Reaction to “Battle of Britain” draw
March 14, 2008
Arsenal and Liverpool face a battle of Britain tie in the quarter finals of the Champions League after being drawn together in this mornings draw.
1999 winners Manchester United will face Roma, who disposed of Real Madrid in the last round whilst Chelsea face Fenerbahce. The other tie of the round paired Schalke 04 with Barcelona.
In terms of the semi final draw the winner of the Arsenal v Liverpool tie will face Chelsea or Fenerbahce whilst Manchester United or Roma will face either Schalke 04 or Barcelona.
Looking a little deeper into matters, if Chelsea dispose of Fenerbahce which they should do with some ease, England will be guaranteed a place in the final of Europe’s elite competition.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool personnel have acted quickly to convey their disappointment at drawing each other rather than a continental side. Speaking to the BBC, Liverpool CEO Rick Parry stated –
“I think we’d hoped to avoid an English team. But, statistically, an all-English tie was bound to happen and it’s happened to us. I guess at least we’ve avoided a trip to Turkey.
Quite right Rick – think of all those air miles you will save whilst providing the good old arm chair fan with some compelling viewing.
The Pieman cant wait for the Champions League to take centre stage again and believes that the winner of the impending Manchester United v Barcelona semi final will ultimately lift the trophy in May.
Do you agree with The Pieman’s prediction – leave us a comment!
Eduardo interview – He’s walking about
March 9, 2008
It’s been a couple of weeks since the injury and the Arsenel forward suffered the double compound fracture and broken ankle after a poor tackle from Martin Taylor. He’s had his first interview its not in English but it does show him hobbling around on his crutches.
There are loads of videos on Youtube of the incident but my favourite is this one from Rusmatic who recreated the incident on Pro Evo.
Blatter needs to butt out say Blues chief
March 9, 2008
Fifa President Sepp Blatter has come under intense criticism following is comments regarding Martin Taylor’s challenge on Eduardo which resulted in the Croatian suffering a compound leg fracture.
Blatter publicly ripped into Taylor stating that the tackle was an “attack” and seemed to suggest that the Birmingham defender had meant to cause a serious injury and did not just seriously mis-time time the tackle.
Eduardo coud be out of the game for up to a year but Taylor has both publicly and privately apologised for the event which is said to have left him emotionally scarred. The Arsenal midfielder has been said to have accepted the apology following a meeting between the two in the Birmingham hospital where he was staying.
The President of Fifa has however stated that he would welcome longer bans for dangerous play than the mandatory three matches although his comments to the BBC that ” this is to destroy another player and that is not the aim of our game” have elicited much criticism, especially from Blues Chairman David Gold.
Gold responded to Blatter’s comments by stating -
“It is outrageous and disappointing that a man of Sepp Blatter’s standing, the top man in world football, is coming out with inflammatory statements like this which cannot be good for the game”
Taylor has an almost impeccable discipinary record, averaged around 1 yellow card per season, but Blatter’s comments have made him out to be the monster which he quite clearly isnt. Accidents do happen in football, some worse than other, but the notion that this was anything other than a freak accdent is nothing short of ridiculous.
Blatter should keep out of English league matters and stop showing himself up with stupid, ill thought out comments.
Winning is Everything supports Martin Taylor and hopes that he can put this behind him – whilst also wishing Eduardo a full and speedy recovery.
PFA players of the month – Adebayor – Dickov – Simpson – Smith
March 4, 2008
The PFA players of the month were announced this morning with the awards going Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal, Paul Dickov of Blackpool Jay Simpson of Millwall and James Smith of Stockport County.
Emmanuel Adebayo has been sensation this season and stepped into the big boots of Henry playing the loan man role brilliantly scoring 19 goals in the process. In the Championship Paul Dickov had a new lease of life at the seaside on for blBlackpool, on loan from Manchester City the forward scored his first goals for two seasons, for Blackpool he’s netting 5 goals in 5 games, including a classy lobbed finish against Hull in a 2-2 draw.
