HAVE CHELSEA SEWN UP THE EPL ALREADY?

Chelsea avoided defeat and tormented their greatest challengers for the Premier League title on Sunday. Despite conceding late on, you get the feeling that this will be José Mourinho's year and the other sides are noticing it too. Here are some thoughts on this weekend's matches in England and on the continent.

Frank Lampard may have reluctantly saved Manchester City's skin at the Etihad but Chelsea fans should not be upset as avoiding defeat and dampening their opponents' spirits was key

Chelsea manager José Mourinho must be a rather pleased man. Pleased, that is, in spite of his former player, Frank Lampard, denying him a win at the Etihad in the Blues' visit to Manchester City. Thing is, a victory would have sealed the Premier League title race shut. A draw is fine, however, especially the manner in which it was achieved. City were desperate and even resorted to weak criticisms of their opponents after the game. Manuel Pellegrini insisted that Chelsea play like Stoke! A classic case of sour grapes, the Chilean perhaps frustrated at the signs that this City side has lost that bit of hunger that delivered them the league title last season.

Manuel Pellegrini's post-match comparison of Chelsea and Stoke was both outdated and inaccurate

Onto Manchester United. To anyone that watched it, my words here will not even begin to describe the autrocity that befell them. Cruising to a 3-1 away win at little Leicester City, United's woeful defence conspired to throw away a commanding lead and ended up losing 5-3 in what was arguably the most entertaining game of the season so far. Attacking play ruled the roost and United's attempt to put the game away fizzled pathetically. Young Tyler Blackett was screamed at by captain Wayne Rooney after conceding the equaliser. Rooney had been the one who lost the ball to set up the goal. His confidence damaged, Blackett was later sent off for a professional foul in the penalty area, one of two United conceded on the day. It was a mess all-round, credit Leicester, as Louis van Gaal appeared shell-shocked answering questions post-match.

Tyler Blackett's confidence must be crushed after being screamed at by Wayne Rooney, giving away a penalty and getting sent off. A bad day at the office overall for the youngster

Liverpool also lost out. This time to West Ham at the Boleyn Ground. Without Daniel Sturridge, they are missing something and the players Brendan Rodgers has signed in order to cover the Luis Suárez void are hardly filling their fans with confidence. Good manager that he is, some feel he got a tad lucky to have inherited the world class Uruguayan and perhaps only achieved last season's second place finish thanks the transitional nature of the campaign where many top teams changed managers.

Bubbles in your face: Brendan Rodgers will have to rethink things after going down 3-1 at West Ham

Tottenham flopped in front of their own fans in a very AVB-like performance in their 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion. It was back to sterile possession, moving the ball slowly from side-to-side without any real aggression. This pattern of play is still rooted in the Spurs squad despite two managerial changes since André Villas-Boas was shown the door.

Mauricio Pochettino showed more passion than his players at White Hart Lane on Sunday

North London rivals Arsenal had more joy when they put away plucky Aston Villa thanks to a barrage of three goals in the space of no more than seven or eight minutes. Mesut Ozil was back to his best playing in his preferred central role though many will still write him off as a flat track bully no matter how Arsene Wenger portrays him.

Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck did enough to keep their critics quiet against Aston Villa

 

Across Europe, there were goals galore in Spain as clásico rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona both recorded high scoring victories away to Deportivo and Levante respectively. Real won 8-2 thanks to a storming hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca notched up five and kept a clean sheet in a game where Lionel Messi starred in something of a playmakers' role despite missing a penalty. In Italy, Juventus showed they are still the team to beat despite a change in management. They visited Milan at San Siro and came away with a 1-0 win thanks to a Carlos Tevez strike.

Lionel Messi has become creator-provider...penalty misser under Luis Enrique in his deeper playmaker role

 

Without Champions League or internationals and only minor cup competitions to be competed in this mid-week, this gives teams an ample opportunity to refresh and rethink now that the major European domestic campaigns are starting to take shape. We are not too far off October, the month before the sack race. Giddy up!

ITALIAN POSSESSION SUFFOCATES ENGLAND

D. Ray Morton, 15th June 2014.

"Super Mario" Balotelli powers in Italy's winner from Antonio Candreva's wonderful cross

By the end, it was a tale of two knackered veterans on opposing sides. Andrea Pirlo and Italy triumphant, England's Steven Gerrard throwing himself on the ground for non-existent penalties. Both could barely walk by the conclusion of it but Pirlo could probably pass the ball if he was confined to a wheelchair. England physio, Gary Lewin, somehow ended up on a stretcher. The Azzurri defeated Roy Hodgson's boys in the heat of Manaus by two goals to one with England's only consolation being Uruguay's shock 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica earlier on in the evening. A bad start to their World Cup campaign though not an insurmountable one.

