Bolton 0-1 Liverpool
Charlton 0-2 Arsenal
Everton 2-1 Manchester City
Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
Sheffield 1-2 Middlesbrough
West Ham 1-2 Reading
Blackburn 1-1 Wigan
Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle
Tottenham 1-1 Portsmouth
Watford 2-0 Fulham
French defender Mikael Silvestre will be out for about six weeks after suffering a you guess what—yes, a broken metatarsal.
The former Rennes leftback suffered the injury in the loss against Arsenal earlier this month, a game in which he was replaced by Patrice Evra after playing some 20 odd minutes.
United do have options at leftback with Evra and Heinze both available. Heinze though hasn’t played much this season owing to injury. Evra has attacking capabilities for a fullback, although his defensive skills can sometime leave much to be desired.
Tenacious Newcastle midfielder Scott Parker has earned a recall to the English squad after 2 years for the qualifiers against Macedonia and Croatia. Parker has been called up as a replacement for Bayern Munich’s Owen Hargreaves who is injured.
Parker, who is the current Newcastle captain, was one of the surprise omissions from England’s squad to Germany. He is regarded as one of the finest box to box medios England have.
Well done Scott and to sign off , here is the England squad for the European Championship Qualifiers against Croatia and Macedonia.
Goalkeepers: Chris Kirkland, Ben Foster, Paul Robinson
Defenders : Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Ledley King, John Terry, Wes Brown, Phil Neville
Midfielders: Jermaine Jenas, Stewart Downing, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, Michael Carrick, Shaun Wright Philips, K. Richardson
Forwards : Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, P.Crouch, A.Johnson
This list is according to Sahara’s Men’s world Hockey rankings.
UEFA are advocating a life ban for any one found guilty of taking illegal payment from a transfer. Director of commmunications William Gaillard believes that the practice is prevalent all over Europe and not just England.
Read this article here http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=381310&cc=4716
It will be a good move, but given the large amount of transfers that do take place, it could be difficult to implement.
Swiss Miss and World no 9 Martina Hingis eased past Russian Olga Poutchkova 6-0, 6-4 to claim the Sunfeast open in Calcutta, India. Hingis who defeated India’s Sania Mirza in the semis was rarely put under any pressure by the Russian, and barring some resistance in the second set, Poutchkova didn’t really have any answer to Hingis’ array of strokes.
Meanwhile Sania Mirza made up for her semis loss in the singles to Hingis as she partnered Liezel Huber of South Africa to beat the Ukranian team of Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak 6-4, 6-0 in the final.
According to reports in the News of the World, both Arsenal and Manchester United will fight for Mauro German Camoranesi’s signature in the winter transfer window.
Camoranesi, of the few Juventus players to remain at the club after the match fixing scandal which engulfed Italian football, is reported to be unhappy with life in Serie B, not finding life easy out there. He had earlier reinstated his desire to stay at the Turin club despite strong interest from the likes of Valencia, Lyon and Liverpool amongst others in the recent transfer market.
The Tondil born midfielder is a natural at the right of the park, and was a part of the WC winning squad of the Azzurri in July.
Both Papa Bouba Diop and Jermaine Jenas would be tearing their hair in frustration in Craven Cottage and St.James Park right now. Had both of them converted their respective scoring opportunities in the second half, a free header for Diop and a simple tap in for Jenas, the story might very well have been different for their teams. But as fate would have had it, they did not and their teams went to lose 0-2 and 0-3 respectively.
Chelsea 2-0 Fulham ( Frank Lampard*2)
Frank Lampard announced his return to form with 2 goals in the West London derby, the first a penalty earned by Kalou, and the second a typical Lampard goal. The win saw Chelsea go to the top of the table . For Fulham, it was Lampard again who proved to be a thorn in their flesh. The England medio has now scored 6 times in Chelsea’s last six meetings with Fulham.
Liverpool 3-0 Tottenham ( Mark Gonzalez, Dirk Kuyt, John Arne Riise)
Liverpool started off their second half with renewed vigour and were rewarded when Mark Gonzalez scored on his Anfield (start) debut to put the Reds ahead. That goal ironically for Spurs came 38 seconds after Jenas had failed to tap in Edgar David’s cross at the other end. Gonzalez’s goal was engineered by Steven Gerrard, with the Reds skipper producing a beautiful turn to skip past Assou Ekotto and although Bellamy hit the post with his shot, Gonzalez was there to pounce on the rebound. The second goal had Spurs screaming for offside, although only Gerrard was in a offside position but he wasby no means interfering with play. Kuyt produced a thundering shot to put the Reds up by two goals. That took the sting out of Spurs, and John Arne Riise compunded Martin Jol’s misery with a magnificient long range effort which gave Paul Robinson no chance. That makes it a hattrick of magnificient long range Liverpool goals this season.
1.) Daniel Agger against West Ham
2.) Xabi Alonso against Newcastle.
3.) John Arne Riise against Tottenham Hotspur.
Other results :
Arsenal 3-0 Sheffield United ( William Gallas, Phil Jagielka own goal, Thierry Henry)
Another game where all three goals came in the second half. First home win for Arsenal at the Emirates stadium and first goal for William Gallas as a Gunner.
Manchester City 2-0 West Ham ( Georgios Samaras*2)
Relief for Stuart Pearce and further trouble for Alan Pardew is how I’d sum up the result of the game.
Aston Villa 2-0 Charlton ( Gabriel Agbonlahor and Luke Moore)
The youngsters came to the party for Villa and Martin O’Neill as strikes on either side of the lemon break assured three points for the Birmingham based team.
Manchester United 1-1 Reading ( Kevin Doyle penalty, Cristiano Ronaldo)
Reading played their hearts out and deserved their point, but you would still look at this as three points dropped for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. Kevin Doyle put his side ahead from the spot after Gary Neville handballed Ki Hyun Seol’s cross from the right. The United skipper was completely caught unawares, and Doyle did the rest. An excellent piece of individual skill and a cool finish by Cristiano Ronaldo salvaged points for United, who are now 2 points behind Chelsea.
Wigan 1-1 Watford ( Henri Camara// Hamari Bouazza)
Middlesbrough 0-1 Blackburn ( Shabani Nonda)
Serbian American Milan Mandaric will resign as chairman of Portsmouth after the game against Bolton on Monday. The 65 year old is currently non executive chairman of the South Coast club after having sold it to Alexandre Gaydamak.
Mandaric, who bought over Pompey in 1998 after selling Nice, took the club into the Premiership in 4 years. Prior to Nice, he also owned Belgian club Standard Liege. He was also and investor in American football in his early tryst with investing in the beautiful game, having owned the San Jose Earthquakes.
Mandaric has however said that he will always be available for the club, and help will be always be a phone call away.
Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal ( Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor)
United’s four match winning streak came to an abrupt end as Arsenal won at Old Trafford for the first time since Sylvain Wiltord fired home the winner 4 years ago. United paid the price for negativity, and were restricted to their own half, especially in large parts of the second half. Playing O’Shea in midfield baffled me, when Carrick could have started. It was in midfield that Arsenal won most of their battles. Cesc Fabregas had a fine day, but MOM for me is Jens Lehmann.
Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool ( Didier Drogba)
Again Chelsea prove that you need not play excellent soccer to gain all three points. The goal that clinched it was worthy of a winning goal though. Michael Ballack gets sent off for the first time in the Premiership. Liverpool will rue the many chances they had, especially Gerrard and Kuyt.
Blackburn 4-2 Manchester City ( Trevor Sinclair own goal, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Benni McCarthy, Paul Gallagher//Joey Barton, Andre Oojer own goal)
A game with lots of goals and an own goal from both sides, don’t think we have seen that in this season at all. Blackburn pull themselves out of the mire, whereas City continue to flirt dangerously with relegation.
Tottenham 0-0 Fulham
Spurs continued their unimpressive start to the season with a goalless draw against Fulham at home.
West Ham 0-2 Newcastle (Damien Duff, Obafemi Martins)
Newcastle continued their excellent record against the Hammers with a 2-0 win. Damien Duff scored the first in the 49th minute. A defensive miscommunication between Lee Bowyer and Danny Gabbidon saw Obafemi Martins score his first goal of the season for the Tynesiders.
Bolton 0-0 Middlesbrough
Another goalless draw. All eyes were on Nicolas Anelka, but he could not find any opening for his side.
Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth ( Lomana LuaLua)
Portsmouth continued their dream start with a 1-0 victory over Alan Curbishley’s Charlton, thanks to a 74 th minute strike by substitute Lomana LuaLua. The result saw Pompey climb to first, and they will stay there for the next few days thanks to Manchester United’s loss.
Everton 2-2 Wigan ( Andy Johnson, James Beattie//Paul Scharner*2)
This game saw 4 goals in the second half after a goalless first half. Austrian Paul Scharner saved the day for Wigan with his brace. Andy Johnson, clearly enjoying his second stint in the Premiership, added a goal to his tally while James Beattie did the needful from the spot.
Watford 0-0 Aston Villa
This game was the third goalless draw this week, but wasn’t devoid of action. Watford strove hard to gain three points at home, with three out of the next four being away. Villa dominated the first half, but inexperience often told at the end, especially in Luke Moore. Watford battered Villa in the second half, but Thomas Sorensen pulled off some cracking saves to keep them at bay.
