bah Humbug!

I just love the magic of cup competitions.

Its not everyday that we see big teams falling to the less established clubs in Europe's biggest competition. I think it is the do or die, the make or break of such knock -out competitions that the newer teams thrive on as a source of inspiration.

A case in point can be taken from Liverpool. After flying high with a 6-1 drumming of Hull City, they crashed 2-0 to Fiorentina just 3 days later. Amazing dont you think? Stuggurt themselves also drew with FC Urzizeni and Standard Liege drew AZ Alkmaar. Teams havign their debut in this season's competition are showing their mettle against the pedigree clubs, the creme de la creme. But honestly, soccer is soccer and the ball is round so anything can happen. The golden rule would probably be that the team who wants it more will do more to get it.

My main focus tonight would be whether or not Man United can get a good result againsta fired-up Hamburg, German Champs thanks to the prowess of their front attacking pairing. We've seen how in the past weeks, the resurgent Giggs and Scholes have provided inspiration if not the goods themselves and created the wins. But it really is time for the youngsters to step up to their plate and show their real worth with solid steady performances. So far over the last few years, only Darren Fletcher and John O'shea have impressed and proved to be integral to the club. Tonight shall decide one half of the battle between the kings of England and Germany.

One other thing I really feel strongly about would be the damn fact that there isnt any more Champions League soccer on SCV. Its just nonsense that another cable operator has got the rights. Absolute nonsense i tell you. I may just upgrade my internet connectiona nd subscribe to pay-per-view for my sports fixes.

CHELSEA STOPPED

IT has finally happened.. WIgan broke their Jinx against the top 4 sides with a 3-1 victoru over 10 man Chelsea. Take nothing away from Wigan though who went into the half 1-0 up with all 11 players in tact. You know its not your day when Bramble notches one against you as the Wigan defender continues his maturity with better displays by the day.. Been a while since the lessons he learnt in Newcastle have kicked in.

Liverpool and Spurs had big heroes to thank. Namely Torres and Keane who notched 7 goals amongst them. Hull look certain to o down under Phil Brown who cannot deny that he let his good start last term get to him and with the demise of players like Boateng. He hopes Bullard can be his messiah.Burnley as usual are a Home team. All i can say is try keeping your 100% record Mr. Owen as thats the only hope of survivial I can see at the moment. Fortress Turf Moor.

United and Arsenal notched up crucial wins. Giggs turned 18 as he gave away 2 assists while new birds Valencia and Nani failed to impress. Rooney was overshadowed by Scholes as well. Apparently they shud start illegally signing youngsters and start looking at the old folks home. Arsenal grabbed an impressive 1-0 win over Fulham with stand in keeper Mannone looking..dare I say.. better den ALmunia!Where does Arsene get this guys? Toys R us?

BLackburn did well against VIlla down to 10 man and deserve mention as Allardyce's rollercoaster season begins. They are doing very well with limited resources unlike their compatriots like Pompey( tick tock tick tock Mr Hart) and Bolton.

Here are the top 5 performances this week:

1. Wigan(10 points)
2.Blackburn (8 points)
3.Liverpool( 6 points)
4.Tottenham(4 points)
5.Man Utd/ Arsenal (2 points shared)

Chelsea unstoppable?

Are Chelsea on fire or what?,.. Even Platini's efforts are not helping..

This week they face Wigan, who frankly should be an easy 3 points. Losing points here would be taboo. Wigan have looked weak. None of their new signings have yet impressed and they seem to be scraping points rather than earning them. Martinez has a long way to go.. If given such a time. Chelsea would thank the gods for such a start with the African Nations Cup taking away their best players come January.

Only Arsenal and ManUtd face tricky ties away to lesser oppositions with a knack for doing well at home. Stoke made their stadium a fortress for most of the top 4 last season( cue Delap for throw ins) and Vidic was key for United in both games. Arsenal were a tad unlucky but were aweful against Fulham when Hangeland tapped one in. But den again, against Fulham you have to muster your A game. Arsenal should be able to knowing Fulham's form has not been great but United have an uphill task. They were lucky against a resillient Stoke side last term and a Tevez goal late on spared their blushes.

Porsmouth.Blackburn and Bolton face a race agiainst time to collect points. This surely is Paul Hart's las weekend to deliver. He has not done well but will be given time since they sold all their best players(Crouch,Johnson,Kranjcar,Distin,Campbell etc..) and hired less than impressive replacements. Only Vanden Borre has impressed so far and Dindane and O'hara are less than impressive replacements.

We see how it goes but keep an eye out for all the games this week as I sense there will be goals aflowing...........

