Mark Hughes gets the sack for Mancini

Bookmakers had stopped taking bets on it. The press talked about his 'last day in charge'. After their 4-3 victory over Sunderland, it was confirmed that Mark Hughes was dismissed as Manchester City manager. The statement exaplained that 2 winds from 11 matches wasn't acceptable. Obviously you need a return on investment when you spend £207 million on players but The replacement I found a bit surprising - Roberto Mancini. Potentially a great coach - but is this really a step forward for Manchester City? Certainly there was a feeling that some of the new players didn't feel comfortable with the management set up. I agree with the timing of the appointment, if you have infinite funds for players then let the new boss get his players in so that he can be properly assessed. The existing squad he has is great but I'm sure that some of the big names won't be getting their way and will leave within the next couple of transfer windows.

Good luck Roberto!

Premier League Fixtures 12th December 2009

Premier League Fixtures 12/12/2009

Lunch time match : Stoke v Wigan, Britannia Stadium 12.45pm

3 o-clockers :
Birmingham v West Ham, St Andrews 3pm
Bolton v Man City, Reebok Stadium 3pm
Burnley v Fulham, Turfmoor 3pm
Chelsea v Everton, Stamford Bridge 3pm
Hull v Blackburn, KC Stadium
Sunderland v Portsmouth, Stadium of Light 3pm
Tottenham v Wolverhampton, White Hart Lane 3pm

Tea time k/off:

Man Utd v Aston Villa, Old Trafford 5.30pm

13th December 2009 Premier League fixtures

Liverpool v Arsenal, Anfield 4pm

With the race for 3rd and 4th positions truly on in the Barclays Premier League, fixture of the weekend has to be the Sunday 4pm match - Liverpool v Arsenal. Rafa's boys have failed to quality for the next stage of the Champions League, after their 1st team being weakened by injuries to Torres and Aquilani. Both players are expected to play. The Gunners are hoping to get Eduardo and Rosicky back after injury but it could be too soon for both. My guess would be a tight, low scoring match that ends in a draw.

So what about the other contenders? Spurs have wobbled a little bit since destroying Wigan Atheltic but you would expect them to get back to winning ways against Wolves at home. Villa have the toughest challenge any Premiership team could have - away at Old Trafford. Rich boys Manchester City are away at the Reebok - always a tough one but Mark Hughes seems to be turning a corner so I'd say they'd beat Bolton.

Enjoy . . .

FA Cup 8th Dec Leeds 5 - 1 Kettering (AET) - Leeds now play Manchester United

08/12/2009 Leeds 5 - 1 Kettering (AET) FA Cup Replay

Leeds United made a meal of it, in both games in full time they missed chances to finish off non-league Kettering but last night at Elland Road they managed to hit an extra 4 goals after drawing 1-1 in full time.

So now Leeds Utd get their dream 3rd round match up with arch rivals Manchester United on Sunday 3rds January 2010 at Old Trafford.

Can Leeds beat the red devils and could this galvanise this sleeping giant into creeping back into the big time?

5th December 2009: Premiership result Man City 2 Chelsea 1

05/12/09 Manchester City 2: 1 Chelsea

In today's match Mark Hughes effectively stuck 2 fingers up at his critics as he watched his team beat Chelsea 2:1 at Eastlands. The Welshman had come under fire in recent weeks as despite the millions spent over the summer, his team seemed only able to draw and not win games. However today's result visibly lifted the team and the fans, even though it reduced the lead Chelsea have over City's great rivals Manchester United. Shay Given was the match hero after saving a last minute Lampard penalty. Adebayor was villain and then hero after knocking in an own goal afetr 8 minutes but making amends just before halftime by putting the ball in the right net. Carlos Tevez got the winner after 56 minutes. And as well as the deserved victory, Mark Hughes could also celebrate that this time his opponent shook his hand after the match.

England World Cup 2010 group C - 'The group of life'?

World Cup Draw - 04/12/2009

World Cup Group C
Algeria
England
Slovenia
USA

After England's annihilation of Croatia, Belarus, Andorra, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine you would struggle to see how Cappello's squad could possibly fail in their attempts to progress past the first stage of the World Cup 2010. Paddy Power have moved our odds from 6/1 to 11/2 after the World Cup groupings were announced, making England the third favourite, with Spain as favourites and Brazil as second favourite.

