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The league we all love put us through another exciting matchday this past weekend. Some teams that are supposed to play well did, and others who were supposed to be crap, pooped the bed.

Such is the way of the EPL these days.

There were also those teams who underachieved and those who were a bit ahead of themselves. We’ll talk about all the applicable parties in today’s lovely column by yours truly.

Where should we begin? I think the obvious choice is unfortunate events that went down at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Our boys at Spurs had difficulty netting any goals against a team which had let in 10 goals in their previous two matches.

Taking nothing away from a very spirited Wigan team, but Tottenham should have won that match and handily. In a performance that somewhat mirrored their opening match against Manchester City, Spurs lacked that killer instinct that they’ll need if they want to be in the running for a Champions League spot at the end of the season.

Looking at the table, these are the results that the big teams get. Wins against Wigan, Wolves, Stoke, Newcastle, etc. You can guarantee when they look back on the season and they’re in fifth or sixth, matches like these are going to send Harry right to the bottle, or the bottom of it anyway.

It just boggles the mind that they can go from big wins in Europe that vaulted them to the group stages of the CL to losing to Wigan, a team notoriously easy to whoop.

As I said before though, you have to give Roberto Martinez and the rest of his Wigan team credit for getting a very tough victory on the road in a hostile environment. Despite a very thin squad, Martinez has instilled a very stringent attacking brand of football on his players and it may start to pay dividends after two very big hiccups to start the season.

It all revolves around Hugo Rodallega, as he’s the guy putting in all the work and fighting off the opposing defenses to win the ball and move it into space. His hard work and gifted ability have given teams a lot to think about and I’d be shocked if he remains a Latic for the whole season, let alone until next summer.

Moving on, another one of those Champions League hopefuls, our boys at Manchester City, suffered an uncharacteristic defeat that resembled that of their London brothers.

Frustrated by Sunderland, the Citizens weren’t able to get on the board even with numerous chances to break the deadlock. None more so than Carlos Tevez’s guilt-edged miss that my mother probably could have driven home with her eyes closed. Just saying, Carlos.

As we all know, they were undone by a late Darren Bent penalty that really served them right as nothing was going their way in this one and it really was a bit of karma for all their prior misses. Again, will be points they’ll wish they had towards the end of the season.

Both teams, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, will need to improve as the season opens up if they really want to be in the running at the end of the season. I’m not being a negative nancy here as they are only two matches, but this is how trends start and they’ll want to take points from these types of matches.

Easier said than done, right?

Pickled Onions

I thought Aston Villa would have a little more success in their match with Everton, but they’ll certainly take the 1-0 result. The Toffees dominated the match and won’t be happy with the result as their campaign continues to sputter. Not so confident now, are we Evertonians?

After that match, I went with City topping Sunderland, which thanks to Carlos Tevez and Darren Bent…didn’t happen. Credit Steve Bruce’s crew for keeping things together and staying in the match however.

Finally Chelsea topped Stoke by a 2-0 scoreline, which really doesn’t do the match justice. Stoke played quite well and had a few very close chances go by the wayside. They should be proud of their showing, especially given the disaster they experienced in the corresponding fixture from a season ago.

Overall: 4-2-1

Working on a nice 2:1 thing here so far in the early going. Not the worst way to start out the year to say the least.

Mushy Peas

Today is deadline day and teams have been frantically working to get those last minute signings into the club. Unfortunately there hasn’t been a great deal of moves made by the big clubs as money is tight…unless you attend Eastlands regularly.

Nothing is final yet but the proposed goalkeeper carousel hasn’t exactly gone down yet, which I’m kind of thankful for. What was the point anyway? Sure, Manuel Almunia kinda stinks, but everyone else was fine in their place. Arsenal would be best suited to bring in someone from the outside and make it work. There are a lot of talented keepers out there, you know. Mark Schwarzer? Nah, I’d much rather have Hugo Lloris.

In the soon-to-be-completed news Robinho appears set to end his tortured stay at Manchester City and may be on his way to AC Milan. Ooooooh Thrilling stuff. Does that mean that Ronaldinho will finally make the move to Los Anglees to play with Golden Balls and Landy Cakes? One can only hope.

Oh, and that punk Javier Mascherano, who feels like he’s too good for the EPL, is officially a Barcelona player, effectively making them unbeatable. They’re my pick for just about everything this year. Mark it down.

The Fixins’

The Give That Man A Home Of The Week: Robbie Keane, Tottenham

It appears as though Mr. Keane may be on the move again…or not. No, wait, he’s on the move. Wait, he’s staying. Who cares? Robbie seems to be the only person. The guy might as well just live in a hotel his whole life as no club really seems to want him long-term. Some don’t even want him in the short term. It’s a shame as he has talent and can be deadly, but for some reason he just doesn’t fit anywhere. There’s that square peg again…

Tweet of the Week: @enfuego3

“@shanEvans I’ve noticed a little NFL/cell provider advertising on FSC as well. Rubs me the wrong way.”

