Here are several important updates for subscribers to Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV and ESPN2:
- The ratings for last Saturday's Liverpool against Burnley match on ESPN2 (10am
ET kickoff) were a 0.2, according to Nielsen. The game was watched in 196,041 households for a
total viewing audience of 253,779,
- Fox Soccer Channel will offer a free preview of its network on the following
cable networks in areas of the country between September 14-20: Comcast Denver, Comcast Fort Wayne,
Comcast Indianapolis, Comcast Portland, Comcast Salt Lake City, Comcast Seattle, Cox Phoenix, Cox
Tucson, Time Warner Columbus and Time Warner Kansas City,
- GolTV has acquired the TV rights to many of the Europa League matches.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
So you probably heard about the false alarm reports of Jozy Altidore heading to Greek powerhouse
Olympiakos on loan (the interest in Altidore had been in the Greek papers for weeks).
This, courtesy of GolTV, is the sweetest sight I've seen in a while:
3:00 pm UEFA Europa League Everton vs AEK Athens
Greek Americans rejoice! GolTV seems to have successfully bid for the US broadcasting rights
of at least some Europa League Group Stage Matches.
It looks like Benitez has worked around the financial constraints imposed upon him to find his
man to fill Liverpool's apparent need for a new center back, and he's not the Premier League
manager adding (or trying to add) quality depth to his squad.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have finally managed to offload one of their surplus strikers, but are they
trying to bring in a new one just as quickly?
This weekend (Labor Day Weekend here in the May-Day-Hating United States) signals the end of the
Summer. The other thing that always signals the end of Summer for me is the closing of the
transfer window. It's done now, but not before we squeezed in two last signings. I meant to
post this a few days ago, but better late than never:
FC Twente have captured Perparim Hetemaj from AEK Athens FC
in a swap deal that takes Dutch midfielder Youssouf Hersi from the Netherlands to the Greek
capital.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos mjohnson, akes his League debut for Liverpool this afternoon at the Reebok
stadium against Bolton Wanderers.
Signed from AEK Athens for £1.5 million, the defensive hard man will be looking to shore up a
Liverpool defence which has leaked too many goals early on in the season.
Christian Purslow, the managing director of Liverpool, has defended the club's spending in this
summer's transfer market.
Purslow denied that Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has been starved of funds and insisted
that net outlay is in keeping with previous years. Liverpool have made two significant signings
since June with Alberto Aquilani, the Italy midfield player, and Glen Johnson, the England full
back, moving to Anfield for a combined sum of about £36 million.
Rafa should trust more to youth.
Liverpool youngster Daniel Ayala is hungry for more opportunities after a brief taste of
Premier League football.
The Spanish defender played in Liverpool's first two games of the season after Martin Skrtel and
Daniel Agger were struck down by injuries.
Currently on loan at AEK Athens, 20 year Liverpool striker Krisztián Németh put in an excellent
man of the match performance against Atromitos last week.
Németh came on as a substitute in the 29th minute and showed composure, skill, strength and an end
product when he provided the assist for Ismael Blanco to score the winning goal.
The Toffees swept past Greek outfit AEK with a minimum of effort.
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1-0 Yobo
2-0 Distin
3-0 Pienaar
4-0 Jo
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Time to be brutally honest.
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Last night David Ngog was picked to start up front against Lyon in a crucial, let me repeat
crucial, Champions League tie. One we could ill afford to lose, hell a draw would have been
something, but to lose puts us in a whole heap of trouble.
This season has not started the best for Everton, so far they have been unable to recapture the
form they showed last season in the league and sit a lowly 13th. Couple this with two heavy
defeats and the hands of Benfica in the Europa league and things aren't looking so rosy for David
Moyes and his men.
Executive chairman Peter Storrie has defiantly insisted under-fire manager Tony Adams' short and
turbulent stay at Fratton Park is not on the line. Storrie's declaration may sound like a
predictable call to arms but the bare facts tell a different story. Since former Arsenal and
England captain Adams was promoted from the shadow of Harry Redknapp 21 games ago, he has presided
over just four wins in all competitions.
Here's a look at some of the movers and shakers in the various leagues across Europe. I tried to
copy this all from ESPN, let me know if something's off.
