Archive for April 2010

Tonight’s the night for our big heave-ho. If we can get a goal away in Madrid we’ll be a shoe in for our fans to sing us through to some silverwear and a Champions League spot next year.

So far Rafa’s only mentioned the desire to score first, after having taken an unusually long trip to Spain following all of this volcano nonsense. There’s all the usual pre-match speculation, but as yet no line-up has been announced. Will we see N’Gog popping his little swede up again? Come on son. Give us something to sing about.

Villa won against a struggling Hull side, so we’re still looking at a battle of wills for that 4th place. Don’t give up hope, one and all. Elswhere in the prem Portsmouth’s administrator has claimed that they’re in debt of about £120 million. Not a great sum to be looking at from so low down the ladder.

Saying that, it makes me think about how our corporate bank might be looking. The rejig of executives and owners keeps on rolling which means we could be in for a bumpy summer at Anfield. There’s a muttering on the wind that Rafa might be looking for an investment in Steven Pienaar (currently at Everton).

Meanwhile Inter handed the first leg of the semi’s to Barcelona with a 3 – 1 victory (no question that they were in the driving seat from start to finish) and Bayern manage to pull a fortunate 1 – 0 with Arjen Robben continuing his run of form with a well placed shot/lucky cross from outside the box against Lyon.

Athletico updates later.

Last night Manchester Utd saw off Manchester City with a classic Liverpool move circa 2007 – 2009. Nil nil throughout the game, until during the dying moments Mr Bellamy aka “THE FOOL” wapped a long-ball nothing short of stupid that allowed Fergie’s team to break out and ultimately stick the ball in the net.

It was all down to the ginger ninja who, according to Van der Sar, is more favored throughout Europe than you might have guessed. “Even Xavi and Iniesta in Barcelona are talking about him” said the Dutch salmon during an interview with the Manchester Evening News. The excellent follow-up to this of course is that Manchester City lost!

If only Tottenham were in the same boat. It seems as though they’re on fire recently with players like Defoe and Bale whipping up a regular storm. Chelsea continue their self-destruction as Terry casually kicks the buggery out of all and sundry in order to take an early shower. 2 – 1 Tottenham. Lame.

In other news, even Van Persie’s re-appearance last match can’t help Arsenal as they stumble for the second time in 2 games. This weekend saw them drop it all in the last 10 minutes of their match up with Wigan, losing 3 – 2 after holding a 2 – 0 lead for the first 80. Shocker. So Tottenham continue onwards, Man City falter, and we’re left gagging for 3 wins in 3 and the hope that everyone else loses everything! Likely?

Well, with the news that Torres is now to be out for the rest-of-the-season, I don’t really see what chance we have (seems about right that Torres will be out for the Europa match up, but back for Spain in the world cup. *sigh*). We don’t really have an African talisman (unlike the other top three) so pray with me: N’Gog is surely going to pull it out of the bag, he’s just going to have to make it sooner rather than later.

All in all a shocking end to the Premier League, let’s just hope we can get ourselves over the wall of Atheletico and into the bull pit with Fulham. I mean, if we can beat Los Rojiblancos, we can definitely take it to the bleedin’ Cottagers. Yes?!

Maybe with all this chat about Van Persie, Van der Sar, and looking at the likes of Van Nistelrooy, Van der Vaart and oldschool Van Bommel we should be looking at getting ourselves a contract sorted out for our own van hire?!

Looks like it could be a long summer, either way.

Ho-hum.

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::EDIT::

We made it! We won our game! COME ON BOYS!

Benayoun was a hero: popping one in off his crotch! N’gog came good, aswell: sure it wasn’t the best placement for a shot, but he turned a volley around the corner with a degree of competency. Kyrgakos was there for the follow up of the first effort if Benayoun had missed, then he was there to poke his foot in and claim what was ultimately an own goal.

Go on Red-men. All the best, Torres.