Jay Simpson another loanee won the award in Division One for Millwall. On loan from Arsenal the attacking midfielder has had a big effect at the New Den helping them fight relegation. Stockport’s James Smith who’s on loan from Liverpool won the award in League Two.
So only Premiership players won the awards and FourFourTwo announced there was 50 top footballers in the league the other day, the PFA don’t agree with that according to the awards today.
Champions League Race for the Quarters
March 4, 2008
Places will be decided for the quarter finals of the Champions League tonight, it the second legs of four ties involving three clubs from the UK.
AC Milan v Arsenal, (agg 0-0)
Arsenal look for a first win in five games at the San Serio against AC Milan. With the scores at 0-0 from the first leg its going to be quite a task considering AC Milan have a 100% record at the San Serio this season in the Champions League. Robin Van Persie is set to return after injury to support Adebayor, but may only be introduced from the bench.
Kaka as recovered from a knee injury to be fit but striker Ronaldo is out for 9 months with ruptured knee ligaments.
Prediction : AC Milan Win
Barcelona v Celtic, (agg 3-2)
10,000 Celtic fans are set to travel to Barcelon, half have ticked while the other half are set to watch the match in a fans zone. Barca take a slight lead into the second leg but truly looked a class above the Scots in the first leg, it would be the result of the night if they can over come the likes of Ronaldinho, Messi and Henry.
Prediction : Barcelona Win
Man Utd v Lyon, (agg 1-1)
Another tie which is finely balanced after Calos Tevez grabbed an equalizer. United are hard to beat at Old Trafford and remember the equator finals last year when they beat Roma 7-1. Karim Benzema is the dangeman he scored Lyon’s goal in the first round.
Prediction : Man Utd Win
Sevilla v Fenerbahce, (agg 2-3)
The final tie of the night is in Spain as under pressure Joaquin Caparros looks to take the UEFA Cup winners further in the Champions League while Fenerbahce manager Brazilian legend Zico looks to take the Turks to the quaker finals for the first time in the Champions league.
Prediction : Sevilla Win
United one point behind as Bendtner salvages a point for Arsenal
March 2, 2008
Manchester United were 30 seconds from regaining top spot in the Premiership this afternoon but a late Nicklas Bendtner goal salvaged a point for a lack luster Arsenal against Aston Villa.
Alex Fergerson in his post match interview had a pop at the Gunners quoting their ‘usual 7 minutes of extra time’, but this morning he won’t be too disappointed as he got team selection spot on as his side strolled past an all but relegated Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage.
Ronaldo, Rooney and Anderson were all rested ahead of the mid-week Champions league game against Lyon. Owen Hardgreaves started the scoring grabbing his first Untied goal with a 20 yard free kick, Ji-Sung Park headed in for a second before the break. A John O’Shae cross was deflected in by Simon Davies to make it 3-0 in the second half, Rooney and Ronaldo then were introduced so they could stretch their legs.
Meanwhile across London Aston Villa took the lead in the first half against Arsenal a Gabriel Agbonlahor cross was deflected past his own keeper by Senderos. Villa had chances to double their lead and even hit the bar. The home side looked hung over from the events of last week but rose to the occasion Adebayor nodding down a Cliche cross for Bendtner to fire in.
All this means is that Arsenal are one point clear putting the title race back into the hand of Untied and have no wins in the last 4 games, league and Cup.
Eduardo to be back after 9 months
February 25, 2008
After initial thoughts that Eduardo would be out for more than a year after his horrible leg break the news following the operation is good with a predicted 9 months being the time out. The news today both online, on the radio and red tops has been about the injury but the news seems to be good with it predicted that the Croat could be back running in 6 months.
