Premier League Round-up Week 2, 2011-12

Feature Matches
Sunderland v Newcastle
Arsenal v Liverpool
Aston Villa v Blackburn
Man City v Bolton
Man Utd v Tottenham


TAYLOR-MADE VICTORY FOR MAGPIES ON DERBY DAY!

Sunderland 0 - 1 Newcastle
Taylor 62'

The Tyne-Wear Derby is the biggest in the North-East of England, a massive rivalry that has produced some high quality matches down the years with the likes of Quinn, Shearer and Phillips often headlining.

This game however, was not such a quality occasion with chances few and far between. Fortunately the derby day tension was still there, so there was no quarter given by either team.

Newcastle should have had a stone-wall penalty in the first half after Seb Larsson saved Joey Barton's point blanc header with his arm just before the ball crossed the line. Luckily for Larsson, neither the referee, nor his assistant spotted the misdemeanour, and him and his team got away with the incident, leaving Newcastle incensed and feeling hard done by.

The game carried on, with the midfields battling hard to gain sustained pressure and possession without much success. Gyan went closest yet with a great effort from 25 yards with his left foot, which dipped to graze the bar on it's way through with Krul beaten.

The opening goal, and winner, came just after the hour mark when the Magpies got a free kick on the left flank. Ryan Taylor stood over the ball and put in what looked like a half cross, half shot. The ball sailed across goal, evading everyone in the box, to nestle neatly into the far corner, sending the home fans into pandemonium.

Newcastle held out to keep their second clean sheet of the season and second favourable result. Sunderland though, will be dissappointed that they managed to take a point away from Anfield, but had no such luck at St James'.



DEVASTATED GUNNERS LOSE MORE GROUND!

Arsenal 0 - 2 Liverpool
Ramsey OG 78'
Suarez 90'

Arsenal fans journeyed to the Emirates in the hope that their team would banish the ghost of Cesc Fabregas' departure with a victory of Liverpool. What a got was not far short of a shambles.

The rain pelted down in North London, conditions which fitted in perfectly with the emotions surrounding Arsenal.

In spite of his near-certain imminent transfer to Man City, Samir Nasri started as Jenkinson and Frimpong made their debuts. Luis Suarez was benched after showing fatigue.

The first twenty minutes came without chances, the first such attempt resulted in a save from Szcesny as Andy Carroll powered a header.
Emanuel Frimpong made a surging start with a drive through the midfield and rifling off a shot from 25 yards that Reina was forced to palm round the post. Indeed the rookie made a good start, one that was unfortunately marred by his 2nd yellow card in the 70th minute after a poor tackle as Wenger labelled him "the victim of his own passion".

The game then only started to hot up again after the hour mark. Robin Van Persie's close range effort required a good save from Pepe Reina.

Then, with 78 minutes on the clock, Arsenal's luck showed foul once more. Substitue Miquel was attempting to clear the ball, but only managed to hit Ramsey in the face as the ball ricocheted over Szcesny and into the goal.

Then as injury time began, the Arsenal defenders backed off the oncoming Liverpool players as the ball was slipped to Meireles. Meireles then squared to Suarez who was able to slide the ball in.

Despite of the criticism against the Arsenal boss after another questionable result, Kenny Dalglish gallantly stated, "no one can take away what Arsene Wenger has done for this football club". This may be true, but will the football club soon has to take away what Wenger wants to do in the future?


VILLA RUN RIOT TO SEND ROVERS BOTTOM!

Aston Villa 3 - 1 Blackburn
Agbonlahor 12' Pedersen 52'
Heskey 25'
Bent 67'

Villa were the picture of unity following this dominant victory. So far maligned boss Alex McLeish was in charge of his first home game at Villa Park. "We believe in the manager" were Darren Bent's words following this victory. It must be a much better environment after the unfortunately sequence of events that unfolded during Gerard Houllier's tenure.

Proceedings started early on as Gabby Agbonlahor put his team in the lead with a outstanding effort. He jinked one way, then another to put Salgado off-balance down Villa's left flank. He then cut in and let fly with a curling effort that evaded Paul Robinson's outstretched arms to settle in the back of the net after 12 minutes.

New Blackburn signing Goodwillie had his first chance at glory soon after, but he could only spurn it by blasting it just over the bar from a tough angle. Down the other end, Agbonlahor was at it again, cutting in once more to hit another swerving shot. This time however, Robinson managed to cling onto the ball with a flying catch.

Villa were not kept waiting much longer though, a ball into Agbonlahor saw him with his back to goal, and a defender behind him. He squared to an on-coming Emile Heskey who was able to slide the ball round a defender, and more importantly round Robinson to find the net for the first time this season.

The Yorshire side then got an excellent goal back when Junior Hoilett used his quick feet to beat three men wide on the left. He then hit a beautifully flighted cross which was met by the on-rushing Morten Gamst Pedersen and past a helpless Given to get the second half of to a good tempo.

With half an hour to go, Albrighton rifled off a cross goal effort that went narrowly wide of goal from 25 yards. Then five minutes later, Darren Bent pounced on a poor clearance to squeeze a shot of that past Robinson for a typical goal from the Londoner.

Villa sealed the points with some good defending in the last 20 minutes. It was a strong showing from the Clarets, far better than they were this time last year, and they will hope to continue this.
Blackburn on the other hand are now the lowest of all the teams that have played two games.


RANGERS ADD TO EVERTON WOES AT GOODISON!

Everton 0 - 1 QPR
Smith 31'

On the half hour, Buszaky rolls Tommy Smith in after Jagielka mis-cleared the ball to him. Smith expertly turns and curls the ball into the far corner as Jagielka fails to stop him.


WIGAN DENIED BY ANOTHER VORM SPECIAL!

Swansea 0 - 0 Wigan

20 minutes from time, Gomez rattles the crossbar with a great dipping shot.

