PREMIER LEAGUE 2009/10

Well after the rest of the games Hull are still 4th. from bottom, 1 point ahead but now only 1 game more played.
First up was Bolton away at Blackburn. they went down 3-0 without much of a whimper.
Burnley were next up away to Villa. After 10 minutes their dreams were coming true as they scored to go ahead, They woke up to a nightmare though as class told & Villa eased out 5-2 winners.
The battle for 4th. place between City & Pool ended in a zero, zero in a game that will make many watchers of football turn to another sport for entertainment. I quote from a disgruntled fan on 606 sport...

Worst Liverpool team of all time, or worst Liverpool manager of all time? The style of play is incredibly boring.

And this when the rather less biased BBC wrote..

Liverpool were marginally the better side in the opening exchanges

Elsewhere Fulham beat Birmingham to move above them in the table & although Spurs have faltered a little from their flying start to the season they still had too much in the bag for Wigan, even away from home. In winning they sneak above City & Pool and occupy 4th. spot.

Sadly,I think Pompey are doomed but perm any 2 from 7 to go down with them.....Hull,Burnley,Wigan,Bolton,Wolves and,possibly,West Ham and Sunderland.
The current form of Burnley,Wigan,Bolton and Sunderland must give hope to Hull.

Not heard a lot from our "makam" friends since they were babbling on about Europe in Oct/Nov

Wayne Rooney & hangers on 3 West Ham 0
Took his tally to 27 this season with Owen coming on for a cameo third.
Capello must be praying that he can come through both the season & world cup injury free. If he does then England are in with a great World Cup opportunity. With some quality players around him he will be unstoppable. Sadly that is certainly not the case at United this season. Valencia provided a couple of good crosses for Rooney to score but he is typical of United this season. When they are on top & winning they can look good, when they have their backs to the wall (like at Everton) none of them can step up to the mark with a performance - Rooney excepted.
United will probably sneak 2nd. place in the League this year - which is a place better than the team football has deserved. Chelsea have looked a better unit (self destruct characters apart) but must start to replace some of the aging stars for next season. Arsenal still look by far the best footballing team when they have their best squad available. Sadly that has not been often enough for them this season & their second tier players are way out of their depth against good opposition.
West Ham remain in 13th. place & have a far better goal difference than any below them. They still need to find 4 good wins to ease themselves out of danger though.

Tonight some FA cup replays to delight!!
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace,
Stoke v Man City,
Tottenham v Bolton,
West Brom v Reading,

Pompey become first top-flight club in administration
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 538457.stm

Sad day for any supporter. Will be docked 9 points by the League for the first ever Premiership club to go bust. Almost certainly will be a championship side next year - although, in all honesty, they have looked that way for a number of months now, without the deduction.
Certainly a mighty fall from where they were with Harry as their manager not too many seasons ago. Maybe now the panic will be off about finding a buyer - who will ay least know what he is getting now. There had been a bit of a desperate scramble to try & stop the inevitable about the club of late. If some of the proposals I read about had been allowed (like selling MORE players) I think they could of ended the season relegated & struggling to put out a Conference side next year. Hopefully owner number 5 this year will be someone with a financial head on his shoulders & the ability to pick a good manager & then back him. Too often this proves to be a slippery slide for a club that takes years & years of pain (for the long suffering fans) to get over!!

As expected a great deal about the Portsmouth situation in the sports press today.
A couple worth reading from the beeb..
What the man now in charge (The Administrator) thinks..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 539422.stm
An overview of what an Administrators' function is & what he will probably do..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8539302.stm
There is also a lot of opinion - about who is to blame - but much of this is video, some of which is not available to view outside the UK..

