You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Football' tag.
The press are suggesting that David Bentley is being targeted by Aston Villa and Martin O’Neil is keen to get the right winger. I have huge respect for O’Neil and I think he probably should go to a bigger team (i.e. Man U/Arsenal) but I simply do not understand this one.
Bentley is useless, arrogate and did I mention useless? I’m not even sure where they would play him. Villa have Miller, Young, Downing and now Delph. Would he be prepared to keep his mouth shout and sit on the bench?? I don’t think so! Totally the wrong type of signing for them and would be very surprised if it works out.
oh and he is in the news again
So the summer bazaar has been open for a few weeks, its been anything but quiet. So I’ve decided to summarise what has happened so far and try and predict what may happen in the coming weeks.
Cristino Ronaldo
So lets start of with the biggest move in history: Ronaldo decided to move from Manchester United to Real Madrid for €80 Mill, that’s a lot of money even for Man U. They would be stupid not to sell him for that price especially, for someone who obviously did not want to stay. I have to say next seasons line-up for Real Madrid looks very scary, imagine playing against Kaka & Ronaldo!! I would not want to be a full back in La liga right now. (Although I would never say no…)
Teves, Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Barry.. More??
So on the blue side of Manchester: they continuing to spend STUPID amounts of money… Thinking that if they send Billions and pay ridiculous Wages they could become a world class team…wait a minute we have been here before, Oh yeah Chelski. I guess Man City would like to emulate the success that Chelsea have had, they have already signed a number of good signings. However I do wonder what will happened to all the other crap not so good players. I do get a sense of deja vu here.. I reckon they will sign a defender (not Terry, Toure or Lescottt).
Eto’o <–> Ibrahimovic
Barcalona have decided to let go of there prolific striker Eto’o, the Cameroon international has decided to join Inter Milan as part of an exchange deal for Ibrahimovic (+30 mill). Inter are getting a very good deal, they are getting an awesome striker as well as €30 Milll. Also the papers believe that Touchline Pundit favourite Hleb (not!) will also be going on loan to Inter. This is an interesting signing by the Catalonia side, not sure how they will line up next season but I will be interesting.
Owen
Bargain of the century, I have to say this is very good busy by Sir Alex! He has picked up a very good striker for absolutely nothing. He may be injury prone but he has always proved that he an eye for a goal, if Sir Alex and his team can keep him fit I think Owen will score at least 15 goals..(I may put some money on this)
Right, that’s enough for now. Will be back soon with more rumors and any signings…
After a fantastic weekend of football action from the best league in the world, we are left with complete uncertainty of whose hands the title is going to end up in.
As things stand Manchester United are still favorites with one point ahead of Liverpool and a game in hand, but the form Liverpool are in is undeniably breathtaking, their 5-0 win against Aston Villa looked like a day out in the sun, nothing taken away from Villa who just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Man Utd carried on with their low confidence dropping three crucial points at Fulham, who have shown to be a tough team to break down for the big four this season. Though Sir Alex’s men still have a cushion from the brilliant run earlier this season, Liverpool are creeping up and the pressure is now on.
Chelsea on the other hand look good and buried with their defeat to Spurs, a superb goal from Modric was enough to seal the win for the North Londoners, but Chelsea performed well and deserved a point from the game, if not more. Chelsea do have the easiest run to the finish however, apart from Arsenal all their tough games have been done with, so they will need to win for the rest of the season and hope the other two slip up to have a chance.
Arsenal are out of the race, mathematically still possible but now they are just looking to secure fourth spot and focus their attentions to the FA cup and Champions League, the game against Newcastle was a classic end to end game we’ve have come to miss from both teams, great football from both sides but a managerial decision (or indecision) cost Newcastle the game, when Steven Taylor was off the pitch receiving treatment the manager didn’t fill the hole, why? It was an odd decision for no one to think quickly which of course Arsenal took advantage for a splendid goal from Abu Diaby to get the gunners ahead. With the luck Newcastle are running on, relegation fears are looking likely to continue right till the end of the season.
