[ 2011-12-08 ]

Essien explains crazy scorelines in Premier League
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has been sharing
the opinions of fans about why there have been
crazy scorelines this season.

December is upon us and Christmas is around the
corner. I wanted to blog about the festivities but
I decided to stick to my promise and post some of
your comments about why there have been crazy
scorelines in the Barclays Premier League this
season.

I had over 250 comments and I must admit I was
surprised by the reaction and by how different
people see football games.

By that I mean 10 people can watch one game and
they will all have different opinions about the
game.

I have been attending Chelsea home games recently
and have been sitting among the fans. Everyone has
been brilliant and thanks for all the well wishes
but I can’t help but notice how intense it can
get when things are not going well on the pitch.

I love the passion in the stands and how much we
all want Chelsea to do well.

I have also noticed from comments I hear before,
during and after games that everyone has their own
opinion about football and below you will find
some of the opinions about why there have been
crazy scorelines this season…

Richard D4 Chelsea – It’s a discipline
problem

I can’t help but think with these recent huge
scorelines that the midfield and defence of each
team are not as tightly disciplined to defend and
protect their own goal like seasons before. It
seems like it’s all been about scoring one more
than the other with high defending lines, high
pressing, and utilising a dominant percentage of
possession effectively, trying to emulate some of
Barcelona’s style of play.

After their dominance domestically and in Europe,
there are not many reasons to say why big teams
shouldn’t try and match them for entertainment
value for the fans and to gain overall
improvements from the physical, mental and
technical sides of the game for the players. I’m
going to use Chelsea’s past and present tactics
as an example of why there’s been huge
scorelines this season.

Simon blames it on superior teams

Man United and Man City smashed eight and five
past Arsenal and Tottenham respectively because
they were superior at the time. Then the ultimate
Manchester clash where City ran out 1-6 winners
away from home, what a game!!! City played better
and the red card was decisive on the day as City
firmly took control with United committing
blunders and giving up totally.

With the Chelsea – Arsenal game it breaks my
heart to admit we had a bright start but lost
focus, switched off and committed blunders.
Overall, over 90 minutes, Chelsea were by far the
better side, but we have to finish off games when
we take the lead rather than be too cautious in my
view.

Martin thinks it’s a defensive problem

I think it is because the top teams in the EPL
this season aren’t paying much attention to
their defences and are not trying to keep clean
sheets. Instead they are trying to attack and
create and score as many goals as they can. From a
neutral’s perspective, it is very entertaining
but for us fans it’s like a lottery, it’s
50-50, and nail biting stuff. You have no idea
who’s going to win and it’s all about
finishing your chances off. It’s very much
whoever can score the most goals wins.

JackG thinks it’s a change from last season

TACTICS – last year Chelsea played a more
balanced game, as did United, and City were boring
and defensive. This year it seems like it’s
changed a lot – AVB has clearly brought in a
more attacking system, hence why we’ve conceded
a lot more goals, Mancini’s City are
unrecognisable from last year, United have so much
strength in attack and now perhaps a slightly
weaker defence, and Arsenal have never played a
tight game under Wenger. Great as a neutral, but
horrible for a fan.

Source - Ghanasoccer

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