Posts Tagged ‘Andre Arshavin’
De Futebol
This is nut cutting time week in the EPL. Chelsea goes on the road to take on giant killer Burnley. Arsenal and Man U will duke it out on Sunday. Oh, yes, baby, you gotta love it.
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Chelsea is not the consummate road warrior. The Blues have struggled on the road even though Chelsea have won their last two road matches.
The Blues have five wins, three losses, and two ties on the road.
It is even money Chelsea could either win, lose or draw.
The Blues are perched on high in the EPL with 51 points. Two points separate the top three clubs Chelsea, Man U, and Arsenal.
This is a must win for the Blues. If they stumble, Chelsea could sink as low as second or wind up in a two-way tie for the top spot.
Drogba and Kalou will not play for the Blues in today’s encounter with the Clarets.
Man U and Arsenal battle it out at Emirates on Sunday. The stakes are huge.
Depending on what happens Saturday either Man U or Arsenal could be in the catbird seat.
I want to see an Arsenal win. This is whom I am pulling for. The winner of this match could be a deciding factor on who wins the EPL title.
Man U is not very good on the road. The Red Devils are 6-1-4. This is only two games above over .500
These are the keys to the match. First of all, shut down Wayne Rooney. Do not give him room to operate. Force Man U to become on dimensional by taking Rooney out. This will force Berbatov and Nani to become the bread winners.
The soft spot in the “D’ is the back line. Ferdinand will not play due to a four-match suspension. Spread the attack out and force Man U into unfavorable match-ups. Arshavin and Fabregas need room to roam and create scoring opportunities. When this happens the Gunners can score big.
The Gunners need to attack and play smart “D”. This means Fabregas must be at his best. Attacking and creating scoring opportunities for Arshavin, Eduardo and Ramsey.
When the final whistle blows it will be a 3-1 win for the Gunners nation.
I know this is very simple explanation but when it is all said and done the team that dictates the tempo and forces the other team to get away from their game will win.
Go Gunners.
De Futebol
Tudo faz isso. Desta Maneira. Manchester United tudo boa sorte. The old saying I would rather be lucky than good applies to both Manchester United and Arsenal. Thanks to two late goals, both Man U and Arsenal escaped with a tie against sides the Red Devils and the Gunners should have beaten with ease. But that was then and this is now. Tudo Desta Maneira.
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Muito problemas em Red Devil terra. Man U jogador muito mal. In plain English, they stink.
Manchester United needed a win not a draw or a loss. Instead, Birmingham was totally out played in the first half however Blues took the lead at the break 1-0.
Blues one good attack came near the end of the half. This caused problems for the mighty men of Old Trafford.
Man U defender Paul Scholes blocked Cameron Jerome rocket of a shot. Corner kick time. Problem time for the Man U “D”.
James McFadden lifted a great corner kick into the box. The Man U “D” looked like the Keystone Cops trying to defend a simple centering ball. The ball goes flying all over the lot. Birmingham’s Boyer gets his head on the ball. Bing bam, boom. The shot goes clang off of Johnny Evans into the waiting feet of Jerome. Goal for Cameron Jerome. It’s 1-0 at the 39th minute.
You can hear the howling all the way from Old Trafford.
Manchester United secured the equalizer in the 63rd minute. The mighty men from Old Trafford began to squeeze Blues box. Patrice Evra fired a low centering pass towards the goal. Birmingham defender Scott Dann freaked under the pressure from Ji-Sung Park. Dann got confused. He fired the ball into his own net.
Game, set, and draw to Man U.
I don’t care what anyone says Manchester United is in heap big trouble. The Red Devils cannot continue to play this way. If this display of crappy lucky futebol continues the Red Devils will find them looking from the outside in.
6-1-4-road record is worse than stink. Couple with that losing to Leeds, Liverpool, Burnley, Aston Villa, Chelsea, and Fulham Man U is on a downhill slide.
Arsenal on the other hand should have beaten Everton at Emirates. Not on this day. The Gunners lucked out a two all draw.
Everton played like a team with everything to play for.
The Toffees drew first blood in the 12th minute. Leon Osman ripped a header to give Everton a 1-0 lead.
Arsenal’s Brasilian super hero nailed the equalizer in the 28th minute.
Everton took the lead when Steven Pienaar fired a scorcher from just outside the box. Pienaar ripped the twines in the 81st minute.
You can hear all the Gunners fans screaming “Oh No’ all the way here in 70 degree LA.
Super sub Tomas Rosicky the cat who just signed a new contract with the Gunners nailed the match saver in the 90th minute.
