I don’t like to talk much about international football – much less friendlies and meaningless qualifiers, where frankly, the smaller nations fail to beat the big guns especially in Europe. There may be a shock in one or two games, but throughout a league system format, the smaller nations just ain’t going to collect enough points.
Hence, after a long introduction, I would be talking about the EPL. And how the teams have did so far. And perhaps evaluate their key players and summer signings, along with the last minute speculation.
Manchester United are sitting comfortably at the top despite not having Rooney and Scholes for two games (and one game more), Ruud Van Nistelrooy who left for Madrid and a holding midfielder (till Michael Carrick decided to make an early comeback as a substitute). Cris Ron has been under much stick because of his role in Rooney’s dismissal in the World Cup, but he ended up rising to the challenge. Saha and Giggs have been in sensational form, but goals are coming from all over the place – like in the last games Fletcher and Silvestre scored! Man Utd look to be strong again this year, as they also prove their doubters wrong.
Portsmouth are a surprise second and no doubt have the best free transfers of the season so far. Kanu and Sol Campbell have driven a club from relegation candidates to a team which conceded no goals in three games, and whacked oppositions 3-0 and 4-0! Only time will tell if Portsmouth can keep up their form, because even the manager, Harry ‘Houdini’ Redknapp is afraid of the lack of strength in depth of the squad. He did manage to get Manuel Fernandes though – the looks to get a couple more players before the window closes.
Aston Villa has been showing good form early. Taking points from Arsenal then winning against Newcastle and Reading. It’s a great start for the new manager – and I’ll like to see how good that ‘Petrov’ dude is after O’Neil chased him and lost him and chased him again the whole summer long.
Everton are tied with third with new signing Andy Johnson heading the way. I’ve always been a fan of this man, and he is proving he can score once again. The only surprise is how come no other clubs came in for him earlier. And if you see the goal against Watford, Beattie and AJ look to have a good partnership forming up.
Chelsea with a record of lost one won two isn’t too bad unless they consider they spend at least £60m a year on new players! I believe Shevchenko is still finding his feet in the Premierhsip and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him up there or thereabouts at the top-scorers chart at the end of the season.
West Ham picked up a possible 4 of 9 points which is a decent effort and it sees them sit in 6th in the table. They have been playing good attacking football and have only come undone by a spectacular strike by Daniel ‘the Dagger’ Agger.
Liverpool have done well so far. They sit in 7th with 4 points out of a possible 6. Sheffield United was a blip with early-season jitters kicking in, but a dominate performace against WestHam was a prefect remedy. Signings Fabio Aurelio, Jermaine Pennant and Daniel ‘the Dagger’ Agger have started to impress while Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt have shown glimpses of why Rafa bought them. Riise and Crouch are showing encouraging signs while Gerrard, Gonzalez and Alonso have yet to pick up their form of this season yet though, so I feel the best of Liverpool is yet to come.
Bolton have had a decent start to the season too. With Anelka now in their ranks, they look to have more talent on the field. They can improve though, the only thing good about their performances have been an Ivan Campo wonder strike which will compete with the Dagger for early goal of the month.
Man City overcame a early thrashing by the defending champions to record a draw against in-form Portsmouth and win against Arsenal. Though Arsenal were rubbish on that day, the defensive pairing of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin seem to be getting more and more formidable as the season progresses. Good thing Distin didn’t leave!
Fulham somehow overcame a torrid start to their campaign after being walloped by Man Utd 5-1. Jimmy Bullard has been rescuing them – saving a draw and snatching a win. Coleman showed great vision in snapping him up just after last season ended. Let’s just hope the rest of his team can be on par with the on-form midfielder.
That’s the top ten of the league so far. We definitely expected Arsenal and Tottenham to be there, but we’ll have to look at them next time when we review the bottom half of the table while this international break gets moving on!
31.8.06
24.8.06
Week 1 Midweek
The mid-week matches have been concluded. And I'm pleased to announce. Chelsea got beaten! All thanks to Middlesborough's late show. Unfortunately, I was hoping Chelsea won this time for I was going to put my money on Liverpool - with handicap - to win the premiership, now the odds would probably drop.
Anyway, it's good news for the rest of the Premiership that the defending champions have dropped 3 points so early in the tournament. Hopefully, more teams would come out and play against them rather than hoping for a 0-0 draw which - even if you tried - probably wouldn't end that way.. thanks to a deflected Lampard shot or something.
On the other hand, Manchester United are looking really good. Despite injuries to key players like Carrick, Heinze and Gary Neville and suspensions to Rooney and Scholes (the in the second game), they choked up 8 goals in 2 matches and only conceded once! They look like real premiership contenders at this early stage, though Arsenal and Liverpool who fumbled in their first game, have yet to play their second game.
