Premiership Weekly Roundup 16/03/12
Leave a commentMarch 17, 2012 by joshilan14
This weeks’ Premiership roundup is on the week commencing on the 10th February until the 16th March. This is a blog which takes a look at the biggest news surrounding Premiership clubs in the past week. This week includes a Premiership roundup, the Manchester club’s Europa league exits, why Roy Hodgson should get the England job, the decline of Aston Villa, David Moyes celebrating his 10th year in charge at Everton and the need for goal-line technology
Premiership Roundup
Saturday’s early kick-off saw Bolton beat QPR 2-1 to boost their chances of survival; the result was overshadowed however by the failure to spot that Clint Hill’s header was (well) over the line with the score still at 0-0. Roberto Di Matteo got off to a winning start as caretaker manager of Chelsea as they beat Stoke 1-0; Andy Weimann’s last minute strike gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win at home to Fulham; Liverpool produced a lacklustre display away to Sunderland, who capitalised on this by winning 1-0 thanks to a Nicklas Bendtner strike; Wolves’ chances of survival took a blow when fellow battlers Blackburn beat them 2-0 at Molineux through two Junior Hoillett goals and a goal by Nikica Jelavic proved the difference as Everton beat Tottenham 1-0.
Sunday saw Manchester United beat West Brom 2-0 at home, with both of the Red Devils goals coming from Wayne Rooney; Swansea produced a shock 1-0 victory at home to league leaders Manchester City, with Luke Moore getting the decisive goal and Sunday’s final match saw Norwich draw 1-1 at home to basement club Wigan Athletic. The Monday night match saw Arsenal grab an injury time winner through Thomas Vermaelen as they beat Newcastle 2-1, but the result was marred by a spat between Holland teammates Robin Van Persie and Tim Krul. Tuesday’s Merseyside derby saw Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool win 3-0, with Steven Gerrard scoring a brilliant hat trick.
The Manchester clubs exit the Europa League
Manchester City and Manchester United might be riding high in the Premiership, but their performances in Europe this season have been below average. Even though both teams entered the teams having to overturn a deficit from the first leg, both were unable to get the results they needed to qualify for the quarter final stage of the Europa League. I don’t think anyone expected Sporting Lisbon to take a 2-0 lead at the Etihad Stadium, and despite a spirited comeback by City to win 3-2, it was too little too late as they went out on away goals. Athletic Bilbao managed to beat Manchester United 2-1 at home and this is a score line that flatters Sir Alex Ferguson’s side; they were simply overpowered by Marcelo Bielsa’s gifted side. Fans of both clubs will tell you that they have more important things to worry about than the ‘Mickey Mouse Cup’ of European football, but both Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson will be disappointed with their sides for failing to get to the quarter finals of the competition.
Roy Hodgson for England
There isn’t a day that goes by when Harry Redknapp’s name isn’t linked to the England job as the Tottenham Hotspur manager is the hot favourite to get the job. However, one name might have slipped people’s minds and might be worth a punt for the job. That man is Roy Hodgson, the manager of West Brom. While people will be quick to mention is unsuccessful spell at Liverpool, he is the candidate best suited for the role due to his experiences on an international level. He has won the Swedish league seven times with Halmsteads and Malmo respectively and the Danish league with FC Copenhagen; he took Switzerland to 3rd in the World rankings and has taken both Inter Milan and Fulham to the UEFA Cup/Europa League final. He also plays an attacking brand of football, which is an added bonus and he is a manager who will immediately gain the respect of the players. Hodgson might not be the people’s choice, but he is the logical choice.
Decline of Aston Villa
It was only a few years ago when Aston Villa were regularly competing for a place in European football under Martin O’Neill, and under his leadership, the Villains finished in 6th place in three consecutive seasons from the 2007-2008 season to the 2009-2010 season. It is O’Neill however that can be partly to blame for Villa’s current misfortunes as he brought in many players for hefty fees that were not up to Premiership standards. Some examples of this would be Nigel Reo-Coker (£8.5million), Marlon Harewood (£3.5million) and Carlos Cuellar (£7.8million and still at Villa.) O’Neill’s successor Gerard Houllier can be blamed for the club’s downfall as his poor man-management skills and tactical errors saw Villa become a struggling mid-table season. When Houllier quit due to ill health, Villa fans were angered by who was their new manager; that person was Alex McLeish, who was poached from rivals Birmingham City after overseeing their relegation to the Championship. He has helped to complete Villa’s transition from European challengers to a low mid-table side as his weak team selections (Alan Hutton, Stephen Ireland, Emile Heskey and Carlos Cuellar to name a few) and his incredibly negative style of football has seen Villa drop to 15th in the table. They won’t be in a relegation battle this season, but should they fail to sack McLeish soon, Aston Villa have a chance of going down.
David Moyes celebrating his 10th year in charge at Everton
Is there a better manager in the Premiership than David Moyes? He consistently overachieves at Everton, where he has to work on a limited budget and the constant departures of his star players due to a lack of funds, but this doesn’t stop Moyes from helping to get Everton the results they need. Since his arrival from Preston 10 years ago, Everton have got themselves a reputation for being a side that at their best can challenge for a European spot. The 2004-2005 season was arguably Moyes’ most successful season at the club as the Toffees managed to qualify for the Champions League as a result of their 4th place finish. He also led the club to the FA Cup final in the 2008-2009 season, where they lost 2-1 to Chelsea. Sir Alex Ferguson had supposedly endorsed David Moyes to be his successor at Manchester United when he retires, while he has also been linked to the Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham jobs over the years. It is in no doubt that the Scotsman will leave Everton soon for greater pastures, and no-one deserves success more than him.
Need for goal-line technology
The aforementioned Clint Hill incident brought back the debate of technology in football, with many saying that it needs to be brought in as soon as possible. The FA reacted to the incident by saying that goal-line technology needs to be brought in “as soon as possible” and even the laughing stock that is Sepp Blatter thinks that the time has come for technology to be used in football. However the president of UEFA Michel Platini isn’t particularly keen on technology being used in football, but his views look to count for nothing fortunately as FIFA are testing out technology that will be 100% accurate. I think that football needs goal-line technology but it should stop there; this is because if technology is used for all decisions, it will take spontaneity out of the game and will make the game more boring as a result. Just imagine being unable to talk about high-profile errors due to that fun being taken out of the game due to a want of perfection!
Follow me on twitter @joshilan_at_btd.
