France will head to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with the memory of Thierry Henrys blatant handball still burned in most football fans memories.
His handling of the ball before playing it to William Gallas to head in at the end of 1st half of extra time sealed the victory for France in a game where Robbie Keane’s first half, normal time strike put the Irish back on level terms over the two legs.
This moment bought a massive cloud over what was quite an enjoyable game, and also bought shame to the one of the worlds best and most respected players. He admitted to handling the ball after the game but that has done nothing to calm the Irish nor has it done anything to change the result.
The Irish FA have called for a replay, whilst the French FA have called for some perspective on the matter, with the French Football President saying “You have to take a philosophical approach to this match. Football is played on small details, however, qualification is still beautiful”
The incident has inevitably bought up the issue of TV replays, an idea which will probably be continually dismissed out of hand by FIFA.
A FIFA source has stated that a replay will not happen, as it opens the floodgates for masses of other calls for replays, however, there is no doubt that situations like this need to be addressed in the future,

Tags: france, ireland, robbie keane, south africa 2010, thierry henry, william gallas, world cup

After the latest round of fixtures in the Barclays Premier League this weekend, Liverpool and Hull managers Rafa Benitez and Phil Brown look to be on the brink of losing their jobs after yet more losses. Liverpool had Jamie Carragher and Philipp Degen sent off after Fernando Torres’ superb first half strike, but he was substituted to the bemusement of Torres himself and the fans. The game ended 3-1 and with many questioning Rafa Benitez’s tactics again.
Up in Burnley, Phil Browns Hull were on the wrong end of some questionable refereeing decisions as they lost to Burnley. This was the same referee involved in awarding Sunderland the goal via the beach ball against the hapless Liverpool 2 weeks ago.
Other notable results included a fairly comfortable 3-0 win for Arsenal against Tottenham at the Emirates, thanks to a brace from Robin van Persie and a brilliant solo goal from Cesc Fabregas. Birmingham also managed a notable 0-0 against Manchester City and Portsmouth scored 4 against Wigan.

The Champions League returns this week, with all the fixtures the reverse of the previous round. So therefore, AC Milan v. Real Madrid is again the stand-out fixture, with the Liverpool game against Lyon also high on the watch list with Liverpool really needing the win on Wednesday.

Tags: ac milan, arsenal, barclays premier league, beach ball, champions league, fabregas, fernando torres, liverpool, lyon, man utd, phil brown, premiership, real madrid, robin van persie, sacked, UEFA

The furore surrounding Alex Ferguson’s rant towards Alan Wiley still lingers around with the Scot this week accepting the FA charge of improper conduct, whilst at the same time requesting a personal hearing.
Interestingly enough though, since the loss at Liverpool on Sunday, and Gary Neville’s red card last night in the 2-0 win at Barnsley, Ferguson has backed the referees in both instances, including Nemanja Vidic’s second yellow at Anfield. Ferguson now knows that his every word will be scrutinised by the media until the FA charges him. The experienced tactician will look to keep his head down, especially with the Chelsea game coming up on the 8th of November.

His team was in action last night in a 2-0 win at Barnsley in the carling cup, with Michael Owen amongst the goals. Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Blackburn and Tottenham also all progressed last night and they will await to see who emerges from tonights matches, with the highlight obviously being Arsenal vs. Liverpool at the Emirates stadium. Samir Nasri will make his return from a broken leg, but Jack Wilshere will miss out with an ankle knock. Liverpool could give a debut to big money signing Alberto Aquilani, and David Ngog could be given a chance to add to his tally after his late goal against Man Utd on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Chelsea take on Bolton and will try to avoid the threat of swine flu, with boss Gary Megson having admitted that a few off his players have shaken off the virus, days after it emerged Chelsea’s last opponents Blackburn, have had Christopher Samba and David Dunn struck down with the illness.

Tags: alan wiley, alberto aquilani, arsenal, carling cup, chelsea, gary neville, liverpool, man utd, michael owen, nemanja vidic, premier league, samir nasri, sir alex ferguson, swine flu, the fa, tottenham

The undoubted talking point of this weekend was the beach ball incident at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland beat Liverpool 1-0. The incident in the first half, in which Darren Bent’s shot took a deflection off a stray beach ball to go past a confused Pepe Reina, has dominated this weekends Premier League debate. Liverpool’s fourth loss of the season, in a game in which they were missing Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, seems to have severely dented their title hopes, even in a season which seems that it could be very open. Chelsea lost 2-1 at Aston Villa, and Manchester Utd crept to a 2-1 victory over Bolton.