CHAMPIONS
England: Manchester United
Spain: Barcelona
Italy: Inter Milan
Germany: Wolfsburg
France: Bordeaux
Scotland: Rangers
Portugal: FC Porto
Holland: AZ Alkmaar
UCL AUTOMATIC BERTHS
England: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea
Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla
Italy: Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan
Germany: Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich
France: Bordeaux, Marseille
Scotland: Rangers
Portugal: FC Porto, Sporting Lisbon
Greece: Olympiakos
Holland: AZ Alkmaar
Turkey: Besiktas
UCL QUALIFYING
England: Arsenal
Spain: Atletico Madrid
Italy: Fiorentina
Germany: Stuttgart
France: Lyon
Scotland: Celtic
Portugal: Benfica Sporting Lisbon
Holland: Twente Enschede
Turkey: Sivasspor
Greece: PAOK Salonika
Belgium: Anderlecht, Standard Liege
Austria: SV Salzburg
Denmark: FC Copenhagen
Russia: FK Rubin Kazan, PFK Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Switzerland: FC Zurich
EUROPE LEAGUE
England: Everton, Aston Villa, Fulham
Spain: Villareal, Valencia
Italy: Genoa, AS Roma
Germany: Hertha Berlin, Hamburg
France: Toulouse
Scotland: Heart of Midlothian, Aberdeen
Portugal: Benfica, CD Nacional de Madeira, Braga
Holland: Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven
Turkey: Trabzonspor, Fenerbahce
Greece: Panathinaikos, AEK Athens, Larissa
Belgium: KAA Gent
Austria: Rapid Vienna, Austria Vienna
Denmark: Odense BK
Russia: FC Moscow
Switzerland: Young Boys, FC Basel, Grasshoppers
RELEGATED
England: Newcastle, Middlesbrough, West Brom
Spain: Real Betis, Numancia, Recreativo Huelva
Italy: Torino, Reggina, Lecce
Germany: Energie Cottbus, Karlsruhe, Arminia Bielefled
France: Caen, Nantes, La Havre AC
PROMOTED
England: Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Burnley
Spain: Xerez, Tenerlife, Real Zaragoza
Italy: Bari, Parma, Livorno
Germany: SC Freiburg, Mainz, Nurnberg
France: Lens, Montpellier, Boulogne
The Inter squad will train this morning before heading off to Japan ahead of Wednesday's
Copa Suruga match against Japanese club Oita Trinita.
As the squad travel to Japan, speculation surrounds the future of several players as international
transfer window opens.
D'Alessandro's agent, Fernando Oto has joined Fernando Carvalho in publicly
denying suggestions that the Argentine could move to Europe.
There are loads of articles out there in the interwebs today regarding Kyrgiakos' move to
Liverpool. I'll just link to some of the more widely-read sources, such as the BBC and the
Telegraph. TVNZ, a site I'd never visited before today but which boasts that it is the "Best
Sports Site" according to Quantas Airlines, is reporting on a statement supposedly put out by
Kyrgiakos apologizing to fans and clearing up confusion over remarks he made just a week earlier
when he claimed he would not move to PAO and was going to play for AEK for Four years:
Liverpool new boy Sotiris Kyrgiakos has delivered a public apology to Greek fans after realising
his lifelong dream.
Wouldn't he be better placed getting some pitch time at Anfield?
Liverpool have today confirmed Hungarian duo Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon will
spend the 2009-10 season out on loan.
Nemeth has joined Greek side AEK Athens until the end of the campaign, while Simon will spend the
term with Spanish club Cordoba CF.
French defender Sylvain Distin has completed his move from Portsmouth to Everton. The 31-year old
has agreed to a 3-year deal with the Toffees and will take the place of the departed Joleon
Lescott. Once Phil Jagielka returns, the signing will give the club some much needed depth on the
back line.
Arsenal striker Eduardo is in danger of facing a two-game suspension after UEFA determined that
he was guilty of misleading the referee after his blatant dive during Arsenal's Champions League
playoff vs. Celtic on Wednesday.
Here is the dive, in case you missed it the first time.
If suspended, Eduardo would miss Arsenal's first two Champions League group stage matches
against Standard Leige on Sept.
New Liverpool defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos believes he has title-winning experience to boost the
Anfield club's already flagging Premier League challenge.
The 30-year-old, signed last week from AEK Athens for £2million, has won titles with Rangers and
Panathinaikos and could make his Liverpool debut at Bolton tomorrow.
Liverpool starlet Daniel Ayala has spoken of his delight at breaking into the Reds' first-team
squad and is eager to get more playing time as soon as possible.
The 18-year-old Spaniard took full advantage of injuries to Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger and came
on as a substitute in the opening game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur before starting at
Anfield as Rafael Benitez's men comfortably beat Stoke City 4-0.
