Apologies once again for our hiatus, but we should be back with our usual regularity now! Football may not have a winter break in the UK, but here at 90minutesonline circumstances led us to follow in the footsteps of some of Europe's other top leagues.
Time to catch up on some of the latest action from the Premier League. Snow may have affected a number of matches during the first fortnight of the new year, but barring any more blizzards the fixture list is getting back on track. Wednesday night saw two previously postponed games finally kicking off: Liverpool versus Tottenham and Arsenal versus Bolton.
As fate would have it Arsenal and Bolton were playing for the second time in just three days, following on from the Gunner's 2-0 win at the Reebok stadium on Sunday afternoon. Under the new management of Owen Coyle Bolton were praised by many critics for their football last weekend, and at the Emirates the fans that had hounded Gary Megson's tenure had further cause for optimism.
Considering that a two-goal victory would give them at least a short-term stay at the top of the Premier League, Arsenal started particularly sluggish. Defensive insecurity led to Bolton scoring the opener. It was understandable that Gaël Clichy would be a little rusty after being out since early November, but Arsenal should have been sharper and Gary Cahill took advantage to volley in.
With Arsenal pressing for an equaliser things got even worse for the home side after 28 minutes. Bolton were awarded a clear penalty thanks to a sloppy foul courtesy of Denilson, and Matthew Taylor confidently put Bolton 2-0 ahead. Arsenal then started to show some character and crucially halved the deficit before the half-time whistle. Good work by Fabregas released Tomas Rosicky who then finished with aplomb inside the near post.
The 52nd minute became the key talking point of the match, Mark Davies and William Gallas both going for a 50-50 ball which resulted in Gallas finding Davies' ankle instead. Play continued and whilst Bolton dithered slightly, Arsenal exchanged passes until Fabregas expertly scored from an acute angle.
Whilst it was harsh on Bolton they would do well to remember that you should always play to the whistle. The tackle was bad but there was never any guarantee that the referee or Arsenal players would realise enough to stop play themselves.
From then on Arsenal were in the ascendancy, Bolton continued to show signs of attacking prowess but the momentum had clearly shifted. With 25 minutes to go Arsenal won a corner that was eventually nodded on by Diaby and found Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian defender provided further evidence that he might be an emergency striker in the making, skilfully volleying the ball in after it had moved across his body.
The scoring was rounded off by Andrey Arshavin, the fan favourite was quick with his feet in creating space and stroked in the fourth goal with 5 minutes to go. Thus Arsenal finally had the two-goal win they had craved to lead the Premier League, although only after enduring a difficult evening.
Meanwhile Liverpool and Tottenham were playing at Anfield, with both trying to get one over on the other in the race for fourth place in the league. Spurs fans had good reason for a sense of foreboding about their trip to Liverpool, shockingly Tottenham have failed to win away against the traditional top-four in 65 matches since 1994.
The way Wednesday night started did little to suggest that Tottenham were on the way to breaking that duck either. After a mere 6 minutes Liverpool took the lead, Alberto Aquilani with a rare start created an opening on the edge of the area and Dirk Kuyt found the left corner past Gomes.
Liverpool were in overall control throughout the first half and had opportunities to extend their lead but it stayed 1-0 at half time. Soon after the re-start however Tottenham had every right to feel aggrieved when they had an equaliser ruled out from Defoe. Kyrgiakos and Reina got into a confused mix-up after the Tottenham striker had wandered back onside when he initially hadn't been.
After Defoe had then rolled the ball into the empty net the linesman belatedly raised his flag for the earlier offside decision. The question remains as to what point a player who was offside then becomes legally active in the play again? A matter the FA should try and clarify for sanity's sake.
The reprieve for Liverpool enabled to them focus and they went on to create a host of chances. Riera hit the crossbar with a header and Kuyt failed on more than one occasion to double his tally. Tottenham's manager thought to substitute on Sebastien Bassong with 15 minutes to go but found that the Frenchman wasn't wearing any shorts!
It isn't clear if Bassong eventually entered the game with his own shorts or not, but he did finally appear 5 minutes later than intended. In the dying minutes it was clear that Bassong should have simply stayed in for the day. Ngog had broken through the penalty area and the defender had tumbled him over from behind.
Kuyt scored with his first attempt but was ordered to retake it after encroachment into the area by both sides. With his second he rolled it past Gomes and gladly wrapped up the win for Liverpool that now sees them a point adrift of Tottenham.
Finally, Manchester United and Hull was oddly the only Premier League fixture on Saturday. The game itself was a proverbial cakewalk as United dominated possession and racked up goal-scoring chances. In an unusual combination Rooney was paired up front with Michael Owen.
The partnership certainly worked out better for England's current primary striker, Owen meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his build-up play as chances went astray. The home side took the lead in the eighth minute after Rooney gobbled up a Myhill parry, but despite their superiority and chances it stayed 1-0 until the final 10 minutes.
By this point Berbatov had replaced Owen, but on this occasion the plaudits were all going to be for Rooney who literally leads by example in his current form. In the 82nd,86th and 93rd minutes he plundered three more goals all from within the penalty area to compound a miserable yet predictably bad day at the office for Hull and Phil Brown.
The relegation candidates will certainly be looking ahead for more winnable games, the rest of the season looks like a long grind. The title race ploughs on however, with the top three all looking to catch the initiative there are plenty more twists and turns to come.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Sunday, 6 December 2009
World Cup: Six months to whip yourself into a frenzy
The draw for next year's World Cup in South Africa took place on Friday evening amid an expected amount of pomp and hype. There was endless build-up to the coverage, followed by the actual coverage of the draw itself on Sky Sports News. The broadcaster is never one to miss an opportunity to milk an event.
Personally I ended up plumping for watching it live on BBC 2. Not that I'm a big fan of Jonathan Pearce's commentary, but I could at least bare the clichéd platitudes of Lineker's motley crew.
The draw was given that added glamour of having Hollywood's most famous South African, Charlize Theron as a co-host. She was joined by the unintentionally humorous Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke, who spoke with an accent akin to Inspector Clouseau, but jollier.
The two of them spent far too long relaying to the crowd and the live feed, what the dynamics of the draw was and why. This was mostly conveyed by utilising Charlize's acting prowess, by which she played a not atypical women who was feigning interest in the sport.
An assembly of famous sportsmen and women were then presented on stage for the honour of picking out the balls that would determine which countries will play which next summer. All were representatives of South Africa in football, rugby and cricket except for Haile Gebrselassie and finally David Beckham.
The former England captain, who is widely expected to make the England squad for a fourth World Cup, was clearly the star attraction of the whole event. His presence in Cape Town was not only for the purposes of the draw, but more importantly for the English FA's ongoing campaign to secure hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup.
If reports are to be believed, Beckham's general standing and superstar status is becoming increasingly integral to a campaign that has been a little under whelming thus far. This was again seen with England's own video presentation to support their 2018 bid. The mini feature was entirely animated and unlike virtually all the other perspective host nations for 2018 and 2022, there was no lauding of their own criteria such as stadiums, cities or footballers.
The draw itself, when we finally got there, lasted for a little over 25 minutes. The excitement growing throughout with each circulation of picks and as the groups for 2010 slowly unveiled themselves.
For every European Championships and World Cup, there is an obligatory 'group of death', and 2010 will be no different. In fact you could realistically argue that next summer will have two groups- D and G, perhaps Dolce&Gabbana should organise sponsorship..!
Should either Germany and Brazil fail to get out of those groups, it would still amount to a major, major shock, but there is certainly some intriguing matches worth waiting for. I have a feeling that the Ivory Coast may claim the World Cup's first major scalp by ousting Portugal from group G, whereas I have an inkling that Australia will emerge as Germany's closest challengers in Group D.
As for England, there is certainly a case of the luck of the draw. The biggest threat of Group C must surely be the USA, who famously ended Spain's long unbeaten run on their way to the Confederations Cup final in the summer. Matches against Algeria and Slovenia should be reasonably surmountable, put it another way and if England were to struggle against those countries they would be far from the second favourites that English betting claims them to be.