Elsewhere, Andrey Arshavin was on the score-sheet for Arsenal in a comfortable 3-1 win against Birmingham and their new owner Carson Yeung. The match was slightly marred by an injury to Theo Walcott after Liam Ridgwell’s full-blooded challenge, in which he got the ball, and a fair chunk of the man. Man City had their challenge slightly dented with a 1-1 draw at Wigan, not helped by Alan Wiley sending off Pablo Zabaleta. At the other end of the table, Phil Browns misery continued after a 2-0 loss to Fulham and and Porsmouth and West Ham both suffered 2-1 defeats against Spurs and Stoke respectively.

The Champions League returns this week and the undoubted tie of the week is Real Madrid and AC Milan, two giants of world football coming together for what should be a great tie.
Cristiano Ronaldo is set to miss to match after aggravating an injury whilst on international duty with Portugal, but Kaka should be fit to face his former team-mates in Madrid.

Tags: ac milan, alan wiley, arsenal, aston villa, beach ball, champions league, chelsea, darren bent, kaka, liverpool, man utd, premier, premier league, premiership, rafa benitez, real madrid, ronaldo, sir alex ferguson, theo walcott

Sir Alex Ferguson has risked another punishment from the F.A. after his claim referee Alan Wiley is not fit enough to officiate Premiership football. Ferguson claimed that Wiley could not keep up with the play and missed vital moments which could have contributed to a Man Utd win against Sunderland.
United only managed to get a 2-2 draw after an own goal from Anton Ferdinand in the dying minutes of the game, after going behind twice during the game. But Ferguson was once again giving the fourth official an earful about the amount of time added on when Utd were, inevitably, on top and pressing for the equaliser and the winner.
Since this, many former and current referees have come out in support of Wiley, saying he is one the fittest around, and he ran a bigger distance all but seven players on the pitch on Saturday evening.
Many are hoping the FA and the Premier League will now throw the book at Ferguson where he may have a UEFA Champions League style ban where he will not be allowed in the ground, or even on the team bus on a match day.
The FA have yet to charge Utd manager Ferguson with anything but on this occasion it is expected that he will not escape further censure.
With games against Liverpool and Chelsea coming up in the next month, Ferguson will surely not want to miss these games and may well have to make a very public apology to avoid the strongest punishment.

Tags: alan wiley, alex ferguson, champions league, chelsea, ferdinand, liverpool, man utd, manchester united, old trafford, premier league, premiership

This week sees the second round of games in the UEFA Champions League group stages. The stand out ties include Bayern Munich vs. Juventus and Real Madrid vs. Marseille.
Last night there were wins for Arsenal, Lyon, Fiorentina with a good win over Liverpool, Barcelona and Sevilla.
Probably the most surprising result came from Florence where a really organised and sharp looking Fiorentina humbled Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and co.
Barcelona still look hot favourites after their 2-0 win with another Lionel Messi goal at the Nou Camp with youngster Pedro doubling the lead with a cool finish into the bottom corner.
Arsenal, maybe some peoples dark horses for the tournament, had to wait until the last 11 minutes to open the scoring through Robin van Persie, and Andrey Arshavin doubled the lead through a neat back-heel, even if he was offside.
Elsewhere, Jose Mourinhos Inter Milan side were held 1-1 in Russia against Rubin Kazan and French side Lyon won 4-0 against Debrecen.
After Wednesdays fixtures there are no Champions League games until the week beginning the 19th of October.
In between then, were sure there’ll be a lot more to talk about!

Tags: arsenal, arshavin, bayern munich, champio, champions league, chelsea, europe, giggs, goal, juventus, kaka, man utd, real madrid, ronaldo, rooney

This weekend sees a full programme in the Premiership with some of the highlights being the London derby of Fulham vs. Arsenal, Stoke vs. Man Utd and Monday nights fixture of Man City vs. West Ham.
The controversy from last weekends Manchester derby still lingers on, and El Hadji Diouf may still be causing more controversy than ever, but the race for the title will pick up again as the teams continue to chase the pace setters of Chelsea with their 100% record so far this season.
Their impressive dismantling of Tottenham last week will have only served as a further reminder to the way Carlo Ancelotti has got his team Chelsea team, now with Joe Cole back, firing on all cylinders, not spectacularly, but very, very efficiently. They play at Wigan today with whom Roberto Martinez is struggling somewhat to get his team into the flowing brand of football that he wanted to take from his time at Swansea.

