The first gameweek of the much anticipated and long awaited English Premier League came and passed. It was a fairly interesting affair with the teams displaying a lot of hunger although reflecting that hunger in an array of varying displays, from the downright nasty to the classy, the gutsy to the comic and everything in-between.

Disappointment of the Week.

This definitely has to be the Spurs v Man City clash. It promised so much but delivered an unparalleled snoozefest. I had to tape my eyelids open to follow the game. Spurs were one of the entertainers of the last season and their flowing, ambitious approach won them accolades as well as a place in the top 4. Man City have spent £100m in bolstening their squad with the inclusion of World class talents like Yahya Toure, Kolarov and David Silva. I would have expected these two contenders for a top 4 spot to put on a show filled with goals, but then again I would have expected a lap dance from Beyonce over the weekend, sadly none of these happened. A 0-0 draw, an action starved lap and sore eyelids is what I got out of this weekend.

Surprise Package of the Week.

Blackpool get this one hands down. This was a team that was fighting relegation in the Championship midway through last season. They rallied to book a place in the play-offs and then grab a dramatic win against overwhelming favorites Cardiff to earn promotion to the Premiership. They are supposed to be strong candidates for a brief cameo and a quick trip back to the Championship but no one had told them that by the weekend, they were blissfully unaware of their status in their 4-0 thumping of Wigan. Hope they enjoyed themselves because the Premiership is bound to actually get tougher.

Big Match of the Week.

Not always do you get 2 of the traditional big 4 facing off in the first week. It happened this time and it was the Gunners against the Scousers. Arsenal had had a fairly good pre-season compared to Liverpool's tumultous transfer speculations and ownership struggles. On the pitch, there was very little between the 2. Joe Cole was being wildly cheered by the partisan Anfield crowd even for a mundane flick of his hair. The cheers turned into a hush when he got a straight red for a mindless lunge at Arsenal's debutant Koscielny who later got sent off too. Liverpool scored 2 goals though only one of them counted in their favor. The second where Reina tossed the ball into his own net was awarded to Arsenal to earn them a late draw. So Hodgson did not come out with flying colours but it was a respectable result, the jury is still out on him though.

Dynamic Duo of the Week

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs have a combined age of 71 but you wouldnt tell it from the way they run kids half their age rugged week in week out. The two ought to be picking their pension but instead they are picking up man-of-the-match awards in the twilight of their careers. Scholes so far has been man-of-the-match for United's 2 season openers.

Most Obvious Scoreline of the Week

Chelsea 6-0 West Brom. Chelsea last season scored more than six goals in more than six matches, outscoring their league rivals by a country mile. Betting against them doing the same to newboys West Brom would be like chucking money into a pit latrine. The Drog was at its usual viscious self bagging a hattrick and by the end of the match West Brom had 2 things, a 6 goal deficit and more importantly, the knowledge that the league is not going to be any kinder to them this time than it was last time they got relegated.

Visions of Jabulani

The much feared vuvuzelas have failed to make an appearance in the league but I could have sworn some cheeky ballboy had sneaked a Jabulani ball or 2 into some of the weekend Premier League matches. Everton's keeper Tim howard was the first to embarrass himself when he came out, made a routine save and then inexplicably dropped the ball at the feet of a Blackburn player who gladly obliged by tapping the ball into the net to win the game 1-0 his team. Liverpool's Pepe Reina was next when he got his eyes off the ball for a second and let it pass him to hit the post, he then made a late effort to save, only to fumble the ball into the net and undo the work of his valiant team who had gone a man down but were able to take the lead against Arsenal and defend it for the entire duration of the match.

Yesterday was the day of the English Premier League's customary pre-season friendly. It used to be called the Charity Shield but of late has come to be known as the Community Shield and is meant to be a curtain raiser for the Premier League. It is played between the previous season's league and cup winners or (as was the case this season) between the league winners and league runners up if the league champions won the double of league and cup. Proceeds from the game are distributed to community-based initiatives and charities around the country. Revenue from the gate receipts and match programme sales is distributed to the 124 clubs who competed in The FA Cup from the First Round onwards, for onward distribution to charities and projects of their choice, while the remainder is distributed to the FA's national charity partners.

