Yes, we’re back to that age old rivalry between the Red-Men from Liverpool, and the Blues from London, the Angels of the North against the Arseholes of the South. So here is a very Liverpool view on why we will beat Chelsea, and then see Fergie in the final in Moscow.

Reason One: L4

The Spion Kop, the legendary supporters, the hostile European-night atmosphere, the eternal magic that is Anfield.

The famous old stadium is impenetrable in Europe, as Arsenal and Inter have found to their peril this season (we don’t talk about L’OM). Many have tried to win, and many have failed. Chelsea have tried twice, and lost twice. Making your home ground a fortress is a must for any team who fancy themselves as potential winners of the European Cup, and Liverpool have done that.

Reason Two: Fernando Torres

Not since Ruud van Nistelrooy has a striker had such an impact on the English leagues. This lad has got absolutely everything in his locker (apart from a left foot, but we won’t go into that), he can finish, he’s got pace, he’s got skill, he can head; he can do absolutely everything.

The main point about Torres is that he is something that very few sides have, a striker who will literally go anywhere on the field to get into space and eventually get into a scoring position. That’s one of the things that make him so special as a forward; he could be in the most un-dangerous position ever and still get into a position to score. He’s just phenomenal.

Also, he scored an absolute pearler against Chelsea in August, and wasn’t fazed at all by the greatest centre half since sliced bread John Terry barking down his ear, which brings me onto my next point…

Reason Three: Chelsea Rent boys

Yes, JT, Fun Time Frankie, I mean you. When you build your team around two overrated players in key positions you’re just asking for trouble really aren’t you?

Reason Four: Rafael Benitez

In Europe, Rafa Benitez is the best coach out there, and although the two ties with Arsenal proved to be Premiership affairs on the whole, against Chelsea the game is always the same. Even in the Premiership the style of football between these two is still what I’d call ‘Continental’; very tight, very tactical, and often it takes a moment of brilliance (or like last season, a mistake by Dan Agger — he did redeem himself in the second leg however) to get a goal.

I still think that Avram Grant is still looking for a bit of the golden touch that José had, which is why he will probably lose this tie and his job in the process — the latter being a shame, because I think he has done a cracking job at Chelsea. If you think about the start to the season Chelsea had, for them to be in the title race is ludicrous, to say the least, but that’s just my opinion.

Reason Five: Martin Skrtel

This man is an absolute colossus at centre half. In the league game down at the Bridge he didn’t put a single foot wrong all game, and this has been the story throughout his brief Liverpool career. Okay he got off to a pretty poor start against Villa in the league and the Hawks in the FA Cup, but since then he has been outstanding (When’s the last time you heard a commentator say ‘Heroics from Jamie Carragher again’? No need for heroics, Martin’s there).

To be honest I think this lad has the ability to be up there with the best in the EPL. He possesses the rabid bite of Carragher, the superlative tackling ability of Richard Dunne, the nouse of Sami Hyypia and the pace of a drugged-up Dwayne Chambers. I can’t wait to see how many clean sheets himself and Dan Agger keep between them next season, as I think it’s going to be another Hyypia-Henchoz partnership, and that this lad will continue to overshadow Carragher next season in the same way he has in the last two or three months of this.

And finally Reason Six: He’s Big and He’s fucking Hard…

Some may say Liverpool are a one man team, but up here in our small corner of Britain we couldn’t care less. Steven Gerrard is the finest midfielder of his generation. Although this season hasn’t been his best, an off-form Gerrard is still better than most on-form centre midfielders.

The fact is that Gerrard makes Liverpool tick and there is no midfielder anywhere else in the world who such a fulcrum for his team (we’re talking big teams by the way, don’t want comments saying something daft like John-Joe O’Toole does the same for Watford or whatever) and has the power to turn a game on its head with one swing of his gifted right boot.

The analogy that I like to use is that Gerrard is like quality control at a huge factory; everything must go through him and he must have the final say in all Red attacks. He is the main reason why Liverpool will win this tie (I’ll get back to you on winning the trophy mind you).

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This is my first post in a while so I thought I would talk about the less than serious points of the beautiful game. I have one very simple question to answer in this article; what would a footballer do if football didn’t exist?

To put it kindly, footballers would have bugger-all in terms of usage to the modern world if they weren’t professional athletes. So how stupid is the average footballer? Well this article is going to show you just how daft they sometimes can be if we never had football, and the footballers are going to explain why themselves in some rather funny sound-bites.

I’m going to start with Rafael Benitez telling Geoff Shreeves how to win against Chelsea: “Simple, score more goals than them.” Thanks very much for enlightening us to that fact Rafa. Here’s me thinking you need to neutralise the threat of Drogba and mark the wingers out of the game.

David Beckham once described himself as a volatile player. Why? “Well I can play in the centre, on the right or occasionally on the left.” What do these tits do in school really?

An unnamed former Ireland international (as if this guy wasn’t at a disadvantage already) said: “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” Or indeed Albert Wisdom.

Big Ron Atkinson was unhappy with a referee, but he told a reporter who asked for an opinion “I don’t normally comment on referees and that’s not going to change, at least not for that twat.” Good on you Ron, don’t rise to the bait.

