According to sportingintelligence, we have the sixth hardest starting schedule in the league for
the first 7 matches. And it's not like today wasn't already a downer!
From Brian Sears:
Within an objective ‘tough rating' system, the lower the rating, the harder the start.
According to sportingintelligence, we have the sixth hardest starting schedule in the league for
the first 7 matches. And it's not like today wasn't already a downer!
From Brian Sears:
Within an objective ‘tough rating' system, the lower the rating, the harder the start.
Skysports.com understands a host of Premier League clubs are battling it out for teenage sensation
Josiah Chukwudi.
The 15-year-old central midfielder was spotted playing Sunday League football.
QPR recently invited the teenager on trial and he is believed to have impressed at Loftus Road.
News of Chukwudi's talent has alerted most of the Premier League big guns with Manchester City,
Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton all thought to be weighing up moves for the
youngster.
With Euro 2012 cluttering up the brain matter reserved for the not-so-fond-memories of most of
us, and the Olympics just around the corner, things are slowly heating up in the build-up to the
2012/13 English Premier League.
Champions and this season's Premier League betting favourites Manchester City have had the
purse-strings drawn tightly thus far, with Roberto Mancini maintaining he will not disrupt the team
in any major way during this transfer window, but expect late action in the form of moves for RVP
and at least two other big-name signings.
1. The laws of physics bow to Papiss Cisse. 2. He's also the classiest time-waster OTP has ever
seen. Why not run down the clock with an outrageous lob, eh? 3. Richard Scudamore, give the public
what they want! Let's get this Joe Jordan v Owen Coyle fight on. 4. The temptation to 'do an [...]
Newcastle United's form this season have been pretty consistent, resulting in their excellent
position in the league, sitting at sixth place with an open chance in chasing for the fourth place
spot or at least finishing in Europa League zone.
This situation is obviously being acknowledged by Newcastle players, including their Argentinian
center back, Fabrio Coloccini, who is excited with the situation but urged everyone to simply take
one things at a time and shouldn't be thinking too far about what European competition the team
will play next season.
Having already end their six years title drought, Craig Bellamy now has a new target for his
club, Liverpool, which is finishing in the top four place and eventually playing in the Champions
League again.
Bellamy believes that after finally winning something again, it's eventually time for the Reds
to get themselves back into the height of European club competition and that's obviously the UEFA
Champions League.
So Newcastle's new signing Papiss Demba Cisse and fellow Senegalese team mate Demba Ba netted
goals for the Magpies in their 2-1 home win over Aston Villa yesterday. However, whats funny is
that the same two players could not do the same for Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations.
And this is interesting because African players have a tendency to perform well for their clubs,
but when it comes to their national sides, it is a different story.
The visit of the sky blues of Abu Dhabi to The Home of Football and the subsequent infiltration
of this very blog the day after got me thinking....
It is often stated that the top clubs are set to align themselves with various sponsors (whether
related or otherwise) to ensure that they do not get caught by the FFP regulations.
The visit of the sky blues of Abu Dhabi to The Home of Football and the subsequent infiltration
of this very blog the day after got me thinking....
It is often stated that the top clubs are set to align themselves with various sponsors (whether
related or otherwise) to ensure that they do not get caught by the FFP regulations.
Right then, back to Premier League action today with a trip to Wigan.
It would be fair to say that our last two trips to this ground have been less than fruitful.
Last season 10 man Wigan came from behind to force a draw (was it a Squillaci own goal or a
Fabianski flap? Either way it wasn't pretty).
The visit of the sky blues of Abu Dhabi to The Home of Football and the subsequent infiltration
of this very blog the day after got me thinking....
It is often stated that the top clubs are set to align themselves with various sponsors (whether
related or otherwise) to ensure that they do not get caught by the FFP regulations.
It seemed like a monumental shock was on the cards. Against the run of play in the 55th Georgios
Samaras had equalized for Greece and the Germans, despite dominating possession found themselves
level with 25 minutes to go. Would the Germans cave under the pressure of expectations?
Greece caused an almighty upset in 2004 when they went all the way and won the European
Championships and they are again playing the role of over-achievers, having defied derision to make
it into the knockout stages at Euro 2012.
Fernando Santos' side was written off before a ball was kicked and they did nothing to promote
any real optimism with their opening draw against Poland and subsequent loss to the Czech
Republic.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has admitted he would love to face Liverpool in the Carling
Cup final should the Eagles overcome fellow Championship rivals Cardiff.
