Week 12: Premier League Tops & Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

WOW!

The contrast was gobsmacking and mind-boggling between the two Manchester sides. City were top-class sweeping aside Aston Villa, whilst United flopped to a shock defeat at Norwich, with two hat-trick candidates in Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez for the prior whilst the latter were held back at Carrow Road and obviously missed Wayne Rooney. 
It was a surpirse to see Roberto Mancini's side use alternate penalty takers, especially with a hat-trick on the line. It is maybe a good tactic to keep the goalkeeper guessing, on his toes and/or confused. But I would have thought a striker on a hat-trick would have his objections against not being the penalty taker. It was good team play in the end though.
And Anthony Pilkington's brilliant header was a smacker for Norwich and a deserved winner against Sir Alex Ferguson's men. The former United trainee pulled ahead of Chris Smalling before looping a header over Anders Lindegaard on the hour mark. Comeback kings United are used to going behind and still bag the three points later on, but this time it was not to be and the Red Devils fell to their third defeat of the season and into second place, one point behind league leaders City.

OMG!

The weekend was packed full of surprises and sides chuffed to finally be back on the winners list with Arsenal, Reading and Southampton, plus Norwich, Swansea and West Brom! I would love to see what the odds were for these results! 
Reading got their first win of the season with a great comeback from being a goal down and deserving the three points for their stubbornness and commitment. 
Steve Clarke has done a great job at West Brom and they should have now shut up all their doubters with their convincing win against Chelsea. Their formation worked a treat with striker Peter Odemwingie nodding in the winner to continue his side's impressive run and shoot them up into the fourth Champions League qualification spot.

Swansea impressed in a 2-1 triumph at St James' Park which took them to tenth and above Newcastle in the Premier League table. Man-of-the-match Miguel Michu was a constant threat with a clever interplay and display and he was rewarded when he provided the opening goal with a fine header. The Swans then made sure victory was theirs with their second goal coming from a fast break, that presented Danny Graham with a chance to shoot at goal. Tim Krul pulled off a brilliant save but Jonathan de Guzman netted the rebound.

TOP!

Southampton's performance was impressive and mouthwatering. Nigel Adkins knew his men would do a good job and not sit back and so they did. After the Saints went ahead, a lot of sides would have sat back kept the back line strong to keep the lead. But that did not happen in this fixture. The visitors kept themselves forward, on attack and pressure up on the home side. It was a delight to see and watch and a fully deserved win and three points for the promoted side. If they keep up this work ethic, I don't think they will struggle to stay up.
And I have to give Fulham a mention after they kept fighting on, even after going down to ten, then nine men! Defender Brede Hangeland's sending off was harsh and substitute's Mladen Petric late injury after he had scored the equaliser did not help. But in the end Sunderland's stubbornness prevailed and the visitors ended up two goals to the good. It will be a hard lesson and feel harsh for Martin Jol's men, but the spirit is there.

FLOP!

QPR and Mark Hughes have to be really worried! Hughes' men lacked confidence, desire and a plan in their defeat against Southampton and were left still looking for their first win of the season stuck at the bottom of the table with just four points from 12 games and five points from safety. Much in contrast to Fulham mentioned above, there is a difference between a hard fought defeat and being outplayed and not showing or giving much for it.

HERO!

Liverpool finally found the winning way thanks to a certain Mister Suarez once again! The Uruguayan starred with two goals against Wigan and provided one for man-of-the-match Jose Enrique, his first for the club. This took Suarez's tally for the season to 13 goals for Liverpool and bagged his side only their second home win of the season in the Premier League to lift them up to 11th spot in the table.

ZERO!

Emmanuel Adebayor went from hero to zero within minutes at the Emirates. The Togolese striker scored against his former employers, giving Tottenham a well deserved lead as they had started the game well on top. But minutes later, he threw the game out of the window for Spurs letting emotions get the better of him when he saw red for his lunge on Santi Cazorla. They still played and fought on, the scoreline was harsh on them. But hopefully the lesson was learned by Adebayor! His stupidity let the Gunners back into the game and they made the most of it, netting five goals and bagging three points on their local rivals.

My Predictions => Actual Results
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham => 5-2
Liverpool 2-1 Wigan => 3-0
Man City 2-1 Aston Villa => 5-0
Newcastle 2-1 Swansea => 1-2
QPR 2-1 Southampton => 1-3
Reading 2-1 Everton => 2-1
West Brom 2-1 Chelsea => 2-1
Norwich 2-1 Man United  => 1-0
Fulham 2-1 Sunderland => 1-3
West Ham 2-1 Stoke => 1-1  

In case you noticed and wondered, I once again forgot to put through my predictions, hence, all games were set to 2-1 automatically...

