Will They Recover?

With the F1 Championships already decided, it gives everyone else a chance to watch the 'lower' cars. The penultimate race weekend of the season is hosted by Abu Dhabi and Williams were the biggest losers in today's qualifying session, locking out the bottom of the grid.

This has to be the lowest point in what has been a harsh season for he veteran constructor. They currently sit ninth in the Constructors' Championship with a fleeting five points and it will be almost impossible to gain any more on a track with limited overtaking.

There are increasing fears that Rubens Barrichello will be out of Formula One next season, facing a damaging prospect of racing in the final race of the season (his home GP) without knowledge of a seat for next season. He really needs a positive couple of races but his weekend was curtailed early on as an engine leak prevented him from qualifying. But he will not start 24th as that spot is taken by his team mate Pastor Maldonado who received a ten place grid penalty for having a ninth engine, regulations state drivers are only allowed eight during one season.

However, at the other end of the grid, Sebastian Vettel equals Nigel Mansell's record of fourteen Pole positions in a season, preventing a McLaren one-two on the final lap. Hamilton was strong throughout the session and starts second ahead of Button. Webber is ahead of the Ferraris with Alonso placing himself above Massa again in the inter-team battle. The two Mercedes will line-up alongside each other with Schumacher in Rosberg's mirrors. The two Force Indias round off the top ten with Sutil out-qualifying Di Resta.

Q2 saw Perez put a good shift in for Sauber, starting eleventh. Buemi sits between Petrov and Senna in a Renault sandwich in thirteenth with Alguersuari squeezing Senna in fifteenth. Kobayashi will start sixteenth and Maldonado had qualified in seventeenth put his penalty sees Kovalainen promoted to that place.

Trulli joins Kovalainen in eighteenth. But Ricciardo managed to get himself ahead of D'Ambrosio in 21st behind the other Virgin, Timo Glock. Liuzzi will start 22nd with both Williams cars breathing down his neck from the start.

Bolton, Spurs and Wolves Secure Wins

Bolton 5-0 Stoke: Bolton sought retribution from their 5-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat last season. The hosts got off to a flyer with Kevin Davies finding the net after just two minutes after a dubious back pass decision and fast thinking from Ivan Klasnic. Chris Eagles doubled the score after 23 minutes before Klasnic made it three just after the hour mark both with clinical finishing. Eagles was put through to score his second and Bolton's fourth with seventeen minutes left. Klasnic then scored his second to finish their revenge with a header eight minutes from the game. Stoke's woes after European matches continue, Bolton win their first home game this season.

Fulham 1-3 Tottenham: Tottenham go level with Chelsea after another victory, making it seven wins in eight games. Spurs played without Harry Redknapp who was recovering after recent heart surgery. Tottenham took the lead when Gareth Bale's cross was turned into his own net by Chris Baird after just ten minutes. It was 2-0 in first half injury time when Aaron Lennon was able to finish off a mazy run with a great finish. Fulham earned a fortuitous goal back when a corner pinballed off defenders and went in off Younes Kaboul twelve minutes after the restart. From there Fulham were all over Tottenham and Spurs were lucky not have a conceded a second before securing the win in injury time with Defoe putting past Schwarzer.

Wolves 3-1 Wigan: Wigan remain bottom of the table with their eighth consecutive defeat. Wigan had chances to take the lead with Rodallega missing an absolute sitter. This was quickly followed by Wolves taking the lead with Jamie O'Hara finding the net just after the half hour mark. Wigan then received a penalty when Stephen Hunt blocked Emmerson Boyce, Ben Watson stepped up and his penalty was saved but Watson was able to convert the rebound three minutes before half-time. Wolves re-took the lead despite Ali Al-Habsi's best efforts, with David Edwards making it third time lucky ten minutes into the second half. It was deja vu as Wolves went 3-1 up as Al-Habsi made more great saves before Stephen Ward tapped home after 66 minutes.

