Due to European commitments there were four games played on Sunday, the last games before a two game international break. The half-past one kick-off saw Birmingham take on Bolton at St. Andrews; the Blues took an early lead thanks to Roger Johnson in under five minutes. It got worse for Bolton as Jussi Jaaskelainen lost his cool and slapped the Birmingham goalscorer eight minutes before half-time. Birmingham took advantage and went two ahead thanks Craig Gardener who is in top form at the minute. Substitute keeper Adam Bogdan pulled off some great saves to keep Bolton at 2-0, Roger Johnson was in the thick of it again after conceding a penalty which captain Davies scored to bring Bolton back into it. Ten minutes later and nine minutes from time ex-Birmingham player Robbie Blake took a fantastic free-kick right into the top corner to give Bolton a hard earned point.
There were two three o'clock kick-offs; firstly Liverpool hosted West Brom which was settled by a 65th minute winner by Torres to give Hodgson his first Premiership victory with Liverpool. West Brom also saw Morrison sent off four minutes from time and will receive a ban. The other three o'clock kick-off was also settled by just the one goal; Darren Bent scoring a stoppage time penalty to give Sunderland victory over Manchester City.
The four o'clock kick-off saw Aston Villa host Everton, after a poor start to the season for both teams it was a fixture they both could have done without. But an early goal from Luke Young saw Villa emerge victorious but they were hanging on for dear life.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Sunday 29 August 2010
Belgian Weather Causes Anarchy
The racetrack at Spa has been renowned for its unpredictable weather and it didn't disappoint for the Formula 1 fans today. Webber surrendered his pole start straight away as he couldn't seem to get his car going and went fifth into the first corner. Hamilton benefited as he took the lead but both Petrov and Schumacher climbed up the pack early on.
There was carnage on the very first lap as Barrichello's brakes couldn't quite work on the wet surface and collided into Alonso which forced Barrichello out of the race and brought about the first Safety Car of the day. Senna became the second casualty of the weather as he span out a few laps later and forced him to retire from the race.
The Championship took a dramatic turn on the 16th lap as Vettel lost control of his car and collided into Button. This caused Button to retire and Vettel was handed a drive through penalty as he could carry on at McLaren's despair. However Vettel's day got even worse as he got a puncture after clipping Liuzzi's front wing during an overtaking manoeuvre. he made it back to the pits but he wasn't going to get any points from the race.
The rain began to fall again on Lap 35 and Hamilton went off the track into the gravel but just about managed not to hit the barrier and could keep driving. From there everyone was in a hurry to get either the intermediate or extremely wet tyres on and after Kubica over cooked his stop, Red Bull managed to complete their pit stop quicker and Webber overtook Kubica in the pits.
A third potential Championship winner Alonso span out of the race on Lap 38 causing a second Safety Car and Hamilton's lead was cut short. The Mclaren held on though to take the checkered flag ahead of Webber and win the Belgian Grand Prix. Here's the final standings:
1. Hamilton (McLaren), 2. Webber (Red Bull), 3. Kubica (Renault), 4. Massa (Ferrari), 5. Suti (Force India), 6. Rosberg (Mercedes), 7. Schumacher (Mercedes), 8. Kobayashi (Sauber), 9. Petrov (Renault), 10. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 11. Liuzzi (Force india), 12. De La Rosa (Sauber) 13. Buemi (Toro Rosso), 14. Hulkenberg (Williams), 15. Vettel (Red Bull) 16. Kovalainen (Lotus) 17. Di Grassi (Virgin) 18. Glock (Virgin), 19. Trulli (Lotus) 20. Yamamoto (Hispania), 21. Alonso (Ferrari), 22. Button (McLaren), 23. Senna (Hispania), 24. Barrichello (Williams)
This leaves Hamilton as Championship leader on 182 with Webber second on 179. Vettel, Button and Alonso have lost considerable ground with 151, 147 and 141 points respectively. However Red Bull still lead the Constructors Championship now by just a point with 330 and McLaren on 329.
There was carnage on the very first lap as Barrichello's brakes couldn't quite work on the wet surface and collided into Alonso which forced Barrichello out of the race and brought about the first Safety Car of the day. Senna became the second casualty of the weather as he span out a few laps later and forced him to retire from the race.
The Championship took a dramatic turn on the 16th lap as Vettel lost control of his car and collided into Button. This caused Button to retire and Vettel was handed a drive through penalty as he could carry on at McLaren's despair. However Vettel's day got even worse as he got a puncture after clipping Liuzzi's front wing during an overtaking manoeuvre. he made it back to the pits but he wasn't going to get any points from the race.
The rain began to fall again on Lap 35 and Hamilton went off the track into the gravel but just about managed not to hit the barrier and could keep driving. From there everyone was in a hurry to get either the intermediate or extremely wet tyres on and after Kubica over cooked his stop, Red Bull managed to complete their pit stop quicker and Webber overtook Kubica in the pits.
A third potential Championship winner Alonso span out of the race on Lap 38 causing a second Safety Car and Hamilton's lead was cut short. The Mclaren held on though to take the checkered flag ahead of Webber and win the Belgian Grand Prix. Here's the final standings:
1. Hamilton (McLaren), 2. Webber (Red Bull), 3. Kubica (Renault), 4. Massa (Ferrari), 5. Suti (Force India), 6. Rosberg (Mercedes), 7. Schumacher (Mercedes), 8. Kobayashi (Sauber), 9. Petrov (Renault), 10. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 11. Liuzzi (Force india), 12. De La Rosa (Sauber) 13. Buemi (Toro Rosso), 14. Hulkenberg (Williams), 15. Vettel (Red Bull) 16. Kovalainen (Lotus) 17. Di Grassi (Virgin) 18. Glock (Virgin), 19. Trulli (Lotus) 20. Yamamoto (Hispania), 21. Alonso (Ferrari), 22. Button (McLaren), 23. Senna (Hispania), 24. Barrichello (Williams)
This leaves Hamilton as Championship leader on 182 with Webber second on 179. Vettel, Button and Alonso have lost considerable ground with 151, 147 and 141 points respectively. However Red Bull still lead the Constructors Championship now by just a point with 330 and McLaren on 329.
Speedway Grand Prix, Round 8
Round 8 of the Speedway Grand Prix calender saw the bikes travel to Gorican, Croatia. With Gollob only five points ahead of Hampel, everything was still up for grabs and Crump wasn't too far behind either. However it looked as if the two Poles were going to battle it out with as a fewer points as possible with Gollob finishing third and Hampel fourth in their first heats of the meeting.
The first bout of drama came in heat 9 when Lindgren clipped the back of Bjerre's bike, which sent Lindgren to the floor however all four riders restarted and it was this heat where Hampel won his first heat of the night. Gollob followed this by winning his first heat two heats later but Crump looked to be in fine form and was closing the gap on the Poles.
Heat 13 saw a bizarre decision by the referee as Andreas Jonsson collided into Crump but both riders stayed on their bikes and would have been able to finish the race. But the referee decided to stop the race and exclude Jonsson. The restart saw Crump finish second and gain one extra point than what he would have earned if the race hadn't have been restarted.
The penultimate heat saw the two leading Poles go head to head, however the start was slightly delayed by a clutch problem for Chris Holder which saw him excluded and Slovenian substitute Duh entered the fray for one heat only. Gollob got the better of Hampel by winning the heat and Hampel finished third.
Brit Chris Harris accumulated the most points of the meeting with 14 and battled Lindgren (who scored 9), Hampel (who scored 8) and Holder (who scored 7) in the first semi-final. Harris came out as winner and progressed into the final along with Lindgren. The second semi-final saw American veteran Greg Hancock (who scored 13) battle Crump (who also scored 13), Gollob (who scored 9) and Holta (who scored 6). It was to be the 40-year old American who won the semi-final and Crump completed the final line-up.
Brit Harris was denied only his second Grand Prix win by Greg Hancock. Jason Crump picked up two crucial Championship points after finishing third and Swede Lindgren finished fourth. The championship standings after eight round sees Gollob on 117, Hampel on 110 and Crump just three points behind on 107. All three are still within a chance with just three rounds left in the Speedway Grand Prix calender.
The first bout of drama came in heat 9 when Lindgren clipped the back of Bjerre's bike, which sent Lindgren to the floor however all four riders restarted and it was this heat where Hampel won his first heat of the night. Gollob followed this by winning his first heat two heats later but Crump looked to be in fine form and was closing the gap on the Poles.