Now that the tournament is scheduled and raring to go, stadium and transport permitting, the 2010 World Cup is looking like it could live up to it's billing as the greatest one ever. If you were to swap the hosts with France amongst the top seeds, then they would represent the traditional top-billed international teams. As well as this, 2010 will have all previous World Cup winning nations competing once again- the potential for some mouth-watering line-ups in the knock-out stages beckons.
It is easy to forget that there are still the domestic seasons to be completed between now and then, 186 days and counting. There is no fear of getting football burnout though, fans just like the players need to get themselves conditioned and trained for the world's biggest sporting event.
Planning the days around your work and trying to watch as many matches as possible, it is only every four years after all! It doesn't occur to yourself that you may be taking things to far when trying to convince your girlfriend the importance of you watching New Zealand taking on Slovakia, who knows- it could be a classic!
The good thing is that there is plenty of time to get yourself primed for the big kick-off on June 12th, so get your annual leave booked off (no need for a holiday!) and your excuses ready..
Personally I ended up plumping for watching it live on BBC 2. Not that I'm a big fan of Jonathan Pearce's commentary, but I could at least bare the clichéd platitudes of Lineker's motley crew.
The draw was given that added glamour of having Hollywood's most famous South African, Charlize Theron as a co-host. She was joined by the unintentionally humorous Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke, who spoke with an accent akin to Inspector Clouseau, but jollier.
The two of them spent far too long relaying to the crowd and the live feed, what the dynamics of the draw was and why. This was mostly conveyed by utilising Charlize's acting prowess, by which she played a not atypical women who was feigning interest in the sport.
An assembly of famous sportsmen and women were then presented on stage for the honour of picking out the balls that would determine which countries will play which next summer. All were representatives of South Africa in football, rugby and cricket except for Haile Gebrselassie and finally David Beckham.
The former England captain, who is widely expected to make the England squad for a fourth World Cup, was clearly the star attraction of the whole event. His presence in Cape Town was not only for the purposes of the draw, but more importantly for the English FA's ongoing campaign to secure hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup.
If reports are to be believed, Beckham's general standing and superstar status is becoming increasingly integral to a campaign that has been a little under whelming thus far. This was again seen with England's own video presentation to support their 2018 bid. The mini feature was entirely animated and unlike virtually all the other perspective host nations for 2018 and 2022, there was no lauding of their own criteria such as stadiums, cities or footballers.
The draw itself, when we finally got there, lasted for a little over 25 minutes. The excitement growing throughout with each circulation of picks and as the groups for 2010 slowly unveiled themselves.
For every European Championships and World Cup, there is an obligatory 'group of death', and 2010 will be no different. In fact you could realistically argue that next summer will have two groups- D and G, perhaps Dolce&Gabbana should organise sponsorship..!
Should either Germany and Brazil fail to get out of those groups, it would still amount to a major, major shock, but there is certainly some intriguing matches worth waiting for. I have a feeling that the Ivory Coast may claim the World Cup's first major scalp by ousting Portugal from group G, whereas I have an inkling that Australia will emerge as Germany's closest challengers in Group D.
As for England, there is certainly a case of the luck of the draw. The biggest threat of Group C must surely be the USA, who famously ended Spain's long unbeaten run on their way to the Confederations Cup final in the summer. Matches against Algeria and Slovenia should be reasonably surmountable, put it another way and if England were to struggle against those countries they would be far from the second favourites that English betting claims them to be.
Now that the tournament is scheduled and raring to go, stadium and transport permitting, the 2010 World Cup is looking like it could live up to it's billing as the greatest one ever. If you were to swap the hosts with France amongst the top seeds, then they would represent the traditional top-billed international teams. As well as this, 2010 will have all previous World Cup winning nations competing once again- the potential for some mouth-watering line-ups in the knock-out stages beckons.
It is easy to forget that there are still the domestic seasons to be completed between now and then, 186 days and counting. There is no fear of getting football burnout though, fans just like the players need to get themselves conditioned and trained for the world's biggest sporting event.
Planning the days around your work and trying to watch as many matches as possible, it is only every four years after all! It doesn't occur to yourself that you may be taking things to far when trying to convince your girlfriend the importance of you watching New Zealand taking on Slovakia, who knows- it could be a classic!
The good thing is that there is plenty of time to get yourself primed for the big kick-off on June 12th, so get your annual leave booked off (no need for a holiday!) and your excuses ready..
Monday, 30 November 2009
A tale of three derbies
Most neutrals gearing up for last weekend's football action would have found it difficult not to be bombarded by the fevered anticipation of three particular matches, especially if you reside in the UK.
I'm not referring to the clash of Portugal's titan's, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica (0-0 by the way!). No, rather the Merseyside derby that was followed by Arsenal's clash with Chelsea and finally Barcelona and Real Madrid in El Clasico.
It seems that the broadcaster's so-called 'Super Sundays' happen a lot more often than they used to. Not so much a reaction to an increase in the number of great football matches that are on, but rather a part of Sky's 'occasionally' unwarranted over-hyping of their schedule.
Anyway, that aside it is time to pick over the remains of the 'key' results of the weekend, at least as far as the Premier League and La Liga is concerned. So we start with Sunday's early kick-off, as Everton hosted Liverpool in a Merseyside derby that was surrounded in the mist of both club's recent poor form.
The over-riding lasting impression from the game was of how Everton failed to exert even more pressure onto the beleaguered Rafa Benitez. The 'Toffees' may have been suffering from a chronic injury list and last week's defeat to Hull City, but they certainly imposed themselves on Liverpool for long periods.
With games as tight as these there is always the danger of one team rueing their luck, and unfortunately for David Moyes that moment came after only 12 minutes. The dogmatic Javier Mascherano struck a hopeful shot that ricocheted off of Joseph Yobo, leaving Tim Howard as a stranded spectator.
This had a galvanising effect on the home team, and they responded with some neat passing and interplay. Before half-time had been reached Everton and their striker Jo had had two goals ruled out for off-side, and had failed to capitalise on their possession.
The second-half delivered more of the same, Liverpool with the intermittent threat and Everton continuing to push the agenda. The inevitable gilt-edged chance for Everton came with 20 minutes left. Firstly Tim Cahill's typical header was pawed away by Reina, only for Fellaini's close-range follow up to be equally smothered by the Spaniard.
The opportunity missed, Liverpool capitalised in the common cruel fashion. Only 10 minutes before the final whistle and Riera tested Tim Howard at full-stretch, the save was good but Dirk Kuyt was quickest to react and pounced for a Gary Linekar type poacher's goal. Everton will recover if they play with the same determination, but Liverpool are far from guaranteed their craved top-four finish on the evidence of Sunday.
The day's second big match concerned the Premier League's league leaders and title pretenders. Until last weekend Arsenal had been on a steady and impressive run of form that had taken them into 2nd place and given credence to their ambitions. Despite the away loss to Sunderland, optimism was still high that the Gunners could overturn Chelsea's new stoical consistency.
Things started steadily at the Emirates and Arsenal quickly settled into holding possession and building attacks, the problem which came back to haunt them was a lack of a killer final pass. Instead Chelsea demonstrated that they are building their title challenge on the back of a strong defence, and for all Arsenal's endeavour there was little goal-mouth action.
As the game moved towards what was appearing to be a closely fought half-time stalemate, Chelsea manufactured their first shot on the home side's goal. Fate would have it that Ashley Cole was the architect, as the home crowd's boos failed to have the desired affect. With 41 minutes on the clock he whipped in a low cross from the left which found the onrushing Didier Drogba, whos touch somehow guided the ball into the top right corner of the net.
Crucially the second goal arrived seconds before the half-time whistle. In an odd case of déjà vu, a similar Ashley Cole cross deflected off of an unlucky Thomas Vermaelen into exactly the same spot of the Arsenal goal. Suddenly 2-0 down and the Gunner's were feeling rather dejected.
The second half saw an expected response from Arsenal, and an injection of pace from Theo Walcott as a substitute. The England international threatened several times down the right flank, but as with a lot of the team's play it simply lacked a Robin van Persie like figure.
Even so, Arsenal did score soon after the break through Andrey Arshavin, only to be thwarted by the referee. The official blew his whistle for a foul by Eduardo on Petr Cech, but replays showed the decision to be harsh. The Chelsea 'keeper had not gained a full grasp of the ball before the Croatian kicked it out of his hands and on to Arshavin, one may wish to re-open the debate that goalkeepers are now afforded too much protection.
