Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06

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Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06

Interesting games for Saturday

  • Charlton **v Chelsea**

This will be an interesting game between two teams topping the EPL with 100% record. Chelsea has won all their 5 games with a GD of 10. No goal is scored against them yet. Charlton, on the other hand, has won their 4 games with a GD of 7, only one goal was conceded. If Charlton can beat Chelsea, they can level the points with a match in hand.

Darren Bent, a match winner for Charlton so far, has scored 5 goals in 4 games to become the current top-scorer in EPL. He transferred to Charlton from Ipswich for £2.5million during the summer.

  • Valencia **v Deportivo La Coruña**

Deportivo has started this season well and they have managed maximum points from 2 games they have played, they hold 2nd position on the table with 6 points. Valencia won their game against Betis and only managed a draw against a weaker Zaragoza side.

Deportivo plays attacking soccer while Valencia plays a bit defensive. These two teams have managed to challenge big payers in Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona in past seasons.

  • Bayern Munich **v Hannover 96**

This might not be a tough game but Munich have a chance to set a record for consecutive Bundesliga wins when they host Hanover 96 on Saturday. Bayern have won their last 13 league matches, nine on the run-in to the title last season and the first four this term, to match their run in 1981.

Munich have managed 12 points from their 4 league games this season with a GD of 10. Hannover have just 6 points from 4 games.

Ballack, transferred from Leverkusen, Munich's most influential player during last seasons is injured and will miss this match. Roy Makaay is firing this season. He has scored 6 goals so far and is expected by many to break the record set by Gerd Muller with 40 goals in a season.

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Chelsea managed an easy victory over Charlton, with a score line of 0-2, to keep them at the top of the table with 100% record so far. A goal is still to be scored against them. Excellent start by Chelsea, this season. There defense looks solid so far. Nistelrooy must work hard before ManU play against them.

Munich set their record by defeating Hannover 1-0. They have won their last 14 games.

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Chelsea just dont concede goals. This is their best start to the season and equals record for most clean sheets from the start of a season. Amazing! They will take some beating (specially in premiership).

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Interesting games for Sunday

  • Liverpool **v Man Utd**

Chelsea and Arsenal are no doubt the best clubs in London, at present, but Liverpool is like a tradition. The "battle of the Red" is still more interesting to me than any other clash in Premiership. ManU will enter Anfield as favorites against a struggling Liverpool side who has managed just 5 points out of 3 games. Both teams are unbeaten so far in EPL.

  • Fiorentina **v Udinese**

Italian national team is re-shaping these days. Italy's Trademark players like Pierro, Vieri, Inzaghi,… are very near to retire and their present coach prefers to play with a team that is built around new talent.

Luca Toni (Fiorentina) is one player who has proved himself and is expected to stay in blue shirt for some time. Tony has established himself amongst the new line of strikers that top Serie A. In Italy's most recent WC qualifier, Toni hit a hat-trick. But it is not limited to Tony when someone will talk about emerging strikers in Serie A; Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese) hit a hat-trick last week in a CL clash with Panathinaikos.

This game might not be interesting in term of teams as neither is considered a serious contender to top the league, but it is a battle of two of the most talked-about strikers in Italy at present.

  • AZ Alkmaar **v Ajax Amsterdam**

Dutch Eredivisie was dominated by Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord (mainly relying on Pierre van Hooijdonk and his excellent free kicks) for almost a decade. Alkmaar has managed to challenge top 3 (mainly) during past couple of years. This season Alkmaar scored 17 goals in just 4 games and conceded 1. Can they continue scoring at sky-high rate, while defending against a (relatively) better Ajax side?

JHUMKA JAAN
JHUMKA JAAN
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Most top English clubs have started concentrating on defense in order to compete in European competitions. They are not the first to do so; Italians dominated Europe through mastering defense. Scores like 1-0, 2-0 or 0-0 are becoming more common in EPL.

