The bipolar brilliance that is both the making and looming ruin of Mario Balotelli leaves you gobsmacked. His utter brilliance during the 6-2 dismantling of Manchester United last September was special to behold, even for this United fan. Atypically, having missed six matches through injury, Mario arrived off the bench against Spurs on Sunday and proceeded to destroy their tired defense after it had been softened up by Edin Dzeko, drawing a crucial foul in injury-time and taking an exquisite penalty with the alacrity of a rattlesnake that hadn’t bitten anything in a month. Unfortunately, along with this moment of brilliance, there was also a regrettable incident involving the Italian striker in a clash with Tottenham’s feisty midfielder Scott Parker. Whether it was a deliberate stamp on Parker’s head or not, Balotelli has received a four match ban retroactively. The upshot of all this is that, naturally, Balotelli is upset and his agent is already talking about his player returning to Italy. Personally, I hope not. This incident, among scores of others, is one more little blip in the learning curve for a shockingly brilliant but terribly immature young man. Wouldn't hurt if he said he was sorry, either!
If anyone is at fault in this situation, however, I have to point a finger at Balotelli’s belligerent boss, Roberto Mancini. Having spent over a quarter of a billion pounds sterling on a team and temporarily lost his best performer to the African Nations Cup, the Il Duce of the Etihad has now got to do without two more players to suspension because his team are incapable of exercising self-control on the pitch. And, as much as Mancini likes to complain and utilize paranoid rhetoric about the league and its officials, he has to take responsibility for his team’s destiny.
Special congratulations are in order for Clint Dempsey. The King of Nacogdoches became the first Yank to ever score a hat-trick in the Premier League during Fulham's brilliant 5-2 victory over the well regarded Newcastle United.
Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United
A brilliantly taken late strike from Danny Welbeck gave hard working Manchester United a well deserved win at the Emirates, insuring they remained only three points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City. A third successive defeat was tough on Les Gooners, who were much improved in the second half and, although they were never any danger of repeating their dreadful 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford in September, Arsenal still showed too many frailties to end up a top four club in May.
The game was slow and cautious through much of the first half. Starting for the first time, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved to be poised and brilliant in support of Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott. The three speedy forwards often switched roles, playing off each other's shoulders, stretching United’s second-choice center backs, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling to the max. With Rio Ferdinand missing because of back trouble, things went from difficult to something worse when an ankle injury forced Phil Jones off early. Yet, despite United's problems at the back, Arsenal were unable to find a consistent tempo. With Arsenal unable to find their fluency, it was United who kept most of the possession.
After near misses by Patrice Evra and Nani scared Arsenal’s back line, United finally took the lead one minute into first half injury-time when an unmarked Giggs dribbled solo into the box and fired a perfectly subtle floating cross which Antonio Valencia charged for, running neck and neck with Thomas Vermaelen, before leaping high to nod past keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
With Johann Djourou repeatedly being skinned by both Nani and Evra, his manager Arséne Wenger brought on the 18-year-old Nicholas Yennaris to replace him at half-time. Shutting down Nani--at least temporarily--helped a lot. A slip on the wet turf by Chris Smalling should have given Arsenal an equalizer as Tomas Rosicky snapped the ball back to Van Persie, who ducked around two defenders but then blasted his shot wide. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain, who grew in confidence every time he got on the ball, squared to Aaron Ramsey who blasted his shot wide.
After a further pair of controversial referee calls by Mike Dean, when he allowed first Mertesacker and then Szczesny to get away with high-kicking defense clobberings of both Rooney and Nani, Arsenal finally calmed down enough to play their first deft football of the match. 71 minutes in, Laurent Koscielny calmly played his way out of defense and found Rosicky, who carefully located Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with a beautiful seeing-eye pass. The impressive debutante zigzagged inside and delivered a perfect pass for Van Persie to slam home.
Ten minutes later however, with Arsenal seemingly the less tired club, Oxlade-Chamberlain was withdrawn in favor of Andrey Arshavin much to the stated chagrin of the home fans and, surprisingly, their usually quiet captain Van Persie. A single minute later the Russian avoided colliding with a fast-moving Luís Antonio Valencia. Valencia accelerated into the box before laying off to Welbeck, who calmly powered the ball home to score the winner.
