Sunday Wrap Up March 16, 2008

  Fulham 1 - 0 Everton 

McBride heroics at Craven Cottage- Fulham have had a tough season, but they are still in the battle to stay in the Premiership. Thanks to their “Captain America” they stayed in that battle for just a little longer. From the start of the match the Cottagers showed that they were the more determined of the two as Jimmy Bullard and Brian McBride both had good opportunities to open the scoring in the first half. Everton seemed to have trouble getting motivated although the chance to retake fourth place in the league should be enough to get a side going. The loss of Andrew Johnson before the fifteen minute mark did little to help their cause.

Fulham didn’t play smooth, mistake free football so some chances went wanting. But, in the 67th minute McBride got his head to Simon Davies cross and put the hosts ahead. Everton fell victim to the top level club should pound the relegation contender and it bit them badly.

  Wigan 1 - 0 Bolton 

Bolton bombs at JJB. Wigan Athletic must have been thinking that this match was going to be the usual when referee Steve Tanner gave Jason Koumas an iffy straight red in the 4th minute and gave the cellar dwellers an entire game with ten men. Emile Heskey scored his first goal in twenty matches with a fine volley from close range. Mario Melchiot chipped the ball into the area and found Heskey in the box for what would prove to be the winner. The Wanderers had their share of chances, but Chris Kirkland got to every attempt and kept his side from dropping any points to the visitors.

The Latics have some tough matches coming up for the run in, including at Portsmouth, at Chelsea, at Aston Villa and home to Manchester United. Not good news as far as beating the drop is concerned. Bolton are now fighting to stay up for next season and their schedule with a trip to Manchester United this week as well as hosting Arsenal and finishing with a trip to Chelsea. Good luck to both of them.

  Man City 2 - 1 Tottenham 

Blues storm second half at the City of Manchester. If the match were only forty-five minutes the Spurs would have been the undeniable winners of the game. Sadly, there were another forty-five minutes to play and the Blues made the most of them. Robbie Keane started the scoring a nice goal just after the half hour mark that put some excitement in the Tottenham attack. They just couldn’t add to their total.

City came out in the second half looking like they still had some fight in them and they worked the Spurs defenders, probing for weakness. Their break came in the 59th when Blumer Elano nodded the ball through to Stephan Ireland (maybe offsides??) who finished nicely to draw the match. Juande Ramos made a couple of substitutions to shake things up. One of which may have been a tad unpopular with Keane. But, the change didn’t have the desired effect for the Spurs as they watched Nedum Onuoha out jump Pascal Chimbonda to head the winner past Paul Robinson for the victory. When you are up against Robinson in goal, there is a great chance that you’ll get the goal you need.

Saturday Wrap Up March 15, 2008

  Derby 0 - 1 Man United 

Ronaldo stars at Pride Park. Rams supporters have to be very proud of their club today as they almost took a point from the champions, and deservedly so. Robbie Savage did exactly what he was brought in for by shutting down United players all over the park. The Red Devils came out firing in the first half and should have gone up by a couple, but yet again they would have been more successful on a rugby pitch. When they were on target Roy Carroll was there. Carroll had a great day in the net and was surely the star of the show for Derby.

On the other end of the pitch Ben Foster made his first start for Manchester United and put in his claim for the future starters job. Derby only had a few chances but they could have scored twice through Kenny Miller before the half. Foster was up to the task though and kept his side from being even more embarrassed at the break. The Red Devil attack kept coming with Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs working the home defense. Ronaldo came through in the 76th minute with a super volley just out of Carroll’s reach for the winning goal. Manchester United have made the last few matches much more difficult than they needed to and they had better get their heads out or the season will be circling the drain soon.

  Liverpool 2 - 1 Reading 

Torres continues tear at Anfield. Liverpool reasserted their claim as a top four Premiership club by coming back from an early deficit and putting in a solid performance. In a perfect execution of a free kick with an amazing finish by Marek Matejovsk in the 5th minute. Javier Mascherano matched the performance with a power shot of his own in the 19th to even the score. Just after the break Fernando Torres slid unmarked around the crowd and headed in the winner.

I have been impressed with Torres this season and his almost effortless ability of finding the goal. Not impressed however with Steven Gerrard. Watching him dive with minimal contact from Andre Bikey then give the Reading defender a bollocking showed me that he is not only a world class diver, but a whinging prat.

