Eastlands Hotseat

I wonder who the powers that be at Manchester City will sneak into the City of Manchester Stadium to unveil as the new manager this time? Roberto Mancini says he isn’t concerned about his job, but after a dismal display at home to their hated rivals at United and another woeful home showing against Birmingham City, he should probably think about polishing up the old resumé. With a payroll larger than the GNP of some countries City’s owners are expecting to contend for the Premier League title, not wallowing performances against a club at the bottom of the league.

The blue side of Manchester have recently been quite quick on the trigger for sacking their managers and I don’t think Mancini will be any different. His direction of the squad has at times been the source for much head scratching. Why would you bring Emmanuel Adebayor on with thirty seconds left against Manchester United? Or switch Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry against Birmingham City? Barry is hardly an attacking midfielder, let alone a threat to be a game winner. Even if Tevez is injured wasn’t Jo sitting pitchside looking for something to do?

David Platt has come out in support of his boss by saying he’s not defensive minded, however, his prolific use of defensive midfielders has provided little support for Tevez in attack. Pushing Adebayor up front and dropping the Argentine dynamo back a bit would give them a fighting chance to score.

City have the firepower to be lethal up front so why hasn’t the manager turned them loose? They can’t ALL have fitness issues. My advice for Mancini and his staff would be to make some serious changes or expect to see a new face waiting in the dressing room after the final whistle one day soon.

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.

Week’s Round Up

It’s been a bit of a week and I’ve fallen way behind with all of the action. So I’ve bundled this exciting week together.

Champions League:

AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal- The Champions League holders came into the second leg in great position. They were returning home with a 0-0 aggrigate, and they usually play well at home in CL matches that matter. Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Addebayor scored late in a match that could have gone either way down to the very end to end the Italian side’s dreams of a repeat.

Barcelona 1-0 Celtic- The Spanish giants came home with a 3-2 aggrigate over the Scottish champions and even Gordon Strachan felt that his side had quite a hill to overcome to advance. Three minutes into the second leg Xavi popped in a Silvinho cross and put the match to bed early. The victory was costly for Barca as Lionel Messi was taken off in the 35th minute with a hamstring injury that will keep him out of action for awhile.

 Sevilla FC 3-2 Fenerbahce- I had a feeling that Fenerbahce were going to make the second leg interesting, but I wouldn’t have guessed how interesting it would be. Leading the aggregate 3-2 the Turkish club saw their hopes sink after 10 minutes when Sevilla snatched two quick goals from Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita. Fenerbahce drew the aggregate through Deivid’s twelve yard strike. Frederic Kanoute put the Spanish hosts ahead again just before the half with a deflected volley. Sevilla’s hopes of an outright victory died when Deivid scored off of his own rebound to tie the aggregate score at 5-5 in regulation. Volkan Demirel saved from Julien Escude, Ivica Dragutinovic and Dani Alves in the shootout to win (fittingly) 3-2 on penalties.

 Manchester United 1-0 Olympique Lyon- Cristiano Ronaldo scored a beauty from an Anderson rebound to send the English champions through to the quarter-finals. Lyon made them work for it as they had in France for the first leg. United were holding a 1-1 aggregate score and could have easily sat back for a goal-less draw, but they came out fired up and could have had a sizable lead by halftime. They were unable to find the net until the Portuguese winger found the mark in the 41st minute. Lyon tried to come back and could have knotted the score late as Kader Keita hit the post. Manchester United equaled Juventus’ 11 year old record for consecutive home wins in the Champions League with this result.

FC Porto 1-0 Schalke 04- Porto won the battle, but lost the war against visiting Schalke. The German club had a 1-0 lead on aggregate coming to Estadio do Dragao and looked set to advance until Lisandro Lopez scored in the 86th minute to send the Porto supporters into a frenzy. Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer made two huge saves in the shoot-out to see his side advance 4-1 on penalties.

Real Madrid 1-2 AS Roma- Real went down 2-1 in Rome in the first leg and faced an uphill battle to begin with at home. The task became massive when defender Pepe was sent off for his second bookable offense in the 71st minute. Two minutes later Roma made them pay with a header by Rodrigo Taddei. Raul tried to right the ship as he scored from Robinho’s through ball in the 75th, but it was Roma’s night as Mirko Vucinic’s diving header found it’s target in the dieing seconds of the match. I wonder how many away fans the Roman ultras will hospitalize in the quarter-finals? Rome’s finest don’t seem to care.

Chelsea 3-0 Olympiacos- The Blues cruised in this match with first half goals from Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard, and an early second half strike from Salomon Kalou. I had hoped for more from the Greek side as they had been gritty in the first leg in Athens. Sadly they never showed for the return leg in London. The Blues made it three of three for the Premiership so far with Liverpool in great shape to make it a foursome against Inter this week.

FA Cup:

Manchester United 0-1 Portsmouth- Sometimes the better side doesn’t win and sometimes the referee makes a game changing decision, but United need to suck it up and realize that whinging about it isn’t going to change things. The Red Devils had so many chances to score there just isn’t enough time to list them. They lacked the killer instinct that they have showed in recent weeks. Tomasz Kuszczak was harshly judged by Martin Atkinson when he was red carded for “bringing down” Milan Baros in the box. I saw the replay and he got the ball first, but Baros sold it and got the penalty. Rio Ferdinand pulled on the keeper’s jersey and stepped up for the penalty. He guessed right on the direction of Sulley Muntari’s shot he just couldn’t get to it. The Nigerian’s goal sends Pompey into the semi-finals.