In a day of draws - involving Blackburn and Everton, Fulham and Bolton, Man City and Portsmouth - it was nice to see O'Neil pick up his first win as Aston Villa manager. Right now the only teams yet to register a point are Wigan and Charlton. For Wigan, they only played one game - which they were unlucky to lose. And for Charlton, they just got whacked by an attacking West Ham and in-form Manchester United. Guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone would pick up points soon and we wouldn't see jokes like Sunderland in the Premiership - simply losing every game.
Anyway, the EPL has well and truly begun with new challengers rising and the defending champion faltering. Let's hope it's going to be a more exciting season for the fans!
Anyway, it's good news for the rest of the Premiership that the defending champions have dropped 3 points so early in the tournament. Hopefully, more teams would come out and play against them rather than hoping for a 0-0 draw which - even if you tried - probably wouldn't end that way.. thanks to a deflected Lampard shot or something.
On the other hand, Manchester United are looking really good. Despite injuries to key players like Carrick, Heinze and Gary Neville and suspensions to Rooney and Scholes (the in the second game), they choked up 8 goals in 2 matches and only conceded once! They look like real premiership contenders at this early stage, though Arsenal and Liverpool who fumbled in their first game, have yet to play their second game.
In a day of draws - involving Blackburn and Everton, Fulham and Bolton, Man City and Portsmouth - it was nice to see O'Neil pick up his first win as Aston Villa manager. Right now the only teams yet to register a point are Wigan and Charlton. For Wigan, they only played one game - which they were unlucky to lose. And for Charlton, they just got whacked by an attacking West Ham and in-form Manchester United. Guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone would pick up points soon and we wouldn't see jokes like Sunderland in the Premiership - simply losing every game.
Anyway, the EPL has well and truly begun with new challengers rising and the defending champion faltering. Let's hope it's going to be a more exciting season for the fans!
21.8.06
Comments on Week 1
The first round of EPL games have been concluded with a big Chelsea win. Needless to say, the biggest disappointment was Liverpool being held to a draw at Sheffield United!
They might have done little to suggest that they can challenge for the title, and with the gap 2 points from Chelsea, the race might be over already. But many fail to note that Liverpool weren't playing their top strength team - probably with the Champions League qualifier against Macabi Haifa in sight. With Gerrard playing on the right where he is much less effective - evident with his surging run which lead to the (arguably controversial) penalty when he was playing in the centre - Liverpool also lost top players Carragher and Riise early in the game. That means that very few tactical changes can be made. Also, Finnan, Xabi Alonso and Peter Crouch were missing from the starting line-up. But whether or not they were on the bench is not important because they never made it to the field. I wouldn't write off Liverpool's chances just yet!
Arsenal struggled too against Aston Villa. But they were at home! It can be said, it's not really their home ground because it's a new stadium, and that's the first time they are playing there as well! For Arsenal, I was glad to see Theo Walcott make an appearance. Arsenal played a pretty much full-strength team. With Campbell out of the club, and Swiss Senderos still injured from the World Cup, they had to play Johan Djourou in defence with Kolo Toure. Worse still, Ashley Cole still refuses to sort out his future and so Wenger wouldn't play him yet - Justin Hoyte fills his big boots. Arsenal had full strength in midfield and attack with names like Fabregas, Helb and Henry filling the team sheet. For Vila, Lee Hendrie had an aweful game again - just coming off the bench to receive a yellow card and doing pretty much nothing else. I'm a fan of the old Lee Hendrie and hope he gets more match practice to dispell his poor run of form. And by the way, what's the news on Baros? He is loaned out? Is he injured?
And the rest...
Everton beat Watford with AJ scoring. If you been following this blog, you would know I'm a fan of Andy Johnson - always quoting his stats. Well, he proved he can score in any level! Great buy Everton!
Reading provided the somewhat shock of the round by beating Southgate's Middlesborough 3-2 after coming from 0-2 down. I don't want to talk about this match because I bet on it to end as a draw. Also, I removed Kitson from my fantasy league team just a day before the season started and he scored!
West Ham hammered Charlton with Troare showing exactly why Liverpool sold him. Darren Bent got his season off to a scoring start though. But Zamora and Carlton Cole upstaged last-season's top scorer Marlon Harewood.
Newcastle had a useful win over Wigan at home. Ameobi was having to fill big shoes, and he did by scoring the winner. I've been a fan of Ameobi although he gets alot of stick from the media as not being a good enough Alan Shearer replacement.