The Sheffield United vs Reading game was already covered by me as a full review, so I won’t go into the details of that one.
Now this game was actually shown due to a broadcaster’s error, and it turned out to be a pretty neat game to view IMO. A battle between two teams who came up from the championship into the Premiership at Bramall Lane, the game was quite an exciting affair.
Kevin Doyle needed a few touches after latching onto a Bobby Convey pass and slotted it past Ian Benett with only 16 seconds gone,the second fastest goal of this season after Ledley King. The visitors up 1-0. The goal completely caught the Blades off guard and they started to press for an equaliser. And after 26 minutes, instead of an equaliser , the home team fell 2 goals behind ,when Ki Hyun “Sniper” Seol scored his first goal in Reading colours with a crisp shot off a Leroy Lita layoff, which gave Ian Bennett no chance.
I heard Paul Masefield and his fellow team describe the first half as ” Reading in complete control”, ” Reading running amok”, “like a rash ” and other such descriptions, whereas the commentators at Bramall Lane were of the view that Sheffield hadn’t been outplayed, but had been done in by two pieces of class. Talk about contrast!!!!.. I went with the latter’s view FYI.
Any way coming back to the game, Warnock introduced Keith Gillespie and Alan Quinn into the game, with a view to injecting some much needed pace into the Blades attack.And on 61 minutes, Rob Hulse, who had scored United’s only goal of the campaign in their opening day game against Liverpool, found the net from an incredibly narrow angle after holding off Ibrahima Sonko, who otherwise had a pretty solid game along with defence partner Ivar Ingimarsson.
Reading were rattled by that goal and Ade Akinbiyi nearly found an equaliser for the hosts when Reading keeper Marcus Hahnemann got into a tangle with teammate Graeme Murty, but thankfully for Reading no damage was done. Keith Gillespie and Jagielka had shots blocked by Hahnemann, and the royals secured their first away win of the season, which propelled Steve Sidwell’ side into the top half.
Sheffield United 1-2 Reading
( Kevin Doyle, Ki Hyun Seol/// Rob Hulse)
This story is about two days old, but my admiration for this man goes back much deeper than that. He belongs to a rare breed, technically gifted midfielders without speed. And with the retirement of “Romy” as Riquelme is called, the best among that rare breed is gone.
Many of you must be aware of the man’s career path. For those who do not , here is a quick recap –Argentinos Juniors-Boca-Barcelona-Villareal.
Riquelme has always performed well under conditions where he is allowed freedom to the play the way he wants and where he is surrounded by people from the place he calls home. It is precisely for this reason that he flourished at Boca and Villareal and was a bit of a misfit at Barcelona. He was brought to the Nou Camp with high expectations, and he did not adjust very fast to the new surroundings, which led to his exit from there. One must also remember that it was his exit which enabled the entry of a certain Ronaldinho from Paris St Germain.
Riquelme is probably best described as a tactical playmaker, possessing immense vision. He does not run past defenders,he splits them with his precise passing. He sees opportunities where others do not, which is the hallmark of a great player.
Because of the way he is, Riquelme either played a prominent role in the Argentinian squad ( 2006) or he doesn’t play at all (2002). He has also been accused of underperforming on big occasions. Fans will remember his missed penalty against Arsenal at El Madrigal in last year’s Champions League semifinal. That kick if convereted could have sent the Yellow Submarines into the final.
Riquelme has cited family reasons for his retirement but he will continue to play for Villareal. Best of luck, Juan and may you continue to weave your magic.
12th September 2006
Group A :
Chelsea 2-0 Werder Bremen ( M.Essien, Michael Ballack)
Barcelona 5-0 Levski Sofia (Andreas Iniesta, Ludovic Giuly, Carles Puyol, Samuel Eto’o. Ronaldinho)
Group B:
Sporting Lisbon 1-0 Inter (Marco Caniera)
Bayern Munich 4-0 Spartak Moscow (Pizarro, Roque Santa Cruz, Bastian Schweinsteiger,Hasan Salihamidzic )
Group C:
PSV Eindoven 0-0 Liverpool
Galatasaray 0-0 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Group D:
Olympiakos Pireaus 2-4 Valencia ( M Konstantinou ,N Castillo//, Fernando Morientes*3, Raul Abiol)
As Roma 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk ( Rodrigo Taddei, Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi, David Marcelo Cortez Pizarro)
Nothing unexpected from most of the games, except for the loss for Inter. Liverpool’s draw was expected given that PSV were at home and most of the Merseysiders weren’t in their peak condition.