Alas, whilst football has many what-ifs, they have to be overcome if you want to succeed and Arsenal got no closer to getting back into the match. The final blow came as the contest looked to be petering out, with 4 minutes to go Drogba converted an impressive free-kick from about 25 yards.
The inquests have begun and Arsenal go from being title-challengers two weeks ago to being also-rans today. Realistically it is still too early to make such sweeping statements, but Wenger will hope that his stubborn words about Arsenal's title chances can inspire them to a long unbeaten run. Either way Chelsea need to drop points, how they cope with squad absences (especially Drogba) during the African Nations will be the key.
Finally we come to El Clasico, always a battle that is watched by a massive global audience every season. What has heightened the expectancy this time around is the relative competitiveness of both Barcelona and Real Madrid's squads. After the way that Florentino Pérez had courted the press and some of the world's greatest players over the summer, there was a genuine excitement about seeing such an eclectic assembly of stars on one pitch.
More importantly for the money-men, Cristiano Ronaldo was declared fit for his first such 'derby', after missing most of the previous six weeks through injury. The match itself was predictably frantic and keenly fought, as Barcelona held onto the ball and looked for openings and Real' looked to the counter with their pace.
The first real chance fell to the visitors after 20 minutes and came at the feet of Ronaldo when he was put through on goal by Kaka, but Víctor Valdés demonstrated his worth with a fine block that flew over. Shortly after Marcelo was also thwarted, in similar fashion by Carlos Puyol who was inspired throughout.
The Barcelona captain repeated his heroics on Marcelo not long after the break, the champions defence was certainly living up to its reputation as being the stronger of the two teams. The home team then continued the theme of the day by taking advantage of their opponent's wasted efforts and taking the lead themselves.
Pep Guardiola had only just substituted Thierry Henry with Zlatan Ibrahimović when the Swede made an instant impact. With virtually his first touch of the ball he confidently volleyed in Dani Alves' cross for the pivotal moment of the match.
The tide turned again however when Sergio Busquets was sent-off for a needless second yellow card, and Real sensed an opening. The game itself naturally opened up due to Real pushing forwards and Barca picking holes with the counter-attack, the La Liga affair was becoming comfortably the best fixture of the day.
The best chances for an equaliser came to Karim Benzema, who at €35 million must be one of the most expensive subs of all time! Perhaps as a result the Frenchman was a little rusty and only managed to blunder his best effort and had his other denied by none other than Puyol.
At the death Lionel Messi contrived to miss a close finish, but who in fairness was thwarted by the usual quality of Iker Casillas. A final turn was performed by Lassana Diarra who got himself sent off with an act of petulance, and with that Barcelona had secured the bragging rights.
On the evidence of Sunday, it may not be a surprise if La Liga was to turn out to be a tighter race than the Premier League this season. Certainly the Premier League is more competitive this time around, but Chelsea are the only team not making mistakes at this moment in time, hence their lead. Roll on the knock-out stages of the Champions League, now that will be interesting.
I'm not referring to the clash of Portugal's titan's, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica (0-0 by the way!). No, rather the Merseyside derby that was followed by Arsenal's clash with Chelsea and finally Barcelona and Real Madrid in El Clasico.
It seems that the broadcaster's so-called 'Super Sundays' happen a lot more often than they used to. Not so much a reaction to an increase in the number of great football matches that are on, but rather a part of Sky's 'occasionally' unwarranted over-hyping of their schedule.
Anyway, that aside it is time to pick over the remains of the 'key' results of the weekend, at least as far as the Premier League and La Liga is concerned. So we start with Sunday's early kick-off, as Everton hosted Liverpool in a Merseyside derby that was surrounded in the mist of both club's recent poor form.
The over-riding lasting impression from the game was of how Everton failed to exert even more pressure onto the beleaguered Rafa Benitez. The 'Toffees' may have been suffering from a chronic injury list and last week's defeat to Hull City, but they certainly imposed themselves on Liverpool for long periods.
With games as tight as these there is always the danger of one team rueing their luck, and unfortunately for David Moyes that moment came after only 12 minutes. The dogmatic Javier Mascherano struck a hopeful shot that ricocheted off of Joseph Yobo, leaving Tim Howard as a stranded spectator.
This had a galvanising effect on the home team, and they responded with some neat passing and interplay. Before half-time had been reached Everton and their striker Jo had had two goals ruled out for off-side, and had failed to capitalise on their possession.
The second-half delivered more of the same, Liverpool with the intermittent threat and Everton continuing to push the agenda. The inevitable gilt-edged chance for Everton came with 20 minutes left. Firstly Tim Cahill's typical header was pawed away by Reina, only for Fellaini's close-range follow up to be equally smothered by the Spaniard.
The opportunity missed, Liverpool capitalised in the common cruel fashion. Only 10 minutes before the final whistle and Riera tested Tim Howard at full-stretch, the save was good but Dirk Kuyt was quickest to react and pounced for a Gary Linekar type poacher's goal. Everton will recover if they play with the same determination, but Liverpool are far from guaranteed their craved top-four finish on the evidence of Sunday.
The day's second big match concerned the Premier League's league leaders and title pretenders. Until last weekend Arsenal had been on a steady and impressive run of form that had taken them into 2nd place and given credence to their ambitions. Despite the away loss to Sunderland, optimism was still high that the Gunners could overturn Chelsea's new stoical consistency.
Things started steadily at the Emirates and Arsenal quickly settled into holding possession and building attacks, the problem which came back to haunt them was a lack of a killer final pass. Instead Chelsea demonstrated that they are building their title challenge on the back of a strong defence, and for all Arsenal's endeavour there was little goal-mouth action.
As the game moved towards what was appearing to be a closely fought half-time stalemate, Chelsea manufactured their first shot on the home side's goal. Fate would have it that Ashley Cole was the architect, as the home crowd's boos failed to have the desired affect. With 41 minutes on the clock he whipped in a low cross from the left which found the onrushing Didier Drogba, whos touch somehow guided the ball into the top right corner of the net.
Crucially the second goal arrived seconds before the half-time whistle. In an odd case of déjà vu, a similar Ashley Cole cross deflected off of an unlucky Thomas Vermaelen into exactly the same spot of the Arsenal goal. Suddenly 2-0 down and the Gunner's were feeling rather dejected.
The second half saw an expected response from Arsenal, and an injection of pace from Theo Walcott as a substitute. The England international threatened several times down the right flank, but as with a lot of the team's play it simply lacked a Robin van Persie like figure.
Even so, Arsenal did score soon after the break through Andrey Arshavin, only to be thwarted by the referee. The official blew his whistle for a foul by Eduardo on Petr Cech, but replays showed the decision to be harsh. The Chelsea 'keeper had not gained a full grasp of the ball before the Croatian kicked it out of his hands and on to Arshavin, one may wish to re-open the debate that goalkeepers are now afforded too much protection.
Alas, whilst football has many what-ifs, they have to be overcome if you want to succeed and Arsenal got no closer to getting back into the match. The final blow came as the contest looked to be petering out, with 4 minutes to go Drogba converted an impressive free-kick from about 25 yards.
The inquests have begun and Arsenal go from being title-challengers two weeks ago to being also-rans today. Realistically it is still too early to make such sweeping statements, but Wenger will hope that his stubborn words about Arsenal's title chances can inspire them to a long unbeaten run. Either way Chelsea need to drop points, how they cope with squad absences (especially Drogba) during the African Nations will be the key.
Finally we come to El Clasico, always a battle that is watched by a massive global audience every season. What has heightened the expectancy this time around is the relative competitiveness of both Barcelona and Real Madrid's squads. After the way that Florentino Pérez had courted the press and some of the world's greatest players over the summer, there was a genuine excitement about seeing such an eclectic assembly of stars on one pitch.
More importantly for the money-men, Cristiano Ronaldo was declared fit for his first such 'derby', after missing most of the previous six weeks through injury. The match itself was predictably frantic and keenly fought, as Barcelona held onto the ball and looked for openings and Real' looked to the counter with their pace.
The first real chance fell to the visitors after 20 minutes and came at the feet of Ronaldo when he was put through on goal by Kaka, but Víctor Valdés demonstrated his worth with a fine block that flew over. Shortly after Marcelo was also thwarted, in similar fashion by Carlos Puyol who was inspired throughout.
