This week's PL games were quite dismissive of the 'boring PL' claims. Lots of goals and lots of quality games+entertainment.
Liverpool v Chelsea one was the big showdown of the week and Chelsea showed how superior they are domestically. I dont rate Drogba but he had an excellent game as he assisted in all four chelsea goals. Van Nistelrooij scored tiwce against Fulham but he just tapped in so claims that he saved ManU are baseless. Park Ji Sung had his most impressive game for ManU to date after he was invovled in all three goals.
Real Madrid are getting into a rythm and they trounced Mallorca 4-0. Barca's season is a bit inconsistent just like Milan in Serie A as they dropped points against lowly Zaragoza.
Most important match in serie A between Inter and Juve is in progress with Juve leading 2-0 at the end of first half.
This is what I hear from friends when I talk about Nistelrooy. The day he moved from PSV, I claimed this man will dominate the EPL (for ManU) and he did that almost every season. The top scorer of EPL, Dutch league, and CL (more than once) is much more than a "tapper". Here are what my friends say when RVN registers his name on scorecard.
"He is lucky" or "Now that's luck"
"Every one must have scored this" (this is the worst remark)
"He can just position himself"
"He is just there"
.....
.....
Watching soccer for so many years, I can make claim that "not a single striker can do what Nistelrooy does". He is "a true master of SINGLE TOUCH". Otherwise in almost every game it is common to find strikers shaking their head and mangers shouting at them. In Liverpool against Chelsea, Liverpool misased at least 3-4 easy chances that must have found the post if they have initiated from RVN's foot.
He won the game for ManU in CL and he did the same thing again in EPL.
Yes this week, EPL was fun , a lot of goals and interesting moves in games I followed. EPL was not the most boring league at least for this weekend neither was it the most interesting one. Dutch Eredivisie is always the most interesting league in Europe. They attack, they score and they attack again.
This weekend:
La Liga: 27 goals were scored in 10 games. Goals per Game = 2.70 EPL: 30 goals were scored in 10 games. Goals per Game = 3.00 Series A: 34 goals were scored in 10 games. Goals per Game = 3.40 Dutch Eredivisie: 34 goals were scored in 9 games. Goals per Game = 3.78
The way Ruud van Nistelrooij scores his goals actually favors him. He is the sole striker in the world whom you can never accuse that he doesn’t have insight into how the flow of play is going. He has incredible anticipation.
Furthermore, he always scores. No matter what, he will just score. Whether his team plays well or badly, doesn’t matter. He makes me think of how Batistuta used to be. Just do it!
Furthermore, it is incredible to see that he has been Champion’s League topscorer for three (!) seasons!
This weekend Inter confirmed they are still a pathetic group of players and they don’t have any sportsmanship. Did you see what ugly tackles they made against Zlatan and Nedved. Just horrible.
And more and more I’m starting to doubt Adriano. The way he was outplayed by Thuram and Cannavaro was worrying.
Real refound their touch winning 4-0. It was good to see Zizou back in action. As the commentator put it: just seeing him play is such a delight. This man stand outside of any discussion you want to have about players. He is too good
Although Ronaldinho and Kaka are doing very well…Zizou in this suboptimal form is still more delight to watch than anyone else :k:
Yes, Inter is not as fancy a club as Milan or Juventus but Inter still compete them (and Roma). Both Juve and Milan have strong defense which can restrict even the best attacking options for most of the times. They have more creative players than Inter. Even their bench sitters are better than (most of the) regular Inter players. But Inter and Roma still manage to create difficulties for top 2 clubs in Serie A (at present). Meanwhile in Italy at least Inter and Roma consider themselves better than Milan or Juventus. Some negativity is there in almost every clash and this time it can cost a lot more than a few Serie A games.
The worst of Italia still has to come in “Milan derby” (Inter against Milan), “Rome Derby” (Roma against Lazio) and “Roma against Juventus”. The last game is amongst the most fouled games (almost every year).
Nescio- I can se your point about Adriano but he came back from Injury and wasnt at his best for sure. He is having a bad time off late but he is just a complete striker when in full flow. He can finish moves, creates goals from no where and in past couple of seasons he has been out-performing Ronaldo in terms of performance and goals.
Regarding Inter, I always wonder whats stopping them from success. They bought two very good players in Figo and Solari. Although Figo's best days are behind him, he still is a very good winger. But still somehow Inter chokes in critical matches. Their city rivals get all the headlines, maybe thats why :D They need to create more headlines for themselves by beating them or Juve. But they did worse, they were beaten by juve after three four years?? Correct me if i am wrong.
