Elation and deflation
Welcome back football, my friend, my strength, my passion and of course, my eternal frustration! Over a month since the World Cup ended and Weekends are just inconsequential without you football my darling. A return to midnight (or 1am) kick offs then retiring to bed accompanied by liberal doses of fatigue and deflation.
And deflation is the key word to describe the lasting effect of our performance at Wolves. After Jonesy went off injured our players joined us in the deflation collective and allowed Wolves to get over the top of us and dominate. Our inability to keep the ball combined with our players bad decisions all over the pitch led to a very, well, deflating day for us. There can be no doubt at all the first goal we conceded was a brilliant piece of skill but we have to remember our part in it. Whitehead lunging into that challenge was foolish and unnecessary. Foley was actually moving away from goal when Dean steamed in. The physical approach is part of what we do but football is a bit of everything if and when it’s needed and flying in like that was just asking for trouble. The second goal may have been slightly unlucky for us but to cling to that for comfort after a performance as undisciplined as Saturday would be to hide our heads in the sand. Even when we got the goal back we rarely showed the required energy or imagination to drag an unlikely point out. In the last minute Rory had a throw that, to the euphoric gloating of the home fans, just skidded out of his hands… an appropriately embarassing end to a bleak day for Stoke City. Ah well, upwards and onwards. Easy games to come…. Spurs and Chelsea. Will we get a point on the board before the international break? It feels like we won’t BUT, this feeling of dread is nothing a win wouldn’t put right! I wonder when it’ll be.
Could it be that Capello’s comment that Beckham is too old was a joke that missed the mark? His lack of English skills render that a feasible possibility. If that’s an irrational suggestion it’s no more irrational than the media pandemonium that followed his comment. Saying that publicly before discussing it with Beckham was ill advised and clumsy but does it really merit the media examination that followed? The Telegraph declared that Capello had reached a “New low”. The News of the world solemnly announed that it’s been “One of the worst weeks of his (Beckham’s) soccer career”. Both melodramic statements which are more in line with Fabio Capello’s current lowly standing than any substantial rational coverage. The News of the World in particular should be aware of the ups and downs of Beckham’s career and that he’s had much worse weeks than this. It was after all, that very tabloid organ which gleefully printed the story of his affair with Rebecca Loos in 2004. In fact, Sunday’s comment came as they kindly told the world that his sister has had to claim benefit payments. After the 1998 World Cup Beckham had to face the prospect of an effigy of himself hanging from a roof and The Mirror bullishly gave readers a David Beckham dartboard. The England manager forgetting to tell him he’s out of future plans isn’t going to mortally wound him…. or anyone else for that matter.
Spurs and Man City started the Premier League season with a fantastic entertaining game. Spurs started at an incredible pace and made their possession count by creating a sequence of excellent chances. Hart was a colossus. Surely Hart is now well and truly England’s number one keeper…. better late than never I suppose! It was a much better game than 0-0 suggests but if Spurs can maintain that level of pace and creativity to their play surely they can contend for a top four spot again. Blackpool were the romantic story of the first day of the season. Whatever else happens this season, their fans will always be able to treasure that memory, the kind of memory we all love this game for. Wigan Athletic and their fans will remember the day less fondly! The real daunting thing about Chelsea’s effortless dismantling of WBA is that WBA didn’t really do much wrong. In fact for much of the game they tried to get forward and got a few decent crosses in. That Chelsea hit six without really breaking sweat hammers out a warning to Man Utd. Talking of Man utd, I sit typing thins during their game against Newcastle and the main talking point has to be Joey Barton’s moustache! What’s he done that for? Apparently he’s refusing to shave it until they win a league game. Now that’s risky! Otherwise Rooney looks as if he’s carried his world cup form into the new season. Berbatov just scored.
Aston Villa’s win over West Ham had an air of crisis what crisis? O’Neill’s decsion to go hardly the ideal way to prepare any team for the first game of a season. We can only come to the conclusiion that Villa is now a hard club to manage and Randy Lerner a difficulty man to work for. The ongoing talk of funding players and having to sell to buy and whether the Milner money would be available must have just worn O’Neill down. Can anyone blame him? Does a manager of his reputation need that kind of aggravation? Where will he work next? Will he work anywhere? All will be revealed now the emotional rollercoaster of football has returned!!