Wayne Rooney has stated that he wants his Man Utd team to score in every game this season as he feels this will help his team to get more points, and win more trophies. They were drawn in the Carling cup today away to Barnsley, and they could well use this fixture to get some more goals from the likes of Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia.
The other stand out tie from this round was Arsenal vs. Liverpool in the fourth round, which will probably see Arsene Wenger use a few less youngsters, and go in a similar fashion to Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool team, who had Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel on the bench against Leeds United this week.

This weekend could prove a bit more about the big four against the so called ‘lesser teams’ and how the season could fold out….

Tags: arsenal, chelsea, derby, diouf, fernando torres, joe cole, liverpool, man city, man utd, michael owen, premier league, premiership, steven gerrard, tottenham, wayne rooney

Can Man Utd knock Tottenham off the top spot?

The big game this weekend is at White Hart Lane where joint top Spurs take on  premier league champions Man Utd.

Spurs flying start to the season and the great start by Jermain Defoe has seen them leap to the top of the table, the complete other end from where they were a year ago. Man Utd could have Rio Ferdinand back from injury for the early evening kick off.

Utd have had somewhat an in-auspicious start to the season, with the somewhat fortunate 2-1 victory against Arsenal, who largely outplayed them, and are looking to start getting some momentum with Wayne Rooney in fine-form and looking to lead his team forward.

Spurs, who have lost the tricky winger Luka Modric to a broken leg will be looking to build on their good start to the season. The loss of Modric will undoubtedly be a blow but Harry Redknapp has an undoubted ability to get the best out of certain players, and he did just that with Modric’s replacement last week, Peter Crouch

This weeks England international at Wembley was full of United and Spurs players including Aaron Lennon, Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe, and they will all still be excited at the result of qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa next year.

Both teams will be looking to carry on their individual highs this weekend as the 09/10 Premier League season begins to take shape.

Tags: aaron lennon, england, fabio cappello, man utd, manchester united, premier league, premiership, south africa 2010, spurs, tottenham, wayne rooney, wembley, white hart lane, world cup

Old Trafford once again kicked up a storm this evening as Man Utd beat Arsenal 2-1 thanks to two calamitous mistakes from Manuel Almunia and Abou Diaby. On the same night Ronaldo made his debut for Real Madrid, Man Utd moved to 3rd in the Premiership thanks to Wayne Rooney’s penalty and an Abou Diaby own goal. Whilst by no means was this United’s best performance, they will be happy and feel somewhat fortunate to come out with all three points.
With Chelsea winning 3-0 earlier in the day thanks to goals from Nicolas Anelka, Michael Ballack and England left back Ashley Cole, both teams were eager for the win.

Arsenal certainly started the brighter in the first half, the smooth passing from the midfield trio of Diaby, Denilson and the ever more impressive Alex Song had Utd on the backfoot; only the in form Wayne Rooney and trickery of winger Nani caused the away team much problem. Darren Fletcher lashed a shot over the bar early on and United’s Ben Foster, still covering for the injured Edwin van der Sar, looked unconvincing a few times coming for crosses.

And it was Ben Foster who was also at fault for the first goal. Arsenal striker/midfielder Andrey Arshavin picked the ball up unmarked twenty-five yards from goal and rifled a shot into the top corner. Despite its power, Foster got a hand to it and should have done better; the lack of closing down by United’s defence was also somewhat of a surprise.

United came back strongly and immediately tested the Arsenal defence. However, at the end of the first half, Arsenal were still 1-0 up and looked good for it too.

The second half saw Arsenal again start brightly; Robin van Persie should have finished after a low cross from Arshavin, only to see his effort well saved by Foster, looking to claim a place in the England side at Wembley this week.

But after that, United took control. Almunia looked unconvincing coming for a cross and Arsenals passing had become slack, to say the least. Then in the 59th minute, Ryan Giggs played a magnificent pass down the side of William Gallas which Wayne Rooney raced onto and knocked pass Almunia who bought him tumbling down. No doubt about this penalty, and it was one Rooney comfortably dispatched.

After this, Arsenal picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and a free kick from van Persie hit Fosters crossbar. And it was from this that the Old Trafford side went on to score the winner. United went down the other end and Darren Fletcher was fouled by Denilson on the right hand side. Ryan Giggs’ perfect whipped free kick went in rather softly off Diabys head when Almunia really should have come and collected.

