United's Twentieth Wrapped Up At Old Trafford

The writing was on the wall for the past few months but today it became official; Manchester United have won their twentieth English League title. It widens their gap with rivals Liverpool a little more (Liverpool sit at 18) and sees Robin Van Persie win his first ever major trophy since the FA Cup in his inaugural season with Arsenal. I'm sure Piers Morgan's head exploded when he saw RVP lift the Premier League trophy today.

A tip of the hat must go to them for securing another title before the month of May and having seen off every competitor with ease. If Manchester United win their remaining games, they will sit on a mighty 96 points and overtake Chelsea's previous record of 95 in the 2004/05 season.

Take a bow, Manchester United, you earned it.

Aguero's Late Stunner Leads City to Victory

Sergio Aguero. The man has been an afterthought for the majority of this season due to a variety of niggling injuries but today his quality shone through as he fired Manchester City ahead of their rivals, Manchester United, in the Manchester derby. City will claim it as a victory to uphold their honor as reigning Premier League champions; Manchester United will say it is a minor annoyance on their way to the title this year. Fergie, after all, is not known to allow his players to blow a twelve point lead in the table during this time of year.

Regardless of United's inevitable 20th league title, Manchester City dominated this game. United could have cemented their title today but City wanted it more. Mancini's men fought with pride and they prevailed. City dominated possession and looked the more threatening side throughout the contest. United had a few breaks that looked dangerous but they, by and large, looked like an away team playing for a draw (they were playing at Old Trafford). Yaya Toure did give away a free kick in a very dangerous area; Phil Jones' header bounced off of Kompany and into the City net to equalize for United. 

Manchester City would regain the lead but not until the 78th minute through Sergio Aguero, having been brought on for Samir Nasri, in a goal that was reminiscent of the one that won them the Premier League last year. City will enjoy the victory of this particular battle; United will enjoy the parade after they win the war in May.

Editor's note: Previous version of this blog post didn't include the video.

Frank Lampard and his Two Hundred

This weekend marked the two hundredth goal scored by Frank Lampard for Chelsea F.C. This milestone is significant because it means that he only needs two more goals to tie the all-time record of 202 set by Bobby Tambling. If Frank were to score more than two, as many as willing to bet, he will sit at the zenith of goal-scoring achievement at Chelsea F.C. The truly breathtaking fact is that he has done this from midfield. He truly is one of a kind and should go down as one of England's greatest ever midfielders. He will also go down as one of the greatest scoring midfielders in the Premier League for many years to come; he reigns king in that category already. One thing is true:  you do not have to be a fan of Chelsea to appreciate the player that he is and the record he is inches away from tying and, fingers crossed, breaking.

The Mark Clattenburg Situation

Racism and football (soccer for those that prefer that term) have not been able to separate themselves from each other in recent times. The most noted cases of late were those involving Evra-Suarez and Ferdinand-Terry. I find it shocking that Rio Ferdinand got away with calling Ashley Cole a racially pejorative term between black Englishmen. I have followed English football since early in 2006 and this flurry of racism cases has been as shocking as it is unsettling. Yet, the most unsettling has been the reaction to Chelsea's formal complaint against Mark Clattenburg. Chelsea have pursued one of two initial complaints, they dropped the case involving, presumably, Juan Mata and have pushed forward with the case involving John Obi Mikel. What has followed has exposed the English game's complete lack of conviction for eliminating racism from the game.

Mark Clattenburg, as of right now, is an innocent man. All of the information that any media outlets have access to consists of speculation. Chelsea have chosen to pursue a formal complaint that one of their players was racially abused by him. Their is a long, drawn out process involving these cases. Have we already forgotten how long the Ferdinand-Terry case took to resolve? Before this game and incident, I had always thought Mr. Clattenburg to be one of the bright, new referees in English football and thought he was always fair in the majority of his officiating decisions. Have English referees made bad calls against Chelsea? Quite a few. A blown game by a referee does not end in racist accusations; referees are human and make bad calls sometimes. However, the accusation of a referee racially abusing a player is a very serious claim.

The issue that worries me is that the media, as a whole, has almost exclusively branded Chelsea as going on a witch hunt for losing the game and as retribution for the ban and fine imposed on club captain, John Terry. Where does this cynicism originate? For years, many have looked at Chelsea as having bought their success by foreign money. Many cited that Roman Abramovich did not care about club image and was out for blood in this case. A man so hell-bent on playing beautiful football and having a worldwide brand does not care about club image? There are no voices defending Mikel; who has been nothing but a quiet, consummate professional throughout his career.