The Barcelona captain repeated his heroics on Marcelo not long after the break, the champions defence was certainly living up to its reputation as being the stronger of the two teams. The home team then continued the theme of the day by taking advantage of their opponent's wasted efforts and taking the lead themselves.
Pep Guardiola had only just substituted Thierry Henry with Zlatan Ibrahimović when the Swede made an instant impact. With virtually his first touch of the ball he confidently volleyed in Dani Alves' cross for the pivotal moment of the match.
The tide turned again however when Sergio Busquets was sent-off for a needless second yellow card, and Real sensed an opening. The game itself naturally opened up due to Real pushing forwards and Barca picking holes with the counter-attack, the La Liga affair was becoming comfortably the best fixture of the day.
The best chances for an equaliser came to Karim Benzema, who at €35 million must be one of the most expensive subs of all time! Perhaps as a result the Frenchman was a little rusty and only managed to blunder his best effort and had his other denied by none other than Puyol.
At the death Lionel Messi contrived to miss a close finish, but who in fairness was thwarted by the usual quality of Iker Casillas. A final turn was performed by Lassana Diarra who got himself sent off with an act of petulance, and with that Barcelona had secured the bragging rights.
On the evidence of Sunday, it may not be a surprise if La Liga was to turn out to be a tighter race than the Premier League this season. Certainly the Premier League is more competitive this time around, but Chelsea are the only team not making mistakes at this moment in time, hence their lead. Roll on the knock-out stages of the Champions League, now that will be interesting.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Premier League round-up: New age treatments and Tottenham go goal-crazy
After an extended international break over the last week, the Premier League was raring to get going again this weekend. However, the latest bout of international matches did not pass by without claiming some victims and certain clubs could be forgiven for wondering if fate wasn't conspiring against them.
The most notable casualties concerned the top 2 in the Premier League, as they were on Saturday morning. League leaders Chelsea were made to do without the influential Frank Lampard, whereas Arsenal had to face up to losing the fulcrum during their recent good form- Robin van Persie.
Bizarrely and interestingly enough, van Persie has since been reported to have placed faith in another in the long line of weird and wonderful emerging treatments. The remedy in question 'simply' involves massaging the fluid form a horse's placenta into the area of injury, in this case the Dutchman's ankle ligaments.
The practice is performed by the Serbian doctor Marijana Kovacevic, and it has emerged that van Persie is not the first Premier League footballer to have visited her in Serbia. Former happy customers have included Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera, as well as Manchester City's Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta.
Since Lampard suffered his own injury on England duty he too has also flown out to Serbia. Although it is not believed that he is investing in Kovacevic's horse techniques, but rather her general expertise in muscular injuries.
When asked about the form of therapy that van Persie is undergoing, Arsène Wenger sounded far from convinced, but he did concede that part of the treatment may be psychologically beneficial. Either way it remains to be seen if you'll soon be able to buy it over the counter from Boots, if it does then your local gym may soon wreak of the essence of placenta- mmm!
As for how the absences of both Lampard and van Persie affected their respective teams, the answer ended up being good for Chelsea but bad for Arsenal. The Premier League's top team wasted little effort over the visit of Wolves, confidently brushing them aside with slick demonstrations of passing and moving in their 4-0 win.
The cause of Mick McCarthy's team wasn't helped by their horrendous opening quarter of the match, after only 21 minutes they had already conceded 3 times. The re-emergence of Joe Cole has come at exactly the right time for Chelsea and England for that matter, and against Wolves he showed the extra dynamic that he can provide.
The opening burst of goals for Chelsea came courtesy of Florent Malouda and a brace from Michael Essien, Cole polished off his own display by grabbing the fourth. Ominously the result also saw Chelsea equal the club record of consecutive home clean-sheets, originally set back in 1927.
Whilst Ancelotti and his side are deservedly the current title favourites, the chasing pack of Manchester United, Arsenal and those behind them can maintain some optimism. The African Nations is on the horizon and Chelsea stand to lose the most from it's impact on their squad. The manager maintains that there will be no signings during the January transfer window, but what is certain is that Chelsea will have to quickly adapt to losing key players such as Didier Drogba, Essien, Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel if they want to re-gain the Premier League crown.
Meanwhile, the growing talk of Arsenal's own quest to once again be Premier League champions were literally 'Bent' on Saturday. The loss of Robin van Persie had caused concern amongst the Gunners fans, the Dutchman has been an instrumental part of the club's recent surge towards the Premiership summit, scoring 7 league goals thus far and setting up many others.
Even so, Arsenal have players capable of stepping into the breach, namely Eduardo and the increasingly important Andrey Arshavin. On top of this, other players who have spent long periods injured are now beginning to return. With Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky there should be ample resources to cover for Arsenal's leading goal-scorer.
Despite such reassurances, Arsenal headed to the Stadium of Light knowing that they would have to see-off a Sunderland team that has looked more and more robust this season. Having already defeated Liverpool with a beach ball and been very unlucky not to defeat Manchester United at Old Trafford, yesterday's match looked more and more like a potential banana skin.
The match started with Arsenal making their obligatory frantic forays at the opposition, after which it settled down into an affair with few clear-cut chances. With time running out and Arsenal under pressure to match Chelsea's 3 points, there was an inevitability about Sunderland grabbing the only goal when 20 minutes remained.
England hopeful Darren Bent bundled in a corner at the second attempt and with it dealt Arsenal's aspirations a sudden blow. Despite the result Arsenal are still viable title challengers, but the importance of beating Chelsea at the Emirates on 29th November is of even greater consequence now. As Wenger said, "It is a massive setback because you need consistency to win a title. And today we were not capable of doing that and it raises question marks." Snuffing out Chelsea can be the only riposte.
Elsewhere Manchester United rallied themselves to a comfortable 3-0 win over Everton; Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Valencia the goal-scorers. In truth Everton never looked capable of upsetting the odds, and only threatened once they had both Saha and Yakuba up front in the 2nd half. The tactical change brought only brief respite though, before Utd promptly grabbed their 2nd and 3rd goals to leave David Moyes in a rather forlorn mood.
As for the other half of Merseyside, Liverpool hosted Manchester City in the early Saturday kick-off and both Rafa Benitez and Mark Hughes must have been 'delighted' after a 2-2 draw that did little to help either side back towards the top four. The match itself was widely panned as unbecoming of the score-line and all the goals came after a lacklustre first half.
The two clubs are not short of competition for the coveted Champions League spots and if they continue to drop points as they currently are, there may be some difficult decisions ahead for both boards. It is hard to imagine that either manager won't have until the end of the season, but the same confidence cannot be said for the beginning of next season.
What must count as a relegation six-pointer between Hull City and West Ham, produced a game befitting of the occasion- a humdinger that ultimately ended in a 3-3 draw. The chances of survival for Hull are strongly linked with Jimmy Bullard and Kamil Zayatte, each scored for their club and were once again responsible for driving the home team forward.
For Gianfranco Zola, his concerns will centre round West Ham's porous defence and a worrying new habit of dropping 2 goal leads. Despite establishing a 2 goal cushion after only 11 minutes, they were unable to put Hull to bed and instead found themselves 3-2 behind at the interval. Da Costa salvaged a point with 20 minutes left, but Zola will hope that come the end of the season they won't be regretting their recent results.
Finally attention must turn to today's three o'clock kick-off between Tottenham and Wigan, recent form suggested a home win was most likely but Roberto Martinez will surely suffer a nervous twitch when hearing the words Jermain Defoe in future. The England striker became only the third player to score 5 goals in a Premier League game as Tottenham went on a 9-1 rampage.
Wigan will look back and wish that they could have settled for the 1-0 deficit they had at half-time, unfortunately for them they conceded 8 second-half goals for their heaviest ever league defeat. Not only will Defoe have shown Fabio Capello his increasing worth, there was also an outstanding performance from Aaron Lennon who set-up 3 goals and scored one himself.
The BBC's live text feed of the match jokingly commented after the score reached 3-1 that Tottenham only needed another 12 goals to overturn Arsenal's goal difference advantage. Little did they know that Wigan would collapse in an appalling heap and that Spurs would cancel out half the quota!