That was all the Charity there was to be yesterday because as far as on-the-pitch matters went, Man Utd were not in a particularly charitable mood as they thumped their opponents 3-1 to draw the first blood in what is bound to be an enthralling season. The 2 teams were evenly matched for much of the match though it must be said that Van der Sar was the busier of the 2 keepers. United on the other hand had played the more incisive football which a fact reflected by the scoreline. Paul Scholes had an outstanding outing, his passing was magnificent all match before he was substituted on 80 minutes for Darren Fletcher who is already looking like a more than able replacement for the 35 year old Scholes. Antonio Valencia scored the first goal from a Rooney pass. New signing Javier Hernandez, alias Chicharito, showed that the old gaffer still has a nose for unearthing talent. He displayed a sense of positioning and game reading that belied his tender age. His first telling contribution was when he gave the Chelsea defense a healthy run around before threading an exquisite pass to Berbatov who found himself alone in front of goal but the ball was just an inch too fast for the lazy Bulgarian. Chicharito then decided to take matters into his own hands (or is it face?) when he scored from close range with a comic effort that hit his knee, rebounded off his face and into the net. He was later heard trying to explain the technique behind his goal, "When I try to kick it, the ball go to my face - and it's goal." In fairness, Chicharito's English is much better than Fabio Capello's. Kalou pulled one back for the Blues to make proceedings exciting towards the end but Berbatov nailed their coffin tight shut in the 90^th when he lobbed the hilarious Hilario to give the scoreline a gloss. His effort was a typical Berba goal, the guys in my local pub have resorted to calling him 'Kalismart' or 'Michael Scoffield' because of his insistence on style over substance.

At the end of the match, Fergie vowed to take the Premiership title back to Old Trafford. Much as the idea is grossly disgusting to me as a Liverpool fan, I am not going to begrudge him his confidence. His squad looks good for it. Between Chicharito and Rooney who is bound to spark to life any time soon, he has forwards that can score a bagful aided by a supporting cast of Berbatov (who can chip in with the odd collectors item every now and then) and Michael Owen who can be handy when injury free. In the midfield, Scholes and Giggs have stubbornly refused to grow old and remind me of vintage wine every time I see them play. If Nani continues with his end of season form and Valencia gains the confidencce to match his skills then the forwards should be generously provided with quality passes. I believe this will be the season Fergie unleashes Darren Gibson who reminds me of Roy Keane at his prime, a no-nonsense Irish midfield general who commands the game with his presence. Am tipping him for captain sometime in his career. Should transfer target Mehsut Ozil arrive at Old Trafford, the rest of the league will be left panting.

The Da Silva twins are also waiting in the wings to show the world what everyone who has seen them play has been raving about. Yesterday Fabio manned the leftback position with distinction, He kept Kalou largely silent, deputising Evra to the extent that the Frenchman's absence was not noticed. His brother Rafael though might break into the first team proper this season in the rightback position with Gary Neville seemingly over the hill, his more notable contributions these days is to pick fights with the likes of Tevez and Liverpool fans. Evans is progressing quite admirably in the centreback position and Ferdinand had better watch his back (pun intended). With their 18^th title 2 seasons back, Man Utd were able to join Liverpool on that comfortable perch tagged 'most successful club in England'. Will this season be the one that the old Scot gaffer fulfills his lifelong dream of knocking Liverpool off their f***ing perch? I hope not but I know they are certainly looking good for it.

JC is back! No not that JC! You can scramble off your knees now (did you really think last minute repentance would sneak you into heaven?). I am talking about the British JC, Joe Cole and not the Jewish Jesus Christ. Joe Cole has been off the football radar for quite a while now, having fallen out of favor with a succession of managers at Chelsea who did not see how they could fit his exuberant wing play into their own systems of play. This curse followed him to the England squad where some pundits have named him the Three Lions' man of the just concluded World Cup (by virtue of having sat out the inexcusably horrible performances by the squad at the tournament). Chelsea were quite happy to run down his contract and let him go for free. But for a player of Joe Cole's qualities there was bound to be interest in him from others and Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool duly courted him with Liverpool emerging the winners and signing him on a contract that will earn him £90,000 per week. For all his protestations that he is joining the biggest club in England and that what attracted him to Liverpool is the chance of playing with top class players like Gerrard and Torres, we all know its the lucrative pay package that clinched the deal for him. Of the 3 clubs that were chasing Joe Cole, Liverpool were the ones in the most dire of straits and proved their desperation by offering him the most money. Cole, in accepting the money and heading to Anfield, has set himself up as the Saviour of a once great club but now wallowing in mediocrity and hoping for someone to come and restore them to their former glory. However good a ball player Cole is, he is definitely not the saviour they are waiting for. As a matter of fact, sharing initials with Jesus Christ is the closest he will ever get to being a messiah.

