If the Footballer of the Year had to be picked now, on the evidence of the first six weeks of the season, it would not be difficult to narrow down the choice to four.
Liverpool's Torres is the Premier League's top scorer with eight goals
Jermain Defoe, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres have been in bullish form. But try to name the Premier League's outstanding defender! That is a trickier matter.
Goals have been flying in. Manchester City's 3-1 win against West Ham on Monday took the tally to 196 from 66 Premier League matches so far. That is an average of 2.95 goals a game, just higher than the average boasted by La Liga in Spain (2.92) and much more prolific than Italy's Serie A (2.38).
But is it really impressive? Entertainment value is soaring. Who could have failed to have been caught up in the stirring drama of Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City?
Liverpool's 3-2 success at West Ham was thrilling at times. The Anfield 6-1 romp against Hull on Saturday had home fans purring. Rafael Benitez's side have also hit four against Stoke and Burnley.
Arsenal gave Everton six of the best on the opening day, Tottenham have twice hammered in five and nearly half the clubs have conceded four or more in a game.
There have only been two 0-0 draws.
It sounds like a rattling throwback to the forties, fifties and early sixties when forwards in baggy shorts always seemed to tantalise shuffling defenders into submission. But there's the rub. In those heady, innocent days England failed to win the World Cup or European Champions Cup and things have not changed.
Unless your attack is as brilliant as Brazil's in 1970 or Real Madrid at the turn of the sixties, you will not win the major trophies without tight, well-drilled and able defenders.
In 1966 Sir Alf Ramsey's switch to an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, which led his side to become known as the 'wingless wonders' had midfield players who would track back to bolster an already commendable back five marshalled by the world's best defender Bobby Moore and best keeper Gordon Banks.
With the big-money pressure on from day one of the season, teams, even the promoted new boys, are pushing for winners late in matches.
Jonathan Pearce
When Manchester United finally landed the European Cup for England in 1968 they, like Celtic who blazed the trail the previous year, allied attacking brilliance with defensive discipline. Behind George Best, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law sat Nobby Stiles, Bill Foulkes and David Sadler.
If manager Jimmy Johnstone was the brilliant imagination of Celtic then captain Billy McNeill was the team's conscience in defence.
Italy won the 2006 World Cup largely because they had the meanest defence. Barcelona had technical brilliance when they defeated Manchester United in the Champions League final in May but they also cut United's service to the forwards with surgical precision and anaesthetised any threat after the first 20 minutes.
Will our leading clubs fall again at the final hurdle because of leaking goals at vital times against class opposition? Will England, dubbed only recently by some as "the best team in the world", fail again because of a defensive blunder?
The Premier League is the most physically demanding league in the world. Fans and the modern multi-media platforms demand 90 minutes of Hitchcock suspense, Steve McQueen Great Escape thrills and Di Caprio/Winslet/Titanic endearing but doomed romance every time a match is played.
It is wonderful entertainment. If that is all we want, then the product is terrific. But if we want 10 months of fun and frolics and then the big silverware at the end of the season, the chances are we will end up disappointed.
Because somewhere in the glorious technicolor mix, defenders have forgotten the basics of defending. Amid the do-or-die penalty-box dodgems, the assassin's cold-eyed focus on stopping an opponent dead has been blurred.
Man-marking is often lamentable. Off-the-ball movement often totally foxes ball-watching defenders. Too many ludicrous individual errors are made.
West Ham's partially self-inflicted defeat at Eastlands is a case in point. Carlos Tevez was in far too much space for the first goal. A woeful offside trap caused the third. The Hammers' consolation came from a poor Joleon Lescott clearance.
Fewer clubs are shutting up shop in matches. With the big-money pressure on from day one of the season, teams, even the promoted new boys, are pushing for winners late in matches.
It is no surprise that 48 goals (24.4%) have come in the 10-minute period either side of half-time. That is always been a lush time for scorers.
But this season 32 goals have also come in the last 10 minutes (16.3%). Mistakes are being made more often. Defences are failing to concentrate for 90 minutes to close out games.
As England's 'big four' enter the latest round of Champions League games this week it must be a major concern.
Rio Ferdinand's (left) error led to Craig Bellamy's second goal in the Manchester derby
Manchester United defended generously against City. Rio Ferdinand's fitness problems are a worry for club and country and Nemanja Vidic is not as imposing as he has been. Wolfsburg have only conceded one away goal this season so do not expect them to be a pushover on Wednesday.
Liverpool are at Fiorentina on Tuesday, who have not conceded a goal at home. The way defender Martin Skrtel presented Hull with Saturday's consolation would have had former Anfield hard man Tommy Smith spitting blood. The Champions League will be less forgiving than the Tigers.
All the English clubs should win this week but progress in the later rounds and England's World cup tilt ultimately could be lost through a lack of secure lock-tight defences.
The trouble is we cannot have it both ways. The sterile tactics of Serie A would not sit well with English fans. We want our drama to be fast, furious and unpredictable. I am just worried that the end of the season may, predictably, bring tears again.
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