 

BARNSLEY 1-0 CHELSEA!!!!!- The Tykes earned this victory over the Blues. Chelsea were without Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Claude Makelele, Paulo Ferreira and Ashley Cole, but with the star power that Avram Grant has at his disposal there are no excuses. Barnsley’s attack repeatedly exposed the Chelsea defense. If they’d have taken advantage of their breaks the score line would have been ugly for the Premiership side. Kayode Odejayi made history when Marciano van Homoet crossed it in and the Nigerian striker cut the ball off before it got to Carlo Cudicini and headed it into the net. Whoever gets the Tykes in the semi-finals will fall if Barnsley play like they have against Chelsea and Liverpool.

MIDDLESBROUGH 0-2 CARDIFF CITY!!!!!- Cardiff City always looked like the winner in this match and that was without the goals. Boro only had the Cup to play for, but they played like they weren’t that interested. Peter Whittingham got on the end of a ball that Middlesbrough couldn’t clear and with some fancy footwork he curled the ball into the top right hand side of the net in the 9th minute. Roger Johnson scored a fantastic header from a great Whittingham cross in the 23rd minute to finish the hosts off early. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink showed that he is not a player to ignore as he came frighteningly close a couple of times. So far the FA Cup final I’d love to see is Barnsley vs. Cardiff City. They have both proven against the big boys.

Bristol Rovers 1-5  West Bromwich Albion- This may have been the “least interesting” of the FA Cup matchups, but I don’t think so. The Rovers are the lowest ranked team left in the Cup so a Final appearance for them would be monumental. West Brom started the scoring early as  James Morrison sent a rebound into the roof of the net in the 17th minute. Ishmael Miller doubled the tally on the half hour mark as he got on the end of a long ball and sent the ball into the upper left of the goal. Bristol Rovers refused to cash it in as Danny Coles finished off a cross in the 31st minute to stay in the match. The Baggies ended the Rovers dream with two more goals from Miller and one from Kevin Phillips. So the semi-finals will be dominated by the League Championship with Portsmouth as the lone Premier League representative.

Premier League:

Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle United- Liverpool took advantage of a reeling Newcastle and kept Kevin Keegan winless since his return Tyneside. If he doesn’t do something soon they will have to fight their way out of the relegation zone. Jermaine Pennant, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard all found the twine for the Reds in a match that the Geordies never really threatened in.

 Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham- Couldn’t pass this one up as the newly minted Carling Cup holders got back on track and dominated a feeble Hammers side. Dimitar Berbatov netted twice in the first 11 minutes to set the tone for the match. Gilberto scored his first for the Spurs and Darren Bent made a rare appearance on the score-sheet to round out the beating.

Wigan Athletic 0-0 Arsenal- Not an exciting match although it had it’s moments. The Gunners needed three points from this match and to drop two to Wigan leaves the door open for Manchester United who have a game in hand and should be a bit angry with the way they left the FA Cup this weekend. Wigan did a good job of containing Arsenal, but they just didn’t look like they had a plan for actually scoring against the league leaders.

Sunday Wrap Up February 10, 2008

City shows class in the stands and on the pitch. It’s ironic that the match that paid tribute to the great Busby Babes that perished 50 years ago in Munich, could be the match that handed the Premiership title to Arsenal. The build up for this match was too much in my opinion. You can’t sustain that much emotion for two weeks it’s draining. United had their chances throughout the match as Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez were all left wanting as their efforts failed to find the net. Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra were both suspended for this game, and I think Rooney especially was missed. Tevez put in a solid performance up front, but he needed a strike partner to open things up. Klaas Jan Huntelaar would have been a good signing Sir Alex. Just a thought.

City deserved their victory and I salute them. Micah Richards led the back line in a stalwart defense that gave the hosts all they could handle. Darius Vassell pounced on a ball that had ricocheted off of Edwin Van Der Sar twice and made the Dutchman sorry by burying it in the net 25 minutes into the match. New man Benjani Mwaruwari paid off  twenty minutes later with a flicked header that was just placed perfectly. Michael Carrick saved a little pride with his stoppage time strike, though this day was City’s. Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City.

Kudos to the supporters on both sides who showed that they had more class than many (even their own clubs) didn’t give them credit for.

  

         

Defense rules Stamford Bridge. Any match between Chelsea and Liverpool is always filled with the potential to be a classic. Not this time. While there were some good chances for both sides the majority of the match was sloppy and unimaginative. Ricardo Carvalho showed why he is one the best defenders in the league by using his unflappable style to great effect. The Blues lacked the killer instinct and although Nicolas Anelka was able to slip free in the box a few times, he just didn’t show the danger that he is known for.

Steven Gerrard got himself in the positions in which he is usually most effective. He just never really did much with the ball. He wasn’t to blame for the lack of inspiration in today’s game, as the Liverpool front line were as useless as a hat-rack today. The Reds will have to consider themselves lucky if they pull out a Champions League spot at seasons end if they continue to play like they did today. Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool.