Roundup for March 29th & 30th

 Derby County 2 - 2 Fulham

Rams confirm relegation at Pride Park. Paul Jewell knew awhile ago that his club would be playing next season in the Championship. Saturday’s result made it official as Derby hosted fellow cellar dwellers Fuham. Emanuel Villa scored his first goal for the club in the 10th minute with a deflection. Diomansy Kamara evened it up fourteen minutes later with a strong drive for the Cottagers. Both sides had their chances to net throughout, but the deadlock was only broken when Dean Leacock deflected Hameur Bouazza’s shot into his own net. County salvaged some pride when Villa headed in his second to take a point from the match. Too bad they are done after one season, but maybe Jewell can get the side put together and make a comeback to the Premiership.

  Bolton 2 - 3 Arsenal 

Gunners resurgent at the Reebok. At the half things looked pretty bleak for Arsenal. Matthew Taylor put the Wanderers up before the fifteen minute mark when he headed home Gretar Steinsson’s cross from short range. Manuel Almunia had no chance of stopping the shot and Bolton were on the board for the first time since March 6th. Arsenal played well in the first half, they just couldn’t be effective enough to dent the twine. Things went from bad to worse when Abou Diaby was shown a straight red for a shocking tackle on Steinsson in the 31st minute forcing Arsenal to fight on for the rest of the match down a man. Just before the half Taylor got his second goal when his shot deflected off of William Gallas and past Almunia.

The second half was a different affair as Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott came in on the hour to give the Gunners a different look. It worked as Gallas found the net almost immediately from Robin Van Persie’s corner, giving life to the visiting fans. Six minutes later Gary Cahill brought down Alexander Hleb in the box. RVP calmly slotted home the penalty for an unlikely comeback. Jlloyd Samuels ended up being the last to touch Cesc Fabregas’ shot in stoppage time, sending it into his own net and sending all three points back to London.

By the way the only difference between Diaby’s tackle on Steinsson and Martin Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo is that Eduardo’s leg actually broke. Diaby went in studs up and hit Steinsson in the shin and could easily have broken his leg too. Characteristically Arsene Wenger saw no problem with the tackle this time around saying “I feel it was more a protective tackle than an aggressive one but he was too high – I don’t complain.”. Well that’s very kind of you Arsene, what about holding your own players to the same standards as you seem to hold any player that wears a different jersey? The tackle on Eduardo was terrible, but the Gunner faithful need to get off of their holier than thou attitude, it’s getting very old.

 Manchester  United 4 - 0 Aston Villa

Roo, Ron and Tev run riot at Old Trafford. Ashley Young’s shot in the early minutes of the match was the closest the Villans would come to winning the game. From that point on it seemed as though it wasn’t going to be if, but by how much. The Red Devils attacked Scott Carson’s goal from all angles, coming close a few times. In the 17th minute Cristiano Ronaldo found himself in the box with the ball falling to his feet courtesy of Rio Ferdinand. The Portuguese winger hit the ball with a remarkable back heeled shot, sending it through the defense and past a very surprised Carson. Ronaldo turned provider for the second goal in the 33rd minute with a one timer cross to the back post and finding a flying Carlos Tevez, who headed the ball in for his sixteenth goal of the season (all competitions).

The two squad’s traded early post shavers as Wayne Rooney and Shaun Maloney each missed left within a minute of each other. Rooney was in an attacking mood and he looked dangerous throughout the second half. Ten minutes into the half he was rewarded when Ronaldo mule-kicked a no-look pass twenty yards to an on rushing Rooney. The striker faked a shot getting Carson to go to ground then calmly rounded the keeper and slotted home.

Maloney nearly drew one back a couple of minutes later and would have made the score-sheet but for a remarkable save by Tomasz Kuszczak. Ronaldo slid the ball to Rooney in the 70th and he found the net once more to finish the scoring at 4-0. Even though they were up by four I was impressed by Tevez’s persistence as he continued to run down the ball and whoever had it until the final whistle. 

 Tottenham 1 - 4 Newcastle United

 Toon trounce Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Darren Bent has had quite a forgettable season so far. It’s hard to score when your ass never leaves the bench. He got the start against the Geordies and in the 26th minute he popped in a cross from Steed Malbranque putting the hosts on the board. Juande Ramos went with Bent, Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane on the attack and in the beginning it looked like it would work as each player had chances to score. Nicky Butt opened the second half with a goal in the first minute to tie the match courtesy of Geremi. Geremi gave his side the lead seven minutes later with a free kick from the edge of the box that Paul Robinson never had a chance to save.

