Lucas has seen enough!
So we’re a few games into the season, and because making snap judgments is always the safest, most solid way to look at a situation, I’m going to take a look at who’s surprised us the most, and who has, well, been led by a bald Dutchman into the middle of the table so far. (Can you tell I’m talking about Spurs? I wonder.) Anyway, teams pretty much always end the season in the same position they were in after three games, so this should be a fair look.
The Winners:
Manchester City- Congratulations, you’re the new Chelsea. You’ve got a successful, sublimely annoying manager; a tendency to jump into the transfer fray and outbid other teams from out of nowhere; and, of course, the team is financed by what is most likely dirty money. Live it up, Citizens- you’ll be universally hated within a year.
Wigan Athletic- Antoine Sibierski and Emile Heskey have fired Wigan into the top three. What, I may ask, the fuck. True, they’ve been beating up on bad teams, but still. They’re even getting a little bit crazy, with manager Chris Hutchings suggesting that Heskey deserved an England recall. When you stop laughing, you’ll remember that Wigan have no chance at maintaining any semblance of this form throughout the season, and that when they do get relegated, this early-season spurt will be a distant memory.
The Losers:
Tottenham Hotspur- Ouch. It does hurt, even after turning Derby County into their personal finger puppet, to be putting Spurs into this field. A lack of creativity hurts, as does the lack of a real left-sided midfielder (relying on a teenager for 60+ games?). Martin Jol’s place appears to be safe, and we’ve been looking at Matty Taylor and even Juan Roman Riquelme (how good would he look in white and blue?!) You’ve got to figure the side has the kind of quality to get back into the race for the top four, or the UEFA Cup at the very least. A very, very solid performance against United on Sunday, perhaps even a win was deserved- and they look to be turning upwards.
Manchester United- Holy shit. Two draws, a win, and a loss, and it’s looking ugly for United. As with Spurs, they’ve got more than enough quality to challenge, and even with Rooney out, they’ll inevitably wind up in the top two or three. It would be nice, though, just for one season, to see a team like United fall apart. Maybe it would be good for them to know what the other end of the table feels like. Or maybe that won’t ever happen, because the Premiership model is broken. That, at least, is a topic for another time.
So I’m hoping for some discussion in the comments section- are City the new Chelsea, or am I just angry? Are Spurs or united destined for mediocrity? Are Wigan going to make a run? Are there any Wigan fans out there to make an argument either way? (No, no there aren’t.)