13th September 2006
Group E :
Dinamo Kiev 1-4 Steaua Bucharest (Serhiy Rebrov//Ghionea, Badea, Niculae Dica*2)
Lyon 2-0 Real Madrid ( Fred, Tiago)
Group F :
Manchester United 3-2 Celtic ( Louis Saha*2, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer//Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, Shunsuke Nakamura)
Kobenhavn 0-0 FC Benfica
Group G:
FC Porto 0-0 Spartak Moscow
Arsenal 2-1 Hamburger SV ( Gilberto Silva, Tomas Rosicky/ Sanogo)
Group H:
Anderlecht 1-1 Lille (Pareja// Fauverque)
AC Milan 3-0 AEK Athens ( Inzaghi, Gourcuff, Kaka)
Nice to see young Gourcuff net one. United might have well won 7-2 against Celtic if they had taken more of their chances.
And…Real Madrid can’t just appear to break the jinx at the Stade Gerland..can they?? Lyon once more proving that they can beat the best in Europe on their given day.
The legend has announced his retirement. After winning Ferrari’s home GP at Monza, Michael Schumacher has announced that he will retire from Formula 1 at the end of this season
( Image courtesy Google Images)
Schumacher has dominated F-1 like no one has in recent times and the records he possesses are staggering. Take a look at some of them
:
( The list is courtesy Wikipedia)
He is definitely up there with the likes of Fangio and Senna as one of Motor Sports‘ greatest drivers.
We will miss you Michael….
She is hot, she is beautiful and she now has a second Grand Slam Title.
Yes folks, Maria Sharapova has clinched her second Grand Slam Title after beating Justin Henin Hardenne of Belgium 6-4 6-4 in the final at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova ,who became the first woman to reach the finals of all 4 major Grand Slams in a single year since Martina Hingis after beating Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals, produced an impressive array of shots to beat the Belgian.This is the Russian’s second after her win in Wimbledon 2004.
Mean while Andy Roddick will face Roger Federer in the men’s final. If Roddick does get the better of Federer, which will be no easy task, Rodapova is how people may describe this year’s US Open.
Everton 3-0 Liverpool ( Andy Johnson*2, Tim Cahill)
Big shock for Liverpool, but it wasn’t quite unexpected, given the form Everton were in before coming into this game. Andy Johnson continued his excellent form with a brace, and Tim Cahill scored the other to inflict upon Liverpool their heaviest defeat in over 4 decades in a Merseyside derby.
Arsenal 1-1 Middlesbrough ( James Morrison, Thierry Henry)
Still no win at their new stadium for the Gunners. They had a lot of possession but nothing in terms of goals to show for it. Theirry Henry equalised from the spot after James Morrison had sent the Teesiders ahead. Jonathan Woodgate put in a classy performance in defence for Gareth Southgate’s side on debut.
Chelsea 2-1 Charlton ( Drogba, Carvalho, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
Chelsea produced a solid display to ease past Alan Curbishley’s side, for whom this is their worst ever start to a campaign. A early Didier Drogba goal and a header from former Porto defender Ricardo Carvalho sealed three points for the Blues. Frank Lampard missed a late penalty.
Newcastle 1-2 Fulham ( Scott Parker, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra)
Fulham picked up an totally unexpected win with two goals in the last 8 minutes after Scott Parker had given his side the lead in the 54th minute. The game also saw Jimmy Bullard being stretchered off.
Portsmouth 1-0 Wigan ( Benjani Mwaruwari)
This was supposed to be an interesting match to predict, and Harry Redknapp’s side kept their unbeaten record intact with a solitary goal in the second half through the Zimbabwean.
Bolton 1-0 Watford ( Gary Speed)
An absolute moment of madness in injury time by Watford defender Danny Shittu saw a penalty being conceded by Aidy Boothroyd’s side and Gary Speed made no mistake form the spot.
Sheffield United 0-0 Blackburn Rovers
This game saw three penalties missed in the last 20 minutes, first by Lucas Neill for Rovers and then by David Unsworth and Rob Hulse for Sheffield.
Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham ( Ryan Giggs)
A early header by Ryan Giggs gave Manchester United their 4th win in as many games. Tottenham had their opportunities too and Ahmed Mido, Michael Dawson and Jermaine Defoe missed their chances.
1.) I am widely regarded as one of the best marksmen of all time. I played for two countries , playing just 2 for one and the majority for the other. I have plied most of my trade in Spain and have a La Liga and Champions League to show off among my trophies .Played for a while in England, though not with great success, before signing off in Germany.
I am my team’ all time record scorer. Who am I ???
2.) I am a man, best known for my successful stints with an English club, both as a player and as a manager. As a manager, 2 league titles and a cup winners cup count as my achievements. My career at that club as a manager was brought to an abrupt end as I was banned for one year for taking illegal payments from an agent.
After that I managed 2 other clubs. The last club I managed was a bitter rival of the club where I achieved so much, and therefore I never really got on well with the fans. I guided it to a league cup but fell out with the new owner of the club which resulted in my exit.
