Spurs 0 Arsenal 0; West Ham 0 Utd 1

An uninspiring day in the Premiership sees Manchester United return to the top after a Ryan Giggs second-half effort. West Ham played quite well but were never going to score although they have a good nucleus to push on under Mr Zola and become a decent team.

Arsenal’s trip to Spurs saw Adebayor pop a hamstring and Eboue become the 72nd red card in Wenger’s Arsenal tenure. The man is a first-class idiot, kicking out and then acting as if the referee’s a drunk for sending him off. The game petered out after the red card from an enjoyable contest into a bit of a nothing game, with Luka Modric guilty of a miss at the death that would have provided welcome relief for the Spurs fans.
Spurs remain in a precarious position, while Arsenal have ruled themselves out of the title chase for this season, they may focus on the Champions League now the elusive Holy Grail for Wenger after Barcelona beat them a few years back. Could even spell the end for Wenger and the core of his team. They will struggle to get fourth on their current form and with injuries and suspensions playing their part, it’s looking like a bleak finish to the Premiership season for the men in red.
United won’t be stopped this year, with home games against Fulham and Blackburn next, two or three trophies look extremely likely to wing their way back to the Old Trafford trophy cabinet. Remaining tricky games against Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool will all be at home and with the likes of Evra and Rooney still to come back, and the meanest defence in history, United could have this wrapped up sooner than we all thought a month ago, with Inter Milan to provide a sterner test than their average week domestically…..

Premiership: Full Steam Ahead

Ah the FA Cup, the romance, the giant-killing. Literally. Mr Kanu and Crouch (all 13-14 feet of them; hence the clever giantkilling reference – get it? Ah…..) were among the Portsmouth team who cantered to a defeat at home to Swansea. 2-0 and the holders are out while the likes of Aston Villa, West Brom and Arsenal will have to do it all again after being held to draws by ‘weaker opposition’.  Manchester United and Chelsea will have been thrilled to see their three rivals held, after Liverpool’s draw with Everton, and now attention turns to an important week in the Premiership….

Tuesday:

• Sunderland V Fulham
• West Brom V Man Utd – highlights of Man Utd V Spurs below -
• Tottenham V Stoke
• Portsmouth V Aston Villa (Sky Sports 2 – 8pm)

These fixtures will all be of significance for teams in varying degrees of form. League leaders Man Utd were comfortable winners over Spurs at the weekend despite falling behind early in the game.  Of greater importance to Alex Ferguson is the mounting injury list which claimed the impressive Fabio Da Silva and the less impressive Danny Wellbeck (already beginning to look like Utd’s answer to Nicholas Bendtner) at the weekend. With the likes of Ferdinand, Evans, Brown and Saha already out, Utd’s back line will again see Neville and Vidic paired at the back. This means that Darren Fletcher will drop to right back. While most people will look at this fixture and say Utd are bankers, West Brom like to play a bit of football. What they lack in talent they make up for in attitude and I fancy them to at least run United close tomorrow night. Tony Mowbray will see this as a crucial game with the relegation battle set to feature anything up to 14 teams at present. A win over Utd would likely take the Baggies, who’ve take nine points from their last 15, out of the relegation area and would set the team up for survival with buckets of confidence going into the weekend clash with freefalling Hull.

Johnny Evans (left) joins Wayne Rooney (centre) on the sidelines as Edwin Van Der Saar (right) looks on and Cristiano Ronaldo (far left) goes down under the car's challenge

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Sunderland (no wins in four) entertain Fulham (no wins in three). Another six pointer, with Fulham only five points above the relegation area despite their recent impressive run. Sunderland have lost Chimbonda (back to Spurs) and are clinging on to star striker Kenwyne Jones despite Spragia’s boast that the club would not be selling players in January. Fulham still look good, and if not good, solid and with Andy Johnson beginning to get a few goals, will fancy their chances at the Stadium of Fright.

