For the last few days you will have noticed that I haven’t written anything about what has been going on in the Premier League, especially in the transfer market before the deadline on Monday evening at midnight.  And let’s be honest, a lot has been going on.

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Well, there are a couple of reasons for that.  The first is that I have been laid up in bed (and not in a good way!). Actually I say bed, but more accurately I should say “floor”, because that is where I have been, prostrate for the last few days after “doing my back in”!  I’m not sure whether or not I should tell you how I did it either because it slightly embarrasing.  And no, it’s probably nothing like you are thinking.  Ok, I did it putting my jeans on!  Yes, I simply bent over to put my leg in and BANG” my lower back went and I have been in excruciating agony and unable to move ever since. 

If you find a few mistakes in this article it will be because of the second reason.  I’ve got quite a few painkillers and other drugs washing around in my blood stream at the moment.  This is the first time I have been able to get off the floor in over two days.  It took me about 45 minutes and to be quite frank with you it’s still agony as I sit here, so I’m not going to be here for long, sorry!

So when the television was kindly turned on for me yesterday evening by my wife and placed onto Sky Sports News I thought I was still asleep and / or the drugs were playing tricks on me.

Ok, so Berbatov has finally got what he wanted from his spoilt tantrum.  Not too surprising but I am glad that Spurs were at least able to hold out until a few minutes before the deadline and get the money they wanted.  It does seem very strange though because up until those last few moments before the midnight deadline on Monday evening, the Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy, was still going to report Man Utd to the Premier League for their conduct in the whole drawn out saga.  Then suddenly, it all changed.  One can only assume that Utd have paid Levy / Spurs a little extra to drop their complaint.  All allegedly of course, but it is all very strange, don’t you think.? Personally I think Berbatov is a little pathectic in the way he has acted in all this and nothing against Utd (no, really!) but I hope Berbatov is a complete flop and waste of money and his “dream” move to Old Trafford is a nightmare for him.  Although, when he’s not sulking he is of course an excellent player so the chances of that happening are pretty slight!

So the Berbatov story wasn’t that much of a shock.  However, what I heard next (and if it were actually possible) it nearly made me fall off the floor!  Robinho signed by Manchester CITY for a British record fee and they are now technically the richest club in the world!  “Wow”, I thought ”these painkillers and drugs are wild!”

Then Sky Sports kept repeating the story (as they do) and either the drugs were wearing off or it was finally starting to sink in.  “Unbelievable” doesn’t really quite capture the essence of what happened totally out of the blue, does it? (No pun intended).

Do you think that Ronihno actually thought he was going to Utd because when Mark Hughes handed him the light blue shirt in that hotel reception, it looked as though he was thinking, “hold on, I though Machester played in red!  What do you mean there are two clubs in Manchester!  Holy ****!  Where the hell is my agent?”

And as if all that wasn’t enough, the next story is that Kevin Keegan has / is leaving Newcastle Utd, again!  He’s only been back for 7 months!  Even by Newcastle standards that’s a bit much!  What must it be like to be a member of the Toon Army?  You can’t even imagine can you?  It must sometimes feel like the Cartoon Army!  Don’t these fans deserve better from the people who are supposed to be running their club?  I think so! 

Kind of sums it all up really when you are watching Match Of The Day and you see the club Chairman (who is apparently worth hundreds of millions) stood in the stands downing a pint of lager in 13 seconds.  The BBC actually timed it.  No problem with his right to be able to do that, but as a high profile businessman and Chairman of a world famous football club should he perhaps not be doing that kind of thing behind closed doors and not on television which will be broadcast all around the world.  Perhaps it’s just me!

The latest I’ve heard this morning is that the Board are stating Keegan has not been sacked and that the reason all this kicked off in the first place is because the Board tried to sell Michael Owen before the transfer deadline without Keegan’s knowledge.  You just couldn’t make it up, could you!

Well, whatever has been going on Keegan is not at either St. James Park or their training ground this morning and Terry McDermott is taking the training session.  You’ve really got to feel sorry for Keegan.  This is a man who wears his heart and soul on his chest and loves the club and the supporters and you have to think, even if it is true that the Board haven’t sacked him (which I would find amazing after a pretty good start to the season) that they have left Keegan in a completely untenable situation.  Not only that they have totally alienated the Toon Army and it’s not hard know who they are going to back, and it won’t be Mike Ashley, not even if he buys them all a pint of Newcastle Brown.