Who am I???
3.)Hailed as one the rising stars of the future, I currently play for a club alongside a player who played in the Netherlands before coming here.( His father played for the same Dutch club too.)Previously I was at a club which boasted of two frontline strikers with excellent skills in the air ,which did not result in me gettting active first team football. One of them has a World Cup hattrick to his name.
I was at the World Cup in Germany with a team which really did not have much to do
Some clubs and nicknames to round it off…
a)The Terriers—–????
b)The Steelmen-???
c)The Hatters–???
2 points for every question answered…..Best of Luck to all…Answers to be put up in a week…
Germany produced a remarkable display to demolish San Marino 13-0 with Gillette young player of the World Cup Lukas Podolski scoring 4. The game erased Spain’s 12-1 thrashing of Malta some two and a half decades ago. San Marino were at home and the Germans had laboured to a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland earlier. The record also puts Joachim Low and Giampaolo Mazza into the history books, although for very different reasons altogether.( Low is the German coach and Mazza is his San Marino compatriot)
San Marino 0-13 Germany ( Podolski*4, Schweinsteiger*2, Klose*2, Hitzlseperger*2, Ballack, Manuel Freidrich, Bernd Schneider)
Other results from European qualifying on the 6th of September
Group A :
Azerbaijan 1-1 Kazakhstan
Finland 1 -1 Portugal
Poland 1-1 Serbia
Armenia 0-1 Belgium
Group B :
Ukraine 3-2 Georgia
France 3-1 Italy 1 ( Sweet revenge for Raymond Domenech in the repeat of the 2006 WC final–Govou scored two for Les Blues.)
Lithuania 1-2 Scotland
Group C :
Norway 2-0 Moldova
Turkey 2-0 Malta
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-3 Hungary
Group D :
Slovakia 0-3 Czech Republic
Group E :
Israel 4-1 Andorra
Macedonia 0-1 England ( Peter Crouch)
Russia 0-0 Croatia
Group F :
Iceland 0-2 Denmark
Sweden 3-1 Liechenstein
Northern Ireland ( David Healy hattrick) -2 Spain ( This was easily the greatest upset of the day)
Group G :
Albania 0-2 Romania
Bulgaria 3-0 Slovenia
Netherlands 3-0 Belarus
Great start for Bernhard Peters’ men at their own home world cup. A 3-2 victory over India. And for India-the same old story-inability to defend in the dying minutes. When Christophe Zeller scored the winning goal with 90 odd seconds on the clock, I felt a sense of deja vu. Remember the Champions Trophy not too long ago, where India led the Dutch 3-0 for all but 9 minutes of the game and went to lose 3-4.
Coming back to the game,the Germans again displayed typical European efficiency. Both their drag flicks were well taken, in comparsion to the shoddy ones taken by India. India did dominate possession in the second half, but were unable to make the most of it. Most of India’s attacks were from the left flank, but they lacked the final touch. Dilip Tirkey wasn’t his assertive best in defence and Kanwalpreet Singh was way off colour. India also lacked a penalty corner expert and it did show in the PC’s that they got. With Sandeep Singh havin literally got a “shot in the arm” in India and Jurgaj Singh no where near match fitness, India do not have a specialist drag flicker.Most of the Indianshots were just hits blasted and they were either intercepted or ruled out for being too dangerous.
Germany’s third goal was a well set up one. Their midfield and defence shaped up pretty well. Oliver Hentzschel scored one and Zeller had a brace. Strength, stamina, dedication and fitness prevailed in the end and Peters would be happy to go home with all three points. Kudos to Shivendra Singh who made the most of his WC debut, with 2 goals to his name.
The transfer window was extended by 10 minutes to facilitate Ashley Cole’s cash + William Gallas transfer. Now the Premiership champions are saying that Gallas was offloaded because of his lack of respect to the club and Mourinho.
Chelsea say Gallas threatened to score an own goal if selected against Manchester City or even worse, try and get sent off.
