WORLD CUP 2010 DRAW

GROUP A
1. South Africa
2. Mexico
3. Uruguay
4. France

GROUP B
1. Argentina
2. South Korea
3. Nigeria
4. Greece

GROUP C
1. England
2. United States Of America
3. Algeria
4. Slovenia

GROUP D
1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Ghana
4. Serbia

GROUP E
1. Netherlands
2. Japan
3. Cameroon
4. Denmark

GROUP F
1. Italy
2. New Zealand
3. Paraguay
4. Slovakia

GROUP G
1. Brazil
2. North Korea
3. Ivory Coast
4. Portugal

GROUP H
1. Spain
2. Honduras
3. Chile
4. Switzerland

Arsenal or Arsene?

In the matter of two weeks, Arsene Wenger has gone from a respected manager with a beautiful football playing side to a manager with no respect for the game or his fellow manager with no grace to understand when he loses to better sides.

What was the nonsense about when his Arsenal side were trounced by Chelsea; how could he really say that Didier Drogba didn’t do anything after scoring twice. And everything else he said in the post match interviews. Of course the less said about his behaviour on Wednesday the better.

Now I need to state for full disclosure that I agree that Arsenal play beautiful football; the intricate passing and movement is second probably to only Barcelona in Europe and have been doing it for quite some time.

The problem is not beautiful football but everything else surrounding the team and the club in general. Jose Mourinho is an ass but he is right, Wenger is under no pressure so he can get away with producing a team with all style and no substance. A team capable of putting 76 passes together but not capable of defending a free kick or throw-in against most of the team in the premiership because of the disparity in size between his midget team and most other teams.

Why did Arsenal go from the might, bulk and height of Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Emmanuel Petit and co to the midgets of Andrei Arshavin, Bacary Sagna and the supporting cast of the seven dwarves? Arsenal being muscled off the ball is becoming such an occurrence no one bothers to discuss it anymore. Did any one really think that Arsenal stood a chance against the brute force of Drogba, Anelka, Ballack, Essien and Terry, puhleeeeze? The true fans knew there was no way the fancy Dans of Arsenal could withstand the onslaught except the manager who has seen it over the last four years; flattering to deceive and then falling off when the serious games came along.

Of course, let’s take a look at the team itself, in the goalkeeping position they have Manuel Almunia who is clearly a joke and partnered with the defence have shown that they can concede in any game, no matter the score. Any one remembers West Ham? Arsenal has averaged 3 goals this season because that is the only score line that guarantees a victory.

In the midfield, there is the brilliant Cesc Fabregas who is burdened with the presence of Abou Diaby, a water carrier who believes he is Zidane and Alex Song. Song is a vastly improved player but his improvement don’t cover the fact that some matches he is just running around racking up fouls.

In the three pronged attack, he was lucky with the presence of Andrei Arshavin and Robin Van Persie and ay other player. Samir Nasri or Tomas Rosicky is good up there but after them the talent pool dries up. Nicklas Bendtner is another joke as a striker an Eduardo is not good enough. Theo Walcott seems to have reached his peak because explosive speed alone is not what football is all about. He can score in games where are Arsenal are three goals up but doesn’t do anything else to warrant the plaudits he receives. Well he is English and they are looking for a star anywhere.

Arsenal need to bulk up and need a striker but we all know that Arsene will go out and buy some unknown from Togo in January who will become disillusioned with something by next summer. Why not take a punt on Ruud Van Nistelrooj or some proven striker who will enjoy the service the Arsenal teams can provide.

Arsenal needs to win something and they are already out of the coca cola cup and the league. Are they going for a fifth year without silverware?

LESSONS FROM LAST WEEKEND

Spurs are not in the same bracket with Arsenal yet. Ledley King does not train but still gets into the team, why?

Harry Redknapp can’t coach for toffee and couldn’t find the grace to say that Arsenal are better than his lot.

Jamie Carragher got away with pulling Michael Owen down last week so he decided to repeat the trick but was caught against Fulham. Is the man that slow that he needs a wrestling move to stop players.

Liverpool is Torres and Gerard and nine others and they are poor without them. How did they let Xabi Alonso leave? And the fans blame the owners.

Can someone tell Phil Brown that self tanning went out in 90’s and he should stuff the receptionist mike where the sun don’t shine. And he should get used to coaching in the championship if he stays with Hull.

Sam Allardyce tried to deflect his abject coaching skills by taking on Giovanni Trappatoni, it failed and his team have now shipped 29 goals in 4 games. And I bet he is still the front runner for the England job when Fabio Capello leaves. His Blackburn team can’t string 4 passes together and it is woeful to see them defend too.

Chelsea are strong and full of men, nothing can stop them winning the league.

Liverpool can’t win the league under Benitez.

Man United will try this season but as they can’t depend on luck to win games all season they might not get 4 titles in a row.

West Ham might be going down unless they wake up and find the spirit of the first half against Sunderland or the 2nd half against Arsenal.

Who replaces William Gallas or Thomas Vermaelaen in the Arsenal defence?

If Man City had turned the 4 draws in a row into wins they could be top of the league already but who said money alone can buy the league. You also need a manager.

Saturday's done

So it’s official then; Portsmouth and Hull will go down to the championship at the end of this premiership season. After the results of this evening, staying in the premiership is virtually impossible.


Portsmouth lost their seventh game to start the season against Everton; so from a possible 21 points they garnered a total zero/nil points. Personally I don’t see how Paul Hart could have done any better after his team was gutted this off season. Defenders left, then the strikers and then the only decent Midfielder, Krancjar joined Harry at Spurs. Expecting anything more from Paul Hart is impossible. The man cannot do anything with the team he has left. Seeing Nwankwo Kanu, the 40 year old striker saunter on to the pitch after 80 minutes summarised the dire happenings at Fratton Park - An old immobile former skilful sod coming on for some unknown energiser bunny with the skills of Emile Heskey.


But I am happy for the position of Phil brown and Hull; the giant killers of last season have become the meek sheep of this one. The man who thought two great games in London elevated him besides Fergie can barely get his players to respond to his psychological mumbo jumbo. I wonder how long his spray on tan will last. He is being kept off the bottom of the league by the ineptitude of Portsmouth but he is as doomed as John McCain’s presidential bid after he picked Sarah Palin.


Wigan beat Chelsea 3-1 and Petr Cech was sent off; so Chelsea won’t go through the season unbeaten but should still win the league. Surprisingly, Chelsea lose to Wigan on the same day that John Terry says that Carlo Ancelotti can help them win the champions league. SO imagine the scenario; can’t beat Wigan but intend to beat Real Madrid or Barcelona. Good move JT, don’t let your mouth run away like that again.


Tottenham mauled Burnley by 5-0, with Robbie Keane getting four goals; is this the same spurs team that had 2 points after the first 8 games last season. Redknapp must really be a good manager. Ha ha ha

Team News after the fact

It is official now, Arsenal will not win the league this season. In both visits to Manchester, they have dominated and lost. This has happened to Arsenal many times in the past and it is just silly that Arsene Wenger continues his policy when he can surely see it is not working.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored today and has now scored 4 goals in 4 games; Arsenal fans still believe it was good riddance to a good player who needed more money, which Arsenal were never going to give him. Tomas Rosicky is back and scored so it might be good news for Arsenal but with Rosicky he might break down on the bus back to London and be out for another.

Chelsea is my early tip and are grinding out the games and winning somehow without the flair that there owner demands. Of course if he needed flair he wouldn’t employ Carlo Ancelloti, but that is jist for another day.

So Liverpool and Arsenal have lost 2 games and its still September; ManU have lost once and Chelsea are 5 out of 5 and you still think the championship is going somewhere else.

Manchester City is good, Tottenham is good but both of them cannot finish in the top 4 because there isn’t enough space for six teams in the top 4.

Yossi Benayoun scored 3 against Burnley today, is that his season quota blown in one day.

Hull City and Phil “I am a good coach” Brown are in a hurry to get back to the championship, I wonder how many games they will win this season.

And how come Portsmouth was bought by the only poor Arab in the world?

NEW SEASON

My people,
The English premier league is back.

I will be cheating and making my initial comments on all the premier league teams after the first games. That way my comments will be based on actual games and not the pre-season nonsense.

So Manchester City better win. Arsenal too. Will Liverpool improve and can Manchester United win it 4 times in a row. Oh yes, what about the new teams in the premiership; will they go straight back down or will they do a Stoke and beat the odds.

See you soon.

FOOTBALL IS SIMPLE

SEASON ENDING NOTES

MANCHESTER UNITED
POSITION – 1ST
Honours – Premiership title, Carling cup.
POINTS - 90
MVP – Nemanja Vidic
Overall result – A minus
Needs for next season –
• Loyalty from Cristiano Ronaldo or a proper replacement when he pisses of to Real Madrid.
• An injury free season from Owen Hargreaves.
• The maturity of Ben Foster.
• Reduced roles for the old men.
• Midfielder with a passing range
• Realisation that Ji Sun Park, Anderson, Fletcher, John O Shea etc are mere average players at best.


LIVERPOOL
POSITION – 2ND
Honours – Nothing
POINTS - 86
MVP – Steven Gerard
Overall result - B minus
Need for next season
• Sensibility from the manager, Rafa Benitez. Stop warring with Fergie
• Sensibility from the owners
• Don’t let Rafa Benitez buy players
• Less dependence on Steven Gerard

CHELSEA
POSITION – 3RD
Honours – FA cup
POINTS - 83
MVP – Frank Lampard
Overall result – C
Need for next season
• Stability
• Young strikers
• Manageable expectations
• Sensible owner purchases; we know you have the money but you never needed Deco or Shevchenko or Quaresma.
• Don’t buy Emmanuel Adebayor
• Be more expansive which means that Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi don’t start games together.

