Football News And Views

Yesterday saw one of the strangest goals you are ever likely to see not just in the Premiership but at any ground around the world. It came at the Stadium of Light in the match between Sunderland and Liverpool. A Liverpool fan needlessly tossed up a beach ball and smacked it on to the pitch just after kickoff. The Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina then did the sensible thing and place the red inflatable into his goal but then as Sunderland launched an attack in the 5th minute of the game the wind blew the beach ball into the middle of the 6 yard box and as Sunderland were in the middle of an attack nobody could move the inflatable from the playing surface. When the ball came to Sunderland forward Darren Bent he unleashed a shot which hit the beach ball and deflected the football past the reach of Pepe Reina. After deliberation with his linesman the Referee Mike Jones allowed the goal to stand and despite feeling rather aggrieved with their bad luck the Liverpool players seem to accept the decision. It has later emerged that this goal should actually have been disallowed as their is a law that states if there’s an outside interference the game has to be stopped and a drop-ball should be contested at the resumption of play but it would appear that none of he players, the four officials or manager of either side was aware of this law so the goal was aloud to stand. I cant help thinking what the fan who threw the beach ball onto the pitch but be feeling at this moment in time especially if that point costs his team a place in the Champions League next season.

The pain of this incident is still not over for Liverpool fans as when bitter rivals Manchester United visiting Anfield this weekend they are planning a version of Nena’s 99 Red Balloons just to add insult to injury. For Liverpool fans who are interested in purchasing a Liverpool beach ball then it is available as part of the official Liverpool beach set which is currently on sale for the reduced price of £10.

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle

Arsenal were once again on hand to pile on the misery for Kevin Keegan who just days ago was labeled ‘The Messiah’ by many in the media. Three games without a goal  now for Keegan’s Newcastle side who in all fairness have had to travel to The Emirates twice in a few days and it’s no easy place to go. Saturday’s game ended 3-0 to the Gunners and the league game was a repeat and it was just as easy for Arsenal as it was before. I didn’t expect Newcastle to win but I did expect them to learn from their mistakes from Saturday but they never really had any of the game and Arsenal were in control throughout.

Newcastle held out for a while and it took Arsenal nearly 40 minutes to find the break through. Flamini sent in a delightful cross from the right hand side for Adebayor to easily header past Shay Given. Adebayor had a shot over the bar just minutes before the opening goal and that was about as far as first half chances went. Newcastle started the first few minutes of the second half looking brighter but couldn’t do anything with the ball. Michael Owen found himself offside on so many occasions as the Newcaslte midfield tried to find him and this did not help Newcastle’ cause.

After 72 minutes the goal of the match came and it had looked like Arsenal were going to get anotehr one and they did in some style. Cesc passed the ball from the left to Flamini who struck the ball from 20 yards and it floated into the top corner. Just as it was on Saturday 2-0 was game over but again it wasn’t enough for Arsenal who got the third from Cesc Fabregas who couldn’t miss after being played the ball square in the box from Bendtner. It was a typical Arsenal move.

So where does this leave The Messiah and his new recruit, Dennis Wise? I think the next few days are critical for Newcastle United. They need to bring in a few faces. They clearly need a centre back and a defensive midfielder. They are missing Martins and playing Owen up front or with Alan Smith behind him does not appear to bring much joy. A winger should also be on their shopping list as they never really looked threatening out on their wide positions. A lot of people will be looking at Keegan and wondering if he is the man for the job but only time will tell. Losing at The Emirates is not a problem but his side need to bounce back. They have a local Derby with Boro at home next, a tie which is very much winnable and if Keegan wants to live up to his Messiah tag then 3 points is critical.

A terrible decision today meant Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1. Kalou was a good 4 yards offside when he scored Chelseas winner yet the linesman gave the goal and the referee did not argue with his decision. What makes this even more of a joke is that 3 Newcastle players were booked for protesting when they were right! I really hope those yellow cards will be rescinded. It was yet another inept display by officials in the Premiership which again will bring up the call for some sort of goal line technology, replays etc. I cannot see why we don’t have replays in football. They are a huge success in Rugby (unless Aussies are involved in watching them) and some may argue that it’s not good to stop play but this situation doesn’t really come up more than once a game. A lot less than a dodgy try.