I fancy another surprise at Fratton Park. It takes a brave man to bet on Portsmouth but having signed Pele today (18-year-old lad from Portugal, not legend to all erectile dysfunction sufferers) as well as solid players in Pennant and Mullins, coupled with Ashley Young’s suspension for Villa, Martin O’Neill’s men may be running out of legs. I hate that expression. Villa look tired,. There you go, bit better. Despite fielding a full-strengt side, Villa were held by Doncaster at the weekend and a trip to Portsmouth won’t look too enticing just a few days later. With Wigan, Blackburn, Chelsea, a replay against Doncaster and a trip to CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Cup within the next four weeks, it’ll be a bruising month for Villa and may see them slip behind the Premiership contenders, starting with a win for Tony Adams’ men tomorrow.

Ashley Young was getting sick of sitting on the sidelines

Liverpool for the League?

 

Liverpool, apparent Premiership winners in waiting, face a tricky trip to Marseille tonight, buoyed by their victory over Manchester United at the weekend. If you are to read the papers you will see a ludicrous amount of hype being given to the 2-1 win on Saturday. Yes, it is a big deal that they won. Yes, they did it in unlikely circumstances and showed plenty of heart and commitment. However, they were at this very point last year with 10 points from 4 games and how long have we all been saying how hard Liverpool work as a team?

The truth is, Manchester United don’t always start the season very impressively. Maybe it’s the fact that Ferguson’s growing arthiritis is affecting him. Maybe he’s started using his free bus pass and the traffic  gets him in a rage so he can’t function properly. The fact also remains that Ronaldo scored more than goals this year and is currently sitting on the sidelines. Now, it’s true that Ronaldo is not the most prolific against the big teams. Man Utd fans can argue it all they want, but bar a goal in last year’s 3-0 win over Liverpool,the Portugese has generally been kept relatively quiet, again, due to Liverpool’s hard-working players who tackle back as though they were chasing goals. Still, he is a big loss, and Liverpool will still face problems this year due to a lack of imagination in the final third.

There is plenty to be positive about however for the Anfield faithful. Albert Riera actually ran at defenders. And beat them sometimes. It has been an exceptionally rare occurrence for Liverpool fans of recent years to see a winger jinking his way past a defender. Ryan Babel has done it often but has a languid style whereby he skips past defenders once they have committed themselves to a challenge. Riera didn’t give them time and had an impressive debut in intimidating circumstances against the best right-back of the season last year.
     Liverpool also did it without Torres and Gerrard and that is huge for the confidence of the squad players that Benitezso often champions but that you get the feeling the two lads don’t believe are quite up to it. When Torres scores he tends to have eyes for Gerrard and vice verca perhaps rightly so. They are among the best players in Europe and on a different level to their teammates. Well, at least they were. Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano and even Martin Skrtel deserve great praise for the way they step up to the mark set by Torres and Gerrard every week. Liverpool fans might now be forgiven for being more concerned when Mascherano isn’t playing, rather than their native captain.
To a lesser extent Keane, Alonso, and even Dirk Kuyt are capable of stepping up to the mark as well. Kuyt divides critics between fans who love his hard work and knack for scoring important goals and those who see him as a striker who can’t cut it and is thus used as a player who’ll ‘always give 100%’. I would be split between both camps. The truth is, Kuyt can score goals, but on the right wing has become an important player for the club. He was superb on Saturday, overlooked by many pundits for praise (except his biggest fan Benitez). Everyone looked to Keane, and he will eventually start getting plenty of goals, but Kuyt was instrumental in victory, with both goals coming from the right wing and Kuyt’s assist the action of a mature, team-minded individual. Kuyt had the chance to blast a shot at goal but thinks of his teammates more than himself and is deserving of his place, most of the time……

Abu Dhabi Doo….(Transfer Deadline Day)

Berbatov to Manchester City?? What?? Can a man not go to work for a few hours and come back to some sort of semblance of a normal footballing world. The weirdest thing is they actually have a bid accepted. 32 million. Ish. Give or take a million. What’s a million between friends? Still the smart money with less than four hours left is on Man Utd taking him. Despite Spurs insistence that Utd didn’t have permission to talk to Berbatov, the Bulgarian has apparently had a medical already and has certainly met with Alex Ferguson. Utd will more than likely have to up their offer to closer to 30 million given that City have had a huge bid accepted. I wouldn’t rule out Spurs playing hardball and keeping Berbatov if Utd refuse to budge, particularly as the relationship between the clubs has gone sour. Whether or not Berbatov will even meet with City remains to be seen. With his hear set on Old Trafford and Champions League football, the likelihood of City snapping him up must be slim…..