ARSENAL
POSITION – 4TH
Honours – Nothing
MVP – Andrei Arshavin
POINTS - 72
Overall result - D
Need for next season
• A lobotomy for Arsene Wenger to wipe out the nonsense youth policy he believes will work out sometime in the future
• A central defender, a holding midfielder, some real Alan Shearer like strikers. All should be above 25 years old.
• Sell Emmanuel Adebayor, Abou Diaby, Denilson and Nicholas Bendtner
• If all fails sack Arsene Wenger


EVERTON
POSITION – 5TH
Honours – Nothing
POINTS - 63
MVP – Philip Neville
Mark – B +
Need for next season
• Money for David Moyes to spend
• To be kicked out of Europe early as they can’t concentrate on two major competitions
• Lesser injuries


ASTON VILLA
POSITION – 6TH
HONOURS – Nothing
POINTS - 62
MVP – Ashley Young
Mark - C
Need for next season
• Lesser dependence on English players
• Manager who can coach and win in March and April
• Manager who doesn’t believe his own hype
• A Gabby Agbonlahor who can score at least twice a month
• Getting it up for other teams than Arsenal

FULHAM
POSITION – 7TH
MVP – Brede Hangeland
POINTS - 53
Overall result – B +
Need for next season
• Another brilliant season from Roy Hodgson
• Proper investments from Mohammed Fayed
• Concentration from all players all the time


TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS
POSITION – 8TH
MVP – Aaron Lennon
POINTS - 51
Overall result - D
Need for next season
• Less wheeler dealing, more managing from Harry Redknapp
• Concentrate on the league and not the London league
• Stop believing they are a big team
• A midfielder with a passing range
• Strikers who can score
• Don’t lose 8 games by October.


WEST HAM UNITED
POSITION – 9TH
MVP – Carlton Cole
POINTS - 51
Overall result – B Minus
Need for next season
• Economic stability in Iceland
• Sell the club
• Proper investment in squad
• Proper strikers and midfielders
• If Chelsea sack their manager don’t let Gianfranco Zola join them
• Get rid of Dean Ashton


MANCHESTER CITY
POSITION – 10TH
MVP – Stephen Ireland
POINTS - 50
Overall result – D Minus
Need for next season
• Buy superstars or hardworking players not Craig Bellamy
• Buy players for all positions
• Find a way to win away games
• Get rid of Mark Hughes and get a superstar manager that befits the rich mans toy status of the club.
• Don’t lose Stephen Ireland
• Explain to Robinho that he is going nowhere no matter what he does or say


WIGAN ATHLETIC
POSITION – 11TH
MVP – Antonio Valencia
POINTS - 45
Overall result – B
Need for next season
• Stability in the managers position
• Stop being a selling team at least
• Stop the chairman from speaking



STOKE CITY
POSITION – 12TH
MVP – RORY DELAP
POINTS - 45
Overall result – B +
Need for next season
• Buy some of the good players from Newcastle
• Find another way to attack the 18 yard box besides the throw ins of Rory Delap
• Don’t beat up on Arsenal and then lose to Portsmouth

BOLTON WANDERERS
POSITION – 13TH
MVP – KELVIN DAVIES
POINTS – 41
Overall result – C
Need for next season
• A striker who will get at the end of those knock downs from Kelvin Davies
• Buy some good players from Newcastle
• An adventurous manager
• Survival
• Don’t be scared of Man U and Chelsea

PORTSMOUTH
POSITION - 14TH
MVP - GLEN JOHNSON
POINTS – 41
Overall result – C
Need for next season
• Stability
• Manager with ideas
• Younger players; Kanu is 45, John Utaka is 40, Sol Campbell is slow, David James is 40.

BLACKBURN ROVERS
POSITION – 15TH
MVP – Ryan Nelsen
POINTS - 41
Overall result – D
Need for next season
• New manager
• New manager – playing Chris Samba as a striker is affront to football
• New manager – feeling humiliated by Rafa Benitez after being told to feel humiliated by Fergie is silly
• New manager – chewing gum
• New manager – head set/phones
• Defence


SUNDERLAND
POSITION – 16TH
MVP – KENWYNE JONES
POINTS – 36
Overall result – B
Need for next season
• Stability
• Manager with communication skills
• Stop buying Tottenham and West Ham rejects
• Defence
• newcastle
• The big 4 teams don’t bite, attempt to play them next season

HULL
POSITION – 17TH
MVP – Kevin Kilbane
POINTS – 35
Overall – D
Need for next season
• A manager who doesn’t believe his hype
• A manager who doesn’t generate hype
• A manager who didn’t learn his trade from Sam Allardyce
• Young midfielders
• Players who can play in the winter

NEWCASTLE
POSITION – RELEGATED
POINTS – NOT ENOUGH
MVP – No one good enough
Overall result – incomplete
Need for next season
• Mike Ashley becomes poor and sells the team to survive
• Alan Shearer promises never to visit Newcastle
• Reasonable fans who understand that Shearer is not a god and Mike Ashley owns the team and therefore can do anything to the team
• Get rid of 90% of the playing squad


MIDDLESBROUGH
POSITION – RELEGATED
POINTS – Not nearly enough
MVP – what?
Overall result – incomplete
Need for next season
• A ruthless owner, what is all this nonsense about being the nicst owner in football.
• New manager


WEST BROMWICH ALBION
POSITION – RELEGATED
POINTS - Doomed from day one
MVP – please
Overall result – see the headmaster
Need for next season
• Nothing, they will win the championship and be odds on to go down after one season in the premiership. Nature of the beast.

MONEY TALKS...

Interviewer:
Mr Barry, what are your plans for the coming season
Gareth Barry:
I want to play for a team in the champions league. It is the one competition I cherish above all others. That is where all the top players want to play.
Moneybags:
Why not come and play for Manchester City. We are not in the Champions league and won’t qualify for it next year. But we will give you £60,000 more a week.
Gareth Barry:
That is a good sum of money but I want to play in the Champions league. I thought we will do it with Aston Villa but our gaffer couldn’t buy a victory in two months; letting those southern softies at Arsenal to take the 4th spot.
Moneybags:
At Man City, you will play with Craig Bellamy and that reject from Chelsea, Wayne Bridge. Do you want more money? Robinho plays for us and we bid £104m for a player who can’t find Manchester on the map
Gareth Barry:
I’ll sign.
Interviewer:
So, Mr Barry you are now signing for a team not even in the Champions league. Are you joining them because they are paying you £60,000 a week more than your last pay packet?
Gareth Barry:
What do you expect me to do? I will look for another excuse of going down market; how does the potential of Manchester city sound? What about the chance to play with world class players like Jo and Kelvin Etuhu?
Interviewer:
Good luck Gareth, forget the bollocks and follow the money.

POOR OR OUTPLAYED???

Fergie believes that Manchester United could have beaten Barcelona in the champions league final if Darren Fletcher. IF fergie believes that difference between being thoroughly outplayed and dominated and winning the game yesterday was Darren Fletcher then he doesn’t know as much about football as I would have thought.

Fergie seems to forget that he already had players with limited skills but an abundance of heart and brawn on the pitch – Anderson, Ji Sun Park, John O’Shea, Michael Carrick – he couldn’t have possibly competed fairly with Barcelona if they brought on another player who is only looks half decent because he is surrounded with luxury articles like Rooney and Ronaldo.

When or how did Nemanja Vidic become Pascal Cygan? When did he become as slow as a reversing articulated lorry? In more than two games this season he has been exposed but to do it at this level is plain criminal.

Man U did not become a poor team over night but something went wrong which might include just being scared of the opposition. It happened against Real Madrid with the whole team including Roy keane and Paul Scholes freezing up against Zinedine Zidane, Redondo and Ronaldo (the original).

But how does a team with such experience not be able to compete; passing the ball to a team mate cannot be that difficult unless you are Michael Carrick and co in midfield last night. And where was the technical nous & expertise of Guus Hiddink who nullified the Barcelona threat for more than 180 minutes in the semi finals.

In the absence of three quarters of their back four I expected that Man Utd would have made it more of a game. The left back was 35 year Sylvinho but he wasn’t disturbed too much yesterday and he defending against Cristiano Ronaldo the only white shirted player who left Rome with any pride.

Man Utd will be back and I guarantee that there will be an English side in the finals next year

SILLY SEASON BEGINS

Silly season has officially started. I shouldn’t be commenting on any of the silly season acquisition or departures because it is just a waste of my time but some will just be too good to ignore like the ones already circulating.

Arsene Wenger to Real Madrid is a perennial one so we can ignore it. Wenger will not be leaving Arsenal where he has total control to a team where he will be sacked if he wins just La liga without Champions league or wins both of them but not playing the Real Madrid way. This will rumble on till 2011 and then he will sign a new contract.

Carlos Tevez is leaving for Liverpool or Manchester City or Arsenal or …
Why should we bother where he goes, when a team that understands the convoluted ownership of this player and still buys and then we can comment on it? He might still stay at Manchester United if we can believe anything the hierarchy say at Man Utd.

Nemanja Vidic was voted best player for Manchester United; so who voted his team mate Ryan Giggs best player in the premiership.

Rafa Benitez, Liverpool’s manager has congratulated Manchester United for winning the premiership but he still believes that fergie is a wanker and has allegedly refused to congratulate him personally. This is one battle I look forward to next season. But does Rafa Benitez need to congratulate Fergie, what exactly did Fergie achieve this season that he deserves congratulations from Benitez? It’s not like he scored any goals or kept a clean sheet. He’s just the most successful manager in football today and arguably ever. Benitez doesn’t like him and he doesn’t need to.
The rivalry has been around for decades and long may it continue.

Fergie and Wenger also had a very frosty relationship which has dissipated since Wenger lost the urge to compete for silverware. If this is what Benitez thinks is mind games he should rethink his approach before Jamie Carragher teaches him a thing or two.

Carlo Ancelloti will be joining Chelsea? Yes, No or maybe. The only reason I believe Chelsea is interested in this man is his previous experience managing old players like Cafu, Maldini, Inzaghi, Nesta and co. After the transformation of Guus Hiddink why would they want Ancelloti who is definitely not that good a manager, the Champions league title he won 2 years notwithstanding?


