Louis Van Gone?
Okay so that headline is cheap. But nevertheless, I'd argue that Louis Van Gaal has never been under more pressure, after he admitted that Sunderland wanted it more against Manchester United and that his side were probably not going to make the top four from here. Two reasonably obvious points at this stage, since Sunderland played United off the park in the second half and thoroughly deserved to win the match, but also because United will be a minimum of six points behind the team above them, depending on what happens between Spurs and Manchester City later.
Sunderland were all over United in the second half, with United's best spell coming in the back end of the first half, during which they equalised through the excellent Martial, whose lovely finish shows how he has an eye for a goal. But United were overrun in the second half and in truth, it was only David De Gea preventing this from being a comfortable win, as Sunderland could easily have scored three or four. De Gea is credited with the match-winning own goal, but make no mistake, he put in another top drawer performance. Take Martial and De Gea out of this United side and they are painfully average (it's funny, we're a top keeper away from being an actually good side and United are a top keeper away from not being).
United dominated possession, but Sunderland had 21 shots in the game. 21! Against Man United! That's almost unheard of. Anyway, this defeat means that United have one win in their last seven away from Old Trafford and it sounds as if Van Gaal has almost thrown in the towel. As for Sunderland, what a result this is. They have thrown themselves right back into the survival race, as things tightened up in front of them.
Who's Going Down?
A lot of movement down at the bottom of the Premier League yesterday, as Sunderland's win took them to 23 points, level with Norwich and one behind Newcastle, with both of them playing later in the day. And neither of them will be particularly happy with the way it played out, as Norwich managed to throw away a 2-0 lead at home to West Ham and Newcastle were butchered at the Bridge. Two goals in three minutes from Dimitri Payet and Mark Noble meant that Norwich are now six games without a win, but at least their point takes them above Newcastle on goal difference, as the Magpies shipped five at Chelsea, who were resurgent on the day. The result takes Chelsea up to 12th, but consigns Newcastle to real, real trouble. I have to say, it's looking tight to see which two of Newcastle, Sunderland and Norwich are going down.
But things didn't get any better for the clubs directly above them either. Bournemouth were turned over 3-1 at home by Stoke, who refound their form, inspired by their new signing Imbula's terrific volley, with Joselu and Afellay also finding the net. And meanwhile, the only other side that are still realistically in the relegation tussle are Swansea, after they were downed by Shane Long's goal midway through the second half. That result, by the way, puts Southampton only one point behind Manchester United and ahead of West Ham on goal difference. It's also fair to say that West Brom, who had had a poor run of form threatening to drag them back into the dogfight, are probably clear now, moving to 32 points, eight clear of the drop zone, with a surprising 1-0 win away at an Everton side who clearly cannot sustain anything resembling a good run of form.
And finally, the other mid-table clash of the day saw Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace continue their slide down the table into 13th, ahead of West Brom only on goal difference as they lost 2-1 at home to a Watford side who move up to 8th for the time being, with two Troy Deeney goals the difference, although one could argue that the real story of this match is that Adebayor managed to get on the scoresheet. Wild.
France Blow It Wide Open But Scotland Fall Short
Well, well, well. It turned out to be a very, very good day at the office for the Welsh in the end, as they were able to see off Scotland with a late spell, where two tries from George North and Jamie Roberts put the game to bed, only for Scotland to roar back late on. With the game finely poised at 16-13 Scotland on the hour mark, Wales finally cut lose and at 27-16, after those two converted tries, the Scottish looked done. But it's a credit to how well Scotland have played so far in this tournament that they came back and although their very late try served no purpose other than to make the scoreboard look more realistic, they'll still be heartened by the fight that they showed. Nevertheless, fight can only get you so far, and two games in with no wins is disappointing. But that said, they've arguably played their two toughest opponents, so there's plenty of space yet for three wins.
As for Wales, in the final 20 minutes, when the going got tough, they showed their class, and they'll be very happy to have secured the win from this game, as well as scoring three tries along the way. Defensively they'll be nervous but their superior firepower showed in the end. And from a Welsh perspective, with six points out of a possible eight, they're off to a solid, if unspectacular start, and they'll be looking at their game against France next time out as one to firmly establish themselves as favourites for the tournament.
The French, meanwhile, caused somewhat of an upset, as they scored the only try to beat Ireland in Paris 10-9. I must confess, I didn't see France doing anything really in this tournament, and had that down as an Ireland win, albeit not necessarily a comfortable one, but Medard's late try put the Irish to the sword and now Ireland are two games in without a win, six points behind France and it looks very unlikely that they'll be able to challenge from here. From an Ireland perspective, once again the key word is injuries, Sean O'Brien, Dave Kearney and Sexton all off injured and you have to say that those injuries certainly seemed to change the tide of a game that Ireland should have thought that they would go on to win at 9-3 up at half time.
But as far as France are concerned, convincing or not, they have two wins out of two, which means that the Grand Slam is on. Arguably their two toughest opponents are still to come and as previously mentioned, the Wales v France game next weekend looks increasingly pivotal, but if you'd offered France back to back wins in Paris, they'd have bitten your hand off.
Where does this leave England? Pleased no doubt. Wales showed signs of vulnerability and Ireland are already arguably off the table now. They should go back to the top of the table with a win against Italy today and then Ireland at Twickenham next week is suddenly looking like a very winnable game. This Six Nations is shaping up very nicely indeed.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Another England batting collapse. Good, good.
- At least England's women are returning the favour.
- Leamington FC lost 1-0 yesterday to Hitchin. Poor.
- Super Sunday is close. Excited.
- Nadal lost again. Shocking form. Is he done?
No comments:
Post a Comment