Goal.com had Philadelphia Eagles advertisements on our site. Weird. They are American football, not football football. Someone got it backwards.

Player of the Week: Brad Friedel, Aston Villa

The Villa keeper was impenetrable against Everton at the weekend and certainly deserves player of the week honors. His savvy veteran skills kept the Toffees off the scoresheet despite the 23 shots they through his way. Was a vintage performance from the man.

Rotten Egg of the Week: Everton

Can I do that? Praise the guy charged with stopping them in the player of the week then pick the crappy team in this part. It’s certainly deserved as Everton really should have got something out of their match with Aston Villa and didn’t. Chance after chance wasn’t converted and now they are off to a dismal one point from three start. 18 corners? Come on now…

Gaffe of the Week: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Bolton

Was that a Paris Hilton bitch slap? Sure looked like it. What was that all about Jussi? Yeah, I know the guy got all up in your grill but that’s no way to treat him. Got to be a professional. Plus, having the ref right there to see it really didn’t help your case. The straight red was what he got and it was what he deserved. To top that though, did you see the bonnet on the guy they brought in as his replacement?! Epic.

Goal of the Week: Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United

Lovely worked goal from the Red Devils as a killer passing game was the killer of the match as they were able to put away West Ham with this lovely strike. Nani lifted it over the defense to a waiting Berba at the far post who did his best Jet Li impression and volleyed/kung fu kicked it into the net. Certainly was nice to watch anyway.

Game of the Week: Blackpool 2-2 Fulham

In front of a whopping 15,529 at Bloomfield Road, the Seasiders stamped their return to the top flight with quite an exciting match against Fulham. John Panstil scored the first EPL goal at the stadium…for Blackpool late on, and then things got crazy from there. Truly a thrilling affair to see not only the team playing at home in the Premier League for the first time, but to see how excited the fans were about the match. By the way, Blackpool have four points from three matches. Another 30 and they’ll be all set…

Shane Evans is Deputy Editor of Goal.com. His feature, “Fish & Chip Shots” appears weekly. Contact Shane at shane.evans@goal.com with questions, comments and concerns, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/shanEvans or join the TFE/FCS Facebook fan page!

For more news on England, visit Goal.com’s England section and join Goal.com USA’s Facebook fan page!

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri decided to focus on his team’s performance rather than on the actual result after his side’s 5-4 defeat to Juventus on penalties in the Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi on Sunday evening.

Speaking to Mediaset after the match, the newly appointed Rossoneri coach said, “We had a good match, we have to work on our speed but we are on the right road. We are around 70% in terms of shape.”

He added, “Ronaldinho’s technical qualities are beyond discussion, he is 30 years of age and is still looking good.”

When probed on the arrival of Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Allegri commented, “He’s a great champion, everyone would be happy to train him.

“We’ll see what the club does, but for now we must concentrate on the first day of the new Championship.”

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By Steve Keating

TORONTO, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Inter Milan coach Rafael
Benitez’s past returned to haunt him as his side lost 3-2 to
Panathinaikos in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday, but the
Spaniard preferred to focus on the challenges ahead rather than
dwell on defeat.

Two goals from striker Djibril Cisse and one from winger
Sebastian Leto, both sold by Benitez when he was in charge of
Liverpool, were enough to give the Greek double winners a well
deserved win over Europe’s top team from last season.

However, the loss in his second game in charge since
leaving Merseyside for the Italian giants was hardly unexpected
for a man charged with filling a huge void left by departed
coach Jose Mourinho.

“I expected this behaviour tonight,” Benitez told reporters
after following up Sunday’s 3-0 friendly win over big-spending
Manchester City with a disappointing display.

“There are going to be highs and lows because this is the
beginning of the season.

“We played too long and too wide and it was easy for them
to play.”

Inter won a domestic double and the Champions League under
Mourinho last season before the Portuguese moved on to Spain’s
Real Madrid but Benitez was quick to point out that he has
inherited a side he feels will challenge again for more
honours.

“We have the opportunities to win trophies… a lot of
them,” Benitez added. “That is the challenge and I’m pleased to
be in this situation and we will try to win as much as we can.”

Goals from Samuel Eto’o and Coutinho gave the scoreline a
flattering look but the absence of Mario Balotelli for a second
straight game, would suggest the young striker’s expected move
to Manchester City was imminent despite Benitez’s view of
events.

“I have no news, everything is like it is before,” Benitez
said when asked about the 19-year-old striker.

After a northern hemisphere summer that has seen a parade
of European teams march through the city, Toronto appeared to
be suffering from friendly fatigue with a crowd of 17,169
sprinkled through the Rogers Centre on hot, muggy evening.

Like Manchester United, who passed through Toronto in July,
Inter Milan is an international sporting brand both teams using
their North American tours as much for marketing purposes as
training.
(Editing by John O’Brien; To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)