Real Madrid 3 : 2 Man City - Champions League Review

Ronaldo winner spoils City fans dinner

Two geniuses - Ronaldo celebrates scoring the winner just as his manager Mourinho does in the background

Written by Aodhan Kinsella

It isn't often a game can be so thrilling to watch from the first minute to the last. There has been many times a match has been spoken about with a huge build up which leads to the game usually lacking the excitement football fans anticipated. This was not that game. 

This evening Real Madrid took on Manchester City at the Bernabeu in the first game of Group D in the Uefa Champions League. Do either side need introducing? Both winning the league last year created a marvelous scene for tonight's game. Although both sides haven't been in good form as of late, with City drawing their last game to Stoke City, as Sevilla stunned Real with a victory over Jose's side. Despite the lack of form from either side, the iconic game tonight really did prove why football is the greatest sport on Earth. 

In a tight first half, Real Madrid looked on top as they created great chances to start the scoring off. The first chance came from Ronaldo as he cut in side from the left channel and shot to bring a great save from the inspiring Joe Hart. It wasn't long after that Ronaldo was again trespassing into the box from the left flank to whip a ball that met the head of Higuan but again Hart was there to keep his side on level terms. As Real Madrid persisted on pressuring City in possession and looked to keep the game rolling, Man City aimed to keep the ball patiently until there was any options available to spread the ball to further up the field. Having no clean cut chances on goal at the break, the biggest threat Mancini had to offer to Madrid was through the colossal Yaya Toure. The Ivorian midfielder showed why he is so important to Manchester City. The man is a machine, he is unplayable running at defenders. Evidently as he teared for with the ball in the first half to leave Real Madrid men short on City's attack. The powerhouse then done the same again in the 70th minute to counter attack for City, putting in Dzeko 1 on 1 with Casillas , who slotted home the opening goal of the match. 

Deadlock broken - Eden Dzeko celebrates the opener against Real

The goal came as a shock to Real Madrid who had been dominating the majority of the match before the slip up. It didn't take like for the Spanish giants to bounce back though through a deflected shot from Marcelo from the edge of the box. The game began to open up much more than earlier, with Madrid pushing for the winner but Man City being effective when getting the rare chances to go forward. A harsh decision was given by the referee against Benzema who had bumped with Zabaleta off the ball. The free-kick was in a perfect position for Kolarov to cross into the box which when doing so, went past everyone into the corner or the goal deceiving Casillas who was predicting a touch off a player. The goal stunned Madrid and spectators, it looked to be a famous result for Mancini's men at the Bernabeu. But in a staggering retaliation, Karim Benzema found the ball at his feet with his back to goal, instinctively turning immediately and passing the ball into the bottom right hand corner away from Joe Hart's grasp, an incredible finish from the Frenchman. 

Is this Real? - Benzema equalizes immediately 

With virtually minutes left, the worst possible outcome for Manchester City was awaiting, The man who has been all over the media for the past weeks with rumours of unhappiness and wanting to leave Madrid, the former Manchester United favorite, Cristiano Ronaldo was looking to to finish City off. Receiving the ball on the left flank again, running at the right back Zabaleta again, cutting onto his right foot again, City granted Ronaldo the chance complete their misery. Ronaldo shoots with power leaving Kompany in two minds of whether to head it or duck, which in turn left Joe Hart with little chance of predicting what was going to happen. Of course the former Red Devil watched his shot hit the back of the net as the Bernabeu erupted for the best Winger they have ever seen. 

Forget the suit - Mourinho celebrates the dramatic end to the match

Credit has to be given for Manchester City for almost defeating the famous white jerseys of Real Madrid but the game was always controlled by Mourinho's men. Just as City nicked that late victory last May vs QPR, Madrid supplied the medicine for City to taste. Real Madrid will look to continue this team morale in matches to come in the League BBVA. As for Mancini's men, it will be a long flight home from Spain before their big weekend game against Arsenal on Sunday.