As an avid England fan I admire Capello's cool, Italian swagger stating his views on the group as 'Not so bad'. He has to be delighted. We play the USA first which in my mind is a good thing because I think at major tournaments the Americans rise to the challenge.

Spain also have a positive group H with Chile, Switzerland and Honduras. Brazil arguably have the worst group G with the Ivory Coast and Portugal in it.

World Cup draw 2010

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia

Group E: Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark

Group F: Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland

Carling Cup Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0 2nd December 2009

Carling Cup result Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0 02/12/2009

Mark Hughes' Manchester City took Arsenal to school last night in the carling Cup quarter finals Eastlands and was dissapointed when Gunners boss Arsene Wenger wouldn't shake the ex Man Utd striker by the hand.

Adebayor didn't seem to want to get stuck in after humiliating himself against his former club earlier in the season in the Premier League when Man City beat Arsenal 4-2. In stark contrast, Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez was tenacious as ever and scored his 9th Carling Cup goal to open the scoring in the 50th minute. In my opinion, the Arsenal back line gave Tevez too much space to cut inside, skipping easily past 3 defenders to make the right angle and then he unleashed a powerful drive from inside the box past Fabianski finding the top corner of the net.

After Wenger subsistuted Craig Eastmond for Sanchez Watt in the 67th minute but 2 minutes later Sean Wright-Phillips doubled the lead, skipping past Mikael Silvestre and hitting a solid shot into the Arsenal net.

In the 89th Weiss finished the visitors off to take Manchester City into the Carling Cup semi-final, giving Mark Hughes a great opportunity to winning some silverware in his second season at Eastlands.

23rd November 2009: Liverpool 1: Debrecen 0

23/11/09 Champions League Liverpool 1: Debrecen 0

Despite doing just enough to win their tie against Debrecen, Liverpool are out of the champions league. According to Carragher this is not a catastrophe and the Uefa Europa League will be just as much fun. I doubt the owners and fans agree.

Liverpool had most of the possession and the chances of the miracle Rafa was waiting for did increase after Ngog beat a very shaky Debrecen defence early in the match. However Juan Vargas ended the Scousers' and Rafa's dreams after half an hour when he put Fiorentina into the lead against Lyon from the penalty spot. Lyon did get close in the dying minutes of the fixture but unfortunately for the Liverpool fans there was no cigar.

It could however have been worse for Liverpool as Debrecan's Gergely Rudolf almost equalised late in the match. Lucas also got quite a lot of criticism from the Liverpool fans. Tough times for Rafa and the players ahead.

23rd November 2009 Champions League Results: Arsenal 2: Standard Liege 0

23/11/09 Champions League Arsenal 2: 0 Standard Liege

Arsenal went into this clash knowing they only needed one point to qualify, although after the defeat at Sunderland at the weekend and with Chelsea to face to Sunday, a decisive result would be a useful confidence boost.

Despite the gooners being in total control of the first half, it was far from stress free for Arsene Wenger. There is little doubt that the lead was well deserved (a clever Nasri strike and a poor keeper response to an opportunistic Denilson attempt from 30 yards), however a clash of heads which left a shell shocked Gallas with a swollen eye and Arshavin with blood oozing from his head must have got the frenchman worrying about what team he'd be able to field against Chelsea on Sunday. With the league leaders 8 points ahead, Wenger will not want any of his first team joining Van Persie on the injury list. However both players managed to get back on to the pitch before the half time whistle.

Although the Gooners did not boss the second half quite as well as they bossed the first, it was a job well done. Fabregas also demonstrated that at 23 he is a player of maturity as well as talent by not reacting to a headbutt from a frustrated Carcela-Gonzales, which led to the Liege player being shown the red card in the late stages of the game.

Barclays Premier League Football Latest fixtures 25th November 2009

Premier League fixtures 25th November 2009

2 Premier League mid-week fixtures on Wednesday 25th November :

Fulham vs Blackburn Rovers, Craven Cottage 8pm
Hull City v Everton, KC Stadium 7.45pm

2 tight games I reckon. Fulham are a decent home team outfit but Big Sam has galvanised Blackburn Rovers into a tough, hard to beat side so they won't be daunted by a Wednesday evening trip to South London.

