John Barnes Column: Liverpool Legend on Chelsea Star Deco, Manchester United Crying Out for Striker Against Newcastle, Hull’s Terrific Comeback & West Brom’s Good Display
I had been looking forward to the opening weekend of the Premier League for some time mainly to see one player, that man was Chelsea’s Deco and he didn’t disappoint.The Brazilian-born Portuguese international stepped into the Chelsea side like he’d always been there and was quite simply superb. He reinforced an already strong Chelsea side and will be an integral component in Felipe Scolari’s new look team.
It’s no surprise that Big Phil named Deco as the one player he wanted at the club as he gives something extra to Chelsea. Scolari is creating a much more attractive, attacking fluent style and Deco will be one of the key figures in this new system.
I tipped Chelsea to win the title this year and everything I saw on Sunday has only convinced me further of that. Arsenal and Liverpool may have won but they didn’t impress. However, it’s a positive sign for my old team that they got all 3 points despite an average performance at Sunderland. Chelsea’s main title rivals Manchester United could only draw at home to Newcastle though they are missing a lot of players. Sir Alex’s side are in need of a centre-forward, in fact they’ve needed one for over a season now despite winning the double last time out. They are currently looking at a few players and whether it’s Berbatov or Roque Santa Cruz they need to move quickly.
Hull provided the performance of the weekend amongst the promoted sides which is of no surprise as they won against Fulham. To come back from 1-0 down in your first ever Premier League match is a superb result and showed the team’s heart and spirit. West Brom may have lost their match at Arsenal but I thought they actually did well. To find yourselves 1-0 down after just 4 minutes at the Emirates is not an ideal start but they put in a battling performance.
Finally, John Terry has been named as England’s full-time Captain by Fabio Capello today which is a bit of a surprise. Rio would have been my personal choice for the England Captaincy as he has matured considerably in recent years and is now a far more consistent and dominant figure. However, Steven Gerrard and John Terry are both fine players in their own right and whether it was either of them or Rio that got the nod, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference to the team as all were good candidates.
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Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, footy 15, Hull, John Barnes, Liverpool, Manchester United, Premier 10, West Brom
