After a week of international drama it is back to domestic action – well at least until the draw for the qualifying rounds of the 2010 World Cup takes place on Sunday. Seeding has been worked out but requires ratification on Saturday.
The World Cup draw calls for a blog special come Sunday so the weekend preview will be abbreviated. And to be honest it is just as well because there appears to be precious few games that have anything close to a “don’t miss’’ attached to them.
The bottom three teams in the Premiership will have a tough time ensuring that the hole that they are in doesn’t get any deeper. Derby are at home to Chelsea who are unbeaten in their last six games and have only conceded one goal in the process. Derby on the other hand have let in 30 more goals than that in 13 games and have only scored five goals. Projected over an entire season Derby would not even hit the 20 point mark.
Bolton with three draws in their last three Premiership games would be positively giddy if they found a way to extend the run to four against Manchester United. However, the form book and history both indicate anything but a United win to be an unlikely outcome.
Bolton have only led in two of their 13 games at half time while United have only trailed in a match for a total of 83 minutes out of the 1,170 Premiership minutes they have played this season. Bolton have never beaten United at home in the Premiership (3 draws and 5 losses) while they have conceded 40 goals to United in sixteen Premiership games.
That’s seven more than Chelsea have scored against Bolton and with a game more played. Cap it all off with the fact that Bolton have conceded more first half goals (13) than any other team in Premiership then the signs are that if Bolton are not careful the game could be over almost before it has started.
It looks as if Arsenal will be missing Cesc Fabregas through suspension as well as Flamini and Hleb who both picked up injuries on international duty. The appointment of Steve Bruce as Wigan manager is on again and the deal could be closed before the weekend.
Wigan’s two and a bit seasons in the Premiership has still to produce a win over Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. This season the problem is magnified with a single draw against West Ham United the only point gained against a top ten team.
The most promising Premiership match of the weekend appears to be set for Tyneside where Newcastle faces Liverpool. Anytime these two go head-to-head there is bound to be mention of the two classic games in 1996 and 1997. Both matches finished in 4-3 wins for Liverpool. Both games saw leads seesaw back and forward in both cases Liverpool scored a winner in the dying seconds.
Newcastle holds an edge in Premiership games at St. James’ against Liverpool (6 wins, 4 losses and 4 draws) and with 13 points from 6 home games only Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal & Aston Villa have better home records this season.
This will be the first time this season that Newcastle have faced one of the “big four”. Newcastle also have a make-up game at home to Arsenal on December 5. Next week brings Blackburn so the Magpies are in for a testing time over the next few weeks.
Liverpool have only scored 7 goals in 6 away games but with 4 wins and 2 draws they have gained more away points (14) than any other side. What’s more they have kept the opposition off the score sheet four times in the six games.
Quick free kicks – Birmingham have five wins and three draws against Portsmouth on their last eight visits to St. Andrews…….the last meeting was a 5-0 thrashing but Birmingham were still relegated at season’s end while Portsmouth escaped the drop.
Blackburn and Aston Villa will be traveling with some confidence to play Fulham and Middlesbrough respectively. Blackburn have won four times in six Premiership visits to Craven Cottage while Villa have left the Riverside with seven wins and two draws in 12 games.
Everton and Sunderland may have played each other 144 times in league action over the past 117 years but they are as evenly split as they were in 1890. Back then both teams won their respective home matches 1-0 and since then they have traded wins with a few draws thrown in for good measure. Sixty-one wins each and twenty-two draws although Everton fans will claim cup matches as a tie breaker. In that case Everton “dominates” with two more wins.
Maybe the neutral won't be inundated with "don't miss "games - but then who cares about the neutral?
Five that pop out from various leagues
Atletico - Valodoloidl (ta Atleti!) apparently a fixture that may be tough!
Toon - v reds - a tough away fixture prior to a must win midweek CL game after the waiter dropped some obscure England hints amidst dubiously understated backing from his american bosses.
Everton - Sunderland - NOoooooooH Keanoooh!! - sung to the tune of Dexy's Midnight Runners!
Juventus - Palermo (one perhaps even the 'neutral' may consider a "don't miss" There is also the recednt fans violence and police brutality to consider in any Italian game this weekend.
Chester City FC travel the few miles into the wilds of Wales to battle their arch enemy Wrexham. A fixture with a history of bloodshed, broken bones, police charges and some football... the Seals will be desparate to turn around a run of three loses on the bounce and the Red Robins will be keen to rub their better, richer, more educated, electricty using neighbours' noses even deeper in despair.
And I'm sure that in Germany or Portugal there will be at least one or two 'crunch' games.
And as many (hello verbal!) alluded to the resumption of 'proper' football after the International Break is MOST welcome!
