After three months of domestic league darkness the sun rose in Italy and Spain on the weekend while in England the Premier League delivered with its usual weekly plotlines of shocks, penalties, misses, red cards and some delicious goals sprinkled in.

Here at The Score we kicked off our season with a double-header on Saturday as Genoa stunned Udinese with a well-fought away win while Roma never got out of first gear in their first lap of the season, held to a goalless draw at home to Cesena.

Games are won on the pitch not on paper

Just when you thought the Premier League was getting a little too predictable along comes Wigan Athletic, of all teams, to spice things up. After losing 8-0, 4-0 and 6-0 in their last three league matches, dating back to last season, the Latics put the ghosts to rest at White Hart Lane on Saturday (remember they lost 9-1 there last season) finding a way to win a match when their backs were well and truly pressed against the wall. The most impressive part of their victory was the manner in which it was taken, sticking to their principals of playing open and expansive football and taking the game to the home side, resulting in them leaving London with three points that they earned rather than stole.

Fast Fact – It was the first time in 19 attempts that Wigan had travelled to the capital and won a match.

The Stadium of Late

Being a fan of many sports I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had educated debates with people, particularly at work, over the North-American term ‘MVP’. I understand it the term and don’t dislike it but it has its failings including the fact that it often shouldn’t go to the best player. After all, the most important word of the three is valuable.

If the Premier League had such an award you’d be hard pressed to find a more worthy candidate than Sunderland’s Darren Bent. Bent scored again on Sunday and it’s now over a full calendar year that Sunderland have won a match that the Englishman failed to score in. Now, the manner in which Bent scored was the hot topic of discussion in England as the weekend came to a close and it was, perhaps, fitting that the very last thing people were talking about was Bent himself.

Despite scoring from the spot in the 94th minute to beat the Billionaire Bullies, Bent was overshadowed by the two major incidents that involved City players and here’s my take on them both:

• The incident that led to Bent’s penalty initially had many question marks. How did he get goal-side of Micah Richards? Was he offside? A penalty? Really?
• The answers were all quite simple in the end. Bent’s wonderful and underrated ability to read the cross while maintaining his position level with the defence ensured that he was onside and then could get goal-side of Richards thanks to some quick instincts. This led to Richards reacting late and I think, after watching it a number of times, just doing enough to cause the penalty.
• The second major talking point surrounding ‘the miss’. Carlos Tevez has scored some fine goals in his Premier League career but he may be haunted for some time after his Ronnie Rosenthal moment. The commentator at the time was stunned and in the end it cost City at least a point, but that is all. The loss was certainly not expected but stories of their title chances ending after three games are premature.

Introducing Walcott the Wizard

• Act One – Fabio Capello leaves him out of the trip to South Africa and the World Cup. Despite it being the biggest storyline nobody goes on record disagreeing with Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson is a punchline for the day. Somewhere Arsene Wenger was smiling.
• Act Two – While England failed miserably the young Walcott had a relaxing summer and blossomed for Arsenal when returning for early pre-season training fully fit and without a key injury for the first time in a number of years. The world said nothing.
• Act Three – Walcott comes on as a substitute in their opening match at Liverpool and makes an instant impression, looking very lively and causing problems for Liverpool’s defenders, in particular Dan Agger. The world talked about Agger’s concussion and the game’s red cards and key own goal.
• Act Four – Walcott starts against Blackpool and scores a terrific hat-trick. ‘Ah its’ only Blackpool’, said the world, and the critics continued with Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen saying Walcott ‘lacked a football brain’.
• Act Five – Walcott starts again, this time at Blackburn on Saturday, and again delivers when he smashes home a terrific goal in the first half.

Now, I may only be a soccer pundit in Canada but I cannot stress how much I disagree with Hansen and the likes of Chris Waddle who have gone on record of attacking Walcott lately. It might only be three matches but I’ve seen a clear difference in his play this season and he now looks ready to graduate the Arsene Wenger School of Football Intelligence and become a first team regular.

Wenger maintains his belief in Walcott as a central player one day but right now he is excelling out wide in a front three, a position that requires him to time his runs to perfection in between the defenders, which is how he scored at Ewood Park on Saturday. Walcott’s role alongside players such as Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie, when healthy, in a team like Arsenal, requires regular movement off the ball and sees him cut inside into more crowded areas and it’s his desire to do that, rather than regularly sprint towards the touchline, that actually shows me strong signs of development and signs of a football brain.

United need a consistent Nani

He might miss the occasional penalty and the occasional major tournament but Nani delivered for his team on Saturday and his ability to consistently find the back of the net could be a major shot in the arm for Manchester United. Set up with Ryan Giggs on the left, United used Nani on the right in this match but he also floated around closer to the front men and cut inside more than Antonio Valencia normally does. This also saw him come deeper in a central role and this was effective in the buildup to the second goal when he worked hard to get the ball close to the halfway line, started a new attack for his side and finished it. Chelsea have shown United that it’s fine to rely on one striker to get close to 30 goals per season but midfielder’s need to step up too and Nani needs to be the one to do that at Old Trafford.

