mourinho

mourinhos got the class and the confidence to go with it.
he has already possibly got some team in mind or he is playing some mindgames with the inter management.
http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item371839/Mourinho:-I%27ll-be-back-one-day!/

intriguing matchup

this match will be a tight one,villa disappointed with the scoreline against arsenal,as i did not get to see the match,i cannot know about their playing.
this one is tough for benitez and will be an engrossing match with the way the managers approach it.
villa will possibly go for an attacking game.
liverpool seem to be in need of some south american flair or atleast some young striker to supplement torres.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8428990.stm

the other match between bolton and hull will also be a good one,18th and 19th in the league.
bolton are a vastly reduced side from the days of sam allardyce and hull have some good players.

the predictions from mark lawrenson.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8431877.stm

i think it will be either 3-3 or 0-0 for villa v liverpool.
bolton should make it 2-1.

football quotes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrischarles/2009/12/quotes_of_the_decade_part_i.html

this weekend has a few good matchups,fulham vs tottenham and arsenal vs villa.

i expect villa to beat arsenal and fulham v tottenham to be 3-3 with defoe,duff and dempsey scoring as all are there in my fantasy team with redknapp also as my manager.
mark lawrenson has predicted 2-2.the more the merrier.

sir alex fergusons comment about city replacing mark hughes sounded unnecessary and if hull hold them to a fighting draw,sir alex will be drawing flak.
mark hughes had done a great job but a sense of sureness was not there.it would have been better if he had managed to stem the goals allowed.
the italian efficiency is sure to do the job but at the cost of the flair and the presence of someone like mark hughes.
the mancinis and the ancellottis have a pedigree and a professionalism which will be liked by the owners as it will all be professional without the local angle.
all said and done,it seems only fair that sir alex made his comments about the way that hughes was replaced.
it will hopefully be a 2-0 win for united,as lawro has predicted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8428085.stm
it might be possible that united,chelsea and arsenal all lose this weekend.

the maracana

the record for the highest audience is held by the maracana with an unbelievable number of two lakhs for a match between uruguay and brazil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/8419747.stm

martin o neil

he has taken aston villa round the corner and into the home stretch.
it will be interesting to watch where the villains finish the season.
though i did not watch the match,it must have been a solid performance.ive always expected them to make a match of it against the big four but its only now that they are beginning to get going.the stagnation of the teams like villa,west ham and blackburn has been shaken off by the performances of villa and spurs this season.the premier league will get more interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8402301.stm

this is a tight match with no easy calls,but it seems loaded in favour of bolton for one fan on the bbc site.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8411694.stm

gianfranco zola

it has been a tough time for the west ham manager,with all defeats coming with a high number of goals conceded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/results/default.stm

west ham have the pedigree like aston villa and tottenham to be in the top ten.
while all the london clubs are doing well this season,west ham are having it bad.
zola seems to be the nice guy who s having trouble in getting tough and professional.
while playing for chelsea too,there was a bit of a underdog image.
i hope he begins to get it right and can get things going.
there are goals being scored but conceded also.it looks like there is a great chance for the team developing a very attractive game at the expense of conceding goals also.
as long as they keep in front,it will be good.
the more goals a team scores,the more that it will be better rather than scoring at all.
zola seems to be going somewhere and the defence will be focussed later.
the absence of dean ashton has also deprived them of a good striker.
carlton cole was eye catching the very few times that ive seen him earlier,a very long time back.
he is also gone from stumble to stumble.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Cole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqfj0VuCy8



west ham was my favourite club from the times of harry redknapp when there was a uniqueness about the club and manager,for a viewer watching in india,the personality of redknapp was one of the team man,the classic and timeless manager.

clash of civilisations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/8366962.stm

bill shankly

http://www.espnstar.com/football/from-the-desk/news/detail/item360358/Bill-Shankly-tribute:-50-years-on/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ll_Never_Walk_Alone_%28song%29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7xvegPH_Lw&feature=related

the great team of the late seventies and early eighties are now facing a hiccup in their renewed efforts to recapture the glory days.

200 million pounds

the big spenders have spent bigger than ever this year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8383572.stm

michael laudrup

he did not play in the 1992 euro which denmark won,his brother brian laudrup was in the team.
denmark was in the championship because yugoslavia was removed due to the war in the balkans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8342725.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Laudrup
another great in the danish team was man u legend peter schmeichel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_UEFA_European_Football_Championship#Squads

merseyside

this is the 212 th derby.
whoever wins,it has to be a very tight match.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8377203.stm

el clasico

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8357816.stm

ferguson v ancelotti

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8343319.stm
it has got to be evenly matched.

bolton are always a decent team and i think they will have a fighting chance against villa.
ive just selected gary megson as my fc manager,
both are top 10 teams but bolton have slipped to twelvth.
it might be a tough game or the wanderers but i think they can make a match out of it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8344421.stm

interesting mismatch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/8347139.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bendirs/2009/11/don_king_in_a_duffle.html

how can two guys fight,when one outweighs another by 50 kgs and is also almost one foot taller.

david vs goliath,

in this case,uk vs russia.

shevchenko

shevchenko is moving back to dynamo kiev.
in the nineties,the kiev team,with sergei rebrov and shevchenko were an exciting presence in the champions league.
the duo were an electrifying presence and were always attacking.
the bearded shevchenko of late,seems to have decided to return home.
can he become a rebrov now,allying with younger talent and reprising the old days.

121 million pounds

if that kind of money were available with us,we could have the best grounds and facilities.
someone making that kind of investment would realise that india has the potential to be a money spinner.

http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item312116/City:-%C2%A3121million-and-counting/

that is almost a 1000 crores.

bhutia and chhetri

india has beaten kyrghyztan in the Nehru Cup.
this is a major triumph as the opponent has a better pedigree.

http://sports.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/23/bhutia-shines-in-india-victory.htm

new season

i was one week late for football manager on espn,
scored a great opening through jermaine defoes hat trick against hull.
its time to try again with mark lawrensons predictions on bbc.co.uk.
the great news during the week was marcelo lippis prediction about juventus winning the italian league and mourinho getting angry about it.
this seasons epl looks open and like good excitement,especially with burnley beating manu.
michel salgado coming to blackburn is also an important news for the epl,as i see it.
ars v portsmouth-whos the coach?
birmingham v stoke-i had mcfadden on my sub bench-2-1.
hull v bolton,bolton seem to be the static team,as far as news and action are concerned,1-1.
mancity v wolves,city should begin to string together something,
sunderland vs blackburn,this one should be a good match,
fulham v chelsea should be the match of the week,
west ham v tottenham will be the good one to watch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8210335.stm

february

blackburn v aston villa-1-1
chelsea v hull-2-1
everton v bolton-1-0
sunderland v stoke-2-1
west brom v newcastle-1-2
wigan v fulham-3-2
portsmouth v liverpool-2-0
spurs v arsenal-1-3
westham v manu-1-2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7868093.stm

2009

2008s first weekend was a bad prediction and the year also turned out to be an unproductive one.
this weekends predictions might hold a clue to the rest of the year,
ive got to be the only one playing nfl manager without watching the matches.
villa vs west brom-4-1
arsenal vs bolton-2-0
everton vs hull-1-2
fulham vs blackburn-1-0
boro vs sunderland-1-2
newcastle vs west ham-1-2
portsmouth vs man city-1-2
stoke vs liverpool-1-2
wigan vs spurs-1-2
manu vs chelsea-0-1.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7814312.stm