Hacker: "Beach ball"-gate

Andy Gray famously told a viewing audience of millions that “a balloon’s not going to deviate the ball, it’s not going to divert it anywhere” after Manchester City’s FA Cup tie at Sheffield United last season. Well, Andy: take a bow, son.

Some Liverpool fans have tried to set the blame for their defeat at the Stadium of Light at the door of the young fan who threw a beach ball carrying their Club badge onto the park; others are blaming Sunderland’s stewards for failing to keep the pitch clear of debris. High profile former refs, though, such as Jeff Winter, are pinning it all on Mike Jones, the match referee, who has since been removed from the Premier League’s list of officials.

If you ask me, there’s no point in trying to pin the blame for this on anyone or anything, though it is tempting, in true Scooby Doo style, to blame “those pesky kids”. This was an incident that not even the great comedic mind of John Cleese could have conceived, and to try to apply any kind of reason to it is a bit of a waste of energy.

Steve Bruce said post-match that he hoped the freakish nature of their winning goal would not take away from the high quality of his side’s performance. I don’t think that it has. Sunderland received a large amount of entirely deserved credit for the way in which they took the game to Liverpool. I do think, though, that the nature of Darren Bent’s winner has protected a struggling Liverpool side from a fair bit of criticism.

Liverpool have lost four of their nine games in the Premiership going into the weekend clash at Old Trafford. This represents a shocking start to the season for a team that should be the biggest challengers to Manchester United and Chelsea at the top of the table. Liverpool have spent a quite ridiculous amount of money on their playing squad since Benitez’ arrival, yet as soon as Gerrard and Torres are out of the side they look ordinary at best.

Arsenal were the side that most experts picked as being the most likely to make room for Manchester City in the “big four” of the Premier League at the start of this season, yet the Gunners have been in excellent form early in the season. Playing their distinctive brand of football while dealing with the absence through injury of vital players like Theo Walcott, Arsenal have moved into a very strong position in the table: six points from the top with two games in hand.

If Rafa Benitez isn’t careful, he might find his own side ushered none too gently from the hallowed ranks of the Premiership’s elite. If it comes to that, a beach ball will be the least of his worries.