The FA and many organizations in England and involved with UEFA are for eradicating racism from the game but where are these voices defending Mikel during this time? Why are people calling for Chelsea's head if the complaint cannot be proven to be true? The media coverage of this case is filled with vitriol towards Chelsea's audacity at lodging such a complaint against a referee.

All sides are currently innocent. Let this case flow through the proper channels and reserve our judgement until the story develops further. These are very serious accusations and they needed to be treated with objectivity.

Premier League Points : Week 9

Week 9 saw Chelsea stay top but their lead cut to just one point above both Manchester clubs. Many of this past weekend's games were rather boring but the officiating in two key games has to be the biggest story for this week.

Chelsea faced Manchester United at home and would be a pivotal game in the title race. If Chelsea were to win, they would put themselves seven points clear of Manchester United in October. It would not have been an insurmountable gap but rather a substantial boost to Chelsea's title-contender credentials. Manchester United easily exposed Chelsea's flaws in it's new system with counterattacks down the flanks at pace. One such attack led to Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic being shown a straight red card. It can easily be argued that Ashley Young went to ground without being fouled, as some angles show, but it could have just as easily gone the other way and it did. What followed was tragic; Mark Clattenburg single-handedly killed a cracking match. Fernando Torres was sent off for being fouled by Johnny Evans. I understand that referees are trying to crack down on diving but this was an egregious error. Yet, at nine men, Chelsea still bossed the game and looked to win if it were not for the dreaded offside goal that was allowed. Javier Hernandez was not called offside, nine times out of nine he would have been, and scored the match winner. Dreadful officiating in one of the biggest games of the season. Fergie will be happy that Clattenburg insured that United got all three points. The allegations and formal complaint filed after the match against Clattenburg will be addressed separately.

The Liverpool derby. This game is only rivaled, in my opinion, by the Liverpool-Manchester United derby game in terms of intensity and hatred between the two teams. What was shocking, besides the bad officiating, was the complete lack of any defensive cohesion by either team. I guess both coaches told their defenses to take the first half off. Liverpool looked the better team over the course of the second half and are still having problems in front of goal. The glaring error came at the death and Luis Suarez's game winner was shockingly called offside. It, in essence, was the opposite of the Chicharito goal against Chelsea. How it was disallowed must be infuriating to the red side of the Mersey.

And now for something completely different...Southampton did not look completely terrible against Tottenham.

Premier League Points : Week 8

Travis Lankford here again. It's that time.

This past weekend saw the three title contenders win but not in similar fashion. There were a few interesting results but there are quite a few stories developing over these past eight weeks.

First and foremost, Chelsea has 22 points out of a possible 24. Why is this a significant number?  Manchester City did the same thing last year...the year they won the Premier League. Also, Juan Mata. I am a Chelsea fan but it would be hard to argue against him being the best player in the Premier League right now and to think he can't get a sniff at the Spanish first team.

Sir Alex Ferguson seems to be ushering in a tactical revolution at Old Trafford. Manchester United has long been known to play a 4-4-2 with wingers. Ryan Giggs was, after all, a left midfielder. He is sticking with a 4-4-2 formation but with a diamond midfield. This may or may not prove to be a fruitful endeavor as Patrice Evra has been on a significant decline in the past few years and he will be relied upon to provide the attacking width on United's left flank. Van Persie, Rooney, and Welbeck are already showing that they are relishing the chance to play together and the former two are really showing their class.

Manchester City pulled off a champions style result against West Brom. They were a man down for the majority of the match due to James Milner's first ever red card for City. Dzeko proved that he still has goals in him and grabbed a brace and the vital three points for Manchester City. Those will prove to be a very important three points in May.

Liverpool won at home. Yes, you read that correctly. They now have one more point than games played. Okay, that's enough picking on the Scousers but what is still alarming, a plague carried over from last season, is their complete lack of killer edge in front of goal. Liverpool had 23 shots on goal against Reading and only managed to score on the break through new-boy and wonder-kid Raheem Sterling.

Mark Hughes's knickers must be on fire because he has to be in the hottest managerial seat in the league (Nigel Adkins has done too much for Southampton to be in too much trouble right now). QPR seem completely disjointed and out of sorts but that is the very real consequence when you buy a lot of new players and throw them into the starting eleven. I don't think Hughes will get the chance to see the team start to click and he will be looking for yet another position as manager in the not so distant future.