The market place that is Manchester City opens up soon but expect further purchases of players like Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge; the chairman just announced that Mark Hughes will remain as manager.

MAN UTD WIN 18TH

By 3pm on Saturday afternoon, Manchester United will be champions of England for the 18th time. I don’t need to congratulate them because I did that just 2 months ago when they were suffering what every pundit called a meltdown.

They have proven that they just lost those games to give the premiership, Sky TV and talking heads something to talk about. Why win the league in March when they could continue to give us this much excitement with just two games to go.

I don’t care who they play on Saturday, Man Utd will win the game. It makes it better for them that it is the old enemy, Arsenal. The operative word in my last statement is old; old as in not capable anymore of being the enemy. Old, as in not capable of rising to the occasion of trying to win the league anymore old; settling for fourth place old.

The last time Man Utd needed a win or draw to win the league and failed was 14 years ago when they need to beat West Ham to deprive Blackburn the premiership. They failed that day but never since and Arsenal are not in any position to deprive them this time around; and definitely not in front of their loyal fans visiting from London.

Arsenal has been quoted at 5/1 by the bookies to win at old Trafford. Good odds if Arsenal were man enough to muster a performance to deprive Fergie’s boys but this team are already in holiday mode irrespective of what old saps like Mikael Silvestre says. Putting down a marker for next season will not start on Saturday but what Arsene Wenger does in the close season.

Sir Alex also needs to get this championship done so he can concentrate on the Barcelona game. Beating Barcelona will not be a cakewalk so he will need to rest his big boys for the last game which is at the relegation bound Hull. Phil Brown and Hull will also need Arsenal to play as they can so Fergie can afford to lose their final game.

ARSENAL ARE CRAP

For some other team it will be seen as a crisis but at Arsenal it is business as usual. On Tuesday, Manchester United rolled into town and dispatched Arsenal from the champion’s league in eight short minutes. The game ended 1-3 to Man Utd but that result flattered Arsenal.

On Sunday, Chelsea turned and drubbed Arsenal 1-4. Arsenal had the better part of twenty minutes then succumbed to two quick goals and this game was over as a competition.

Did I tell you that Arsenal were at home for both games. Well it wouldn’t have mattered where the games were played as they were just woeful and the rot is becoming a permanent stench.

Arsenal as a team can’t score and can’t defend; possession or intricate passes does not give you points. The strikers they have are not good enough and neither are the defenders any better. They are too short to defend set pieces and what was Silvestre doing yesterday backing off Anelka daring him to shoot. Of course Anelka took his chance while the Arsenal strikers couldn’t hit a barn door from two yards.

Arsene Wenger is selling his fans a fantasy and a very bad product. In any other industry he will be sued for false advertising or fraud because he continues to promise that his product will be good enough to win the league but they haven’t done that for five years and on this evidence won’t be changing that terrile record soon.

Average players will not win in a league that demands top performances from its top players. Wenger is short changing his team by stubbornly sticking to this youth policy that has not won anything of substance including any games that mattered in the last three years.

A friend of mine took his young son to the game and I hope the son isn’t scarred with the drubbing his father’s team took yesterday. I would rather have my teeth pulled out without drugs than continue to watch Eboue, Diaby and co play football. It is too painful.

Of course, Arsene Wenger’s job is safe and that might be the problem. Wenger knows he won’t get sacked if he continues to serve up this tosh. It has been announced that he will get £40m for his transfer kitty and I can bet he is off to French West Africa to recruit or possibly the French league to pick up some potential good player instead of paying top dollar for established experienced players.

Arsenal fans, the suffering and smiling will continue.

ARSENAL DOWN,OUT AND ARSENE KNOWS F**k ALL

Arsenal will not win anything this year. They are out of all competitions and will just shave the 4th position in the race with Aston Villa and Everton because Aston Villa failed to win a game in two months.

The game yesterday night was described as between men and babies and Patrice Evra was quite true. Arsenal is not a match for Manchester United yet and won’t be next season if Arsene Wenger continues to spend money on potential instead of spending his hard earned cash on established AND experienced players like he did this January transfer window with Andrei Arshavin.

Picking up players like Kieran Gibbs, Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey is good for the future but Arsenal need to win today and they lack the players to sustain a challenge or to beat any of the big boys in a game that really matters. Arsenal needs experience to win, these boys can't be compared to the teams that had the LIKES of Adams, Bould, Winterburn,Dixon, Pires, Vieira, Henry, Petit etc. Man against boys is not a fair match and no matter how fast you can run you will still need guile brought on by experience to win in this league.

The team needs two central defenders and a holding midfielder a la Claude Makelele and Alex Song won’t do. They also need to get rid of Nicolas Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor and buy a player who can actually score goals regularly at this level. Arsene

Is Arsene Wenger in a comfort zone? Is he too secure in his position? How long can his team go without actually winning anything?

Watch this space as we monitor his moves this next transfer window

WEEKEND PAST & OTHER STUFF

Barcelona toyed with Real Madrid on Saturday; they let them score first to make the game competitive. They then scored two goals but Real Madrid equalised so they scored another to put more distance between them.

Barcelona could have scored whenever they felt like it and the 6-2 score line at the Bernabeau was flattering to Real Madrid. Besides Iker Casillas it could have ended 13-2 and that would still have flattered Madrid.

As in boxing, football referees should know when the punishment was too much and stop games before the 90th minute.

Can they do it to Chelsea? They can but Chelsea will not give them that much space and time on the ball as Real did. Chelsea also has better defenders and better midfielders so I expect Chelsea to put up a better battle than Real Madrid did on Saturday.

Manchester United is risking Rio Ferdinand and his ribs to get through to the champions league finals against Arsenal. A waste of time as Arsenal does not have enough in the tank to overturn the 1-0 deficit.

Joey Barton has been suspended by Newcastle; after his tackle against Xabi Alonso he should be charged with assault but I have new found respect for Alan Shearer for his stance on this thug. Kevin ‘second chance’ Keegan refused to throw him out when he was manager and the Newcastle board backed him then. And they are somehow surprised they are being relegated

SILLY SEASON
Emmanuel Adebayor is flirting with AC Milan again and most gooners hope Arsene Wenger ships him off this summer. No one knows why Wenger kept him during the summer transfer window but I know that if he doesn’t commit to Arsenal early this summer he is gone to join Mathieu Flamini on the bench in Italy.

Frank Ribery to Manchester United for £60m if they can get £80m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Every other superstar player is going to Manchester city.

CHELSEA'S EMBARASSMENT

The Chelsea team and fans are happy that they didn’t concede a goal against Barcelona at the Nou camp. Even the british press are going gaga over the 0-0 result; they somehow believe that the Chelsea team that had just one shot on target yesterday will suddenly become a world beater at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea was an embarrassment wrapped up in disappointment yesterday. One shot on target against Barcelona is poor. First half possession was 80-20 to Barcelona; reminded me of the 3rd round of the FA cup when the premiership sides take on conference teams.

One shot on target and that one shot came from a short back pass to the goal from Rafael Marquez. They probably wouldn’t have that shot on target without that mistake.

Nine defenders and the man of the match goalkeeper is not how to win the champion’s league. If Chelsea wins this competition I will stop writing this blog. Football played this way is just ugly and I can’t believe that Guus Hiddink feels he can win this tie playing this way.

Some believed that Chelsea’s only chance of scoring was from a set-piece but they only got two in the whole game so that wouldn’t have worked. Employing Michael Essien, Mikel Obi and Michael Ballack as holding midfielders was a plan to stifle the midfield which didn’t work too well but really frustrated the Barca players and the TV viewers worldwide.

Chelsea fans might think that tactical fouls to break up the flow of Barcelona’s passing was the proper thing to do but this is what is expected of teams in the championship and not a team with pretensions of being a powerhouse in Europe.

Is Chelsea playing for penalties? In a two-legged tie, can one team do that from the first leg?

CAN CHELSEA DO THE IMPOSSIBLE?

Will Chelsea beat Barcelona tonight? Can they knock off the favourites for the champions league over two legs and earn the right to play Manchester United again in the finals?

I believe they can; Barcelona is a force because they accept that they have weaknesses but play to their strengths which presently is attacking and continuing to attack until they have basically beaten their opponents.

They are vulnerable in defence but their defence is rarely involved in defending as the quintet of Samuel Etoo, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Xavi and Iniesta seem to keep the opposition defending instead.

Of course if you read the nonsense spouted by pundits like Tony Cascarino, you would believe that Barcelona is a pub team with one superstar with a back up group of duds. In an article this morning he has dismissed Thierry Henry and Samuel Etoo as not hard enough to hurt Chelsea. He of course believes that Chelsea is strong and brawny and can beat Barcelona by being disciplined.

How this former water carrier has descended on this assessment is unknown but it is not backed up by any facts; but we know that these pretend journalists don’t like facts getting in the way of a silly story. How does he dismiss a defence that is in the semi finals of this competition and have been on the top of their league all season as poor or a goal keeper who has already won this competition as the worst left in the semi’s (Manuel Almunia ???) as just taking poetic license to its most absurd limits.

Samuel Etoo has scored 32 goals in all competition, Thierry Henry has scored 24; but Cascarino believes that Drogba with his 12 assisted by Nicolas Anelka (21) and Solomon Kalou (9) have an edge. If you add Messi’s 34 goals there is a 48 goal gap in Cascarino’s assessment but he still believes Chelsea are better.

Chelsea’s chances of winning this tie depend on stopping a supply to the front three. Playing Michael Essien as a spoiler as he did so well against Steven Gerard and Liverpool is an option but stopping Xavi leaves Iniesta free to pull the strings and he can’t possibly stop both of them because it is footballing suicide to man mark two midfielders.

