Premier League: Round 22 (Part 1)

Like I said, I'm taking over the Premier League for now until Chris decides he wants to start posting ;) Here we go with Saturday's action. I'll do a preview next week aswell, so I won't be telling you who they're playing, just where they are in the table :)

Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Liverpool

Bolton pulled off one of the shocks of the season today, as the basement club managed to pull of a massive win over a supposedly in-form Liverpool side in a match that not only lifted them off the bottom of the table, but also restored a lot of faith in manager Owen Coyle. Bolton have been in dire straits recently, and a lively performance saw Mark Davies slot in early in the match. Nigel Reo-Coker then doubled their lead as he scored a beautiful goal after chesting down and blasting it into the bottom corner.

Craig Bellamy then scored a beautiful chip over the keeper to give Kenny Dalglish's men belief that they could salvage something from the match, but they were outclassed throughout the whole match, and Gretar Steinsson's goal - a neat little volley - just served to show how much work Liverpool still have to do and how much they're desparately missing Luis Suarez (who is nearing the end of his 8 match ban).

Liverpool missed out on the chance to overtake Newcastle and possibly Arsenal (who play tomorrow), and their title chances are all but over with a 16 point gap having emerged between them and league leaders Man City. For Bolton however, it was a match to remember and pulls them out of the bottom 3 for the first time in a fair while.

Everton 1-1 Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn's revival continued after a feisty encounter at Goodison Park today. Tim Cahill was the hero and villain today as he scored in the 24th minute, though there were suspicions of handball from Marouane Fellaini during the build up to the goal. But nevertheless, it stood, and the lead was held for 48 minutes, surviving two shots that bounced off the post in the first half, before Tim Howard's error led Cahill to attempt a goal-line clearance which unfortunately for him ricocheted right back of David Goodwillie and into an empty net.

To be honest, this was a great match to watch. There were chances at both ends and both sides looked dangerous but lacked the finishing touch until Cahill managed to nab a goal. BBC just told me Tim Cahill hadn't scored for Everton since December 20th, 2010. It does not feel that long...wow. Anyway, both sides had long spells of possession, creating many chances, and David Dunn and Scott Dann both hit the post before Goodwillie's somewhat fortunate equaliser.

Blackburn briefly moved out of the relegation zone with the point before Bolton got their unexpected victory over Liverpool. As for Everton, they are now 14th and level on points with both Swansea and Fulham, with 3 points separating them and 9th placed Norwich.

Fulham 5-2 Newcastle United

Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat-trick in the Premier League in an enthralling match against Newcastle at Craven Cottage. Newcastle took the lead through a fine goal from Danny Guthrie just before half time, and while there was just the one goal before the interval, afterwards was a totally different story. Danny Murphy equalised after 52 minutes thanks to a penalty and only 7 minutes later, Dempsey racked up his first of the match. It only took him another 6 minutes to grab his second. 3 minutes later there was another penalty which Zamora fired home. In the 85th minute, Hatem Ben Arfa netted to give Newcastle some slim hope of a comeback, but they never really threatened again and Dempsey scored his first premier league hat-trick - and the first of any American - in the 89th minute.

Serious questions must be asked about Newcastle after this match. They were obviously missing their in form striker Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi was not adequate cover, but if I remember rightly, they just signed a £10m striker - Cisse - from France. Hopefully we'll see him play in the next match and he will be able to hold the fort until Ba is Ba-ck. Hah.

Thanks to Liverpool's drop against Bolton, Newcastle remain in 6th place and level on points with Arsenal, though that will change depending on the match against Manchester United tomorrow. Fulham moved up from the lower echelons of the league to a respectable 12th place, and for Martin Jol, I'm sure that is a good reward for a lot of hardship over the past few months.

Norwich City 0-0 Chelsea

Norwich continued their knack of picking up points against the big boys with a performance that not only gave them their first clean sheet of the season thanks to a magnificent performance from Canaries keeper Ruddy, but also was not bereft of attacking flair, with Grant Holt again showing that he has what it takes to play amongst the stars. Fernando Torres continued his knack of not scoring (he hasn't scored in 17 matches) and even had a fantastic chance, but nudged it wide. Perhaps now we see why PSG didn't exactly rush at the opportunity to sign him.

Chelsea seemed to think if they just waited, a goal would come to them. There was no...gusto in their attacks, and you could be forgiven for thinking it was a training match. However, take nothing away from the Norwich defence, especially John Ruddy, as he produced his performance of the season to keep Chelsea at bay.