This is Chelsea’s official statement
“Chelsea believes it is important for our supporters to be made aware of the full facts regarding William Gallas and the lack of respect he showed to the fans, the manager and the club.Despite leaving he continues to attack Jose Mourinho and this cannot be left unchallenged. ‘Chelsea made William Gallas a very substantial and attractive new contract offer to stay towards the end of last season. This was rejected. ‘The issue was purely one of money, despite his public comments that he wanted a new challenge, to play abroad and so forth. These were just a smokescreen to cover up the fact he was hawking himself to the highest bidder. ‘Having failed to secure his demands, his position became increasingly intransigent and unacceptable. ‘He initially refused to play against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final last season in an effort to force an increased contract offer. ‘As is now well-documented he refused to join up with the team in Los Angeles during pre-season, despite agreeing the dates for his return as the other World Cup players did, with the club. ‘When Jose Mourinho generously offered him a way back into the ‘family’ after the American tour, this was thrown back in the Chelsea manager’s face. ‘The manager told him that, even if he did not agree a new contract but returned to the ‘family’ and abided by the rules, he would still select the best players available and would not punish him playing-wise. ‘However despite meetings to try to resolve the problems Gallas made it clear to Jose Mourinho he would never play for Chelsea again. ‘Before the first game of the season against Manchester City, when only four defenders were available and John Terry was doubtful with an injury, he refused to play. ‘He went on to threaten that if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score an own goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes. ‘Clearly this was a totally unacceptable situation for the manager, the team and the club. So a collectively-agreed solution in Chelsea’s interests had to be found, hence his departure. ‘Chelsea has a wage structure in place that is valued not only on the contribution of the player to the manager and the team, but also on a player’s respect for the club and contribution to the promotion and image of the club off the field. Every player is expected to play their part in this. ‘William Gallas rarely recognised these responsibilities. He also failed to recognise the role Jose Mourinho and Chelsea played in helping him become a double Premiership champion for a player whose only league title prior to that had been in the French Second Division.”
Gallas has reporteddly denied making the threat and has said that the Premiership champions lack class. He added that he would reveal his reason for quitting the Bridge at the appropriate time.
Now this clearly looks a case of mudslinging.2 parties who were pretty happy with each other not too long ago, are now behaving like enemies. To a neutral the situation does look a bit amusing. If Gallas had indeed scored an own goal, one wonders what would have happened. But if Gallas had not been unsettled, then it would have been highly unlikely that Ashley Cole would have left Ashburton Grove.
After
60 ATP tour titles
8 Grand Slams, the first of which started with winning Wimbledon in 1992.
17 Masters Trophies
1 Gold Medal ( Atlanta 1996)
An era came to an end as Andre Agassi lost to Benjamin Becker of Germany 5-7 7-6 4-6 5-7 in the third round of the US Open. After beating Andrei Pavel in R-1 and Marcos Baghdatis in R-2, Agassi could not repeat it again.
With Pistol Pete already retired, this puts an end to one of the finest generations of mens tennis.
And FYI, Agassi is the only player to have won all 4 majors on all three surfaces.
On paper this does sound like an absolutely professional performance.
Jermaine Defoe*2, Peter Crouch *2, Steven Gerrard ( England 5-0Andorra)
But there were chinks in the performance and I wasn’t the happiest England fan after the end of this match. Mclaren started with Wes Brown in the centre with Rio and Jamie out due to injury and brought the out of the news Phil Neville at right. Hargreaves partnered Lampard in the centre and Gerrard started on the right. Stewart Downing started on the left in the absence of Joe Cole. Now Downing isn’t the greatest left winger, but England have an acute paucity of left medios and he, Richardson and Cole are the only ones who could get in.
When the game started out, the Andorrans didn’t seem to want to even attempt to win.It looked as if they were playing 10-0-1 and th eone poor chap upfront often looked lost. Some of their players looked extremely unfit and their height wieght ratio gave me and indication they might be better off in wrestling or rugby. Goal no.1 was a foot goal for Crouch, who is now on a goal scoring spree. Goal 2 was the best of the game with the shot from Gerrard being a splendid effort. Goal no.3 was an assist from Gerrard and his cross from the right after bamboozling his marker could make any winger proud.Jermaine Defoe tapped in it from point blank range, though the defender before him made an attempt which could at best be called lazy to stop the ball.
Goal 4 went to Defoe, again courtesy of some poor defending. Goal no.5 was a Crouch header from a Lennon cross. Lennon gave the left defender lot of work to do after coming on as a substitute. Andorra showed some intent only in the last 10 minutes , but it was too little, too late. Crouch could have got a hattrick, but he shot Johnson’s pass wide. Owen Hargreaves has only got better after the WC game aginst Portugal and again was unlucky not to hit the back of the net, hitting the bar no less than three times.
The problems for England though were 1.) absolute lack of practice for the defenders.
2.) Frank Lampard has not got back to his best form
England could have won this even 10-0 if they had really applied themselves, but 5-0 is a decent result at the end of the day.
They next play Macedonia awaym and I remember the game before the 2002 WC which ended in a 2-2 draw with a Macedonian player scoring directly from a corner.
See ya then
Before anybody thinks that it is ex Betis and current Bordeaux midfielder Denilson who has moved to Ashburton Grove, let me correct you there.
The player in question is a 18 year old teenager from Sao Paulo and is captain of the Brazil U-19 team, which speaks volumes about his talent. He has made 12 appearances for his club and the fee is estimated to be a reported 6.5 million US$, about 3.5 million pounds.