If Harry Redknapp can one day get his team to perform against those above them, then who knows what they could achieve. Until then they can dine out on having greatly contributed to yet another high-scoring weekend in the Premier League.
The most notable casualties concerned the top 2 in the Premier League, as they were on Saturday morning. League leaders Chelsea were made to do without the influential Frank Lampard, whereas Arsenal had to face up to losing the fulcrum during their recent good form- Robin van Persie.
Bizarrely and interestingly enough, van Persie has since been reported to have placed faith in another in the long line of weird and wonderful emerging treatments. The remedy in question 'simply' involves massaging the fluid form a horse's placenta into the area of injury, in this case the Dutchman's ankle ligaments.
The practice is performed by the Serbian doctor Marijana Kovacevic, and it has emerged that van Persie is not the first Premier League footballer to have visited her in Serbia. Former happy customers have included Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera, as well as Manchester City's Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta.
Since Lampard suffered his own injury on England duty he too has also flown out to Serbia. Although it is not believed that he is investing in Kovacevic's horse techniques, but rather her general expertise in muscular injuries.
When asked about the form of therapy that van Persie is undergoing, Arsène Wenger sounded far from convinced, but he did concede that part of the treatment may be psychologically beneficial. Either way it remains to be seen if you'll soon be able to buy it over the counter from Boots, if it does then your local gym may soon wreak of the essence of placenta- mmm!
As for how the absences of both Lampard and van Persie affected their respective teams, the answer ended up being good for Chelsea but bad for Arsenal. The Premier League's top team wasted little effort over the visit of Wolves, confidently brushing them aside with slick demonstrations of passing and moving in their 4-0 win.
The cause of Mick McCarthy's team wasn't helped by their horrendous opening quarter of the match, after only 21 minutes they had already conceded 3 times. The re-emergence of Joe Cole has come at exactly the right time for Chelsea and England for that matter, and against Wolves he showed the extra dynamic that he can provide.
The opening burst of goals for Chelsea came courtesy of Florent Malouda and a brace from Michael Essien, Cole polished off his own display by grabbing the fourth. Ominously the result also saw Chelsea equal the club record of consecutive home clean-sheets, originally set back in 1927.
Whilst Ancelotti and his side are deservedly the current title favourites, the chasing pack of Manchester United, Arsenal and those behind them can maintain some optimism. The African Nations is on the horizon and Chelsea stand to lose the most from it's impact on their squad. The manager maintains that there will be no signings during the January transfer window, but what is certain is that Chelsea will have to quickly adapt to losing key players such as Didier Drogba, Essien, Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel if they want to re-gain the Premier League crown.
Meanwhile, the growing talk of Arsenal's own quest to once again be Premier League champions were literally 'Bent' on Saturday. The loss of Robin van Persie had caused concern amongst the Gunners fans, the Dutchman has been an instrumental part of the club's recent surge towards the Premiership summit, scoring 7 league goals thus far and setting up many others.
Even so, Arsenal have players capable of stepping into the breach, namely Eduardo and the increasingly important Andrey Arshavin. On top of this, other players who have spent long periods injured are now beginning to return. With Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky there should be ample resources to cover for Arsenal's leading goal-scorer.
Despite such reassurances, Arsenal headed to the Stadium of Light knowing that they would have to see-off a Sunderland team that has looked more and more robust this season. Having already defeated Liverpool with a beach ball and been very unlucky not to defeat Manchester United at Old Trafford, yesterday's match looked more and more like a potential banana skin.
The match started with Arsenal making their obligatory frantic forays at the opposition, after which it settled down into an affair with few clear-cut chances. With time running out and Arsenal under pressure to match Chelsea's 3 points, there was an inevitability about Sunderland grabbing the only goal when 20 minutes remained.
England hopeful Darren Bent bundled in a corner at the second attempt and with it dealt Arsenal's aspirations a sudden blow. Despite the result Arsenal are still viable title challengers, but the importance of beating Chelsea at the Emirates on 29th November is of even greater consequence now. As Wenger said, "It is a massive setback because you need consistency to win a title. And today we were not capable of doing that and it raises question marks." Snuffing out Chelsea can be the only riposte.
Elsewhere Manchester United rallied themselves to a comfortable 3-0 win over Everton; Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Valencia the goal-scorers. In truth Everton never looked capable of upsetting the odds, and only threatened once they had both Saha and Yakuba up front in the 2nd half. The tactical change brought only brief respite though, before Utd promptly grabbed their 2nd and 3rd goals to leave David Moyes in a rather forlorn mood.
As for the other half of Merseyside, Liverpool hosted Manchester City in the early Saturday kick-off and both Rafa Benitez and Mark Hughes must have been 'delighted' after a 2-2 draw that did little to help either side back towards the top four. The match itself was widely panned as unbecoming of the score-line and all the goals came after a lacklustre first half.
The two clubs are not short of competition for the coveted Champions League spots and if they continue to drop points as they currently are, there may be some difficult decisions ahead for both boards. It is hard to imagine that either manager won't have until the end of the season, but the same confidence cannot be said for the beginning of next season.
What must count as a relegation six-pointer between Hull City and West Ham, produced a game befitting of the occasion- a humdinger that ultimately ended in a 3-3 draw. The chances of survival for Hull are strongly linked with Jimmy Bullard and Kamil Zayatte, each scored for their club and were once again responsible for driving the home team forward.
For Gianfranco Zola, his concerns will centre round West Ham's porous defence and a worrying new habit of dropping 2 goal leads. Despite establishing a 2 goal cushion after only 11 minutes, they were unable to put Hull to bed and instead found themselves 3-2 behind at the interval. Da Costa salvaged a point with 20 minutes left, but Zola will hope that come the end of the season they won't be regretting their recent results.
Finally attention must turn to today's three o'clock kick-off between Tottenham and Wigan, recent form suggested a home win was most likely but Roberto Martinez will surely suffer a nervous twitch when hearing the words Jermain Defoe in future. The England striker became only the third player to score 5 goals in a Premier League game as Tottenham went on a 9-1 rampage.
Wigan will look back and wish that they could have settled for the 1-0 deficit they had at half-time, unfortunately for them they conceded 8 second-half goals for their heaviest ever league defeat. Not only will Defoe have shown Fabio Capello his increasing worth, there was also an outstanding performance from Aaron Lennon who set-up 3 goals and scored one himself.
The BBC's live text feed of the match jokingly commented after the score reached 3-1 that Tottenham only needed another 12 goals to overturn Arsenal's goal difference advantage. Little did they know that Wigan would collapse in an appalling heap and that Spurs would cancel out half the quota!
If Harry Redknapp can one day get his team to perform against those above them, then who knows what they could achieve. Until then they can dine out on having greatly contributed to yet another high-scoring weekend in the Premier League.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
France and Portugal play the pantomime villains
When speaking to colleagues and friends who like their football it is not always easy to find agreement, but in the last few weeks there has been a general unison over one topic in particular. Unless you are French, Portuguese or dare I say a little too diplomatic, almost all football fans were supporting the Republic of Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina for last weekend's 1st leg World Cup play-offs.
The overly diplomatic of you will naturally say that the World Cup would be much poorer for the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Deco, Franck Ribéry, the list goes on. That is a fair point, but it's far from unusual for a World Cup to be missing the odd 'major' international side. Some country that is expected to participate always messes up their qualification.
At least the players I've listed have played in a World Cup, it will always be a great shame that George Best, Ryan Giggs or Alfredo di Stéfano never got such an opportunity. Add to that the fact that Eusébio only played in the 1966 finals and you could say that the French and Portuguese have been quite fortunate in recent times!
More to the point, a lot of football fans will see the absence of the 2 nations as a major bonus for the prospects of their own national teams. With both of them out of the equation before a ball has been kicked in South Africa next summer, any sane supporter will mischievously be thankful.
On top of that is the not so secret revelation that Cristian Ronaldo is far from the most popular player in the World. Aside from those that follow him for Real Madrid and Portugal, it can't be said that Ronaldo has ever really enamoured himself with rival supporters.
Any player who can be so dangerous on the pitch is bound to be greeted with some hostility at away grounds, but Ronaldo has courted the occasional controversy. It was after he got over the habit of being soft on his feet that he developed into the person who is the current FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or holder.