You’ve got to think this story has a few more twists and turns over the next few days but I can’t help thinking that the Second Coming of King Kev has already come to an end and the wrong person(s) will be leaving Newcastle Utd.  The club deserves a whole lot more than this!

And I’m off back to the floor!  Don’t think I could take another “Breaking News” story!

Rik
The Soccer Blogger

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So Week 2 of the new Barclays Premier League season is over and following the fixtures on Saturday, there were Sunday wins for Chelsea and Man City whilst on Monday evening, Man Utd also gained their first win of the season.

I feel I have to start with the Chelsea game, but not because of Chelsea but because of Wigan.  Yes, Wigan lost this game 1 - 0 but quite frankly did not deserve to.  As far as I’m concerned, apart from one moment of sheer quality from Chelsea new boy Deco after only 4 minutes, Wigan were the better team and played some lovely football.  I have to say, I sat there actually feeling sorry that they lost.  Very unjust!

But let’s not take anything away from Chelsea and in particular Deco.  There’s not much you can do, whether you’re the manager, defender or goalkeeper when a guy of Deco’s quality steps up and strikes a free-kick like he did against Wigan.  It was unstoppable.

Wigan fans must have been fearing the worst after the performance Chelsea produced the week earlier against Portsmouth and with a goal so early, it didn’t look good.  But from that point on I thought Wigan were excellent, in particular some of their new signing, especially Palacios in the first half.

Steve Bruce, the Wigan manager pretty much summed it up after the game when he said, 

“Chelsea have had a bad day in my opinion, but one piece of brilliance by Deco has won it for them.

“Our keeper has hardly had a save to make. My players gave me everything they had apart from a goal.”

Chelsea basically did on Sunday what Liverpool had managed to do on Saturday, win they not playing anyway near their best.  I suppose if you want to win the Title, they are the games you have to win.  Last year Liverpool either lost or drew most of those games.  If they can keep that “lucky” habit up the same as Chelsea and Man Utd seem to do, then this season could be a very interesting fight right to the end of the season.  Fingers crossed!

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Sunday also saw Mark Hughes and Man City put  a little of the off pitch problems behind them as they swept aside a poor and 10 man West Ham Utd in front of their Chairman, the ex Thai Primer Minister Thaskin Shinawatra. 

The game also saw the first sending off of the season, West Ham’s Mark Noble was booked for deliberately handling the ball after he was fairly tackled and in doing saw prevented the opposition player escaping with the ball.  Then just a few minutes later he produced a horrible “studs showing” tackle that on another day would have merited a straight red card.  However, one this occasion it was a second yellow and from that point West Ham never looked in the game and perhaps were a little luck only to end the game 3 - 0 down.

West Ham seem to have problems at the moment.  As I write this Alan Curbishley’s defender Anton Ferdinand, brother of Rio, is under going a medical at Sunderland.  Only a few days ago Curbishley was saying Ferdinand wasn’t going anywhere.  Now today there are reports that Man City want to buy Craig Bellamy who only joined the Hammers last year from Liverpool.  Curbishley was being interviewed on television earlier today claiming that Ferdinand was going anywhere either.  So look out for Bellamy wearing the light blue shirt by next week.

The final game of the weekend came at Portsmouth who entertained Man Utd.  A little like Chelsea, Utd perhaps weren’t firing on all cylinders last night and only won 1 - 0.  The goal was also most likely an own goal by Sol Campbell.  You really have to watch the replays very carefully to work out who actually got the last touch.  Darren Fletcher was claiming his second goal in 2 games but I’m not so sure.

Portsmouth are having an awful start to the season after such a good one last year.  They are currently bottom of the table with no points to show from their first two games.  It can only get better for Harry Redknapp and Tony Adams.  Who, it has to be said, looked totally cheesed off last night sat on the Portsmouth bench.  A lot of head shaking going on, but I don’t think you can blame them, quite frankly.  Harry needs to turn things around quickly.  His new striking partnership of Crouch and Defoe haven’t got their act together at all yet.

Rik
The Soccer Bloggger

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It was another excellent Saturday of Premier League action this week.  Maybe not quite to the high standards set during the opening weekend but still some great goals and last minute drama.

