Happy Monday once again. Like goals? Well, if the World Cup didn’t deliver for you how about the start of the new season?

Before this weekend no Premier League match round had featured three victories by at least a six goal margin.

Already we are now halfway towards equalling the record number of 6-0 results in an English top flight – eight times in 1892/93.

It sure was the weekend of being hit for six in the Premier League with two matches ending that way on Saturday and then, of course, the biggest shock of the weekend coming Sunday in Newcastle.

Terrific Toon

Nobody saw this coming. And I mean, nobody. Newcastle sent an emphatic message to the rest of the Premier League with a thrashing of Aston Villa to signal their homecoming as we saw, for the second straight week, a promoted team destroy a team who headed into the game as favourites. For those who didn’t see it, it was a bizarre match. Villa controlled the game for the opening 30 minutes and had a penalty blazed over the bar by John Carew. More about that shortly. However, goals change games and Newcastle countered with two goals quickly against the run of the play and soon added a third which changed the game completely. Suddenly, the home side had all the confidence and Villa offered nothing.

Hat-trick hero Andy Carroll will grab the headlines and he indeed deserves them after an all-around complete performance but under-the-radar manager Chris Hughton deserves his fair share of plaudits. I thought he got his tactics spot on, taking away the width that Villa used so effectively last week and dominating the centre of the park battle. It’s important to note that FOUR of the six goals they scored came from central areas where Newcastle won key headers that led to goals. Villa’s defending was abysmal but Newcastle, with Carroll in particular, are an absolute force in the air at set plays and absolutely played to their strengths.

As for Villa this was one of the worst performances in their history of Premier League football. It equalled their worst ever loss – 7-1 at Chelsea in March – and the magnitude of how they were manhandled and never recovered does not look good for caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald’s chances of getting the job full time. Judging Stephen Ireland on one match is incredibly unfair but it was no coincidence that without Milner to help him out in the centre of the park, Stiliyan Petrov, got destroyed by his opposite numbers in Joey Barton and Alan Smith. That being said it is important to note that Villa were in this match early and it could have been different if they had scored from the spot.

In fact, missing penalties for Villa is becoming a chronic illness that simply won’t go away. It’s been around for an entire year now, some days are better than others, but the underlining problem remains the same and there seems no cure.

• Game 2 of last season. Ashley Young scores from spot against Liverpool.
• Three days later in crucial Europa League tie at home to Rapid Vienna he misses from the spot.
• Four minutes later James Milner steps up and scores one but Villa are knocked out on away goals.
• October – win 3-1 in a shootout during a Carling Cup tie at Sunderland. Carew, Collins and A Young score. Agbonlahor misses.
• September – Milner converts penalty vs Portsmouth.
• November – with Milner injured, A Young steps up and misses again vs West Ham. They lose 2-1.
• Three days later at home to Bolton, Milner, now back in the lineup, misses. They win 5-1. After the match Martin O’Neill admits: "We have to look seriously at this."
• December – With Milner and A Young in the side, John Carew fires home from the spot vs Hull. Win 3-1.
• January – Carew scores again from the spot in the 3rd round of the FA Cup vs Blackburn. Win 3-1
• February – Carew scores 2 penalties in a 5th round replay vs Crystal Palace. Four days later, with Carew on the bench, Milner converts from spot in Carling Cup final.
• April – Carew misses penalty at Portsmouth, Villa win 2-1.
• In the following two games, vs Hull and Birmingham, Milner scores from spot in both matches to win the games.

Now Milner has gone, Ashley Young has proven to Villa fans he cannot be the guy going forward and it appears John ‘let me close my eyes and smash it really hard’ Carew has done the same, having missed his last two. So, what next? At this point the spotlight should turn on Ireland in my opinion bearing in mind that Downing had problems taking penalties while at Middlesbrough. Either way for a club who gets a lot of penalties this situation is a big problem.

Clinical Chelsea

Chelsea have a lot of haters and those haters have a lot of reasons to pile on the hatred. No complaints here. However, putting all that aside you cannot argue with the way this team goes about their business. On Saturday at Wigan they became the first team to score 12 goals in their opening two Premier League encounters and they set that record by simply not taking their foot of the pedal. They are the equivalant of a boxing heavyweight who can fight you for 12 rounds straight and won’t let up. Their contest against Wigan was over by the time the third goal went in shortly after half-time and Wigan actually deserves some credit for their play up until then. After that, though, their heads dropped, Chelsea players smelt blood and absolutely destroyed them, looking (and succeeding) to score goals until the final whistle, the same way they did on the final day of last season. Oh, by the way, that also means Chelsea have scored an incredible 20 goals in their last three Premier League games. 20!!!!

