Open Mike Monday: English Premier League, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Sepp Blatter

Spring break is over, but football remains.

Good thing, too. The weekend gave us oodles of excitement in leagues across Europe.

In Spain, Karim Benzema replicated an all-time great goal for Real Madrid. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund escaped an eight-goal thriller. In Holland, Ajax stormed to the top of the table with a six-goal outburst.

And none of that was good enough to make Open Mike Monday. Nope, there's just not enough room at the top.

What caught my eye this weekend? Read on to find out.

Best League in the World

Among all the other things you could say about it, this weekend was one of those short bursts of brilliance that cry out for cliches.

QPR beating red-hot Arsenal? Well, that's why you play the games.

Sunderland almost beating Manchester City? See, on any given day, any Premiership team can beat any other.

Chelsea beating Aston Villa? Oh, never mind.

Anyway, this weekend, the cliches were true.

In the English Premier League, any team can beat any other team on any given day. And that's why you play all the games, no matter how unlikely an upset may seem.

We saw it Saturday when QPR—relegation candidates though they are—upset Arsenal, who had won seven straight matches during their march to third place.

And we almost saw it again when Sunderland very nearly threw the title race into chaos by beating Manchester City.

As it was, the Black Cats ended City's 100 percent home record and helped Manchester United's title prospects by two priceless points heading into the Red Devils' Monday matchup with the lowly Blackburn Rovers.

Taken together, the weekend's twists reinforce what we already knew anyway. The English Premier League is the best league on the planet.

And the upsets might not be done yet. Lest we forget, United lost to Blackburn at Old Trafford in December.

Best Star at a Small Club (Or, Coming to a Big Club Near You)

One upset that didn't quite happen was Tottenham's 3-1 win over Swansea City.

No biggie. We neutrals got to see Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson strut his stuff one more time for Swansea.

The Icelandic midfielder tied the game briefly with an excellently taken volley in the 59th minute before Emmanuel Adebayor won it with a late brace.

And in general, Sigurdsson played like a maniac. Like he always does.

Yes, yes, I know. It was Spurs' first league win in seven weeks, and Adebayor stole the headlines. But like I said, the neutrals were interested in seeing Sigurdsson—and to a lesser extent, Swansea—play.

Neither disappointed. Swansea played their customarily flowing football, and though Spurs deserved their victory, the final margin was probably a bit harsh on Swansea.

And Sigurdsson. Let's just say he earned himself an even bigger payday at the end of the season. When his loan comes up—he's contracted to Hoffenheim—it's hard to see Swansea coming up with the money that'll be needed to keep him.

Since arriving at Swansea in January, Sigurdsson has done nothing but impress. That continued Sunday, even in defeat.

A big club is going to buy Sigurdsson this summer. It's only a question of who.

In fact, I'd be shocked if Spurs weren't taking a closer look at the 22-year-old Icelandic international on Sunday.

Best Debut

Nothing like a classic Italian defensive struggle, no? Few things get your blood pumping quite like a healthy dose of catenaccio, right?

I'm just joking, but if you were nodding your head silently to those last two sentences, you should look away now.

Inter Milan beat Genoa 5-4 on Sunday in what had to be the most entertaining match of the weekend from a major European league.

Diego Milito hit a hat trick, Mauro Zarate bagged a wonder goal, both teams finished with 10 men and the referee awarded four penalties—all of which were converted.

The teams combined for 37 shots (17 on target), six yellow cards and 29 fouls.

Oh, and Inter was giving a debut to new coach Andrea Stramaccioni, who recently replaced the departed Claudio Ranieri.

What will Stramaccioni—and Inter—do for an encore?

Most Confusing Club, Pt. I

I give up. I can't figure out what's wrong with Liverpool, and I'm tired of trying.

The Reds lost again this weekend, falling 2-0 at Newcastle. Kenny Dalglish's team has lost three straight and picked up just eight points in 12 games since the calendar turned to 2012.

The Reds are now eighth in the table, behind Everton. And yet they won the Carling Cup and have a spot in the FA Cup semifinals.

Like I said, I can't figure it out. And I'm done trying.

With that in mind, I asked B/R's resident Liverpool expert Karl Matchett for some guidance. He had plenty to say via email:

"

Forget technical ability, criticism of signings not being “good enough” for Liverpool FC, the biggest failing the current crop have is their mentality.

Not for a long, long time has a group of Reds looked so vulnerable whether leading or trailing. The players look scared to try anything overly exuberant in attack, with the notable exception of Luis Suarez most games, while at the back anything resembling a pacey counter attack looks almost certain to end with a chance at goal.

Too many players too used to accepting defeat at lower clubs? Perhaps. That can be a problem when signing players from mid-table teams. But it doesn’t affect winners, and that is what this squad do not have.

Bolo Zenden didn’t have that problem when coming from Middlesbrough. Neither did Alvaro Arbeloa from Deportivo, Momo Sissoko from Valencia or a shed load of other players.

None were necessarily technically the best, but did they know how to win?

Absolutely.

This squad needs new leaders, new winners—and some key injured players back.

"

Honestly, I feel for the guy. And that's as an Arsenal fan who doesn't really care about Liverpool at all.

It's tough watching this happen to the Reds, and maybe that's how neutrals felt about my club earlier this season.

I don't know. I just don't know.

Most Confusing Club, Pt. II

Next, I asked Karl whether Liverpool's Carling Cup triumph makes up for any of the team's current problems.

The short answer was no.

"Any team can win a cup with a bit of luck and three or four good, isolated games. Winning the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and finishing sixth (the same as last year) would have represented progress, despite not being as MUCH progress in the league as we wanted.

But if the Reds finish seventh, or eighth, then over a full season have they improved?

The squad is better than last year, I’m positive of that, but only when things are going well. During the first four months of the season, Liverpool played some great football without scoring goals.

As soon as the defeats set in, a whole load of other problems were easily apparent though, and that is where we miss the mindset of the Mascheranos, Alonsos, etc. as much as their footballing ability.

Liverpool need to finish the season strongly—as in, winning at least five of the remaining league matches and reaching the FA Cup final—to help build something for next season, without it overshadowing or papering over the deficiencies which are blatantly there and need fixing.

"

As you can see, Karl has a bunch of good stuff to say about Liverpool. Check out more of his opinions at The Liverpool Word.

Best Tweet

The Premier League only just avoided tragedy when Fabrice Muamba narrowly escaped death on the pitch at White Hart Lane a few weeks back.

Now Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is battling acute leukemia. The diagnosis was announced Friday, and kind words flowed in from around the football world.

Perhaps the highest-profile well wisher was FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who tweeted his support for the stricken Villa star.

"

Very sad to hear about Stiliyan Petrov’s illness. Wish him strength in his fight to win this battle #getwellstan

— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) April 2, 2012"

And:

"

Support shown at Villa Park by both sets of fans another sign of all that is good in football #getwellstan

"

"— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) April 2, 2012"

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