How many times have we seen a certain Steven Gerrard rescue Liverpool in the dying moments of games? The honest answer would probably be too many for comfort but on Saturday Liverpool had to rely on their inspirational captain yet again.

With memories of that amazing and dramatic goal against Olympiacos back in 2005, Gerrard suddenly realised in the 94th minute that he had the red shirt of Liverpool on his back not the white of England and blasted the ball into the top corner of the net to win all three points for the Reds on an afternoon where they would have been happy with one point.  Some people maybe starting to wonder whether Capello has missed a trick with his choice of captain.  When you watch Gerrard play and the amount of times he comes up with goals like he did yesterday, would his country and his England colleagues not benefit with a little more of that passion?  Liverpool and his teammates certainly seem to.

Liverpool were perhaps also a little lucky to draw level after a shot by Carragher was deflected off the Boro captain.  Liverpool suddenly seemed to believe they could go onto win the game despite their performance and turned a game that would have ended in a draw last season into a vital win.

I’ve been extremely interested in the voting in the “Which Team Will Win The Premier League Title” poll over the last week by those who have placed their choice.  Before the season kicked off, Liverpool were the favourites to lift the trophy [Premiership] for the first time.  However in the last week Chelsea have overtaken them.  Perhaps not too surprising after last weeks 4 - 0 defeat of Portsmouth.  However, if Liverpool can turn their bad performances into wins, this year’s title race could be more than a two horse one.

Whilst Liverpool were fighting for the three points, a former Liverpool player Djibril Cisse was enjoying what can only be described as a dream debut for new his club Sunderland, where he is on a season loan from Marseille.  On the other side of the coin his joy was mirrored by early season pressure being administered on Tottenham boss Juande Ramos.  Spurs have no points from their opening two games.

Also at White Hart Lane, it is looking increasingly likely that Berbatov will not wear the Spurs shirt again.  He was not even in the squad to face Sunderland.  Apparently he “wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

Spurs weren’t the only team from North London to have a bad day as Arsenal also lost, beaten 1 - 0 by a new look Fulham at Craven Cottage.

It was a memorable day at the Britannia Stadium as Stoke City picked up their first Premier League points with a dramatic last-gasp 3 - 2 victory over Aston Villa.  At least a couple of the promoted sides will be thinking what all the fuss is about with the Premier League.  Whilst Stoke were claiming all 3 points, Hull City continued to impress after their first day victory with a draw against Paul Ince’s Blackburn.  However the third promoted team, West Brom couldn’t net their first points of the campaign after they lost beaten at home to an Everton team that were already under increasing pressure even after only one game.

If you listen to the media, David Moyes seems to be losing a little interest after all his failed attempts in the transfer market over the summer.  He has been up against it firstly trying to persuade players that a move to Everton is something they should be interested in and secondly there doesn’t seem to be a great amount of money available to him. He has only 8 days left to strengthen his squad.  If he fail to do so, it could be a long season for Everton and Moyes and you really can’t blame the man if he suddenly decides he’s had enough.  He’s done a great job at Goodison Park but maybe he’s done all he can?

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Up at St. James’ Park Newcastle, Kevin Keegan and the Toon Army were hoping they could built on their excellent point at Old Trafford.  No one wanted to lose the momentum and a disappointing result against Bolton would have undone all of that good work.  But luckily two players in particular stood up to be counted, so to speak.  First the goalie Shay Given and then Michael Owen [yes, that little bloke you used to play more often] were Newcastle’s heroes.

First Given pulled off an excellent penalty save to deny Nolan and then up popped Owen to head all three points for Newcastle.  Job done, momentum continued!

Sunday’s games are Wigan v Chelsea (result just in Chelsea won 1 - 0 and go top of the League, report to follow).  The other game is Man City v West Ham.  Will the City Chairman be there?  Will anyone care?  (Again, report to follow.)

Monday’s final game of the second week of games is a repeat of the Charity Shield between Portsmouth and Man Utd.  Presumably Portsmouth can’t be as bad as they were last weekend against Chelsea.  A report will follow, so you’ll find out!

Rik

The Soccer Blogger

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Day 1 of the new Barclays Premier League was excellent, I’m sure you’ll agree.  Some very entertaining games and even better goals.  So what would Day 2 on this first weekend going to throw up, would they continue in the same vein?  I certainly hoped so as I sat down to watch.