25 Years and Counting

Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his 25^th anniversary at Manchester United this week and although the years have produced 37 trophies, it hasn’t always been easy for the longest serving manager at Old Trafford. Manchester United’s previous great Scottish manager, Sir Matt Busby, was given a road in his honour – Sir Matt Busby Way- and Ferguson has been given Old Trafford’s North Stand. The newly named stand was unveiled as the Sir Alex Ferguson stand before the Sunderland game at the weekend after a guard of honour.

Despite his fantastic success, Alex Ferguson was on the brink of being sacked after failing to bring silverware instantly to the Old Trafford faithful. After being appointed in 1986, Ferguson’s first piece of silverware came in the 1989/90 season; the FA Cup with a 1-0 replay victory over Crystal Palace. From that moment, the rest, as they say, is history.

There have been many controversial moments during his on-going reign and many questionable ideas but all have been answered. The famous Alan Hansen quote: ‘You’ll never win anything with kids’ was directed at Ferguson’s class of ’92 with the fresh faces of the Nevilles, Giggs, Scholes and Beckham. But Manchester United went onto the win the first FA Premiership in 1992/93.

Arguably his biggest achievement was the historic treble winning season of 1998/99. United won their fifth league title in seven seasons by a solitary point over Arsenal with a 2-1 win over Tottenham on the last day of the season. They recorded the highest victory that year with an 8-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, they had the highest attendance and Dwight Yorke was joint top goal scorer with eighteen that season. United then won the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle, Sheringham and Scholes scoring the goals. But the best was yet to come and when they travelled to Camp Nou to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, no one expected the outcome. United were 1-0 down in injury time before Sheringham and then Solskjaer scored from corners to win the game 2-1 and complete the famous and unmatched treble.

Then there was the ‘boot incident’ in 2003 when Ferguson allegedly kicked a football boot in anger and hit Beckham with it. This caused a power struggle in which one had to leave and it wasn’t going to be Alex Ferguson. His reign continued and last season he rewrote history again by winning Manchester United’s nineteenth League title, the most in English history overtaking their fiercest rivals Liverpool.

There are so many historic moments in Alex Ferguson’s 25 years and with no hint of stopping, there will be a lot more to come. The most immediate will be how he combats the noisy neighbours, Manchester City and this will make great viewing as the rivalry intensifies. 

PL Round-Up 5/11/11

Manchester United 1-0 Sunderland: Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his 25th anniversary at Old Trafford and received a guard of honour. The North Stand has now been changed to the Sir Alex Ferguson in a way of saying thanks for his achievements. The spectators in this newly named stand were able to witness United keep their fourth clean sheet in a row since, in all competitions, conceding six against City. Sunderland were dealt a blow early on as Connor Wickham was forced off with an injury. It was Wickham's injury time that gave United the winning goal, it came from a header by former United player Wes Brown to give United the three points.

QPR 2-3 Manchester City: City kept their gap at the top but were fought hard by their hosts. QPR started the better and were rewarded with the opening goal of the game, a dubious free-kick headed home by Jay Bothroyd after 28 minutes. City weathered the storm throughout the first half and managed to grab an equaliser two minutes before the break with Edin Dzeko finishing clinically. QPR were quickest out of the blocks in the second half but found themselves 2-1 down when David Silva finished off a counter attack, seven minutes into the half. QPR weren't finished and they found an equaliser of their own when a Bothroyd header came off the back of Heidar Helguson after 69 minutes. But City managed to hold their nerve with Yaya Toure winning the game with a header sixteen minutes from the end.

Newcastle 2-1 Everton: Newcastle did go second until United's win as they continued their remarkable start to the season. Newcastle got the lead through an own goal by Johnny Heitinga after twelve minutes and Ryan Taylor made it 2-0 with a wonder goal just before the half hour mark. Everton pulled one back just before half-time with Jack Rodwell heading a Royston Drenthe corner home, but the visitors couldn't get themselves level despite a decent shout for a handball on Dan Gosling in the box.