Pompski got off to an excellent start with Kanu the hero (and villian at the same time) scoring 2 goals but missing a what-could-have-been-a-hat-trick penalty. Todorov tapped in the other goal in a 3-0 victory over poor Blackburn (with had two players - Lucas Neil and Andy Todd - sent off). Their not going to repeat their 6th in the league with that performance! Though Brad Friedel made 8 saves, he still let in 3 goals, goes to show the domination as a result of the Pompski Revolution under Harry Redknapp (and Russian money spinner).
Bolton beat a poor Tottenham 2-0 with Ivan Campo scoring a fluke goal. Well, I think he did intend to try to strike it from 40 yards out, but he was lucky that England keeper Robinson was caught by surprise. It wasn't a good result for my yahoo fantasy team because I had Berbatov in it. Neither was it for my money as I bet on a draw.
Chelsea had a thumping victory over Man City and the scoreline should have been much more really. I did have Distin in my yahoo team - but good thing he didn't earn me negative points. Terry was a star in defence (and getting a goal as well) while Lamps and Drogba finished the job.
Lastly, is the biggest victory of the first round were Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha were on form firing Manchester United to the top of the league with a 5-1 win over Fulham. Saha showed us exactly why he left Fulham - to score goals past them! Christanval and Ian Pearce absolutely had no answers to the Manchester forwards' questions. Anyone with Rooney and Cris Ron in their fantasy team would have done well this week.
To conclude, I would access my yahoo! fantasy team
Forwards
Rooney - awesome with 33.5 points! Only problem is his value shot up so much, I don't want to sell him though he is suspended for the next 3 games in case I can't buy him back!
Sheva - didn't do anything, so at least his price dropped.
Berbatov - didn't do much but still got 5 points from drawing fouls.
Mids
Gerrard - a disappointing game by his standards, but he can only improve.
Phil Neville - if they allowed me, I might as well have left it blank. He brought in a miserly 0.5 points. Don't buy defensive midfielders, they can't score points - though they are really cheap
Ballack
Rosicky - both didn't play, what a waste. Anyone knows if Rosicky is injured?
Defence
Terry - was a star in the game against City, raked in loads of points!
Distin - was average considering his team got whacked 3-0 by the champions
Carragher - unfortunate to be stretchered off around just 20+ minutes. He did manage to block two shots before that though - earning some points. His price went up, so I can't sell him too though he might be injured for next week.
Keeper
Reina - 0 saves, let in a goal. That's all there is to say.
They might have done little to suggest that they can challenge for the title, and with the gap 2 points from Chelsea, the race might be over already. But many fail to note that Liverpool weren't playing their top strength team - probably with the Champions League qualifier against Macabi Haifa in sight. With Gerrard playing on the right where he is much less effective - evident with his surging run which lead to the (arguably controversial) penalty when he was playing in the centre - Liverpool also lost top players Carragher and Riise early in the game. That means that very few tactical changes can be made. Also, Finnan, Xabi Alonso and Peter Crouch were missing from the starting line-up. But whether or not they were on the bench is not important because they never made it to the field. I wouldn't write off Liverpool's chances just yet!
Arsenal struggled too against Aston Villa. But they were at home! It can be said, it's not really their home ground because it's a new stadium, and that's the first time they are playing there as well! For Arsenal, I was glad to see Theo Walcott make an appearance. Arsenal played a pretty much full-strength team. With Campbell out of the club, and Swiss Senderos still injured from the World Cup, they had to play Johan Djourou in defence with Kolo Toure. Worse still, Ashley Cole still refuses to sort out his future and so Wenger wouldn't play him yet - Justin Hoyte fills his big boots. Arsenal had full strength in midfield and attack with names like Fabregas, Helb and Henry filling the team sheet. For Vila, Lee Hendrie had an aweful game again - just coming off the bench to receive a yellow card and doing pretty much nothing else. I'm a fan of the old Lee Hendrie and hope he gets more match practice to dispell his poor run of form. And by the way, what's the news on Baros? He is loaned out? Is he injured?
And the rest...
Everton beat Watford with AJ scoring. If you been following this blog, you would know I'm a fan of Andy Johnson - always quoting his stats. Well, he proved he can score in any level! Great buy Everton!
Reading provided the somewhat shock of the round by beating Southgate's Middlesborough 3-2 after coming from 0-2 down. I don't want to talk about this match because I bet on it to end as a draw. Also, I removed Kitson from my fantasy league team just a day before the season started and he scored!
West Ham hammered Charlton with Troare showing exactly why Liverpool sold him. Darren Bent got his season off to a scoring start though. But Zamora and Carlton Cole upstaged last-season's top scorer Marlon Harewood.
