as Sinclair fired 12 fantasy points. Those who remain loyal with him are well rewarded.
Also on the score sheet are Nathan Dyer and Leroy Lita - two cheap fantasy players. Not sure about their consistency though.
And Michel Vorm is as solid as ever. A season long hold.
Pick: Sinclair, Vorm
Watch: Dyer, Lita
WBA: Not their day. Long wasn't clinical enough to take the chances. Surprised to see both Dorrans and Brunt started on bench.
Wolves 0-3 QPR
WOL: Overwhelmed by QPR throughout the game. Form is starting to loosen out.
QPR: Faurlin's 10 points and 3 bonus points were both unexpected. As for the expected ones, Wright-Phillips (6 points) was once again influential in the win as well as Joey Barton (13 points). Both are superstuds from QPR.
Bothroyd once again failed to impress; instead it was DJ Campbell who scored for the strikers.
Pick: Barton, SWP
Watch: Faurlin, DJ Campbell
Drop: Bothroyd
Fulham 2-2 Man City
FUL: Good comeback. Good role played by Zamora. Still the ace of the team whenever he's fit.
Pick: Zamora
MCI: Overly defensive after the 2-0 lead. Silva, Dzeko, Aguero and Nasri are still the usual producers from the team.
Pick: Aguero, Silva
Sunderland 4-0 Stoke
SUN: Larsson scored 2 and created 1 as I suffered for selling him out of my team. He got only 1 bonus point though for such good stats. Instead it was Craig Gardner who got 3. The one that is more well-worthed to invest for long-term is surely Bendtner (5 points).
Pick: Bendtner, Larsson, Brown
Watch: Gardner
STO: Nothing much to say here as the team lost completely.