There were three games on offer involving two of the major contenders for this season’s crown, Man Utd and Chelsea.  I have heard a lotof pundits recently pretty much all going for Chelsea to win the League. I was looking forward to see which of the two would kick-off their new campaign the better.

Man Utd were at home against a team the usual defeat without breaking sweat.  Last year Newcastle arrived at Old Trafford just after the disasterous reign of Sam Allardyce had come to an end.  They left Old Trafford on the back of a 6 - 0 drubbing.  Hope constantly springs eternal for The Toon Army but even they must have made their way south with some anxiety.

Chelsea on the other hand were entertaining the FA Cup holders Portsmouth, with their new attacking partnership of little and large, Defoe and Crouch.  It was “Big Phil” Scolari’s first competitive game at home at the Bridge, so who would come out of the first weekend of the Barclays Premier League with the early advantage?

Manchester United v Newcastle United

Of course the big talking point during the summer at Old Trafford has not been who Ferguson has bought but who he persuaded, by whatever means, to stay.  He may not be fit yet, reports suggest he will be out for another 6 weeks after that incredibly quickly arranged operation, but the fact that Ronaldo is still a United player at the start of this season will presumably be a bonus as the season progresses.  The only question that remains is did Ferguson win Ronaldo’s heart and mind as well as his agreement to postpone his eventual and inevitable departure.

The travelling Black and White Army must have feared the worst early on as Utd pressuried and also had a shout for a penalty after Milner looked to handle the ball directly from a Giggs free-kick taken from about 20 yards out.  Replays showed it actually rebounded off both Milner’s arms.  Perhaps it was more ball to hand?  At least Mike Riley the referee thought so.

Shortly after Rooney produced a lovely cross from the left with the outside of his right boot.  It was inch perfect for the new boy Campbell to meet with a driving header from 6 yards out only for Given to pull off what looked like an absolutely stunning save.  It wasn’t until I and everyone else saw the replay that you realised Given knew absolutely nothing about the header until it hit him squarely on the forehead.  At least I suppose you can say he got his positioning exactly right!  But in real time, it looked fantastic!

At that point you could sense that the fans were expecting a break through to happen very soon.  But instead Newcastle stormed up the other end and if Man Utd perhaps had a decent call for a penalty then Newcastle had an even better shout for one when their new defender Jonas Gutierrez was blantantly bodychecked of Vidic.  When I watched the reply the foul was even more blatant but it also revealed that the fould was perhaps just outside the box, but a foul it most certainly was!

If Given didn’t know anything about the save he made from Campbell earlier in the half than he certainly did about his next. He pulled off a fabulous double save, first from Rooney low down to his right and then from Scholes on the follow-up.

At this point, apart from that charging run by Gutierrez, Newcastle were virtually under seige from Man Utd.  But Newcaslte did managed to get forward and forced a throw-in deep in Utd territory.  The throw resulting in a corner from which Martins rose above everyone to power a header past a helpless Scholes standing on the line guarding the far post.  Out of nothing, Newcastle Utd had taken the lead at Old Trafford, almost unchartered territory in the last 10 years.  The Toon Army could hardly have known what to do.  But as Martins ran away to perform his customary double back flip, they of course went wild as the realisation that they were suddenly 1 - 0 up sank in.

But you don’t become Champions by just sitting back and accepting defeat, they bounce back and within two minutes Man Utd had struck through Darren Fletcher.  The TV at that point focused in on one Ronaldo sat in the stands.  Without a smile or any expression on his face, he simply clapped, politely, for a few seconds then directed his attention bacl to his mobile.  A picture is worth a 1000 words and all that!

The Toon Army were in Dreamland for about two minutes and with Utd scoring so quickly they must surely have feared that the flood gates were about to burst open.

But no, Given was having one of those days, he was pulling off some great saves.  And as the half progressed you could feel that the Newcastle fans were starting to believe they come leave Old Trafford with at worst a point.  And it might have been all three if Martins had kept a free header from 6 yards out down, because if he had, it was 2 - 1 to Newcastle.

Newcastle still had to ride their luck a little though as the game came to an end.  Vidic hit the bar with a header that bounced up off the ground and over Milner who was on the line.  Then Rooney with nearly the last kick of the game took a free-kick just outside the box.  When it was awarded everyone thought it was a penalty but from the replay the referee had made a brilliant decision.  The foul had in deed been comitted just outside the box.  The equation was simple.  Rooney scores Utd win and Newcastle would yet again leave Old Trafford with nothing.  Miss and all Newcastle’s hard work would be rewarded with a point and a great confidence boost going forward.