His move away from Manchester United to Real Madrid may have been pre-ordained but it still caused some resentment. The Spanish club is infamous for the way that it often uses the media to manufacture transfers of the high-profile players it wants. Whilst Ronaldo may not be the first footballer to make contradictory declarations of loyalty, there have been some sportsmanship that caused widespread anger.
The obvious example came at the last World Cup and Ronaldo's part in the sending-off of Wayne Rooney during England's quarter-final with Portugal. The Englishman, like others before him, had not helped himself in the slightest with his actions, but Ronaldo's wink filled the criteria of distasteful motivation.
It's the sort of thing that rightly draws ire from football fans, much like the horrendous dive of Rivaldo in the 2002 World Cup. If you don't remember it then just look for it on YouTube. What is most telling is that for all of the skill that Rivaldo has displayed in his ongoing career, when searching for his name on the Internet- that dive comes fourth in the results listing. That perhaps says something for how such incidents can mar or besmirch a player’s career.
Still, this isn't all about the personalities of certain players who play for France or Portugal, it more simply comes down to the competitive edge. The rest of the World had a chuckle when England failed to reach either the '74, '78 or 1994 World Cups, although we really weren't to be that feared!
Plus it's always more fun to be cheering the underdog, although again that has too often been the millstone of an England fan when reaching a tournaments latter stages. The World Cup seems that much more positively bizarre now that we know next summer will see North Korea, Honduras and New Zealand in it, amongst the usual suspects.
You certainly can't begrudge Honduras having their day in the sun, goodness knows the population could do with something to take their minds off a turbulent history. The country has had more than it's fair share of upheavals when you consider hurricanes, floods and political instabilities. I hope that they can match their resolute 'success' of their only previous appearance in 1982, when 2 draws and a 1-0 loss to former Yugoslavia ended their progress beyond the group stage.
Alas after France and Portugal came away with 1-0 1st leg wins, the optimism that 1 or both of them will not make the World Cup is looking flimsy. As fantastic a manager as Giovanni Trapattoni is, France rarely lose at home and the chance of the Republic of Ireland doing so isn't great. Nonetheless it has been done, Scotland demonstrated it at the Parc des Princes during the Euro 2008 qualifiers, and look at them now.
The more likely upset remains to be Portugal. In some respects (like France) they were lucky to secure the 1-0 victory, Bosnia-Herzegovina managed to hit the Portuguese woodwork an extraordinary 3 times as they pressed for the all-important away goal. The return leg will be far from easy to negotiate, Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from shy at scoring at home, their 5 home qualifiers thus far have yielded 16 goals.
Either way these return legs are the final point of no return, the last chance saloon as it were. Let's hope that we see some matches that demonstrate that mentality and generate at a thunderous pace. Most of the World will watch the 2010 World Cup and what it has to offer, but there will be some nations next summer where it will feel strangely quiet, choose your destinations wisely!
The overly diplomatic of you will naturally say that the World Cup would be much poorer for the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Deco, Franck Ribéry, the list goes on. That is a fair point, but it's far from unusual for a World Cup to be missing the odd 'major' international side. Some country that is expected to participate always messes up their qualification.
At least the players I've listed have played in a World Cup, it will always be a great shame that George Best, Ryan Giggs or Alfredo di Stéfano never got such an opportunity. Add to that the fact that Eusébio only played in the 1966 finals and you could say that the French and Portuguese have been quite fortunate in recent times!
More to the point, a lot of football fans will see the absence of the 2 nations as a major bonus for the prospects of their own national teams. With both of them out of the equation before a ball has been kicked in South Africa next summer, any sane supporter will mischievously be thankful.
On top of that is the not so secret revelation that Cristian Ronaldo is far from the most popular player in the World. Aside from those that follow him for Real Madrid and Portugal, it can't be said that Ronaldo has ever really enamoured himself with rival supporters.
Any player who can be so dangerous on the pitch is bound to be greeted with some hostility at away grounds, but Ronaldo has courted the occasional controversy. It was after he got over the habit of being soft on his feet that he developed into the person who is the current FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or holder.
His move away from Manchester United to Real Madrid may have been pre-ordained but it still caused some resentment. The Spanish club is infamous for the way that it often uses the media to manufacture transfers of the high-profile players it wants. Whilst Ronaldo may not be the first footballer to make contradictory declarations of loyalty, there have been some sportsmanship that caused widespread anger.
The obvious example came at the last World Cup and Ronaldo's part in the sending-off of Wayne Rooney during England's quarter-final with Portugal. The Englishman, like others before him, had not helped himself in the slightest with his actions, but Ronaldo's wink filled the criteria of distasteful motivation.
It's the sort of thing that rightly draws ire from football fans, much like the horrendous dive of Rivaldo in the 2002 World Cup. If you don't remember it then just look for it on YouTube. What is most telling is that for all of the skill that Rivaldo has displayed in his ongoing career, when searching for his name on the Internet- that dive comes fourth in the results listing. That perhaps says something for how such incidents can mar or besmirch a player’s career.
Still, this isn't all about the personalities of certain players who play for France or Portugal, it more simply comes down to the competitive edge. The rest of the World had a chuckle when England failed to reach either the '74, '78 or 1994 World Cups, although we really weren't to be that feared!
Plus it's always more fun to be cheering the underdog, although again that has too often been the millstone of an England fan when reaching a tournaments latter stages. The World Cup seems that much more positively bizarre now that we know next summer will see North Korea, Honduras and New Zealand in it, amongst the usual suspects.
You certainly can't begrudge Honduras having their day in the sun, goodness knows the population could do with something to take their minds off a turbulent history. The country has had more than it's fair share of upheavals when you consider hurricanes, floods and political instabilities. I hope that they can match their resolute 'success' of their only previous appearance in 1982, when 2 draws and a 1-0 loss to former Yugoslavia ended their progress beyond the group stage.
Alas after France and Portugal came away with 1-0 1st leg wins, the optimism that 1 or both of them will not make the World Cup is looking flimsy. As fantastic a manager as Giovanni Trapattoni is, France rarely lose at home and the chance of the Republic of Ireland doing so isn't great. Nonetheless it has been done, Scotland demonstrated it at the Parc des Princes during the Euro 2008 qualifiers, and look at them now.
The more likely upset remains to be Portugal. In some respects (like France) they were lucky to secure the 1-0 victory, Bosnia-Herzegovina managed to hit the Portuguese woodwork an extraordinary 3 times as they pressed for the all-important away goal. The return leg will be far from easy to negotiate, Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from shy at scoring at home, their 5 home qualifiers thus far have yielded 16 goals.
Either way these return legs are the final point of no return, the last chance saloon as it were. Let's hope that we see some matches that demonstrate that mentality and generate at a thunderous pace. Most of the World will watch the 2010 World Cup and what it has to offer, but there will be some nations next summer where it will feel strangely quiet, choose your destinations wisely!
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Eredivisie: FC Twente show Ajax who's top.
Another weekend passes in the Netherlands and still the top 2 teams refuse to be beaten, is it possible that the Eredivisie will have it's own alternative to the Arsenal 'Invincibles' this season?
With 21 more fixtures until the end of the campaign it may just be a little optimistic to consider such a possibility, but judging by the dominant form of FC Twente and PSV Eindhoven so far it may not be at all fanciful. This last weekend saw probably the biggest league game of 2009-10 to date, with leaders FC Twente facing off to Martin Jol's free-scoring Ajax who are in third place.
Since Ajax linked up with Martin Jol in the summer, there have been high expectations for the Amsterdam team to reclaim their place at the top of the Eredivisie. They have certainly been entertaining their fans, up until last Sunday they had scored 40 goals in 12 league games- a quite phenomenal record that owes credit to the Uruguayan Luis Suárez, who has 16 goals already!
However things did not continue in that vein for Ajax when they visited FC Twente's ground, De Grolsch Veste. The last and only occasion that Ajax had failed to score in this year's Eredivisie was back on August 23rd, at home to Sparta Rotterdam. By late Sunday afternoon the tally had been doubled and cost Ajax their second defeat of the term as they went down 1-0.