The battle of the Red was no exception. ManU and Liverpool played 0-0 in a game that was otherwise an expected high-scoring clash a couple of years back. The media that was once criticizing the defensive style of Italian teams now praises the ability of English clubs to play defensive.

In Italy, things are changing as well.

Toni scored twice to help Fiorentina beat Udinese with a score-line of 4-2. Iaquinta's goal was disallowed but he managed to score one on a late penalty.

Maldini leveled the record of Dino Zoff with 570 Serie A appearances, but Milan lost to Sampdoria, 1-2.

Like always, Del Pierro was there to provide Juventus an advantage of this "Milan slip". He scored twice as Juve beat Ascoli, 2-1. Juventus maintain 100% record in Serie A so far.

In Netherlands, Alkmaar managed to beat Ajax, 4-2, in a game where 2 was perhaps the lucky number. This was a game amongst 2 top teams and Ajax scored 2 goals, 2 less than what Alkmaar scored. Ajax were beaten by 2 goals in a 4-2 result-line. Sneijder, Perez and Arveladze scored 2 goals each.

Real Madrid lost another game in La Liga to Espanyol, 1-0.

Selected Results:

Liverpool 0 - 0 Manchester United

Blackburn 0 - 3 Newcastle (Owen, Shearer scores)

Espanyol 1 - 0 Real Madrid (Poor start by Real Madrid)

Fiorentina 4-2 Udinese (Toni scores 2)
Juventus 2 - 1 Ascoli (Del Pierro scores 2)
Sampdoria 2 - 1 AC Milan

AZ Alkmaar 4-2 Ajax (Sneijder, Perez and Arveladze scored 2 goals each)

have you watched Bee movie :>?
have you watched Bee movie :>?
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Re: Premiership - La Liga - Serie A 05-06

I saw liverpool manU game and it was surprisingly boring. These games are never boring and I was surprised at ManU tactics. Anyways IMO Chelsea have already gained enough ground and lead by enouhg points that it will take a very bad run for them to lose premiership.

Valencia- Deportivo was the best one of the lot in La Liga. Entertaining football as well as goals. Awesome. Real Madrid suffered another humilation but stupid referree first gave penalty before awarding te goal. It was hillariuos. Defeat at the hands of espanyol last time around resulted in Camacho's resignation. Lets see what happens with Luxumbergo. Such a start studded team and such stupid results.

Barca also suffered defeat by Real's city rivals.

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If you are copying and pasting stuff from other websites, please provide the link aswell.

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Yes Valencia-Deportivo clash is always amongst the best, (to me) just second to a Real-Barca clash in La Liga. This clash was no exception.

Barca's game against Athletico was also fun to watch. Madrid side created a lot of chances, and if they have not lost a player in second half, they might have extended their lead. Kezman seem to have adjusted in La Liga. He is a valuable striker but never proved himself fully with Chelsea.

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Midweek action (September 21)

Spain- Primera Division

Barcelona were favorite to win their home game against Valencia but managed a single point. Barcelona lost to Athletico in their previous game. Athletico lost their recent game to Sociedad. Deportivo played another draw against Betis.

Riquelme was on for Villarreal and he scored for them but it was not enough as Villarreal's bad start continued. They lost to promoted Celta Vigo side. F. Baiano scored two to ensure 3 points for Celta Vigo. Celta Vigo is a sort of team who can play Champions league in one season and then face relegation in the next.

Barcelona 2 - 2 Valencia (D. Villa scored twice for Valencia)
Real Sociedad 3 - 2 Atletico Madrid (D. Kovacevic scored twice for Real, Kezman scored another for Athletico)
Deportivo La Coruna 1 - 1 Real Betis
Villarreal 1 - 2 Celta de Vigo (F. Baiano scored twice for Celta, while Riquelme scored for Villarreal)

Italy - Serie A

Udinese are facing problems, regarding the contract of their most valuable striker Inquinta. They hosted in-form Juventus. Vierra scored a goal to provide Juventus 3 points. Juve maintain 100% record. As an interesting fact, Juve have managed to won the title in the past whenever they have beaten Udinese at home.