 

Liverpool 0 - 2 Arsenal

New boys sink Liverpool

The new boys in town - Cazorla and Podolski celebrate their goals

Written by James Akrong

In a high profile match in the Barclay’s Premier League Arsène Wenger’s new signings Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla got their first league goals for Arsenal in a 2-0 win, their first of the season, against a struggling Liverpool side. Both clubs have been heavily depleted by this summer’s outgoings, with the Gunners losing 30 goal-a-season striker Robin van Persie to rivals Manchester United and the influential Alex Song who provided eleven assists last season, whilst the Reds suffered many losses, with Andy Caroll being a significant departure.

Liverpool could’ve conceded within the 10th minute as Santi Cazorla slalomed his way through a packed defence only to shoot straight into the gloves of keeper José Reina. Minutes passed by without many significant chances, but Steven Gerrard’s sloppy pass in the middle of the park led to a break away in which Lukas Podolski opened the scoring via a perfectly weighted pass from Cazorla . Liverpool almost struck back in the 37th after promising winger Raheem Sterling turned his man with ease and found the upright to the relief of 3rd-choice Vito Mannone who looked like a beaten man. However it only took the Gunners three minutes to fashion another chance as the impressive Abou Diaby found Olivier Giroud only to see the Frenchman slice his shot wide of the goal. The first half ended with Arsenal a goal to the good.

Vieira ? - Diaby was compared to Vieira after a wonderful performance

The second half started well, but in the 51st minute there was controversy as the referee disregarded Suarez’s appeal for a penalty as he was allegedly pulled down in the box by Per Mertesacker. Arsenal regained a familiar control of the match and in the 52nd minute Podolski found the overlapping run of fullback Kieran Gibbs whose powerful shot was easily saved by the Liverpool goalkeeper. Three minutes later Liverpool were at the centre of more controversy after they found themselves in the Gunners’ box but a great piece of defending by Thomas Vermaelen stopped the chance, or was it? Howard Webb disregarded Luis Suarez’s call for handball, but replays showed the Belgian’s arm did indeed make contact. The game went on, and within another two minutes Liverpool found themselves in Arsenal’s box once again, a clever change of direction took the defence of the equation, but the Uruguayan who experienced a good debut season last year fired his shot clear over the bar. Carzorla was involved again playing a lovely one two pas with the man he assisted in the first half, the Spaniard netted his first goal in an Arsenal shirt after his shot from a tight angle snuck it’s way under the body of José Reina.

Cazorla class -  the  tricky Spaniard sneaks the second goal to seal the game for Arsenal

This season has so far been almost a better start for Arsène Wenger than the terrible one that he had to endure last season, whilst Brendan Rodgers has led his side to their worst start to a Premier League season in 50 years. It will be interesting to see whether Arsenal will be able to cement themselves as title contenders this season and whether ex-Swansea boss Rodgers will be able to turn his season around and remain in contract with what is such a demanding football club.

West Ham 3 - 0 Fulham

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR HARMONIOUS HAMMERS IN THE FORM OF AN IN-TUNE CARROLL

Written by Stavros Constantinou

LOUD NEIGHBOURS. A first half masterclass sees the cottagers stay cut short as they are evicted by half time. A goal after 50 seconds came after Carroll had nodded the ball perfectly in the path of Vaz Te allowing him to feed a ball for Kevin Nolan to smash passed a stranded Schwarzer in the net. This goal was the premier league’s quickest this season but it is early days yet.

The fast chicken delivery - Nolan does the chicken dances to celebrate his early opener

Carroll, 9 minutes later headed down a diagonal ball by Vaz Te in to the feet of an oncoming Diame. He struck it first time on the half volley but it looks like he caught it too perfect if possible as the ball clips the crossbar and goes over! Replays show that Schwarzer got a touch on the ball and therefore proved to be a fine save from the Australian.

