Arsenal vs. Birmingham

1 03 2011

“Cesc Fabregas could still lift the Carling Cup for Arsenal at Wembley” read a headline for The Guardian.

So, basically Arsenal was preparing for their injured captain to lift the trophy, which would be great for him. He’s led the team throughout the tournament so it would be fitting to end it with him on the field to accept the trophy.

But the game was still days away. And Birmingham were ready to give them as much as they could.

“We have to play our own style and that can hopefully upset Arsenal. It’s 11 v 11, they’re not superhuman. If we hit the right levels then we are capable of causing an upset.”

Those were the words of Birmingham manager Alex McLeish. His team put up quite a fight all game long and while Arsenal clearly looked the better side, their pass-first mentality came back to bit them with the game tied 1-1 and Birmingham pushing for their second goal to put them ahead of the second-best team in the English Premier League and Obafemi Martins made that happen on his second touch of the game after shocking miscommunication from keeper Wojciech Szczesny and defender Laurent Koscielny.

This embarrassment capped a game that Arsenal deserved to lose. They let Birmingham hang around and keep their confidence level high throughout the match. It was a deserving game and much credit needs to be given to the visitors for their continual efforts.

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Categories : Carling Cup Finals

The Rooney we know

4 02 2011

Wayne Rooney has had quite a dip in form since last season for the Red Devils of Manchester United.

Or has he?

The English forward recorded 34 total goals in the 2010 campaign. He has only scored 5 in all competitions this season. Despite the lack of scoring, Rooney’s manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has firmly backed his player, believing he has done plenty of other things for the team on the pitch.

“He has a fantastic energy to play the game, he’s always committed to doing his best,” Ferguson told a news conference.

But, of course, scoring goals is always a plus. Which is why his two goals this week in the team’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa were not only surprising, but extremely rewarding for the manager and his side looking to win the Premier League title this season.

Now, he could really be a deciding factor in the team’s chances of winning.

“The bonus is…he’s got two goals and hopefully there’s every chance that scoring the type of goals he scored the other night—particularly that first goal—that he’ll take off.

“I think goalscorers are like that, that’s what we’re going to see with Wayne. He’s got 14 league games, European games, FA Cup games left…he could easily get a good average goal scoring this year.”

With plenty of teams breathing down their back, Man U could definitely use the boost from Rooney to lift them over the hump and regain the title once more. He is a proven veteran and knows how to play the game with his fight, competiveness, and even anger fueling his great career. The team hopes to have this side of him help them for the rest of the season.

United has a chance to set a club record of 30 games unbeaten if they can get a result against struggling Wolverhampton this week.

That would be quite an amazing feat, even for a club with the accolades that Manchester United has.

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Categories : English Premier League

Big Week in the English Premier League!

2 02 2011

Wow. What a week. Liverpool giveth and Liverpool taketh.

First, they began by signing the 22-year old former Newcastle United striker, Andy Carroll, for a then-record $56.2 million deal. What a way to make a splash by signing a young player such as Carroll for that “large lump sum.” Hey, they are a club not accustomed to struggling the way they are this season (7th place in standings), so why not make a change? I don’t know much about Carroll as Newcastle isn’t on American TV much, but he better be worth that moolah he just pocketed.

Next, they give away the struggling, disgruntled — though normally fantastic — goal scorer and World Cup winner, Fernando Torres, over to arch rival Chelsea…for the NEW record transfer fee at an eye-popping price of $80.3 million. Hopefully, Bob Barker will be somewhere with his awesomely skinny microphone screaming out “The price IS right!” along with Torres.

What’s scary for Man City (who is struggling to stay afloat with the big boys at the top of the standings recently) is the new combo up top of Didier Drogba and Torres for Chelsea. Really? If Torres can catch fire and roll the way he was last season for Liverpool, they could seriously cause extreme havoc and romp any team in their path. Let’s not forget the haters, though, who is Liverpool defender, Martin Skrtel.

Fox Soccer Channel (@SoccerNews) tweeted that Skrtel believes Torres will soon regret his move.

Enough with the hater-ade. Below is the goal scorer at his best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRMnBjcZLE

Hey, hey, hey! We’re not done yet! Because Liverpool’s not done yet.

Just before pleasing Torres with his transfer, the club signed Uruguayan sensation, Luis Suarez, from the Dutch club, Ajax, for $31.4 million. This amount was the second-largest signing for Liverpool in its rich history.

Can you guess who was first? (Hint: He just left Liverpool.)

The club is starting anew (kind of) and they needed to make changes if they want to keep fighting for a spot in the upcoming Champions League.

The only thing that stopped them from splurging some more was that the transfer window closed at the end of January.

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Categories : English Premier League