Newcastle had a useful win over Wigan at home. Ameobi was having to fill big shoes, and he did by scoring the winner. I've been a fan of Ameobi although he gets alot of stick from the media as not being a good enough Alan Shearer replacement.
Pompski got off to an excellent start with Kanu the hero (and villian at the same time) scoring 2 goals but missing a what-could-have-been-a-hat-trick penalty. Todorov tapped in the other goal in a 3-0 victory over poor Blackburn (with had two players - Lucas Neil and Andy Todd - sent off). Their not going to repeat their 6th in the league with that performance! Though Brad Friedel made 8 saves, he still let in 3 goals, goes to show the domination as a result of the Pompski Revolution under Harry Redknapp (and Russian money spinner).
Bolton beat a poor Tottenham 2-0 with Ivan Campo scoring a fluke goal. Well, I think he did intend to try to strike it from 40 yards out, but he was lucky that England keeper Robinson was caught by surprise. It wasn't a good result for my yahoo fantasy team because I had Berbatov in it. Neither was it for my money as I bet on a draw.
Chelsea had a thumping victory over Man City and the scoreline should have been much more really. I did have Distin in my yahoo team - but good thing he didn't earn me negative points. Terry was a star in defence (and getting a goal as well) while Lamps and Drogba finished the job.
Lastly, is the biggest victory of the first round were Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha were on form firing Manchester United to the top of the league with a 5-1 win over Fulham. Saha showed us exactly why he left Fulham - to score goals past them! Christanval and Ian Pearce absolutely had no answers to the Manchester forwards' questions. Anyone with Rooney and Cris Ron in their fantasy team would have done well this week.
To conclude, I would access my yahoo! fantasy team
Forwards
Rooney - awesome with 33.5 points! Only problem is his value shot up so much, I don't want to sell him though he is suspended for the next 3 games in case I can't buy him back!
Sheva - didn't do anything, so at least his price dropped.
Berbatov - didn't do much but still got 5 points from drawing fouls.
Mids
Gerrard - a disappointing game by his standards, but he can only improve.
Phil Neville - if they allowed me, I might as well have left it blank. He brought in a miserly 0.5 points. Don't buy defensive midfielders, they can't score points - though they are really cheap
Ballack
Rosicky - both didn't play, what a waste. Anyone knows if Rosicky is injured?
Defence
Terry - was a star in the game against City, raked in loads of points!
Distin - was average considering his team got whacked 3-0 by the champions
Carragher - unfortunate to be stretchered off around just 20+ minutes. He did manage to block two shots before that though - earning some points. His price went up, so I can't sell him too though he might be injured for next week.
Keeper
Reina - 0 saves, let in a goal. That's all there is to say.
17.8.06
Season Preview Part III: Blackburn Rovers
The EPL starts in a few days!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming days.
A good signing and Blackburn look to be on the way to improvement. I would have like David Bentley to stay, but looks as though he wouldn't be back next season. Florent Sinama Pongolle is back at Liverpool too, but with the arrival of Dirk Kuyt today, it looks as though as he is moving on as well - not back to Blackburn - but to Lyon.
Anyway, back to Blackburn. They look to have a strong defence with Brad Friedel as inspirational as ever, shielded by Ryan Nelson - whom every club wants to chase now - and in front of him is Robbie Savage, the midfielder who defends like his name says. Partnering Nelson in defence this season would look to be Todd or Khizanishvilli and flanked by Michael Gray and the awesome Lucas Neil. It looks though that Brett Emerton is on his way out.
In midfield, they have the creative, if not aging talent in Tugay. They have pace on the wing with Morten Gamst Pederson. Pederson is an awesome talent and we all remember him being the conquerer of Manchester United - scoring against them in 3 of the games played against them last season! Steven Reid on the other flank is also good talent, with excellent skill on the ball, but I'm not so sure about his crossing.
In attack, they have left Paul Dickov go - thank goodness for Blackburn fans - but brought in another joke in "Franny" Jeffers. Selling Bellamy to Liverpool (*smilez*), Blackburn look to be short upfront with only Jeffers and Shefki Kuqi - until they brought in Jason Roberts. I'm a fan of Roberts, and I think he would soon establish himself as first choice striker in Blackburn - if he isn't already. He has been a great acquisition and would do well I predict.
The future looks bright for Blackburn as they build on their 6th place from last season. However, I don't see them challenging the top four teams for their places this year.
