By Ollie Irish
Via Wengerball
Robbie Savage almost lost his cool on BBC Radio 5 Live when defending the sort
of 'They don't like it up 'em' football that has made the English Premier League so rife with
injuries. He also admitted that when he was a Blackburn Rovers player, then-manager Mark Hughes
gave him explicit orders to be physical and cynical.
By Ollie Irish
Via Wengerball
Robbie Savage almost lost his cool on BBC Radio 5 Live when defending the sort
of 'They don't like it up 'em' football that has made the English Premier League so rife with
injuries. He also admitted that when he was a Blackburn Rovers player, then-manager Mark Hughes
gave him explicit orders to be physical and cynical.
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson seems to have made a stuttering start to his time on Merseyside,
picking up 4 points in his first 3 league games. Although its very much early days and a lot could
happy in the next 35 gamers, if Hodgson is to take Liverpool back to where they belong in the
coveted top four of the Premier League, how will he best utilize the players at his disposal to
ensure he gets the best results?
Between season 2000-01 and 2006-07, Manchester United went through their bleakest spell since the
introduction of the Premier League. To finish runners up twice and in third position three
times...
Continue to the full story
Last week, Arsene Wenger yet again accused another team of intentionally going after his players in
an attempt to take them out of the game. This time Sam Allardyce and Blackburn Rovers were his foil
(at other points Stoke have been one of his targets, too). As I read them, Wenger's comments had
the feel of "bad teams aren't good enough to compete with us, so they will just foul us to keep up.
Last week, Arsene Wenger yet again accused another team of intentionally going after his players in
an attempt to take them out of the game. This time Sam Allardyce and Blackburn Rovers were his foil
(at other points Stoke have been one of his targets, too). As I read them, Wenger's comments had
the feel of "bad teams aren't good enough to compete with us, so they will just foul us to keep up.
Tomorrow someone will score the 10,000th goal in the English Premier League and Nike has created
a special ball for the occasion. The Nike Golden ball will be used in all ten
Premier League matches this weekend to commemorate the milestone.
So far there are three other landmarks for goals in the Premier League:
- 1st goal: Mark Venus (Ipswich Town v
Tottenham) (2000 / 1)
- 1,000th goal: Fabrizio Ravanelli (Derby County
v Blackburn Rovers) (2001 / 2)
- 5,000th goal: Dennis Bergkamp (Middlesbrough v
Arsenal) (2005 / 6)
Nike has produced 100 of the golden limited edition T90 Tracers and
they will be available to buy from the moment the 10,000th goal is scored in this weekend's round
of Premier League matches.
Arsene Wenger is a man of many talents but modesty is not among them judging from his most
recent outburst. In the aftermath of the announcement that Arsenal had made a record profit in the
last financial year Wenger took time out to draw attention to his record for developing young
players.
It's almost two years since Theo Walcott's finest hour in an England shirt. The Arsenal's man
smashed his way in to Fabio Capello's thoughts with a sublime hat-trick in England's 4-1 demolition
of Croatia. After slowly falling from grace since that day, the former Southampton man has started
this season with a bang, scoring four times in his last two games.
I'd been meaning to do the tactical analysis of the Blackburn game earlier but last week was
quite busy, and since this weekend didn't have any games I thought watching the win at Ewood Park
again would be a good way to get the Arsenal fix.
I know many articles have already been written about this game and many of you've probably moved
on.
Chelsea have a special player on their hands in Josh McEachran. This kid has plenty of skill and
knows how to finish plays in the middle, on the wing or in front of goal.
The London Evening Standard says manager Carlo Ancelotti is a confirmed admirer and handed
McEachran, who joined the club as an eight-year-old, a squad number last January (51) and invited
him to travel with the first team for last season's Carling Cup tie at Blackburn.