The other news is regarding Martin Talyor who was mentally tired in training this morning, support has come in from the footballing world including former Blackburn Rovers assistant manager Tony Parks. On the other side Croatian websites have been sighting death threats towards the former Rovers defender.
Slavan Bilic spoke on Radio 5 live tonigh, Bilic who is the manager of the national team in Croatia announced that he spoke to Eduardo and he was doing well in hospital and had no doubts that he would be back. He also couldn’t blame Martin Taylor for the injury and it was just one of those moments when it all went wrong.
As far as I’m concerned it was a clumsy tackle and we wish the lads all the best, Eduardo and Taylor.
Eduardo Leg Breaker
February 25, 2008
The pinnacle of the weekend was set to be the Carling Cup Final which Tottenham won 2-1 beating Chelsea for their first trophy in 9 years. But the talk in the offices this morning will be from the Arsenal V Birmingham match where Eduardo suffered one of the worst injuries in top flight football since David Busst terrible injury back in 1996.
The Croatian-Brazilian center forward suffered the injury early on in the game when Martin Taylor went in with a high tackle which at first glance appeared to a regular tackle, but from other angles (including the one below) shows why Eduardo suffered the double leg and ankle compound fracture.
Initial post match reaction from Arsène Wenger called for Taylor to receive life ban from the game. After cooling down Arsène Wenger retracting the statements. At the moment Taylor is set to miss the next three games while Eduardo is looking to b out for at least 18 months if not have to retire.
We send our best wishes to Eduardo but it does make make you think of the players who sufferer similar injuries on Sunday Mornings in Sunday League, Eduardo may have to face the possibility of retiring from the game but at least his financial future is secure where as the average Sunday league player may not be able to work for 18 months.
Wednesday Night Champions League Review
February 20, 2008
Three UK teams were involved in Champions League games tonight as the tournament reached it’s cup knock out stage. Manchester United traveled to France to face 6 in a row League Champions Lyon, Arsenal played AC Milan at the Emirates and Celtic hosted the almighty Barcelona.
Lyon 1 – 1 Manchester United
Manchester United traveled to France to play Lyon, Alex Ferguson though it was one of the hardest teams to meet at this stage, despite Rangers beating them 3-0 in the group stages. Karim Benzema who was point out as the danger man struck after halftime to give the home side the lead. Karim Benzema, 2o, has now scored 4 goals in the Champions League.
Substitute Carlos Tevez came on to rescue a point, a corner was deflected by Fred to Tevez who poked the ball in the roof of the net.
Arsenal 0-0 AC Milan
Arsenal were unable to break down AC Milan, the away side played for the draw as Arsenal tried to create opening for loan striker Emmanuel Adebayor. The best chance of the game fell to Adebayor who thumped a header against the bar late on from a Walcott cross.
Celtic 2-3 Barcelona
The pick of the games came at Celtic Park where Barcelona came back from behind twice to beat a plucky Celtic. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink put Celtic in the lead after 15 minutes from a powerful header. Lionel Messi equalized moments later but Barry Robson looped in a header to give Celtic a deserved lead going into the half time break. Thierry Henry in the second half smashed home the equalizer and Lionel Messi grabbed a winner, a drag back fooled Gary Caldwell then shot to leave Boruc helpless in the Celtic goal.
Arsenal move 5 points clear
February 12, 2008
After a interesting weekend of action Arsenal managed to move five points clear of Manchester Untied thanks to a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers tonight at the Emirates. It was always going to be tough for Blackburn who lost 6-2 last season at the Emirates, it didn’t take long for the home side to break the deadlock with defender Philippe Senderos heading home from a corner on 4 minuets.
The home side did have to wait till late in the second half to seal the points when Emmanuel Adebayor fired in, Adebayor had been denied several goals in the game due to some great saves form Brad Friedel. The goal did move Adebayor level top of the top scorer in the Premiership with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Overall it was Adebayor’s 22nd goal of the season, he’s scored in the last 9 games on the trot.