Bolton Wanderers captain Kevin Nolan once said “As a footballer you need to take care of your feet, so we have trained chiropractors to help us.” How skilled is that chiropractor?

Former England manager Howard Wilkinson once said “If the opposition scores 2 then I’m a firm believer that we must score 3 in order to win.” No shit Sherlock.

Former Everton stopper Neville Southall told us about the secrets to a winning mentality. He said “If you don’t wake up wanting to win then you might as well not get out of bed at the end of the day.” Clichés, the enemy of the modern footballer…along with Danielle Lloyd of course.

Brazilian legend Ronaldo gave his matter-of-fact assessment on a match; “We lost because we didn’t win.” It should be noted that they also didn’t draw.

Former Sunderland and Newcastle defender Barry Venison told us about his pre-match routine. “I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock.” When do you reckon he put his shin pad on?

Wales and Liverpool legend Ian Rush told us why he didn’t really enjoy his time at Juventus; “It was like living in a foreign country.” Well its sort of a given, otherwise the commute would be a bitch.

Everyone’s favourite sexual deviant Stan Collymore gave us an insight about his then club Leicester City and how he felt; “I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week, but let me state that I don’t want to leave Leicester.” Well you better go and bloody withdraw that request sharpish then hadn’t you?

Former England manager Ron Greenwood told us about underperformance within the ranks of the side. “Hoddle hasn’t been the Hoddle we know and neither has Robson.” But why would Robson be Hoddle? Couldn’t he be Waddle instead?

Professional slaphead Ray Wilkins told us about the Millwall’s recent misfortune; “We keep kicking ourselves in the foot.” An art, it has to be said.

The usually intelligent and articulate England stopper David James told us about Italian football clubs. “The stars above Italian clubs’ badges show you how many times they have won the Gazetta.” Someone should tell them they can buy it down the shop!

Finally my favourite comes from Ian Wright. The best thing about this quote is how oblivious Wright is to what he just said. Of recovering alcoholic and England legend Tony Adams, he stated: ”It took a lot of bottle for him to own up.” I believe Tony’s exact words were “I fuckin’ love you Ian” before he burped and was sick all over Paul Merson’s betting slips.

That is just a few of what I found. There are plenty swimming about on the internet, just Google them. But the point of the article is this, the amount of coverage most of these guys used to and still get as ‘role-models for today’s youth’ and at the end of the day — to use that horrible cliché which every footballer has used once in his life — they probably couldn’t even ‘dot their own commas’ as former Burnley centre-half Mitchell Thomas would put it. The shelf-stackers at my local Tesco are in fact more qualified than most of the half-witted footballers out there, and if it weren’t for the immense talent of a footballer, they would be signing on, simple as that.

Thanks for reading, hope I brought you a giggle.

Editor: No quotes compilation is complete without a mention of the master baiter, Jose Mourinho, and his bag of quotes.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Throughout the crisis that has engulfed Liverpool since late October, there has been one man who has stood out and hasn’t said a thing, hasn’t done his best to look out for the best interests of our club. That man is Rick Parry.

The Chief Executive was kept on by the Americans presumably to be an experienced Liverpool head amongst the new kids on the block, to guide them through their first year or so of English football. Now it seems that Parry has abandoned the Liverpool Way himself and joined the band of American mercenaries, hell bent on destroying everything that this football club holds dear.

As CEO Parry has a huge say in what goes on in the running of the football club. He is also highly experienced in football, having been at Liverpool since 1998 and also being the first CEO of the Premier League. So to say that ‘he doesn’t have a say’ is a ludicrous claim to make. He is at Liverpool for the same reason that Roman Abramovich brought Peter Kenyon to Chelsea, because the owners don’t have a clue, and he is extremely experienced.

The defining moment in this conflict has obviously been the approach to Jurgen Klinsmann. The fact that Klinsmann was approached is one thing, but that Hicks went and told the media? Totally incomprehensible. There was and is nothing to gain by saying this to the media, and if anything what it did do is drop our respect for the Americans straight down through the floor.

My complaint about this moment is ‘What did Parry do?’ Bugger all. He should have come out to the fans, explaining properly why the Americans did what they did, explaining what the Americans are trying to do with the football club. He has let Liverpool and indeed the Kop down. Also, why didn’t he advise Hicks and Gillett about the Media, and what they do with any statement? It seems now that he is just looking for a bigger pay-cheque off the Americans and is abandoning the views of the football club.

Also to say that Parry didn’t know of the Jurgen affair is again naive. The owners and the CEO obviously discuss the manager when they do talk, so to say that Gillett and Hicks just forgot to mention they had asked Klinsmann if he wanted the job is just plain stupidity.

The other main turning point of the conflict has been finances, ie restructuring the finances onto the club rather than the individuals. Now Parry should have spotted this happening and nipped it in the bud, saying ‘Whoa, not on my watch’ and suggested keeping the debt on themselves until Liverpool is fully established as one of the best in England, which it clearly isn’t. So at this time, to secure the finances against the future earnings of a football club whose league position isn’t safe is a very risky thing to do. Why not secure it against one of the established NHL franchises that they own, which seems to be the avenue that Gillett is looking into. The interest payments alone could wipe the club out in less than 3 seasons if we finish outside the top 4 — which this season looks increasingly likely.