Heat 13 saw a bizarre decision by the referee as Andreas Jonsson collided into Crump but both riders stayed on their bikes and would have been able to finish the race. But the referee decided to stop the race and exclude Jonsson. The restart saw Crump finish second and gain one extra point than what he would have earned if the race hadn't have been restarted.
The penultimate heat saw the two leading Poles go head to head, however the start was slightly delayed by a clutch problem for Chris Holder which saw him excluded and Slovenian substitute Duh entered the fray for one heat only. Gollob got the better of Hampel by winning the heat and Hampel finished third.
Brit Chris Harris accumulated the most points of the meeting with 14 and battled Lindgren (who scored 9), Hampel (who scored 8) and Holder (who scored 7) in the first semi-final. Harris came out as winner and progressed into the final along with Lindgren. The second semi-final saw American veteran Greg Hancock (who scored 13) battle Crump (who also scored 13), Gollob (who scored 9) and Holta (who scored 6). It was to be the 40-year old American who won the semi-final and Crump completed the final line-up.
Brit Harris was denied only his second Grand Prix win by Greg Hancock. Jason Crump picked up two crucial Championship points after finishing third and Swede Lindgren finished fourth. The championship standings after eight round sees Gollob on 117, Hampel on 110 and Crump just three points behind on 107. All three are still within a chance with just three rounds left in the Speedway Grand Prix calender.
Premier League Round-Up 28/8/10
Yesterday's lunch-time kick-off saw Blackburn host Arsenal at Ewood Park. Man of the moment Walcott put the Gunners ahead on 2o minutes before loan signing from Manchester United Diouf equalised seven minutes later, thus going into half-time level. Arshavin grabbed Arsenal's winner six minutes into the second to give Arsene Wenger's side seven points out of a possible nine.
The three o'clock kick-offs saw Blackpool gain another Premier League point after drawing with this season's draw specialists Fulham. Zamora gave Fulham a first-half lead but found themselves 2-1 behind thanks to a Pantsil own goal after 71 minutes and Luke Varney put the Tangerines ahead five minutes later. The seasiders were three minutes away from celebrating their first home win in the Premiership but Etuhu gave Fulham their second consecutive 2-2 draw.
Chelsea remained the only Premier League side with maximum points after beating Stoke 2-0. Lampard also had a penalty saved by Sorensen before Malouda gave Ancelotti's team a half-time lead after 32 minutes. Chelsea were awarded a second penalty in the second-half and with Lampard off the pitch after being substituted, Drogba stepped and showed Lampard how it's done.
After Newcastle's 6-0 thrashing over Aston Villa last week, Chris Hughton's side could only muster up a draw away to Wolves. Former Manchester United man Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored a silky goal two minutes before half-time. After his hat-trick last week, Andy Carroll was on hand to equalise with a bullet header on 62 minutes.
The final three o'clock kick-offs saw the shock result of the day as Wigan beat Spurs at White Hart Lane. Hugo Rodallega scored the only goal ten minutes from time.
The tea time kick-off saw Manchester United host struggling West Ham in a contest that looked to only have one winner. A first half penalty from Wayne Rooney secured the half-time lead in front of the watching Fabio Capello. A solo goal from Nani and a team goal capped off by Berbatov finalised the 3-0 victory for Manchester United.
The three o'clock kick-offs saw Blackpool gain another Premier League point after drawing with this season's draw specialists Fulham. Zamora gave Fulham a first-half lead but found themselves 2-1 behind thanks to a Pantsil own goal after 71 minutes and Luke Varney put the Tangerines ahead five minutes later. The seasiders were three minutes away from celebrating their first home win in the Premiership but Etuhu gave Fulham their second consecutive 2-2 draw.
Chelsea remained the only Premier League side with maximum points after beating Stoke 2-0. Lampard also had a penalty saved by Sorensen before Malouda gave Ancelotti's team a half-time lead after 32 minutes. Chelsea were awarded a second penalty in the second-half and with Lampard off the pitch after being substituted, Drogba stepped and showed Lampard how it's done.
After Newcastle's 6-0 thrashing over Aston Villa last week, Chris Hughton's side could only muster up a draw away to Wolves. Former Manchester United man Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored a silky goal two minutes before half-time. After his hat-trick last week, Andy Carroll was on hand to equalise with a bullet header on 62 minutes.
The final three o'clock kick-offs saw the shock result of the day as Wigan beat Spurs at White Hart Lane. Hugo Rodallega scored the only goal ten minutes from time.
The tea time kick-off saw Manchester United host struggling West Ham in a contest that looked to only have one winner. A first half penalty from Wayne Rooney secured the half-time lead in front of the watching Fabio Capello. A solo goal from Nani and a team goal capped off by Berbatov finalised the 3-0 victory for Manchester United.
Saturday 28 August 2010
Webber On Pole In Belgium
Red Bull continued their qualifying reign as Mark Webber secured pole for the Belgian Grand Prix, three weeks since the last race. Q1 was a very stop-start session as the slippery surface caused a few accidents. Mercedes already knew the writing was on the wall as Michael Schumacher was handed a 10 place demotion after his horror overtake in the last race, his teammate Nico Rosberg was handed a five place demotion after a gearbox failure.
The first incident in Q1 belonged to Reanult's Petrov as he crashed into a barrier and was forced to pull out of qualifying, meaning he'll start from the back of the pack. Trulli and Di Grassi had a slight coming together that meant both cars span, luckily both were able to continue. Sauber weren't so lucky as Kobayashi was next to test the barrier and a couple of seconds later his teammate Pedro De La Rosa did exactly the same leaving both Sauber's exiting Q1. Di Grassi, Yamamoto, Senna and Trulli also exited at Q1. The fastest was surprisingly Mercedes' Nico Rosberg who needed the best possible qualifying session.
Q2 saw Glock, Kovalainen, Buemi, Liuzzi, Alguersuari and both Mercedes cars exit with Hulkenburg, Sutil and Barrichello suprisingly making it into Q3, Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Q2. Here are the final qualifying results: 24. Petrov (Renault) 23. Di Grassi (Virgin) 22. De La Rosa (Sauber) 21. Schumacher (Mercedes) 20. Yamamoto (Hispania) 19. Senna (Hispania) 18. Kobayashi (Sauber) 17. Rosberg (Mercedes) 16. Trulli (Lotus) 15. Glock (Virgin) 14. Kovalainen (Lotus) 13. Buemi (Toro Rosso) 12. Liuzzi (Force India) 11. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 10. Alonso (Ferrari) 9. Hulkenburg (Williams) 8. Sutil (Force India) 7. Barrichello (Williams) 6. Massa (Ferrari) 5. Button (McLaren) 4. Vettel (Red Bull) 3. Kubica (Renault) 2. Hamilton (McLaren) 1. Webber (Red Bull)
The first incident in Q1 belonged to Reanult's Petrov as he crashed into a barrier and was forced to pull out of qualifying, meaning he'll start from the back of the pack. Trulli and Di Grassi had a slight coming together that meant both cars span, luckily both were able to continue. Sauber weren't so lucky as Kobayashi was next to test the barrier and a couple of seconds later his teammate Pedro De La Rosa did exactly the same leaving both Sauber's exiting Q1. Di Grassi, Yamamoto, Senna and Trulli also exited at Q1. The fastest was surprisingly Mercedes' Nico Rosberg who needed the best possible qualifying session.
