On the Premier League: Notes from Opening Day

It was opening day today for the world's best league in football, the English Premier League. There were plenty of things to take away and still plenty more to comment on, so I won't waste any time.

1. Opening match. The first match of the Premier League season pitted Premiership hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City against one another. Though the game ended in a scoreless tie, there were a couple of things to take away from the match.

Mancini is a diluted ass. Roberto Mancini, I'm convinced, is the worst manager in the Premier League. And I mean worst not in the sense that he's bad, which he is, but I mean worst in the sense that he's just a dick. Mancini started some of his recent signings, David Silva, Yaya Toure, and Alexsander Kolorav in this game. All of them were sub par. Admittedly, this is to be expected of players coming from other leagues trying to get used to Premier League speed, but I still expected better.

There was absolutely nothing lethal about City's game, with Tevez most of the time being the only player who was even in the box at all. They played for the scoreless tie throughout the second half, and kicked the ball around in their own area like the poor sports that they are.

Perhaps the most striking thing though, was the news of what Mancini said after the game. After an extremely impressive game from keeper Joe Hart, who made 8 saves and single handedly earned City their point, Mancini said he would refuse to allow Shay Given to leave City. What an asshole. Given is one of the world's best goalkeepers, and it's a complete waste of talent to keep him on the bench. This again shows how little respect Mancini, and the City administration, has for any of their players. Then Mancini said that he fully expectes Stephen Ireland, who didn't even get a chance to play today, to "play his part" in a deal with Aston Villa's James Milner. Which means essentially, he expects Ireland to leave the club that raised him and the club that has defined his life. Can you tell that I hate Manchester City?

Also in this game we saw the full potential of Tottenham Hotspur's leathality. Gareth Bale looked absolutely unstoppable from the left midfield, and Defoe and Crouch also seemed to be well in form, despite their inability to get one to hit the back of the net.

There was also a pretty great performance on display from Michael Dawson, who I think should replace John Terry at the World Cup 2014.

Benoit Assou-Ekoto completely annihilated my expectations with top class service out of the left back position and a great defensive performance. He could be a treasure this season for Spurs.

Moving on from the opening match.

2. Aston Villa: Just fine without O'Neill. So I didn't cover this much, but earlier this week Aston Villa manager O'Neill up and left the club, frustrated with the deal between Milner and City. Everyone thought this, along with a hamstring injury to star forward Gabby Agbonlahor, could spell a flop for Villa this year. But today, Villa proved everyone wrong with a 3-0 thumping of West Ham United.

Villa did everything right in this game, securing 10 corners in the FIRST HALF. Additionally, Ashley Young looks to be in top form in his new role as the right winger for the club. But there were other great performances from the likes of Stewart Downing, who's excellent service into the 18 yard box and first half goal won him Man of the Match. Stiliyan Petrov also scored on a great strike and James Milner got what could be his last goal in a Villa kit to round out the scoring.

Villa are not to be ruled out by any means in the Premier League this season, especially not after this start.

3. Chelsea: Drogba nets hat trick in 6-0 thrashing of West Brom.

Recently promoted from the English Championship, West Bromwich Albion never knew what hit them. A Drogba hat trick and a brace from Florent Malouda, capped by a goal from ever-in-form Frank Lampard made for the ideal day for the Blues.

Drogba's goals couldn't have been better: one from a set piece, one from a defending error following a corner, and one from about 23 yards out. These are his trademark goals, and he netted each one in excellent style, and proved himself to still be in rich form and to still be one of if not the best striker in the world.

Also on display today was central defender Alex, coming in for recently departed Ricardo Carvalho on his way to Real. Alex seemed confident and on the few chances West Brom had, it was more often than not him who steered them off target on their hopeless quest.

Other notes: Another recently promoted team, Blackpool proved today that they cannot be trifled with a 4-0 rout of Wigan Athletic. Tim Howard made a terrible mistake that cost Everton a 0-1 defeat to Blackburn, and apparently left the American goalkeeper in tears. Stoke City's record signing Kenwyne Jones was taken out of their match today against Wolves just 14 minutes into the match. Stoke would lose 2-1.

Upcoming: LIVERPOOL AND ARSENAL ARE PLAYING TOMORROW AT 11 AM. If you are looking for a way to watch it, here you go: http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=83711&part=sports

Some of those feeds go offline occassionally, so if you want a more reliable one you might want to download Veetle or Sopcast. Both are media players and are 100 percent virus free I promise. However, if you have Fox Soccer Channel, you can just watch it there.

Also upcoming is Manchester United's debut against recently promoted Newcastle United on Monday. Kickoff at 2:55 PM on ESPN 2.

Questions? Comments? Insults? All are welcome.