Chelsea and Robinho? Real Madrid insist the deal won’t be done. Media outlets believe it will, it would certainly be surprising if the Brazilian stays after being so public about his desire to leave…It would also be extremely strange to see Chelsea not buy anyone….Given that it is what they do best, we should probably expect some sort of signing before the end of the day….

Liverpool look more and more lightweight, despite the arrival of Riera from Espanyol. Man City fans remember him as being slightly average. Liverpool fans certainly won’t want to look at YouTube clips of the left winger, which make the words Gomez and Cheyrou spring to mind. Has Benitez splashed out on another expensive mistake? Steve Finnan has signed for Espanyol. In a slightly bizarre move (It’s nowhere near Aston Villa Stevie…) the Spanish and Irish players have swapped clubs, suggesting Liverpool got a little bit of cash off the deal given that both have been undisclosed….Liverpool have also offloaded Voronin to Hertha Berlin and with the news that Torres will miss their next game against Utd, the Merseysiders look slightly weak up front.

Sunderland have continued their recruitment drive by bringing in George McAcrtney from West Ham which could pave the way for Paolo Ferreira to move across London from Chelsea. Rumour has it the Portugese is on his way to Upton Park with Northern Irish international McCartney already signed on a year-long loan for Roy Keane’s men…

The thing about transfer deadline day is that once one deal goes through, a whole lot more follow…..

With Berbatov on his way out of White Hart Lane and Pavlyuchenko having already signed, Emile Heskey is reportedly on his way to Spurs. This will apparently pave the way for a Wigan bid for Man Utd striker Fraizer Richardson. Unless they go for Mido. Which could mean the Utd striker choosing Hull…..

Champions League Update: 20/02/08

All of the Champions League games are delicately poised going into the second legs in a fortnight’s time.
                
Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona are in strong positions having secured an early advantage in their respective ties.
Liverpool produced a dominant performance to secure a 2-0 win over Inter Milan. Having been held by ten-man Inter for 86 minutes, the Italians were on course to pull off a terrific result having defended doggedly from the outset. However goals from Kuyt and crucially Steven Gerrard in the 90th minute, have given Liverpool a terrific platform from which to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Gerrard’s goal may well prove to be the difference as Inter would surely have settled for a 1-0 defeat. Materazzi’s suspension and an injury to the superb Ivan Cordoba will also give Liverpool hope that they can grab a vital away goal in the San Siro.
The Inter Milan team may well be a much-changed outfit however, with the likes of Viera, Figo and Hernan Crespo likely to feature prominently in the second leg. While Torres was, for the most part, kept quiet by Inter’s excellent defence, the Spaniard will fancy his chances against a weakened defence in the second leg, especially as Inter will have to push far further upfield than they ever did in the game at Anfield.
              
An 87th minute goal from substitute Carlos Tevez gave Manchester United a vital away goal despite a lacklustre performance. Lyon took the lead early in the second half after United-target Karim Benzema scored a terrific solo effort, with four Red shirts around him the Frenchman somehow shifted the ball from his right foot to his left and belted the ball past Edwin Van der Saar.
In a free-flowing game Wayne Rooney’s 1-on-1 with Coupet was well saved while Juninho went close with a free-kick.
Benzema had a chance to make it 2-0 when he evaded a Rio Ferdinand challenge only for the ever-reliable Vidic to step across and sheperd the forward wide.
Ronaldo had a quiet night but produced a terrific save from Coupet late-on when his free-kick threatened to sneak in at the far post. However when Giggs and Scholes were replaced by Nani and Tevez, United began to look brighter and sure enough when Nani’s cross was deflected by Fred, Tevez pounced on the line to give United a foot in the quarter-finals.