Q2 saw Glock, Kovalainen, Buemi, Liuzzi, Alguersuari and both Mercedes cars exit with Hulkenburg, Sutil and Barrichello suprisingly making it into Q3, Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Q2. Here are the final qualifying results: 24. Petrov (Renault) 23. Di Grassi (Virgin) 22. De La Rosa (Sauber) 21. Schumacher (Mercedes) 20. Yamamoto (Hispania) 19. Senna (Hispania) 18. Kobayashi (Sauber) 17. Rosberg (Mercedes) 16. Trulli (Lotus) 15. Glock (Virgin) 14. Kovalainen (Lotus) 13. Buemi (Toro Rosso) 12. Liuzzi (Force India) 11. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 10. Alonso (Ferrari) 9. Hulkenburg (Williams) 8. Sutil (Force India) 7. Barrichello (Williams) 6. Massa (Ferrari) 5. Button (McLaren) 4. Vettel (Red Bull) 3. Kubica (Renault) 2. Hamilton (McLaren) 1. Webber (Red Bull)
Thursday 26 August 2010
UEFA Champions League Draw 2010/2011
With all 32 teams now qualified the top dogs of European football all sat down in Monaco to watch their teams being drawn together in the Champions League. Aside the draw they dish out the European Player of the Year Awards which are supposedly chosen by the managers whose teams made it to the knockout rounds of last year's Champions League. Now I'm not suggesting that the awards are fixed but they usually don't always add up, this year all five awards went to Inter Milan players, which I think is just because they won last year's Champions League. Julio Cesar picked up the goalkeeper of the year, Maicon the defender of the year, Sneijder the midfielder of the year and Diego Milito won striker and overall player of year, somehow. Anyway here's how the Champions League Draw finished as, where two teams will be playing out the final in May at Wembley:
Group A: After beating Young Boys yesterday, Tottenham were awarded a pretty tough group which they may find hard to get out of and may end up having to compete in the Europa League after all. They will meet the defending champions Inter Milan along with Werder Bremen of Germany and Steve McLaren's old club FC Twente of Holland. This group is possibly the secondary group of death as any of the four could potentially progress.
Group B: French side Lyon will meet Portuguese powerhouse Benfica as both sides will look progress at Shalke of Germany's and Hapoel Tel-Aviv of Israel's expense. The latter two will battle out third place to enter the Europa League.
Group C: The second of the English sides to be drawn was Manchester United, they will face Valencia who are now without David Villa and David Silva which means they should be less of a threat. These two have met a few times before and United seem to attract the Scottish entrants as well as they have both Celtic and Rangers on numerous occasions, this year it's Rangers' turn to visit Old Trafford. The final team in this group is Turkish side Bursaspor, who are entering the Champions League for the first time and provide an unknown opposition to the table.
Group D: Barcelona have been dealt a good group against Greek side Panathinaikos, Danish side FC Copenhagen and Russian outfit Rubin Kazan. Should be any one of three to follow Barcelona, my money would be on Copenhagen who scraped through on away goals last night thanks to ex-Chelsea star Jesper Gronkjaer.
Group E: Last year's runner-up Bayern Munich will face Italians Roma who will look to head into the knockout rounds with Swiss side FC Basel and Romanian side CFR Cluj battling it out for the Europa League spot.
Group F: Chelsea have a decent group with only Olympique Marseille providing the major danger however a trip to Spartak Moscow isn't always easy. They will also be facing Slovakian debutants MSK Zilina.
Group G: This is most definitely the group of death; AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Auxerre, need I say more! Unfortunately Ajax aren't the side they were but it still will be the hardest group to get out of for sure.
Group H: The final group sees Arsenal face a fairly simplistic group; they will meet Ukranian's Shakhtar Donetsk along with Portuguese SC Braga and Serbian debutants FK Partizan. It is a great opportunity for Donetsk or Braga to make it into the knockout rounds unless Partizan cause a massive upset.
Group A: After beating Young Boys yesterday, Tottenham were awarded a pretty tough group which they may find hard to get out of and may end up having to compete in the Europa League after all. They will meet the defending champions Inter Milan along with Werder Bremen of Germany and Steve McLaren's old club FC Twente of Holland. This group is possibly the secondary group of death as any of the four could potentially progress.
Group B: French side Lyon will meet Portuguese powerhouse Benfica as both sides will look progress at Shalke of Germany's and Hapoel Tel-Aviv of Israel's expense. The latter two will battle out third place to enter the Europa League.
Group C: The second of the English sides to be drawn was Manchester United, they will face Valencia who are now without David Villa and David Silva which means they should be less of a threat. These two have met a few times before and United seem to attract the Scottish entrants as well as they have both Celtic and Rangers on numerous occasions, this year it's Rangers' turn to visit Old Trafford. The final team in this group is Turkish side Bursaspor, who are entering the Champions League for the first time and provide an unknown opposition to the table.
Group D: Barcelona have been dealt a good group against Greek side Panathinaikos, Danish side FC Copenhagen and Russian outfit Rubin Kazan. Should be any one of three to follow Barcelona, my money would be on Copenhagen who scraped through on away goals last night thanks to ex-Chelsea star Jesper Gronkjaer.
Group E: Last year's runner-up Bayern Munich will face Italians Roma who will look to head into the knockout rounds with Swiss side FC Basel and Romanian side CFR Cluj battling it out for the Europa League spot.
Group F: Chelsea have a decent group with only Olympique Marseille providing the major danger however a trip to Spartak Moscow isn't always easy. They will also be facing Slovakian debutants MSK Zilina.
Group G: This is most definitely the group of death; AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Auxerre, need I say more! Unfortunately Ajax aren't the side they were but it still will be the hardest group to get out of for sure.
Group H: The final group sees Arsenal face a fairly simplistic group; they will meet Ukranian's Shakhtar Donetsk along with Portuguese SC Braga and Serbian debutants FK Partizan. It is a great opportunity for Donetsk or Braga to make it into the knockout rounds unless Partizan cause a massive upset.
Monday 23 August 2010
Sunday's Premier League Review
Sky usually call football on Sunday's as Super Sunday and it lived up to that name yesterday. First we saw St.James' Park host it's first Premier League fixture for two seasons against the team that virtually sent them into the Championship to season's ago, Aston Villa. As the norm has been hit six or nothing, that's exactly what we were given. Villa started the game off brighter and could've had a dream start when Ashley Young was fouled by keeper Harper and getting Villa a penalty. However what seems to be the weekend of missed penalties ensured that John Carew blasted his penalty into the second tier of the stand. Typically a missed chance like that normally comes back to haunt you and it certainly did; Joey Barton smashing a 20+ yard shot into the top corner just three minutes later. However if Friedel had been wearing a cap he maybe should've saved it. Kevin Nolan made it 2-0 just after the half-hour mark and from there Aston Villa just seemingly collapsed and Newcastle's new number 9 Andy Carroll made it three just three minutes later.
Hopes of a Villa revival were dwindling as every minute went by with no sense of fight left in the Midlands club. Any remaining hopes were dashed when Carroll got his second and Newcastle's fourth in the 67th minute. Twenty minutes later Nolan grabbed his second after yet more shocking defending from the Villa side and Carroll rounded it off with his hat-trick in injury time. Villa most definitely need to tighten up defensively otherwise their campaign in the Europa League may be short lived again and their fight for Europe in the League may also fade away.
The second game of the day say Manchester United travel to their bogey ground Craven Cottage to play against Fulham who have beaten them in the previous two seasons here. However it looked that the hoodoo was going to vanish as United came out on top and dominated possession, they took the lead just after ten minutes with a Paul Scholes special from a corner from outside the box, finding the bottom corner to get his 150th senior goal for Manchester United. Fulham did carry a threat from breaks with Zamora and as long as it stayed at 1-0 they always had a chance. Berbatov was back to his old self it seemed after wasting another hat-full of chances.
The second began with more United pressure but they somehow had lost all defensive power and Fulham caught United on the break just before the hour mark; Duff somehow got past Evra like he wasn't even there allow the Irishman to run down the wing before putting in a low cross which beat all the defenders and Simon Davies was on hand at the back post, unmarked, to guide the ball into the bottom corner. United restored their lead with six minutes to play when a corner unfortunately bounced off Hangeland's shin and rolled into the net. The Norweigen made up for his accidental error when he rose unmarked from a corner and bulleted his header home with a minute before stoppage time to give the Cottagers the point and keep their ground a bogey ground for Manchester United.
Hopes of a Villa revival were dwindling as every minute went by with no sense of fight left in the Midlands club. Any remaining hopes were dashed when Carroll got his second and Newcastle's fourth in the 67th minute. Twenty minutes later Nolan grabbed his second after yet more shocking defending from the Villa side and Carroll rounded it off with his hat-trick in injury time. Villa most definitely need to tighten up defensively otherwise their campaign in the Europa League may be short lived again and their fight for Europe in the League may also fade away.
The second game of the day say Manchester United travel to their bogey ground Craven Cottage to play against Fulham who have beaten them in the previous two seasons here. However it looked that the hoodoo was going to vanish as United came out on top and dominated possession, they took the lead just after ten minutes with a Paul Scholes special from a corner from outside the box, finding the bottom corner to get his 150th senior goal for Manchester United. Fulham did carry a threat from breaks with Zamora and as long as it stayed at 1-0 they always had a chance. Berbatov was back to his old self it seemed after wasting another hat-full of chances.
