First and foremost I think it is fitting to pay tribute to the 96 who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Following the emergence of the disgusting truth that has reached the public over the last week fans of football have united in their support for the families that lost their loved ones. Serious questions must be answered by the Police and in the near future I am sure justice will and must be had.
Yet again goal-line technology was called into action after Everton had goals disallowed in their game against Newcastle last night. Time and time again this has happened and yet the powers that be still seem reluctant to execute a plan that sees technology clear these matters up.
At the top of the table things look as expected, however dropped points for the big teams show that the quality of the league is higher than ever and looks set to be full of surprises - Arsenal misfire in their opening games, shortly followed by smashing Southampton. Southampton play superbly against Man City and United and then truly terrible against Arsenal. Chelsea look unstoppable and then play poorly in a goalless draw against QPR and so on.
Tottenham haven't had the best of starts but fans will be somewhat calmed by their result against a weak Reading team, however, Tottenham have escaped extra pressure due to another of the big teams starting poorly, Liverpool. Despite high hopes for the season Liverpool have 2 points from 4 games, a start that will have fans question whether new manager BR has what it takes to lead them back into European contention. Whilst some may blame a tough start in the fixture list it is clear that it will take more than 4 games to adapt to the philosophy that Rodger's Swansea team played superbly last season. Unlucky dropped points against the Champions Man City followed an awful performance against Arsenal, again asking the question "can Liverpool be a consistent force?" There is still a long way to go in the season and much of Liverpool's play has given fans optimism despite their results. Creating chances is not a problem, being clinical is. As football pundits say, it would be worse if they were not creating the chances at all! Man United visit Anfield next, a clash that has been and will continue to be the biggest clash in English football, despite Liverpool's lack of domestic success in the Premier League. The rivalry between these two massive clubs spans numerous years, bitter struggles, fiesty affairs and a certain racist incident that left both sets of fans furious about the other party involved.
Man United look very good I have to admit, resting RVP and without Rooney they showed their depth as they still scored 4 goals against Wigan. The major difference between the likes of Liverpool/Tottenham and Man United/City is knowing how to win Premier League games. While that sounds ridiculously obvious think about how many games Liverpool and Tottenham players have actually won? United players have been doing this for years (Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Rooney, RvP, Nani, Carrick - all experienced Prem players. Tottenham - Dembele, Walker, Vertonghen, Sandro - all relatively new to the Prem. Liverpool - Shelvey, Allen, Suarez, Enrique, Kelly, Sterling - all pretty new. Whilst I am not in any way saying any of these players are not very good, as I believe some I have mentioned are excellent, I am merely making the point of the vast experience and years of winning the likes of United have under their belt. When they play badly they find a way, something Liverpool, for example, have not been able to do in the last 2/3 seasons.
After the opening games I believe that it will be between: Norwich, QPR, Aston Villa, Southampton and Wigan to go down and the top six will be United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham.
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