What you missed while attending the Iga-Ueno Ninja Festival…
- English Premier League roundup: Aston Villa 4-1 Blackburn, Everton 2-0 Sunderland, Newcastle 1-1 Bolton, Wigan 0-4 Manchester United, Wolves 4-0 Blackpool, West Ham 3-1 Liverpool, Manchester City 1-1 Fulham.
- Carling Cup final roundup: Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham.
- Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has called his team’s Carling Cup win over Arsenal “[his] greatest achievement” as a manager.
- Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster has blamed Arsenal centerback Laurent Koscielny – not Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny – for the 89th minute gaffe that allowed Obafemi Martins to score the late winner for Birmingham.
- Ben Foster also hopes that Birmingham keeps hold of Roger Johnson; the defender is rumored to be a transfer target for several clubs.
- Obafemi Martins has called that goal “the easiest of [his] career”.
- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that both Koscielny and Szczesny are “destroyed” after the error that cost Arsenal their first trophy in six years.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney could miss crucial matches against Chelsea and Liverpool through suspension after elbowing Wigan midfielder James McCarthy in the head on Saturday.Nevermind, Wayne Rooney won’t face any action for the incident because Mark Clattenburg saw it and felt it only warranted a free kick.- Chelsea will take appropriate action against Ashley Cole after he shot an intern with an air gun on Saturday.
- Chelsea’s management is said to not be pleased with Carlo Ancelotti’s perceived lack of discipline following this incident.
- Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini isn’t pleased with the output he’s getting from strikers Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, and Edin Dzeko.
- Despite reports to the contrary, Liverpool “caretaker” manager Kenny Dalglish hasn’t been offered a long-term contract to remain at Anfield.
- Everton manager David Moyes says that Mikel Arteta is Everton’s Iniesta.
- Everton striker Louis Saha crashed his Ferrari 458 into a fence and escaped unhurt. This marks the first time Louis Saha has made it out of a collision of any sort unhurt this season.
- Sunderland rewarded manager Steve Bruce’s loss to Everton with a two year contract extension.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is rumored to be engaged to Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Irina Shayk.
- Bayern Munich sporting director Christian Nerlinger has conceded the title to Borussia Dortmund after Bayern lost 3-1 to them.
- Palermo manager Delio Rossi has been sacked following Palermo’s 7-0 home loss to Udinese.
- Udinese winger Alexis Sanchez scored four goals in that demolition of Palermo, with another three being added on by striker Antonio Di Natale.
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I’m currently re-watching West Ham/Liverpool, humming “Bubbles” to myself, and trying not to get my hopes up about escaping relegation. But damn West Ham looked good yesterday.
And my co-workers think I’m insane.
Does Suarez look lost to you, or is it just me? He seemed to spend half the game trying to find spaces to run into, and those spaces were nonexistant. I can see how he’ll play with Carroll, but right now he’s like a planet without a star to orbit around, and it’s a bit of a mess.
And Scott Parker’s really good. Really really good.
It’s not just you. I was worried about Suraez going into the match, but he just seemed unable to create. When they gave him space, he took advantage, but never made his own chances.
Parker is really good, and I was really happy with how he and Hitzlsperger worked together in the midfield, and how good the midfield looked in general. Ba continues to really impress up front as well. No surprise they’re in a relegation battle when yesterday was the first time all season it felt like the entire team fought hard and played well for a full 90 minutes.
If needing 2 epic gaffes from the other team to win qualifies as Alex McLeish’s greatest achievement, then I think that’s all you need to know about him as a manager, and probably a good reason for B’ham being 16th in the table. Foster is right about where to lay blame. And whichever B’ham a**hole slapped Koscielny in the head after the winner deserves to be suspended 1 match for that. Utterly shameful. If an athlete in American sports did that, he’d be suspended 1 to 3 games and fined. That was scum-of-the-earth, Adebayor low.
Seriously, though, Arsenal just awakened all their fans’ worst nightmares with that display. They looked utterly overcome by the occasion. Loose with the ball, slow to close down, wasteful in front of goal, and subject to the yips as always at the back. The seesaw of the last month as an Arsenal fan has been brutal. Give up 4 goal lead to Newcastle, beat Wolves & Barca, draw Orient, beat Stoke but lose Theo & Cesc, epic fail v. B’ham. Why can’t this team show some consistency? Argh!
The a**hole was Lee Bowyer, who else.
Or at least i thought it was, although i just read that it was Barry Ferguson, so … either or, take your pick.