3 minutes later Moses clatters the bar at the same end. This is followed by Gomez being brought down by Williams. Watson steps up to take the penalty, but is saved expertly by Vorm.

CHELS DO IT THE HARD WAY!

Chelsea 2 - 1 West Brom
Anelka 53' Long 4'
Malouda 83'

Alex is bullied off the ball fairly softly by Shane Long, who then beats him for pace and slips past Hilario to put the Midlands team 1 - 0 up early on.

Anelka equalises early into the second half moments after Lampard is denied a penalty. He shoots across goal and the ball deflects into the far corner of Olsson.

Chelsea then began to apply the pressure on the Brom back-line. This pressure finally told when Malouda completed the turn around in an almost identical match to West Brom's previous game against Utd. Bosingwa crosses into back post where Malouda is ready and waiting for a tap in.

This result gave Chelsea the much-vaunted three points they were wanting after Stoke denied them so keenly the week before. For West Brom, they must be the league's unluckiest team so far. They went ahead against Utd and lost and then again to Chelsea and ended up losing there too. They are playing good football and should keep doing what they are doing as it will reward them against the lesser teams as the season goes on.


JONES RESCUES POTTERS WITH A BIT OF MAGIC!

Norwich 1 - 1 Stoke
DeLaet 36' K. Jones 90+1'

Ritchie DeLaet hooked onto a great delivery from a wide free-kick with a glancing header that got Norwich into the lead.

Barnett was sent off on the hour for a last man tackle that also conceded a penalty. Walters failed to convert the following spot-kick.

Whelan put in a great cross in injury that Kenwyne Jones rose to head home, saving Stoke a point.


WOLVES KEEP UP 100% RECORD!

Wolves 2 - 0 Fulham
Doyle 42'
Jarvis 43'

Doyle collected a pass from Matt Jarvis, before letting fly to beat Mark Schwarzer.

Jarvis doubled the lead minutes later, pouncing on a header from Johnson that hit the crossbar.


CITY COME OUT ON TOP IN FIVE GOAL THRILLER!

Man City 3 - 2 Bolton
Silva 26' Klasnic 40'
Barry 38' Davies 63'
Dzeko 47'

This fixture bought a clash between the top two teams in the Premier League after the first weekend. Both had put four goals past their opponents without reply, and had looked impressive doing so.

In spite of this, the first ten minutes of the game was spent getting into the rhythm of the game by both teams. Eagles and Knight went close early doors, Eagles with a testing, low free kick and then Knight tapping narrowly wide from a corner. Indeed, Bolton's corners were where they looked most dangerous in the opening part of the match. They were constantly pressuring the City defence with well directly balls in.

After fifteen minutes, the tide began to change. Jussi Jaaskelainen was forced into his first big save from James Milner as he met Kolarov's cross with a tough effort. Three minutes later, Aguero missed a sitter from 8 yards as he ploughed the ball over the bar.

The pressure soon told, just shy of the half hour mark as Man of the Match, David Silva cut into the box after a pass from Micah Richards and then hit a low, swerving shot past Jaaskelainen from the edge of the box to put his team ahead.
Richards then got a goal disallowed as his cross fed Aguero's tap-in finish as he had barged Petrov just before crossing.

By this point, City were thoroughly dominating both play and possession. Aguero missed another chance with his head. Then came a second magic moment for City. James Milner hit a variation corner out to Gareth Barry, who was 25 yards out. Barry got the ball out of his feet and hit an arrow of a shot with his left foot in the the top corner to double City's advantage.

Bolton threw themselves a lifeline when Klasnic hit a beautifully executed half-volley from a Petrov cross with his left foot on the twirl.

City soon got the upper hand once again, two minutes into the second half, they were 3 - 1 up as Dzeko capitalised on Paul Robinson's mistake to break clear and hit a well timed effort underneath the Finish keeper.

Kevin Davies scored what was to be the last goal with half an hour left on the clock with a superb jump to outleap Lescott to head home from a free kick. David Silva was narrowly stopped from scoring again thanks to a brilliant block from Zat Knight as the Spaniard was almost clean through.

The game had been going at such a furious tempo, that for such an early game in the season, players were beginning to tire, City's men in particular as they struggled and strained to keep the Bolton offenses at bay. That said, Adam Johnson almost scored 5 minutes from time, when he sold Zat Knight, only to dribble the ball just wide of the target.

But when the game was all said and done, City managed to get the result and the three points with it to take them top of the table. They may have looked slightly defensively frail at times, but another fluorescent performance from David Silva guided them to victory.


UNITED RAMPANT TO RE-INTRODUCE SPURS!

Man Utd 3 - 0 Tottenham
Welbeck 61'
Anderson 76'
Rooney 87'

A big game early is the season for United, Tottenham presented a big hurdle coming up to Manchester. Having been postponed last week, this was Spurs' first game of the season and it was always going to be a tough ask.

The first half was fairly even with both sides coming close at times, but struggling most with a quality final ball to find a goal. Friedel was forced into several good saves from Cleverley and Young. Young went closest with a floating header after a great chipped ball in from Rooney.

United really began to turn the screw as the second half went it's course. Young, Anderson and Rooney all had the American goalkeeper stretching to make fine saves to keep Tottenham level.

He could not however, keep them out forever as United's youngsters combined brilliantly for the opener. Cleverley whipped in a fantastic cross which Welbeck was able to guide into the far corner excellently with his head.

This opened the gate somewhat for the Red's as they soon applied more and more pressure on the Tottenham backline. Friedel produced his best save of the match to keep out an in-direct Rooney free kick with superb flexiblity at his near post.

The build up for United's second goal was almost mesmeric. Rooney played the ball to Welbeck, whose amazing vision saw him backheel to a running Anderson who creamed the ball into the corner.

