Final Thoughts on Weekend Football (September 14-17)

This is a little later than I usually plan it, but between work and actually looking at potential picks, it has been tough to do any sooner.

It was great to have the Premier League and domestic football back in action this week as I am not really a fan of the international breaks and feel there are too many qualifiers, especially with some of the weaker nations being so irrelevant that I think changes should be made to how qualification goes about.

Honestly, I feel the lower Ranked nations should have to go through some sort of 'pre-qualification' before being pitted against the likes of Germany and Spain, even if Georgia showed real heart in a close loss to the Spanish team in the last set of games.

My thoughts on Manchester United in the latest United Corner can be found here

Oh well, here are my Final Thoughts on last weekend:


Arsenal are genuine title contenders?: If you picked up a newspaper (or read an online publication as is the norm these days), you would have noticed a lot of people tipping Arsenal as title contenders following their wins over Liverpool and Southampton in the League.

I know you are only as good as your last performance in this new social networking World, but people have completely forgotten their two draws with Sunderland and Stoke City and are perhaps jumping the gun a little bit.

Arsenal are always likely to put in big performances from time to time with the possession football they play- if everything clicks on the day, they will blitz teams as they did against Southampton, while the win at Liverpool was impressive against perhaps an 'over-rated' side.

I like Santi Cazorla as he looks a real player while Lukas Podolski has made a good start to the season, but before I am ready to call them real contenders, I want to see how they do against the bigger and better Premier League clubs.

It seems the fixture compute has been kind to those thoughts as Arsenal play Manchester City at the Etihad and then host Chelsea in back to back weeks- win those games and I'll say they are title contenders.


Have Southampton come up a season too soon?: Following on from the Arsenal thoughts, it is only fair to think about Southampton and wonder if they have come up too fast following their back to back promotions.

Norwich City were successful in keeping their place in the Premier League when they managed that feat last season, but I think the playing styles of the teams are distinctly different- Southampton like to get the ball down and play while Norwich were a little more direct in their approach and I think the latter style can be a little tougher to get used to for Premier League teams rather than a style where teams look to play you off the park.

However, it would be rash to think Southampton are going doomed on four games, those coming against Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, Manchester United and Arsenal.

The most disappointing result would have been the Wigan loss at home, but they had leads against both Manchester clubs and everything just seemed to go wrong in their game against Arsenal. Southampton play Aston Villa next at St Mary's and it is conceivable they can win that and bring some real positive vibes back into the club.

It will be wise to review Southampton's situation in a months time after they play the likes of Villa, Everton, Fulham and West Ham in the League, although the rumours are that the owners have already got the knives ready to give Nigel Adkins the chop.


Manchester City's home form is going to be crucial again: Manchester City won 18 of their 19 home games last season, drawing the other, and that ultimately secured them the Premier League title and this season has the makings of another where they need to secure a huge amount of points at home to retain their title.

Of course, the Champions will normally have a very strong record at home, but City's away day struggles are very much under the radar at the moment. The dropped points at Stoke City over the weekend means they have won just 12 of their last 30 away games in the Premier League and that will put additional pressure on them winning their home games to make up for it.

This has largely been ignored as they have won some big games at Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United but it is something to consider, especially for those that love backing the short priced 'big name' favourite away from home on your coupons.


Time to bring in goal-line technology: We have to get a rush on goal-line technology as Everton became the latest club to have a clear goal not given in their match against Newcastle United.

The tests are being done and the Premier League are insistent that they will get the technology out sooner rather than later, but there is too much money involved these days on those decisions and it needs to be there.

To be honest, the official that missed the ball going over the line also ruled out another goal when incorrectly ruling Maruoane Fellaini offside, so maybe he has some explaining to do this week.


Blackburn Rovers have a great chance to bounce back to the Premier League immediately: The Championship is a tough Division to get out of as so many teams can beat others on their day, but Blackburn Rovers look to have the best squad in the League and they look like a team that can bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

The likes of Jordan Rhodes and Nuno Gomes look capable of getting the goals to fire them to promotion and the pressure is decreasing on Steve Kean with every passing game.

They have moved to the top of the Championship with a 3-5 win at Bristol City and they do look capable of staying there or thereabouts for much of the season.