The thing with the Americans though is the fact that now we can see that they truly are mercenaries with little respect for the footballing institution of Liverpool Football Club. And while the bulk of the blame lies squarely on the Americans shoulders, I want to know more of Rick Parry’s part in this whole farce.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

In this world of terror, poverty, famine and drought, nobody ever gives footballers a thought. Some earn just over £35,000 per week, they are made to train most of the week, and have to play football in front of 40,000 screaming fanatics on a Saturday. On top of this they are often subjected to abuse by these very fans. So at Christmas when you’re carving your turkey, spare a thought for the lot of a modern footballer.

On any normal match day, football takes over our lives. How many of us have pulled a sickie so we can watch the match? How many of us have cancelled plans because you can get a piece of the gold-dust that is a ticket? Football is now a religion, and our stadiums are our altars. At the end of the day, if Rooney decides to betray the whole city — never mind Everton — and comes back to score at the Kop for Manchester United, I’m going to unleash every single expletive that I have in my locker at the Shrek-faced pigmy (Incidentally, I feel that this is what makes national football a little bit special because I hate Rooney and Neville with a burning passion, but as soon as they don the Three Lions they are our own). Similarly if a player is playing awfully and is on around £50k a week, its my God-given right to tell him how shit he is, and how he should f*** off back to Holland (Dirk Kuyt).

Verbal abuse is what the game is nowadays for the modern fan. Sol Campbell needs to grow a backbone, as does ‘Cashley’ Cole. You betray these clubs which are passionate about football — Tottenham and Arsenal respectively — then you have to just grow a backbone and deal with it. I agree that should it go further than that — ie death threats, borderline assault — it is unacceptable. There was an example involving Campbell actually in which I have sympathy, when he was confronted by an angry Spur in the street and was called a ‘Fat Black Queer’, which is completely unacceptable. But Gordon Taylor (PFA Chief) is talking about jeering of any kind at a football match, not on the street, but in the confines of a stadium. Does he expect us to sit in silence and watch a game? The best thing that he can do is just tell his union members they get enough for what they do, so go buy a new Mercedes and forget about it.

I say these views as someone who has been to Knowsley Road (home of St. Helens RLFC) numerous times, and the abuse that the crowd give the players their is untrue. The players though, not phased, if anything they improve, and after one match when Leon Pryce was asked about abuse that he was on the end of, he smiled and in his thick, northern accent, said ‘That’s Rugby’.

I have to admit that the picture (of a young Dirk Kuyt) above is unacceptable to the point that the kid is about 10 years old, and that’s purely down to upbringing. Without branching this article out into parenting skills, this shouldn’t be happening, and if my kid gave the finger to anyone — never mind a footballer — I would smack his arse round the house. Parents should refrain from any sort of abusive language in front of children. But as I said before, that’s a debate for Social Services, not Soccerlens.

There are subplots to this story though. What about fans who abuse fans? If the PFA and FA push ahead with their plans to give players more protection, what happens to the fans who abuse other fans? For example the religious-based chanting that still goes on in Scotland on Old Firm Derby Day or the Millwall fans which cruelly mocked Liverpool fans about Hillsborough a few years back. Obviously there are more examples and the comments section will contain anecdotes from United fans about how we (Reds) chanted about Munich which itself is unacceptable, but yet the FA doesn’t say anything about those do they? Also what about players who abuse players? Unless it’s racial, players will escape sanction from the match official for insulting their peers. Is that right? Maybe the PFA should sort out its members before dealing with the crowd…

What’s your view then? Let’s hear you…

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Not since Neville Chamberlain stood on that plane back in the 30s waving the white paper has someone been more wrong than I was when I wrote my preview article. I totally called Grand Slam Sunday completely wrong. So here’s my final article on Grand Slam Sunday…until next time that is!

Liverpool 0 — 1 Manchester United

I called this an open game of flowing attacking football and probably a Liverpool win. I couldn’t have been more wrong could I?

This game was scrappy, at best. Few openings for both sides, and it only took one moment of ‘genius’ according to Sky Sports to undo Liverpool. The goal from Carlitos Tevez was at best, lucky. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that Rooney passed to Tevez, Rooney shot and Tevez was left unmarked to turn it in. That’s not the biasness of a Red bitterly tasting defeat, its fact. Rooney shot, the box cleared, and Tevez was unmarked and slotted it. The movement was good to give Rooney the space on the edge of the box, but the actual execution of the goal was lucky.

On the whole I think a 0 — 0 would have suited this game down to the ground, but then again maybe I’m being generous to my boys. Liverpool struggled to kick it into gear in the first half, with Hargreaves and Anderson marshalling the midfield well, and the wide men just not saying wide. I think if Benayoun would have gone down the outside of Evra as much as he cut inside maybe we may have got the ball into the mix a bit more, but no. Liverpool just lacked genuine width, and their most potent weapon through the centre, Fernando Torres, was nullified by the fact that Anderson was never 5 yards away from Gerrard throughout the game. There were a few chances however, there were 2 Torres drives flashed wide of Edwin van der Sar’s goal, and then he gifted Liverpool 2 chances because of a lack of judgement which they failed to convert. United on the other hand piled down the left, attacking Alvaro Arbeloa at every given opportunity, and the impeccable Patrice Evra got beyond numerous times and always looked a threat — as well as a strong defensive performance which included a goal-line clearance.

