That was the most surprising thing I took from Benitez finally signing a long term agreement at Anfield. 48? I would have put him at mid-fifties. He has now signed a deal until 2014, which is a strong commitment to the club against the background of boardroom turmoil. This seems to have gone down well with Liverpool fans and non-Liverpool fans alike…
Cesc Fabregas is alleged to have spat at Hull assistant manager Brian Horton last night after Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Hull. He has categorically denied it, and Phil Brown has categorically stated that is happened – so at best one is seriously mistaken, at worst one is outright lying… Latest is that Horton is reporting Fabregas to the LMA (League Manager’s Association) – no smoke without fire?
In case you haven’t heard it (and where have you been?) Alan Pardew accused Michael Essien of rape on MOTD2 this weekend (in that he said he ‘absolutely raped’ a defender). Video here: The BBC issued an unconditional apology, and I doubt Pardew will be gracing our screens in a punditry capacity any time soon… [...]
In case you haven’t seen it, check out this OUTRAGEOUS dive by Morten Gamst Pederson: Again, as per previous rants, referees need to stamp this out by penalising all dives (and shirt tugs) with a yellow card; if not at the time, then retrospectively by video. No-one could argue this isn’t conclusive! Really funny though. [...]
The Times’ football luminary Patrick Barclay has a piece in today’s edition (well it’s on the website so I assume it’s in the paper) about outlawing shirt-pulling, or grappling as he calls it – you can read it here. He makes a point that we have made a couple of times before – that to [...]
After Liverpool’s sensational 4-1 destruction of Man United at Old Trafford, is the Title Race back on? The table, and the bookies, still say no – United are 1/10, and remain 4 points clear of Liverpool and Chelsea with a game in hand. Certainly, they are strong favourites; but a win against the red half of Merseyside would have really put it to bed, whereas now both Chelsea and Liverpool will feel they’re in with a sniff. Let’s have a look at what United would need to do to let one of them in…
It seems an age since we did these, mainly because the last gameweek covered all the way up to Blackburn’s victory over Fulham in midweek. We’re back to usual now, with all the teams playing once; and it has to be said, nothing jumps out. We’ve had to dig particularly deep this week, read on to see who we’ve gone for…
All four of the English sides have progressed to the Champions League quarter finals; Liverpool serenely, Man Utd and Chelsea edgily, and Arsenal by the skin of their teeth. They are joined by Bayern Munich, Porto, Villarreal and Barcelona.
Barcelona are the team everyone will want to avoid – with Villarreal or Porto the preferred draw for the Premiership sides. Despite the Last 16 second legs taking place on the 10th/11th of March, the draw itself isn’t until Friday March 20th.
At the time of writing, Manchester United are three-fifths of the way towards the unprecedented ‘quintuple’. So it is no surprise to see that United players now make up the bookies’ top four favourites for Footballer of the Year.
David Moyes has spoken out against the use of Wembley for the FA Cup semi-finals. Although Everton fans have not made the pilgrimage to the home of English football for several years, he feels that Wembley should only be used for the final. We think he has a point…