Pool gunned down

Now this was the easiest 6-0 to call coming into the weekend. That says nothing against Blackpool who had a wonderful opening weekend at Wigan. It is 13 years since a promoted team won their first game in the Premier League and got relegated in the same season but the second piece of evidence in Blackpool’s 38 week trial this year suggests that record could end come May. In many ways it was a perfect storm for the Seasiders. They couldn’t simply do any better than the previous week, were asked to go to an Arsenal team who hadn’t kicked a team to the curb in a while and Ian Holloway’s men proved ideal opponents.

They soon turned into perfect opponents the moment they
went down to 10-men on the half-hour, having actually played well up until that moment. For Arsenal, Theo Walcott scored his first ever Premier League hat-trick and sent three significant messages to the England camp. His goals were first class and rewards for an outstanding overall performance where he showed confidence in his own ability to start moves and finish them. One further note, and a timely reminder to Villa that it should be this easy, as Andrei Arshavin’s penalty was the 13th the club have scored in their last 14 Premier League spot kicks.

Fast Fact

According to Opta Sports, only 3 of the 7 penalties this season have been converted (43%). Last season 77% of penalties were scored in the Premier League.

Quick Quiz

Paul Scholes scored his 150th Manchester United goal on Sunday moving him into the top 10 all-time for the club as he tied which player for 10th? Answer will be revealed below.

A Cottage Classic

Mark Hughes vs Alex Ferguson is turning into a regular clash of the titans. Sparky, who scored 163 goals for Manchester United (7th all time), went toe-to-toe once again with his former boss on Sunday and this time got some injury time glory against a side that has won many trophies off the back of scoring in the later stages of games. It was indeed a fantastic game and an incredible amount of credit needs to go to Fulham for the way they played when they were losing the match. United came out well and dominated play early on, capped off by the trademark sizzler from Scholes sitting outside the box on a set piece.

Bobby Dazzler

Fulham responded well and were terrific after going a goal down led by their frontman, Bobby Zamora. Zamora has receievd a fair share of critiscm over the years from opposing fans. Indeed one of my favourite chants was often directed at the former Brighton, Tottenham and West Ham striker by opposing fans:

To the tune of Dean Martin’s ‘That’s Amore’: "When you sit in row Z and the ball hits your head, it’s Zamora."

Zamora‘s play since coming to Fulham, however, means he no longer is the punchline to jokes and the one’s focusing on him are no longer the fans in row z but the central defenders whose job it is to try to contain him. Manchester United’s Jonny Evans had a nightmare time of this on Sunday. Zamora is a striker who continues to work at his game, change his style and he has molded himself into a player who very much can play alone up top thanks to his runs off the ball and his fine ability to hold up the ball and distribute to others. His fine play led to Simon Davies smashing home the equaliser that set up a magnificent climax to the match.

One of the key, consistent things that has made Manchester United so great for two decades now is their ability to play with a higher defensive line as the game closes and control the ball in midfield. This scenario played out again at Fulham and eventually their dominance led to the unfortunate Brede Hangeland’s own goal from an 83rd minute corner. Game over, right? Not quite.

Damien Duff handled soon after inside the box and up stepped Nani to score from the spot. Not quite.

With Mark Schwarzer sulking/moaning/watching, reserve goalkeeper David Stockdale – who has been magnificent in both matches this season – came to the rescue with a save on a poor penalty from Nani. At this stage the atmosphere inside Craven Cottage was electric and, in injury time, Hangeland rescued a point for Fulham with a brilliant header that capped off a fine match for him and his team and a poor match for the United defence.

Quote of the Week

Tony Pulis, when asked if video technology needs to be enforced, "Well things didn’t go our way today but when a referee is that close, they get paid to get the big decisions and call them correctly."

Pulis is a man I have a lot of time for and like a lot. Once again he’s shown class and dignity here moments after he’s seen his team come inches away from a draw. He needs to be given credit for not crying and moaning for more technology when others, not involved as closely, were doing so.

Two things need to be pointed out here in reference to the ‘no-goal’.

First of all referee Chris Foy was in the perfect position to see if the ball crossed the line. He looked at it and put his whistle to his mouth as if ready to call it a goal. He then immediately looked to his assistant across the pitch whose view was severely blocked by many players. It appeared he didn’t give the goal because his official didn’t.

