Monday, August 23, 2010

The Number of the Beast

Three games, three zilches, and more importantly, three sixes. 666. The number of the beast.

It has been an amazing two weekends. Last weekend saw three games end in 6-0 whackings. More amazingly, Chelsea was one of the teams, meaning that they have scored an astounding 12 goals in two games, having had a similar scoreline the previous week.

They are also the only team left in the EPL with a perfect record, and this only after two games. Man City and Liverpool play later tonight, but it doesn't matter because both teams drew their opening games, so no matter the outcome, Chelsea will still be the only team with all possible points garnered in their games so far.

But before Chelsea fans start rejoicing, I have this to say. They are a fantastic team with a fantastic record so far, but these wins have come against not-so-fantastic teams in WBA and Wigan. It will be a lot more difficult to keep it up. But congratulations anyway, for doing a fantastic job.

Now, to United. What exactly were they doing last night? After a Community Shield win against Chelsea where the players showed their fire, and a good showing against Newcastle (no mean feat considering the Toon Army's ability to whallop the Villans 6-0), they looked middle class at Craven's Cottage. Fulham are fast becoming a bogey team for MU at Craven Cottage, but really, the Devils should have wrapped things up in the first half. Instead, they lost the plot.

To be fair, Fulham showed incredible willpower, especially after going 2-1 down. But Nani should have put the game to bed with that penalty. That was one of the laziest attempts at a penalty I've seen in a while.

By the way, did anyone think Davies' goal should have been ruled offside? I thought so. Dempsey was right in front of van der Sar, I thought, and that should have been called offside because he was interfering with play. I think the ref and his assistant probably thought the defender (I forget which one, but I think it was Evans) was playing Dempsey onside, but I believe the defender hadn't come back into play until after the shot was taken.

Anyway, what's done is done. Obviously, if Dempsey was indeed offside, it was an honest mistake by the ref and his assistant, but they are human. All credit to Fulham. They fought back and got their much-deserved point. I think no team in the EPL is going to have an easy time away to Fulham this season.

As for MU, they need to shore up the defence, in particular. Zamora ran Evans ragged. The boy needs to improve a whole lot. Perhaps giving Smalling a chance might be a better option for Sir Alex, especially at home to West Ham this weekend.

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