Monday, August 13, 2007

Week 1: Best XI

From Goal.com (paraphrased):

Premier League Best Eleven Of The Week: Week 1 Who were the best performers in the Premiership at the weekend?

Goalkeeper

Tony Warner (Fulham): Kept Fulham from getting blown out after getting word he would play 10 minutes before kickoff.


Defenders

Nicky Shorey (Reading): Marked Cristiano Ronaldo effectively.

Paul McShane (Sunderland): Nullified what has been hyped as the most vaunted strike-force in the Premier League. The fact that the largely anonymous Berbatov was withdrawn underlined McShane's effectiveness.

Jamie Carragher (Liverpool): Solid in the back

Ross Wallace (Sunderland): Fed Chopra for the lone goal

Midfielders

Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea): Finally living up to his potential?

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool): Two words: Free kick

Elano (Manchester City): Sven is a genius

Olivier Kapo (Birmingham City): Class goal against Cech had Chelsea fans biting nails


Strikers

Obafemi Martins (Newcastle United): Heroic performance.

Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers): scored within two minutes of being subbed in.


Honourable Mentions:

Stuart Taylor was heroic in goal for Aston Villa, and Marcus Hahnemann produced a number of second-half saves to preserve Reading's clean sheet at Old Trafford, while on Teesside Brad Friedel was a typically formidable barrier for Blackburn.

Micah Richards underlined his quality in the Manchester City, Nyron Nosworthy showed why Sunderland fans love him and Zat Knight made a couple of crucial blocks for Fulham against Arsenal. Newcastle's David Rozehnal had a good debut and Andy Todd capped a fine display for Derby with a spectacular diving header to earn the Rams a first-day point.

Midfielders who caught the eye included Manchester City's Michael Johnson and Martin Petrov. Dickson Etuhu showed Premier League potential for Sunderland while Mikel Arteta shone for Everton and Matt Oakley produced a csptain's goal-scoring performance for Derby County.

Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda looked ominously classy for Chelsea, both getting on the scoresheet, Dirk Kuyt worked tirelessly across the front line for Liverpool and Derby's Steve Howard was a handful.

Not too many stick points here, but I would here's where I would differ on the Best XI, GK has to be Marcus Hahnemann who made so many nice saves that the cult of the bald Yank amongst Reading supporters grows daily.


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