Five things learned from Premier League opener
We look at the five things that stood-out to us on Saturday
Hallelujah the Premier League is back.
Yes the 2015/2016 campaign got underway yesterday with six games played throughout, starting at lunch-time with Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur and ending in the evening with Chelsea hosting Swansea City.
Now although it’s only the first game of 38, there are still things we can learn from the first day of Premier League action and here at SillySeason, we are going to look at what stood-out for us during the first few matches.
In a day where there were wins for Manchester United, Aston Villa, Leicester City and Crystal Palace, we also saw Chelsea kick-start their campaign with a draw and Watford pick up a respectable point away at Everton.
But what are the five points that stood out for us?
Lets find out!
5) Cech Could Be Missed
The last thing you want to see as a manager once you’ve sold your world-class back-up goalkeeper is your new number-one getting sent off on the first day.
Well that’s what happened to Jose Mourinho.
Yes he reluctantly sold Petr Cech to Arsenal after Roman Abramovich allowed the deal to happen and Thibaut Courtois then got sent off against Swansea City at Stamford Bridge and will now miss three games.
Courtois brought down Bafetimbi Gomis in the penalty area and saw a straight red for his challenge, which meant new signing Asmir Begovic had to come on to face the penalty.
Begovic is still a top-class goalkeeper don’t get us wrong, but he’s not Cech, and you can bet Mourinho is now wishing he still had the reliable veteran to have in between the sticks for the next three games.
4) Don’t Write Off Watford
Have to be honest, we had Watford down and doomed for this season.
However, they were the only promoted team to pick up a point yesterday following Norwich‘s and Bournemouth‘s home defeats, and The Hornets had the trickiest game.
Watford traveled to Goodison Park to take on Roberto Martinez‘s Everton and they came away with a respectable point after a 2-2 draw.
The newly-promoted side took the lead twice throughout the game but unfortunately for them, they couldn’t quite hold on to all three points, but the draw is surely a point gained already for them.
Another poor season for Everton in store?
3) Officials Are Just As Bad As Last Year
If you watched the Premier League last season, you would know that the officials were dire, and sadly they didn’t cover themselves in glory yesterday either.
Two controversial decisions at Carrow Road and one at Stamford Bridge stole the headlines.
For newly-promoted Norwich, they were denied a penalty and then had a perfectly good goal chalked off due to dangerous play. Cameron Jerome scored an overhead kick but had it disallowed due to a high-boot.
If the ref let the goal stand, it would have brought Norwich back from 2-0 down to 2-2, but the ref denied the goal and they hosts went on to lose 3-1 at the hands of Crystal Palace.
As for Chelsea, the debate is whether Thibaut Courtois‘ challenge on Bafetimbi Gomis was inside or outside the box. It was very close and could be given either way, but it’s another decision that has raised eyebrows already.
Not the start officials would have wanted.
2) Claudio Ranieri Boosts Leicester
It was quite a shock to see Nigel Pearson sacked at the end of last season following the great escape of Leicester City, but Claudio Ranieri has come in with a bang.
A 4-2 win on the opening day of the season over Sunderland gave The Foxes a dream start to their second season in the Premier League.
A convincing win and performance gave Ranieri the dream start for his return to England and he will be hoping it can continue for the foreseeable future.
Can he keep it up throughout the whole season though? That’s another question.
1) New Season, Same Sunderland
They’ve somehow survived in the Premier League for the last two seasons, but they still haven’t learnt their lessons or changed their ways.
A ridiculous run of form from Connor Wickham two years ago, and a couple of good results at the end of last season saved Sunderland on two occasions, but they still look woeful and still haven’t improved.
Losing 4-2 on the season opener to a predicted fellow-struggler is not what you’d want from the first game but that’s what happened to Dick Advocaat‘s men.
Leicester City hammered then in all fairness and it still seems that Sunderland aren’t bothered with improving or learning from previous lessons.
However, we know what will happen.
They’ll play woeful for most of the season, beat Newcastle United twice and then somehow survive thanks to miraculous results come April/May time.
So there were our five things we learnt from the season opener.
What stood-out for you?
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt