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.

Barca thrash Athletico

I got to see this match yesterday and it was a goal feast. A convincing 5-2 win inspired by Messi for Barcelona to continue their 100% start to the season and dooming Athletico to another poor loss.

Puyol was rested in this game and so was Abidal. Chigrynskiy and Maxwell replacing them respectively. Ibra started with Henry and Messi alongside him. Xavi, Kieta and Busquet completed the midfield.

Henry was on fire from the start hitting the bar right at the start. Soon after Busquet made a pass which cut through Athletico defence which was pushed into the goal by a beautiful touch from Ibrahimovic. Then close to 15 minutes mark, Xavi made a pass to Messi who left the Athletico goalkeeper on the ground to roll the ball into the goal.

Messi scores against Athletico

Daniel Alves scored a screamer of a free kick to bring Barca 3-0 up and then Messi showed great footwork to leave Athletico defence standing and made a pass for Kieta to put it into the net. Just before half time Aguero pulled one back for Athletico who barely got any ball throughout the first half.

Second half was a more professional performance by Athletico getting to see more of the ball. Forlan came close to scoring but shot just wide. Soon after he scored with a stinging drive but it was all too late for Athletico. Messi added another right at death after some good work by Iniesta and Alves.

The game was already wrapped up by half time and 2nd half saw some playing time for Pedro and Marquez alongside Iniesta. But the entire game was full of mistakes from the Barca defence. Chigrynskiy looked a bit off pace and made a few errors. Maxwell was a lot better than his first game. Busquet created the first goal but was also responsible for Athletico’s first. Victor Valdes also left his goal empty trying to make a clearance but Forlan was not able to capitalize on that. But overall it was a good win to maintain their 100% record.

Barcelona won 4-1 against Racing Santander with goals from Messia, Ibra and Pique.

Barcelona entertain Athletico or do they?

This game will feature the best striking talents available in La Liga. Both the teams boast having among the best striking talents of Europe in their ranks. If Barcelona have likes of Henry, Messia, Ibrahimovic, Athletico can boast of Forlan and Aguero who are themselves hot properties in Europe.

But they haven’t exactly fired for Athletico this season yet. Athletico had a very sad start to the season. First game was a loss to Malaga and 2nd game was a home draw. Midweek Champions League fixture they couldn’t score. They are very low on confidence and need to start getting some goals under their belt to boost their confidence. Forlan claimed during the week that wrong shoes ended his career for Manchester United. Probably he needs a change of shoes again to start scoring again. Whatever he needs to do, he needs to do pretty fast.

As for Barcelona – 2 La Liga games, 2 wins, 5 goals scored and none conceded. A stalemate in midweek Champions League fixture. Their defence is a bit dodgy but is getting the job done. Anybody on the pitch for them can score. Ibrahimovic has scored in both the games till now and is always a threat. Messi, Henry, Iniesta, Kieta and Xavi all can score from anywhere on the pitch.

They dominated possession against Inter but were not able to get any goals which is a worry for me. But Athletico’s defence doesn’t have what Inter’s defence had and therefore it should be an easy win for Barca.

3-0 in favor of Barcelona.

Ibra continues to score…

Goal celebration involving Ibra and Messi

Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued his scoring start to the season with a goal and an assist against Getafe to help Barcelona to a 2-0 win.

Dmytro Chygrynskiy was given his first start of the season in the central defence which meant that Puyol had to play out of position at right back. Abidal started in place of Maxwell who was poor in the first game. Yaya Toure came into the team in the midfield. Pedro and Jeffren started alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The first half was poor with both teams having trouble imposing themselves. Puyol almost gifted the first goal to Getafe with a poor back pass. Chygrynskiy was slow to start but slowly started to get a grip of the game. Ibra had a joke of a first half.

2nd half saw introduction of Messi, Iniesta and Alves and things started to improve. Barcelona started to impose themselves onto the game. Abidal’s cross from the left found the tip of Ibrahimovic’s foot which sent the ball into the goal. 15 minutes later Alves’ cross found Ibra who clipped the ball for Messi to head in.

It was an improved 2nd half performance but the big worry for me was that barely anything happened before the introduction of Messia and Iniesta. Even Xavi was poor in the 1st half. Bojan’s work rate was missing and so was Henry’s creativity. Defence just like the first game had their bad moments.

I would like to see a much improved performance from Barca against Inter in midweek.

I still have my doubts over Ibra but as long as he is scoring well, I should be keeping my mouth shut. The big test is the champions league game against Inter Milan.