I'm not too worried about their being another classic game between Newcastle and Liverpool.
Look to the last few years Bolton v Liverpool games to see how this will turn out. Fat Sam has always seem to have an edge on Rafa in the past, we'll see if it continues.
Its a must win as it looks that the OTHER THREE have should-be wins.
I honestly think Benitez to Bayern is inevitable now that the media are wiping it up. They are already trying to say the relationship between Gillette and Benitez is souring and other rumors that sound half made up.
Thanks for the link to the article on Javier Zanetti, one of the few true class acts of world football. I agree, it was incredible he was left out of the 2006 WC squad, especially a team so rich in talent and so lacking in discipline. Not many clubs (outside of Milano) have had the same captain for almost a decade.
What is happening with this blog. They are making it very difficult to access your link. Could you please ask the FSC IT department to suss out the mess.
I will never EVER forgive Pekerman for excluding Zanetti from WC '06. Somewhat related, I can't tell you how much it pained me to see Riquelme substituted out (for Cambiasso) with several minutes to go and only a 1-0 lead against Germany. Defensive tactics cost us the game.
UGH UGH.
As for Zanetti: class footballer and gentleman! He has a wonderful charity for Argentine youth. Besides that, he's 100% devoted to Inter & has said he would like to stay with the club even after he retires as a footballer.
gongatore: it's easier to access the blog directly than to look for it on the main page. That's how I do it.
http://community.foxsports.com/blog s/BobbyMcMahon
BBC: "Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has been told by club co-owner Tom Hicks to "quit talking about new players" and to win games with those he already has."
"We told him to concentrate on the games coming up. I guess he didn't like it," Hicks told the Liverpool Echo."
Can you blame them? They gave him a little less than £50m in the summer!
Last edited by atleti on November 23rd at 7:38 AM.
Thanks Atleti- I have been using firefox a lot and when I switch to safari I have no problems with accessing this on my favorites tab. Strange as in the past I have the problem with safari.
Zanetti is a fabulous and incredibly consistent footballer. Remember how he broke off the wall against England in WC '98 and scored that terrific goal?
Pekerman was foolish to leave him off of the side.
No prob! Pekerman-- someone I would never want to meet at all. I'd probably create a scene, if I did.
Aberdeen visit Atlético for UEFA group stage action on the 29th. The club initially expected 1100 Scots to travel for the away game. It's now suggested that more (closer to 3000) will make the trip without any tickets.
I hope Aberdeen supporters are better behaved than Rangers.
Craigy-I don't believe it one bit. I think this is a ploy so they can get players on the cheap because teams will be wanting a little extra cash for transfer targets headed to Anfield.
If Benitez goes, obviously, I was wrong. But I don't think you'll see him leaving anytime soon and I don't think this is anything more than a ploy to get players at a cheaper price.
l have always felt that if you want to win and win only then the man to do that is cappelo , his teams are built to win by hook or by crook.
as for the liverpool saga l just feel that the hicks guy got into this thinking they will be the guys getting the money and hell there is no draft in european soccer.l think it unfair to rafa, arsenal or man utd would not have said that to wenger or ferguson and the unfortunate thing is that there aren't too many good mangers out there except if you want paul jewel
I see you are a Mac user -- no wonder you know your stuff! lol
I personally can't see Rafa taking the poisoned chalice that is the England job. If the ownership group is smart, they'll back Rafa and sell Stevie G. Liverpool won't win the league with him as a captain -- he's too selfish and complains too much in public.
Atleti, i agree with you. Pekerman is not one I would like to meet. As would 99% of Argentineans I'm sure.
That Arg. team was "clear" fav. to win the world cup. So much good football, talent & group unity, But that game can go to show ppl that in football there's no such thing as "logic". 1 simple tactical mistake, and you're done.
Not having Zanetti was jaw dropping. A player whom is pure class and always provided Arg. with a "chance" at any tourni. was simply left out, like he was never there!
I'm glad that we now have a coach that does NOT only depend on future young talent, but isn't afraid of bringing along a few veterans of the game.
BTW, why aren't any European teams "especially" in the EPL putting in an offer for Riquelme?
This to me is beyond comprehension. The EPL is known for playing the long ball game and Riquelme is master of these types of passes and would fit in wonderfully. I just don't understand why a team I.e. Chelsea whom clearly laques this type of player isn't there to bring him on?
Oh well.........he just signed a 1-1/2 year deal with Boca Juniors.
It's very distressing to see all these off the field distractions. I actually think it has a lot to do with the Mascherano/third party situation, perhaps more so than a transfer budget. Plus it's difficult to pony up money not knowing if the team will qualify for the knockout rounds of the CL. But I wish Rafa AND Hicks would just shut the %@^* up and get on with it.
