Premier sketch: Russian belters, barn doors & Roy's resurgence
Tuesday 12 April 2011 12:21
There were several cracking goals this weekend, but none better than the one scored by Everton’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov which put his side well on the way to a convincing 3-0 away win over struggling Wolves.
Take a look closely at the replay and you’ll even see a few Wolves fans flinching as if the ball is going to burst through the net and keep hurtling towards their faces. The Russian comes up with efforts like this every now and then, just to let everyone know he’s still around despite never really justifying his whopping £10 million transfer fee - and to think Everton fans always tell us they don’t have any money…
While we’re on the subject of splashing the cash with reckless abandon, how about that reserve striker on Chelsea’s books? No, not Bolton’s on loan goal-machine Daniel Sturridge, but the striker who can’t even hit a barn door at the moment, Fernando Torres.
It’s now ten games that the Spaniard has been doing an impression of a blind fisherman (he just can’t seem to find the net) and the pressure will probably have increased this week as, not only did Phil Neville bag himself a goal, but Liverpool‘s new No.9 did too. Here’s how it’s done Fernando.
No such goal droughts as far as West Bromwich Albion are concerned; what on Earth is going on at the Hawthorns? Since Roy Hodgson took over the Baggies have gone on a seven game unbeaten run and on Saturday they came from behind twice to win 3-2 at Sunderland, Paul Scharner finishing off a tidy move for the winner.
Hodgson’s men have now leapfrogged Sunderland into 10th place, and if this outstanding run continues you can bet it won’t be long until some are campaigning for him to take over from Fabio Capello. Hold on a minute something feels all too familiar…
It may have been a particularly uncontroversial round of Premier League action - with only the aforementioned Phil Neville strike sending jaws dropping to the ground in stunned disbelief, and no incidents involving scowling red-faced strikers elbowing their fellow professionals, questioning officials’ parentage, or telling millions of worldwide television viewers where to go - but spare a thought for Colleen Rooney, who had two screaming kids to keep entertained on a Saturday afternoon rather than just the one…
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About Rob Carey
Behind Alan Shearer, Rob is hoping to become England’s second most famous son of a sheet metal worker. He spent most of his childhood worshipping Kenny Dalglish, running around muddy pitches, collecting Panini football stickers, and drawing the weekend’s football highlights in stickmen form.
Today he can be found in California worshipping the sun, hobbling through an over-30s’ match, collecting injuries, and drawing the weekend’s football highlights in stickmen form. He certainly wouldn’t say no to anyone offering him enormous sums of money to turn his blog
One Pound The Large Flag into a book.