Thursday, 29 August 2013

EPL Week II: Week of Most Entertaining (Manchester City v/s Cardiff) and Most Boring (Manchester United v/s Chelsea) Matches

Second week of EPL was not very disappointing. Like first week, there was some special result which turned against expectation. Transfers are still not settled. Some clubs acted smartly to hijack the deal of another one and succeeded. A match which was expected as the most entertaining become the most boring and ended up in a goal less draw. This shows the special one is back without much change. Another match which could ended up as a one sided match become the most entertaining encounter and the best result of the week.

Protest in Emirates worked well and Arsenal managed to win next two matches, one in Champions League and another in Saturday’s Premier League against Fulham. Liverpool continued their streak of success with lonely goal from Daniel Sturridge and reached in the top table next to Chelsea who played three matches. Tottenham repeated the show and got another penalty goal for Roberto Soldado. This result took them to the third position in the league table. Arsenal reversed the result, which they had against Aston Villa a week back, and defeated Fulham. This result took them off from the bottom three to middle of point table.

Unexpected result will be the most entertaining football to watch. The match between Manchester City and Cardiff City was almost equal as a fight between Goliath and David. Previous week Manchester City’s emphatic victory (4-0) against New Castle United made a strong warning about their fire power under Manuel Pellegrini. The money, nearly 90 million GBP was splashed for wingers and attacking midfielders and in the first match they were able to show their attacking power. But, Cardiff, the newly promoted team to Premier League, had different ideas. They decided to stick with their game plan and defend the flowing attack of city by lining up almost all players near to their half and use effective counter attack and try to take advantage from long balls. City, who lost Vincent Kompany, the captain and main defender, in the previous match, struggled to cope up with sudden counter attack of Cardiff. The most entertaining match of the week ended up with a 3-2 success for Cardiff.

A weekday match between two newly appointed managers, one was returned to the same club after years and another one was selected to lead the current champion. Jose Mourinho, who was known as the ‘special one’ in his early stint but he declared before that season that he is a ‘completely changed’ man. His performance in the mid-week match against Aston Villa proved that he is not changed and remaining as ‘same man’. When Mourinho had enough ammunition for a full fledged attacking game, everybody expected he will use his attacking midfield and forwards against Manchester United. On the other hand, David Moyes the new manager of Manchester United, who managed Everton and made good defensive record, did acclimatized to the level of United and tried to get a better result. Instead of going for attacking football, Mourinho opted for a completely defensive approach, by ‘parking the team coach’ in front of the goal post and made the match most boring.

Premier League witnessed an unusual transfer episode this week. Tottenham Hotspurs did everything to get their target Willian from the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. The player appeared in North London for his medical tests. But, through the intervention of Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Ibrahamovic , Chelsea snatched him to West London from under the nose of Spurs and completed the transfer. Chelsea’s hopes to get Wayne Rooney from Manchester United dented and Rooney played his best game of this season so far against Chelsea. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is waiting in front of the gate of Spanish giants Real Madrid to collect the signature of their rejected surplus players. He expects the appearance of Gareth Bale will definitely kick some of their established players out of the team and he can pounce on that occasion. He is still waiting there…with hope.

Next one week is the most important time for player transfer. Most clubs consider the first two weeks as their testing ground for the year and find where, in what position they require enhancement. Many teams were very active in the market but some of the major clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal are yet to enter into market, though they are short of players in many positions due to injuries. 

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