Thanks for coming back to check us out.RSS feed. Stay connected!

Champions League Predictions: Tuesday/Wednesday March 15th/16th 2011

Match 1: Manchester United – Marseille: (agg: 0-0): (Last 16 Second Leg: Tuesday 15th March: 7.45pm):

United are still fighting on all fronts for the treble after beating Arsenal 2-0 on Saturday in the FA Cup quarter finals at Old Trafford. Can they do the treble like they did in 1999? I think they will do the double but fall in the Champions League. However, they should beat Marseille in this game to progress to the Quarter finals of the Champions League. Unless someone cane knock out Barcelona I can’t see them winning this competition.

The first leg was a boring 0-0 draw but a useful result for United. Marseille won 2-0 at Rennes on Friday night which leaves them after the weekend results 4th in the table, four points behind Lillie in top place. The win at Rennes was a great result as they are second in the table. It will be interesting to see if Marseille retain their title in what is a very close title race in France.

United have lost their last two league games away at Chelsea & Liverpool. The latest defeat was at Liverpool last Sunday when they went down 3-1. This now means that Arsenal are three points behind them but with a game in hand.

Personally I think United will win the Premiership title as Arsenal seem to have shot their bolt so to speak with defeats to Barcelona, Birmingham & United in the last two weeks which seems to have completely deflated them. We will see.

So, United to win this game reasonably easily & let’s hope for their sake they avoid Barcelona in the quarter finals.

Result Prediction: Manchester United to win
Score Prediction: Manchester United 2 Marseille 0

Match 2: Chelsea – FC Copenhagen (agg 2-0): (Last 16 Second leg: Wednesday 16th March: 7.45pm):

Chelsea won the first leg of this tie 2-0 & so should start favourites of course. Chelsea won their last league game when they beat Manchester United 2-1 at home with a very suspect second half penalty. However, it has opened up the title race but I fear that Arsenal will be unable to take advantage.

Chelsea are out of all competitions bar the Champions League & so they will obviously be putting all their resources into winning this years title of champions of Europe. Alas, I feel they are simply not good enough & will fail. They should still manage to beat Danish side FC Copenhagen however and reach the quarter finals at least.

Copenhagen won 1-0 away at the weekend which leaves them a massive 19 points clear at the top of the table. In fact they have only lost one game all season & have a massive goal difference of plus 34 & this after only 21 games played due to the winter break. Hmm, a very close Danish league then..

Apart from the Champions League Chelsea have a battle to finish 4th in the final Table to enable them to play Champions League football again next season. At present they are 4th, three points above Spurs who are 5th. The game between the two sides at Stamford Bridge could prove vital in deciding who finishes 4th.

A Chelsea win then & the only question is by how many goals Chelsea will win the game by?

Result Prediction: Chelsea to win
Score Prediction: Chelsea 3 FC Copenhagen 0

Manchester City Football Team

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is a fella on with a vision. His aim is to take apart the stranglehold at the top of the Premiership. In 1 season, he hopes to get his team Champions League football at the expense of one of the Big Four. Financed by Shiekh Mansoor’s many millions, he is on a summer spree purchasing competitors in a bid to accomplish his challenge.

And to elevate his hopes, there has been a precedent. In the 2004-05 season, Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho colloborated to spark off the Blue revolution at Chelsea leading the soccer club to consecutive Premiership titles, not to mention FA Cup and League Cup medals.

Hughes looks to have got into contact with the sector with a well thought-out plan. Wooing players with a drastically higher pay-packet than what they collect, he has made some crucial signups. Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure and Roque Santa Cruz have all signed up at the Eastlands. Not to ignore Hughes has also bought the services of Robinho, Shay Given and Vincent Kompany among others, over the last season.

The critical thing about the main signings this season is that many of Manchester City Football Club
Manchester City manager Hughes is a dude on a mission. His intention is to break up the stranglehold at the top of the Premiership. In one season, he hopes to get his soccer team Champions League football at the cost of one of the Big Four. Funded by Shiekh Mansoor’s many millions, he is on a summer spree buying competitors in a bid to accomplish his challenge.

And to elevate his desires, there has been a precedent. In the 2004-05 season, Abramovich and Mourinho teamed up to spark off the Blue revolution at Chelsea leading the soccer club to consecutive Premiership titles, not to mention FA Cup and League Cup medals.

Hughes would seem to have got into contact with the sector with a well thought-out plan. Wooing football players with a noticeably higher pay-packet than what they collect, he has made some vital signups. Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure and Roque Santa Cruz have all signed up at the Eastlands. Not to overlook Hughes has also obtained the services of Robinho, Shay Given and Vincent Kompany among others, over the preceding season.

The important thing about the major signings this season is that most of them are comfortable with  Uk soccer and have demonstrated signs of flourishing in the physicality of the British sport.
One of the key short comings last season was the dearth of professionalism in the squad. The team lacked focus as much as desire. They didn’t have a effective on-field leader with Richard Dunne the only suitable competitor for the captaincy job. Now Barry can take over that burden.

Moreover, with simply no European football to be enjoyed and with the FA Cup beginning in January and the League Cup a far off, City can completely focus  on the Premiership for the 1st half of the season.

But there is very big distinction between this squad and Mourinho’s side of 2005. Athletes like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele who were important to the Londoners’ success were not new signings. Mourinho merely added players like Peter Cech to improve an already competitive team. City, on the other hand, have added soccer players who will play in the first team. It is still to be seen how they link up with each other.

And to fight for the top position, experience plays a key part. Very few of the newcomers at City have performed in a winning squad. Tevez’s expertise from his two year stint at Man.United will be invaluable and Toure is part of the Arsenal’s Invincibles. Even Robinho competed for a La Liga winning Madrid squad.

But baring these several, the other individuals don’t have much history of silverware. For all his expertise, the best Barry has managed is an FA Cup runner up medal with Aston Villa way back in 2000. Santa Cruz was part of the Bayern Munich team that won the Champions League and Intercontinental Cup in 2001 but he did not feature at all in either competition. When they won back to back Bundesliga titles in 2005 and 2006, he played just 17 games in the two seasons scoring only 4 times. He is coming in after missing out most of last season through injury. Adebayor also was unable to copy his form in the 2007-08 season.

City’s squad does not have the depth essential to put up a fight for an entire premiership campaign. They have some good alternatives but an injury to key players like Barry and Given might not be easy to replace. They may have the most terrifying attack in the Uk top flight but they have an inferior midfield and their defence is questionable too.

Looking at the two mangers, even Hughes’ experience don’t match upto Mourinho’s. Mourinho came at Chelsea having won the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and two straight Portuguese titles with Porto. Hughes on the other hand has only managed mid-table clubs like Wales and Blackburn Rovers.

And to get into the top four, City will have to topple one of the Big Four teams. Manchester United, inspite of losing two crucial players in Cristiano Ronaldo and Tevez, are still favourites for the title.

Liverpool, beaten to Barry’s signature by City, also have a good chance at the premiership. They performed well to finish second in the league last season despite continuing injury to Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. If these two keep in shape for the majority of the season, Liverpool can end their 19 year title-drought.

Chelseas Football Club, after successfully convincing club captain John Terry to reject City’s mammoth offer, have made beneficial new players without losing out on any important names. They are also a force to reckon with

Arsenal seem the most susceptible of the lot. But this is not a knockout competition. It is a league stretched over 10 grueling months. They may not be title favourites but they definitely have the depth and the experience to overcome City to a Champions League position. Arsenal has never finished outside the top four in 12 years under Arsene Wenger and it seems likely even with their weakened squad.
With no recent history of silverware and having no European football to offer, City had to pay higher than other clubs to convince their key target team players. All they have are the hefty salaries and the hope of Champions League football next season. Midway through this promotion, if they are still in a position to realize that aspiration, they have the money to put more players in the January transfer. But if they fail to finish in the top 4 when the season finishes, even the dollars might not be enough to tempt players next summer.
So it is very crucial for the team’s future that Hughes gets them into the top four. Whether they are gunning for the title or a Champions League position, they have one season to achieve it. But thinking about the odds, a repeat of the Blue revolution, however intriguing looks unlikely.

For all England Premier League Live Score S and Livescores visit www.myscoreslive.com for more.

