Monday, November 28, 2011

Weekend in the EPL

Well, just returned from a majestic weekend in Yosemite National Park and caught a couple games and the highlight reels from the weekend. A tough 1-1 draw for Arsenal, who had a flat first half performance but looked poised to steal back all three before settling for the point. It was a tough game, as I expected the full three and would have liked to move up the table, but again showed that there might be something in this team missing in the past few years -- a will to win and the fortitude to make it happen. Vermaelen, whose return has really shored up the defense, appears to be a threat on the offensive end as well and his 82nd minute goal saved the day after his flubbed clearance gave Fulham a 1-0 lead against the run of play. But the bad news from the match is that we need to find others who can score. Gervinho really needs to figure out how to finish, Walcott should maybe be shooting more, given his form of late (it should be noted  that he had the great cross that led to the equalizer) and Ramsey has to turn those near goals into the net more often. It was an extraordinary performance by Fulham goalie Schwarzer, but I still think Arsenal should have put in at least one more. Other than that, we luckily saw a weekend of draws except Chelsea's win, and now need to turn our attention to the Carling and winning out through Christmas (except maybe that other little match away against Man City).

In other action, Liverpool really looks like a top quality club except for one thing -- they don't put the ball in the net enough. Look at these telling statistics from their quality draw (that should have been a win) against Man City: Shots - 17 to 6, Shots on Target - 7 to 3 and 29 crosses to 10. With those numbers you expect a 3-1 game, no another 1-1 draw. This is not the first team the team has dominated only to secure one point: the same happened against Manchester United and Swansea. Liverpool, like Arsenal with Van Persie, needs to find someone besides Sanchez to score. On the flip side, Man City is starting to look like a squad that is vulnerable. The loss to Napoli was devastating for their European ambitions, they should have lost to Liverpool and QPR gave them a game a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it's wishful thinking on the cusp of our Carling Cup quarter Tuesday, but the European letdown could still be affecting the squad. 

Manchester United is in different territory and it's hard to gauge what this team is made of this year. They probably should have had yet another 1-0 victory, over Newcastle, but had to settle for a point. The squad is younger than it has been in years and there appears to be a drop in form from Ashley Young -- who started so brightly. But Chicharito just keeps finding the back of the net and any team with Rooney, Nani, Hernandez, Young, Cleverley and Welbeck will always put pressure on their opponents. The question is on the defensive side and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to concede so few goals in the League going forward (apparently David De Gea has more saves than any other goalkeeper in the League so far this year -- which is not a good statistic!)

Finally, I just want to touch on Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham. Chelsea is not out of the hot water as far as I'm concerned, as AVB appears to be contributing to Torres' lack of confidence by keeping him on the bench for two games running. Mata is in great form and Sturridge appears to grow in stature with each passing week, but there are serious questions with everyone else on the pitch, including seasoned veterans Terry and even Lampard. On top of this are serious questions about AVB potentially feeling the pressure and making some questionable decisions and the general age of the squad (as well as their surprising frailty in the back). I feel like Newcastle is going to come back to earth and probably finish outside the top four, though I suppose you never know. And Tottenham appears to be a solid side that could even challenge for the title (ugh, did I just write that). Arsenal are going to need to keep on winning, beat the other "Top 6" clubs and hope that a few of these squads drop in form, or the top four does seem like a serious challenge this season. Go Gunners!

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