ITV v Sky: How different a match can be

Sports - Football - International Friendly - News Coverage

England's 2-1 win against Slovenia at Wembley yesterday:

The ITV highlights showed chance after chance for the home side, indicating persistance and dominance from England. The host and guest of the highlights show were full of praise and optimism, too.

Sky Sports News framed the summary of the match showing England's weaknesses, pointing out how lucky they were to win the penalty and "scrape through" to a win.

The online reports and summaries of the match turned out more similar, neutral and optimistic:

Sky Sports:

"Three Lions warm up with win"
"Lampard and Defoe secure friendly victory for Capello's men"

"England defeated Slovenia 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley to boost their preparations for crucial World Cup qualifying."

BBC:

"England 2-1 Slovenia"

"England warmed up for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday with victory over Slovenia at Wembley."

ITV:

"England achieved a 2-1 victory against Slovenia at Wembley with the opener from a [controversial Lampard penalty]."

It proves, you have to see the match for yourself to be able to make your own picture of it, to get your own impression of the teams, players and their display. Take the reports and comments with a pinch of salt, according to and depending on the source.

I felt, and agree with Sky Sports News, England were lucky to win the penalty as Wayne Rooney was more the offender himself than the victim. But England hit the woodwork on a couple of occasions, had many chances, dominated the possession and opposition and it would have been unfair and undeserved and would not have reflected the match if Slovenia would have gotten anything out of it.

They showed defensive weaknesses, which led to the late goal and panic. No question, there is room for improvement. But that is what friendlies are there for, to prepare and improve the side for competitive matches.

Jermain Defoe's impressive, impossible looking goal, he squeezed and deflected between two defenders from a blind-looking, difficult angle, summed it up: England had the edge - hopefully Fabio Capello saw the same and can keep the edge and players for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia next Wednesday.

Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

This weekend once again saw twists and turns, delights and outrages, quality and embarrassments:

Top Game: Sunderland's win over Blackburn was the most contrasting result in relation to the actual match. How the ball did not end up in the net more than once for Blackburn and how they ended up on the losing side is inexplicable looking at the chances and dominance they had. They were on top and Sunderland struggling until the visitors fell asleep and gave away the match. Similar to Liverpool's defeat - just examples of when the scores do not reflect the match in the slightest. Seemed to be the theme of the week...

Top Team: Manchester United got back on track this week thumping Wigan. Arsenal served a quality match with plenty quality goals. And Burnley continued their high ride start to their Premier League campaign with a win against a struggling Everton side. But Blackburn and Wigan impressed me most. Both were on the losing side this week but created chance after chance and great entertainment and competitive football.

Top Player: Wayne Rooney scored his 100th and 101st goal for United, stealing the goals, match and show and making him the 21st centurian goal scorer for United. Michael Owen scored his first Premier League goal for the side, hoping to reach similar peaks as his Scouser colleague - which made me grin thinking back to the period he scored over a century of goals for their main rivals. How times have changed.

Top Goal: Carlton Cole's top-draw left-footed turn-strike for West Ham against Tottenham was a beauty. He created a lot of chances for his side, shame he also served Spurs one on a plate, giving the ball away to Jermain Defoe, who did not waste the present to equalise.

Top Save: Brad Friedel did a brilliant job for Aston Villa, making numerous stops and saves for his side. And if it were not for the saves Ben Foster made for Man Utd, the game could have developed very differently, the score not reflecting the threat Wigan were at times.

Flop Team: Liverpool created enough pressure from loads of possession but looked chaotic and clumsy at times, slipping up and losing the ball at crucial times. Man Utd did not look much better in the first half against Wigan, but certainly turned that around in the second half, making the defeat against Burnley fall into oblivion.

Flop Player: If Andriy Voronin or Ryan Babel were supposed to be match-saving subs and are the best Liverpool have on the bench, it indicates very much what they are lacking: resources, backup, alternatives. As I wrote in my season preview, they will need THAT player that can turn up when the team is disappointing and turn the game around. So far, not good and no one spotted.