The second half was equally frustrating for Liverpool, with United suffocating any attacks from the midfield. On the rare occasion that Liverpool did break through the outstanding Nemanja Vidic picked off any passes with relative ease. I’ll say this though, when United did break forward the movement that their players possessed was out of this world. For example the Rooney miss, the movement by Ronaldo, Giggs and Wayne himself was unbelievable. They picked their way through and Rooney missed a complete utter sitter.

I think to sum up; United’s midfield was too good for Liverpool. Anderson picked up Gerrard excellently, and Hargreaves picked up any of those passes which dared to stray into United’s half. Also the central defensive partnership was excellent, and they just frustrated and frustrated Liverpool. Ryan Babel’s introduction was productive to an extent, but even so they were just too strong. I won’t say too good, but definitely too strong. Probably deserved the 0 — 1 score line.

Man of the Match — Anderson. I can’t believe the kid is still 19. He shows maturity way above his years, with his coolness whilst on the ball and also his defensive prowess which Steve Gerrard will testify too. It would have been a different story without him, and he fully deserves the Man of the Match in my book.

Arsenal 1 — 0 Chelsea

Again I called this the other way. But I did predict a tight game, and few opportunities either side. I was right in that respect I suppose, but I’m clutching at straws really.

The game was a battle though. 9 bookings say it all really. Arsenal saw all their key players — who I said would miss out — return from injury and these basically outweighed Chelsea’s absences, namely Didier Drogba and Michael Essien. The goal was something which we have never seen before though, and we are unlikely to see another like it. A mistake by Petr Cech gifted William Gallas the only goal of the game.

Probably on the whole though Chelsea deserved more out of the game. The first half saw Manuel Almunia earn his wages, a deflected Wright-Phillips shot and a Shevchenko thunderbolt being his highlights. Chances it seemed though were to be at a premium, but this was made up for with the aforementioned battle. Ashley Cole set the tone, and Emmanuel Adebayor kindly returned the favour to the ex-Gunner. Terry was booked for a reckless lunge at Cesc, and was later hauled off with a suspected ligament injury, caused by the always-feisty Eboue. The goal should have been routine catching practice for Cech though, not Fabregas’ best ball in, but he made a mistake which would offend many U13 ‘keepers if you called it ‘schoolboy’. Enter Gallas, former Chelsea hero, now Arsenal captain, to score his 3rd of the season.

The second half saw Avram Grant look to go and equalise and eventually kill the game. Off came Claude Makelele, on came Claudio Pizarro. Chelsea then kicked on. John Obi Mikel stung Almunia’s fingertips, and from around 60 minutes, the ball was exclusively in Arsenal territory. The tenacity and tough-tackles continued however, the most notable being Joe Cole on Eboue, which saw the Ivorian stretchered off. The last 10 minutes were excellent though. Robin van Persie was introduced and put the ball in the net only to be denied by the linesman. Andrei Shevchenko again gave Almunia something to think about, firstly by dispatching a free header towards the bottom corner, and also a rocket free-kick. The header was a chance which he should have done better from though. Then Cesc should have scored right at the death, but he instead decided to start a mass brawl.

To sum up then; both sides had their chances, both sides gave a good account of themselves, and the game was far more entertaining than the one at Anfield. Its difficult to say where the match was won and lost though, maybe you could say Chelsea’s inability to convert chances, maybe you could say that Chelsea defended poorly at points, it was just a really even game and I wouldn’t have complained if Chelsea had equalised.

Man of the Match — Probably Gael Clichy. He broke forward well, defended well, good performance by him on the whole, but no-one really stood out.

Air your views about Grand Slam Sunday below then, all are welcome. From Manic Mancs to Blue Blues, let’s hear you…

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Tomorrow sees the biggest weekend of action this season in the EPL. Here’s my full preview of Sunday’s games…

Liverpool vs. Manchester United (Anfield, 1:30pm KO)

The biggest club game in England rears its head for the first time this season. So here’s what to expect.

Liverpool

Against Marseilles everything went swimmingly for Liverpool. They dominated the game from start to finish, and there is no reason why they can’t carry this form onto the game against United. The thing that has finally started clicking for Liverpool — last week aside — is the fact that Gerrard has found his niche and his space for playing in, Javier Mascherano has found his place in supporting Gerrard, Torres is back to fitness and scoring spectacular goals, Ryan Babel has finally started showing some promise and the defence looks solid.

Liverpool’s main strength at the moment is their colossal midfield. There aren’t many teams — except maybe United, funnily enough — who can rival Liverpool’s midfield. The partnership of Gerrard and Mascherano has turned out to be one of the best in the league, and on the flanks Benayoun and Babel have started to put some decent form together. Add to this equation a couple of great cameos from Harry Kewell and this becomes a quite special midfield.

