Premiership Weekend Roundup: February 2-3

Liverpool 3-0 Sunderland
I was on the verge of declaring this blog a Liverpool-free zone until they got their act together and started winning again. And then they went out and beat Sunderland this weekend. I'm still mad at them, though. I'm mad at the players for being kind of crap -- that 3-0 scoreline was extremely flattering. And I'm mad at Rafa for his ever-more-inexplicable teamsheet. Lucas Leiva on the left wing? Jamie Carragher at right back? That is ridiculous, even if he did set up Liverpool's first goal. At the very least, it implies some rather disparaging things about Liverpool's fullbacks. (I know Arbeloa is injured, but Steve Finnan deserves better than that. He's had some off games recently, but he came on at left back -- yes, really! -- for the second half and did quite well. So.)

I'm also really worried about what is going on with Xabi Alonso. He used to be basically Rafa's second-in-command on the pitch. Now there are rumours coming out of Anfield that he's not happy and wants to leave, Rafa is saying he needs to step it up, and he can barely get a game. Look, I realize he hasn't been at his best since coming back from injury this season. But I think he needs a regular run of games to get his form and match fitness back completely -- not a start in one game, and then not even in the squad for the next. That's for your fringe players, not someone who is supposedly the brains of the team. I also realize that it's not always easy to fit Xabi, Gerrard and Mascherano into the same midfield, but there are ways to make it work. And although going back to Spain may turn out to be the best thing for Xabi's career, I think that Liverpool will be the poorer for it.


Tottenham 1-1 Manchester United
After beating Tottenham fairly comfortably in the FA Cup, United were lucky to salvage a point against them this time. Tottenham played an excellent game, closing down United relentlessly and forcing them into mistakes. Juande Ramos has certainly made them a fitter and defensively better organized team. (He's even made Jermaine Jenas into a good player. Astonishing.) As for United, they might have been tired after that pointless trip to Saudi Arabia. And I think they were unfortunate in the refereeing. But those are just excuses, and I still would've expected them to play better here.

And as for the booking for Wayne Rooney for going down in the area -- which, incidentally is going to rule him out of the Manchester derby -- my initial impression was that it wasn't a dive. There is a middle ground between a dive and a foul, after all; it's possible that Rooney just lost his balance, and based on his reaction, it didn't seem like he was looking for a penalty. But on the other hand, the fact that his reaction to getting booked wasn't to go raging after the ref and try to tear off his balls with one hand suggests that maybe he knew it was a fair call. Who knows. I've only seen it the once, so it's hard to judge. (Although if it was a dive, then of course I don't approve.)


Meanwhile, in the rest of the games, Arsenal won again, unfortunately, so they're now two points clear of United at the top of table. Chelsea drew with Portsmouth in a surprisingly entertaining match, but everything else was pretty dreary. Oh, aside from Jimmy Bullard making his comeback from that horrific injury and scoring a late winner for Fulham against Aston Villa. That one makes me happy, because Jimmy Bullard is awesome.

Other results
Birmingham 1-1 Derby
Blackburn 0-0 Everton
Fulham 2-1 Aston Villa
Newcastle 1-1 Middlesbrough
Portsmouth 1-1 Chelsea
Reading 0-2 Bolton
Wigan 1-0 West Ham

Premiership Weekend Roundup: April 1-2

Birmingham 0 - 0 Chelsea
You'd think it was an April Fools Day joke, wouldn't you? Chelsea being held to a scoreless draw by Birmingham. But Birmingham did their best to shake off the last few games and got off to a strong start against an apathetic Chelsea side. They might have even taken the lead if Emile Heskey actually knew how to put the ball in the net. Chelsea didn't look all that likely to concede, but they also weren't able to settle into a rhythm and create chances for themselves at the other end.

Chelsea had a much better second half but still couldn't score, with two goals (rightly) ruled out for offside. Mourinho is naturally claiming it was a bad call to disallow the goal from Asier del Horno, but I think the officials got it right. Del Horno may have been onside, but Ricardo Carvalho definitely wasn't and he was clearly trying to head the ball. I'm not sure how you can claim that's not being actively involved in the play.


Bolton 1 - 2 Manchester United
With Chelsea dropping points, United had an opportunity to make up some ground in the race for the title, although Bolton -- still chasing a spot in Europe -- weren't about to make it easy for them. Bolton even took the lead early on against the run of play, thanks to some sloppy defending from United. (I can't blame Vidic too much, since he'd been clocked in the face and was flat on the ground, but Rio had one of his all too frequent brain glitches to let Kevin Davies through on goal.)

The debate about whether Louis Saha should be starting ahead of Ruud Van Nistelrooy continues, as he scored a brilliant goal -- off the outside of his left foot -- to send United into halftime with the score tied. On the other hand, Saha muffed a one-on-one chance against the keeper, but then he also set up Van Nistelrooy for the winning goal. United had switched to a 4-3-3 formation by that point -- a good call by Sir Alex, because it played to their strengths. Even with Wayne Rooney having a slightly sub-par game, the United attack was just way too much for Bolton, and it also covered up the holes in midfield.

So, they're only seven points back now, but can they catch Chelsea? I don't know. It's technically possible, but unfortunately I don't think it's likely.


West Brom 2 - 0 Liverpool
I knew this game had to go well for Liverpool when I saw that my favourite wee linesman was one of the officials (one of these days I'll actually find out what his name is.) Plus the fact that they were playing West Brom, who, you know, suck. West Brom basically had one decent player on the pitch -- Zoltan Gera -- but by the time he came on in the second half and tried to get his team back in the game it was way too late.

Steven Gerrard was suspended thanks to his behaving like a five-year-old last wee, so Djibril Cisse started on the right wing and had a surprisingly good game. He was actually controlling and passing the ball for a change, rather than just blasting it into the stands whenever he got close to the net. Lord Frodsham managed to set up one goal and scored another -- maybe he really doesn't want Rafa to sell him to Tottenham this summer. With Cisse on the wing, and Crouch and Fowler up front, it was practically a 4-3-3 formation for Liverpool -- hardly the cautious 4-5-1 they've used so much this season, but it worked, because West Brom could hardly get a touch on the ball.

Oh, and I see that someone recently found this blog by googling "Xabi Alonso hair." Just for you, let me note that it looks like Xabi got his hair cut recently. It wasn't quite so poofy. I approve.


Other results
West Ham 0 - 0 Charlton
Manchester City 0 - 1 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 5 - 0 Aston Villa
Everton 2 - 2 Sunderland
Fulham 1 - 3 Portsmouth
Newcastle 3 - 1 Tottenham

Liverpool 2 - 0 Sunderland

Remember what I said about how Liverpool needed Xabi Alonso back in the lineup? Yeah. The went from grinding out a 0-0 draw against Real Betis and a 1-0 win over Man City to a flowing, decisive victory here -- albeit against an inferior opponent in Sunderland -- with Alonso creating both goals. And don't tell me that pass to Luis Garcia for the first goal was a lucky fluke. He may not have known that Garcia would be right there, but he knew he had a teammate up there who was going to run onto it if he played the ball forward. Xabi's too smart to just hoof it up and hope. (And I'm not saying that just because I have a wee bit of a crush on him.)