Fergie's Chewing Gum - September 23
Premier League
It was an outrageous day in Leicester as Man United came to town. Early on it was all red as Robin Van Persie opened his season account and then Angel Di Maria scored a sublime chip over the keeper. However the usual defensive frailties were evident when Jonny Evans was picked off by Leonard Ulloa for a headed goal just seconds later. Ander Herrera scored a deft little flick to make it 3-1… and then things went crazy.
First up Rafael gave away a penalty for a soft push on Jamie Vardy. Even softer given he was clearly fouled himself in the build-up. Still, that hardly explains how The Foxes were able to push forward with such urgency and success after that. Esteban Cambiasso popped up for an equaliser after some reticent defending then Marcos Rojo ran off on a forward run but gave the ball away via Juan Mata and the break led to let Jamie Vardy in. A fifth followed after, with Tyler Blackett sent off for a last man tackle. Penalty converted. It’s worth noting that this is a Man Utd defence struggling with injuries but the lack of leadership was noticeable. Phil Jones cannot return soon enough, and even then, hmm...
Manchester City hosted Chelsea in the big game of the weekend. But unlike the defensive shambles of a few other games, this one was all quality at the back. For 66 minutes not a whole lot happened, until Pablo Zabaleta was sent off for a second yellow. Suddenly Chelsea smelled blood in the water. Eden Hazard sent in a lovely ball that rolled into the path of Andre Schurrle for the goal. Diego Costa had the chance to seal the points soon later but his shot came back off the post. Then with 6 minutes left, Manchester City found the equaliser through… Frank Lampard.
Note the celebration from the returning Chelsea legend. I’ve seen more life at a funeral. The result is a bit of a boost for City given where they were placed after that red card, while it keeps Chelsea unbeaten through 6 games and atop the table.
In second place sit Southampton. Yeah, no kidding. They played Swansea in the Match to Decide Which Average Team is the Surprise Package of the Season. Swansea looked more likely to score in a game where they each sorta stifled each other. But Wilfried Bony got himself sent off in the first half and in the second the Saints dominated possession though didn’t do much with it. 10 mins left and substitute Victor Wanyama slipped through and showed enough strength to hold off defenders and score the winner and that was it.
Arsenal stay in the top four with a win over Aston Villa. They won 3-0 and all three came within the space of a few minutes. Danny Welbeck scored and had a very decent game, as did the maligned Mesut Ozil who scored one, set one up and had his best performance of the season. Unexpectedly, both Liverpool (1-3 to West Ham) and Spurs (0-1 to West Brom) had losses. Neither showed enough creativity to break down the defensive minds of their opponents, while both exhibiting a few of their own issues at the back. Everton lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace too and have now conceded 13 goals in 5 games.
In the boring games, Sunderland and Burnley cancelled each other out. Burnley is on track to score just 8 goals this season. QPR and Stoke battled to a 2-2 draw thanks to a Niko Kranjcar free kick special. And Alan Pardew’s job is safe for a little while longer after Papiss Cisse made the mistake of scoring twice off the bench to lead his Newcastle back to a 2-2 draw with Hull.
La Liga
Remember how Real Madrid lost 2 of its first 3 league games? And everyone started saying Cristiano Ronaldo was unhappy and plotting to leave? Well we’ve been spared that diatribe for another week as Real rolled out an offensive masterclass against Deportivo La Corona on the weekend. This after pumping Basel 5-1 in the Champions League.
It was quiet for the first 30 minutes or so, with a great save off of Gareth Bale keeping things level. That was until Ronaldo popped up (literally) with a stunningly good header to break the deadlock. Little James doubled the lead soon after and then Ronaldo was in the right place at the right time to put it in the empty net from 30-odd yards out after a trio of Deportivans (two defenders and a keeper) congregated into a three-pronged farce of defensive calamity. A Sergio Ramos-committed penalty for a point blank handball saw the hosts draw one back, and they had a chance or two to make a game of it. Instead Gareth Bale appeared with a double and Ronaldo sealed his hat-trick. Javier Hernandez came on and scored a couple of goals with his first two shots in La Liga. The first especially was a beaut.
Barcelona haven’t exactly been ripping teams to shreds, which is a little surprising for a team with Messi, Neymar and eventually Suarez, but defensively they’ve been perfect (seriously, zero goals conceded in all comps so far! ). And this week we saw the first signs of the clinical team they can be. The win against Levante was barely ever in doubt. Barca have won every game so far this season. It was the ruthless 5-0 nature of the win that excited everyone, particularly after the Real result.
