Football News And Views

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.

Horsham 2-1 Chelmsford City

Chelmsford City’s terrible away form continued yesterday as they squandered an half time lead to leave the Atspeed Stadium for the 2nd successive season with nothing.

Chelmsford started quite brighly for them for an away match but it was still  Horsham who were the better side and if it wasn’t for keeper Danny Gay they could quite easily have taken the lead twice but the former Heybridge man saved well down at his posts. Chelmsford had some counter attacks but the delivery was poor on a couple of occasions and because they were playing this stupid 4-5-1 formation again Kezie Ibe kept dropping back to receive the ball so there was no one in the box.

Ibe then had Chelmsford’s best chance of the half so far when Jeff Minton slipped the ball through on the run but the defenders on his shoulder proved hard to shrug of and legally in the eyes of the ref got a foot in and goalkeeper Alan Mansfield was able to easily save the strikers resulting effort on goal. Then for the moment we had all been waiting for Lee Protheroe’s deep corner picked out Ricky Holmes on the edge of the are who smacked it towards goal and then it Kezie Ibe on the head at the far post and went it. In truth I don’t think Kez knew alot about it but the City fans didn’t care one bit.

The Horsham equaliser came 4 minutes after the restart when an outrageous offside decision was given against City which resulted in the free kick being sent deep to the edge of the area where John Westcott was able to strike a low shot past Danny Gay into the bottom corner.

Danny Gay was then called into action again shortly after and thoughts turned to last years defeat and the recent away form and the City fans fears were realised when a passage of play from the home side  found Jacob Mingle who drove a shot towards goal it was a great goal and Danny Gay had no chance but he shouldn’t have had the room he did.

So no points away from home but at least there is a home game to bounce back to on Monday before the FA Cup came next weekend. I think its time to ditch the 4-5-1 formation as only Danny Gay could be happy with his performance today it was the worst City performance i’ve seen but i’m sure they know that and will put things right. Also Chelmsford need to get a new striker in with the news that Jason Hallet’s injury is worse than first expected and he could now be facing the whole season out.

U.S.A. Woman 3 - 0 England

The England women team were out to cause the biggest upset in womens football by beating the worlds number one nation, U.S.A. I don’t know how the mens football (soccer) team in the U.S.A. is terrible but their ladies are number one in the world whereas both England national teams seem to be very good but not great. England put up a great fight to hold the U.S.A. team off in the first half and there were not really too many chances to talk about apart from a shot that was well saved by Rachel Brown in the England goal from Kristine Lilly.

It didn’t take the U.S.A. long to find their first in the second half when Wombach, who was celebrating her 100th international game, headed them in front.  Boxx then made it 2-0 with a precise, low 20 yard shot and just 3 minutes later Brown let the ball bounce over her head only for Lilly to make no mistake from close range. So England are out and the U.S.A. will be full of confidence going into the semis.

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.

The two days of the first games in this years champions league have now passed and there was a mixed bag of results for the British clubs involved. The Tuesday games saw Celtic, Chelsea and Liverpool involved and neither of them managed to pick out a win. Celtic went 2-0 down in just 8 minutes away to Shakhtar Donetsk and couldn’t find a reply. They managed to resist the wave of Shakhtar attacks to avoid an embarrassing result. Chelsea took on minnows Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge and fell behind in the 24th minute to a Miika Koppinen flick but Andre Shevchenko headed in a second half equaliser for Chelsea. The biggest shock in this match was the poor attendance of just 24,973. Liverpool could also only manage a 1-1 draw but they were against a very good looking Porto side who took the lead after 8 minutes when Porto were awarded a penalty which Gonzalez converted. Drik Kuyt equalised with a close range header. Porto looked good all through the match and Liverpool did well to resist their challenge and earn themselves a good away point.

Wednesday saw Rangers, Manchester United and Arsenal all in action and all winning. Goals from Fabregas (which took a deflection on the way so may go down as an OG), Robin Van Persie and Eduardo saw off Sevilla at the Emirates stadium. A diving Cristiano Ronaldo header was the only goal of the game when Manchester United beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 away from home. Rangers had to come from behind to win against VfB Stuttgart at Ibrox. Mario Gomez fired Stuttgart ahead in the first half but a great goal from Charlie Adam and a Jean Claude Darcheville penalty gave Rangers a precious win in what can only be described as the group of death.

The 127th FA Cup competition has now reached the Second Round Qualifying stage, for which the draw for the  was made at Soho Square today.

The 44 clubs from Blue Square North and South enter at this stage. The 80 Second Round Qualifying ties are scheduled to be played on Saturday 29 September, with the winning clubs each picking up £3,750. The two ties that stand out for me are Hempel Hempsted at home to Chelmsford City and Debenham’s reward for beating Holbeach United is a home tie with Ryman Premier League side AFC Wimbledon. The full draw can be found below.

