Some fun and games from the Russian Premier League
While any pitch invaders in the Manchester derby were liable to receive the fist-based justice of Craig Bellamy, an encroaching fan in this week’s Moscow derby fulfilled a lifetime ambition.
Spartak Moscow were 1-0 down during their visit to fierce rivals Saturn Moscow Oblast when they were awarded a penalty. As Brazilian forward Alex was preparing to take the spot kick, an over zealous fan stole the limelight with his hilarious antics.
Undeterred by the distraction, Alex eventually took his turn and levelled the score, but his efforts were ultimately in vain as Saturn scored a winner three minutes later.
The players who won’t make the grade at their new clubs
In the spirit of writing people off at an unreasonably early stage of the season, we asked Spoiler correspondent Joe Thompson to list the top ten newbies who are likely to struggle in 2009/10. Thankfully, he obliged…
Alberto Aquilani (Roma to Liverpool, £20m)
‘What?! I’ve seen him on YouTube, he’s a maestro! Great vision, long range shooting! Like Gerrard with nice hair!’ True, but he’s also crocked enough to make Darren Anderton look like The Terminator. In all competitions, he’s made 90 starts in five seasons. Look at the YouTube compilations again, he’s got a different haircut in every clip. OK, he’s Italian - it proves nothing- but he doesn’t play much. At £20m, Benitez has taken a massive gamble. By the time he plays it’ll be nearly Christmas, and a crunching (or even soft) tackle away at Stoke or Bolton might mean he’s glad to get back to the comfort of the treatment room.
Ronald Zubar (Marseille to Wolves, undisclosed)
Very few players are immortalised in a football expression– The ‘Cruyff’ Turn, The ‘Blanco’ Bounce and ‘Zubrelances’. The latter is a term the Marseille faithful coined to describe Zubar’s regular defensive howlers. He’s played for France U-21’s, but then Titus Bramble also played U-21 football when he was clowning around at Newcastle. Mick McCarthy is already ‘pleading for patience’ with his new signing - Wolves fans are going to need it.
Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers to Man City, £17m)
Initially, this looked like a great match. Hughes had long been giving him the eye after re-launching his career
Stephen Bywater chooses the perfect time to prank a teammate
At the start of the season, morale at Derby County was so low that players were willing to sneak through windows if it meant escaping Paul Jewell’s regime. That’s all changed under Nigel Clough though. Robbie Savage is a first-team regular again having been sent to Brighton on loan earlier this season and his teammates are delighted to have him back. Stephen Bywater decided to show his love for the Welshman by showering him with drink live on Sky Sports News. Be sure to check out Savage’s face as he realises what’s about to happen but has nowhere to run.
Martin Hansen dents chances of ever making Reds’ first team
It seems we awarded the Tame Goal of the Week Award to Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha a little prematurely - the real recipient should be Scott Spencer for his tepid effort in the Everton/ Liverpool reserves derby on Tuesday night.
The Toffees forward returned the ball to Liverpool reserve keeper Martin Hansen after an injury stoppage, and the Danish keeper displayed some Scott Carson-esque control. Quite why he didn’t pick the ball up is anyone’s guess.
The Welshman has started less league games than John O’Shea
Sir Alex Ferguson, Alan Hansen and Robbie Savage have all taken turns this week to talk up Ryan Giggs as the most deserving winner of the PFA Player of the Year but The Spoiler does not believe that he should win it this season.
The Welsh midfielder is arguably the greatest footballer in the Premier League’s history and probably deserves some kind of award recognising his overall contribution to English football but it wouldn’t be right for someone who has started just nine of Manchester United’s 24 league games (37.5%) to date this season to be crowned the year’s standout performer.
The most-watched game on the planet this weekend took place at the San Siro, where designated home team Internazionale showed us why they are running away with the Scudetto title this year.
Manager Jose Mourinho has now gone 110 home league games unbeaten, a statistic that will worry Sir Alex Ferguson, according to this morning’s Sun newspaper. If Fergie was in any position to play Inter in a home league game, we might be inclined to agree.
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