For Inter (and Roma), a win against Juventus or Milan is like winning Serie A title, so they (try to) put their best in those games. On the other hand for Juve a game against Inter is a normal league game. For Milan a game against Inter is important as they are city rivals and share the same stadium.
Yes, Juventus have won against Inter after almost 3 years. Inter have not won any game against Milan for more than that. Even in CL, Inter were twice knocked-out by Milan during previous seasons.
Juve won thier 8th consecutive serie A match to equal a seria A record for best starts. ITs all about catching up to Juve for the likes of Milan and Inter.
Chelsea dropped their first points of the season as they drew with everton. After nine consecutive wins, it was bound to happen. Liverpool continue to struggle in premiership tho. It is astonishing how their form differ from one in CL where they are champions away from home.
Real Madrid are enjoying a good run of form after four consecutive wins in La Liga after an indifferent start. Barca are beginning to gel together now.
Interesting encoutner between Valencia and Real tonight.
Juve tasted their first defeat of the season at the hands of fellow challengers Milan who produced an emphatic display. It was quite a run from Juve though but Milan has cut the lead at the top to 2 points.
Chelsae has seemingly won the title already as they are still undefeated in the premiership after 11 games. For the first time this season they conceded two goals a match but still produced the win. Such is their strength that they seem to win even when they are playing badly. Their expcected rivals this season, ManU suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of middlesbrough. Thy were gonna host Chelsea next weekend and were percieved as only team capable of stopping Chelsea in their tracks but todays match was so bleh for them.
Whoever ManU fan thinks Rio Ferdinand is a worldclass defender?? The man is having terrible season so far giving away too many soft goals.
Chelsea are beaten for the first time on domestic front as ManU went some way in turning around their season at old trafford. Chelsea still enjoys a healthy 10 point lead over ManU but worrying enough they are haviing a minor blip of sorts after two successive defeats (Betis and ManU)
Milan also demolished Udinese in a high profile encounter 5-1 while Juve returned top of the table after beating livorno.
Real Madrid won a tricky match against Zaragoza to continue their inconsistent season thus far.
One goal was enough for ManU to beat Chelsea, who can't score against tough opposition(defense). The goal was not scored by Nistelroy, however. ManU have one match in hand and if they will win that one, they will be 7 points behind Chelsea. Meanwhile, Wigan also have a game in hand and they will be chasing Chelsea by 3 points, if they can win that. On the other hand, Chelsea will lose a few games now, afterall, they don't have a single quality player in their squad (Robben is exception) and they need to score. It is once again ManU to end unbeaten run in EPL.
Your argument was baseless on that single line alone. If you dont consider Lampard, Duff, Essien quality players then I am afraid your footballing knowledge is top notch (NOT).
Wigan bubble will burst soon, Chelsea will still win the premiership because they will not lose to sides like Lille, Middlesbrough and Blackburn ManU is a quality side but they slip up way too often to win anything now
Fantastic support from the fans. Combined with the performance of the players, this certainly made the game something to remember for a long time considering the nonsense that has ensued prior to the game.
We’ll never die, we’ll never die,
We’ll never die, we’ll never die,
We’ll keep the Red flag flying high,
'Cause Man United will never die
Barca absolutely ripped Real Madrid apart 3-0 with Ronaldinho starring. Worlds best player was at its peak alongwith teenager Messi. Real's third defeat at home. They are side in decline, Zidane cannot inspire anymore. Ronaldo is getting fatter, slower, Robinho cannot do it in europe thus far and Raul's tricks are falling apart. They will go empthy handed again this season and I expect a major clear out next season.
ManU won their first game after Keane's departure and historically RVN scored his forst goal for ManU from outisde the penalty box :D. Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal all won.
Madrid didn't look ready for this game given the mid-week international fixtures but Barca were sublime. Putting on a performance like that at the Bernabeau is sheer class, exhibition football. The Madrid fans clapping Ronaldinho just showed why he is the best and most admired player in the world.
sO it happened finally. Real Madrid sacked Luxembergo. Lets see whose turn is it now to enjoy hot seat for less than an year again. Real Madrid president fails to realize that it is not the coach who is at fault, the players are on constant decline (Carlos, Zidane, Raul) and doesnt matter if you get Maurinho or Benitez or Capello, you will lose if you dont get young players in the squad.
Juve have opened up an eight point lead in Serie A while Chelsea are sitting pretty in premiership. They need to lsoe at least four games to let go of title which is highly unlikely. Liverpool have rocked up to third after six consecutive victories.
The man is having terrible season so far giving away too many soft goals.