Another solution though is to punish those involved. We have seen refs dropped before because of their mistakes and I hope this will happen to those involved in todays game. I don’t know if they lose wages for being dropped from a game but they deserve it because they have not done their job. Disgraceful.

Fulham 2-2 Blackburn

An entertaining second half is the story of this match as Fulham hosted Blackburn at Craven Cottage. The only major incident in the first half was an injury to Benni McCarthy who had to go off with a gashed leg. He was replaced by Jason Roberts. The injury produced 4 minutes of first half injury time and these 4 minutes were more entertaining than the first 45 minutes. Morten Gamst Pederson had a shot blocked as Blackburn looked to take the lead and moments later Kamara also came clsoe with a long range effort.

The second half was like a different game and it was Fulham who took the league through a Danny Murphy penalty who went Brad Friedel the wrong way. Kamara was brought down on the edge of the box by Ryan Nelsen and the referee didn’t hesitate and pointed straight to the spot. Blackburn responded 5 minutes later when Brett Emerton turned well to fire in from a Jason Roberts cross. It looked as if Blackburn would go on and get a second but after another 5 minutes Fulham scored again when a slick move was rounded off by Kamara who was picked out by Simon Davies who had earlier been released on the right hand side. Blackburn again had most of the play and Niemi was force to make a great double save after 75 minutes from Emerton and Pederson shots. But Blackburn did get their equaliser when Jason Roberts again provided a good cross and Warnock made no mistake from close range.

The final few minutes provided great end to end football but neither team could make themselves any clear cut chances. Fulham fans will be glad they didn’t conceed in the final moments like they usually do but they will be disappointed they let the lead go twice but credit to Blackburn who looked the better side throughout most of the match.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan

With Manchester United losing 1-0 to Bolton, Arsenal had the chance to move 3 points clear with a game in hand and they left it late against a resilient Wigan side who had new manager, Steve Bruce watching in the stands. Bruce will be impressed that his Wigan side managed to keep Arsenal at bay for 80 minutes before Gallas and Rosicky got the goals for The Gunners.

There were few chances in the first half. Adebayor had his shot well saved by Pollitt who was called up die to Chris Kirkland’s illness. Adebayor found space in the box after being found by Theo Walcott but he couldn’t direct it past the Wigan goalkeeper who dived to his left to produce a fine save. Marcus Bent came close for Wigan when he saw his header go over the bar but that’s as close as Wigan got all match. Eboue also could have scored for Arsenal in the first half but he mistimed his shot and missed the ball completely from Theo Walcott’s low cross.

Wigan kept Arsenal out for most of the second half and there were not many Arsenal chances. Their passing was not like it has been in recent weeks and Wigan managed to break down a few attacks throughout the game. Pollitt did make another good save after Denilson’s free kick was floated into the area and it looked to have been flicked on by a Wigan player at close range but Pollitt was equal to it. Adebayor also had a chance when he was put through but Boyce managed to tackle him and knock the ball away just as Adebayor was going to pull the trigger.

There was a bit of handbags after Marcus Bent fouled Denilson and Gallas and Heskey found themselves booked. As Arsenal kept pressing Heskey bought down Theo Walcott and the young Englishman had to be stretchered off but it has been confirmed by Arsene Wenger that he is okay. Then the goals finally came for Arsenal. The first was a near post header from Gallas who met a superb cross from Sagna who had played well. A typical Arsenal break saw Bendtner feed the ball to Rosicky who had plenty of space to knock it from an advancing Pollitt from 16 yards. So that leaves Arsenal in a very good position coming into December and they have some tricky matches coming up.

