Carlo Ancelotti successfully removed the clause that stipulates he cannot be employed by another
Premiership club by agreeing to a smaller severance amount. The Italian humiliated by Chelsea's
crass gesture shows his serious intent to continue coaching in England counting redemption as one
of his motives.
John Terry gets things going. Frank Lampard adds a brace. Jason Puncheon claimed a late
consolation goal for Blackpool. And within the space of a short week, the Blues are back in title
contention. Things could once again get very crowded on the top.
Ian Holloway's boys showed no slowing down in their quest for attractive and attacking football
despite their history of throwaway second half displays. In Spurs, they met a much higher priced
mirror image one but with similar defensive liabilities. By the end, Spurs had to satisfy
themselves with Roman Pavlyuchenko's forlorn consololation.
Nani scores a superb goal in the 3rd minute and Man Utd fans look for a real spanking. Surely,
Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney would get on the act. But Wolves fight back through a couple of
set pieces. George Elokobi scoring his first Premiership goal followed by Kevin Doyle's deflection
of a set piece past Van der Sar.
Roberto Di Matteo has been sacked. A victim of unrealistic expectations generated in the wake of
West Brom's Premiership return and some very bright wins earlier in the season. For Carlito, a
great birthday celebration.
Chelsea unveiled their shiny new expensive toys. Kenny Dalglish did not have to do so.
The best players on display were Martin Kelly, representing the future of Merseyside and Jamie
Carragher, the veteran center back. Then there was Roy Hodgson's parting gift of Raul Meirelles
arriving at Anfield unheralded but now on the vanguard of Liverpool's unmistakable revival.
For the Gunners, a tale of two halves. Or more to the point, a tale of two Arsenals. Unstoppable
in the first and scoring at will to take a four to nothing lead. The game signed and sealed.
Walcott after 47 seconds, Van Persie with two goals, and Johan Djourou with his maiden goal. Or so
anyone sane would think.
Fernando Torres vs Andy Carroll; Didier Drogba vs Luis Suarez
Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel combined fetched the Reds £56m in transfer fees which left them
almost breaking even with their purchase of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll at £22.8m and £35m,
respectively. The Reds would have loved to have Charlie Adams but Blackpool's bid of £14m was a
bit too high.
This is a video clip with presenter Charlotte Jackson.
Andy Gray makes a lewd remark to Jackson which critics will see as sexist and supporters will
consider harmless banter. But there is no mistake he crossed the line with Sian Massey simply
because of her gender as the clip below shows.
Michel Platini has made financial reform his signature theme. The danger has never been so
keenly felt before with a glut of clubs facing an existential crisis because of living beyond their
means.
Clubs will have to clamp down on debt and start breaking even from the 2011-12 season for a
three year rolling period or otherwise face potential bans from European competitions.
Thomas Vermaelen has suffered another injury set back which now needs surgical intervention on
his damaged Achilles heel. He's now expected to miss a further six to eight weeks.
Sebastien Squillaci is also out for possibly three weeks with a hamstring injury.
Not to be part of the squad but to train with them for four weeks. He will return to the Galaxy
well before the MLS season begins. That was a lot of hoo ha about nothing. Harry Redknapp could
still be angling for a loan move as rumoured.
One thought that Wednesday was going to be a big day for the Tractor Boys because they were
supposed to meet Arsenal in the Carling Cup semi-finals.
They'll be disappointed to know in their place it's going to be Liverpool as per The Sun.
Stellar journalism as usual. When it comes to disinformation it does not get better than a Murdoch
run operation.
Roy Hodgson in all likelihood should have managed his last game as Blackburn felled Liverpool,
3-1. The only thing extending his job in the very short term is there are no readily available
options for the Reds. They could crank up an emergency call to Martin O'Neill or come back crawling
on all fours to Rafa Benitez.
There will be no more midfielders, strikers, or goalkeepers. The only question is cover for
Thomas Vermaelen whose Achilles heel injury seems to be dragging on forever.
Vermaelen's been a fantastic addition but is a known injury risk. While at Ajax he missed a
substantial number of games in four out of the five seasons.
Man Utd added another scalp as they beat Stoke City to continue their unbeaten season. They're
seriously looking in good nick to repeat Arsenal's feat.
Utd opened its scoring from a clever backheel by Chicharito - audacious in its creativity and
opportunism. Should be goal of the year candidate.
Trite but true - won't someone show Beckham the door?
It is interesting to note that Harry Redknapp is reconsidering David Beckham's short term loan
move to Spurs fearing it could prove counter productive. He seems to indicate he prefers a longer
stay.
Some handbags reported in the Man City training grounds between former Arsenal mates, Adebayor
and Kolo Toure.
The reports of Edin Dzeko arriving at the Eastlands has further endangered Adebayor's status at
City. The disgruntled striker is probably wishing he had joined AC Milan when he had the
opportunity.
Lee Bowyer is a nasty piece of work. The FA correctly slapped a three match ban on him for
stamping on Bacary Sagna with malicious intent to hurt as clearly shown in the picture. He was also
guilty of raking his studs down Sagna's Achilles heel on two separate occasions. It was clear as
daylight on the pitch and it should have resulted in a straight red card but the referee and
linesman either missed it or chose to ignore it.
A decidedly underwhelming performance by Spurs against Fulham. But Gareth Bale added to his
already acquired superhero status by artfully deflecting a Rafael Van Der Vaart free kick past Mark
Schwarzer.
