JOSE MARIO DOS SANTOS FELIX MOURINHO, simply known as Jose Mourinho, is among the 5 managers I admire most in my whole life. I have watched football for more than 17 years now including old clips of players and coaches, but none appeal to me more than Oleg Blokhin (now manager of the Ukaranian National team), Arrigo Sacchi (former head coach of Milan and Italy), Kevin Keegan (former coach of Newcastle), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager), and Jose the 'special one' as the British Press dubbed him when he joined Chelsea.
Enough of me and my choices.
Jose Mourinho is a name synonymous with glory and success. The 48 year old Portuguese national is the most ebullient and confident human being I have ever seen. He exudes pride and some people say arrogance, but I say fearlessness. He is one of the most outspoken people ever. He bares his mind no matter whose ox is gored and the reason why he is taken seriously is because his talk is expensive and he has titles to defend whatever decision he takes or has taken in his extremely successful managerial career.But there is a but.....Jose Mourinho is very very CONTROVERSIAL and most times, he is absolutely wrong. For a man who has coached the likes of Benfica, Porto, Chelsea and co, it is safe to say he has been at the managerial seat of some of the elite clubsides in European football, that is before joining Moratti's Inter and Perez's Real Madrid.
He has always been emmeshed in controversy right from when he stepped foot on the premier league soil until now that he is a the helm at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. From calling Arsene Wenger a voyeur (someone who is obsessed or intimately watching something that isn't his business or in his interest), to ridiculing Sir Alex Ferguson to various spats with Rafael Benitez(when he was manager of Liverpool and even when he replaced him as Inter Boss)etc, the special one is so so troublesome.
Jose has a long list of controversial incidents in most of the jobs he has taken. Some examples are-----> In 2005, he accused revered Swedish referee of cheating against Chelsea in the UCL 2nd round match v Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The matter raised so much dust that the poor man had to retire as a result of incessant death threats sent to him by Chelsea fans. This led to UEFA referees' chief, Volker Roth labeling Jose as an 'enemy of football'. He was fined because of that false allegation , but the damage had been done.
When he was manager of Inter, he entered various arguments with different Italian managers, most notably Milan coach, Carlo Ancelotti, Claudio Ranieri of Juventus/Roma etc. Many managers hated his guts because he was too blunt and very annoying. At Real he hasn't fared much better at all, he lambasted and tongue lashed the Institutions of UEFA, BARCELONA AND UNICEF when the whites were dumped out of the Champions League. In his words, 'Guardiola won the first champions league in 2009 on the back of the scandal at Stanford Bridge, if he goes on to win this (2011 edition), it will be at the back of the scandal of Bernabeu'...He made assertions of the fact that most probably it is because Barca has links with UNICEF, that's why they are being given preferential treatment. He forgot how refereeing decisions aided his 2010 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNING CAMPAIGN and other very many occasions where he has been the recipient of decisions that were not supposed to have been given in his or his team's favour. He was severely punished by the governing body, but it was reduced some weeks ago after Madrid filed an appeal.
Whoever was under the impression that Jose will watch his steps after that rather unsavory situation, must have been day dreaming as he lit another candle in his dark room again on the 17th of August 2011 at the Camp Nou for the Spanish Super Cup 2nd leg, when he stroked the ear of Barcelona's assistant manager, Francesc 'Tito' Vilanova during a bust up (which has been a usual occurrence since Mourinho's arrival) involving both sets of players (RealM and Barca). As if that was not disgraceful enough, he worsened the whole matter when he was asked if he knew the Barca asst. manager, Tito Vilanova. He replied that he didn't know 'PITO' which means 'penis' in Spanish language. That fueled the whole affair and Gerard Pique came out to voice his displeasure at Mourinho's shameful act, saying that the Portuguese tactician is spoiling the image of Spanish football, and that something needs to be done urgently to nip the problem in the bud... I quite agree with him. The authorities that govern the beautiful game should call Jose to order. We all know he has won so many titles, but one singular act of dishonour can wipe away everything a great man has achieved
.
Sayonara
Ohireime Eboreime
follow me on Twitter @ohiskaka1990
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Friday, 19 August 2011
EPL WEEK 2 -PREVIEW
The second round of matches in the English premiership kick-off today with a lot of expectations from fans of various teams. Thank God the riots are over.All 10 EPL games are going to kick-off barring any unforeseen circumstance(s). We have to wait a little bit longer for the comeback of Hatem Ben Arfa who is still sadly nursing a fresh ankle injury..We wish him a speedy recovery. The weekend starts with
SUNDERLAND -NEWCASTLE (STADIUM OF LIGHT)
this match is up there with the match of the round alongside the Arsenal -Liverpool and the Manchester United - Tot'nam Hotspur ties. It is the match that will kick start the weekend. It kicks off at mid-day with a lot of anticipation from both sides. It is the Tyne-Wear derby and both managers will want to take it seriously especially Bruce, who suffered a 5-1 mauling last season at St Jamess' Park. Alan Pardew can call on the services of summer signing Sylvain Marveaux who has been passed fit after coming through a practice match unscathed.
Steve Bruce will be pleased if he can get O'shea into the squad as he is presently not fully fit.. It will be a last minute decision on whether or not to field him in the crunch game. Asamoah Gyan is in contention for a place in the squad after shaking off a knock he got last week at Anfield. Both managers have near full strength squads to pick from and will face this important game squarely. For them, not only three points is at stake but the bragging rights of Tyneside until at least the return leg at Newcastle later in the season.
ARSENAL -LIVERPOOL (EMIRATES STADIUM)
Arsenal have been hit by injuries, suspensions and departures since their last game against Newcastle. Captain, Cesc Fabregas left for Barcelona and Emmanuel Eboue ended his 6 year stay with the gunners by signing for Galatasaray. Rosicky(precautionary), Gibbs, Djourou, Wishere, Duaby all have injuries, although some are minor, but they would not feature against King Kenny's Liverpool. Gervinho and Alex song start their bans today. Asia's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryo Miyachi might be given a place in the starting line-up, Samir Nasri who is closing in on a deal with Manchester City,will also start the game. Carl Jenkinson the versatile defender purchased from Charlton in the summer, is expected to fill in at left back. It is also an important day in the life of Robin Van Persie, otherwise known as RVP, who was appointed Arsenal's new skipper in place of the departed Fabregas.He skippers the team for the first time later today and he will want to start off on a winning note. Arsene has also secured the signing of talented Costa Rican striker, Joel Campbell.
For Liverpool, England right back, Glenn Johnson is not available once again, so flamagan or martin kelly will once again deputize at right back. Steven Gerrard is not available until September. Otherwise Kenny has a fully fit squad to choose from.
Both teams will be looking for a good performance and three points to kick start their season after picking up one point each in their previous games. Arsenal will want to prove that they can cope without Cesc and the imminent departure of Nasri, but they have a very depleted squad with more than 6 first team players unavailable for selection. It promises to be an interesting game.
ASTON VILLA-BLACKBURN (VILLA PARK)
After picking up a point at the Cottage last wekend, Villa will hope to start off their campaign at home with a win over Lancashire visitors, Blckburn Rovers. Summer signings, Shay Given (who has shaken off a groin strain) and Charles N'zogbia will be making their home debuts. McLeish will keep faith in his 3 pronged attack of gabby agbonlahor (who has gone into oblivion of late), emile heskey and darren bent with charles just behind them .
Steve Kean is licking his lips at the prospect of fielding his center back pairing of samba and nelsen after both recovered from injuries a few days ago.. It was a bad day in the office for Kean last weekend when the boys lost at home to Micky's Wolves. They hope to rebound from that to try and claim Villa's scalp right in their own home.
EVERTON -QPR (GOODISON PARK)
The toffees had their game v Spurs called off last weekend because of the London riots. It might be a bonus for them to start their season in front of their fans who are not the happiest at the moment. This is as a result of Everton's inactivity in the market and Chairman, Bill Kenwright has been highly criticized. All in all, the core of the team still remain. .......asides the unfortunate injury of England u-21 international, seamus coleman, everton have a full squad to pick from with the added bonus of returning injury prone frenchman, luis saha. David Moyes will want to prove that he can still achieve great things even with the small squad he has at his disposal.
Queen's Park Rangers have had mixed fortunes in the past few days. They lost their first game at home to Bolton by 4 unreplied goals in a performance that wasn't that bad. On a happier and motivating note, mega rich Malaysian Business Tycoon , Tony Fernandes completed his takeover of QPR two days ago, buying off 66% of shares from Formula one top dog, Bernie Ecclestone. The new QPR holdings chairman has also promised to assist manager, Neil Warnock with funds to acquire players. QPR will want to give a good accunt of themselves when they face the evertonians and Neil will be hoping that his new strike partnership of DJ Campbell and J. Bothroyd will deliver the goods.
SWANSEA -WIGAN (LIBERTY STADIUM)
Roberto Martinez returns to his former home to play the swans in what pormises to be a thrilling encounter. Roberto left under acrimonious circumstances and the fans are still not happy with him. Well, he is not coming to plead with them though, rather to inflict more pain on them as the boys from DW come to town.
Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers was very happy with his team's performance at the Etihad Stadium five days ago despite being torn apart by 4 goals to nothing. He will be hoping for a rapid response when they face the latics later today. Hugo Rodallega should be fit enough to start the match as Martinez intends to build a successful strike partnership of Moses and Hugo.
CHELSEA- WES BROMWICH ALBION ( STANFORD BRIDGE)
Even though it is still early days, Chelsea will be looking to improve on their position of 11th in the EPL standings when they host the baggies in a Saturday evening kick-off. AVB is without Peter Cech who suffered a long term injury in training. But he has been busy in the transfer market with the acquisition of Belgian teenager, Romelu Lukaku who arrived from Anderlecht.....if newspaper reports are to be believed, they are also close to wrapping up a deal for Valencia playmaker, Juan Mata. Even if he is signed today, he most certainly will not feature against Roy Hodgson's men.
Wes Brom were boosted two days ago with the news that star striker, Peter Odemwingie has signed a three year contract. His partnership with irish predator, Shane Long will be deadly if they find their rhythm early.
The game will surely be exciting.
NORWICH - STOKE (CARROW ROAD)
Paul Lmabert will be hoping to grab his first ever premiership win as a manger when he welcomes Tony's potters to Carrow Road for their first home game of the EPL season. Lmabert will be without centre back, Zat Whitbread for the match, so that means there is a possibility that new signing, Daniel Ayala might feature. Ritchie de Laet will be looking to banish the memory of last weekend when his lapse in concentration allowed Di Santo of wigan to steal the ball away from him and eventually win a p.k. Wesley Hoolahan who has scored Norwich's only EPL goal on their return, will be hoping to continue from where he stopped last weekend.
For stoke, they will be looking to transfer their good form in the Europa League to the domestic scene especially after a dull stalemate v Chelsea last Sunday. They will look to welcome Jonathan Woodgate who was rested for the mid week gamer. matt Etherington is still out with a dislocated arm.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS - FULHAM (MOLINEUX)
Mick McCarthy was extremely happy with his side's 2-1 win over Blackburn on the opening day and will hope his side builds up on the result against Fulham at home on Sunday. He may stick with the side that defeated the blue and whites and hope for a good outcome.
Martin Jol is undefeated as Fulham manager. the season started in July for the west Londoners and they have a slight edge over most premiership teams because of the number of competitive games they have under their belt, Jol bid 7.5 million pounds for Twente's Brian Ruiz during the week, but it was deemed too low by the Dutch club. He has no shortage of attacking options though. The likes of in -form Clint Dempsey, Bobby Zamora and A.j are in the squad, while new signing John Arne Riise will fill in at left back as Carlos Salcido has sealed a loan move to Tigres of Mexico. Jol will be looking to pick up at least a point to consolidate his unbeaten run.
BOLTON WANDERERS - MANCHESTER CITY (REEBOK STADIUM)
The trotters are fresh from a comprehensive 4-0 whitewash of QPR in their first game of the season, building on a great pre-season where the likes of Ivan Klasnic shone brilliantly, will be looking to continue in their rich vein of form against the billionaires of Manchester City. Owen Coyle lost lee and Mears to long term injuries, but has acted fast, bringing in experienced Turk, Tuncay from Wolfsburg on a season long loan. He is expected to start with the same side that put four past paddy kenny on Sunday when they entertain Mancini's superstars.
Coincidentally, the citizens also blasted four past hapless Swansea on Monday and will look to continue in that regard against Bolton. Carlos Tevez, who wants out of Manchester City, is in contention for a place in the starting line-up. Record signing, Sergio 'kun' Aguero is also in the frame after lighting up the league with a 31 minute, 2 goal salvo five days ago. City are also almost done with the transfer of Arsenal's samir Nasri, but with the deal still on and him expecting to start against Liverpool today, his inclusion in Mancini's immediate plans is totally out of the equation.
It will be a feisty match up between 1st and 2nd in the EPL table.
MANCHESTER UNITED -TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (OLD TRAFFORD)
Last season, the red devils had an almost perfect record at home in the league, winning 18 and drawing one. that equalled Mourinho's record in the 04-05 season. In fact, it was their home form that led them to their 19th English League title, putting them ahead of arch enemies, Liverpool. Fergie was glad because when he came to the club 25 years ago, he made it categorically clear that his intention was to knock Liverpool of their perch, although they still lead Man Utd in terms of European Trophies won (5 to 3). Fergie's boys began their season with a 2-1 win over wes brom at the Hawthorns and will look to add spurs to the list of defeated teams this season when the north Londoners come visiting on Monday. Man Utd will be without central defensive paring, vidic and rio....jones and evans will deputize for them, while we welcome evra from his lay off last weekend.
Tottenham is buzzing at the moment. Fresh from a victorious journey to Scotland in midweek where they trounced Hearts 5-0 in a Europa League match, they will hope to overturn their dismal record at the Theatre of dreams where they last won in 1989 (BBC MATCH OF THE DAY pundit, Gary Lineker scored the only goal 22 years ago). They have the players to hurt any team-VDV, Defoe, Bale, Lennon and co have what it takes to do damage when they are in full flow.....not forgetting Luka Modric, who is still on Chelsea's radar.
Fergie will be lying if he says it will be an easy match, because Spurs have rejuvenated under Harry Redknapp and have set sights on qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Another cracker.
Ohis Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
SUNDERLAND -NEWCASTLE (STADIUM OF LIGHT)
this match is up there with the match of the round alongside the Arsenal -Liverpool and the Manchester United - Tot'nam Hotspur ties. It is the match that will kick start the weekend. It kicks off at mid-day with a lot of anticipation from both sides. It is the Tyne-Wear derby and both managers will want to take it seriously especially Bruce, who suffered a 5-1 mauling last season at St Jamess' Park. Alan Pardew can call on the services of summer signing Sylvain Marveaux who has been passed fit after coming through a practice match unscathed.
Steve Bruce will be pleased if he can get O'shea into the squad as he is presently not fully fit.. It will be a last minute decision on whether or not to field him in the crunch game. Asamoah Gyan is in contention for a place in the squad after shaking off a knock he got last week at Anfield. Both managers have near full strength squads to pick from and will face this important game squarely. For them, not only three points is at stake but the bragging rights of Tyneside until at least the return leg at Newcastle later in the season.
ARSENAL -LIVERPOOL (EMIRATES STADIUM)
Arsenal have been hit by injuries, suspensions and departures since their last game against Newcastle. Captain, Cesc Fabregas left for Barcelona and Emmanuel Eboue ended his 6 year stay with the gunners by signing for Galatasaray. Rosicky(precautionary), Gibbs, Djourou, Wishere, Duaby all have injuries, although some are minor, but they would not feature against King Kenny's Liverpool. Gervinho and Alex song start their bans today. Asia's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryo Miyachi might be given a place in the starting line-up, Samir Nasri who is closing in on a deal with Manchester City,will also start the game. Carl Jenkinson the versatile defender purchased from Charlton in the summer, is expected to fill in at left back. It is also an important day in the life of Robin Van Persie, otherwise known as RVP, who was appointed Arsenal's new skipper in place of the departed Fabregas.He skippers the team for the first time later today and he will want to start off on a winning note. Arsene has also secured the signing of talented Costa Rican striker, Joel Campbell.
For Liverpool, England right back, Glenn Johnson is not available once again, so flamagan or martin kelly will once again deputize at right back. Steven Gerrard is not available until September. Otherwise Kenny has a fully fit squad to choose from.
Both teams will be looking for a good performance and three points to kick start their season after picking up one point each in their previous games. Arsenal will want to prove that they can cope without Cesc and the imminent departure of Nasri, but they have a very depleted squad with more than 6 first team players unavailable for selection. It promises to be an interesting game.
ASTON VILLA-BLACKBURN (VILLA PARK)
After picking up a point at the Cottage last wekend, Villa will hope to start off their campaign at home with a win over Lancashire visitors, Blckburn Rovers. Summer signings, Shay Given (who has shaken off a groin strain) and Charles N'zogbia will be making their home debuts. McLeish will keep faith in his 3 pronged attack of gabby agbonlahor (who has gone into oblivion of late), emile heskey and darren bent with charles just behind them .
Steve Kean is licking his lips at the prospect of fielding his center back pairing of samba and nelsen after both recovered from injuries a few days ago.. It was a bad day in the office for Kean last weekend when the boys lost at home to Micky's Wolves. They hope to rebound from that to try and claim Villa's scalp right in their own home.
EVERTON -QPR (GOODISON PARK)
The toffees had their game v Spurs called off last weekend because of the London riots. It might be a bonus for them to start their season in front of their fans who are not the happiest at the moment. This is as a result of Everton's inactivity in the market and Chairman, Bill Kenwright has been highly criticized. All in all, the core of the team still remain. .......asides the unfortunate injury of England u-21 international, seamus coleman, everton have a full squad to pick from with the added bonus of returning injury prone frenchman, luis saha. David Moyes will want to prove that he can still achieve great things even with the small squad he has at his disposal.
Queen's Park Rangers have had mixed fortunes in the past few days. They lost their first game at home to Bolton by 4 unreplied goals in a performance that wasn't that bad. On a happier and motivating note, mega rich Malaysian Business Tycoon , Tony Fernandes completed his takeover of QPR two days ago, buying off 66% of shares from Formula one top dog, Bernie Ecclestone. The new QPR holdings chairman has also promised to assist manager, Neil Warnock with funds to acquire players. QPR will want to give a good accunt of themselves when they face the evertonians and Neil will be hoping that his new strike partnership of DJ Campbell and J. Bothroyd will deliver the goods.
SWANSEA -WIGAN (LIBERTY STADIUM)
Roberto Martinez returns to his former home to play the swans in what pormises to be a thrilling encounter. Roberto left under acrimonious circumstances and the fans are still not happy with him. Well, he is not coming to plead with them though, rather to inflict more pain on them as the boys from DW come to town.
Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers was very happy with his team's performance at the Etihad Stadium five days ago despite being torn apart by 4 goals to nothing. He will be hoping for a rapid response when they face the latics later today. Hugo Rodallega should be fit enough to start the match as Martinez intends to build a successful strike partnership of Moses and Hugo.
CHELSEA- WES BROMWICH ALBION ( STANFORD BRIDGE)
Even though it is still early days, Chelsea will be looking to improve on their position of 11th in the EPL standings when they host the baggies in a Saturday evening kick-off. AVB is without Peter Cech who suffered a long term injury in training. But he has been busy in the transfer market with the acquisition of Belgian teenager, Romelu Lukaku who arrived from Anderlecht.....if newspaper reports are to be believed, they are also close to wrapping up a deal for Valencia playmaker, Juan Mata. Even if he is signed today, he most certainly will not feature against Roy Hodgson's men.
Wes Brom were boosted two days ago with the news that star striker, Peter Odemwingie has signed a three year contract. His partnership with irish predator, Shane Long will be deadly if they find their rhythm early.
The game will surely be exciting.
NORWICH - STOKE (CARROW ROAD)
Paul Lmabert will be hoping to grab his first ever premiership win as a manger when he welcomes Tony's potters to Carrow Road for their first home game of the EPL season. Lmabert will be without centre back, Zat Whitbread for the match, so that means there is a possibility that new signing, Daniel Ayala might feature. Ritchie de Laet will be looking to banish the memory of last weekend when his lapse in concentration allowed Di Santo of wigan to steal the ball away from him and eventually win a p.k. Wesley Hoolahan who has scored Norwich's only EPL goal on their return, will be hoping to continue from where he stopped last weekend.
For stoke, they will be looking to transfer their good form in the Europa League to the domestic scene especially after a dull stalemate v Chelsea last Sunday. They will look to welcome Jonathan Woodgate who was rested for the mid week gamer. matt Etherington is still out with a dislocated arm.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS - FULHAM (MOLINEUX)
Mick McCarthy was extremely happy with his side's 2-1 win over Blackburn on the opening day and will hope his side builds up on the result against Fulham at home on Sunday. He may stick with the side that defeated the blue and whites and hope for a good outcome.
Martin Jol is undefeated as Fulham manager. the season started in July for the west Londoners and they have a slight edge over most premiership teams because of the number of competitive games they have under their belt, Jol bid 7.5 million pounds for Twente's Brian Ruiz during the week, but it was deemed too low by the Dutch club. He has no shortage of attacking options though. The likes of in -form Clint Dempsey, Bobby Zamora and A.j are in the squad, while new signing John Arne Riise will fill in at left back as Carlos Salcido has sealed a loan move to Tigres of Mexico. Jol will be looking to pick up at least a point to consolidate his unbeaten run.
BOLTON WANDERERS - MANCHESTER CITY (REEBOK STADIUM)
The trotters are fresh from a comprehensive 4-0 whitewash of QPR in their first game of the season, building on a great pre-season where the likes of Ivan Klasnic shone brilliantly, will be looking to continue in their rich vein of form against the billionaires of Manchester City. Owen Coyle lost lee and Mears to long term injuries, but has acted fast, bringing in experienced Turk, Tuncay from Wolfsburg on a season long loan. He is expected to start with the same side that put four past paddy kenny on Sunday when they entertain Mancini's superstars.
Coincidentally, the citizens also blasted four past hapless Swansea on Monday and will look to continue in that regard against Bolton. Carlos Tevez, who wants out of Manchester City, is in contention for a place in the starting line-up. Record signing, Sergio 'kun' Aguero is also in the frame after lighting up the league with a 31 minute, 2 goal salvo five days ago. City are also almost done with the transfer of Arsenal's samir Nasri, but with the deal still on and him expecting to start against Liverpool today, his inclusion in Mancini's immediate plans is totally out of the equation.
It will be a feisty match up between 1st and 2nd in the EPL table.
MANCHESTER UNITED -TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (OLD TRAFFORD)
Last season, the red devils had an almost perfect record at home in the league, winning 18 and drawing one. that equalled Mourinho's record in the 04-05 season. In fact, it was their home form that led them to their 19th English League title, putting them ahead of arch enemies, Liverpool. Fergie was glad because when he came to the club 25 years ago, he made it categorically clear that his intention was to knock Liverpool of their perch, although they still lead Man Utd in terms of European Trophies won (5 to 3). Fergie's boys began their season with a 2-1 win over wes brom at the Hawthorns and will look to add spurs to the list of defeated teams this season when the north Londoners come visiting on Monday. Man Utd will be without central defensive paring, vidic and rio....jones and evans will deputize for them, while we welcome evra from his lay off last weekend.
Tottenham is buzzing at the moment. Fresh from a victorious journey to Scotland in midweek where they trounced Hearts 5-0 in a Europa League match, they will hope to overturn their dismal record at the Theatre of dreams where they last won in 1989 (BBC MATCH OF THE DAY pundit, Gary Lineker scored the only goal 22 years ago). They have the players to hurt any team-VDV, Defoe, Bale, Lennon and co have what it takes to do damage when they are in full flow.....not forgetting Luka Modric, who is still on Chelsea's radar.
Fergie will be lying if he says it will be an easy match, because Spurs have rejuvenated under Harry Redknapp and have set sights on qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Another cracker.
Ohis Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
EL GRANDE CLASICO PART 2------------- REVIEW
After the 1st Leg of the Spanish Super Cup which also doubled as the part 1 of the Clasico for the 2011-2012 season, the stage was set for a thrilling 2nd leg affair at the Camp Nou. Barcelona's pre-match preparations was boosted by the news that Cesc Fabregas has finally joined the ranks after a protracted transfer saga that finally came to a happy end for the Spanish club and the former Arsenal captain.
Barcelona had a different line-up from the one which started the 1st leg at the Bernabeu. Xavi, Pedro and Pique came into the side in place of Adriano, Thiago A, and Alexis who would have started but for a slight injury he picked up in the warm up. New signing, Fabregas was on the bench. Mourinho decided to bring in Coentrao fro Marcelo at left back. That was the only alteration to the team that drew 2-2 three days prior.
Just as 3 days ago, the match began with RealM putting pressure on the Blaugrana defence with Pique uncharacteristically playing the ball to the opponents.. Ronaldo had 3 shots in the opening minutes of the encounter, but none went past Valdes....game still remained 0-0. But games don't remain scoreless for long especially when you have the 'colossal' Lionel Messi in your team and predictably, it was his brilliance that carved the first real opening of the gripping match.....he found the ball in the midfield, shrugged off Khedira, moved the ball forward and then passed an incredible through ball to Iniesta with Carvalho and Pepe looking in awe......Iniesta duly chipped the ball over the onrushing Iker Casillas and into the net to give Barca a 1-0 lead on the night, and 3-2 on agg.
Madrid got the equalizer against the run of play when a corner was half cleared and Ronaldo diverted a hopeful cross into the Barcelona net to draw his team level on the night and on agg. There was some controversy as to who scored the goal, but in the end, it was credited to Ronaldo.
Barcelona were unruffled and continued to play the waiting game despite RealM's resistance. Their patience however paid off on the stroke of half time after a corner wasn't cleared to safety and pique's stylish backheeled pass found MESSI who did the rest by sending Casillas the wrong way to restore Barca's advantage both on the night and overall 2-1,4-3 #Barcelona. Half time scores.
