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.

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.