Archive for September, 2010
Eto’o leads Inter beat Bremen 4-0
by danang on Sep.30, 2010, under Champions League
Samuel Eto’o took advantage of generous Werder Bremen defending to score a hat-trick as Inter Milan’s 4-0 Champions League win turned into a practice match for the holders on Wednesday.
The Cameroon striker, as lively as his bright yellow boots, has been outstanding this term and took his season’s tally to 11 goals in all competitions, while also helping set up Wesley Sneijder for the other goal.
So often forced to play wide and sacrifice himself for the team last season under Jose Mourinho, Eto’o has been thriving again, while strike partner Diego Milito has struggled following his heroics during last term’s treble.
“I’m happy to win now as an attacker having played last year as a defender,” Eto’o joked to reporters, having earlier celebrated his third by taking a picture with a pitchside photographer’s camera. (continue reading…)
UCL Preview : Chelsea-Marseille
by danang on Sep.28, 2010, under Champions League
Chelsea FC’s home game against Olympique de Marseille in Group F has special resonance for Didier Deschamps, who renews acquaintance with one of his former clubs.
• The teams are in contrasting moods after Matchday 1, Chelsea winning 4-1 at MŠK Žilina while Marseille were beaten 1-0 at home by FC Spartak Moskva.
Past meetings
• The sides’ only previous fixture came in Chelsea’s debut UEFA Champions League campaign in the 1999/2000 second group stage. They beat Marseille 1-0 at Stamford Bridge through a Dennis Wise goal while the French side turned round that scoreline in the return with Robert Pirès getting the winner. That was OM’s only victory in the section while Chelsea reached the quarter-finals, eventually losing to FC Barcelona.
• Chelsea last received visitors from France in their opening fixture of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League campaign. They defeated FC Girondins de Bordeaux 4-0, Frenchmen Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka on the scoresheet along with Frank Lampard. (continue reading…)
Deschamps reveals Liverpool talks
by danang on Sep.27, 2010, under Premier League
Marseille manager Didier Deschamps has revealed he was interviewed for the Liverpool job before Roy Hodgson took over at the Anfield club in July.
The former France captain said he was flattered by the approach but decided to remain loyal to the French club.
“I am very proud that a club of the standing of Liverpool showed interest in me this summer,” he said.
“But, to be fair, it wasn’t good timing. I had just started pre-season training with Marseille.”
Former Monaco and Juventus coach Deschamps took over at Marseille in 2009 and promptly steered the club to their first title in Ligue 1 - the French top flight - in 18 years.
Speaking ahead of Marseille’s Champions League Group F clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, Deschamps said he had a “long meeting” with Liverpool officials before opting to stay in France. (continue reading…)
Rooney to miss Valencia clash
by danang on Sep.27, 2010, under Champions League
Wayne Rooney will not travel with the Manchester United squad for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Valencia because of an ankle injury.
The Premier League club had hoped the 24-year-old striker would be fit for the crunch tie at the Mestalla Stadium.
But Rooney, who was substituted in the second half of Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Bolton after getting injured, joins winger Ryan Giggs on the sidelines.
The Welshman has a hamstring problem that rules him out for two weeks.
Assistant manager Mike Phelan said after the match he expected Rooney to be fit for Champions League duty, but that assessment proved to be wrong.
A statement on the Manchester United website said on Monday that “while the injury is not thought to be serious”, Rooney would not be fit enough to be included.
United, who opened their Group C campaign with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Rangers, face a Valencia side currently top of La Liga. (continue reading…)
Liverpool-Sunderland match preview
by danang on Sep.25, 2010, under Premier League
Liverpool were not alone in making a surprise Carling Cup exit in midweek, but while the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City could afford to be philosophical following defeats against fellow Premier League sides, the Reds’ loss to Northampton was far more alarming.
Losing to a side currently 17th in League Two was, as manager Roy Hodgson admitted afterwards, a “major setback”. How Hogdson could do with a fit and firing Fernando Torres right now.
