Ridiculous Reds Ridiculed by Wolves

A night to forget at Anfield was on the agenda once again for the thousands of Liverpool fans who made it to the game and it was almost as bad for those who had to make do with the TV coverage. The highlight of the game came after just 7 minutes when the ball found it's way through to Raul Meireles who managed to find the Wolves keeper with what I can only describe as a sitter and then he failed to get on to the end of the rebound as the ball was cleared away by the Wolves defence. A few long range shots followed from Liverpool who showed little or no desire to win the game. Gerrard was back for the reds but he looked like he wasn't match fit and the same can be said for the rest of his team mates who you would expect to be fresh after having the past 2 weeks without a game. Most of the poor performance came from the lack of effort and motivation and while the former is down to the players the latter should be down to the manager.

Hodgson must really be on his last life at Anfield.

If he wasn't before then Roy Hodgson is now walking a very thin line at Liverpool. When he picked a team containing 3 central midfielders and no natural wingers it was always clear that at least one player would be playing out of position but some of his decisions where just ludicrous. Dirk Kuyt has been played out of position at Liverpool for many years and has done a very good job playing down the right but by playing him wide left was an obvious mistake as the man can't use his left foot. This then left the gap where Kuyt usually plays, and does well, and Hodgson's next move was to play Raul Miereles in this gap on the right. Meireles has been one of the better performers over the past few games but the main reason for this has been the fact that he has been playing in the center of midfield. Half time came and went and there was no kick up the backside from the manager that Liverpool needed and all that came from the second half was another example of poor defending as Kyrgiakos headed it straight to Ebanks-Blake who played the ball back between him and Skrtel and both of the Liverpool centre backs went for the same ball which, when they both missed it, allowed Ward to score Wolves' first goal at Anfield for 26 years. The response came from the crowd who tried to persuade the team to at least try but this was quickly stopped by Hodgson who then decided that the best way to try and come from behind was to take a striker off, a decision which was greeted with boos and jeers from all sides of the ground. He didn't make things any better when he then brought Joe Cole on for Raul Meireles and decided to switch things round but instead of putting people where it would best suit them he left Kuyt to struggle out on the left and moved the best central midfielder we've got out to the wide right and when Gerrard moved over there it then left the centre of midfield for Cole to play in, a position where he has hardly ever played in his whole career and was extremely ineffective. After these strange changes and still no attempts from Liverpool it left Hodgson pondering how to try and regain the fans faith and he may of finally seen what almost every Liverpool fan has seen when he took off a poor performing Konchesky and brought on Aurelio however it was never likely to change the game it was merely one thing that he should have done before the start of the game. It was also the first time I've seen streams of people leaving the Kop with 20 minutes to go and the only other thing of note was a disallowed Skrtel goal when the Wolves defense ran out as one to catch him offside.
After the fans had put up with enough of Hodgson this season following embarrassing losses to Blackpool and Northampton Town to name but a few, he finally got his name sung by the fans at Anfield. He will be disappointed tho as the chants of "Hodgson for England" can hardly be taken as a positive and the amount of fans turning against Hodgson are growing by the days which surely must be recognised by the new owners. If nothing is done about the manager and there is no investment in the team then you can be sure that the few good players that Liverpool have will soon be on there way and who could blame them for jumping off a sinking ship. Torres hasn't played well since the first half of the game against Chelsea at Anfield over 7 weeks ago and this can't just be down to bad form I really think there is more to this than meets the eye and Hodgson is my number one reason for this. His extremely defensive tactics and lack of passion has seemingly rubbed off on some of his players.
Back to tonight's match and if someone was watching their first game of football and you told them that one team was bottom of the table before the game they certainly wouldn't have guessed it was Wolves based on the performance by Liverpool who are now only 5 points from the bottom of the table themselves. The way that Hodgson then tried to claim that Liverpool deserved more and that they where unlucky to have lost to such a good team then summed up Hodgson...
Nice bloke, Wrong job!

Premier League Predictions

I've put together my predictions for this weeks fixtures in the Premier League.
1 stands for a Home win, 2 for an Away win and X for a draw.
Please comment and let me know what you think and we'll see who gets the most right each week.
Remember to put your name so I know who predicted what.