So that’s the review of how the top four are looking as we go into the international break, it will require a whole new post to discuss the relegation battle this season, lets just say the way its ended up positions 10 and 11 (Manchester City and Tottenham respectively) are not safe from the drop, a few bad results and they may face the axe.
Christmas is approaching and so is almost the 19 game mark, things have been quite interesting in the beginning half of the season with teams like Hull and Fulham have been killing off some of their giant competitors leaving a very uncertain view of the top four and how things will shape up in the new year.
Liverpool started off with some brilliant results but with some very poor performances but they got the results that they needed and that’s why they are top. Having wins against Man City away and Chelsea away are all great but then drawing to Hull, Fulham and West Ham all at home is shocking, two of them being goalless, sure Hull are playing well but if Steven Gerrard wants to live up to his wishes pre-season of actually challenging for the title the whole season and not just playing for 3rd or 4th, they really had to get at least 7 out of 9 points in those games, had they had done, they would have been 5 points ahead of Chelsea which would definitely have boosted their chances.
Chelsea showed great promise thrashing teams near the beginning and with their prolific striker Nicholas Anelka, actually I say prolific but I am only really quoting what the press say, I think personally Anelka is the most boring goal scorer in the Premiership, that’s harsh I know but he doesn’t do anything, he doesn’t threaten defenders, he doesn’t link up well he doesn’t know how to pass, he just finishes all the things left on a plate. Its not a bad thing I guess but Chelsea want to live to a standard of attractive football and Anelka is not it, ok sure people will criticize me in saying this but just wait when he goes through a period of not scoring goals he will as useless as the referee, or even worse, Kalou.
Now Drogba, there’s a striker who knows how to make an impact, he terrorises defenders and scores some wonderfully team and individually crafted goals, that’s a striker to be proud of (apart from his attitude). Chelsea did look really good but a string of poor home form has left in doubt whether they really have that edge to win convincingly this season, I do believe they will be up there at the end, but it will be very close with them and Manchester United
Speaking of Man Utd, who out of the top four have had the hardest first half of the season, playing 9 away games against the 9 teams that were in the top 10 last season, and they have managed to come out of this quite well being 3rd in the Premiership only 6 points behind Liverpool with a game to spare, they did lose two really important games against Liverpool and Arsenal, but they have done the business against the rest, the 2nd half will be easier for Man Utd and if Berbatov can kick his old goal scoring form into gear, Man Utd are sure to be strong favourites.
Arsenal on the other hand are not, they have struggled this year and its hard to explain why, the only thing that really makes sense about Arsenal is that they don’t have Flamini, or a replacement of him that is experienced enough to hold that mid-field strong, Denilson is absolutely rubbish, this player doesn’t know how to pass the ball, stay on his feet, or score! I think even Eboue is better than him, and Song, who has started playing in that position recently, is just not good enough. Why Arsene Wenger insists on playing Bendtner I don’t know, especially when you have Carlos Vela rotting away on the bench. I really think Wenger has been very stubborn this season and it does seem he is trying to make a point, his first point being not to fall for the presses pressure, the press said he needs experience, pundits said if he has money to spend, then spend it, he went against this, they also said buy experience, he ignored this and went young again, this has cost them dearly, and they just can’t win games with conviction anymore, just like Arsenal used to.
Middle table looks exciting as ever too, Aston Villa are playing some attractive football and so are Everton, Man City have disappointed defensively but attacking football has been immense for them, almost to the standard of the top four, if they spend in January and with over half a trillion funding them I’m sure they will, you can be sure they will be a menace in the 2nd half, and especially next year.
So in the end, I do predict Manchester United will be crowned once again, but if Chelsea can get their home act together it will be a very close race to the finish. Liverpool, no chance, thats harsh I guess, they do have a chance but I really think its more luck than talent that will take the crown. Arsenal, I don’t like to say but this season they need to pit their hopes on the Champions League, because the premiership is going to need a miracle. I do believe the top four will remain the same as last season.
Please leave your thoughts and predictions.