Injuries — Xabi Alonso returned to training this week and is expected to start on the bench, meaning Javier Mascherano should keep his place in the middle with Gerrard after recovering from his midweek knock. Daniel Agger is again sure to miss out however.

Key Player — Alvaro Arbeloa and Steve Finnan are going to be knackered after this game. They have got to mark Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo out of the game, and the way the two have been playing recently it’s easier said than done. If these two are kept quiet however, United will have to rely on their midfield to supply Rooney and Tevez’s ammunition, and although Michael Carrick is a great passer of the ball, this will probably result in the strikers playing deep, right into the hands of Mascherano.

Probable Team — Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Arbeloa; Benayoun, Mascherano, Gerrard, Babel; Torres, Kuyt.

Manchester United

The performance against Roma wasn’t a reflection on how United will do tomorrow in all fairness so let’s go to last week against Derby. 4-1 the score, and a fairly decent performance in difficult conditions. Rooney will be looking to get one over on his nemeses at Anfield. United are in decent form at the minute though — apart from the 1-0 at the Reebok — and Anderson especially has been impressive.

United’s strength? Defence. Nemanja Vidic has been a revelation since he arrived at Old Trafford; Rio has had some strong performances this season; Evra has been excellent BUT Wes Brown is a potential weak link. He will have to deal with either Babel or Benayoun I expect, who themselves are in scintillating form, so that will be an interesting story to watch throughout the game.

Injuries — Owen Hargreaves is set to return to the United squad after recovering from tendinitis. Scholes however will be out until January, and Neville will take a lot longer. There are always doubts flying around about Louis Saha’s fitness however, but he should be on the bench. Apart from that, clean bill of health for United.

Key Player — Michael Carrick. If as I suspect Sir Alex recognizes the threat to his wingers in Arbeloa and Finnan and he decides to play direct through the middle, Carrick is the guy who is going to be squirting the ball out everywhere. On top of this, he will be charged with the job of stopping any Gerrard pass through to Torres, so its going to be a big game for Michael Carrick.

Probable Team — Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Carrick, Anderson, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez.

To sum up this is going to be a great game. We should expect open football, attacking football, and a few goals. The Gerrard-Torres partnership will again be instrumental, and I think Liverpool’s strength in midfield, coupled with the outstanding Fernando Torres point towards a Liverpool victory.

Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United

Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Emirates Stadium, 4:05pm KO)

The biggest London derby of the year gets played for the first time this season. Here we go…

Arsenal

Arsenal were pushed all the way by Steaua in midweek, on top of a difficult weekend against Middlesbrough last week. They deserved to lose against Middlesbrough, and this is a real sticky situation for Wenger’s boys to be in now. Just the right time then to welcome back your star men, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.

Arsenal’s main strength is their cool really. They usually just pass the ball around nice and calmly waiting for the opening to present itself. It’s worked all season until recently, and now its a test of character for Wenger and his kids. The defence however, is usually excellent, I’m a big fan of Toure and Gallas at centre-half, and Sagna has been top drawer since his arrival.

Injuries — Aliaksandr Hleb is set to miss out, but Cesc is now rated ass 70/30 and RVP is certain to return to EPL action. Cesc’s minder however, Mathieu Flamini, is a serious doubt, so Gilberto is set to deputise. Also returning to the squad is Abou Diaby.

Key Player — RVP, without a doubt. He will need to inspire the youth around him to give a big performance, and as star man they will look to him to do something special with the ball.

Probable Team — Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Toure, Clichy; Eboue, Diarra, Gilberto, Rosicky; van Persie, Adebayor.

Chelsea

Again the midweek draw against Valencia wasn’t to be taken into account, so we shall look to last week’s game for evaluating Chelsea. 2-0 the score, Sunderland the opponents. The Mourinho in Avram Grant has been brought out well and truly, just doing what needs to be done and nothing else flamboyant. But still, they’re winning games so fair play to them.

Chelsea’s main strength is the attacking talent that they possess. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Salamon Kalou are all big players for Chelsea at the moment, and they are all in decent form. Big test for Andrei Shevchenko, he will most probably leading the line against Arsenal and will have to show some AC Milan form, without a doubt.

Injuries — The big absence obviously is Didier Drogba, the colossal front man. Also Riccy Carvalho will not feature, but apart from that no new worries for Avram Grant.

Key Player — John Obi Mikel. He will need to silence RVP, who will play in that free role. Also he will need to push the forward players on in front of him to press for that goal.

Probable Team — Cech; Belletti, Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole; Wright-Phillips, Lampard, Obi Mikel, Joe Cole; Kalou, Shevchenko.

To sum up this should be a tight game with few openings I feel. I think that Chelsea will definitely feel that they can take something off Arsenal though due to both sides current form, so I’m going to plum for a narrow Chelsea win here.

Prediction: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea

It’s tomorrow then, air your feelings about the games below!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

It’s a big moment once again for the EPL ‘Big 4′ this week-end. Quick summary then…

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Manchester United

Hooliganism marred the draw with AS Roma last night. The 1-1 against the Italian’s was a game played out by fringe players for United. Only 3 players (Rooney, Nani and Carrick) who played were what you would call regulars. Decent game in Rome though, not great, but decent.

