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
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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
follow me on twitter
@ohiskaka1990
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.
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