Luke Varney of Leeds-Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
On January 27th, Leeds United defeated Tottenham Hotspur who featured a strong line-up that included Gareth Bale by a single goal and qualified for the fifth round of the FA Cup.
On Sunday, the Whites will face defending Premier League champions Manchester City, whose only reasonable aim this season is to win the FA Cup after an early elimination from both the Champions League and League Cup, and with Manchester United over ten points ahead at the top of the league table.
Leeds United boss Neil Warnock looks set to add another midfielder to his squad with news that the
Yorkshire club has tabled a bid for SK Brann midfielder Rudolph Austin.
With former Derby midfielder Paul Green already in the ranks, Warnock is searching to rebuild a new
spine in order to push for Premier League promotion this season.
The selection of a child in Tottenham's lineup added fuel to the suggestion that Redknapp wasn't
too bothered about the Carling CupFredi Kanoute, Michael Brown, Jermaine Jenas, Pascal Chimbonda,
David Bentley, Jamie O'Hara and now Roman Pavlyuchenko and Massimo Luongo. It's just as, if not a
little bit more, depressing a list as Pearce, Waddle, Southgate, Batty, Vassell, etc.
Tottenham Hotspur fans have had the privilege to witness some truly outstanding football in the
2010/2011 season. The outstanding talents of Bale, Modric, and Van der Vaart now grace the Spurs
line up, terrorising the opposition with their skill and ability, as opposed to the days of average
players like Postiga, (Michael) Brown, and Ghaly.
A warm welcome once again to Tom Tainton, who has generously taken time out of his obscenely busy
schedule to pen his excellent thoughts on one of the more marginalised members of the Spurs family.
Those of a sensitive disposition should look away now - Tom pulls no punches.
Amazingly, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was shown just a yellow card for his vicious
challenge on our very own Danny Welbeck, currently on loan at Sunderland. A few months ago Gerrard
intentionally elbowed Michael Brown in the head and before that should have gone down for
assault.
After the referee blew the whistle for freekick and bottled sending the Liverpool legend off in
front of the Anfield crowd, which was 2,000 under full capacity.
Ahead of Sunday's match against Liverpool, journalists were searching for a Sir Alex Ferguson
rant against the FA, asking him what he thought of Steven Gerrard getting away with two red card
offences in a week.
First Gerrard stuck his fingers up at Andre Marriner and told him to "fuck off" but no action
was taken.
Two members of the big four clash Sunday when Liverpool visits Old Trafford for a date with
Manchester United.
Manchester United will be trying to stay in first place in the league standings, with Chelsea
and Arsenal in hot pursuit. Liverpool, on the other hand, is fighting to stay close to a Champions
League slot as the games dwindle away.
Steven Gerrard has escaped disciplinary action over for the use of his forearm against Portsmouth's
Michael Brown in Liverpool's 4-1 win on Monday. The decision has incensed Manchester United and led
to allegations that the Football Association has employed double standards. Had he been found
guilty of violent conduct, Gerrard would have been banned from Liverpool's trip to Old Trafford on
Sunday.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will not face action from the Football Association following his
clash with Portsmouth midfielder Michael Brown.
It is understood the FA sought clarification from referee Stuart Attwell after Gerrard appeared to
catch Brown with his forearm during the 4-1 win for Rafael Benitez's men at Anfield.
Just last week, Steven Gerrard escaped punishment from the FA after he stuck his fingers up at
the referee and told him to "fuck off". Given that both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo have
both received yellow cards for sarcastically applauding a bad decision by the referee in the past,
it is fairly alarming that Gerrard, who captained England the week before, was let off.
Following Rio Ferdinand's arm swinging incident against Craig Fagan of Hull City last month, we
were subjected to replays of the incident every five minutes on Sky Sports News.
The incident was quickly picked up on by the tabloids and the media was consistent in its belief
that Ferdinand should be banned.
A view of Stevenage vs Portsmouth in the first round of the League Cup. Pompey won 2-1 at the
Lamex Stadium, thanks to goals by youngster Nadir Ciftci and hardman (aka dirty bar steward)
Michael Brown, and so progress to the second round.
Photo: Adam Davy / EMPICS
Darren Murphy scored the consolation for the home side (at the time, it was the equaliser to
Ciftci's opener), a bit like this:
Ireland defender Marc Wilson revelled in his new-found responsibility at Portsmouth and
insisted: I want the captaincy for keeps.
