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EPL breakdown: Week two summary
Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
24th August, 2011
4
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Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
24th August, 2011
4

Week two of the 2011/12 season is all done, with none of the newly promoted teams losing, which is nice for parity’s sake.

We have a surprise co-leader in Wolves, and everyone’s favourite Portuguese metrosexual got his first league win. Let’s get to it.

Key moment
When Bolton got to the break on Sunday down 2-1 against Manchester City, there was good reason to think they could mount a comeback – they’d scored through Klasnic seven minutes before time, and we all know Wanderers are capable of grabbing a goal from anywhere…

Edin Dzeko had other ideas, as he embarrassed the always-culpable Zat Knight and doubled the visitors advantage. City impressed not just by winning but by staying composed throughout – a weaker team would have lost shape after the Klasnic goal, or become nervous after Kevin Davies brought it back to 3-2.

As it was, they continued to play attractive football and never looked like losing this game. They’ll sit on top of the ladder ahead of their Mancunian arch-rivals by virtue of goal difference.

Overachievers:
I said last week that Queens Park Rangers would get a draw out of their trip to Goodison Park, but they’ve gone one better as Everton again live up to their ‘slow starters’ tag.

Rangers were on the back foot for most of the game but Tommy Smith’s (not with a Y) well-taken goal a few minutes before half time was all they needed, as some stout defending and a bit of help from the woodwork enabled them to keep the Toffees scoreless.

Very impressive, especially given that the starting team had ten players from their Championship-winning team of last year (only Danny Gabbidon played in the top flight last year. Well, he sort of played, I guess).

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It’s not time to panic yet for Everton but as everybody around them gets richer and they remain without any cash, I fear the worst. On another note, QPR are in the lead for my ‘Nicest Away Strip’ award. I might have to splash out on a Danny Shittu jersey.

Miraculously, in the hours since their scrappy win at the Emirates, I’m still yet to hear a Liverpool fan utter the dreaded phrase “We can win the league this year.”

Thank god, because this game was awful. This early battle for fifth place wasn’t short of interesting moments, but a quality game of football it was not. As for Liverpool – they showed more enterprise and endeavour than their London rivals and if either team deserved to win this game, it was them.

Szczesny (I spelled that without looking, what up?) made an excellent save (if I had a dollar for every time I said that, I’d have like three dollars) from Carroll and the home team never really looked like scoring.

I made a joke last week that Wolverhampton Wanderers had drawn three points closer to avoiding relegation with their opening day win – but with six points from six to start the year, perhaps Mick McCarthy has his eye on bigger things.

Yes, they’ve beaten two teams that will be in the bottom half this year but if they put in performances similar to the one we saw at Molineux on Sunday they could be an outside chance of a Europa League place.

Seriously – if it weren’t for Mark Schwarzer, the score could’ve been a lot messier. Matt Jarvis will surely add to his one England cap sooner rather than later.

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(Joint) top of the league is a familiar place to be for Manchester United, and though I never seriously doubted their abilities, a 3-0 win was a bit surprising. The scoreline is a bit deceptive in this case – it was a pretty even game for the first hour and I thought Spurs could have grabbed a goal.

Defoe hitting the woodwork with a practically open goal was particularly cringe worthy.

But returning loans Welbeck and Cleverley looked right at home and combined for the opening goal, completely killing Tottenham’s resolve, and from that point on there was only going to be one outcome.

A lovely backheel from Nani in a one-two exchange saw Anderson score before Old Man River Ryan Giggs came off the bench to serve up a great cross which Rooney put away. The negatives? De Gea still looks incredibly shaky, Bale and Lennon got far too much room down the flanks and too many shots from distance were allowed.

Should United’s fans be worried about these things? Probably not. They just beat a title contender, and beat them well.

Underachievers:
A swathe of nervous moments at the back was typical Arsenlol (See what I did there!) and the own goal that will be credited to Aaron Ramsey was unfortunate for him, albeit hilarious. Captain van Persie looked dangerous whenever he got service but he’s clearly missing Fabregas already.