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Sunderland v Bolton, 12:45               X (2-2)

Arsenal v Stoke, 15:00                      1 (3-0)

Birmingham v Newcastle, 15:00       1 (2-1)

Blackburn v West Ham, 15:00          X (1-1)

Wigan v Aston Villa, 15:00                 2 (1-3)

Liverpool v Fulham, 17:30                 1 (2-0)

Sunday, 19 December 2010

West Brom v Wolves, 12:00            1 (1-0)

Blackpool v Tottenham, 13:30          2 (0-2)

Chelsea v Man Utd, 16:00                X (0-0)

Monday, 20 December 2010

Man City v Everton, 20:00                1 (2-0)

Drab draw for Reds as there's not much to shout about.

After making promises earlier in the week Roy Hodgson apologised to the fans for misleading them about the team selection in a team that only contained a few first team players. Martin Skrtel was the most experienced player in the team and he captained Liverpool on his 26th birthday. There was however lots of experience on the bench in the form of Kuyt, Torres, Kyrgiakos, Johnson and Meireles. The game didn't mean much to Liverpool as they were already guaranteed top spot in the group however it was a good chance for players to find for again or get match fit.

Jovanovic created the best chance of the game early on in
what was a rather dull game.

The stadium was rather full despite there being nothing to play for, due to a kind gesture from the new owners which allowed all under 17's free entry when with an adult and with tickets at a reduced price anyway there was a good attendance. The Utrecht fans also played their part in creating a good atmosphere as over 4,000 of them had made the trip over and they were inside Anfield and singing a full 2 hours before kick off. Not much happened to entertain the fans in the early stages until after 8 minutes when Milan Jovanovic took the ball past a few players before shooting left footed from 30 yards out which the keeper tipped on to the bar. 8 minutes later Liverpool won themselves a free kick just outside the box after Babel was fouled but Aurelio couldn't get it over the wall and the chance was gone. Nothing else of note happened in the first half in a performance which lacked ambition and drive so typical of Roy Hodgson despite the large number of changes to the team.

The second half started similarly to the first half with the only change being Kyrgiakos replacing Skrtel and also taking the captains armband. The Utrecht fans kept up the singing and created a great atmosphere in the process. The game seemed to change when Dani Pacheco came on for Liverpool and the Spanish starlet was creating things for Liverpool as soon as he came on. This made the game much more open however as now Utrecht where attacking more and they even had a few shots for their fans to cheer about. It wasn't long before they had something else to cheer as with 20 minutes to go their former player Dirk Kuyt, who was much loved during his 5 years there (as he is now at Liverpool).
Joe Cole then had a chance when a cross found him at the back post but his shot was blocked by the Utrecht defense. Another Cole free kick was then charged down and the ball went out wide and was crossed back in again only for Cole to flick it straight into the keepers hands in the 88th minute. The game then ended up 0-0 with very little entertainment and a very poor showing from Liverpool typical of this season under Hodgson.
Even though Liverpool had already qualified top of their group there was still a definite chance for the second string to stake a claim for a place in the first team however all that can be taken from the game is the proof, if needed, that Liverpool don't have the quality in the squad to compete for anything this year and some new signings are needed if they are to even come close.
The draw for the next round of the Europa League is on Friday and Liverpool's next game is at home to Fulham at 5.30 on Saturday where I'll hopefully have more to report on.

Negative Liverpool flop at Newcastle

Newcastle played their first game under new manager Alan Pardew when Liverpool were the visitors to St. James Park on Saturday evening. I'm going to start with footballing matters off the field first and I've got nothing against Pardew but he really shouldn't be the manager of the Geordie team. His predecessor Chris Hughton had served his club well, he had brought them promotion last year when they broke all kinds of records and they weren't doing to bad this season either. They were 11th when he was sacked but they had proved their quality with a 5-1 win over Sunderland a 6-0 win over Aston Villa and a 1-0 win over current leaders Arsenal at The Emirates. As I believe it, the problem wasn't the manager but the owners and that problem is still there despite the rather unnecessary change of manager. This story had taken all the pre-match headlines but now it's time I talked about the match.
Liverpool were still without captain Steven Gerrard, who is expected to be back in contention for a place by Liverpool's next league game, and vice captain Jamie Carragher, who will still be out for a further 2 months at least, but they did welcome back Fernando Torres fresh from the birth of his new son Leo, on Monday night. Newcastle also welcomed back an influential player as club captain, and Liverpool fan, Kevin Nolan returned from injury as did his fellow scouse midfielder Joey Barton.

The game started at a slow pace with both sides making silly mistakes and Torres especially, found it hard to keep control of the ball. Newcastle's strength all season has been set pieces and it seems like Liverpool where determined to give away as many free kicks as they could in the early stages. It was almost as if the manager hadn't realised this in yet another mistake by Roy Hodgson this year. Newcastle made Liverpool pay for this when, after just 16 minutes, a Joey Barton free kick was met by Andy Carroll who had been allowed a free run in, and the Newcastle number 9 then found his captain and housemate Kevin Nolan who put a low finish into the bottom corner from a seemingly offside position.

The goal seemed to allow Liverpool to go forward more and they created a number of opportunities without actually troubling Tim Krul in the Newcastle goal with the majority of these coming from Liverpool's right through Johnson and Kuyt. Liverpool then created their best chance as Jose Enrique cleared a deflected Raul Miereles shot off the line but still the keeper hadn't made a save.

Kyrgiakos hen had two good chances when a flick on led to the ball being at his feet and he hit a powerful shot straight at the Newcastle keeper. He then got another chance to get Liverpool level as he got in front of Sol Campbell to head a last minute corner just wide in what was the Red's best chance of the half.

Liverpool where clearly the better team in terms of possession, as they had 60%, and they were also on top in the attempts as they lead 9 attempts to 1 but when it came to attempts on target they only had 2. Liverpool's luck then seemed to have changed in the 48th minute when Kuyt's hard work led to another chance in which his left footed prod deflected off Taylor and past Krul to give the reds an equaliser and more importantly some hope and belief.

Kuyt celebrates getting the equaliser for Liverpool in
what was one of the only positives for the Reds.

The goal looked to have galvanized Liverpool as they then started creating things when first Torres missed a sitter when a great ball by Konchesky put him one on one with Krul who pulled off a good save and also proved that Torres isn't back to full form yet. Ngog was next to miss a good chance as he didn't get enough on a header when he could have easily scored. A long range effort from Torres was next in the barrage of attack that Liverpool where putting on the Newcastle goal.



Liverpool threatened to go behind again as Carroll drifted in between Skrtel and Kyrgiakos but then missed a free header from 6 yards out in what was Newcastle's first real chance of the second half. Pardew then showed Hodgson what an impact a manager can have when Nile Ranger came on for Ameobi and straight away made an difference after Skrtel's mistake left him one on one with Reina only for his shot to go wide and this was to be the turning point in the match as up until this point Newcastle had created very little. They then made a much better effort of it in a game that Liverpool had clearly dominated up to this point.



Newcastle celebrate with Andy Carroll after he got their 3rd.

Liverpool then backed off and became more negative as another header was won by Carroll, Ranger flicked on and when Skrtel failed to clear it lead to Barton running in and getting a toe to the ball which poked it past Reina, who should have come out quicker, and the the ball went in off the post to give Newcastle the lead once again but this time Liverpool only had 10 minutes to respond. The response from Liverpool didn't come as they seemingly went more in to their shell as Hodgson refused to motivate his team once again.

Andy Carroll then put the icing on the cake for Newcastle with a great strike from 25 yards out after Lucas and Miereles both just stood and watched instead of closing down which allowed Carroll time to turn and pick out where he wanted to put the ball before finally taking the shot which flew into the bottom corner.

The win for Newcastle moved them up 5 places and above Liverpool into 8th while Liverpool are now 9th and have a negative goal difference to go with their negative manager.



The Ashes - Second Test

England celebrate as Anderson gets Ponting out for a duck.

The second test got underway at an Adelaid pitch that is synonymous for high scoring and it looked a good toss to win for the Australia captain Ricky Ponting who had made two changes to his line up with Bolinger and Harris coming in for Johnson and Hilfenhaus. Some huge scores had been made here however this was about to change when after just 4 balls when Watson looked for a quick single that wasn't really on and Trott's excellent throw at the stumps was enough to easily run out Katich who didn't even get to face a ball. The problems got worse for Australia who then lost captain Ricky Ponting who edged it to Swann at second slip for a golden duck off the following ball from Jimmy Anderson. Clarke then got Australia off the mark but then he got himself out in exactly the same way as his captain by edging to Swann off a swinging delivery from Anderson which left them 3 wickets down for just 2 runs in what must have been one of England's best starts at Adelaid. The England bowlers had seemingly taken up from where the batsmen had left off in the previous test match.

Despite an attempted revival from Watson and Hussey, who put on 94 together, Anderson got Watson out driving to Pietersen at gully just after lunch to give England another lift. North and Hussey then Haddin and Hussey both then put on some very useful runs as they both made 50 partnerships before the England bowlers continue to show their dominance on day 1 and Australia where bowled out for 245 with Anderson the pick of the bowlers taking 4-51.

After day 1 started well for England, Australia thought that day 2 was going to go their way when Bollinger clean bowled England captain Andrew Strauss who was out for just 1. This was the second time in the series that Strauss was out off the first over of the day. This was to be the highlight of the day for the home fans who expected lot more from their bowlers and the fielding wasn't and better. The poor fielding included dropped catches from Clarke and Haddin, a missed run out chance from Xavier Doherty and overthrows when a throw in from the boundary hit the wickets and bounced away from the three fielders backing up. These mistakes allowed Cook to reach yet another 100, after surviving a thanks to a review, and Trott passed 50 before getting out to Harris on 78. With Trott out, this lead to Kevin Pietersen coming to the crease and he batted well and ended the day on 85 not out.

Kevin Pietersen celebrates reaching 200 runs.

Day 3 started with Cook and Pietersen both in good form and Australia finally broke the partnership when Cook, who had batted for 1058 minutes over the last two tests and scored 383 runs without losing a wicket, was finally out caught behind by Haddin when the ball from Ryan Harris clipped an inside edge with the Aussie wicket keeper taking a good low diving catch. Collingwood and Pietersen then started yet another good partnership for England, bringing back memories of the last Ashes test at the Adelaid Oval four years ago, when Colly got a double hundred and KP hit 158. KP then hit consecutive boundaries in the last over before lunch to bring up his 150 before heading in at lunch on exactly the same score of 158 but this time hoping to go much further. That's exactly what he did when he batted through the rest of the day ending on 213 not out. Despite Collingwood being given out lbw to Watson just after lunch the onslaught didn't end there for Australia as next in for England, who looked to have inform batsmen all the way down the line up, was an in form Ian Bell came in and batted himself to 41 not out before rain ended the day's play early.

Day four saw Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen complete their hundred partnership which made it the fourth successive partnership of a hundred or more for a very impressive England batting lineup. Pietersen then passed his highest ever test score by moving to 227 and then got out to Doherty the very next ball which ended one of the great innings in Ashes cricket. Matt Prior was next to the crease and he survived being given out lbw after a review showed the ball was missing leg stump. Bell then moved past 50 before Prior then got lucky again as a lofted shot was left by two Aussie fielders who both left it to each other and the England pair then raised the run rate and raced to a 50 partnership before Strauss called them in and England declared on 620-5, with a lead of 375. Australia then started the tough task of trying to bat out the remaining 1 and 3/4 days of the test match. Things started well for Australia with both openers getting starts and Watson got another 50. After both had departed and Swann got Ponting out with an excellent delivery another Aussie recovery started with Clarke and Hussey who batted together to the last over of the day when critically Kevin Pietersen claimed a rare wicket with his occasional spin to hand England the advantage going into the last day.

England celebrate claiming the winning wicket and the fans
in the background had the same idea.

Day 5 didn't last anywhere near as long as Australia would have liked. On a sunny morning where rain was expected later on. Hussey got a reprieve early on when Prior dropped him after he edged from Swann. Finn then got Hussey as his attempted hook shot flew high up in the air and Jimmy Anderson took a good catch under pressure to get the early break through. Anderson then kept the momentum going when he got 2 wickets in 2 balls, the second of which was Ryan Harris for a king pair after his second golden duck of the game. Swann made it 3 wickets in 4 deliveries for England and then took another Aussie wicket following a review which then allowed him to take the winning wicket of the game with the first ball of his next over after an excellent delivery that spun between Siddle's bat and pad. England won by an innings and 71 runs which was the first time Australia had lost by innings since 1993. It was also the largest margin of victory for England in Australia for 44 years which has left the Aussie media launching attack after attack on their team and are calling for changes for the next test in Perth on the 15th of December in which a win for England will guarantee the retaining of the Ashes.

Reds look good without main men



My view of the game as Maxi celebrates Liverpool's third goal against Villa.

 Liverpool went into the game against Aston Villa on Monday night knowing that they would be without their captain and vice captain as Gerrard and Carragher where both still out due to injuries. The news got worse for Liverpool fans just before kick off as news filtered through that Torres would also not be playing. This absence was due to his wife going into labour with what will be his second child. While it's great news for Torres, the Liverpool fans were left wondering how a makeshift strike force of Babel and Ngog would fare against an experienced Villa back line of Warnock, Dunne, Collins and Young. They didn't have to wait long however as after just 14 minutes as hard work by Dirk Kuyt won a corner that Raul Meireles took and it was excellently headed back across goal by Martin Skrtel for Ngog to make a diving header from close range. As a Liverpool fan you could be forgiven for still not being the most optimistic after the goal following recent displays in which Hodgson has pulled everyone back behind the ball when Liverpool have scored the first goal. This time however was different and 3 minutes later a good ball from Lucas played in Ryan Babel who allowed the ball to run across him as he turned before hitting an excellent shot past Friedel in the Villa goal. The defensive tactics then came back to the Liverpool team for the remainder of the half in what was a rather uneventful 25 minutes typical of Hodgson.
The second half started better for Villa who had a good chance when Agbonlahor slid in only to be foiled by Liverpool stand in captain Pepe Reina who was desperate to keep his clean sheet. The Liverpool keeper kept his 100th clean sheet for the club in record time by taking fewer games to reach this landmark than any other Liverpool goalkeeper. In what was extremely cold weather, Houllier received a warm welcome from Liverpool's supporters on his managerial comeback to the club he left 6 years ago even tho it was a performance to forget from his Villa team and it got worse for him as the reds then extended their lead when Maxi played the ball out to Ngog who returned the ball to the Argentinian winger who put a nice first time shot into the top right hand corner of the the Kop end goal. The goal was well appreciated by the Liverpool fans who had to endure temperatures of -4°C on what was the coldest I've ever been at Anfield. On a warmer note I cant let all of the work done by Lucas go unnoticed as he was awesome again winning every tackle in the middle of the field and disrupting the Villa play all night which prevented Villa from creating anything and ultimately made it look easy for Liverpool and I would give him the man of the match. The reds had chances to increase their lead firstly through a great attempt when Glen Johnson cut inside then hit a powerful shot after beating 2 Villa defenders and then it was Johnson who set up Ngog with a clever back heel but the Frenchman's first touch let him down again. Kyrgiakos also saw a good header from a corner cleared off the line by Hogg so Liverpool had to settle for 3 goals and 3 vital points which sees them move up to 8th in the Premier League and have a positive goal difference which has been a rarity this season much like the positives in general for the reds.

Next up for Liverpool is away at manager-less Newcastle at 5.30 on Saturday.

Reds march on in Europe.

Liverpool started the night needing just one point against Steaua Bucharest to qualify and knowing that a win would guarantee them top spot in Group K whatever the result in the other match in the group between Utrecht and Napoli. Liverpool boss Roy Hodgsen made 10 changes to the team that played at Spurs on Sunday with only goal keeper Pepe Reina keeping his place. Reina was also appointed captain in the absence of Gerrard and Carragher through injury, as the most experienced player. Liverpool used the game to give vital experience to young players and fringe players as Martin Kelly, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Danny Wilson and Fabio Aurelio made up the back four while Milan Jovanovic, Christian Poulsen, Jonjo Shelvey and Dani Pacheco played in midfield, with Cole in an advanced position and Ryan Babel in a lone attacking role.

Jovanovic celebrates scoring for Liverpool in Bucharest.

Liverpool where nearly behind after just 15 minutes when a Steaua corner was headed over the bar by Bicfalvi, who had a free header in the middle of the goal, however they took the lead just 4 minutes later when a good run by Ryan Babel down the right ended in a clever cut back that allowed a cross into the middle. Babel's left footed cross was then met by Milan Jovanovic, who was unmarked, and the Serbian then put a powerful header into the bottom left corner. Liverpool looked to extend their lead as a clearance up field released Babel down the left who picked out Cole but his first touch let him down. He then managed to find Jovanovic who picked out Pacheco but his shot was wide leaving the away team to take a 1-0 lead in at half time.

The second half was one to forget from a Liverpool point of view as they hardly got out of their own half with an extremely negative display in what Liverpool fans have become accustomed to under Hodgsen. A deflected cross then allowed Bonfin then got the hosts level as Reina, who is usually so reliable, allowed his tame headed to slip through his legs and under his body to just about cross the line despite his best efforts at a recovery. Kyrgiakos then hit the crossbar with a good header from a corner when the Steaua keeper came off his line in what was Liverpool's last real chance in the game after just 65mins, which sums up how negatively they played after the break.

Hodgsen wont mind however as his young Liverpool team have qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League and are all but guaranteed to finish top of the group as the other game ended in a 3-3 draw between Utrecht and Napoli which leaves Liverpool with a 3 point lead and a 6 goal advantage over their nearest rivals.

Carling Cup

Tuesday.
As with all competitions, as the Carling cup nears its conclusion there is less and less games and you'd be justified in thinking this would mean less and less entertainment. That assumption would be wrong based on Tuesdays games which saw Arsenal take on Wigan at the Emirates and West Ham take on Man Utd at Upton Park.

The better of these two games was undoubtedly at Upton Park where the holders played an understrength team that was missing the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic, Scholes, Rooney and 5 goal hero at the weekend Dimitar Berbatov when manager Alex Ferguson made 10 changes from the team that beat Blackburn 7-1. The hosts looked to make the most of this fact and it wasn't long before they had the ball in the net.

West Ham celebrate scoring in the snow.

Victor Obinna's curling shot deflected off Jonathan Spector and went in but was ruled out for offside. The linesman had made the correct decision, but the Hammers were incensed.

The ruled out goal seemed to galvanise West Ham and in the 22nd minute the same two players combined as Obinna's chipped cross was met by Spector who got in front of Fletcher to head in his first goal in English football and it was against his former club too. Spector then made a long run across the middle of the field before advancing in to the box where he passed to Victor Obinna whose attempted shot was blocked. The ball then fell just in front of Fabio da Silva whose timely slip allowed Spector, who had continued his run, to get back on the ball where he calmly slotted the ball past Kuszczak from close range for his and West Ham's second goal before the break.

After the break there was more life to the Man Utd attack and they created a few more chances but the revival was ended as Victor Obinna crossed to find Carlton Cole who got in front of Evans and the English center forward made the most of it to put the Hammers 3-0 up thanks to a close range header. The same duo combined again as they heaped yet more misery on to United when Obinna played the ball in to Cole's feet and then twister and turned to get round Evans again before this time sliding the ball into the bottom corner for the fourth in what was the Hammers biggest win over Man Utd in years and secured them a place in the semi finals.

The players watch as Alcaraz puts the ball into his own net.

In the other game Arsenal took on an out of form Wigan team at the Emirates and the result went as expected with Arsenal winning but they hardly had to get out of second gear to beat Roberto Martinez's team in the snowy conditions. Victor Moses looked to be seriously injured when he went off and he had been the only outlet for a Wigan team who offered little all game going forward after that but looked OK in defence, and it was only a 42nd minute own goal by Antolin Alcaraz that broke the deadlock. Arsenal got their second when Bendtner slid in to meet Vela's excellent low cross from the left hand side to convert at the far post in the 67th minute. Arsenal where comfortably in control of the game after that and they had the most of the possession and the territory until the end.

Wednesday.
The games on Wednesday saw a local derby match in the second city as Birmingham took on Aston Villa at St. Andrews in the snow and the other match saw Ipswich playing West Brom at Portman Road with the former providing, as expected, the better game.

Seb Larsson celebrates scoring a penalty
for Birmingham against local rivalsVilla.

