The Thursday Kick-Off: Game 46
Posted by Taareq Elsokari on 05.10.2007
A return for the kick-off and lots to talk about, come in side and take a look
We're back. Ok apologies for no columns over the last three weeks. Things have been a little hectic around my way. It all started with a trip to Earls Court to see Raw, what a night that was, awesome show. I've then had to deal with some redecorating my dad's doing at his house and so due to that, the room with my PC was being done which left me with no internet access at home. This lead to me missing the chance to gloat at a Man Utd first leg victory against Milan as well as missing the awesome play-by-play in the forums by Ian Wright.
Last Saturday night, after watching Spiderman 3 I came home and, with thanks to Sky, stayed up till 6am watching the Mayweather De La Hoya fight. It wasn't the classic fight that will have people talking about in 10 years time, but it was a very good fight and one that didn't make me regret staying up to watch. I still think De La Hoya did enough to win since he was the more aggressive fighter and seemed to land more punches. In saying that I would love to see a rematch as well as maybe a Mayweather Mosley fight.
Oh yeah and Man Utd won the Championship with a win at Eastlands and Arsenal holding Chelsea at the Emirates.
In saying that……..
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With that all said lets get this game started:
The First Half:
Man Utd are your Champions
Well Man Utd did it. They managed to hold onto the title and capitalise on Chelsea's mistakes and it's paid off at the best place to do it, in front of 40,000 blues. It was great watching.
Ronaldo showed some character after being stamped on in the second minute of the game and getting up and just playing ridiculously well. Every time he got the ball he ran at Ball and most times he'd get hacked down but other occasions he'd make the City defender look like an idiot. Great penalty to win the game and bring Utd within touching distance of the title.
As for Arsenal Chelsea, what a second half. Every Utd fan must have been on the edge of their seats and after Essien scored must have been thinking maybe Wenger and Jose made up. Chelsea were awesome in the second half after Boulahrouz made sure of his exit through the Stamford Bridge revolving door this Summer by getting sent off after some poor defensive play. Eboue was unlucky not to win the game for Arsenal when he struck the cross bar but in saying that Kalou and co should have converted a couple of chances to make tonight's game actually mean something.
As for tonight's affair at the Bridge, after the weekend events it was never going to be the event it had promised to be over the last few weeks. To be honest, when I saw the team sheets I thought to myself "Utd are going to get spanked" and well that never happened. It was a resilient performance and a pretty decent game tonight. There were times the game threatened to blow up and this just showed that even though it wasn't the first teams of either side and nothing was really at stake tonight, the rivalry is still there.
Barton goes mental
I think this may be the final straw for the City midfielder. He has a long and sordid history of violence and abuse and this was just disgusting. I think any attempt to exonerate him from blame has been squashed since Stuart Pearce said that eh would actually be backing Dabo in court with regards to the matter. Also several unnamed City players have claimed that the attack was completely unprovoked and Dabo claimed that the first punch came from behind knocking him out.
Barton is a disgraceful human being who deserves more time in jail than on the pitch and you can only really think back to the times in his past such as when he turned out a cigar in a waiter's eye in a training camp in Spain.
Hope he gets what he deserves is all I'm saying.
Roeder is gone and Big Sam In
Roeder got summoned to St James Park on Sunday for an emergency meeting following Newcastle's defeat to Blackburn on Saturday. A few hours later Roeder announced his resignation with immediate effect.
So basically the poor run of form has finally caught up and the board have reacted to the fans displeasure by sacking the manager. To be honest, they are one failed managerial appointment from the fans really turning up the head on the board and maybe even boycotting games.
The rumours of Big Sam came about a few weeks ago and then got stronger with the surprise timing of his departure from Bolton. He could be a good choice for Newcastle but he will definitely have less of an emphasis on performances and more on results, not too sure how well that would go down with the Newcastle faithful.
Roeder has been unlucky with injuries so far this year and has paid the price for also not really having the control or the respect of the dressing room, Sam will definitely have no problem getting that.
A new name that has been thrown up in recent days has been that of ex-England manager Sven Goran Eriksson. Now this isn't as bad a possibility as some may think. His record at Lazio was excellent and his record for England was also extremely impressive.