Chelsea can win but it will take super performances from every one. Frank Lampard and Michael Essien must continue as the supermen and hope that Michael Ballack stops running around being an absolute ass and feeling sorry he has lost two finals. John Terry and co in defence will have their hands (feet?) full with Henry and co so slacking or lose concentration will not be allowed.

Guus Hiddink earns his pay and status over this tie.

DEJA VU & OTHER STUFF

So in the week that Tottenham Hotspur declared being top of the London league they forgot to hold on to a lead against Man Utd.

After leading Man united 2-0 at half time, Spurs capitulated and let in 5 goals in the second half. Based on their demented look at the table and results I would assume that they would say that they won the first half.

They can blame the defeat on referee Howard Webb as they have tried to; but his decision only allowed the first goal. Who let in the other four goals? There is a reason why Spurs have not beaten Man U in 8 years, they are scared of the big time.

Déjà vu? Didn’t this happen before and this time at White hart lane; lead 3-0 at half time and let 5 after the interval. But give them the London title and they will be happy.

Tottenham remain 30 points behind Chelsea and 21 behind Arsenal, 3 behind Fulham and one behind West Ham but they are happy that they remain on top of a table that is as hopeless as the hope of West brom, Middlesbrough and Newcastle surviving the drop this season.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Who runs the PFA? How does a reserve player win the PFA players award? Ryan Giggs has been a brilliant player for most of his 18 year career but he hasn’t been the best player in his team this year. Nemanja Vidic has been a better performer this season. Ok, I concede he had a horrible game against Liverpool at home but before and since he has been a dependable and outstanding performer.

Ryan Giggs started 12 games this season and has been as effective as Steven Gerard this season but a general consensus is to award Giggs for his career as the PFA don’t give life time awards.

Tottenham Hotspurs are rubbish

Newcastle will go down.

Hull should join them but only 3 teams go down and West Brom and Middlesbrough are nailed on favourites to drop.

How does Chris Samba look like a striker to Sam Allardyce.

Great players don’t make great managers – My argument:
Jurgen Klinsmann sacked.
Marco Van Basten should be sacked
Tony Adams was crap, so was Bryan Robson and so will Roy Keane.
Their patron saint is Kevin Keegan.

Barcelona drew against Valencia and Real Madrid beat Sevilla 4-2 away. Barca’s lead is down to 4 points and the EL CLASSICO is next weekend. If Real win, the lead is down to one point. Spanish squeaky bum time has arrived.

WORLD CLASS IDIOT

There is a report that Frank Lampard called up a radio station to berate the presenter because this James O’Brien person said that Lampard was a bad father because he lived in a mansion in Chelsea leaving his kids in a small flat.

I know footballers are stupid but this idiot, Lampard takes the mickey by saying that he is a good father because the flat is in Fulham and he is in the process of buying a house for his children; a process that started in November last year. When did providing accommodation for your child become an achievement?

Now, Lampard will not be the first footballer who has kids outside wedlock, or the first footballer to abandon his kids, David Seaman did it some years ago but he is the first player to call up the radio presenter to put the record straight and then decides that he is the victim.

Lampard, take care of your kids, provide for them and shut up about it all and stop hiding behind your mother's death.

WE SALUTE PAUL SCHOLES

Paul Scholes plays in his 600th game for Manchester United tonight. He has been a fixture for Man Utd for 15 long years and he is the model professional; a player who every professional footballer should emulate and display the humility that he personifies.

He is the one player who does not believe in hype and decided long ago to let his footballing skills do his talking for him. He doesn’t do the interview unless rarely mandated by his team and he is not one to trot out when there is a big game to spout nonsense like Rooney or loud moth Gary Neville.

When Sven Erikkson was undecided on where to play him and stuck him out on the left; rather than complain he quietly resigned without any rancour claiming he wanted to play longer for his clubside.

He doesn’t do the WAG nonsense like Wayne and Colleen Rooney who has now become a celebrity not unlike Jade or Jordan who are famous for no reason at all. Scholes eschews all kinds of private publicity that is not football related.

Scholes is a fantastic player who we never heard was leaving to join Real Madrid or Barcelona. He was content to serve Man U and unlike Cristiano ‘refs don’t protect me’ Ronaldo who believes contracts are for plebeians. He has no agent so no one is feeding him rubbish about how much more money he could be making elsewhere.

He agrees his own contracts and unlike Rio Ferdinand doesn’t believe that he should hold out for some thousand pounds more when he is already on a kings ransom for kicking a leather ball round a field.

Even when he was a kid he was never heard to fall out of night clubs or be involved any unsavoury behaviour anywhere.

He was a model professional described by the greatest footballer of our times Zinedine Zidane as the complete midfielder. His goal tally is immense and for a player who suffered from asthma to have the engine he has is remarkable.

When he is pulling the strings from midfield, he is a joy to watch and his short or long passes are always keeping his tem in motion. He can’t tackle but continues to slide in late for tackles in every game but that is the only deficiency for a player who has given us a lifetime of thunderous shots and goals to make up for that one deficiency.

Paul Scholes is a giant in this beautiful game and deserves our applause as he runs out tonight for the 600th time. Man Utd and football has become richer for having the character of Paul Scholes around.

BIG SQUAD MY ARSE???

Arsene Wenger played a weakened team on Saturday against a resurgent Chelsea because his defence was hit by injuries and lost.

Alex Ferguson played a weakened team on Sunday against Everton because he could and still lost.

Wenger blames his defeat on the pitch and bad defending, fair enough.

Fergie blames his defeat on the pitch, then the referee, then the pitch again before settling of Rafa Benitez. Fergie left his big boys out of the game because he thought he could beat Everton with teenagers. This is the same Fergie who said Benitez humiliated Allardyce because he made a gesture in the game against Blackburn. What is more contemptuous: making a gesture or fielding a team of boys in a semi final against a premiership team?

Sam Allardyce was further humiliated by Stoke on Saturday but the man won’t complain because Sir Alex hasn’t targeted Tony Pulis yet so he will keep his trap shut about Pulis but Benitez is fair game. This is a pattern that Sam Allardyce follows; foreign managers are the scum so he can talk about them but never the English ones. Remember his incessant attacks on Wenger in the past.

Even the tool at Hull, Phil Brown who hasn’t managed a win in months and learnt all he doesn’t know about football from Allardyce is the same. Spit gate and no handshake gate were things he thought up to divert attention from his abject performance as a manager.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE : SEMI FINAL LINE UP

Records are meant to be broken is one of those clichés that we hear every other time and wonder, what the hell?

Porto have never lost to English opposition is one of those records that never made any sense but was the theme before the quarter final match up between Porto and Man Utd yesterday. Cristiano Ronaldo erased the record in the 6th minute and Porto didn’t bother to see if they could beat or even score against a Man Utd team short on confidence and susceptible to mistakes at the back.

Rio Ferdinand being back was a good thing but Porto was just disappointing. It seems they depended more on a record than actually playing to win or even draw a game that could have eased them into the semis against Arsenal.

Now Man Utd will have to lock horns with the old enemy, Arsenal for a chance to defend their title. Now another useless record says that no team has ever won back to back Champions league titles. Let’s see if Man Utd will smash that one this year.

Arsenal already had an advantage with the away goal scored in Spain but Arsenal has never been a team that could play for a draw, well except in the 2005 FA cup, so they went all out and swarmed the Villarreal team and were rewarded with a beautiful opener from Theo Walcott after a cheeky back pass from Cesc Fabregas opened up the Villarreal’s defence. After that first goal it was all Arsenal and two more goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie sealed the game.

The reward is a game against the champions of the world (??), Europe and England. There is no obvious advantage yet as these two teams know each other and their managers will set out the stall to win by disabling the potent threats of Rooney, Ronaldo, Walcott and Fabregas.

Both teams need healthy players to compete favourably against each other and Arsenal cannot afford to play Man Utd with just one regular from their back five, like they did yesterday. I will have a prediction later.

The game of the round was the battle at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool was down 1-3 to Chelsea from the first game and needed to win by 3 clear goals. They started well when Chelsea spotted them 2 goals in the first half.

But as it is always the case, the fool who did the most pre-match boasting was the one to let his team down. Pepe Reina’s near post idiocy let Didier Drogba’s poke into the goal and the fight back was on. Frank Lampard who hasn’t seen a deflected speculative shot he won’t take then brought them back to 2 all and Chelsea soon led 3-2 but Petr Cech was doing his best impression of a bad goalkeeper and let in 2 more Liverpool goals for a 3-4 deficit.

At this time, Liverpool need to score one more goal to go through a but team that had nailed its successes to the backside of Steven Gerrard and the Istanbul miracle just couldn’t muster one more goal. Lampard scored again and Chelsea has the unenviable task of stopping Barcelona in the semi finals.

Can Chelsea stop Barcelona and set up another all England champions league final. Normally they should but the team has now shifted 7 goals in two games. Petr Cech can’t catch a cold and their first choice left back, Cheryl Cole’s husband is not available to try and keep up with Lionel Messi in the first game.

Barcelona may be vulnerable if attacked but how do you stop Thierry Henry, Xavi, Etoo, Messi and Iniesta?

Guus Hiddink will earn a big bonus if he beats Barcelona.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HEATS UP...

One half of the semi final draw for the Champions league was decided yesterday. Barcelona will play Chelsea for the chance to play Man Utd, Arsenal, Villarreal or Porto in the finals in the Stadio Olympico in Rome.

Liverpool was taught a lesson in football yesterday. Chelsea manhandled them and got a result that no one in the Liverpool colours expected. Losing 1-3 to Chelsea must be a big shock to the system and probably prevent Rafa continuing his rant against Fergie. He should find a way to get his team ready to score at least 3 goals and not concede at Stamford Bridge.

Can Liverpool qualify? Are you insane? Of course they can’t. Liverpool overturning this score line and reaching the semi finals will be on par with West Brom staying in the premiership; Tim Henman winning
Wimbledon or Eminem becoming a U.S. senator. It ain’t happening no matter what noise you might hear out of Liverpool.