Newcastle got their reward and to all intents and purposes, it must have felt like a victory to all those in the Toon Army. No one at Old Trafford should be worried that they lost a couple of points from their first game.  Look at the start they had last season, didn’t seem to do them any harm, did it?  But Newcastle will definitely take more away from this game and all will be hoping it will be a springboard to better things to come.

The one slight worry perhaps Utd could have to to look at their next three games in the League.  Because of the Super Cup, they are all away games at Portsmouth, Liverpool and Chelsea and most likely will all be without Ronaldo.  I’m certainly looking forward to those games!

Chelsea v Portsmouth

Big Phil Scolari is of course the third manager at Stamford Bridge in the last 11 months and if he wants to continue being the boss next season you would have to think that Abramovich has given him a fairly short Job Description:  Win the League, the Champions League or best, both!

The FA Cup holders Portsmouth arrived at Stamford Bridge without a win on the opening day of the season for the last 20 years!  An amazing statistic.  When I saw the Chelsea teamsheet I’m afraid all I could think of was that record was going to increase to 21.  My second thought was I immediately understood why so many pundits are saying it will be Chelsea’s year.  If Scolari can get his players to produce the “Samba / Brazilian” football he has promised, it could actually be fun watching Chelsea play.

Here’s another amazing static, do you know how much Abramovich has personally invested into Chelsea?  £580m (approx $1000m).  No wonder he wants a return on that kind of investment!

Ok, one more amazing statistic.  Do you know how much it cost Abramovich to ensure that Lampard signed a new deal to stay at Chelsea?  £150,000 (approx $290,000) per WEEK!!  Yes, that is Lampard’s wage per week.  It’s a £34m (approx $70m) 5 year contract.  Obsense quite frankly.  Click on the following link to read what I think about Money In Football.

It didn’t take long for Scolari to see his first goal as manager, just 12 minutes as Joe Cole scored.  It was all they deserved as Portsmouth simply couldn’t get in the game, it was totally one sided and Anelka made sure it got worse for Harry Redknapp as he headed in from about a yard to make it 2 - 0.  Portsmouth simply hadn’t turned up at this point.  Their defence that looked so self-assured last season was, at this point, being ripped to shreds.  It was full of hesitancy, errors and the score could have, perhaps should have been 4 - 0 by this time.

Then it got even worse for Portsmouth as Distin handled the box and Lampard started to repay a little of that huge wage by by cooly slotting the penalty wide of David James.  It was a first half romp for Chelsea and James looked a dejected man.  The only question was how much worse could it get in the second half?

It started with Chelsea still looking full of goals whilst Portsmouth still looked full of holes.  As the camera panned to Redknapp on the bench, that FA Cup victory back in May was looking a very distant memory in deed. It was as if Chelsea were just toying with Portsmouth, like a cruel cat with a trapped mouse.

Then the new signing Deco stepped up and simply put the icing on the cake for a perfect Chelsea afternoon stroll at the Bridge.  From about 25 yards out he unleashed a swerving shot that had James totally beaten.

If you see the game, look out for Petr Cech’s goalkeeping outfit.  Well, I’ll be frank, you simply can’t miss it.  Bright orange, in factso bright it almost gave me a headache looking at it.  Awful!  What’s wrong with good old fashioned green?

Aston Villa v Manchester City

Of course the main issue during the summer for Villa was the baffling Barry saga but whilst all that was going on Martin O’Neil did sign 7 new players to strength the squad that produced the highest points total for a Villa team for 11 years last season.

Meanwhile the new Man City boss Mark Hughes hasn’t been so lucky in the transfer market, not surprisingly when you’re Chairman has all his assests frozen and is technically “on the run” in London whilst the Thai Authorities want him back in his homeland.  All that and the awful performance in the UEFA Cup last week to Danish minnows FC Midtjyland at Eastlands must have put a dampener on the usual pre-season optimisim.  Then they had one of their new signings carried off, during the pre-game warm-up!  When the luck is against you…..