It has in fact been a decent week for United on the whole. Gary Neville has returned to training, he won’t be fit to visit the stadium which he loves so on Sunday however, as is the case with South Korean Park Ji-Sung. Also Owen Hargreaves is now rated as 50/50, as opposed to 0/100. Louis Saha has also been vocal, questioning how on Earth people can doubt his fitness. Fergie has been quiet though, much to my disappointment. The absence of Jose Mourinho means that there are no mind-games at all between the Big 4.
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Chelsea

Chelski played out an instantly forgettable 0-0 with Valencia on Tuesday night. Each player in the starting XI interestingly was a recognized first-teamer, meaning that the thinking of Avram Grant is to keep the players on their toes for the London derby on Sunday.

Quiet week by all accounts down by the bridge. No new injury worries, no new injury returns. We can expect Monsieur Wenger to be guilty of voyeurism again though, as he will surely look to start the mind games with Grant, as it seems the mild-mannered Israeli doesn’t do too many things that are likely to make him enemies. There has been an unlikely catalyst for the mind games between the two though, Petr Cech shouting about how he wants to be Scrooge on Sunday.
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Liverpool

What a week for Rafa B. He starts the biggest week of his Liverpool career with a loss against Reading. Doesn’t bode well considering you’ve got a must-win on Tuesday, the bosses are coming on Friday and your playing United on Sunday. Then the week flips right around on the must-win.

Liverpool were absolutely brilliant against Marseilles, and fully deserved the 4-0 win. The penalty, a stone-waller, the Torres goal, simply footballing genius from El Niño, the Kuyt goal, clinical and brilliantly taken, the Babel goal, cheeky and excellently converted. It was a vintage performance and an excellent result for Liverpool.

The only sounds coming from Melwood this week are war-cries really. There was Torres calling for the owners not to sack Rafael Benitez, and there was also Carra declaring that beating United is ‘more than 3 points’. Amen brother.
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Arsenal

The Gunners made hard work of their 2-1 victory against Steaua. We did however see flashes of brilliance by England U21 International Theo Walcott and also Nicklas Bendtner, a player who every time I see him play reminds me more and more of a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Tall, skilful, and a keen eye for goal, this guy definitely has the ability to challenge for the title of best forward in Scandinavia.

Good and bad news for Arsenal ahead of Grand Slam Sunday, Cesc Fabregas is unlikely to be fit, as is Aliaksandr Hleb. However Abou Diaby and Mathieu Flamini are likely to be in the squad, and also Robin van Persie returned midweek against Steaua. RVP is likely to be instrumental on Sunday should he play.

So 3 days to go. Excited?
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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

So next Sunday sees 2 pivotal games played in the EPL, Liverpool host Manchester United — which is always a little bit tasty — and Chelsea travel to the Emirates to play Arsenal — usually equally sumptuous. So the big 4 playing each other on the same day; and the FA tells us the fixture list is random…

A mixed weekend for the top 4 this week though. 2 wins for last seasons big 2, 2 losses for last seasons lesser 2. So, a quick summary of each team then…

Manchester United

Nobody ever really believed that whipping boys Derby County could take anything from Old Trafford, even under the leadership of survival expert Ray Mears Paul Jewell. The 4-1 was more or less to the script; I say more or less as Rooney didn’t return to the score sheet, Steve Howard actually scored, in fact Derby actually scored away from home, but it was a good performance on the whole. Carlos Tevez was in good form again, so they look in good shape heading into this week.

The first team squad have got the week off in truthfulness; Champions League Super 16 status already gained, and also they will top the group no matter what happens, they can afford to take a minimal squad to the Olimpico to face AS Roma. Also no big injury worries ahead of the visit to Anfield next week, so Sir Alex is in buoyant mood and high spirits, one might feel. He has however reiterated his standpoint on foreign players, calling for the quota system to be introduced. Other than that, a decent weekend for Sir Alex.

Chelsea

The ghost of Mourinho still lurks at Stamford Bridge these days. They are starting that old Jose chestnut on producing ‘ugly’ football whilst beating the lesser sides. Last week, West Ham were less than swept aside 1-0, and this week it was Sunderland who were beaten by an Andrei Shevchenko tap-in and a Lampard penalty 2-0. I’m not criticising of course, you get 3 points I don’t care how a team plays, and as a result they are obviously a good team for taking 3 points. However, another Mourinho party-piece was producing scintillating football when required. Be afraid Gunners, be very afraid…

Like United, the first team squad will get a rest at home to Valencia one feels. Qualification to the Super 16 assured as group winners, so they can rest a few players for the short trip across the capital to play Arsenal. Big worry for next week though is who can lead the front line. Didier Drogba has had surgery on his dodgy knee. Brighter news at the back though, Petr Cech is due back after a calf injury. Also Avram Grant has had his say on foreigners, saying that they are good for the English game and the system is currently working. Good weekend for Grant and Chelsea on the whole.

