Barcelona handed out a pummeling to struggling Levante as Henry finally opened his league account for the Catalan club and Lio Messi continued to distance himself with his brilliance from absent Ronaldinho, whilst looking more and more like the REAL next Maradona.
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 11 comments
Arsenal had done badly in previous years against West Ham United- last season they lost both games despite having dozens of chances to win them and in years before have generally not done well.
They will be ecstatic for the win today- although it was not the usual blitzing the Gunners have dished out this season, playing well and winning is as they say the mark of champions. Arsenal fans will continue to hope that the team can finally do it this season after three years without England’s ultimate domestic trophy; the side continues to benefit from the departure of Thierry Henry, with both first choice strikers in fine form.
Written by Jason Pereira. 11 comments
A dour draw saw Chelsea drop two more points at home against Fulham; a combination of little or no creativity and some competent defending saw last season’s FA Cup winners fail to score in their fourth Premiership game in a row. To add insult to injury, Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba was sent off in the second half and will thus miss next week’s game, while captain John Terry suffered a fractured cheekbone after he came off worse in a challenge with Clint Dempsey and will thus miss England’s next two Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Written by Jason Pereira. 4 comments
The Premier League is thought by many to be the most exciting league in the world; today’s incredible match between Portsmouth and Reading added to the claim. Normally four goals would be enough to win you a game even against the best of sides- this was not true for Reading as Portsmouth hit a massive seven at Fratton Park.
Written by Jason Pereira. 14 comments
With Berndt Schuster’s reign at Real Madrid barely ten games old, including pre-season friendlies, and Schuster himself shuffling the pack for rotational purposes, it is not clear which is the strongest possible Madrid eleven. What’s more, this dilemma is heightened by the fact that certain players are performing at a higher level when coming on as substitutes than when starting.
Real also have their strongest squad in recent times – the quality of “reserve” players such as Metzelder comes in stark contrast to the Raúl Bravo, Pavón and Mejia era. Perhaps the lack of a first-team is in fact a strong point of the team – the squad is massively flexible in terms of personnel and formation, and very few players are assured their spots.
What do you think is the optimal Real team, assuming that all players are fit?
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 13 comments
Some might think it would be hasty to make such an assessment so early into the season (after all, European leagues have only begun for a month or two) but it is interesting nonetheless to have a preliminary look at how some of this Summer’s signings are performing. Indeed, some managers (such as Sir Alex Ferguson, who isn’t entirely happy about how Anderson has coped with the club’s expectations at Man Utd) are bound to get restless if their new players don’t start delivering soon.
So from Gazzetta dello Sport, I’ve made a table list of the 20 most expensive transfers of the Summer break, along with a letter grade for their performance so far. What are your thoughts?
Written by Marco Pantanella. 30 comments
After the Carlin Cup 3rd round matches midweek, pundits roundly criticised Manchester United’s squad depth. I appreciate such criticism as much as anyone else, mainly because it helps us biased fans see what we might have missed otherwise - what with the rose-tinted specs and all.
So in the spirit of fighting fair, I thought I’d check up on the actual playing squads of the teams each of the top 4 had sent out on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let’s compare notes, shall we, and then you can all tell me how crap Manchester United are in the comments.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 45 comments
Martin Jol thinks that no one - NO ONE! - could have done better than him at Tottenham in the time that he’s been there.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
Daniel Levy has FINALLY spoken truthfully (sort of) in admitting, in relation to the Jol-Ramos debacle:
“Obviously with any speculation sometimes there’s an element of truth.”
Written by zed. One comment
Although this is the morning before the Premiership weekend round of matches, not a lot is happening apart from the typical few niggling injuries and suspensions.
Should be a cracking round of games today, with Chelsea looking to win their first game in three Premier League ties against Fulham; Arsenal face bogey side West Ham at Upton Park; Liverpool take on Wigan and Manchester United have a late kickoff against Birmingham- you can read previews and predictions here.
Written by Jason Pereira. 2 comments
Before I get started on the preview, some info for fans who are looking to watch La Liga games on TV:
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 3 comments
Seven games played, eleven points earned. Five points off top place with a game more played; a new manager with little coaching experience and a spate of injuries, many have hinted that it may be time to rule Chelsea out of the title race completely. While Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool fans will definitely be happy at all the bad things happening (Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing), only a fool would completely write Chelsea off at this moment in time.
Written by Jason Pereira. 7 comments
In the past I’ve been quite critical of journalists and bloggers but I’ve come to realise that everyone needs to make a living, and just because I disagree with someone’s opinion doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re talking crap.
What I still can’t stand though, is complete fabrication. That is, pulling stuff from so far up your ass that you have to first shove your own head up your ass to look for it.
My blogger friends tell me pictures say a thousand words, so I’ll let the picture up top explain this practice (if you’re reading this in your feed reader, the picture is also at the bottom of this page. You’re welcome.).
Let’s take a look at today’s prime candidate for chief asshat: Guardian blogger Daniel Taylor.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 14 comments
This was expected - while R & W Holdings have stated initially that they don’t want to make a takeover offer for Arsenal in the immediate future, that’s clearly part of their longterm plans and now they have upped their stake by 2% to 23% shares.
