For football-starved 渴望看足球的 fans of the English Premier League, the long summer of cricket 板球 finally ended as the 2009-2010 season kicked off on Saturday.

But even as a brand new season opens, it seems that some of the key figures are up to their old tricks 故伎重演 already.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez wasted no time in giving a tongue-lashing 嚴(yán)厲批評(píng) to the referee who denied his team not one, but two penalties during their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

"The decisions were very poor," said Benitez.

"Everyone could see the first one was a penalty. The second one was handball 手球 but we knew it would not be a penalty."

Liverpool's misery was completed with the sending off 罰下場 of assistant manager Sammy Lee after he complained too strongly about the perceived 印象里的 handball.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp took a very different view of the penalty incidents, describing the first one as "the kind of bread-and-butter stuff that defenders do week in, week out".

The phrase "bread-and-butter stuff" means activities or tasks that you do on such a regular basis that they are very familiar to you or become second nature 第二本能.

The expression "week in, week out" simply means every week.

One Premiership manager who certainly isn’t complaining is Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger whose team has gone straight to the top of the league with a 6-1 thumping 重?fù)?of Everton on Saturday.

"Everybody in our team can score goals and everybody likes to go forward so when things go for us like today, anyone can score," said Wenger.

Another manager who will be very much under the spotlight 備受關(guān)注 this term is Manchester City’s Mark Hughes who has spent ￡176m (nearly 2,000m Yuan) on new players since the club was bought by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family 阿布扎比皇室 last year.

"The excitement is tangible 實(shí)實(shí)在在的," Hughes said, meaning the excitement is so great you can almost touch it.

"Everyone connected with the club is feeling the anticipation of a season we hope is going to be very successful for us."

Manchester City didn’t disappoint on Saturday, beating Blackburn 2-0 with goals from new signing 新簽約球員 Adebayor and old City favourite Steven Ireland.

"Many people might have been looking to see if we were going to fall flat on our face today and I thought we gave a great response," said Hughes.

"To fall flat on your face" is a metaphorical expression 比喻的說法 meaning to make a big mistake with everybody watching.

Ironically, Mark Hughes did slip 滑倒 on wet grass as he shook the Blackburn manager’s hand after the game.

City fans will be hoping that is the only tumble 失敗 their team will face this season.