It would appear our fanatical Arsenal supporter and author has taken a leave of absence this week so I’ll be filling in for him. Another busy week in footy and while the Premier League matches mostly went off as planned, the same can’t be said for the other tourneys. Indeed, the upset of the season was a 5-1 drubbing of the Gunners by arch-rivals Tottenham in the Carlin Cup. It wasn’t long ago we were banding about the rather nice statistic of Tottenham not having won against Arsenal since sometime in 1999. Well, credit to Juande Ramos for turning all that around. The Arsenal youngsters were completely outclassed.
Back to the Premiership. The past week saw Arsenal take on Fulham and come out on top, 3-0 thanks to two towering headers from Adebayor and a doozy of a volley from long-haired midfielder Rosicky. I was fortunate enough to watch the match and the Gunners played well. Eduardo is turning into quite the forward and pairing him with Adebayor seems a good choice. Indeed, I like the new formation Wenger is playing. Once Van Persie is back in the lineup, I expect the Gunners to have a formidable attacking line. My only critiques might be that Eduardo has a tendency to hold on to the ball a little longer than necessary and that the Gunners attack down them middle too often with little result (all three goals being set up from the wings).
Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney made sure Man U remained top of the league table with a 2-0 win over Reading. Nevertheless, Reading proved to be able opponents and a massive upset might have been on the cards had Reading possessed the necessary edge in front of goal. Both United goals came courtesy of some lackadaisical play near the end of the match. Ronaldo streak of goal still seems to have no end in sight.
Chelsea maintained their habit of squeaking by opponents, beating Birmingham 1-0. A disciplined Birmingham kept Chelsea at bay for most of the game and it was a fortunate Pizzaro header that finally gave the Blues all three points. Chelsea are sorely missing their talismanic striker, Drogba, and while Anelka is an able player up front, he lacks the domineering play of the Ivory Coast captain.
Liverpool continue their wayward form drawing against Aston Villa, 2-2. The Reds took the lead through a Benayoun poke but a fancy overhead kick from Harewood and an Aurelio own goal put Villa in front. It was left to out-of-favor Crouch to claw back a point from the game but Liverpool remain outside the top four in the table.
In other news, Man City and West Ham drew 1-1 after a decent game with an incredible Carlton Cole overhead strike. Mark Noble of the Hammers is a midfielder to watch. Tottenham kept Sunderland firmly in the relegation zone with a 2-nil win over the beleaguered side, goals coming from Keane and Lennon.
As usual there will be another broadcast of the Footy Fetish Show tonight at 9pm EST. Get details on showtimes and how to tune-in below. We hope to have you on the show or see you in the comments.
CLUB NEWS
Mohamed Sissoko, out of favor at Liverpool, expects to sign for Juventus this Friday.
Man City’s Bianchi (who complained about the English lifestyle) joins Lazio on loan until the end of the season, likely eyeing a permanent move after. Guess fish n chips aren’t so endearing after all.
Pompey look to sign Milan Baron on loan from Lyon with an eye on permanent transfer later. To be frank, I didn’t even realize Baros was playing for Lyon as I haven’t heard pip-squeak about him since leaving Aston Villa about year ago.
ON THE FANTASY FRONT
Our fantasy football league over on Yahoo Sports has been slowly growing and with an eye on further expansion, I thought I’d start mentioning the standings. Top of the table are ArsenalEvolution and KSFM. At the bottom remain your two Footy Fetish show co-hosts, Curryhouse Stalwarts and FC Fort Worth. The two best weekly performances were by Jupiter Shockers (another Footy Fetish Show co-host) and ArsenalEvolution.
Do join our fantasy football league on Yahoo Sports HERE. Our group name: Footy Fetish Show, our group ID: 38402, our group password: aceradio.
FOOTY FETISH SHOW SUMMARY
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Don’t forget, next week we’ll be having an exclusive interview with David Beckham, so do tune in or post in comments if you have questions.
Whats going on guys?
Here is my starting Lineup for the upcoming week:
Forwards
Teves (MAN)
Torres (LIV)
Santa Cruz (BLA)
MidField
Ballack (CHE)
Ronaldo (MAN)
Petrov (MAC)
Flamini (ARS)
Defenders
Corluka (MAC)
Sagna (ARS)
A. O’Brien (BOL)
GoalKeeper
Gordon (SUN)
Anyone who has Ballack may want to reconsider. The latest news is that he most likely won’t play.
There’s a Liverpool fan amongst you, no? Not sure if you played this yet.
http://www.fantasyrafa.com/
Here’s my team
FOR
Torres
Anelka
Eduardo
MID
Ronaldo
Elano
Fernandes(EVE)
Bullard
DEF
Taylor(BOL)
Alex
Senderos
GK
Schwarzer
@ Gentry: Bubba is the Liverpool fan, he’ll for sure want to take a look at the FantasyRafa game. Is Alex any good as a defender?
