Well the summer didn't quite provide the red carpet to the start of the premier league season as other sports didn't seem to take off as much as most people hoped. Which brings us now to the start of the premier league where we all get kitted out in our new overly-priced replica kits and with hopes from our new signings for the season to commence in a spectacular fashion... But the weekend followed suit of the dull summer of sport with not really any big talking point.
Other than Blackpool's miraculous introductory into life in the premier league there wasn't much to talk about for the highly anticipated opening weekend of the season. For all Manchester City spent again, their keeper who they signed from Shrewsbury Town 4 years ago for a mere £600,000 was the one to save their blushes.
When the fixture list was released and we saw Tottenham and Manchester City were going to face each other to kick-off the campaign football fanatics were jumping around in glee anticipating what should be a great start to one of the most open premier league seasons to date. Tottenham broke into the infamous top four last year and Manchester City are a growing force that cannot be ignored so everyone was right in thinking they were going to be in for a treat on that afternoon with both teams renowned for their attacking prowess and there lack of defensive qualities so all the money was on goals galore. But a game where we thought we'd see to giants battle it out hammer and tong, we ended up seeing a a scrap between some tired old men. Be it most had come back from the World cup somewhat two months ago that's no excuse for player on average earning £80,000 a week to moan they didn't have a long enough break.
So the game finished 0-0, it wasn't quite the fairytale start everyone dreamed of but a lot of neutral fans were encouraged soon after to see Blackpool later that day knock four goals past an established premier league side in Wigan. Blackpool haven't exactly been lively in the transfer window but a real bargain buy that will do great for both club and player is the capture of Marlon Harewood. He has established himself time and time again as a goal scorer, his best spell being at West Ham under then manager Alan Pardew but after looking for a bigger challenge in Aston Villa he found himself right down the pecking order and sat on the bench. After being released from Villa Ian Holloway managed to snap him up on a free and he didn't disappoint in getting a deserved brace in the midst of a 4-0 hammering against Wigan.
Now despite that miraculous result there was no much else to talk about, not even a top four clash between Arsenal and Liverpool on the Sunday provided much headlines other than them picking at a uncharacteristic mistake by Pepe Reina and a tackle by Joe Cole that got him a straight red. The clash, much like the Tottenham and Manchester City game was obviously a big talking point for the opening weekend as there hadn't been a top four clash like this for a while. The game started off in a slow tempo which was mirrored by the unusually quiet Kop and it wasn't until he final 5 minutes of the first half they did start singing, but words that cannot be repeated towards a ref that was probably influenced by the travelling arsenal fans and Koscielny rolling around in 'agony' which ended in Joe Cole's debut in a red shirt ending with him seeing a red card. The first half was very much dominated by arsenal for possession but as we saw from the arsenal from last year there was very much little going forward with new signing chamakh not really getting a sniff at goal. The second half came and fan were getting ready for Arsenal to take the initiative over their numerical advantage, but it was Liverpool who caught Arsenal napping when the transfer target Javier Mascherano picked up a loose ball and slotted the ball nicely into David N'gog's path in the 18 yard box to blast it past an unconvincing Almunia at his near post. David N'gog looked more hungry and determined this time around already than last year under new manager Roy Hodgson, trying to fend off critics who question if he's a good enough understudy to the injury-prone Fernando Torres. He should have doubled moments later though with a Steven Gerrard free-kick whipped into the 6 yard box where N'gog fluffed his header wide. Pepe Reina pulled out a few stops to keep Arsenal at bay in the dying minutes, one of which an unbelievable reach to tip over Rosicky's firing shot, but then the equaliser came in what was the most unlikely of events. An arsenal free-kick was swerved in which Reina had fluffed at and after that the ball started playing pinball with Chamakh, then the post, then Reina until the ball ended up in the back of the net. It was the most unfortunate of ways to ruin what could have been a dream start to Roy Hodgson's reign at the Kop but the final 10 minutes of the game showed promise to Liverpool's defensive qualities and willingness to put bodies on the line which lacked last year, and Arsenals promise to provide more shots in the final third.
So the weekend took until the final 10 minutes of the last game to give fans a taster of what to come this season.
Where most football fans probably won't remember this opening weekend as the most enjoyable, Joe Cole may want to forget his Liverpool debut swiftly and Wigan may take a while to get over being hammered by a bunch of tangerines. But with 37 premier league matches left to be played there is sure to be some drama that will make this season an exciting campaign.
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