Unbeaten Run Begins?

 Another weekend, more points dropped at home, though after our recent losing streak a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw is far more cheering than it would have been a couple of months back. There's no doubt we deserved something from the game, probably a win, but at least we've stopped the losing run and we have something to build on for our next fixture. We hit the woodwork three times and had three decent penalty claims, though personally I only think one of them should have been given, the opposition keeper was man of the match and we conceded with one of the very few attempts on goal the visitors managed, it's amazing how the same story keeps repeating itself throughout our season. We put alot of pressure on Villa for the majority of the match and could easily have won and we should take plenty of positives from the game. It was a decent performance and the team included a few youngsters like Shelvey, Flanagan and Henderson, aswell as a debutant in Doni so despite not taking all three points we shouldn't be too down about the result.

 Seeing how dominant we were against Villa has led me to investigate a few stats from our latest games. I've taken the information from the match reports on the BBC sport website so if any of it is wrong blame them... In our last eight games we've taken a paltry four points, while our collective opponents have emerged with nineteen. Sounds like we've been battered doesn't it? Over the course of those eight games we've had 105 attempts on goal, 56 on target, while the opposition has managed only 64 attempts, 37 on target. That's nearly twice as many attempts as the teams we've faced, including plenty more goalbound shots. Considering those eight fixtures have included Man Utd away, Newcastle away and Sunderland away aswell as games against Arsenal and Everton it's surprising we're so far ahead in terms of attempts. Stats like these can be misleading as a poor shot from thirty yards is counted the same as a well crafted attempt from close range but it's still interesting to note how dominant we've been in this area. If you'd been presented with these figures without knowing the scores you would expect us to have taken more than four points. To break it down into simple terms it has taken us almost exactly twenty six attempts at goal per point earned, while our opponents need only just over three attempts to earn each point. With a return like that it's going to be almost impossible to achieve anything in the league. Our attackers clearly need to step up and start finishing the chances while our defence has plenty to answer for, one clean sheet in eight games and allowing the opposition to score so regularly with their chances is not a solid base to build from.

 I've a few other observations from the last week or so to put in here if you can bare with me, this may get into 'rant' territory.
 Diving. It's cheating and we don't want it in our game, plain and simple. There have been three examples that come to mind over the last week or so, two from our game at Newcastle last weekend and one at Old Trafford yesterday. Players will cheat to try to gain an advantage, it's in their make up now and it will take a large culture change to eradicate it from our game. I'm not going to look at the players for this, I'm going to look at their managers. Kenny Dalglish said after Andy Carroll's dive that it wasn't a penalty but he thought Carroll stumbled. Alex Ferguson said after Ashley Young's dive that he was pushed and it was a clear penalty, Alan Pardew said after James Perch's dive that he was disappointed with Andy Carroll's dive in the first half. These men have the power to stop their players behaving like this and have a duty to the game to make a difference. I'm hoping both Dalglish and Ferguson went back into the dressing rooms after their interviews and laid into their own players, telling them they've just had to embarrass themselves in interviews and stick up for their players despite the whole world being able to see they were lying. I'd like to think this would happen but I doubt it. I actually think Alan Pardew not mentioning his own player in his interview is a better response than lying about it when we could all see there was no contact from Reina on Perch. Pardew must have spoken to his player in private about his actions otherwise we should all give up watching football, we want to see a fair game.
 Offsides, penalties, referees and media reporting. Wigan conceded two offside goals against Chelsea, Man Utd were awarded a penalty for a 'foul' on a player in an offside position, and we conceded a goal to Newcastle when Cisse was clearly offside. Firstly I'll mention how hard the linesman's job is but it's not good that they make so many errors, all four incidents could have been corrected with TV replays without delaying the game by more than a few seconds. Secondly I want to mention the uproar at Wigan and QPR conceding goals that shouldn't have counted compared to the total lack of mention of Liverpool's injustice, have we really fallen so far in our standing that the media want to do nothing but stick the boot in? I'd hope not but that is what the evidence suggests. I also think the criticism aimed at referee Lee Mason in the Man Utd V QPR game is harsh, missing the offside was the linesman's call, not his, and I just don't see how when a player dives it's the ref's fault for missing it rather than being the players fault for cheating. Having said all that Mason was very very quick to blow his whistle and give Man Utd a penalty at Old Trafford. Referees in general have missed alot in the last couple of sets of fixtures, our non penalty at Newcastle, Balotelli's shocking tackle on Song, Man Utd's penalty incidents against Fulham and QPR, our non penalties against Villa, booking two players for diving at Anfield on Saturday when both appeared to be tripped, Pienaar lying on the ball at Norwich, and I think the decision to award Stoke a free kick against Wolves from which they set up Crouch's winner was shocking. Good tackles nowadays seem to be given as fouls and fouls in the penalty area just don't count. Take for example yesterday at Old Trafford, what would football fans prefer, a 30 second delay in the game or a team playing with ten men for 75 minutes after a wrong decision? Not a hard one is it?