Liverpool 2 - 1 Manchester United
Brown og 27′ Tevez 3′
Babel 77′
A breakthrough win for Liverpool left Manchester United shocked as to how a team without Gerrard and Torres in the starting line-up led to a victory.
Rafael Benitez always likes to prove a point by doing controversial things that other managers wouldn’t consider doing, ridiculous squad rotation tactics, buying a player for £28m and not having him a regular starter for the first 2 months of him being there, subbing off Steven Gerrard against Everton away when the game is tied at 1-1 and 30 minutes left (the expression on Gerrard suggested no injury or fatigue), buying Robbie Keane for £20m, buing Dirk Kuyt full stop! Ok so I have gone on a bit, but all these random choices really didn’t make sense.
However, his decision and tactics against United were spot on, he got things moving well and really out thought his opposite number, the first 15 mins United were all over them, lets admit they had the better players (marginally), and some slick passing and persistence from Berbatov led to the first goal for Tevez and the Berbatov making his mark in the united shirt.
Liverpool took over after that, the strike force of United hardly got into it after that, Berbatov had completely left the game! Liverpool’s equaliser was an own goal, but it was a deserved goal as they pushed quite hard to United’s goal, and a silly error from Van der Sar and 1-1.
From then on it was all Liverpool, the work rate was brilliant and it left a pained expression on Ferguson’s face as he couldn’t really do much to stop them. Though Liverpool had possession they still didn’t look clinical in front of goal, without Torres and Keane still miss firing, there really isn’t a goal scorer.
The final goal was a shocking mistake by Ryan Giggs, persistence from Mascherano and Kuyt set up Ryan Bable for the finish and the game, with 10 mins left United didn’t look as though they would get back into it.
A great victory for Liverpool but it was through sheer work rate and not much more, will this be good enough to challenge? Will Man Utd reach to the level of Chelsea? This is going to be an interesting battle, will Arsenal fit into the frame? This top four is looking very confusing at the moment, but with Chelsea’s win at Man City leaves them as the hot favourites early on for the league.
Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal
Hengeland 21′
Can Arsenal dig out a scrappy results when needed? It seems not, their performance lacked any penetration, and Fulham displayed excellent persistence throughout the whole match, cutting out passes, counter attacking and just pushing Arsenal back as and when they could. Fulham’s best player was their whole side, they all chipped in and put extra energy behind the game which led to their 1-0 victory.
A notable performance from Hengeland who won man of the match, his goal came from a corner which was whipped in from the left hand side by Danny Murphy, Hengeland easily got past his marker William Gallas to get his toe onto the ball and passed Almunia. Overall it was very poor marking as we have come to expect from Arsenal
Van Persie was the big disappointment today, he is usually devastating on the ball but his passing was poor and he failed to hit the target once in four close range free kicks. Nasri and Eboue played well but Arsenal overall were very poor in passing and no conviction in front of goal. They are really missing Cesc Fabregas and definitely need a solid central midfielder to partner him, Denilson just doesn’t seem fit for this team.
Overall this is a great result for Fulham, though unfortunately it does look like they will have to battle relegation this season as there are too many good teams out there. However, if Arsenal really want to mount a challenge for the title they really can’t afford a slow start so they will have to up their game for next match, and hopefully make the signings they want.
I have just finished reading an article by Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times complaining how we have all stopped behaving badly, and that everyone is polite and courteous, even politicians who now look so boring compared to the days of Winston Churchill and Margret Thather.
The same has happened to football and wrestling, I used to be a huge wrestling fan and in the 90s (a lot of people don’t know this) the surface they used to fight on used to be plain planks of wood and a blue canvas over the top, Mick Foley refereed to it as a very hard thud every time you went down and he said you had to be very committed to be a wrestler. Now a days when too many pretty boys like Edge and Y2K are in the game, they have planks of wood, 1 inch thick foam, and a very soft canvas, the planks of wood are protected by springs so the falls are cushioned even more. What the hell happened to the awesome rivalries you had in the 90s, Stone Cold against McMahon, Tripple H vs The Rock and Mankind, Kane and Undertaker were so flippin good they were better than Hollywood, we all know wrestling is fake and blah blah, but these guys used to put themselves through immense pain just for entertainment. Nowadays you see Edge do a DDT on D Von-Dudley and hit him with a plastic chair and that’s it. Boring!
