Posts Tagged ‘premier league’

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Premier League title race

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

United lose :(

Only a few games left in the Premier League and there were more twists and turns this weekend. United played Arsenal and lost 1-0. It now means that if Chelsea beat United this coming weekend, they will be level on points. I was at a wedding during the match so couldn’t watch but was getting score updates. Whenever I go to a wedding this year, United lose!!! Two weeks ago I was at a wedding when United played City in the FA Cup final. On both occasions as well, we apparently played rubbish and didn’t deserve win anyway.

I have since read reports and seen highlights of the match v Arsenal and we were lucky with Vidic and the handball. If ref had spotted it, it would have been a penalty and Vidic probably would have been sent off and then would have missed the game against Chelsea. At the end, Owen was tripped and should have had a penalty but considering the Vidic incident we can’t really complain. United just lost the game in midfield and it was 2 v 3. Rooney was dropping into midfield but it was more of a 4-4-1-1 rather than a 4-5-1. I think Fergie decided to play with 2 forwards since Chicharito and Rooney had played so well recently. However, it just didn’t happen and Arsenal bossed the midfield even without Fabragas. I am happy for Ramsey to score after his horrible injury last year (or the year before??).

It is still in United’s hands and if we win the rest of our games we have won the league. At the moment, the goal difference is exactly the same. It could all be decided on the last day of the season! Its so close!! COME ON UNITED!

Chelsea v Spurs

On Saturday, Spurs lost to Chelsea 2-1. It was a very fortunate win for Chelsea with the ball not crossing the line for one goal (although it was a huge mess up by Gomes – again!) and another which was offside – after a few mishits and deflections!!

That loss for Spurs pretty much ends there chance of getting that vital 4th spot. It unfortunately does mean that City are likely to get 4th! :(

After the United Arsenal result, that win for Chelsea gives them 2 or 3 points than they should have. Those points could be vital at the end with things so tight.

Saying that, Chelsea were favourites to beat Spurs and in my predictions I thought we would lose to Arsenal (and I think it will be a draw v Chelsea) – we have only won 5 times away from home so a game against an Arsenal team with nothing really to lose was always going to be tough.

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United getting closer to the title

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

United played Spurs last night in the days late kickoff. Liverpool played earlier on and were top of the league (on goal difference) when United kicked off.

United once again started with Tevez on the bench. Its looking more and more like he will leave but I hope he stays. At half time it was 2-0 to Spurs and an update was on the books. Tevez came on at half time for Nani and it soon changed. He was the catalyst to the fightback. United got a penalty which was abit lucky really. Carrick was through on goal and Gomas came out and knocked the ball away. The ref thought that connected with Carrick and gave a penalty. The penalty was taken by Ronaldo who knocked it down the middle.

This was the turning point and there was a period in the 2nd half when United scored 3 goals in about 5 minutes. Some awesome attacking play and they looked like they could score every time they attacked. United ended up winning 5-2!

Its still not all over. There have been so many twists and turns this season and we still have to play Arsenal and also City.

In one of the other games of the day, Liverpool played Hull. Again Gerrard was not playing. They were abit fortunate and certainly got the run of decisions. There first goal was from a rebounded freekick by Alonso. It could be argued it shouldnt have been a freekick with Mascherano already falling over but the Hull player did take a late kick at his standing leg. If I was a Hull fan I would have been disappointed to have the freekick awarded against us.

Liverpool’s 3rd goal also involved a hand-ball (by I think Lucas). The ball fell to a Liverpool player who shoot, it was scuffed abit and Kuyt managed to head it into the goal.

There was another decision which went Liverpool’s way (to a certain extent). Folan was running through on goal and Skrtel was obstructing him. Skrtel fell down and stupidly Folan took a swipe at him trying to kick him – although not sure how many connection. Either way, he had to be sent off. He properly should have had a penalty but no need to kick out like that. (Although not as bad as Pepe’s bit of red mist the other day when he kicked a player twice, stood on  his ankle, punched a player….)

There was some inconsitancy with the refereeing when later on a Hull player was obstructed by a Liverpool player and was awarded a freekick. It was very similar to the Folan incident (apart from him not kicking someone!) The game all ended 3-1 to Liverpool.

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United almost there… (but its not quite over)

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

United beat Portsmouth today 2-0. (It really should have been a lot more with all the chances). United are now 3 points clear with a game in hand. There were some real good performances from the likes of Rooney, Anderson and Giggs. Fletcher was excellent. One worry is the injuries with Neville going off and his replacing O’Shea also going off injured.