Fulham on the other hand showed a lot of enterprise and skill. Some slick passing saw them
coming close to equalizing but Michael Dawson effected a fine goal line save.
Wayne Rooney ended his open field goal scoring drought when he headed home from a Patrice Evra
cross. It looked so anti-climactic after all that media space devoted to this phenomenon. But West
Brom answered back in spectacular fashion through James Morrison's lashing drive that dipped in to
beat Tomasz Kuszczak.
Harry Redknapp expects Beckham to introduce some class to this Spurs side
David Beckham is set to return to the Premiership after almost seven years. A short term loan
move to Spurs is in the works. From the looks of it Harry Redknapp expects him to suit up to play
in the FA Cup tie against Charlton Athletic as soon as next weekend.
Juventus is reportedly preparing a £20million bid for Robin Van Persie as a replacement for
Alessandro Del Piero, now 36 years and close to retirement. This might be a sick twisted attempt to
get Van Persie and Giorgio Chiellini reacquainted on the same side of the field.
Cracking start to the second half of the season as Arsenal coasted to a win in the hostile
environs of St Andrews. It is not easy to win there and for the Gunners, any trip to Birmingham
dredges up bad memories, very bad memories. But they turned in a scintillating performance against
a club that has only lost once in 29 other occasions at home.
Freddie Ljungberg, playing his best years at Arsenal before unraveling at West Ham and taking a
more calamitous turn in the MLS at Seattle Sounders and Chicago Fire is back in the news.
He is a Celtic now. For at least a short while till he finds another underwear gig or is
overcome with kilt.
Chelsea finally got a win through a controversial goal scored by Florent Malouda. It was Michael
Essien releasing Didier Drogba - clearly in an offside position when he does. The flag stays down
as Drogba races off down the right with the Bolton defenders trying to catch up - the Cote
D'Ivoirian centers the ball and finds Florent Maloda arriving at the far post to sweep it home.
Rafa Benitez's replacement at Liverpool, Roy Hodgson is also not having an easy go either. Now
that the Inter coach has been shown the door, Sir Woy's critics will be emboldened further. The
name of Kenny Dalglish is increasingly being bandied about. And so today it came to pass with
Wolves becoming the latest club to inflict yet another embarrassing defeat.
It is an axiom that Arsenal will find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. And it was yet
another set piece that proved their downfall. Somehow for some reason, the Gunners transform into
drooling dolts dealing with corners or free kicks. After Vermaelen, it is clear that there appears
to be no take charge personality to organize the defense.
Once again Spurs found themselves a man short as Younes Kaboul was sent off for argy bargy after
being the brunt off many fouls by Cheik Tioté. The Ivoirian is fast acquiring an unsavoury
reputation.
However, Spurs are by far playing the best football in the Premiership and I say this being an
Arsenal fan.
The enfant terrible of the Serie and now the Premiership scored from two penalties and after
Brad Friedel could not handle a weak David Silva shot was left with the simple task of stroking the
ball into an empty net. Not exactly scintillating stuff but any hat trick looks good on the
resume.
Arsene has been on all fours against Chelsea. Will it end today?
In a few hours Arsene Wenger's cachet of excuses will stand another test. No one exposes the
systemic frailties of the Gunners in a more stark light than the Blues. And on one knows it better
than Wenger because when it comes to analyzing their recent history, the manager uses the classic
dodges of rationalization, denial, and projection.
A Boxing Day error by Tim Krul gifted Carlos Tevez the ball and it led to a goal for Gareth
Barry in the opening minutes. Another defensive lapse saw the Argentinian sprint by Fabricio
Colocinni and get his foot onto a James Milner cross to stick the ball into the net. Two goals and
the game was not even five minutes old.
Rafael Van Der Vaart yet another Real Madrid castoff is proving to be the signing of the season.
For Tottenham. Two clinical finishes from the Dutchman was enough to see Spurs through against
Villa who are reeling under Gerard Houllier. Two wins in 12 matches has seen Villa slip to 15th,
four points above relegation threatened Fulham.
The Premiership got back on track and if Arsenal were hoping that the Black Cats would prove
spoilers, then they were in for a rude shock. Steve Bruce's side looked like their Xmas lunch was
still sitting heavy. That they only lost by a brace is a small miracle. Utd could have scored a
half dozen or more easily.
Space Oddity reminds me of Arsene Wenger. Especially these lines.
"Ground control to Major Tom, your circuits dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?"
Maybe it is Wenger's famously tone deaf personality.
Surprise. Surprise. It is Carlos Tevez, threatening to leave Man City after submitting a
transfer request. The ostensible reason is he is homesick and separated from his children who live
in Argentina. Which means that he is leaving to play for Boca or Huracan.
Anuradha Desai, the CEO of Venky's, the new owners of Blackburn decides to show Sam Allardyce
who wears the pants or in this case, a sari.
It seems much of the falling out took place over his future role in player recruitment. Venky's
preferring Kentaro, now in the business of football management, over him.
"He's out there operating without any decent restraint"
Chris Hughton who took Newcastle back to the Premiership in an amazing turnaround and managed to
keep them at a respectable level this season was given the boot.
The Magpies thumped Aston Villa, satisfyingly tore Sunderland apart 5-1 in the derby, recorded
their first win against Arsenal in five years, and prolonged Chelsea's angst last week.
According to a NOTW report David Beckham is being primed as the future FA in the aftermath of
the England's failure to land the World Cup. The thinking is that his global brand and charisma
will bring back respect to the FA. Maybe all in time for a successful 2030 bid.