The trio was rounded off nicely when Giggs put in a lovely floating cross for Rooney to have an easy header to give him his second goal in as many games to guide his team to a nigh on flawless win.



MY TEAM OF THE WEEK;

GK - Vorm (Swansea), RB - Bosingwa (Chelsea), LB - Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham), CB - Carragher (Liverpool), CB - Smalling (Man Utd), RM - Young (Man Utd), LM - Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), CM - Nasri (Arsenal), CM - Silva (Man City), CF - Welbeck (Man Utd), CF - Rooney (Man Utd).

Sporting News of the Week

Football

· Jose Enrique moves to Liverpool for £6million.

· Tottenham v Everton is postponed due to the London riots.

· Fabregas finally realises his dream with a move to Barcelona worth £35million.

· Barca then win the 2nd Leg of the Super Cup 3-2 (5-4 on aggregate) at the Nou Camp in a physical affair. Fabregas assists Messi’s winner.



Cricket

· Alastair Cook hits a career best 294 as the records tumble on the third day of the Edgbaston test, with England declaring on 710/7 after Eoin Morgan scored a century, and Pietersen, Strauss and Bresnan all hit fifties. England win by an innings and 242 runs to go 3-0 up in the series and claim the Number 1 Test Team spot.

· England win by an innings an 8 runs to secure a 4-0 whitewash at the Oval. 235 runs from Bell and a big Pietersen hundred got the hosts to 591/7dec. India were then removed for 300 following a peerless Dravid century. Graeme Swann then took a 5 wicket-haul to get the Indians 283 all out after a supreme 91 from Tendulkar.


Golf

· Keegan Bradley makes it four first-time Major champions for the season as he secures the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods enjoyed opposite fortunes as he missed the cut.


Tennis

· Andy Murray wins the Cincinati Open after Novak Djokovic had to retire mid-way through the final.

PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND-UP WEEK 1 2011/12

It’s soon come back round again, that’s right it’s the Premier League season again. This weekend has seen a fascinating opening showing from the teams involved. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all drew game they would have thought winnable, whilst Bolton stormed to the top of the table. No home games were won by the home teams until Monday evening, and a game was postponed.
Featured Matches
Liverpool v Sunderland
Newcastle v Arsenal
Stoke v Chelsea
West Brom v Man United
Man City v Swansea


HUNGRY WOLVES CLAIM COMEBACK!
Blackburn 1 v 2 Wolves
Formica 20’ Fletcher 22’
Ward 47’

• Roberts brushes past three men with great strength to play Formica in to beat Hennessy to put Blackburn ahead.
• The lead only lasts two minutes as Fletcher heads in from the back post after a well –flighted cross Jarvis.
• The winner comes via a penalty early in the second half. Whilst Robinson saves Fletcher’s effort from the spot, the ball goes out wide and is crossed in to meet a superb left-foot volley from Ward.
• Blackburn tried valiantly to gain an equaliser, but the full time whistle beat them to it. Mick McCarthy, though pleased with his team’s victory stressed about “not getting carried away” whilst Steve Kean admitted that “different areas of this team still need strengthening”.


SAME OLD STORY AT CRAVEN COTTAGE!
Fulham 0 v 0 Aston Villa

• Craven Cottage lived up to its status as the Mecca for draws in spite of a disallowed goal for Darren Bent and some great saves out of both goalkeepers. At the end of the game Martin Jol professed, “we would have liked to have points on the board”.


LOVELY LARSSON SAVES A POINT!
Liverpool 1 v 1 Sunderland
Suarez 12’ (pen) Larsson 42’

Anfield welcomed the start of yet another football season. After all of their investment, it will be interested to see what the next 9 months holds in store for them. Their opponents Sunderland have also been making some smart signings; Seb Larsson, Wes Brown and Connor Wickham being just three of them.
The game did not take long to have its first flashpoint. With 5 minutes gone, an overly casual piece of defending from Kieran Richardson caused his clearance to be intercepted by Suarez. Suarez sprinted clear, and attempted to round the keeper before being tugged down by a recovering Richardson. Somehow, the Sunderland number 3 avoiding seeing red, but did concede the penalty. Suarez duly blasted this over the bar in a poor effort to keep the deadlock.
This deadlock was not long lived though, seven minutes later, Liverpool found themselves with a wide free-kick out on the right flank. A brilliant, flat delivery from the left-footed Charlie Adam found a deflected header from Suarez, which found the net to help the Uruguayan atone for his earlier mistake and send Liverpool ahead.
Liverpool continued to dominate as Andy Carroll found himself blasting the ball into the back of the net, only to have it chalked off due to a debatable shove on Anton Ferdinand. Stewart Downing found himself beating four men with a superb, winding run from the right before cutting in and shooting with his left from 25 yards, only for the bar to deny him.
Having weathered this, Sunderland then formed a chance that would precede a more dominant showing from them in the second half. Reina hesitated to come for a Larsson free kick that almost allowed Sessegnon to head home three minutes from half time.
On the other side of the half time break, Sunderland came out firing on more cylinders to take the attack to Liverpool. Then, on 57 minutes, this pressure told. El Mohamady whipped in a cross that floated over all the Red’s defenders to an unmarked Seb Larsson, who then executed an unbelievable volley into the far corner to put the teams back on a level heading.
The only other chance was an Andy Carroll header being denied by Mignolet before the final whistle sounded.
It had been a competitive game of two halves. Liverpool had failed to kick on for all three points in the second half and it had shown in the sloppy defending that allowed Larsson to show up unattended for the equaliser. Downing looked impressive on his Liverpool debut as well as Charlie Adam, who claimed the assist. Larsson and Wes Brown did likewise for Sunderland, with Brown showing all his experience in his defending to keep Liverpool at bay.