So Liverpool is really a one man team; Hiddink put Michael Essien on Steven Gerard and Liverpool could barely get out of first gear. Hmmmm.

What Barcelona did to Bayern Munich is a crime in most countries; it was a mugging hiding behind an assault. It was so painful, UEFA had to warn the Barcelona team to reduce the strangle hold they had on Bayern Munich.

The attacking force that Barcelona can call on is obscene; Samuel Etoo, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry were in such imperious form yesterday, Bayern had no answer for the onslaught.

The Tuesday games were exciting but nothing decided there yet. Villarreal outplayed Arsenal in the first half but could only score once, although the Marcus Senna’s goal was a beauty. Villarreal kept the ball and passed the ball very well but couldn’t open up Arsenals defence even after they lost William Gallas and Manuel Almunia.

In the second half, Arsenal realised they were involved in a game and imposed there will more on the game. Cesc Fabregas playing in front of his country men was putting himself about and got booked but his passing continued to improve until the assist for the goal on 66 minutes.

Cesc found Adebayor in some space and lifted the ball on to the Togolese striker’s chest who while leaning backwards was able to control with his chest and volley it past the Villarreal’s goalkeepers reach.

Arsenal fans wonder how he could score a goal of such technical magnificence but hit the goalkeeper when one on one.

This game might be advantage Arsenal but I don’t believe that Arsene Wenger believes it is over yet. Villarreal is a good team with good players who can beat Arsenal at the Emirates if given the freedom of the first half they enjoyed on Tuesday.

Manchester United was tired and lucky to draw against a spirited Porto team that were beaten 4-0 the last time they were in England. The blame could be shared with the makeshift defence that forgot the positional knowledge it takes to defend or the manager’s decision to take Sky TV’s and play against Aston Villa on Sunday instead of a 3pm kick off on Saturday.

Man Utd need to play better than they have over the last 6 weeks to make the semi finals. If Porto can produce another performance like they did on Tuesday then they will be in the semis. They have never lost to English opposition at home, so Fergie knows he has a big job to defend a competition no other team has ever done.

After the break

The tedious international break is over; besides Argentina losing 6-1 to Bolivia nothing happened that we couldn’t all predict before the break started.

Wayne Rooney was going to lose his rag, whether England were winning or not. That lunge in the Ukraine game should have got him a 6-match ban but the English press act as if it didn’t happen.

After another uninspiring victory against an abjectly poor team, England is favourites to win the world cup next year. Of course, a team thoroughly beaten by Spain some weeks ago; with no creative players and lack of width, a suspect defence and goalkeeper can’t be a lock for the world cup unless you ask the English press.

France struggled to beat Lithuania and stay second in their group. They might still overtake Serbia who is leading their group seven. This is definitely more than you can say of Portugal who lay third in their group behind Denmark and Hungary. Cristiano Ronaldo will be having a good rest at the end of next season when every other superstar is basking in the African sun.

Somehow Northern Ireland is leading group three with 13 points and could be making it to the big dance. Nelson Mandela meets David Healy.

And while all this was happening Alan Shearer snuck into the manager’s seat in Newcastle for just 8 games. He has insisted that whatever happens at the en of the season, he will end his swift foray into management on the last day of the season. So if he saves Newcastle from the drop, he becomes a hero. If they go down as I feel they should he was in a bad situation to begin with. Smart arse!! And he swans back to the BBC to tell other managers how to do their jobs.

So Chelsea will beat them easily tomorrow to show him that the silly bulldog English spirit channelled through Kevin Keegan is not a substitute for skill or technique.

Other teams
Arsenal – Cesc Fabregas is off to Madrid, Barcelona and Man Utd next season. He might start tomorrow against Man City. Theo Walcott is back, good news for Arsenal fans but it is counter balanced by the bad news of the return of Emmanuel “ I am better than Henry” Adebayor. Andrei Arshavin and Cesc on the same pitch. Good.

Man Utd – Berbatov injured, Rooney, Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic suspended. Against many other teams Man U will struggle, but it is just Aston Villa, so back to winning ways for Fergie’s boys.

Aston Villa – Gabby Agbonlahor can’t score, Emile Heskey won’t score. Villa visiting Old Trafford. Martin O’Neill doesn’t have the guts to beat Fergie. O’Neill made a mistake bringing in Heskey and won’t admit that Agbonlahor has suffered the most for it. Ashley Young and James Milner are improved products but suffering from fatigue after the way they pursued and harried teams earlier in the season. Martin has to know that the season is a marathon and not a sprint.

Blackburn faces Tottenham tomorrow. Two hypocritically challenged managers face each other in this game. Harry Redknapp doesn’t want Ledley “one game a week” King to play in qualifiers while he chases a European position but believes he should be in the squad to SA because Ledley is world class. What tosh? How does any one believe anything this man says any more is a mystery of Loch Ness proportions?

Liverpool should go top of the league this Saturday but Rafa Benitez ha signed a new 5 year contract, quickly followed by Steven Gerrard who signed a new two year contract extension. They just might choke and not beat Fulham. I still believe that Man Utd will respond and still pip Liverpool but stranger things have happened. So we should just wait and see what does happen.

Have a great weekend and my your team win.

RACE TO THE TITLE PART 2

LIVERPOOL did what was expected but no one expected them to beat Aston Villa by 5 goals. If this was meant as a declaration of intent, then it was the best I’ve ever seen. Most teams would have withered under the pressure like Chelsea but Liverpool did not and tore Aston Villa a new one.

Liverpool came out of the dressing room ready for a battle and started so brightly that it was obvious that Martin O’Neill had no idea how to countermand the onslaught he was witnessing. Attack upon attack resulted in Aton Villa playing the lousiest game of their vaunted season.

By half time, Aston Villa had been beaten into submission; it was actually unfair for them to continue the second half. If this was boxing match, the referee would have stopped this punishment at half time. But Aston Villa needed to understand that joining the big four was not a job for the weak hearted or the skills deficient manager. If he couldn’t stop the attacks of Liverpool, admittedly not the best attacking team in the league, how was he expected to match up against the really attacking teams like Arsenal or Manchester United.

Something I just learnt about Martin O’Neill and a warning to the Man Utd fans who believe that O’Neill should take over from Fergie when he gives up the ghost at Old Trafford – Aston Villa have never won a game in March since O’Neill became manager. In the three years he has been manager at Villa Park; he takes a spring break and doesn’t bother coaching to win. Imagine that???


Arsenal have continued their unbeaten run and dumped Newcastle into the bottom three on Saturday afternoon. Andrei Arshavin has informed us what Arsene Wenger told them to expect. Newcastle will come out blowing very hot and run round the pitch a lot. They will then tire and then Arsenal should beat them easily. It happened just like Wenger said; and this suicide approach of Newcastle is embodied fully in the silliness of Steven Taylor. His energy is evident but his stupid consistent fouling led to Arsenal’s first goal and his self induced injury compounded the issue when he was off the field for the second goal.


Blackburn lost again and once again Sam Allardyce is blaming some one else. Phil Brown served under Sam Allardyce for six years at Bolton; they must have spent many nights perfecting the art of delusional responsibilities shifting from themselves to the referee or to the opposing side.

Which way Manchester United? They have Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Emmanuel Vidic suspended for their next game against the hapless Aston Villa. Dimitar Berbatov is injured and might not be available. Carlos Tevez might be the biggest waste of strikers space this side of Nicholas Bendtner. Ronaldo doesn’t like the physical touch of opposing players and is complaining too much. So Fergie has to earn this title with all the guile and determination that has kept him at the top of his game over the last 16 years.

I stick by Manchester United winning the league but only on the last game.

Race to the title Part 1

I have already stated that Manchester United will win the league so I won’t be pulling back from that yet. But it does look like we are in for a resurgent premiership run-in. man Utd will have to battle to win it this year and we pray that Liverpool doesn’t give up the chase today against Aston Villa.


For the first time in 4 years Manchester United has lost consecutive games, letting Liverpool back into the race for one of their quintuplet. What happens next is up to Fergie and his men. My friend OO has been predicting a blip like this for weeks because ManU have been playing below their normal level for a very long time and it just caught up with them. Losing 2-0 to Fulham is not necessarily a bad thing but the manner in which they lost their discipline is alarming. The red card for Paul Scholes was inevitable after his attempt at playing volley ball but the petulance of Cristiano Ronaldo and then Wayne Rooney were unnecessary and ultimately led to this result.

Man Utd’s next game is against 4th place chasing Aston Villa in two weeks time and if they continue to play further below their normal standards then they will be handing the title to Liverpool. Fergie needs to recognise that the squeaky bum time he so neatly taunted Arsene Wenger with some years ago might be affecting him now and he needs to man up and find a way to win games and keep his teams discipline intact.


Before yesterday’s game, Chelsea had lost to Tottenham once in the 17 years of the premiership; they kicked off knowing Man Utd were already trailing to Fulham and just needed to win to keep up the pressure but still conspired to hand Tottenham a victory that rules Chelsea out of the title race.

How Chelsea football club is not able to recognise that this is the teams last chance of winning anything anytime soon is a mystery. They are an aging side and the only young ones – Solomon Kalou & Florent Malouda – are such poor players that they can barely be sold in exchange for James Beattie. Roman Abramovich has lost a bundle in this recession and has instructed Chelsea that they must balance their books from next season effectively ruling out a new assault on the premiership with roubles. My friend JJ must be crying in his sleep on hearing this news.

Hull has just lost again; Wigan beat them 1-0. Phil Brown, the Hull city manager blames the defeat on Arsene Wenger for not shaking his hand and Cesc Fabregas for spitting. We are looking forward to the day when Phil Brown will grow a pair and admit that his team is playing poorly because of his management skills.


Can Liverpool cut the deficit to just one point? Can Rafa continue his good judgement?

Part 2 to follow.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW - PROPER

The actual draw is below and you can see that I got two of the matches right.

Villarreal vs. Arsenal
Manchester United vs. Porto
Liverpool vs. Chelsea
Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich

Man Utd gets a walkover.

