Premiership: Two Weeks In

(Author’s note: I refuse to call it the Premier League. Premiership just rolls of the tongue.)

As the world takes a breather for internationals, we here at the fan-atic want to take a moment to see how things are going in the English top division. Here are my thoughts after a few weeks of action:

• Anyone who read my Premiership predictions column knew I liked Manchester City this year, and I’m glad that at least appears that I know what I am doing. I don’t really expect them to win the league, but I still feel they will do well. Anyone who read a book like Forza Italia (by Paddy Agnew) or was just interested in Italian football knows Eriksson is a good coach; obviously he didn’t get the English National Team job by accident. One could argue as well that he did about as well as he could with the English team, as he usually finished each tournament in eighth or ninth place, and it is certainly reasonable to argue that England is the eighth or ninth best team in the world, regardless of what the English press say. Anyway, Eriksson is a good coach, and I am glad to see him doing well.
• Manchester United, in contrast, does not look good. I never thought their problem would be scoring goals. One of my close friends thinks Ryan Giggs is done; I’m not so sure, but I would like to have seen him finish a few more chances in the season’s first three games. I think they will be allright once they get Ronaldo back in two games and Rooney in a few months. But will the season be done by then? And will Fergie make a panic buy in the meantime?
• Chelsea: good, but still boring.
• Liverpool has been more fun to watch than in season’s past, and Fernando Torres has settled in nicely. When Shevchenko was struggling with Chelsea last season everyone said that players need a season to become accustomed to the grind and physicality of the Premiership. Apparently Torres never got that letter.
• Obafemi Martins is fun to watch.
• Apparently the bookies in London have stopped taking bets on fat Martin Jol winning the sack race. (The first manager in the league to get shitcanned.) My money is still on lil’ Sammy Lee of Bolton.
• I’m glad to see David Healy is doing well with Fulham. I think I may be the only person in America who regularly wears a David Healy shirt. (Northern Ireland.)
• Lastly, (and this is Championship news, and not Premiership) my club Sheffield United is in 19^th place in the Championship. I asked a club employee this week how new coach Bryan Robson was doing. The employee answered, quite politically, that everyone was impressed by Robson’s ‘professionalism.’ Great. Robbo is a professional. He shows up on time wearing a clean shirt. Now if only we could win some games…