The County Antrim born Irishman was the surprise choice to lead Steve Cotterill's strongest side
out for the pre-season friendly against Fulham last Saturday.
Portsmouth announces roster ahead of D.C. United friendlySad, sad state of affairs when Pompey's
marquee names are...Danny Webber, David Nugent, Michael Brown, Tommy Smith, and wait for it...Marc
Wilson.
After hitting the woodwork five times in the first half Chelsea finally took the lead when
Didier Drogba guided an excellent free-kick past David James to give the Stamford Bridge outfit the
lead.
Kevin Prince Boateng, who had earlier kicked Michael Ballack out of the game, fluffed a
Portsmouth spot kick when his tame effort was easily saved by Petr Cech.
Not quite the goal plundering masterpiece we'd set our hopes on- more like a few tawdry
brushstrokes in the general direction of the canvas with aims to get the job done as swiftly and as
casualty-free as possible. Yes, at times it was lacklustre; at others it was downright dreary.
If it's as easy as that at Wembley in two weeks time then this blog will be a very happy URL
indeed.
As routine a victory as you will ever see, the overriding feeling is possibly one of disappointment
that we didn't rack up a cricket score ala Wigan in November. But three points is three points is
three points and with the race for the top four set to become excruciatingly tight in the coming
weeks, we'll take a victory in any shape or form.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was deemed to be free to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on
Sunday after avoiding a suspension for violent conduct following his clash with Michael
Brown...
Recently Sir Alex Ferguson has come out and expressed his disappointment with the fact that Steven
Gerrard was not punished for what looked like an intentional elbow on Michael Brown of Portsmouth.
Now this is the second accusation against Gerrard in recent weeks. The first came when he held
up what appeared to be a 'V' sign in the direction of the referee.
Ryan Giggs is fighting to be fit for Sunday's eagerly awaited Premier League showdown with
Liverpool at Old Trafford. United's 11 times title winner has been out of Sir Alex Ferguson's squad
since...
The Football Association lost even more credibility today after deciding against charging
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard with violent conduct.
The Phil Collins fan committed what was dubbed a 'forearm smash' on Portsmouth's Michael Brown
last night, sending the midfielder crashing to the floor.
O'Hara turning the other cheek. Portsmouth's troubles boiled over on to the training ground on
Monday when a practice match erupted into fisticuffs between midfielders Michael Brown and Jamie
O'Hara. With the cash-strapped club's future hanging in the balance this week, the tension was
palpable at their Eastleigh training complex and Brown was making his presence known with
over-zealous tackles
Two thousand Liverpool fans who left home in the early hours and braved icy roads or frozen rails
to follow their team delivered a damning silent verdict.
Followers of almost any other club would have booed and chanted for the manager's head. But they
are slow to turn on their own on Merseyside.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez believes the first-half dismissal of Javier Mascherano signalled the
beginning of the end for his side as they fell to a 2-0 loss at Portsmouth today.
The Argentinian midfielder saw red shortly before the interval after recklessly crashing into Tal
Ben Haim, although his feet did not leave the ground.
"We're building a platform," Michael Brown says. "We want to leave a legacy – we
often talk about how good it's going to be – but what is it? How do we define it?
"We'll see other legacies in the fact that we need to upgrade some stadia and venues,
and they will be local football facilities.
Skip back to Friday afternoon and Reading kept their timely streak going, beating Leeds 2-0 to
temporarily yomp to the top of the Championship thanks to Adam Le Fondre's late double.
As expected, there were a few choice tackles over the course of the game (Leeds' Zac Thompson
was sent-off after 13 minutes) with Reading's Jem Karacan finding himself on the receiving end of
several 'robust' tackles before Michael Brown's flying gooch-first lunge finally caused the
Turkish-ish midfielder to limp off with the 23-year old eventually leaving the Madjeski on
crutches.
Must have been pretty cold temperatures at game time I got an e-mail this morning
from Blogger 1-1-8. "As much as I think that he is a fine German player, I'm done with Ballack."
[Or something along those lines. Expletives removed for our classy audience.]
And I couldn't agree more.
A bullying, selfish FIFA Confederation President pursuing his own agenda to the detriment of the
development of the beautiful game? No, not Jack Warner, but AFC boss Mohamed Bin Hammam.
That, at least, is the perspective of much of New Zealand's soccer media this week, following
the AFC's ultimatum to New Zealand's Wellington Phoenix, who play in Australia's A-League: become a
lot more Australian, or else.