Chelsea 2-4 Man City
Quite remarkable score line in a strange game...
Started with Bridge refusing to shake hands with Terry at the start (more than a bit petty really & didn't do much for Bridges standing I feel). Chelsea had two players sent off...Belletti & Ballack - although I do not really think that much influenced the result, even though the Belletti sending off resulted in a penalty & City going 3-1 up...
Lampard scored both Chelsea's goals - I from the spot, but Anelka was their best player & unlucky not to be on the score sheet. Tevez & Bellamy both scored a couple for City, Tevez 1 from the spot. Tevez had a great game for City - especially as he has been on 'sick leave' for a couple of weeks in Argentina.
So the battle of the old Italian foes goes decisively to Mancini.
Rather more worrying than the loss (Chelsea's first at home this season) will be the form of stand in keeper Hilario, who looked responsible for the two first City goals...

It was on the cards. been playing poorly for a while. If it wasn't for Cech they wouldn't have beaten Wolves in the previous match.
First 40 minutes there was only one team in it, then it all went tits up.
Really missing Cole at the back. He stays back at corners etc and there's no way with his speed he would have let Bellamy have a free run at goal. Yesterday they used Mikel as cover and it looked liked he was standing still as Bellamy went past him. Ballack was a pratt. Let his team and club down.
All in all that topped a bad day off for me.

Rest of the Saturday results...

Birmingham 1-0 Wigan
Birmingham are a dificult side to beat, although I am not sure that I would actually pay to watch them they are effective. Wigan need to gather points if they are not going to be relegated. So I imagine that Melchiot will not exactly be on the favourites list as it was his silly trip that handed Brum the points with a penalty.
Bolton 1-0 Wolverhampton
Bolton creep up to 15th & above Wolves who are in 17th. & 1 place away from the drop.
Burnley 1-2 Portsmouth
Burnley are bottom but one after losing out at home to the worst side in the Premiership. Glint of sun for Portsmouth in a week of storm clouds but I expect the deluge to return shortly. It would be the escape act that trumps the Great Escape if they could avoid the drop. In fairness they have not shown much evidence of that over most of the season & I do not expect it to start now!!
Stoke 1-3 Arsenal
BIt of an anti-climax for Stoke after their wonderful FA cup win over City & I think that their minds were probably elsewhere. They should have been confident coming into the game full of having strung together an unbeaten run of 11 games, which included dumping Arsenal and Manchester City out of the FA Cup. They are 11th. in the league & to ensure safety is probably the only possible aim in this competition. They have a bit of work to do yet until mathematically safe but they must remain confident it is a task that they will fairly easily complete. Arsenal have shown themselves to be able to brush most of the Premiership aside this season & play attractive, attacking football. Sadly the only talking point of the match was an horrific injury to Welsh teenager Aaron Ramsey for which Stoke's defender Shawcross was shown a straight red. It had started well for Stoke, who actually went into the lead. However the sending off & injury probably ruined the match, in which Stoke had to be combative to get anything out of.

Chelsea v City was an excellent entertaining game,particularily in the second half.Bellamy,on his day,can be devastating but the fact he's had so many clubs in such a short space of time makes you wonder.
A bit harsh to send Belletti off,I thought,but cant say the same about Ballack who once again showed his nasty side.
In contrast Birmingham v Wigan was absolutely dire....wasnt a penalty but a stupid challenge by Melchiot.
Well done Pompey....it would be nice if they got to Wembley after the season they have had....Burnley look doomed.
Arsenal back in the title race,maybe,but hope Ramseys injury isnt as bad as it looks.
Talking of Wembley....Carling Cup Final (Villa v United)at 10pm tonight on Thai TV preceded by Spurs v Everton on Truvisions at 8pm.....should be a good nights viewing !

Zidane wrote:Bellamy,on his day,can be devastating but the fact he's had so many clubs in such a short space of time makes you wonder.

Quote - Sir Bobby Robson

He's the only man I know who could start an argument with himself. [on Craig Bellamy]

yes bad day for us no malice in shawcross tackle and he was gutted but arsene WHINGER had to have his usual moan now saying shawcross shud get more than a 3 match ban,wonder if he wud say same if it was other way around.i,ve seen fabregas give some bad tackles but nothing said,i like arsenals style but can,t stand wenger..

