Raising standards

West Ham are two up against United.

Question, then:  are the best teams in the Premier League not as good as they used to be?    Or are the lesser teams better?   Or both?   And what does that tell us about Fulham?

I suspect it’s a bit of everything.  There are certain indicators:  Chelsea are older than when they were great.  United’s best player (Ronaldo) in recent memory has gone, Rooney’s off form, Ferdinand never plays.  Arsenal are in a perpetual neverland (but if they can avoid getting too upset if they don’t win this year, surely they are well set for next?)  Man City are perhaps a year away from gelling, perhaps not.  Liverpool might be back soon.  So the top teams are okay but not great by recent (very high) standards.

At the bottom it’s anyone’s guess, but West Ham have happened on some good players at a good time, and most of the mid-rank teams look fairly handy.  I don’t know that the worst teams in the league are especially good, but there are no disasters playing this season and the more adventurous approaches taken by Blackpool, Wigan, and previously WBA does I suspect make them liable to confusing better teams when the stars are correctly aligned.

Anyway, interesting stuff, no?   Having muttered about football behind its back while it’s been away, I’m all smiles now we’re back to normal.  Fickle…

PS all this does underline the folly of footballing decision making.  We see Rooney, rewarded with a mega-contract despite not playing well for an eternity, Chelsea have Torres for £50m despite his dire form.   Couldn’t both sides have gone on to better things with better decision making?

PPS Lee Mason, in charge of West Ham v United today, has a good record of home wins when the away team is the favourite