Barca visit table top Getafe

A look at the La Liga table will tell you that its a top of the table clash. In a way it is but not really. Getafe are leading the La Liga table right now just ahead of Barcelona on goal difference but we are just 1 game into the season.

La Liga returns after the international break with Barcelona making a trip to Getafe.

Getafe’s first game of the season was away to Racing Santander and they won it 4-1 with Roberto Soldado bagging a hat trick. Soldado was their top scorer last season and can prove a handful for the Barca defence who were not very convincing in their previous game against Sporting Gujon. Getafe have a reputation of being giant killers and would be more than happy to take points off Barcelona. Getafe would also be fresh after the break as not many of their players were on international duty. Also, Getafe have an unbeaten run of 15 games between end of last season, pre season friendlies and their first game of the season.

Barcelona would be welcoming back Iniesta from injury and considering many of their players would be tired due to international duty, Iniesta’s return would be very refreshing. Messi, Henry, Ibrahimovic, Puyol, Xavi.. almost the entire first XI was out on international duty. They won their first game against Sporting Gujon but were not very convincing in the victory. They dominated the game but the defence made some casual errors which can be punished by Getafe considering that Getafe are playing at home and are a very attacking team in comparison with Gujon. Barca would also be having one eye on their Champions League fixture against Inter Milan. Bojan Krkic, who has an excellent game against Gujon, won’t be featuring in this game due to the knock he picked up in the first game.

It would be an interesting game since Getafe would be looking to surprise Barca but that won’t be enough for them. Barca will win this 3-1 with Ibra on the score sheet.

Barca win, Ibra scores

I know this is coming very late but due to the time zone difference and time constraints I am barely ever able to watch Barcelona matches live.

To start with, I was surprised with the way Sporting Dujon played the game. It seemed that they never wanted the ball and were more than happy to see Barca play their passing game. Barca had like 74% possession in the game.

Barcelona included their new signings Ibrahiovic and Maxwell in the starting line up. Henry was rested and Messi was in Argentina for the World Cup qualifier (a rare chance to see country being given more importance than the club).

Bojan Krkic started in place of Henry and Pedro in place of Messi. I liked Bojan since he came onto the scene but somehow last season was a bit disappointing for him. But he had an amazing game. Scored the first goal and made a lot of dangerous runs into the box. The lad worked a lot before being taken off.

Kieta was also good in the midfield. He created the first goal with the header and scored the second.

Ibra was the one whom entire Nou Kamp public was watching but he was barely there in the first half. Barely had any touches and barely did create anything. But 2nd half was more promising for him. Created a couple of chances and scored one from a diving header. There was a chance in which he passed the ball to another player where he could have scored himself (thats where I saw the difference between Eto’o and Ibra). Overall considering his lack of match fitness and return from injury, he had an ok-ok game. Of course he would gel in with couple more games under his name.

The biggest disappointment to me was Maxwell who was guilty of giving away the ball way too much and was barely creating anything. His replacement Abidal looked a lot better in that position but again its too early to say anything in the season.

The defense looked a bit relaxed making a few errors. It seemed as if they don’t consider Sporting worthy enough opponent. Had it been some really quality opposition, they would have been punished severely for that. Hope they overcome this relaxed attitude in their upcoming games.

Positives: Good form Bojan and Kieta showed. Would like to see both of them playing more games but how would they fit in once Messi, Henry and Iniesta are back, needs to be seen.

Negatives: Defense needs to be concentrate more on the job.

Man of the Match: Tough choice between Kieta and Bojan but it should go to Kieta

Van Der Vaart staying in Madrid

Rafael Van Der Vaart’s official website has quoted that he is staying with Real Madrid and not moving to another as was expected earlier.

He was signed by Real Madrid towards the end of 2007-2008 season. He has not played a lot of games for Madrid since his arrival. First Ramos used him as an impact substitute and now the new coach had earlier told him that he was not part of his plans.

After loads of new arrivals at Real Madrid, it was expected that he would leave the giants for some other club for playing time. After the moves of Sneijder and Robben, the rumours intensified even more. He was linked with various English clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and did not have a huge price tag but after talks with Real Madrid he has decided to stay with them.

In my opinion, he is an awesome player who would barely get any playing time at Real Madrid after the arrivals of Ronald, Kaka and Alonso. He would have been lot better plying his trade at some other club. Personally as a Man Utd fan I would have loved to see him as a replacement for Paul Scholes but a player of his caliber would have fitted in at any good club.