The game at St. Andrews started at a fast pace with both sides having speculative shots from a long way out but with Villa having much more of the ball however after just 12 minutes James Collins let the ball bounce and that allowed Cameron Jerome to win the ball and he then played it in to Lee Bowyer just inside the box and Bowyer was taken down by the Villa captain Richard Dunne for a penalty. Seb Larsson stepped up to take the spot kick and sent Villa keeper Brad Friedel the wrong way to the delight of the Birmingham fans at St. Andrews. Birmingham then had a chance to increase their lead but Zigic wanted too much time to bring the ball under control and then the chance to shoot had gone. They did however get the ball into the Villa goal just minutes later as Friedel fumbled a Zigic shot from a corner and the ball went just over the line before he clawed it back again. With the Birmingham players claiming the goal the linesman halted the celebrations by raising his flag for offside as Liam Ridgewell was on the line when the ball came to Friedel but he didn't appear to be interfering with play. As always seems to happen in all these situations, after this controversial incident, Villa managed to go straight up the other end and get an equaliser. The goal wasn't without its own controversy as when when Hogg played it to Gabby Agbonlahor, who turned the defender and drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner, he was marginally offside however the linesman didn't seem to notice this so the goal was allowed to stand. Birmingham had another chance to take the lead as Cameron Jerome was clean through with only the keeper to beat but saw his chipped shot drift just wide of the left hand post and the teams went in level at the break.
In the early stages of the second half both goal keepers where called in to action as they kept their teams level during more end to end football that kept the fans well entertained. More great saves by both keepers and a clearance of the line kept the game level until the 84th minute when Jerome's cut back found Zigic whose shot was deflected up in the air by Luke Young and it looped in to the top corner and over the flailing arm of Friedel in what was to be the last real attempt and was probably against the run of play. Birmingham manged to hold on during the 5 minutes of added time to clinch a semi final place and the Birmingham fans showed their delight by invading the pitch at the final whistle. This then left a sour taste on the match as they unfairly taunted the Villa fans who reacted by throwing various items, including seats and a flare, at the Birmingham fans who where now just meters away with only a single line of police separating the two sets of supporters. The seats and the flare where thrown back and forward over the line of police between the fans but the police finally reclaimed control after 10 minutes and the Birmingham fans will go home the happier after they made it into the next round.

In the other game West Brom made nine changes to the team that beat Everton 4-1 at Goodison on Saturday for the trip to Ipswich. The first half produced no goals and little in terms of entertainment other than a poor shot by Jason Scotland and a turned down penalty claim for Ipswich while West Brom looked dangerous on the counter attack. It took until the 70th minute to before there was a goal when Carlos Edwards was bundled over by Graham Dorrans in the area and Ipswich were awarded a spot-kick that Grant Leadbitter stepped up to take, and the midfielder kept his cool and although Myhill went the right way he couldn't get any contact on the ball as it was planted firmly in the bottom left-hand corner. West Brom ended the game the better side as Scotland's close range strike hit Priskin on the line, Cox saw his shot deflected over and Murphy saved well from Ibanez at point-blank range which left Ipswich to claim the semi final place.

Semi-final draw:
Ipswich v Arsenal
West Ham v Birmingham

El Grand Clasico

David Villa celebrates after scoring his second goal.

With Real Madrid and Barcelona both making extremely good starts to the season in La Liga, the first meeting of the two Spanish giants this season was always going to be a heavily anticipated game. Monday night saw the first big test for an otherwise untroubled Real Madrid team and coach Jose Mourinho who had seen his team playing many of the smaller clubs in the league throughout the first part of the season. Barca on the other hand had played many of the bigger teams and had come out easily on top on almost all of these games.
Real went into El Clasico with a one point lead in La Liga coming from the first weeks of the season when Barca lost to newly promoted Hercules while Real could only manage a draw against Mallorca. Barcelona had home advantage in what was a pretty one sided game, and they took advantage of it after just 10 minutes when Xavi, the provider of many of Barcelona's goals this season, got in to the box to meet Andres Iniesta's ball and flicked over the out rushing Iker Casillas to give Barca the lead. Normal service continued for Barcelona, who had over 70% of the first half possession, when Pedro raced in from the back post to beat Marcelo to David Villa's cross from the left for an easy tap in 8 minutes later.
Much was made before the game about the rivalry between the current two best players in the world, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but it was the Barca man who came out on top. Ronaldo created little all game and he looked a very forlorn figure as he watched his team being taken apart by his rival for world player of the year. It was Messi who created the games next goal 9 minutes after the break as a jinking run into the centre of the pitch created a few yards of space which allowed him to play a 40 yard pass perfectly in behind the Real defence and on to the end of David Villa's run and the Spaniard finished it well by putting it past his fellow countryman in the Real goal to give his team a 3-0 advantage. It was the same combination that lead to Barca's fourth goal as again Messi found Villa who this time forced the ball under Casillas for his second of the game and Barca's fourth.
Despite Real's physical approach which resulted in 10 yellow cards in the game including one for Cristiano Ronaldo for pushing the Barca boss Pep Guardiola after he refused to pass the ball back to the Portugal captain, Barca got a 5th when Jefferen came off the bench to finish the game off when he beat Sergio Ramos to Bojan's cross in added time to send the majority of the 98,000 fans at the Nou Camp into delirium. The game then took a turn for the worse after Ramos took down Messi which sparked a fight that resulted in the Real Madrid right back being sent off for a push to the face of his Spanish team mate Carlos Puyol in what marred an otherwise brilliant game which left Barcelona two points clear at the top of La Liga.

