Who's Hot and Who's Not?
Chelsea continue to win, Liverpool are steadying the ship, Villa are looking good and Everton have made an impressive about turn in their season. Birmingham continue to impress and their last minute equaliser against Spurs made it just one defeat in sixteen games. Manchester City bounced back from Carling Cup disappointment, but the ‘Hot team’ this week must be Manchester United. They were simply awesome in their 3-1 win at Arsenal.
It is really horrible to kick people when they are down and it is not possible to get much lower than Portsmouth are at the moment. It is almost impossible to see any light at the end of the tunnel for them and they are almost as bad on the pitch as they are off it.
With England crying out for an above average goalkeeper to appear from somewhere before this Summer’s World Cup, it might pay Fabio Capello to pop along to Blackburn to have a look at the rehabillitated Paul Robinson.
His forty-one England caps are a long forgotten memory now, but he looks like he might be back to somewhere near his best.
Recently I gave the ‘Not Hot keeper’ award to Arsenal’s Fabianski. I said that he was nowhere near as good as Manuel Almunia. I might have to reconsider that opinion. Almunia was terrible yesterday.
Arsenal may need a striker and they may need another centre-half, but goodness me, they don’t half need a new keeper.
The current revelations about John Terry don’t show the Chelsea and England skipper in a very good light. I have no idea what he is like as a person and if half the stories are true then he might not be the nicest bloke in the world.
Having said that, he is a leader and has amazing mental strength. At this time, one of the worst in his career on a personal level, he strides forward and heads home a late winner for Chelsea to keep them clear at the top. That really does show some character.
Anthony Gardner looked as though he might become a top defender when he first burst onto the scene at Tottenham. He has never quite lived up to that early promise but he has found a regular Premier League starting place at Hull.
Unfortunately for him and Hull, he had a particularly bad day on Saturday. His performance was rather summed up by the wildly sliced own goal he scored which helped Wolves to get a point.
How many goals has Tim Cahill scored with his head? How many winning goals has Tim Cahill scored? Well, I don’t know the answer to either of those questions but my guess is that it is loads! Another winning header from him on Saturday made him a real contender for this award until Nani stepped up to the plate at the Emirates.
The Portuguese winger has spent his time at Old Trafford in the shadows of others and generally disappointing all and sundry with his performances. He was superb yesterday and if he continues in his current form all those Manchester United fans might just forget all together about CR7.
I didn’t realise Denilson was playing for Arsenal yesterday until he got substituted!
He has had a real up and down couple of seasons but Aston Villa’s Gabby Agbonlahor has tremendous pace and defenders never like that. He doesn’t score enough goals but he bagged both of them in their 2-0 win at Fulham on Saturday. If he has a good second half to the season there might still be room for him on the plane to South Africa.
Having said that, the winner of this award has to be a man who simply must be on that plane if England are to have any chance at all. Wayne Rooney scored his 100th Premier League goal and gave another masterclass in how to play as a lone striker.
David Ngog is a young man still making his way in the game. He has the impossible task of trying to step into the shoes of Fernando Torres when the Liverpool hit-man is unavailable.
He has started to win me over a little and looks like a decent prospect. Having said that, the chance he missed on Saturday, hitting the post when I would have fancied my grandma to score was worthy of winning this award all on its own.
Last 5 posts by Graham Fisher
- Timing of Brown sacking seems strange - March 16th, 2010
- Premier League - Who's Hot and Who's Not? - March 15th, 2010
- Who is your Premier League manager of the season so far? - March 14th, 2010
- Premier League predictions - March 13th, 2010
- Is the coach to blame for Real Madrid's European exit? - March 12th, 2010
English Premier League
La Liga
Serie A
Bundesliga
Ligue 1
Eredivisie
Scottish Premier League
MLS
UEFA Champions League
World Cup
Editorials
February 2, 2010
Again, couldn’t help but smile at the Hot Striker award. To score 100 league goals takes some doing. Sorry, Gooner-11, but this is football for you. . .
February 2, 2010
I also smiled at the Hot team and Hot midfielder awards. Again, sorry gooner. . .
February 5, 2010
haha, what? you think you will hurt my feelings?
Stop trying to make this bullshit person.
it was depressing watching, i can admit that.
but i hadnt given Arsenal much of a chance for the premier league since RVP went down anyways – and the many other injuries too, i suppose.
i actually didnt think United played ’simply awesome’ though. not as good as Chelsea when they beat Arsenal 3-0. i did think Arsenal played horrible. I cant believe you didnt notice Denilson?!? He was running right beside/behind Rooney when he scored is gimme. he even brought down that air ball for United which set up the break out for the Park goal. If those 2 plays dont happen and Arsenal has one of their 3 or 4 chances prior to Nani’s goal (dare i say the only nice goal of the game) then its a different match. but Almunia was his usual horrible self too, I swear I would have stopped the Park goal. haha.
I’ve sort of moved my focus to the Netherlands anyways…
February 5, 2010
oh, and good call on Ngog.
i dont understand (besides the twitter bullshit) why Benitez wont try Babel in the middle…
February 5, 2010
Uhhh. . .
what?
if denilson had been like that, that just shows rooney is faster with the ball than denilson is without it. that’s bad. . .
as for park’s goal, it is brilliant as he capitalized on a mistake by the oposition. You got balls to do something out of the blue by your self or after help from a teammate, but you have bigger balls if you do it off an opponents mistake.
February 6, 2010
watch the match, rooneys was pretty much a one timer.
February 6, 2010
I cant watch it. dont have Fox soccer channel anymore, and youtube is down for some reason. . . crappy compooper.
February 6, 2010
but here’s the important thing. Rooney scored his 100th PL goal for his entire career. It doesnt matter how you do it (as long as you dont handball) just do it, in order to get that achievement.
February 10, 2010
Rooney is the only chance England has…. And Manchester Utd.
I am a massive ManU supporter and Im very glad to see Nani step it up a gear. He is much better as a Right Wing like his other fellow country man.
Villa has the lest amount of goals scored against ‘em, and proved Y against Totts, They could have fustrated them all day long. Dunn had a blinder.
Thats all to say
February 11, 2010
Well, here you have it. I am the biggest Man Utd supporter,
Just when we were seeing Nani shape up as the one of the best midfielders/wingers in the PL, he goes and gets himself red carded.
Thats just a shmae man, bummer
Glory Man Utd
February 11, 2010
Hey, ld. . .
Rooney is our BEST chance, both for United and England. . . but he’s not our only chance at United.
February 12, 2010
shit, just re-read my 1st post above, i meant:
Stop trying to make this bullshit personAL.
February 12, 2010
I’m not. if i did make it personal, it was unintentional except for the apologies.
February 26, 2010
Rooney is the best !