The second began with more United pressure but they somehow had lost all defensive power and Fulham caught United on the break just before the hour mark; Duff somehow got past Evra like he wasn't even there allow the Irishman to run down the wing before putting in a low cross which beat all the defenders and Simon Davies was on hand at the back post, unmarked, to guide the ball into the bottom corner. United restored their lead with six minutes to play when a corner unfortunately bounced off Hangeland's shin and rolled into the net. The Norweigen made up for his accidental error when he rose unmarked from a corner and bulleted his header home with a minute before stoppage time to give the Cottagers the point and keep their ground a bogey ground for Manchester United.
More Sixes Than A Cricket Game
The second bout of fixtures in the Premier League went ahead this weekend and Saturday treated us to no 0-0 draws and two 6-0 thrashings. The first of which came at the Emirates where Blackpool's honeymoon victory over Wigan was certainly forgotten about as Arsenal romped the Tangerines 6-0. Theo Walcott certainly proved a point to Capello and opened up the scoring in just twelve minutes. Blackpool's day got worse when defender Evatt was sent off for being last man after fouling Arshavin what appeared to be just outside the box, however referee Jones pointed to the spot and the Russian stepped up to double Arsenal's lead. Walcott grabbed his second seven minutes later to give Arsenal a 3-0 half-time lead. The second half would've been all about damage limitation for Ian Holloway's men but the four down four minutes into the half after Diaby finished off a slick Arsenal move. Walcott finished his day off with a hat-trick nine minutes later and Chamakh also could have had a hat-trick himself but missed countless chances before getting his goal seven minutes from time.
The game at St.Andrews between Birmingham and Blackburn was the background story as all spotlights were on referee Michael Oliver who became the League's youngest ever referee at 25 years old. The young man wasn't afraid to give the big decisions as he gave Blackburn a penalty when Zigic was blatantly tugging at Samba's shirt during a corner; Pedersen stepped up and the arguable man of the match Ben Foster splendidly saved onto the bar. Foster definitely put his case forward to be England's number one after Joe Hart's stunning performance last week. Blackburn did take the lead via Nzonzi but their lead lasted just three minutes when Craig Gardener equalised just before the hour mark. Birmingham took the three points when the unlikely hero Gardener scored again with 19 minutes to play, giving Birmingham the 2-1 win.
Unfortunately Everton's game against Wolves was also about the referee, as Lee Mason didn't have a good one. He awarded Everton a free-kick right on the edge of the box which replays showed the offence clearly took place in the box, however little will be said about it because Cahill managed to scramble the ball home. Wolves got their equaliser in the 74th minute thanks to Ebanks-Blake finishing off a swift break, however Guediora seemed to jump off the ground and dive in studs first to win the ball that led to the break, which any referee apart from Mason would've given a free-kick and even possibly a sending off for Guediora.
Stoke's game against Tottenham was also surrounded in controversy but not until at the end. Gareth Bale gave Tottenham the lead nineteen minutes into the game when a Sorensen save rebounded off his shoulder into the net. Fuller equalised six minutes later before Bale scored a wonder goal on the half-hour mark to restore Tottenham's lead. Stoke should've got a point when Crouch stopped a shot seemingly over the line that wasn't given and the three points went to Tottenham.
After their non-existent display against Chelsea, West Brom looked to have improved greatly against Sunderland and deserved their 1-0 victory with great new signing Peter Odemwingie getting the goal nine minutes before the end, Chris Brunt nearly added a second but his thunderbolt crashed into the bar.
West Ham's poor start against Villa last week continued this week after losing 3-1 to Bolton; Carlton Cole took a very poor penalty that was easily saved by Jaaskelainen. Three minutes into the second half and Upson scored an own goal to give Bolton the lead, Elmander made it two on the 68th minute. West Ham got themselves back in it after referee Andre Marriner awarded another penalty which Mark Noble took this time and scored. However Bolton were to restore their two goal advantage six minutes from time with Elmander getting his second. West Ham could now be facing four games no points with their next to games being Man United at Old Trafford and Chelsea at home.
On the up side for West Ham they're not Wigan, who after suffering a 4-0 defeat to Blackpool last week were treated to a 6-0 defeat by the rampant Chelsea this week. Like last week's 6-0 win Malouda started the scoring, this time on the 34th minute to give them a 1-0 lead at half time. But two goals from Anelka and substitute Kalou was rounded off in stoppage time with Benayoun getting his first goal for Chelsea. Leaving the Champions top of the table with 6 points and +12 goal difference already and Wigan bottom with no points and -10 goal difference already.
The game at St.Andrews between Birmingham and Blackburn was the background story as all spotlights were on referee Michael Oliver who became the League's youngest ever referee at 25 years old. The young man wasn't afraid to give the big decisions as he gave Blackburn a penalty when Zigic was blatantly tugging at Samba's shirt during a corner; Pedersen stepped up and the arguable man of the match Ben Foster splendidly saved onto the bar. Foster definitely put his case forward to be England's number one after Joe Hart's stunning performance last week. Blackburn did take the lead via Nzonzi but their lead lasted just three minutes when Craig Gardener equalised just before the hour mark. Birmingham took the three points when the unlikely hero Gardener scored again with 19 minutes to play, giving Birmingham the 2-1 win.
Unfortunately Everton's game against Wolves was also about the referee, as Lee Mason didn't have a good one. He awarded Everton a free-kick right on the edge of the box which replays showed the offence clearly took place in the box, however little will be said about it because Cahill managed to scramble the ball home. Wolves got their equaliser in the 74th minute thanks to Ebanks-Blake finishing off a swift break, however Guediora seemed to jump off the ground and dive in studs first to win the ball that led to the break, which any referee apart from Mason would've given a free-kick and even possibly a sending off for Guediora.
Stoke's game against Tottenham was also surrounded in controversy but not until at the end. Gareth Bale gave Tottenham the lead nineteen minutes into the game when a Sorensen save rebounded off his shoulder into the net. Fuller equalised six minutes later before Bale scored a wonder goal on the half-hour mark to restore Tottenham's lead. Stoke should've got a point when Crouch stopped a shot seemingly over the line that wasn't given and the three points went to Tottenham.
After their non-existent display against Chelsea, West Brom looked to have improved greatly against Sunderland and deserved their 1-0 victory with great new signing Peter Odemwingie getting the goal nine minutes before the end, Chris Brunt nearly added a second but his thunderbolt crashed into the bar.
West Ham's poor start against Villa last week continued this week after losing 3-1 to Bolton; Carlton Cole took a very poor penalty that was easily saved by Jaaskelainen. Three minutes into the second half and Upson scored an own goal to give Bolton the lead, Elmander made it two on the 68th minute. West Ham got themselves back in it after referee Andre Marriner awarded another penalty which Mark Noble took this time and scored. However Bolton were to restore their two goal advantage six minutes from time with Elmander getting his second. West Ham could now be facing four games no points with their next to games being Man United at Old Trafford and Chelsea at home.
On the up side for West Ham they're not Wigan, who after suffering a 4-0 defeat to Blackpool last week were treated to a 6-0 defeat by the rampant Chelsea this week. Like last week's 6-0 win Malouda started the scoring, this time on the 34th minute to give them a 1-0 lead at half time. But two goals from Anelka and substitute Kalou was rounded off in stoppage time with Benayoun getting his first goal for Chelsea. Leaving the Champions top of the table with 6 points and +12 goal difference already and Wigan bottom with no points and -10 goal difference already.
Monday 16 August 2010
Newcastle Given Baptism of Fire at Old Trafford
Manchester United line-up: Van Der Sar, Evra (Rafael, 87'), Vidic, O'Shea, Evans, Nani (Giggs, 71'), Scholes, Fletcher, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney (Hernandez, 63)
Newcastle line-up: Harper, Coloccini, Enrique, Williamson, Perch, Nolan (Ameobi, 71'), Barton, Routledge, Gutierrez (Xisco, 80'), Carroll, Smith
With Chelsea already laying down a marker against West Brom, Newcastle's re-entry into the Premiership was always going to be the toughest one. However Newcastle could have taken the lead early on when Andy Carroll got a free header but it sailed over. From there Manchester United got hold of the ball and just dominated, although at first it was rather pedestrian in and around the mid way point of Newcastle's half without threatening the goal mouth. But as the half wore on Manchester United gained extra territory pushing Newcastle back and the breakthrough came in the 31st minute; Valencia pressuring the defence into a mistake where he played it to Fletcher who played Berbatov through one-on-one with Harper and the Bulgarian made no mistake. Newcastle would have liked to have been able to go in at half-time one down and re-group but Manchester United weren't going to allow them; Nani found Evra breaking down the left wing, Evra flashed a ball across the box that hit an un-influential Rooney and deflected to Fletcher who, from six yards, wasn't going to miss and United were 2 up with four minutes of the half left.
