Blackpool comeback could banish away day blues

Seventeen frantic minutes at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday night could have galvanised Manchester United's troublesome away form this season. Trailing 2-0 to Blackpool a Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez inspired comeback could spark the end of United's inability to win on the road. With two wins and eight draws from ten away games the Red Devils were not showing the form of a team top of the Premier League and still unbeaten.

The league leaders rode their luck after Blackpool had a stonewall penalty denied with the score at 2-0 but the eighteen times champions showed the character that could win them a record nineteenth trophy to win 3-2. After throwing away comfortable leads late on in games against Fulham, Everton and Birmingham the visit of Manchester United to a Premiership stadium didn't carry the same threat as it used to. After United's third away win on Tuesday they now find themselves five points clear of Arsenal at the summit of the league and undoubtedly favourites for the title. However trips to Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all await which could still have some bearing on the destination of the title. United will be buoyed by their latest win and confidence will be high at Old Trafford.

Blackpool on the other hand lost a sixth game in a row and will hope that the rut ends soon or they will find themselves getting gradually closer to the drop zone. A lot of that could depend on whether they manage to hold on to skipper and star player Charlie Adam who played against United on Tuesday despite handing in a transfer request. Aston Villa and Liverpool have both been linked to the Scottish international and manager Ian Holloway has been extremely vocal with his criticism of the latters attempts to sign his captain. Sitting five points above the relegation zone the Seasiders will need to turn their form around soon or an early return to the Championship could beckon.

Quality players going to waste.

There are two transfer rumours that have really stood out in the last few days. Unsurprisingly they invlove Manchester City, surprisingly they involve players LEAVING the club. The two players in question are Craig Bellamy and Shay Given.

Bellamy has been vocal in his criticism of the club and his desire to leave. The Welshman has the ability to change a game and he is a fantastic player. He was exceptional in City's 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford last season scoring twice. His attitude has always been a problem and it's not surprising that his days at City are numbered. What is questionable is the potential destination of the 31 year old, Cardiff City. Bellamy has always desired to play for his boyhood heroes but with interest from Spurs and Fulham it would be a major shock if he left for Cardiff. Bellamy still has a few years left in him and it would be a waste of the Wales captain's ability should he drop down to the Championship.

After Joe Hart's match saving performance on Saturday it seems Shay Given's City career is also over. It is hard to believe that one of the Premiership's most consistent and faultless performers could be demoted to second choice, especially given that the Irishman has been seen by many to be the league's best stopper. Arsenal are muted as suitors but Fulham's Mark Schwarzer looks almost certain to move to the Emirates. The other club mentioned to have an interest, Celtic. At 34 Given is still in his peak year as a keeper and he would be a huge asset to them. However as with Bellamy it would simply be a waste. Perhaps it's cynical to accuse the Championship and the SPL unwothrty of having players of Bellamy and Given's calibre but the two could walk into the majority of the 20 Premiership sides starting 11's.

The situation with these two players shows that City's incessant spending is starting to unsettle the squad. With Stephen Ireland also likely to leave many fans will watch with interest to see if any other personalities should join them and more importantly how it affects the harmony of the squad in the long run.

Premier League Week One Round-Up

The first week of the Premier League started with a goalkeeping masterclass from Joe Hart and ended with a vintage performance from Paul Scholes. Sandwiched in the middle were two goalkeeping clangers and Chelsea slapping six past West Brom. However the weekend belonged to Ian Holloway's Blackpool.



Marlon Harewood's brace led the Seasiders to an unexpected 3-0 half time lead against Wigan at the JJB. In truth Blackpool should have hit the back of the net as early as the first minute after Brett Ormerod missed a glaring chance. They didn't have much longer to wait as Gary Taylor-Fletcher fired them in front in the 16th minute. Before the game Holloway claimed the side chosen to play the hapless Latics was worse than last year's Playoff winners, making their performance all the more impressive. Alex Baptiste's fortunate second half strike put the icing on the cake and will leave Roberto Martinez with a lot of questions to answer. Wigan were very inconsistent last year and their opening day performance was flat to say the very least.



Chelsea and Didier Drogba were in ominous form against West Brom on Saturday evening. Scott Carson's poor handling and a complication in the basic area of forming a wall helped Chelsea to a 2-0 first half lead, with Malouda and Drogba scoring respectively. West Brom' 4-5-1 formation didn't aid them at all and any venture into Chelsea's final third came up short, mainly due to a lack of midfield runners. Chelsea have those in abundance and after Drogba scored the third Frank Lampard popped up as always to make it four. Drogba completed his hat-trick five minutes later and Malouda wrapped up the scoring in injury time.