Given the paucity of options we have in attack, where Voronin in somehow still given a run out
and we have little or no cover for the mesmeric Fernando Torres, I found it odd that we loaned out
Krisztián Németh to AEK Athens and now seeing him produce this bit of magic (see below) makes me
believe he would be better off back at Anfield.
With the Europa League group stages starting today, it will likely translate into European
action on a regular basis for Fulham and Everton regulars Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard. However,
Dempsey is set to miss Fulham's opener against CSKA Moscow due to an injury. With Roy Hodgson set
to rest a number of regular starters, there's a chance -- however slight -- that Eddie Johnson
might see some action today against the Russian club.
From The Writings Of Jonny Carter: September 2009
Rodwell: Poise, Maturity & Culture
It wasn't the strongest or most organised of European opposition but that wasn't the fault of
Everton.
The rather convoluted route to a Europa League final derided with an experimental overpopulation
of match officials has sometimes brought the validity of the event into question.
Liverpool's exciting young striker Krisztián Németh has scored his first two goals for AEK
Athens.
Goal v Giannina – 20 September 2009 (0:43)
Goal v Olympiakos – 23 September 2009 (0:22)
That's two goals and one assist in four appearances for AEK.
Europa League on GolTV: AEK Athens - Benfica at 1pm, Valencia - Genoa at 3pm, and Celtic - Rapid
Vienna at 8pm. Copa Sudamericana on Fox Sports en Espanol: Lanus - LDU Quito at 6pm and Espanola -
Velez Sarsfield at 8:30pm. CONCACAF Champions League on Galavision: Toluca - Marathon at 10pm.
Earlier this week, I watched the AEK Athens - Benfica game when I thought to myself: "Wasn't there
a yank that played for Benfica at one time?"
Not good!
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Liverpool are fearing the worst on the fitness of Sotirios Kyrgiakos after the Greece
defender was forced off before half-time during his side's 2-1 win over Luxembourg on
Wednesday.
The Clock Is Ticking on Rafa's Reign, here are ten ways he can buy himself more time.
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1. Put Yossi Benayoun in First Team Sheet EVEN if we have no injury
problems!
We have attacking problems, i.e. a lack of alternatives up top, the thing is we have a talented
striker who could well be about to explode onto the scene, only for some reason we loaned him out
to a faraway country and refuse to bring him back, why?
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Hungarian striker may decide to stick it out in Greece.
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Krisztian Nemeth admits that he would seriously think about making his loan move to AEK Athens
permanent.
Benitez considers move for former striker, but why?
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Liverpool linked with Emile Heskey
England striker Emile Heskey has been linked with a January move back to Liverpool.
Olympiacos have announced Temuri Ketsbaia will take the reigns of the Piraeus-based club, nine
months after his former dwelling Anorthosis Famagusta stunned Europe by becoming the first ever
Cypriot representative in the Group Stages of the Champions League – at the expense of the Greek
champions.
Liverpool have made a swift and surprising move for AEK Athens defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos.
Its understood that the 6 foot 5'' man is on his way to England to have a medical.
It is believed that the two clubs have agreed a £2.5 million fee for the former Glasgow Rangers
player.
Despite all the speculation today, Rafa does have some money to spend in the transfer market and we
can expect one more signing in attack before the window closes.
According to ESPN Soccernet, AEK Athens defender Sotiris
Kyrgiakos claimed he received an offer from Liverpool that he will
accept. He wrote on his personal website,
"I would like to inform the fans of AEK that on Monday night I received an offer from
Liverpool, an offer which I have accepted.
The Greek International has signed.
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RAFAEL BENITEZ has moved to ease Liverpool's centre-back concerns by agreeing a deal to
sign Greece international Sotiris Kyrgiakos.
The Anfield manager has been keen to bolster his defensive options given the summer departure of
Sami Hyypia and ongoing concerns over the fitness of Daniel Agger.
Liverpool have today pulled off a surprise transfer coup, and swooped for Greek international
Sotiris Kyrgiakos from AEK Athens, as manager Rafa Benitez looks to reinforce his rearguard,
weakened by injury in recent days.
Kyrgiakos has spent only a year back in Greece, after a career which has seen him play in Germany
for Eintracht Frankfurt and in Scotland with Rangers.
I think the above highlights pretty much sum it all up. Liverpool totally dominated their first
home game, a stark contrast from the performance on Sunday. Glen Johnson has already shown that he
is worth every penny that was spent on him. I mean really, did you see that second goal? Holy
shit!
