A slice of MotD

Hear ye, hear ye, another edition of Motd rolls this way. Yes, it certainly does as it is time for Lionel Richie's physical abuser Gary Lineker to lead us through Saturday's football action.

As it is was the 1st December there's a little Christmas theme to this episode of Motd and Lineker proceeds to offer a warm welcome to Alan Hansen and to the other special guest, and serial diver, Everton's Phil Neville.

Shirt update: Lineker has broken into Alan Shearer's cupboard and got himself one of those pink shirts, looks a little tight on him though. Hansen has gone for dark brown or something and Neville is keeping it plain and simple with a white shirt. I can see Neville shoes, too, and they look well polished so he wins this round.

The 7 goal thriller between Reading and Man United is up first as both teams managed to score all the goals within the first 34 mins of the game. That United back four eh? Lineker jokes with Neville saying there isn't much to talk about with this first game. Very good, Gary. Neville highlights Wayne Rooney's performance in this particular game saying that he worked very hard all over the pitch. The shoddy defending is picked on by Hansen and he radically claims that no one knows how the flat back four works anymore and for once he may actually have a point.

Chelsea's defeat to West Ham next and my oh my isn't Rafa Benitez having a tough time of it? And now I hear they are going to bring in Avram Grant? Bloody hell. Well, never mind how your club is being run Chelsea fans, at least you're champions of Europe right? But losing to West Ham has to hurt and even Carlton Cole scored which never really happens these days. Anyway, Hansen says the subs that the Big Walrus made at half time were key to West Ham's success, especially Diame.

Arsenal's abysmal defeat at home to Swansea follows and what is that stupid celebration Michu always does when he scores? Nevermind, but he looks to be signing of the season as his two goals brought his tally for the season up to 11. All the boys are in agreement that Swansea fully deserved their victory as they embarrassed the Gunners on their own turf. Hansen says Arsenal need to spend big as this is something of a crisis right now. 

Before the Fulham vs Spurs highlights Gary rolls out a stat about how Tottenham have made more defensive clearances than any other club in the league. So that's what AVB will do for you. Hansen talks about Jermain Defoe who is in ridiculously good form and they show his goal against West Ham from last weekend and it is a truly brilliant moment of skill. The talk moves onto Gareth Bale and his diving antics which are absolutely terrible. Additional reading here. Inevitably, they take a look back at Phil Neville's horrendous dive against Liverpool earlier the season. Thankfully, the so called 'banter' isn't as cringeworthy as when Vincent Kompany was a guest, as that was awful.

Man City vs Everton is on the agenda now and the Toffees earned themselves a very good point with that big haired Belgian Marouanne Fellani scoring again. Every week David Moyes seems to be moaning about some sort of contentious decision that has gone against his team and this week it was the penalty awarded to Man City. Neville reinforces this fact by saying that they feel like a lot of decisions have gone against them. Phil expresses his man love for Fellaini and how he is key to Everton's success this season.

West Brom and Stoke in a snooze fest next where Tony Pulis and his orcs nicked a late winner. Quickly moving on there is Liverpool's home win against Southampton where, remarkably, Luis Suarez didn't cause any controversy. Hansen, naturally, dissects this game and offers that Liverpool need to enhance their squad in January if they want a chance at reaching the top four.

It's 'Arry's first home game in charge of QPR next as they managed a 1-1 draw with Villa. Incredibly, Paul Lambert persists in leaving Darren Bent on the bench. Bent must have said something very offensive about Lambert's wife before the season started to receiving this kind of treatment. 

And that is that for this weekend's Match of the Day. Pretty solid work from Lineker, Hansen and Neville this week. The punditry was a unusually good and, thankfully, Hansen didn't manage to totally embarrass the guest. I enjoyed Neville's ramblings are he seemed quite likable, I can see him following his brother's footsteps into the world of punditry when he decides to hang up his Everton shirt once and for all.

Till next week.

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