Stoke come back down to earth with a bump
August 31, 2008
Premiership newboys Stoke City came back down to earth yesterday as they were beaten 2-1 away to Middlesbrough. Stoke are everyone’s favourite to go straight back down to the Championship, and bookmakers Paddy Power have already paid out on them being relegated after their opening day defeat away to Bolton.
However they dug in last week and narrowly beat Aston Villa at the Britannia, with a last gasp goal, to give their critics something to think about.
Yesterday at the Riverside however it was Stoke who succumbed to the late goal, denying them the away point they richly deserved.
After having Amdy Faye dismissed for a two-footed tackle, and the subsequent free kick being converted into a goal, Stoke looked like they would suffer a serious hammering. However Borough missed a penalty that gave them the chance for a 2-0 lead, and incredibly Stoke equalised through a Justin Hoyte own goal.
It looked like Stoke would cling on until the dying minutes when Tuncay was fed through to beat Thomas Sorensen.
Gareth Southgate, the Borough manager, said about the game:
In the end we’ve just had enough to win it. It is the poorest we have played but the points are the important thing for us.
The way they play they cause you problems and we were a bit off it and didn’t pass the ball as well as we should have done.
We have six points but lots of work to do. We sneaked through when we weren’t at our best.
Liverpool win the derby and the Toon start to hit form
March 30, 2008
Liverpool managed to pull away from Everton in the league with a win in the Merseyside derby beating Everton. After a first win in three months Newcastle thrashed Spurs at White Hart Lane and Chelsea grabbed a 1-0 win over Boro.
Liverpool 1 – 0 Everton
After losing Cahill for the season Everton had to make a few chances to the side where as Liverpool had to replace Mascherano with Lucas.
The only goal of the game came in the 7th minute. A corner wasn’t cleared properly by Everton and Alonso nicked the ball from Yakubu, Kuyt passed wide to Torres who slide the ball past Howard. Minutes later Lee Carsley could have been sent off for a high tackle on Torres on the edge of the area. Howard Webb who was always going to have a tough time only showed a yellow.
Liverpool went on to have good chances in the half with Bable, Kuyt and Gerrard having good changed, the Liverpool captain hitting the post.
In the second half Everton could have put themselves on level terms, Osman with a near post header put they looked tired and missed Tim Cahill in the attacking third. Gerrard nearly double the lead late on with a drive from the corner of the box, Howard tipped over. Liverpool now hold the double over their neighbors and five points clear in 4th.
Chelsea 1 – 0 Middlesborough
Like the Liverpool game the home side took the lead early on, a deep freekick from the touchline found Carvalho who looped a header from all of 14 yards. The home side only looked like grabbing an second late on with Wright-Phillips slotting wide once and thumping over after nice play from Kalou.
It was the away side that had the best chance, a ball over top started a 50-50 with Cudicini and Alves. The Brazilian took the ball round the Italian keeper and then shot from about 30 yards to the open goal. With Chelsea defender getting back on the line the were relieved to see the ball hit the post. That wasn’t Boro’s only chance with them hitting the bar twice at a corner, Alves and Wheater with the headers.
Tottenham 1 – 1 Newcastle United
The away side had a great opportunity to take the lead when Habib Beye smashed a shot against the bar. Spurs took the lead though Darren Bent his eighth goal of the season. Just before the break Nicky Butt grabbed the away sides first goal of the match sweeping in a shot into the far corner from 20 yards.
The game really kicked off in the second half, a foul on Martins resulted in a free kick on the edge of the area which Geremi fired in with a little help from Viduka who moved from the wall. The third from Owen came from a Martins run from the touch line and a flick from Viduka.
Before the fourth went in for the home side a Berbatov header was saved well on the line. The final goal came from Martin who took the ball round the last Tottenham man and slotted past Robinson. A great result for King Kev and his Newcastle team are starting show a little confidence.
United go top as Arsenal stutter again
March 15, 2008
Today saw Manchester United return to the top of the league due to Arsenal dropping two points to Middlesbrough.
Derby 0 – 1 Manchester Untied
Manchester United gave a debut to Ben Foster and rested Calos Tevez for their match against bottom of the league Derby County. Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post in the first half which started the trend for the match with Derby on the back foot. He then had a shot saved by ex-Untied keeper Roy Carroll. Derby did have the best chance of the first half Kenny Miller had a shot saved by the debutant when Miller was through on goal.
In the second half it was more of the same with Carroll making a double save at a corner, a free kick from Ronaldo. It seemed that it would be a afternoon of frustration for the away team but 15 minutes from time Ronaldo grabbed his 31st goal of the season poking home a Rooney Cross, a cruel defeat for Derby.
Arsenal 1 – 1 Middlesbrough
After three straight draws for the Gooners they needed to win to regain their top stop after United win. Adebayor has goal disallowed for offside early on, on second inspection the ball was passed by Boro midfielder George Boatang. A long ball and cross from Tuncay found former Arsenal striker Aliadiere who tucked away the ball to take the lead on 25 minutes.