Troubling? For Arsenal fans, clearly, but I’m starting to believe that this bodes ill for English football in general as well.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 5 comments
Fernando Torres is destined to be in the media spotlight (it must be in his DNA) - whether he’s at AM or Liverpool or playing for Spain, the world will always have time to talk about Torres.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 31 comments
Some good news for Manchester United fans ahead of the weekend clash against Birmingham (no, Saha has not been replaced by a better striker…not yet).
According to Ryan Giggs and David Gill, Manchester United are in talks with both Giggsy and Brown to extend their stays at Old Trafford. Both players only have an year left on their current Manchester United contracts, and as integral members of the Manchester United squad they’re both expected to stay on board for several more years.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
Uefa maintain that they’ll leave the Grant situation for the Premier League to solve - a polite way of telling the English to firm up and police themselves. While the Premier League scrambles to find its pair of strap-ons (balls!), there are some juicy matchups taking place this weekend.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
The thing that has caused the most amount of debate between football fans this week is the Carling Cup ties- you can read more about that here. Apart from that, there are always things happening in the Premiership- some of the most important events are mentioned below.
Written by Jason Pereira. Leave a response
Full time and the score line reads Palermo 2 - Milan 1.
Another disappointing performance by Milan, yes. But what is more important here is the contentious manner in which Palermo equalized. Did Amauri used his hand to control the ball?
Although the referee did not think so, Amauri himself had said “My intention was to control the ball with my shoulder, and I think that the ball indeed touched my shoulder. If I touched it with my hand it was completely involuntary”, this, to me, seems to mean that he himself wasn’t sure and if he isn’t sure, how can the referee be so sure?
Written by Kenny. 10 comments
The war of the television companies continues in Spain. For the first time since TV began showing football there was no game transmitted free on Spanish TV after Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon decided to support Sogecable and not allow the transmission of yesterday’s game with Betis on the “La Sexta” channel.
Written by Nic Aldam. One comment
After financial deals in the summer meant that Premier League teams would earn more than they ever did before, most feared that the gap between the top flight and the rest would only get bigger.
The £2.7bn television package means that even the team which finishes rock bottom of the Premiership will earn a cool £26 million, more than enough to finance a squad that could return at the first time of asking. Yesterday’s major shock in the Carling Cup, coupled with a few massive surprises in years gone by should stifle the claim that the underdog cannot have its day.
Written by Jason Pereira. 2 comments
During Tottenham’s 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough, Tottenham fans booed Martin Jol’s decision to remove Jermain Defoe, after he had looked lively and earned his ‘recall’ to the team.
However, I’m not so sure Jol trusts Defoe as much as his other strikers, apparently drafting him in to ‘less important games’ such as the Carling Cup 3rd round, but leaving him out of the Tottenham squad in crunch ties such as against Arsenal.
Written by zed. 6 comments
For starters I want to say congratulations to Brazil and Germany for making to the final of the Womens World Cup (which plays on Sunday). They deserve it; the Brazilians outplayed the US in today’s semifinal match and deserve their place at a shot for the title. Now on to the horrible coaching job by US Coach Greg Ryan.
Written by Brad Barnett. 8 comments
If there’s a god, I thank him for making stupid people (otherwise god bless random mutations, eh?).
Some say that variety is the spice of life - although considering that the people saying that sort of stuff either have their balls slapping against a goat’s behind or some such perversion, it’s probably best not to follow such people blindly.
I prefer to think that stupid people are the spice of life - you can point and laugh without wanting to chop something off and if you’re clever about it you come off looking like the smart one (as long as you can disguise the coke snorting out of your nose by … oh, never mind).
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 9 comments
Not much to say after Manchester United’s defeat to Coventry last night - the Red Devils lost to a better team, at home, so let’s give credit where credit is due.
There are 2 points I would raise though:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 38 comments
A roundup of the midweek Carling Cup Round 3 matches:
Written by RearGunner. 3 comments
Here’s a quick look at today’s main Premier League news:
Written by Jason Pereira. 5 comments
Arsenal fans were weary of new shareholder Alisher Usmanov’s plans for the club; they will be even more uncertain now after recent events. To start off, Usmanov is a Russian businessman whose fortune came from lumber, mining and investment. He has an estimated value of $5.5 billion, making him the 18th richest person in Russia. A few months ago, common football fans had not heard of the man; now he is one of the biggest talking points in world football today.
Written by Jason Pereira. 4 comments
Daniel Levy has moved to deny that the Tottenham Board a) agreed Jol’s compensation package and b) even held an emergency meeting to discuss Jol’s future.
In a statement released on the Tottenham official website he said:
Written by zed. One comment
About three weeks ago the feeling around Anfield was one of ecstasy and joy; Liverpool had just beaten Derby County 6-0 without star players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher- this victory took them to the top of the table for the first time in years.
As of September 25th, 2007 however the mood is slightly more somber- although Liverpool have not lost a game in that time, a succession of three draws in a row (one against Porto in the Champions League) has put a dampener on fans spirits, as well as sent Liverpool to fourth in the table (albeit with a game in hand).
So, who exactly is to blame for these slipups?
Written by Jason Pereira. 36 comments
