Chelsea - Liverpool
October 26, 2008
Liverpool finally managed to overcome the curse of Stamford Bridge that has plagued many teams that have visited there, in fact in all 86 occasions. Liverpool with a deflected Alonso shot were able to finally get one over Chelsea and go three points clear at the top of the Premier League. Now it is Chelsea that had the longest unbeaten home record with 86, having taken the record passed Liverpool’s 67, which was stopped eventually in the 68th game by… Chelsea.
As far as the match was concerned Liverpool probably got what they deserved, since Chelsea may have had more of the ball, but it is hard to think of any time that Pepe Reina had to make a save, other than a couple of routine saves every now and then, which you would expect any keeper at this level to save. The levels of confidence were also on display with both teams playing very quick one touch football but rarelyy resulting to a sight on goal. Deco was aruable Chelsea’s best player, with his vision and creativity being the one thing that his team could depend upon. His clear mind would keep the ball going roud the pitch looking for an opening, but Liverpool would’nt offer one and wen there was one, the ball would fall to Kalou, and he would scuff chance after chance. Liverpool played the same style of football that they hav been this year when Torres is missing, with just the lone striker and Gerrard feeding off anything that Keane could fight for, in a very similar way to their win against the champions.
The only question that remains is whether Liverpool will go through month of November unscathed, because it is the month that they tend to fall of the pace, and when they leave their critics thinking that their challenge is over, and their fans working out the games required to catch up and win the league.
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Tottenham Hotspur Sack Ramos And Bring In Redknapp
October 26, 2008
Harry Redknapp has become Tottenham Hotspur manager after Juande Ramos was sacked late last night after just a year in charge at the club.
Ramos and Tottenham have had a poor start to the season, with Spurs stuck bottom of the table, but no-one seems quite sure why they decided to sack the manager at around midnight last night before a massive 6-point battle with Bolton Wanderers the next day. Perhaps they were waiting before receiving confirmation from Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth that he will become their latest manager, or perhaps it was just more bad management by the Spurs team.
Redknapp has previously spent 7 years in charge of West Ham United, but this will probably not bother most Spurs fans - they should be very happy with their latest gaffer, and he should be very happy too, as he’s finally managed to get his hands on a big club. He’s probably done about as much as possible at Portsmouth, and now he will hopefully be given more money to spend at White Hart Lane to try and turn things around.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The Liverpool Impressions Man
October 20, 2008
Quality impressions of Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and Peter Crouch…
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Who’s the boss?
October 17, 2008
Yet again FIFA and UEFA have found themselves in a little bit of what someone may call a conflict. How much of this is actually true is unknown, but what is certain is that FIFA are continuing to place their noses in what you may think UEFA could manage to cope with on their own. I am talking about the match between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool this coming week and its move back to Madrid.
The match had originally been moved to a new venue over 200 miles away from Madrid because of crowd trouble in the match between Atletico and Marseille, and had a lot to do with the pressure from FIFA and their stand on racism although they do not want to claim the reward (not that the Spaniards or scousers were going to give them anything that Joseph S. Blatter could put up proudly on the mantelpiece at home).
This has prompted Platini to come up with another one of his classic speeches that just make you wish he had just stuck to playing football and retired without going into this role. Therefore we would not have to remember him as the one who proposed to make the goalposts wider and taller in order for us to see more goals being scored, and hence taking away the feeling of a goal, the exhilaration on behalf of the fans and the players. If we did not have such ‘classic’ proposals of his we would be able to remember him as a wizard with a ball rather than a ‘politician’ with a DUNCE cap on. This is probably why FIFA keep stepping in. They probably see what we see. A governing body unable to govern what they are supposed to. A governing body that is taking football away from the fans and to the sponsors. The only very evident example of this is the fact that since Platini has been in charge, the winners of the Champions League get the cup and lift it… with the sponsors and the V.I.P’s. Not in the middle of the stadium: where they won it and where their fans can actually see and admire them. Little Johnny that had gone to watch his favourite Manchester United team win the Champions League in Moscow last year could not see Rio Ferdinand lift the cup. Where as Mr. Michel Platini was in the pictures and in the midst of all of it, and he did not do anything.
Popularity: 1% [?]
England 3:1 Belarus - 5 Conclusions From The Match
October 16, 2008
England defeated Belarus 3:1 last night to record a record 4th win in the World Cup 2008 qualifiers, with Gerrard scoring one and Rooney getting two. Here are a few conclusions having watched the game on Wednesday evening…
1. Steven Gerrard can only score from 30 yards - Gerrard scored England’s first, a blinder from over 30 yards from goal, completely taking the Belarus’ keeper by surprise.
However later on in the game he rounded the goalie and just had to hit the empty net to claim his second goal of the night, but only managed to knock the ball onto the post. Luckily it was already 3-1 by then and the game had already been won.
2. After scoring the first goal we seem to drift off… - Again we scored the first goal of the game, but then we just seem to drift off and take our foot off the pedal, which will allow the other team to gain a bit of possession and momentum. Belarus did this, and they scored during this spell. After Fabio managed to give his team talk at half-time we managed to step-up again and gain control of the midfield, but we should never have been in that position in the first place.
3. Belarus aren’t a bad side, but they aren’t Arsenal - Someone (can’t remember who - probably Chris Waddle) recently warned England that Belarus played like Arsenal. This was true to some degree - they do like to get the ball down and pass it around, looking to score the perfect goal (which they did manage to do), but thats about all they could manage. They lacked the clinical finishing touch, which England had thanks to Wayne Rooney.
4. Chris Waddle likes to talk crap - The Setanta Sports co-commentator doesn’t have talk some b*llocks at times, with his latest claim being that Theo Walcott isn’t really good enough to be playing for England, and that Shaun Wright Phillips should have started instead. Granted, Walcott didn’t have a great game, but he still looks very bright when compared to someone like Beckham or SWP.
5. Rooney and Heskey work well together - I admit that I didn’t really fancy Rooney and Heskey to work too well together (I didn’t really see Rooney as much of a goal-scorer when compared to Owen/Defoe), but they really played well together last night. Although Rooney got 2 goals, and Heskey has a goal-game ratio for England of 1:10, Heskey managed to set up some of the goals and was a constant danger to Belarus who couldn’t handle him. It’s great to see Heskey playing well again, especially considering some of the negative press he has received in the past.
Popularity: 1% [?]