Prediction: 6th
A good signing and Blackburn look to be on the way to improvement. I would have like David Bentley to stay, but looks as though he wouldn't be back next season. Florent Sinama Pongolle is back at Liverpool too, but with the arrival of Dirk Kuyt today, it looks as though as he is moving on as well - not back to Blackburn - but to Lyon.
Anyway, back to Blackburn. They look to have a strong defence with Brad Friedel as inspirational as ever, shielded by Ryan Nelson - whom every club wants to chase now - and in front of him is Robbie Savage, the midfielder who defends like his name says. Partnering Nelson in defence this season would look to be Todd or Khizanishvilli and flanked by Michael Gray and the awesome Lucas Neil. It looks though that Brett Emerton is on his way out.
In midfield, they have the creative, if not aging talent in Tugay. They have pace on the wing with Morten Gamst Pederson. Pederson is an awesome talent and we all remember him being the conquerer of Manchester United - scoring against them in 3 of the games played against them last season! Steven Reid on the other flank is also good talent, with excellent skill on the ball, but I'm not so sure about his crossing.
In attack, they have left Paul Dickov go - thank goodness for Blackburn fans - but brought in another joke in "Franny" Jeffers. Selling Bellamy to Liverpool (*smilez*), Blackburn look to be short upfront with only Jeffers and Shefki Kuqi - until they brought in Jason Roberts. I'm a fan of Roberts, and I think he would soon establish himself as first choice striker in Blackburn - if he isn't already. He has been a great acquisition and would do well I predict.
The future looks bright for Blackburn as they build on their 6th place from last season. However, I don't see them challenging the top four teams for their places this year.
Prediction: 6th
Season Preview Part I I: Aston Villa
The EPL starts in a few days!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming days.
I was waiting for Villa to sign some players before I write a preview of them. But the season is starting in just 3 days! I don't think they would sign any big name in time for the season to begin. I'll investigate their line up as of now.
After a disappointing campaign last year, Villa have got a new chairman, new fundings and a new manager. I like the headline 'Lerner drives new Aston Martin' (football365.com). Jokes aside, Villa really should be a force this year under the whole new club board and manager. Martin O'Neil was known as one of the best managers around, but the Scottish League and EPL are two very different leagues in terms of class. He might find some trouble in his first season - especially with the current members of his squad.
Goalkeeper: Thomas Sorensen is the undisputed number 1. With reserve keeper Stuart Taylor making only 2 appearances last term, it is unlikly anything would change. Sorensen is an excellent keeper - stats say he made 240 saves in the EPL alone -, but he needs his defence to help him.
His defence need help though. Wilfred Bouma has been looking less than steady while Liam Ridgewell is prone to his mistakes too. Olof Mellberg is a rock in defence, though they need some pace at the back. Aaron Hughes is Villa's best defender I think. He is consistent and stable.
In midfield, Villa need strengthening too. I don't think very much of Gavin McCann or James Milner. Is Milner still there though? The news of him going to the club permenantly or going back to his former club seemed to have died down. Anyway, the more consistent performers in midfield are Gareth Barry (Garry Barry) and young Steven Davis. I was expecting Barry to jump boat, but thanks to wise words from the new manager, he's decided to stay, I can just say it's good for Villa because he is their best player. Davis on the other hand is a good young prospect, but I don't see him playing for a big club anytime soon.
In attack, O'Neil needs to find Phillips' scoring boots, Angels compass on the field and teach Baros how to kick a ball. Phillips is getting old, but he proves to be the only Villa striker who knows where the goal is. Angel is most probably going to be sold while Baros... I hope O'Neil can bring out what Gerard Houllier and David O'Leary saw in him. Don't worry though, if all else fails, they have promising Luke Moore to come off the bench. This is one player I think would go to a big club one day.
Other than their strikerforce, the Villa team look horribly short of depth. Out of everyone NOT mentioned above, only Mark Delaney made more than 10 appearances last term. All the rest like Lee Henderie, Ulises De La Cruz, Patrik Berger, Peter Wittingham have all made at most 7 starts.
I don't see them being a force yet this season, but I would like to see who O'Neil brings in and what he can do with the team. A highly-rated manager with money should be able to transform even the crappiest teams.
Prediction: 10-15th position
I was waiting for Villa to sign some players before I write a preview of them. But the season is starting in just 3 days! I don't think they would sign any big name in time for the season to begin. I'll investigate their line up as of now.
After a disappointing campaign last year, Villa have got a new chairman, new fundings and a new manager. I like the headline 'Lerner drives new Aston Martin' (football365.com). Jokes aside, Villa really should be a force this year under the whole new club board and manager. Martin O'Neil was known as one of the best managers around, but the Scottish League and EPL are two very different leagues in terms of class. He might find some trouble in his first season - especially with the current members of his squad.
