EPL/La Liga Resumes Action

 

Odd Sight

Beautiful football returned to Europe as the English Premier League and La Liga resumed action over the last weekend. The kicks and thrills of the games did not leave fans of the beautiful game disappointed. In England there were two spectacular results that herald the opening of the season. We had Fulham 5-0 bashing of Norwich, while Swansea under new coach Landrup replicates same result against QPR. Van Persieless Arsenal were only able to manage a goalless draw against Sunderland. Although the team created some brilliant chances, they were not enough to break down the defence of the wild cats. The team which wore a new look with freshers like Carzola, Podolski and Giroud showed signs of promise, but may need some time to rhyme. I hope that time won’t cost them a favourable place on the table. We must not also forget the shocker Liverpool received under Brenda Roger, when they were walloped 3-0 by Westbrom. This definitely wasn’t the start Rogers expected, and this will turn up the heat on him, making him recognise the job he has at hand! On-loan Chelsea striker Lukaku scored one of the goal in his debut, backing his claim that he deserved playing time at Chelsea….but as we all know, young players always struggle with the European Champions.
Chelsea easily dismissed Wigan with a 2-0 win that saw Ivanovic and Lampard on the score sheet. That gave Di Matteo the much needed start of the season. Man city also struggled to run out 3-2 winners over newly promoted Southampton, as goals from Tevez, Nasri and Dzeko ensured that the defending champions do not have a bad start to the season.
The shocker of the week was Everton’s 1-0 win over missile-filled Manchester United. With the arrivals of Kagawa and Van Persie, nothing less than a win was expected from red devils, but that was not to be as Everton’s Fellani had different plans. His goal proved to be the decider that soiled the start of the season for Alex Ferguson and most of all Van Persie. In a bid to reduce the pressure and tension, Sir Alex decided to start RVP on the bench; but after the goal, he had no option but to bring in his £24m missile to rescue the day, but it was rather too late. Fergie came out with a bag of excuses on why Van Persie could not perform, but I thought that was unnecessary. If he continue speaking for the player, that may increase the pressure on him….it should be about the team, and not a particular player- did a Van Persie score on every match at Arsenal???
Moving over to the la liga, action resumed as Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by tough-fighting Valencia; while Barca ran riot with a 5-1 banging of Real Sociedad. Messi grabbed a brace and David Villa also got on the score sheet on his return from his long-term injury.
Times are still early, we cannot say much….but maybe at the end of the season, some of these result will count.