The South London outfit dumped a second-string Manchester United side out the competition on
Wednesday night thanks to a dramatic 2-1 extra-time victory at Old Trafford.
Euro 2012 had an awful start for Czech Republic rightback Theodor Gebre Selassie as his side
lost 4-1 to Russia in a match where he became the tournament's first player to be racially abused
by fans. "I've experienced much worse," said Gebre Selassie of the abuse that is now being
investigated by UEFA.
The final lineup for next summer's European Championship in Poland & Ukraine is now set
after tonight's playoff second legs, with a strong field of sixteen heading for Eastern Europe.
There were no winning fightbacks following the first legs and Portugal, the Czech Republic, the
Republic of Ireland and Croatia all advanced to Euro 2012, eliminating respectively Bosnia &
Herzogovina, Montenegro, Estonia and Turkey.
So there were some very interesting results around Europe this weekend with the major stories
making the headlines being Inter's 4-0 loss to Roma in the Serie A and Chelsea's surprising 3-3
draw at home with United.
Coming off the back of 3 poor results, Inter desperately needed a win to ensure they broke
into the top 4 spot.
Big guns: Aging stars like, from left, Robert Pires, retired Brazilian striker Ronaldo (well, OK
maybe it's a little late for him) and Chelsea's Didier Drogba, seen here at a charity game in
Hamburg, Germany today, may have less motivation to take MLS money now that China's newly rich have
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester. Date: Saturday 26 November, 2011 Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Mike
Jones (replaces Phil Dowd). Well, it's almost time for the second of Newcastle United's triumvirate
of clashes against "the big guns" of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. Like the last
one, we will also face the further disadvantage of playing away [.
let's start with early team news ahead of tomorrow's trip to Wigan and nobody who played on
Tuesday is added to the sicklist, but Tomas Rosicky remains out with a thigh knack while Abou Diaby
will miss 10 days with 'a slight muscular problem'.
Obviously I don't think anybody is surprised by that but Diaby now seems to be caught in an
infinite loop of injury.
I must say I always enjoy it when a German club comes to town. They invariably bring loads of
fans, make lots of noise and have a cracking time. Marseille and Arsenal might still be in the
driving seats in this group, but Dortmund's win on Matchday 4* means they are very much back in it,
and if that fact hasn't been drummed into the team throughout this week in training then I'm a
goalscoring Dutchman.
Pia Sundhage should be proud. Her squad made history today at legendary Old Trafford, the home
of Manchester United. This match marked the first time that an international women's soccer game
was played at the Theatre of Dreams, with 29,000+ in attendance to watch the historic event. To top
that, the USWNT defeated Korea, completing their clean sweep of Group G.
Good afternoon! It's a glorious Saturday here in Red Bulls Land. Alas, our glorious club is in
beautiful Montreal, Quebec, to take on MLS expansion side Montreal Impact (7:30pm ET, MSG, match
notes here). It will be the second meeting of these two Eastern Conference rivals this season.
In terms of international friendlies, Schalke 04 falls somewhere between an English team with no
strikers (Everton) and a Spanish team intent on reminding us they have nothing to play for
(Madrid).
The Germans have stars. They also have some very intriguing young players who (gasp!) have
gotten regular minutes early in their careers.
(Note: Yes, I am aware this is not a Sporting Kansas City or LA Galaxy website. But when
I heard that the two teams would be playing four hours away from where I live during the Chicago
Fire's bye week, I jumped at the opportunity to cover it. Hope all of you enjoy it.)
There was a moment at the end of Sporting Kansas City's 1-0 victory over the L.
Tomorrow night Chelsea travel to Birmingham in the replay of our FA Cup tie and Chelsea's team
selection will be more than interesting as Roberto Di Matteo takes over until the end of the
season.
Will he go with the norm or will be look to make an immediate impact?
It would be easy to pick the big guns, to get out there to get the win.
For as long as man civilized man has existed the great terrible question has been asked: How do you
stop a wall of water? The answer of course is deceptively simple; Build.
Build, is exactly what Coach Andracki has been doing in the two weeks since his Lancer squad was
deluged by the Wave 25-9 in Milwaukee.
It's been scintillating six months of English football. We've had blow outs (8-2, 5-3, and 6-1
between some big guns) and some stunning individual performances (numerous hat-tricks and goal line
saves). With half a season to go, it's time to ...