The goal for FC Twente came courtesy of Bryan Ruiz. Something which should not be a surprise seeing as the Costa Rican has been outstanding since Steve McClaren purchased him in the summer for the tidy sum of €5m. A Theo Janssen free-kick from the right of the Ajax penalty area was gobbled up by Ruiz, who firmly headed in the set-piece virtually un-marked, giving him 9 league goals thus far.
With the way that Ajax have been winning games recently, it was of little surprise that FC Twente didn't have everything there own way. In fact they started the game strongly and actually hit the cross bar through the aforementioned Suárez during the first half. The most pleasing aspect for Steve McClaren however will be how his team controlled the game and protected their lead after Ruiz's strike.
What with FC Twente securing an 8th consecutive league victory, it was only apt that their nearest rivals PSV should respond in kind with their biggest win of the season. They visited ADO Den Haag, who are currently mimicking last season's fraternisation with relegation, when they were newly re-promoted to the Eredivisie.
As mentioned in previous reports on the league, PSV are now managed by McClaren's predecessor at FC Twente, Fred Rutten. As if the Eredivisie couldn't be scripted any better, Rutten's team are on a run of their own as they chase top of the table, with 10 wins from their last 11 league fixtures. The 5-1 win they racked up on Sunday means that they still trail Twente by 2 points but now lead Ajax by 4.
Special mention has to be made for the Swede Ola Toivonen, who scored 4 of PSV's goals, with the hat-trick all in the first half. The attacking midfielder is a summer signing who has acquited himself well and is now tallying a goal every other game.
Fourth placed Feyenoord continued their recent poor turn of form that has seen them drop points and get separated from the top 3. This time around they faced reigning champions AZ Alkmaar at their DSB Stadion, and the final result of 1-1 greatly reflected the old adage that the contest had been a game of 2 halves.
Whilst neither team were to be ashamed of the outcome, anything short of 3 points is a failure when considering the way that FC Twente and PSV are currently finishing matches. Feyenoord are now 11 points adrift of the summit, whereas AZ are a massive 16 and their defence is as good as over already.
Elsewhere, NAC Breda were the weekend's big movers. They took advantage of all the teams closest to them going victory-less, and with a dominant 4-0 home win over Willem II they jumped up to 6th place in the table.
The 'The Rats' have been inconsistent so far this term but in the form of a sequence of results, rather than individual ones. Their latest win means they haven't lost in 4 league games, if they can keep their heads then they could secure another Europa League spot to go with this season's.
A final thought for the Eredivisie's bottom club- RKC Waalwijk. The former top-flight stalwarts who returned this season after a 2 year wait in the Eerste Divisie (2nd division), have had very little to cheer since their come-back. Until last Saturday they had lost 11 of their first 12 matches.
Recent form has been enhanced though (of sorts), instead of losing heavily their 3 prior fixtures to Saturday had ended in 1-0 reverses. So it came to pass that RKC Waalwijk cemented a 2nd vital win of the league season and their first away from home. Their opponents were NEC, who more significantly lay a single spot above them in the relegation zone.
Only 13 games into the campaign and already we have seen what may prove to be a massive 'six-pointer', for the bottom of the table anyway. Serious doubts understandably remain over whether or not RKC Waalwijk can realistically escape their pre-ordained fate, but at least they're improving.
The improvements at FC Twente are no longer being dismissed either. The way that the Eredivisie is developing the challenge is now set for one of the Netherlands traditional big 3 teams to get in the way of Twente claiming their first title since 1926, and from halting McClaren's transformation from villain to hero..
With 21 more fixtures until the end of the campaign it may just be a little optimistic to consider such a possibility, but judging by the dominant form of FC Twente and PSV Eindhoven so far it may not be at all fanciful. This last weekend saw probably the biggest league game of 2009-10 to date, with leaders FC Twente facing off to Martin Jol's free-scoring Ajax who are in third place.
Since Ajax linked up with Martin Jol in the summer, there have been high expectations for the Amsterdam team to reclaim their place at the top of the Eredivisie. They have certainly been entertaining their fans, up until last Sunday they had scored 40 goals in 12 league games- a quite phenomenal record that owes credit to the Uruguayan Luis Suárez, who has 16 goals already!
However things did not continue in that vein for Ajax when they visited FC Twente's ground, De Grolsch Veste. The last and only occasion that Ajax had failed to score in this year's Eredivisie was back on August 23rd, at home to Sparta Rotterdam. By late Sunday afternoon the tally had been doubled and cost Ajax their second defeat of the term as they went down 1-0.
The goal for FC Twente came courtesy of Bryan Ruiz. Something which should not be a surprise seeing as the Costa Rican has been outstanding since Steve McClaren purchased him in the summer for the tidy sum of €5m. A Theo Janssen free-kick from the right of the Ajax penalty area was gobbled up by Ruiz, who firmly headed in the set-piece virtually un-marked, giving him 9 league goals thus far.
With the way that Ajax have been winning games recently, it was of little surprise that FC Twente didn't have everything there own way. In fact they started the game strongly and actually hit the cross bar through the aforementioned Suárez during the first half. The most pleasing aspect for Steve McClaren however will be how his team controlled the game and protected their lead after Ruiz's strike.
What with FC Twente securing an 8th consecutive league victory, it was only apt that their nearest rivals PSV should respond in kind with their biggest win of the season. They visited ADO Den Haag, who are currently mimicking last season's fraternisation with relegation, when they were newly re-promoted to the Eredivisie.
As mentioned in previous reports on the league, PSV are now managed by McClaren's predecessor at FC Twente, Fred Rutten. As if the Eredivisie couldn't be scripted any better, Rutten's team are on a run of their own as they chase top of the table, with 10 wins from their last 11 league fixtures. The 5-1 win they racked up on Sunday means that they still trail Twente by 2 points but now lead Ajax by 4.
Special mention has to be made for the Swede Ola Toivonen, who scored 4 of PSV's goals, with the hat-trick all in the first half. The attacking midfielder is a summer signing who has acquited himself well and is now tallying a goal every other game.
Fourth placed Feyenoord continued their recent poor turn of form that has seen them drop points and get separated from the top 3. This time around they faced reigning champions AZ Alkmaar at their DSB Stadion, and the final result of 1-1 greatly reflected the old adage that the contest had been a game of 2 halves.
Whilst neither team were to be ashamed of the outcome, anything short of 3 points is a failure when considering the way that FC Twente and PSV are currently finishing matches. Feyenoord are now 11 points adrift of the summit, whereas AZ are a massive 16 and their defence is as good as over already.
Elsewhere, NAC Breda were the weekend's big movers. They took advantage of all the teams closest to them going victory-less, and with a dominant 4-0 home win over Willem II they jumped up to 6th place in the table.
The 'The Rats' have been inconsistent so far this term but in the form of a sequence of results, rather than individual ones. Their latest win means they haven't lost in 4 league games, if they can keep their heads then they could secure another Europa League spot to go with this season's.
A final thought for the Eredivisie's bottom club- RKC Waalwijk. The former top-flight stalwarts who returned this season after a 2 year wait in the Eerste Divisie (2nd division), have had very little to cheer since their come-back. Until last Saturday they had lost 11 of their first 12 matches.
Recent form has been enhanced though (of sorts), instead of losing heavily their 3 prior fixtures to Saturday had ended in 1-0 reverses. So it came to pass that RKC Waalwijk cemented a 2nd vital win of the league season and their first away from home. Their opponents were NEC, who more significantly lay a single spot above them in the relegation zone.
Only 13 games into the campaign and already we have seen what may prove to be a massive 'six-pointer', for the bottom of the table anyway. Serious doubts understandably remain over whether or not RKC Waalwijk can realistically escape their pre-ordained fate, but at least they're improving.
The improvements at FC Twente are no longer being dismissed either. The way that the Eredivisie is developing the challenge is now set for one of the Netherlands traditional big 3 teams to get in the way of Twente claiming their first title since 1926, and from halting McClaren's transformation from villain to hero..
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Bundesliga: Leverkusen gearing up and Bayern haunted
Last season's Bundesliga turned out to be one of the most competitive title races ever witnessed anywhere and this time around things are shaping up to be just the same. However, the Bundesliga table as it currently stands is another surprise, the top 2 spots are held by the teams that finished 9th and 10th respectively in 2008-09.