As the 2nd goal half began, Mourinho tinkered and made a change, sending Marcelo, who was surprisingly dropped for coentrao, in to replace defensive midfielder, Sami khedira. coentrao took sami's position with marcelo playing left wing back. Madrid pressed and pressed, but the equalizing goal still eluded them. There were some rash challenges, but none like the ones that caused a lot of worry last season. Mourinho introduced Kaka and Higuain to help the attack and it paid off 8 minutes from the end, when a kaka corner was not cleared properly again and to the disbelief of the catalans, Benzema made no mistake from 3 yards to poke the ball past Valdes...2-2,4-4 on agg.. Cesc Fabregas who had just come on, had a hand in the winner three minutes from the end, when his combination with adriano, culminated with the brazilian sending a beautifully lofted low shot which unfortunately for 'the whites', fell into the path of the impeccable messi, who made no mistake scoring the winner and his 13th clasico goal,leaving him just 3 behind the Legendary Raul and 5 behind the great DI STEFANO as the highest goal scorers in el clasico duels. Iker must be tired of seeing the pint-sized argentine wizard, but it is rather unlucky that he will continue bear the brunt for years to come. Game over 3-2 on the night 5-4 on agg.
The game was all but over now for Mourinho's men as they had fallen again at the hands of Barcelona. What happened next shook the entire football world.........a criminal tackle by Marcelo on Fabregas was immediately punished by referee, David Fernandez, who showed the young brazilian a straight red. There and then , both teams went berserk, confronting each other as if they were in some kind of zoo or forest. Villa, who up till that moment was never really a controversial lad, apparently abused Ozil's religion (Islam). the german star was displeased and attempted severally to challenge the all time highest goal scorer in Spanish Football history (National team), but was restrained by players and staff of both teams...the ref was not particularly happy with their behaviour and he sent them off too... by sending off three players, a new record was set...It was the very first time in the 109 year history of el clasico matches that 3 players were sent off in one game. The fracas did not end there...Mourinho couldn't be left out of the whole mess could he???? During the fall-out, he decided it was time to play some childish games and then pulled the ear of the assistant manager of Barca, Francesc Vilanova-------popularly known as Tito or Tito Vilanova. Tito was furious and acted in self defence, pushing the Madrid manager too. This was the height of dishonour for the beautiful game and shamefully, Mourinho was part of it. Kaka once again showed his elegance and humility by distancing himself from the whole embarrassment.
Despite the whole debacle, Barcelona went on to celebrate their hard earned victory over Madrid.....but yet another clasico ended in bad blood.
Ohireime Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
Barcelona had a different line-up from the one which started the 1st leg at the Bernabeu. Xavi, Pedro and Pique came into the side in place of Adriano, Thiago A, and Alexis who would have started but for a slight injury he picked up in the warm up. New signing, Fabregas was on the bench. Mourinho decided to bring in Coentrao fro Marcelo at left back. That was the only alteration to the team that drew 2-2 three days prior.
Just as 3 days ago, the match began with RealM putting pressure on the Blaugrana defence with Pique uncharacteristically playing the ball to the opponents.. Ronaldo had 3 shots in the opening minutes of the encounter, but none went past Valdes....game still remained 0-0. But games don't remain scoreless for long especially when you have the 'colossal' Lionel Messi in your team and predictably, it was his brilliance that carved the first real opening of the gripping match.....he found the ball in the midfield, shrugged off Khedira, moved the ball forward and then passed an incredible through ball to Iniesta with Carvalho and Pepe looking in awe......Iniesta duly chipped the ball over the onrushing Iker Casillas and into the net to give Barca a 1-0 lead on the night, and 3-2 on agg.
Madrid got the equalizer against the run of play when a corner was half cleared and Ronaldo diverted a hopeful cross into the Barcelona net to draw his team level on the night and on agg. There was some controversy as to who scored the goal, but in the end, it was credited to Ronaldo.
Barcelona were unruffled and continued to play the waiting game despite RealM's resistance. Their patience however paid off on the stroke of half time after a corner wasn't cleared to safety and pique's stylish backheeled pass found MESSI who did the rest by sending Casillas the wrong way to restore Barca's advantage both on the night and overall 2-1,4-3 #Barcelona. Half time scores.
As the 2nd goal half began, Mourinho tinkered and made a change, sending Marcelo, who was surprisingly dropped for coentrao, in to replace defensive midfielder, Sami khedira. coentrao took sami's position with marcelo playing left wing back. Madrid pressed and pressed, but the equalizing goal still eluded them. There were some rash challenges, but none like the ones that caused a lot of worry last season. Mourinho introduced Kaka and Higuain to help the attack and it paid off 8 minutes from the end, when a kaka corner was not cleared properly again and to the disbelief of the catalans, Benzema made no mistake from 3 yards to poke the ball past Valdes...2-2,4-4 on agg.. Cesc Fabregas who had just come on, had a hand in the winner three minutes from the end, when his combination with adriano, culminated with the brazilian sending a beautifully lofted low shot which unfortunately for 'the whites', fell into the path of the impeccable messi, who made no mistake scoring the winner and his 13th clasico goal,leaving him just 3 behind the Legendary Raul and 5 behind the great DI STEFANO as the highest goal scorers in el clasico duels. Iker must be tired of seeing the pint-sized argentine wizard, but it is rather unlucky that he will continue bear the brunt for years to come. Game over 3-2 on the night 5-4 on agg.
The game was all but over now for Mourinho's men as they had fallen again at the hands of Barcelona. What happened next shook the entire football world.........a criminal tackle by Marcelo on Fabregas was immediately punished by referee, David Fernandez, who showed the young brazilian a straight red. There and then , both teams went berserk, confronting each other as if they were in some kind of zoo or forest. Villa, who up till that moment was never really a controversial lad, apparently abused Ozil's religion (Islam). the german star was displeased and attempted severally to challenge the all time highest goal scorer in Spanish Football history (National team), but was restrained by players and staff of both teams...the ref was not particularly happy with their behaviour and he sent them off too... by sending off three players, a new record was set...It was the very first time in the 109 year history of el clasico matches that 3 players were sent off in one game. The fracas did not end there...Mourinho couldn't be left out of the whole mess could he???? During the fall-out, he decided it was time to play some childish games and then pulled the ear of the assistant manager of Barca, Francesc Vilanova-------popularly known as Tito or Tito Vilanova. Tito was furious and acted in self defence, pushing the Madrid manager too. This was the height of dishonour for the beautiful game and shamefully, Mourinho was part of it. Kaka once again showed his elegance and humility by distancing himself from the whole embarrassment.
Despite the whole debacle, Barcelona went on to celebrate their hard earned victory over Madrid.....but yet another clasico ended in bad blood.
Ohireime Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Part 2 of the EL GRANDE CLASSICO----PREVIEW
The first leg of the Spanish Super Cup was played on Sunday, August 17th 2011 at the Santiago Bernabeu. 2-2 the game ended with Real and Barca sharing the spoils.
As it has always been, the Spanish super cup is a two legged affair and the next one is in about an hour's time. This time it is the home of Barcelona (Camp Nou) that will host the match. Jose Mourinho has a rotten record at the Nou Camp with no win, 3 draws and 4 defeats with all the teams he has come here with. But as they say, records are made to be broken. Knowing Jose very well, all that will count for nothing when he brings the 'whites' to Catalunya tonight to try and wrest the Spanish Super Cup from the hands of Barcelona.
The Catalans have the edge,not only because they have 2 away goals, but also based on the fact that it is their home and Pep has a good record against Real in any competition. Mourinho is fighting for his 20th trophy as a manger, while Guardiola looks forward to hoist his 11th. Lionel Messi has scored 11 goals in 14 games against Madrid, including 4 in the last 5 and 5 in 5 straight games at the Bernabeu. Ronaldo hasn't fared well against Madrid's rivals as he has only 2 goals against them. Both were scored in the space of 3 days last season,including the all important extra time winner in the Copa Del Rey final at the Mestalla.
Today's match represents the 7th classico showdown between Mourinho and Guardiola. The Portugese will want to even the H2H 2-2, and Pep will want to extend his dominance. It promises to be an interesting match and Real will be very pleased to win the super cup at the home ground of their greatest rivals. Happy viewing.
Ohis Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
As it has always been, the Spanish super cup is a two legged affair and the next one is in about an hour's time. This time it is the home of Barcelona (Camp Nou) that will host the match. Jose Mourinho has a rotten record at the Nou Camp with no win, 3 draws and 4 defeats with all the teams he has come here with. But as they say, records are made to be broken. Knowing Jose very well, all that will count for nothing when he brings the 'whites' to Catalunya tonight to try and wrest the Spanish Super Cup from the hands of Barcelona.
The Catalans have the edge,not only because they have 2 away goals, but also based on the fact that it is their home and Pep has a good record against Real in any competition. Mourinho is fighting for his 20th trophy as a manger, while Guardiola looks forward to hoist his 11th. Lionel Messi has scored 11 goals in 14 games against Madrid, including 4 in the last 5 and 5 in 5 straight games at the Bernabeu. Ronaldo hasn't fared well against Madrid's rivals as he has only 2 goals against them. Both were scored in the space of 3 days last season,including the all important extra time winner in the Copa Del Rey final at the Mestalla.
Today's match represents the 7th classico showdown between Mourinho and Guardiola. The Portugese will want to even the H2H 2-2, and Pep will want to extend his dominance. It promises to be an interesting match and Real will be very pleased to win the super cup at the home ground of their greatest rivals. Happy viewing.
Ohis Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
EPL WEEK 1 REVIEW
The world's most entertaining League opened its shores on Saturday, 14th August 2011 to the delight of soccer fans all over the globe. The song on everyone's lips was 'thank God the English Premier League is back on our TV screens'. The Premiership is even more anticipated than the FIFA world cup...YES I dare to say that. Although the London riots threatened to disrupt the start of the World's favorite show,it only succeeded in ensuring that the Tottenham (where the riot started) - everton match was postoponed to a later date.
Finally, the 20th edition of the English Premier League kicked off with so much to look up to- Most especially the new signings and how they will adapt/perform. Even the January signings like Fernando 'el nino' Torres and Andy Carroll who cost a staggering 85 million pounds between them were under the spotlight, not only because of their hefty transfer fees, but also their inability to live up to expectations during the second part of the previous season. Torress' 1 goal in 18 games was a laugh considering his 81 in 142 for Liverpool, including 65 outstanding strikes in 102 EPL appearances. So he was expected to improve on his appalling form this season.
Other new signings like Sergio 'kun' Aguero who cost Man City a token of 38 million pounds, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson who cost 40 million pounds between them, David De Gea who was brought in to replace the Legendary Edwin Van Der Sar, Stefan Savic and co were also the focal point of discussion as the the Premier League took center stage. Another very interesting sight to behold was how Sunderland would shape up after a busy summer of transfer activity. Outside the field of play, viewers and supporters of various clubs were also keen on seeing the analytic ability of retired former United Captain and former England right back, Gary Neville who has been given a role by Sky Sports.
LIVERPOOL -SUNDERLAND
King Kenny Daglish began his first full season back in charge of his beloved Liverpool and was very confident that he can take Liverpool back to the summit of World football and also match Man Utd's 19th League Title. Who was to doubt a man who ended Blackburn's 81 year wait for an English Title and won titles both as a player and as a manger for the Scousers. Well his season began with the visit of Steve Bruce's Sunderland who had high hopes of achieving something great this season. Of course no one could really argue with the ex-Man United captain and defensive stalwart after his dealings in the summer which brought the likes of Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Sebastian Larsson and Craig Gardener who are seasoned Premier league Campaigners especially Brown who had been at United for 13 years prior to his arrival at the Stadium of Light. Bruce also brought in sensational England Teenager, Connor Wickham amongst others.
Dagkish on the other hand had no reason to be worried about Sunderland. Afterall, he has in his Arsenal, a players like Luis Suarez who was fresh from lighting up the Copa America with his 4 goals and a couple of assists and of course the tournament's Golden ball and most importantly Uruguay's 15th Copa America triumph which edged them ahead of Argentina as the most successful team in Copa America history. It also broke a 16 year jinx.King Kenny also possessed the creative ability of new signing, Charlie Adam, then there is Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and 35 million giant, Andy Carroll. Not forgetting the new left back, Jose Enrique.
The match went underway with a lot of debutants on both sides as adam, henderson, downing, and enrique who completed his move only a day or two earlier all started for the merseysiders.Bruce gave seb larsson and wes brown their debuts too, but left south korean dong and teenage starlet, wickham on the bench.. Old boy, kieran richardson was the first culprit of the match when in the 5th minute, he gifted Liverpool a p.k, fouling suarez in the box after he tried to atone for his own error. Luis dusted himself up to take the resultant spot kick but blazed it well over Simon Mignolet's goal. still nil nil... But Liverpool were not to be denied just 6 minutes later when Charlie Adam floated in a beautiful free kick which was knocked in by Suarez, who made up for his woeful miss earlier on. Sunderland was under siege from then on as Downing blazed through the black cats defence, but his dipping shot hit the bar. The first half however ended with Liverpool in total dominance..
The second half started again with Liverpool piling pressure on Sunderland, but it was Bruce's boys who seized the initiative as a cross from the right saw Seb Larsson send an unstoppable volley beyond Pepe Reina and into the Liverpool net...parity was restored... From then on, chances were few and far between----Even the introduction of Dutch hardworker, Dirk Kuyt who most amazingly was on the bench, couldn't add spark to the Liverpool side who were bamboozled by the shock equaliser. Thus it ended in Anfield- Liverpool 1-1 S'land.
QPR- BOLTON
Loftus Road was buzzing afterall. Although the internal affairs of the club is still questionable, that did not stop the fans from relishing their moment in the Premier League for the 1st time in a very long while Veteran Manager, Neil Warnock was optimistic that his boys led by captain and talisman, Adel Taraabt, will give a good account of themselves and survive the drop. The visitors to Loftus was Bolton Wanderers- a team hard done by long term Injuries to new signing, Tyrone Mears and South Korean, Lee chung-yong.. Despite the set backs, they still had a lot to be happy about as Chris eagles, martin Petrov and their best player in pre-season, Ivan Klasnic were all fit and in the starting 11. QPR lined up with new signings DJ campbell and J. Bothroyd in attack, and kieron dyer was also in the team with danny gabbidon who came on a free from west ham.
QPR started the hungrier of the two teams, causing all sorts of problems for Knight and cahill in the trotters defence, Dj campbell scored from a bothroyd lay off, but it was correctly ruled offside. Bolton soaked up the pressure and in a swift flow of action, gary Cahill scored a goal which his attacking teamames will be proud of when he let fly from outside the box into the roof of paddy kenny's net...QPR 0-1 bolton. that was the end of the 1st half.
The second half began with bolton applyiing all the pressure. qpr banked on Adel to show his class, but he was restricted to mere flashes of brilliance as the midfield partnership of new signing, nigel reo coker and fabrice muamba snuffed out the threat posed by the moroccan. it was Bolton who would go on to extend their lead as martin petrov's cross was diverted into the net by qpr's gabbidon 2-0 bolton...Ivan Klasnic built on his good pre-season form when he scored via a deflection to make it 3-0 bolton and Fabrice added the icing on the cake with a cool fourth to put the home fans to permanent disillusionment. QPR former shareholder and part owner, Flavio Briatore left the stadium early amidst boos and chants by the home fans directed at the club's hierarchy for their failure to perform during the summer. Billionaire businessman , Tony Fernandez is said to be in negotiations with majority shareholder, Bernie Ecclestone to buy the club. The match ended QPR 0-4 Bolton.
STOKE -- CHELSEA
It was a huge surprise that Roman Abramovich was relative quiet in the summer, considering how much he has spent on players in the last 7 years. He however didn't change in one regard, changing coaches like he changes his shirts..he new man at the helm is 33 year old, Luis Andre de Pina Cabral e Villas Boas - simply called Andre Villas Boas or AVB for short. The youthful Portugese manager is not strange to the Stanford Bridge surroundings, as he was part of Jose Mourinho's trusted hands between 2004 and 2007. Some people might ask how come a man so young is manager of Chelsea...Age is not a yardstick for success. AVB had a stellar campaign as manger of porto last season winning four trophies including going the whole season unbeaten and winning the Portugese super liga with 7 games to spare. That's not all,he also took porto through an unbeaten Europa league campaign where they won almost all their games home and away to be crown Europa League Champions in May. He brought the best out of players like Givanildo Vieira de Souza (otherwise known as Hulk), Columbia's Radamel Falcao and Freddy Guarin, Joao Moutinho etc. He is that good. Chelsea bought unknown defensive midfielder, Oriol Romeu from Barcelona, goalkeeper Tribaut Courtois from Belgian side, Racing Genk and are reportedly in talks to sign Romelu Lukaku from Anderlecht.
F.A cup runners-up and Europa League campaigners, Stoke didn't really make any headway in terms of additions...but if you consider injury ravaged Jonathan Woodgate's 'pay as you contract' a summer deal, then you may not be far from the truth. They also got Mathew Upson from West ham on a Bosnian
The Britania has never been an easy place to go and pick up a point, talk more of three. There are indeed no easy grounds in the Premier League, but Puliss' team's Physical strength and agility makes things even more difficult. They welcomed an equally physical and strong team in Chelsea and the match got started with some feisty tackles and great play by both teams who were working so hard to carve up openings. fernando Torres looked sharper than in his previous 18 games as Chelsea lined up with Malouda and Kalou alongside him, Ramires, Mikel (despite the kidnap of his father) and Lampard made up the midfield 3 in the absence of long term absentee, Michael Essien, who picked up a serious knee injury a month ago (his 3rd knee injury in 2 and a half years). Stoke lined up as usual with the irritable Kenwyne Jones and F.A cup semi final hero, Jonny Walters in attack. Pennant and Etherington on his 30th birthday, provided width, with Jo. Woodgate making his debut.
Chelsea piled on the pressure , but Stoke withstood everything that was thrown at them...Mikel was lively throughout despite all that had happened in his private life in the past 24 hours, Lampard was not at his best, but still showed glimpses. Ramires was all over the places in his usual athleticism. Woody played like he has never been away marshaling the defence like an army general and even showing grit and lots of energy..It is little wonder that if fit, he is still one of the best defenders around. The first half ended in a stalemate with both teams playing well, bu Chelsea just edging it in terms of possession and chances.
The 2nd half was much better as it picked up pace. Woodgate would not give the chelsea attackers a sniff at Asmir's goal. Mikel had a dipping volley tipped over by the stoke goalkeeper. Malouda and kalou were poor by their own standards..Terry and alex were rock solid dominating walters and jones in particular who was muscled out of every challenge...Matt eherington dislocated his arm and had to be replaced by Dean Whitehead, Danny Pugh also came on for the potters...AVB threw in Drogba and Anelka to try and salvage a victory but all his efforts and indeed the whole team's proved an exercise in futility. The game ended in a barren draw.
NEWCASTLE - ARSENAL
The match at St Jamess' Park was dominated by the imminent departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri
Newcastle gave debuts to Yohan Cabaye & demba Ba, the much maligned Joey Barton also started, while Tim Krul kept the goal, in the absence of Steve Harper.. new signing from United, Gabriel Obertan was on the bench for the toon army..Arsenal were without Captain Fabregas and nasri, but gave Gervinho his EPL bow and welcomed Vermaelen back after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Wojciech Szczesny as expected, kept the goalkeeper's gloves,while rosicky and arshavin came in for cesc and nasri.
The match started with Arsenal dominating proceedings early,although both goalkeepers had nothing to really worry about early on..Rosicky sent a shot wide off the mark in later on and Gutierrez missed a volley and that was that for the first as the gooners were limited to half chances and crosses sent in were comfortably dealt with by Coloccini and Taylor. The first half ended with Newcastle not playing really well and Arsenal as usual maintaining possession,but doing little or nothing with it.
The commencement of the 2nd half was greeted with the introduction of Obertan for Demba Ba. Arsenal made no change at half time. Obertan was a breath of fresh air in the toon attack as he constantly chased loose ball and could even afford a cheeky backheel to set up fellow frenchman, Cabaye who couldn't make the most of it. There was some altercation in the middle of the pack moments later, as Joey Barton was stamped upon by Alex Song- a silly act which the referee, Peter Walton and his assistants did not see, or pretended not to. Joey was furious as he stormed down the touchline to confront the fourth official and assistant ref about the tackle. Arsenal made changes as Walcott came on for Arshavin, and Frimpong for Rosicky. Pardew withdrew Ameobi and brought on Best. That was all to it as the game went on. The game defining moment cam about 14 minutes from the end when Gervinho fell down rather too easily under the challenge of The EPL's most booked player last season, Cheik Tiote. All of a sudden, Barton was aggravated and immediately, he pulled Gervinho up, tuggimg his shirt. He held Joey back and a fracas ensued as Newcastle and Arsenal players tried to break both of them loose. The the moment of madness came when the Ivorian slapped Barton on his left chic which to my utter amazement, sent the Englishman sprawling on the floor just so that the player would be given the marching orders........true to it, Walton sent Gervinho off and issued a yellow card to Barton. Many people were not with the ref on that decision as the right one would have been to send both players off..Szczesny was also cautioned for his arguments against the decision and the game went on with Van persie going close late on. Peter Lovenkrands came on for Yohan Cabaye as the game reached its climax ......Djourou was also a last minute introduction for Aaron Ramsey.
The. match ended in a scoreless draw.
MANCHESTER CITY-SWANSEA
Eastlands was buzzing once again at the prospect of an exciting season filled with hopes, ambition and aspirations. One can hardly blame them if you take into consideration the stunning season they had last time where they ended a 35 year wait for a trophy three months ago at the biggest stage of football in Britain-Wembley Stadium. That F.A cup triumph and indeed their stunning league run which saw them finish 3rd in the final league standing, with Chelsea only ahead of them on goal difference has galvanized them to achieve even more this season. Their first opponents this season are an equally ambitious team in Swansea who got promoted via a playoff final defeat of Reading, thus becoming the first Welsh team to play in the English top flight. The swans had in Scott Sinclair, one of the best players in the championship last season and it was his hat-trick that ensured that they are where they are today. Coach Brendan Rodgers brought in Wayne Routledge from Tyneside and goalkeeper Michel Vorm from Dutch side, fc Utrecht amongst others. There was also strong interest for Villareal captain and former Spanish midfield enforcer, Marcos Senna, but the deal fell through.
City on the other hand, brought in Maradona's son in-law, Sergio Aguero otherwise known as el kun or kun aguero from Athletico Madrid where he had been for more than 4 years scoring more than a century of goals in his time at the Vicente Calderon. Stefan Savic also came in from Partizan Belgrade, Gael Clichy left Arsenal to join forces with the citizens and they also let former No 1, Shay Given leave for Aston Villa after a frustrating 10-11 season which saw Joe Hart preferred between the sticks and he shone like a million stars keeping 17 clean sheets and winning the EPL golden gloves (award for best goalkeeper in the English premiership). This was also going to be Edin Dzeko's first full season with the Blue part of Manchester and if his goal against city rivals, Manchester United is anything to go by, then he has come to stay.
Just as in the Community shield 9 days prior, record signing, aguero, was on the bench again for the citizens.
The match was played on Monday night and it was an end to end stuff with City marginally gaining the upper hand in possession in the first half but no breakthrough thanks to the heroics of the new goaltender, Michel Vorm. The first half ended goalless.
The second half began with city picking up from where they left off in the first half with Spanish superstar, David Silva creating plenty of opportunities for Dzeko, Johnson and yaya toure.....Vorm was having a particularly great day in goal for the swans but it wasn't long before his Resistance was broken as silva evaded two swansea players in the middle,made a quick dash and sent the ball to the right where it found adam johnson who peppered it a little and took a good shot which Vorm could only parry to the path of Dzeko who made no mistake from 3 yards. 1-0 city. As if Rodgers and his boys hadn't seen enough, Mancini introduced el kun who surprisingly took the place of the hardworking and tough tackling nigel de jong just before the hour mark The dangerous Argentine only waited for 11 minutes to mark his debut with a goal when he met a a good cross from Micah Richards at the far post to make it 2-0 city. The Etihad stadium indeed stood up to applaud their new hero and legend in the making. It was not long before he made another impression on the city faithful and the rest of the league as he lifted a beautifully flighted ball over the head of Vorm and sent in a cross to silva who made no mistake from a little ore than 3 yards.. 3-0 city. Swansea was left shattered and even made a few complaints that the ball had crossed the line before aguero sent it in......all fell on deaf ears. Another new signing Stefan Savic, came on for Adam Johnson-another very questionable move by Robbo....in fairness, his substitutions are never understood. There was still time for 24 Million acquisition from Aston villa 2 summers ago, James Milner to make an entrance for the intelligent and fantastic david silva nine minutes from time. The swans did their best to prevent another goal...but aguero's 30 yard blinder in injury time was unstoppable., not only for vorm,but the likes of buffon and casillas...4-0 city and that was it.
BLACKBURN -WOLVES
Steve Kean was under no illusions at Ewood Park. He knew what was expected of him come the end of the season. Blackburn even had the ambition of going to Europe this season and yet they were inactive in the transfer market..Maybe they felt Jason Roberts will probably score 25 premier League goals to fire them to the summit of the League. This fixture was a repeat of the final day relegation dog fight cracker at the Molineux. The difference was that the battle field had changed and it was under entirely different circumstances. Mick McCarty only made one major signing...bringing in Birmingham's Roger Johnson to come and lead his defence and his team as he was almost immediately installed skipper. It was a good decision because the armhand had changed hands many times last season as a result of recurrent injuries to Ward and co who were among the skippers of the club. Mick also made O'hara's deal permanent.
Mauro Formica drew 1st blood at the park when he drilled in a short that just went through Wayne Hennessey's hands. Wolves responded almost immediately as Stephen Fletcher met a Matt Jarvis cross and headed in to beyond Robinson in the Blackburn goal. the first half ended 1-1.
The second half began with Wolves winning a penalty. kevin Friend the referee pointed to the spot after Salgado took out Jarvis in the box. ....Doyle stepped up to take the resultant penalty, but his effort was saved by Robinson who could do nothing moments later when the ball fell to the path of Stephen Ward who sent a left footed low volley past the blackburn keeper to make it 2-1 to wolves. The blue and whites were stunned...even the introduction of summer signing, David Goodwillie who arrived from hearts could not change the score line as wolves picked up their first points of the season. 2-1 wolverhampton wanderers
FULHAM - ASTON VILLA
Both teams had many things to look forward to this season. It was a battle of two new coaches and experienced managers Alex Mcleish for Villa and Martin Jol for Fulham. It also marked the debut of John arne Riise on his return to the premier league after a 3 year sojourn in Italy with Totti's Roma and 35 year old Shay Given who now keeps the goal for Aston Villa.
It was a dull match as chances were few and far between. Guven was made to work though as he had to save some goal bound efforts by Zamora and co. The game ended in a barren draw.