West Ham half an hour later made it 2-0 from a corner that resulted from fragile Fulham defending. Fulham seemed to be too occupied by Kevin Nolan’s positioning forgetting that football is a game of 11 men and not 1, proving costly as Winston Reid scales a powerless Diarra to smash the ball into the back of the net with his head. Schwarzer protested but this was just breath wasted as the goal stood and West Ham extended their lead.

If West Ham’s game plan was to play the long ball into Carroll and touch it on for another player to score then Sam Allardyce is a master tactician as this proved to be instrumental in their success over Fulham. This was also the case in their third goal as Collins sends a ball into the box from a free kick and without doing too much Carroll becomes the puppet master once again dictating the play and the direction of the ball. Hangeland and Diarra looked helpless to prevent the goal as they were pressurised into making a mistake enabling Matt Taylor to fire the ball into the goal, putting West Ham 3-0 before half time. If man-marking was their tactic it evidently did not pay off! Looks like it’s back to the drawing board for a mercurial Fulham side.

Gameface Sam - Allardyce remains cool as he watched his team dominate

The joy and happiness was short lived as the talismanic Carroll limped of the pitch holding his hamstring! We hope that it is nothing serious but it looks like he will be out of the England squad. Carroll nonetheless proved his worth and exited the pitch, rightfully with a standing ovation. Vaz Te and Nolan linked well throughout the game looking like they have worked on their partnership and communication skills in training; this could prove significant in the upcoming games as West Ham will be fighting for a top 10 finish.

Fulham never really threatened, their best chance came a few minutes from the end as their new boy, Berbatov came off the bench to play in Duff whose attempt was saved by the keeper and tipped out for a corner. Berbatov once again in the dying seconds of the game fed a lobed pass to Rodallega as he struck it on the volley forcing Jaaskelainen to tip it onto the post. Apart from this it was a pretty quiet game for the West Ham Keeper.

One's joy is another's sadness - Martin Jol looks on as his team fail to pick up points in their last two league matches

Although suffering this defeat Fulham will not be worried as they know they have enough quality in their squad to stay up and fight for a potential European place, however for Jol today has been anything but jolly. 5-0 thrashing over Norwich in their first game but a 3-0 hammering in their third, proving that the premier league is anything but a walk in the park and no game is easy!

Liverpool vs Arsenal Preview

Match Preview: Liverpool v Arsenal

Written by James Akrong

Odds: Liverpool – 11/5 Draw – 9/4 Arsenal – 12/5 (SkyBet)

Anfield - Kick-off: 13:30 BST

Liverpool will play host to Arsenal in a high profile game between two clubs who haven’t had the best of starts. New boss Brendan Rodgers has only picked up one solitary point from his first two games in charge of the Merseyside club, a humiliating opening day defeat to minnows West Brom and a scintillating draw against champions Manchester City. Whereas, wily old manager Arsene Wenger has picked up two points from two goalless draws against Sunderland and Stoke respectively.

The closeness of the odds suggest that this will be a very tough game to call as both sides have been underperforming in their opening games. However, Liverpool will look to benefit from a home advantage and will be on a high after their solid performance against Manchester City whilst Arsenal will have to deal with a squad that is yet to gel properly. Both clubs experienced a bad season last year with the home side finishing 7th in the league and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal just scraping 3rd place after what can only be described after a shaky start. But both teams will be giving it their all, with Brendan Rodgers looking to prove he is the right man for the job and Arsenal’s new boys Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud yet to show critics that they are indeed cut out for life in the English game. Both sets of fans will be optimistic, Arsenal fans should be happy that their team is creating so many chances, courtesy of Santi Cazorla and Liverpool fans will be happy that they have opened their scoring account for the season with last week’s goals from Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez.

The last time they met... - Podolski and Sahin before they moved to Arsenal and Liverpool

Arsenal have not had the best of times in their 99 games at Anfield, only winning 26 matches to Liverpool’s 54, and scoring only 113 goals to Liverpool’s 190. Looking at these stats it’s fair to say that the home side have a good chance of taking all of the points today, but the Gunner’s new defensive concentration may prove to be a stumbling block to this prediction.

