For the uninitiated, the Vital Football Network is one of the most respected football fan-sites on the Internet, which is managed by the fans themselves. It provides a platform for football fans all over the world to share their thoughts, discuss ideas and make their voices heard. I’ve been a member of this site for a long time and there were occasions when I had the urge to contribute something, but nothing materialized. In the wake of the painful defeat on Sunday, I finally made up my mind, wrote a piece and promptly dispatched it to the site editor. Over there, my moniker is ‘blueklaw’ and you can read the article here.
I must admit, the feeling of seeing my work published was amazing!
It’s been 10 days since my last post, so it’s about time I took notice and did the needful. Let me tell you, there’s a lot that I can moan about right now, but being the level-headed, calm and thoughtful person that I am (stop sniggering there at the back), I’ve decided to just write a simple post that would remind the world that this blog ain’t dead. Yet.
The year started on a good note but things have soured just a little bit in the past few days. I’ve been too busy sorting out my real life this year, so the blog hasn’t received attention at all. Not a happy new year for the blog so far, then. 😉
My career path has taken a whole lot of twists and turns before I’ve even stepped out of my house. But at least I’ve been able to narrow down my choices, willingly or otherwise. Life’s definitely not fair. But like uncle Billy G. said, ‘Get used to it’. 😦
Anyways, today is the big match between Manchester United and Chelsea, so at least that will keep my mind occupied. And so will the light-hearted (not always) banter that usually follows a game of such magnitude. I’ll expect a more mature discussion with rival fans than the one that took place last time, which turned into a full-blown name-calling session.
Like I said, I’ve got a lot of things to sort out and get back on track. So I guess this will have to do for now.
My apologies for being horribly late. Now that you’ve forgiven me, let’s get on with it already:
● Liverpool beat an average-looking Manchester United 2-1.
● Arsenal hammered Blackburn Rovers by 4 goals to nil.
● Fulham edged Bolton Wanderers 2-1 in a relegation six-pointer.
● The madhouse that is Newcastle United crashed to a 1-2 home defeat at the hands of Hull City.
● Portsmouth defeated Middlesbrough by 2 goals to 1.
● West Bromwich Albion narrowly beat West Ham United by a scoreline of 3-2.
● Wigan Athletic drew 1-1 with Sunderland. Titus Bramble on the scoresheet… for Sunderland. Yup, own goal.
● Everton beat Stoke City 3-2.
● Tottenham Hotspur remain rooted to the foot of the table with a 1-2 home loss against Aston Villa.
● Manchester City were brought back to earth with a 1-3 humbling by Chelsea.
A quick look at the table:
Team standings after Week 4 of the Barclays Premier League 2008-09
So, Chelsea reminded the noveau-rich Manchester City that ‘one swallow does not a summer make’ and that it takes a ‘team’ to actually do the business on the pitch. The win was however marred by a stupid red card to John Terry, which has now been rescinded.
That’s it, then. Champions League updates shall follow after all groups have completed their first round of matches.
Juliano Belletti celebrates his goal against Tottenham
Okay, so I haven’t been able to post anything in midweek, not even about Paul Scholes’ shocking but utterly hilarious handball incident in the UEFA Super Cup. Call it my lack of interest or my laziness, but I just coud not get myself to post anything meaningful here. All that is about to change though, because the 3rd week of the Barclays Premier League has just ended. This weekend, 18 teams were in action while Manchester United were busy embarassing themselves in Monaco and hence their fixture has been moved to a later date.
A short and sweet wrap-up is right here:
● A stylish Arsenal team swept aside Newcastle United 3-0. Robin Van Persie scored 2 goals before he hobbled off, injured again.
● West Ham United thumped Blackburn Rovers 4-1.
● Yet another own-goal scored by a Middlesbrough player almost cost them two points, but Tuncay Sanli saved their skins with a late goal, as Boro beat Stoke City 2-1.
● Hull City were hammered 0-5 by… Wigan Athletic!!! Wigan’s new Egyptian recruit Zaki scored a brace in that one.
● Everton crashed to a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Portsmouth.
● Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion played out a drab 0-0 draw.
● Aston Villa and Liverpool were also involved in a 0-0 borefest.
● The prodigal son returns… That’s what they’ll be thinking at Manchester City, as Shaun Wright-Philips returned from his misery at Chelsea and scored 2 goals to inflict a 3-0 defeat on Sunderland.
● Finally, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1, with both goals coming from defensive errors and mistakes.
A look at the table then:
Team standings after Week 3 of the Barclays Premier League 2008-09
So that’s about it, then. No change at the top, with Chelsea leading Liverpool on goal difference. Spurs get their first point of the season, so do West Brom. There’s an international break coming up for the World Cup qualifiers, so there’ll be some time before the next update.
Till then, I’ll be hoping to post something useful over here!
So another week, another round of matches done and dusted. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the title be decided after 2 rounds, but early form suggests that Liverpool’s luck might just be an added advantage to them. Despite being second-best for most of the game and going down by a goal, the Reds somehow managed to nick all 3 points in the end. The big four except Arsenal, all won their fixtures this week. Here’s how it all went:
• Fulham shocked Arsenal with a 1-0 victory over the Gunners. Arsenal look very lightweight in midfield and their defense isn’t in great shape either. Arsene knows?
• Everton beat West Bromwich Albion by 2 goals to 1. Despite being very, very good in the Championship and being tipped as the most likely candidates to survive in the Premiership, the first two weeks of the season haven’t exactly given a reassurance to WBA.
• Same old, same old. New faces, same disjointed performance. Tottenham Hotspur lost again. This time going down 1-2 to Sunderland. French stiker Djibril Cisse scored on his debut for Roy Keane’s men.
• Stoke City turned the tables on Aston Villa by beating them 3-2. Villa were coming on the back of a good win against Manchester City, but the newcomers swiftly brought them back to earth.
• Newcastle United beat Bolton 1-0. Michael Owen scored, so apparently he is not injured. Yet.
• As mentioned earlier in this post, Liverpool rode their luck to win 2-1 against a spirited Middlesbrough side that went ahead thanks to the new leaner, meaner Mido. An incredibly lucky deflection brought Liverpool level and Steven Gerrard scored in the dying seconds with a good half-volley to win it.
• Blackburn and Hull City drew 1-1.
• Manchester City bounced back from their on-field and off-the-field problems to hand out a 3-0 thrashing to West Ham United.
• Manchester United beat Portsmouth 1-0. Darren Fletcher on the scoresheet. That tells you a lot, doesn’t it?
• Finally, Chelsea beat a plucky Wigan side 1-0 thanks to a sublime freekick from Deco.
Here’s how things stand at the moment:
Team standings after Week 2 of the Barclays Premier League 2008-09
Here are the highlights of the Wigan vs Chelsea game. Don’t miss Deco’s freekick!!
Anoher week gone by. Chelsea on top. Can’t wait for the next round!
A Little Lunacy! 