I will start this little round up with a couple of words on the Friday night game. I have my doubts whether any Bournemouth or Brighton fans will be reading this but hey lets say a few words anyway. Bournemouth needed to win like a fat man needs that next greasy kebab and newcomers Brighton were looking to continue a decent start to the season. As it turns out the home side did manage to get the win, just about. Good result in a derby game.

Now, earlier in the week I made it pretty well known what I thought about Roy Hodgson becoming the new manager of Crystal Palace. Firstly I thought it was extremely harsh of the Palace board to give De Boer the boot, but getting in Roy Hodgson? Not a move that I can see inspiring the fans. Please don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Roy Hodgson the man, however quite possibly he is the most boring f***ing man I have ever seen in my time as a football fan. He reminds me of that quintessential movie granddad, you know the one that is always a little light headed and giddy and falls asleep in his recliner after Sunday lunch. I have also experienced him quite closely in his short spell as Liverpool manager and I can say it left me wanting to convert to a fan of lawn bowls for some excitement. Probably more exciting than watching a Roy Hodgson team. Back to the game now, Palace lost again, at home, to Southampton. They had less possession and from what I saw, well, looked pretty uninspiring. Hard times for Palace fans especially considering where the club was just a couple of seasons ago. I find myself wondering, and perhaps a Palace fan can give me their thoughts, do you really feel Roy Hodgson is the man to take you forward?

And oh crap. He is the point when I unfortunately need to discuss Liverpool. Hard for me to be subjective here for as much as I try sometimes I do tend to become one of those rose tinted idiots. Emotions, what can you do. Let’s look at the stats. 71% of the possession and 35 total shots on goal, do I really need to say any more? Liverpool no doubt should have won this game as they should have won the midweek game with Sevilla. But throughout most of the game, whilst a great amount of their inter play was breathtaking, you could also get a clear sense of frustration and impatience. A lot of shots from outside the box, that final pass almost always went astray and OF COURSE the defense looked pretty dodgy and unorganized at times as well. So all in all just another weekend of what might have been for Liverpool fans. Quick note, while Burnley parked a cruise ship in front of the goalposts yesterday you still have to say hats off for what was a pretty solid defensive display.

I feel Spurs fans may feel somewhat the same way as Liverpool fans after their game against a very well organised Swansea side. A lot of chest puffing from Spurs, some great football at time also, but they just couldn’t find that one moment of quality to grab them the three points. Its pretty frustrating for fans watching that type of game. Lots of attacking play, but only one team trying to win. I mean it was quite pathetic, Swansea barely ventured out of their own half and did not register one single bloody shot on target throughout the whole game. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why teams would do this. In this day and age where a point in the Premier League financially could be a huge difference or even the difference between being relegated or not, you could see why a somewhat “lesser” teams would do everything in their power to hang on for an unexpected point. Hell, lets be honest if you try and come out and play against Spurs, you will probably end up on the wrong side of an ass whoopin. Still what it does do is make the so called beautiful game not so beautiful. This is just a reflection of the importance and seriousness of “the business” as it is today. A note on Renato Sanchez. There was a very large hoo haa regarding Sanchez when he made the very unlikely move from Bayern Munich to Swansea on loan late in the transfer window, with many Swansea fans on the verge of creaming in their pants. Quite frankly it was a move that no one would have really expected and one that only happened due to Paul Clements previous relationship with the player. Their were high expectations for the young man from Swansea fans, but from what I witnessed yesterday with my own very beautiful blue albeit somewhat deteriorating eyes was the signs of what may be a very frustrating season ahead for Mr. Sanchez. He looked seriously short of proper fitness, somewhat bemused by Swansea’s “hold the fort” attitude and quite honestly at times completely disinterested. The kids got talent, but how long do you think its going to take for him to completely regret his summer move, that is if he doesn’t already?

Ok what next. Oh yeah. I guess I have to talk about it. For all my animosity regarding Manchester City and the way the club has been bank rolled the past decade or so there is just one thing that I and probably all of you cannot argue with and that is the fact that what they have built over there is mightily impressive. Watford have been in good form so far this season, but had absolutely no answer what so ever for the puzzle that they found in front of them at Vicarage road and ultimately got the poop squeezed out of them eventually conceding six goals and perhaps it could have been more. If there is anyone reading this right now who ever doubted Sergio Agueros quality, you must feel like a serious douche canoe right now. I mean what a super star the guy is. Absolutely unplayable on his day and one of the best strikers that the Premier League has ever seen. I for one am glad I get to see him almost every week as it is purely an honor. His partnership with the young but equally talented Gabriel Jesus is starting to look ominous to the point that if they are not careful they will become the target of some serious foul play. I mean what other choice will players have but to chop them down. Its either that or like yesterday get hammered. Player for player City have potentially the best squad in world football, probably the best manager in world football and the richest owners in world football. Its going to take a very good team to deny City winning the Premier League this season and potentially even the Champions League.

In other very brief Saturday news, Huddersfield shared a relatively unremarkable 1-1 draw with Leicester City. West Brom and West Ham were involved in an even less memorable ninety minutes of boredom with the only action coming from the sidelines with a couple of toasty confrontations between Slaven Bilic and Tony Pulis that eventually ended amicably. If they had come to blows it may have actually given me something to talk about from the game, but alas I have no more to say. And Newcastle managed to collect all three points in a pretty even and decent game of football at St. James Park against Stoke City.

On the Sunday, what was built up to be an almighty battle, kind of turned out to be a bit of a wet blanket. Quite a cagey affair Arsenal had the better chances and probably should have taken all three points, but at least Gunners fans will take a large amount of satisfaction from a largely improved performance. A sour note for Chelsea fans they will be without the hugely influential Side Show Bob (aka David Luiz) who was shown a straight red towards the end of the match after a wild tackle. You would suspect he will be absent for a few games.

Finally we go to Old Trafford where considering my allegiances I would have been more than happy for the worlds largest sink hole to open up just before kick off and swallow both clubs on show whole. Sadly for me that did not happen and I had to witness another United victory. The home side started on fire and Antonio Valencia scored an absolute cracker inside six minutes showing fantastic technique to hit a bullet of a volley. United huffed and puffed till about a third of the game through and then Everton started to claw their way back into the game. If I am going to be honest with you, the game really lacked quality until about ten minutes to go when United started to pull away. It ended 4-0 but i would have to say the result is not at all a reflection of the game. In fact at one point in the second half I thought that Everton were good value for a draw. It didn’t turn out that way. The mostly absent Romelu Lukaku, who had a pretty poor game for the most, came to life in the last seven minutes of the game setting one up and scoring another to take United to victory. As a final point, how did Jose Moaninho manage to sign Matic during the summer and why the hell did Antonio Conte let him go? What a fabulous player.

So as predicted before the season starts it still looks good for a Manchester head to head battle for the Premier League title this season. In reality that is what I’m feeling at this moment no matter how much it makes me want to throw up.