A couple of stories breaking late in the day today:
First, Robin van Persie is out until mid-October with the ankle injury suffered against
Blackburn, according to the official site. Damn damn damn. Remember a couple of months ago when we
were all worried about how van Persie, Chamakh, and Bendtner were going to play together in the
same system?
By Chris Wright
Arsenal will definitely have to do without the services of Robin Van Persie for
the immediate future, and are also waiting to find out the extent of the injury Theo
Walcott sustained on England duty last night.
Premier League football returns after the international break that saw it's usual spate of
injuries, outstanding performances and potential returns to form.
In the context of the title race it's still early but Chelsea and Arsenal have a relatively easy
game compared to Manchester United, while all English teams involved in Europe will also have an
eye on midweek's fixtures when they embark on their Champions League and Europa League group stage
games.
It was indeed another special afternoon of Premier League action and rest assured, a lot of
drama was involved throughout. From Goodison Park all the way down to the Emirates Stadium, there
was plenty of action that ended up impacting the league table in more ways than one.
The day started at Merseyside with Manchester United's visit to Everton.
If you, like me, don't follow the Portuguese league or the early stages of the Champions League
then you probably don't know much about Braga. That's the reason I was quite interested in
listening to Arsene's opinion about our opponents on Wednesday night. These are the points I got
from the press conference,
Braga are team that is physically strong, well organized, play with quick transition from
defence to offence, and are good with shots from distance.
As I awoke this morning, I read one of the funniest stories I think I have read for a long, long
time. Sam Allardyce, former Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United manager and currently in charge
of Blackburn Rovers, claims his style of management is better suited to Real Madrid or Inter Milan
and that if he were in charge of these teams, he would comfortably win back to back titles, the
Champions League, the World Cup and any other trophy he could think of.
Clint Dempsey scored his first goal of the Premiership campaign on Saturday, netting a
second-half equalizer to keep Fulham on its unbeaten start to the season.
Earning his third start of the season in Fulham's 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers, Dempsey
rescued a point for the Cottagers by heading home a cross from new teammate Carlos Salcido.
After watching the Premier League games on television this past weekend, I realized that we've
now reached a monumental place in the evolution of English football. Out of the 20 clubs in the
Premier League, there's only one that plays a traditional English style of football. And that is a
huge achievement.
After another week of second-rate defending it's really no surprise to see that only three
defenders made this week's Team of the Week. It should also not be a surprise to see
certain strikers on the list following their contributions. What may be a surprise is that
this is the first time some of these top-class players have featured in this JBM
segment.
By Ollie Irish
This is the first in a new series on Pies in which we track down former pros and see what
they've been up to since they retired. We kick off with a Blackburn and Man Utd stalwart...
David May, superstar, he's got more medals than Shear-er!
In the sixth round of fixtures in this Barclays Premier League season, things took quite a
shocking turn. Saturday's theme appeared to be upsets as the underdogs hit back at the expense of
their significantly more fancied counterparts.
The day's action began at Eastlands where Carlos Tevez inspired Manchester City to pick up a 1-0
win over defending champions Chelsea.
GK Robert Green West Ham United, the former England number one has struggled
since his gaffe in the World Cup. He has produced some decent saves this season, but let in some
soft goals too. West Ham's decision to stick with him though has obviously helped with his
confidence as he produced a very good display against the Spurs.
It was no huge surprise that the transfer window slammed shut without us securing a new
goalkeeper.
I actually do believe Wenger when he says the transfer market has been tough. Just look at the
lack of business in general from other clubs. It has been non-existent (Man City being the
exception).
It was no huge surprise that the transfer window slammed shut without us securing a new
goalkeeper.
I actually do believe Wenger when he says the transfer market has been tough. Just look at the
lack of business in general from other clubs. It has been non-existent (Man City being the
exception).
UPDATE: According to Sky Sports News, Blackburn did not sign
Ivelin Popov because they were unable to sell Jason
Roberts to generate funds. Chairman John Williams said,
"We were expecting a bid for Jason Roberts .