A bright spot for the Gunners was the performance of Emmanuel Frimpong, who despite getting sent off, did well. That’s the second time in two weeks the man of the match for Arsenal has received his marching orders – now Wenger will be without both of them for a trip to Manchester United.

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Blackburn Rovers have taken minimum points from two games, and feelings of unease will inevitably start surfacing soon at Ewood Park if this doesn’t improve. They host Everton next weekend and both will be absolutely desperate to win.

The only reason I don’t have the Toffees in the underachievers this week is because I can’t imagine anyone expects much of them in the first month of the league season – especially with their precarious finances.

If I were a Fulham fan I’d be very worried about life after Mark Schwarzer (heir apparent David Stockdale, who is on loan at Ipswich, had seven put past him on Saturday afternoon at Peterborough.

I’m expecting big things from Sunderland this year but they did nothing to support my claims that they’ll finish in the top eight with an impotent showing at the Stadium of Light. They had more possession and more shots but came away with nothing.

The way they conceded was a bit flukey, yes, but they should have been down a man and facing a Newcastle penalty when Howard Webb inexplicably missed a goal line handball from Seb Larsson.

The blown call did result in a nice tantrum from Joey Barton, which is always heart-warming – but I can’t believe how uninterested the Black Cats looked at times, and this was during a derby at home after a well-earned point at Anfield last week. Newcastle just wanted it more, I guess. Disappointing stuff.

Villain of the week:

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Is there a worse goalkeeper in the Premiership than Jussi Jaaskelainen? I don’t think so. Silva’s shot had a bit of power, yes, but it was straight at him and he allowed it to roll straight through his legs.

Bolton have shown so much improvement in the last few years and I really wish they’d go out and sign a better keeper. I was hoping Shay Given would land at the Reebok in the summer but they never ever entertained the possibility – the Finnish number one seems untouchable, despite being horrendous for at least the past two seasons.

In one game against Chelsea last year he was responsible for all four goals. A massive liability to an otherwise promising team.

Honourable mention to Salomon Kalou who was hooked after less than 40 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over West Brom. He’s a nice player to have off the bench for 20 minutes because of his knack of scoring important goals, but Chelsea simply cannot win the league with starters of his quality.

He was completely headless in the time he spent on the field and it’s telling that the man who he was subbed off for, Florent Malouda, was the one who made the difference. I can’t work out why the Ivorian started ahead of his French teammate anyway – but the arrival of Mata should further limit Kalou’s minutes, which can only be a good thing.

If you don’t agree, Kalou has been at Chelsea since the 2006/07 season. In four of those five years, he made over 15 league starts. The year he didn’t, with 11 starts in 2009/10, the Blues won the league. I love it when stats prove me right.

Hero of the week:
Two weeks in, and Michael Worm gets his second mention…this time as the hero, not just a runner up. A penalty save was the highlight in a dependable performance to earn Swansea their first ever point in the Premiership. I recommended him last week as a fantasy backup and if you’re like me, you watched sadly as his double-digit points tally rotted on your bench as Joe Hart let in two goals. Sigh.

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There were a lot of honourable mention contenders as well, but we’ll go with Fabian Delph and Gabby Agbonlahor for an excellent showing in Villa’s first win of the year – I’ve been filthy about losing the Leeds youth product from the day he left and he pulled the strings at Villa Park on Saturday.

As for Agbonlahor? He’s slowly making the transition from sprinter-cum-footballer into a decent player. A good goal and a lively performance from him.

Looking ahead:
Spurs host Manchester City in a very appealing match-up. Arsenal travel north to Old Trafford, where their title bid will come to an end just three games in as they fall seven points behind United.

They could be out of the Champions League by then too – not a great time to be an Arsenal fan.

But before we get to those clashes, on Saturday we’ll see Sunderland try and grab their first win at Swansea and Aston Villa host Wolves, amongst a few other fixtures. Also, my bet of the week is Liverpool to slip up against Bolton. Take Wanderers at $5.00…

See you next week.

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