More monday musings

Here are some observations on the action from the weekend:

Birmingham 1 Bolton 0

Forsell was an unused sub. Jerome was praised by Bruce during the week and sure enough he started up front with McSheffrey. French midfielder Kapo scored his second goal of the season.

Diouf looked the pick of the worst in another poor Bolton performance. Little Sam should check the YTM points scoring record of a certain Kevin Davies. 91 and 108 points in the last 2 seasons deserves more than a place on the bench!

Chelsea 0 Blackburn 0

No sign of Drogba or Lampard. Shevchenko made his first start but missed 3 decent chances and failed to impress. Alex was preferred to Ben Haim as Terry’s partner with Belletti selected ahead of Ferreira at right back.

Samba (carried off unconscious at the end so might be a doubt for next game) and Nelson were rock solid at the back for a miserly Rovers. McCarthy and Santa Cruz definitely the number 1 strike partnership. Signs that MGP is finding his form.

Everton 0 Man Utd 1

Baines had a decent game and looks a likely source for KC’s and the odd goal.  Everton have now conceded 1 goal in all 6 fixtures this season - surely a clean sheet is just around the corner!

Silvestre out injured for rest of season. Not convinced that Ronaldo (with all the unwanted off the pitch headlines) can repeat last seasons heroics. Was Saha rested for Europe or does Fergie just not rate him? Seems odd not to play your only out and out striker.

Portsmouth 0 Liverpool 0

Matt Taylor was an unused sub. Kanu missed the penalty. Diop was man of the match on debut. Pompey have now played the top 4 teams so their fixtures should ease and their performances improve.

Arbeloa is the only ever-present outfield player for Liverpool this season although with Aurelio now fit this record won’t last for long. Rafa prefers to select players he’s had in training during the run up to a game. Riise and Sissoko have not travelled to Porto due to injury.

Sunderland 2 Reading 1

Jones and Chopra are cementing their starting places. Ross Wallace scored his first goal of the season and make’s it into the top 20 of YTM midfield points scorers on 20 points. Anyone else noticed how often a goal scorer (Wallace) seems to pick up a yellow card in the same game?

Reading, with Steve Coppell admitting “It’s a concern”, are looking more and more like the new Ipswich. Rosenior started his first game. Lita and Kitson were up front with Long on the bench.

Tottenham 1 Arsenal 3

Bale played in midfield and takes a mean free-kick. Lennon came on as sub for his first action of the season. Robinson still looking suspect on crosses. Berbatov and Keane preferred up front with Bent a late sub for Malbranque.

Fabregas is the player of the season so far. Gilberto partnered Toure at the back with Diaby partnering Flamini in a solid looking central midfield. No room for Rosicky who came on for Diaby in the 56th minute. Adebayor had one of his best games for the Gunners and could be set for a big season.

West Ham 3 Middlesbrough 0

Dean Ashton is back. Bellamy off injured after just 26 minutes - replaced by Carlton Cole. Another clean sheet for bargain defender of the season George McCartney - a snip at just £2m. Etherington continues to keep Boa Morte out of the team.

Fixtures have favoured Boro at the start of the season so expect things to get worse. They have Everton and Man City away and Chelsea at home in their next 4 fixtures.

Wigan 1 Fulham 1

Heskey out for 6 weeks with a broken foot. This could well impact on Sibierski’s point scoring. Koumas took and scored the penalty. Laadzaat who scored one against Sunderland was not playing.

Healy on the bench again with Kamara and Dempsey (3rd best midfielder with 31 points) getting the nod up front. Seol made his first appearance as an 84th minute sub.

Man City 1 Aston Villa 0

The top 6 defenders in the game come from City or United. Dunne was injured so Onuoha started at right-back. Quality goal from Magic, his second of the season which along with 4 clean sheets takes him to 27 points - 13.5 points per million!!

Same team that beat Chelsea for Villa. Agbonlahor on the right of midfield, Young on the left of midfield with Carew and Moore up front. Looks good (and quick) on paper but not firing yet.

Meanwhile in the MASSIVELY important YTM HQ mini league I have had a disappointing first weekend. (We always start after the international break as the start of the season is pretty busy.)

I went with the following line-up:

Reina, Arbeloa, Baines, Evra, McCartney, Barry, Lampard, Ronaldo, Healy, Mido, Torres.

I know it’s a marathon not a sprint, save your transfers for injuries, no knee-jerks etc. but any advice is gratefully received via the comments feature below.

There’s a lot of money riding on it - together we can win!

 Cheers,

Tom