Friday 28 October 2011

Premiership 29/10... Great Day Of Football Ahead.

OCT 29 2011
12:00 EvertonvMan United
12:45 ChelseavArsenal
15:00 Wigan AthleticvFulham
15:00 Manchester CityvWolverhampton Wanderers
15:00 Norwich CityvBlackburn Rovers
15:00 SunderlandvAston Villa
15:00 Swansea CityvBolton Wanderers
17:30 West BromvLiverpool

So it promises to be another fine weekend of football ahead of us looking at tomorrows fixtures, more questions will be asked and more answered such as: Will Arsenal beat Chelsea and firmly put themselves back on the map? Will Man Utd recover from there humiliation at the first time of asking? Can Blackburn turn their season around after a great mid-week win over Newcastle? And Will Man City continue to dominate?
Among other questions I think these are all ones that fans will be asking themselves.

What's your thoughts on the weekend ahead?

Tuesday 25 October 2011

What a Weekend of Football.

Another great weekend of premiership football has come and gone and with that possibly the title challange of Man Utd and Chelsea aswell.
Man City will feel a massive sense of achievement beating Man Utd 6-1 and in all honesty it's a result that shocked me even with Utd being down to 10 men.
Can Man Utd bounce back straight away or will this of hit them like they hit Arsenal earlier on this season? It took Arsenal a fair few games to recover from the 8-2 mauling but after the 3-1 win over Stoke at the weekend there record in all competitions stands at 6 wins in 7 games.
Even as an Arsenal fan I must say I felt sorry for Chelsea at the weekend who deserved a point for me but when you have 9 men it's tough... Robbed by the ref in my opinion but what's your opinion?

Is the title going to the blue half of Manchester?
Do Blackburn stand any chance of staying up?
Are Arsenal back?

Have your say.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Wenger Admits That Mutiny Was Close.

Wenger has said that it has been the most difficult pre-season since his reign started way back in the mid-nineties. A combination of Fabregas and Nasri wanting out has been the main reason for this near mutiny situation and despite the good signing of Arteta among others Arsenal still haven't been able to fully recover as is evident from the league table... 10 points from 10 games just unheard of in recent Gunners history.

Would the start of the season been so bad if Fabregas had left early in pre-season?
Would Arsenal have more points if all of their signings were made early on in pre-season so they were all together for a couple of months before the premiership started?

Arsene Wenger thinks the Gunners can still make the top 4 and as it's only mid October maybe this is still a realistic target... After the Sunderland result can they build and make their way up the table?... All Arsenal fans are desperately hoping so.

It's strange to say but now Fabregas and Nasri have left the squad they can build with players that want to play for them and if Wenger can take anything out of a bad situation is that when a player no longer wants to play for the team he must deal with it sooner rather the later and buy replacements.

What do you think?

Friday 14 October 2011

How strong Is The Championship?

The second tier of English football has increased in strength over the years to the point where its the fifth most watched league in Europe but how strong is it?

This season Southampton who are topping the table on 22 points will be hoping to follow Norwich City's example of two promotions in two seasons to gain premiership status but Southampton will have strong competition if their dreams are to come true.

I would say there are at least fourteen teams capable of achieving promotion such as teams like Middlesbrough, Derby, Leicester and last seasons relegated teams West Ham, Birmingham and Blackpool among others.

So will Southampton stay topping the league?
Who's your favourites to go up?

Have your say....

PBS

Thursday 13 October 2011

Can The Premier League Trophy Find A Different Home?

The season is still in the early stages but its shaping up with both Manchester clubs being favourites to take home the title. My question is.... does anyone else have a realistic chance in winning the league?

Most people will say Chelsea are the only team that can stop Manchester dominating proceedings but what about Liverpool, Spurs maybe Arsenal, Villa or even Newcastle after the unbeaten start they have had?

Currently the way the table is set up one or two bad results for City/Utd and a handfull of clubs are back in the hunt, now i know this stage of the season its abit early to think that way but my thoughts are that if you are not a City/Utd fan then you have to hang onto the thoughts that the title race is not over in mid-October after the amazing starts the top two have had.

Whats your thoughts on how its gone so far?

Wednesday 12 October 2011

The Premier League Returns.

With mixed emotions on the international break for the home nations its back to the bread and butter of the league this weekend.

This weeks fixtures:

Saturday-

Liverpool v Man Utd
Man City v Aston Villa
Norwich v Swansea
QPR v Blackburn
Stoke v Fulham
Wigan v Bolton
Chelsea v Everton

Sunday-

West Brom v Wolves
Arsenal v Sunderland
Newcastle v Tottenham

The one fixture that stands out this weekend will be the early kick-off at Anfield between Liverpool and Man Utd.
This game never fails to gain the attention, wheather its due to the quality of football, sendings off or just the heated war of words between managements and this weekends match should be no different.

With Man Utd being on 19 points and Liverpool being on 13 alot of people will consider this game important for the continuation in Liverpools revival, if Utd ended the weekend on 22 points Liverpool would already be 9 points behind the champions where as if Liverpool got themselves a win 19 points to 16 looks much better and could add Liverpool into the potential league winners group of Utd, City and Chelsea.

Looking at the other fixtures I think the City v Villa game could be very interesting indeed as both teams still find themselves undefeated along with Utd and Newcastle....so...will something give? will one team see their first lose? many will think its in the bag for Man City but im not so sure its as clear cut.

Three fixtures that could be just as important but for reasons further down the table are
Norwich v Swansea,QPR v Blackburn and Wigan v Bolton.

Norwich and Swansea are both joint on 8 points so a win for either team would propel them into a great position but if you're a betting man you'd probably go for the draw which both teams would likely take as a good result.

QPR on the same points as Norwich and Swansea find themselves at home to second from bottom Blackburn and after their terrible result against Fulham will be determined not to fall foul again but Blackburn will be hoping to kickstart their season and realive the pressure, even if its just for a little bit.

Wigan 18th hosting Bolton 20th is arguably the most interesting fixture out of the 3... if either team lose the  confidence that they started the season with could really be dented and would really find themselves early favourites for regation...fans will be watching this one with interest, nerves and hope.

The last two fixtures on Saturday Chelsea v Everton and Stoke v Fulham i think are both worth a watch with Chelsea and Fulham having high scoring wins last time around will they be able to carry that through? wWe shall see.

Sundays fixtures could make for a very interesting day too with Newcastle being unbeaten still and Spurs still on a high after a North London derby win...Arsenal  and Sunderland will want to put a stop to their very average starts to this season and West Brom v Wolves which is always a heated occasion and will be a very hard game to predict.

All in all this weekend could prove to be a classic with early season hopes on the line and potential must win games across the ball, i know ill be watching with interest and personally hope the Arsenal can start heading in the right direction.

Who ever you support have your say.

PBS

Thursday 6 October 2011

Chamberlain Scores 3 in England U21 win....

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got himself a hat-trick with another impressive display and in a team starting with Chamberlain on the right wing and Lansbury on the left the future could be bright for Arsenal aswell as England.

England U-21s continue their 100% start and face Denmark on Monday for a tough match where they may be without Delfouneso and , all in all though a good result which we all hope the seniors can reproduce tomorrow night.

I personally think Stuart Pearce should get brownie points for the job he's done at U-21 level, he's been in charge now for quite a while and has installed real passion in the youth of this nation which on occasions puts the senior team to shame.

Now just putting it out there wouldn't it make sense for Pearce to take over at the helm after Euro 2012? I mean he's brought these boys up and he knows what the future holds for England playerwise... I think he would really shake things up and provide some of that steel that we have seemingly lacked for quite a while now.
Hes the kind of manager that could easily install an us against them mentality which really is essential when in charge of England.

Is Pearce a real contender for the job?

PBS

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Tevez Mistranslated....!?

Carlos Tevez was mistranslated  in his interview before getting suspended by Man City so his advisor Kia Joorabchian says. To me this sounds all a bit convenient and almost like Tevez is trying to get his very own get out of jail free card.

