On the opening weekend of the season there were not many shock results. In my opinion the three biggest shocks were: None of the promoted sides could manufacture a victory with QPR getting trashed by Bolton, Norwich getting a respectable point away at Wigan and Swansea took a thumping off Manchester City. Chelsea new boss Villas Boas was left disappointed by his sides unsurprising draw with Stoke. It was a really tough welcome party for Andre and Tony Pulis is always a man who enjoys party crashing. Arsenal could also only manage a draw with Newcastle but what surprised us most was Arsenal lost their discipline completely with Gervinho slapping Joey Barton and Barton was also a victim of an Alex Song stamp. As already said City got off to a blistering start against Swansea with new boy Sergio Aguero becoming star of the show but, as always United fought to the end and this time it was against West Brom after De Gea made a mistake United came to win 2-1.
The second weekend was opened with a Sunderland vs Newcastle derby match. Newcastle continuing their good start came out with a lucky win in a game which could have gone either way after a somewhat fiery first half that saw a couple of yellow cards brandished. Liverpool came out on top against Arsenal and won 2-0 in a game where Emmanuel Frimpong also lost his cool for Arsenal and received a red card. Swansea and QPR both got off the mark as Swansea took a point off Wigan and QPR's Tommy Smith knicked a winner against Everton. Chelsea got their first win of the season against an unlucky West Brom. Manchester City were not as impressive as their last weeks performance but managed a 3-2 victory against Bolton. The real stars of the weekend were Manchester United as they brushed away Tottenham side 3-0 due to Wellbeck, Anderson and Rooney goals.
The third week saw the first Midlands derby of the season between Villa and Wolves end a draw. In a very boring affair both sides were happy to keep their unbeaten starts. Chelsea beat Norwich 3-1 in a game where the scoreline does not reflect the actual complexion of the game. Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam scored their first Liverpool goals in a 3-1 victory against Bolton. Manchester City brought their scoring boots to White Hart Lane as they trashed Tottenham 5-1. A signing from last season Edin Dzeko was not going to roll over and let himself be forgotten about as he struck 4 past Spurs. But Manchester United were not to be outdone as they hit 8 past Arsenal. In a great game for the neutrals there were many defensive frailties on both sides but it was United who capitalised on the weaknesses much more.
After the international break we had the fourth week and it was one which saw Arsenal bounce back and struggle past Swansea. Arshavin often criticised provided the 3 points for Arsenal. City beat Wigan 3-0. Liverpool once again could not get get a win against Stoke. John Walters showed not all was rosy at Liverpool even after they spent £100 million and Jamie Carragher is still a weakness. Tottenham who had added Parker and Adebayor to the team returned to their good ways with a good 2-0 win against Wolves. But Manchester United once again stole the show with a brilliant 5-0 win over Bolton. Rooney got a second hat trick in a row and Hernandez made his first start of the season and got two goals. With Joey Barton having left Newcastle for QPR he was the star of the show as QPR nor Newcastle could find a goal.
The fifth week saw an extremely entertaining 4-3 between Blackburn and Arsenal. If it was any other season you would see this mad scoreline in the big side's favour, but not this time as Blackburn who had gone into the second half down 2-1 fought back incredibly to make it 4-2 and Chamakh got what proved to be a consolation. Villa and Newcastle drew retaining their unbeaten starts. All 3 promoted sides won. The Sunday started with a surprise Tottenham 4-0 victory against Liverpool. Former Gunner Adebayor was really making himself a hit with Spurs fans scoring twice and looking extremely lively as well. Fulham took a well deserved point against City after a brilliant second half resurrection. Manchester United won 3-1 against Chelsea and this weekend was once again stolen by Manchester United though but it wasn't down to their brilliance it was down to one of the worst misses ever seen. No more can be said just watch it for yourself.
The sixth week was very unsurprising as all the big sides won except for United who became another victim of the tough to beat Stoke. After using up their luck last week in the Torres miss United looked quite flat and Stoke capitalised on this. City beat Everton 2-0, Arsenal beat Bolton 3-0 and Liverpool beat Wolves 2-1. Even as Chelsea won 4-1 and he scored Torres could not remain out of the spotlight as he made a horrible challenge on Mark Gower and it resulted in a well deserved red card. Norwich continued their good start and beat Sunderland 2-1 on the Monday night.
