If Wigan/Aston Villa was happening today, this is what it might look like
England’s worst winter weather in quite some time is playing havoc with the Barclay’s Premier League. The country has been hit with snow and freezing temperatures over the last few weeks, and despite the fact that my homeland was able to survive continual bombing during World War 2, apparently moving snow off of roads needed to get supporters to matches is a bridge too far. As of now, there are only two top flight matches still scheduled for today. Arsenal is still scheduled to host Everton at 10 AM EST and Birmingham City will attempt to stifle Manchester United at 12:30 PM EST. Both matches are intriguing, to be sure, but it’s a real shame that the weather is causing such problems.
Elsewhere, La Liga has three matches, Serie A has two, there is a full Coupe de France schedule and many of the Euro second-level leagues are still going strong.
The news from this morning is as follows:
- After yesterday’s horrible attack on the Togo national side, several Premier League bosses have called for the tournament to be scrapped and for the players to return home. [Soccernet]
- Arsene Wenger is calling for the Premier League to come up with a better idea about how to handle all these fixture postponements. He is one angry puffy-coated Frenchman lately. [Daily Mail]
- Bob Bradley and US Soccer are trying to put together a friendly with El Salvador for February. They will play Honduras and the Netherlands in other friendlies ahead of South Africa 2010. [Fox Soccer]
- Carlo Ancelotti called out Joe Cole. I guess he isn’t quite every-effing-where lately. [Guardian]
- Neil Warnock talks about not letting rubbish Winter weather affect the fixtures so much in the past. Ah, the good old days. [Independent]
- David Trezuguet is out for approximately six weeks. Will Juventus now jump into the transfer fooferall? [Gazzetto Dello Sport]
- Gordon Strachan has poached two players from his old club, Celtic, for his new club, Middlesbrough. [BBC]
Obviously, the television schedule is in a state of flux today. The Arsenal-Everton match is still listed as being on Setanta US at 10:00 AM EST, and Birmingham-United is due for Fox Soccer Channel at 12:30 PM EST. FSC was due to show Wigan-Aston Villa at 10:00 AM EST and so honestly, I have no idea whether they’ll see about televising another live match or a repeat of another match. I do apoogize for not knowing much more than that, but obviously it’s a rough time right now with the weather. We’ll be around in comments and on Twitter as usual.
Hull v Chelsea 0745 ESPN2 – CANCELLED
Brescia v Padova 0930 RAI
Sunderland v Bolton 1000 – CANCELLED
Fulham v Portsmouth 1000 – CANCELLED
Burnley v Stoke 1000 – CANCELLED
Arsenal v Everton 1000 – Setanta
Wigan v Aston Villa 1000 – CANCELLED
Crystal Palace v Barnsley 1000 – SetantaX
Real Valladolid v Atletico Madrid 1200 - ESPN360/Deportes
Roma v Chievo 1200 – ESPN360/RAI
Birmingham v Manchester United 1230 – FSC/FSEspañol
Sevilla v Racing 1400 – GolTV
Inter v Siena 1430 - FSC/FSE/RAI
Santos v Atlante 2030 – FSEspañol
America v Tecos 2200 – FSEspañol
Landycakes played 68 minutes and assisted on Everton’s first goal (he took the corner). The BBC live text (I’m at work!) was very complimentary- his pace was apparently giving Arsenal fits and he won a couple of free kicks.
Watched the match live. He played very well, focusing on short passing and good crosses. Lit up Traore a couple times, but he was absolutely awful at left back for the Gunners. Donovan at one point had a creative little cross inside the box to the far post, but it was about a half a second too early and looked wasted. If he could have held on for it a little longer it could have been their second goal.
Overall I think he will fit in nicely there for the next 10 weeks. Great to see him get the start at the Emirates when he has only been there 6 days. Hopefully he will figure in regularly, and after his solid performance today I see no reason why he shouldn’t.
And Birmingham City just went up 1-0 on the champions. The matches that weren’t called off have been pretty good.
Highlight of his corner:
http://www.soccerclips.net/videos/arsenal-0-1-everton-osman4
A friendly with El Salvador? Come on Bob! How is playing another team you’ve played 10 times in the last year going to help you in the World Cup?
It’s about as helpful as having camp and friendlies on non-FIFA approved days with a squad of players who most likely won’t even get called up for the World Cup. WAY TO GO BOB!
You’d think we would try and negotiate a friendly against a South American side instead – Colombia, Ecuador, something like that.
But yeah, that would be too easy. Might as well play Montserrat in a friendly for all the good this will do us.
Funny, I thought the same thing when I saw that he’d lined up Honduras for the first tune-up match.
What’s the point?!
The Tigers are always ready for a match. We can even host it here in Vegas!