The man at the centre of the transfer saga had a couple of good chances in the first half could couldn’t make either count.  You just wonder what state of mind Gareth Barry is in at the moment.  Plus, with him playing in Europe last week, it he were to finally move to Liverpool it means he could play in the Champions League until and if Liverpool get through to the knock-out stages.  I just can’t see why Liverpool, or as if turns out Benitez, want to him.  I’m not saying he isn’t a good player, he is but I just don’t see him adding to Liverpool and definitely not at £18m.

The first goal of the game came just after half time and was courtesy of a lazy pass by Man City.  They gave the ball away far too cheaply and within seconds Carew had a simple header after an lovely cross by Ashley Young.

Man City’s Johnson then took the game by the cruff of the neck and surged forward from his own half.  After playing a nice one-two with Petrov he charged into the box and was rewarded for his efforts with a penalty after being brought down by Luke Young.  The penalty was taken by Elano and it was very well taken.  He slowly jogged up to the ball then stroked it powerfully into the bottom right corner.

But Villa didn’t take long to regain the lead and it was the type of goal that will have managers like Mark Hughes pulling their hair out.  City gave away a needless corner.  They simple can’t have been away communication by the keeper and the defender who didn’t have a Villa player within 10 yards of him, yet he put the ball out presumingly thinking that an attacker was right behind him.  From the resulting corner Agbonlahor latched onto the knock-down header from Carew and O’Neil was dancing n the touchline whilst Hughes must have had his head in his hands.

Then it got even worse for Hughes and City as Barry overlapped down the left and put in a beautiful cross for Agbonlahor.  Barry put the ball on a plate for him to head his second totally unmarked.

But he wasn’t finished at just two, oh no.  Villa broke quickly, so quickly thatat first Agbonlahor was offside and he had to check down a couple of times.  But when the pass was released he timed his run perfectly and he was away.  He charged into the City area and placed the ball perfectly past the on rushing goalie.  It was a great hat-trick and Agbonlahor had simply ripped Man City apart in the space of 8 minutes.  That Elano penalty was already looking a far distant memory.

To be fair to City they did keep going as best they could and did make Freidel pull off a great save from a really powerful strike.

The last goal of the game did go to City, scored by Corluka in the 89th minute.  But by that time neither he nor the City fans raised a cheer.  The game was well and truly over thanks to Agbonlahor and to be fair most of the City fans were already on their way back home by then.  Not a great start for City and Hughes.

That said though, I relly think City have got the best man in Hughes at the helm.  I’ve writen elsewhere that I believe Hughes is a winner and a fighter and he will be able to separate what is going on off the pitch, which let’s face it, is a joke at the moment and makes Liverpool’s behind the scenes turmoil look normal, with what has to be done on the training ground and in the games ahead.

Great first weekend of Premier League football.  Looking forward to the rest of the season?  I know I am!

Rik

The Soccer Blogger

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Yes, here we go.  Finally!  The long summer break is well and truly over.  Despite the pretty awful weather, it’s been a summer full of intrigue and speculation but the bottom line is, the Premier League is back.  Of course the transfer window does remain open until the end of the month, so who knows what else will go on!  Will Benitez finally get Gareth Barry (does anyone really care any more?), will Berbatov leave Spurs and head north to Man Utd?  There have been reports in the press suggesting that the Barry saga had frustrated and upset Benitez so much, especially the actions of the Liverpool board, that he was about to walk away from the club this week.  Liverpool fans must rue the day Hicks and Gillett strolled into town.

Anyway, that a completely different story, that will no doubt continue to run and run.  What we are interested in today is the start of the new season.  There are questions to be answered over the next 9 months.  Who will win the title?  Can Man Utd regain the crown?  Will Liverpool finally win their first since 1990?  Will it be Big Phil Scolari in his first season at Chelsea?  And at the other end of the table, is it simply just a question of the three promoted teams of Hull City, Stoke City and West Brom going straight back down again?

Hull City v Fulham

It must have been a very proud day at Hull City this weekend where, for the first time in their 104 year history, they were playing in their first ever game in the top flight of the English League.  In only 2004, Hull were in the bottom flight of the English League.  It has been almost a fairytale ascent to the Premier League where their opponents on this historic day were Fulham.  Fulham don’t forget, pulled of that amazing escape act culminating with Danny Murphy’s goal on the final day of last season after just a few weeks earlier it had looked certain they were doomed. 