Liverpool were once again playing a derby game. This time it was United and in a very poor game both sides had to accept a draw after Steven Gerrard scored from a questionable free kick where Unted's wall split and late on in the game Javier Hernandez equalised to stop United's 4th consecutive Anfield defeat. City stopped Villa's unbeaten record with a 4-1 win. Norwich beat Swansea in a 6 pointer as Pilkington made up for last week's profligacy scoring twice. Chelsea beat off Everton's challenge and scored 3 in the process. In the second midlands derby West Brom took the 3 points against Wolves with a 2-0 victory. Arsenal beat Sunderland. Tottenham could not manufacture a victory against unbeaten Newcastle as Shola Ameobi scored a late equaliser much to the delight of the home fans.
The ninth week saw the third midlands derby and this time it was between Villa and West Brom. Villa having lost against City prior to this wanted to show bouncebackability but instead West Brom showed the bouncebackability as they came from behind after Bent's penalty to win 2-1 thanks to Jonas Olsson and Paul Scharner goals. Liverpool struggled to a draw against Premier League newcomers and high flyers Norwich. Arsenal trashed Stoke 3-1 and Tottenham beat Blackburn 2-1 but it really was a Surprise Sunday. Manchester United entered derby day as favourites against a City side who wanted to be a little more than 'Noisy Neighbours'. That they were as the stunned England and even the world with an astonishing 6-1 defeat of United, the worst of Sir Alex Ferguson's career as a player and manager. Balotelli gave City the lead then Evans got a red card which lead to extreme trouble for United. Balotelli added to the lead and Aguero got his first and City's third Fletcher pulled a screamer back for United but as they pressed forward City tore them apart scoring 3 goals from 90 minutes on. Super sub Dzeko scored twice and Silva once. But this was not the only shock as tempers flared when Chelsea lost two men through red cards against QPR. QPR also got a penalty from a silly David Luiz push on Helguson. He got up to take and score it.
In the tenth week United bouced back to beat off usually tough Everton 1-0. Chicharito scored for United but returning from injury Tom Cleverly got injured once again for United leaving their midfield weak once again. But the other Saturday morning game was the real entertainer as Chelsea met Arsenal. Frank Lampard gave Chelsea the lead but Van Persie equalised and on the stroke of half time Chelsea regained their lead via John Terry. After half time Andre Santos scored to once again equalise for Arsenal but then Arsenal took the lead when Wallcott scored a very good goal. Mata equalised for Chelsea with 10 minutes to go but Robin Van Persie lead by example and scored 2 goals to round off his hat trick. Suggestions were made he was doing a Nazi Salute whilst celebrating but they were rubbished by the Dutchman. City continued their good form beating Wolves 3-1. Blackburn lost a 3-1 lead to Nowich in the last 10 minutes and drew 3-3. Sunderland and Villa shared a point. Liverpool beat off West Brom 2-0 in Roy Hodgson's return. Tottenham beat off a flat QPR 3-1. Newcastle's Demba Ba also helped his side to a shock 3-1 away win at Stoke with an incredible hat trick.
So What Has Caused These Mad Scores?
I think what has caused these scores are No 1: The attacking Formations, No 2: The worsening defences, and No 3: The stricter refereeing.
I shall start with number 1:
If you look across the 'Top 6' formations you will see that there is a real lack of central players with City playing 4-4-2 United playing 4-4-2 Arsenal playing 4-3-3 Chelsea playing 4-3-3 Spurs playing 4-4-2 and Liverpool playing whatever counteracts their opposition. This leaves midfields open to being dominated by the teams who play 4-5-1 such as Stoke, Newcastle and Norwich. This possible domination from the 'weaker sides' leaves games more unpredictable and harder to win.
Number 2 is also key in the unpredictability because:
Over the past few years the abilities of the full backs and keepers of the big clubs were much better. De Gea whilst being a good keeper is too young to keep a defence together. Szczesny finds himself in the same position, Cech and Reina is does not have the same defensive solidity in front of him. Friedel is also getting quite old. Joe Hart is capable of also making mistakes regularly. Full backs are also more attacking than they were in past years and are not as good defensively
Number 3 is my most debatable point:
In recent times players have become more fragile and have started looking for more yellow and red cards. With this pressure being put on referees they make many more questionable decisions. This means that the amount of games there are 10 players vs 11 are increased greatly. It also means that there are many more penalty awards which creates a better view for neutrals but worse for the defenders.
Whilst I write about these I am not complaining as it provides more entertainment for me and everybody who has read this. Long live the goals!!
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