Maldini is out of the Milan squad for a few games due to an injury, otherwise he must have played in a record game for most appearances in Serie A. Milan hosted Lazio in a tough clash but ensured 3 points with 2-0.

Udinese 0 - 1 Juventus
AC Milan 2 - 0 Lazio
AS Roma 4 - 1 Parma (Nonda scored twice for Roma)
Chievo 0 - 1 Inter Milan
Lecce 1 - 3 Fiorentina

ASA & PH
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It’s been rough lately as MU is once again plagued with injuries and Rooney being stupid. :mad2:

MU is failing in transferring the ball from midfield to attack. Too many sideways and backwards passes and when the pass does go forward it’s intercepted, blocked or reaches a man covered by at least one defender.

I’m dissappointed at a third straight tie and even more so that United is unable to score goals, especially with a 4-3-3. Maybe MU needs to get back to the 4-4-2 formation. What do you think?

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In RVN, ManU has the best striker in Europe available to them. They must allow RVN to play as a lone striker and the rest of the squad must feed him. That is what Fergusen do at times to win CL games.

4-5-1, 4-4-2 (4-4-1-1) or 4-3-2-1 is what will be best for them. Also restricting Ronaldo and a few others to try from distance will be a good effort.

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Wenger’s concerns

Continuous failure in European competitions forced top English soccer sides to follow Catenaccio, a defensive technique that was mastered by Italians after WW2 to win games in Italia and in Europe.

Inter Milan was the first club to play this style. Soon it was adopted by other Italian clubs and then by Italian national team. Though this technique can help the club (or country) to gain points, it kills the spirit of soccer. As a result Italian soccer is often considered as boring and negative.

On the other hand clubs in EPL practiced attacking soccer and as a result EPL was amongst the most interesting leagues in Europe. Even many English commentators made people believe that EPL is more attacking and interesting that La Liga or Dutch Eredivisie. But this was never the actual case.

Overall:
In contrary to Italy and Catenaccio, Holland is the home of “Total Football” and on average, a single game in Holland produces almost 1.5 goals. This is much more than what an average game in EPL produces (1.31) which is even less than La Liga (1.32). To wonder, a “serie A” game produces 1.29 goals. But this was valid before this season.
(Data from past 3 seasons was used)

This season:
128 EPL games produced 128 goals. A single EPL game produced 1 goal at an average.
In Italy, 84 games have produced 105 goals, at an average of 1.25.
90 games are played in La Liga and 108 goals were scored, average: 1.2.
Like always, Dutch Eredivisie, still dominates Europe when it is about producing entertaining soccer. In 102 games played in Holland, 141 goals were scored at an average of 1.38.

The greed of the English clubs and managers to win European titles has really made EPL boring. Liverpool won the CL last season and their defense played a vital role in their campaign. Though It was not able to restrict quality players to score, but still it was enough to alert EPL managers that defense is the way to win points and games.

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^ I certainly dont buy the notion that EPL is boring. Yes certain teams do rely on defensive football but not that much. It is the pace of English football that makes it exciting then Serie A for example. Chelsea have scored highest number of goals so far this season and I cant see how they are dubbed as boring. Yes they dont like to concede goals but who does. At least they are scoring mroe consistently unlike last season.

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Real Madrid’s Woodgate made a nightmare debut in front of home fans when he scored and own goal and was sent off later. But Real finally breathed comfortably after a 3-1 win over Bilbao.

Chelsea has had a perfect start with 21 points out of 7 games. Only goal conceded this season was yesterday against Aston villa. ManU were embarrassed at home by blackburn rovers (:hehe: ). Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by West Ham and Liverpool drew 2-2. Basically this race seems already over.

