Due to life getting in the way I was unable to produce a ‘Monday Muse’ article on Monday focussing on the events from the weekend’s football action. To make up for it, I thought I’d do a special Mid-Week Muse with all the Football League and Europa League action that took place.
The Football League went through its third run of games which provided a series of interesting results. In the Championship, newly promoted Southampton and Brighton & Hove Albion continued their excellent start to the season with impressive victories over Ipswich Town and Cardiff City.
The Saints came away 5-2 winners at Portman Road causing the Tractor Boys a third straight victory including defeat in the League Cup. Their manager Paul Jewell must be wondering where it went wrong since their opening day 3-0 victory at Bristol City.
Joining the two promoted teams with a 100% record is Derby County, a team that have struggled in recent years under manager Nigel Clough but finally the rub of the green is on their side this season with a 3rd straight league win coming at Blackpool. County ran out 1-0 winners causing Ian Holloway an indifferent start back in the Football League.
Leicester City were one of the favourites with Sven Goran-Eriksson allowed to spend in the summer but they suffered a shock defeat at home to Bristol City. It may take some time for all the new players to gel but the Foxes will be expected to challenge for promotion come the end of the season.
In League One, Chris Powell looks to have the remedy for Charlton Athletic with third straight league win with a 2-0 result at Colchester. Newly relegated Sheffield United have also recorded 3 straight wins which is an excellent start if they want to achieve promotion at the first attempt.
The blue side of Sheffield has been indifferent; a win on the opening day looked good for manager Gary Megson but two straight defeats have been alarming, with the last being a 2-1 defeat at Bury.
Russell Slade looked to have turned Leyton Orient’s fortunes around last season but 3 straight defeats has seen them rock bottom of League One.
Rotherham are the only side in League Two with 100% record intact, a 2-1 victory at Crewe saw them top the table. Newly promoted Crawley Town remain undefeated in their Football League history and a 3-0 home victory over Southend United is mightily impressive.
AFC Wimbledon have also turned an opening day defeat around with two back to back wins, a surprising 2-0 victory down at Peter Reid’s Plymouth Argyle came about on Tuesday night with a brace from Jack Midson.
It was a contrasting set of results on Thursday evening in the Europa League for England and Scotland. Tottenham Hotspur who were denied starting their Premier League campaign last weekend took it out on Scottish Premier League side Hearts of Midlothian.
A 5-0 victory at Tynecastle was more than embarrassing for the SPL who have always faced scepticism about the competitiveness of their league. Despite Hearts being a month into their season, it was Spurs who looked sharp with excellent passing and moving from the team.
They didn’t miss Luka Modric as Krancar and Van Der Vaart teamed up well, plus a goal for Jake Livermore was well deserved.
The SPL’s run away clubs didn’t fair well either, Glasgow Rangers went down 2-1 to Slovenian champions NK Maribor. Rangers took the lead in the first half, but a 2nd half equaliser and a last minute goal saw them left red faced.
More shocking was Glasgow Celtic being held 0-0 at Parkhead to Swiss side FC Sion. However, the Swiss club could face a penalty by UEFA by fielding 4 players of the ‘Sion Six’ who were banned due to a transfer embargo placed on the club.
Stoke City survived any embarrassment on the Astroturf in Switzerland with a 1-0 victory over FC Thun. Whilst Championship side Birmingham City held Nacional to a 0-0 draw in Portugal.
Fulham manager Martin Jol made a number of changes to the starting line-up for the home tie with Dnipro but the south west London side came out 3-0 victors.
That’s the Mid-Week Muse complete, we learnt that Scottish football is as pants as we all expected, Sven-Goran Eriksson may think about retirement and Spurs fans think they’re going to win the World Cup after out passing Hearts.
The UEFA Europa League, despite the re branding in recent years the competition is still detested by managers and clubs with bigger ambitions or seen as a nuisance for those who have their league status as a priority. I’ve heard pundits and managers comment how at times it costs the club more financially to enter the competition than they get out of it, but perhaps that’s down to their lack of competitive attitude to get far in the competition.
Verbal Football 