The young midfielder would join fellow Brazilian Gilberto at Arsenal. Let us hope that he plays as well as Gilberto in the future. Given that he has been signed by the Gunners, whose manager Arsene Wenger is one of the best people at spotting young talent, the guy looks to be a promising prospect.
Ok clubs, the transfer window has closed .Now you will have to make do with what you have over the next 5 months until the new window opens on the first day of 2007.
One of the more weird rumours I heard on D-Day was of Lampard going to Barcelona in a straight swap for Ronaldinho. That would have been interesting, for I would have liked to see Ronaldinho in the Premiership. Many South Americans have been flops in the Premier League -the likes of which include Veron, Kleberson, Crespo and a whole host of other people. Speaking of South Americans, West Ham have probably pulled off the biggest transfer coup in their history by signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians. The gossip mills have been working overtime as to why the duo decided to come to Upton Park of all places, when Ashburton Grove and Old Trafford were ready to welcome them with open hands. The BBC message boards have people saying that Alan Pardew welcomed them at London airport with a Chelsea board,there fore making them believe that they were going to the Bridge…That is a bit of humour you see. One thing I do not get is where did West Ham get the cash??? There has been a lot of talk about the MSI and the Abramovitch angle and the fact that the Hammers are to give the duo Premiership experience and they will go to Chelsea when they mature as players.
After looking at the transfers this season, I feel Liverpool and Tottenham have made the best of their money. Bellamy, Pennant, Aurelio, Kuyt and Palletta make for a decent list. As for Spurs Didier Zokora, Dimitar Berbatov,Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda are the more notable signings. I tipped Spurs for a European spot at the beginning of this season, but the way they have begun isn’t too inspiring, but they should get better with time.
Portsmouth have made more signings after the arrival of Sol Campbell, but none too very high profile. It still proves that money doesn’t always lure you, and Harry Redknapp has realised that. But I view the signings of Kanu and James as a step in the forward direction and Pompey have started off well this season, so far at least
Manchester City had big plans for the season, but have been hampered by a lack of pace on the flanks. The arrival of Da Marcus Beasley could help in that matter though. Ousman Dabo lacks the guile and patience needed for the Premiership and would be better off returning to Italy
Here is a list of major Premiership transfers which occured in the summer.
Arsenal
in : Tomas Rosicky ( Borussia Dortmund) , Julio Baptista (loan from Real Madrid), William Gallas ( Chelsea)
out: Ashley Cole ( Chelsea ), Robert Pires & Pascal Cygan ( Villareal)
Aston Villa
in : Stilian Petrov ( Celtic)
out : Ulises de la Cruz (Reading) , Kevin Philips ( WBA)
Blackburn Rovers
in : Shabani Nonda ( Roma) ,Andre Oojer ( PSV) , Benni McCarthy ( Fc Porto) ,Jason Roberts ( Wigan), Francis Jeffers ( free)
out: Craig Bellamy (Liverpool), Lorenzo Amoruso, Vratislav Gresko and Paul Dickov ( free)
Bolton Wanderers
in: Andranik Teymourian (Abusmuslim), Nicolas Anelka ( Fenerbahce), Abdoulaye Meite ( Marseille), Quinton Fortune ( free), Idan Tal ( Maccabi Haifa) Dietmar Hamann ( free)
out:Radhi Jaidi ( Birmingham), Jay Jay Okocha,Khalilou Fadiga, Bruno Ngotty ( free), Dietmar Hamann ( Man City)
Charlton Athletic:
in: Souleymayne Diawara ( Sochaux), Djimi Traore ( Liverpool) , Amdy Mustapha Faye ( Newcastle), Andy Reid ( Tottenham), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ( Middlesbrough)
out:Jason Euell ( Boro) , Chris Powell ( Watford), Jay Bothroyd,Chris Perry, Shaun Bartlett, Francis Jeffers, Jonatan Johansson ( free)