1 Liversedge v Kendal Town

2 Consett v Workington

3 Barrow v Colwyn Bay

4 Billingham Town v Fleetwood Town

5 Skelmersdale United v Southport

6 Prescot Cables v Guiseley AFC

7 Dinnington Town or Penrith Town v Cheadle Town

8 Chester-Le-Street Town or Harrogate Railway v Leigh RMI

9 Bradford Park Avenue v Whitby Town

10 Stalybridge Celtic v Hyde United

11 Flixton or Bamber Bridge v Burscough

12 Gainsborough Trinity v Stocksbridge Park Steels

13 Harrogate Town v Nantwich Town

14 West Auckland Town v Newcastle Benfield

15 Gateshead v Vauxhall Motors

16 Chorley or Clitheroe v Spennymoor Town

17 Blyth Spartans AFC v Radcliffe Borough

18 Horden CW or Jarrow Roofing Boldon CA v Woodley Sports

19 Cambridge City v Chasetown

20 Kettering Town v Redditch United

21 Bromsgrove Rovers or Shepshed Dynamo v Nuneaton Borough

22 Rainworth MW v Kidsgrove Athletic or Barnt Green Spartak

23 Matlock Town v AFC Telford United

24 Stourbridge v King`s Lynn

25 Soham Town Rangers v Solihull Moors

26 Hinckley United v Grantham Town or Needham Market

27 Boston United v Buxton

28 Quorn v Evesham United or Tipton Town

29 Tamworth v Worcester City

30 Hednesford Town or Stratford Town v Alfreton Town

31 Rushall Olympic v Sutton Coldfield Town

32 Glapwell v Market Drayton Town

33 Belper Town v Hucknall Town

34 Halesowen Town v Bedworth United

35 Stamford v Gedling Town

36 Horsham v Bury Town

37 Hayes & Yeading United v Herne Bay

38 Dulwich Hamlet or Deal Town v Chalfont St Peter

39 Crowborough Athletic v Brackley Town or Staines Town

40 Boreham Wood v Broxbourne Borough V&E or Bedford Town

41 Ware or Great Wakering Rovers v Thurrock

42 Mildenhall Town or Haverhill Rovers v Hitchin Town

43 Dartford or Sittingbourne v Camberley Town

44 Fisher Athletic v Margate

45 Hemel Hempstead Town v Chelmsford City

46 Welling United v Hertford Town or Barkingside

47 Billericay Town v Maidstone United

48 Croydon Athletic or Tonbridge Angels v Maldon Town

49 Dunstable Town v Lewes

50 St Albans City v Bishop’s Stortford

51 Kirkley & Pakefield v Leighton Town

52 Tiptree United or Brentwood Town v Harlow Town

53 Chesham United v Stotfold

54 Worthing or Croydon v Eastbourne Town or Walton & Hersham

55 Hampton & Richmond Borough v Braintree Town

56 Hendon or Aveley v AFC Hornchurch

57 Sutton United v Harwich & Parkeston or Woodford United

58 Debenham LC v AFC Wimbledon

59 Ramsgate v Barton Rovers or Corby Town

60 Folkestone Invicta or Horsham YMCA v Windsor & Eton

61 Hythe Town v Dover Athletic

62 Rothwell Town or Enfield Town v Hillingdon Borough

63 Erith Town v Heybridge Swifts

64 Aylesbury United v Bromley

65 Carshalton Athletic v Wealdstone

66 Eastbourne Borough v Edgware Town

67 Merthyr Tydfil v Abingdon United or AFC Totton

68 Brockenhurst or Wootton Bassett Town v Maidenhead United

69 Oxford City v Weston-super-Mare

70 Bognor Regis Town v Havant & Waterlooville

71 Beaconsfield SYCOB or Chippenham Town v Hallen

72 Dorchester Town v Paulton Rovers

73 Gloucester City v Shortwood United

74 Basingstoke Town v Newport County

75 Truro City v Bath City

76 Corsham Town v VT or Bashley

77 Moneyfields v Team Bath

78 Hamworthy United or Bishop’s Cleeve v Eastleigh

79 Cirencester Town or Cinderford Town v Clevedon Town

80 Fleet Town or Gosport Borough v Mangotsfield United

After their under 17 world cup triumph against Spain last week, every member of the Nigerian under 17 team have each been given their own 3 bedroom house by the Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua. Not only have they each been giving their own place (or bachelor pad as most of them will like to call it) they have also been given one of Nigeria’s highest honours, each becoming a member of the Order of the Niger. It’s nice to see in Nigeria that such high rewards have been given for success. This can only encourage more kids to start playing football in the country. I doubt the same would have much effect here due to the stupid wages our players get, a 3 bedroom house is not even a weeks wages to some of the highest paid players. It will be interesting to see how many of these young Nigerians actually move straight into their new houses as they are all 16-17 year olds and may be too young to stand on their own two feet. Well done to them for winning the world cup though. If they win it for the senior team in 7 years time then who knows, they may all be given their own island.

Tottenham 1 -3 Arsenal

In what has been described the most exciting North London derby since the 5-4 result a few years back Arsenal once again took the 3 points to put the pressure on Martin Jol. The game started brightly with Adebayor forcing a fine save from Paul Robinson just after 2 minutes but it was Spurs who took the lead when Gareth Bale sent in a curling left footed free kick around the Arsenal wall and past Manuel Almunia. Arsenal had their own chances to equalise in the first half and Diaby should have done better when he sent his shot smashing into the bar.

Spurs could have made it 2-0 in the second half when Berbatov rounded Almunia but didn’t pull the trigger quick enough and Kolo Toure recovered. Adebayor found himself all alone in the Spurs box only to blast his shot over the gaping net but he soon made up for his miss by connecting to a Cesc Fabregas free kick to header beyond Paul Robinson who was in no mans land. Berbatov had another chance to get Spurs second when his shot was hit straight at Clichy on the line and his follow up header was sent over. This miss proved costly as Cesc Fabregas picked up the ball outside the Spurs box and thundered a shot home from 25 yards.

Spurs bought on Dareen Bent to try and rescue a point and within moments he found himself one on one with Almunia only to scuff his shot wide. Arsenal wrapped up the points in injury time when Adebayor flicked up the ball in front of him and sent a thunderous volley into the top corner of the Spurs goal. Due to Liverpool failing to beat Portsmouth, Arsenal ended the day top of the table to send a message to the rest of the Premiership that there is life without Thierry Henry.