Results
Double Dutch For Robin, Debutantes Delight And Africa Draws Blanks
This morning’s World Cup round-up sees us review matches ranging from last night’s games all the way back to Monday evening, as eight more competitors (and Mexico again) took to the pitch ahead of next month’s tournament in South Africa. Results may vary…
Read more...England Flatter To Deceive, Portugal Stumble And Argentina Bag Five
Monday night saw us stroll past our first milestone in the build-up to the World Cup proper; that’s right, England had their first preparatory friendly. So now (in England at least) it’ll be time for the media and all that surrounds it to ramp up the hyperbole and build a nation up only to get knocked out by penalties against Mexico in the quarter finals. There was even enough time for Adrian Chiles to dust off his tie collection and take part in his very own pre-tournament friendly…
Read more...Congratulations to Blackpool
…And then there were twenty. Blackpool’s dramatic Wembley win over Cardiff this afternoon now finalises the line up for next season’s Premier League, as they join Newcastle and West Brom in gaining promotion from the Championship.
Without doubt, it’s the proverbial “fairytale” ending to the season for a team many had marked down as relegation candidates at the start of the 2009-10 campaign.
Read more...Bobby Z’s Back Amongst the Goals
Fulham’s form got firmly back on track at Craven Cottage last night at the expense of away-day whipping boys Burnley, with an emphatic 3-0 thumping which heralded the return to form of Bobby Zamora.
Since dislocating his collarbone at Stoke last month, Zamora has, understandably, been feeling his way back to full match sharpness, and his general rustiness was just one of the reasons why Roy Hodgson’s side recently hit the skids with a five match losing streak.
Read more...Pre-Season – Stoke Pay The Penalty
As mentioned in my other pre-season round-up yesterday, there are once again very few games to bring to your attention today. Stoke played their final warm up match at the Potteries against Spanish side Real Valladolid, while over on Merseyside, Everton made their final preparations with a match against Spaniards Malaga…
Read more...Pre-Season – Fulham Are Singing In The Rain
As the Premier League season is nigh upon us, last night brings nary a pre-season game to report on. Fulham fought through torrential rain against FK Vetra in the 2nd leg of Europa League qualification, and Burnley continued last nights invasion of Scotland with a game away to Kilmarnock. Right then, let’s get into it…
Read more...The Big Friendly Catch Up – Tuesday
There were five Premier League clubs in action on Tuesday night for fixtures that were, for many teams, the penultimate games of the pre-season. With weekend action to come, there was plenty of experimentation in the lineups from most of those involved. Even so, the likes of Frazier Campbell and Greg Halford caught the eye, whilst there’s a new injury concern for David Moyes as Jo picked up an ankle injury. Read on for the full notes on last night’s events…
Read more...The Big Friendly Catch Up – Sunday
Wilshire shines again for the Gunners. Rafa suffers Spanish misery at the hands of Espanyol. Villa lift the Peace Cup after a spot-kick victory and a youthful Spurs slip to defeat. Here’s a round-up of Sunday’s action to bring us bang up-to-date…
Read more...The Big Friendly Catch Up – Saturday
A sizeable Saturday programme of pre-season games means only one thing – another catch-up post detailing all the relevant goodness…
Read more...Arshavin Justifies Trinity Talk With Emirates Double
We’ve long suspected that Andrey Arshavin could threaten to fill the void left by Christiano Ronaldo in the fantasy football “holy trinity” midfield. The Russian has been re-classified in a midfield role by many of the fantasy games after figuring in a wide position for much of his Arsenal career thus far. Yesterday he offered further confirmation that he could well rival the fantasy returns of the trinity’s established members – Lampard and Gerrard.
Arshavin’s two goals in the final four minutes Arsenal’s Emirates Cup 2-1 win over Athletico Madrid put him firmly back on our radars, with just a fortnight to go before we press the button on our initial lineups…
Read more...Ancelotti Defiant Despite Reading Scare
Saturday’s pre-season result of the day was Reading’s 2-2 draw with Ancelotti’s Chelsea. Reading were holding a 2-0 scoreline with two minutes to go but were denied by Salomon Kalou and an injury time own goal.
There could be no excuses for Chelsea. Ancelotti fielded a very strong side at the Madejski – perhaps even the same eleven that will start against United in the Community Shield next weekend. However, neither Ancelotti or Chelsea’s fantasy fanciers will be panicking at the result or performance.
Pre-season already appears to have assured the Chelsea boss that he has the players and formation to challenge for the title, while fantasy managers can take comfort in the Italian’s team selection which has consistently offered us major clues prior to the season kick-off…
Read more...The Big Friendly Catch Up – Thursday & Friday
Bringing us right up to date with the significant pre-season games thus far, here’s the scout notes on Thursday and Friday’s action…
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