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Chelsea are unbeaten till now and they look secure at their position, but they have to face two games against Liverpool and a defeat can turn their position. If Liverpool cannot handle them then Nistelrooy will score at least one goal to give ManU 3 points against them. In short, a single defeat will be enough to disturb them.

As for EPL, it is boring this season, overall. (This season)

As for Chelsea, yes they have done quite well so far and they do score goals. My point is that current leader in other leagues are playing more interesting soccer. They have scored more goals and in some cases have better goal difference than Chelsea.

Team (Goals/Game) (Games Played, Goals scored, Goals conceeded, Goal Difference)

Chelsea (2.00) - (7 , 14 , 1 , 13)

Feyenoord (3.00) - (6 , 18 , 4 , 14)
Alkmaar (3.67) - (6 , 22 , 5 , 17)
Ajax (2.17) - (6 , 13 , 9 , 4)

Juventus (2.00) - (5 , 10 , 2 , 8)
Fiorentina (2.75) - (4 , 11 , 6 , 5)
Inter (2.25) - (4 , 9 , 7 , 2)
Milan (1.75) - (4 , 7 , 4 , 3)

B Munich (2.14) - (7 , 15 , 5 , 10)
Hamburg (2.00) - (7 , 14 , 4 , 10)

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Chelsea have raised the bar. Home games against the likes of Blackburn and Man City are MUST WINS in this era, draws (the City match only a draw thanks to VD Sar's brilliant save) and losses are totally UNACCEPTABLE. That syambolic "don't lose at all costs" display at Liverpool showed me that United have gone soft. They aren't prepared to take risks, and those who don't risk, don't win.

MU players need to step up and take some of the responsibility.

Fergie probably had to see what the team looked like "Rooney-less" in preparation for this week, but nobody really stepped up at all. Even Ruud looked a touch offside for his goal, even if Blackburn's second looked equally dodgy. MU don't have adquate cover for injuries or when players suffer a drop in form.

Is it all Fergie's fault? Carlos? Glazer? Gill? Kenyon? Roman?

Doesn't really matter at this point. What matters is how we respond and who leads us out of this crisis. This is not the form you want to be stuck in when starting a Euro campaign..

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ManU were considered amongst the best "attacking" squads in Europe. They have seen a lot of new faces during a couple of years and most of them have failed to deliver at times. Ronaldo is a quality player but he is selfish most of the times, losing the ball to the opponent or hitting it 50 meters wide the post. Rooney has his own problems. The rest of the new faces including quality players like Saha and Smith have failed to adjust at ManU. Even Saha pissed on RVN so many times in his interviews. With such inclusions in the squad, ManU that was able to destroy Juventus home and away with RVN scoring 2 goals per clash, looks like a nice dream.
However, Fegusen is well known for his abilities to overcome problems. With RVN still a part of his squad, he has what it requires to destroy strong defenses.

[Quote]
After three largely sterile performances in successive draws with Manchester City, Villarreal and Liverpool, United at least offered a genuine attacking threat at the weekend, even if the result did not go their way.
[/Quote]

Jose is well known for his defensive tactics to win games and in his interview he denied to change his style to entertain people. So Chelsea will continue their style of play until they lose 2-3 games and Mourinho gets a lesson.

Wenger likes to play defensive at times but with a fit squad and the likes of Henry, Pires, van Persie, Bergkamp,....he has very strong attacking options available. These are players who enjoy playing aggressive and can deliver as a unit. With Henry back in the squad, Arsenal will get the boost they require.

In words of Wenger most EPL teams are scared to lose points and that is the thing encouraging them to play defensive soccer.

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Interesting games for Saturday

Hertha Berlin v Werder Bremen
The teams stand at postions of 3rd and 4th in league table and this game will produce some quality soccer.