There were too many mistakes on both sides for this to be described as a great game. Nevertheless, the match turned out to be a fine entertainment and the large number of young players picked by both bosses showed the promise of a bright successful future.
Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Liverpool
Liverpool look like a boat without an oar these days. Minus the presence of their brilliant Uruguayan striker, Luís Suarez, who is still out serving a suspension, the club’s goal scoring statistics are at their lowest at this stage of the season since the opening of the Premier League 20 years ago. Yet just as questionable, all of a sudden, is their defense. Famous for the parsimony of its center backs, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger, they were up against a Bolton Wanderers side with the worst attacking record in English football. A team who had won only one of its ten home games and kept only two clean sheets. Only Manchester City have conceded fewer goals than Kenny Dalglish's side, but that was all smashed to smithereens in the game’s first half-hour.
Only four minutes in, Bolton’s hard-tackling midfielder Mark Davies was inexplicably allowed to carry the ball unhindered from midway inside the Liverpool half to their box. With three static defenders looking on, Davies accepted their invitation and fired a well-measured beauty into the bottom corner of the net past a puzzled-looking Pepé Reína.
Sloppy in midfield, definitely missing the presence of the injured Lucas Leiva, the Red Scousers had problems holding onto possession throughout. Nigel Reo-Coker added a second 29 minutes in when winger Chris Eagles zigzagged past Gerrard and Johnson before finding Reo-Coker with a deft little chip. The former Hammer and Villa skipper drifted right before blasting the ball home from six yards out.
Eight minutes later striker Andy Carroll, who has gone without scoring for ten consecutive games, proved more effective as a dish artist than a finisher. First, he sent in a clever cross from the left and then his neat give-and-go pass freed Bellamy whose delicately delivered chip slipped past a stranded Adam Bogdan.
Liverpool began to dominate over the late few minutes of the half and kept up the pressure when the game began again. But sloppy play by Skrtel allowed Bolton to nick a corner. Martin Petrov's corner curled into the six-yard box and Bolton's center back David Wheater out jumped Agger by the far post and headed the loose ball into the path of Gretar Steinnson who volleyed home a third in the 50th minute.
Now Liverpool must face its crucial week of the season thus far in cup ties against the two Manchester clubs. Luckily Luís Suarez will be back soon!
Everton 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers picked up another deserved point at Everton thanks to David Goodwillie's equalizer, yet they still remain in the Premier League's bottom three. Both sides have had a lot of difficulty scoring goals this season, but Blackburn always looked the more likely of the two teams to break the deadlock early on. With David Dunn in lively form for the third week running, it took three fantastic saves from Tim Howard to keep Dunn and then Scott Dann from scoring.
Yet it was Everton who stole the lead as Timmy Cahill scored his first goal in 34 games, tapping in from close range after a fine run and then a beautiful pass from central midfielder Marouane Fellaini backed off the opposition.
Blackburn refused to back down, however, and worked diligently for an equalizer. Yet only Goodwillie and Dunn came close after much hard work and both were frustrated by Howard again. Blackburn pressed even harder in the second half, but still struggled to create clear chances minus the presence of their big, bullish Nigerian striker Yakubu, and only Radosav Petrovic got close, blasting a 30-yarder that was still a foot wide of Howard's post. When the Rovers finally did score an equalizer it seemed to more pure luck than anything as a Morten Gamst Pedersen free kick into the box was bobbled by Howard. Cahill then lunged in to clear the ball off the line, but it bounced against Goodwillie and then took a further ricochet into the net. Everton came on like gangbusters for the final five minutes of the match but Blackburn’s keeper Paul Robinson was more than up to the task, saving well from Shane Duffy, Fellaini, and Denis Stracqualursi.
Manchester City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester City proved to be about as jammy as jammy can be when Mario Balotelli's injury-time penalty gave the Premier League leaders a gut-wrenching victory after a brilliant Tottenham comeback seemed to have earned Harry Redknapp’s lads a point at The Etihad. All of both teams virtues and vices were laid out for all to see in a fun, exciting match.