The Hull crowd were, understandable, at fever pitch at the beginning of the game and it didn’t take long for Hull to make the Fulham goalkeeper pull off a fantastic early save, which then had to be cleared off the line.  But the fans must have feared the worst and that this was to be a very long season as Fulham took the lead just moments later with an excellent glancing header by the South Korean Ki-Hyeon with less than 8 minutes on the clock.  How would Hull react?  To be honest, Fulham had more chances to expend their lead with a great effort from a corner by Davies and a miss hit by Gera where he should really have done so much better.

But then,out of almost nothing, the ball came to Geovanni, he ran with it until he was just outside the box only from where he produced a goal that will live long in the memory of all those Hull fans who can always say “I was there when we scored our first goal in the Premier League!”  And it was a great strike by the lad from Brazil.  It’s a little surreal isn’t it?  A guy from Brazil scoring a great goal for “little” Hull City on the first day of the Premier League.  If you’d said that, even fairly recently, was going to happen, you’d probably have been locked up!

I really enjoyed watching this game.  There were great chances created by both teams, wonderful saves particularly by the Fulham goalkeeper and if players like Gera for Fulham and even Geovanni had been more composed, the score might have been about 3 or 4 all!

At 1 - 1 it would have been a dream start to their first Premier League campaign but with only about 8 minutes left the Fulham left fullback got myself into an awful mess on the 18 yard box, he lost possession, the ball was squared to Hull’s Folan who out the ball into the bottom corner past a despairing defender on the line and suddenly the Hull fans were in Dreamland.  What a great start for Hull and with only one game under their belts they have equalled Derby County’s record from the whole of last season with one win in the Premier League!

Everton v Blackburn Rovers

This was the first game in charge for the new Blackburn manager Paul Ince.  No doubt there would have been a warm reception from the Everton fans for the former Man Utd and Liverpool player!  Everton, who finished 5th last season haven’t really strengthened their squad over the summer, so it is going to be interesting to see how they would cope this time round.

This was another enjoyable game to watch with some great chances.  Santa Cruz had two great heading opportunities fairly early on but could make either count.  But Ince didn’t have to wait too long for the first goal of his reign at Blackburn to arrive.  And believe me, it was worth the waiting the 22 minutes!  A wonderful curling shot by David Dunn from just outside the box.  I’d only watched two games on the new Premier League season and already I’d seen two great strikes, both contenders for the first Goal Of The Month competition.

Hold on a minute!  Just before half time, Everton got a free kick for hand ball, wide out on the left but only about 12 yards out.  Arteta stood over the ball whilst the usual pushing and shoving went on in the box.  Everyone waiting for the cross.  But Arteta didn’t cross. Instead he took everyone by surprise a curled another beautiful strike just inside the near post.  To be frank, Robinson shouldn’t have been beaten there but you couldn’t take anything away from the strike.

The second half started off just as entertaining, the more great chances, but it was finally Yakubu on 64 minutes who sent Everton into the lead with a close range header.  Goodison Park was happy, but not for long!  Only a matter of seconds later up popped Santa Cruz, latching onto a long ball from the back to silence the Everton fans and it was suddenly 2 - 2.

I hadn’t even finished watching 2 games of the new season and already my mouth was watering with the action on show.  What else could follow?  More great chances and wonderful entertainment, that’s what!  But wait a minute.  Want even more drama?  OK, well you had to wait until the final minute obviously but Blackburn were awarded a free kick after a bookable foul by Yakubu.  The ball was swung in, a header hit the post, only for the ball to land at the feet of Ooijer, who simply couldn’t miss from a couple of yards out and suddenly with almost the last kick of the game Paul Ince had his first win as a Premier League manager in the bag.  His smile at the final whistle said it all, as did the boos from the Everton fans!  Not sure what they were booing for, it was a great game!  Great start Paul Ince.  Mark who?

Middlesbrough v Tottenham Hotspur

Remember Middlesbrough’s last game in the Premier League?  No?  Ask a Man City fan if they do.  The saying goes, “you’re only as good as your last game”, in that case I’d rush out right now if I were you and put some money on Middlesbrough winning the title because that last game was 8 - 1 against City.  I can’t remember but that had to be a Premiership record surely?

Boro to win the League then?  Well possibly not but Gareth Southgate is improving as a Premier League manager and as at the beginning of most seasons at the Riverside Stadium, there are high hopes that they can progress this season. 

