Archive for the ‘Chelsea’ Category

More World Cup Discussion And Transfer Window Speculation

Posted: July 7, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, West Ham United
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After what seemed to be a year-long wait, which actually lasted a whole two days, football is finally back. We never thought we would be pleased to see the return of the international version of the game but, when nothing else is available, beggars can’t be choosers.

No doubt we will even sit up through all hours of the night watching meaningless pre-season tour games when they begin in three or so weeks as well.

Still, there’s some meaningful stuff has to happen between now and then such as the little matter of who is going to be crowned World Champions. Now that we are sure it won’t be Germany, picking the winner is not as straightforward as it once was. (more…)

More Is Less As The World Cup Is Put On Hold And The Transfer Window Steams Up

Posted: July 6, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Transfers
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gandh

Nothing is happening. It’s as if somebody has pressed the global pause button. The World Cup has ground to a halt, even if only for two days. The transfer window is in danger of becoming even more boring than that game between France and Denmark.

What is going on and where is the news?

It got so bad that poor old Jim White on Sky Sports News had to resort to reporting the “incredible” news that a man had seen a bear in the woods in Montana and a shark had been spotted in the sea off the Australian coast! Truly incredible stuff!

Not to worry, avid readers, if there is any football-related news we will find it. Even if we have to actually read some other rags to do so. As far as the World Cup goes, this is what we think we know. (more…)

More Than Just A Win For England As They Go Through To Meet Sweden In The World Cup Quarter-Finals

Posted: July 5, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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EW

The early game this time out was the one between Sweden and Switzerland and was always going to be a close run thing due to the two sides being of similar quality.

Sweden, post-Zlatan, look more of a team now than when the big striker was insisting on being the star man but, on the other hand, they don’t appear to have anybody with a magical touch who can turn a game for them.

That necessity didn’t arise during their match with Switzerland, who were over-reliant on Xherdan Shaqiri who, in turn, didn’t have one of his better days. (more…)

More From Neymar’s Auditions And A Comeback Win, (At Last), By Belgium

Posted: July 4, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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neymar

The first game of the day between Mexico and Brazil was a pretty mundane affair and resulted in a fairly routine win for the South Americans.

Mexico rarely threatened and goals from Neymar Jr. and Roberto Firmino did the trick.

What the game may be remembered for, for a short while at least, was the ever-improving acting ability of Neymar. He isn’t quite there yet as it is evident, to anybody who knows anything about thespianism, that he is playing a part because he overdoes it.

What is also obvious is that he has been told that a career in Hollywood awaits his retirement from football and he has already started auditioning for roles. (more…)

More Penalties At The World Cup Both In Normal Time And Afterwards

Posted: July 3, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup
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ASP

Having scraped through the group stage by the skin of their teeth, the Spanish decided to take on Russia without Andrés Iniesta in the starting line-up or, to be more accurate, Fernando Hierro made the decision to leave him on the bench.

It was a tactical manoeuvre designed to counter the counter of Russia and, in the main, it worked, giving the Spain team a little more pace to chase back.

Everything certainly started off going to plan as the visitors took the lead after 12 minutes. The goal was rather scrappy and was actually an own goal scored by Sergei Ignashevich who was busy trying to wrestle Sergio Ramos to the ground when the ball hit his heel and left Akinfeev stranded. (more…)

More From The Last 16 As Portugal And Argentina Bid Farewell

Posted: July 2, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v80), quality = 90

(“It’s goodbye from me and it’s goodbye from him”)

It seemed as though the World Cup exploded into life. The tournament, which is destined to be remembered as “the-dodgy-Russian-one-before-the dodgy-Qatar-one”, had thrown up some decent games during the group stage but the real excitement could only really be felt once the knock-out stage arrived.

The first two matches had the potential to be enthralling or boring because they featured South American teams against European teams. Argentina versus France, given their showings in the previous stage of the competition, was a meeting we hoped would provide entertainment rather than expected it to.

In the end it was a cracking game which had virtually everything. (more…)

More Bits & Pieces Including: Plenty Of Rest For The World Cup Wicked And New Contracts At Manchester United

Posted: July 1, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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lm

And on the 16th day they rested. Let’s face it, this football malarky is tiring. Since the tournament started on the 14th of June, the poor players have only been managing an average break of four days between games.

What kind of break is that? The selected combatants have had, occasionally, to run around on a football pitch which some of them have had to grace with their presence for a whole ninety minutes!

Now, in fairness, they have been training between matches on the days they haven’t been allowed off by their coaches. (more…)

More Joy For Belgium In Beating England As Senegal, Poland, Panama And Tunisia Bow Out Gracefully

Posted: June 30, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup
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unnamed

The afternoon matches today were from the tightest group. Going into the games Japan were top with four points, Senegal were second, also with four points, and Colombia were third with three points. By this time Poland were already eliminated having lost their two opening games.

So it was a three horse race whereby the first two would progress to the last 16. From a fan’s point of view it was extremely nail-biting stuff particularly if the flavour of those nails happened to be Colombian, Senegalese or Japanese! (more…)

More From Russia As The Bag-Packing Germans Are Joined By Serbia, Costa Rica And South Korea

Posted: June 29, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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Packed

(Manuel Neuer prepares for the last 16 stage of the World Cup)

The afternoon games had us watching Germany against South Korea purely because it was a game the Germans had to win so, of course, that is exactly what they would do. They always do.

The idea was to watch the game until Germany were two or three up then change channel and watch the Mexico versus Sweden match which should be a much closer affair.

Plan B was non-existent so, when the unexpected happened we had to improvise which we did by staying with the Germany game until the bitter end. And what a bitter end it was! (more…)

More World Cup Departures + Manchester United Need To Dump Fellaini

Posted: June 28, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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dvf

As the group stage nears it’s end some of the old-fashioned tactics have come into play as usual.

France and Denmark played out a stale and boring 0-0 draw as it meant that both teams qualified for the last 16.

Their play was roundly booed for much of the game as FIFA and the spectators were seen to be, as usual, miles apart in what they see as the not-so-subtle difference between getting the job done and entertaining the crowd.

The two teams were allowed to defraud the attendant masses of their money by putting on an insipid display of nothingness at which fans who had travelled thousands of miles to watch were entitled to vent their frustration. (more…)

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