Burnley 0 – 0 Manchester United
It was another disastrous week in the English Premier League for Manchester United’s Dutch super manager Louis Van Gaal, who is still winless, with a loss and two draws after three matches played so far. What makes it worse is that none of the teams that Manchester United have played so far are really top class sides. Van Gaal’s men have only had to play Swansea City, Sunderland and now Burnley, and yet they have just 2 points from their efforts. What made it even worse against Burnley was that the goalless draw was in spite of the new great signing by Van Gaal, the Argentine playmaker Angel Di Maria starting and actually doing well. It’s not as though Val Gaal lacks great players – he has Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Juan Mata and now Angel Di Maria. And yet, his team seem to have simply forgotten what it takes to win. Nothing much happened in the match against Burnley, and despite Di Maria making a couple of spectacular passes, Manchester United were never in the game. If anything Burnley would consider themselves not to have won the gam after having a possible penalty disallowed. Louis Van Gaal should know that patience is wearing thin and time is running out. He has to win and win fast.
Newcastle United 3 – 3 Crystal Palace
It was same old, same old Newcastle, always giving up a winning position. Beleaguered possible relegation candidates, Crystal Palace came back from the dead, having recalled old manager Neil Warnock and snatching a precious point, their first of the new EPL season. It took a 5th minute injury time goal, just seconds before the end of the match by Wilfried Zaha, to make his manager Warnock ecstatic, while making Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew sick in the stomach. Newcastle fans thought that they had their first win of the season well in the bag, but it wasn’t to be so. It was a breathtaking match from the first minute, which was how long it took Crystal Palace to score their first goal. Goals kept coming from either side, and Newcastle would have been pleased with the performance of his Academy player, Rolando Aarons, who came in as a substitute and scored a goal in his first appearance in the Premiership. He looks a real talent. But Pardew would be one of the most disillusioned managers in the league today.
Manchester City 0 – 1 Stoke City
In what was the most shocking result of the weekend, Mame Diouf of unheralded Stoke City beat English Premier League defending champions Manchester City at their home ground, the Etihad, in front of 70,000 shocked home supporters. It was sweet revenge for former Manchester City boss Mark Hughes, who was shunted out so horribly after the takeover of the club by their Arab owners. Goalkeeper Joe Hart would share much of the blame for Diouf’s goal, for having allowed the ball to go through his legs after it was hit with venom by the Senegalese forward, who had run half the length of the field, before taking his shot. Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager was disappointed, but a few blips in the season are only to be expected.
QPR 1 – 0 Sunderland
Harry Redknapp, the QPR manager could finally heave a huge sigh of relief as his team won their first match of the season, beating Gus Poyet’s Sunderland in a tense match that could have gone either way. The goal for QPR came in the injury time of the first half by Charlie Austin, a little known striker who had struggled in the lower leagues before finally being given a chance by manager Redknapp. This was Austin’s very first goal in the EPL and he would be delighted.
Swansea City 3 – 0 West Brom
Garry Monk, the manager of Swansea City, is having a charmed life this new Premiership season, as his team won their third consecutive match, going to the top of the league table. Monk is also the youngest manager in the EPL and so his career at Swansea is being eagerly watched by bigger clubs looking for a young and dynamic new manager. But Monk is unlikely to go anywhere with Swansea doing to spectacularly well. The win was easy enough, with the top scorer this season, Nathan Dyer grabbing two more goals to add to his tally. The combination of Dyer, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wilfried Bony is proving to be simply irresistible for Swansea as they keep steamrolling opposition sides.
West Ham United 1 – 3 Southampton
Sam Allardyce, or “Big Sam” as he is affectionately known, is one of the most experienced managers in the English game, but he would be seriously concerned about his future as his team, West Ham United, succumbed to yet another defeat at home. The home supporters are already very clear and vociferous about wanting Allardyce out and this defeat would probably mean that he would soon be looking for a new job. West Ham did go ahead with a Mark Noble goal in the 27th minute, but Southampton replied in spectacular fashion, with 3 goals, including a couple from Morgan Schneiderlin.
Everton 3 – 6 Chelsea
The last game of the day was easily the most exciting. Jose Mourinho says he his teams would never be involved in “hockey scores”. Meaning, he set up his teams to be defensively solid and highly conservative. There are many who talk of a “boring, boring Chelsea”. But there was nothing boring about Chelsea this weekend. Chelsea scored 6 goals, including 2 from the English Premier League’s hottest new product Diego Costa, who has scored in every match that he has played so far. Costa has taken to the English game like duck to water and now has 4 goals from just 3 games. Everton did fight hard, which is only to be expected as any side coached by Roberto Martinez doesn’t give in too easily, but it was a bridge too far even for them.