Only a desperate Ivan Rakitic diving interception kept Levante from taking the lead early, yet that was it for the hosts. Neymar’s pace caused all sorts of chances, and after spurning a couple he put one away on the 34 min mark. Lionel Messi’s close control earned him a penalty as he was hacked down (the red card was harsh, but)… and he stepped up and missed it. Didn’t even get it on target!
On a rainy night in Spain, Ivan Rakitic then scored his first goal for the club, a crushing shot from outside the box. After the break Barca scored again courtesy of the right boots Sandro, Pedro and Lionel Messi. However seeing Neymar subbed off after falling awkwardly was nothing to laugh about.
There were expected wins for Valencia, Villarreal and Sevilla, while Granada won away to keep their hot start alive and Atletico Madrid dropped points at home to Celta Vigo. They fell behind to a ridiculous back-heeled goal from Pablo Hernández but rocked back to take the lead with goals form Miranda and Diego Godin (both form set pieces). Clumsy defending gave away a penalty though and the draw had to do.
Bundesliga
SC Paderborn. Newly promoted and leading the Bundesliga. Not only that, but they scored the best goal of the weekend, when midfielder Moritz Stoppelkamp hammered one in from an incredible 82 metres!
Along with that goal they had another which gave them a 2-0 win over Hannover. 2 wins and 2 draws from 4 games has them looking down on all others. This from a small town club with a stadium that barely seats 15000 people. They play Bayern Munich on Wednesday…
Helping Paderborn on their way to the top were Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen, both dropping points. Bayern travelled to Hamburger SV after that tough midweek Champs League game with City and they looked tired. So tired that Robert Lewandowski, Mario Götze and Xabi Alonso found themselves on the bench and they stumbled to a 0-0 draw – their first goalless draw in 74 Bundesliga games.
Bayer Leverkusen have looked hot all season, but their defence has had question marks. They also chose to rest players following midweek UCL duty and it backfired immensely. Giulio Donati was sent off inside 10 minutes and Wolfsburg ran away with a 4-1 win on the back of the inspired Swiss fullback Ricardo Rodriguez, who scored twice and set one up on the way to a unanimous Man of the Match decision.
Don’t forget Dortmund either. They rested players and they lost. It was a good day for Shinji, but not Kagawa. Shinji Okazaki scored for Mainz on the way to a 2-0 win (he also gave away a penalty, but Ciro Immobile missed it).
There were draws in the Freiburg-Hertha Berlin, Schalke-Frankfurt (as well a 3 red cards) and Cologne-BM Gladbach games, while Hoffenheim and Augsburg both won too.
Serie A
The big fixture from Italy came courtesy of AC Milan and Juventus. It was an absorbing encounter as you would expect from two of the better teams in the Serie A, but it was a beautiful assist from the ever improving Paul Pogba that gifted Carlos Tevez with the opportunity to put ze ball in the back of the net. Tevez did what Tevez usually does and gave Juve a 1-0 win over the lads from Milan in what was Filippo Inzaghi's first loss as Milan's manager.
That game which also featured Fernando Torres, briefly for Milan, pushed Juve up to 2nd, while Milan slid to 4th. Roma sit atop the table on goal difference as both they and Juve have won 3/3 as Roma took care of Cagliari 2-0. Despite not scoring, Gervinho continues to impress for Roma as he gave an assist to Florenzi for one goal while Destro grabbed the other. Inter Milan drew with Palermo 1-1 while surprise package Verona continue their reasonable start to the season as they defeated Torino 1-0 to hold down 3rd spot.
Ligue 1
Three teams sit equal on 13 points at the top of the Ligue 1 ladder with Marseille, Bordeaux and St Etienne all grabbing wins on the weekend. St Etienne got a 1-0 away win over RC Lens with Fabien Lemoine scoring the winner in the 81st minute to give St Etienne their 2nd win on the trot. Bordeaux grabbed a 2-1 win over Evian Thonon Gaillar to slide in to 2nd spot but they sit behind Marseille who are being led superbly by Andre-Pierre Gignac who is the Ligue 1's leading goal scorer with 6 goals in 5 games. His double gave Marseille a 3-0 win over Rennes and they continue to look impressive early in the season.
Ah PSG, how cool is it to see the big boys in Paris get off to a mediocre start to the season? They sit in 5th on 10 points ... they're only 3 points behind Marseille but they stumbled their way to another draw after a 1-1 draw against Lyon. Edinson Cavani got them off to a decent start by scoring the opener but Samuel Umtiti pegged one back for Lyon. Things don't look so bad on the surface with PSG, it's early season and they haven't lost a game but there continues to be negative noise around the club with no one really sure on how to go about winning games. Scrappy goal from Umtiti, decent celebration...