*All images taken from the BBC website's match reports

Tevez steals the show & point for City at Anfield

Sports - Football - Premier League - Liverpool 2:2 Manchester City

Carlos Tevez spoilt the show at Anfield with his 100th goal in the English game. The Argentine took advantage of Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel's mistake, a poor backpass, when he netted Manchester City's second of the day to make it all sqare, 2-2.

Liverpool were defiant and intent to perform and come back strong after their dire 3-0 defeat at West Brom last weekend and the Reds did so from the start.

Having lost Lucas Leiva early on in the match due to injury (5.), substitute Jonjo Shelvey and youngster Raheem Sterling impressed with their resilience and stubbornness throughout the match.

New signing Joe Allen showed some great creativity and productive passing play and the two Martins at the back, Skrtel and Kelly, kept City's front force of Mario Balotelli and Tevez stumm for most of the game, too.

So, the home side looked dominant and in firm control when Skrtel banged in a header off skipper Steven Gerrard's corner just past the half-hour mark and Liverpool took the 1-0 lead into the break.

However, with just under half an hour to go, Pepe Reina gave away the ball to Yaya Toure who just had to tap it in to level the score 1-1 for City.

Exactly three minutes later, Luis Suarez saw his brilliant free kick from just out side the boxc curl around and over the wall into the top right corner of the net, Joe Hart left stranded and City 2-1 behind.

But with City being the new and proven late comeback kings, Tevez made sure the champions would not go back home empty handed turning Skrtel from hero to zero and making Liverpool pay with his equaliser.

Brendan Rodgers brought on Andy Carroll late on to see if the out-of-favour striker could make another comeback out of the comeback, but to no avail. Shelvey came closest to a late winner when he saw his strong drive from 25-yards just clearing the bar.

But the Reds can draw strength and confidence from this impressive performance. After making the champions shake and trail as they did, I am sure the (young) Reds can set up a good and strong run and side from here.

FT Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City (HT 1-0)

Liverpool Goals: 1: 33:37min Martin Skrtel (37), 2: 65:54min Luis Suarez (7).

Man City Goals: 1: 62:54min Yaya Toure (42), 2: 79:19min Carlos Tevez (32).

Liverpool: 25 Reina; 2 Johnson, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 34 Kelly (3 Jose Enrique - 66.); 24 Allen, 21 Lucas (33 Shelvey - 5.); 31 Sterling, 8 Gerrard, 29 Borini (9 Carroll - 83.); 7 Suarez (bkd 94.). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 23 Carragher.

Man City: 1 Hart; 13 Kolarov, 28 Toure, 4 Kompany, 5 Zabaleta; 34 de Jong, 42 Toure; 8 Nasri (17 Rodwell - 59.), 32 Tevez, 7 Milner (21 Silva - 76.); 45 Balotelli (10 Dzeko - 62.). 4-2-3-1.
Subs not used: 30 Pantilimon, 6 Lescott, 15 Savic, 62 Razak.

Match Stats: Liverpool-Man City
Attempts: 17-11
On target: 3-3
Offsides: 0-1
Corners: 4-4
Free kicks: 8-10
Possession: 48.7%-51.3%
Tackles: 18-26
Tackles Success: 77.8%-76.9%
Passes: 462-484
Passes Success: 80.5%-84.1%
Crosses: 18-22
Crosses Success: 33.3%-9.1%
Territorial Advantage: 50.5%-49.5%

Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Raheem Sterling (31)

Week 6: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Week

Top team: Stoke did a brill job in their hard-fought draw against Manchester United, especially after the hammering they had received against Sunderland. Unlike in their win against Liverpool, they stayed on top, kept control and players in all areas, frustrating the hell out of their visitors, the stats showing and confirming their strength and competitiveness at home: Attempts 11:10, On target 5:4, Corners 8:8, Bookings 1-0, Possession 47%-53%. The question is whether they can keep this up week in, week out, home and away.

Top player: Obviously Robing van Persie needs a shout out in this category for scoring his 100th goal for Arsenal, only the 17th Gunner to do so and it was a cheeky one he coolly tucked in with the outside of his left boot, top notch. However, for scoring his first goal for his club and making a hat-trick out of it, my vote goes to Newcastle's Demba Ba. One beauty and a couple of headers and it could have been more, Ba showed he is top of the show right now, like the Magpies who are still unbeaten sitting comfortably in 4th place, two points ahead of Liverpool in 5th, only one behind Chelsea in 3rd. Nice.