He is a bit like Fergie in that his players are always blameless & it is always the evil 'others' out to get us!!
But, in fairness to him he has a hell of an ability to spot & develop a young player. Most managers are lucky if they can do once in their lifetime.
I haven't seen the tackle & have no intention of doing so. The beeb seemed to imply it was a foul (so worthy of the red) without going overboard or even calling it especially bad. it is a contact sport, after all & these things happen. I remember seeing a piece about the Chelsea youth squad back before it became 'ski'. They were chatting to the then squad, all about 14 years old. I was amazed when they asked them about any injuries & the catalogue that each of them rolled off!! I hope Ramsey recovers quickly without it having any particular impact on his career. A straight break often cures better than fractures so there is hope..

An excellent Carling Cup Final saw Manchester United triumph 2-1 over Aston Villa at Wembley yesterday.
Villa took the lead after 5 minutes with a penalty by Milner after Vidic brought down Agbonlahor.
If it hadnt have been the first 5 minutes of a Cup Final then Vidic may well have been sent off but,equally so,so should Collins have been a few minutes later when,as the last defender,he chopped down Owen.
So luckily for the ref things evened out and the match wasnt spoiled as a spectacle.
Owen equalised for United after 13 minutes after good work by Berbatov.Owen,playing instead of Rooney who was on the bench,was having an excellent game in front of watching England boss,Fabio Capello,but pulled up with a hamstring injury after 40 minutes and was replaced by Rooney.....surely the end of any chance he had of going to the World Cup.
Villa started the game strongly but as the half wore on United started to dominate and Park hit the post.
The second half wasnt quite as good as the first and Villa started to run out of steam and ideas.So it was no surprise when Rooney headed United in front on 74 minutes after an excellent cross by Valencia.Rooney also hit the post with a header a few minutes later.
United deservedly won the trophy but Villa are to be congratulated for a fine performance.Martin O'Neill is an excellent manager and his team continue to improve.....maybe not quite good enough to qualify for the Champions League yet.
Man of the match for me was Valencia who is proving to be a top rate acquisition for United.
This was probably Uniteds best chance of a trophy this season.Cant see them winning the Champions League.....semi finals if they are lucky....but the way Chelsea fell apart against Manchester City must give hope to United and Arsenal for the Premiership title.

Great write up Zid!!
Yes, great pity for Owen.... I think the only chance he ever realistically had was as a man in the background unless Rooney could not play because of injury or cards....so, maybe, just maybe still stands a slight chance....Although I think Defoe has really put himself rather to the fore this year with some great performances & should probably take the second 'small striker' spot..
Will agree that Valencia is starting to show why Fergie bought him. He certainly is lighting quick & his delivery into the box has improved considerably over the last couple of months.
O'Neill has the Villa problem of little money hanging over him... it is not so much that you can't attract who you want (& that is a problem) it is that you can't hang onto players who you have developed. Whatever happened to the UEFA plan to ensure that 6 players in the side had to be with the club since they were 16 in European competitions??
As you say Villa are a competent side who are a credit to their manager & fans... a Europa cup run is not out of their range, but I agree Champions League might be a touch too far!!

Premier results..
Liverpool 2-1 Blackburn
Sunderland 0-0 Fulham
Tottenham 2-1 Everton

Despite Pools' win they remain 6th. (& out of Europe) as the Spurs win puts them above City into 4th. on goal difference - but they have played a game more.
Harry is already on 'most revered' status in the Easy End because of his long & fruitful association with West Ham. At this rate he will be getting that status in North London as well!! Although Spurs do have a bit of a history of only bestowing that status on former players..
I am sure Sunderland would have wished for 3 points at home to Fulham, but, as they showed in Europe, Roy's side don't give much away!! The teams are 6 places apart in the Premiership. However Fulham are looking comfortable on 38 points while Sunderland are on a lowly 27 & so only 1 win away from the drop zone. I am sure that Sunderland believe that they will be a Premiership club next year & the form of those below them suggests that is right. However they MUST start gathering some points soon..