              

Celtic and Barcelona put on a terrific game of football at Celtic Park but with the Catalans running out 3-2 winners, Barcelona will be confident they can secure victory in the Nou Camp, and they are already looking like the team to beat. Despite a disappointing campaign so far in La Liga, Barca have cut the gap on arch-rivals Madrid to just five points and on this display they look like peaking at just the right time.
Celtic took the lead through Venegoor of Hesselink, a terrific header against the run of play. However despite Robson’s goal to make it 2-1, a brace from Messi and a brilliant strike from Thierry Henry leave Barcelona in the driving seat.
Gordan Strachan joked after the game that he wouldn’t put his house on Celtic winning in two weeks time and he’s rarely wrong about these kind of things.

Elsewhere AC Milan and Arsenal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Emirates. AC will be favourites as the old masters denied an exciting Arsenal team. Adebayor’s stoppage time miss will be giving him sleepless nights this week, the Togo striker slamming a header against the bar with the entire goal gaping in front of him…..Chelsea did enough to take a 0-0 game back to London and should progress past Olympiakos. With one eye on Sunday’s Carling Cup Final, Avram Grant rested Terry and Lampard and with one of the strongest squads in Europe, Chelsea should progress to the next phase in two weeks time…… Fenerbache’s 3-2 win over Sevilla makes for a hell of a return leg in Spain. An 87th minute deflected winner means the Turks can progress to the quarter finals for the first time if they avoid defeat in Spain. However, Sevilla will be confident they can turn the game on it’s head at home, and are many peoples’ tips as a dark horse this season…..Roma and Real Madrid served up an entertaining encounter which the Italians shaded 2-1. Despite a strong first-half performance from Real, Roma take the advantage thanks to two Francesco Totti-assisted goals….Shalke 04 lead FC Porto 1-0 thanks to a fourth minute Kevin Kuranyi strike. While the game was always likely to be tight, Shalke are firmly in the driving seat, aware that an away goal will give the Portugese team a mountain to climb. While Shalke’s defence has been their achilles heel so far this season, in Kuranyi they have a top striker and they will look to score and force FC Porto to gamble at the back, having to attack in search of three goals…

FA Cup Quarter-Final Draw

After the weekend’s action put paid to another couple of Premiership teams, the draw for the quarter-final of the FA Cup has been made.

         
(Terry and Lampard celebrate last year’s victory over Man Utd)

Manchester United have been rewarded for their victory over Arsenal with another home draw against Portsmouth while Chelsea will travel to giant-killers Barnsley.
Middlesbrough or Sheffield United will entertain Cardiff City while the final game sees a guaranteed place in the semi-finals for a team outside the Premiership when Bristol Rovers host West Bromwich Albion.

The full draw:
Barnsley V Chelsea
Brstol Rovers V West Brom
Man Utd V Portsmouth
Sheffield United V Cardiff City
(ties to be played Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th March: Man Utd’s game against Bolton, Chelsea’s game against Derby and Boro’s game against Aston Villa will all have to be re-scheduled)

Sunday Preview

MAN UTD V MAN CITY

                        

A thrilling derby is in store for the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow, Sunday February 10.
While the first talking point will be whether the Man City fans will respect the minutes silence for the victims of the Munich air crash, the game itself should be entertaining.
Benjani’s confession that he didn’t want to leave Portsmouth will probably not have endeared him to the City fans. A goal at Old Trafford may go some way to changing that.

Alex Ferguson

                            

 (See? Even Alex doesn’t like himself)

Ok, before we start complaining about the most irritatingly smug person in football let’s just say this for the record:

This blog, like everyone else in football, admires Ferguson for his achievements on the pitch. The man has made Manchester United one of the best clubs around and when he goes there will be a void a Old Trafford of a similar stature as Shankly at Liverpool or Clough at Nottingham Forest.

The man has won everything to win in football and when he leaves he will have left the club one of the richest in the world; overseen huge developments in Old Trafford’s infrastructure and man-managed some of the greatest idols in footballing history like Roy Keane, Eric Cantona and Rooney and Ronaldo of today’s crop (who are undeniably on their way to idol status, if they haven’t already achieved it).

