Hi folks!
First of all, Week 3 of the EPL and what a mixed bag of results.
On Friday we saw a dominant performance from Chelsea that looked so much improved under the leadership of Pochettino. Raheem Sterling once again looked like an England international, something he has failed to do for much of his time at Chelsea. Together with his team mates they actually made Chelsea look like a top six side again, cutting through the Luton Town defence like a ‘hot knife slicing through butter’. That said, I wonder if it was all just too simple for them. Luton Town look so out of their depth right now. In fact, I cannot recall any team ever being promoted to the EPL looking so underprepared for the huge task ahead of them.
On Saturday at 3.04pm, Old Trafford would have fell silent. Well it might have if 3000 ecstatic Nottingham Forest fans were not there. 0-2 and good for it…Wow! Unfortunately, it did not last too long and the Salford Reds (also known as Manchester United) clawed it back to 3-2 with some help from the VAR officials. I hate to admit this, but they were actually the correct decisions. Worrall’s WAS a red card and in the other big decision Rashford WAS fouled in the box and so it was definitely a penalty.
Tottenham Hotspur got their expected win away on the South coast as Bournemouth already look like relegation candidates. Tottenham on the other hand are looking really good under Ange Postecoglou, which will be a huge relief to their fans following the departure of Harry Kane. Their new hero ‘James Maddison’ already looks like he has found a home that really suits him and it has taken many people and pundits by surprise that he already looks like a better player than he did at Leicester City.
Which brings me nicely to Tottenham’s arch rivals Arsenal. HELD at HOME to FULHAM! What? I did not see that coming. Following the record signing of Declan Rice, I think many people had expected them to be flying already and while they do have 7 points on the board, they have not looked like the impressive side from last season and Fulham made them look beatable at times. I am still certain that as the season moves on, Arsenal will be somewhere near that top 4 again.
Almost going under the radar there was a London derby on Saturday too. Crystal Palace travelled 25KM across London to the Gtech stadium, home of the impressive Brentford. Since losing Ivan Toney to a ban for gambling, everyone expected Brentford to struggle this year but it has not been that way at all with Wissa and Mbeumo finding the net in recent weeks. In this game it was the turn of winger Kevin Schade to put Brentford in the lead before Joachim Anderson popped up with the equaliser for Palace midway through the second half. A 1-1 may have been a much fancied result so no real surprises. Under the guidance of Thomas Frank and Roy Hodgson, these two both continue to look like solid EPL teams and on their day will cause a few teams problems this season.
Now as a Newcastle United fan, I have a unhealthy dislike for Everton. One day I may try to explain why the fans of both clubs have really come to loath one another. So it may come as no shock that I loved Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 0-1 win at Goodison Park on Saturday. I think what I love even more is that I’m certain that Everton will struggle to score goals. And without goals, 3 points will be difficult to achieve all too often. So I’m sure that they will be in another relegation scrap this season. Wolverhampton with Gary O’Neil at the helm will improve and by the end of the season, I think they’ll be fine.
Saturday evening had the biggest shock of the weekend…well I say that, Sunday wasn’t too nice for me either but we’ll come to that later. Brighton are a GOOD side and I don’t think anyone from outside of the West Ham United supporters club thought that they could take 3 points from Brighton at the Amex Stadium. Throughout this game Brighton looked good again, but somehow West Ham with 3 counter-attacks score 3 very good goals. Well done David Moyes, that was a tactical masterstroke.
Do we have to talk about Sunday? No really, I don’t think I want to ☹.
There were actually two games at 2pm on Sunday. The forgotten one for many people (because it was not on TV in England) was at Turf Moor, home of Burnley who were taking on one of the other claret shirt clubs, Aston Villa. Not much to say really. Typical Burnley, a hard fought game but ultimately up against a far superior team in Aston Villa. I have to say, although they were well beaten on week one, Aston Villa are an exceptionally good side and thoroughly deserved their 1-3 win.
Man City…well they were just Man City again. They find a way to win even when they are not playing well. I’m already predicting that they will win the league again. After seeing them live in Manchester last week beating my team, I just cannot see any other outcome. Sheffield United actually deserved a lot of credit in this game. They kept fighting and if they play like that every week, they might be able to pull off a shock and avoid relegation.
Oh well here we go. My team and the “Horror at St James’ Park”.
I’m writing this two days on, and I still cannot understand how we did not finish Liverpool off in that first half. Following Gordon’s first goal for Newcastle, we were looking strong and while Liverpool always had a threat, I thought we looked good for our lead. Then the Van Dijk tackle on Isak. Clearly he took the man before the ball and as last man he had to be shown the red card.
After going down to 10 men, Liverpool actually got stronger. They obviously had to change their shape and they just made themselves difficult to break down. Newcastle United were all over them but nothing much came of the possession. A combination of goalkeeper and post kept out Almiron who was actually having quite a good game. Then again in the second half the post came to Liverpool’s rescue after Almiron had raced his way into the Liverpool half, skipping around a couple of Liverpool players before unleashing a whipped shot which hit the frame of the goal. There were some other ‘half’ chances but not enough to make the breakthrough.
In the second half though, I have to give a lot of credit to Liverpool, as at times they actually made Newcastle look like it was us playing with 10 men on the pitch. While not really progressing too far up the pitch, they were making life difficult for Newcastle and slowly I think Klipperty-Klopp started to believe that a point was still there for them.
Then the changes! No, not those Liverpool ones, the disastrous Newcastle United ones!
Joelinton going off meant that our strong-technical midfield started to look weaker. Then Tonali and Gordon off, arguably the best two players on the pitch until then. NOW Klopp starts to believe. A few freshen-up changes had already been made but he could see a chink in the armour and unleashed his main weapon from the bench – Darwin Nunez.! Newcastle had moved too early in the substitution stakes looking for that elusive second goal to finish off the game but now we were exposed on our left-side of the pitch. Oh and Klopp had definitely seen it because Nunez went straight over there. Only a few minutes on the pitch and a horrendous slip from the ever dependable Sven Botman and he was in…BANG, the equaliser! A few minutes later, an absolute clanger of a pass by the magician…sorry I mean Bruno Guimaraes, and just 4 or 5 seconds later…BANG, the Liverpool winner! And there it was - instant heart-break. If you have ever been punched in the stomach, that was the feeling.
This season Liverpool might not be challenging at the very top for the title, but for sure, they will still be a force in the league and in the cups. For Newcastle United, the question will be can they learn? Will they learn how to be ruthless when they are on top and how to be a top elite side? Or, will their progress be slower this season as teams start to give them more respect and develop special tactics to stop them. I guess only time will tell.
Well, that is enough of my ‘jabberings’ from week 3. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if asked, I’ll be back a little later on in the season. Until then, enjoy the first part of the season as it starts to heat up.
Lee, a Newcastle United supporter and season ticket holder.
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