QPR BOLTED OUT THE DOOR!
QPR 0 v 4 Bolton
45+2’ Cahill
67’ Gabbidon OG
70’ Klasnic
79’ Muamba

• Campbell has a goal disallowed in the first minute for offside.
• Kieran Dyer picks up horrible injury a minute later.
• Gary Cahill opens his account for the season with a glorious curling effort for 20 yards to put Bolton ahead in first half injury time.
• Halfway through the second period, a wide Eagles free kick runs across the goalmouth, with Gabbidon sliding the ball into the back of the net for an unfortunate own goal.
• Three minutes later a deflected shot from Klasnic after a good flick on from Kevin Davies puts Bolton 3 – 0 up.
• The final nail in the coffin came via a great Bolton move which resulted in Muamba finishing neatly after a good through ball from Klasnic.
• Warnock surmised, “We’ve got to learn quickly after this. We capitulated after 2 – 0, but we’d rather be here than the Championship.”


HOOLAHAN THE HERO AS POINTS ARE SAVED!
Wigan 1 V 1 Norwich
Watson 21’ Hoolahan 45+1’

• Di Santo wins a penalty for Wigan after DeLaet knocks him down following some slack defending from the Belgian. Ben Watson converted this penalty to put the Latics ahead.
• Hoolahan replied in injury time as Wigan keeper Al-Habsi spilled a cross to leave him with an easy finish.


GERVINHO SEES RED IN ST JAMES’ PARK STALEMATE!
Newcastle 0 v 0 Arsenal

Unfortunately for the neutrals, football was not treated to quite as entertaining a spectacle as it saw in this fixture last year when Newcastle reversed a 4 – 0 deficit to take a point. Instead, what they got was a tense game, on Arsenal’s part, it was mostly due to the speculation surrounding two of the most prominent players, Nasri and Fabregas and the fact that they were not taking part. For Newcastle, it was likely down to Joey Barton’s involvement after a full u-turn from those up-high in the St James’ Park club.
The first chance of the game fell to Tomas Rosicky, who generally impressed as cover for the absent Fabregas. Aaron Ramsey had slid across a ball to him on the edge of the area, which Rosicky curled narrowly wide after a fluid build up.
Indeed, Arsenal had much of the early running as a deflected Van Persie shot left Tim Krul scrambling in the Newcastle goal. This was followed soon after by a goal line clearance from Simpson to prevent Arsenal taking the lead. Robin Van Persie then went the closest yet, with a free kick from the right corner of the box that skimmed the roof of the net with Krul struggling to stop it if it dipped further.
An interesting incident then happened. Having been dispossessed by Song, Joey Barton was on the floor, Song then subtly stamped on the back of Barton’s leg so that the referee could not see and got away with it in spite of Barton’s protests. Barton went on to twitter a post-game statement, “if the roles were reversed and I’d stamped on him, it would be so much different”.
This episode only served to spice up the game. After Theo Walcott made Krul stretch to save an effort, Gervinho found himself tripped in the area. A penalty was not given, but Joey Barton then took it upon himself to drag Gervinho to his feet aggressively and accuse him of cheating and diving. Gervinho then struck out at Barton with a slap, to which Barton fell theatrically, clutching his face. The referee then came over and gave Gervinho a red card, whilst Barton only got a yellow. Arsene Wenger was displeased by this and remarked, “I don’t understand the red card, the referee didn’t see the incident and had his back turned to it. It is either a yellow to each player or a red to each player.” Video evidence supported Wenger’s claims about the referee view (or lack thereof) of the coming together.
In the last minute, Arsenal countered, three against two, but squandered the opportunity. This served to encapsulate their performance, whilst Newcastle managed to defend well enough to keep them out.


CHELSEA FAIL TO UNLOCK STOKE CODE!
Stoke 0 v 0 Chelsea

This game saw the possible re-emergence of a sharp Fernando Torres. He may not have scored, but he did just about everything but. After a poor start to his Chelsea career, he shielded the ball expertly, showed well-timed changes of pace and beat men aplenty as he took the man of the match award.
In spite of the 0 – 0 score line, there could easily have been 5 penalties. Kalou, Torres and Lampard were all felled in the box for Chelsea, whilst Stoke had a Terry handball rejected as well as having Shawcross dragged to the floor by Terry as they battled throughout the match at set-pieces. On review, it appeared that the Torres and Lampard penalty claims were - in most eyes – penalties, as was Terry’s handball at the other end.
The first half went mostly Stoke’s way. Their set pieces were well delivered and caused Cech and his defenders more than a few problems. Not only this, but their open play was not bad either. Ashley Cole was caught sleeping by a ball in behind him to Walters, who’s cross was denied by Cech.
This does not mean that Stoke had it all their own way. Bosingwa had an early effort put round the post by the highly impressive Asmir Begovic. Robert Huth then found himself having to produce a well-timed headed clearance from a good cross. Ramires - who also had a striking impact - managed to bully his way through several players only to have his squared pass run across the face of goal to waste.
The second half then saw Chelsea start to take over the game, really pressuring the Stoke defence. Stoke however, failed to fold and refused to back down as Chelsea threw all they had at the Potters. Torres failed to turn and score from a Terry knock down following a corner just before a rasping 25 yard shot from John Obi Mikel had to be tipped over the bar by Begovic.
The last 25 minutes saw a much more stretched game with plenty of end to end play. It was still Chelsea that were having the better of the play and this was not helped when Etherington had to go off with a suspected broken arm. Malouda hit a stinging shot straight at Begovic, and a deft chip from the newly-introduced Anelka nearly beat the stopper, who was just able to tip the ball onto the bar before saving from Kalou.
The final whistle saw a slightly despondent Chelsea, disappointed at not being able to either score or take three points back to London. However, all credit must be given to the solid Stoke back four and there supreme goalkeeper for keeping the Blues out for the duration of the game when a late winner looked nigh-on inevitable.


YOUNG SHOWS MATURITY ON DEBUT TO MAKE UP FOR DE GEA HOWLER!
West Brom 1 v 2 Man United
Long 37’ 13’ Rooney
81’ Reid OG

United were quick out of the blocks on this occasion, as opposed to their sedate approach in the Community Shield. Ashley Young marked the beginning of his debut with a well-aimed freekick that narrowly evaded the head of Danny Welbeck to put United into an early ascendency.
They would not have to wait long however. Wayne Rooney opened the scoring on 13 minutes following a great exchange with Young, who he back-heeled the ball to and was laid off by. He swivelled onto his left foot and slid the ball into the far corner from the edge of the box.
United should have doubled their lead ten minutes later after brilliant work from Welbeck and Rooney to tee up Nani, who could only fluff his shot over the bar.
Wigan then had their first chance of the game with Paul Scharner forcing a good save out of new boy David De Gea. Cleverly then had a chance denied down the other end within seconds, as the ball was taken away from him in a certain goal-scoring position. Another minute later, the Baggies got themselves right back into the game after Tchoyi battled well to get the ball across to Brunt, who then passed on to Long. Long then managed to steal half a yard with a step over to get a shot off at De Gea. De Gea was well placed enough to save it, but his movements were to slow and he could only let the ball roll underneath him as West Brom found their equaliser.
De Gea almost made a gaffe just short of half time as a cross/shot from the impressive Tchoyi came worryingly close to beating him.
United were dealt another blow soon into the second as Nemanja Vidic had to limp off with a hamstring problem that had flared up early in the first half. But United reacted well to this, with Rooney not getting the timing on his flicked header required to beat Foster, whilst Young nearly caught Foster out with a good curling effort.
Soon after this Ferdinand began to struggle with an injury of his own and quickly had to go off to be replaced by Phil Jones for his full United debut. A spot of luck finally came to the Mancunian’s as Ashley Young cleverly beat a couple of men to get his cross in, which was deflected him by Tamas and Reid into the far corner to secure United a later winner in the last 10 minutes.
Despite West Brom’s attempt at a last minute on-slaught -even bringing Ben Foster up for a free kick - United managed to hold out and claim the 3 points. Fergie was far from pleased though, “David should’ve done better” was one of his first comments on West Brom’s goal. Will the new keeper be good enough?


KUN CLICKS TO MAKE CITY SLICK!
Man City 4 v 0 Swansea
Dzeko 57’
Aguero 68’
Silva 71’
Aguero 90+1’

Man City dominated this game from the opening whistle, this is not meant to offend Swansea supporters, whose team bore up well under such pressure. Keeper Vorm was a particular standout with Swansea stringing a few nice moves together at times.
AS the headline suggests, this match was mostly about the appearance of one man. New record signing Sergio “Kun” Aguero came on with an hour gone and completely changed the game for his team. Until he was brought on, David Silva and Yaya Toure had been City’s best performers, with Silva creating the first goal that Edin Dzeko managed to dispatch, and Toure with his marauding runs and power.
Within 8 minutes of his substitution, Aguero’s named was being read out by the speaker after he got to back post to tap in a great ball across by Micah Richards. Three minutes later, he attempted an outrageous, audacious piece of skill when he kicked the ball over Vorm’s head, and seemingly out of play. Instead of giving up on the ball, we kicked it over his head for the on-rushing David Silva to put City 3-0 up and in an unassailable position with 20 minutes remaining.
Vorm managed the save of the match after a pass back was awarded. Yaya Toure blast the shot from 16 yards, underneath the wall. An unsighted Vorm managed to stretched out an arm with the ball literally about to cross the line.
Unfortunately he was to be beaten one final time though, when Aguero sized up an amazing 25 yard dart into the bottom corner to end the rout and bring Swansea into the Premier League with a bang of reality in injury time.


TEAM OF WEEK; GK - Begovic (Stoke), CM - Brown (Sunderland), CM - Huth (Stoke), LB - Warnock (Aston Villa), RB - Richards (Man City), CM - Muamba (Bolton),RCM - Young (Man United), LCM - Larsson (Sunderland), LWF - Silva (Man City), CF - Suarez (Liverpool), RWF - Aguero (Man City).

My England Dream Team XI

After having read my last article, another friend of mine, Toby, asked me if I could pick an England Dream Team XI. In other words, I was asked to provide my best, most definitive England side. Well, after much research and with many new facts learnt, presented is my attempt at an answer. I decided to limit my search to post WWI players, but will also give notable mentions to the greats before that time.


PLAYER Test Runs/Avr Test Wkts/Avr Matches


1. Jack Hobbs 5,410 @ 56.94 1 @ 165.00 61

Having scored 199 first-class hundreds and 61,760 runs at the same level, the least I can do is include one of the greatest opening batsmen in this team. He is a great of his and any generation with the bat who could also bowl at first-class level.


2. Herbert Sutcliffe 4,555 @ 60.73 54

Hobbs’ opening partner, and he tried his very best to overshadow his former colleague with the 6th best average in test history, and the best by an Englishman. He is also considered the best “bad wicket” player of all-time, a useful attribute in the days of uncovered wickets that could be two-paced on a good day.


3. Len Hutton (C) 6,971 @ 56.67 3 @ 77.33 79

The man who held the record for the highest individual score in a test match record for 20 years after his superb 364, oh, and it was in an Ashes Test Match too. A great leader and has my trust and faith as captain.


4. Wally Hammond 7,249 @ 58.14 83 @ 37.80 85

Joint with Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott, he has the highest number of hundreds by an Englishman at 22. One of these was a brilliant 336*, which was a record score until Hutton surpassed it 5 years later in 1938. In his obituary in the Wisden Almanack, they claimed he was one of the four best batsmen in history.


5. Kevin Pietersen 6,123 @ 49.37 5 @ 126.20 74

England have never had a batsman like him, pure and simple. He possesses unparalleled talent in English cricketing history. The shots he comes with are often unconventional, but nearly always brilliant. He is a man for the big occasion with big hundreds against the big teams. His fantastic charisma and ego is a double-edged sword to his personality, allowing him to dominate bowlers with arrogance, but, just as equally enabling his bad temper to surface itself in bad moments. At times he looks simply unstoppable.


6. Matt Prior 2,278 @ 43.79 44

Wicket-keeper/batsmen are the only wicket-keepers accepted in Test Cricket nowadays, this wasn’t always the case. Taking this into consideration, I have to go for the current keeper, because over the past 2 years he has been nigh on flawless with gloves and bat. He is a real cornerstone of the team and is becoming more and more of a Mr Reliable.


7. Ian Botham 5,200 @ 33.54 383 @ 28.40 102

Beefy narrowly goes in ahead of Flintoff in this team. This is due to the fact that both had personas, both had the incredible performances that marked them out, both even had Ashes named after them. Put plainly, Botham’s numbers are better and show more effectiveness. He is England’s highest ever Test wicket-taker which helps him to no end.


8. Graeme Swann 745 @ 24.03 140 @ 27.72 32

He has become the saviour of English spin bowling, the man England turn to for inspiration right now. An uncanny knack for wickets in the first over of his spell mixed with a brilliantly positive, yet at times humorously self-deprecating charisma endears him to all that follow England. More than useful with the bat as well which only adds to his popularity.


9. Harold Larwood 485 @ 19.40 78 @ 28.35 21

Arguably the man that stopped Don Bradman from averaging 100. His integral part in the “Bodyline” or “Fast Leg Theory” Ashes series of 1932-33 cut Bradman’s average down to 99.94 from what would have been 104.76. Of course he was not the solo performer, but the main protagonist as he was England’s quickest bowler of the time and possibly of all times. Sadly only played 22 tests as he refused to apologise after having been made the scapegoat of the Bodyline tactics. But his 1427 wickets at 17.51 in first-class cricket prove his abilities more than appropriately.


10. Fred Trueman 981 @ 13.81 307 @ 21.57 67

The original fiery Yorshireman. He was a rapid bowler on his best day and still mighty quick on his worse. The first Englishman to reach 300 test wickets. His popularity saw him named the “greatest living Yorshireman” by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He - like Pietersen after him - ran into trouble with English officials on a few occasions, accusing them of snobbery.

11. Bob Willis 840 @ 11.50 325 @ 25.20 90

Ian Botham quoted big Bob as the “only world-class fast bowler in my time as an England player”. His tremendously long run-up intimidated batsmen from the outset and he frequently played well beyond the pain barrier for his country. Perhaps he was a gangly, ungainly fast bowler, but his pace was great and the bounce he could generate was even more so. He sits behind Botham as England’s 2nd highest wicket-taker.



Notable omitted players –

Opening Batsmen; Geoffrey Boycott, Marcus Trescothick, Alistair Cook, Michael Atherton, John Edrich.

Middle Order Batsmen; David Gower, Colin Cowdrey, Graham Gooch, Michael Vaughan, Ken Barrington, Graeme Thorpe.

Wicket-Keepers; Alec Stewart, Alan Knott, Jack Russell.

All-Rounders; Andrew Flintoff, Ted Dexter, Dennis Amiss.

Spinners – Jim Laker.

Fast Bowlers – James Anderson, Darren Gough, Steven Harmison, Andrew Caddick, Chris Old, Devon Malcolm.



Many of these selections were highly difficult to make. Leaving out the likes of Alec Stewart, David Gower, Andrew Flintoff and Geoffrey Boycott were very hard to decide and they were not decisions easily taken.

England’s deepest strength in depth over the ages definitely appears to be their opening batsmen. Hobbs and Sutcliffe were eventually my men of choice because they had phenomenal records. On top of this, the issue of player’s playing in tandem with each other would be no problem for these two as they forged an incredible partnership for many years.

Omitting batsmen such as David Gower, Colin Cowdrey and Graham Gooch proved an arduous process. Gower was arguably the most talented batsmen of his generation bar Vivian Richards. On the other hand, Colin Cowdrey is one of the three men on 22 test hundreds, the English record and was a cornerstone of the side he played in. Gooch is a fabled run-maker the likes of which England were lucky to have and may not see for a while.
Hutton, Hammond and Pietersen emerged as my middle order through a mixture of unparalleled performances and figures over a number of years. Wally Hammond is one of the other three men on 22 test hundreds, one of which was a brilliant and unbeaten 336* which was only surpassed by Len Hutton’s 364 five years later. This score by Hutton remains the highest individual score in a test match by any Englishman and the 5th highest in cricketing history after Sobers, Hayden and Lara. The fact that Hutton maintained such a fantastic average in spite of being his team’s captain speaks volumes for just how great a player he was.

Having already justified my wicket keeping and all-rounder selections, I shall now move onto the bowlers.

It was a tight call between Jim Laker and Graeme Swann for the team’s spinner. It may well be down to the bias of having seen Swann play that gets him my selection of Laker. Laker himself was a superb bowler, anyone that takes 19 wickets in a test match should be held in high regard. However, I feel in a batsmen friendly era of cricket, Swann has become a real danger to any batsmen on just about any wicket. He is also a more than useful addition to the end of the batting line-up.

Out of the fast bowler’s chosen, Harold Larwood is likely the most contentious and debatable call. Larwood was the front man of the famous Bodyline series in 1932/33. His fearful speed terrorised the Australian’s as well as cricketing officials, but it did work. To me, any man that could keep the incomparable Don Bradman as far under his average (without this series, Bradman would have averaged 104.76 instead of the 99.94 he ended up on) as Larwood did merits a place in this team whether he played many test matches or not.
Trueman and Willis were near-automatic picks for me. Not only are they the 2nd and 3rd on the English list of Test wicket takers, but they also achieved these wickets at outstanding averages. This edges them ahead of bowlers like Gough, Old and Malcolm in my eyes.