The midweek results made it all better for United with Chelsea drawing tonight and Liverpool drawing 4-4 against Arsenal in an amazing game. In that game Arshavin played brilliantly scoring 4 goals (from 4 shots). Hes looking a really good player!

Anyway, United have it to lose but I dont think its all quite over yet. Just one lost would change things and there are some potential slip ups coming up with teams to play such as Spurs, Arsenal and City. Also, we tend not play that well against Boro and Wigan could be a problem with former United player as a manager (Steve Bruce).

Here are United’s remaining fixtures:

Saturday, 25 April 2009 – Man Utd v Tottenham, 17:30
Saturday, 02 May 2009 – Middlesbrough v Man Utd, 12:45
Sunday, 10 May 2009 – Man Utd v Man City, 13:30
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 – Wigan v Man Utd, 20:00
Saturday, 16 May 2009 – Man Utd v Arsenal, 12:45
Sunday, 24 May 2009 – Hull v Man Utd, 16:00

I used the BBC Sport Premier League predictor and it came out with United winning:

1. Manchester United 88Pt Goal Difference (GD) = 41
2. Liverpool 86Pt GD = 47
3. Manchester United 81Pt GD = 43
4. Manchester United 73Pt GD = 34

Teams to be relegated:

18. Hull 35Pt GD = -26
19. Boro 33Pt GD = -28
18. West Brom 25Pt GD = -40

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The “Shearer effect”…. would it work??

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Well, in the end “even” with Shearer in charge of Newcastle they still ended up losing. Admittedly it was against Chelsea and they lost 2-0. They played quite well but once again individual mistakes cost them. They should have had 1 goal themselve with Owen’s deflected shot going about a foot over the line. However, they didnt really deserve it.

I found it amazing how loads of Newcastle fans were saying Shearer was the best thing that could have happened, and if he cant keep them up then no one can. Personally I would want someone like Jose or Fergie (if you wanted any one in the world). This is a man who has not even managed a pub team!! He may well keep them up but its funny how some Newcastle fans thought they would suddenly win every game.

In the other big of the day Liverpool played Fulham. Liverpool played the best and hit the post and crossbar 4 times in the first 35 minutes. It was 0-0 until about the 92nd minute and annoyingly they scored – right at the end of the game! :(

Tomorrow, United play Villa. We have a good record against Villa but we have been playing poorly recently. Liverpool are now ahead of United in the league but we have a couple games in hand. Come on United!!

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Bad ref day

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

TorresThere were two games in the Premier League today and in both of them the referees had a poor game. Liverpool played Chelsea at Anfield and won 2-0 with a couple late goals from Torres. Chelsea went down to 10 players after Lampard was sent off. It seems he was sent off for a high challenge but it was fine really and he got the ball. Seemed like he got sent off for being kicked by Alonso!! Gerrard also had a over the ball challenge and wasnt sent off. Possibly should have got a red card – it was properly worse than Lampards challenge. Someone who should have certainly been sent off was Bosingwa who managed to get away with kicking/pushing Benayoun in the back. Amazingly the ref Mike Riley saw nothing wrong with it – the assistant ref was just a couple yards away so I dont know why he didnt say anything!!

Overall Liverpool were the best team and deserved to win. Chelsea are really not playing well. As they said on MOTD2 the Chelsea attack was toothless. They defended well but Cech is not the same keeper he was a couple seasons ago. If Liverpool can keep Torres fit, they have a chance of keeping up with United.

In the other game, Newcastle played Sunderland. The game ended 1-1. It was a “fast and furious” game with end to end action and tackles flying in. Several comical moments! The referee for the game Howard Webb is usually good and is one of the best refs in the Premier League. However he got it wrong with the penalty to Newcastle. Taylor seems to just fall over but ended up getting a penalty. Maybe the ref was influenced after (correctly) not giving a penalty to Newcastle a few minutes before after Duff dived in the box.

In the post-match interviews, as usual the managers didnt agree. Joe Kinnear thought a goal should have been allowed and said Ameobi controlled the ball on his chest well. Replays show he clearly used his arm to control the ball. (He also thought when Duff dived it was a penalty).

Personally I wouldnt be too unhappy if Newcastle were relegated. There is no particularly players I dont like (unlike in the Chelsea team) but I really dont like Joe Kinnear.

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