[Quote]
Hertha Berlin's Brazilian forward Marcelinho has been named best outfield player of the season in kicker magazine's poll of Bundesliga professionals.
[/Quote]

Udinese v Lazio
Iaquinta played a vital role for the Udinese as they qualified for this year's CL. His dispute with the club cost them 2 Serie A games (lost to Juventus and Reggina) as well as a 4-1 defeat to Barca in the CL. Finally, the coach and players who claimed to win without him have given up; the dispute is settled and Iaquinta has signed a new contract with Udinese that will last till 2010. This news must have calmed the nerves of Italian coach Marcello Lippi, who will put his bet on Iaquinta in next year's WC.
Udinese will host Lazio as Iaquinta has to prove his value to club and Lippi.

Portsmouth v Newcastle
This season is not proving good for both Portsmouth and Newcastle, who have 5 and 8 points so far from 7 games.

Austrian company pledges extra $150 million in gas exploration projects in Pakistan.
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Barca's clash with Zaragoza was the most interesting game till now. Barca came from 2 goals behind to level the game against 10 men of Zaragoza

Barcelona 2 - 2 Real Zaragoza
Cádiz 1 - 1 Celta Vigo
Getafe 2 - 1 Valencia

Liverpool were beaten at home by Chelsea in an interesting game. Nistelrooy saved ManU and ensured 3 points.

Liverpool 1 - 4 Chelsea
Arsenal 1 - 0 Birmingham
Aston Villa 2 - 3 Middlesbrough
Fulham 2 - 3 Man Utd
Portsmouth 0 - 0 Newcastle

Maldini scored twice as Milan beat Reggina.

AC Milan 2 - 1 Reggina
Fiorentina 3 - 2 Livorno
Roma 2 - 3 Siena

Kone's hat-trick gave PSV 3 points.

Heerenveen 2 - 3 PSV Eindhoven
FC Utrecht 3 - 1 Feyenoord Rotterdam
Sparta Rotterdam 1 - 2 Ajax Amsterdam
AZ Alkmaar 3 - 2 NEC Nijmegen

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Game of the week

Juventus v Inter

The title contenders will meet each other in Serie A, this month. The battle will start as Juventus host Inter today.Both Inter and Juventus have won Serie A titles as well as Champions league and other international tournaments, and they share top 2 positions in Serie A table right now. Both teams are star-flooded and some of the best players in the game will compete against each other including Figo & Adriano for Inter and Nedved & Del Pierro for Juventus.

[Quote]

The most Competitive League Table (of recent years)

Inter has not won the league for over 15 years. They almost snatched the title in 2001 before Del Pierro and Juventus interrupted. AC Milan lost the Serie A title to Juventus so many times within the final month during past seasons but this was exceptional.

Like their city rivals, AC Milan, Inter lost the title race to Juventus but it was during the last game in 2001. That was perhaps the most competitive season in recent history of European leagues, with top three teams separated by one point. The following 4 teams were again separated by a single point. Then the following 8 teams were again seperated by a point.

Team----- P–W–D–L—F–A–Pts

Juventus 34 20 11 03 64 23 71
Roma---- 34 19 13 02 58 24 70
Inter----- 34 20 09 05 62 35 69

Milan----- 34 14 13 07 47 33 55
Chievo— 34 14 12 08 57 52 54
Lazio----- 34 14 11 09 50 37 53
Bologna- 34 15 07 12 40 40 52

Perugia– 34 13 07 14 38 46 46
Atalanta- 34 12 09 13 41 50 45
Parma---- 34 12 08 14 43 47 44
Torino---- 34 10 13 11 37 39 43
Piacenza 34 11 09 14 49 43 42
Brescia— 34 09 13 12 43 52 40
Udinese— 34 11 07 16 41 52 40
Verona---- 34 11 06 17 41 53 39

Inter were leading the table by a point before their last game, but they lost it and Del Pierro ensured the title for Juve by registering his name on the score card. An interesting fact about the last game is that Juventus has always won the Serie A title, whenever they have beaten Udinese at “Stadio Friuli”.

Udinese 0 - 2 Juventus
Lazio 4 - 2 Inter
Torino 0 - 1 **Roma
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