First Impressions and Second Thoughts - Week 8

I'm headed out of town tomorrow so I'll make this a quick one (or at least as quick as I can make anything).



Teams

• Title Chase - I guess we just learned just how valuable Drogba is. The only two matches where Chelsea have dropped points have been when he has been out (this weekend) or completely neutralized (vs. Citeh - probably because he was scared to death of being crippled by de Jong). That said, the title chase got closer as Chelsea dropped two points while Citeh made it past a nervy end to gain some ground.
  
• The Chasers - Neither Arsenal nor Spurs were particularly impressive but with both teams doing what they can while some of their headliners recover from injury, the weekend's results can only be considered a positive.
  
• Fading So Soon? - Everyone who looks at these things objectively worried a bit about the fragility of ManYoo's title challenge and the reasons for that seem to be coming to fruition. Giggs is hurt again. Rooney still punchless. Rio and Scholes too old to be counted on not to join Giggs at any moment. Another lead squandered against unimpressive competition and this time at home. Can you imagine how nervous SAF would have been at the beginning of the season if you told him his fortunes were riding on Nani and Berbs being consistent? Not good times at OT and no real reason to think that things will get better any time soon.
• Liverpool - Congratulations on the new owner - I hope it goes well. It certainly didn't start that way. Now, about that manager who really doesn't seem to have it. I'm not sure why it isn't working with better players than he had at Fulham but it isn't and it's probably a good idea to pull the plug before things are too far gone to be recovered this season. This is a bit of a change of heart for me but I watched the derby this morning and there really wasn't any escaping that this is a side without a clue and that has to be on the manager since a pretty similar line-up performed much better last season.
• Everton - Nice to see them recovering from their miserable start. Here's hoping that Saha recovers sometime soon. I wonder if they can get Donovan back for a few months over the winter again. They need someone like him again.
• Wolves - Well, a point and no one got sent off so that's a bit of improvement I suppose.
  
• Newcastle - I'm starting to think they're this year's Bolton (never bet on or against) - I can honestly say I have no idea what we'll get out of them on any given matchday. They win road matches they shouldn't, they drop points at home when they shouldn't. I just don't get it.
  
• WBA/Blackpool - Against the heavyweights of Manchester this weekend and they continued to be impressive - Blackpool in a loss and West Brom in a come from behind draw. West Brom's was even more impressive with their talisman to this point, Odemwingie, out of action.
  

Players
Tough to know what to make of the following players, class or form?

• Malouda - We seem to be entering prolonged slump territory. Poor form.
• Bale - He managed 12 points despite what seemed like a pretty tame performance - he's class but definitely not on his best form. Mild dip in form.
• Nani - As a fantasy player, he seems like he is going to be consistently excellent assuming he gets to start and with ManYoo's injury situation, that seems guaranteed. Class.
• Adam - He's just really good both in real life and in fantasy. Class.
• Barton - I'm really not sure what to make of him at this point. He's certainly in a slump and it seems to have coincided with NUFC's general dip in form. Poor form.
• Chamakh - I have to say, I'm still not convinced he's a good week to week buy even when we know he's starting. He just doesn't do much else outside of score. Form.
  
• Tevez - Think of him as Chamakh but he scores a lot more often making the risk easier to take. Class.
  
• Berbs - He's always been an up and down player. I'm not ready to declare him consistent just because he had a strong month. We've seen it before but don't get sucked in. Form.
• K2 - Hard to know what was going on with him today, he looked terrible. Got to figure he's mentally checked out and trying to figure out where he'll be playing come January. Poor form.
  
• Torres - He got the ball in a decent position once today that I saw and he took a decent shot that Howard saved. Until he gets more service, hard to believe his form will change. Poor form.
  

With that, I'll leave you in Jeremy's capable hands until I'm back later in the week.