Things were cautious and even-Steven as both sides probed each other patiently during a first half in which the midfielders, Nasri and Milner for City and Modric and van der Vaart for Spurs took turns probing each other and turning in some fine flowing runs. There was nothing but frustration for City’s striker Kun Aguero, however, as keeper Brad Friedel brilliantly saved from him on five separate occasions. But it was City who finally struck lethally early in their second half platform for a win early in the second half with two quick goals from Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott.
The first came 56 minutes in as the brilliant David Silva threaded a pass through to a speeding Samir Nasri, who slalomed through Spurs’ two slow center backs before firing hard past Friedel. And then, three minutes on, Lescott fumbled home a Dzeko flick off a Nasri corner.
The status quo did not last however. An hour in, City’s reserve center back Stefan Savic failed to clear a corner. He headed the ball straight to Defoe, who accepted the gift with relish as he rounded City keeper Joe Hart to score. And then, five minutes later Jermain Defoe made an exquisite pass to the brilliant left foot of a flying Gareth Bale, who crashed through Tottenham’s defense before firing an unstoppable curving beauty past an overmatched Joe Hart to tie the game in the 65th minute.
The City manager Roberto Mancini’s simple masterstroke soon followed as Mario Balotelli came off the bench for the disappointing Eden Dzeko and attacked the opposition like some warrior hound of hell, almost instantaneously picking up a booking for a foul on Benoit Assou-Ekotto then escaping punishment after committing a far more severe stamp on Scott Parker which the referee Howard Webb saw up close and let him get away with.
It was then that Defoe missed scoring what surely be remembered as the sitter of the season after a fantastic run by Bale gave him all the time and space in the world. Then, well into injury-time, with only seconds remaining, Balotelli made the most of a 50/50 tackle in the box by Lesley King, diving dramatically in midair like a seagull murdered by a sniper. Thus, five minutes into injury-time with seconds on the clock, the ultra-calm Balotelli swiveled his hips and feinted to the right before drilling an unstoppable spot kick past Friedel.
Norwich City 0 - 0 Chelsea
As four of the P.L.s top five clubs met on Sunday, Chelsea blew a wonderful chance to reduce their 11 point gap on leaders Manchester City. Having not scored in 17 games, 50 million pound striker Fernando Torres suffered yet another afternoon of torture at Carrow Road as a superbly organized Norwich City team stymied Chelsea to earn a point and hurt the West Londoners in their quest for what at best will be a top four finish. Particularly impressive was Norwich’s goalie John Ruddy who definitely stopped the bleeding for a team which has allowed 38 goals in 21 matches.
Chelsea looked to be tired and out of sorts during the first half. Only three efforts came close as Ruddy saved well from Mata, Torres, and Ramires. Chelsea’s keeper Peter Cech cut a frustrated figure as, free and clear, Raul Meireles blasted over the bar and Fernando Torres squandered the penultimate chance of the match when, alone and unmarked, he blasted the ball wide from an almost point-blank eight yards out after a superb set up on the right wing by Jose Bosingwa.
It was definitely the Canaries lucky day, although both Zak Whitbread and Daniel Ayala were outstanding in support of Ruddy. Their strikers Grant Holt and Steve Morison, ably supported by Anthony Pilkington were a constant physical threat for the back line of Bosingwa, Terry, Luiz and Cole, all of whom were forced to stay back in their own half.
Pilkington came close for the Canaries several times in the second half, shooting barely an inch over the bar after a brilliant mazy 40-yard run. Standing with his arms folded, Manager Andres Villas-Boas looked crestfallen throughout as his team struggled to transition from possession to execution throughout.
Fulham 5-2 Newcastle United
Having gone from ignominy at the beginning of the season when so many pundits had predicted relegation or a position close to it, Newcastle seem to have slipped into a sudden state of static complacency after having picked up a number of high profile victories over the likes of Manchester United. At any rate, Craven Cottage did nor roll out its red carpet for the Magpies and their midfielder Clint Dempsey scored a hat-trick as Fulham laid waste to Newcastle.
