Mind The Gap
The biggest sign of turmoil at a football club is apathy. As a football fan, nothing quite stings like the realisation that you aren't really sure how much you care anymore. That you resign yourself to the knowledge that your club, simply put, isn't what it used to be.
Last night's defeat to Leicester hurts. It hurts for a lot of reasons. It hurts because once again we were outclassed by a team that at the start of the season, we'd have been looking at finishing ahead of them as given. It hurts because on the night, Leicester played the better football, showed more desire and all round deserved it more than we did. And it hurts because this is yet more evidence that we've wasted so much money on so many average players. But there are several things that really, really bug me about this.
- The lack of passion from the players is inexcusable.
- The fact that this performance is not a one-off, but is symptomatic of how our season is going.
- The fact that it's not even a surprise. As I said in last night's prediction, on paper, and in my head, this was a Leicester win, as much as I wanted to believe it wouldn't be.
And all of these facts pull together under the fact that we've been average all season. But none of these are the reason that it really hurts. No it really hurts because I wasn't that bothered. Because while Leicester were comfortably beating us, and I had to watch Adam Lallana return to his state of uselessness, Lovren make sloppy mistake after sloppy mistake and Christian Benteke be nothing more than awful, and Alberto Moreno the epitome of everything wrong with our side at the moment, I wasn't angry. I wasn't passionate. I was barely watching. I was upset, but it was nothing like the pure emotion that I felt last week at Stoke.
Because ultimately, at this point. It doesn't matter. Our league campaign means nothing. And unless Klopp gives us a major overhaul in the summer, next season could well be too. There are times and places for optimism and I'm sure I'll talk about some of the players in the squad that I really like on other occasions. But today is not that day.
As for Leicester. Nothing I say will be new or informative. They're a terrific side, doing terrific things and they've got a couple of huge games coming up. They have standout individuals in key areas of the pitch, but more importantly, they have a unique team dynamic, a terrific team spirit and a manager who knows what his best team is and how to get them playing. All things that we are sorely lacking at the moment. Like everyone else, I really hope that this victory leads them to a Premier League title.
Premier League Round Up
Tottenham are a far superior side to Norwich. We knew that before kick off, and 90 minutes later that same superiority was evident on the scoreline. Last night isn't the sort of match that will define Spurs' season, or Norwich's for that matter, but it certainly helps that Spurs are doing what they need to do and it cannot be good for Norwich that that's four straight defeats and in all of them they've conceded at least 3.
Manchester City were forced to grind out a positive result against Sunderland, but once again their superior quality showed and Sergio Aguero showed why when he's fit and firing he's the best striker in the league, sorry Kane and Vardy. 12 goals in 10 games now for City. He's a monster. Much like the Norwich v Spurs match, this isn't a season defining game for either team, but a result that City will be happy with and one that Sunderland could have done without.
When you're down at the bottom, the worst thing that you can do is make life hard for yourselves. And when Jordan Ayew stupidly threw an elbow out on Aaron Cresswell, he did just that. From then on, any hopes of Villa salvaging a point were lost and West Ham did what they needed to do, and made the worst team in the league pay for their own mistakes.
West Brom v Swansea and Bournemouth v Palace went pretty much as predicted. Palace continue their slide back into mid-table mediocrity, Bournemouth secured a big result that sends them one big step closer to Premier League football in 2016/17 and West Brom and Swansea both did their own causes no favours with a result that shows there really isn't much between them.
Arsenal. Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal. On a day in which a failure to score at home to Southampton ensured that they dropped back to their seemingly traditional home of 4th in the league, behind their arch-rivals Spurs, questions simply have to be asked. They have all the talent, they have the means, they have the opportunity. But for some reason, they just can't do it. I've been saying all season that Arsenal would bottle any chance of winning the title, and that was shown on Boxing Day when Saints put 4 past them, but even so, this wasn't one of those occasions I was expecting a slip. Wenger claims his team are mentally strong, but honestly, it's either his tactics or something in the player's heads that's holding them back. Whilst as a Liverpool fan I would dream of 4th place right now, I can see why Arsenal fans are fed up of it. With the squad that they have, results like last night aren't good enough, especially when the other 5 members of the top 6 all picked up wins.
Man United. Eugh, I hate saying nice things about Man United. Okay, so they played really well, they scored some top quality goals. Stoke on the other hand are clearly feeling the effects of fixture fatigue, as they've played more games than anyone else in the Premier League except Liverpool over the Christmas period. Nevertheless, Rooney looks to hitting form, Martial is a top player when he's given the service and their defence was as solid as ever. United still have a lot of ground to make up, but performances like last night are exactly how they do that. Top 4 isn't out of reach yet, but they don't have the quality of the teams above them.
Smells Like Team Spirit
I said before Christmas on the radio that I really, really like the look of England's ODI side. They're a young, exciting bunch with a real team spirit and a lot of talent. The likes of Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler, not to mention bowlers like Willey, Topley and Jordan, all of whom have either struggled or not been introduced at Test level, make a real class ODI unit and that has once again been on show in the first ODI against South Africa. With runs at the top of the order, and in the middle order, setting South Africa 400 to win is an insane total. Jos Buttler will rightly get all the plaudits after his 76 ball 105 but this was once again, a clear team effort. Without 50s from Root, Stokes and Hales, not to mention a quick fire 48 from Roy, England could be looking at a good total of 300, not an exceptional total of 400. The mix of test quality in Root and Stokes, with specialist ODI players in Morgan and Roy, with Buttler and Hales somewhere in the middle, is forming a formidable batting order that would punish any top side.
And on the bowling side, although I've not yet seen them in action much today, since South Africa's innings has just begun (although David Willey has already removed Hashim Amla for 6), England have been able to rest their front line pace bowlers, Broad, Finn and Anderson, with no fear that those in to do the job, Willey, Topley and Jordan today, but also the likes of Chris Woakes, can do exactly what they need to. Although to be brutally honest, as a bowler, days where you have to defend 400 aren't exactly the ones where you earn your pay, although no doubt they will put in a terrific shift.
You'll hear a lot about Jos Buttler's return to form after this innings, so I just wanted to highlight what a terrific team England are forming, and what a terrific team performance this was.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Vardy vs Dele Alli for goal of the season?
- Sri Lanka have an ambidextrous bowler. Talented.
- Fed Cup: Women's Davis Cup. Gotcha.
- I'm running late for 5 aside commentary. Yikes.
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