Spare a thought for Roy Hodgson who has been thrust into the quagmire that is the situation at Anfield and who was burdened with the responsibility of taking a punt on Joe Cole. This could end up being the beginning of the end of his career as Kop manager, if Joe Cole doesn't step up to the plate as I suspect, or the start of a glorious charge back into the fold of the glamorous English clubs if he defies expectations and shows us his true quality. Being a Liverpool fan I desperately hope my skepticism is proven wrong and already one good thing has already come out of this with talismanic club captain Gerrard committing to the club after the signing. Joe Cole is not a bad player, in fact he is the most naturally gifted English player of his generation. A child prodigy who received national media attention as a schoolboy, he famously scored 7 of the 8 goals the England youth team scored against Spain in one match.

Cole is a product of the famed West Ham United youth system. He was long touted as the hottest prospect in English football with Manchester United reportedly offering to pay £10 million for his services as a 16-year-old. When I first saw him play, I was dazzled by how well he could dribble and do tricks that are not associated with the bland English style. I guess his fate was then sealed by his brilliance, quite rarely has a technically gifted midfielder made it big in the EPL, the more visible exceptions being the obvious talents of Christiano Ronaldo and Fabregas, and they are not English. He hasn't been helped either by the string of inuries that have plagued him over his career; Liverpool will have as big a challenge to keep him fit as to fit him in their system. Being one of the high profile signings of the summer, he can be assured of being given the microscope observation treatment by the press, every small success magnified and every small failing blown out of proportion. It will be an interesting soap to follow!

The World Cup is over officially and I don't know how I am going to get through the next 4 years or what I am going to do with my vuvuzela and makarapa. I wish I could get a refund for all the silly things I bought out of excitement during this month of madness. The final between Holland and Spain was a record breaking affair, None of these sides had ever won the World title and the yellow show put on by English referee Howard was the most flamboyant ever in the history of the World Cup. The referee however is blameless in this because the players were hellbent on ensuring there were only sporadic outbreaks of football amidst the kung-fu on display. 's acrobatic kick at Xabi Alonso was straight out of a martial arts flick script and even Jet Li would have been proud. The Dutch had laughed at the Germans who sat back and let the Spaniards have a field day in the Semi-final and warned that they were not going to be as generous to the Spaniards, with Arjen Robben in particular claiming that he would rather win an ugly match than lose a beautiful one. Well, he lost a most ugly affair and I guess and I guess in retrospect, he would rather have lost a beautiful one. The sad thing about all this is that a match between Holland and Spain is supposed to provide a feast for the football purists. Spain are the best proponents of the beautiful game in the World today but they owe their neat, visually pleasant passing game which they call 'tiki taka' to the Dutch who invented this brand of crowd pleasing soccer in the 70s and gave it the grandiloquent tag 'total football'. Johan Cruyff was part of that generation of Dutch football artists who reached the final of the World Cup in 2 consecutive editions, 1974 and 1978. Spain's success in modern times can be traced back to this Dutch legend; at the height of his playing career in 1973, he joined Barcelona and played there five years, winning the Spanish championship and the Spanish cup. He had even greater success when he coached Barcelona from 1988 to 1996, winning four league titles and the 1992 European Cup.

He also helped establish methods used at the club’s acclaimed youth academy, La Masia, where nearly half of the current Spanish team learned a style of play close to the 'Total Football' of bygone Dutch generations, which is internationally appealing and very effective. When the two teams met in the final, it was a singular victory for Dutch football which had managed to assert it's supremacy in the world. However the students had been too diligent and had surpassed the masters in both style and talent and that is why Spain went into the final as the favorites. This did not amuse the Dutch at all and that is why during what was meant to be the crowning hour (and a half, and then some) of their football tradition, they decided to betray that tradition, preferring to try and win the Cup through a public mugging. It was left to the Spaniards to uphold the romantic ideals of 'total football' and as luck would have it, this time virtue triumphed over vice and Spain capped a fairytale rise to the pinnacle of World football by lifting the trophy. The Dutch have since been shouting at whoever cares to listen claiming they were robbed by Howard Webb. Well actually it is the Dutch who cheated the world. The whole world tuned in to celebrate Dutch football during the final but ironically its the Dutch who were trying to crash their own party.

Paul the Predictor

Never before has an animal's opinion concerning important world issues been so sought after like during this World Cup. Paul the Octopus went from being a wobbly marine thingy to a much celebrated football analyst. With a 100% success rate in predicting matches, he catapulted himself into the limelight and was one of the stars of the tournament. His last 3 predictions were broadcast to an international audience. Paul has split public opinion, the Argentines and Germans who fell foul of his predictions would rather have him for supper while the Spaniards think he should be offered state protection. To save everyone else the stress of worrying about him, Paul decided to hang up his tentacles after the World Cup. So long and good luck in whatever you do Paul.