Secondly, I have yet to see absolute conclusive evidence that the entire ball was over the line. It looked over the line and I wouldn’t have had a problem if Foy had given the goal but replays didn’t show me that it was a goal beyond a shadow of doubt. They also showed me a foul on the goalkeeper. Thses are reasons why all this call for replay and goalline technology remains a question mark in my eyes as it doesn’t always give you a clear cut answer and can often highlight other issues. I am one who likes to see officials make the calls they are paid to make. If they need more officials, then fine. I have seen far too many moments in sports with replay where officials now have no power and choose to use replay in areas where clear cut decisions can easily be made during the game.

As for the game itself, it was a match won by Spurs thanks to a superb brace from Gareth Bale, whose stock continues to rise. Bale was excellent and the use of the Welshman and Aaron Lennon playing high on the flanks (supported by a strong midfield three) proved the tactical difference in the match. Stoke are a side that like to play with four strong centre backs across the line and it proved their undoing as they couldn’t get forward enough to pin the wingers back and defended too centrally allowing Bale and Lennon the freedom out wide. It was redemption for Harry Redknapp who had got his tactics all wrong days earlier in Switzerland.

Trouble in Toronto

At 1pm on Saturday, Toronto FC fans arrived at BMO Field in good spirits having not seen their team lose in 13 months at home and fresh off a great win over Cruz Azul last Tuesday. Three hours later the crowd left unhappy and the storm developed inside the press box with reports of Mista and coach Preki having a bust-up.

Be sure to check the Footy Show podcast later today for more in-depth analysis on this but what I will say here is that when a designated player is paid what M
ista is being paid then 1) he needs to play and 2) the club’s owners will make sure he plays. That’s my take.

Baker’s Dozen

13 quick observations from the weekend:

a- I have to admit I was wondering what Cesc Fabregas would do with that Blackpool shirt he swapped for on Saturday. I mean I understand collecting shirts but I think that’s got thrown in the back of the wardrobe written all over it.

b – Nice weekend for the Welsh. Bale, Davies and Carl Robinson all getting on the scoresheet for their respective teams.

c- If you are playing Tottenham and get a corner on the left hand side then you need a left footer to take it. I know usually right footers take them but Stoke got it right having Matthew Etherington swing it out (rather than a right-footer swing it in) because it caused Gomes fits in the Spurs goal.

d- I know they lost but Blackburn look like a far better away side to me already than last season. They can take a lot from the way they dominated a good part of their match at Birmingham.

e – Birmingham still look like a side who will struggle to score. I’m not a Nikola Zigic fan and if Craig Gardner scores two goals in a Premier League game again this season I’ll be stunned.

f- It’s absolutely amazing how sometimes a team just owns another. Bolton have now won 6 straight against West Ham.

g- Scott Parker looks like he is playing for a deal elsewhere. Hammers fans I hope I am wrong. For your sake and your Premier League survival chances.

h- West Brom are a fine team to watch. Very entertaining. Once again they’ve come to the Premier League playing pretty football, now they need the goals to back that up and in Peter Odemwingie may have their man.

i- Not a fan of Stoke’s new home kit. From the back it looks identical to Liverpool. I kept thinking Ronnie Whelan was back. Made by the same company it’s the same colour and the stripes are saved only for the front.

j- If you are in a fantasy football league and don’t have Kevin Nolan in your side then make the switch now. Cheap and can score goals from midfield.

k- A lot was made of the Adlene Guedioura challenge on Johnny Heitinga that won the ball leading to a fast break and goal for Wolves but it was a fine tackle and the Algerian international needs to play more as he was excellent for Mick McCarthy’s men when he came on.

l- I absolutely loved the Thomas Muller goal for Bayern Munich vs Wolfsburg, easily my favourite goal of the season so far (and there’s been many good ones) across Europe.

m – AC Milan are grabbing the headlines at the moment for a possible swoop for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. However, they are also looking at Genoa‘s Salvatore Bocchetti.  Don’t sleep on this one, folks, the 23-year-old is a fine defender who I have liked for some time and will be perfect for them.

Six Super Stats

1. The last time Manchester United lost any points after leading a game at half time in the Premier League was October 25, 2008 at Everton.

2. United’s star forward Own Goal opened his account early once again in this campaign. He got 10 league goals for United last season.

3. Birmingham are now unbeaten in 16 straight Premier League games at St Andrews.

4. Gareth Bale has now scored 5 Premier League goals since the start of April. Only Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have scored more.

5. Under Roberto Martinez, Wigan have now lost by four goals or more in a match nine times in 40 Premier League matches. (Note – he is in BIG trouble).

6. Newcastle won just 5 of 19 Premier League home matches during the 08/09 season.

Quiz Answer

Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

Tuesday’s teaser

I’ll be back tomorrow with my second installment of Tuesday Tactics as we take a closer look at a team from Manchester.

Kristian Jack - click the link to follow me on twitter.