Chelsea again dropped points, and find themselves in limbo - 4 points off third placed Tottenham (who have a game in hand), 10 points off league leaders Man City (who have a game in hand) and 5 points ahead of Arsenal (who have a game in hand). However, Norwich must be in heaven. In their return season to the Premier League, they currently find themselves in 9th place, and if results continue to go their way, they have a genuine chance of getting into the Europa League places (assuming cup competitions also go their way).

QPR 3-1 Wigan

QPR came up on top in this relegation six pointer which lifted Mark Hughes' side out of the relegation zone and left Wigan stuck at the bottom of the table and 4 points from safety. Heidar Helguson scored a penalty when James McCarthy handled the ball in the area before Buzsaky notched up an insanely awesome free kick to make it 2-0 to the home side. Hugo Rodallega scored a free kick, although there was no comparison with Buzsaky's, and gave the rest of the match an intensity that was only lessened after Tommy Smith scored a long range goal.

Wigan started well, but Rodallega was not on his best form and fluffed up a couple of good chances early on before Helguson scored his penalty. Rangers then slid up a gear and took a string of chances, coming close a fair few times and ended the match on a high, winning only their second home game of the season.

QPR are now out of the relegation zone with a 2 point gap, while Wigan are essentially nailed to the bottom of the table, and to be quite honest unless they make a super signing in this last week of the transfer window, I can't see them staying up.

Stoke 1-2 West Bromwich Albion

Graham Dorran scored a late free kick as West Brom picked up their first 3 points of the year through their defeat of Stoke City. James Morrison had previously put West Brom in front after a skillful finish, and keeper Ben Foster even saved a penalty before Cameron Jerome nodded in an equaliser for Stoke. However, with just minutes remaining, Dorrans booted a free kick through a crowd of players into the top corner to send the travelling support home with a smile.

Stoke were clear favourites going into the match, their home form in the Premier League is legendary. But it was West Brom who played the best game and won their first match against Stoke since 2003.

Despite the slip up, Stoke remain 8th in the table and are only 5 points behind Liverpool although Norwich have caught them up. West Brom however pull themselves further up into safety and are now 15th.

Sunderland 2-0 Swansea

Poor Swansea, they had just found their stride. But Sunderland just could not be matched today and scored two excellent goals to continue their own run of form under Martin O'Neill's stewardship. Sessegnon scored a fantastic effort to put Sunderland ahead after Seb Larsson hit the post and before Scott Sinclair somehow skied the ball from 6 yards out. Although Swansea then pushed for an equaliser, it was Craig Gardner who scored the goal just before full time which sealed the points for the home side.

Swansea desparately need to sign a new striker with a proven goal scoring record at this level. While they do have the best passing midfield in the premier league, they lacked the final touch to get the ball in the net, while Sunderland are definitely on the up and their fans can look forward to the future with hope.

For now at least, Sunderland are 10th, slightly below where they would hope to be, while Swansea are still in a very respectable 13th place.

Wolves 2-3 Aston Villa

Robbie Keane marked his return to the Premier League in superb style as he scored two goals to give Aston Villa a deserved win against a Wolves team that lacked cohesion in defence. Keane nearly even made it 3 with a shot that went just past the post. Darren Bent scored the first after Berra stupidly fouled him to give Villa a penalty before Michael Kightly equalised soon after. Wolves then actually took the lead as Roger Johnson put a corner into the path of David Edwards who headed home. The score did not last for long though, as Keane scored a second half volley to level the scores at 2-2.

Karl Henry was the next Wolves player to be found guilty of idiocy as he kicked Marc Albrighton while the Villa man was down on the ground. Keane then scored a screamer to give the Villans a lift that sees them jump up to 11th in the league table, while for Wolves, the relegation zone beckons. They need only a point to get out, but i envision this becoming a very stressful season once again for Wolves fans.

A-League Review: 19th January 2012

Why week ## I hear you ask. Well there were two midweek matches, and they were both put off from previous weeks. So here goes.

Sydney FC 1-1 Perth Glory


Well, well, well. This is quite a little run that Perth have gone on. Five games unbeaten, they headed into this match against Sydney in high spirits, and to be fair, they made a real game of it. Sydney were hoping to improve on recent results and begin their comeback in the league. However, it was not to be, as an 87th minute goal from Adam Hughes cancelled out Mark Bridge's first half strike.

On a scorched pitch, both sides gave it their all, and Nick Carle, who was kind of...semi-hero, having assisted Bridge's goal, turned villain as he missed an open goal just after half time. It was not a game for the eloquently named Bas van den Brink as he pulled up three times in the first fifteen minutes with injury, before being subbed off.

Perth stay 5th after the result, while Sydney sit comfortably in 6th place. Sydney will host bottom side Gold Coast at the weekend, while Perth face a mouth-watering tie at home to rivals Melbourne Victory. Watch this space.

Melbourne Heart 0-1 Central Coast Mariners


Just when you think Melbourne Heart were going to put up a title challenge, it gets thrown back in their faces. A late goal from Kwasnik was enough to effectively end Heart's title run, with 10 games left to catch up 12 points. And while this is not insurmountable (they still have to play Central Coast again this season), it is highly improbable. Heart controlled large portions of the game but failed to turn their dominance into goals and in a cruel twist of fate, Kwasnik managed to slide home a McGlinchley ball.

Questions will be asked about stars Eli Babalj and Mate Dugandzic being rested, but for the most part Heart showed little sign of being effected, with Terra being the main tormentor for Mariners keeper Ryan. But as has happened in so many A-League games this season, the team that played worst left AAMI Park with the 3 points.

Central Coast have now pretty much got the league. They just need to focus on getting a couple more wins, and with 11 points separating them and Brisbane Roar, and 10 games left to play, I can't see any other side being crowned Premiers at the end of the season. Central Coast will play Adelaide United on saturday, with Melbourne Heart playing Brisbane Roar straight afterwards.

Berisha Handed One Match Ban

I'm not entirely sure why...I think it's because of his celebration after scoring against Sydney...Anyway, Besart Berisha - the A-League's top goalscorer so far this season - has been handed a one match ban, and a one match suspended ban (that will be activated if he does anything else wrong this season). The codes of conduct he supposedly breached were:
• Clause 2.2(c): ”offensive behavior, including offensive, obscene, provocative or insulting gestures, language or chanting;”
• Clause 2.2(d): ”provocation or incitement of hatred or violence;”
• Clause 6.1(a), “… a Professional Player must … at all times behave in a manner that promotes and upholds the highest standards of integrity, dignity and professionalism.”

Let's see if I can find a video of it...
YOUTUBE!


Sorry guys, I can only find a shorter video of the one I showed you last time, but yeah. Brisbane have a week to appeal against the ban...WAIT! I just saw it, Berisha kind of...does a weird kick towards...Brisbane fans? No, I guess they must be Sydney fans. Anyway, yeah, that's why. Seems a bit silly though. Premier League stars *COUGH*ADEBAYOR*COUGH* have gotten away with more. I hope it gets overturned, it would be a shame to see him suspended.

Bundesliga Week 19 Preview

After being off since the 18th of December, the Bundesliga will kick back to action beginning on Friday as Borussia Mönchengladbach (4) Vs. Bayern Munich (1) on a match that could be really helpful for the home team as they try to move up the table. On Saturday Mid Table teams will play the majority of games, an interesting match between two relegation zone teams SC Freiburg (18) Vs. FC Augsburg (17) as they try to fight out of these dreadful positions. Borussia Dortmund (2) and Schalke 04 (3) are hoping for a Munich loss so they could tie in points to the leader, they will both be facing Mid Table teams who really didn’t look great last match day. But well it’s a New Year and we will see how these teams look after their long break.
(#)- table position

(Posted for Manny)

Ligue 1 - 18th January 2012

Wahey! The French started playing football again! Funny how they took a break. Very funny. For all the reasons I mentioned in my last post. Hah.

So, let's kick things off (PUN) with another week of this terrible atrocity going by the name of le foot. That's French for football.

So, Marseille vs Lille. What an interesting and fun match this was. Probably. Well, it was 0-0 at half time, and so the Marseille manager was all like 0.0 and told his players to act dirty. Three bookings later, two goals were scored. Wheeyyy!!! This left the Marseille-Lille game at 2-0. Good job. Oh my god, I've so just realised that both goals were scored by Remy. You know what I'm about to say. Yeah, the name of the viral sensation that scores lots of goals in weird ways. Rémy Gaillard. Coincidence, or act of god? Coincidence. Definitely coincidence.

Shitting hell, the AC Ajaccio vs Auxerre game was exciting. Well, at least the first half was. Three goals were scored, 2 by AC Ajaccio and 1 by Auxerre. This is also when all of the bookings (total of three) and the red cards (also a total of three) happened. So that means that you were provided with a full 45 minutes of footballing excitement. And then a further 45 minutes of potentially homosexual men (not that that's a bad thing) kicking a sack of leather around a field (that's the bad bit).