On 23 points, and the only team left unbeaten after the first 11 games, is Bayer 04 Leverkusen. They are swiftly followed by Werder Bremen who are a single point behind them. The top 8 teams are only separated by a mere 5 points and Bayern Münich are down in 6th place, 4 points off the pace.
Last summer Wolfsburg famously kept their nerve to become champions for the first time in their history. If Leverkusen were able to maintain their current form and position to the end of the season, Germany will have the unusual statistic of first time winners of the championship back to back.
The major concern for Leverkusen is that they should be even further ahead of the chasing pack, their last 3 league fixtures have ended in draws. In fairness both away games were against Hamburger SV and Schalke 04, with the home draw versus Borussia Dortmund. All 3 sides finished above Leverkusen last season, which goes to show how much they have since improved.
Possibly their most impressive result thus far was the frantic 3-2 away win over Wolfsburg. The home team had to endure their goalkeeper Diego Benaglio being sent off after only half an hour, and then being taken apart by Leverkusen. They established a 3-0 lead despite also having Erin Derdiyok sent off. Some pride was salvaged by Wolfsburg netting 2 goals in the last 15 minutes, but Leverkusen were deserving victors.
A brace in that game by Simon Rolfes contributed to his tally so far of 4 goals in 9 games, already surpassing his total of last term. The German international midfielder has so far encapsulated the overall change around Leverkusen.
Defence has been the solid foundation, with only 8 goals conceded in the 11 games. Whereas goals are easier to come by, Stefan Kießling having provided 7 so far is in the most prolific form of his career. The big question is whether or not they will actually be able to keep themselves at the summit of the Bundesliga and stave off the challenges of the traditional big teams.
Bayern Münich should be faring better than they currently are, particularly with Louis van Gaal freshly appointed as manager. Last season's runners-up were not in the best of health before he arrived and the Dutchman should be given a couple of seasons to work his magic and make things to his liking. You only need to look at the eventual rewards of AZ Alkmaar last season to realise that van Gaal could make Bayern a European threat again.
Even so the hierarchy at Bayern may be just a little perturbed at how well things have turned out for Jupp Heynckes. The sixty-four year old journeyman coach was parachuted in as the club's caretaker manager after the sacking of Jürgen Klinsmann. He had previously retired in early 2007, leaving the top job at Borussia Mönchengladbach. On June 5th he was revealed at Bayer Leverkusen.
Clearly the experience at Bayern has whetted the appetite of the man who has coached Real Madrid and Benfica amongst others in his time. The scenario could lead to an ironic twist if he was to be responsible for Bayern failing to win the title back, and it would bring back painful memories of similar events last season.
Wolfsburg were helmed by a certain Felix Magath during their title triumph. The former Bayern manager was sacked in 2007 and left Münich to take up the reigns at the unheralded Wolfsburg. He had secured 2 Bundesliga titles whilst at Bayern but it must be assumed that the 2008-09 season is his greatest personal accolade to date. A real bolt from the blue and one that showed Bayern what they had spurned.
Nothing can be taken for granted at this stage though. Bayern are still clearly a threat and could come good as the season unfolds, they have held on to Franck Ribéry and if his mood improves he will be influential. Perhaps even more significant will be the return of Luca Toni from injury, he has continued to score freely in Germany and is a big miss for them.
The other main contender’s for now are Hamburger SV, who lay third by virtue of goal-difference. They are now managed by Bruno Labbadia, who as it happens left the same position he had held at Leverkusen in the summer- the fates have a habit of conspiring in the Bundesliga!
Finally a mention for the team in 4th place. Schalke 04 were big under-achievers last season, former FC Twente manager Fred Rutten lasted a scant 11 months before being sacked last March. They finally finished down in 8th place and the club meanwhile made an audacious and successful move for Felix Magath.
The speculation and confirmation that Magath would leave Wolfsburg before the end of their title-chasing campaign, did lead to some resentment and concern that the club may blow their chances. It turned out to be unfounded when they won their final 3 league games with a 13-1 aggregate score.
More to the point, Magath has started his new position at a canter and Schalke 04 are just 2 points off of Leverkusen. If the Bundesliga continues to carry on as it is, Bayern's board may yet face more sleepless nights over the managers they let get away...
On 23 points, and the only team left unbeaten after the first 11 games, is Bayer 04 Leverkusen. They are swiftly followed by Werder Bremen who are a single point behind them. The top 8 teams are only separated by a mere 5 points and Bayern Münich are down in 6th place, 4 points off the pace.
Last summer Wolfsburg famously kept their nerve to become champions for the first time in their history. If Leverkusen were able to maintain their current form and position to the end of the season, Germany will have the unusual statistic of first time winners of the championship back to back.
The major concern for Leverkusen is that they should be even further ahead of the chasing pack, their last 3 league fixtures have ended in draws. In fairness both away games were against Hamburger SV and Schalke 04, with the home draw versus Borussia Dortmund. All 3 sides finished above Leverkusen last season, which goes to show how much they have since improved.
Possibly their most impressive result thus far was the frantic 3-2 away win over Wolfsburg. The home team had to endure their goalkeeper Diego Benaglio being sent off after only half an hour, and then being taken apart by Leverkusen. They established a 3-0 lead despite also having Erin Derdiyok sent off. Some pride was salvaged by Wolfsburg netting 2 goals in the last 15 minutes, but Leverkusen were deserving victors.
A brace in that game by Simon Rolfes contributed to his tally so far of 4 goals in 9 games, already surpassing his total of last term. The German international midfielder has so far encapsulated the overall change around Leverkusen.
Defence has been the solid foundation, with only 8 goals conceded in the 11 games. Whereas goals are easier to come by, Stefan Kießling having provided 7 so far is in the most prolific form of his career. The big question is whether or not they will actually be able to keep themselves at the summit of the Bundesliga and stave off the challenges of the traditional big teams.
Bayern Münich should be faring better than they currently are, particularly with Louis van Gaal freshly appointed as manager. Last season's runners-up were not in the best of health before he arrived and the Dutchman should be given a couple of seasons to work his magic and make things to his liking. You only need to look at the eventual rewards of AZ Alkmaar last season to realise that van Gaal could make Bayern a European threat again.
Even so the hierarchy at Bayern may be just a little perturbed at how well things have turned out for Jupp Heynckes. The sixty-four year old journeyman coach was parachuted in as the club's caretaker manager after the sacking of Jürgen Klinsmann. He had previously retired in early 2007, leaving the top job at Borussia Mönchengladbach. On June 5th he was revealed at Bayer Leverkusen.
Clearly the experience at Bayern has whetted the appetite of the man who has coached Real Madrid and Benfica amongst others in his time. The scenario could lead to an ironic twist if he was to be responsible for Bayern failing to win the title back, and it would bring back painful memories of similar events last season.
Wolfsburg were helmed by a certain Felix Magath during their title triumph. The former Bayern manager was sacked in 2007 and left Münich to take up the reigns at the unheralded Wolfsburg. He had secured 2 Bundesliga titles whilst at Bayern but it must be assumed that the 2008-09 season is his greatest personal accolade to date. A real bolt from the blue and one that showed Bayern what they had spurned.
Nothing can be taken for granted at this stage though. Bayern are still clearly a threat and could come good as the season unfolds, they have held on to Franck Ribéry and if his mood improves he will be influential. Perhaps even more significant will be the return of Luca Toni from injury, he has continued to score freely in Germany and is a big miss for them.
The other main contender’s for now are Hamburger SV, who lay third by virtue of goal-difference. They are now managed by Bruno Labbadia, who as it happens left the same position he had held at Leverkusen in the summer- the fates have a habit of conspiring in the Bundesliga!
Finally a mention for the team in 4th place. Schalke 04 were big under-achievers last season, former FC Twente manager Fred Rutten lasted a scant 11 months before being sacked last March. They finally finished down in 8th place and the club meanwhile made an audacious and successful move for Felix Magath.
The speculation and confirmation that Magath would leave Wolfsburg before the end of their title-chasing campaign, did lead to some resentment and concern that the club may blow their chances. It turned out to be unfounded when they won their final 3 league games with a 13-1 aggregate score.
More to the point, Magath has started his new position at a canter and Schalke 04 are just 2 points off of Leverkusen. If the Bundesliga continues to carry on as it is, Bayern's board may yet face more sleepless nights over the managers they let get away...
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