WIGAN -NORWICH
David Whelan was the happiest man in the world when on the final day of the season, Wigan secured its premier league status. There were however worrying times in the summer as youthful manager, Roberto Martinez was courted by Aston Villa.. He gave Whelan his word that he would not leave the DW and true to it, he stayed put to guide them to at least this season for a start. Norwich on the other hand had an equally excellent manager in Paul Lambert, a UEFA champions league winner in 1997 with Othmar Hitzfeld's BVB Borusia Dortmund. He took over the reigns at Carrow Road in 2009 and immediately led Norwich to the league one title and automatic promotion to the Npower Championship where the club came second last season and also secured automatic upliftment to the big League to lock horns with the like of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.
The match started with the canaries defenders going into challenges and fox picked up a booking after an early lunge on Wigan's Franco Di Santo who started ahead of Hugo Rodallega who only started training recently after an extended break due to his participation in the copa america. It was only a matter of time before Wigan took the lead......on-loan manchester united defender, Ritchie de laet made an error in defence and thus di santo pounced and in an effort to atone,the young de laet fouled the striker in the box and it resulted in a p.k which Ben Watson the ginger haired midfielder of Wigan, duly converted to give the Lancashire club the lead. Norwich weren't going to give up and kept pushing for the equalizer which came in the 45th minute after a shot was spilled by Ali al Habsi in the Wigan goal and Wes Hoolahan made no mistake from inside the box and roofed his shot 1-1 half time result.
The second half began with Norwich defending and Wigan attacking..the pressure almost paid off when Watson almost put his team in the lead with his second goal of the game, but the wood work came to Norwich's rescue. Moses and Rodallega came close but the score line remained the same as Norwich left the DW with a point and began their season in impressive fashion.
WES BROM - MAN UTD
Roy Hodgson left Liverpool by mutual consent in January 2011 and later replaced sacked manager of wes bromwich albion Roberto Di Matteo. The WBA board were confident that he could steer the ship to safety after Matteo led them to troubled waters despite a strong start to the season. Hodgson repaid the faith the club had in him and guided them to 11th place in the final league standings with leading striker, Peter Odemwingie scoring an impressive 15 league goals.
Hodgson did well ward off advances for influential midfielder, Youssouf Mulumbu and tied him down to a contract extension. He also purchased Irish predator, Shane Long from Reading.
Manchester United are the defending champions of the English premiership and also reached the sem-finals of the F.A cup,quarter finals of the carling cup and the final of the European Cup (the champions league) last season. Fergie was dealt a heavy blow when one of the most distinguished members of his fledglings, Paul Scholes, decided to call time on his 17 year career. the 36 year felt it was necessary to bow out while the ovation is loudest after winning more than 15 trophies as a player and amassing 66 England caps in the process. Not only that, Edwin Van Der Sar also decided to hang his gloves after 6 trophy laden years with the red army. This coupled with the departure of Owen Hargreaves and the earlier retirement of Gary Neville forced Fergie to wheel and deal in the market. He brought in 2010 Europa League (formerly known as the UEFA cup) winning goalkeeper, David De Gea who was fresh from winning the UEFA U-21 tournament with Spain. The 20 year old had appeared over 100 times for Atletico Madrid and was tipped for great times. The champions also brought in highly rated teenage defender, David Jones from Blackburn and ended their transfer activity (at least for now) with the purchase of Ashley Young from Aston Villa. The amount spent on the three players was in the excess of 50 million pounds, but it was seen as money well spent. The red devils also tied Park and Valencia to longer term deals and welcomed back Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and co from their loan spells. The young De Gea was under the spot light especially after the community shield last sunday where he was largely blamed for both goals scored by city. Questions were also raised on how manchester united will approach their away days this season.....compared to last season where they claimed out 5 wins from 19.
The Hawthorns has not been much of a problem for Manchester United in the past. It was however no surprise when Wayne Rooney opened scoring with a left footed shot just inside the 18 yard box via an ashley young lay off.. What was a surprise was the exclusions of carrick and berbatov from the starting line up with welbeck and cleverley rewarded for their sterling performances in the community shield. United had other chances to extend their lead but wasted all of them...the worst culprit was nani who missed two sitters including an easy one set up by Rooney..Wes Brom ventured forward with Somen Tchoyi causing fabio a lot of problems at left back. (His brother, rafael is out for 8 weeks with a dislocated shoulder). Evra was also out with a minor injury It was not long until the pressure paid off as tchoyi dispossessed fabio, outmuscled him and passed the ball to shane long who deceived vidic and took a rather weak shot which just passed underneath the outstretched hand of the young goalkeeper for man utd. Another error and he gave the press something to rant about all week maybe until the next game. Man United tried to regain the lead, but wes brom defended strongly and the first half ended with both sides on level terms.
Manchester United should have been home and dry but for a lot of missed opportunities.. Wes Brom came out the sharper of the 2 sides. They dominated the early part of the 2nd half,but could not make it count as the limping vidic and ferdinand were able to withstand the pressure. Vidic could not carry on anymore and had to be replaced by Evans...not long after rio pulled up and was substituted for jones. United's new look central defence was still able to maintain the scoreline..... Ashley Young has been one of United's better players in the match and he proved his ability beyond any doubt when he ventured into the wes brom defence, dribbled through and sent in a cross which was diverted into the net by the unfortunate steven reid.. 2-1 utd....wes brom tried their possible best to draw level,all to no avail. United won 2-1.
It was a blazing start to the Premier League with a lot of wonderful games and above all Aguero's 31 minute debut which brought a contender for goal of the season from the diminutive striker. Manchester united also began their quest to retain their title and edge further ahead of nearest rivals Liverpool, on a good note. The promoted teams had mixed starts to the season with Norwich getting the best result out of the three.
The big news however, is that Former Arsenal skipper, Cesc Fabregas has signed for Barcelona. The League has lost another world class player to their Spanish counterparts.
Ohis Eboreime
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Finally, the 20th edition of the English Premier League kicked off with so much to look up to- Most especially the new signings and how they will adapt/perform. Even the January signings like Fernando 'el nino' Torres and Andy Carroll who cost a staggering 85 million pounds between them were under the spotlight, not only because of their hefty transfer fees, but also their inability to live up to expectations during the second part of the previous season. Torress' 1 goal in 18 games was a laugh considering his 81 in 142 for Liverpool, including 65 outstanding strikes in 102 EPL appearances. So he was expected to improve on his appalling form this season.
Other new signings like Sergio 'kun' Aguero who cost Man City a token of 38 million pounds, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson who cost 40 million pounds between them, David De Gea who was brought in to replace the Legendary Edwin Van Der Sar, Stefan Savic and co were also the focal point of discussion as the the Premier League took center stage. Another very interesting sight to behold was how Sunderland would shape up after a busy summer of transfer activity. Outside the field of play, viewers and supporters of various clubs were also keen on seeing the analytic ability of retired former United Captain and former England right back, Gary Neville who has been given a role by Sky Sports.
LIVERPOOL -SUNDERLAND
King Kenny Daglish began his first full season back in charge of his beloved Liverpool and was very confident that he can take Liverpool back to the summit of World football and also match Man Utd's 19th League Title. Who was to doubt a man who ended Blackburn's 81 year wait for an English Title and won titles both as a player and as a manger for the Scousers. Well his season began with the visit of Steve Bruce's Sunderland who had high hopes of achieving something great this season. Of course no one could really argue with the ex-Man United captain and defensive stalwart after his dealings in the summer which brought the likes of Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Sebastian Larsson and Craig Gardener who are seasoned Premier league Campaigners especially Brown who had been at United for 13 years prior to his arrival at the Stadium of Light. Bruce also brought in sensational England Teenager, Connor Wickham amongst others.
Dagkish on the other hand had no reason to be worried about Sunderland. Afterall, he has in his Arsenal, a players like Luis Suarez who was fresh from lighting up the Copa America with his 4 goals and a couple of assists and of course the tournament's Golden ball and most importantly Uruguay's 15th Copa America triumph which edged them ahead of Argentina as the most successful team in Copa America history. It also broke a 16 year jinx.King Kenny also possessed the creative ability of new signing, Charlie Adam, then there is Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and 35 million giant, Andy Carroll. Not forgetting the new left back, Jose Enrique.
The match went underway with a lot of debutants on both sides as adam, henderson, downing, and enrique who completed his move only a day or two earlier all started for the merseysiders.Bruce gave seb larsson and wes brown their debuts too, but left south korean dong and teenage starlet, wickham on the bench.. Old boy, kieran richardson was the first culprit of the match when in the 5th minute, he gifted Liverpool a p.k, fouling suarez in the box after he tried to atone for his own error. Luis dusted himself up to take the resultant spot kick but blazed it well over Simon Mignolet's goal. still nil nil... But Liverpool were not to be denied just 6 minutes later when Charlie Adam floated in a beautiful free kick which was knocked in by Suarez, who made up for his woeful miss earlier on. Sunderland was under siege from then on as Downing blazed through the black cats defence, but his dipping shot hit the bar. The first half however ended with Liverpool in total dominance..
The second half started again with Liverpool piling pressure on Sunderland, but it was Bruce's boys who seized the initiative as a cross from the right saw Seb Larsson send an unstoppable volley beyond Pepe Reina and into the Liverpool net...parity was restored... From then on, chances were few and far between----Even the introduction of Dutch hardworker, Dirk Kuyt who most amazingly was on the bench, couldn't add spark to the Liverpool side who were bamboozled by the shock equaliser. Thus it ended in Anfield- Liverpool 1-1 S'land.
QPR- BOLTON
Loftus Road was buzzing afterall. Although the internal affairs of the club is still questionable, that did not stop the fans from relishing their moment in the Premier League for the 1st time in a very long while Veteran Manager, Neil Warnock was optimistic that his boys led by captain and talisman, Adel Taraabt, will give a good account of themselves and survive the drop. The visitors to Loftus was Bolton Wanderers- a team hard done by long term Injuries to new signing, Tyrone Mears and South Korean, Lee chung-yong.. Despite the set backs, they still had a lot to be happy about as Chris eagles, martin Petrov and their best player in pre-season, Ivan Klasnic were all fit and in the starting 11. QPR lined up with new signings DJ campbell and J. Bothroyd in attack, and kieron dyer was also in the team with danny gabbidon who came on a free from west ham.
QPR started the hungrier of the two teams, causing all sorts of problems for Knight and cahill in the trotters defence, Dj campbell scored from a bothroyd lay off, but it was correctly ruled offside. Bolton soaked up the pressure and in a swift flow of action, gary Cahill scored a goal which his attacking teamames will be proud of when he let fly from outside the box into the roof of paddy kenny's net...QPR 0-1 bolton. that was the end of the 1st half.
The second half began with bolton applyiing all the pressure. qpr banked on Adel to show his class, but he was restricted to mere flashes of brilliance as the midfield partnership of new signing, nigel reo coker and fabrice muamba snuffed out the threat posed by the moroccan. it was Bolton who would go on to extend their lead as martin petrov's cross was diverted into the net by qpr's gabbidon 2-0 bolton...Ivan Klasnic built on his good pre-season form when he scored via a deflection to make it 3-0 bolton and Fabrice added the icing on the cake with a cool fourth to put the home fans to permanent disillusionment. QPR former shareholder and part owner, Flavio Briatore left the stadium early amidst boos and chants by the home fans directed at the club's hierarchy for their failure to perform during the summer. Billionaire businessman , Tony Fernandez is said to be in negotiations with majority shareholder, Bernie Ecclestone to buy the club. The match ended QPR 0-4 Bolton.
STOKE -- CHELSEA
It was a huge surprise that Roman Abramovich was relative quiet in the summer, considering how much he has spent on players in the last 7 years. He however didn't change in one regard, changing coaches like he changes his shirts..he new man at the helm is 33 year old, Luis Andre de Pina Cabral e Villas Boas - simply called Andre Villas Boas or AVB for short. The youthful Portugese manager is not strange to the Stanford Bridge surroundings, as he was part of Jose Mourinho's trusted hands between 2004 and 2007. Some people might ask how come a man so young is manager of Chelsea...Age is not a yardstick for success. AVB had a stellar campaign as manger of porto last season winning four trophies including going the whole season unbeaten and winning the Portugese super liga with 7 games to spare. That's not all,he also took porto through an unbeaten Europa league campaign where they won almost all their games home and away to be crown Europa League Champions in May. He brought the best out of players like Givanildo Vieira de Souza (otherwise known as Hulk), Columbia's Radamel Falcao and Freddy Guarin, Joao Moutinho etc. He is that good. Chelsea bought unknown defensive midfielder, Oriol Romeu from Barcelona, goalkeeper Tribaut Courtois from Belgian side, Racing Genk and are reportedly in talks to sign Romelu Lukaku from Anderlecht.
F.A cup runners-up and Europa League campaigners, Stoke didn't really make any headway in terms of additions...but if you consider injury ravaged Jonathan Woodgate's 'pay as you contract' a summer deal, then you may not be far from the truth. They also got Mathew Upson from West ham on a Bosnian
The Britania has never been an easy place to go and pick up a point, talk more of three. There are indeed no easy grounds in the Premier League, but Puliss' team's Physical strength and agility makes things even more difficult. They welcomed an equally physical and strong team in Chelsea and the match got started with some feisty tackles and great play by both teams who were working so hard to carve up openings. fernando Torres looked sharper than in his previous 18 games as Chelsea lined up with Malouda and Kalou alongside him, Ramires, Mikel (despite the kidnap of his father) and Lampard made up the midfield 3 in the absence of long term absentee, Michael Essien, who picked up a serious knee injury a month ago (his 3rd knee injury in 2 and a half years). Stoke lined up as usual with the irritable Kenwyne Jones and F.A cup semi final hero, Jonny Walters in attack. Pennant and Etherington on his 30th birthday, provided width, with Jo. Woodgate making his debut.