Goalkeeper: Thomas Sorensen is the undisputed number 1. With reserve keeper Stuart Taylor making only 2 appearances last term, it is unlikly anything would change. Sorensen is an excellent keeper - stats say he made 240 saves in the EPL alone -, but he needs his defence to help him.
His defence need help though. Wilfred Bouma has been looking less than steady while Liam Ridgewell is prone to his mistakes too. Olof Mellberg is a rock in defence, though they need some pace at the back. Aaron Hughes is Villa's best defender I think. He is consistent and stable.
In midfield, Villa need strengthening too. I don't think very much of Gavin McCann or James Milner. Is Milner still there though? The news of him going to the club permenantly or going back to his former club seemed to have died down. Anyway, the more consistent performers in midfield are Gareth Barry (Garry Barry) and young Steven Davis. I was expecting Barry to jump boat, but thanks to wise words from the new manager, he's decided to stay, I can just say it's good for Villa because he is their best player. Davis on the other hand is a good young prospect, but I don't see him playing for a big club anytime soon.
In attack, O'Neil needs to find Phillips' scoring boots, Angels compass on the field and teach Baros how to kick a ball. Phillips is getting old, but he proves to be the only Villa striker who knows where the goal is. Angel is most probably going to be sold while Baros... I hope O'Neil can bring out what Gerard Houllier and David O'Leary saw in him. Don't worry though, if all else fails, they have promising Luke Moore to come off the bench. This is one player I think would go to a big club one day.
Other than their strikerforce, the Villa team look horribly short of depth. Out of everyone NOT mentioned above, only Mark Delaney made more than 10 appearances last term. All the rest like Lee Henderie, Ulises De La Cruz, Patrik Berger, Peter Wittingham have all made at most 7 starts.
I don't see them being a force yet this season, but I would like to see who O'Neil brings in and what he can do with the team. A highly-rated manager with money should be able to transform even the crappiest teams.
Prediction: 10-15th position
15.8.06
Can You Score in the Premiership?
I was reading the comments on this poll on football365.com/forum. The thread was 'Can you score in the premiership?' (if you played every minute of every game)
Quite a number of people actually say they can. Those people obviously haven't played against the best. And then there were some, who claim they play for divisions just a bit lower than conference and say they don't think they can. What makes people think they can score 5-10 a season? Rubbish.
Even Emile Heskey and Djibril Cisse can't do that.
Others claim they can probably put away a penalty. Those humble say they can put away 1 out of 5. I don't even think that is possible. The only way you would score is if you get a penalty, blindfold the keeper and tie his hands round his back!
Otherwise from open play, maybe if you are too crap to even mark; and then the linesman forgets to flag you offside, and Theirry Henry sprints through the entire defence, rounds the keeper and lays it at your feet 1 yard before the line. Maybe you might score then.
I wanted to write that all on the forum, but guess what? You have to wait for a review panel to manually check your registeration before activating your account! Ha. It's alright, I got my talking soccer blog!
Quite a number of people actually say they can. Those people obviously haven't played against the best. And then there were some, who claim they play for divisions just a bit lower than conference and say they don't think they can. What makes people think they can score 5-10 a season? Rubbish.
Even Emile Heskey and Djibril Cisse can't do that.
Others claim they can probably put away a penalty. Those humble say they can put away 1 out of 5. I don't even think that is possible. The only way you would score is if you get a penalty, blindfold the keeper and tie his hands round his back!
Otherwise from open play, maybe if you are too crap to even mark; and then the linesman forgets to flag you offside, and Theirry Henry sprints through the entire defence, rounds the keeper and lays it at your feet 1 yard before the line. Maybe you might score then.
I wanted to write that all on the forum, but guess what? You have to wait for a review panel to manually check your registeration before activating your account! Ha. It's alright, I got my talking soccer blog!
14.8.06
For the Community
Final score: Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1.
Sweet goal for Shevchenko, but sweeter victory for Liverpool. In my opinion, Liverpool deserved to win by more than that 2-1 scoreline. But I suppose when you want to compare with the Premierleague champions who spend at least £50million on new players every season, you can't be too greedy.
As expected, Mourinho started complaining about the lack of preparation for his team amidst 'praise' for Liverpool. Quoting from football365.com Mourinho said "...but if you don't think about the difference of condition of both teams they deserved to win because they were better than us." It sounds like putting an excuse to why you lost while praising the opponent so you don't sound sour grapes. And I was about to predict that he would whine about the internationals disrupting his preparations futhtur, but he already did:
"I have to say this is intelligent. They realise players should be with their teams before the season starts not with their national teams."(football365.com) when commenting that his native Portugal decided not to have an international friendly.