There are always high hopes at the beginning of every season at White Hart Lane of course.  Last year was when they were supposed to break into the 4 four and then proceeded to lose most of the first 4 or 5 games.  Was this season going to start any better.  I eagerly sat down to watch this game to see which team would get off to the perfect start.

Alves, ended last season well and he started this one with some good chances but he couldn’t make any of them count.  But overall it wasn’t a great half half.

Berbatov started on the bench for Spurs and I was extremely interested to hear what kind of reception he was going to get when he came on.  You’d half to say it was 50 / 50.  Some boos, some applause but the main question is, will this be the Bulgarians last game in a Spurs shirt?  However, there is no denying that Spurs were a better team with Berbatov on the pitch and not on the bench!

In the first half the Middlesbrough defender David Wheater scored what looked like a perfectly good goal with a header form a corner, however the referee, as is so often the case, saw something that nobody else did, and disallowed the goal.  But Wheater obviously wasn’t going to be denied by a blind referee because he got his just rewards in the second half when the ball rebounded off the post from a free-kick to Wheater who was all of one yard out and even my Mother could have missed from there.

The former Spurs player Mido was brought on late in the second half by Southgate and it proved an excellent decision as he popped up with an outstretched leg to score Boro’s second goal on 86 minutes.  But that wasn’t the end of the scoring from Middlesbrough.  Unfortunately for the defender Huth it was an own goal in the 93rd minute but it was too late for Spurs and they yet again flatter to deceive on the opening day of the season.

Sunderland v Liverpool

At the time of writing, if you look at the Poll near the top left of the page, you will see that quite a few readers of The Soccer Blog believe that this year could finally be the one where Liverpool lift the League Title for the first time since 1990.  Watching them the other night in their Champions League game against Standard Liege you would have thought so, would this opening game be a different story?  I was looking forward to this game and especially to see how Torres would link up with his new partner Robbie Keane, who a lot of people see as the signing of the summer.  Only time will prove that!

It was certainly all Sunderland  at the start and Liverpool looked nervous, the nerves not helped by a back header by Hyppia who didn’t look and former Liverpool player Diouf should have scored.  That wouldn’t have gone down well with Liverpool fans.  Diouf certainly looked bright on his Sunderland debut but his finishing definitely let him down.

The biggest surprise of the game for me was Benitez substituting his new signing Keane.  He had an ok game, not brilliant but surely you keep on the striker who cost you approximately £20m, or is it just me?

One of the highlights of a not so great game was Alonso trying to emulate some of the goals he has scored in the past from his own half.  This attempt, which ended up with the Sunderland lying in a heap in the back of the net, was only about a yard wide and was from about 60 yards out.

Then with the game slowing down to a fairly boring 0 - 0 draw, up popped the man who scored 33 goals in his first season, the man who scored the winner for Spain in the European Championships.  It would appear that even though he had a quiet game overall, you simply cannot keep class from rising to the surface.  I had already seen some great strikes watching the first few games of this season, but the one from Torres to win the game for Liverpool was fantastic.  If you get a chance to see it, watch the slow motion angle from behind the goal and just look at how accurately he places the ball into the bottom corner, millimetres inside the post.  One chance, one shot, one goal, 3 points!  £20m.  Bargain!

Bolton Wanderers v Stoke City

Last season it was obviously that Bolton simply needed to score more goals.  So they have bought a Swedish striker for £11m.  This was Stoke’s first game in the top flight of English football for 23 years and their big signing of the summer was 10 goal Kitson from Reading.

Stoke should have taken the lead too, with a point blank header which produced a brilliant reflex save from the Bolton keeper.  However, at the other end the brilliant goals just kept on coming.  Now if this one was meant, it is definitely up there, not only for Goal Of The Month but also Goal Of The Season!  The Bolton player Steinsson received the ball wide on the right and with a swing of his right leg curved and buried the ball into the top far corner of the Stoke net.  The commentary on the game reckoned it was a a cross but I’m not so sure.  Take a look for yourself and see what you think.  Whatever it was, what a strike!  Welcome to the Premier League Stoke!

Then with just 4 minutes to survive until half time, Bolton doubled their lead.  Stoke will have been fearing the worst.  It wasn’t going quite as well as Hull.  From a long free-kick into the box, Kevin Davies produced a brilliant back header and suddenly it was looking a long way back for Stoke.

Well, not as far back as it did get 2 minutes into extra time when Bolton produced almost a carbon copy of the previ