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Reviewing the Premier League’s midweek storylines

By on August 12, 2015

The Premier League’s opening weekend has closed and there are a few dry days before the next round of mouth-watering fixtures begin again. Richard Lewis reviews a few football headlines that have kept the English papers buzzing over the week.

No happy Eva after for Chelsea’s Team Doctor Eva Carneiro

Perhaps Jose Mourinho doesn’t realize that as in Doctor Who’s Blue Box, all doctors cannot simply be exterminated and suddenly reappear in the blue box of Stamford Bridge. Certainly, Chelsea’s manager is adept at creating fairy-tale headlines; generally, anything to direct attention away from his team after a poor performance. Following Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Swansea City at the weekend, Mourinho has shuffled attention to the flaws in the work of Chelsea’s doctor, Eva Carneiro.

The fiasco didn’t begin during the game. Late on in stoppage time, with the game level, Eden Hazard went down with an injury and referee Michael Oliver beckoned Chelsea’s medical staff onto the pitch. Naturally, Eva Carneiro then lead Chelsea’s First Team Physiotherapist, Jon Fearn, out onto the pitch to attend to Hazard and thus lead him off the pitch to late reenter — in other words, doing her job. At least that’s how the world saw it.

However, during his post-match press duties Mourinho heaped criticism onto Carneiro and claimed that, as Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was sent off earlier in the game, being reduced to nine put Chelsea in a spot of danger. Mourinho has gone as far to restrict Carneiro and Fearn’s match day duties and the medics aren’t even allowed in the team hotel — leaving the club to find a new medical pair ahead of their weekend fixture with Arsenal.

It does, though, appear on face value as if there’s more behind the story. Mourinho may be keen to protect his players but is certainly intelligent enough to keep a small incident in one match from leading to the firing of a medical staffer this is seemingly well liked at Chelsea. Facebook-posts and all, it wouldn’t be surprising if Carneiro was already fighting an uphill battle to maintain her job as it was. Ironically, it would take much more than a doctor to fix the rift that has come between the pair.

Yet the latest saga may have backfired on Mourinho, with the public supporting Carneiro. If Hazard was not actually injured, then logically, blame should also lie with the twenty-four-year-old for not getting up to indicate that treatment wasn’t required. In the past, Mourinho has actually bemoaned the lack of sharpness for his medical staff to enter the pitch, specifically after goalkeeper Petr Cech suffered a serious head injury against Reading years back.

Then again, all the attention has indeed been taken away from Chelsea’s awful performance. Maybe the imminent arrival of left-back Baba Rahman will lighten the mood, with Chelsea reportedly close to signing the twenty-one-year-old Ghanaian Bundesliga outfit FC Augsburg.

Southampton believe Romeu will do!

Carneiro isn’t the only Chelsea employee to have been shuffled out of Mourinho’s plans, as midfielder Oriol Romeu was recently offloaded to Southampton. Romeu has finally decided to jump ship permanently on £5 million move to St Mary’s, where he will link up with former teammate Ryan Bertrand, signing a three-year deal. Both were part of Chelsea’s 2012 Champions League winning squad.

The Spaniard has played thirty-four times for the Blues after joining from Barcelona but hasn’t played under Mourinho, being shipped off on loan spells with Valencia and Stuttgart.

The Saints seem to also be in market for highly sought after Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk. The twenty-four-year-old Dutchman is one of several reported Southampton targets as they look to sign a central defender before the transfer window closes. Depth will be a key aspect of Ronald Koeman’s squad given they have to juggle a Europa League campaign, facing Midtjylland of Denmark in a qualifying playoff.

Pedro shows his Super value as Manchester United move looms

What a way to go out. If Pedro indeed has played his last match in a Barcelona shirt, at least he’ll leave on the memory of providing the winner in a fantastic nine-goal UEFA Super Cup thriller against Sevilla.

The day hadn’t begun well for the twenty-eight-year-old. He had reportedly told the Catalan club’s Sporting Director the morning of the match that he wanted to move on from his boyhood club in wake of Manchester United’s bid to sign the forward. Pedro was then left on the bench in Tbilisi, as Rafinha was given the starting nod.

It was only in extra-time when Pedro’s services were eventually called upon and the Spanish international pounced on Lionel Messi’s saved free-kick to score Barca’s decisive fifth goal. The goal would be the ultimate going away present, given Pedro had seem to edge closer to a move to United over the course of the summer due to concerns regarding playing time. Come January new recruits Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal will be allowed to put on the famous red and blue jersey, which would cast even more shadow over Pedro’s role at the club.

However, his goal in the Super Cup could prove a point to the Barcelona big-wigs that a strong bench player is almost as important as a world class starting eleven. Whether that’s the role that Pedro wants to fill is yet to be seen, however, although he seemed to backtrack ever so slightly, admitting it isn’t his liking to leave the club.

Next up on the list for Barca is a two-legged meeting with Athletic Blibao in the Spanish Super Cup and their year concludes with a trip to Japan for the 2015 Fifa Club World Cup. Win all three and the club are well on their way to another sweep of trophies. Pedro may not be there to see those possible future triumphs, but the winner against Sevilla could be the perfect place for the parting of the ways between club and player.

Homepage photo credit: Clément Bucco-Lechat, via Wikimedia Commons

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.