The second half continued where the first half had left with Man United just dominating the possession and when they did lose Newcastle could only clear to a United defender on the half way line and United attacked again. Berbatov had a great chance to get another two goals but he fluffed his lines twice, looking like the same Berbatov that has been on show for the last two seasons. Manchseter United had a decent penalty claim turned down when Scholes was brought down by Coloccini just inside the box but Chris Foy waved it away. New Mexican Hernandez replaced Rooney with quarter of an hour left and had some decent touches and might have scored on his home debut if Berbatov hadn't took it off his toes. However United were to get a third with five minutes to go when the majestic Scholes fed another thirty yard ball over to Giggs, who was inside the box, and his first time volley couldn't be stopped by the sprawling Harper and United set their stall out for the rest of the season.
Arsenal Rein On Hodgson's Parade
Liverpool line-up: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Skrtel, Gerrard, Cole, Mascherano (Lucas, 78'), Jovanovic (Maxi, 65), Kuyt, Ngog (Torres, 74')
Arsenal line-up: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Clichy, Eboue (Walcott, 59'), Diaby (Van Persie, 76'), Nasri, Wilshere (Rosicky, 60'), Arshavin, Chamakh
In what really was a game that neither team wanted to start their season with it took quite a while to get going. Arsenal looked to have started the brightest but Liverpool threw counter punches shortly after. Almunia and Reina weren't really called into action but when they were it was a little hit and miss; they made some outstanding saves but also flapped at a couple of balls. The game did start however just before half-time when debutant Joe Cole found himself taking an early bath for a reckless challenge on Koscielny, leaving Martin Atkinson no choice but to produce the second red of the weekend.
Arsenal may have had the numerical advantage but found themselves behind shortly after the restart; Liverpool kept a tidy spell of possession with Kuyt and Johnson linking up before finding Ngog in the box, the Frenchman turned his marker and blasted it into the roof of the net. Some question marks were whether Almunia should have been beaten at his near post but for me it was just a pile driver from Ngog and a very good goal. As it normally when playing against ten men there doesn't seem like there is, Liverpool held their own and Arsenal failed to break them down. Although that is somewhat due to the fact that Arsenal rarely decided to play the ball out wide and stretch the play, making it easy for Liverpool to defend down the middle. The drama was to happen in injury time when a cross from Risicky was met by Van Persie only for it to hit the post and come back out into Reina's arms, but he somehow seemed to drop it and it fell into the net causing what could already be blunder of the season taking over from Tim Howard on Saturday. Gerrard nearly took the lead again for Liverpool but his free-kick was stopped by a great save from Almunia. The drama culminated in a second sending off when debutant Laurent Koscielny received his second yellow card for a handball just moments after receiving his first. Thus giving Roy Hodgson and Arsene Wenger a start of season point.
Sunday 15 August 2010
Scandinavian Grand Prix Dominated By Poles
It was round seven of the Speedway Grand Prix and it was held in Malilla, Sweden. After Poland's World Cup success two weeks ago the Poles looked set to make it another intriguing night for all those concerned. All eyes were on the battle between Gollob and Hampel for the lead of the Championship standings with Crump looking for a good night to possibly close the gap with four meetings left after this.
Drama started in just the second heat when a returning from Nicki Pedersen collided with Hans Andersen which meant Pedersen got excluded and despite racing in his second heat he retired from the meeting shortly after. The restart of heat 2 gave Hampel his first heat win after being miles behind the also returning Emil Sayfutdinov in the original heat. Gollob responded in heat 3 and won his race keeping within two points of Hampel. The two Poles would then meet in heat 6 for an exciting encounter which Gollob won and Hampel finished third meaning points were all tied up. Three heats later and Hampel would be in another titanic hustle with Crump but Hampel overcame the Aussie and possibly ended Crump's dwindling campaign. Heat 1o saw substitute Sundstrom enter the fray but his first race ended in an unsurprising fourth place.
Heat 15 would be the final gigantic heat as Gollob, Holta and Crump all met, substitute Ludvig Lindgren entered his first heat of the night and really was picking up the rear as Gollob surged into his fourth heat win out of four and looked unstoppable. That was until heat 17 when Gollob collided with an unfortunate Sayfutdinov which saw the unbeaten Gollob excluded and Sayfutdinov forced out due to injury meaning Sundstrom got another race.
The semi-finals seemed a little unfair as the first was just an almighty race between the big three; Gollob (who finished on 12 points after the heats), Hampel (who finished on nine) and Crump (who also finished on nine), plucky Brit Chris Harris would be the unfortunate who had to compete with these three. It was Gollob who secured the win and Crump finished second to also make the final meaning Gollob could open up a lead on Hampel who finished third. The second semi-final was won by Holta (who finished the heats on 11 points), second was Lindgren to secure that remaining final spot (who finished on nine), third was American veteran Greg Hancock (who finished on eleven) and Kenneth Bjerre finished last (picked up nine points).
With two Poles in the final there was a fifty percent chance of a Pole winning it and one of them did. It would be Rune Holta followed by the Aussie Jason Crump. Gollob picked up an extra vital two championship points in third while home boy Lindgren finished fourth. This leaves Gollob on 107 and Hampel on 102 with four meetings left and just for the record my money is on the veteran Gollob to take the title.
Drama started in just the second heat when a returning from Nicki Pedersen collided with Hans Andersen which meant Pedersen got excluded and despite racing in his second heat he retired from the meeting shortly after. The restart of heat 2 gave Hampel his first heat win after being miles behind the also returning Emil Sayfutdinov in the original heat. Gollob responded in heat 3 and won his race keeping within two points of Hampel. The two Poles would then meet in heat 6 for an exciting encounter which Gollob won and Hampel finished third meaning points were all tied up. Three heats later and Hampel would be in another titanic hustle with Crump but Hampel overcame the Aussie and possibly ended Crump's dwindling campaign. Heat 1o saw substitute Sundstrom enter the fray but his first race ended in an unsurprising fourth place.
Heat 15 would be the final gigantic heat as Gollob, Holta and Crump all met, substitute Ludvig Lindgren entered his first heat of the night and really was picking up the rear as Gollob surged into his fourth heat win out of four and looked unstoppable. That was until heat 17 when Gollob collided with an unfortunate Sayfutdinov which saw the unbeaten Gollob excluded and Sayfutdinov forced out due to injury meaning Sundstrom got another race.
The semi-finals seemed a little unfair as the first was just an almighty race between the big three; Gollob (who finished on 12 points after the heats), Hampel (who finished on nine) and Crump (who also finished on nine), plucky Brit Chris Harris would be the unfortunate who had to compete with these three. It was Gollob who secured the win and Crump finished second to also make the final meaning Gollob could open up a lead on Hampel who finished third. The second semi-final was won by Holta (who finished the heats on 11 points), second was Lindgren to secure that remaining final spot (who finished on nine), third was American veteran Greg Hancock (who finished on eleven) and Kenneth Bjerre finished last (picked up nine points).
With two Poles in the final there was a fifty percent chance of a Pole winning it and one of them did. It would be Rune Holta followed by the Aussie Jason Crump. Gollob picked up an extra vital two championship points in third while home boy Lindgren finished fourth. This leaves Gollob on 107 and Hampel on 102 with four meetings left and just for the record my money is on the veteran Gollob to take the title.