Top goal: So many beauties to pick from: Fernando Torres' right-footed, on turn, first touch beauty; Nani's buildup and shot side-stepping Jonathan Woodgate to open the score for Manchester United at Stoke; but my vote goes to Ba again with his first goal for Newcastle, a fine drive, right-footed turn off Leon Best's cross from the left, smash-boom-bang, he went on to get a hat-trick in his side's 3-1 win against Blackburn. Sweet.


Top news: I loved Jeff Stelling's rant against the Southampton Chief Executive Nicola Cortese on Sky Sports News' Gillette Soccer Saturday, defending his colleague, friend and Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier and Lawrie McMenemy... Good on ye!

Flop game: The goalless draw between West Brom and Fulham was not much to shout about. Manchester City's win against Everton was not much of a competition either though. Apart from the goals, there was not much going on...


Flop player: Again, Torres went from top to flop, hero to zero within minutes! Last week he missed an open goal against Manchester United, this week he got himself sent off with a stupid two-footed tackle on Mark Gower minutes after he scored the opener for Chelsea against Swansea. 

Flop goal: Liverpool were lucky with the opener to take the lead against Wolves at Anfield. It was a fine cross from the left by Charlie Adam which looked to go wide before Roger Johnson's intervention, his header putting it into his own net. Ouch. Liverpool went on to dominate after that and won the game not comfortably but convincingly 2:1 which shows what a difference a goal/an error makes.

Flop news: Can Carlos Tevez still call himself a football player (payed around £250k per week!!!) after refusing to play football?!?!?! He's a joke! I think the suspension he has received is the least the club can do, with their hands tied on money and market matters, the question is, how can they punish him without punishing themselves with it? And for once in my life I agree with what Fifa said!!!

My predictions - Actual results

Man City 3:2 Everton - 2:0

Arsenal 3:1 Bolton - 3:0

Chelsea 3:0 Swansea - 4:1

Liverpool 2:1 Wolves - 2:1

Newcastle 1:2 Blackburn - 3:1

West Brom 2:1 Fulham - 0:0

Wigan 0:2 Tottenham - 1:2

Stoke 0:1 Man Utd - 1:1

QPR 0:0 Aston Villa - 1:1

Norwich 1:1 Sunderland - 2:1

Shocking Reds hand City three goals & points

Sports - Football - Premier League - Man City 3:0 Liverpool

Liverpool disappointed and were a disgrace to watch - even school boys can play better and create more pressure than what they showed at Eastlands!

From the offset, Liverpool were on their back foot, Martin Skrtel conceding a clumsy free kick against Adam Johnson on the right side outside the box and getting booked early on in the fourth minute.

Things went from bad to worse when James Milner broke on the right side and cutting it back to Gareth Barry in the the centre with all the space in the world to slash it into the left corner.
The first half ended with Liverpool finally pressing on a bit more, but not creating a real threat.
Not long into the second half and it was apparent that the trend hadn't changed. Liverpool were cut open again, this time Carlos Tevez claimed his 50th PL goal, but as the replays showed, Micah Richards' header from near the penalty spot didn't look like it touched the Argentinian before it went through Pepe Reina's legs and over the line.
Then, when it just looked like Liverpool were going to make a comeback after Steven Gerrard hit the bar and Joe Hart had to make a slick double save, stopping rebound shots of David Ngog and sub Fernando Torres, clumsy Skrtel again, gave away a penalty with an unnecessary tackle on Johnson again, making it too obvious that he wasn't able to deal with the City winger.
Tevez comfortably converted the spot kick putting it into the bottom left corner whilst sending Reina the wrong way to make it 3 - an impossible hill to climb for the scrambling, clumsy looking Reds, who showed no determination, coordination or awareness. City had an easy ride to three goals and points, shocking to watch!
Roy Hodgson refused to panic despite the embarrassing defeat at Eastlands insisting it was too early to be concerned.
Hodgson said: "We are only two matches into the season. We had Arsenal in the first game which we had to playe with 10 and then a strong Man City side.
"It's a bit premature to start discussing just how big the match is. Hopefully the next 36 games we can take some points. We were a bit unlucky to get beaten so heavily.
"We stuck at it and were unlucky not to get back when Hart made an incredible double save. We lacked the cutting edge and the organisation I would like" - just a bit!!!

Unlucky?! More like undeserved! Underachieving!

Quotes taken from Sky Text page 251 on Monday, 23rd August 2010, 11.00pm

1st half Stats
Man City-Liverpool
Attempts: 5-4
On target: 1-2
Offsides: 1-1
Corners: 2-0
Free kicks: 5-5
Possession: 60%-40% (24.)
2nd half Stats:
Man City-Liverpool
Attempts: 2-8
On target: 2-3
Offsides: 0-1
Corners: 3-4
Free kicks: 6-7
Possession: 46%-54% (64.)