I decided it unfair to put the greats of the 19th Century such as; W.G. Grace, Frank Wooley, C.B. Fry, Sydney Barnes and Tom Richardson in my team as pre-WWI cricket was a completely different game in that it was amateur when few nations played test cricket as the game was still in it’s infancy. Having said that, these men are the pioneers of English cricket and should be treated with respect, as they are legends of the game, and indeed of English history.

So there you have it, that Toby is my final decision on an all-time England XI. Thank you for your request, the research for the article was both enlightening and highly interesting to read into.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK!

Football

· Manchester United claim a fantastic win with a memorable comeback to take the Community Shield as a Nani-inspired second half saw them reverse a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 victory.

· Arsenal sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton after a protracted transfer saga.

· Former Manchester United player Gabriel Obertan is signed by Newcastle United.

· Radosav Petrovic is signed by Blackburn Rovers from Partizan Belgrade.

· Matthew Upson has gone to Stoke on a free transfer.

· Shane Long has been snapped up by West Brom in a rumoured £6.25 million move.

· England’s friendly against the Netherlands is called off due to the looting and violence ravaging London’s streets along with fears that the Premier League games could also be cancelled in places.


Golf

· Adam Scott wins the World Golf Championship just before the last major of the year. Tiger Woods also made his comeback in this event.


Rugby

· England defeated Wales 23-19.

England 05’ and 11’ vs Australia 05’ and India 11’

So my friend Andrew asked me an interesting question earlier. If able to make composite teams, who would I pick for England – based solely on current form at the time – if I had the victorious Ashes team from 2005 and the current 2011 crop together? And, who would I pick to play against them if I had the Australia 05’ team and the Indian team England are currently up against.

Well here goes, it’s tough to pick with and injured Sehwag, so I’ll have to omit him on this occasion.

England

1. Marcus Trescothick (05’ Opening Batsmen)
One of the best openers these shores have seen, a fantastic batsmen who took the attack to McGrath, Lee and Co in 2005. Much missed ever since succumbing to his stress illness.



2. Andrew Strauss (05’ Opening Batsmen, 11’ Captain)
Joined Trescothick in 2005 and scored many runs in that series. His captaincy vs India so far has been superb, we only hope his batting will soon follow it up.



3. Jonathon Trott (11’ Batsmen)
England were struggling for a solid No.3 batsmen. Then came Trott in 2009, he hasn’t looked back since. 2nd highest average in test history. Only made one fifty at Lord’s but struggled with shoulder injury at Trent Bridge.



4. Kevin Pietersen (05’ Batsmen)
Despite playing well above his average for the first time in a long time, I went for the 05’ Pietersen. This is because this was a Pietersen new to the scene, with no fear. He blasted McGrath, Warne and Lee. He also played one of the best backs to the wall hundreds I’ve ever seen at the Oval. A Pietersen before the left-arm spin “weakness”.



5. Ian Bell (11’ Batsmen)
Fresh off a sublime hundred and looking at ease at the crease, Bell has finally developed into the player we were hoping for and boy does he look good!



6. Matt Prior (11’ Wicket-keeper, Batsmen)
No brainer! This man is in the form of his life with bat and gloves. Churned out runs at an aggressive strike rate and he just doesn’t seem to make mistakes behind the stumps anymore. Long may it continue!



7. Andrew Flintoff (05’ All-Rounder)
Player of the Series in 2005 for a reason. The best all-rounder England have had since Botham tormented Australia with bat and ball all series long and made a vital contribution.



8. Stuart Broad (11’ All-Rounder)
Another man in ridiculous form. For once with bat and ball. Averaging 60.6 so far this series and has already claimed 15 wickets. Might impressive stuff!



9. Graeme Swann (11’ Off Spinner)
Yet to hit his stride with the ball in this series, but is indubitably world-class. Has provided useful runs too.



10. Simon Jones (05’ Seam Bowler)
One of the true tragedies of English seam bowling. A fantastic performer in the 05’ Ashes. Able to swing the ball both ways and reverse an old ball. Unfortunately never able to shake off his injury problems since.



11. James Anderson (11’ Seam Bowler)
A similar bowler to Jones, but probably has more disguise to his variations. 2nd best bowler on the planet after Dale Steyn at the moment and it is hard to argue with that!





Australia 05’ and India 11’

1. Justin Langer (05’ Opening Batsmen)
Grit may well have been his middle name. Grinded out countless inning’s and played some great one’s in the 05’ Ashes. A fighter.



2. Rahul Dravid (11’ Opening Batsmen)
The Wall has become a phenomenon of his own. Constantly overshadowed by the No.4 but this series he has shone in the face of recent criticism with 2 great hundreds in vain.



3. Ricky Ponting (05’ Batsmen and Captain)
Another determined individual. Who can forget his match-saving 156 at Old Trafford? A much-maligned skipper, but had tough boots to walk in.



4. Sachin Tendulkar (11’ Batsmen)
Despite the fact he has not found form yet in England, you cannot argue with the inclusion of arguably the greatest batsman ever. A pure player. 56 at Trent Bridge could act as a warning to England.



5. VVS Laxman (11’Batsmen)
The most understated of the Indian Big 3, but a player of vast class and poise. Starting to look good enough to worry England.



6. Michael Clark (05' Batsmen)
An excellent stroke-maker and probably the best player of spin in the world right now. He is a man to be regarded highly.



7. Adam Gilchrist (05’ Wicket-keeper, Batsmen)
Undoubtedly the great keeper/batsman not only of his generation, but ever. An integral part of the all-conquering Aussie team. Only Viv Richards would manfully compete with his aggression and strike rate.