Liverpool

Shitty weekend for Liverpool. Simple as that. Steve Coppell lulled us Scousers into a false sense of security saying that ‘I’m not really bothered…Liverpool will win anyway‘ — this doesn’t overshadow my favourite Coppell quote though; ‘I’m being linked to the England job but everyone keeps putting an ‘O’ on the end of my name‘. Nice wit Stevie. In truth the 3-1 score-line didn’t at all flatter Reading, it was fully deserved on the run of play in my opinion. Of course Andre Marriner didn’t help not giving Liverpool 3 stone-wall pens and giving Reading a pen for a challenge outside the box, but I think take away those challenges then Liverpool fans will agree there were very little or no chances for Liverpool to kill the game off at 1-1, and save 2 Torres chances had no clear cut chances throughout the game, and very few half-chances.

Huge week ahead for Benitez and Liverpool, which will shape the way the rest of the season will pan out for the club. Firstly, the must-win in Southern France against Marseilles, then the bosses are coming over, then United are coming. Its all go for the ‘Pool at the moment, and there will be no let up for any of the first team (one suspects — lest we forget that we are talking about the incarnate of Claudio Ranieri). No new injury problems for Rafa B as yet though, and he is focussed solely on Europe for the moment.

Arsenal

An equally shitty weekend for Arsenal. Really top game at the Riverside though, and Middlesbrough fully deserved the 2-1 victory. It seems that the Premiership have found the key to unlock Arsenal’s free-flowing football, which is just get in the way of the ball when they pass it and put pressure on the ball carrier so that he has to make the pass quickly. God, how long did it take O’Neill, Allardyce and Southgate to work that out?

Seriously though since the second half of the Villa game we have seen a vulnerable Arsenal. Villa could have taken a point against the Gunners, maybe even could have won it. The second half against Newcastle was the same, the Magpies very unlucky not to take more from the game. And ‘Boro continued the trend, and finally took all 3 off Arsenal. Its up to the judgement of the individual on whether or not its teams breaking Arsenal down, or Arsenal breaking themselves down.

Arsenal have a relatively laid back week compared to Liverpool, as although Super 16 status assured, they aren’t top of their group, which may prove troublesome later in the competition. They need to win and hope that Sevilla lose if they are to go top of the group, which means your guess is as good as mine as to whether some of the squad will be rested. Certainties to miss out however include Cesc Fabregas and Aliaksandr Hleb, who are still recovering from injury. Expect a return against Chelsea for the pair though, who apparently are close, yet no cigar. Also Wenger has been quite vocal this weekend, saying that Jens Lehmann is staying on the bench at Arsenal and nowhere else, and that foreigners are also good.

So 6 days to go, what are your thoughts ahead of Grand Slam Sunday?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

So we have another stupid suggestion by another Scottish team, and again we have the same stupid outcome.

This time Rangers asked if they could postpone their game with SPL minnows Gretna so that they could fully concentrate on the Champions League game with Lyon in midweek. Surely this shouldn’t be allowed!

This is clearly an unfair advantage in Rangers’ favour, one feels. Especially when you couple it with the fact that Lyon have also this week asked if they would be allowed to postpone their game with Caen so that they could focus on their clash at Ibrox, but no, big round of applause to the French FA who have got the call right and have told them to bugger off. You would think that as Lyon are French Champions they would have a better chance of a fixture reprieve but no, the FA stood strong and fair play to them.

The quote by Davie Irons (Gretna Manager) was laughable too after he gave his reasons for co-operating with Rangers and the SPL: ‘The implications for Scottish football could be tremendous‘. I’m failing to see these other than the glaringly obvious one; this could allow the total monopoly of Glasgow over the SPL to a complete and total shut-out. Granted, Scottish football has improved over the past 3 seasons, culminating in the near-miss at Euro 2008, but the gulf between Celtic, Rangers and the rest is as such that a gap is extremely unlikely to be made up throughout the course of the season, and that shows no signs of changing because Hibs, Dundee United and Motherwell - currently joint 3rd in the SPL – aren’t able to attract the type of footballer who is the equal to Shunsuke Nakamura or Barry Ferguson, in my opinion the two finest players in Glasgow and the SPL.

Now the match on Tuesday at the Stade Vélodrome holds greater significance in my opinion, where the most successful club from these shores, Liverpool, fight to stay alive in Europe’s elite against Olympique Marseille. This is more important because

1. I’m a Red
2. Liverpool is much bigger than both Glasgow clubs put together, and most importantly:
3. Without Liverpool, who have been finalists in 2 of the last 3 seasons, the competition will seem somewhat belittled, will it not?

That’s my opinion anyway. But the point being made, would Steve Coppell be happy to let Rafa’s lads take the week off before crossing the channel? I very much doubt it. Also there is a monumental clash next week at Anfield with Manchester United visiting, so why doesn’t Rafa write to UEFA and ask for a reprieve?

But the main point being here is the fact that the SPL are complete idiots who seem all out to belittle football in Europe. First the weekend’s rest before Scotland-Italy and now Rangers. Also why weren’t Celtic granted the same privilege? Its total insanity the decision this week and I am still wondering why Platini and Gaillard are keeping quiet about it! The gruesome-twosome are never usually shy of a word or two and now when there is genuine attempts on belittling European football they shut up!

