Two own goals helped Arsenal on their way to an ultimately comfortable victory as Wolves tired
from their early pressing to relinquish control.
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Alex Song gave a reminder of what is to be missed in January when he leaves for the African Cup
of Nations as his introduction gave Arsenal renewed spark in the midfield.
Click to continue reading...
Gunners Today 07 November @ 08:18 PM EST
Shortly after Wolves scored their consolation goal, their fans chanted rather ironically "4 nil
and you cocked it all up". Or something along those lines. It is good to know they have a sense of
humour. Not that the supporters needed to illustrate that for me again.
When Doritos sponsored Wolves (the last time they were in the Premiership back in 2003) my
History teacher at the time, a die hard Wolves fan, suggested an acronym for the tortilla chips
brand.
Click to continue reading...
Forgot to post this the other day, but The Times has a nice look at Alan Wiley's work in the Man
Utd v Sunderland game (when Fergie dissed his fitness).
They have a nice graphic, but the long and the short of it is that he ran about 11k and was on
average 18 metres from the ball and 16 metres from fouls.
Click to continue reading...
Scott Lucky is a guest blogger in my college soccer guest blogging series that will be
happening this fall. The series is a way for my Online Soccer Academy players and readers to see
what it's like to be a college soccer player and share in some of these players'
experiences.
Scott is a special guest member in my Online Soccer Academy and is a Senior and
Captain at Tusculum College; an NCAA Division 2 College in Greenville, Tennessee.
Click to continue reading...
Robin van Persie inspired Arsenal to an impressive win over Olympiakos as the Gunners fluent
football was too good for the Greeks.
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How do Arsenal propose to become more ruthless? By ditching the goalpoacher of course.
Click to continue reading...
MIKE JACOBS 28 September @ 11:10 AM EST
Jozy Altidore appears to be settling in at Hull City of the English Premier League, and was
interviewed recently by LA Times' Chuck Culpepper. Altidore references his new life in the
Premiership.
He marvels at the pace: "I just think the league has an intensity about it and has a way about
it that there's no other way to play in the league. Click to continue reading...
Vito Manonne produced a string of saves to ensure Arsenal took the share of the spoils.
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Roy Hodgson is becoming quite the tactical master against Arsenal as his side once again tested
the Gunners to their limits yet somehow, mainly in the form of Vito Manonne, came away with
nothing.
Click to continue reading...
Arsenal won the battle of the 4-3-3 as Wigan Athletic afforded the Gunners too much space in the
centre of midfield to play their game.
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Roberto MartÃnez would been have growing up in Catalonia around the same time Johan Cruyff was
instilling his model of play at Barcelona and what was to become the very DNA of the football
club.
Click to continue reading...
Alex Song has flourished in his role as the deepest midfielder, his tackling and pressing key to
Arsenal's impressive start to the season.
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It's funny how a fresh start can result in a change in attitude and fortune.
Click to continue reading...
An interesting article about distance covered per game in the EPL from 2006.
In 2005/06, the average EPL midfielder ran 11.49 kilometres per game. The average EPL centre-back
covered 9.96 kilometres per game.
From the article, "the average distance covered by players in matches has changed little [between
2002 and 2006] but the amount done at top speed has almost doubled.
Click to continue reading...
A great majority of the football world has grown used to laughing off Arsene
Wenger's dramatic remarks over major incidents in recent years. This is precisely why the
Arsenal manager was largely ignored when he labeled the accusations over
Gunners striker Eduardo's recent "dive" against
Celtic as a "witch-hunt".
Click to continue reading...
Here are a few notes from today's high-intensity Fire training session... McBride Back in Action
- Injured forward Brian McBride (torn labrum) was back on the training field today, participating
in his first "full go" practice since having surgery in mid-July. McBride, who isn't listed on the
Fire's injury report this week, looked good in practice and didn't seem to be inhibited by the
injury whatsoever.
Click to continue reading...
Manchester United came back from a goal down to defeat Arsenal in a game which owed much of it's
entertainment and controversy to the expansive style of both teams.
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Brilliantly awful or awfully brilliant, whichever way you want to describe what was an
enthralling, up-and-down game but one which was screaming out for someone to get hold of the ball
and play it.
Click to continue reading...
See The Cup 27 August @ 01:52 PM EST
Santos and Inter played the match for the 16th round, which was postponed. And it was one of the
best matches of Campeonato Brasileiro so far. Santos jumped ahead with 2 goals in a very short
period of time. However, by the beginning of the second-half, Inter came back with a hat-trick of
forward Alecssandro, who, with 10 goals, is now in the relatively large group of second top scorer
of the league.
Click to continue reading...
This is another WPS post, but I wanted to hit some other stuff first.
Chapka may be on to something, even though I couldn't naviagate the Buff site to save my life, and
I couldn't figure out from the diagram how to make the pirate headband.
"Dan, why do you want to dress like a pirate? Click to continue reading...
After all was said and done at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday afternoon, one thing was certain:
the game was as entertaining as it was hyped up to be.
The game was dominated in possession by Barcelona, but in opportunities by Chelsea. Michael
Essien set the pace for Chelsea, with a majestic strike in the 9th minute.
Click to continue reading...
Soccer is an aerobic based sport, with frequent high intensity anaerobic bouts of speed and power.
It requires total body strength and coordination training, as well as flexibility, balance and
agility. The most important aspect of soccer fitness training is that it involves using
soccer-specific movement patterns, both with and without the ball.
Click to continue reading...
So the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica are all on nine points after three qualifiers apiece.
Each nation is pretty much through to the Hexagonal, though I haven't done the math. Maybe they are
in for sure, don't know.
And while it's a great accomplishment for each nation to be 3-0 at this point, it's not exactly
surprising.
Click to continue reading...
Soccerblog 06 July @ 01:55 PM EST
Marcos Senna is listed as a midfielder but his usefulness lies in his being a utility player
capable of coming forward on attack, falling back to defend, and controlling midfield. He is strong
in the air, very capable with free kicks, burns up the outside turf to slice in a cross, quick and
decisive in his tackling, and shows some dribbling chops too, turning and twisting his way through
defenders.
Click to continue reading...
Really fun game to watch last night...
High intensity, high tempo, lots of action, what more could you want? Well, a little less action for Tim Howard and a little more in front of the Argentine goal, but...
Other thoughts:
- Howard was insane. Almost Kasey Keller v.
Click to continue reading...
Ziga Zoga 14 September @ 11:54 PM EST
To me getting better at whatever facet of the game you want to improve in requires repetitive
and high-intensity practice, i.e. game pace practice. It does no good to practice at a lower
intensity that what you can expect in a match. In my opinion, players and teams would be better
served to compete if practices are consistently made more intense than matches.
Click to continue reading...
