What you missed while trying to explain to your body that no, it ISN’T 5:00 AM…
- FA Cup roundup: Birmingham 2-3 Bolton, Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal, Stoke City 2-1 West Ham, Manchester City 1-0 Reading.
- Stoke City are a win over Bolton away from ending their 148-year final appearance drought.
- Arsenal will be without Alex Song when they play West Brom on Saturday, and will be without Johan Djourou for the rest of the season.
- Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been coy about the possibility of returning to Arsenal as an emergency goalkeeper signing.
- Edwin van der Sar was surprised by the lineup that Sir Alex Ferguson put out against Arsenal; the lineup, which featured seven total defenders, put Rafael and Fabio on the wings and John O’Shea in central midfield.
- Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was thrilled to see Antonio Valencia back in United’s lineup; Valencia injured himself against Rangers back in September and has been out ever since.
- Manchester United winger Nani is already back in training ahead of United’s Champions League match against Marseille. It had been reported that Nani could miss up to three games after being injured by Jamie Carrager last week.
- Rennes winger Sylvain Marveaux is close to agreeing to a deal that would move him to Liverpool on a free transfer.
- A Liverpool-Manchester United FA Youth Cup match was disrupted by away United fans singing songs about Hillsbrough and Heysel.
- Aston Villa defenders Richard Dunne and James Collins have apologized to their team after getting into an argument with the Villa coaching staff at a dinner following the least successful team building paintball session ever.
- Sunderland and Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan hopes that
Bolton strikerManchester United striker Danny Welbeck chooses to represent Ghana internationally. (It’s possible that I confused Welbeck with Daniel Sturridge, who is on loan at Bolton but is not eligible for Ghanaian citizenship as far as I know). - Coventry manager Aidy Boothroyd was relieved of his duties following a 1-0 loss to Hull City over the weekend; Boothroyd spent less than ten months in charge of the Championship side, but picking up 8 points from the last 48 available isn’t a great way to ensure longevity at your club.
- Karim Benzema’s brace against Hercules put Real Madrid only (only?) five points shy of the top of La Liga’s table after Barcelona slipped up and drew with Sevilla.
- Hamburg have sacked manager Armin Veh following their 6-0 beating by Bayern Munich on Saturday.
- VFL Osnabruck striker Flamur Kastrati collapsed on the pitch towards the end of Osnabruck’s 2-0 loss to Energie Cottbus and was taken to the hospital with a possible head injury.
- A late equalizer from Antonio Cassano kept AC Milan from losing to Bari.
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What did we learn this footballing weekend? Reading’s kit for the Cup was ace and for 60 minutes they were too, but in the end: Man City found a way. Tevez is the key for Man City. When he’s off the pitch, they look completely dead.
As stated in yesterday’s comments: Time for a new manager at Arsenal.
Travelling Man U fans being classless? Surely you jest…
I have no idea what to make of Villa right now. I’m not sure they even know what to make of themselves. Give Houllier an offseason, offseason transfer window, and the first month of a new campaign and let’s see what he does.
From what I just read about the lad who went down in the Cottbus game, the hit he took was innocuous. Hope he’s alright. Too many players dropping in game (another high school basketballer died in Texas over the weekend).
Danny Welbeck is on loan from Manchester United, not Bolton!
Dammit. I mixed up Welbeck with Daniel Sturridge.