Hicks is a #### (as shown by his recent comments), it was unfortunate that Gillet needed further investment from him to complete the sale. Besides, it's humorous to see Hicks complaining about shelling out cash seeing as he screwed baseball for a couple of years (by starting the trend of stratospheric contracts) with the ridiculous ones he gave to ARod plus the useless Chan #### Park. He must be happy that Scott Boras is even dumber than him because he just got a $22 million get out of jail free from Boras and ARod when they temporarily left the Yankees. Sorry for all the baseball talk, but it was necessary to complete my 'Tom Hicks is a complete tool' argument.
That said, I don't think Liverpool need to buy much else with only a more adequate cover for center back a glaring necessity. You can't even start to think of winning titles without closing the revolving personnel door. I mean, how many more rotation pieces does Rafa need?
Last edited by verbal97 on November 23rd at 2:55 PM.
PS...alberta, the day Liverpool willingly sell Gerrard before he's past it is the day I will devour my shorts. I'll even get an Arsenal jersey and make a youtube clip proclaiming that you're the god of knowledge and I should be so lucky to even have a modest association to you before literally feasting on a pair of soiled boxers after playing a game.
Re the England manager's post, Mourhino would be best of those availbale, but he would have nothing to do for nearly a year. That is unless Gordon gets his wish and the home internationals are revived. I used to enjoy the game with Scotland...........
Re Rafa and the possible tiff with Hicks and Gillette, I wonder now if the American owners are sorry they took the plunge into the world of English football. I have wondered if Randy Lerner regrets his move for Villa. Such a change from the cultures of baseball, hockey and american football.
Hand bags at 10 paces is surely where all this will lead with the Journos looking for any morsel to blow up into the media limelight. I think this will blow over quickly if Liverpool win the next two games.
If Rafa does go I wonder if Jose will finally get Stevie G on his team?
there have been plenty of rip-roaring toon red meetings in the past few years - anyone care to speculate as to how many goals, 5, 7, 9?
I've actually sent a letter to Soho square and expect to speaking about money and terms to Barwick in a day or two!
English football - you gotta love it -
Three Nigerians
A Spaniard
One Portugeuse
One Dutchman
A yank
Three Scots
Ten Englishman
A South African
An Ozzie
A German
A Pole
One Brazilian (cos' all the good teams have one!)
A Dane
One Irishman
An Icelander
&
A Scottish manager
:)
First choice ,obviously ,The Special One ,but that aint gonna happen.
Second choice ,the North London Professor ,again aint gonna happen.
Third choice ,Capello ,Lippi ,Hitzfeld ,etc. Anyone who hasn't had any "previous".
Finally ,if the wise men in Soho Towers insist on a limey ,then there's only one man for the job...Arry.
You don't need to wait for Liverpool to sell Gerrard to brag about knowing me! lol I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Seriously, though, I believe Gerrard hasn't reacted very professional under Benitez -- it's almost like he buys into his own hype. He sulked and ####ed about being moved out to the right last year. He publicly questioned why he was hauled off. There's a very good precedent for believing why selling Gerrard might wind up helping Liverpool in the long run. Have a look at the post-Henry Arsenal or the post-van Nistelrooy United. Sometimes, these larger-than-life personalities can hinder rather than help your club.
Alberta-While I was one who called that Arsenal would be much better without Henry(not THIS MUCH better) there is no doubt in my mind Liverpool would be far worse without Gerrard.
RINGO: "Turkey day(s) ,you gotta love these American pagan rituals."
The holiday was invented by 17th century Englishmen. ...so...plbbbbbbbb!
Alberta, I'm not necessarily saying that Liverpool would or wouldn't be better off without Gerrard, I just think that there would be a massive backlash from the Scousers if they sought to move him out. I also agree with LGB that he's irreplaceable in the sense that there isn't another player like him.
I'm sick of hearing about how technically deficient the English and their game is. Its more about the fact how #### poor a manager was in charge and reading Martin Samuels article illustrates it with his one sentence that says, "Sven-Göran Eriksson did not have opponents of Croatia’s class in any of his qualifying campaigns — even the first one — so sailed through and had to wait for a date with Brazil, France or Portugal.."
Now Croatia is a very good team but I'll hold off before comparing to the teams England faced in Brazil of 2002, France of 2004 and Portugal in 2004 and 2006.
And every time you look at those games England had every chance at winning each and every game(and probably should have). The Brazil game was won by a fluke goal by Ronaldinho, the France game England led all the way into stoppage time and was the better team, and Portugal: In Euro2004 England was the better squad and Campbell's header was wrongly disallowed in stoppage time of normal time. Not to mention they could've won on penalties and thats the same for 2006.