Almost exactly the same thing happened in the Bordeaux vs Valenciennes game. 2-1 at full time. Only this time, in the first ten minutes of the second half, Kadir scored a goal for Valenciennes as they were trying to claw their way back. You can tell this because this is when they had all of their bookings. They were trying to play dirty, and ultimately failed.

Get me and my ability to be able to determine how exciting matches are by how brutal the players are being.

*Snigger* The Nice-Brest *snigger* game wasn't all that exciting. *Snigger* Brest scored *snigger* in the sixth minute. Wait, what's dirty about the number 6? I'm disappointed now. Anyway, despite Nice trying to play dirty with *snigger* Brest and getting two bookings, they failed. Final score, 1-0 to *snigger* Brest.

Oh yeah! Rennes beat Caen 2-0! Oh yeah! I don't care about this game because the names of the ... wait a minute. The names of the goal scorers. Ekoko and Montano. Cool. But yeah, no bookings, which means the match was shit.

Boom!

Ah no! Dijon beat Evian Thonon Gaillar, the best team name of all time, 3-1! How embarrassing for the team that I shouldn't root for, and yet for some reason I do! I think Evian Thonon Gaillar are the shit team that I'm accidentally supported. Kind of like Wigan of the Premier League (please tell me Wigan are still in the Premier League). But yeah, pretty exciting game, lots of bookings. Tie Bi even got sent off. Tie Bi is such an awesome name. He plays for Evian Thonon Gaillar, so that's a given. Kind of like Cedric Barbosa of the same team. It's just like Evian Thonon Gaillar want me to support them to the bitter end. Anyway, yeah, I kind of gave up on the match report a while ago, so let's move on.

In fact, if you like football, you must really hate me. My match reports must be like interrogating a dog to find out who's been a good boy. No information.

Even so, Montpellier beat Lyon 1-0, in an interesting game that involved a couple of bookings. Good.

They're just getting worse, aren't they? I reckon I can do even worse than that.

Nancy 2-2 Lyon. It was exciting. Lots of bookings.

Now how's that for a match report?

Right, Paris SG has a new manager, who used to be Chelsea's manager, so everyone was hoping he'd bring some light to the otherwise poor performances of Paris SG in the past. (Oh my god, this is shaping up to be the best match report I've ever done). With this in hand, it was no surprise that despite Toulouse having an awesome player name Braaten scoring in the last few minutes to try and claw something back for them against the new dominatrix of French football (Paris SG), they couldn't out-manoeuvre the likes of Nene and Pastore of Paris SG, between them scoring three goals, leaving the final score at 3-1.

Oh yeah! Match report! *Loud grunt*!

And so, I leave you with one more "report". St Etienne beat Sochaux 1-0. Good job.

Hang on... My last report was on the 18th of December right? Yeah, and then it was the winter break... so why the hell are there three days worth of football...? NO! How could Dukey miss that? Blame Dukey. He didn't tell me that the French played up until the winter break. What a dick! These look like the most interesting games of the season so far! There were scores like 4-2 and 4-4 and 1-3. How could I have missed that?

Oh well.

Pete out.

Update #1

So we just got a youtube account which you can find here! Hopefully we'll be filling it with all kinds of cool stuff, and maybe even some of our own video-reports rather than having to do it typed out. Kinda hoping it'll make it more fun and make it so that SOME PEOPLE will be more inclined to actually post. :)

Also, we have a twitter, so check that out @Firstflightfoot.

But yeah, hopefully Hutchy, Manny and Joe will post reports soon enough, once the seasons in Europe get back into full swing. Just so we're clear, we still need writers for:
- Serie A
- Premier League
- La Liga
So if you have the passion to write about football, please email me: firstflightfooty@live.co.uk

A-League Review: 15th January 2012

I have to do the premier league one aswell today. Be nice to me.

Dukey's One 2 Watch: Melbourne Victory 1-1 Adelaide United


Well I thought this game would be a cracker. Both teams on the rise after promising sparkles of form recently. Yes Melbourne lost 2-1 last week, but they have been playing well of late, and when Archie Thompson slotted in after 5 minutes, Magilton's boys looked set to secure a win after a classy first half in which they for the most part dominated. However that man Sergio Van Dijk scored shortly after the interval - his fourth in three games - and the rest of the nail-biting encounter was a tense affair until the final whistle.

I think Harry Kewell is finally finding his feet back in Australia. The amount of crosses he managed to sweep in and his dribbling skills that constantly took him through defenders were a sign of a player gaining confidence after every match, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him start scoring again soon. But it's Sergio Van Dijk who is in form right now. In two weeks, he has scored 3 goals at the same stadium, having bagged a brace against Heart in the other match. Both teams though will hope they can build on this match and go into their next few fixtures strongly.