Fabregas had a great chance in the second half to draw level when he went one-on-one with Schwarzer. With five minuets to go Toure headed in from 8 yards to grab the equalizer, it appeared that Schwarzer was blocked by his own player as he went to save the ball. Mido was sent off late on for raking his studs down Clichy’s face, the defender has to go off on a stretcher
Premiership Round Up
February 9, 2008
Another great Premiership Saturday, it was good to get back to watching football after the weeks major news of the announcement of the possibility of a 39th game to be played overseas. With the top 3 not playing the concentration was on the battle for 4th place and the battle of the bottom.
Aston Villa 4 – 1 Newcastle
Kevin Keegan is still without a win in his second spell at Newcastle. Micheal Owen had given the away side the lead in the first half. The second half with a few chances Villa came out on top, a deflected Bouma shot, two Carew headers and a Carew penalty sealed the match. Carew was awesome and fully deserves his hattrik
Everton 1 – 0 Reading
Yakubu was left out after coming back late from the African cup of Nations. The first half of the match was pretty quiet at Goodison Park. The addition of James Vaughan at half time helped, and Everton took the lead when a second ball from a corner found Phil Jageilka who looped in a header at the far post. That defeat for Reading and other results meant that the Royals moved into the bottom three for the first time this season.
Sunderland 2 – 0 Wigan
Sunderland recorded their fourth straight home win, and over fellow relegation rivals meant they moved out of the bottom three. Dickson Etuhu back from the African Cup of Nations grabbed a goal just before half time heading in from a free-kick. The Black Cats doubled the lead in the second half, this was after Wigan hit the woodwork twice, a cracking ball from Andy Reid found Daryl Murphy who thumped in a shot of the underside of the bar form all of 25 yards.
Middlesborough 1 – 0 Fulham
Afonso Alves who signed last week for £12 million started the game on the bench, it was another stirker who grabbed the only goal of the game in the frist half, Jeremie Aliadiere slotting in after breaking the offside trap. Alves came on the second half but was unable to make an impact.
Bolton 0 – 1 Portsmouth
The first half saw former Pompy player Matt Taylor miss a sitter, an open goal from all of 3 yards. The only goal came late in the game for the away side Lassana Diarra with his first goal in the Premiership. He did look offside which compounded the misery for the home side who had been the better side and had been denied by an inform David James on numerous occasions, no doubt that James is England’s number 1.
Derby 0 – 3 Tottenham
Well the Rams managed to hang on till the second half but then Spurs class shone. Robbie Keane tabbed in after Roy Carroll saved from Malbranque. The second from Kaboul when Derby couldn’t clear from a corner. The third form the spot for Berbatov after Stubbs handballed.
West Ham 1 – 1 Birmingham
James McFadden grabbed his first goal for Birmingham again West Ham, the Scot equalized from the spot after he was brought down in the box by Lucas Niell. West Ham had taken the lead in the first half, a long throw was flicked on by Cole and Ljungberg stole in at the far post to tap smash in the opener. Lee Bowyer decide to get himself sent off for a lunge on Johnson, bit of a shocker from Mr Battenburg.
Two games tomorrow complete the weekends football, and you don’t better than Liverpool Chelsea and the Manchester derby.
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Liverpool, 16:00
Man Utd v Man City, 13:30
winningiseverything Premiership round-up
February 4, 2008
The results are in for the weekends matches, the Premiership finished with for another week.
The big winners this weekend were those at the wrong end of the table really. Fulham, Wigan and Bolton all won their respective games against Villa (2-1), West Ham (1-0) and Reading (2-0) to leave Derby further adrift at the bottom and some worried faces at clubs such as Reading (who are in free-fall), Sunderland and Birmingham.
Arguably anyone up to Tottenham are still in the relegation fight, but with Spurs having an upturn in fortunes and a scoring record the envy of many European contenders they will be fine. After their perhaps surprising 1-1 draw with champions Manchester United they will be looking to move onward and upward toward top-half status.
Newcastle and Middlesbrough played out a dull 1-1 draw as did Derby and Birmingham.
Jermain Defoe will be pleased with his weekends work, as he scored on his debut for Portsmouth against Chelsea to push the London club further behind the leaders.
Speaking of which, Arsenal maintained their excellent form this season with a 3-1 win at Manchester City, with two goals form the superb Adebayor. Wenger just seems to have a knack of selling players when he sees that they are holding up the progression of others. He did it with Viera to allow Fabregas to progress and now he has done it this season, letting Henry go to give Adebayor room to shine. As for Manchester City, they suffered their first home defeat this season and will be hoping that the Benjani deal goes through so that they have a striker that can actually score.
European contenders Blackburn and Everton played out a 0-0 draw at Ewood, but the Toffees will be disappointed that Andy Johnson’s goal in the second half was ruled out by the officials.
Finally, Liverpool recaptured some form as they beat Sunderland 3-0 at home. With their game in hand they may now feel a little more confident for that fourth spot.
Late deals
February 1, 2008
A few late deals from the Premiership last night including a right balls up from the blue half of Manchester.