Sky Stats:
Man City-Liverpool
Passing Success: 82.5%-80.8%
Tackles/Success: 29/89.7%-18/77.8%
Territorial Advantage: 51.6%-48.4%

Man City: Hart; Richards (booked 58.), Toure, Kompany, Lescott; De Jong, Toure (Zabaletta 85.) Yaya, Barry, Milner, Adam Johnson; Tevez (Jo 85.). 4-5-1
Subs not used: Given, W-P, Adebayor, Silva, Viera.

Lpool: Reina; Glen Johnson, Skrtel (booked 4.), Carragher, Agger; Jovanovic (Pacheco 86.), Gerrard, Lucas, Kuyt; Torres (Babel 78.), Ngog. 4-4-2
Subs not used: Jones, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Maxi, Poulsen.

Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Garreth Barry

2010 World Cup South Africa Countdown

Sports - Football - International - 2010 World Cup South Africa

With just a couple of days left until the World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg, expectations are high and the nerves in tatters - who will cry tears of joy and glory, whose sobs will be in grief and defeat? We will not know the answer until the final whistle is blown and the competition concludes on the final day on 11 July, but, here are my thoughts and predictions, the winners highlighted bold:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France: Despite their home advantage, I do not think South Africa will be able to contend successfully against the established likes of Mexico and France. Although "les bleus" were lucky to scrape through against the Republic of Ireland, the heartbreaking encounter should have been a good enough wake-up-call for them to make up for the blushes and make the best and most of the competition.

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece: Argentina's strong lineup which includes Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano and with none other than Diego Maradona at the helm, there is no question about who will top this group. Who will follow them into the last 16 is a tougher one to answer with South Korea's and Greece's success-stories being long, distant memories. I think Otto Rehhagel's men will be able to make the push.

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia: England have had their fair share of scandals and injuries as always before major competitions, but were let-off by a comparatively easy draw for a change and could not have been given a much easier pass into the last 16. The US look stronger than ever though under manager Bob Bradley and captain Landon Donovan. I would not be surprised to see them make this their best competition display and progess yet.

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana: This one's my dark horse/shocker-prediction: Having followed Germany's friendlies, dire displays, injury setbacks and crises talks, I think it gives the rest of the group the best chance to capitalise on. Australia have Mark Schwarzer and Lucas Neill to keep them out and Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell to knock them down and in; whilst Serbia can count on Nemanja Vidic and Milan Jovanovic along the same lines.

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameron: The European sides take pole position again with experienced players and strong lineups. World number three Netherlands thrashed their way through the warm-up games in preparation to the competition and I see them continue in that fashion with Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar et al over-filling the scoreboards.

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia: The defending world champions are a shadow of the side that won the cup in 2006, but should be able to top the group with their star keeper Gianluigi Buffon, world cup winning skipper Fabio Cannavaro and energy source and runner Daniele de Rossi. Paraguay should follow them into the last 16 with their focal men in attack Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Haedo Valdez.

Group G: Ivory Coast, Portugal, Brazil, North Korea: With Ivory Coast's top striker Didier Drogba out with a fractured arm, the 2006 semi-finalists Portugal and record world champions Brazil should cruise through the group stage. Both sides are star-struck with their lineups including Ronaldo, Simao and Nani; Kaka, Lucio and Robinho, respectively. Finals without those well-established names is unimaginable.

Group H: Honduras, Chile, Spain, Switzerland: Ottmar Hitzfeld had tears in his eyes to see his home country qualify for the world cup and I see this as his best chance to make the dream-come-true get even better. World number one and world cup favourites Spain should be able to yawn and sleepwalk their way through this stage with star men like Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas.

So, my European bias sees ten European countries progress into the last 16, joined by four South American countries, USA and Australia. My German bias normally gives Germany the advantage as they have always proven to be successful no matter how miserable their form or display has been. But this time round, under Joachim Löw, I see their luck has run out and I forecast their demise against more competitive and hungry opponents. I am optimistic for England, more than ever, and hope they can enjoy some sweet revenge and success, but am prepared for heartbreaking scenes as always...

Last 16: France v Greece, Mexico v Argentina, England v Serbia, USA v Australia, Netherlands v Paraguay, Denmark v Italy, Portugal v Switzerland, Brazil v Spain

Quarter Finals: Netherlands v Portugal, France v England, Argentina v Australia, Italy v Spain

Semi Finals: England v Portugal, Argentina v Spain

Third Place: Portugal v Argentina

Final: England v Spain