LAst week's Soccercrazee Top 5

Herez last week's Soccercrazeee top 5:

1. Chelsea(10 pts)
2.Everton(8 pts)
3.Burnley(6 pts)
4.Arsenal (4 pts)
5.Wolverhampton Wanderers(2 pts)

Cheers

BPL Week 7

We're now into the 7th or so match of the 09/10 Barclays Premier League and the big question we have here at Soccer Crazee is whether or not Chelsea can maintain their perch at the top tonight against a flamboyant Wigan side coached by Martinez. Odds on that an on song Drogba and Anelka partnership should see them easily through the fixture. Chelsea also remains the only unbeaten "top" team.

Man Utd face a tricky away fixture to Stoke but after a thrilling derby match last week and a convincing midweek win over Wolves in midweek with a Reserve side with more than a few seniors in it. Ben Foster looks set to get another run out despite a few howlers that almost threw the match against City. I personally think that Kuzchek should get the nod but consistency in goal is most important as well. I believe that Owen might get rewarded with another start and should work well with Rooney.

The London derby between Arsenal and Fulham should be another thriller with lots of goals to come and Arshavin and van Persie look set to start which would add to an already potent swash buckling Arsenal side.

Everton should probably get back some sort of winning rythmn after being bouyoued by their previous win. Moneys on them to win!

Stay tune for our post match report where we will give the low down on this week's matches.

Apologies for the Absence

Dear Readers, First up we'd like to apologise for the Absence. We've been experiences some technical difficulties but no worries because we're back!

Man Utd had managed to go through a pretty tough away fixture in Turkey with a 1-0 win to show for their efforts and nothing like a Paul Scholes header to settle it for us. Over the weekend, more exciting things were to come as it took an injury time winner from ex-scouser Michael Owen to finish it up for us to allow united to win 4-3 after Rooney and Fletcher has twice put us up in front.

In my opinion, the match was a classic derby, possibly the best ever Manchester derby in history yet to come. Rooney had put United up early in the 3rd mon after a whiney Micah Richards reaction. However, it took the hero in Fletcher to give us a brace and override the howlers made by Ben Foster. And in the end, it took the effervescent Michael Owen to come provide us with a goal at the death to give us bragging rights after the double losses from last season.



The talkign points of the match would undoubtedly come from the extra 2 minutes of extra-time played but even then, even manager Mark Huges had little reason to make much noise. More words may be spilt however on the edgy performance put up by Foster. Hes increasingly showing that despite his enormous potential and quick reflexes, he doesnt seem to possess the big game mentality.



The League Cup.



WBA failed to capitalise on the sending off of Fabio for a professional foul midway into the first half. A well rounded united performance with a team consisting of the reserves. In the end, a classy finish from local boy Danny Welbeck provided by Owen gave United a goal to cap off a strong finish. The up and coming youngsters in the team are really impressive and i dare say, we may see a new superstar being born in the near future.






Stay tuned once again for the pre-match updates for the weekend's matches.

LOOK MA! CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2009/2010!

THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS BACK

HERE R MY TOP 5 MUST WATCH GAMES!!!

1. INTERNAZIONALE vs BARCELONA(D-uh)

2.JUVENTUS vs BORDEAUX

3.MARSEILLE VS MILAN

4. PORTO VS CHELSEA

5. STANDARD VS ARSENAL

Internazionale play Barca in what could be the clash of all the superstars. Sneijder,Lucio,Eto'oo come against Henry,MEssi and Ibrahimovic.. ONly Real Madrid have more stars than these teams and with a squad like that Inter must fancy their chances.. Take a bet on them this season? Well we shall see after this game

Juventus are renewed. New signings and a new coach brings new believe and a straying towards youth while Berdeaux are full of playaers trying to fulfill their potentials. Milan reject Gourcufff, Man Utd rejext Bellion and the unsigned despite scoring like crazy CHamakh will be out to prove a point..lets jez hope they don settle for a point..

Marseiile may prove the shock of the week and make or break Leonardo's job. Milan not doing well and Marseille proves a big test... That said Leds Say a big HELLOO! to Milan..welcome back

Porto and Chelsea? Mourinho will be watching this but hu cares bout him? Carvalho will be relishing while Porto who lost all their best players in the summer may just spring a surprise here..hmm..

Standard Leige.. Wad took u guys so long? A great team from Belgium and will give the demoralized(thanks to the MAnchester tours) Arsenal a test... Will they pass it? Or will they fail?..Its time they stop the rot.. I say go crazy Arsenal..