There are European games in the middle of this week so it will be exciting to see how the group stages develop in the Champions League today and tomorrow. The UCL fixtures are followed by Week 9 in the Premier League and the next round of the Capitol One Cup (formerly known as the Carling Cup).

Where We Are In England

This is written by Travis Lankford:

The state of the Premier League is returning to normal, at least if you aren’t a Liverpool fan, despite a few shock results in the first few weeks. The Premier League is taking another international break so what better time to roundup the results so far than now. Personally, I couldn’t be happier with table but I am a Chelsea fan. There are some interesting places for certain teams and even more interesting is how they got there.

            

As mentioned earlier, Chelsea sit in first place with nineteen points and are four points ahead of the Manchester clubs. While their defending (and lack of width) has caused some uneasiness during games, Chelsea have managed to only drop points away to West London rivals, QPR. 

            

Both clubs from Manchester have shaken off their early jitters and have churned out results and have started to look like the clubs that dueled for the Premier League crown last year. They sit at fifteen points. City still looks somewhat shaky at the back and United is having a bit of an injury crisis among their center-backs. United’s recent defeat to Tottenham brings this to mind. Everton, Tottenham, and West Brom (yes, you read that correctly) follow with fourteen points. All three have been churning out results but West Brom will be the happiest with their early run of form.

            

Arsenal have floundered and have claimed twelve points. Arsene Wenger still has yet to address the defensive frailties that have plagued his side for many seasons now. Cazorla looks to be an amazing signing but they are committing too many errors at the back to challenge for anything other than a Champions League spot.

            

The next six sides, West Ham, Fulham, Newcastle, Swansea, Stoke, and Sunderland sit at 11, 10, 9, 8, 8, and 7 points, respectively. West Ham have righted the ship after some early defeats. Fulham has settled back into their place as a mid-table club after some early scorelines that were quite flattering. Newcastle seems to not be riding so high like they did towards the end of last season. Swansea started out hot but have cooled down dramatically. Stoke have been unsurprising and still sit in the middle of the table. Sunderland shouldn’t cause too many problems but Steven Fletcher seems like a signing that will make a big difference for them (along with Adam Johnson).

            

Liverpool. Oh Liverpool. My favorite line about Liverpool so far (a repeat from last season) comes from a person I follow on Twitter. He said, “Anfield has become a real fortress as of late, even Liverpool can’t win there.” What is disturbing, from an objective point of view, is that Brendan Rogers has pushed Martin Skrtel up top the past two games. Isn’t this the man that exiled Andy Carroll because he didn’t fit their play style? As a Chelsea fan, I remember a certain manager trying to fit square pegs in round holes and Rogers is teetering on the precipice of repeating this at Liverpool. Brendan, in case you don’t know, it didn’t work out and he was fired in March. Also, Liverpool sit on six points…from seven games…I’ll leave you with that.

            

The next six sides will be fighting to stay up and out of the relegation zone. Wigan and Aston Villa sit at five points but both sides seem completely different. Wigan has put in some very good performances yet Aston Villa have done the exact opposite and been dreadful. Southampton are at four points, just above the relegation zone, and that is disheartening. They put in a ton of effort against Manchester United and looked to really challenge the Premier League regulars until a bit of reality struck.

            

Reading and Norwich sit at three points. The latter put in a string of great performances last season but seem to be struck with the Second Season Syndrome. QPR rounds out the relegation zone with just two points. Mark Hughes must be feeling the heat after the amount of money they spent in the transfer window this past season. In short, they have been horrible.

            

Now, if only this international break would be over so we can get back to some more Premier League action!

EPL Week 1 Recap

The best way to prepare for the second weekend of English Premier League action is to rehash the first weekend. Here's Travis Lankford's recap.

Usually the first day of the Premier League is a foregone conclusion and the teams that should win do win. This year, however, some smaller sides decided to put on a show. Most notably will be Southampton’s cracking effort against title winners Manchester City. Liverpool fell to their heaviest opening day defeat in 75 years which did not help the grumblings already surrounding the club. Tottenham are having to deal with the same shenanigans that Andre Villas-Boas tried to pull at Chelsea. In all, the first round of matches proved to be rife with talking points.

