>Rose’s screamer ends Gunner’s title dream!

>

             Rose the next teenage wonder kid?    Source: ESPN soccernet

The 2010 London derby is one of the few important derbies as both teams need a win to push towards a goal they been fighting for since the start of the season. Arsenal needed a win to give them a slight chance to be back in the title race, whilst spurs need a win to propel themselves back into the contention for the last Champions League spot. Both teams needed to win, so there was plenty of attacking football from both sides. This match marks the return for two important players in their respective team, Ledley King (Tottenham) and Robin Van Persie (Arsenal).

Both teams really need this win as their season ambitions rely on itl. There was a surprise name in the line up as 19 years old Danny Rose made his debut for the Premier League. A huge risk on Harry Redknapp part to put a youngster in a London Derby. However, that decision payed off, 10 minutes into the game. Danny Rose fired venomous volley into the Arsenal goal, Almunia couldn’t react fast enough as the ball flew into the back of the net and White Hart Lane was estatic! It was an incredible shot from the 19 year old and he will never ever score a goal like this. It was a dream goal on his dream debut. One other youngster started off his Premier League career with a dream goal against Arsenal as well,  It was none other than Wayne Rooney and his goal against Arsenal to give them a win. Danny Rose might just have kick started his career in amongst the elite with a contention for goal of the season. Arsenal were winded after that goal as they fail to truly test Gomez during the first half. Without their key players, Arsenal were just unable to break down Tottenham.

Tottenham started the second half in fantastic fashion as Bale ran all the way up, broke through Arsenal’s offside trap to slot home a second goal for spurs. Bale the scorer and Defoe the architect Arsenal was just horrible, that goal could have been avoided if Eboue was paying attention at his defensive line. He stayed a yard back to keep Bale in and that resulted in a goal. With 2-0 down,  and no sign of any comeback, it looked like Arsenal were going to lose more. However, after 67  minutes, Robin Van Persie finally comes on, in hopes to     save Arsenal. It took Arsenal 80 minutes to get the ball rolling, with the help of Van Persie. Arsenal have really missed him and his presence on the field was really inspiring. Arsenal pushed hard for a goal and Gomez was fantastic to keep out a hattrick of saves to prevent Arsenal from coming back into this game. Arsenal did manage to pull one goal back but it wasn’t enough as White Hart Lane celebrated and partied when the final whistle came. It was the first win for spurs against their London rivals in the league since
1999, thats an incredible 11 years without a win and now they finally have a taste of a well deserved victory.

                                            

“Chelsea play Tottenham on Saturday,” he said. “If Tottenham want to fight for the Champions League, they can show they have the quality to do it.” -Arsene Wenger

Wenger refuse to admit defeat.
Source: ESPN Soccernet


Tottenham has been pushing for a Champions League spot, if they can overcome Chelsea in the next match then they might just prove themselves to deserve to be part of the top four. Arsenal will have to rely on spurs to beat Chelsea to have any slim chance to be part of the title race again. Can spurs beat Chelsea to put the race wide open again with United and Arsenal lurking? 

http://www.footytube.com/v/Mzk3MTU=
Just sit back and enjoy!

Signing Off,
Prosoc8

>Liverpool in deep trouble!

>

Settling for Europa League??  Source: Liverpoollfc.tv

Liverpool’s season spirals downward as they have now drew 2 out of the 6 games. According to Benitez, they needed to win 5 games and draw 1 to have any chance of claiming the 4th spot. So what now Mr. Benitez? Do you have any bright ideas? Liverpool are now looking at the high probability that they will most likely be playing Europa league or worst……. 

With the last Champions league spot now being occupied by Manchester City, Liverpool really need a miracle as the fate of qualifying for Champions league is no longer in their hands. Here is the reason why: 

Manchester City 6 points ahead with a game in hand.
Tottenham Hotspur 2 points ahead with 2 games in hand 
Aston Villa 2 points away with 2 games in hand


End of the season possibility :
Man City       77 pts
Tottenham     76 pts
Aston Villa    72 pts
LIverpool     68 pts




Liverpool is in a very dangerous spot here with a chance that they might not even make it to the Europa League. If everyone wins their games (discounting them playing against each other in those last fixtures), then Liverpool might just miss out on the Europe all together and that shows how badly Liverpool’s season has been. For a club like Liverpool, it should never even come close this type of situation. Liverpool may be mathematically still able to qualify, but with their other competitors having games in hand still to play, it looks highly unlikely that we will be seeing Liverpool playing in the Europe’s elite competition next season. That will definitely put a dent in their wish to bring in world class players.