Aston Villa 3-2 Norwich: Paul Lambert failed to get a win in his 100th game in charge of Norwich, but they did take the lead through a Anthony Pilkington free-kick after 25 minutes. Villa levelled after Darren Bent poked a Gabriel Agbonlahor cross home five minutes later. Villa then took the lead when Agbonlahor took advantage of a poor back pass to round John Ruddy just three minutes into the second half. Villa then went 3-1 with the same combination as the first goal after 62 minutes, Bent's fifth goal of the season. Norwich had the final word with Steve Morison scoring with thirteen minutes left, but it wasn't enough as Villa got themselves a much needed win.

Blackburn 0-1 Chelsea: Chelsea recovered from that eight goal thriller with a close fought victory over struggling Blackburn. The only goal of the game came six minutes into the second half with Frank Lampard steering a Branislav Ivanovic cross home.

Arsenal 3-0 West Brom: Arsenal took the lead with Robin Van Persie scoring his 13th goal of the season after 22 minutes. Thomas Vermaelen doubled their lead on his return to the squad after 39 minutes before Arteta rounded it off eleven minutes from the end after a great attacking move.

Liverpool 0-0 Swansea: Liverpool had the best chance of the first half with Andy Carroll hitting the bar. But Swansea also had decent chance that required decent saves from Pepe Reina. Swansea had the better of it in the second half with Reina not covering himself in masses of glory, but was able to redeem himself. Liverpool thought they had won game late on when Dirk Kuyt turned the ball in, but he was correctly flagged offside as Liverpool began to pepper the Swansea goal. But the game somehow finished goalless as Swansea earn an impressive point.

2011/2012 CL Round-Up: Matchday 4 Groups A-D

Group A: Bayern Munich manage to hold off a spirited Napoli fightback to remain at the top. Mario Gomez wowed the crowd with a first-half hat-trick, opening the scoring after seventeen minutes, following it up six minutes before making it 3-0 three minutes before half-time. Federico Fernandez pulled one back right on half-time but were dealt a blow when Juan Zuniga received his second yellow with nineteen minutes left. Holger Badstuber then levelled the playing field by receiving his second yellow card after 77 minutes, Napoli then made it 2-0 two minutes later through Fernandez again. Napoli remain on five points whereas Munich are on ten.
Villarreal remain pointless and are almost guaranteed fourth after defeat to Man City. Yaya Toure put City ahead on the half hour mark before Balotelli made it 2-0 from the spot on half-time. Yaya Toure then scored his second nineteen minutes from time to ensure City moved up to seven points and second in the table.

Group B: Trabzonspor and CSKA Moscow played out a goalless draw in Turkey to move both teams to five points. Inter now top the group on nine after beating Lille. Samuel gave Inter the lead after eighteen minutes before Diego Milito doubled the score after 65. Lille pulled a goal back through substitute Tulio de Melo seven minutes from time but it wasn't enough to move them off two points.

Group C: Basle prevented Benfica from qualifying by holding them to a 1-1 draw in Portugal. Rodrigo Machado put Benfica ahead after four minutes but Huggel equalised after 64 minutes. Benfica are now on eight points with Basle on five.
Man United join Benfica on eight points after squeezing past Otelul Galati at Old Trafford. United did take the lead after eight minutes through Valencia but the rest of the game was not easy viewing for United fans. But they got their rest bite when a Rooney shot took a wild deflection off Sarghi, three minutes from time to leave Galati without a point and almost certainly with fourth place.

Group D: Ajax moved three points ahead of Lyon in second place after thrashing pointless Zagreb. Van der Wiel got the ball rolling after twenty minutes before Miralem Sulejmani doubled the score five minutes later. Siem de Jong made it three after 65 minutes with Nicolas Lodeiro coming off the bench to finish the rout in injury time.
Real Madrid, like Barcelona, have progressed through the knock-out phase with a 2-0 win over Lyon. A double from Ronaldo, first after 24 minutes and a penalty after 69 minutes, sees both Spanish giants ease into the second round.