What do you think then? SPL right or wrong?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Now I’ve been thinking about an article on the new Jefe at Tottenham Hotspur for some time now but I thought I’d give the guy a chance first and he’s largely been good, but after the dismal 3-2 against Birmingham City I thought now would be a good time to criticise/praise Señor Ramos.

But there’s just one problem before I decide whether or not to unleash on the guy; who is he? How did he arrive where he is now? And most importantly, is he good enough to manage Spurs?

Footballing Career

Juande de la Cruz Ramos Cano has had a colourful career in football. As a player, he played top flight football for Elche in the 70s and played for a further 5 clubs until the age of 28, when he was forced to retire after a knee injury. It then took a further 10 years until he cracked into the management with Segunda División B outfit — and former club — Deportivo Alcoyano, with which he achieved mid-table mediocrity. For the 93/94 season he left for pastures new and to Levante, also in Segunda B in which he achieved promotion to the second tier of Spanish football. He left for the next season to be with Deportivo Legroñes in the Segunda División, where he achieved promotion to La Primera. He left again and had largely unsuccessful spells with Barcelona B and Lleida, before he went to Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.

With Vallecano he made a big step as manager, for example he stayed for 3 seasons, his longest stay with a club; and he also started his love affair with the UEFA Cup when he qualified in his second season with the club. After his third season with a 14th and UEFA Cup Quarter Final under his belt, he went on his first stay in Seville with Real Betis, where he finished 6th before moving to Cataluña and Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona. He lasted 5 games in Barcelona before leaving. The next season he was appointed by Málaga CF, and finished 10th in La Primera. It was in the 05/06 season when he took charge at the other Seville club, Sevilla FC, a club with which he achieved 2 UEFA Cup triumphs, a Copa del Rey and a Supercopa. Then after the sacking of Martin Jol, we find him in London leading Spurs, his 11th club in just over a decade.

What is a Ramos Team?

Let’s look at what Juande did with Sevilla. Their rise to become a team of Champions League calibre was based upon free-flowing attacking football. A remarkable achievement, considering the loss of top scorer Julio Baptista, and also defensive powerhouse Sergio Ramos, both to Real Madrid. He replaced these with a number of shrewd buys in his first season, one being (ironically) Mali international Frédéric Kanouté from Spurs, another Julien Escudé from Ajax and finally Luis Fabiano from Porto. With two strong target men in Kanouté and Fabiano, the style of football was a mix between direct long ball and free passing play. The midfield was strong, anchored by Enzo Maresca and Renato and flanked by Jesús Navas and Daniel Alves. The defence was equally strong, Ivica Dragutinović, Javi Navarro, Adriano and of course Escudé. Also he rules the team with an iron fist, which Rayo Vallecano will testify to. One game when Rayo were 2-0 up and cruising, he decided to take a player off and have the team play the rest of the match with 10 men, as they weren’t working hard enough.

Whether a similar system can be implemented (or has been implemented) at Tottenham is debatable. Due to injuries, he has a skeleton back 4 to work with, however the midfield is good and the forward line top class. The defence when fully fit you would expect to be Bale, King, Dawson and Chimbonda. The midfield is somewhat more enigmatic; there are a number of players who can play a number of positions well, so its who do you play where. For example Teemu Tainio is capable of anchoring the midfield, supporting the strikers and also playing out wide — all of which he has done under Jol. Then there is Lennon; do you play him left or right? Jenas; attacking midfield or defensive midfield (or indeed cleaning boots, which is where I would have him). The main problem though is a severe lack in real left-sided midfielders, which would probably result in Bale moving up to left-wing and bringing in Benoît Assou-Ekoto. Up front is pretty straightforward though with plenty of pace men and target men. I think given time — and a free injury table — Ramos has enough there to build a squad similar to that what he had at Sevilla; strong defensively, balanced midfield and goal-scoring strikers.

How’s he settling in then?

Pretty well in fact. I was looking forward to seeing another manager go this season but Ramos has started well, not losing in 6 out of his first 7 games. His first Premiership game set a bold statement, dropping both Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov (a decision which was a right one, considering Darren Bent promptly scored in the opening 15). The team went on to draw 1-1 with Middlesbrough, after a thunderbolt from Luke Young.

The times when I have watched Tottenham under Ramos I have been fairly impressed, most notably the 4-0 over Wigan. However a competent performance in Israel against Hapoel resulting in a 2-0 win was also good, and the superb come-from-behind victory against AaB last Thursday ending 3-2.

Against Birmingham, the performance was largely okay, and they weren’t help by Phil Dowd in all truthfulness (then again neither were Brum). The midfield was good, they kept the ball down the right end of the pitch and scored twice in succession. However the team lost its way after the Keane departure, and this left the defence exposed and they were cut open for the Jerome goal. No player should be allowed to run so far in your own half, no excuses. The third however was just a thunderbolt and as such, unstoppable. But the Jerome goal could have been prevented had Dawson and Zokora made successful tackles.

So, is he good then?

Yes, you definitely haven’t seen the best out of Ramos and Spurs yet. This is a Spurs side with a lot of potential, and the manager himself is talented. He has good support from Gustavo Poyet, a man who knows a lot about English football, and I think that after a few more players come back from injury and a shrewd buy or two in January, we could very well see Spurs back in the top 6.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News