Chelsea piled on the pressure , but Stoke withstood everything that was thrown at them...Mikel was lively throughout despite all that had happened in his private life in the past 24 hours, Lampard was not at his best, but still showed glimpses. Ramires was all over the places in his usual athleticism. Woody played like he has never been away marshaling the defence like an army general and even showing grit and lots of energy..It is little wonder that if fit, he is still one of the best defenders around. The first half ended in a stalemate with both teams playing well, bu Chelsea just edging it in terms of possession and chances.
The 2nd half was much better as it picked up pace. Woodgate would not give the chelsea attackers a sniff at Asmir's goal. Mikel had a dipping volley tipped over by the stoke goalkeeper. Malouda and kalou were poor by their own standards..Terry and alex were rock solid dominating walters and jones in particular who was muscled out of every challenge...Matt eherington dislocated his arm and had to be replaced by Dean Whitehead, Danny Pugh also came on for the potters...AVB threw in Drogba and Anelka to try and salvage a victory but all his efforts and indeed the whole team's proved an exercise in futility. The game ended in a barren draw.
NEWCASTLE - ARSENAL
The match at St Jamess' Park was dominated by the imminent departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri
Newcastle gave debuts to Yohan Cabaye & demba Ba, the much maligned Joey Barton also started, while Tim Krul kept the goal, in the absence of Steve Harper.. new signing from United, Gabriel Obertan was on the bench for the toon army..Arsenal were without Captain Fabregas and nasri, but gave Gervinho his EPL bow and welcomed Vermaelen back after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Wojciech Szczesny as expected, kept the goalkeeper's gloves,while rosicky and arshavin came in for cesc and nasri.
The match started with Arsenal dominating proceedings early,although both goalkeepers had nothing to really worry about early on..Rosicky sent a shot wide off the mark in later on and Gutierrez missed a volley and that was that for the first as the gooners were limited to half chances and crosses sent in were comfortably dealt with by Coloccini and Taylor. The first half ended with Newcastle not playing really well and Arsenal as usual maintaining possession,but doing little or nothing with it.
The commencement of the 2nd half was greeted with the introduction of Obertan for Demba Ba. Arsenal made no change at half time. Obertan was a breath of fresh air in the toon attack as he constantly chased loose ball and could even afford a cheeky backheel to set up fellow frenchman, Cabaye who couldn't make the most of it. There was some altercation in the middle of the pack moments later, as Joey Barton was stamped upon by Alex Song- a silly act which the referee, Peter Walton and his assistants did not see, or pretended not to. Joey was furious as he stormed down the touchline to confront the fourth official and assistant ref about the tackle. Arsenal made changes as Walcott came on for Arshavin, and Frimpong for Rosicky. Pardew withdrew Ameobi and brought on Best. That was all to it as the game went on. The game defining moment cam about 14 minutes from the end when Gervinho fell down rather too easily under the challenge of The EPL's most booked player last season, Cheik Tiote. All of a sudden, Barton was aggravated and immediately, he pulled Gervinho up, tuggimg his shirt. He held Joey back and a fracas ensued as Newcastle and Arsenal players tried to break both of them loose. The the moment of madness came when the Ivorian slapped Barton on his left chic which to my utter amazement, sent the Englishman sprawling on the floor just so that the player would be given the marching orders........true to it, Walton sent Gervinho off and issued a yellow card to Barton. Many people were not with the ref on that decision as the right one would have been to send both players off..Szczesny was also cautioned for his arguments against the decision and the game went on with Van persie going close late on. Peter Lovenkrands came on for Yohan Cabaye as the game reached its climax ......Djourou was also a last minute introduction for Aaron Ramsey.
The. match ended in a scoreless draw.
MANCHESTER CITY-SWANSEA
Eastlands was buzzing once again at the prospect of an exciting season filled with hopes, ambition and aspirations. One can hardly blame them if you take into consideration the stunning season they had last time where they ended a 35 year wait for a trophy three months ago at the biggest stage of football in Britain-Wembley Stadium. That F.A cup triumph and indeed their stunning league run which saw them finish 3rd in the final league standing, with Chelsea only ahead of them on goal difference has galvanized them to achieve even more this season. Their first opponents this season are an equally ambitious team in Swansea who got promoted via a playoff final defeat of Reading, thus becoming the first Welsh team to play in the English top flight. The swans had in Scott Sinclair, one of the best players in the championship last season and it was his hat-trick that ensured that they are where they are today. Coach Brendan Rodgers brought in Wayne Routledge from Tyneside and goalkeeper Michel Vorm from Dutch side, fc Utrecht amongst others. There was also strong interest for Villareal captain and former Spanish midfield enforcer, Marcos Senna, but the deal fell through.
City on the other hand, brought in Maradona's son in-law, Sergio Aguero otherwise known as el kun or kun aguero from Athletico Madrid where he had been for more than 4 years scoring more than a century of goals in his time at the Vicente Calderon. Stefan Savic also came in from Partizan Belgrade, Gael Clichy left Arsenal to join forces with the citizens and they also let former No 1, Shay Given leave for Aston Villa after a frustrating 10-11 season which saw Joe Hart preferred between the sticks and he shone like a million stars keeping 17 clean sheets and winning the EPL golden gloves (award for best goalkeeper in the English premiership). This was also going to be Edin Dzeko's first full season with the Blue part of Manchester and if his goal against city rivals, Manchester United is anything to go by, then he has come to stay.
Just as in the Community shield 9 days prior, record signing, aguero, was on the bench again for the citizens.
The match was played on Monday night and it was an end to end stuff with City marginally gaining the upper hand in possession in the first half but no breakthrough thanks to the heroics of the new goaltender, Michel Vorm. The first half ended goalless.
The second half began with city picking up from where they left off in the first half with Spanish superstar, David Silva creating plenty of opportunities for Dzeko, Johnson and yaya toure.....Vorm was having a particularly great day in goal for the swans but it wasn't long before his Resistance was broken as silva evaded two swansea players in the middle,made a quick dash and sent the ball to the right where it found adam johnson who peppered it a little and took a good shot which Vorm could only parry to the path of Dzeko who made no mistake from 3 yards. 1-0 city. As if Rodgers and his boys hadn't seen enough, Mancini introduced el kun who surprisingly took the place of the hardworking and tough tackling nigel de jong just before the hour mark The dangerous Argentine only waited for 11 minutes to mark his debut with a goal when he met a a good cross from Micah Richards at the far post to make it 2-0 city. The Etihad stadium indeed stood up to applaud their new hero and legend in the making. It was not long before he made another impression on the city faithful and the rest of the league as he lifted a beautifully flighted ball over the head of Vorm and sent in a cross to silva who made no mistake from a little ore than 3 yards.. 3-0 city. Swansea was left shattered and even made a few complaints that the ball had crossed the line before aguero sent it in......all fell on deaf ears. Another new signing Stefan Savic, came on for Adam Johnson-another very questionable move by Robbo....in fairness, his substitutions are never understood. There was still time for 24 Million acquisition from Aston villa 2 summers ago, James Milner to make an entrance for the intelligent and fantastic david silva nine minutes from time. The swans did their best to prevent another goal...but aguero's 30 yard blinder in injury time was unstoppable., not only for vorm,but the likes of buffon and casillas...4-0 city and that was it.
BLACKBURN -WOLVES
Steve Kean was under no illusions at Ewood Park. He knew what was expected of him come the end of the season. Blackburn even had the ambition of going to Europe this season and yet they were inactive in the transfer market..Maybe they felt Jason Roberts will probably score 25 premier League goals to fire them to the summit of the League. This fixture was a repeat of the final day relegation dog fight cracker at the Molineux. The difference was that the battle field had changed and it was under entirely different circumstances. Mick McCarty only made one major signing...bringing in Birmingham's Roger Johnson to come and lead his defence and his team as he was almost immediately installed skipper. It was a good decision because the armhand had changed hands many times last season as a result of recurrent injuries to Ward and co who were among the skippers of the club. Mick also made O'hara's deal permanent.
Mauro Formica drew 1st blood at the park when he drilled in a short that just went through Wayne Hennessey's hands. Wolves responded almost immediately as Stephen Fletcher met a Matt Jarvis cross and headed in to beyond Robinson in the Blackburn goal. the first half ended 1-1.
The second half began with Wolves winning a penalty. kevin Friend the referee pointed to the spot after Salgado took out Jarvis in the box. ....Doyle stepped up to take the resultant penalty, but his effort was saved by Robinson who could do nothing moments later when the ball fell to the path of Stephen Ward who sent a left footed low volley past the blackburn keeper to make it 2-1 to wolves. The blue and whites were stunned...even the introduction of summer signing, David Goodwillie who arrived from hearts could not change the score line as wolves picked up their first points of the season. 2-1 wolverhampton wanderers
FULHAM - ASTON VILLA
Both teams had many things to look forward to this season. It was a battle of two new coaches and experienced managers Alex Mcleish for Villa and Martin Jol for Fulham. It also marked the debut of John arne Riise on his return to the premier league after a 3 year sojourn in Italy with Totti's Roma and 35 year old Shay Given who now keeps the goal for Aston Villa.
It was a dull match as chances were few and far between. Guven was made to work though as he had to save some goal bound efforts by Zamora and co. The game ended in a barren draw.
WIGAN -NORWICH
David Whelan was the happiest man in the world when on the final day of the season, Wigan secured its premier league status. There were however worrying times in the summer as youthful manager, Roberto Martinez was courted by Aston Villa.. He gave Whelan his word that he would not leave the DW and true to it, he stayed put to guide them to at least this season for a start. Norwich on the other hand had an equally excellent manager in Paul Lambert, a UEFA champions league winner in 1997 with Othmar Hitzfeld's BVB Borusia Dortmund. He took over the reigns at Carrow Road in 2009 and immediately led Norwich to the league one title and automatic promotion to the Npower Championship where the club came second last season and also secured automatic upliftment to the big League to lock horns with the like of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.
The match started with the canaries defenders going into challenges and fox picked up a booking after an early lunge on Wigan's Franco Di Santo who started ahead of Hugo Rodallega who only started training recently after an extended break due to his participation in the copa america. It was only a matter of time before Wigan took the lead......on-loan manchester united defender, Ritchie de laet made an error in defence and thus di santo pounced and in an effort to atone,the young de laet fouled the striker in the box and it resulted in a p.k which Ben Watson the ginger haired midfielder of Wigan, duly converted to give the Lancashire club the lead. Norwich weren't going to give up and kept pushing for the equalizer which came in the 45th minute after a shot was spilled by Ali al Habsi in the Wigan goal and Wes Hoolahan made no mistake from inside the box and roofed his shot 1-1 half time result.
The second half began with Norwich defending and Wigan attacking..the pressure almost paid off when Watson almost put his team in the lead with his second goal of the game, but the wood work came to Norwich's rescue. Moses and Rodallega came close but the score line remained the same as Norwich left the DW with a point and began their season in impressive fashion.
WES BROM - MAN UTD
Roy Hodgson left Liverpool by mutual consent in January 2011 and later replaced sacked manager of wes bromwich albion Roberto Di Matteo. The WBA board were confident that he could steer the ship to safety after Matteo led them to troubled waters despite a strong start to the season. Hodgson repaid the faith the club had in him and guided them to 11th place in the final league standings with leading striker, Peter Odemwingie scoring an impressive 15 league goals.
Hodgson did well ward off advances for influential midfielder, Youssouf Mulumbu and tied him down to a contract extension. He also purchased Irish predator, Shane Long from Reading.
Manchester United are the defending champions of the English premiership and also reached the sem-finals of the F.A cup,quarter finals of the carling cup and the final of the European Cup (the champions league) last season. Fergie was dealt a heavy blow when one of the most distinguished members of his fledglings, Paul Scholes, decided to call time on his 17 year career. the 36 year felt it was necessary to bow out while the ovation is loudest after winning more than 15 trophies as a player and amassing 66 England caps in the process. Not only that, Edwin Van Der Sar also decided to hang his gloves after 6 trophy laden years with the red army. This coupled with the departure of Owen Hargreaves and the earlier retirement of Gary Neville forced Fergie to wheel and deal in the market. He brought in 2010 Europa League (formerly known as the UEFA cup) winning goalkeeper, David De Gea who was fresh from winning the UEFA U-21 tournament with Spain. The 20 year old had appeared over 100 times for Atletico Madrid and was tipped for great times. The champions also brought in highly rated teenage defender, David Jones from Blackburn and ended their transfer activity (at least for now) with the purchase of Ashley Young from Aston Villa. The amount spent on the three players was in the excess of 50 million pounds, but it was seen as money well spent. The red devils also tied Park and Valencia to longer term deals and welcomed back Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and co from their loan spells. The young De Gea was under the spot light especially after the community shield last sunday where he was largely blamed for both goals scored by city. Questions were also raised on how manchester united will approach their away days this season.....compared to last season where they claimed out 5 wins from 19.
