Fernando Torres said it was his destiny to score against Liverpool on Sunday, leaving those who don’t believe in destiny doing the laughing, especially those who are Reds fans.
Sales of Chelsea shirts with the Spaniard’s name have hit astronomical figures apparently, though the numbers of Liverpool ‘Torres’ shirts being burned, defaced or flogged in the charity bin were also quite high ahead of his debut against the club for whom he scored so many goals. Sadly for Torres, when that debut came around he found himself with little opportunity to make that destiny a reality as his side struggled to get past an excellently-organised Liverpool defence. He eventually did not last the full show as he was subbed to jeers from the visiting fans with a little over an hour played.
The day then got worse for Chelsea as the in-form Raul Meireles capitalised on the misguided efforts at defending that hampered the champions all day. Petr Cech and Branislav Ivanovic fell out more than once over the ninety, and it was not until the club’s second new by, David Luiz, came on late on that they looked any way composed at the back. That was too late though as they still struggled to get past three well-marshalled Reds central defenders, Chelsea for all their attacking talent failing to add to the eight goals they put away in their two previous league games and – possibly – missing their last chance to get back into the title race.
Liverpool are in the middle of a winning run they could only have dreamed about amid the turgid, blunt displays of 2010. They have now won four in a row under Kenny Dalglish and did not even have to use any of the £57million’s worth of strikers they shelled out for on the day that Torres jumped ship. You feel the formation might change the next day out against Wigan though, with a defender dropping out to accommodate Luis Suarez’s first start – that or Maxi Rodriguez dropping out and Dirk Kuyt dropping back after the Argentine’s comedy performance was out of touch with the rest of the team on Sunday. Andy Carroll’s first start is a bit further off as he recovers from injury, but the way things are going he could come into a very confident team when he is ready, something that will certainly suit his own game.
Liverpool are back on the up and back within a sniff of the top four. Chelsea’s place in that four is back under threat, though if Torres starts to score soon it should be secure enough. All the same he may have wished his destiny had seen him get a debut against someone else, anyone else. Still the taunts and chides of Sunday could yet drive him on to great things this season. That afore-mentioned last shot at getting back into the title race is not definite, but now Chelsea need to win, win, win – and can ill-afford to waste too much time tinkering with their formation until they agree on which one best suits the inclusion of the new £50million man.
Another former Liverpool striker also failed to bag a goal on his home debut for a new club on Sunday. Robbie Keane, mind you, already has one in the bag for West Ham, but he and his striking partners were somewhat toothless in the massive relegation battle at home to Birmingham City on Sunday, the 1-0 defeat seeing them drop back to the bottom of the league yet again.
This was no great spectacle. It was won by Nicola Zigic, also no great spectacle, as the Blues picked up three massive points that should give them a big boost ahead of two home games before the Carling Cup final. They are still ropey in defence without Scott Dann, but Sunday’s clean sheet should help the confidence stakes in that regard and there will be less takers to back them in the relegation market than West Ham, who too often this season have followed up a good performance with a moderate one and a worse result.
They sink to the bottom as a result of Wolverhampton Wanderers winning on Saturday. Wolves had have already of course beaten Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea this season, but plenty of teams have done that – certainly to the latter two. Wolves can take a big, big bow now though for they have downed the previously unbeatable Manchester United, who were in fact thoroughly beatable throughout their 24-game lossless league run but finally saw it end at Molineux.
Great credit must be paid to Mick McCarthy’s team, who secured the 2-1 win despite going behind to Nani’s early goal. They exploited their set-pieces, and ramshackle United defending, to see and raise that opener, while ensuring that the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and, later, Javier Hernandez, got very few openings. United can be happy enough to have lasted so long unbeaten, while only showing flashes of brilliance in - at most - a third of the games in that run. They are still on top and only one of the three teams directly behind them won. However, they face some massive fixtures in the next few weeks as they look to start another run. First up: the neighbours next Saturday.
Wolves were still bottom after that win until Zigic’s Sunday goal sent West Ham below them on goal difference. Those 12 points taken against the big sides have contrasted with none from six against Wigan and one from 12 against West Ham to name but two results in their head-to-heads with the sides at the bottom. That could ultimately be what seals their fate if they do not utilise the confidence they must have gained from beating United and add to it with more points.
