Fletcher shows how to hit a sweet volley

It was a sad beginning to the international break as Manchester United lost 1-0 to Chelsea (even after a good performance) but it was definitely a happy ending to the break as Manchester United rampaged to a 3-0 win against Everton at Old Trafford.

The game after the international break always gives me jitters due to the tiredness of all the international players we have in the Manchester United line up but the display in this game definitely made those jitters go away.

The line up boasted a return of Vidic to the center of the defence and there was no place for Nani, not even on the bench which pleases me. It was a start for Michael Owen and Berbatov didn’t feature even on the bench (injury?). Carrick and Fletcher started in the center of the midfield. I think Carrick is good in a game only when he is free to roam around and Fletcher provides him that freedom. It was a return for Saha to Old Trafford for the first time since his move to Everton.

In the first half it was all Manchester United and Everton were barely getting any of the ball. It seemed United meant all business and wanted to make a statement with this game improving their goal difference along the way. There was loads of crisp passing movement but the end product was not showing. Rooney and Giggs went close with the shots from outside the box but the scoreline was still 0-0.

In the 35th minute Patrice Evra crossed the ball into the box which was headed by Valencia into the path of Fletcher who hit a sweet volley into the top corner of the goal.

Fletcher Goal (Image Source: Soccernet)

What a shot… Bang 1-0!!! To be honest Fletcher would be the last man I would want to be at the end of such a chance. He has missed some easy chances with his feet. He is awesome at scoring with his head but I don’t trust his feet when it comes to scoring but didn’t he surprise me and for the good.

2nd half started with Yakubu coming on for Everton and for the initial few minutes it seemed that they would be no pushovers today. Yakubu went close with a shot.

In the 67th minute, Rooney had a shot which would have gone out for a throw but Giggs was there to collect it and provide a pass right to Carrick’s feet who slotted home a low shot into the goal. Whatever thoughts I was having of a nervy 2nd half went to dust.

Michael Carrick (Image Source: Telegraph)

After that it was smooth play for United and Valencia added a 3rd to the scoreline with a deflected shot. Valencia seems to be having a knack of scoring through deflections.

Overall it was a very convincing performance by Manchester United which kept the gap limited to 5 points at the top. And for a change the midfield pitched in with goals instead of the strikers which is a good thing but would have loved to see Michael Owen making the most of the chance he got since he had a full game today. Other than that almost everyone played well in the game.

Also loved what David Moyes had to say after the game “The fact is when we went 2 up front we conceded 2 goals, so there is no guarantee we would have done any better. “

To add to a good win was Arsenal’s loss to Sunderland courtesy a Darren Bent goal (that would have hurt but I am happy). Also Liverpool and Man City drew 2-2 – not sure which manager should be happy with that result.

And Tottenham scoring 9 against Wigan and 8 of those coming in 2nd half? Don’t we all miss EPL so much…

Weekend full of surprises

The weekend started with Ferguson getting Manager of the Month award and Torres running away with the Player of the Month award but these were not the surprises this week.

Bolton 2-2 Tottenham

Tottenham have been flying really high this season with exceptions of their games against Manchester United and  Chelsea. They have been ruthless to all other opposition they have faced but against Bolton it was another story. Bolton took the lead twice and all Spurs could manage was a draw.

Burnley 2-1 Birmingham

Turf Moor has already got the reputation of a fortress this season but Birmingham have not been beaten on this ground since 1976. The record was broken finally with Fletcher and Bikey giving Burnley the win.

Hull City 2-1 Wigan

This was a contrasting change of fortunes for both teams. Wigan won last weekend against Chelsea while Hull were demolished by Liverpool. Yet, Hull managed to win this one.

Wolves 0-1 Portsmouth

Played 7 lost 7. Scored 3 conceded 13. This was Portsmouth story before this game. But finally they are off the mark with a win. Hassan Yebda, a loan signing from Benfica breaking the deadlock.

Manchester United 2-2 Sunderland

Who would have thought that a team with 9 consecutive wins in all competitions under their belt would come so close to losing all 3 points against Sunderland. The first half was all Sunderland. Nani, Wellbeck were not even visible. Scholes’ passing was wayward. Rooney and Berbatov were not getting any time on the ball. And Bent’s quickness caused them to concede pretty soon into the game. There was no shot on target by United in the first half. Second half saw them equalize through Berbatov’s brilliance but then Jones restored the lead with little help from Foster (who again disappointed in goal). It was Manchester United’s resilience that paid off finally when Evra’s shot which was going off target was deflected by Anton Ferdinand into his own net robbing Sunderland of the 3 points.

Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn

Blackburn took the lead twice before Arsenal placing the ball into Blackburn goal as and when they wanted to. It was a scintillating display from the Arsenal team who after going down made the scoreline look as if the 2 goals from Blackburn were just consolation. Vermaelen seems to have invented another position in football – Central Attacking Defender.

Everton 1-1 Stoke City

Everton went behind in this one before Osman equalized. Everton are unbeaten in 6 games now.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

The first half was good play by Liverpool but all their balls in the box were being cleared well by the Chelsea defence except once when Torres came really close to scoring. Chelsea on the other hand were causing trouble for Liverpool defence from set pieces getting free headers twice or thrice. But 2nd half saw Chelsea take the lead and ensure the win which takes them to the top of the table.

Sevilla 2-1 Real Madrid

Many thought that Madrid’s run till now didn’t have any real tests and this was the first time they are facing real quality opposition. If this was the case the result has failure written all over it for Real Madrid. With Barcelona winning again this weekend, this means Madrid are now 3 points adrift the pace.

Athletico Madrid 2-1 Real Zaragoza

Finally, Athletico Madrid manage to win. But they were lucky as Zaragoza got two penalties and missed one. Its surprising though that a team with talented strikers namely Aguerro and Forlan are barely able to register a win the Liga.

And now we are headed into the internationals break. Hope the internationals continue the same excitement as the leagues have.

Giggs and Nani do it again

You never listen, do you?

I disagree with anyone who says that Nani is inconsistent. I think he is very consistent. When his team needs him to pass, he shoots and when his team needs him to shoot, he passes. He continues to disappoint in every game he plays. What more level of consistency can one expect from him? His display against Stoke City proves it. When Berbatov and Rooney were unmarked on the edge of the box, he decided to shoot for goal himself and missed in the process. I think it was wrong of Rooney to expect a pass from him in this situation and he was wasting his time showing his anger at him.

All Manchester United fans are hoping that Nani can replace Ronaldo to some extent but Nani is doing is best to prove them wrong. I am just wondering how long will it take for Sir Alex Ferguson to get rid of him.

Giggs on the other hand showed what a simple game football is. He made a simple pass that created a goal for Berbatov (who rightfully acknowledged Giggs’ effort) and then produced a beautiful delivery from the free kick for John O’Shea to score.

Valencia on the other hand looks little above average if not great. He knows he has to run behind defenders and created passes and cross for the strikers and that is what he does. His delivery though will improve as he gets more playing time.

Fletcher and Scholes looked their usual self with their tackles. Fletcher good with them while Scholes bad with them. No one in the world can understand how come a player of Scholes talent never got his tackling right. But anyways good to see him avoid the red card. The handball was accidental and was not yellow card worthy.

It was a frustrating game till Giggs’ introduction and I was left with a question in my mind – If Nani is playing like he is, who’ll play when Giggs’ is injured or needs rest? Till I get an answer to this one, lets hope Nani does some wonders.

Everywhere else it was goals galore:

• Portsmouth 0-1 Everton: What a surprise?
• Birmingham 1-2 Bolton: Really not interested.
• Blackburn 2-1 Aston Villa: That was really a surprise.
• Liverpool 6-1 Hull City: The surprise was not Torres hattrick but Babel scoring two. One of my friends who is a Liverpool fan used to say Babel is worse than Nani, I beg to disagree. Details views are available here. Not on Babel/Nani words but the game.
• Tottenham 5-0 Burnley: Normal business resumes at White Hart Lane.
• Wigan 3-1 Chelsea: Perfect records goes away. Cech red card. But lack of character show by Chelsea.
• Fulham 0-1 Arsenal: A game that could have sprung a surprise but Arsenal did their business.
• Sunderland 5-2 Wolves: Goals galore.
• Man City 3-1 West Ham: Tevez scores against his old club.

Time for Manchester derby..doesn’t get better than this…

12 November 1881 – West Gordon (St. Marks) hosted Newton Heath. Result was Newton Heath winning by 3 goals to nothing. It was described as “a pleasant game”. West Gordon (St. Marks) went on to become Manchester City and Newton Heath went on to become Manchester United and the games between these two were no longer pleasant.

so much for pleasantness

In the 152nd derby meeting between these two, Manchester United (un)welcome Manchester City with there multi million $ signings to Old Trafford. Previous 151 meetings have resulted in 49 draws with United wining 61 times and City winning 41 times.

This is a hugely anticipated clash since Manchester City have given themselves the big club tag with their star signings namely – Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Barry, Toure, Lescott (not sure how exactly these guys are stars, they are good players though). Manchester City are expecting themselves to be knocking on the top 4 door and with their display last weekend against Arsenal, everyone is thinking that they might just. But Arsenal are one thing and Manchester United are another. Arsenal are an amazing team but are many times undone by their own flamboyancy while Manchester United get the job done when needed to even if means without their usual style of play.

