Finally! The longest three months of the year ended and the brand new EPL season kicked off. I've had a number of dull weekends recently; but no more!
All this time, I have been eagerly following the transfer news, club activities and the pre-seasons. It had all been building up my expectations for the season and gotten me all excited for what I foresee to be a roller coaster season, even prompting me to make some predictions here a couple of days back, but all that excitement reached the pinnacle as I watched the build-up to all the first day matches, the lineups, the interviews and the comments. For a moment I wished I could fast-forward life to the kickoff between Chelsea and Hull.
Thankfully I didn't have to wait long.
Generally, the first day of the EPL brings forth some unexpected results; some teams are still gelling following new signings over the summer, others have fitness issues, some have had a great pre-season and carry that form forward while others are still struggling; those freshly promoted have a point to prove and given that not much is known about them, they can be tricky oppositions. Then there are tactics, away fixtures and those simple yet horrendous errors. Predicting the first day is no mean task.
Having said that, most people thought Chelsea would absolutely romp Hull City and make a statement, especially following their Commnity Shield win over Manchester United. But it turned out to be quite a fixture, with Hull City flocking the midfield and making it really hard for Chelsea to find space; the game was only decided after a classy finish by Didier Drogba in injury time.
Chelsea fans made it clear to the new Hull City signing Steven Hunt (from Reading) that his incident with their goalie Peter Cech had not been forgotten; one with the Czech suffering a serious head injury, his head gear a life-long aftermath. They booed him whenever the left winger had the ball at his feet. But it was Hunt who opened the scoring against the run of play for Hull City, latching onto a fortunate deflection and finding the net in the 28th minute.
The rest of the game, despite being great to watch, went about on the same script: Chelsea forming wave after wave of attack and Hull City actually doing pretty well to keep them off; their central defender Dawson putting in a formidable performance. Chelsea's up front pairing of Drogba and Anelka helped the opposition by failing to capitalize on a number of chances, instead shooting straight at the Hull City goalkeeper.
But it was Drogba who broke the deadlock with a Ronaldo-like freekick in the 37th minute. Michael Ballack replaced Obi Mikel in the second half and Chelsea controlled the game afterwards; Hull only intent on defending. The attacks kept coming but Chelsea could not find the goal. As the normal time came to an end, it seemed as if Ancelotti's first EPL game in charge would not be a win, unlike the seven previous seasons where Chelsea have won their league openers.
But the crowd found a new hope when the Referee's assistant raised the board declaring six more minutes of injury time to be played. It only took three for Didier Drogba to start and then clinically finish a move seeing him chip the ball over Myhill from a tight angle off the left. The ball found the net, Drogba's shirt was off and Stamford Bridge erupted.
It all ended well for Chelsea but they had been made to work very hard for it. The new diamond formation lacked penetration against the opponents intend only on defending; something that the Blues should expect more teams to do this season at Stamford Bridge. It was also clear that the players too are still adjusting to the new system. Not a convincing start for the league favorites this season; but a successful one nonetheless. A win is a win!
Elsewhere,
Fulham nicked it 1-0 against Portsmouth, a rather scrappy game with a shot deflecting devilishly off Bobby Zamora to wrong-foot David James and decide the match.
Stoke City were back to usual: scoring off set plays and the trick worked against a sorry Burnley, with Ryan Shawcross having a particularly good game. The centre back just happens to be in my Fantasy League Team for the week, along with Drogba!
West Ham put forth an impressive performance with a convincing 2-0 win over the newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The stars of Manchester City showed the league what they are capable of by making a winning start against Blackburn. However, although the final scoreline was 2-0 in favor of City, I thought Blackburn actually played pretty well, coming close to scoring a number of times and being denied only by the brilliance of Shay Given. The Manchester City defense, despite the big names and new signings, was rather average. Going forward though, they were absolutely destructive, with the likes of Robinho, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Adebayor, Bellamy and later Tevez all joining in and producing some quality moves. After the game, I was further convinced that Manchester city are a big threat this season!
The performance of the day, however, went to the young gun(ner)s of Arsenal, who absolutely dominated the top six contenders Everton. I thought the men in blue were pretty poor throughout, scrappy in midfield and sorry in defense with the attacks never really coming; but Arsenal were sumptuous, displaying their amazing brand of neat, passing football since the first minute right till the end. They had pace, trickery, skill and class; for such a young outfit, it was actually a pretty classy display of football with young Denilson, the new signing Vermaelen, the veteran Gallas, the classy and my man of the match Cesc Fabregas, and the back-from-injury Eduardo all finding the net.
To be honest, Arsenal were amazing. And I could only wonder what could keep them from seriously challenging for the title this season IF they kept playing like that and delivering consistently. I couldn't come up with an answer; but that IF is a big IF given the Gunners' recent history.
All in all, an amazing day; I can hardly wait for the remaining two fixtures on Sunday: Manchester United v Birmingham and the potential thriller Liverpool v Tottenham.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Good point about Man City, they do seem to be following the dictum "The best defense us a good offence". I think Chelsea need to upgrade their strike force, the problem for the blues was not the lack of chances created but the plethora of missed opportunities. Furthermore, I found the Blues defence well below its usual steely standard. All in all, I think they need to reorganize their defensive play and add some dependable quality to the offense. I have long maintained that Sergio Aguero is the man for Chelsea.
Cheers
Thanks for the first ever comment on Football Buff.
Part of the problem for Chelsea was also the defensive midfield role; Mikel was well below par on the day, although I do believe he is a player well suited for the job. But his is a critical position in the diamond formation; it protects the defenders while spreading the play to the more offensive players ahead.
Post a Comment