England had a few threatening outlets. Liverpool duo Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge offered pace and energy where others did not. Wayne Rooney included in the under-performers who was stuck out on the left flank. An assist, all things considered, for Sturridge's goal was a bonus considering he was isolated throughout and played completely out of position. England's passing had been that bit longer. Italy managed to take pressure off themselves by controlling the tempo with simple, somewhat "tiki-taka"-like five yarders. The English were a tad mechanical. Less link-up and more panic in an eagerness to impress. They were seemingly allergic to the concept of recycling possession, keeping the ball when a direct route to goal does not instantly materialise. Like a bad five-a-side team with no-one giving instructions.

The whole affair had a touch of winter players versus summer players about it. Controlling possession cleverly in extreme heat is not a feature of the English game where the cold winter weather dictates the tempo we have known to expect in the Premier League. Credit must be given to Gabriel Paletta, who I had personally flagged as a potential weak link for Italy. His dodgy come-over/mullet managed to prove me wrong, however, as the veteran centre half dealt with the occasion splendidly. Mario Balotelli did his job sufficiently. Movement is not a feature of his game and it actually worked very well in his favour last night. When he had to do something, which was not very often, he did it perfectly. His 50th minute goal, which turned out to be the winner, was well taken after a fine assist by Antonio Candreva.

Possession was the theme of the tactical analysis. Italy used the ball much, much better. It was perhaps symbolic of an overall clash of football cultures. It felt like philosophers against savages at times. England were naive to think that the use of pace and pressing would work in such conditions. Italy, whether by chance or not, seemed to be better prepared overall. Pirlo hitting the bar at the end was somewhat poetic. Joe Hart stood by, dumbfounded, as the ball swerved magnificently and thumped the woodwork. It would have been goal of the tournament so far. Lesson: How to play in hot weather. Solution: Unlike England.

But as mentioned, Uruguay lost and looked awful in their respective game. Even ignoring Luis Suárez's exclusion, their defence was in tatters. Diegos Lugano and Forlán looked especially past it. This is a team that conceded 25 goals in qualifying, getting in at the last available spot. Talk of Suárez and Edinson Cavani overshadowed what is fundamentally a poor side, nowhere near as good as say, Chile or Colombia. Speaking of Colombia, they looked quite good in their Group C match. They hammered the supposedly stubborn Greeks 3-0 as Côte d'Ivoire saw off Japan with a 2-1 win. An exciting matchday though the 2am (my local time/GMT) kick-off was a bit of a strain on sleepy eyes.

RVP COULD HOLD MAN UTD TO RANSOM

RVP COULD HOLD MAN UTD TO RANSOM

D. Ray Morton, 14th March 2014.

Robin van Persie has certainly changed his tune this week announcing he is "happy" at Manchester United. The timing of this strikes as downright weird with United going into a Premier League clash at Old Trafford against Liverpool in which defeat could signal a change in the balance of power in the next era of English football. Sir Alex Ferguson dreamed of knocking Liverpool "off their perch" and achieved this last season by guiding United to more overall league title wins than their bitter rivals, largely thanks to RVP and his goals.

The Dutch man's struggles this season have been glaringly obvious in contrast to his outstanding 2012/13 season where he played through without injury which seemed to be the player's biggest weakness before joining from Arsenal. Van Persie publicly questioned David Moyes' training methods, hinting that a fragile talent such as his own should be treated very differently to the training regime that others might thrive on. Many sports scientists now mention the difference between fast muscle twitch and slow muscle twitch athletes whose bodies thrive on different types of workouts. Wayne Rooney was delighted with the extra running and cardio sessions introduced this season. Van Persie was not. A Dutch fitness coach described Moyes' methods as dinosaur-like in regards to his treatment of RVP.

About a month ago, speculation had risen that van Persie was sick of playing at United in a team, now without Ferguson, languishing well outside of the Champions League qualification spots. He was even linked back with a move to Arsenal. The only thing that has really changed in that time is that Wayne Rooney signed an incredible £300,000 a week contract making him the third highest-paid footballer in the world on club salary, take home cash alone. Perhaps RVP realises there's no chance of increasing his own wages by moving away from United. His injuries, form and age would represent a huge gamble to any team willing to take a chance on him. That is, but for United in their own desperation.

With Rooney raking in wages far beyond his abilities should dictate, maybe van Persie wants to get in on the sinking ship, cash-cow that United appear to have become of late. One last big money contract to set up his retirement. He may never play in the Champions League again if he does sign that contract but he did manage to win that elusive big trophy he had always craved last season by winning the Premier League. Is he holding United at ransom and would you blame him if the club were naive enough to increase his wages as his attributes naturally decrease? The coming weeks should let us know.