The closest Arsenal to equalising also bought the biggest talking point; Arsene Wengers dismissal in the 96th minute. A cross from Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey was headed down by William Gallas into van Persies’ path, which he duly dispatched. Gallas however was offside and the resulting flag led to Wenger kicking out at a water bottle in frustration. This was deemed enough by the fourth official to be considered a serious enough case of dissent for Wenger to be asked to leave the dugout.
Without being to find a way into the stands from his position, Wenger first went back to his position in the dugout, and then to front of the stand. When he was finally directed to the tunnel, the final whistle was but seconds away and Wenger was facing questions about him and his team again from the media.

The overall balance of the match it could be argued swayed just in favour of the away team, but the class told in the Man Utd team to take advantage of these mistakes and put Arsenal under pressure at the right moments.

Given Chelseas impressive dismantling of Burnley at Stamford Bridge this weekend, the season looks to be shaping up nicely and the international break and the end of the transfer window coming up, there will undoubtedly be lots to talk about in the coming weeks.

Tags: 2 1, 3 0, abou diaby, andrey arshavin, arsenal, arsene wenger, bottle, chelsea, cristiano ronaldo, darren fletcher, didier drogba, england, internationals, man utd, manchester united, michael ballack, nicolas anelka, old trafford, penalty, premier league, premiership, real madrid, robin van persie, sent off, wayne rooney

Did Eduardo REALLY dive?

UEFA today charged Arsenal striker Eduardo with ‘’deceiving the referee’’

UEFA today charged Arsenal striker Eduardo with ‘’deceiving the referee’’in this weeks Champions League Qualifier clash with Celtic at the Emirates Stadium.The Brazilian born Croatia striker allegedly dived in the first half to earn a penalty against Celtic to put them 1-0 up on the night, and 3-0 up in the tie.The question has to be asked though, did he really dive to try and get a penalty? I think it’s 50:50, yes he went down quicker than the stock markets after a bad Christmas on Oxford Street, but he certainly did not jump up chasing the referee demanding a penalty. The controversy comes in the fact that it was the first goal of the game, a crucial game worth £26million pounds. Was it a game-changing goal? No; Arsenal were 2-0 up on aggregate from the first leg. But it may have been an important factor in that 90 minutes at the Emirates.

So when is a dive a dive? Or, an attempt to ‘deceive the referee’?

According to Law 12 of the FIFA handbook;

‘’Any simulating action anywhere on the field, which is intended to deceive the referee, must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour.’’

Now, according to this, Eduardo deserved a yellow card, if he attempted to get a penalty. The fact however he did not call or wave his arms leads it into somewhat of a grey area. He simply slid into the advertising hoardings; he did not throw his arms around like a certain Cristiano Ronaldo (now of Real Madrid, in case you hadn’t heard) or roll around in agony like a certain Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba. Therefore, with this in mind was it just his momentum that led to the tumble, probably not.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accused Uefa of a ‘’witch-hunt’’ against Eduardo; “I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable,” said Wenger. “It singles out a player to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. We will not accept the way Uefa has treated this.”

The issues of TV replays and more referees will once again rear its ugly head and will be one that European footballs supremo Michel Platini will give little serious attention to and probably end up fining all the English clubs for trying to play in Europe.

The Europe league will be employing FIVE referees in its games this season; games worth millions of pounds are now a massive experiment to the heads of European football. Those at Sky Sports can bring up a replay in seconds from which everybody watching can see the results. Surely this is the real answer?

With this weekend’s game against Manchester United at Old Trafford, all eyes will be on Eduardo at kick off; Man Utd have not started that strongly, which is almost traditional for Sir Alex and co. A narrow 1-0 against Birmingham thanks to a Wayne Rooney header was followed by the 1-0 loss to Burnley from Robbie Blake’s stunning volley. Only the 5-0 win against Wigan last Saturday really showed any sort of performance from Rooney, Owen and even the sometimes lacklustre Berbatov.

The absence of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will be a major blow but the fluidity of Arsenals attacking play at the moment is enough to trouble any team in the Premier League. The talented Aaron Ramsey and the solid Alex Song and Thomas Vermaelan may just have enough this weekend to stop experienced Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen, eager to get back to his best, this weekend.

Following that will be the international break where England will take on Slovenia at Wembley on the 5^th of September and Eduardo’s Croatia on the 9^th, also at Wembley Stadium.

First game after that; Arsenal take on Robinho, Tevez, Adebayor and co at Manchester City.

Tags: arsenal, barclays premiership, champions league, dive, Eduardo, UEFA