February 9, 2010 by Magnakai Haaskivi
It’s all well and good to mock Portsmouth for not paying their players. After all, Pompey is one of the twenty clubs lucky enough to be in the top league in the world; their players should be compensated appropriately, and it’s completely ridiculous that it isn’t happening. It was ridiculous with Valencia last year, and also with Crystal Palace this year; you have to pay your players.
To their credit, though, the Portsmouth players (like the Palace and Los Che players before them) still played their matches. Chester City players seem to think that that’s where they went wrong.
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Posted in Blue Square Premier | Tagged Blue Square Premier, Chester City, Financial Disasters | Leave a Comment »
I started writing this post a week ago, after Arsenal lost to Manchester United in quite an uninspiring performance. Arsenal were rather heavily outmatched by a United squad that wasn’t really expected to be that good this season. I wasn’t happy with the game, but as I was writing I realized that an even bigger match was occurring the coming Sunday and that things could go one of two ways, Arsenal could beat Chelsea and I’d probably delete the post and go on my merry way. Or Arsenal could lose to Chelsea and I’d be even more angry and pissed off.
You’re obviously reading this, so you know how the game went. It wasn’t good. Arsenal were pretty easily handled by Chelsea. Every single Arsenal attack seemed to go the same way, get a couple of good passes together and then right when you thought a shot might be coming a pass was intercepted, or the player trying to make the play was muscled off the ball. In fact, lets take a look at Chelsea’s interceptions in the game thanks to the Guardian’s chalkboards
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Posted in General | Tagged Arsenal, Arsenal Victimes, Arsene Wenger, Editorial | 9 Comments »
February 9, 2010 by Magnakai Haaskivi
Click here for the enlarged view
This has what it’s come to, folks. In today’s Financial Times, the administrators who are now in charge of Crystal Palace ran this ad to try drum up a new owner. If it reminds you vaguely of the tactics used to try and sell Michael Owen, then you’re starting to pick up on the pattern of the P&A Partnership; they’re the ad wizards behind both campaigns. At this rate, you’ll start seeing Blue Square South clubs for sale on Craigslist by the end of 2011.
Crystal Palace place ‘for sale’ advertisement in newspaper [The Guardian]
Crystal Palace advertised for sale in the Financial Times [Times Online]
Posted in The Championship | Tagged Crystal Palace, Financial Disasters | 7 Comments »
February 9, 2010 by Magnakai Haaskivi
Posted in About Last Night | Tagged AC Milan, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas, Emirates, English National Team, Guus Hiddink, KILLER JELLYFISH!, Liverpool, Marouane Chamakh, Nigerian National Team, Paul Gascoigne, Stoke City, Thomas Sorensen, WAGs | 2 Comments »
February 8, 2010 by Two Yellows
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated reported today on Twitter that Fox Soccer Channel will begin to be shown in high definition on both major satellite services (DirecTV and Dish Network) as of Wednesday February 10. According to his source, there is nothing new to report with the major cable players, so your best bet there is to stay in contact with the various customer service departments and make sure to be nice about it. Let’s not be hooligans, shall we?
UPDATE: False on DirecTV. COME ON ALREADY!
Posted in Swimming the Chanels | Tagged Swimming the Chanels | 9 Comments »
February 8, 2010 by Magnakai Haaskivi
Posted in About Last Night | Tagged Andy Carroll, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Aston Villa, Barcelona, Blackburn, Bolton, Celtic, Chelsea, Chinese National Team, Chivas USA, Dunfermline, Everton, Footballers Behaving Badly, Fulham, Gary Cahill, Gerard Pique, Getafe, Hull City, Japanese National Team, Jesse Marsch, John Carney, Jozy Altidore, Kevin Davies, KILLER JELLYFISH!, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Marouane Chamakh, New Orleans Saints, Newcastle United, Paul Gascoigne, Portsmouth, Rafael Marquez, Ricardo Fuller, Robbie Keane, Robinho, Santos, Sao Paolo, Stoke City, Super Bowl, Thomas Morstead, Tottenham Hotspur, USMNT | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2010 by Two Yellows
- Victoria Park
It’s yet another massive derby in the Barclay’s Premier League today as Arsenal get on the bus and travel through the busy streets of London to the west, and park in front of Stamford Bridge.