            

West Ham were gained three points against a notoriously dreadful Aston Villa side (how they stayed up last season is still amazing). As mentioned previously, West Bromwich Albion had a riot against Liverpool at the weekend. Brendan Rogers claimed that he would make history at Liverpool and after his first game he already has. The second penalty against Liverpool and the red card can be argued due to the fact that the foul was rather light. The bigger question is the original poor penalty and why anyone in the Premier League would take such a weak effort at such a great scoring opportunity. Loanee Romelu Lukaku capped off the scoreline with a header yet he should have two more assists if it were not for the poor finishing by his new teammates. The embarrassing turn and sprint past Jamie Carragher was a microcosm of Liverpool’s second half performance.

            

Reading dropped points at home versus Stoke City but the newly promoted side will be happy with at least a point from the draw. Swansea ran riot in their new Welsh kit, which I think I might have to pick up, against QPR. For having such wealthy owners and summer spending, QPR fell completely flat and conceded a whopping five goals. Swansea did not suffer from the sophomore slump but Norwich definitely did against Fulham. Norwich suffered the reverse scoreline against the West London club and fell five goals to nil. Contrary to American headlines, that was the big story rather than the owners’ refusal to move Dempsey this season.

           

Arsenal floundered against Sunderland and either team could have come away with the three points but they ended with a scoreless draw. With the new players and departures, Arsenal won’t click initially but they did have some good signs even if they were wasteful and still dreadful at the back. Newcastle versus Tottenham…Alan Shearer, the legendary Newcastle striker, commented that he was surprised by the high defensive line that Tottenham played. A great striker he may have been but how anyone was surprised by AVB’s tactics is beyond idiotic. Granted, AVB’s man management was expected to improve, and it hasn’t, but he still remains a staunch believer in his tactics and it will not prove fruitful for him at another London club. Tottenham lost the game because they would not stop being so offensively minded.

            

Wigan hosted Chelsea and the game was done and dusted after just six minutes. New Chelsea signing Eden Hazard blazed onto the Premier League scene with an assist and a created penalty in the span of four minutes. Chelsea looked extremely dangerous in the first half but it declined as time went on as they secured their lead. The second half saw Wigan come close a handful of times due to Chelsea seeking a third goal to put the game to bed. Victor Moses, the potential Chelsea signing, looked very dangerous throughout the game but Chelsea exploited the space created by Wigan’s 3-4-3 formation and that eventually was the reason for their win (and Wigan’s poor finishing).

            

The final two games involved both Manchester clubs that ended last season as #1 and #2. Manchester City were playing Southampton, a well known English team but out of top flight action for almost a decade, and the latter almost came away with a shock result. The game was plagued by failed defensive clearances and that is why it ended 3-2. It will be interesting to see how Manchester City’s defense responds as they had an impeccable back four last season. Everton hosted Manchester United and the latter looked extremely uninspired, slow, and narrow. RVP started on the bench but was not involved as much as he should have been when brought on the field. Kagawa was unable to unlock the Everton defense and Fellaini still proves to be on the best Premier League midfielders.

            

Matchday One supplied us with many interesting points to bring up and many points that are old stories just re-hashed. There were some shocking results and some that were not very surprising. The results of the opening of the season should not be stressed too much but the media does tend to run with any story they can muster.  Manchester United and Liverpool are not in panic mode even if many wished that they were. Eden Hazard is not the next Gianfranco Zola and no one in the Chelsea organization believes that to be a truthful statement. Everton will not finish in the top four; Fulham and Swansea will probably not score five goals in one game again in the rest of Premier League season. Onto Matchday Two and the next round of Premier League action, my friends.  Enjoy the life!

EPL Preview

This post is written by Travis Lankford. You will see him nearly every week with his thoughts on all things Premier League

That wonderful time of year is upon us – yes, the new season of the Barclay’s Premier League begins this weekend. It seems like only yesterday when Sergio Aguero fired in the game winner for Manchester City and cemented their place as champions. The only regret of this opening weekend is that it will pale in comparison to the drama of that day. However, there is much to look forward to this season. 