United were equally as comfortable as the Champions, running out 3-0 winners over Newcastle. The story could have been a lot different had Andy Carroll scored a free header in the 10th minute. However the big striker headed well wide from six yards when it was much easier to score. United made Newcastle pay and Dimitar Berbatov got them off the mark just after the half hour, latching on to a Paul Scholes pass. Darren Fletcher added the second a few minutes before half time after a deflected shot from Patrice Evra found it's way through to him. The night belonged to Paul Scholes. The 35 year old's passing was sublime as always and his performance carried United to victory. The much maligned Berbatov had an excellent game too. He took his goal well and seemed livlier than last season. However he did spurn an easy chance after a wonderful build up move involving Wayne Rooney and of course Scholes. Ryan Giggs made it three with five minutes to go, cooly volleying in from a Scholes cross.

David Jones scored the pick of the weekend's goals in Wolves' 2-1 win over Stoke. The ball was rolled back to him from a free kick on the edge of the area and a quick flick allowed him to smash a volley past Thomas Sorensen. James Milner perhaps scored his final goal for Villa as they beat a poor West Ham side 3-0. Ten-man Sunderland threw away a 2-0 lead against Birmingham and Fulham and Bolton blanked each other at the Reebok. A howler from Tim Howard allowed Nikola Kalinic to fire Blackburn to a 1-0 win over Everton at Ewood Park. The American keeper dropped a routine catch to give the Croatian the easiest goal of his Blackburn career.

Howard's mistake was bad but it was nothing compared to Pepe Reina's aberration against Arsenal. After ten-man Liverpool had played very well to lead 1-0 with a minute to go at Anfield Maroaune Chamakh beat the Spaniard to a cross and headed onto the upright, as the ball bounced back Reina made an unsuccessful attempt to collect the ball. The result will be a contender for mistake of the season as the ball bounced off his chest and into the net. It finished 1-1 with debutants Joe Cole and Laurent Koscielny both sent off.

However the performance of the weekend came in the first match of the new season as Joe Hart single handedly denied Spurs from a deserved win. The England goalkeeper produced a string of fantatic saves to keep Harry Redknapp's side from scoring. Jermain Defoe was denied one-on-one and Tom Huddlestone's long ranger was a fingertip away from the top corner. Hart aside Manchester City were very poor. Spurs, especially Gareth Bale, ran them ragged in the first half. Carlos Tevez dropped far too deep far too often and Shaun Wright-Phillips still fails to live up the promise he had years ago. City kept the ball well at times but just didn't have the cutting edge to trouble Spurs. Money certainly can't buy you a guaranteed good performance. Yaya Toure was the best of the new signings as David Silva failed to cause Spurs any discomfort and Alexander Kolarov only made it to half time.

After this weekend's high Blackpool could come crashing down to earth next week at Arsenal. West Brom, Newcastle and especially Wigan and West Ham will have to improve vastly on their opening perfomances. Pick of the action is Man United's tricky trip to Fulham on Sunday and City/Liverpool at Eastland's on Monday night.

Super Mario to lead City to success? No.

Mario Balotelli finally completed his move to moneybags Manchester City for a fee around £24million. Good business for Inter Milan. Balotelli has a reasonable scoring record of 28 goals in 86 Inter Milan appearances. The 20 year old has undoubted talent but his attitude has stifled his progress. Roberto Mancini was the Inter manager when Balotelli broke into the first team, so it remains to be seen he can do what Jose Mourinho couldn't and bring Balotelli's ego back down to earth. City will certainly hope he doesn't go the way of Robinho.

City's untamed spending spree has seen Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Alexander Kolarov and imminently James Milner move to Eastland's. Mancini will need these signings to gel quickly if they are to mount a serious challenge for the Premiership. White Hart Lane will prove a stern opening day test. Unrest is already apparent within City with renowned troublemaker Craig Bellamy lashing out at the club. Mancini will have to juggle his players wisely and often enough to ensure no other "superstars" follow the Welshman's lead.

Despite the endless bag of cash City will still have to wait for success, in any competition. They put up a strong challenge for fourth last year and that will be the least fans will settle for this season. However Spurs will beat them to 4th again this year and Liverpool will certainly have a much improved season under Roy Hodgson.

As for the big prize it will be going to Manchester but to United for a record 19th time. They were strong last year but were stumped by a crippling defensive crisis and the inability to play after European outings. Wayne Rooney will once again show the form that saw him banging in the goals before his injury in Munich. Chelsea are always a tough adversary but they haven't strengthened from last season. Ramires will prove a quality player but not the wide-man they need to help Florent Malouda supply Didier Drogba. The loss of Ricardo Carvalho could expose John Terry, who struggled in the Community Shield. Maroaune Chamakh could prove the bargain of the season for Arsene Wenger as the goalscorer they desperately need. If they can keep hold of Cesc Fabregas the Gunners will put up a strong challenge, provided they abandon the need to pass the ball into the net.

12.45pm is kick-off time and it already promises to be another exciting season!