Saturday 14 August 2010
Mancini's Hart Proves To Be The Right Choice
Tottenham line-up: Gomes, Bale, Dawson, Corluka, King, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Lennon (Giovani, 77'), Modric, Crouch (Keane, 68'), Defoe (Pavlyuchenko, 68')
Manchester City line-up: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Kolarov (Zabaleta, HT), K.Toure, Wright-Phllips (Johnson, 67'), Barry, Silva, De Jong, Y.Toure, Tevez (Adebayor, 83')
The Premiership kicked off today at White Hart Lane for the new campaign, with two potential title contenders or at least Champions League contenders. Unfortunately from a goals point of view there were none but it was a very intriguing 0-0 affair. The first half was all Tottenham and if it wasn't for Joe Hart City could have been behind by any number at half time. After 30 minutes the statistics read: Tottenham shots on target, 8, City shots on target, 0. Which tells you it all doesn't it really. Hart pulled off some magnificent saves to perhaps cement a number one place in Mancini's and the watching Capello's team. Gareth Bale had a personal battle with Hart after tearing Richards to shreds down the left hand side and putting in teasing crosses and even more teasing shots, one of which did manage to beat Hart but City were saved by the post. The best save probably came from a dipping shot from Assou-Ekotto whom if he had scored would surely already be putting a case forward for goal of the season.
However Tottenham failed to break City and the second half was a complete contrast to the first. City could have taken the lead right from the whistle when Wright-Phillips found himself one-on-one with Gomes only for Wright-Phillips to dawdle and allow Assou-Ekotto to recover and tackle the ball away. Despite City coming back into the game they didn't really create any clear cut opportunities and Gomes wasn't forced into any amazing saves unlike his counterpart. With the pace of Bale, Lennon and Defoe, also Giovani when he arrived, City were always likely to be caught on the break and were quite a few times but up stepped Kompany, De Jong and Co. to pull off some goal saving tackles with Hart still making sure he wasn't going to be beaten. Out of the two managers, Mancini will be happier to take the point which was earned by man of the match Hart, whereas Redknapp will be a little disappointed that for all their attacking couldn't break City down but he'll be glad of a point against their biggest rival for fourth place.
With the first Saturday lunch time kick-off over with it was all eyes on the three o'clock kick-offs and they didn't disappoint either; Aston Villa started life without Martin O'Neill fantastically well brushing West Ham aside at Villa Park. First half goals from Downing and Petrov finished the game off early as a nervy Green hadn't looked to have shaken off his World Cup blunder, a possible final send off from Milner secured all three points around the hour mark leaving West Ham with work to do already and Villa showing they will still compete for fourth despite not having O'Neill. Although if Milner leaves it's not all bad for Villa because Stephen Ireland will be coming as part of the deal and he's a pretty good player as well.
Everton started their season in the same fashion as last season with a defeat away to Balckburn, a horrible mistake from Howard saw him almost throw the ball into his own net before Kalinic stepped in to tap the ball home to give Sam Allardyce the best possible start to the new season, although Howard's mistake was almost as bad as Everton's shirts which were a shocking bright pink! Bolton and Fulham toughed it out at the Reebok with no real magic in either team and it therefore finished 0-0 giving Mark Hughes a point in his first competitive game in charge of Fulham.
Birmingham came from 2-0 behind to nick a point against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. This game saw the first penalty (and the first dubious penalty award) as Darren Bent netted from twelve yards against debutant Ben Foster. This game also witnessed the first sending off of the season when Lee Cattermole was given to first half yellow cards but it didn't seem to have any effect, as it got worse for Alex McLeish when Stephen Carr scored the first own goal of the season. Scott Dann pulled one back with just under fifteen minutes after poor defending from a corner and captain Ridgewell secured the comeback and the point with two minutes remaining of normal time.
The shock of the day came from the DW Stadium as sorry Wigan were thrashed 4-0 by new boys Blackpool. The favourites to finish bottom this season wiped the floor with Roberto Martinez's team and no newly promoted team has been relegated from the Premiership when they won their first game, for thirteen years. Even with four goals Blackpool should have had a fifth and Wigan also should have scored but poor decisions from the linesman meant we were stuck with four. It was all over at half-time as Taylor-Fletcher and a brace from new striker Harewood meant they led 3-0 at the break. Baptiste added Blackpool's fourth with fifteen to go meaning that Blackpool were top of the Premiership at five o'clock.
The final three o'clock game saw Wolves beat Stoke 2-1 at Molineux; two goals in two minutes from a wonder free-kick dispatched by David Jones and new signing Steven Fletcher secured their advantage at half-time. Faye looked to put Stoke back in it with a goal ten minutes into the second half but Wolves held on. Blackpool were denied to finish the night on top of the Premiership by champions Chelsea who slaughtered West Brom 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in the half five kick-off. Malouda scored the first within six minutes before Drogba made it two-nil in first half stoppage time. Drogba got his second ten minutes into the second half before Lampard made it four on 7 minutes. Drogba got his hat-trick just two minutes later to already stake his claim for this season's Golden Boot, Malouda started and ended the scoring with his second in second half injury time.
Thursday 12 August 2010
FA Barclays Premier League Pre-View
With the start of the Premiership just a couple of days away I thought I would put my two cents worth in and share my opinion on each team for the new campaign:
Arsenal: I don't think they will have progressed much from last year with only two new signings so far in Chamakh and Koscielny and could be in for a real battle to keep their stronghold on Champions League football. Keep an eye out for England youngster Gibbs who looked good in yesterday's friendly but the man to watch has to be their Russian dynamo Arshavin.
Aston Villa: Last week I'd have said Villa would be right in the mix for that Champions League/European spot. However with the resignation of Martin O'Neill and the imminent departure of Milner I think Villa will struggle to hit the heights this season. There doesn't seem to be any real decent managers available at the moment and when he does arrive the new man won't really be able to do any promising transfer business. If Milner does indeed leave for Manchester City then Downing must step up along with Ashley Young so keep your eyes on them, young talent watch must be on U-19 international Nathan Delfouneso and Marc Albrighton.
Birmingham: After finishing a fantastic 9th last season I can't see Alex McLeish emulating it this season. They do have the same squad with Ben Foster arriving at St.Andrews which should boost their squad like Joe Hart did last year. Keep an eye out for new striker Zigic alongside Seb Larsson and Craig Gardener.
Blackburn: After finishing 10th last season I don't think Sam Allardyce can better that however I do think he will be able to emulate that and cement Blackburn as a mid-table team. Pedersen didn't have a great season last year so will be hoping to better himself and Klasnic will have even more pressure to be top striker with the loan spell of Mame Diouf arriving at Ewood. Young talent watch goes to Frenchman N'Zonzi who looked very good in midfield for Blackburn and Canadian striker Hoillet who is only 20 years old.
Blackpool: Being promoted via the playoffs, I fear that Balckpool's stay in the Premiership will be a season long one but surprises can happen (i.e. Reading and Hull). The are lethal at free-kicks with captain Charlie Adam so keep an eye out on that but he also likes a challenge and could see a couple of red cards this season. Ian Holloway has been on a buying spree bringing in Marlon Harewood who would want to rejuvenate his career. Young talent has also been brought in with Craig Cathcart from Manchester United and Martin a promising French footballer.
Bolton: Were caught up in a relegation battle last season finishing just nine points ahead of Burnley in 14th place. I think they may be headed for another close battle which again I think they will survive. You have to keep an eye out for 22-year old Lee Chung-Yong who impressed last season and in the World Cup for South Korea.
Chelsea: Going into the season as Champions, Chelsea have had a very poor pre-season culminating into the loss of the Community Shield. With their squad ageing and the only really potential young talent entering being Danny Sturridge I think they will surrender their crown but not without another close battle with Manchester United. It looks like new signing Benayoun is going to play the same role Chelsea as he did for Liverpool but keep an eye on him anyway.
Everton: It'll be another season for Everton to fight for that Champions League place and have a good case for doing so. Cahill and Bilyaletdinov looking good in pre-season they will boost their chances of making into Europe for next season. A somewhat belated move to the Premiership for Jermaine Beckford may have hampered his progress as a footballer but still should make an impact next season and young talent watch goes to Jack Rodwell.
Fulham: After a brilliant season and a Europa League final I don't see how Fulham can go anywhere further. Especially now Roy Hodgson has left it may even be hard for them to break into the top ten after finishing 12th last season. All eyes have to be on Dempsey and Zamora the goal getters of the club, however there doesn't seem to be any young talent coming into the Fulham squad at the minute.
Liverpool: After their worst season for a while and despite Roy Hodgson now in charge I don't see Liverpool faring much better this season either. Torres is still injury hit and all hopes fall to Gerrard and now Joe Cole and they can't provide a whole team's work output. Young talent watch goes to Jay Spearing who featured a little last year and looked quite good also keep an eye out for Jonjo Shelvey who may feature a little this season.