This situation is a total misunderstanding according to Tevez & co but we all know that this is exactly the kind of thing he does when things don't go his own way.The fact is in reality he is well down the pecking order and he cant stand it....


At first he wanted to leave the club and couldn't wait to go then when he realised the deal wouldn't go through to allow him to leave and go to Corinthians, he automatically expected to be straight back into the first squad with his captains armband but lets be honest Aguero, Dzeko and Balotelli have been awesome so far this season and as good as a player as Tevez is Man City need to get rid as soon as possible before he derails a so far impressive start.


As far as this recent episode, the translator could speak English for sure otherwise they wouldn't be a translator and this quote from Kia Joorabchian is almost laughable but whats next for Tevez? Hes due back to training October 12th and i very much doubt it'll be with arms held wide open so in reality where can he go from now?


With all that's happened will any club want to spend big money on a player who in a year maybe two will probably do something else crazy and be on his move again, maybe just maybe Man City will have to keep hold of him until the end of his contract and loan him out time after time.


What do City fans think?

PBS

England Vs Montenegro...


GoalkeepersScott Carson, Joe Hart, David Stockdale

DefendersLeighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Micah Richards, John Terry, Kyle Walker

MidfieldersGareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young

ForwardsDarren Bent, Andy Carroll, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Bobby Zamora.



The players that have been called up to the England squad for fridays match were annouced a few days back with no real shocks, but some inclusions that might be worth highlighting are that of Kyle Walker and Danny Welbeck. Both have had real energetic starts to the season and look like future stars, i just hope that they get given a chance in competitve surroundings because if we are all honest friendly matchs dont really help the experience of our international future.


Looking at the fowards picked i personally think you have to start with Rooney and Welbeck upfront as they have 14 goals between them already and have proved a great asset for club, so why not country?.


I really hope that England beat Montenegro which in all honesty they should do but we always seem to make things far harder then they really should be.


Whats your thoughts on the most recent England squad?
Any names that dont appear in the squad that should have?
Is the future bright?

PBS

Which of the Premier Leagues new boys are in the best position to survive?

I have seen a couple of games this season featuring new boys QPR, Norwich and Swansea and have to say I've had mixed emotions on who will survive in the ever difficult Premiership.
Now all three teams have played with heart and a determination that is definitely needed for survival but at the same time have made some mistakes that can only come with the inexperience they have at top level.


I think the most notable news in the summer was that QPR were bought out and spent some money on some bigger names such as Barton, Wright-Phillips, Young (Luke) among others, while the other two teams made signings but none with massive top flight experience.


Automatically due to this reason you would think that puts QPR favorites to achieve at a higher level but looking at their last result against Fulham where they were mauled 6-0 combined with the performances of Norwich at Old Trafford where they can be well within their rights to think they should've won against a high flying Utd side, and Swansea's 2-0 win against a very good Stoke City side then for me things are wide open in a league that could drag 8-10 teams into a relegation dog fight.


So with Norwich, Swansea and QPR in 9th, 10th and 11th respectively all on 8 points whats your thoughts on their futures?


PBS

Arsenal....a blip or a darker future?

As an Arsenal fan the start of the season has been quite hurtful and so unlike what any fan could of expected even with the departure of Nasri and Fabregas.


When I get a spare 5 minutes I sometimes find myself looking on YouTube at old videos of the days of Henry/Campbell/Vieira/Bergkamp or a little further back Wright/Adams/Seaman/Merson... I could go on with the names to be honest and the one thing they all had in common was they were game winners pure and simple.



If you have taken a few minutes to watch the well made video above, my question is.....will this ever happen again or will all Arsenal fans have to dream of a past team and look at a future of just getting by in the Premier League.
While as an Arsenal fan I'm hopeful and always dedicated to my team I'm also fearful this could be the end of a most enjoyable era with more ups then downs and some amazing players along the way.


Whats your thoughts guys?

PBS