The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the weekend by @Komptrolla
We evaluate the weekend in retrospective and bring to you the good, the bad and the ugly outcome from games across Europe.
The Good
Benitez' day at the Bernabeu
There had been talks of early sack for former Liverpool, Inter and Chelsea gaffer Rafael Benitez at Real Madrid following an uninspiring opening day stalemate at Sporting Gijon, this time around, the Merenges rarely needed Cristiano Ronaldo to be at his best before blowing Real Betis away even before the hour mark.Highlight of the day has to be the sublime free kick off the boots of Colombian jewel James Rodriguez, Bale netted a brace as well as James as Los Blancos ran out 5:0 winners... Barcelona gotta watch their backs
PSG checkmate Monaco
We all knew it was only a matter of time before PSG become unbeatable, with an Angel flying on the flanks of a King and a Lion with the name of a famous scientist, Stade Louis Stadium were silenced in spectacular fashion when PSG returned after the break.Edison Cavani scored twice before Ezekiel Lavezzi rounded up the scoring with minutes to play, Angel DiMaria was brought on just after the hour mark and things weren't the same again, King Ibrahimovic added an assist and you can expect more magics from the capital club
Power shift in Serie A?
Juventus are already going from bad to worse with just two games into the season, the loss at home to Udinese was followed up by another loss in Rome, with two sending offs and a pathetic display.Nothing taken away from the heroics of AS Roma, who improved from their opening day draw to hand Juventus their worst ever start to a league season.
Paulo Dybala offered some late consolation to Allegri but Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic's strikes already proved too high a mountain to subdue, is this the season for Roma? They were good last night.
The Bad
Is Barcelona out of steam?
Barcelona aren't looking like a solid team this term, Thomas Vermaelen gave them a narrow home win over Malaga but this isn't how to follow up on a treble winning campaign.Three points in the bag no doubt but questions abound, the sale of Pedro goes under scrutiny once more as Barcelona struggle upfront in search of goals, teams now seem to have gotten used to the MSN browser that a Pedro software would have been an added advantage, they may have to wait till January to feel the effect of Arda Turan, till then...
Clueless Arsenal wobbled to victory
I don't have a perfect definition for sanity, but insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, does Arsene Wenger need anyone to paste it on the notice board that his team needs an efficient goal poacher?Good a thing Theo Walcott laid to rest every discussion about him being a striker, his blown chances will never rise again, Giroud wasted a golden chance at the death to confirm fans' doubts, score board read 0:1 but the team with the goal didn't score the goal, if Own Goal was the player Wenger banked on when he said fans should trust him, then he must hope teams around him keep stuttering for him to finish 4th.
Relying on an own goal to beat a team with one man off since the fifteenth minute of play is worrisome... Quite bad even in victory.
The Ugly
Sorry Manchester United beaten again by Swansea
Swansea City were too good for Manchester United, Van Gaal admitted and he really doesn't have a choice than to, his team were directionless, toothless and everything less of brilliance all day.David DeGea's situation is as ugly as the on field display of the Red Devils, having gone a goal up, one would expect the hosts to go on and nail Swansea who have conquered them too much in recent times.
United did the opposite, two wild counter attacks and Swansea were winners again, Rooney returned to his villain tent after the midweek heroics as he fluffed a clear goal scoring chance by dilly dallying before the impressive Ashley Williams knocked the ball off him. Pathetic Devils.
Eagles humble the champions at the Bridge
It's uncharacteristic of Jose Mourinho to lose at home, well not again, Alan Pardew, one of the few that have beaten the Portuguese in the past did it again... In style. No two ways about it Chelsea were ugly on the day, so many player switched off and Crystal Palace took full advantage, when Radamel Falcao came on to nod home Pedro's cross, one must be thinking victory for Chelsea but Ward returned the favors and sent Thibaut Courtois floundering, Mourinho once again had his blame wheel spinned and his players were the recipients. Ugly.Zero Liverpool character broke Westham's ageless jinx
No one saw it coming at Anfield, 0:3 loss to a Westham team that had lost at home to Bournemouth and Leicester in recent weeks, of a truth, Liverpool aren't in anyone's books as favorites to even finish in Europa places, but losing at home to a team that hasn't beaten you on home soil in 52 years was out of imaginations.After shutting out Arsenal and two narrow wins in previous fixtures, Brendan and Co. were tipped for victory, how wrong. Big ups to Slaven Bilic's men, they came, saw and conquered.
Written by @Komptrolla