Rosicky’s shot went boom, off of the Toffees defender Lucas Neill.
This goal may have saved the Gunners season. A loss could have put a nail in Arsenal’s chances of winning the EPL.
At the end of the day, Man U is one point behind EPL leader Chelsea. Chelsea has 45 points. Man U has 44 while the Gunners are three back with 42.
Chelsea has a make up match due to the snow.
The Man U point total is very deceiving for the Red Devils are lucky as sin to be in second place.
Birmingham should have won.
Blues didn’t.
De Futebol
The snow is once again playing and wrecking havoc with the matches set for Saturday. As of 2 pm on Friday here in LaLa land, LA only three matches have survived the bad-butted snow days in merry Old England.
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The survivors are Arsenal-Everton, Man U –Birmingham, and Wigan-Aston Villa. Four out of the top eight will have epic encounters in the snow.
So, we better hold our horses and see if this situation might change. God only knows and he isn’t telling us quite yet.
Arsenal, Man U, Aston Villa, and Birmingham all need to win. It is all about the “W”.
Sadly, for some, only one winner can come out of the Birmingham- Red Devils clash.
Blues are playing in the friendly confines of St. Andrews. This is huge for the mighty men of Old Trafford. Man U is playing horrible on the road. Man U is only 6-0-4 on the road. This stinks.
Birmingham is 5-3-2. This is good but not great. The edge has to go to Blues. Man U can’t win on the road to save its life. The Red Devils will need more than Rooney on this snowy day. Berbatov has to come up big. Nani, Anderson, and Gibson need to find the back of the net early and often. If not this will be a long cold hard day playing in the snow for Man U.
A loss here and you might have to stick a fork in the Red Devils season.
Blues are riding a five match unbeaten string.
Watch out Man U for you are surely in danger.
Arsenal on the other hand is peaking at the right time. Yes, the Gunners are hurting up front and in the midfield but Eduardo, Arshavin, Nasri, and Aaron Ramsey are coming on strong.
The Gunners need to knockout the Toffees early. You can’t let Everton hang around. Remember this is the same squad that beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup. The Blues played pretty much their first team.
The Toffees drove em nuts.
Everton is riding a five match unbeaten string.
Tim Howard anchors the “D.” Louis Saha leads the team with ten goals.
This should be a good one at Emirates but Arsenal should win this baby hands down.
Aston Villa battles Wigan in the other snow day match. Villa is coming off a hard loss at the hands of Liverpool. Villa needs this baby bad. Aston Villa is in sixth place. Aston Villa is ten points behind league leaders Chelsea.
The Latics can win this baby if they play their cards right.
Aston Villa is at DW Stadium. Villa is one step above stink on the road. They are 4-3-3.
The dog Wigan has the edge eventhough they are near the bottom of the table.
Keep this in mind for the bottom dogs have given the upper echelon teams fits all season long.
This could happen again.
This is as plain and simple as it get.
Hold serve on the road and win 90% of your home matches and you are in like Flynn.
So there, ya have it on a snow day in merry old England.
Here in LA it is a cold 75.
You gotta love it. I sure do.
De Futebol
Today will be a hodge podge of stuff. There are some disturbing reports about the financial stability concerning Manchester United.
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My friend Tophatal wrote about this very subject three months ago on his blog. Now his revelations are turning out to be true. Check out his blog. There are lots of great insights and 411.
The Glazers who own the majority share in Manchester United have saddled the club with a mountain of debit. The Red Devils may collapse under the weight of this debit. Many owners make a habit of stripping one business of its assets and transfer the assets to another business.
I hope this is not the case. If the Glazers have done this, they will have surely destroyed an English futebol institution. This is truly bad.
These money woes are just the tip of the iceberg. The Red Devils have been playing crap all season long. Sure five loses isn’t that many but this is only halfway point of the season.
Man U can’t find the back of the net to save its life. Rooney is scoring-some. The crux of situation is this. Big bucks were spent to bring in Berbatov. This clown can’t score to save his life. Nani is a waste of time.
Neville, Giggs, and Scholes are senior citizens in futebol life yet these guys are logging a ton of minutes. These senior citizens will break down at this rate.
Add on top of this the entire back line is injured you have recipe for disaster.
The loss to Leeds is a sign that something is wrong with boys from Old Trafford. If you remember, I said this about two weeks ago. Do I have ESPN I mean ESP.
Leaky finances couple with older players with no replacements in sight means big time trouble ahead for Man U.
Do you remember when Man U received 128 million from the Cristiano Ronaldo buy out? How come not a dime of this money has been spent on bringing in more talent.
Better yet, what about spending the money developing younger talent?
Maybe there is trouble in Man U land.
Here’s a thought. Sir Alex Ferguson will quit at the end of this year. He has won all the important domestic and World futebol titles now he will call it quits at the end of this year.
This will be the scop of the year.
Another story has surfaced that Chelsea is debt free.
Maybe many of the top clubs are in heap big trouble.
The only club not in trouble is Arsenal.
The Gunners have spent their money wisely. Arsenal has no debit.
Don’t de surprised if the Gunners win the whole shooting match.
The young kids are primed and ready to step forward. Eduardo, Nasri, and Arshavin are finding their stride. Vela is playing better. Fabregas is almost ready to return.
The cupboard is filled with younger talent ready to step in.
What Wenger did was borrow an American system of supplying the main club with talent. It is called a farm system. Major Baseball teams use a farm system to train young talent to replace older stars. In the old days, the New York Yankees were kings of this. Now the Phillies, Angels, and Minnesota Twins are the best examples of how to develop younger players.
When a team buys talent to win championships this can work in the short run but in the long run, this will destroy a team. For the team will not take the time or the resources to develop talent to replace aging stars.
Man U is sadly discovering this fact.
This will bite Man City as well too.
Real Madrid is headed down the same dangerous and bad road.
It is time to give Arsene Wenger his just do. He is doing it the right way. Yes, younger players will drive you nuts. They may not win for a while but in the end, the foundation upon which the club is built will stand.
There is an old adage. What goes up must come down.
Maybe Man U and Chelsea are on the way down.
In American sports, the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Mets, LA Dodgers, Boston Celtics, Washington Redskins, and the Detroit Lions have all found this out the hard way.
My Philadelphia Eagles have too. For way too many years, the bums stunk the joint out.
The Birds have had a run of eight to ten years of horrible teams. Then they are good for a few years then stink for the next ten years.
De Futebol
The snow hit merry old England. Tons of the white stuff forced the match between Bolton and Arsenal to be cancelled. So the chance of cutting the gap between the Gunners and Chelsea are just that a chance. This is at least for now the case. A make up date has not been set.
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Chelsea and Man U can breath just a little bit easier now. At least for the time being this is the case. Arsenal has hit their stride. Eduardo, Nasri, and Arshavin look like they are ready to carry the load with RVP out until at least till May.
This added day would give Fabregas more time to heal from his hammy injury. Once he returns it will be Katie bar the door
I still think this year’s race will be one of the tightest and craziest in history. The EPL winner will have at least six maybe as many seven losses.
All you have to do is look at Chelsea’s, Man U, and Arsenal’s road record. This is down right bad. It stinks. Chelsea is 6-2-3. Man U is 6-0-4. Arsenal is 5-2-3. Last year these clubs combined had a total of nine road losses for the entire 2008-09 campaign. The road loss total for Chelsea, Man U, and Arsenal stands at ten. This is the halfway point of the season.
Throw into the mix Liverpool is hurting with injuries. The Red are stinking the joint out. Liverpool has lost seven out of their first twenty matches. Last year the Reds lost a total of two matches all year. Both of the loses came on the road.
What is so different about this year?
Clubs like Man City, Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Birmingham have gotten stronger. Man U lost one of their key players. The Red Devils are racked with injuries to their “D”.
Chelsea is very inconsistent. The Blues give up too many big plays and lose to teams they should beat. Injuries are playing havoc with the Gunners strike force and midfield.
The Dogs are playing tougher. They are giving the upper echelon clubs down right fits.
All of these factors have led to one of the best title races in history.
Sure, the status quo is fine but having a season like this makes it more fun for the average Joe like me.
Let it snow let it snow let it snow as we head into the New Year. Let the chips fall where they may. I have a good hunch that at least one-maybe two super heavyweights are going down.
De Futebol
Even when I make jokes, I get it right. Who would have thunk it. I said what is the worse thing that could happen to Manchester United was a loss to Fulham. Well guess what? The mighty boys from Old Trafford got their butts whipped by Fulham 3-0.
This was a classic massacre or if you would like to say a take me to the woodshed butt whopping.
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This was one of those oh, excuse me, we have a ton of injuries what do you expect me to do? Win. At least put up a fight and show some heart.
This was bad folks.
The Cottagers just flat at took to the mighty Red Devils and kicked some major butt. This is about all you can say about the match.
Danny Murphy led off the slaughter with a wicked shot that beat the keeper Kuszczak in the 22nd minute to give Fulham the 1-0 lead.