Newcastle could not cope at all without Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba, both of whom are away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Both of whom have been fundamental to the Magpies' successful campaign. With Danny Guthrie in for Tioté and Hatem Ben-Arfa for Ba, Newcastle dominated most of the first half.Yet, although they rarely relinquished possession. They also rarely threatened Fulham’s goal until two minutes before the break. After Fabio Colocccini was left alone to blast wide from right in front of goal, Ben Arfa, robbed Bryan Ruiz of the ball in the Fulham half and, a flying Guthrie let loose a thunderous left-footed 35-yarder past a hopelessly stranded David Stockdale to make it 1-0.
No sooner had the second half begun, however, when the Fulham left winger Damien Duff was shoved in the back in the penalty box by full-back Davide Santon. Danny Murphy’s spot kick sent Dutch keeper Tim Krul the wrong way and the match was tied. Fulham suddenly exploded and transformed into something lethal. Seven minutes later, Andrew Johnson led a pacy counterattack, passing to a big, hard-running Zamora. Zamora had his shot saved by Krul before it was turned in by Dempsey. Dempsey then scored off a counterattack in the 68th minute as he intercepted a bad Guthrie pass and he and Damian Duff worked a double give-and-go before they reached the Newcastle box and Zamora fired home.
Unable to put up any resistance, Newcastle were shell-shocked and had no answer to Fulham's second-half onslaught. The home side's incessant pressure meant a fourth goal was never far away and when center back Mike Williamson body-blocked Andy Johnson in the box, and Zamora calmly walked up and hammered the penalty down the middle to make it 4-1 in the 68th minute.
Brilliant all day, save for never playing defense, Ben Arfa closed the gap to two goals in the 85th minute when he ran a diagonal off the the right flank and fired a lovely low shot inside the near post.
Finally, a couple of minutes later, Dempsey got his hat-trick when he darted between Williamson and Coloccini to latch on to Murphy's long ball and fired in the first Premiership.
Queens Park Rangers 3-1 Wigan Athletic
Q.P.R.’s home win over Wigan Athletic was Mark Hughes' first Premier League victory and only their second home win of the season. Out of the relegation zone for the first time in more than three weeks, Sparky and company can exhale a sigh of relief while Wigan remain rock bottom of the Premiership on 15 points.
Wigan started a little brighter as Victor Moses and Jamie McArthur fired in precise crosses which striker Hugo Rodallega missed both times. Meanwhile, scorching shots by Luke Young and Jamie Mackie had Wigan’s lithe, brilliant goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi making two fantastic saves. Rangers began to dominate and took a lead in the 33rd minute after James McCarthy accidentally handled in the box while defending a corner. Striker Heidur Helguson stepped up and casually beat the diving Al Habsi, who guessed the right way to dive for the ball, but couldn't keep it out. Then, just before the half time whistle, Akos Buzsaky fired a blistering free-kick in off the post from the edge of the area to make it 2-0.
A Hugo Rodallega free-kick around the Q.P.R. wall in the 66th minute after a barely questionable Anton Ferdinand tackle just outside the box, pulled a goal back for Wigan before Smith sealed the win with a long-range effort.
Then a slowwitted Gary Caldwell conceded a second penalty for the visitors, pulling down Helguson just inside the area. Luckily, Al-Habsi guessed right as Herlguson hit his penalty kick in the same place again. Despite the Omani goalkeeper’s heroics, Wigan were never quite in it again and substitute striker Tommy Smith scored a beauty from 25 yards out which flew into the top left-hand corner to secure the score at 3-1 for Rangers in the 81st minute.
Stoke City 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
Graham Dorrans' injury-time free-kick earned West Bromwich Albion their first league win of 2012 as they edged past Stoke City. The Baggies, whose inconsistent form this season has surely been driving their fans to the cusp of insanity, were suffering from three consecutive Premiership defeats in a row, instigating a precipitous slide down the table from a previously comfortable mid-table position at Christmas. Stoke came into the game with just one win over their last five league games, but only a solitary defeat in nine.
