Source: Team_Talk
Premier League blog - Aug 14
TEAMtalk reflects on Saturday's enthralling opening day of the 2010/11 Premier League season with Blackpool quite rightly taking centre stage.[LNB] Save of the Day Pretty much anything from Joe Hart at White Hart Lane as Manchester City held out for a 0-0 draw against Tottenham.[LNB]Roberto Mancini had a big decision to make on who to start in goal for the season opener, but there can be no argument that he made the right one as the England man produced a string of high quality stops. Perhaps the best of those was to deny Jermain Defoe from close range - showing magnificent reactions to fling out an arm to keep out the striker's volley. The 23-year-old also denied Tom Huddlestone, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Defoe again as City grabbed a hard-earned point. What now for Shay Given? (Rob McCarthy)[LNB]Performance of the Day: Blackpool. Ian Holloway's men hit the ground running in the Premier League with a superb 4-0 victory over Wigan at the DW Stadium.[LNB]The Seasiders played some great, free-flowing football with Brett Ormerod, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Marlon Harewood all shining for the Premier League new boys.[LNB]Taylor-Fletcher netted Blackpool's first then scored another but it was incorrectly ruled out for offside. New striker Harewood bagged a brace on his debut and Alex Baptiste sealed the win with a cross from the right which deceived Chris Kirkland and went in at the far post.[LNB]All in all, it was a brilliant Premier League debut by Blackpool and the win will be a real confidence boost for Holloway's side. The 4-0 scoreline did not flatter the Seasiders either and Wigan's defending was shambolic at times. And to top it off, Blackpool are top of the league! (Sam Nightingale)[LNB]Howler of the Day: Blackburn against Everton looked like it would be a tight affair on paper, and so it proved - making Tim Howard's misjudged charge out of his goal on 14 minutes all the more damaging. The New Jersey netminder looked like to have gathered a routine long ball but a bad case of butter-fingers presented Nikola Kalinic with a gift-wrapped goal to open his account for the season. Doofus. (Jon Holmes)[LNB]Farewell of the Day?: He's been on the verge of leaving all summer, but Villa's James Milner has not left the building just yet. However, if the 3-0 win over West Ham does prove to be his swansong, it will be fondly remembered - despite his name being booed when read out from the teamsheet. All-action as usual, Milner sealed victory for the hosts with a sumptuous strike from the top of the box that flew past Robert Green. Jeers became cheers - but will he be wearing a Man City shirt next Saturday? (JH)[LNB]Goal of the Day: David Jones, Wolves. It probably won't quite make the cut for top 10 goals this season, but Jones' opener for the Molineux men against rivals Stoke was certainly a thing of beauty. After having a free-kick rolled back to him some 22 yards from goal, Jones flicked the ball up before volleying a cracking effort over the wall and in off the underside of the crossbar. Great tekkers, as they say. Take a boo, son, take a boo! (James Marshment)[LNB]Sinking feeling of the Day: West Brom. They're branded the yo-yo club, but there is high hopes in the Black Country that West Brom might just avoid the drop back into the second tier this season. Obviously you don't want to read too much into the first day of the season, but a 6-0 mauling by Chelsea will hardly inspire confidence. OK, so the Blues put many a side to the sword last season, but Roberto Di Matteo surely didn't expect to be on the end of such a hiding so early on. Our very own Simon Wilkes expects West Brom to be a 'tighter unit' and 'far harder' to break down this season. While that could yet prove to be true, they'll first have to discover the art of a defensive wall as Chelsea's first two goals owed to rather large holes in their rearguard. Keeper Scott Carson should also remove the treacle from his gloves too. (JM).[LNB]Quote of the Day: Ian Holloway. I expect he fill feature regularly here and we certainly expect him to keep us very entertained this season. Following Saturday's 4-0 win at Wigan, Holloway, asked how he would celebrate the victory, revealed: "I am going to Bath to see my kids and my wife's new dog. It's a little poodle called Teddy.[LNB]"Hopefully we can come back up on Monday and find a semi-permanent home. I am going to try and move my family up here because I can't stand how far it is and I want to stay here a long time."[LNB]Start as you mean to go on, Ollie! (JM) [LNB]Moan of the Day: Steve Bruce. First game of the season and Brucie's moaning at the referee. Give us a break! The ref was right to send off Lee Cattermole, who is an angry young man. He could have been dismissed before that after his forearm smash on Garry O'Connor. [LNB]And Bruce might want to reconsider giving Cattermole the skipper's armband. (Matty Briggs)
