Archive for the ‘Manchester City’ Category

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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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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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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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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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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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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(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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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…)

More Good News For Uruguay As They Beat Russia. Spain And Portugal Are Both Fortunate Not To Lose + Anthony Martial To Spurs?

Posted: June 27, 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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Everybody expected the Russian bubble to burst eventually, even the Russians. The positive aspect of their resounding defeat by Uruguay was that it was inflicted at a stage of the competition whereby they had already qualified for the last 16.

The question now is whether the players and coaching staff are good enough to raise their game when playing another top quality team. They managed it fine against Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of whom have now exited the competition, then they failed their first real test when meeting Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani et al.

Having lost that game 3-0 to goals from Suarez, a Denis Cheyshev own goal and Cavani, there are still some positives to be grasped. (more…)

Top 5 Belgian Players Who Play In The Premier League

Posted: June 26, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup
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Image Source: theguardian.com

Written by: Guest author

Heading into the tournament, the predictions on the World Cup winners sites suggested that Belgium were considered outside favourites to win the trophy. However after their impressive opening game performance against Panama, and the less impressive displays of the other nations so far, Belgium have the potential to make it very far in this World Cup tournament.

The European nation are currently in the middle of their ‘golden generation’ and with the majority of their players playing at the highest level in the game, they will need to win a piece of silverware in the next couple of tournament to ensure that their best crop of players live up to their potential. (more…)

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