8. Shane Warne (05’ Leg Spinner)
The best leg spinner of all time. No mug with the bat either, in fact probably one of the best to never score a hundred. But his performances with the ball more than speak for themselves.



9. Brett Lee (05’ Seamer)
With Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler of his and most generations. Full of passion and grit as well as being a superb competitor and gentleman.



10. Zaheer Khan (11’ Seamer)
May not have been too active so far with injury preventing him. But when he did bowl he looked dangerous and we all know what he can do when fit.



11. Glenn McGrath (05’ Seamer)
One of the best and most accurate seamers ever, able to take wickets on any deck with his persistant line, length and deceptive pace.


A number of places in these teams were tough to call and justify. The fact that Zaheer Khan has so far been elusive this series makes his selection contentious, but everyone is aware of what he can do when able.

England beat the Aussies and are beating India yet - pound for pound, player for player - you’d probably say the Australian/Indian team are stronger, even without Sehwag around.

Embarrassingly for India, I have picked the only Indian batsmen that have both played well and played the short ball appropriately. Yuvraj, Mukund and Raina have all struggled to master the bouncer.

There is also a difference between England beating Australia and England beating India. In my option, the gap between England and Australia was the two runs they lost by at Edgbaston. England went a long way to winning the Ashes that day, if Australia had won, I’m sure they would have taken the series having gone 2-0 up.

India on the other hand, have managed to lose by a cumulative of over 500 runs over two matches so far in this series. That shows a vast gap in ability if you ask me.

ENGLAND’S SELECTION HEADACHE? MORE LIKE STRENGTH IN DEPTH HEADACHE!

Having just gone 2 – 0 up in the Test Series against India, one might be hard pressed to find any problems for England right now. However, they do seem to have run into a couple of possible injury issues. At least they seem like issues at first glance.

After a strong performance in the First Test at Lord’s, Chris Tremlett pulled up with an injury that ruled him out of England’s emphatic victory of India at Trent Bridge. To counter this, the selector’s went for the at times much maligned Tim Bresnan. Instead of becoming a weak-link in the squad, Bresnan went about scoring a superb 90 in England’s 2nd Innings before taking a 5 wicket-haul to kill the game off on day 4 with some great bowling.

This is the prime example of England’s newfound strength in depth and the exact opposite of the way things have gone in the past.
Even in the famous 2005 team, when Paul Collingwood was drafted in for the final Test at the Oval, he failed on both occasions to make runs. Four years later though, faced with the precise same conundrum, England turned to Jonathon Trott, who made a half-century and a century on debut after Ravi Bopara had been dropped.

Now after this performance from Bresnan, the selector’s will have a dilemma if Tremlett is fit again as to whether to drop Bresnan or not. It would be a tough call, and one I wouldn’t enjoy having to make. Personally, I would keep Bresnan for the traditional seamer-friendly wicket that Edgbaston is. This means not changing the bowling attack and allowing Tremlett to properly recover.

As it is, an injury to Graeme Swann’s hand may offer the selector’s the loophole of having their cake and eating it too by bringing in the extra seamer in Tremlett to give a four-pronged pace attack. That said however, why wouldn’t England try a straight swap? Spinner for spinner, they can look to the likes of Samit Patel, Monty Panesar, or James Tredwell. With Patel, you would keep things fairly balanced as he bats better than the other two.

The final headache is the number 3 spot. Jonathon Trott’s shoulder could well hold him back from playing at Edgbaston. Now this is probably the department where England have the least back-up. It was no problem at Trent Bridge, England simply moved Ian Bell up to the number 3 slot where he promptly scored 159. Now Ravi Bopara is fresh from having scored a hundred for Essex last week. I believe he is the only obvious choice to replace Trott. If this path is followed, Bell should be kept at 3, with Bopara taking over at 5, or even 6 if they want to elevate Morgan.

This isn’t a position I can ever remember England having been in, they can replace almost anyone in their team with a player of vast quality. Even Matt Prior is being kept on his toes by people like Craig Kieswetter. These are the kind of elements that get you to being World Number 1, which is where England are surely destined.

England are truly spoilt for choice and cover. I only hope they keep making positive selections as they have done for the past 2 years, that way they will keep winning as they have done for the past 2 years.


P.S. India have similar injury issues with Zaheer Khan still out but likely to be back for Edgbaston as is Virender Sehwag. Their replacements, Abhinav Mukund and Sree Sreesanth has been far less effectual than England’s. With those two back however, it could be a different Indian team completely.

P.P.S. The spirit of cricket prevailed on Day 3 when Ian Bell was given out. Despite the law clearly stating that he was out, it was superb and refreshing to see India reinstate him. Football could learn a thing or two.

SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK!

BOXING!

· As the boxing season came to a close, Amir Khan superbly KO’s Zab Judah in the 5th Round of their unification bout in Las Vegas to add the IBF belt to his own WBA strap.

· After a gruelling 12 rounder, Tyson Fury relieves Dereck Chisora of his British and Commonwealth Heavyweight belts by unanimous decision.


FORMULA ONE!

· After claiming a brilliant 2nd place in qualifying, Lewis Hamilton leap-frogged Mark Webber to win the Nurburgring Grand Prix.

· Having led most of the race at the Hungaroring however, Lewis Hamilton opted for intermediate tyres at an inopportune moment to allow his team-mate Jenson Button victory at the circuit where he first won. Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel rounded off the podium spots in a superb advert for F1.


CRICKET!

· Having outplayed them, England went 1-0 up in the Test Match Series versus India after brilliant contributions from Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad at Lord’s.

· Following this up, they then thoroughly dominated India in the 2nd innings to post a whopping 544 with Ian Bell scoring a great century, marred by a controversial run out incident. Morgan, Pietersen, Bresnan and Prior also contributed half centuries after Stuart Broad had taken a hat-trick in India’s first innings. Sachin Tendulkar managed 56 as India stumped their way to a heavy defeat.