Indeed, despite the largely partisan Potters crowd, James Morrison was able to give West Brom the lead when his soft curving effort from the edge of the box was completely misjudged by Stoke’s goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.
The woodwork again denied Morrison after the restart when the midfielder controlled the ball on the edge of the area and fired past Sorensen, only for it to bounce off the upright.
Stoke then won a penalty in controversial circumstances as Gareth McAuley brought down Walters in the box.The referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. However, Ben Foster stooped down to save Jon Walters' powerful spot kick. This prompted Stoke’s boss Tony Pulis to pull Ryan Shotton and bring on Cameron Jerome. The striker arrived along with fellow substitute Jermaine Pennant and he headed Pennants free-kick to bring the game level with four minutes to go.
That looked to have been it but, in injury time, Graham Dorrans' stepped up to take a free-kick out wide on the left. His seeing-eye effort somehow found its way through a thicket of players before flying in the bottom corner to earn West Brom a deserved victory.
Sunderland 2-0 Swansea City
Two absolutely fantastic goals from Stephane Sessegnon and Sebastian Larsson maintained the revival of Martin O'Neill’s Sunderland, while bringing to an end Swansea's four-game unbeaten run.
Basically, although Swansea dominated possession throughout and were brilliant to watch, their oft-stated inability to offer a cutting edge in their away matches showed up once again, evidenced by the Mackems’ goalie, Simon Mignonette having to make two saves throughout. It was the Swans’ seventh away defeat in 11 matches. Coincidentally, Sunderland’s win lifts them above Brendan Rodgers’ club into 10th place in the E.P.L.
Sunderland's first goal happened 14 minutes in as their Newcastle-reject winger James McClean sprinted superbly down the left flank. Sessegnon ran parallel, pirouetted in midair to chest down the perfectly placed ball before letting loose with an unstoppable volley into the top right corner of Michael Vorm’s net.
Swansea counterattacked with a vengeance, but Sunderland defender Wes Brown, just back after a three-game injury absence, denied the tricky Nathan Dyer with a perfectly timed tackle. This was followed by an even better Phil Bradley tackle which stopped Scott Sinclair only six yards out.
Swansea dominated possession, nevertheless, and Sunderland’s Belgian keeper Mignonette was never tested until the 57th minute when he punched clear a Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick. But, finally, with only five minutes left in regular time when substitute Craig Gardner struck a 25 yard rocket that flew into the top corner of the net.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-3 Aston Villa
On loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane made a dream return to Molineux the home ground from the days when he began his professional career as a Wolverhampton Wanderer 15 years ago. Meanwhile, Wolves have now gone eight league games without a win and their manager Mica Mccarthy teeters on the verge of being fired. Worse, the Golden Brummies’ hard-man midfielder Karl Henry was sent off for deliberately kicking Marc Albrighton in the midriff, while Keane hammering home his fantastic winner.
Villa drew first blood when a clumsy Christopher Berra, perhaps fantasizing he was Rio Ferdinand, tried dribbling the ball. Dispossessed by, of all people, Darren Bent, an embarrassed Berrar hacked down the Villa and England striker who stood up to convert the spot-kick in the 11th minute.
Wolves equalized soon after as Roger Johnson flicked on a Jarvis corner in the 21st minute for Kightly to slam home. Then, ten minutes later, they stole the lead as David Edwards headed a superb Kightly pass home past Shay Given.
Unfortunately, Wolves lost the discipline and concentration they had shown early once Emmanuel Frimpong was carried off on a stretcher. The referee Michael Oliver had to tack on another one eight extra minutes after the on-loan Arsenal midfielder needed prolonged treatment when he was caught in the face by Stiliyan Petrov's boot as he attempted a diving header following a corner.
Robbie Keane had been invisible until six minutes into the second half as Ciaran Clark trapped an errant Albrighton pass and dished it to Keane, who executed a wicked three-quarter turn before firing a beautiful dipping shot that completely surprised Wayne Henley. But Keane wasn’t finished and, in the 84th minute, he seized on an Agbonlahor pass after a beautiful sprint down the right wing. Keane took the ball and somehow managed to fire a hard vertical curer over the big body of Henley into the net.