The Hawthorns has not been much of a problem for Manchester United in the past. It was however no surprise when Wayne Rooney opened scoring with a left footed shot just inside the 18 yard box via an ashley young lay off.. What was a surprise was the exclusions of carrick and berbatov from the starting line up with welbeck and cleverley rewarded for their sterling performances in the community shield. United had other chances to extend their lead but wasted all of them...the worst culprit was nani who missed two sitters including an easy one set up by Rooney..Wes Brom ventured forward with Somen Tchoyi causing fabio a lot of problems at left back. (His brother, rafael is out for 8 weeks with a dislocated shoulder). Evra was also out with a minor injury It was not long until the pressure paid off as tchoyi dispossessed fabio, outmuscled him and passed the ball to shane long who deceived vidic and took a rather weak shot which just passed underneath the outstretched hand of the young goalkeeper for man utd. Another error and he gave the press something to rant about all week maybe until the next game. Man United tried to regain the lead, but wes brom defended strongly and the first half ended with both sides on level terms.
Manchester United should have been home and dry but for a lot of missed opportunities.. Wes Brom came out the sharper of the 2 sides. They dominated the early part of the 2nd half,but could not make it count as the limping vidic and ferdinand were able to withstand the pressure. Vidic could not carry on anymore and had to be replaced by Evans...not long after rio pulled up and was substituted for jones. United's new look central defence was still able to maintain the scoreline..... Ashley Young has been one of United's better players in the match and he proved his ability beyond any doubt when he ventured into the wes brom defence, dribbled through and sent in a cross which was diverted into the net by the unfortunate steven reid.. 2-1 utd....wes brom tried their possible best to draw level,all to no avail. United won 2-1.
It was a blazing start to the Premier League with a lot of wonderful games and above all Aguero's 31 minute debut which brought a contender for goal of the season from the diminutive striker. Manchester united also began their quest to retain their title and edge further ahead of nearest rivals Liverpool, on a good note. The promoted teams had mixed starts to the season with Norwich getting the best result out of the three.
The big news however, is that Former Arsenal skipper, Cesc Fabregas has signed for Barcelona. The League has lost another world class player to their Spanish counterparts.
Ohis Eboreime
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@ohiskaka1990
Monday, 15 August 2011
THE 2011 f.A Community Shield-match report
THE F.A COMMUNITY SHIELD 2011 – Match Report
MANCHESTER UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY
NEW WEMBLEY STADIUM –SUNDAY, 7 AUGUST 2011.
MATCH REFEREE-PHIL DOWD
The community shield has always been a fascinating showpiece event. It is usually a match-up between the immediate past winners of the English Premier League and defending champions of the F.A Cup. However if one team scoops both trophies in one season, (as was the case in the 09-10 season when Chelsea were domestic double winners) then the runners-up of the EPL automatically qualify to challenge for honours in the season opener.
On this occasion however, fans all over the World were treated to an explosive matchup between Manchester arch-enemies and neighbours, MAN UTD AND MAN CITY. As expected, Wembley was filled to capacity as all and sundry left their homes to watch the 150th instalment of the MANCHESTER rivalry, most call it derby though. The EL GRANDE CLASSICO (Barcelona v Real Madrid) might be the most watched derby in the world, but nothing can take away the fact that the Manchester duel is up there with the very best of games every season. It is in fact, one of the most anticipated matches in football.
Since Dennis Law, Manchester United’s second highest goal scorer ever (237 goals in 404 games), (behind Sir Bobby Charlton) scored a decisive goal for City over his former club Manchester United in 1976, a goal which relegated the ‘red army’ to the second tier of English Football –The rivalry has even become fiercer.
Today was no different as Sir Alex and his charges were aiming to avenge the F.A Cup semi final loss suffered in the hands of their noisy neighbours just four months earlier. That day, it was the Ivorian, Yaya Toure who scored the all important match winner.
For the season's curtain raiser, Manchester United lined up with new signing, David De Gea in goal, Ferdinand, Vidic(c), Evra , and Smalling in defence, Anderson, Carrick, in Central Midfield, another new boy, Ashley Young and Nani on the wings, Rooney and Welbeck in attack. (4-4-2). Mnchester City on the other hand started with a flexible 4-3-3 formation with England No 1 safe hands, Joe Hart between the sticks, Kompany(c), Lescott, Richards and Kolarov in defence. Yaya, De jong, Milner in midfield and a trident attacking set-up of Balotelli, Silva and 27 million pound Bosnian giant, Edin Dzeko. There was no space for Sergio ‘el kun’ Aguero who cost Sheikh Mansour a cool 38 million pounds from the Vicente Calderon.
The match started with Manchester United dominating proceedings early and fashioning out opportunities, but couldn’t put any away. It however lived up to its pre-match billing when Mario Balotelli and Nemanja Vidic had a whirly old go at each other early on in the game. Of course, it drew a lot of attention because of Barwuah’s reputation. Anderson and Dzeko also got involved, but were not as lucky as Vidic and Balotelli, as they were cautioned. Micah Richards did a ‘de jong’ tackle on Ashley Young which got Sir Alex raving in annoyance. This forced Phil (the referee) to brandish a yellow card at Micah.
Mancini was tired of the incessant pressure on his charges and decided to Switch Milner to right midfield. This paid off almost immediately as Evra fouled the Englishman in the 38th minute of the encounter and the resultant dead ball was taken by the impressive David Silva who placed it perfectly on Jolean Lescott’s head to give the blue half of Manchester the lead. It was a huge blow to the confidence of the united players who prior to falling behind, had bossed proceedings without finding the desired outcome. Fingers were pointed in defence as Jolean out jumped Rio, but pundits and spectators aplenty were of the opinion that the goal was largely the fault of United’s new goal tender, De Gea. If the guilty party was debatable for the first goal, the second was very clear (to most people really). Edin Dzeko picked the ball 35 yards out and sent a pile driver to the keeper’s right and the result was City going two goals up in the space of 4 first half minutes. De Gea was blamed by the vast majority of people who watched the game. Now the matter which has dragged on all summer was resurrected ----------- CAN DE GEA FILL THE BOOTS OF EDWIN VAN DER SAR? I wasn’t among those who felt he couldn’t or can’t just because of errors (arguable) in 1 match. After all, he is only 20 and has just started keeping the goal safe. The first half ended with Man City leading their more accomplished rivals by 2 beautiful, un-replied goals.
Those who are seasoned soccer viewers and Manchester united followers know that you only write Manchester United off at your own peril. As expected, Fergie made changes, haven said earlier that he views the Community shield as a preparatory game for the first official EPL game of the season. 21 year old (will be 22 in 5 days) Tom Cleverley came in for Michael Carrick who was a huge doubt for today’s game as a result of the knock he picked up in mid-week while starring in the Van der Sar testimonial. Evans and new boy, 19 year old Phil Jones took the places of experienced campaigners, Rio and Vidic. City came out unchanged for the second half. A few minutes into the second stanza, a lovely weighted Ashley Young free-kick was stylishly poked in by Chris Smalling to make it 2-1. City hadn’t recovered from that setback when United struck again. If the first goal was eye-catching, the second was even more exceptional. Rooney, Cleverley and Nani worked wonders and ran circles around the Kompany marshalled defence and Nani was there to chip the ball over the net from a somewhat tight angle. Game back in the balance
United were on the ascendancy and city of course knew what might come after, so they tightened their defence line and started causing a few problems at the other end with Silva, Yaya and Dzeko combining to try and regain the lead. City rang the changes with Gareth Barry coming on for Balotelli and James Milner fleet footed Adam Johnson. United also pulled off Evra for Rafael. Rafa not only took the French man’s position, but also kept the arm band. Johnson’s impact was almost immediate as he forced a magnificent, world class save from De Gea in the united goal. The game went from one end to the other after that, with the only real incident of note coming when Micah forced another very good save off De Gea, although he was adjudged to have illegally climbed Nani to get his head to the ball. Rooney wasted a glorious opportunity from a free kick, and Nani’s goal bound shot was blocked by the city rear guard. Late on in the game, the languid Bulgarian and united striker, Berbatov came on for Welbeck
We were all set for penalties until a Manchester City attack right at the death, led to Rooney playing a hopeful ball towards the city goal. Kompany made a harsh of his clearance, allowing Nani to race through on goal, smartly rounding Hart, and coolly slotting the ball past the keeper and the Belgian who raced back to try and make up for his blunder. That was the game clincher and secured Manchester United a 4th shield success in the last 5 attempts.
At the end of proceedings, the red part of Manchester was victorious and Club Captain, NEMANJA VIDIC deservedly held aloft the first title of the 2011-2012 Season. The red army also claimed the MOTM (man of the match award) --- with the recipient being Luis Nani.
That does it.
By
Ohireime Princeton Eboreime aka OHISKAKA
Follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
e-mail- ohebors@yahoo.com
Tel - (+44) (0)7908165493, 7424627071.
francesc Fabregas-A Legend exits the EPL >au revoir (bye bye) 15-08-2011
I was prompted to write this piece becaause a good friend drew my attention to the fact that the English Premier league has once again lost a playmaker, especially after the retirement of Paul Scholes and the persistent injuries of Steven Gerrard.
The name Cesc Fabregas is as popular to the common man as other hugely popular sportsmen like Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lewis Hamilton, Sachin Tendulkar etc, Yet he is only 24 years of age.
Born May 4, 1987- cesc as he was called in the FIFA u-17 tournament in Finland(2003),is one of the best midfielders of his generation and indeed the world. He was extremely brilliant in that U-17 world cup as his 5 goals from midfield led him to be named player of the tournament and the competition's joint top scorer alongside Carlos Hidalgo and Manuel Curto.of Columbia and Portugal respectively.
Watching him in that tournament, he struck me as someone who was going to make it big and I was proved right when he signed the dotted lines for Arsenal from Barcelona in September 2003 when he was 16 years old. He was't known at that time but Arsene spotted something in him and was of the opinion that Cesc will be a great player. That was never in doubt when he put in a string of good performances in the League cup (Carling cup) against the likes of Wolverhampton wanderers. he became the youngest player to appear and score for the gooners all in the space of one month when he appeared against Rotterham Utd and scored against Wolves -All these achievements still at the tender age of 16. The best was yet to come.
Fabregas did not get his opportunity to star in the Arsenal first team until the 04-05 season when starting midfielders Edu, Vieira and Gilberto Silva (the invisible wall) had injuries at one period or the other with him replacing them and putting in strings of performances which attracted immeasurable praise from soccer pundits all over Britain and the World of football. He however scooped his first trophy as an Arsenal player at the end of the season (his first full season) when they defeated rivals Manchester United in the F.A cup final on penalties.- The match was the last that Patrick Vieira played as captain and player for Arsenal as he signed for Juventus that summer.
Wenger was disgruntled as another great player bade farewell to the Highury faithful. But he was very optimistic that Cesc will step up and fill the vaccum left by the Talismanic Senegalese born french midfield gem.
The 05-06 season season began with fabregas taking vieira's place in the team and his no 4 shirt a year later. But the captain's armband was passed on to the great Thierry Henry. Fabregas was just the perfect replacement for the departed french man as he put in series of exceptional displays, alongside g.silva in both the premier league and Champions League. The highlight of this season was the quarter-final v Juventus where he came up against his former captain and in all fairness tore him and the entire Juve team apart in a scintillating display--- he scored the first and assisted his new skipper, Henry for the 2nd. The Biancconeri coach at that time, Fabio Capello, (now England manager) was full of encomiums for the Spanish starlet and tipped him to achieve great things. Fabregas , alongside Henry, kolo toure, sol campbell, jens lehmann, robert pires and others propelled Arsenal to the final of the Champions League which they led for long periods of the game, despite being down to 10 men as early as the 18th minute of the match, ( Lehmann was sent off for an infringement on Samuel Eto'o.)and lost it eventually to his boyhood club, Barca by 2 goals to 1. All in all, Cesc made more than 40 apps that season and was instrumental to just about every good thing that happened to Arsenal throughout the course of the season. He was still only 19, but already regarded as one of the best young players in the world,even more highly rated at that time, than his friend and national teammate, Andres Lugan Iniesta.
Despite the painful UCL final loss, Arsenal started the 06-07 season with so much hope, especially because of Fabregass' rising profile. He became the talisman from then on,racking up goals and assists like no man's business and dictating play without much ado. He was allowed to roam freely ahead because of the defensive assurance of the immense gilberto silva who is by far the best Brazilian footballer to play in the premier league till date. Arsenal failed to reach the heights of the previous season though, but still managed to reach the champions league round of 16, but was just edged out by Hiddink's PSV, who were immediately knocked out by Liverpool in the q/finals. The club also reached the league cup final but ultimately lost out to defending EPL champions, Chelsea in a final that was marred by a lot of controversies. Fabregas nonetheless was nominated for the end of season awards, but lost out to Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in both the PFA young player of the year and players' player of the year. Disappointed as he was, Cesc was still the shinning light of the Arsenal team, even with the presence of Thierry Henry and co.
This time, Real Madrid took notice of his blossoming career and were heavily linked to him, but Wenger was very adamant to lose him and made it clear to those interested that Cesc was going nowhere and he meant every word of it.
The 07-08 season began very well for Arsenal, despite the transfer of The legendary Thierry Henry to Barcelona-a move which was supposed to have happened before the beginning of the 06-07 season, but Wenger pleaded with Henry to stay put for one more season which he duly obliged. Long time Vice Prseident and majority shareholder, David Dein also left the club for pastures new. Arsene was devastated because he had a very close knit relationship with the departing executive. It was even rumoured that Arsene asked David if he should resign his position as manager, but David refused, saying he was very vital to the future of the club, asking him to remain. Amidst all these, Cesc knew that he was now the focal point of the Arsenal team and he pledged his commitment to the London club. He was still only 21, but he had qualities way beyond his age.