Zlatan gets four assists

The Italian press is full of praise for AC Milan’s opening game exploits as the demolished Lecce 4-0. Interesting to read that much of the credit went to new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who didn’t actually play in the game but was brought out on to the pitch at half-time. The Swede’s presence made the Milan faithful happy and that put a big smile on Silvio Berlusconi’s face but questions remain as to where the former Barcelona man fits in. Clearly, Marco Boriello looks like the odd man out here but he was a unheralded hero for that team last season and with only one ball to play with it’s g
oing to be fascinating to see how Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic and Alexandre Pato play together. Not to mention Robinho, who may be on his way also.

Quick Quiz

Thomas Sorensen saved another penalty on Saturday before conceding one late to Didier Drogba. Of the last 8 penalties he’s faced how many goals have been scored?

Baker’s Dozen

13 quick observations from the weekend:

a – I didn’t see the game but wasn’t surprised that Real Madrid, under Jose Mourinho, achieved a clean sheet before a goal this season.

b -Talking of 0-0, Roma’s start was sluggish and a little alarming. For a team that knows first hand what a slow start can cost you they need to turn it around and fast. Maybe, Claudio Ranieri can send his team on a mission to find Mirko Vucinic’s shooting boots this week because the ones he wore on Saturday should be thrown away.

c- Andrea Ranocchia arrived at Genoa with a lot of promise and didn’t disappoint in their opening match. He was a tower of strength in the middle of their backline. Notable mention also to captain Marco Rossi who was a real calming influence next to him.

d- Stephen Appiah was excellent for Cesena in their draw at Roma. The former Ghana skipper has had a rough time over the last few years after being  linked to match-fixing and not playing regularly at Bologna. He now looks committed to the cause following his retirement from international duty and Cesena will need his leadership and experience this season.

e- I think we are seeing too many penalties in the modern game. Defenders can barely touch players these days and everyone is falling for it. That combined with ridiculous hand-ball observations can only lead to a higher number of spot kicks.

f- Joey Barton is an easy player to dislike and part of me wanted to write something funny and positive about Wolves and their systematic brutal fouling of him but I can’t. It was wrong.

g- What did I tell you about defending headers against Newcastle? Andy Carroll looks as lethal in the air as Tim Cahill and has the height advantage as well. He simply needs to be marked by the best header on the opposition’s team and that isn’t always happening.

h- An excellent left-back bout took place on Sunday under the watchful eye of Fabio Capello. Both combatants were impressive but I have to say, for me, Leighton Baines edged Stephen Warnock on points. Kieran Gibbs, by virtue of sitting on a high-priced North London bench, still beat them both.

i- Talking of England, it is time for Ashley Young to get some regular starts under Capello. He has never looked more confident, has always been one of the best crosses in the country and is now maturing into a player who cherishes the ball more.

j- Stick with me here: I know you become a better player surrounded by better players but I think Florent Malouda has now become one of the better players who can make players better rather than a player who once was better because of his team-mates. Get that?

k- I was absolutely delighted to see Blackpool get something from their first home top flight match in 40 years but when former Preston man Dickson Etuhu smashed home the equalizer for Fulham I have to say I smiled at the irony.

l- Anyone else notice that Saturday saw Diouf set up Diouf and Sunday saw Young set up Young.? No relatives involved.

m-Aston Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald deserves a lot of credit for what he worked on last week. Everton manhandled them for the bulk of their match on Sunday yet Villa’s back four and goalkeeper were commanding in the air and the exact opposite of last week’s debacle at Newcastle.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Good – David Villa just looks right in Barcelona’s shirt.

Bad – Poor old Steve McClaren. Not an ideal home debut.

Ugly – Another week, another call for goal-line technology. Edinson Caveni’s goal for Napoli against Fiorentina absolutely should not have counted. Watch for yourself here and remember you can see all the Serie A highlights on this site.

Six Super Stats

1- Bobby Zamora’s goal at Blackpool was his first Premier League goal away from Craven Cottage in 2010.

2- Frank Lampard missed just his 3rd penalty attempt in his last 33 spot kicks.

3- Wigan have now won 9 of their last 11 matches when Hugo Rodallega scores a goal.

4- Wigan began with 11 foreign players in their starting lineup for the first time in their history and became the 8th different team to do this in the Premier League. Manchester City, Portsmouth and Manchester United have all done it once, Chelsea have done it twice, Fulham and Bolton six times and Arsenal 96 times.

5- Two teams in the Premier League remain without a point – Stoke and West Ham – and they are the only two teams in the league who have yet to lead in any of their matches.

6- England, Spain and Italy are considered the big three countries by UEFA, in terms of representation in their competitions, and only Aston Villa, from those three countries, saw their European season end in midweek.

Quiz Answer

Only two of the last 8 penalties have been scored past Thomas Sorensen.

Bits and Bobs

Between watching games and family time on the weekend I had a very enjoyable few hours at Mosport on the weekend, home of the spectacular American Le Mans sportscar race. For $50 for the day or $65 for the weekend you’d be hard pressed to find better sports entertainment. It was great to see so many campers having fun and a few Footy Show fans as well.

Tuesday’s Teaser

I’ll be back tomorrow as Serie A debuts on the Tuesday Tactics.

Reminder

Remember to catch us live at 230pm eastern today (Monday) as we bring you Bologna vs Inter Milan live in HD. We’ll be on the air until 530pm as a special Footy Show look-back at the weekend follows the game with myself and James Sharman.

See you then.

Kristian Jack