So, the Premiership season has kicked off, and to be honest, it has been a little short on controversy for an opening weekend...lol...although yesterday I said I would be an adopted Baggie, and how they delivered!! In what was probably shock result of the day, the Baggies well and truly beat the red side from across the park 3-0. From the highlights, you can Brendan Rodgers wants them to play football from the back, but not sure Martin Skrtel is completely happy with that, as last season, that ball would have been hoofed out, or played long, but yesterday he dallied (quality word...lol) and gave away a pen as Shane Long made up for a shocking penalty miss just a few mins early. It could have been worse for the reds had James Morrison not missed a sitter after being set up well from Lukaku. Still, I am happy with the end result!!
Not far behind on the shock value was Swansea and Fulham both winning 5-0 against QPR and Norwich respectively. First up QPR will have severely disappointed their fans after a number of summer signings. Rob Green let one slip through his hands to start to rot, and one of Swansea's new signings Michu must be thinking he has it made! His 2nd goal was just pure class, and I expect we might be seeing some more of his lovely touches this season. Swansea have been many people's bets, along with Norwich, to have 2nd season syndrome and struggle. On this evidence of this game, if they carry on playing football this way, they will be fine, but much of that will be if they can keep hold of their players during this transfer window.
Norwich let in 66 goals last season, and it didn't start well for them yesterday as everything fell into place Fulham. I don't think it will change Clint Dempsey's mind, which is a shame, as the way he is leaving the club is showing a little disrespect to a club who have really developed him and put him on the world scene.
Fat Sam led West Ham to a sneaky 1-0 win over the Villa. The goal looked offside, and as much as we criticise referees, and yes I will be do so many times this season (hopefully not tomorrow), but yesterday the decision to allow the 'offside' goal was a good decision by Mike Dean as the ball just glanced of Villa defender Ciaran Clark. Villa seemed to have plenty of possession (from MOTD highlights), but had no killer instinct, and at times, I had even forgot that Darren Bent was playing.
The Sat 3pm kick offs finished with a bore draw between Arsenal and Sunderland, though I expect Mackem fans are much the happier (I would be if Everton got a point there!). The only major highlight seemed to be the poor miss from Arsenal debutant Giroud.
Into the evening, we went to St James, and saw Newcastle Utd take on Spurs and Villa Boas! Newcastle look like they may well keep up their form from last season, and a terrific finish from Demba Ba - only his 2nd goal since Pape Cisse joined - gave the Geordies the lead! Spurs equalised with 15mins to go wth a poacher's goal from Jermaine Defoe (I really rate Defoe, and am surprised he has never been snapped up by a bigger name, no offence Spurs fan, as he is a natural finisher). Ben Arfa scored the winner from the spot, after he won the penalty by wriggling through 2 players on the edge of the area.
Onto Sunday and we started with Chelsea Wigan, and after just 7mins, Chelsea were 2 up through Ivanovic and Lampard. The game ended 2-0 and in a way Wigan did well to keep it to 2, as their fans must have feared the worst. Next up were the Champions Man City against new boys Southampton. For me, the biggest shock was that Jack Rodwell got a start! Aguero didn't last long, and went off with a knee injury, which City are saying doesn't look as bad as first feared, I hope so for their sake, as the look on his face, it suggests he may be out for a good few weeks.
Southampton battled well, and just before half time, Tevez broke the deadlock. To be fair to Southampton, they kept at it, and changed it after half time, and Ricky Lambert, who was unlucky to start on the bench, equalised, and then a complete shock was on the cards, as fellow sub Steven Davis beautifully controlled a shot into the bottom corner. That served to kick City into gear, and then we had to spend the next 20mins with Martin Tyler reminding us of the final game of last season! And what happened? The same, as City came back to win 3-2 to win with goals from Dzeko and Nasri.
So, one game left, and it's the mighty blues who await the visit of Man Utd, and Van Persie!! And several other superstars, but I don't care, as yet again I am hopeful of a good result, and night games at Goodison are a joy to behold!! And we will have an atmosphere tomorrow, especially with the added bonus of our new signing Kevin Mirallas, though he cannot play as he missed the Friday deadline!
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