The Liverpool football club season in 2009/10 was not quite the calamity that some think, but for a club with the fantastic history of Liverpool, finishing out the top 4 of the Premier League and therefore missing out on Champions League football next season is very disappointing. Throughout the season we played well on occasion but we were horribly inconsistent. The league results record is Won: 18. Lost: 11. Drew: 9. Win percentage: 47%.. On the basis of those results, Rafa Benitez’s time at Liverpool is rightly finished. The form at Anfield was fairly good (winning 13 out of 19 games), however it was the away form that really mad the season a poor one only five games won away from home. The season started badly at White Hart Lane, as we lost 2-1. Spurs deserved the victory but we were annoyed as it seemed a clear penalty was turned down late on when Vorovin was brought down in the box. A gift for Spurs fans. The rest of August was a fairly mixed one. An easy victory at home to Stoke saw an excellent debut from youngster Daniel Ayala at centre half. This win was then followed by a home loss to Aston Villa. A hard fought away win at Bolton saw Liverpool come from 2-1 behind to take the game thanks to a Stevie Gerrard volley. The month of September offered three easy games against Burnley, West Ham and Hull and Liverpool managed to win all three. But October was much harder, with two away loses at the hands of Chelsea and Sunderland. The second of these loses saw one of the freakiest goals ever. Darren Bent’s first shot deflected of an inflatable beach ball that had been thrown onto the pitch by a Liverpool fan. Those loses accompanied by two in the Champions League did not Liverpool confidence going into the Manchester United match. Fortunately for us we bounced back in style with one of our best league performances of the season. Liverpool battled hard and won 2-0. This was supposedly the result that would finally kick start our season, but the next week we were beaten 3-1 away at Fulham. November was another mixed month which started with an extremely frustrating draw on a Monday night against Birmingham City. Glen Johnson proved once again how useful he can be offensively by being a thorn in the Birmingham defence’s side all night, but it wasn’t enough. Then there was a frustrating draw to Manchester City at home. Then came one of the few highlights this season. The Merseyside Derby at Goodison park which we won 2-0 thanks to a deflected Mascherano shot and a goal from Dirk Kuyt. A mixed start to December saw us draw again at the hands of Blackburn which was followed by a poor defeat against Arsenal at Anfield. We played OK in the first half but the second got off to a bad start with a Glen Johnson own goal followed by an excellent Arshavin goal. Livepool looked totally void of ideas in a very disappointing second half performance. Over Christmas we were comprehensively beaten by bottom of the league Portsmouth in probably our worst performance of the season. But, the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 were a positive one, bringing about our best unbeaten league run of the season of seven games. The performances were showed a lot of character as we battled hard. 2010 started with a battling performance away at Stoke City after our calamitous FA Cup exploits. A lapse of concentration at the back let in Robert Huth to score a last minute equaliser. We then won the size pointer against Spurs, our fellow top four competitor. A 2-0 win over Bolton at Anfield ended the month of January before the return Merseyside Derby. This game at Anfield was full of hard tackling, however our in-form Greek centre half was sent off for a two footed tackle, though he did win the ball. Our derby specialist Dirk Kuyt did it again by getting his head on the end of a Steven Gerrard corner to set up a well deserved win in what was an excellent battling performance. After losing 1-0 at the Emirates we headed to Manchester City for another crunch game against a fellow top four rival. It wasn’t much of a spectacle but more of a tactical battle with both Managers’s unsurprisingly scared to lose and a draw duly followed. A comfortable 4-1 victory over a poor Portsmouth side came before a trip to the mighty Manchester United. With United still in the hunt for a fourth consecutive title and our ambitions for a top four finish still intact (just), all was to play for. A great start from us saw Torres left the Liverpool fans jubilant for about ten minutes when . United were awarded a controversial penalty which Wayne Rooney converted on the recoil after a fine initial stop from Reina. We never really got going in the second half and after Park Ji-Sung put Manchester in front on the hour we never looked like getting back into the game. With seven games to go we knew we couldn’t afford many more slip ups if we were to finish inside the top four. A 3-0 win over Sunderland inspired by a wonder strike from Torres and an excellent display from Steven Gerrard was unfortunately followed by an poor 1-1 draw against a very resilient Birmingham City team. Our next game was a potential Europa League final preview against Roy Hodgson’s Fulham side. This result for me finally killed our chances of a top four finish. Fulham played for the point and that is exactly what they got due to some good defending, good goalkeeping and a lack of creativity in the final third from a disappointing Liverpool side. Three Liverpool goals against a poor West Ham side was followed by a flattering away win at Turf Moore that relegated a spirited Burnley side. Our hopes of finishing in the top four were over when we lost to future champions Chelsea at our final league game of the season at Anfield. The award for goal of the season definitely went to Fernando Torres’s stunner against Sunderland at Anfield. Special mentions go to Ryan Babel for his strike against Lyon and Javier Mascherano’s against Unirea. The player of the season for me is Fernando Torres, for his goal scoring record. It feels to me like he has barely played this season yet he’s still scored 21 goals. Javier Mascherano also did well this year, here’s hoping he’s still wearing a red shirt next season. Reina has been without a doubt our most consistent player. A world class player who has kept us in games this season with some fantastic saves. A mark of a great goalkeeper is that you make the hard stuff look easy and Pepe Reina certainly does that. A great goalkeeper and a fantastic character. With Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres struggling for form and fitness, Reina has emerged as Liverpool’s leader on and off the pitch. On the pitch we’ve been too predicable and timid at times. Injuries have been a big problem, however the players that we still had useable should be able to perform a lot better. Liverpool’s woes this campaign were summed up in the season’s most farcical moment, losing to a bright red inflatable – and Sunderland, sort of – at the Stadium of Light. Next season lets hope that Benitez’s successor can do better.