Newcastle kept up the attack and were rewarded by Michal Owen’s curling shot in the 65th minute that was vintage Owen. Mark Viduka showed great presence of mind when he let Obafemi Martins’ pass run through to Owens for the goal. An unselfish move that resulted in a score. Martins showed his skill at the end of the match when he went forward on the counter attack, left Teemu Tainio on his rear and made Robinson look foolish for the fourth goal.  

 

Midweek Magic

  Tottenham 4 - 4 Chelsea  

Mayhem at White Hart Lane. A midweek replay of the Carling Cup final had the potential to be exciting, but who could have predicted this? Didier Drogba opened the scoring for the visitors in the 3rd minute when his free kick was blocked. The ball made it’s way to Claude Makelele who sent it on it’s way to John Terry. Terry crossed it to Drogba for an unstoppable header to put the Blues on the board. Nine minutes later Jonathan Woodgate had a header of his own from a Jermaine Jenas cross to draw the score. Chelsea answered with goals by Michael Essien and Joe Cole to go up 3-1 and put the Spurs against the ropes.

Tottenham pulled themselves back into the match when Dimitar Berbatov and Tom Huddlestone each found the net. Joe Cole beat Pascal Chimbonda and pounded the ball past Paul Robinson for a 4-3 score line. Things looked bleak for Tottenham until Robbie Keane beat Carlo Cudicini from distance to knot the score again. Berbatov had the chance to win outright late in the match, but Cudicini was up to the task and saved the point.

There was some craziness in this match between Huddlestone’s 10.0 dive to Ashley Cole joining the Brat Brigade. With the money these guys make you would think they could buy some balls.

                      

  Man Utd 2 - 0 Bolton 

Captain Cristiano sets tone at Old Trafford. Manchester United knew coming into this match that a win would put them in first place in the league. Would they be up to the task? Would they ever! Ronaldo was given the honour of leading out the Red Devils as their captain and he didn’t disappoint when he fired home a volley that Ali Al Habsi was just not up to. Manchester United came out in the first half like they had something to prove, and they did. Ten minutes after his opener, Ronaldo sent in a free kick that didn’t look like much until you see it from behind. What a shot.

My wife despises the Portuguese international (something about a flop and a wink in Germany), but even she has to admit that what that boy does with the ball is amazing.

Bolton made a stronger appearance in the second half with good attempts by Kevin Davies and El-Hadji Diouf each putting the home side on edge. Diouf’s free kick beat Tomasz Kuszczak only to have referee Alan Wiley disallow it on the grounds that he hadn’t blown his whistle to re-start play. United took back control of the match about midway through the period and though they didn’t score again they showed that they were the defending champions by shutting down the Bolton offense.

Kuszczak’s return was good, however I had hoped to see Ben Foster get another crack in goal. He needs the reps against these teams not Arsenal or Roma. Nani’s selfishness helped keep the score from getting worse for the Wanderers as he repeatedly took terrible shots intead of passing the ball to an OPEN teammate.

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.

Sunday Wrap Up March 2, 2008

  Bolton 1 - 3 Liverpool 

Wanderers woes at Reebok. Gary Megson’s Bolton side started the day on a positive note as El-Hadji Diouf and Joey O’Brien each had opportunities to put them ahead. Diouf’s shot beat Pepe Reyna only to rebound off of the post while Steven Gerrard cleared O’Brien’s attempt from the line. Jussi Jaaskelainen suffered the embarrassment of scoring the opening goal when he deflected Gerrard’s shot into his own net 12 minutes into the match. The Finnish keeper showed that the mistake was not going to undo him however as he made a great save from a Ryan Babel 5 minutes later. Babel threatened every time he had the ball and his 60th minute interception of Gary Cahill’s hashed clearance allowed him to put away Liverpool’s second goal of the match.

Bolton kept at it throughout the game and looked as though they might score a few times. But, Fabio Aurelio chested down the ball and powered home the death stroke in the 75th. The hosts got on the board when Tamir Cohen headed home a nice goal, too little too late though as the Reds took all three points to move into fourth position for a little while and pushed Bolton further into the relegation battle.

            

  Everton 3 - 1 Portsmouth 

Yakubu brace bookends at Goodison. Ayegbeni Yakubu set the tone early, very early, with a goal in 47 seconds. The Nigerian won the foul and headed in the free kick that stunned visiting Pompey. The Toffees failed to press the early advantage and gave up the equalizer through Jermaine Defoe’s deflection of Glen Johnson’s cross. Portsmouth worked hard to get a leg up as they surged forward continuously from the start of the second half. Everton kept their composure and were rewarded when Tim Cahill headed home Steven Pienaar’s chip. Yakubu not only started the build up for Cahill’s goal, he finished off Portsmouth with a neat turn and finish to regain the fourth position from their Merseyside rivals.