10 Things We Learned in the Premier League: Manuel Almunia is Smarter Than He Looks

By: Daryl | November 10th, 2008

1. Manuel Almunia is smarter than he looks (maybe)
Have a look about 1:20 into this video:

When Mikael Silvestre played him a dreadful backpass, Manuel Almunia handled the ball. You can’t do that, so indirect free-kick. Either Almunia is an idiot who doesn’t understand the backpass rule, or… he’s very shrewd and decided that conceding an indirect free kick was preferable to getting his legs tangled with the more nimble Rooney.

2. Football is better when it rains
I’m serious. Too much rain is obviously a bad thing. But when there’s a decent little downpour it makes the surface slick and passes zip. And we get the sort of end to end action we saw in Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd. More rain please (but not too much more).

3. Richard Dunne is the new Titus Bramble
Dunne already has two own goals for (or more accurately against) Man City this season, and this weekend he gifted Spurs an equalizer by completely missing the ball. Watch, then cringe:

4. Or maybe Steve Sidwell is…
Middlesbrough’s winner came via a perfect assist from the Villa midfielder:

5. No one can break the big four
Man Utd’s loss meant either Hull or Aston Villa could drag themselves into the hallowed Premier League top four with a win. Both of them lost.

6. The worst goal of the season
We’re still waiting to see the best goal of the season, but we’ve probably already seen the worst. And it belongs to Nicolas Anelka. Great shot from Jose Bosingwa, but it’s either a handball or kneeball as it strikes an unsuspecting Sulk and then slowly, sadly trickles in. Almost like the ball was embarrassed to cross the line in such undignified fashion:

7. Goalkeepers win games
Hull bombarded Bolton at home, but lost to a fairly soft Matty Taylor goal. The reason they lost was the Trotters vowel-tastic Finnish keeper Jussi Jääskeläinen, who saved all 11 shots the Tigers put on target. Click here for highlights*.

8. Some games are as bad as they sound
Sometimes games like Wigan vs Stoke are a lot more entertaining than you’d expect. But only sometimes. Wigan vs Stoke was the drab goalless draw it sounded like it would be. Mostly because Stoke got something like a hundred men behind the ball and waited for full time. Ugly, but it worked. Click here for highlights**.

9. Roy Keane isn’t all that
It’s a bit simplistic, but sometimes you really can judge a manager by his substitutions. Sunderland were 1-0 against Portsmouth and looking good after 45. But Keane brought on El-Hadji Diouf for Daryl Murphy and also switched Andy Reid out wide and Kieran Richardson to the center. The result: Portsmouth bounced back and won the game from the spot after Diouf stupidly fouled Glen Johnson in the 90th minute. Just saying.

10. Harry Redknapp is the Barack Obama of football
Obama might give a better speech, but Harry Redknapp has already brought change Spurs fans can believe in to White Hart Lane.

*via 101 Great Goals.
** no link? exactly.