Manchester City is still the deepest squad but Manchester United now has RVP and a healthy Darren Fletcher. Not to mention the signing of Shinji Kagawa to take over as United’s midfield general. Arsenal have signed Podolski and Giroud; yet, Van Persie has switched to the red half of Manchester and Song looks set to join Barcelona. Their new signings will have to step up significantly and the question of the captaincy at Arsenal has been raised again. Chelsea have done the opposite and used the influx of Champions League winners cash to bolster their squad further and are still linked with a trio of signings. The managerial merry-go-round halted, for the moment, as Roberto Di Matteo was rewarded with a two year deal after winning both the FA Cup and Champions League. Tottenham have Chelsea’s failed revolutionary, Andre Villas-Boas, as their new manager. The deal is not done but their mercurial midfield maestro, Luka Modric, is on the way to Real Madrid and Tottenham do not have a suitable replacement. They have, however, been able to hang onto Gareth Bale which is a huge plus for them. The team does look very unfamiliar with AVB’s preference of a high defensive line and pressing when off the ball.

There hasn’t been much activity on Newcastle’s accord and it will be interesting to see if their defense holds up and if Ba and Papiss Cisse can finally fire on all cylinders together. Everton have lost their prized midfielder, Jack Rodwell, to Manchester City but the squad is otherwise intact. David Moyes has a knack for getting the best out of average players (England job, anyone?). Liverpool hired Swansea’s former coach in Brendan Rogers, whom hopes to instill his philosophy onto a squad not suited for it. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact Joe Allen has on his new team.

The biggest question amongst the mid-table teams is whether Swansea will be able to replicate their form of the past season without their manager that led them to some historic results. I sadly don’t find much of the mid-table battles to be very interesting but these teams directly impact the success and failure of the champions and the wannabe’s.

The relegation battle should be another drama-filled race to the final matchday. The newly promoted teams are Reading, Southampton, and West Ham; the latter being the leader in capturing the newly deserted Olympic Stadium in London. Other teams fighting to stay up will most likely be comprised of Norwich, West Brom, QPR, and Wigan. QPR have added to their squad and Wigan will enjoy cashing in on Victor Moses.

The ultimate excitement with Matchday One is the fact that the season is finally upon us and the race to the top is about to begin. The races at both the top and bottom of the table will start on Matchday One and end on Matchday Thirty-Eight. The Premier League is the greatest club soccer league in the world for a reason; it never fails to deliver the drama. Go ahead and take some blood pressure medication now as any fan of a Premier League team will need it at some point this season. Rejoice everyone! The Premier League is upon us!

Keep The Yank With The Brits

This Saturday, Everton will face Birmingham in a battle between two of the better teams in the EPL. Neither side is in any danger of dropping into the bottom three of the league, meaning they wouldn't be demoted into League One. At the same time, neither team has much of a chance to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the Champions League. So why does this game matter? Because this is the end for Landon Donovan and his 10-week loan to Everton.

Donovan goes back to the States and the L.A. Galaxy to get ready for the start of the MLS season. Everton wanted to keep him for the rest of the season, but they couldn't make a deal with the Galaxy to extend his run, unlike what AC Milan has done with David Beckham. This to me is an extremely short-sighted decision on the part of Bruce Arena and the Galaxy.

Landon Donovan his proven that he fits in with Everton and is good enough as a player in the Premier League. There, his talents aren't being wasted, instead he's only getting better. The U.S. is now a better team because Donovan has played in England and with the best players in the world (including many English footballers who he will face in the World Cup opener). The chances for the USA to do any kind of damage in the World Cup are because Tim Howard is Everton goalkeeper, Jozy Altidore is in Hull City, and Clint Dempsey can return to action with Fulham. That, along with whether Oguchi Onyewy and Charlie Davies can be healthy in June could determine how well the Yanks play in South Africa.

However, that's not the main reason why Donovan should be allowed to play in EPL. It's because he's a Premier League talent and he would be paid like one. He doesn't make nearly the kind of money that he can in England because he's been brought up in this American system. If the MLS had a strike this year, no one would miss it, since all the American soccer fans watch European club leagues anyway. It's a disservice to Donovan to not allow him to finish the season with Everton and hopefully Donovan will leave once the season ends as a December or January transfer. Or better yet, there are rumors that Chelsea would be interested in picking up Donovan next year, which would allow me to officially declare Chelsea as my EPL team.

If you caught the highlights of Everton's blowout over Hull City, you see Donovan score a goal and set up another goal and both times, the Everton players showed how much Donovan meant to that team, which is somewhat true since Everton went 6-2-1 with him in the lineup and moved from second half to first page of the EPL leaderboard. Donovan was thrilled to play there and fans and played showed him the love that he can never receive here, at least in club football. So allow him to stay Coach Arena, at least until April 15 as Donovan asked for. Then when next year's transfer window opens, Donovan could earn the league even more in transfer fees.