Theo Walcott’s contract situation may keep him out of the game on today unless. Nuri Sahin could make his Liverpool debut against Arsenal, the club that he could’ve gone to instead. New signing Oussama Assaidi could also make his debut for the Reds. The possible return of José Enrique could look to strengthen Liverpool, who have been reliant on Martin Kelly whereas Arsenal can look forward to the return of Koscielny, who may be more suited to dealing with the pace of Luis Suarez than Mertesacker, and Szcezsny – if he passes a fitness test - who will provide a much more solid goalkeeping performance then third choice Vito Mannone who was the only fit keeper available for last week’s game against Stoke. Andy Carroll will definitely not be playing for Liverpool against the Gunners after he sealed a loan move to West Ham on deadline day, making his debut for the Hammers yesterday against Fulham.

Will he be fit? - Szcezsny, the number one goalie at Arsenal

Team News

Liverpool

Out: Joe Cole (hamstring), Lucas Leiva (thigh)

Chance: José Enrique (knee)

Big Blow - Liverpool's Lucas injured last week against Man City 

Arsenal

Out: Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Jack Wilshere (ankle), Bacary Sagna (broken leg)

Maybe: Wojciech Szcezsny (rib), Lukasz Fabianski (back), Laurent Koscielny (calf)

Come back Jack - Arsenal miss their talented youngster 

Possible Line-Ups

Liverpool (4-3-2-1): Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Carragher, Johnson, Allen, Gerrard, Sahin,
Downing, Borini, Suarez


Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szcezny, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Vermalen, Jenkinson, Diaby,
Arteta, Cazorla, Podolski, Gervinho, Giroud




Who will come out on top today at Anfield?

Manchester City 3 - 1 Qpr

Old money edges out New money in Mancini's 100th 

Premier League game in charge

Carlos Tevez seals all three points for City against a difficult Qpr side

Written by Yani Ourad

Man City maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a far from convincing victory over a team that signed no fewer than twelve players in this summer's transfer window - QPR. It was a rather poor performance from the Champions, especially in front of Jose Mourinho's presence in the stands ahead of his team's meeting with Mancini's side in the Champions League. 

City could have started the game on the backfoot if it was not for Joe Hart's last-ditch save from Jack Rodwell's audacious back pass. That was probably QPR's best chance of the first half. Swiftly, City were ahead in the 16th minute. David Silva, with City's sixth corner, swung the cross in and after Tevez's effort was blocked by Zamora, Yaya Toure was on hand to give City a deserved lead. Man City dominated possession thereafter - 70% in their favour - but were unable to convert anything from it, (lacking the clinical finishing they are used to from Aguero).

Simples - Toure punishes Qpr for sloppy defending

City started the second half as they started the first, on the offensive, Zabaleta this time, after being played through by an impeccable pass from David Silva, his shot could only rattle the bar. A replica of the opening home game against Southampton, Mancini's blues were yet again punished for their wasteful chances in front of goal. Andy Johnson with a deflected shot on goal was brilliantly saved by the England number one Joe Hart, unfortunately for City fans, Zamora leaped to the rebound to head QPR level on the hour mark.

The Bobby Bandage - Zamora heads in an equaliser 

QPR's joy only lasted for two minutes this time as the relentless Carlos Tevez dinked the ball across the face of the goal for Dzeko to rue Rangers' poor defending and give City the lead for the second time with a straightforward header.

QPR had their chances to equalise, twice through their 35-year old defender Ryan Nelsen, who made a mockery of himself with an attempted scissor-kick on goal which went horribly wide and then narrowly missing out on Granero's cross at the far post. Mancini's moment of concern was short lived as Dzeko's miss-hit attempt on goal took a lucky deflection off Carlos Tevez, who deserved his goal nonetheless after yet another credible performance, making it four goals in four games for the Argentinian.

Hand slap Ya Tevez chap - Tevez seals it for City

This result means that the Citizens are yet to have a clean sheet, it's early stages but if this continues, Mancini will have more to worry about than which flavour fruit pastille he desires. Especially with the eagle eyes glaring on from the stands..

