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Premier League Round Two: The good, the bad and the ugly

By Michael Peters

West Bromwich Albion (Credit: Elliot Brown -- Flickr Creative Commons)
West Bromwich Albion (Credit: Elliot Brown -- Flickr Creative Commons) /
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The Bad

Adrian

West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian was sent off during stoppage time of The Hammers’ home defeat to Leicester City. It looked a fully deserved red card as he practically karate kicked Jamie Vardy while attempting to control the ball as it fell to the pitch.

Though Adrian did not intend to harm Vardy — in my opinion — the fact of the matter is that it was an ugly challenge. He never saw Vardy coming because he kept his head up to look at the ball as it came down, but ignorance is not a defense. It was a bad challenge and a deserving red card. Nonetheless, West Ham plan to appeal the decision.

The crazy part about this is that tons of people all over Twitter were stunned that Adrian received a red card. The commentary team for the match also seemed in disbelief at match official Anthony Taylor’s decision. Watch the play below and judge for yourself. Did Adrian deserve to be sent off?

Chelsea

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How poor were the defending champions on Sunday? While Jose Mourinho called Manchester City’s 3-0 victory “fake,” there was nothing fake about it. The Citizens outplayed The Blues and fully deserved their victory.

Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic kept the Blues in the game as he denied City striker Sergio Aguero on several occasions before finally being beaten, thanks in large part to poor defending. Mourinho subbed out John Terry at halftime and nothing much changed. Eden Hazard had a glorious chance to level the game during Chelsea’s only spell of dominance, but he could manage only to shoot straight at Joe Hart.

The Citizens tacked on two late goals courtesy of Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho to run out 3-0 victors.

The Blues’ defense looks anything but sturdy this season, as Terry is starting to show his age and Gary Cahill’s form has continued to dip since the latter stages of last season.

Clearly not happy with the poor start to the campaign, Chelsea completed the signing of Augsburg defender Baba Rahman and submitted yet another bid for Everton youngster John Stones. Throw in the Mourinho v. Eva Carneiro nonsense that has been going on since the end of the Swansea fixture and it’s been a terrible week for Chelsea.

Tottenham

After losing at Old Trafford to open the season, Tottenham appeared to get on the right track as they took a 2-0 lead against Stoke City at White Hart Lane. It all fell apart, though, as The Potters stormed back to earn a 2-2 draw thanks to a Mame Biram Diouf headed goal in the final minutes of the match.

Tottenham have already fallen behind Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton, while failing to take advantage of early struggles from Chelsea and Arsenal.

Spurs do not have the squad depth that City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea have at their disposal; which means they cannot afford to fall too far behind, considering they have to compete in the Europa League as well.

If Harry Kane cannot find his scoring form from last season, or Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli are injured for any length of time, then this could be a rough season for Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs.

"Tottenham Hotspur turning people into alcoholics since 1882."

Perhaps Spurs should make a big push to sign West Brom striker Saido Berahino before the window closes?

Next: The Ugly

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