The rout was on baby.
Bobby Zamora found the back of the net in the 46th minute to give the Cottagers a 2-0 lead.
In the 75th minute, Damien Duff ripped the winner to put the finishing touches on a huge masterful killing of the boys from Old Trafford.
Manchester United played like crap.
I haven’t seen this bad of a performance from a Man U squad in years.
There is heap big trouble in Manchester United land.
Way to go garoto to the guys at Fulham.
I just love this stuff.
Dogs ruled on this day.
Before you cats go nuts on me, let me explain. Yes, I am a fan of Manchester United. A fan is correct but not a fanatic. I root for the Red Devils. I am partial to them but I don’t live and die with their fortunes on the pitch.
My heart is in Brasil. I am a die hard Flamenguista. I am also a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan. The NFL baby.
I also have a very found spot in my heart for Arsenal.
My wife thinks I am a nut, which I am. I do have the papers to prove it.
I became a Gunners fan when I saw the movie Fever Pitch starring Colin Firth.
I have seen Fever Pitch ten times.
Oh, guess what I saw at Emirates. The Philly fanatic dressed in a Gunners uniform was whipping up the crowd into a fever pitch.
The Philly fanatic is the Philadelphia Phillies team mascot.
I am a huge futebol fan but what floats my boat is Jesus. Without Him, I am a dead man. I am a messianic Jew.
Tottenham didn’t suffer a let up against Blackburn. Spurs beat em 2-0.
Peter Crouch hit the daily double to lead the Spurs to an impressive win.
The Rovers had a golden chance at the outset of the match to grab the early lead but the shot clanged off the cross bar.
Whew was that close.
Two back-to-back good performances by Spurs have put them back into the title hunt.
Aston Villa held serve in their 1-0 win over Stoke City.
John Crew scored the match winner in the 61st minute. This goal saved Villa’s hide. This was a total lackluster performance by Aston Villa.
Maybe Bobby Darin’s Dream Lover might best describe the way Villa played on this day.
Still a win is a win and this is all that counts.
Liverpool lost to lowly Portsmouth 2-0. The Reds are dead.
Rafa will get sacked.
Liverpool has quit playing.
I have seen this before.
The players will not play for Rafa anymore.
Rafa needs to go.
After a close, first half the Gunners turned on the Afro burners and kicked some booty killing Hull City 3-0.
The first match changer was this. There was a near bitch-slapping brawl between several Arsenal and Hull City players near the end of the first half.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing signifying nothing. I wish futebol players would learn how to fight.
A few moments later Brasilian Denilson rifled home a great free kick in the 45th minute to make 1-0 Arsenal at the break.
His shot flat out made the keeper Boaz Myhill look really silly. Denilson’s shot was a ball buster.
This was turning point number two in the match. Hull City had a chance for the equalizer when Gunner defender Silvestre knocked down Craig Fagan in the 56th minute. Up steps Geovanni for Hull City. The run up. The shot. The diving save by Almunia. The header by Hunt off the rebound. Almunia gobbles the ball. Whew was that sucker close.
The Gunners kicked it into high gear.
Eduardo finally got in the scorebook in the 59th minute. This gave the Gunners a 2-0 lead.
This was a great example of how short passes in the box ate up the Hull City “D”.
The ball was on the wing. A great entry pass into Diaby. Diaby passed up the shot and hit Eduardo. Eduardo was standing at the goals doorstep. A simple poke into the net finished up the play.
A great give and go from Arshavin and Diaby cooked Hull City’s goose in the 80th minute. All Diaby had to do was deposit the gift into the back of the net.
This was all she wrote.
This win by Arsenal squarely puts a ton of pressure on Chelsea to beat lowly West Ham. Will the dogs rule on Sunday?
We will find out.
The table shapes up this way. Chelsea is the top dog with 40 points. Manchester United hangs on to second place with 37 points. Arsenal is third with 35 points. Aston Villa is fourth with 35 points. Arsenal has a better goal difference than Villa. The Gunners are plus 13 while Villa is only a plus 8. Spurs are in fifth place with 33.
Let fun and games begin.
I love it.
De Futebol
Now it’s back to the fun in sun for the EPL resumes play on Saturday and Sunday. There is a ton of pressure on the big boys to come up with the “W” not a tie or a loss. The matches that I am focusing on are Manchester United-Fulham, Arsenal-Hull City, Spurs-Rovers, and West Ham- Chelsea. Sure, City has big one against Sunderland but for you City guys you will have to wait.