Reading 1 - 3 Arsenal

Arsenal took their chance to go back above Manchester United in the Premiership to retain top spot with a 3-1 win over Reading on a cold Monday night. Reading went into the game with a defensive approach and managed to frustrate Arsenal for most of the first half. There were little clear cut chances with Adebayor coming the closest when his shot hit the post. Gunnarsson had a 30 yard effort saved by Almunia  as the Royals created little else. The breakthrough did come right before the stroke of half time when a neat bit of play was rounded of with great movement by Hleb who picked out Flamini who opened the scoring despite Stephen Hunt’s best efforts to prevent it.

Arsenal made it 2 shortly after the second half began when typical Arsenal passing between Hleb and Cesc found the ball fall to Adebayor who cooly slotted the ball past Hahnemann in the Reading goal. This was Arsenals 1000th goal in the Premiership. Adebayor should have got a second but was wrongly ruled offside by the linesman who didn’t have the best angle to judge. Hleb then made it 3-0 and he deserved to get his name on the scoresheet. Hleb broke free into the Reading area and took the ball round Hehnemann and made it goal 1001.

Reading never gave up and kept pushing Arsenal until the end and got a goal which they would feel they deserved. The goal was scored in an almost scrappy fashion as Shorey hit the post with his header and the ball fell straight to Stephen Hunt who couldn’t miss from 3 yards. So Arsenal are back on top for a couple of weeks and on this form they will be very hard to dislodge.

Portsmouth 7 - 4 Reading

I have not mispelt the scoreline nor is this a match report for a womans match. The score at Fratton Park really was 7-4 in what is currently the highest scoring Premier League match of all time. Portsmouth, who started with one striker up front, Benjani who last season ‘couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo’ opened the scoring when Utaka beat the offside trap and floated the ball to the back post for Benjani to hit home from close range. Benjani then picked up the ball outside the box and produced some good footwork and an equally good finish to put Portsmouth 2-0 up. Before half time Reading pulled one back when Stephen Hunt headed in from close range after Roseniors shot bounced off the line.

The second half was where things got a bit silly. Reading came out looking the equaliser and found it when David James made a trademark error. The ball traveled at pace looking for Kitson outside the Portsmouth box and David James rushed out to scramble it away but Kitson beat him to and he took it past James to slot the ball into the empty net from 20 yards. Portsmouth had the ball in the back of the net again when Diop was left unmarked in the box and headed it in but he was offside so it didn’t count. It was long after that Portsmouth did find a 3rd, this time Hreidarsson scored with a header from Distins cross.

Portsmouth nearly gifted Reading another equaliser when Diop handled in the area to give away a spot kick. This James went from villain to hero to save Shorey’s penalty kick. Portsmouth then ran riot starting with Banjani completing his hattrick when he took the ball around Hahnemann and slid the ball into the empty net. Reading defender Gunnarsson who had a howler of a match tried to clear the ball from the Reading area only to kick it straight to Davis who crossed to Kranjcar who got between two Reading defenders and their keeper to header home from 2 yards to make it 5-2. I hope you’re keeping up.

Reading then got another one back when James Harper fired a shot which deflected off Shane Long to make it 5-3 but Portsmouth responded with a deflected shot of their own when Davis shot from long range and his shot deflected off the head of Ingimarsson to make it 6-3. By this time Sky Sports News reporter Chris Kamara was looking like he might take off he was loving it. Nico Kranjcar was then fouled in the Reading area and Muntari made no mistake from the resulting penalty kick by blasting it into the roof of the net. In the dying moments of the game Reading scored a 4th when Shorey scored the third deflected goal of the match when he picked up Shane Long’s cross outside the area and blasted it in off Sol Campbell to cap an incredible match which must ask some defensive questions. Reading will look at it and wonder how they can score 4 goals away from home and walk away with nothing and Portsmouth will need to address letting in 4 goals at home (which I think is mainly down to me putting Glen Johnson into my fantasy football team. Typical).