2011/2012 CL Round-Up: Matchday 4 Groups E-H

Group E: Chelsea have to wait to be guaranteed qualification after being held by Genk in Belgium. Genk responded to their 5-0 hammering at Stamford Bridge by scoring their first goal of the tournament. Ramires had given Chelsea the lead after 25 minutes but Jelle Vossen equalised just after the hour to give Genk their second point of the campaign.
But Chelsea move two points clear at the top as Valencia beat Bayer Leverkuesen at home. Valencia took the lead in the opening minute through Jonas but that was cancelled out by Kiessling just after the half hour mark. Valencia then retook the lead through Soldado after 65 minutes before Adil Rami made it 3-1 ten minutes later. Valencia are now just a point behind Leverkuesen on five points.

Group F: Arsenal also missed out guaranteed qualification after playing out a 0-0 draw against Marseille at the Emirates. Arsenal sit on eight points with Marseille on seven.
Borussia Dortmund kept their hopes of qualification alive with their first win of the tournament at home to Olympiacos. Kevin Grosskreutz scored the only goal of the game after seven minutes to see the German side move up to four points.

Group G: Shakhtar Donetsk are almost out of contention after suffering defeat to Zenit in Russia. Lombaerts scored the only goal just before half-time to move Zenit up to seven points but Donetsk still searching for their first win.
Apoel continued their unbelievable form going with a win over Porto in Cyprus. Apoel took the lead from the penalty spot three minutes before half-time through Ailton. Hulk then thought he'd earned a point with a Porto penalty in the final minute of normal time but Gustavo Manduca made it 2-1 in injury time, moving Apoel to eight points.

Group H: AC Milan now require a single point to qualify after being held by BATE. Ibrahimovic initially gave Milan the lead after 22 minutes but Renan Bressan scored the equaliser from the spot ten minutes into the second half.
Barcelona became the first team to qualify for the knock-out phases with a 4-0 win over Plzen. Plzen challenge got even harder after 22 minutes when Marian Cisovski was sent off for bringing Messi down in the box, Messi then converted the subsequent spot kick two minutes later. Messi then made it 2-0 just before half-time with Fabregas scoring the third after 72 minutes, Messi then completed his hat-trick to end the rout in injury time.

QPR Sentenced Without Bale But Newcastle Still Feeling WonderBa

With eight games already taken place on Saturday, it left just one game for Super Sunday and another for last night's Halloween Monday Night Football. QPR travelled to fellow Londoners Tottenham on Sunday with neutrals hoping for a similar result to Saturday's London derby. Unfortunately that didn't happen as Tottenham bossed the first half. Paddy Kenny did his best to keep Spurs out for twenty minutes but Bale manged to break the deadlock to give Tottenham a well deserved lead. Van der Vaart made it 2-0 twelve minutes before half-time to score his fifth goal in successive matches. QPR looked brighter in the second half and got themselves back in it with Bothroyd making it 2-1 after 62 minutes but Bale restored Spurs' two goal advantage ten minutes later to give Tottenham the win.

Monday Night Football was hosted at the Britannia as Stoke played Newcastle. But Newcastle managed to keep their unbeaten start to the league as referee Mike Dean had a Halloween he'd want to forget. Demba Ba continued his fantastic Premiership goalscoring record up by breaking the deadlock after twelve minutes before making it 2-0 five minutes before the interval. Then Ba gave away a soft penalty which many disagreed with, but Walters nonetheless stepped up and converted it, making it 2-1 with fifteen minutes left. But then Newcastle were awarded a penalty of their own nine minutes from time; Huth with a little nudge on Best and Ba converted it to score his hat-trick. Final score 3-1 to the unbeaten Newcastle.