Chelsea
in: Michael Ballack ( free from Bayern), Khalid Boulahrouz ( SV Hamburg), John Obi Mikel ( Manchester United), Andriy Shevchenko ( AC Milan), Ashley Cole ( Arsenal),Salomon Kalou ( Feyernoord)
out: Hernan Crespo ( loan- Inter), Damien Duff ( Newcastle), William Gallas ( Arsenal),Carlton Cole ( West Ham), Eidur Gudjohnsen ( Barcelona) , Asier Del Horno ( Valencia), Glen Johnson ( Pompey) , Robert Huth ( Middlesbrough)
Everton
in : Andy Johnson ( Crystal Palace) , Joleon Lescott ( Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard ( Manchester United)
out:Kevin Kilbane ( Wigan), Li Tie ( Sheffield United), Duncan Ferguson ( free)
Fulham:
in :Wayne Routledge ( Tottenham), Franck Queudrue( Boro), Jimmy Bullard (Wigan)
out: Sylvain Legswinki (Ipswich), Steed Malbranque ( Tottenham), Dean Leacock ( Derby),Zeeshan Rehman (QPR), Alain Goma ( free
Liverpool
in: Craig Bellamy ( Blackburn) ,Dirk Kuyt( Feyernoord),Fabio Aurelio ( Valencia), Jermaine Pennat ( Birmingham), Gabriel Paletta ( Banfield)
out: Jan Kromkamp ( PSV), Florent Sinama Pongolle ( R.Huelva), Anthony Le Tallec ( Sochaux), Chris Kirkland ( Wigan), Fernando Morientes ( Valencia), Djibril Cisse ( Marseille),Djimi Traore ( Charlton), Dietmar Hamann (Bolton)
Manchester City
in: Ousman Dabo ( free), Paul Dickov ( free),Bernardo Corradi ( Valencia), Joe Hart ( Shresbury), Da Marcus Beasley( PSV-loan), Andreas Isaksson ( Rennes),Dietmar Hamann ( Bolton), Hatem Trabelsi ( Ajax)
out: Andy Cole, David James ( Portsmouth), Kasper Schmeichel ( Bury), David Sommeil ( free)Lee Croft ( Norwich), Mikkel Bischoff ( Coventry) Antoine Sibierski ( Newcastle)
Manchester United
in: Michael Carrick ( Tottenham), Tomasz Kuzcsak( West Brom)
out: Tim Howard ( Everton), Giuseppe Rossi ( Newcastle-loan), Ruud Van Nistelrooy ( Real Madrid), Quinton Fortune ( out of contract)
Middlesbrough
in:Jason Euell ( Charlton), Jonathan Woodgate ( RM), Julio Arca( Sunderland),Herold Goulon ( Lyon),Robert Huth (Chelsea)
Newcastle
in : Martins ( Inter), Giuseppe Rossi ( Manchester United), Antoine Sibeirski ( Man City)
Damien Duff ( Chelsea) Olivier Bernard ( Rangers)
out:Boumsong ( Juventus), Amdy Faye ( Charlton), Michael Chopra ( Cardiff) , Lee Bowyer( West Ham)
Portsmouth
in: Sol Campbell ( free), David James, Andy Cole ( Arsenal), Kanu ( free), Glen Johnson ( Chelsea), Niko Kranjcar ( Hajduk), Manuel Fernandes ( Benfica),David Thompson ( free)
out: Svetoslav Todorov ( Wigan),Vincent Pericard( Stoke), San Der Westerveld( Almeria),
Reading
in : Ulises De La Cruz ( Villa), Ki Hyon Seol ( Wolves), Peter Mate ( Debrecen)
out:Chris Makin ( Southampton)
Sheffield United
in:David Sommeil ( free). Rob Hulse and Ian Benett( Leeds), Li Tie ( Everton)
out: Garry Flitcroft and Ashely Ward ( retired), Simon Francis ( Southend)
Tottenham Hotspur
in:Dimitar Berbatov ( Leverkusen), Didier Zokora ( St Etienne), Steed Malbranque ( Fulham), Pascal Chimbonda ( Wigan), Mido ( Roma), Benoit Assou-Ekotto ( Lens)
out:Wayne Routledge ( Fulham) ,Rodrigo Defendi ( Roma), Michael Carrick ( Manchester United), Stephen Kelly ( Birmingham) ,Mounir El Hamdoui ( Wilhelm 2)
Watford
in : Tommy Smith ( Derby), Damien Francis ( Wigan),Danny Shittu ( QPR), Ben Foster ( MU)
out:Joe O’Cearuill ( Arsenal)
West Ham United
in : Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano ( Corinthians), Robert Green ( Nowich), Lee Bowyer (Newcastle) , Jonathan Spector ( MU), Carlton Cole ( Chelsea), George McCartney ( Sunderland)
out: Shaka Hislop ( Dallas), Yaniv Katan ( Maccabi ) ,Carl Fletcher ( Crystal Palace)
Wigan
in : Denny Laandzaat ( Alkmaar), Chris Kirkland ( Liverpool),Svetoslav Todorov ( Portsmouth), Emile Heskey ( Birmingham), Fitz Hall ( Crystal Palace), Kevin Kilbane ( Everton)
out:Pascal Chimbonda ( Tottenham), David Connolly, Graham Kavenagh ( Sunderland), Jason Roberts ( Blackburn),David Thompson ( free), Jimmy Bullard ( Fulham),Damien Francis ( Watford), Henchoz Stephane ( free)