Anyway, we all don't care with all the excuses Mourinho makes about his team. The fact is Liverpool beat Chelsea. And Liverpool weren't playing their first XI. The only first-teamers who started were probably Reina, Carragher, Finnan and Crouch. If you want to count Pennant, go ahead, but we all know that key players like Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Bellamy weren't in the starting line-up, while Chelsea on the other hand had the best squad they could put forward minus the injuries.
With Mourinho saying that Liverpool would have a psychological blow if they lost to a 50% Chelsea, then Chelsea must have suffered a blow losing to 50% of the Liverpool first team. Chelsea are still the team to beat this season - mainly because of their money - but Liverpool had sent out a good sign to the rest of the Premiership - that Chelsea are beatable!
I like the quote on soccernet.com: "Crouch's late goal gave Benitez another win over Mourinho and tightened his psychological hold. He has beaten him in the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield. Now for the Premiership."
It might be a "meaningless friendly", but they did do something for the community.
Sweet goal for Shevchenko, but sweeter victory for Liverpool. In my opinion, Liverpool deserved to win by more than that 2-1 scoreline. But I suppose when you want to compare with the Premierleague champions who spend at least £50million on new players every season, you can't be too greedy.
As expected, Mourinho started complaining about the lack of preparation for his team amidst 'praise' for Liverpool. Quoting from football365.com Mourinho said "...but if you don't think about the difference of condition of both teams they deserved to win because they were better than us." It sounds like putting an excuse to why you lost while praising the opponent so you don't sound sour grapes. And I was about to predict that he would whine about the internationals disrupting his preparations futhtur, but he already did:
"I have to say this is intelligent. They realise players should be with their teams before the season starts not with their national teams."(football365.com) when commenting that his native Portugal decided not to have an international friendly.
Anyway, we all don't care with all the excuses Mourinho makes about his team. The fact is Liverpool beat Chelsea. And Liverpool weren't playing their first XI. The only first-teamers who started were probably Reina, Carragher, Finnan and Crouch. If you want to count Pennant, go ahead, but we all know that key players like Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Bellamy weren't in the starting line-up, while Chelsea on the other hand had the best squad they could put forward minus the injuries.
With Mourinho saying that Liverpool would have a psychological blow if they lost to a 50% Chelsea, then Chelsea must have suffered a blow losing to 50% of the Liverpool first team. Chelsea are still the team to beat this season - mainly because of their money - but Liverpool had sent out a good sign to the rest of the Premiership - that Chelsea are beatable!
I like the quote on soccernet.com: "Crouch's late goal gave Benitez another win over Mourinho and tightened his psychological hold. He has beaten him in the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield. Now for the Premiership."
It might be a "meaningless friendly", but they did do something for the community.
7.8.06
Crespo to Inter
Chelsea is so rich eh. They just let Hernan Crepo go to Inter for free. But they have an option of taking him back after 1 year. It pretty much is a loan unless Chelsea decide they don't want him.
Inter would be a good team this season with all the additions they made. And they would be looking to "defend" their "title". Lots of inverted commars thanks to the controversial way they won last season.
Anyway, back to Crespo. I'm an admirer of this player ever since he played for Inter in his first spell. I think he is an ideal striker. He can take long shots, and finish when running onto the ball, he is also good in the air and powerful with headers. He has great tap-the-ball-in-van-Nistelrooy-style positioning in front of goal too. But I think the best thing about him is his movement. With him running off a striker partner, he always seems to be able to find space, or make space for his strike partner. I think it's a pity Chelsea had to let him go, because I was picturing in my head how well Sheva and Crespo worked so well together in AC Milan. It was mainly thanks to Crespo's intelligent running.
So all the best to one of the great modern strikers. I hope he finds he settles well where he is, because his football deserves it!
Inter would be a good team this season with all the additions they made. And they would be looking to "defend" their "title". Lots of inverted commars thanks to the controversial way they won last season.
Anyway, back to Crespo. I'm an admirer of this player ever since he played for Inter in his first spell. I think he is an ideal striker. He can take long shots, and finish when running onto the ball, he is also good in the air and powerful with headers. He has great tap-the-ball-in-van-Nistelrooy-style positioning in front of goal too. But I think the best thing about him is his movement. With him running off a striker partner, he always seems to be able to find space, or make space for his strike partner. I think it's a pity Chelsea had to let him go, because I was picturing in my head how well Sheva and Crespo worked so well together in AC Milan. It was mainly thanks to Crespo's intelligent running.