Beckham to Man City??
Sven opens door to Becks move
by Ben Blackmore, 26 January 2008
Sven opens door to Becks move
Sven Goran Eriksson has told David Beckham he would move heaven and earth to sign him if the former Manchester United man ever fancied a return to England.
Eriksson, who chose Beckham as his England captain, admits he would love to pull off one of the most controversial transfers in Premier League history by giving the midfielder the chance to emulate the likes of Denis Law in playing for both Manchester clubs.
The Swede is still in touch with Beckham, who has been training with Arsenal in order to maintain his fitness during the Major Soccer League’s close season.
It is widely considered that Beckham will not be able to sustain his England career while he is in the US, and if that becomes an issue Eriksson is ready to pounce.
“If David wants to come back to England I would say yes, come to Manchester City,” said the former England coach.
“Now and then I speak with David and his agent. And I saw David recently at a dinner in London, so we’re still in touch in a way.
“I still believe he deserves to be in the England team. Not just because of his 100th cap but because he is still a great player.
“His right foot is still as good as it ever was. Even if he is in America, David can still fight for his place in the team.”
However, for now Eriksson believes Beckham’s heart is set on making an impact in the States, where he will play under Ruud Gullit next season for LA Galaxy.
“I can’t see him coming back here. I think he will finish his career in America,” added Eriksson.
“He has a long contract and he is very keen to make football popular in America. And if anyone can do that it’s David.”
AMERICANS BUY DERBY!?!?
Americans complete Derby buy-out January 26 2008
An American consortium has successfully completed a takeover of Premier League basement club Derby.
Chairman Adam Pearson has been working on the multi-million deal since he took charge of the Rams at the end of October.
Negotiations have been in the balance, with Pearson unsure just a month ago as to whether a buy-out would take place or fall by the wayside.
But it is understood the group will take on the club’s £25million debt, as well as provide manager Paul Jewell with significant funds in the summer.
It is widely anticipated the Pride Park outfit will be relegated this season as they are currently 13 points adrift of safety, with only 15 matches remaining.
County have endured a torrid ride since returning to the top flight as they have won just one of their 23 league games this season and are currently on course to break Sunderland’s ignominious points total record of just 15 amassed at the end of the 2005/06 campaign – they have claimed just seven points to date.
Jewell has at least strengthened his squad in the current transfer window, notably signing Robbie Savage from Blackburn for £1.5million and Argentinian striker Emanuel Villa for £2m.
But those captures, along with signing Laurent Robert on a short-term contract until the end of the season and a number of loan deals, have been more to stabilise Derby at a rocky time.
It is not yet known how much money Jewell will have to invest come the summer when it is almost certain the Rams will be staring at life back in the Championship.
County have confirmed a press conference is to be held at Pride Park on Monday when “a positive announcement” will be made on the club’s future.
In a statement to be published in Saturday’s matchday programme for the FA Cup fourth round clash with Preston, Pearson said: “This new investment will establish the Derby County brand worldwide through successful alliances with sporting teams in the USA, the far east and Africa.
“The key aim is to continue to build the infrastructure of the club at Pride Park and obviously develop a squad which is reknowned as a Premier League force. This will add new financial firepower to the squad.”
CONCACAF to launch its own Champions League
Associated Press
MIAMI — Soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean governing body is launching its own Champions League to mirror Europe’s.
The 24-team competition will start in August and will replace the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which has determined the region’s champion since 1962 and will end after 2008.
“This is a project we’ve been working on for more than a year,” CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said at a news conference Monday. “We believe this event will bring exciting football to our region.”
The United States and Mexico will have four teams each in the tournament, and the Caribbean region three, along with two each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. One team each will come from Belize, Canada, Belize and Nicaragua.
Eight teams will be seeded directly to the first round: two each from the United States and Mexico, and one apiece from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The other 16 will play home-and-home series in a preliminary round in late August and early September.
Four groups of four teams will contest the first round in September and October, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarterfinals in February 2009. The semifinals will start the following month, and the finals will be played in April. The winner earns a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Mexico still will send teams to the Copa Libertadores, South America’s club championship, as invited guests.
yet another Yank goalie heading to England??
Aston Villa offers $4 million for Guzan
Ives Galarcep, Special to ESPNsoccernet
English Premier League team Aston Villa has moved into the lead in the race to buy U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Villa has made a transfer offer worth close to $4 million for Guzan, doubling the offer made last week by Scottish champions Celtic.