Liverpool Transfer Round Up

Liverpool Football Club Transfer Analysis

Written by Hari Jaswal

'Where is he?'-  Rodgers with the much wanted Clint Dempsey

August 31st is one of the most highly anticipated dates in the football calendar for one reason, and for one reason only. Transfer Deadline Day. And for Liverpool Football Club anticipation and excitement was swiftly reduced to bitter disappointment.

Despite new boss Brendan Rodgers bringing in talented reinforcements in the shape of Swansea star Joe Allen and midfield maestro Nuri Sahin a proven goal scorer is something both Brendan and Liverpool craved. With Clint Dempsey being a long time target for Rodgers a deal was almost certain to be completed, especially seeing as Andy Carroll had been loaned out to newly promoted and highly ambitious West Ham United. However, Liverpool used the money brought in by Charlie Adam’s deadline day switch to Stoke to assemble a £4 million bid for the American Superstar.

'Aren't i glad to see you '-  Rodgers with the highly rated Allen

Clint Dempsey had already rejected moves to Aston Villa and was also rumoured to have rejected Sunderland in favour of an Anfield switch. Ever reliable Sky Sports News later reported that Fulham had rejected a bid from Liverpool and it seemed likely that despite Dempsey’s willingness to join a deal was never going to materialise. And it didn’t. Clint Dempsey was spotted at Tottenham Hotspur’s ground and later put pen to paper on a three year deal which would see him join Tottenham for a mere £6 million. 

''White's more my colour'' - Dempsey surprises everyone with a last minute move to Spurs 

Liverpool had missed out on a perfect solution to their ongoing goal scoring problem. It wasn’t all bad news for Liverpool however, as Fabio Borini was brought in. A young and talented striker who also has previous experience under Brendan Rodgers. Along with Sahin, Allen and Borini came a relatively unknown and perhaps surprise signing in the form of Moroccan winger Oussama Assaidi, brought in from Dutch club Heerenveen. Assaidi is a very hard working, two footed and tricky winger who can supply both goals, and assists, proven by the 20 goals he has scored in just 79 games, which for a winger is quite an impressive haul. This dynamic style of play is something Liverpool lacked last season. 

Despite these incomings there have been several high profile exits. And there is a repetitive factor linked to all of them; age. None less than four players over the age of 30 have left, and they were all on astronomical wages compared to their contribution. These players include Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy, talismanic Maxi Rodriguez and the always-injured Fabio Aurelio. All four players had the ability to impress at Anfield but also had a downside to their game. Craig Bellamy’s temperament always seemed to hinder him, especially during his first spell at Anfield, most memorable for the infamous golf-club accident. Dirk Kuyt never seemed to be a problem as he was always well-disciplined and forever the man for a big occasion. Much like his former team-mate Maxi who, late on in his career turned out to be a prolific goal scorer, yet Liverpool still sold him, showing Brendan Rodgers’ ruthlessness when it comes to installing his philosophy and making his mark on the Liverpool team Kenny Dalglish left him.

'I can't even look at you' - Carroll was forced to join West Ham on loan after Rodger's says he's not in his plans 

Now, a quick overview of what Liverpool’s new signings have to offer.

* Nuri Sahin – The Turkish playmaker has much to offer, not only can he go forward and has phenomenal vision, he can also tackle and will help Liverpool in any way possible, proving to be an ideal replacement for the recently injured Lucas.

* Joe Allen – The Welsh Xabi Alonso! An amazing player who can pretty much do anything, attack, defend, retain possession. You name it, and he can do it.

* Fabio Borini – Young, but a natural goal scorer who has worked under Rodgers before, only time will tell how good he actually is.

* Oussama Assaidi – The versatile Moroccan winger who offers massive amounts going forward and a seemingly ideal winger, who, if he performs well Liverpool could have found themselves a real bargain.

These signings fit Brendan Rodgers’ style perfectly, and if they can gel and perform well who knows what is possible?