Sunday Wrap Up January 20, 2008

Wigan left wondering at the JJB. Steve Bruce’s side had to be stunned that they went into halftime down by two goals. After all they had played a competative first half and use of wingers Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia were giving the Toffees fits. Then Titus Bramble gaffed on a back pass and opened an opportunity for Andy Johnson to jump on it and embarrass Chris Kirkland for the first goal at 39 minutes. Joleon Lescott tapped in a corner three minutes later and the Latics chances were bleak.

Everton defender Phil Jagielka gave Wigan new life when he knocked the ball into his own net. But they couldn’t make any more headway even with all of the posession they had in the second half. Everton moved ahead of Liverpool for fourth spot in the Premiership for now, and with the Reds hosting Aston Villa on Monday, the Toffees could solidify that spot by tomorrow night. Wigan 1-2 Everton.

    

                        

Hammers dominant in City of Manchester. Carlton Cole scored early for the visitors with a beautiful overhead volley in the 8th minute to give West Ham an early lift. Then Darius Vassell brought them back down to earth with a controversial equalizer eight minutes later. He looked offsides, but it was close so they gave it to him. The Hammers put the pressure on in the second half and could have done it except for some nice saves by City keeper Joe Hart. Hart is getting better in the box and could make a run soon at the England keeper job. Manchester City 1-1 West Ham.

        

        

Saturday Wrap Up January 19, 2008

 Fulham feeble at Craven Cottage. Just how many players did Arsenal have on the pitch in the second half? Though up 2-0 in the second half from two Emmanuel Adebayor headers, the Gunners showed their quality by not letting up on the struggling Cottagers. Every time Fulham tried to bring the ball forward they seemed to have fifteen red jerseys surrounding them. When Czech winger Tomas Rosicky poked home Arsenal’s third goal in the 81st minute the air went out of the stadium.

I don’t know what Roy Hodgson is going to do to pull the club out of the nose dive their in. Is this a result of Lawrie Sanchez’s poor selection of talent? I think that they have some good players, however Al Fayed’s patience is going to be over if they go down to the Championship next season.

Arsene Wenger has his side playing like champions. The run in to the title is going to be fun to watch. Fulham 0-3 Arsenal.

         

 United maintain at the Madejski. Wayne Rooney took a bevy of shots last week against Newcastle and wasn’t able to make the score-sheet in the end. I felt sorry for Marcus Hahnemann coming into this match. But, the American keeper made some great saves and got a gutty performance from his defense to keep the Royals in the match. Until Carlos Tevez found Rooney in the left side of the box. Wayne stuck out his foot and redirected the ball  into the far corner. Not a power shot from the United striker, but a beautiful piece of skill. Cristiano Ronaldo kept up the scoring run with a goal deep into injury time as he counter attacked the Reading counter attack.

Manchester United retain the top spot in the Premiership on goal difference, but this race is far from over. Reading 0-2 Manchester United.

  

St. James stalemate. With all of the excitement surrounding Kevin Keegan’s return Tyneside even non-Geordie fans had to expect some fireworks in his first match. Especially as they were at home in front of an ecstatic Toon Army. Even though the Newcastle squad seemed to be more free flowing than I’ve seen in awhile, they couldn’t break down a gritty Bolton defense.

Newcastle out shot the Trotters 2 to 1, but Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuels nearly pulled out a shocking victory for the visitors when he spun around to control a surprising through ball, then took a quick shot at point blank range. Shay Givens was lucky enough to have it hit his left leg and deflect out of bounds. This wasn’t how “King Kev” wanted to start. On the plus side last week they lost 6-0. Newcastle United 0-0 Bolton Wanderers.

                                    

The race for futility is in full swing as the bottom three teams lost by a combined score of 8-1 on Saturday. Sunderland is in a tight race with five other teams to stay in the top flight. However, Fulham and Derby County are definitely rejoining the ranks of the second tier. It’s sad that a team like Derby would only get one year up with the big boys before going back to the Championship. Fulham on the other hand has been on life support for a couple of years now and it would be merciful to the club and it’s fans to put it out of it’s misery.

Birmingham City 0-1 Chelsea; Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Middlesbrough; Portsmouth 3-1 Derby County; Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Sunderland.

Back Home Again!

             

Some people just have that certain something about them. Just their presence can bring about surprising change. Kevin Keegan has come back home to St James’ Park, and the club responded by thrashing a Stoke City side that gave them all they could handle a week ago. Just about all of the reaction that I have read coming out of Newcastle from the supporters is not just positive, it’s ecstatic!

Keegan has a style of managing that seems to work. Newcastle United, Manchester City and Fulham have all had fantastic turns of fortune at the hands of “King” Kev. Newcastle came the close to winning the title under him, finishing second two years in a row. No one since has been able to replicate his magic touch. Fulham has never had the success before or since. I don’t know if he’ll bring the crown to Tyneside, but he’ll definitely bring an exciting form of football back to Newcastle.

      

Some people are speculating on whether Alan Shearer will come back to work with Kevin. It could be a great opportunity to learn how the magic works. And it couldn’t hurt to have another local hero on the bench.

              

Sunday Wrap Up January 13, 2008

 Cats roar at Stadium of light. Kieran Richardson’s brace in the first half was all Sunderland needed to gain three valuable points in their race to stay in the Premiership. Sol Campbell made an uncharacteristic mental error when he gave up on a ball too early allowing Kenwyne Jones to keep it in and send it back in front of the goal. Richardson took it and put Roy’s boys up just after the half hour mark. Eleven minutes late he gave Suderland some breathing room when he pounded home a loose ball. He hit the crossbar later to just miss out on the hat-trick. This match was by no means one sided. Benjani Mwaruwari and Niko Kranjcar both had excellant chances to score, but Craig Gordon’s net remained unsullied.

Harry Redknapp was without Nwankwo Kanu, Papa Bouba Diop, Sulley Muntari and John Utaka who are all away on international duty at the African Nations Cup. When you recruit heavily in Africa though you can’t be surprised when your team is depleted during this tournament. I think that the uncertainty surrounding him as to whether he was headed north to Newcastle or not had to have had an unsettling effect on his side as well. Sunderland 2-0 Portsmouth.

     

Roberts’ late goal stuns Reebok. Bolton took the lead late in the first half with a sublime goal from Kevin Nolan. The Trotter’s forward lashed out at Joey O’Brien’s cross and a ball that looked like it was going to sail over the top right corner dipped down behind Brad Friedel’s back and into the net. Christopher Samba leveled the score in the 53rd with a header making Jussi Jaaskelainen’s uncertainty cost dearly. A gritty second half looked to be grinding to a well deserved draw, then Jason Roberts took the ball from the centre spot to the edge of the Bolton box and fired home a deflected shot past Jaaskelainen.

Roberts had requested a transfer and been turned down by Mark Hughes. If that’s what it takes to win, Hughes should get more of his players angry. That was a fantastic finish for Rovers. Bolton Wanderers 1-2 Blackburn Rovers.