One can appreciate the excitement that comes with the birth of a new NFL Football season that begins with the Hall of Fame game during the first week of August every year. If that is where the bulk of your mental excitement was stored for this past weekend, there is nothing wrong with that at all. If you genuinely enjoyed the 14-3 snooze fest that saw the Minnesota Vikings defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, here’s a nice thumbs up from me.
If you were like me and countless millions in the US and the UK, however, our emotional excitement load was blown over a two-day period where the television was tuned to NBCSN at 7:30am EST on Saturday to see Manchester United take on Tottenham in the first game of the 2015-2016 English Premier League season. A lot of Liverpool supporters like me were tuned to the television at 11am on Sunday to see Liverpool try to get off to a good start against a Stoke City team that beat the brakes off us at the end of last season.
No group of fans felt better than a group of supporters in the South West Region of England — AFC Bournemouth (who I will get into later in this post). There was plenty to take away from the first weekend in the English Premier League. Obviously, some supporters had better weekends than others, but it was an overall great weekend. One down. Thirty-seven to go.
With 37 match days to go, supporters have to hope that the $250 million spent combined between Liverpool and Manchester United yields better results than they did over the weekend. While it is true that both clubs won their opening matches 1-0, neither looked like a club that spent over $110 million to improve.
Perhaps that paragraph is written with knee-jerk reaction, but the Red Devils looked lost for much of that game against Tottenham — who honestly should have at least earned a draw. Kyle Walker’s bad luck cost the Spurs an opening day win. Manchester United only had one shot on target in their opening English Premier League match, and that didn’t come until Memphis Depay did so at 49:25.
Liverpool looked equally shaky considering they spent a ton of money on Christian Benteke (formerly of Aston Villa) and Roberto Firmino who spent the last few seasons at 1899 Hoffenheim in Germany. Liverpool did appear much more offensively charged than Manchester United, but their magic didn’t happen until manager Brendan Rodgers subbed in Emre Can which eventually led to this absolute bullet strike from Philippe Coutinho with four minutes to go in the game.
It’s only the first game of the season, so Liverpool and Manchester United have time to figure it out.
The team that spent the most money on one single player — Manchester City and Raheem Sterling — may have it figured out already, though. Sterling, who came over from Liverpool for $76 million, didn’t score on West Brom’s Boaz Myhill when he had a good chance, but that didn’t seem to matter. Familiar faces Yaya Toure, David Silva, and Vincent Kompany provided the scoring punch. Manchester City still has Sergio Agüero — arguably the best finisher in the league — so if they look this good early in the Premier League season, maybe Sterling doesn’t have to make a major impact RIGHT away.
Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United supporters probably feel better on many levels than Arsenal supporters today, though.
Petr Čech. Oh, my goodness. What happened to you, sir?
Arsène Wenger chose to bring in the Czech National Team goalie rather than roll the dice for another season with Wojciech Szczęsny in net. If you’re an Arsenal supporter, you’re probably wondering if Szczęsny can come back this weekend from Roma where he’s on loan.
Remember when the Philadelphia Eagles traded Donovan McNabb to the Washington Professional Football Team when McNabb was obviously on the downside of his career? One could make that same parallel if Čech continues to look as bad as he did on Sunday — which isn’t necessarily guaranteed, but it is very possible. Arsenal goes to Crystal Palace this coming weekend before entertaining Liverpool in two weeks. Čech may want to get his groove back pretty quick.
Was this weekend just a bad opening weekend in the English Premier League for some net minders or what? Petr Čech didn’t look all that stellar and Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois just made a bone-headed play against Swansea City. With forward Bafetimbi Gomis streaking into the attacking zone, Courtois came off his line and clipped Gomis’s knee with his right foot. The challenge rightfully resulted in a red card, and Courtois was shown the tunnel in a 2-2 draw with Swansea. That whole scenario was weird. The ball dribbled off of Gomis’s foot, and he would have had a hard time recovering control in any way to make something happen. Courtois had plenty of time to get back on his line and wait for the cavalry.
Time to spread a little positivity, kudos, and good cheer amidst the last few paragraphs of worry, doubt, and peril.
AFC Bournemouth kicked off their first season in the English Premier League with a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa. The loss isn’t the point, though. The point is that Bournemouth kicked off their first season in the Premier League … EVER. In the 125 year history of the club, Bournemouth had never been promoted that high. As a result of their win of Football League Championship last year, they were promoted, and Vitality Stadium/Dean Court was packed full of supporters who had never seen their side play with the big boys in a Premier League season.
SNAPSHOT: #afcb fans have got behind their team at a packed Vitality Stadium. http://t.co/77Js2VpJgX #BOUAVL pic.twitter.com/iY6Twft4at
— AFC Bournemouth (@afcbournemouth) August 8, 2015
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This past weekend was just the first in what will probably be a long, interesting, and story-filled season. Strap in and get ready because it’s going to be exciting for whoever you support, wherever you support them.
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