Flop Goals: Lucas Leiva's own goal crowned and Steven Gerrard conceding a penalty just minutes after his side finally scored peaked the frustration and misery for Liverpool.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Arsenal 3:0 Portsmouth - 4:1

Birmingham 2:0 Stoke - 0:0

Hull City 0:0 Bolton - 1:0

Man City 2:0 Wolves - 1:0

Sunderland 0:1 Blackburn - 2:1

Wigan 1:3 Man Utd - 0:5

Burnley 2:0 Everton - 1:0

Fulham 1:1 Chelsea - 0:2

West Ham 1:3 Tottenham - 1:2

Liverpool 2:0 Aston Villa - 1:3

Funny Andy Gray

Sports - Football - Champions League Quarter Finals

Funny isn't it: Andy Gray hasn't blogged on Liverpool and their victories for weeks/months, but I told my friend last night, 'I bet you, Andy Gray will enjoy analysing this on his blog' and surprise surprise, he writes one on Liverpool's one and only home-defeat this season!

But credit where credit is due, Chelsea fully deserved the win and could have gotten more out of it with Drogba creating beautiful stuff. Liverpool were everything else but impressive this time around.

But at least Andy isn't as stupid as most of the Man Utd and Chelsea fans and writes them off - Liverpool are the masters of comebacks, they've done it against Olympiacos, Milan and Chelsea have failed before holding this kind of 1st-leg-advantage (plus Terry's suspension won't help them). Walk on! I still believe and have put my money where my mouth is, too. YNWA

Image taken from skysports.com

Thank you Paul Merson!

The last two weeks have been like a dream for all Liverpool fans after seeing their side beating Real Madrid 4:0 and progressing to the Quarter Finals of the Champions League; thrashing their arch-rivals Manchester United 4:1 for the first time in over half a century; and last but not least making Aston Villa look like amateurs, putting five goals past them in the successful process. 

The more amusing and entertaining it was to read Paul Merson's blog, his criticism about Benitez and his continuous squad rotation and doubts about Liverpool's consistence and laud and prediction of Manchester United's prevailing dominance. 

Of course, he was not coming from nowhere with his thoughts and evaluations, but it just shows you can never know what is around the corner. No one could have predicted United's collapse and shambolic team discipline and display. No one could have dreamt up Liverpool's team click-connection and spark that overhauled and outstripped their opponents over the last couple of weeks.

As a Liverpool fan myself, it all feels like a dream, too good to be true, I do not want to wake up from. Thank you Paul Merson for making a fun, amusing and entertaining read. Thank you Liverpool for some unforgettable, quality football. 

Football Feature: MOTD vs Football First

BBC's Match of the Day versus Sky Sports' Football First

I grew up with that intro music of Match of the Day making or breaking my weekend - depending on the results of course. Since 1964, it was the only chance for football fans to see the action of the weekend - the goals, the fowls, the decisive bloopers and 

errors that make you cringe and the darn refs that can't do their job right to save their lives. 

Then throughout the 90s, Sky established itself in the sports and football world, showing more and more live games. Since 1992, Gillette Soccer Saturday is always a fun to watch, with Jeff Stelling reeling off the facts and stats of the matches and the other experts on the panel - consisting of former players like Phil Thompson, Chris Kamara, Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas - discussing, analysing and reporting on the matches and goals and their reactions keeping the viewers entertained as well as updated. 

But BBC was still the only one to show highlights of the action on the same day - until Sky Sports News was launched in 1998 and they showed highlights on the same day, after ten pm, too. Then, with the start of the 2004/2005 season, Sky Sports introduced Football First. The programme goes on air Saturday nights from 8.25pm showing the full 90 minutes of selected matches from that afternoon. That gave fans and views the chance for the first time to see the full action and complete match on the fixture day. It was the first time it wasn't BBC who showed the action highlights of the day.

So, more and more, Match of the Day drifted into the background of all the full and live action on Sky. For a couple of years, from 2001 to 2004, BBC lost its rights to show Premiership action, but it wasn't successful and didn't last long with ITV. Now again, it's strong as ever.

I love Sky just as much as I do BBC. As a student, the only chance I get to watch Sky Sports is at my parents. Obviously, my holy freeview box gives me the opportunity to watch Sky Sports News and I love it for that. But I still appreciate and enjoy Match of the Day just as much. At the end of the day, when I come back from work, it's the perfect summary of all the day's action. Football First I probably couldn't sit through end of a long day anyway, I just want the main parts, the juicy bits of the action of all the matches, not just one, then I'm happy. And for its history, I feel, Match of the Day belongs to every football fan's diary. It is the mother of all football programmes, if Sky like it or not.

(Match of the Day picture taken from BBC website)

(Sky Sports picture taken from truelovemusic website)