For Adelaide, this is imperative as they face off against league leaders Central Coast. However, they can at least take solace from the fact that while they were bottom only a couple of weeks ago, they are now in 8th place, level on points with Victory in 6th, and within touching distance of 5th placed Perth. Victory face said Glory side in a match which could propel either side into the battle for second.

Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Newcastle Jets


Newcastle played well in the F3 derby in front of an impressive 10,000 fans at the Bluetongue stadium. As is their tendency, they had a dominant first period, in which Haliti put them away with a fine finish in the 16th minute. They continued to press for a second but, as is their tendency, they petered out (I love it, I never get a chance to use that phrase) in the second half, and Zwaanswijk fully deserved the goal that put Central Coast back in the game.

This result means Mariners have made a club record 13 games without loss and I'll be interested to see if they'll become the new Brisbane. They're only a small community team, so it'll be an immense achievement and a credit to what they've built up there. Newcastle were very good aswell, but as I have said many times before, they need to work on their stamina, as they lost their touch in the second half and appeared dreary.

Next week, Newcastle face Wellington and Central Coast will host Adelaide. While Newcastle are 9th, they are within touching distance of the post-season, and playing mid-table teams like Wellington and beating them is paramount to them making the final 6. For Central Coast, an opportunity beckons to stay ahead in the race to the title.

Brisbane Roar 2-1 Sydney FC


Brisbane pulled off the luckiest of escapes to get two goals in one minute. In fact, watch this video first.



Wow. Sydney led after Bridge gave them a lead in the 38th minute, and for all their trying, they just couldn't hold on, as in the dying minutes, Brisbane launched attack after attack. A free kick conceded let Mohamed Adnan score with a pretty decent effort. From the restart, they attacked immediately and after a rather clumsy cross and a slight deflection, Besart Berisha was in the right place at the right time to divert a header and spark scenes of ecstasy amongst Roar fans in a packed Suncorp stadium.

This was a hell of a game to watch, filled with lots of cheering, ball kicking and commentators sounding like their balls were being squeezed extra tight. I did feel bad for Sydney - some might have said they didnt deserve to have drawn, let alone lost. But it just shws that Brisbane are making their comeback, and I couldn't be happier. It's nice to see that the dark days are over and that we could have a title challenge after all.

Speaking of title challenge, Roar face Melbourne Heart in a match which is sure to generate a lot of goals (he says hopefully). In fact, that's gonna be my One 2 Watch. Sydney face Perth midweek, and will be hoping to break their run of form. Speaking of which...

Melbourne Heart 1-2 Perth Glory


It seems like every team has had a reversal of fortunes after the New Year, and this has all the hall marks of a shocker. Perth, who until recently had been banished to the basement of the A-League somehow managed to outplay a Heart side who, until recently, were mounting their own title challenge though that now appears to be on hold. Shane Smeltz, coming back from injury, scored after 15 minutes and Glory dominated the rest of the half. In the second, Sarkies of Melbourne Heart snatched an equaliser before McGarry sealed the 3 points for Glory who hadn't won back to back away matches since September 2009. Pretty impressive, no?

This was a fairly entertaining game, very open and both sides had plenty of attacks and neither side seemed to be able to gain an advantage. Each goal came as a surprise, although Smeltz really should have scored more, but will no doubt be happy with his 6th goal of the season. Heart really need to try and get out of this rut if they want to continue to push against Brisbane, who they face next week and who won this weekend aswell.

As I said, Melbourne face Brisbane, and Perth will be looking forward to their tie against Sydney midweek and will hope to capitalize on their resurgence.

Gold Coast United 0-1 Wellington Phoenix
I'll add these images in later...blogger is being weird.

Anyway, it was business as usual today as Gold Coast rolled over and showed their bellies to the Phoenix, who gladly stole 3 points from right under their noses. Tim Brown scoring the only goal in a match where, despite what I said a second ago, Gold Coast really did dominate. They did so against Heart last time out, and for some reason they can't seem to turn their dominance into goals. Methinks a new striker is needed. There isn't really that match to say about this game to be fair...Gold Coast had lots of shots and couldn't get any of them in, and Brown managed to get on the end of a free kick to hit home and give Phoenix their 7th win of the campaign and keep them in 4th, still in the race. Gold Coast, however, returned to the bottom of the table and now have a 4 point gap to overcome between them and Newcastle, who...

...play Wellington next week, while Gold Coast will face a tough test against Sydney.