Similarly Hull City have shown signs that they will fight relegation, after their 3-3 draw with the Hammers this weekend. Phil Brown's men need to start winning their home games and Everton are a great side - a point would be a decent result for the Tigers I think.

Spurs 9 Wigan 1 Premier League result 22nd November 2009

Tottenham Hotspur 9 Wigan 1 Premier League result 22/11/09

Tottenham produced the second biggest Premier League margin today by hammering Wigan Athletic emphatically by 9 goals to 1 at White Hart Lane, chalking up Tottenham Hotspur's biggest victory in 32 years. Who did they beat then? Bristol Rovers – 9-0 in the second division.

England international Peter Crouch began the rout after 8 minutes with a close range header which was the only goal of the half.

Spurs front man Jermaine Defoe then had a crazy 7 minutes, making a breath-taking hat trick between 51 and 58 minutes. His first was fired in at close range on the edge of the Wigan 6 yard box. The second was a bit further out and struck to Chris Kirkland’s left, with the assist coming from ex Latics midfielder Wilson Palacios. At 3-1, Premier League strugglers Wigan managed to claw one back when Paul Scharner scored in the 57th minute. Defoe’s third goal came one minute after Wigan’s goal, effectively killing the game off. Not content with that, the Tottenham hero scored in the 69th minute and 87th minute totalling a 5 goal effort that he will never forget.

Sandwiched in between the Defoe goals was an Aaron Lennon goal in the 64th minute. Lennon showed the Spurs faithful and England boss Capello that he can deliver the final product to match his exhilarating pace, with 3 assists and his goal which was a folow up on a Peter Crouch header. If it hadn’t have been for Defoe’s striker master class, then Lennon’s right wing wizardry would have earned him man of the match.

Chris Kirkland added to a nightmare day at the office as he put the ball into his own net and then 4 minutes into injury time ex-Pompey midfielder Niko Kranjcar scored making the game 9-1.
Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United hold the Premier League winning margin record, when they thumped Ipswich 9-0 in 1995. Harry Redknapp will be absolutely over the moon with this result and has catapulted Spurs into a much stronger position in the 10 months that he has been managing the North London club.

Tottenham produced the second biggest Premier League margin today by hammering Wigan Athletic emphatically by 9 goals to 1 at White Hart Lane, chalking up Tottenham Hotspur's biggest victory in 32 years. Who did they beat then? Bristol Rovers – 9-0 in the second division.

England international Peter Crouch began the rout after 8 minutes with a close range header which was the only goal of the half.

Spurs front man Jermaine Defoe then had a crazy 7 minutes, making a breath-taking hat trick between 51 and 58 minutes. His first was fired in at close range on the edge of the Wigan 6 yard box. The second was a bit further out and struck to Chris Kirkland’s left, with the assist coming from ex Latics midfielder Wilson Palacios. At 3-1, Premier League strugglers Wigan managed to claw one back when Paul Scharner scored in the 57th minute. Defoe’s third goal came one minute after Wigan’s goal, effectively killing the game off. Not content with that, the Tottenham hero scored in the 69th minute and 87th minute totalling a 5 goal effort that he will never forget.

Sandwiched in between the Defoe goals was an Aaron Lennon goal in the 64th minute. Lennon showed the Spurs faithful and England boss Capello that he can deliver the final product to match his exhilarating pace, with 3 assists and his goal which was a folow up on a Peter Crouch header. If it hadn’t have been for Defoe’s striker master class, then Lennon’s right wing wizardry would have earned him man of the match.

Chris Kirkland added to a nightmare day at the office as he put the ball into his own net and then 4 minutes into injury time ex-Pompey midfielder Niko Kranjcar scored making the game 9-1.
Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United hold the Premier League winning margin record, when they thumped Ipswich 9-0 in 1995. Harry Redknapp will be absolutely over the moon with this result and has catapulted Spurs into a much stronger position in the 10 months that he has been managing the North London club.