Premier League (27/28th November)

Bolton celebrate after their 89th
min team goal was the equaliser
against Blackpool.

There was a record breaking weekend in the premier league last weekend with every single team scoring at least one goal for the first time in the history of the league. While Berbatov took the headlines with 5 goals out of 7 for Man Utd, West Brom won 4-1 away at Everton and Arsenal also managed four goals away from home when they won 4-2 against Aston Villa it was Owen Coyle's Bolton team that provided the best moment of the weekend for me. After going 2 goals down at home to newly promoted Blackpool Martin Petrov came off the bench to score a fantastic goal from the edge of the box by smashing a shot right in to the top corner. This wasn't the best goal of the game however as what followed could only remind you of the Brazil/Barcelona style of play. Mark Davies started the move and following several passes inside the Blackpool box Davies finished the move after Elmander's backheel was directed into Davies' path by a neat flick from Klasnic for one of the great team goals.

Martin Skrtel who scored a
goal at each end on Sunday.

The two Sunday games also provided good entertainment and after an under par Chelsea where held to a 1-1 draw at Newcastle following a mistake from Alex and Cech gifted the Geordies the lead. Liverpool then took on Spurs at White Hart Lane and got off to a good start. After a good first half performance uncharacteristic of Liverpool this season Martin Skrtel prodded the Reds in front from a corner after his initial headed effort hit Ngog before luckily falling back to his feet. Liverpool then had two easy chances through Maxi and Torres in added time at the end of the first half and another chance early on in the second half. In the second half however Liverpool retreated back and invited Spurs on to them and after Defoe missed a penalty after Ngog's handball, Luka Modric's run and cross resulted in Skrtel unluckily putting the ball into his own net to draw Spurs level. What followed was harsh on Liverpool as stand in captain Jamie Carragher had to go off with a dislocated shoulder (and is likley to be out for several games) resulting in an unorganised defence before Aaron Lennon capitalised on very poor defending by the reds left back Paul Konchesky. Things didn't get any better for Liverpool as the F.A cup draw pulled out an away trip to Man Utd which is likely to be the best tie of the round.

The Ashes - First Test

My sporting week started off on Wednesday night with a late start for the first Ashes test at the Gabba in Brisbane. It didn't go as well as I expected with Andrew Strauss falling to Ben Hilfenhaus after just the 3rd ball of the test match. After enduring another two hours of this lackluster England performance I'd had enough and I decided to head off to bed at 2am with the prospect of a highlights show to watch the next day. The next couple of days followed a remarkably similar pattern with a poor England performance keeping me up until 2am and a highlights show to watch the next day. Even thought there was little in terms of highlights for England the only bright sparks from an otherwise poor performance where good scores with the bat for in form Alistair Cook and Ian Bell and six wickets for Steve Finn in what was his first experience of the Ashes.
The turning point for England was the fourth day. Andrew Strauss made up for his duck in the first innings with a knock of 110 and his was the only England wicket to fall on the whole of day 4. Alistair Cook and Jonathan Trott then batted out the rest of the day with Cook passing his 100 and Trott passing his 50. Cook and Trott continued their excellent form in to day 5 in what has to be one of the best batting performances of all time by England with Cook eventually finishing on 235 not out and Trott on 135 not out, much to the delight of the travelling barmy army who easily outnumbered their Aussie counterparts for the last day with many Australian fans deciding not to turn up after this batting masterclass from England.
England then declared and put the Aussies into bat, with little chance of a result being reached, the decision came from Strauss and the England coaching team with the only thought being to give the bowlers another run out before the next test. Despite Ricky Ponting getting a quick fire 50 the momentum is firmly with England as we head towards the second test in Adelaide on Thursday.