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The Red Devils have a leaky “D” as well as missing the back of net. If mighty boys from Old Trafford want a historic four peat, Rooney, Berbatov, Anderson, and the rest need to find the back of the net more often than not. Maybe Rooney and his mates might try their hand at being masons. They are good at firing bricks.
MIA is Ferdinand, O’Shea, Neville, and Brown. That’s the entire back line of defense. No wonder the Red Devil’s “D” is like a sieve. Even the super defender Russian Vidic is hurt. Can it get any worse? Yes, A loss will kill the boys from Old Trafford.
Arsenal needs to shake off the miserable one all tie with Burnley and take it to Hull City. This is a must for win Arshavin, and rest of the Gunners.
My advice is to take it to em. Pedal to the medal. Attack, attack, and whatever you do, don’t, and I mean don’t give up a cheap goal.
Short balls. Work the ball into the offensive zone and punish the net. Please no long balls this time guys.
Fabregas is out with a hammy injury. This will hurt. Still I expect Arsenal to win.
Drogba, Cole, and Carvalho are to play for Chelsea. This should kick it up a notch for the Blues.
If the Blues play like they did mid-week and last Saturday, it could be a long day.
West Ham stinks but this is the year of the dogs. Anything can happen just ask City, Arsenal, and Man U.
Spurs- Rovers will be a good one. Tottenham needs to get the “W”. This is not the time to let down after kicking City’s butt up and down the pitch mid-week. Come out breathing fire and score baby score. It is that simple.
All and all this season in the EPL is really wild. Who would have thought that Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United would struggle on the road? Road warriors they are not. All of em has three losses. This is not good. Championships are won on the road.
The team with the best road record will win the title.
Last year EPL champ Manchester United had three road losses all season. That’s it baby. The Red Devils had a total four loses for the entire campaign. Guess what? The mighty boys from Old Trafford already have four of those bad boys.
Last year Arsenal and Chelsea had a total of three road losses each. Now hear this both Chelsea and the Gunners have already equaled last season’s total road losses. Both Chelsea and Arsenal have three of those big boys and we are not even at midterm break.
This is not good.
Need I go on?
In the NFL, we have a saying. “ On any given Sunday any team can win.” This saying is now true in the EPL. Former Commish, Pete Rozelle was seeking parity. In the NFL, parity is now a way of life.
I am not saying parity is on the fast track in the EPL but the dogs are making life hard for the big boys.
You gotta love it.
Oh, yeah, one last parting shot.
Barcelona and Estudiantes battle for the 2009 World Club Title. Will Estudiantes be Barca’s Waterloo?
De Futebol
Arsenal righted their ship while Liverpool’s ship is taking on so much water it is about to sink. You can almost stick a fork in Liverpool’s season after the Reds were defeated in their house Anfield by Arsenal 2-1.
Liverpool played a very strong first half. Dirk Kuyt ripped the rebound winner in the 41st minute to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead.
Aurelio hit a great free kick into the box. Lucas fired a header that was blocked by Arsenal keeper Almunia. The ball comes bounding out. Shot. Save. Rebound. Header. Goal.
The second half was a different story. The Gunners came out breathing fire. Arsenal played like their lives were dependant upon them winning.
It was.
Then wham bam thank you madam the match was spun around and changed on its head.
Nasri fired a great crossing ball into the box. Whamo. The ball goes flying off of Reds defender Jamie Carragher. Liverpool’s Glen Johnson is cemented to the spot. Bing. Bam. Boom. The ball ricochets off Johnson and into the Reds net to tie this baby up at one all in the 50th minute
Eight minutes later, 58th minute, Liverpool’s Glen Johnson was once again the main ingredient in the Gunners second goal. Fabregas fired a wicked cross into the box. Reds defender Glen Johnson failed to make a play on the ball. Johnson gave Arsenal attacker Andre Arshavin a free play on the ball.
Arshavin took the gift. He quickly turned. Arshavin fired. Goal. 2-1 Gunners and this was all she wrote.
The fat lady sang.
Now you can say Voce Vai Liverpool for your season is surely cooked and burnt to a crisp.
This was the Reds six loss for the season.
Liverpool’s only hope to save their sorry year is that if the top clubs Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal fall apart and lose their next four matches.
Stranger things have happened.
Do you remember what I said about Aston Villa and Manchester United?
I do have ESPN, I mean ESP.
They way it stands right now. Chelsea is the top dog with 37 points. The Red Devils are in second place with 34 points. Arsenal is in third position with 31 points. Villa is in fourth place with 29 points.