That 2-1 win came as part of 41 goals in eight games on Saturday, miserably added to by two in two on Sunday as I sat in front of the box on my day off. Two games had eight goals, yet one of them still stands out ahead of the other because of the amazing comeback it contained.
That was of course at Newcastle where the hosts trailed 4-0 to Arsenal – ARSENAL – at half-time and yet somehow managed to rescue a point. With no top class strikers, several injured stars and a four-goal deficit to one of the most dangerous teams in Europe facing them at the break, only a madman would have backed Newcastle to get anything at the break.
Yet the world is full of some very rich madmen and that dangerous Arsenal team is fast becoming one of the most vulnerable in defence in Europe as well. The first half saw them score four - it could have been eight – yet things unravelled quickly after the break. Johan Djourou was taken off, Abou Diaby was sent off and Tomas Rosicky was completely off (his game), losing the ball repeatedly as the Magpies pounced to score four in 20 minutes from the 68th. Two of those were Joey Barton penalties, the second very harshly awarded, but that counts for little at this stage. Cheik Tiote belted in the ultimate equaliser on the volley to raise the roof at St James’ Park.
Robin van Persie, scorer of two in the first half, could have won it for Arsnenal but was ruled offside when he put away a super late finish. The points were shared, Newcastle’s character was shown to be quite splendid and Arsenal had blown it – especially in the wake of the defeats to United and Chelsea that would follow. There is not much you can say about throwing away a lead like that. As for Newcastle, if they needed something to talk about other than the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool then they certainly got it.
The other eight-goal game was notable for (well, apart from eight goals) Louis Saha bagging four. Surprisingly, the former Manchester United man had never even bagged a hat-trick before the 5-3 win over Blackpool. Now is the time to do it though. He is in his best form since he joined Everton in 2008 and is getting a run of games together for the first time in a while. Never one to stay fit for too long, Everton will hope he can buck that injury trend and keep his scoring one going. Blackpool need to buck a trend of their own after losing five in a row. Scoring three and losing is pretty worrying, as is their overall form as the teams below them get closer and closer. Could the gallant cavaliers of Bloomfield Road ultimately yet fall on their swords? Yes, yes they could!
It was Carlos Tevez’s birthday on Saturday and he celebrated by scoring a hat-trick and dragging his side three points closer to his old club United ahead of next week’s derby. It was an easy win over West Brom in truth, one where the deployment of Aleksandar Kolarov in a wide left position proved very fruitful and certainly gives Roberto Mancini a fresh option with Adam Johnson out injured for the foreseeable.
Another Roberto, Di Matteo, got the boot the day after the defeat. This was a sad sacking (sorry, placing on gardening leave). His Baggies side played good attack-minded football in general, but have not been so great at the back and results had in truth been on the wane for a while, They are right in the mire now with only goal difference keeping them in the top 17. And they will need to get a new man in fast ahead of six-pointers against West Ham and derby foes Wolves as four teams beginning with W look to avoid the three least wanted places in the league table.
A third Roberto manages the fourth club beginning with W and Roberto Martinez’s Wigan got their occasional win in another goalfest on Saturday, James McCarthy the star of their 4-3 victory over Blackburn on a mess of a pitch at the DW Stadium. McCarthy’s return to fitness is a big boost for Martinez. The youngster played an important role in keeping the team up last season and has already hit three goals in 2011 since his return, including two against Blackburn, the second of which was truly a peach. He has pulled out of this week’s Republic of Ireland v Wales game because of tiredness, something that will be of benefit to Wigan, but it is Anfield and in-form Liverpool next for them.
Other players of note this weekend were Niko Kranjcar, who put his moody blues to one side to win three big points for Tottenham against Bolton; Kyle Walker who scored a fine goal in Aston Villa’s 2-2 draw with Fulham and also earned a senior England call-up; and Robert Huth who scored two goals, neither of them any prettier than he is, to turn a 2-1 defeat against Sundelrand into a 3-2 win for Stoke.
Team of the week (3-4-3):
Joe Hart (Manchester City); Richard Stearman (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Daniel Agger (Liverpool); Joey Barton (Newcastle United), Raul Meireles (Liverpool), James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic), Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City); Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Louis Saha (Everton).