The Spaniard netted twice when Liverpool beat Sunderland in March, including a goal of the season contender to open the scoring. But since then he has managed just one league goal for the Reds, and has not looked the same player since rushing a return from knee surgery in time to make Spain’s World Cup squad. (continue reading…)
EPL Saturday Tips : Chelsea will be held
by danang on Sep.24, 2010, under Premier League
by. Andy Gray
After a midweek full of upsets in the Carling Cup we’re back to the Premier League and what is by far Chelsea’s biggest test of the season so far when they travel to Manchester, where they have a Saturday lunchtime date with City. Elsewhere, there’s another chance of redemption for Everton after a dismal start to the season in the shape of a trip to Fulham, whilst Liverpool will attempt to fare better against Sunderland than they did at home to Northampton…
Manchester City v Chelsea
The league table looks a pretty sight for Chelsea fans right now with five wins from five and a superb goal difference. But with all due respect to the likes of Blackpool and Wigan, they haven’t faced the best teams in the division yet and this fixture represents by far the biggest test they’ve come up against in the league.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men have been excellent up to now. Didier Drogba has started the season in a better vein of form than in previous years, Florent Malouda has been excellent in terms of his contributions with goals and assists whilst having a fit Michael Essien again is like having a brand new £30 million signing in the ranks. But if their front players think they’re going to be given as much time and space as they’ve been given in previous games, they’ve got another thing coming. (continue reading…)
Plenty of wins without Messi in the past
by danang on Sep.21, 2010, under Champions League, La Liga
Leo Messi has missed 17 games since Guardiola took over as manager and the good news for the team is that only four of those matches ended in defeat, with three draws and ten wins. What’s more, three of the four defeats came in games where nothing wa
Messi will definitely miss the next two games, but in the past the team has been able to more than make do without their Argentinean star, only losing when he’s been out away to Wisla(1-0), Shaktar (2-3) and Mallorca (2-1) and at home to Osasuna (0-1) in the 2008/09 season. Only in the first of those games was anything actually at stake.
Wins against Sporting and Bilbao
Curiously enough, this won’t be the first time that Leo has missed games against Sporting or Bilbao. Last year’s opening fixture at the Nou Camp saw Barça beat Sporting without Messi and Bilbao lost 0-1 at San Mames in the 2008/09 season, as well as in the first leg of last season’s Spanish Super Cup in the Basque country(1-2) when he was also absent. (continue reading…)
How Does Hodgson Solve A Problem Like Torres?
by danang on Sep.21, 2010, under Premier League
It is never surprising to hear Sir Alex Ferguson saying something ‘controversial’. Whether it’s emotional, pointless sniping at a beleaguered enemy or an attempt some kind of Jedi Mind Trick deployed to ‘psych out’ Liverpool and their players is up to you. An interesting point with Ferguson’s ‘Torres is the biggest cheater ever, EVER’ (possible paraphrase) comments is that they made headlines in most of Monday’s (English) newspaper sport sections – and this is indicative of the apparent need for character-centric narratives for much of the English press.
Of more interest however, rather than his ‘diving’, is his lack of incisiveness when playing alone up front. His two integral moments in Liverpool’s temporary comeback (winning the free kick and penalty) came with the entrance of David N’Gog alongside him at 2-0. The former was created largely with N’Gog drawing Jonny Evans out of position, allowing Torres to play off the dozing O’Shea and run behind Vidic. For an hour, without a partner alongside him, Torres was ineffectually drifting along the back-four, as Liverpool’s midfield struggled to find him with the ball. Roy Hodgson’s initial reaction to that may well be to partner Torres with N’Gog for the forseeable future – and it will probably end up being a popular move with the Sky Sports/Match of the Day punditocracy, as it necessitates a change from The Purveyor Of All That Is Ever Wrong With Anything Ever, Rafa Benitez, and necessitates Steven Gerrard moving into his ‘best position’ (where, curiously, he rarely plays well enough to stay for an extended period of time) in the middle of midfield. (continue reading…)
Ferguson insists nemesis Torres poses no threat for his defence
by danang on Sep.18, 2010, under Premier League
The received wisdom from Spain is that Sir Alex Ferguson’s concern about Fernando Torres’ failure to score 20 goals in a single season for Atletico Madrid is the reason why the player now plies his trade at the western point of the M62, rather than its eastern extreme. Rafael Benitez would prefer Liverpool fans to believe it was down to his powers of persuasion in a series of telephone calls.
The ramifications of the Manchester United manager’s decision not to buy the player have certainly played out before his eyes. Torres has scored in each of the last three encounters between Liverpool and Manchester United, who meet at Old Trafford tomorrow lunchtime. More, after a period of no wins in six over their most inveterate enemy before the Spaniard’s arrival, Liverpool have won three out of six with El Niño in the ranks.
Ferguson wriggled around the statistics yesterday morning. Asked if Torres understood how to beat Nemanja Vidic – dismissed in three of their last four meetings – more than any other striker, he declared that he did not “see that”. The manager’s conclusion was that “when you analyse all the goals we’ve maybe made a couple of mistakes defensively. These fixtures fluctuate a little bit. (continue reading…)