These are the two leading candidates for the job and both have equal opportunity to do well if they get a bit of luck with injuries, something Roeder didn't get this season.
Champions League Round Up
Milan absolutely spanked Man Utd last Wednesday at the San Siro. It pains me to say this but it is the reality. Utd really didn't show up last week and it seemed that mentally they just never recovered from going a goal down. If there was ever a sign that indicated Utd needing a combatative and influential figure in their side that cold rainy night in Milan would have been it. The Utd team really did miss a Roy Keane figure.
Personally, not giving excuses here, but I think the tie could and would have been different had Utd had a fully fit defence for the two ties. They practically selotaped a defence together in the first leg and in the second they rushed back an unfit Vidic due to not having any other defenders fit or available. Looking at the goals that they conceded, practically four out of the five were defensive errors. In saying that, with a fully fit defence, confidence in containing Milan would have been high and thus there may have been less emphasis on attack. Oh well, who knows? Football is far from being a game about "if's and but's".
Relegation Battle
Well two out of three places have been filled. The last place comes down to West Ham, Wigan and Sheffield Utd.
Wigan and Sheffield Utd face each other on Saturday in what is a game that actually decides the fate of both clubs. Currently the table looks like the following:
So as you can see if West Ham fail to get anything from Old Trafford and Wigan beat Sheffield Utd then the Hammers will be relegated. West Ham needs a point to guarantee their safety and with Ferguson claiming that he will field a strong side, if not his strongest against the Hammers this could be bad news for Alan Curbishly and his men. Ferguson will also want to end the season at Old Trafford well especially since he will be picking up the League Championship medals. If the result at Brammal Lane ends as a 1-0 victory to Wigan and West Ham do not get at least a point at Old Trafford then it will be bye bye Hammers and the bottom clubs will feel that "justice" was done with regards to the Premier League's ruling about the Tevez and Maschereno signings.
West Ham Transfer Irregularities
They got a £5.5million fine. Personally I think the Premier League need to look at themselves here as well as whatever the Hammers did wrong.
If there were problems with the paperwork, then the transfers should have been rejected straight from the start and this would never have been a problem.
Maschereno's transfer to Liverpool isn't a problem since Liverpool bought out his contract with both West Ham and the third party but the Tevez signing is still a little bit in the unknown. The Premier League says its satisfied but the other clubs claim to have evidence that its not as well as being aggrieved that West Ham were able to not only play Tevez during the investigation but also sort out his registration during the course of the closed transfer window.
I'm a little confused about the situation, the Premier League screwed up, West Ham screwed up and now its possible that some clubs could pay penalty, but remember something, Wigan and Sheffield Utd have had all season to get themselves out of trouble and to be honest, this whole "West Ham should be deducted points" thing is rubbish. Also this is not the reason that Wigan and Sheff Utd are going to be relegated, poor form on their part is the reason and that's where it stands. Should the Hammers have been deducted points? Well if they did commit irregularities in the transfers that went against the Premier League rules then yes of course they should be, but also the finger needs to be pointed at the Premier League and the FA for allowing the transfers to happen in the first place.
PFA Player of the Year
To be honest, Ronaldo being named the triple player of the year was a little surprising. In terms of the PFA awards, I'm not surprised he won those but the Football Writers Awards was a little surprising. Did he deserve all three? Based on his performances this season in the league he definitely did. I'm not disputing him winning them, just saying I was a little surprised since I thought at least one other player would have gotten something, someone like a Drogba or a Scholes.
Random thoughts
Sunderland and Birmingham cemented their places in the Premiership for next season. Sunderland have been on a fantastic run this year and Birmingham have gotten back to form after a bit of a shaky period in early 2007. The play-off places have been settled and Wolves and West Brom looks to be a solid tie. Southampton and Derby could be a good game for different reasons to the above one. As for who will make their return to the Premiership, well I'm going for Southampton and WBA in the final.
The Final Whistle
I'll be back next week with a review of the final day of the season as well as a look at the potential transfer activity in the summer and my team of the year. Till then check out some if not all of the quality stuff listed below.
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