Most world class players would prefer to play in the Champions League than to settle in the 2nd class Europa League. I wouldn’t be surprise if any of the star performers for Liverpool  wanted to leave the club for the lack of the investment that is put into the club. Gerrard’s frustration was evident when Torres was taken off during the Birmingham game, that shows how much Liverpool needed more world class players that can support the spine of the team. Torres also stated his feeling towards the current Liverpool squad, stating that they need a few more world class players if they were to challenge the top 4 next season. With only Gerrard and Torres to carry the team, it is just too much for them to bear. If they want to challenge for honors next year, the owners are going to need to invest big. Its only a matter if those 2 yanks are willing to fork out the money to finally help Liverpool which they have failed to do over the course of their ownership. 


Signing off,
Prosoc8

                                          

>United’s title dream over?

>

Berbatov’s United career over?  Source : ESPN Soccenet

We are at the point of a season that if you want to win the EPL, you must, and i emphasis MUST not drop points against opponents like Blackburn. It’s just too much of a risk to drop points against teams who can’t match you in terms of quality or financially. Manchester started this match without their star, Wayne Rooney. I knew that it was too early for him to play against Bayern, and i seriously suspect that they injected him with painkillers to allow him to play for an hour before being taken off. Sir Alex, i said if Rooney’s ankle is injured further, that you would be facing a hard time battling for the title without your star striker and i am still sticking with my statement, and as for England’s World Cup dreams, if he sits out like he did for most of the competition during the 2006 World Cup, there will be fingers pointing at you for pushing him when you shouldn’t have only time will tell.

Berbatov started the match partnering Macheda who was called up to replace the injured Rooney. Berbatov who has been poor most of season with only a little glympse of the form that we all seen during his Totteham days, didn’t live up to his £30million tag, as he barely tested the former England number one through out the game. The loss to Bayern was evident as United couldn’t find their rhythm throughout the match. Manchester United were poor, friction between Ferdinand and Van Der Sar and having 16 shots with only 4 on target pretty much sums up their worst possible week. With a loss to Chelsea (2-1), knocked out of the Champions League on away goals to Bayern (4-4) and now a draw with Blackburn to put their title dreams possibly over. Chelsea lead by one point with a game in hand, they will definitely want to capitalize on this chance to go 4 points ahead of their rivals. 


I am suspecting that United will be looking to cut their losses and try to get back some of the pounds they paid for Dimitar Berbatov, he has been a disappointment all season. Without Rooney, Manchester at times looked like a blunt weapon, they will need to do some investing if they are to challenge the title again next season. As i said in my last post, it will be interesting to see how Manchester bounce back from a demoralizing defeat to Bayern, and today it definitely showed that their Bayern hang over is still lingering in each of them and the players didn’t have it in them to put out a decent performance. This could spell the end of United’s campaign, out of every cup competition and with the title race looking very unlikely. 


Signing off,
Prosoc8

>Manchester Knocked out by Robben screamer!

>

Manchester United’s European campaign has ended after Robben send the devils packing with a volley from the outside of the box. There was so much pre-match buzz about Rooney returning from injury to play this match. Because Manchester United knows that they needed him to help overcome a deficit of 2-1 at Munich. I personally felt if Rooney did appear, it would be too rushed and if he ends up injuring his ankle again, their title push might suffer a huge blow……..and so will England’s World Cup hopes and England fans will want Ferguson’s head on a platter for this!