So all the best to one of the great modern strikers. I hope he finds he settles well where he is, because his football deserves it!
6.8.06
Season Preview Part I : Arsenal
The EPL starts in 2 weeks!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming 2 weeks.
Out go 3 veterans and in comes one superstar. Can they really balance the team? Campbell was always a rock in defence till last season, Pires, though now slower has the experience and creativity and Bergkamp was more than special as Mourinho says. Can Arsenal do without them? They did bring in an awesome Tomas Rosicky for a steal of about £7m. He would be an awesome player.
Their first team squad is well-balanced and strong. With Henry up front, they can always be guaranteed goals. Reyes is finding his feet in England, and I expect Hleb to do the same this season. Gilberto is showing good form to fill the void left by Vieira in the 'destructors' role, while Fabregas is magnificient in spraying passes round the pitch. In defence, Toure is becoming a world-class player and when fit again, Swiss Senderos is showing what good talent Wenger knows how to nuture. They might lose Ashley Cole to Chelsea though, and when that happens, I hope to see who Arsenal can bring in to replace him. On right-back, they have the young, skilful and pacy Eboue to challange now-fit-again Lauren for the spot. Between the sticks is the now-consistent Lehmann, who I think has come of age to show leadership and steadiness.
They look like a formidable side - at least their first XI- this season. But with back-up players like Van Persie, Adebayor, Ljungberg and Flamini, it can't be that bad. I just hope to see a bit more of Theo Walcott this season!
Prediction: Top 4
Probably first XI:
Out go 3 veterans and in comes one superstar. Can they really balance the team? Campbell was always a rock in defence till last season, Pires, though now slower has the experience and creativity and Bergkamp was more than special as Mourinho says. Can Arsenal do without them? They did bring in an awesome Tomas Rosicky for a steal of about £7m. He would be an awesome player.
Their first team squad is well-balanced and strong. With Henry up front, they can always be guaranteed goals. Reyes is finding his feet in England, and I expect Hleb to do the same this season. Gilberto is showing good form to fill the void left by Vieira in the 'destructors' role, while Fabregas is magnificient in spraying passes round the pitch. In defence, Toure is becoming a world-class player and when fit again, Swiss Senderos is showing what good talent Wenger knows how to nuture. They might lose Ashley Cole to Chelsea though, and when that happens, I hope to see who Arsenal can bring in to replace him. On right-back, they have the young, skilful and pacy Eboue to challange now-fit-again Lauren for the spot. Between the sticks is the now-consistent Lehmann, who I think has come of age to show leadership and steadiness.
They look like a formidable side - at least their first XI- this season. But with back-up players like Van Persie, Adebayor, Ljungberg and Flamini, it can't be that bad. I just hope to see a bit more of Theo Walcott this season!
Prediction: Top 4
Probably first XI:
3.8.06
Man Utd This Summer
Manchester United suffered a bad summer. I think it was made worse by the press really. They make the bust-up between Rooney and Cris Ron probably worse than it really is. Also, the bust-up with Ruud Van Nistelrooy too. I think Man Utd just wanted an excuse to sell him, they probably wanted a bigger fee though.
Also, they failed to attract Patrik Vieira. It would have been strange to see Vieira in an Arsenal jersey, also giving his previous stand-offs between Keane, Ruud and Neville. Nevertheless, two of the three are not in the club anymore. After Vieira's supposed move to Inter supposedly stalled, Man United looked favourite to land him, but in the end, it looks 99% sure he would land up in Inter.
Man United's only signing this summer has been Michael Carrick so far. Fergie says he was worth it, so we shall see how it goes. I would be very interested in seeing Carrick perform at the highest level though.
If Manchester can perform well in the league after this difficult summer, I would credit it to Ferguson, for knowing exactly what he was doing selling Ruud and getting Carrick. It's a gamble, but we'll see how it goes.
Also, they failed to attract Patrik Vieira. It would have been strange to see Vieira in an Arsenal jersey, also giving his previous stand-offs between Keane, Ruud and Neville. Nevertheless, two of the three are not in the club anymore. After Vieira's supposed move to Inter supposedly stalled, Man United looked favourite to land him, but in the end, it looks 99% sure he would land up in Inter.
Man United's only signing this summer has been Michael Carrick so far. Fergie says he was worth it, so we shall see how it goes. I would be very interested in seeing Carrick perform at the highest level though.
If Manchester can perform well in the league after this difficult summer, I would credit it to Ferguson, for knowing exactly what he was doing selling Ruud and getting Carrick. It's a gamble, but we'll see how it goes.
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