Manchester City are without their star players – Tevez, Robinho, Santa Cruz, Ireland (all injured) and Adebayor (out due to suspension for the tackle on Van Persie). Without these players, City look the same as last year with the exception of their defence – which conceded two over the weekend. Its difficult to see where the goals would be coming for City considering their major strike force and creative midfield missing. Their only hope is to prevent United from scoring and getting a 0-0 draw or probably try and nick 1 on the counterattack using the pace of Bellamy and Wright Phillips.

It would have a good booing exercise for United fans if Tevez would have played who snubbed United to join City.

I won't be sitting in this chair this weekend

Manchester United dispatched another top 4 contender in Spurs over the weekend and got an away win in Turkey in the Champions League. This is a chance for them to show Manchester City that they do not belong in top 4. Paul Scholes is ineligible for this game due to his red card in the game against Spurs. Ryan Giggs has played the most derby games and would be relishing another chance to run at City defence. Ferdinand should be back to full fitness after missing the game against Besiktas. Fletcher was rested during midweek fixture and should be starting this one. His steel in the midfield would be an important asset for United.

Line up that I would like to see on the pitch would be:

Foster

O’Shea – Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra

Valencia – Fletcher – Anderson – Giggs

Rooney – Berbatov

Man Utd have an incentive of going top with a win (since Chelsea are playing after United game) and also opening up the gap against City while City can leapfrog United into 2nd place with a win.

I expected a fast paced game with United being too good for City. 3-0 to United for me.

Watch it live this  Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

Other games this weekend:

• Burnley v Sunderland – Sunderland win. Live Saturday 17:10 IST on ESPN
• Arsenal v Wigan – Win for Arsenal. Live Saturday 19:25 IST on ESPN
• Aston Villa v Portsmouth - Easy win for Villa. Watch it Live Saturday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Bolton v Stoke City - Bolton win. Watch delayed telecast Saturday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Hull City v Birmingham - Scored draw.
• West Ham United v Liverpool - Liverpool win but West Ham would make it difficult for them. Watch it Live Saturday 21:55 IST on ESPN
• Wolves v Fulham - Should be an easy win for Fulham. Watch delayed telecast Sunday 21:30 IST on Star Sports
• Everton v Blackburn - Buoyed by their win in Europa League, Everton should win this one. Watch it Live Sunday 19:25 IST on Star Sports
• Chelsea v Tottenham - Another big four test for Spurs. They dispatched Liverpool at start of the season but were beaten by Manchester United. Spurs would be looking to get better of Chelsea to make a statement that they can still be considered a threat for the top 4. Chelsea have quietly kept winning points and this would be their first big test. Spurs are capable of beating anyone on their day but its always the question of which Spurs comes out to play. Scored draw for me. Watch it Live Sunday 17:55 IST on ESPN

EPL season… review till now…

There have been some surprises and some usuals in the EPL season till now. Here is a run down of every team.