And Chelsea plays Liverpool for the umpteenth time in this competition.

Arsenal will be meeting up with Pascal Cygan and Robert Pires in their own opponents. And who knows

The game between Barcelona and Bayern Munich should be worth the admission.

The winners of the Villarreal-Arsenal game will play the winners of the Porto-ManUtd in the semis.

Liverpool or Chelsea will play either Bayern Munich or Barcelona in the semis.

Good luck to all these teams.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW - DRAFT

This morning in Switzerland the draw for the Champions league quarter and semi finals will be made. Every team wants to play Arsenal, Villarreal and Porto, the supposed weaker teams left in the draw.
The teams left in the competition are:
1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Barcelona
6. Villarreal
7. Bayern Munich
8. Porto

Based on the previous history of the draw and how it normally works out for some of the teams like Man Utd, this is how I believe the draw will pan out.

1. Manchester Utd vs. Villarreal or Porto
2. Chelsea vs. Liverpool
3. Arsenal vs. Barcelona or Bayern Munich

Watch this space for what actually happens from 11 am.

SHEFFIELD'S UNITED STUPID SUITS

I don’t know exactly what West Ham did wrong when they signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in the summer 2006 but I know that football has gone mad over the purchase ever since.

Somehow Carlos Tevez contract and not Javier Mascherano’s became an issue; but I can assume that Liverpool in buying Mascherano in the January window must have regularised something that West Ham had omitted to do.

So the FA get involved and somehow fined West Ham and then the courts got involved and Sheffield United, who were relegated that season, found a stupid judge who believed the argument that because West Ham had Tevez and had acquired him illegally that they are liable to pay them a large sum of money.

My problem is simple; did Tevez’s presence in West Ham prevent Sheffield United from winning more than half of their games. Did Tevez score in the games West ham played against Sheffield United? Did it matter if he did?

So after West Ham and Sheffield United agreed on an out of court settlement; there seems to be an open season on suing West Ham. Neil Warnock, the manager that took Sheffield United down wants to sue West Ham for not being a premiership manager. Can someone explain to him that he is not a premiership manager because he did not win the games he had to? Don’t blame West Ham or Tevez; look in a mirror to see who to blame.

Even the Sheffield United players are looking to sue West Ham for being deprived of a premiership status. A premiership status they worked very little to protect when they were in the league. Do these players have no shame?

If three teams were relegated that year, how come it is only Sheffield Utd that is suing? Why stop at the teams that were relegated? Why can’t Man Utd sue for not achieving a higher points total because Tevez scored against them in the final league game of the season? Arsenal can also sue for ending 4th in the league; they would have won the league if Carlos Tevez was not bought by West Ham.

The possibilities of suits are endless, the fans, the hooligans; any one can sue West Ham today and the feckless idiots in the FA and court will entertain the nonsense.

A young black man looking into the window of a jewellery shop must be casing the joint. Aiming to come back later that night with his posse of thugs to break in and cart away stuff. This is England in 2009. Barely 2 months after the United States inaugurated a black man as president; the racist police of Cheshire are still profiling all black men as crooks.

Victor Anichebe, a young black man who also happens to play football for Everton, one of the bigger teams in England was arrested by the Cheshire police force because he was looking into the window of a jewellery shop. That was his crime, looking through the windows.

The racist police force says they were directed there by CCTV operators and because of increased criminal activity they decided that they had to ask them what they were doing looking through a jewellery shop. Of course, the idiotic redneck policemen didn’t know that the man they were talking to didn’t have to case the joint but could easily buy the joint with his pocket money.

But when is the black man going to be free; if Victor Anichebe, a premiership footballer can’t look through the windows of a jewellery shop without being hassled, imagine the treatment waiting for the inner city kid who might be caught walking down these same streets.

Wake up, white man; the black man is now the most powerful man in the world and you are still locking them up for no reason at all. Wake up.

Victor Anichebe should sue and make this case a cause celebre; don’t listen to the old white men who only care for him because of his football skills. They would tell him to put it behind him and move on; but how does he move on where he is seen as a potential crook just because of the colour of his skin. This is the problem we continue to have with our black celebrities; they falsely believe that because the white man accepts him because of his skills, that it is ok for other black people to be third class citizens.

Sue for large sums and let’s see how the racist redneck pigs grovel. Don’t accept any belated apology.

Quartet for Quarters????

Last night Rafa Benitez showed that he can still be an inspirational manager and stand toe to toe with any manager in Europe. His Liverpool side dispatched Real Madrid with such ease that besides Iker Casillas could have beaten Real Madrid by 13.
Rafa can still be petulant and will do or say something foolish before the weekend ends but on a given day he is as good as any one else.

Liverpool, were lucky the referee was blind and didn’t see the foul on Pepe for the first goal or that Gabriel Heinze didn’t actually handle the ball for the penalty and second goal; but besides the two goals from those incidents, Liverpool were always going to beat these clueless former galaticos.

Now they get ready to meet up with ManUtd at Old Trafford on Saturday for arguably the game of the season and Liverpool will have to find a way of repeating yesterday’s performance to leave with any points.

Chelsea, the team that will benefit the most from a stalemate between Liverpool & ManUtd, are also in the draw for the quarter finals of the champions league. A rough and tumble game between Chelsea and Juventus ended all square; and Chelsea progressing on a 3-2 aggregate. This was another game that could easily have been marred by referees incompetence but the hard working boys from west London refused to lay down and got the goals needed. Guus Hiddink is a good coach and is doing something right but they will lose sometime but I hope it is not this weekend.

ManUtd’s is on a quest for a clean sweep of all competitions and I can clearly state that this is not going to happen. Not counting the nonsense world club cup that they couldn’t have lost; the carling cup and premiership are already wrapped up but it then gets hazy. First, no team has ever done back to back champions league, Secondly, what about the Inter team they play tonight, then Barcelona and Bayern Munich and Liverpool or Chelsea to come. They might beat Inter but Jose Mourinho is just that kind of coach who will inspire his team into a score draw to win this tie.

Then the FA cup where they still have Everton and Chelsea to deal with.It will still be tough

Arsenal, the fourth member of this English quartet, is the team with the hardest job of getting by their opponents. A 1-0 lead is good but they could and should have scored more. Will Theo Walcott and Eduardo start; if they don’t, Arsenal will be out by 930pm tonight.

Arsene Wenger needs a strong spine in this team and Eboue, Song and Kolo are not it at all.

PEP & BARCELONA TIRED?

Just 2 weeks ago, Barcelona was 12 points ahead of the chasing pack and looking invincible. They were tipped to win La Liga, Copa Del Rey and champion’s league. They faltered against two teams and gave them a 1-0 lead and still came back to beat both teams with late goals. Coach Pep Guardiola (picture) should have seen the writing on the wall but he is an inexperienced coach and didn't see the symptoms of his team badly timed blip.

But in the last week they have seen their insurmountable lead of 12 cut down to just 4. It started with a draw and then losing to Espanyol and Athletico Madrid in successive weeks. Is Barcelona tired? Because Real Madrid has won 10 games in a row and are looking hungry and are playing ugly enough to knock Barcelona off their perch if given the opportunity.

Juande Ramos seems such a guru now leading Real Madrid and his motley crew to within 4 points of Barcelona and I cant wait for the next El Classico.

IS ARSENE WENGER LOONY?

Can some one with some sense please explain to Arsene Wenger, the embattled manager of Arsenal football club that the aim of a football game is to score more goals than your opponent and earn a victory or a win?

The half blind manager just said somewhere that his Arsenal team dominates opposing teams more than Manchester United. I wish to believe that this statement was taken out of context and somewhere in that interview he made a point to say that Man Utd however, has learnt how to win games more than Arsenal; and his own team needs to learn how to do the same like they did back in the day.

Actually, I am not even sure that Arsenal dominates more games than the mancunians because the league position of both teams cannot bear that assertion out. Arsenal is 16 points behind Man Utd and the gap isn’t closing any time soon. Man Utd have scored more goals and conceded less, so from which orifice did Wenger pull this one from.

And more importantly, when exactly did domination become a point of reward in a game like goals or victory. Arsene, the best you could do this season is finish fifth and see if you can win an European (UEFA) cup next year. Everton is waiting to pounce on your present position so be careful.

WEEKEND GONE

Congratulations to Manchester United for winning the Carling Cup yesterday. The first of multiple cups they will win this season. But where did they get this quintuplet nonsense? Is the Mickey Mouse cup they won playing two games against some asian side and another south American part of this historic five competitions they can win?

Is Harry Redknapp mad? He rests his best players in midweek and is removed from the UEFA cup; his intention was to bring back the big guns for the Carling cup final. He forgot to tell his big boys that was their program and ended up losing the finals in a penalty shoot out. Don't they practise penalties. Tottenham had many chances to beat Manchester United but were just useless in the final third and besides Aaron Lennon has no clue up front. Tottenham have outspent many third world countries and still are struggling to stave off relegation.


Liverpool can beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeau but not Middlesbrough at the riverside, what is wrong with Rafa Benitez? What are his priorities? Who else believes Liverpool will finish second. A tenty year wait to win the league is long. Ask ManU and Chelsea fans how long the wait weighs on you.


Arsene Wenger needs a new challenge; I didn’t say he should be sacked but 4 consecutive goalless draws is a little bit much. This is a team that went through a season scoring in every game. A team that produced 5 players who scored more than 10 goals each four years ago now can't score against the like of West Ham and Sunderland; why were they disbanded with such haste? ARSENE KNOWS NOTHING NOW.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS BACK

Jose Mourinho has started getting his excuses in early; it’s the referee that caused them victory in their champions’ league game with Manchester United yesterday. Inter Milan were so ordinary in the first 45 minutes I actually thought they were playing at Old Trafford. Fergie’s men were so dominant, they could easily have been 3 -0 up by half time; it was just a pity that Ryan Giggs didn’t have his scoring boots on.

