Premier League winners and losers – Ramsey, Rooney and Liverpool take the headlines

Hello and welcome to the winners and losers column where we go over this week’s round of games and discuss the teams, players and coaches that should either pat themselves on the back for a job well done or take a hard long look at their recent actions and should perhaps start making drastic life changes.

This column is in the spirit of good fun and as usual, your comments and opinions are welcomed.

Winners and Losers for Game Week 13

Winners:

Manchester City Home Form

Only one half of ‘Aquerdo’ scored this weekend, but that did not prove to be a problem as Samir Nasri helped himself to some goals. City never looked like conceding throughout the match and whiles their away form could hamper their chances of winning the league, this imperious home form could very well push them into the top 4 for that vital Champions League position.

Many doubted Nasri could deputize as City’s creator-in-chief in Silva’s absence. His has stepped his game and as this column pointed out after City’s demolition of AVB team’s last week, he is showing the kind of form that made the Manchester clubs battle for his signature. Negrado’s free-kick showed that the man they call the Mechanic has another dead-ball expert in his team, many options is a good thing.

On the goalkeeping front, Pantilimon continues to turn in solid displays. Pellegrini has no reason to reinstate Joe Hart. Should Joe Hart be worried? Well, Casillas is still trying to get back into the 1st team after his injury, not even a loss of form. Yes, Joe Hart should be worried if he is not already.

Aaaron Ramsey

The Ramsey Show

A well taken brace score on both sides of a Flamini goal. Should Ramsey magically get as bad as he was last season, he would still have an amazing season by any player’s standard. A wonderful player who is laying stake to the claim as the most entertaining player in the EPL.

Frank Lampard

The Happy one left him out of the line-up to rest him. Well, Essien put a kibosh on that plan. His introduction after Oscar’s ankle injury helped stabilized the troops at the Bridge and extend Mourinho’s unbeaten home record to a ridiculous 65 games. Surely I can’t be the only one anticipating Ramsey and Co. Visiting Stamford Bridge right?

Everton

Roberto Martinez during the pre-game interview mentioned that he was looking forward to the challenge of finding a replacement for Baines.

There are few managers that will view the loss of their best player as an exciting challenge but after Everton’s goal fest this weekend, his faith in his team was entirely justified. Ryan Oviedo and Seamus Coleman both grabbed a goal a piece with the former providing an assist for Lukaku’s goal.

It was a gamble to start the Barcelona loanee. A gamble that paid off handsomely. With Lee Osman and Gareth Barry doing all the heavy lifting in the midfield, Martinez’s young ward was free to express himself and express himself he did. A wonderful team performance.

Norwich

A well-taken goal gives the canaries a vital win over Crystal Palace. As the relegation battle continues to heat up, these are vital 3points that could keep them in the league come next season.

Wayne Rooney

Easily United’s player of the season so far and his brace takes him up to 5th in the premier league all-time goal scorers’ chart. Rooney has still not commented on committing to United, and he could very well leave the club this season but so far, he has been a consummate professional. For United, should he decide to leave, they can surely demand more for his transfer fee as he was mostly sub-par last season.

United’s transfer activity will not only give fans and casual observers an idea of what the new look United but give an indication to whether or not Old Trafford will continue to be Wayne Rooney’s home.

Aston Villa

Despite Shane’s long 1st half heroics, Paul Lambert was able to mastermind a 2ndhalf performance that almost saw his team win the game. The kicker? Their star forward, Benteke did not find the back of the net. For West Brom, it is another 3pts dropped and after that penalty decision going against them versus Chelsea, they needed this win before the headed into next week’s all important December games.

Newcastle

Looking at the performances of the teams involved in the Tyne-Wear derby, the loss seemed to have galvanized Alan Pardew’s team. Remy and Ameobi are proving to be an effective duo and the rest of the team ‘ain’t looking that bad’. Not bad at all.

Losers:

Martin Jol

After failing to get the best out of his team all season and finding himself in the relegation battle, the writing was on the wall when the owners at Craven cottage hired Rene Meulensteen as the ‘head coach’. Perhaps a first in professional football when the present manager is forcibly [surely Jol didn’t voluntarily agree] paired with his future replacement.

Perhaps the owners were hoping for a seamless transition between both managers but the players needed to know who was in charge and the last man standing is the one charged with resuscitating the Cottagers’ season. Suddenly, Fulham’s games have become a must-watch as Meulensteen is by all accounts a fantastic coach and it’d be interesting to see if he can hack it as a Premier League manager.

David Moyes

Perhaps the most contentious decision this week [for United fans maybe]. Yes his team is on an eleven game unbeaten run but those draws really should have been wins. Instead they find themselves languishing in the middle of the table. Surely with the gap opening up at the top of the table, Moyes’ chance of winning the title in his maiden season at United just got infinitely more difficult.

It’s not all doom and gloom for United, Moyes brought on Hernandez and Nani on as he looked to kill the game. Earlier on in the season, chances are that he would have opted to protect the point. The team also showed fight to come back twice but lacked the ruthlessness to grab the all-important lead. RVP cannot come back soon enough.

Southampton

It is a testament to how well they have played this season that many consider their loss against a Chelsea team playing to protect their home record under Mourinho and make up for a bad European performance. Can they continue their high-tempo all season and finish in the top 6? I for one would love to see this team feature in Europe. Watch this space.

Michael Essien

He continued the trend of bad back passes and goal-keepers playing footy with the ball resulting in goals. His lobbed back pass which resulted in the Jay Rodriguez goal certainly made the tie interesting.

Liverpool

Well. No one saw that one coming—all 3 goals. The coach rotated himself out of a win. With Sturridge out with an injury, there was no need to make whole sale changes. Sterling showed his lack of playing time as he was not on the same wavelength with Suarez. Kolo Toure seemed to be nursing a back injury prompting questions as to why Brendon Rogers would start him ahead of Agger.

Coutinho was one of the stars for Liverpool last week and why he lost his starting berth makes no sense. Tactically, they lost a player of great playmaking ability and replaced him with a winger in Sterling that just failed to justify his manager’s faith in him.

Suarez resorted to his old tricks [or in more harsh language, cheating] with things not going his way. He cut a frustrated figure and whiles Liverpool was just awful, Hull played determined to make the KC Stadium a difficult ground to grab a point and they succeeded.

Thanks for reading and makes sure to check next week after this week’s rounds of double-headers.