ManUtd,Real Madrid, and Liverpool have easier opponents this time round so I shall not dwell on them but don be too sure.. Surprises usually happen most frequently on day 1..leds see..

Chel setiing sail towards Sea?

So the week ended with Utd.. down to 10 men and a comfortable win over Tottenham who quite frankli were told by Harry Redknapp that they were gonna lose so y bother? Modric was clearly missed But extraordinarily Anderson capped a brilliant game with a goal. Sureli not a world class performance but a stellar one. Nani,Anderson,Park,Carrick and Owen have to be on their toes this season for Utd to have a chance.

Man City 's Adebayor wins the idiot of the day award for his foolishness and brashness. Stamping on Van Persie was shockingly ignored by the referee and going to the rival fans to celebrate is pure disrespect to the team that made him what he is. Arseanal's Wenger got it wrong by taking of Song Billong from where he belonged and the swansong was sang two times for a 4-1 derubbing before a respite to 4-2. Only positive for Arsenal? Rosicky looked like as though he never was injured..

Sunderland were impressive in their 4-1 victory but Chelsea were great to get a 2-1 win awya to stoke? Y? Koz Stoke at home is tough and Chelsea proved themselves in the title race... For now.. Leds see wad happens wen the african cup of Chelsea players starts..

ANyways Guru's top 5 r as shown( I don necessarily agree except for number 1):

1.ManUtd(10)
2.Chelsea(8)
3.Sunderland(6)
4.Liverpool(4)
5 Man City/Aston Villa (2) - tie means 1 point each

Premier Action

Now that England have qualified for the World Cup and France and Argentina have made life miserable and complicated for themselves, we can once again turn our attention to this weekend's Premier League Action.

Buzzword of the day is "Transfer".

Chelsea having been banned for the next 2 transfer windows would definitely have to use their game against Stoke to pin point areas which they can work on building given that the squad can only now be strengthened internally with the improvement of their stars. Its actually hard to consider how much those ageing stars can improve but for others, there is marked progress and amazing talent. It'll be interested to see if Rory Delap has anything to say about another Chelsea win. Really, its to be expected.

Will Liverpool stumble against the giant slaying Burnley? With Glen Johnson on form for England, it may help shore up their defence. But success rests on the shoulders of El Nino, their spanish matador Torres to deliver the goods. I must admit that it would be hard for Liverpool to not win this one.

Arsenal face another trip to Manchester where hopes must be high from the blue-siders for Arsenal to self-destruct again. With Arshavin injured for a fortnight or so, it might prove to be an open game.

And lastly, will Darren Fletcher be the cog in a hard battling midfield where languid Huddlestone faces off with even more languid Berbatov? Its crunch time for Tottenham to live up to their billing of being the best outside the top 4 and challenge for the title. But if Manchester United has anything to say about it, it would be yet again a clash of heads between two veteran managers. On song Rooney will surely demostrate the notion of what it means to carry the club on his back like the Titan Atlas. Only in the modern football world of Red side Manchester, his name is Wayne Rooney. I'm tipping Rooney to nick it for us.

So folks, do stay tuned for an exciting weekend of football and keep your fingers crossed for the team you support.

Oh Come on Ref!

To all Arsenal fans, damn UEFA for that ban on Eduardo for diving after reviewing his dive on camera. It will definitely set a precedent for future controversies. The power vested upon a referee as match official is to allow how to judge a game on his judgement during the moment and his decisions should be final. To have to resort to video evidence for every incident of clouded judgement would be riduculous! Imagine clubs digging up and showing evidences over every little thing and questioning the decision of the man in control. It creates a farce. The referee will lose respect, authority and power. I believe that the governing bodies should really reconsider such things liek allowing video evidence for trivial matters. Eduardo dived, got booked and thats it. He has picked up an offence and that yellow card might inconvenience him in the future. Such petty claims should be limited for the sake of the game else it get so complicated, it removes the passion and beauty of it.

On another note, a transfer ban seems real harsh for Chelsea and potentially Man United over their apparent poaching of young talents. The fact that they can do so stems from their accumulated wealth. Unethical yes, and i fully agree that it does a grave injustice to the nurturing club in terms of potential profits fromt he sale of the player. The game is slowly becoming seedy with the satellite industries bringing the game down into the gutters as they chase for profits wrought from the lives of others. Something needs to be done. Bring on dystopic Orwellian control and fan run companies instead of privately owned clubs, the latest fad amongst the mega wealthy.

I miss and long for the past where passion and loyalty to club ruled the game instead of the passion and hunger for the dollar/pound/euro etc etc.

Was the player's dream to play for the club? Or the money and cash rich status that he gets from playing for the club.