Posts Tagged ‘Soccer’

Big four fail to win again, looking toward the year-end matches

Monday, December 15th, 2008

It’s the second time in a very short period in which the big four ( Man. Utd., Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) fail in getting a win.

Maybe the most disadvantaged team from the four, would have to be Chelsea, as they played at home against a team was is clearly inferior.But that’s way sports are great because at any time, any contender has a chance.

But weather we like ot or not, top teams do have bad and good periods. The main difference between a top team and a mediocre one is the period of those bad periods. For example let’s look at Spurs.Before the start of the season they promised a lot only after a few bad results ( entering the bad period ) they managed only to continue the bad period instead of bouncing back on track right away. Now let’s take a look at the way Manchester Untied started the 07/08 season.Only 2 pct in the first 3 matches. And one of the matches was with Man City, but after the 3 games they managed to get the win that would set them on the right track and win the championship at the end.

If we now take a closer look at the cause of these bad periods, we see some reasons for the results. The most common is the absence of crucial players (due to injury or other reasons).The second most common problem is fatigue.The players are simply to tired and cannot play at 100%.Most of the top teams have to play both in national event and in the international ones  (Champions League and UEFA Cup).

I see it like this. If any of the top teams do not have any crucial players missing and the team is not affected by any sort of fatigue, they do look like a sure winner. That is why most of the times, the boxing day and the matches near the new year’s day, bring important points for the big four.

As a conclusion, i have to say that i am looking forward to the premier league matches of the end of the year in which the big four are included. Especially the one  of Chelsea and Man Utd.

Champions League Group stage

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Yesterday we had the last day of group stage matches for this season from the Champions League.
The final standings are as follow.

Group stage

Group A Pld Pts
Roma 6 12
Chelsea 6 11
Bordeaux 6 7
CFR Cluj 6 4
Group C Pld Pts
Barcelona 6 13
Sporting 6 12
Shakhtar 6 9
Basel 6 1
Group E Pld Pts
Man. United 6 10
Villarreal 6 9
AaB 6 6
Celtic 6 5
Group G Pld Pts
Porto 6 12
Arsenal 6 11
Dynamo Kyiv 6 8
Fenerbahçe 6 2
Group B Pld Pts
Panathinaikos 6 10
Internazionale 6 8
Bremen 6 7
Anorthosis 6 6
Group D Pld Pts
Liverpool 6 14
Atlético 6 12
Marseille 6 4
PSV 6 3
Group F Pld Pts
Bayern 6 14
Lyon 6 11
Fiorentina 6 6
Steaua 6 1
Group H Pld Pts
Juventus 6 12
Real Madrid 6 12
Zenit 6 5
BATE 6 3

They say he is the best

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Today we received confirmation that Cristiano Ronaldo is the winner of the 2008 Ballon D’Or.

That mean he is the best.Right?

I would disagree.I would have picked Messi.

But i guess that the Premiership title and the Champions League were a huge deciding factor.But the thing is that Ronaldo didn’t have a deciding role ( maybe in the Premiership with all the goals scored) and failed to step up when the team needed it the most.A perfect example is the penalty kicks he missed in the Champions League.

On the other side Messi is truly a player that makes his presence felt when the team needs him to.

All i can say is … maybe next year.

Arsenal won with a Van Persie off-side goal

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Van Persie

Today, on Standford Bridge, we were given another perfect example why most of the times, football is an unjust sport.

Chelsea played an excellent match until Van Persie managed to score the equalizer, thanks to a referee mistake.Just minutes after, Arsenal scored their second goal, again though V. Persie.

Still, i consider that if the first goal would not have been validated, we would have no second goal to talk about.

Anyway, this means that Arsenal are still out there with  a chance reducing the gap between them and Chelsea to 7 points.But their are still on 4th place, with Liverpool and Manchester United above them with 33 and 28 points respectively but both with an extra match to be played.

Plenty of football action this weekend

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Tomorrow we have two football matches in the Premier League that you just can’t miss.

First we got the Manchester derby, played on the City of Manchester stadium.

Then we got Chelsea hosting Arsenal on Stamford Bridge.

That’s all in England.

In the Bundesliga we got Stuttgart hosting Schalke 04, on Sunday.

In Serie A, a team that is slowly recovering, AS Roma plays on Olimpico with Fiorentina.

And finally in Primera, Barcelona, a team that seems to score at least 3 goals everywhere they go, will now play away at Sevilla, another team that has players that like to find the back of the net more often than not.Maybe a over 4.5 goals bet would be worthwhile.

Whatever you bets are this weekend, I wish you good luck and a large profit.