Same with football, how the hell does the best rivalry end with Alex Ferguson allowing Silvetre to leave to Arsenal, it was almost like United were doing them a favour, you could argue that Chelsea are now the rivals, but can you imagine a fight between winging Dider Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo, the only real thug left in the top teams is Rooney, but he’s too thick to be a headliner of the rivalries, he would never be a Roy Keane or a Patrick Viera, he would be too busy having a fag by the corner flag.
Its disappointing to see now but there is no anger in the game anymore, you can see passion in the players but it’s the high life and the fat pay cheques that attract their interest the most, that’s not to say that the football isn’t brilliant, its just to say at times it’s a boring game of professionals coming to their place of work, playing football, and leaving in their Lincoln Navigators to their pop idol wives. The loyalty shown to clubs used to be more, now its about individuals. I guess I may be being cynical a bit but lets bring back the thugs! The leaders! The people who wear their shirt with pride!
Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, with Premier League trophy
So in the less the 45 mins time the 2008-09 season will kick-off! So lets forget the credit crunch and ignore this olympic distraction (come on Team GB!) I was going to say this is where the talking stops and the football takes over. But actually this is where the talking really starts!!
I have to say this year is a hard one to call; will it be United (again?) or will Big Phill ruin Ronaldo’s Party. Or will Arsenal finally end there trophy drought? Or will this be the year of the pool? Can Rafa make a challenge for the title?
Arsenal Vs West Brom is the first game, I believe its live on Sky Sports or Check our Yahoo! Eurosports Matchcast
You can also see how Robbie Keane fairs on his debut when Sunderland take on Liverpool, this one is live on Setanta sports
Take a look at the Full Fixtures List here
Let The Games Begin!
P.S. Sorry we are slightly behind our predictions.. blame J-Lee!
Last season ended in disappointment for Arsenal as it was another one which finished trophyless. As usual, the beautiful football philosophy was employed by Wenger and worked well as the team looked to have a end product to their genius play. This was until about March however (the same time as Eduardo injury and Gallas’s tantrum. The team didn’t really look the same after that, and things started to fall apart. A mixture of this and bad luck ended a miserable season for Arsenal.
Strengths:
- Very young squad: They will learn from last years disappointments
- Attitude: They’ve got a great footballing attitude which we have come to expect from Wenger.
Weakness:
- Squad size: They never really had a big squad anyway. Now it’s even smaller with the departure of Hleb and Flamini.
- Defence: The incapbility of dealing with a long ball.
- Adebayor: He will remain at the club but how will his saga affect the team’s spirits and morale.
- Captain: Do we dare start talking about a new one?
Our Predictions:
J-Lee: This season cannot be trophyless for Arsenal, FACT. But I don’t think they are stronger that the other three of the ‘Big Four’ especially after their losses. My verdict: 4th.
Ash-sta: I have to agree, Arsenal need a win here and with the way players are leaving morale seems low, but I have always believed Arsene pulls it out of the bag everytime. Definite contenders.
The Doc: Arsenal are well overdue a trophy. Last season they came agonising close, the simply ran out of steam towards the end of the season. With 3 first team midfielder’s departing from the squad, Wenger needs to invest in a central midfielder. I believe its unlikely they will win the league. However, the FA cup will definatly be on his list. They will finsh a respectable 2nd.
Transfers:
- Goalkeeper: With Lehman’s departure and Almunia’s inconsistency, Wenger should turn to Fabianski and buy another keeper.
- Defensive Midfielder: Well, Gilberto’s left after a great period at the club and Flamini stupidly followed him out of the club so he couldn’t play in the Champions League. They need a replacement!
Links: Yahoo! Arsenal Wikipedia Arsenal