The ex-special one had earlier boasted that he was not going to change for Manchester United but did just that at the beginning of the 2nd half to curtail the dominance of Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher in the midfield. He eventually played with 3 strikers but all that supposed fire power remained toothless and barely bothered Edwin van Der Saar.

But more importantly, is the fact that once again, Mourinho has accused another referee of impropriety. How exactly the referee made the Inter team play as poorly as they did in the first half is still a mystery. He tried this same ploy when he coached at Chelsea, accusing the Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard of joining the referee in their room during the half time of a champion’s league game. The UEFA honchos and more especially Michel Platini will ignore this gamesmanship obviously because it wasn’t an English team coach who made the accusations.

Arsenal played yesterday too and I was getting ready TO watch this game when I heard Arsenals line up included a midfield trio of Emmanuel Eboue, Abou Diaby and Denilson. I switched over to Man U – Inter instead. And true to type Arsenal were as wasteful as they’ve been all season. Nicholas “I should play more” Bendtner unleashed a glorious miss from 8 yards out and Emmanuel Eboue had the goal at his mercy but still found the side netting when it could have been easier to tap in. At least they scored this time and prevented a fourth consecutive 0-0 draw.

Will Arsenal rue all the chances they missed when they needed to build up a big lead with the return game at the Stadio Olympico looming with Roma’s talisman expected back? Have they missed the chance to guarantee passage to the quarter finals?

NEW SEASON STARTS HERE AND NOW

Now that the race for the premiership has been finalised by the cowardly display of Liverpool against Manchester City, we at Football Is Simple have decided to ignore the 2008.09 season as the outcome is already certain but turn our minds to what the other teams need to do to prevent Manchester United winning the premiership four times in a row.

I can confidently say now that Manchester United will win the league next year. This assessment is based on what the other teams in the chasing pack are doing today; will normally do or can’t help but do repeating the same old things that keep them from being winners.

Now Alex Ferguson is not a magician; he is a red nosed man who just knows how to win. Unlike what the Man United fans will tell you, he has owned the premiership for 17 years . He has been able to marry the old players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville (to a lesser extent) with the new kids on the block. Something no other manager has been able to do, no matter what the Wenger and Arsenal fans tell you. They are a well oiled machine of a team with a winning mentality. The manager knows when or who to add to complement the players he already has and keeps on winning. This year they might repeat as Champions league winners no matter what the former special one thinks.

Next year, Liverpool will make another stupendous attempt at challenging for the league but will falter again. For them to win the league, they will need to either sack Rafa Benitez or give him overall control of everything in Liverpool football club. Sacking him will be a better option because keeping and handing him overall control of buying players like Robbie keane and Jermaine Pennant will not improve this team. Rafa needs to improve his squad around Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres; he needs better quality players with special need for a creative midfielder who can add some flair and guile to a basic footballing side. Every game played without Gerard shows how much this team depends on him and Rafa’s belligerent attitude with the purchase of players has given Liverpool a very predictable style of play which will not win him or Liverpool any points for positive play.

The ultra conservative play of two holding midfielders is a reflection of Rafa’s philosophy – we better not lose as against going out to beat anyone. Yesterday, he has decided to pin his mast to beating Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Man Utd away from home because he couldn’t beat Man city at home. The man has the cheek but I don’t see how beating united at home helps you when you have drawn games at home to Stoke, Boro and Man City amongst others. Beating Man Utd is not a deal breaker anymore; it is beating the lesser lights that matter. I expect the lovers George Gillett and Tom Hicks to sack Benitez and a summer sales of every one except Carragher, Gerard and Torres.

As for Chelsea, whatever happens they will be without a manager at the end of the season. So before they start replacing the old and aging team in place they will need to find a manager. Roman Abramovich has proven he doesn’t know his football that well because he has made muddling mistakes in the past including the purchase of Adrian Mutu, Andrei Shevchenko, sacking Jose Mourinho, appointing and then sacking Avram Grant and the sacking of Felipe Scolari. So where will Roman turn to next. Is he going for an Italian? Someone else who will need an interpreter just to get to the car park; how will he explain what he wants done on the pitch? Is he going back to Mourinho; a good move but will need ponying up some serious dosh because Jose doesn’t do rebuilding scenarios; he likes his money already in place to pick the best players greedy enough to want to play for two contesting egomaniacs. Of course this will not happen because he was not sacked for any footballing reason but because the owner and manager clashed on who was the real “special one”. Or will he go dutch and try Frank Rijkaard, another good move but will need time to blend a team that he will try and build. Is Chelsea ready to wait for that to happen?

They will also need a full overhaul of players to make a team; today Chelsea has a strong set of players who can fit into most teams but have proved not to make a team yet. Michael Ballack, Deco, Didier Drogba are taking massive salaries and producing nothing; they will be older and not any better next year so should be shown the door. The other striker is a bully who scores easily against the lesser lights but can go scoreless for months. A creative midfielder and wingers are a must. Without them, the logjam created by Lampard and Ballack in the midfield will continue.

Defensively, they are good but they need a second unit of defenders and not the mishmash of Essien or any other midfielder playing out of position or the atrocity that is Ivanovic.


Besides playing in the UEFA cup next year, Arsenal has the most to do to regain any relevance in the premiership race. This season has shown the professor that youth is good but is not a substitute for experience. Arsenal also has a lot of players who are either past it or have not even got there yet. It will be easier to name the players who have potential and can stay. Besides Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Andrei Arshavin, Robin Van Persie and William Gallas; the others can be given away. No team will win anything with a midfield of Denilson and Alex Song or Abou Diaby or Emmanuel Eboue. A strike force of Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicholas Bendtner is poor no matter the team they are against. Nicholas Bendtner believes he should play more or he will leave. I know Arsenal fans who will find the taxi fare.

Arsene Wenger’s belief in kids can only be justified when he wins something, but the rate they are moving they will not be doing so soon. Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Edu, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto and Mathieu Flamini are still playing top level football in other teams so you wonder why Wenger disposed of their services. Wenger then makes the most ridiculous transfer moves by chasing another offensive midfielder when he actually needed a defensive midfielder. Manuel Almunia is not a goalkeeper who inspires confidence in his team mates, fans or any one else who has any feelings for this once great team.

So Arsenal needs a new goalkeeper, at least one centre back who is at least above 6’ 2. They need a battling midfielder in Gilberto’s mode. They also need two strikers who can score that are not called Bendtner or Adebayor. They just concluded the 4th 0-0 draw in 7 games. They also need a healthy season that doesn’t rob them of their best players – Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas.

Arsenal also needs a radical rethink of their transfer policies and playing tactics. He doesn’t have Pires or Freddie or Bergkamp any more. He should understand that and teach his boys how to be more direct and stop this nonsense of trying to pass/bore the opponents to death. Depriving the opponents the ball is not a score line yet; make something of the final ball and the old Arsenal might be back.

If the board say they have the money to spend, why doesn’t Wenger want to spend it? The Arsenal youth team were taught a good lesson by Burnley in the Carling cup so it is obvious they are not good enough yet or ever will be.

Why can’t Arsene Wenger be sacked?

MANCHESTER UNITED ARE CHAMPIONS

CONGRATULATIONS TO MANCHESTER UNITED. ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2008/2009 SEASON


All betting shops should start paying out on Manchester United winning the league. No one is catching them. Arsene Wenger, the eternal optimist, has already dubbed them the ‘untouchables’, conceding the title for the season. Of course, Liverpool will make some noise of being in the race but which sane person believes they can sustain a serious title challenge now.

Man Utd have now gone 14 games without conceding a goal so the target for the other 19 teams in the league is now scoring against ManU and not actually beating them. Every player is now playing well; even the old ones Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are winding back the years and producing champagne soccer. The goal scored yesterday by Scholes was of a vintage equal to the best of the ginger nut. He used to score or attempts to score from this position when Beckham was in his prime and yesterday it clicked and what a goal.

Liverpool can only look on and escort Man Utd to the title and take solace as described by Jamie Carragher, that they have overtaken Arsenal and Chelsea in the final league positions. Whether Liverpool fans will be satisfied with second position is another story. The bragging rights of top dog with 18 championships is out though so they have to look for something else - 5 European cups looks nice place to start.


PS
Paddy Power, the irish bookie is paying out on Manchester United winning the league, Carling league cup and FA cup. - Now this is a man who has steel cojones.

WELCOME BACK

Eduardo Da Silva is back, after a one year hiatus to recover from his double leg break the Arsenal striker returned to competitive football with two goals against Cardiff City in the FA cup 4th round replay yesterday. Arsenal won 4-0 and face Burnley in the 5th round.

We welcome Eduardo back and pray that he stays injury free, strong and invigorates the Arsenal strike force. Arsenal needs more than Eduardo to get their season back on track but it is a good start.

WHY?

WHY would a journalist ask a player what he thought of the new coach newly employed by his team? The unimaginative journos who have seen any Chelsea player in the last 3 days has asked that question and they all a prepared script which involves saying it is a great choice. The same thing they said when Felipe Scolari replaced Avram Grant and exactly what they will say when Guus Hiddink is replaced by some other money grabbing manager in 5 months.
NEXT player approached should say that he won't play for Hiddink, and proceed on strike till Roman Abramovich takes over coaching too.


WHY will England expect to beat Spain in a football game? Spain has Fernando Torres, while England has Carlton Cole. For Xavi and Iniesta England have Steward Downing and Gareth Barry. The match up is unfair; Spain holds on to the ball and passes it around with exceptional skill. England hoofs it up to bean pole Peter Crouch and expect a knock down to an on rushing player. What kind of tactics is that?
NEXT game England should choose Wales, against them they stand a chance, but not any of the big teams. And they should stop listening to the oddmakers at Coral who make then 8-1 second favorites to win the world cup. It will not happen in my lifetime.