 It’s just that he can’t stop rubbing it in peoples’ faces. Humility has never been Sir Alex’s forte, but surely he doesn’t feel that his achievements are not recognised often enough

In the last two weeks, Ferguson has said the following about Manchester United:

The week ahead

It’s an important week ahead in the footballing world. Kind of. Well we’re gonna try and make it sound like it’s important anyway.

International Week:

Fabio Capello took his first training session as England manager today. While the media feverishly tried to figure out who will captain England against Switzerland, a rare honest moment from a Premiership footballer came when Steven Gerrard admitted the players were nervous about meeting Capello.
The fact that Beckham was left out indicates the Italian will not be succumbing to popular or media opinion. While it seems cruel to deny Beckham the 100th cap, the simple fact is – it’s not.
We’ve said our piece about Beckham:

http://thefc100.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/england-v-croatia-preview/

Preview: Arsenal V Manchester United

United and Arsenal in happier times… 

It feels like it has been missing for the past few years. There were epics, pitched battles, moments to savour and, unfortunately, a couple of dull ones but when the Arsenal and Manchester United have met it invariably provides talking points, controversy and deepening distaste between fans.

Arsenal falling off the pace of the likes of United, Chelsea and Liverpool over the past number of seasons has been the major factor in this fixture slipping under the radar but now the two top teams in the premier league come face to face again with the stakes higher than they have been in recent times.

This game has a high billing. The two most attrctive, arguably most consistent over the past decade and the two best managers in the league coming face to face on even points with Arsenal having one game in hand.

Ferguson has come out saying that this game won’t decide the title and he’s right but the confidence and the mental advantage that is at stake here will go a long way to getting there. It is a testament to the consistencey and performance levels of the top teams in the league that clashes such as this are so vital. We have seen Chelsea, United and Arsenal all sit on top of the league for months and months at a time. Even though it is only a table and the real decisions will be made on the pitch, the confidence of being on top is crucial to a league winning side. We saw it with United and Chelsea last year, Chelsea simply were not comfortable chasing the title.

No matter what the managers, players, pundits, tea-ladies or your mother says, this game is vital. And it is sure to be an absolute cracker. Often this fixture can be over-hyped and since the exit of Messrs. Keane and Viera it has most definitely lost some of its appeal but now there is a host of new, young players in each club and hopefully tomorrows clash will be the breeding ground for many new rivalries.

With both teams on song and both squads relatively healthy it is next to impossible to pick a winner tomorrow but when push comes to shove it has got to be United really.

Arsenal have talent and what they lacked in experience over the past few years they are making up for with determination and conviction this year but they still lack that cutting edge and if it becomes a real battle tomorrow at the Emirates then I don’t know who they have to fight for them. Fabregas is turning into a real player, a soon to be “great” player but his attitude and desire haven’t really been tested so far this season so it remains to be seen how good he is. Far be it from me to question the judgement of Arsene Wenger but, for tomorrow especially, he has to pick Gilberto over Flamini. The Brazilian’s experience of the big games and his ability to lead on the pitch is second to none, even if Wenger bowed to pressure by giving the Captain’s armband to Gallas.

Ferguson doesn’t have too much to do for tomorrow but will be boosted that Gary Neville, Louis Saha and Michael Carrick are all available. Neville is unlikely to feature but Carrick is likely to come in for the injured Scholes and then Sir Alex must decide if Saha sits on the bench or disrupts the balance of the attacking phenomena which is currently in progress. The form of United at the moment is likely to carry them through tomorrows game and give them the win they need. Big performances are expected, hoewever, from the likes of Hargreaves who needs to show why he was signed. He has yet to play the way he played for England in the World Cup and I wonder if we will see that side of him.

I’m still backing United but I don’t think there will be as many goals for either side as in previous games. It will be good to watch so make sure you see it. Anything tipped to be “GAME OF THE SEASON” usually disappoints but maybe, just maybe we could be in for something special tomorrow afternoon.