Villa is keen to land Guzan with hopes of grooming him to be the club’s starting goalkeeper once current starter Scott Carson’s loan deal from Liverpool expires after this season.
Guzan spent four days training with Celtic last wek and appeared a good bet to sign with the Hoops, but Villa’s late swoop has the 23-year-old Chivas USA goalkeeper considering his options. MLS is weighing the offers but it will ultimately come down to where Guzan wants to play.
With Celtic, Guzan is seen as a successor to Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc, who has been linked to a move to AC Milan. With Aston Villa, Guzan would be in line to serve as the club’s starter next season, if he didn’t beat out current Scott Carson before that.
One stumbling block in Guzan’s way is his need to secure a work permit It was believed that Guzan would be able to secure a work permit if he signed with Celtic but the process may be more difficult in England.
The 2007 MLS goalkeeper of the year, Guzan recently delivered an impressive performance in goal for the U.S. national team earlier this month, posting four acrobatic saves in the U.S. team’s 2-0 victory against Sweden on Jan. 19.
f’n CRon is killing me. Benny Boy is over here gloating about the 2 goals he just scored in 3 minutes. Bastard!
Hey Bubba, How about that West Ham-Liverpool game? How much longer does Raffa has before he gets the boot?
How about the PALM BEACH BOMBERS?? great performance by my team this week
Looks like Brad Guzan did not get his English work permit approved, so he’ll be heading back to MLS.
Bubba, are you going to buy a share?
Liverpool fans trying to buy out American owners
Associated Press
LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool’s American owners are facing a new takeover bid — from frustrated fans.
The longshot member-share scheme, set to be launched Thursday, aims to raise an estimated $1 billion to oust Tom Hicks of Dallas and George Gillett Jr. of Vail, Colo., and fund a new stadium.
UAE-based group Dubai International Capital recently failed in a renewed bid to purchase the Premier League club after losing out to Hicks and Gillett last March.
Inspired by the FC Barcelona model, the group — Share Liverpool FC — will appeal for 100,000 fans to each contribute up to $10,000.
No new article this week.
but here is my projected lineup for the weekend ahead
Teves vs @TOT
Torres vs SUN
R.Santa Cruz vs EVEor Afonso Alves (MID) new striker vs NUF
Ronaldo vs @TOT
Ballack vs @POR
Petrov vs ARS
Flamini vs MAC
A. Obrien vs @ RED
Sagna vs MAC
Ridgewell vs DER
GIven vs MID
I would love to make more changes to my team, but I have the majority of my players with a big monetary gain.
However, these would be the players I would consider if you are in need of new starts for your team:
Forwards:
Alves MID vs NUF
Agbonlahor AST vs @ FUL
Doyle RED vs BOL
Question – I’m reading that Mido could start this week. But He was on Egypt’s roster earlier in the ANC. Basically, I’ll swap Jimmy Bullard for Mido. Anyone have information on this?
ALMUNIA OUT for Arsenal this weekend!
SportingLife.com article:
http://tinyurl.com/ywn9jn
News was reported on Sky Sports as well.
Don’t count on Alves. From Middlesbrough website
Southgate was at pains to point out that despite reports that AZ Alkmaar are prepared to continue a legal fight over the transfer, Alves is now a Boro player in a deal that has been ratified by both the Dutch and English FAs.
However, it seems highly unlikely that he will play any part in Sunday’s Tyne Tees derby at St James’ Park as he is currently out of the country awaiting a visa.
@Gentry: looks like Mido will be playing (according to tele show, the Score). Dunno how this jives with his ANC duties, is he even playing for Egypt?
I just wanted to stroll down memory lane. Let’s go back to December. Below is my post on Bullard from Dec. The now departed Stezinech questioned whether Bullard could help Fulham from relegation. After watching the Fulham game, I’m even more convinced that Bullard can do it.
# Gentry(KSFM) said
On a separate matter, what a joke Fulham is. They fire Chris Coleman after a bad stretch and then fire his replacement after even a shorter bad stretch. Having said that, the new gaffer will look like a genius saving them from relegation because Jimmy Bullard is coming back. Bullard’s injury last year was the only reason they were near the drop zone. I wholly recommend Bullard as soon as he hits the field. He’s fantasy gold. And he’ll be coming back at around 6 points. A great value.
I caught that game as well. Bullard must have been bending space-time or something because he was everywhere on the field at the same time and involved in all major plays. Definitely good for fantasy managers, an excellent prediction.
lol. I thought the same thing. He was on the right most of the time, then all of a sudden he’s on the left sideline tackling someone.
Benjani completes his move to Man City.
http://tinyurl.com/2dkwsc