• Chelsea: Sitting on top of the table. Perfect record till now. Surprised? I am not. They did not sell anyone in the transfer window and added a couple of players which actually makes them stronger considering most of their rivals sold out their star players. They do have the criticism of having players on the wrong side of 30 but their starting XI generally has a mix of players on both sides of 30.
• Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Redknapp had a good run with them since taking over. Season has started with a perfect record in 4 games. They always had the money and were very active in the transfer window. In my opinion Harry is a great manager. He did wonders at Portsmouth. Then why were they not expected to do well? They generally are very unlucky with injuries and they will hit them sooner or later. (They have started with Modric going out).
• Manchester United: The traditional slow starters of the EPL. And they do tend to give a surprising result every season (Liverpool 4-1, Burnley 1-0). They are like a marathon runner. Slow to start with and then pick up pace and surprise everyone with there run while everyone else starts getting tired. Their squad depth always gives them an advantage and it is already being tested this season.
• Manchester City: 3 wins in 3 games. The big spender tag. Supposedly big star names though in my opinion Tevez, Santa Cruz are not exactly big stars. Very active in transfer market. Nobody expected their ‘star players’ to gel in so quickly. But they did start well. And Mark Hughes is a good manager. He showed that with Wales. He can make a team perform well even without the stars. So considering that he got some ‘stars’ why was it a surprise that they are performing well? Also, they barely have been tested till now.
• Stoke City: There 7 points from 4 matches have been against Sunderland, Burnley and Birmingham. Liverpool beat the hell out of them. To survive in the premiership they have to get points off these teams and that is exactly what they did.
• Arsenal: 6 points from 3 matches. Only loss being against Manchester United. They always play with amazing style no matter who is on pitch. Lost Toure and Adebayor during the summer. But they have always relied on youth to perform. Then why is everyone shocked to see their young team perform admirably. Though in my opinion they would start tiring off and then the results will start going against them.
• Liverpool: 2 losses from 4 matches. They lost just 2 games entire last season. Lost Alonso to Real Madrid. Barely any new signings and the ones that they did sign are injured. They rely too much on Gerrard and Torres and like last season are predictable. When you lose your spine, you are bound to be in pain and they definitely are in pain.
• Aston Villa: 3 games 6 points.  Loss against Wigan but win against Liverpool. They had Europa League distraction and don’t have a huge squad. To add to it, they barely have a defence. Laursen retired, Knight sold off. Not properly replaced. Lack of squad depth would always haunt you. Though better support from fans can do them some good.
• Sunderland: Currently lying at 9th place but would usually be expected to be in bottom half of the table. They are close to that, aren’t they. Lost to Chelsea which was expected but their loss to Stoke was probably a surprise. But the games which the teams at the wrong end of the table have to win can always spring a surprise.
• Burnley: They were tagged giant killers last season for their performances against big teams and they have a good manager in Owen Coyle. Wins against Manchester United and Everton have given them 6 points and 10th place. They are pretty much unchanged from last season and considering they are newly promoted team, can always cause a surprise or two and didn’t they surprise with their results.
• West Ham United: 4 points from 3 games with a loss against Spurs (who are in an amazing form). Zola has gelled this team well but they were not very active in the transfer window. They are currently 11th and they are expected to be languishing mid table or close to bottom half.
• Birmingham: They won against Portsmouth (who hasn’t), lost to Spurs and drew with Stoke. The 6 pointers at the wrong end of the table can always go either way. They are expected to be in the bottom half of the table and are currently 12th.
• Wolves: They are not expected to be any giant killers or spring any surprises. But they can surely cause trouble in the 6 pointers and they have got their 4 points from those. Losses against Man City and West Ham were barely a surprise.
• Hull City: Whoever was linked with them over the summer, would run away. They were barely able to sign anyone during the transfer window. Currently 14 and are expected to be in fight for relegation.
• Fulham: Aston Villa game was a 6 pointer for them considering that Villa would be one of their rivals for Europa League spot. Roy Hutchinson did a good job last season with them and added a few decent players to the squad. Loss is 1 game they would be expected to get points in should not be a worry for their fans.
• Everton: They wouldn’t have been expected to win Arsenal game but it was the manner of defeat which surprised everyone. Loss to Burnley was again a surprise but considering giant killing form of Burnley they can do stuff. Good for them that the Lescott saga is over while their new signings might take some time to gel in but David Moyes should be able to get them back on track.
• Wigan Athletic: They started off well with a win over Villa but 3 defeats against Wolves, Man Utd and Everton pushed them back. They have a good manager in Martinez but bottom half of the table should be there place.
• Blackburn: They are not getting points off their 6 pointer opponents. Sam Allardyce is a shrewd manager and can get scrappy wins but somehow it hasn’t yet started working for them. Relegation dog fight is their game and that is what they would be preparing themselves for.
• Bolton: Yet to get off the mark. Another team losing their 6 pointers. They play the same way season and season again and rely too much on set pieces and Kevin Davies. Sunderland and Hull are opponents they should be getting points off if they want to stay up.
• Portsmouth: Involved in the takeover saga all summer. Sold almost everyone from the team and tried to sign everyone available on loan. This is where they will be entire season.

Pick of deadline day deals

David Nugent to Burnley: 4.5/5

Finally, he goes to a place where he would get regular playing time.

I personally like him since his Preston North End days. He performed really well for them. When he moved to Portsmouth I considered it a good move for him and thought he would get good premier league experience but somehow he didn’t get as many starts as I expected. He has moved to Burnley on loan for 6 months with a view of making the move permanent. Burnley would be really happy to sign him since he is a proven goalscorer. He has scored regularly in Championship, netted a few in premier league and score for England under-21 as well as the senior team. With this signing Burnley can surely hope to kill few other giants as well and hopefully stay up.

Teemu Tainio moves to Birmingham: 2/5

I have seen this guy play for Tottenham Hotspur but I was not really impressed by him. Haven’t seen him perform for Sunderland so not sure how this would shape up. I think its an ok-ok signing.

