Football: Premiership Review – International Break

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.

Football: Champions League Draw

Draw 1 – Villarreal FC Vs Arsenal FC

The turnaround of fortune continues for Arsenal as they have drawn one of two possible teams that they really wanted, the other being Porto. After beating Roma on a very fortunate night for Arsenal, they had the best Premier League weekend they could have hoped for, beating Blackburn in a emphatic 4-0 win at the Emirates and Aston Villa losing to Arsenal’s bitterest rivals, Tottenham, to get the gunners in fourth spot for the Champions League. A further positive is nearly all their injured players will be back, and for the first time, Arsene Wenger will have a squad with in depth strength and creative options on the bench. Villarreal have had a better season thus far also sitting fourth in the Spanish Premier League, but matching the quality of the sides makes Arsenal the bookies favourite for this tie.

Draw 2 – Manchester United Vs FC Porto

A very fortunate draw for Manchester United, Porto are considered the weakest side remaining, though at one stage they had been tipped as outside favourites to make the final this season, but after losing to Arsenal 4-0 early on in the group stages, and losing one of their key players Ricardo Queresma, they really are up against it in this tie. Man Utd had just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Liverpool, but they are still tipped to win the Premier League title and the Porto tie may even be considered a breath of fresh air.

Draw 3 – Liverpool FC Vs Chelsea FC

The third draw came in as the most mouth-watering of them all, Liverpool and Chelsea have such a large history in the competition and in the domestic games, with Guus Hiddink bringing out Chelsea’s best form and Liverpool have just come through two monumental wins against two monumental teams so this tie is set up to be something special. Neither team can be happy that their other two domestic rivals got “lucky”, but to win this competition they will have to face the best and beat the best at some point. As both teams are locked in the Premiership on 61 points the game looks dead even, only Chelsea have the advantage with the second leg being at Stamford Bridge.

Draw 4 – FC Bayern Vs FC Barcelona

The two highest scoring teams this season in the champions league lock horns with the first game played at Nou Camp, Barcelona have been on high scoring form in their domestic games recently, but they did show a hint of struggle against Lyon with their back line, and against a stronger opponent a weak defence would be ripped apart with ease, as Liverpool showed against Barca’s rivals Read Madrid in the first stage. Bayern are just fresh from beating Sporting by 12 goals over 2 legs, it was pure free-flow football from the German side and they are now full of confidence and really have nothing to lose against Barca who are considered one of two favourites to pick up the title, it should be an interesting clash.

Football: Barclays Premier League Mid-Season Review

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 3^rd or 4^th, 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 3^rd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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.

Football: Chelsea Vs Manchester United Preview

Well another exciting weekend for the two big guns, the first time they will meet after their Champions League clash and it is certain to entertain!

Man U have had a lot of tough games recently, in fact their first 10 games are against the top 10 teams in the league, they have had the hardest start to deal with compared to the other 3, and after a disappointing week they really need a result here.

Chelsea are going in the game with extreme confidence, they haven’t really been challenged yet, unless you call Man City a challenge, but they have managed to mop up the little teams with ease, a thing they haven’t been able to do in the past. Confidence wise, Chelsea will definitely be on a high, however they could face a United backlash.

The Teams

Well Chelsea’s team may be a bit of a surprise on this occasion, I don’t think Scolari will go for his two wing forwards and play a 4-3-3, I think it will be Anelka with Cole playing just off him on the right, and Lampard left centre, and a midfield of Deco, Mikel, and Ballack. If he does play this team it is one scary line up! (the usual defence)

However, a great line-up it may be, United have its full force bar Vidic, a Berbatov Tevez strike force, Rooney on the left, Ronaldo on the right, Scholes and Carrick in the centre. Look at United’s bench, Giggs, Anderson, Nani, Hargreaves, all players that can impact a game, Chelsea’s bench just as frightening, Drogba, Malouda, and their impactful Brazilian defender Alex.

The game is questionable, will it be a stalemate like we have seen in the past years, a boring 1-1 draw, thank God the Champions League final was really good to watch, otherwise the whole world would complain how boring English football would be, but on that day Chelsea were slightly better, and when they click they look good, the only team in the world I can think that clicks as well as Chelsea is United, so I predict an exciting game with lots of hot air and tension, with United going for the win, and Chelsea going for a thrashing!!

Please leave your thoughts on the game!

Football: Liverpool vs Manchester United

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.