Now all of a sudden McClaren takes charge and England can't beat Macedonia, Croatia or Russia. And we're supposed to believe its a lack of technical ability and skill?
To me that is ridiculous and absurd. Put a good manager in charge and watch all of a sudden how England is one of the top teams again.
Fair enough and I understand Gerrard is a cult hero to the Kop end. I sense, though, there's a similar ugly dynamic building between Gerrard and Benitez as happened between Shearer and Benitez, something pointed out by another poster (Ringo?). And, as a neutral, I'd back Rafa.
The rift where Benitez is supposed to manage the team including tactics and Gerrard fails to understand when hes playing like #### that means he gets subbed or that if he gets stuck out on the right its because Benitez is smarter then him. Thing is I don't think Liverpool can get the price to justify the sale to their fans... When they sent Owen away albeit he was a injury case at the time for what 11m pounds it was silly. If Liverpool could get 20-25m pounds for Gerrard they should do it but I don't think other clubs are as in love with him as they once were. Suits me tho Liverpool with Gerrard quibbling with managers for the next 5 years is fine by me.
Not sure why Mourinho is being linked for the England job.... or anyone is. No manager in their right mind would take the job anytime soon unless they enjoy getting paid to do nothing. Qualifying for 2010 starts in August....
With the gap in fixtures coaching England or any national team not in a tournament this summer would be a job for someone who would enjoy being semi-retired. Just cant see any of the very top managers interested in a job that they get to coach what 10 games a year?
wow LGB - coming from a yank and a red that's pretty darn good :)
Yeah - all the England haters who say we're no good don't really know anything. Maybe overrated (especially by our own media and fans) but no good - make me laugh! Please!
three qf in three - two out on PKs one out to WCs - that's a record many nations would be happy with - although we're not really happy with it.
But a top class coach can work wonders - you see it with teams in the 20's and 30's of the fifa rankings - they get a quality coach and are suddenly competetive - scolari, Lippi, Hiddink, all quality coaches and the england job is nothing if not lucrative - McClaren got 4milion for 18mths (more or less), Sven made a packet from the FA, either of those three managers could probably command several million for a contract until 2012
Liverpool would go on without Gerrard but they would be a different team.
I could see Gerrard in Italy, he'd be good at Juve maybe, but I don't see him going anywhere for a while.
What kind of game do you think you'll play at St James Park tomorrow LGB?
Jack Bell wrote an interesting piece today on the New York Times website. It's in the GOAL section called, "Sun has set on English soccer".
You all should read it. Sorry I could not link it.
There's a fundamental problem with the English media and fans.
I did not know that Steven Gerrard had a personal publicist in America. The way he's playing perhaps he's looking at crossing the pond to play in San Jose. I hear his missus is a singer. She should ring Dionne Warwick.
Last edited by gongatore on November 23rd at 8:46 PM.
You don't think the City - Reading game stacks up to be an interesting one? Reading can score -- I'm remembering last season still, but even with Dunne and Richards, City can be wobbly back there. I know my City's record, but they struggle to find the net (my fantasy team is reaching out to Elano this weekend).
So, what about Sven? I knew his club record before he replaced Pearce, and I know that he got money that Pearce never had. And, I'm still not sold ... they beat United, but lost 0-6 to Chelski, and they should have lost to Pompey: it feels like they've had a soft schedule. I liked Pearce (maybe from his playing days) but even though he didn't have the cash, he seemed not to improve the players he had and those players he bought seemed never to reach their potential.
I'm glad to see this game's on deck for Foxsoccer tomorrow.
gong - I've just read that article and jack bell is mostly talking out of his arse - the same platitudes and oft-trotted out sound bytes that actually sound good but contain little in the way of anything good.
t-c - how does it stack up?
Everton lost 1-0 to the mancs (a last minute defenssive blunder to allow Vidic to head home) but held Chelsea to a draw at Stamford Bridge.
Based on those two games it'd be a tough call.
Either way the FIRST FOOTBALL CLUBS from Manchester and Liverpool can still be happy with their seasons so far.
Craigy- I knew that the piece might touch a nerve with you and perhaps Ringo might object to the overall content but mate I have to be honest with you, he makes a lot of sense.
And I can't at all argue with his assessment that FSC is far too Anglo centric.
What did you object to?
LGB-
The English National side has produced technically and tactically deficient footballers. It's one of the many reasons they haven't won an international competition in over 41 years. Enough with blaming the gaffer.
Last edited by gongatore on November 23rd at 9:17 PM.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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