The last couple of weeks may seem like months to most Chelsea fans. The change that has happened in the short space of time is really huge mainly because of the departure of Jose Mourinho. Last night Chelsea were away to Hull in the Carling Cup and thrashed the championship side 4-0. Some will argue it was only Hull, a team of lwoer quality than Chelsea face week in week out but a win is a win and it will certainly give Avrem Grant’s side a boost. Scott Sinclair opened the scoring for Chelsea and Kalou got two either side of a Sidwell finish. The likes of Kalou will need to carry this form into the Premiership while the likes of Drogba and Lampard are injured as Chelsea have been struggling for goals since their absence despite this win.

Elsewhere there has been more bad news for Chelsea as they have been charged for failing to control their players during the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United and assistant manager has also been charged for using bad language at the officials. Also Jon Obi Mikels red card appeal has been turned down and he will face a 3 match ban. Some good news though is that Avram Grant will be able to manage the clubs Champions League matches after UEFA said they would not ban him despite not having a UEFA Pro License. Avram Grant can manage Chelsea for 12 weeks without one and it will be interesting to see if he will be allowed to continue to the end of the season. I think he will as we have seen exemptions in the past for the likes of Gareth Southgate and Glenn Roeder and Grant has more experience in managerial positions then they did at the time.

At the moment everything is just going right for us Arsenal fans. Top of the league and winning starts in the Carling Cup and Champions League and now it has been announced that with a record turnover of over £200m from last year, Arsenal are the richest club in the UK. Arsene Wenger has no doubt always kept his hands in his pocket during the transfer markets and usually bought cheap foreign youngsters who turn out to be superstars and with the club at a new 60,000 stadium the average home match income is £3.1m. This is slightly due to Arsenal having the highest ticket prices in the UK but London Clubs tend to charge London prices.

This news does make me realise why the club would be so appealing to the likes of Usmanov who now owns 21% of the clubs shares. I do not think he will mount a takeover but he has plenty of shares to make a good return from should the turnover keep to this height which it is expected to do especially when Carling Cup games still produce almost sell out crowds in contrast to clubs like Chelsea who could only just half fill Stamford Bridge in a recent Champions League match. I do worry that a takeover bid could undo all the hard work the club has put in to get themselves into a position where they are making so much money. Arsene Wenger does need £100m to spend on players each summer and Arsenal even have over £70m of cash in the bank not doing anything if Arsene did want to buy someone.

The future is looking good for Arsenal and although I don’t think we will win the league this season I think this will certainly be our best season for a few years and I am going to enjoy it every step of the way.

Jose Mourihno Leaves Chelsea 

Chelsea have sensationally parted company with manager Jose Mourinho. The stunning news first broke out late on Wednesday evening and was confirmed in the early hours of Thursday following talks with Stamford Bridge officials. Mourinho was called to an emergency meeting late on Wednesday night with  Peter Kenyon, chairman Bruce Buck and director Eugene Tenenbaum, Roman Abramovich’s key aide where the decision was made. The former Chelsea boss had earlier joined the Chelsea first team at a club DVD launch in Fulham and is reported to have been very emotional when he later texted senior players with the news, this was confirmed by a senior player on Sky Sports News.

Abramovich is understood to be unhappy with the teams drab style of football which saw less than 25 000 fans turn up for the home game against Rosenburg and Jose’s recruitment in the summer including letting certain players ago. The official line coming out of Stamford Bridge is “mutual consent” but this is never the case and I think it is pretty clear that relations between the chairman and the former manager has been strained for some time and this tension just came to a head and Roman decided to make the change now. It has just been confirmed that the new manager is gonna be the Isreali and close friend of Ambramovich Avram Grant who was bought to the club by Ambramovich as director of football despite Mourihno’s objections so I suppose it was inevitable that this was going to happen at some point.

Could this be the end of Chelsea as we know it? I for one sure hope so. Frank Lampard has yet to sign a new deal with the club so I can see him leaving The Bridge now and I wouldn’t be surprise to see others follow either to other clubs abroad to win more things or to follow Jose’s to his new club as its only a matter of time before a big club makes him an offer. I have nothing against Chelsea but football has gone mad with the amount of money involved in the game now so hopefully Abramovich will soon piss off and all the other Yanks and Russians follow suit so we can get football back how it use to be.