Fergie's Chewing Gum - August 19
England
Ah, football. Our faithful supplier of goals and drama. Welcome back, friend, we’ve missed you.
The Premier League kicked off at Old Trafford and Louis Van Gaal did not get the start he was looking for. With a lack of incoming transfers and an injury list almost as long as Grant Holt’s grocery one, he started three debutants and Ashley Young, and was forced to bring both Nani and Fellaini off the bench despite each being on the unwanted list (and probably both leaving on loan this week). Even still, this is Manchester United and they should have beaten Swansea. Instead Sung-Yueng Ki scored a clinical opener and despite Rooney’s clever equaliser, Swansea scored a sloppy second and United fell to a 2-1 loss. Their first opening weekend loss at Old Trafford since 1972. Oops.
Elsewhere things mostly finished as planned for the big boys, not that it was always easy. Arsenal had to really work for a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, thanks to a very late Aaron Ramsey winner. While Liverpool needed the predictable stars to get them past Southampton with Dan Sturridge sneaking in a deciding goal after a gorgeous Raheem Sterling opener (that pass from Henderson…) and an impressive Saints equaliser (Nathaniel Clyne getting forward).
City and Chelsea did things easier. David Silva and Sergio Aguero bagging the goals in a 2-0 MCFC win over Newcastle (who had their chances) and Chelsea’s new signings Diego Costa and especially Cesc Fabregas helping them overcome an early deficit for a 3-1 win against Burnley. Costa, Schurrle and Ivanovic scored the goals. Schurrle’s one in particular was great with this gorgeous assist from Cescy.
We also had Aston Villa surprising Stoke City for a 1-0 win, Hull edging QPR by the same scoreline and West Brom and Sunderland playing out a 2-2 draw. Tottenham were reduced to 10 men when Kyle Naughton blocked a Kevin Nolan shot, but Mark Noble missed the spot kick. Later on West Ham went down to 10 themselves and everyone had a bit of a laugh when a fan ran on the pitch and took the resulting free kick. He actually ended up with more shots on target than Carlton Cole on the day…
In the end, just as The Hammers looked to settle for a well-earned point Tottenham new-boy Eric Dier went through and stole the points for Spurs. Meanwhile kiwi Chris Wood was on target for Leicester, becoming just the third NZer to score in the EPL! Everton twice held the lead but Wood’s goal meant a 2-2 draw was settled for.
Spain
Ah, no official footy yet, aside from Real Madrid beating Sevilla in the annual Champions League winner vs Europa League winner fixture. It was basically a rollover. Sevilla gave them a decent match but Real never seemed to get out of second gear. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a 2-0 win in which James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos both started.
Barcelona played a friendly against a Mexican club and won 6-0, which is boring enough except that Luis Suarez played off the bench (it’s a friendly so it doesn’t count) and Neymar scored a brace in his first game since that injury at the World Cup. You know, when he said he was nearly paralysed? He scored a backheel.
Real Madrid play Atletico in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup tomorrow morning, which will be mouthwatering for a number of reasons. Both teams have made some big transfers and let’s not forget it’s a rematch of the Champions League final. The second leg is on the weekend.
Germany
We’re still a week away from Bundesliga footy, but the German season got underway with a big bang this weekend as Borussia Dortmund beat up Bayern Munich for the Supercup (The German equivalent of the Community Shield). Bayern won the league in record time last season, by 19 points, and they supplemented that by buying Dortmund’s best player, Robert Lewandowski. Lewwy started against his old side but things didn’t go so well. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (aka How do you spell that again?) opened the scoring and a top header from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Dortmund a 2-0 win. Both sides were missing most of their World Cup stars and Javi Martinez went off early with an injury for Bayern. Manuel Neuer made a number of great saves but the highlight was undoubtedly Aubameyang’s goal celebration, where he tore off to the side of the field and pulled a Spiderman mask from his sock (!) which he then pulled over his head. Absolutely bizzare!
Apparently the celebration was inspired by a former teammate in France, goalkeeper Jeremie Janot, whose affinity for comic book heroes saw him once take the field in full Spiderman kit. No, seriously, there’s video of it:
France
Well the big news out of the French Lique 1 was this rather dramatic headbutt from Bastia's Brandao on Thiago Motta of PSG. Football has a history of headbutt's and what not but this one took place in the tunnel and has caused quite the stir as you can imagine.
As you can see, Brandao is clearly waiting for Motta and clearly has every intention of headbutting him ... and then running away. Interesting. Here's the damage, which shows that it wasn't not airy fairy soccer headbutt. Brandao apparently won't face punishment from his club, but probably will from elsewhere. Who really cares though, it's a laugh. PSG won 2-0 by the way.
After two games, it's far too early to make too many judgements but expect PSG to be up the top again this season. We'll keep you informed on any teams that pose a genuine threat.
Italy
Well not much has happened in Italy so writing anything with any substance is pretty difficult. I can speculate a wee bit, with both Juventus and AC Milan handing their reigns over to new coaches, I expect this season to be a bit more exciting. Exciting in the sense that Juve won't be the clear top dogs despite winning their third title on the trot last season. There's many quality teams with Juve, Inter, Milan, Napoli, Lazio and AS Roma all able to pose a threat, which will give us plenty of interesting footy to sink our teeth in to.
Down Under
The newbie to Fergie's Chewing Gum, 'Down Under' will zone in mostly on the A-League, possibly a bit more here and there when opportunity strikes. We're kiwis so we'll try to give the Aussies credit where it's due and provide equal opportunities for all bits and pieces from this corner of the globe.