On Monday, Portsmouth followed their weekend victory over Man Utd by providing Watford with a biggest Premiership victory of a four victory season. On Tuesday, United put a Southend/Copenhagen level pair of performances behind them to demolish Roma.
Firstly, the good... Manchester United were awesome against Roma. We rarely analyse United games incorrectly but we have to admit that we were not expecting the pumped up super-fit United that we witnessed last night - some of those players will have been running all night and will still be on the move this morning. Ferguson's tactics were astute as Roma are not a conventional team to oppose; Ronaldo is proper; Carrick looks so much better in an attacking vein; Ferdinand and Van der Sar were bystanders in a stunning 7-1 win. Compare the in-your-face Roma of the 1st Leg with the cumbersome second-to-the-ball outfit last night. We have proprietary views on United's fitness levels last night but the visual impact was astonishing. With Chelsea's victory over Valencia, our advice to back the three English teams to reach the Champions League Semi Finals is banked money.
Now, the bad... the refereeing of the Watford versus Portsmouth game by Lee Mason was dire. The man got every single major decision incorrect and his officiating was revealing with regard to his overall profile. We have mentioned before that Mason is on the way to the top and his Poll-esque performance at Vicarage Road merely enhanced that view. The Portsmouth to beat Man Utd/ Lose to Watford double has probably made a few people a few quid.
Now, the ugly... As Dietrological clients will be aware, we were initially keen on Charlton in Monday night's live Sky offering despite the PGMOB choosing Graham Poll to officiate. On Monday, we received two key pieces of information on the game and later, following the release of the line-ups, we hedged our position. After the match, Pardew claimed that he had struck a deal with Poll over loose cannon Alexandre Song's likelihood of getting himself sent off. The collusion happened at the half-time interval and Pardew substituted Song after Poll 'gave him a look'. Poll doesn't deny it. Obviously, the PGMOB takes a lenient view and has no intention of holding an investigation - a repeat of their timidity following Poll's getting of Chelsea in November's game at Spurs (see: http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com/2006/11/can-hackett-hack-it.html). Half-Time interactions between officials and managers are illegal but the PGMOB has decided, in the light of Poll's latest misdemeanour, "communication between referees and players is beneficial - and an everyday part of the game". So, not illegal then... It is still less than twelve months since Poll's hilarious officiating of Croatia and Australia in the World Cup and we would prefer to see the implementation of a Californian-style "three strikes and you're out" type of disciplinary punishment for referees who continually transgress the rules.
