Results for today :-
Birmingham 1 - 2 Man City
Blackburn 2 - 1 Fulham
Charlton 1 - 0 Wigan
Liverpool 1 - 0 Sunderland
Man Utd 1 - 0 Aston Villa
Newcastle 0 - 0 West Ham
Tottenham 2 - 0 Middlesbrough
West Brom 2 - 1 Portsmouth
So giving 2 points for correct score, 1 point for getting the winner, we have
Lawrensen 5
rayh 7
Shibb0leth 3
eponymous 6
Gangster Octopus 5
Only two correct predictions of the score.
Everton 1 - Bolton 0
Happy for the win, but - Geez, what a boring game. Everton played well defensively, but then they needed to as Bolton had possession for about 3/4’s of the game. Bolton had several chances to score throughout the game; Diouf’s shot that rocketed off the crossbar near the end of the game was their best chance. Everton’s mid-field play was poor - no sustained posession or direction (unless it was the goal to have the defense kick the ball upfield all game).
Pistone went off with a knee injury, and Bent was subbed after picking up a slight knock. Moyes’s small squad keeps getting smaller. Not looking good for Villareal.
Gangster Octopus’ Week 2 Yank Review:
Games I saw:
Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0 - Meh. m-e-h. meh. Considering the quality on the two clubs and what was potentially at stake this game was about as exciting as a bowl of creamed wheat. Chelsea’s defense looks inpenetrable, I must say, but was it ever more obvious that Arsenal need a goal scorer who isn’t allergic to the 6 yard box?
ManU 1 Villa 0 - Meh. m-e-h. meh. Aston Villa never looked as if they were going for more than the 0-0 draw. ManU looked ok but really who can tell, only one goal at home against a depleted Villa isn’t exactly going to send shockwaves through the continent, now izzit?
Spurs 2 Boro 0 - Best game I saw, th difference? The goaltending. Shwarzer making a mess of a weak Mido effort, while Robinson was very skillful in his end with several good saves. Big fan of DaFoe, who I think is Rooney’s equal, albeit a bit on the small side. His goal was a cracker.
Citeh 2 Brum 1 - Whoo-hoo! My perfect prediction! Not mucb to go on here, I like to see Andy COle score and that was a superb strike. Man City still are performing well under Pearce, see how long it can keep up. Brum cannot be happy about dropping all the points at home.
Saw only the highlights:
Blackburn 3 Fulham 1 - Looking dire for Fulham, although to be honest they did suffer from two absolutely amazing strikes. Especially the one from Pederson, candidate for goal of the year. Nice to see McBride score, though.
Everton 1 Bolton 0 - This result surprises me, by many accounts Bolton were better, but Everton got the goal that counted. Similar to many of Everton’s wins last year I suspect. I’ll take epononymous’s word that it was a dreadullly boring game. Seems to be par for the course in the Premiere League these days.
Newcastle 0 Hammers 0 - The Souness deathwatch picks up steam as Newcastle can’t get but a point against a 10-man West Ham side, at home no less. The red card against Konchesky was disgraceful, to get sent off for what was actually a tremendous defensive effort is sickening.
Charlton 1 Wigan 0 - The Darren Bent lovefest continues as he scores again and appeared to miss a couple of other good chances. The moral lift from playing Chelsea tough is long gone for Wigan now.
WBA 2 Pompey 1 - Only thing I recall from this is a wonderful Robert set piece for Pompey. Unfortunatley for the south coasters it looks like they will be worrying about relegation all season. WBA hoping to making it not come down to the last day agian.
Villareal 2 - Everton 1
Crap - well, here’s hoping that Everton can do well in UEFA Cup play. I really thought they had a chance when Arteta’s free kick tied the score in minute 70. Then about 10 minutes later, Ferguson headed in the go-ahead goal; alas, it was disallowed due to a foul by Marcus Bent on another player in the box. Even the commentators said it was a questionable call (game was reffed by Colina).
Looks as if Ferrari from Roma is coming in on a season-long loan (with the option to purchase later). Everton’s still needs a few more players.
PS - too bad it looks as if Owen is headed to Newcastle (unless Benitez can be convinced to bring him to Liverpool - looks as if the board and fans want him to return, though).
After their performance today he may be having second thoughts.
They’ll probably be willing to pay him more though. They need something to improve the team. We were all over them last night. Lost of rousing chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ to Souness.
Tough game last night, esp. with regard to the big man’s goal being disallowed - absolutely nothing wrong with it. The Blues put in a fine performance against a very accomplished team, they can take a lot from the game.
Michael Owen is in a tough situation, one week to engineer a move away from Real Madrid, preferably to England. As with all footballers, the phrase ‘pay-cut’ does not feature in the Welsh midget’s vocabulary, so that leaves very few teams who can afford him. Saying that he will consider Newcastle, but only on a year’s loan, is pretty disrespectful. I think he will go back to the RS. The fans, team and board want him, which may well outweigh what Benitez wants.
As much as I hate to admit it, it seems my prediction for Newcastle’s season is panning out :(. Maybe Owen can help stop the bleeding… but even then, we’d need at least 2 more strikers (Ameobi and Chopra aren’t it) and a left back.
Oh, and we need Emre back, ASAP!
sigh Owen could net 30 if Arsenal got him. Why they don’t want him I just don’t know.
I’ll second that. I think he’d compliment Henry perfectly.
Some good news for Newcastle: NUFC and Deportivo have agreed to a 10 million pound fee for Albert Luque, who after he passes the physical, will be starting right next to Shearer, I’m sure. Now if we can get Owen, we may have something here.
Where did you read that? There’s nothing on the Beeb’s pages about it.
I can’t understand why Owen isn’t wanted by Benitez, he can outscore Crouch who is much overrated. I know they only want to pay what they received for him but there was a player exchange when Owen left to go to Real Madrid. Most 'Pool fans would love to get him back. He’s going to be in an impossible position now, he’s been given a deadline (which expires in an hour) by Newcastle to make up his mind or forget it. He will be out in the cold at Real Madrid and possibly out of the WC if he’s not playing. I suppose he could have a change of heart and go to Everton…
It would be great if he did - I’m pretty sure Everton fans would be ecstatic about it. We definitely need another striker; but I’m not holding my breath.
In other news - looks as if Liverpool will be in the same group as Chelsea for Champions League play (Real Betis and Anderlecht are other two in group). Man Utd’s toughest foe in group play will be Villareal, while Arsenal should have no problem’s in their group (Ajax the only other decent opponent).
UEFA Cup draw tomorrow (well, today) - will know how Everton fairs…
Bolton Vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Dinamo Bucharest vs Everton
I know naff all about Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Can anyone fill me in?
UEFA Cup draw :-
Dinamo Bucharest v EVERTON
MIDDLESBROUGH v Xanthi
BOLTON v Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Other News :-
Everton have signed Van der Meyde.
Only that the owner was assassinated today.
Liverpool win the European supercup (for the 3rd time). 0-1 down after 28mins, Cisses scores after 81 to take the game into extra time. Cisse scores again followed by Garcia.
Now if only Cisse can do it in the Premiership, maybe there wouldn’t be talk of bringing Owen back.
Saw parts of the Super Cup between Liverpool and CSKA Moscow - looked as if Cisse wanted to make a statement (to Benitez as well as to Liverpool fans - fans were chanting Owen’s name as Cisse came on as a sub).
Carvalho for CSKA Moscow looked pretty decent - I wonder if any teams have him on their radar.
I agree with both your points.
Cisse stared significantly at Benitez after scoring his first (lucky) goal and Carvalho (apart from a tendency to go to ground rather easily) looked the best player there tonight.
I’m not sure either team wanted to be playing this meaningless game though.
Yes - the commentators for the match mentioned that CSKA didn’t bring many players to the match, and Liverpool has already logged a bunch of games so far this season. Still, it gives the RS some bragging rights, as well as give others some exposure to Russian football clubs - Vagner Love is reputed to be a decent striker, although it looks as if he didn’t get much of a chance to shine in the game, though.
As for Everton chancse in UEFA Cup - don’t know much about Dynamo Bucharest, although I’ve read where there has been some problems with fan behavior at the Dynamo games. Still, Everton gets the second leg at Goodison, so they should have a good idea where they stand after the first match.
Next up - Fulham. Should be (hopefully) an interesting match.