Both clubs are facing major issues at the moment. For third place Arsenal, there can be no denying the injuries have mounted up yet again. First choice striker
Robin van Persie has been out several months and may miss several more. Second choice hitman
Eduardo will miss today’s match as well. This will leave the goalscoring chances likely to just-returned Nicklas Bendtner. There have been questions all season long about the viability of
Manuel Almunia as the starting goal keeper, and now comes word that his teammates may not have complete confidence in his big match abilities. Manager
Arsene Wenger really delighted the supporters at the end of this last week by saying that finishing in third place in the Premier League is better than winning the FA Cup (considering how long it’s been since Arsenal hoisted a trophy, this is pure folly).
Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged Sunday open thread | 3 Comments »
February 6, 2010 by Two Yellows
- It’s a big day on Merseyside
It’s derby day in Liverpool, and that match bookends a pretty good schedule in the Barclay’s Premier League today. The late match sees Spurs home to Aston Villa in what should be a cracking contest. It’s a good television day, today, so if you need a footy fix before that Super Bowl thing tomorrow, you’ll get your fill.
It’s been a strange year for both clubs, Everton and Liverpool. Neither has certainly lived up to pre-season expectations, but have come on a bit since the calendar changed to the new year. Everton currently sits in ninth place, and has been given a boost by American wingman/striker Landon Donovan since his arrival. Their record is not anything gaudy, to be sure, but the fact that eight wins, eight draws and seven losses is good enough for ninth at this point should tell you all you need to know about the quality of the league this year. For Liverpool, their struggles all season have been evident, but the funny thing is, they could take over fourth place today with a win and a Spurs draw or loss. I give Rafa Benitez credit for playing with a bare-bones squad all season, quite frankly. He baffles me at times (but a lot of English league managers do, to be fair), but he’s holding on and trying to get that fourth place spot. This should be quite a contest, today, and thank God it will be on ESPN in high definition.
Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged Saturday open thread | 7 Comments »
February 5, 2010 by Magnakai Haaskivi
“Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.” – Rob Gordon
Tomorrow is a pretty big day for both the red and blue halves of Liverpool. It’s the day when, after losing 2-0 at Goodison, Everton travels the long 794 meters between the two stadiums for the Anfield leg of the Merseyside Derby.
Everton hasn’t won this leg of the derby since 1999, although this season feels like it could be different. Unfortunately for the red half of the city, this hasn’t exactly been a banner year. It’s not been great for Everton either, of course, but they haven’t lost since November; as injuries have healed and new players have come in, they’ve started to look ready to turn the corner.
I want Liverpool to win this game, obviously; I want them to win every game they play. But I have to be honest about something: I really just can’t hate Everton.
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Posted in English Premier League, Whimsy | Tagged English Premier League, Everton, Liverpool, Merseyside Derby | 3 Comments »
Last season you might remember that I took a look at the odds the bookmakers were putting on teams getting relegated from the Premier League, and while we’re still far from being able to really tell who’s going down to the Colaship, I thought it’d be interesting to check the odds out. When I wrote that article last season, the three best odds at getting relegated actually did, so this season is probably a little more random.
Last season the relegation battle seemed muddled, but at this point in the season there are 4 teams tied for the final relegation spot on points, and an additional two within three points, meaning that if this weekend goes the right way, the 14th place team-Wigan-could drop all the way to 18th. Join me after the jump to find out who the bookies think are done, and who they don’t see going down.
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Posted in English Premier League, General | Tagged Bolton, Burnley, English Premier League, Hull City, Portsmouth, Sunderland, West Ham United, Wigan, Wolverhampton | 2 Comments »
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