So it is Manchester City who proudly sits at the top of the Premier League table going into
Christmas this year.
Of course, manager Roberto Mancini is refusing to get carried away by all that, but it is true
that it is his side who now hold the advantage going into the tough second part of the season.
The young one putting one over the old figure
The last of the Carling Cup quarterfinal fixtures were completed yesterday and surprisingly,
Crystal Palace advanced to the next stage. Which leaves Manchester City, Liverpool and Cardiff as
the other teams capable of winning this competition. The draw sees the Premier League sides face
off against each other and whoever comes out victorious from that clash will probably win this
cup.
Galaxy 3 Real Salt Lake 1
Best in the West: The Galaxy celebrate their Western Conference championship Sunday at Home
Depot Center (Photos by Staff Photographer Sean Hiller).
Supporters' Shield? Check. MLS Cup place secured? Check. Now just one more challenge awaits for
the Galaxy.
Now this is interesting. According to SoccerAmerica -remember SoccerAmerica?-- the current
iteration of the New York Cosmos front office is getting blowed up. Paul Gardner's latest,
quasi-bizarrely written treatise for the old-school footie mag throws forth a tale of upheaval
around the MLS expansion pretenders and leaves you with more questions than answers.
1) They're baaaaaack! And probably better than ever. The Champions have had a sluggish start to the
season, but the biggest shock was not the high profile losses against Napoli and Juventus
themselves, but the manner in which they were utterly outplayed by both pretenders and looked
completely toothless.
Tomorrow evening, it's Valencia-Barcelona at the Mestalla, one of the classicos of Spanish
football.
While not the biggest match on our schedule, it's an important one nonetheless.
It's only the 4th game of the early season schedule, but it will tell us a lot about where we
stand in the league.
Now probably wasn't the best time for Modric to enter into a bicep competition with member of the
Park LaneOh my, when we're good, we're good. Four goals to the Hotspur, none to the Liverpool
pretenders and, for ninety minutes on a Sunday afternoon, all felt right within the world. How long
that feeling is sustained for is now anyone's guess.
For many Arsenal fans, Saturday brings a mixture of optimism and caution. Following the defeat
at Old Trafford, the future direction of the club has been questioned and debated in the press and
in the pubs alike. The collective voice suggests that Arsenal can no longer compete at the top
level for player transfers and wages.
So, the unmistakeable chimes of Big Ben bring the craziest few months
an Arsenal fan has ever had to endure to a close. We have lost our club captain, we have lost last
seasons best player, and we have been humiliated 8-2 by Man United, yet, with that big bell still
ringing in my ear (insert your own joke!
There are two big races that will be decided next year: Premiership Champions and the 2012
Presidential election. Though very different contests, each is important to people on either side
of the Atlantic and the runners and riders in them are not too dissimilar either.
The Reigning Champions Manchester United/Barack Obama
The ones to beat the Championship Belt is fastened around their waists.
By Neil Blackmon
Will United add another to the case this year?
Part I Part II Part III
Toe met stiching this past weekend in the Barclay's Premier League, and we've now seen an
opening weekend lacking quality, or at the very least, entertaining football and devoid of a home
side claiming full points.
Seattle and RSL could be battling it out for a Supporter's Shield this season. (Getty
Images)
Aside from a handfull of teams, we are at the halfway point in the Major League Soccer season.
Most teams have played 17 games or more at this point so we should have a very solid understanding
as to who is contending and who is just flat out pretending.
Today United won a staggering 19th title. It was Alex Ferguson's 12th Premier League title, a
fete that will never me matched again, as long as I live anyway. The question I am posing is; Who
can stop United?
In the same afternoon the blue pretenders from across the road won their first trophy in 35
years and Mancini was quoted after the game in saying,
'This is just the beginning'
Maybe it was the euphoria of the occasion that clouded his judgement and made him have this
random (or calculated) outburst but is it really the beginning?
Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi sit atop football's Everest as the world's two supreme
players. Some observers have tentatively suggested others are equally deserving of breathing
such rarefied air. Messi's team mates at Barcelona, Xavi and Iniestia, are certainly frequently
mentioned in such regard.
Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has put a positive spin on losing his spot at right-back to Martin
Kelly, insisting the competition for places is a positive sign for the club.
The 20-year-old Kelly has started every match on the right side of defence since Kenny Dalglish
took charge just over a month ago, which has meant Johnson has had to fit in on the left.
I guess now we have moved past winter and entered the Cliché season. So every game will be like
a Cup Final. Home games are a must win. No team can be underestimated, certainly not Wolves who've
just beaten The Pretenders. So on and so forth, I could probably write a thousand words
just with clichés; but don't worry, a headache and a modicum of common sense will prevent me from
doing that.
I'll admit, I'm something of a sucker when it comes to transfer rumors. I get swayed rather
easily with even the faintest of suggestions that we might get this young-buck-on-the-rise or that
disgruntled-superstar-with-bundles-of-talent. With the way the media juggernaut churns out these
stories, it's a bit hard to keep track of what's fact versus fiction.
"Tomorrow their challenge could not be more basic. Bale has to reclaim belief in the suspicion
that at his best he is beyond restraint, that he is indeed the most exciting, free-spirited and
inherently intelligent young footballer in the world. Van der Vaart has to show again the ability
to read a game more shrewdly than anyone around him.
The Arsenal fans and players who berated Roberto Mancini and his Manchester City side for
parking the bus last night were actually underestimating their own side and showing City too much
respect. Did they think a side who have never finished in the top four of the Premier League, who
were beaten 3-0 at home by Arsenal earlier this season, would come to the Emirates expecting to
win?