Kranjcar moves to Tottenham: 3/5

Another Portsmouth players moves to Tottenham. Harry connections I guess. Kranjcar has come in as direct replacement of Modric who is out injured currently. He shouldn’t have much trouble settling in considering that he has earlier worked with Harry Rednapp and there are couple of other Croatian players in the team including Modric.

Heitinga to Everton: 4/5

This seems to be a really good catch to me. David Moyes has an ability of finding out obscure talent. Remember Lescott. He has made good business from him and made him a good defender. Heitinga can play in variety of positions – central defender, right back and defensive midfield. Seems to me a Phil Neville type player. Should work well for the Toffees. I am surprised though that they were not able to get the loan signing of Banega from Valencia.

James Collins, Dunne to Aston Villa: 4/5

Collins is a Wales international and had an effective partnership with Anton Ferdinand during 2006/07 season after which he got a 9 month injury layoff. Villa needed a couple of defenders badly after retirement of Laursen and sale of Zat Knight. They have also signed Dunne from Manchester City which is subject to clearance by the Premier League. Collectively these two signings would be a boost for Villa specially after their Europa League exit.

Ben Haim to Portsmouth: 3/5

He is a good defender and was in the form of his life during his time at Bolton which prompted his move to Chelsea where he barely got any playing time. Later he moved to Manchester City and now to Portsmouth. There is no doubt that he lacks the ability and talent but would he regain his best form, that needs to be seen. Worth a gamble though.

Transfer Day deadline – a midfielder please…

Transfer day deadline is fast approaching and I am seriously dying to see Manchester United sign a creative midfielder for that missing spark in their game play.

Last season Man Utd closed with the deadline day signing of Berbatov. He is yet to show his true self in United colors but I am sure strike force is an area which is well covered right now. Even though Fergie has said that there would not be any more transfer business by United but he said the same thing before that Norwegian player signed the dotted line.

I would have loved to see Van Der Vaart sign for Man United but as I said in my previous blog entry, he has decided to stay at Real Madrid this season. What options are we left with then? IMO, none.

I just hope that if there are no new signings, the current crop is able to provide the creative spark to the team or somehow magically Hargreaves comes back pretty soon and stays fit. Damn!! I have become like an Arsenal fan, praying for player fitness to win the title.

Apart from Man Utd, Aston Villa are in hunt for defenders. I think they should be able to get Richard Dunne from Man City along with Collins from West Ham. Everton should be able to get their Spanish players, Heitinga and Banega.

Spurs have already got Kranjcar (hope I spelled his name right). Spurs seem to be becoming a small Crotian colony.

Liverpool don’t have any funds to surprise us on deadline day and Arsenal barely ever spend them. Chelsea do have loads but think they want to sit and watch since Ribery seems too expensive and Pato and Pirlo disappointed over the weekend in Milan derby.

Sunderland seem to assemble a decent enough squad and could spring a surprise on the deadline day. They do have the cash though.

Hull are doing there best to sign at lease someone, anyone but everyone seems to back off but them signing someone would surely be a surprise.

And to top it all, Portsmouth probably would sign every player available on loan.

Europa League Preview

After champions league, its now Europa League’s turn to know who all will be competing for the prize. There are some really juicy fixtures lined up today and IMO the most entertaining would be:

Roma – Kosice: First leg ended in a 3-3 draw. With 3 away goals to their credit Roma can go through with just a draw as long as they keep Kosice from scoring less than 2. Kosice on the other hand can go through with a single goal. Would be interesting to see how Roma approach this one. They play to score or play to avoid being scored against. I am tipping Roma to go through in this one regardless how they line up.

Aston Villa – Rapid Vienna: Villa’s confidence would have gotten a real boost with a win over Liverpool. They are 1-0 down on aggregate and they are more than capable of winning by two goal margin. Villa were booed off at half time in their first game of the season and failure to qualify would not go well with the fans and of course the financial impact counts as well. I think Villa would just about have enough for Rapid Vienna.

Hertha Berlin – Brondby: First leg finished 2-1 in favour of Brondby. The positive for Berlin was that they have an away goal which means a 1-0 victory can see them through. But a single goal by Brondby can make things really interesting. Berlin lost over the weekend as well and seem to be off form and are in serious danger of missing out on Europa League qualification. I have a feeling that Brondby might just nick this one.

Zenit St. Petersburg – CD Nacional de Madiera: Zenith are trailing 3-4 from the first leg but they have 3 away goals to their name. If they allow Madiera to score against them they would be in real trouble. They should be able to go through though.

Apart from these Everton, Fulham, Werder Bremen, Dinamo Zagreb, Valencia, Galatasray, Benfica, Ajax, Lazio, Fenerbahce and Villareal should have easier run into the next round after there impressive first leg victories.