Manchester couldn’t have asked for a better start as Gibson’s shot gives United the lead that they needed. What i don’t understand from this goal is what on earth was the keeper doing? He just stood there and watch as the ball sneaked past him on his near post. It was poor goalkeeping and Gibson’s goal isn’t that great. United’s second goal came from Nani, now that is a pure class goal from Nani, he has been in fine form last few months. I was not surprised to see him pull something like that but Bayern definitely didn’t defend well enough as the second goal was scored just five minutes after the first goal. Bayern was in total shock as they didn’t know what has hit them, they failed to create any clear cut chances inside the first half hour of the game as Manchester played magnificent football. When Bayern started to get into the game, Nani pops up with a third goal for United. The tie looked all over but Bayern had other plans. Bayern quickly got themselves together and pulled a goal back before half time. That meant that they only needed one more goal to send them to the semi finals on the away goal rule.

When second half started, the German side played with a purpose and started to pose a threat to the United defenses. United’s right back Rafael decided to do something stupid to put United under more pressure when he was sent off for a second yellow card. Manchester had to play forty minutes with just ten men. So if there was a person to blame for the defeat they could have avoided, it would be Rafael. With Rafael gone, Rooney had to be taken off to be replaced by O’Shea. With Rooney gone and ten men, Manchester’s plan was to grind out the result. Unfortunately, the wave after wave of Bayern attack finally paid off when Robben volleyed a corner from Ribery to send the German side to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Bayern Munich definitely deserved their place in the semi finals as Manchester United wasn’t organized and discipline enough to hold the German side from coming back into the game. They would have to blame themselves for not holding on to the a 3-0 lead. I have some sympathy for the devils but Bayern Munich definitely deserved to go through. It will be interesting to see how they comeback from this devastating defeat in this week’s English Premier League fixtures.

Signing off,
Prosoc8

>Magical Messi

>I knew when i saw the draw up for the Champions League quarter-finals that this game would be special. Both very technical side that plays very fluid and beautiful football. The first leg was very entertaining as Barcelona completely dominated Arsenal from start to finish. Arsenal were definitely lucky to end the game with a 2-2 draw. And the second leg didn’t fail to produce the same type of magic that the first leg had…..

There was one and only player that can be counted on to bring down a resilient Arsenal side, and it was none other than “World Best Player” Lionel Messi. He completely ran the show and didn’t let up the whole night, the Arsenal players could only chase his shadows as Messi haunted the the defenses. Arsenal may have taken the lead through Nicklas Bendtner, but that didn’t stop Messi from producing one of his best performances on the big stage. Scoring four goals during the night to send the cup holders to the semi inals of the Champions League. This consolidated the running of him becoming world best player. He may be smaller compared to the likes of Ronaldo, Torres or Rooney, but he has shown that his trickery and sharp body turns were too much for the Arsenal defenders to bear.  If he does ever leave the Camp Nou, it will definitely be exciting to see him play in the English Premier League where his skills will be tested week in, week out, in one of the top league’s in the world.

Arsenal just didn’t showed up for this game as they were completely mauled by the magician Messi. Even Wenger admitted that his side were completely outplayed by the “world best player”. Which was evident as Arsenal gave little resistant to a very strong Barcelona side. I think Arsenal just laid low and just watch Messi preform his magic, Arsenal didn’t have the player that could mark a player like Messi, so that was the reason for their failure. This years World Cup will definitely be a good one with world class players on top of their form. I will be looking forward to seeing how Messi will do at the world cup in South Africa.

Signing Off
Prosoc8

>Malaysian Wonder Kid!!!!!

>http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/ICNJEfCgHn4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b

The potential of this wonder kid is very very exciting indeed, an American born Malaysian, Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal that is only twelve years old is tearing apart defenses in his own junior league. Personally i haven’t seen any Malaysian youngster that is so full of flair and potential, it excites me that this kid could one day lead Malaysia to finally achieving something. I do hope the FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) is keeping tabs on this boy and be prepared to offer him an incentive to play for Malaysia instead of getting a US citizenship to play for the US. There is definitely enough potential for him to reach the level of the English Premier League, if only his skills are developed well as he matures. At only an age of twelve years old, it is exciting to see how much he will be able to improve as the years to come. 

DO enjoy the brilliance of this kid.

Signing off,
prosoc8

>Gerrard Frustrated….

