GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!

Written by Patrick Kamanga

GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!





Diego Costa's aggressive play and clever runs were a handful

In the EPL’s first London versus Merseyside matchup of the season, Chelsea drew first blood and overcame a doggedly determined Everton side 6-3.
Despite the huge score line, this was a game that Chelsea never really had control until the last ten minutes with Blues' Coach Jose Mourinho and every Chelsea fan apprehensive and on edge throughout considering the misery that the Toffees have repeatedly inflicted on the Blues the last few seasons with Goodison Park a terribly difficult hunting ground for the London side. The end to end action with goals raining in on either end uncannily resembled a similar fixture between these two teams at Goodison Park in the December 2006 during the 06/07 season save for the fact that on that occasion it was Chelsea who did the chasing coming from behind twice to tie the game before Didier Drogba scored arguably the goal of his career, a 40 yard volley over and beyond a retreating Tim Howard to complete a famous comeback and save Chelsea’s blushes. 

This time round it was the Blues who dropped the gauntlet early by shocking the Toffees with two quick goals in the opening 3 minutes of the game. Diego Costa opened his goal account and increased his haul for the season by beating Sylvain Distin from a through pass and clinically sliced the ball under an advancing Howard.

Costa,  a tailor made remedy for Chelsea’s goal scoring malaise from last season, was a menacing threat throughout with his intelligent runs into space a dream for any midfielder, with his ability to hold the ball well and also constantly harassing and bullying defenders into either making mistakes or surrendering possession.
If he stays healthy and maintains his fitness it’s not hard to imagine him terrorizing defenses in the division throughout the season with most Premier League managers probably already scratching their heads trying to formulate solutions on how to stop him. Despite missing two clear chances, his second goal was a beauty! He shuffled the ball under his feet; a nutmeg that took out and left both an advancing Howard and the chasing Distin sprawled on the turf off an Obi Mikel through ball for Chelsea’s sixth goal.

Coming off a great World cup in Brazil, American Tim Howard was guilty of poor goalkeeping and displayed one of his worst performances in recent memory with 3 of the 6 goals he conceded simply coming off poor spatial awareness and positioning, mistakes that Costa and company only gladly took advantage of!

Tim Howard had a game to forget, here losing his cool with Diego Costa

Chelsea on their part however were guilty of switching off when they sat back on going two up early which only played into Everton’s strengths. They ceded space and possession which the Toffees only gladly took advantage of camping on Chelsea’s half at the end of the first half before Kevin Mirallas' header from a cross flew beyond Courtois' flailing hands to half the deficit at the stroke of half time.

On a fair assessment both teams uncharacteristically made horrendous mistakes defensively and to be honest, all the nine goals scored were basically conceded off basic defensive lapses and blunders with the match seemingly resembling a Play Station game!

Diouf orchestrated the season's first major upset

In an earlier game involving the other title favourites, defending EPL Champions Manchester City simply had a bad day in office! They lost by a solitary goal to Stoke City from a solo run by Senegalese international Mame Biram Diouf for the first major upset of the season.
After a demolition job that saw them  crush Liverpool earlier in the week, this was simply one of those days that no matter how good a team is, every endeavor simply fails or falls short and in this case whatever Man City threw at Stoke simply wasn’t effective enough and the little that Stoke did offensively, well worked!

Di Maria gave a good account of himself

If Man City were having a bad day, cross town rivals Manchester United had agony piled on top of their misery when they were held to a nil nil draw away to the newly promoted Burnley. After a humiliating 4-0 midweek lose to third tier MK Dons, Red Devil fans cannot be blamed for expecting some redemption especially after the record breaking signing of Argentine forward Angel Di Maria from Spanish giants Real Madrid. Di Maria had a great game but it was the defensive side of things as has now become the norm that gave Man U fans anxious moments and probably has had them rushing to the pharmacy for anti-acids and painkillers to counteract the emotional stress caused by their beloved team.
Man U never looked like winning this tie and was lucky to have walked away with a draw. With the fear factor that was the Red Devil’s trademark for eons under Sir Alex Ferguson now a thing of the past, nowadays even minnows fancy their chances and routinely come ready to trade punches and take the game to Old Trafford outfit.