 Arsenal 1 - 1Middlesbrough

Gunners escape at the Emirates. Arsenal again pulled a late escape as Kolo Toure scored from a deflected ball with his noggin in the 86th minute to save major blushes for the hosts. Middlesbrough had gone ahead early through Jeremie Aliadiere’s finish of a controversial play. Mark Schwarzer booted a long kick into the Boro offensive half that was met by an apparently offside Tuncay Sanli. The flag stayed down and the Turk found Aliadiere who calmly slotted home. Arsenal had the best of the possession throughout the match, they just could not crack the Boro defense until deep into the match.

The Gunners seemed to have joined Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in the petulant club with their oh so professional performance after the final whistle. Watching Emmanuel Eboue verbally assault referee Mark Halsey after the match is indicative of the top four mentality that they deserve to be treated differently than everyone else.

Other action- Portsmouth 2-0 Aston Villa; Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea; West Ham 2-1 Blackburn

Champions League Quarter-final Draw

                             

     AS Roma  v  Manchester United

Not the draw I had hoped for this round. These two met in the group stage with the Red Devils winning 1-0 at home and Roma getting a 1-1 draw in the return leg. So it’s safe to say that they know each other. Roma is coming off of a stellar thumping of Real Madrid in the last round and they have what it takes to make the finals. Manchester United had trouble finding the net against Lyon, but were dominant offensively in both matches.

On paper it would appear that the Italian side would be better suited to advance from this round. They are definitely scoring more against better opposition. I’m keeping the faith though and I think that Sir Alex is going to have the lads fired up and ready for Roma. If United can come away with a draw in Rome they will win at Old Trafford. The main concern is how protected the traveling supporters will be in Italy. History is not on their side. My guess- Manchester United 4-2 AS Roma aggregate.

          Schalke 04  v  Barcelona

Schalke are excited about drawing Barcelona and I kind of see why. Lionel Messi is out for this round, Thierry Henry isn’t a shadow of how he was at Arsenal and Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho still don’t like each other. The Germans ground down FC Porto and beat them in a penalty shootout, can they do the same with Barca? The Catalan club beat Celtic quite handily in the last stage, but Schalke has a better defense than the Scots.

Schalke are not a club that scores a lot, where as Barcelona have found the net consistently in the campaign. The Spaniards have a very potent attack and will make the German side run. Schalke will tighten the back and keep the scoreline down. Barca will come through, but it will be a fight.My guess- Barcelona 3-1 Schalke aggregate.

             Arsenal  v  Liverpool

Two English sides had to meet in this round, they just had to. The Gunners and the Reds will make the tie exciting. This is the match-up that will be the most physical with both sides showing flair and muscle. Arsenal came back from a bad first leg at home to send AC Milan packing with a stunner at the San Siro. For their part Liverpool sent off the other Milanese side with two straight victories over Inter Milan.

Rafa Benitez is a different manager in the Champions League than he is in the Premiership. By that I mean successful. Arsene Wenger has quite a pedigree for himself and will have the Gunners ready to go after the double. The keepers will be the difference in the round and I have to give that edge to Pepe Reina. My guess Liverpool 3-2 Arsenal aggregate.

           Fenerbahce  v  Chelsea

The “experts” seem to believe that Fenerbahce was the side everyone wanted to get. I don’t think so. The Turkish side have the ability to run and pressure a defense as Sevilla found out in the last round. Chelsea can find the twine very well themselves and have the midfield to pressure both offensively and defensively. A fact that Olympiacos can attest.

Avram Grant has to prove to his critics that he can manage in a big match and I think he will. Chelsea are just too strong of a side and after their debacle at Barnsley they will be focused on the game at hand. They will with stand Fenerbahce’s attack and advance to the semi-finals. I’m picking the Londoners to win BUT don’t be surprised if the Turks pull the upset. My guess Chelsea 5-2 Fenerbahce aggregate.

FA Cup Semi Draw

 

                                 Barnsley v Cardiff City

                          West Bromwich v Portsmouth

I was hoping for a Tykes v Bluebirds final. Oh well, either one verses the Baggies will be a fantastic final. I would love to see a League Championship final at Wembley and any of those four clubs would be good to have as they all have played entertaining football so far in the tournament. Nothing against Pompey, they are a good side, but they have not played all that well in the competition and are lucky to be in the semi-finals.

There has been some complaining on the airwaves that there will be no interest by the public in seeing any of these clubs in the final. Last year’s final was BORING and it had Manchester United and Chelsea. If the two finalists play the entertaining game we’ve seen recently I’ll pony up the cash for the PPV.

My final pick………. Barnsley v West Brom.