Manchester City: All the money in the world and they still couldn't buy a win in pre-season, the only one they did manage was via a penalty shoot-out. With more countless signings and zero chemistry at the club I think City will succumb to the Europa League again just to prove that apart from Chelsea you cannot buy yourself to the Premiership title. There is no real young talent watch because they are all being pushed out e.g. Joe Hart. But keep an eye out to see how new signings Yaya Toure and David Silva do.
Manchester United: They will be in another tight battle against Chelsea for the title as the two just push away from the rest of the field. This year I think it will be United's once more with a decent all round squad. You must keep an eye out for Javier Hernandez who has continued to impress in the World Cup and scored on his debut in the Community Shield.
Newcastle: Welcome back to where you belong, Newcastle were always thought of as too big to go down and that's why they came back up straight away. Out of the three promoted teams Newcastle the likeliest to stay up but they will be in for a titanic battle to do so. Keep an eye out for Danny Simpson, Leon Best, Wayne Routledge and new signing Dan Gosling as they all look decent talents.
Stoke: Tony Pulis did well with Stoke to take them to 13th last season, however I think they will be in for a battle to avoid relegation this year. With new striker Kenwyne Jones added to the already biggish striking talent there should be a keen battle to be top striker. The player to watch is Matthew Etherington who played very well last season.
Sunderland: Just finished 13th last season avoiding the relegation melee. With Kenwyne Jones leaving the club for Stoke all eyes have to be on Darren Bent and Frazier Campbell must step-up this season. The added loan spell of Danny Welbeck from Manchester United could well heighten the attack for Steve Bruce's side. Young talent watch goes to Jordan Henderson who has impressed when appeared for Sunderland.
Tottenham: After grabbing the final Champions League spot last season they will be looking to retain it this year amongst another tight tussle. Gareth Bale was one of the best players last season and should look to improve even more this campaign for Tottenham and Wales. Young talent watch must be Danny Rose who scored that wonder goal against Arsenal last season.
West Brom: Boing Boing Baggies are at it again and I think they will inevitably be relegated again. New signings Ibanez, Shorey and Myhill should all add good Premiership experience so keep a look-out for them. Young talent watch goes to New Zealand international striker Chris Wood.
West Ham: Favourites to go down this season but under ownership and manager Avram Grant. After impressing last year at Portsmouth West Ham have bought Frederic Piquionne, Behrami and Diamanti looked quite good last season. Young talent watch goes to Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas and Franck Nouble.
Wigan: Also possible favourites to go down, Roberto Martinez hasn't really made any significant changes apart from Paraguayan defender Alcaraz who scored against Spain in the World Cup. If N'Zogbia does stay then he will be a huge boost for Wigan and young talent watch goes to Victor Moses who must prove himself this year.
Wolves: Again other possible favourites to be relegated Wolves could do with strengthening the squad. Wayne Hennessey looks a very good young goalkeeper for Wales and will be vital at shot-stopping. Young talent watch goes to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake who didn't impress much last season but needs to step-up to help Wolves avoid relegation.
Arsenal: I don't think they will have progressed much from last year with only two new signings so far in Chamakh and Koscielny and could be in for a real battle to keep their stronghold on Champions League football. Keep an eye out for England youngster Gibbs who looked good in yesterday's friendly but the man to watch has to be their Russian dynamo Arshavin.
Aston Villa: Last week I'd have said Villa would be right in the mix for that Champions League/European spot. However with the resignation of Martin O'Neill and the imminent departure of Milner I think Villa will struggle to hit the heights this season. There doesn't seem to be any real decent managers available at the moment and when he does arrive the new man won't really be able to do any promising transfer business. If Milner does indeed leave for Manchester City then Downing must step up along with Ashley Young so keep your eyes on them, young talent watch must be on U-19 international Nathan Delfouneso and Marc Albrighton.
Birmingham: After finishing a fantastic 9th last season I can't see Alex McLeish emulating it this season. They do have the same squad with Ben Foster arriving at St.Andrews which should boost their squad like Joe Hart did last year. Keep an eye out for new striker Zigic alongside Seb Larsson and Craig Gardener.
Blackburn: After finishing 10th last season I don't think Sam Allardyce can better that however I do think he will be able to emulate that and cement Blackburn as a mid-table team. Pedersen didn't have a great season last year so will be hoping to better himself and Klasnic will have even more pressure to be top striker with the loan spell of Mame Diouf arriving at Ewood. Young talent watch goes to Frenchman N'Zonzi who looked very good in midfield for Blackburn and Canadian striker Hoillet who is only 20 years old.
Blackpool: Being promoted via the playoffs, I fear that Balckpool's stay in the Premiership will be a season long one but surprises can happen (i.e. Reading and Hull). The are lethal at free-kicks with captain Charlie Adam so keep an eye out on that but he also likes a challenge and could see a couple of red cards this season. Ian Holloway has been on a buying spree bringing in Marlon Harewood who would want to rejuvenate his career. Young talent has also been brought in with Craig Cathcart from Manchester United and Martin a promising French footballer.
Bolton: Were caught up in a relegation battle last season finishing just nine points ahead of Burnley in 14th place. I think they may be headed for another close battle which again I think they will survive. You have to keep an eye out for 22-year old Lee Chung-Yong who impressed last season and in the World Cup for South Korea.
Chelsea: Going into the season as Champions, Chelsea have had a very poor pre-season culminating into the loss of the Community Shield. With their squad ageing and the only really potential young talent entering being Danny Sturridge I think they will surrender their crown but not without another close battle with Manchester United. It looks like new signing Benayoun is going to play the same role Chelsea as he did for Liverpool but keep an eye on him anyway.
Everton: It'll be another season for Everton to fight for that Champions League place and have a good case for doing so. Cahill and Bilyaletdinov looking good in pre-season they will boost their chances of making into Europe for next season. A somewhat belated move to the Premiership for Jermaine Beckford may have hampered his progress as a footballer but still should make an impact next season and young talent watch goes to Jack Rodwell.
Fulham: After a brilliant season and a Europa League final I don't see how Fulham can go anywhere further. Especially now Roy Hodgson has left it may even be hard for them to break into the top ten after finishing 12th last season. All eyes have to be on Dempsey and Zamora the goal getters of the club, however there doesn't seem to be any young talent coming into the Fulham squad at the minute.
Liverpool: After their worst season for a while and despite Roy Hodgson now in charge I don't see Liverpool faring much better this season either. Torres is still injury hit and all hopes fall to Gerrard and now Joe Cole and they can't provide a whole team's work output. Young talent watch goes to Jay Spearing who featured a little last year and looked quite good also keep an eye out for Jonjo Shelvey who may feature a little this season.
Manchester City: All the money in the world and they still couldn't buy a win in pre-season, the only one they did manage was via a penalty shoot-out. With more countless signings and zero chemistry at the club I think City will succumb to the Europa League again just to prove that apart from Chelsea you cannot buy yourself to the Premiership title. There is no real young talent watch because they are all being pushed out e.g. Joe Hart. But keep an eye out to see how new signings Yaya Toure and David Silva do.
Manchester United: They will be in another tight battle against Chelsea for the title as the two just push away from the rest of the field. This year I think it will be United's once more with a decent all round squad. You must keep an eye out for Javier Hernandez who has continued to impress in the World Cup and scored on his debut in the Community Shield.
Newcastle: Welcome back to where you belong, Newcastle were always thought of as too big to go down and that's why they came back up straight away. Out of the three promoted teams Newcastle the likeliest to stay up but they will be in for a titanic battle to do so. Keep an eye out for Danny Simpson, Leon Best, Wayne Routledge and new signing Dan Gosling as they all look decent talents.
Stoke: Tony Pulis did well with Stoke to take them to 13th last season, however I think they will be in for a battle to avoid relegation this year. With new striker Kenwyne Jones added to the already biggish striking talent there should be a keen battle to be top striker. The player to watch is Matthew Etherington who played very well last season.
Sunderland: Just finished 13th last season avoiding the relegation melee. With Kenwyne Jones leaving the club for Stoke all eyes have to be on Darren Bent and Frazier Campbell must step-up this season. The added loan spell of Danny Welbeck from Manchester United could well heighten the attack for Steve Bruce's side. Young talent watch goes to Jordan Henderson who has impressed when appeared for Sunderland.
Tottenham: After grabbing the final Champions League spot last season they will be looking to retain it this year amongst another tight tussle. Gareth Bale was one of the best players last season and should look to improve even more this campaign for Tottenham and Wales. Young talent watch must be Danny Rose who scored that wonder goal against Arsenal last season.