The entire Manchester United fraternity simply has no choice but to be patient and accord new manager Louis Van Gaal time and support to maneuver the team out of the current quagmire.

After their lose to MK Dons, the entire British Press trained their ire and threw barbs at Man U’s former iconic Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson blaming him for the club’s current situation and rightfully so. His post Cristiano Ronaldo signings were castigated, with his transfer policy in particular coming to question and is the reason, most now believe, that the club finds itself in its current predicament. 

Roy Keane's harsh inclinations and vilification of his boss' policies finally vindicated

Former iconic Captain and club legend, Irishman Roy Keane has thus been proven right, albeit a decade later. His harsh criticism then of his manager’s transfer policy deemed as treason was the reason for their fallout which led to his being booted out of the side engendering his early retirement from the game. His tough vilification at the time was due to signings which he deemed of low quality and undeserving of a place in a club of Manchester United’s caliber such as Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher, Wes Brown, O’Shea etc.
While I agree with this assessment Man U’s last signing of real quality was Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov although he flopped during his time at the club and didn’t live up to expectation.

With Sir Alex’s signings and transfer policy to blame which set up his successors for failure, it’s still a mystery how he was able to continuously milk out the best off the same squad, winning four Premier League titles and a Champions League within the period in question. Was he simply a great man manager and a motivator who brought out the best in his charges even the poorest of talent, or was it the so called “Fergie time” and the fear he instilled upon referees who yielded to his every wish and whim among other advantages as most rival managers long implied? 

LVG requires all the patience that Man U fans can muster

Only time will tell, in the mean time patience is of the essence as LVG masterminds a revival against near impossible odds and shepherds the club back to glorious ways.
In my humble opinion, even though Sir Alex Ferguson played a big part in the creating the current problems, I believe the acquisition of Manchester United PLC by the Glazer family was the root of the whole problem. On buying out the majority shares, they transferred all their debts from across the Atlantic putting Man U in a precarious position which limited Sir Alex Ferguson's options in the transfer market as far as having the ability to regularly fight it out with likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and later Man City (whom he christened the noisy neighbours) and PSG.

Liverpool did further damage at the White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspurs’ fans must by now be sick at the sight of Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool team that once again strutted into the White Hart Lane with their chins high and took the home side to the cleaners with a controlled performance, winning 3-0.
The return fixture last season which ended 5-0 in favour of the Merseyside outfit was the final straw that broke Tottenham’s back forcing the club to end Andres Villas Boas short tenure after a series of humiliating defeats. For a team seeking to redeem its pride, Spurs’ defending was simply shambolic and the Londoners were lucky not have conceded more goals. The mercurial Mario Balotelli made his long awaited debut missing a few close chances. On their part the Liverpool defense produced an improved performance from their horrors against Man City, shutting shop and providing Spurs with little space to maneuver. 

Leicester celebrate their shock equalizer

In the weekend's last EPL game before the league sojourns for the international break, despite having most of the possession Arsenal were held to a one all draw by one of newly promoted sides, Leicester away at the King Power Stadium. Leicester looked comfortable and seemed the least threatened or intimidated by their more fancied opponents. Leicester have proven a hard nut to crack in their first two games drawing Everton and pushing Chelsea all the way at Stamford Bridge so Arsenal's draw is not such a bad result.
With Giroud out due to an ankle injury that may see him make a return no sooner than November, a young Yaya Sanogo led the line and with Alexis Sanchez assuming a wide role on the right, a combination that didn't offer much of a punch and went cold after Sanchez's opener. The result and manner with which the game panned out however was further proof of Arsenal’s frailties and need to add strength and further depth with Arsene Wenger’s lack of urgency at the transfer market confounding most Gunners’ fans.