WHY does Brazil seem so good playing football? How can one country produce such good players with an understanding of how the game of football is played? Against the world champions, Italy they were imperious and I was clapping throughout the game. Every player is comfortable with the ball and is never in a hurry, the overlapping full backs are attacking players in disguise and even their goalkeeper is good. Italy are not a bad side but were easily outclassed by Brazil.
THEIR NEXT game should be against the Harlem Globetrotters


WHY does France continue to look for a replacement for Zinedine Zidane? Since 2006 when he retired Zizzou has been missed at every French game. The team lacks cohesion and collective responsibility and the mix of old and new players has been a bad experiment. Zidane was the greatest player ever but the French need a new identity and losing 2-0 to Argentina only deepens the desperation they are in.
NEXT game should be against England; an easy win can help their confidence.

CHELSEA APPOINT NEW MANAGER

One of the reasons Chelsea were losing with Felipe Scolari was because it was believed that he was not used to the premiership league and coming from the international management which is basically a part time job; he was not up to it.

So Chelsea sack Scolari and replace him with Guus Hiddink who will be doing the job on a part time basis. If there is a more boneheaded response to a crisis, I haven’t seen it yet. A part time manager, with a full time job of managing Russia who has never coached in the premiership cannot be the best person to improve the formerly rouble laden team.

Long may the circus continue down the Kings road.

CHELSEA - THE SIDESHOW AND DISTRACTIONS...

The team that wants to be dominant in England and Europe is off to a good start. The most dominant team domestically and in Europe is Real Madrid. They have no patience for managers who win the liga without champions league or vice versa, ask Vincent Del Bosque and Jupp Heynckes. They disposed of Fabio Capello for winning the liga playing defensively. And copying that nonsensical mode of ownership is CHELSEA.


This is the same Chelsea who disposed of their most successful manager ever, Jose Mourinho after winning 6 trophies in 3 years including back to back premiership titles. Many reasons for this action include poor results and the utterances of Mourinho who besides being a brilliant coach couldn’t keep his gob shut. He had a remark for everything football or not. After getting shot of Mourinho, they decided that Avram Grant was the man to take Abramovich’s toy to greater heights. That Grant was as dull as dishwater and couldn’t generate excitement at a stag do with 48 page 3 girls was lost on the Russian tycoon. So after taking Chelsea to second in the league and within an inch of the champions league title, Avram Grant was shown the door and things then got exciting.


And then the galatico collection, Andrei Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Deco were purchases Chelsea didn’t need but were made to prove a point that they were big. John Mikel Obi, the petulant runt was torn away from Man Utd also to prove a point. Basing their transfer targets on other teams identifying players and then making a much larger bid was also a weird way for a team to buy players. And they let them go some months down the line. Arjen Robben came and left, Damien Duff cost £17m and moved on for £3m, Arsenal wanted Shaun Wright Philips and were quoted £6-7m, Chelsea bought him for £21m. The list includes Scott Parker, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, and Steve Sidwell. That high turnover of players could never have been good of the team but Chelsea just didn’t care. Oil prices were high and daddy Roman was flush


Peter Kenyon who couldn’t sign a naked lady in a strip bar (Fergie wanted Ronaldinho, this man got Kleberson) then embarked on a whirlwind search for a new manager. Being Chelsea with all that dosh, decided on a world cup winner who was in charge of Portugal at the time. With a total lack of tact reeking of arrogance and borderline psychosis, in the middle of Felipe Scolari’s Portugal encounter in the European championship they announced that he will be leaving to join the biggest team in the world. His capture by Chelsea was heralded as the coup of the decade and every news report from here to Burkina Faso concluded that he will be winning everything in sight. Only one person mentioned what every one at Chelsea should have seen; Chelsea was an aging side and couldn’t sustain a challenge for the premiership with the team. Fergie saw it said so. Of course, it was written off as sour grapes and forgotten by sport writers who should have done their job and investigated the claim seriously.


Their results starting this season were no less than spectacular; they started off winning 8 successive games on the road, although they found it hard to repeat the feat at home. They also never lost at home in 4 years but found a way to lose to both Liverpool and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Everything just crumbled at the bridge, Nicholas Anelka has been stuck on 14 goals since October; and most of those goals came against the lower lights of the league. Didier Drogba has been woeful and his only shot of the game against Man Utd ended up a throw-in. Michael Ballack has been all talk and seems to want to be somewhere else, Why Scolari bought Deco is still a mystery but after one good game in august has disappeared up his own arse and just helps crowd the Chelsea midfield when he is picked. After the display against Hull this last weekend they have disposed off Big Phil and the search for a new man starts.


The names mentioned to replace Scolari include all the usual suspects whenever a big job becomes available – Roberto Mancini, Carlo Ancelloti, Frank Rijkaard, Guus Hiddink – and those the sports writers only generate when they are too lazy to do their job – Avram Grant, Gianfranco Zola, Glenn Hoddle, Sarah Palin and Paris Hilton. Whoever takes over has a big squad that needs trimming; some overpaid players that need shifting out and more importantly some new players – wingers, skilful central midfielders


The theatre continues…

LAST WEEKENDS GAMES

BARCELONA 3 SPORTING GIJON 1
Barcelona is playing the best football on this planet. Their attacking players have the speed, skill, pace, guile and strength to beat anyone and are already 12 points ahead of their nearest rivals. They have already scored 102 goals in the league. Only a nuclear attack can stop them winning the la liga and are a good bet for the champions’ league.
Samuel Etoo scored 2 for Barcelona and Daniel Alves scored 1 too. Kike Mateo scored for Sporting Gijon


REAL MADRID 1 RACING SANTANDER 0
Real Madrid played well against this ultra defensive team and one goal was just enough to secure the points. Of course, they are 12 points behind Barcelona and have no chance of catching them. Surprisingly enough, they have improved under Juande Ramos and Tottenham might have missed a trick. Liverpool play Real Madrid in the champions league soon and it won’t be a walk over. Arjen Robben has been their best player all season and is missed somewhere in west London.


MANCHESTER CITY 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0
Craig Bellamy is earning his mercenary pay at Man city. Shay Given proved why he hass been a top goal keeper by producing save after save from Boro’s attack. But if Boro continue to shoot at him, and not away from him he was going to gobble up everything. Poor Boro, they probably deserved much more from this game.
Craig Bellamy scored the only goal of this game


WEST BROMWICH ALBION 2 NEWCASTLE 3
Joe Kinnear was hospitalised and was not at this game; is it a coincidence that Newcastle played with a total lack of inhibitions and deservedly won although they defended abysmally. Well, old habits never die. West Brom pegged them back twice but just couldn’t hold on.
Marc-Antoine Fortune scored twice for WBA, while Damien Duff, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor nicked it all for Newcastle.


PORTSMOUTH 2 LIVERPOOL 3
Why did Tony Adams stop drinking as he has become a morose, bumbling figure with no idea how football should be played. Managing from a sober point of view must be the wrong prescription. He was sacked this morning so Portsmouth managers do have some sense.
Liverpool was lucky and clearly misses Gerard but against Portsmouth they weren’t made to pay. They will be dropping more points in the weeks to come.
David ‘Redknapps reject’ Nugent and Hermann Hreidarsson scored for Portsmouth. Fabio Aurelio, Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres scored for Liverpool.


CHELSEA 0 HULL CITY 0 – BREAKING NEWS - SCOLARI SACKED.
Chelsea started the day still in the premiership race but ended it with the battle for fourth place a more logical race. After John Terry missed from 6 inches (no mistake), the game was more than over for them and were lucky not to have lost this game after Hull realised they could actually beat the big London lumps. Chelsea has the best squad of players a manager could ask for. They have the England, German, and Ghanaian and Ivorian captain but still manage to play like pussies.
Chelsea obviously misses Arjen Robben and Damien Duff on the wings; funnelling everything through the middle crowds the middle where Lampard, Mikel Obi, Michael Ballack and Deco seem to be fighting over control of the ball.
Hull will stay up.


SUNDERLAND 2 STOKE 0
Ricky Sbragia is doing something good here and with Kenwyne Jones on fire will continue to climb out of the dog fight. When David Healy is capable of scoring the things must be looking good. Stoke held on for 77 minutes but eventually gifted Sunderland with an opening when Thomas Sorensen failed to keep out Jones tame shot.
Referee Rob Styles should be demoted to school sports for missing the penalty in the first half.
Kenwyne Jones and David Healy scored for Sunderland.


BLACKBURN 0 ASTON VILLA 2
Aston Villa is doing something right and will be playing in the champions league next year; Blackburn might be playing in the Championship. Martin O’neill’s young team is doing all they need to do by taking one game at a time and playing solidly throughout the team, from defence all the way to quick James Milner and Ashley Young.. Seven successive away wins is not luck. They also inflicted the first defeat on Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn career.
James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor scored for Aston Villa.


EVERTON 3 BOLTON 0
Jo spends months in Mark Hughes dog house and in his debut for Everton manages to score two goals. Is David Moyes a genius or mark Hughes a managerial prima donna. Everton have managed to stay competitive with no recognised strikers but a lot of guts from players like Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and their ugly captain, Phil Neville.
Jo scored twice and Mikel Arteta scored the other one. Too many penalties though

WIGAN 0 FULHAM 0
Eleven men chased the ball. After 90 minutes the game ended. Both managers smiled and shook each others hand. End of script.


TOTTENHAM 0 ARSENAL 0
In a game they both needed to win and didn’t , both managers decided to boast about their domination. Tottenham couldn’t beat 10 man Arsenal but had a better statistical game but Tottenham remain a poor team and Arsenal remain a frustrating one. Emmanuel Eboue has no idea why he gets booed, he is either a good actor or plain stupid, either way Wenger needs to let him go. No one seems to know why he continues to play for Arsenal. Robbie Keane had some good chances but will wake up this morning knowing why Rafa Benitez got rid of him.


WEST HAM 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 1
Man Utd have not conceded a goal in 13 games. West Ham didn’t look like they wanted to change that stat. Ryan Giggs has scored in all 17 premiership seasons. West Ham haven’t played in all premiership seasons