West Brom: Boing Boing Baggies are at it again and I think they will inevitably be relegated again. New signings Ibanez, Shorey and Myhill should all add good Premiership experience so keep a look-out for them. Young talent watch goes to New Zealand international striker Chris Wood.
West Ham: Favourites to go down this season but under ownership and manager Avram Grant. After impressing last year at Portsmouth West Ham have bought Frederic Piquionne, Behrami and Diamanti looked quite good last season. Young talent watch goes to Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas and Franck Nouble.
Wigan: Also possible favourites to go down, Roberto Martinez hasn't really made any significant changes apart from Paraguayan defender Alcaraz who scored against Spain in the World Cup. If N'Zogbia does stay then he will be a huge boost for Wigan and young talent watch goes to Victor Moses who must prove himself this year.
Wolves: Again other possible favourites to be relegated Wolves could do with strengthening the squad. Wayne Hennessey looks a very good young goalkeeper for Wales and will be vital at shot-stopping. Young talent watch goes to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake who didn't impress much last season but needs to step-up to help Wolves avoid relegation.
England Just Edge Hungary: 2-1
England line-up: Hart, G.Johnson, Jagielka, Terry (Dawson, HT), A.Cole (Gibbs, HT), Barry, Lampard (Zamora, HT), Walcott (A.Young, HT), Gerarrd (Wilshere, 82'), A.Johnson, Rooney (Milner, 66')
Hungary line-up: Kiraly, Liptak (Komlosi, 55'), Vanczak (Laczko, 46'), Juhasz, Szelesi, Vadocz, Dzsudzsak (Koman, HT), Rudolph (Priskin, 83), Elek (Toth, 59'), Gera, Huszti (Hajnal, HT)
Three days before the Premier League starts and the FA (not FIFA) decide our international flops should play a meaningless friendly. Thus interrupting all preparation for the new season which I'm sure all the Premier League managers were happy about. I may have accepted the idea of playing this friendly if one of two conditions were met; we played our flops against someone who we weren't guaranteed to beat i.e. someone in the top 20 or 30 in the world, not a team who are currently ranked 62nd in the World with one player at Fulham , one at QPR and another ex-Crystal Palace goalkeeper the rest are unknowns. Or play a team like Hungary with a completely new look team to actually scout for new English talent.
However as it turned out we actually needed our flops to beat the lowly Hungary and come from behind albeit a goal that clearly shouldn't have been. All the tabloids and media personnel are now all praising England for a much better performance and a good game. Now playing Hungary you would expect a better performance because they're so low in the rankings (behind Scotland and Gabon!) so I'm not surprised the performance was better. But it still wasn't fantastic and against a better team England would have been punished for some defensive errors and a lot of slack passing. It took till the second half before captain Gerrard provided two strokes of ingenuity to save England from the boo-boys. What has also made me laugh is that people have gone on to say that it's more like our 'brilliant' World Cup qualifying display. Now again lets take it into perspective; we played Andorra (minnows), Kazakhstan (minnows), Belarus (minnows) all of whom England should be thrashing five or six nil, we also had Ukraine (their only named players were Shevchenko whose best were well and truly behind him and Voronin who was a massive flop at Liverpool) and Croatia (who again you expect England to win against even though they are an up-and-coming nation).
So before anyone shouts about how great we are going to be in the European Championships qualifiers lets again put it into perspective; we start against Bulgaria (whose best player Berbatov has retired form international football and are ranked 43rd), then we have Wales (who apart from Bellamy tend to look towards lower league players and are ranked 84th), then Montenegro (who don't have the better players of Serbia & Montenegro before they decided to split and are ranked 73rd), finally the only possible challenge England should face is against fellow World Cup qualifiers Switzerland (who beat World Champions Spain and are ranked ten places behind England in 17th) so if we don't qualify it will be a damn right shambles. One final note of the pointless friendly is that Arsenal's Kieron Gibbs and Ashley Young looked very good when they came on at half-time.
Monday 9 August 2010
FA Community Shield: Chelsea 1-3 Manchester United
Chelsea line-up: Hilario, Ferreira (Bruma, 79'), Ivanovic, Terry, Cole (Zhirkov, 79'), Essien, Lampard, Mikel (Drogba, 60'), Kalou, Anelka (Sturridge, 60'), Malouda (Benayoun, 72')
Manchester United line-up: Van Der Sar, O'Shea, Evans, Vidic, Fabio (Smalling, 71'), Valencia, Scholes (Fletcher, 80'), Carrick (Giggs, 79'), Park (Nani, HT), Owen (Hernandez, HT), Rooney (Berbatov, HT)
It's all started again, the football season has begun. The NPower leagues all kicked off this weekend and that meant the Premiership curtain raiser was due to start. The top two teams in England went face to face again on the Wembley stage. A lot of people say don't read into pre-season form but Chelsea were coming in off the back of three consecutive defeats, whereas Manchester United were coming in off the back of a 7-1 victory over a League of Ireland XI. Although the Community Shield is thought of as much by many this year's Shield would be a huge step-up for the season as the last three winners of the Community Shield have gone onto win the Premiership. With Ancelotti not too happy with his team thus far he boldly decided to say who his team was going to be on Friday with a very strong team, the only notable absences were Cech and Alex (injured) and Drogba would be on the bench after recovering from hernia surgery. Ferguson's surprise pick was Carrick who, according to Old Trafford officials, was out for two weeks with an ankle injury.
With three consecutive defeats and countless defensive errors in pre-season, Ancelotti would have been hoping for a strong game from his defence but they were immediately cut open by a Rooney pass which fed in Valencia behind Cole but Valencia's cheeky chip just didn't have enough on it and Hilario clutched onto it. Scholes, who would be the eventual man of the match, was next to have a chance but he horribly miscued his volley on the edge of the box and it sailed high over the bar. From there though Chelsea began to find their rhythm and Anelka fired a stinging shot which Van Der Sar could only parry to an on-coming Kalou, but he was forced wide by United's defence and his pass along the box went to no-one. Van Der Sar made up for the poor parry by brilliantly saving a goal-bound effort from Ivanovic who out-jumped his compatriot Vidic from a corner. Although Chelsea were beginning to have more possession United were looking more dangerous with Scholes orchestrating the mid-field and spreading balls out wide to Valencia that just completely lost Cole every time. It would prove to be the downfall of Chelsea when United broke the deadlock four minutes from half-time; again Scholes fired another inch perfect fifty yard pass over to Rooney which again lost Cole, Rooney crossed the ball along the floor through Terry's legs where Valencia was storming in to finish past the sprawling Hilario.
As promised before the match Rooney and Owen would get 45 minutes and were substituted for the Mexican new boy Hernandez and Berbatov, Park was also replaced at half-time for Nani. Chelsea's nightmare defence proved again when John Terry belatedly tried to step-up and catch Hernandez off-side but failed, however Hernandez's pass was just a little too strong for Berbatov who just couldn't quite get his toe to the ball. Drogba entered the fray on the hour mark and Anelka made way for Daniel Strurridge. Following this Chelsea started again to build attacks and look for an equaliser. Strurridge looked very dangerous from the out-set as his sighter was just off target when set up by fellow substitute Benayoun. But just as Chelsea were beginning to get more dangerous, Manchester United doubled their lead; Valencia again went past Cole like he wasn't even there and crossed the ball into the on-rushing Hernandez. Hernandez took a shot but somehow sliced it into his face and it rebounded into the net. Chelsea would reduce the deficit to make it a nervy last ten minutes when Strurrigde forced another parry off Van Der Sar but again this one went into the path of Kalou who, this time, would find the back of the net. Chelsea again kept looking for the equaliser to force penalties, like Rooney did this time last year. But as injury time approached United decided to play a game of keep ball which lasted 19 passes before Berbatov was put through by Nani and the Bulgarian lobbed Hilario to seal the Shield for Manchester United.
Sunday 8 August 2010
Poland Retain Speedway Crown 1/8/10
(Due to being away on holiday I am unable to comment much about the final) After a belated start to the Speedway World Cup Poland managed to retain the World Cup and win it for the first time outside of Poland. The final was due to take place on Saturday 31st July but it had to be postponed due to bad weather. So it was rescheduled for the following day and the result was as follows: 1st: Poland 44 points, 2nd: Denmark 39 points, 3rd: Sweden 35 points, 4th Great Britain 33 points.
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