Fabregas led the gooners to the summit of the premier League all the way through to March, but they lost the plot and eventually lost the league crown to a Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Manchester United. Although many believe that the career threatening injury Eduardo sustained at St Andrews in February was the beginning of the end for Arsenal. Despite this, the Spanish midfielder was nominated for the end of season awards for the second consecutive season. This time he won the young player of the year award while losing the players player of the year crown to Ronaldo who deservedly retained it. Faregas was also named in the PFA team of the year for the 2nd straight year.
He carried that form to the UEFA-EURO 2008 co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria, although he was restricted to substitute appearances because the first choice midfield trio was-senna, xavi and alonso, he still contributed in no small measure to the triumph of the la furia roja (nickname of the Spanish national team),especially his penalty in the shoot-out against the azzuri (Italy), which qualified Spain for the s/finals
In November 2008, Fabregas was named Arsenal captain, after Wenger stripped William Gallas of the armband following some indiscretion from the french ace and he duly accepted, displaying leadership atributes, but was unfortunate to be sidelined with injury for a long time. he came back in time for the semi final of the champions league which they eventually lost to rivals,Manchester United 4-1 on aggregate.
The 09-10 season began with Fabregas in explosive form, hoping to make up for the lost time of the previous season and making his presence felt in a lot of matches that season. He was very instrumental to Arsenal's run yet again to the UCL champions league quarter finals where they lost out Guardiola's Barcelona 6-2 on agg. He however suffered a leg break in that match and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He came back just in time for the world cup in which Spain were pre-tournament favourites and lived up to the billing by winning a hard fought final, defeating The oranje (Netherlands) by an extra time goal to nothing. The goal was scored by Iniesta, with a sumptuous assist by the one and only Cesc.
The summer of 2010 was filled with the Fabregas to Barca rumours. This suggestion became rife as a result of what his Spanish colleagues did to him during the World cup celebrations. Liverpool's Pepe Reina who also doubles as Spain's 2nd choice goal keeper, and Gerard Pique were among those who tried to force a Barca jersey on the young superstar. Barcelona indeed were interested as Pep was Fabregass' idol since childhood and the player himself has many a time declared his desire to move back to his boyhood club. The Catalan club bid in the region of 35 million pounds, but Arsenal rejected the bid, and Fabregas had to stay with Arsenal, against his wish.
The wranglings of the summer did not stop him from giving his best for Arsenal when he needed to- He still turned in his ever impressive showings during the 10-11 season and was very vital to the team's challenge for all the four trophies. By February, they were still in contention for all four titles but buckled under the pressure later, as they were dumped out of the UCL by Barca for the second successive year, surprisngly lost to Birmingham in the League Cup final, thrown out of the F.A cup by Man Utd, and bowed out in the title race, later placing fourth behind Utd, Chelsea and Man City. It was another sad tale of 'almost there'.
Barcelona reiterated their interest in signing the Arsenal skipper in the summer of 2011. This time, Fabregas was in no mood to be refused his dream move back to the club where it all began for him. He even went as far as offering to pay some part of the money which will enable him secure his transfer from the London giants. Barcelona as usual,came up with a laughable offer of 26 Million pounds which Arsenal immediately rejected, telling them that it is 40 Million Pounds or no deal. Sandro Rossel, the President of the Spanish club came with another deal of 31 million pounds with fell way short of Arsenal's valuation for their captain. As expected, it was immediately rejected by Gazidis and the rest of the Arsenal Board. The Catalans returned with what they called their final bid for Cesc, worth 35 million pounds + add-ons (although this is not certain) and finally Arsenal cracked. The club finally accepted that Fabregas can leave for Barcelona yesterday, Sunday-14th August 2011 and the deal was finalized today ending one of the long running transfer sagas-possibly the longest and most frustrating in recent time.
Fabregas has finally bade farewell to the English Premier League where he spent the better part of eight years providing defence splitting passes, scoring brilliant, eye catching goals and most importantly cementing his status as a true World class player. All in all, he made 303 appearances for ARSENAL scoring 57 goals and made more than 50 assists in all competitions. a Legend already at 24 years of age, he bestrode the premier league like a Colossus. Although, he is not among my favourite players, I admire his wonderful contribution to the EPL and indeed World football. He will be missed by every sincere football fan, devoid of whichever club he or she supports because he was a fantastic midfield ochestrator. we wish him nothing but the very best as he opens a new chapter in Spain
Ohireime P.Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
The name Cesc Fabregas is as popular to the common man as other hugely popular sportsmen like Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lewis Hamilton, Sachin Tendulkar etc, Yet he is only 24 years of age.
Born May 4, 1987- cesc as he was called in the FIFA u-17 tournament in Finland(2003),is one of the best midfielders of his generation and indeed the world. He was extremely brilliant in that U-17 world cup as his 5 goals from midfield led him to be named player of the tournament and the competition's joint top scorer alongside Carlos Hidalgo and Manuel Curto.of Columbia and Portugal respectively.
Watching him in that tournament, he struck me as someone who was going to make it big and I was proved right when he signed the dotted lines for Arsenal from Barcelona in September 2003 when he was 16 years old. He was't known at that time but Arsene spotted something in him and was of the opinion that Cesc will be a great player. That was never in doubt when he put in a string of good performances in the League cup (Carling cup) against the likes of Wolverhampton wanderers. he became the youngest player to appear and score for the gooners all in the space of one month when he appeared against Rotterham Utd and scored against Wolves -All these achievements still at the tender age of 16. The best was yet to come.
Fabregas did not get his opportunity to star in the Arsenal first team until the 04-05 season when starting midfielders Edu, Vieira and Gilberto Silva (the invisible wall) had injuries at one period or the other with him replacing them and putting in strings of performances which attracted immeasurable praise from soccer pundits all over Britain and the World of football. He however scooped his first trophy as an Arsenal player at the end of the season (his first full season) when they defeated rivals Manchester United in the F.A cup final on penalties.- The match was the last that Patrick Vieira played as captain and player for Arsenal as he signed for Juventus that summer.
Wenger was disgruntled as another great player bade farewell to the Highury faithful. But he was very optimistic that Cesc will step up and fill the vaccum left by the Talismanic Senegalese born french midfield gem.
The 05-06 season season began with fabregas taking vieira's place in the team and his no 4 shirt a year later. But the captain's armband was passed on to the great Thierry Henry. Fabregas was just the perfect replacement for the departed french man as he put in series of exceptional displays, alongside g.silva in both the premier league and Champions League. The highlight of this season was the quarter-final v Juventus where he came up against his former captain and in all fairness tore him and the entire Juve team apart in a scintillating display--- he scored the first and assisted his new skipper, Henry for the 2nd. The Biancconeri coach at that time, Fabio Capello, (now England manager) was full of encomiums for the Spanish starlet and tipped him to achieve great things. Fabregas , alongside Henry, kolo toure, sol campbell, jens lehmann, robert pires and others propelled Arsenal to the final of the Champions League which they led for long periods of the game, despite being down to 10 men as early as the 18th minute of the match, ( Lehmann was sent off for an infringement on Samuel Eto'o.)and lost it eventually to his boyhood club, Barca by 2 goals to 1. All in all, Cesc made more than 40 apps that season and was instrumental to just about every good thing that happened to Arsenal throughout the course of the season. He was still only 19, but already regarded as one of the best young players in the world,even more highly rated at that time, than his friend and national teammate, Andres Lugan Iniesta.
Despite the painful UCL final loss, Arsenal started the 06-07 season with so much hope, especially because of Fabregass' rising profile. He became the talisman from then on,racking up goals and assists like no man's business and dictating play without much ado. He was allowed to roam freely ahead because of the defensive assurance of the immense gilberto silva who is by far the best Brazilian footballer to play in the premier league till date. Arsenal failed to reach the heights of the previous season though, but still managed to reach the champions league round of 16, but was just edged out by Hiddink's PSV, who were immediately knocked out by Liverpool in the q/finals. The club also reached the league cup final but ultimately lost out to defending EPL champions, Chelsea in a final that was marred by a lot of controversies. Fabregas nonetheless was nominated for the end of season awards, but lost out to Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in both the PFA young player of the year and players' player of the year. Disappointed as he was, Cesc was still the shinning light of the Arsenal team, even with the presence of Thierry Henry and co.
This time, Real Madrid took notice of his blossoming career and were heavily linked to him, but Wenger was very adamant to lose him and made it clear to those interested that Cesc was going nowhere and he meant every word of it.
The 07-08 season began very well for Arsenal, despite the transfer of The legendary Thierry Henry to Barcelona-a move which was supposed to have happened before the beginning of the 06-07 season, but Wenger pleaded with Henry to stay put for one more season which he duly obliged. Long time Vice Prseident and majority shareholder, David Dein also left the club for pastures new. Arsene was devastated because he had a very close knit relationship with the departing executive. It was even rumoured that Arsene asked David if he should resign his position as manager, but David refused, saying he was very vital to the future of the club, asking him to remain. Amidst all these, Cesc knew that he was now the focal point of the Arsenal team and he pledged his commitment to the London club. He was still only 21, but he had qualities way beyond his age.
Fabregas led the gooners to the summit of the premier League all the way through to March, but they lost the plot and eventually lost the league crown to a Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Manchester United. Although many believe that the career threatening injury Eduardo sustained at St Andrews in February was the beginning of the end for Arsenal. Despite this, the Spanish midfielder was nominated for the end of season awards for the second consecutive season. This time he won the young player of the year award while losing the players player of the year crown to Ronaldo who deservedly retained it. Faregas was also named in the PFA team of the year for the 2nd straight year.
He carried that form to the UEFA-EURO 2008 co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria, although he was restricted to substitute appearances because the first choice midfield trio was-senna, xavi and alonso, he still contributed in no small measure to the triumph of the la furia roja (nickname of the Spanish national team),especially his penalty in the shoot-out against the azzuri (Italy), which qualified Spain for the s/finals
In November 2008, Fabregas was named Arsenal captain, after Wenger stripped William Gallas of the armband following some indiscretion from the french ace and he duly accepted, displaying leadership atributes, but was unfortunate to be sidelined with injury for a long time. he came back in time for the semi final of the champions league which they eventually lost to rivals,Manchester United 4-1 on aggregate.
The 09-10 season began with Fabregas in explosive form, hoping to make up for the lost time of the previous season and making his presence felt in a lot of matches that season. He was very instrumental to Arsenal's run yet again to the UCL champions league quarter finals where they lost out Guardiola's Barcelona 6-2 on agg. He however suffered a leg break in that match and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He came back just in time for the world cup in which Spain were pre-tournament favourites and lived up to the billing by winning a hard fought final, defeating The oranje (Netherlands) by an extra time goal to nothing. The goal was scored by Iniesta, with a sumptuous assist by the one and only Cesc.
The summer of 2010 was filled with the Fabregas to Barca rumours. This suggestion became rife as a result of what his Spanish colleagues did to him during the World cup celebrations. Liverpool's Pepe Reina who also doubles as Spain's 2nd choice goal keeper, and Gerard Pique were among those who tried to force a Barca jersey on the young superstar. Barcelona indeed were interested as Pep was Fabregass' idol since childhood and the player himself has many a time declared his desire to move back to his boyhood club. The Catalan club bid in the region of 35 million pounds, but Arsenal rejected the bid, and Fabregas had to stay with Arsenal, against his wish.
The wranglings of the summer did not stop him from giving his best for Arsenal when he needed to- He still turned in his ever impressive showings during the 10-11 season and was very vital to the team's challenge for all the four trophies. By February, they were still in contention for all four titles but buckled under the pressure later, as they were dumped out of the UCL by Barca for the second successive year, surprisngly lost to Birmingham in the League Cup final, thrown out of the F.A cup by Man Utd, and bowed out in the title race, later placing fourth behind Utd, Chelsea and Man City. It was another sad tale of 'almost there'.
Barcelona reiterated their interest in signing the Arsenal skipper in the summer of 2011. This time, Fabregas was in no mood to be refused his dream move back to the club where it all began for him. He even went as far as offering to pay some part of the money which will enable him secure his transfer from the London giants. Barcelona as usual,came up with a laughable offer of 26 Million pounds which Arsenal immediately rejected, telling them that it is 40 Million Pounds or no deal. Sandro Rossel, the President of the Spanish club came with another deal of 31 million pounds with fell way short of Arsenal's valuation for their captain. As expected, it was immediately rejected by Gazidis and the rest of the Arsenal Board. The Catalans returned with what they called their final bid for Cesc, worth 35 million pounds + add-ons (although this is not certain) and finally Arsenal cracked. The club finally accepted that Fabregas can leave for Barcelona yesterday, Sunday-14th August 2011 and the deal was finalized today ending one of the long running transfer sagas-possibly the longest and most frustrating in recent time.
Fabregas has finally bade farewell to the English Premier League where he spent the better part of eight years providing defence splitting passes, scoring brilliant, eye catching goals and most importantly cementing his status as a true World class player. All in all, he made 303 appearances for ARSENAL scoring 57 goals and made more than 50 assists in all competitions. a Legend already at 24 years of age, he bestrode the premier league like a Colossus. Although, he is not among my favourite players, I admire his wonderful contribution to the EPL and indeed World football. He will be missed by every sincere football fan, devoid of whichever club he or she supports because he was a fantastic midfield ochestrator. we wish him nothing but the very best as he opens a new chapter in Spain
Ohireime P.Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
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