>If any of you watched the Liverpool game during the weekend, you would understand how frustrating it is. The weekend game against Birmingham at St. Andrews should have been won easily no doubt. But the lack of quality in front of goal and defensive blunders has again failed them this season as they try to salvage the 4th Champions League spot from their disappointing campaign…..

The first half was dull as both sides had their chances limited, but it all changed during the second half as Gerrard scored two minutes after the restart. Gerrard turned the Birmingham defender inside out and before curling a shot to the far post. That is Gerrard’s 10th goal of the season and what a goal it is. Hart had no chance as the ball curled into the far corner of the net. That definitely brings back glimpse of Gerrard’s brilliance, which i truly believe is from playing him in a deeper role of midfield then the support role of a striker, where he is truly more comfortable. However, the lead only lasted nine minutes as Liam Ridgewell took advantage of Liverpool’s awful defending to score the equalizer. If you watched the game, Liverpool could have lost the match if Bowyer scored his open goal opportunity. The Liverpool defense was totally abysmal and they definitely need to work on it. The defensive errors were such elementary football level errors which shouldn’t happen in a professional level.

What made it worst for Liverpool is when their so called “Master Tactician” Rafa Benitez took off their world class striker Fernando Torres during the second half. Gerrard’s facial expression definitely says it all as he is obviously puzzled and frustrated at why Torres has been taken off. The only reason that Rafa gave on the post match press conference is that he is “tired”. If i were to choose Champions League spot or Europa Cup, It should no doubt be Champions League. With Torres off, and Ngog coming on, no wonder the scoreline stayed 1-1. The French youngster missed three golden opportunities that you would have bet Torres score, to win Liverpool all three points. Gerrard was instrumental in creating those chances but it wasn’t going to Liverpool’s day as they miss chance after chance to put Liverpool back in the lead. It is safe to say that Liverpool are very much unlikely to make the champions league spot as they will have to settle for a Europa spot.

Signing off
Prosoc8

>Lucky Arsenal escapes with a draw!

>

Arsenal has always been known for their beautiful short passing, fluid football. It was going to be an exciting encounter when Barcelona visited Arsenal at the Emirates. But i have never in my lifetime seen Arsenal cornered like this at their own home turf. Barcelona played magnificent football, it wasn’t Messi that was destroying Arsenal,  it was the whole Barcelona team and how they outplayed Arsenal during the first half, with the amount of chances, they could have put the tie to bed even before the half hour mark. If people wanted to see how beautiful football should be played, watch this highlight.
It was definitely a shock how the scoreline stayed goalless after Barcelona pretty much bombarded the Arsenal goal, lucky Almunia recovered from that Birmingham blunder to put up a inspiring performance to keep the home side in the match. But Barcelona didn’t even give Arsenal a chance to breathe in the second half as they scored right after the kickoff. Arsenal’s defense was split right open and Almunia rushed out but could only watch as Ibrahimovic looped it over his head and into the net. Ibrahimovic then scored another goal 13 minutes later from the same position to put Barcelona 2-0 up.

From the on, i thought Arsenal’s game is over as Barcelona was in total control, but i was wrong and i admire how the character of the young Arsenal side is starting to mature. It was good to see that they managed to pull themselves together and never gave up. It was definitely encouraging to see! Theo Walcott managed to pull back one goal which i felt was fortunate, even so, Arsenal did deserve a goal for the persistence. As the game started to come to an end, Farbregas shouldered the hopes and dreams of the Arsenal fans to put give Arsenal the equalizer from the penalty awarded. It was a shock to how Arsenal manage to come back after being pushed around the first half. It may not be as close to the Liverpool vs Ac Milan Champions League final comeback, but it was definitely a great comeback from the young gunners against a quality side. Injuries and suspensions to both sides is going to make the 2nd leg at the Nou Camp a very entertaining match to look forward to. I hope the match will just as entertaining as this one!

Signing off
Prosoc8

>Manchester United, a one man team?

