It wasn’t that long ago that I was covering Serie A every weekend and complaining about the lack of scoring.
This weekend the Premier League gave us just 13 goals, a record low that would still stand even if you included Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa in mid-week.
So, there’s a goal drought in the Premier League. Here’s what else we learned this weekend.
New club, same old foe for Moyes
There’s just something about Anfield. David Moyes can’t win there. No wins in 12 league visits. But funny enough, that wasn’t what stood out most following Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday.
It was one thing when Alex Ferguson would stand in front of a microphone and say his team played quite well when in fact the opposite was true. But it is completely different when Moyes does it. He can’t sell it.
“I can see why they’re champions,” Moyes said afterwards.
While the Scot has never been one to slam his squad in the media, United were outclassed on Sunday. Liverpool moved the ball better, exposed United’s midfield liabilities, and forced their opponents to continually make lateral passes that led to nothing.
But perhaps the new United boss is waiting to show us how different he is from his mentor.
Weekend review: Did you miss any Premier League action this weekend? Fear not! Read John Molinaro’s comprehensive weekend in review blog, with video highlights from all nine matches.
The Brendan Rodgers Project is only getting better
It’s easy to look at Liverpool’s opening three results and say “they don’t need Luis Suarez!” But let’s not get carried away.
Brendan Rodgers has got his Reds to win their opening three games for just the second time in the Premier League era. They have done so thanks to the heroics of Daniel Sturridge, who with each match makes his £12 million transfer fee seem more and more like the bargain of the decade.
But the real sign that Rodgers’ revitalization of Liverpool is in fact working, is that each 1-0 win this season has been better than the previous one.
And with new additions bound to walk through the doors before the transfer deadline, it should prove that the club have learned from the cash burning mistakes of the Kenny Dalglish era.
Edin Dzeko’s leash isn’t very long
Just when it looked like Edin Dzeko was going to have the chance to become a Premier League superstar, the Hull City Tigers come to town.
Manuel Pellegrini declared this summer that the Bosnian was his favourite attacking option.
While he was kept off the score-sheet against Newcastle in Week #1, Dzeko showed why his new boss might say that. Then came a goal, but in a loss at Cardiff City in Week #2. And then came this past Saturday, when the Blues were bossed around their own pitch for the better part of 45 minutes by Hull.
Pellegrini brought on Alvaro Negredo at halftime and the move took just twenty minutes to pay off.
Thankfully for us goal hungry fans, Negredo rose like a salmon and hammered home a glorious header. Unfortunately for Dzeko, it likely means he’ll return to his less than desired role of “Super Sub.”
But he only has himself to blame. That’s what happens when you’re the club’s leading goal-scorer despite starting in just half of your appearances. And, you can’t score on Hull.
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Money can’t buy everything
Money can certainly buy plenty of talent, as illustrated brilliantly by the squad Andre-Villas Boas brought to The Emirates.
But Tottenham’s £100 million worth of new talent wasn’t enough to earn a result in their first big test of the season, losing 1-0 to Arsenal on Sunday.
While Spurs showed a real spark to begin the second half, they just never found their motion. And can you blame them?
This squad has been continually revamped since joining up for camp at the end of June. It will take Tottenham a couple of months to find a solid groove.
But they will find it. And when the chemistry really clicks, as long as they stay healthy, Spurs will be a force to be reckoned with.
So while Tottenham fans will have a tough time at the office water cooler today, by October Spurs will be in fourth gear while Arsenal may still be adjusting to a last minute influx of inflated deadline day talent.
Stoke can win….and with the ball on the ground!
I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t watch it myself. But when it came around to witnessing Stoke’s second straight Premier League win on Saturday, I nearly fell off the sofa.
Here were the Potters, managed by Mark Hughes, playing football (for at least six minutes, anyway) that looked like the type played by fluid, attack minded teams that you would actually enjoy watching.
Okay, yes, it was against West Ham. But give credit where credit is due. If it wasn’t for Charlie Adam being subbed off six minutes prior, it would have been the Scot taking that free kick instead of Jermaine Pennant.
But it wasn’t. And the former Liverpool star vindicated Hughes’ faith in him and for at least once this season, got himself onto this blog page.
If I write about Pennant again, it will probably be because there’s a reason to revisit the story where he told a police officer that he was Ashley Cole. I love that story.
Brendan Dunlop is the host of Soccer Central, airing Monday to Thursday and Sunday on Sportsnet World and Sportsnet ONE at 7pm ET. Follow Brendan on Twitter.