According to Blackburn's official website, West Ham United have completed the
signing of Blackburn defender Lars Jacobsen on a free
transfer.
Tweet
Theo - finally living upto his number eh?
It was a massive win on Saturday by the Arsenal at Ewood Park. We overturned our woeful result
of April in the very same ground and won away to a Fat Sam managed team, which we haven't done
since 2002, and that includes the Invincibles.
For the first time Premier League teams had to name a 25-man squad for the first half of the EPL
season and there was a couple of surprises.
All 20 clubs had to submit a squad of up to 25 players containing no more than 17 players who do
not qualify as homegrown. Homegrown players are classed as players who "irrespective of his
nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the
Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months
prior to his 21st birthday".
The Ultimate Football Blog
Premier League Player Of The Week
We continue our quest with Arnold Furious of 411 Mania to
identify the best players from each Premier League game week. Here's how the voting went after week
3.
Arnold
1.
Tweet
The Press Area
Over the past fortnight we gave you an opportunity (through our Facebook & Twitter handles) to
clear all the doubts about our beloved Arsenal. We got close to 30 questions in all; not a massive
number but good enough to kick-start this feedback session!
Some of them were really eye-catching & well-versed.
According to Andy Cryer at the Lancashire Telegraph, Blackburn's actions these
past few transfer windows proves that the club desperately needs a takeover as they are in need of
cash.
This past transfer window we saw Blackburn spend practically nothing and when you combine the
past few transfer windows, the club has spent less than half of the £30million that they generated
from selling players.
Hello there,
plenty of Arsenal players in international action today. The official site has a list of what
those players did and didn't do at the weekend, you have to think the majority of them will be at
it again tonight. I could go and check but frankly it's just not interesting enough.
Like the rest of you I'm just hoping that the lads come through without injury so we've got as
full a squad as possible for the weekend.
After John Toshack quit the Wales job, it took a matter of minutes before Welsh legend, Ryan
Giggs, was linked to the job, with some claiming he was the Football Association of Wales' first
choice.
Former United coach, Eric Harrison, has claimed if Giggs wants the job, he couldn't carry on
playing too.
Written by Rasp
After Dawson's unfortunate injury (ahheerrmm) playing against Bulgaria last Friday, we saw the
defensive triangle of English players that many had wished we could have signed this summer – and
I thought they looked pretty good, but then again, they weren't up against the most testing of
opposition.
By Chris Wright
Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs hasn't exactly ruled himself out of
becoming the next manager of Wales, although he hasn't exactly ruled himself in either.
Giggs continues to play a pivotal role in the United midfield, but the 36-year-old veteran (who
has already taken his UEFA coaching badges) has admitted that the prospect of taking charge of his
country certainly appeals to him, telling the Daily Telegraph;
"If you go into management, the big job is to be in charge of your country.
As the Welsh national team hot seat seemingly opens up, Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has
been the most discussed candidate. While the winger's first team commitments haven't faded at Old
Trafford, he insists it's not out of the realm of possibilities to manage Wales while playing for
the Red Devils.
It's official. Robin Van Persie is out for six weeks. Boys and Girls please revise your fantasy
league line-up accordingly. The Dutch player injured his ankle in a game against Blackburn on
August 28th. What does this mean? Well for starters, Van Persie is set to miss Arsenal's first two
Champions League group stage matches.
I caught the second half of the Denmark Iceland game... Thomas Kahlenberg fired in a late winner
via a deflection in stoppage time to send Danish fans into raptures, in much off the game Denmark
played with alot of the ball but didn't really look like breaking down the Iceland mean
defence.
We have another day or so of these pesky little international matches, but the WCR Top 25 Clubs
will be back in action soon enough. As they return, we are continuing with our Schedule/Scoreboard
experiment.
With many of the top clubs in the world taking part in UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday
and Wednesday of next week, most of the top clubs will play their weekend domestic matches on
Saturday.