>Wayne Rooney is on the best form of his footballing career, scoring his 34th goal of the season, in the 2-1 loss to Bayern at last night’s Champions league encounter. However, on the 92 minute of the match, only a few seconds before Olic scored that crucial goal that gave the home side a win, Rooney rolled on his right ankle and had to walk out of the stadium with crutches with protective boots in place. Manchester United fans should start worrying and praying as they have a crucial game in the weekend against Chelsea and then a second leg match against Bayern in Old Trafford…..






There has been so much hype about Rooney getting injured, which i feel only amplifies how much the team relies on him. The last minute double blow at Munich may have demoralized the team, with Rooney potentially injured and a last minute goal dealt to them. It will be interesting to see how the Devils will bounce back from this. Rooney has scored most of United’s goal, he has really stepped up his game this year after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. But i think it is unfair to Rooney that he has the burden of the entire fan base and team on his shoulders  as they look to him to provide the goods. They should have enough players to provide as well, they have the squad dept and quality in them to match up to any team, so i don’t understand why Rooney is the focus of the team when everyone else has the potential to provide the same!


Rooney may have scored the first goal in less than 2 minutes but Bayern slowly got a grip of the game and started pouring forward. If you look at the stats of the game, Rooney was slowly marked out of the game as the scoring opportunities started to favored Bayern. To be honest , Manchester United were very poor and thinking that they could just rely on Rooney to bail them out… not this time… the tide has turned and Bayern have done a 1999 Champions League final reverse on United. Manchester were lucky that Robben wasn’t fit to play, it could have been a far worst scoreline as  Robben and transfer targeted Ribery would have turned the United back four inside out. 


Here is a little food for thought,
What would happen if Rooney couldn’t play both crucial matches? Lose out on the title race and Champions League glory on the reliance of one player. 


Signing off,
Prosoc8

>Who will win the English Premier League 09/10?

>

 The end of the season is near but the title race is still wide open with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal battling hard for it. It will be hard to predict what would be the outcome this year’s race……. 

Over the weekend, Chelsea thrashed and humiliated Aston Villa 7-1 with F.Lampard scoring 4 of the goals. Aston Villa is never an easy opponent to play as they have shown their European credentials. However, Chelsea showed no mercy and Aston Villa was powerless to stop a Chelsea side playing on high  gear. It was a perfect reaction from the previous week’s draw with Blackburn. They thumped Portsmouth 5-0 and now 7-1 to Aston Villa, and if they can keep up their form for the remaining games, the title is definitely up for grabs.

Manchester on the other hand, won 4-0 over Bolton even without their ace striker Rooney. Rooney has been the driving force for Manchester United, scoring 25 goals during the 09/10 campaign, but he was forced to miss this game with an injury. Manchester showed no signs of missing Rooney as they still managed a comfortable 4-0 win over Bolton, with Berbatov scoring a brace. The scoreline in my opinion flattered Manchester as at times Bolton did cause problems for the Devil’s back four, if it weren’t for Van derSar, the scoreline would have been different.


Just when Arsenal are starting to pick up the pace for the title, they were halted as Kevin Phillips of Birmingham scored his 250th goal of his professional career to prevent Arsenal from taking all 3 points. Arsene Wenger wasn’t happy about the tackle on Fabregas and his made his feelings known during the press conference.


 “He got tackled at the knee, kicked just under the knee. We tried to take him off but he said he was all right. Am I suggesting there were a lot of bad tackles? Leave me alone with that, for f***’s sake.

“You are always looking for controversy, you do not need me to tell you what happened on the pitch. I can give you my opinion about our game but you always create this controversy.”  -Arsene Wenger

This result has dented Arsenal’s push for a title but there are still chances for Arsenal to keep up if they keep up their form. Arsenal need to stop relying on Fabregas, once Fabregas was kicked, he wasn’t the same player anymore with poor touches and poor passing throughout the game. 

Arsenal still have a big game this week against Barcelona and they will have to be at their best if they want to compete against a very strong Barcelona side. 


SO who will win this year’s English Premier League… you will just have to wait and see… 
Arsenal will be given a chance to catch up when the Devils meet the blues next week in a match that could decide which side is favored to win this year’s Premier League. Can Manchester United stop rampant Chelsea? Or will the blues continue their goal scoring form? 


Signing off 
Prosoc8