First off, strugglers Fulham signed some experience for the run-in including former Liverpool forward Jari Litmanen and defender Toni Kallio. Both feature from manager Roy Hodgson’s past, having played for him in the Finnish national side. Litmanen is initially on trial, but arrives on a free anyway, while Kallio joins from Swiss side BSC Young Boys. Stalteri also joins from neighbors Tottenham on loan until the end of the season. I make this 7 signings for Fulham in this window.
Middlesbrough broke their club transfer record signing Brazilian striker Afonso Alves from Dutch club Heerenveen. The fee is thought to be in excess of £10m, with Alves putting his name on the dotted line of a four-and-a-half year deal. He comes with the reputation of being very prolific in front of goal with an especially impressive record at former club Malmo of 45 goals in 38 games. Middlesbrough will be hoping he came recapture that sort of form as they try to avoid relegation.
Everton let defender Alan Stubbs go to Derby for some first team football and then brought in some cover for their impressive defence signing Anthony Gardner on loan from Tottenham for the rest of the season.
Speaking of Tottenham, they completed another defensive signing, with Gilberto signing from Hertha Berlin. The Brazilian left-back joins for £1.9m after medical complications were ironed out yesterday.
And finally to the City/Portsmouth saga. Portsmouth captured Defoe from Spurs for an undisclosed fee with Harry especially happy at the capture. However, the deal may have been pushed through because of the transfer of Benjani to Manchester City thought to have been a done deal, for a figure thought to be around £9m. Complications have been forthcoming with City possibly not putting through the papers for the deal before the deadline thanks to the late appearance of Benjani at the club at around 11.15pm last night. Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was trying to get the deal complete, or at least find out if it would be, until 1am but the matter remains unresolved.
It’s not all bad news for City though as they completed the capture of Ecuador international striker Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel for a fee thought to be around £5m. Caicedo is 19 and signs a four-and-a-half-year deal at Eastlands. They also signed Filippo Mancini, 17, the son of Inter Milan boss Roberto.
Stay tuned to “winning is everything” for further developments in the Benjani saga.
winningiseverything Premiership round-up
January 30, 2008
Tuesday night didn’t throw up many surprises as far as results go.
Arsenal beat Newcastle for the second time in 4 days to go top of the Premiership table, as least for 24 hours. The score was 3-0 again, leaving Newcastle in a state of deja-vu. It turned out to be an easy game for Arsenal, with goals coming from prolific Adebayor, industrias Flamini and the always impressive Fabregas.
Perhaps the most significant result of the night came at the Stadium of Light where Sunderland beat Birmingham 2-0 in a battle of the relegation strugglers. Goals from Murphy and the debutant Prica gave the Black Cats the vital victory, in what was essentially a committed and tense game with little quality.
Bolton failed to seize their opportunities at home to Fulham giving the London side their first point under Roy Hodgson. The drab 0-0 encounter leaves Fulham 4 points from safety and Bolton slipping to 16th.
Middlesbrough striker Jeremie Aliadiere scored an excellent first-half strike and his team then held out for victory in a tight contest. It is Middlesbrough’s first win at home since December 9th against Arsenal. The loss sends Wigan into the bottom three.
As Avram Grant would say…style is nothing, winning is everything…Chelsea. (And if this reminds you of a little goblin like creature there’s a reason for that, and no it’s not Dennis Wise!).
Woodgate off to Spurs
January 29, 2008
Winning is Everything understands that Jonathan Woodgate has finally come to the decision that Spurs is the way to go.
It may have always been his choice, but reports suggested that initially he could not agree personal terms with the White Hart Lane club. It seems that with Newcastle’s interest in re-signing Woodgate and a mystery third club in the offing, Tottenham higher-ups were persuaded to splash out that bit more on wages.
He now joins the defensive ranks which already contain Ledley King and Michael Dawson, for a reported £8m, £1m more that Middlesbrough paid for him last summer (he was previously on loan at the club).
This arguably leaves Woodgate’s home-town club in a bit of a pickle. They now have to rely on the likes of Robert Huth at central-half, and that can’t be a good thing judging by his tackling ability at the weekend’s FA Cup game. Talk about kung-fu fighting…he put Cantona to shame.
Mind you, with Spurs reaching the Carling Cup final and therefore a chance of silverware, and with Woodgate reaching the peak of his career, this is probably a move he needed to take. You know what they say…Winning is Everything.
Woodgate likes it up north
January 26, 2008
Jonathan Woodgate has apparently rejected a move to Tottenham, not being able to agree how much money he deserved each week, and is now talking to Newcastle thanks to their £7m bid being accepted by Middlesbrough.
Woodgate, originally left Newcastle to join Real Madrid in 2004, and “Winning Is Everything” understands that he is set for a return to the club, although don’t discount Spurs yet.
Woodgate, reaching his peak at 28, was not included in Middlesbrough’s squad for their 2-0 FA Cup win at Mansfield Saturday lunchtime.
FA Cup – Lookalike
January 26, 2008
This morning Middlesbrough manged to scrape past Mansfield in the F.A. Cup winning 2-0 at Field Mill. While watching the match I noticed a lookalike, Stags boss Billy Dearden and Statler the old man muppet.
