Everton made it four consecutive score draws on the road with a well-deserved 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. David Moyes’ team showed impressive resolve and composure to come back from a goal behind after Nicolas Anelka did his best to get Tim Howard sent off by running into the American goalkeeper and leaving the referee with no other option than to award a penalty. The whole incident could have been easily avoided had Phil Neville not played a truly ridiculous back pass that Anelka easily read and intercepted.
Luckily the ref, whose name I forget, sort of acknowledged that Anelka purposely ran into Howard and decided not to produce a red card. Didier Drogba, who is still looking very subdued after his recovery from malaria, smashed the resulting spot kick beyond Howard for 1-0. At this point Neville endeavoured to make up for his error by demonstrating his full repertoire of clapping and pointing.
Marouane Fellaini and Jack Rodwell managed to dominate the midfield to such a degree that Chelsea were unable to get a grip of the game and add to their advantage. Chelsea don’t move as seamlessly between midfield and attack without Frank Lampard pulling the strings, and as the second-half developed Everton looked by far the most dangerous team.
As always it was Steven Pienaar and Leighton Baines who provided the craft and guile in the final third, and it was a through pass from Pienaar that led to the game’s most controversial incident. The South African played a clever ball behind the Chelsea defence for Tim Cahill to run onto, and after avoiding a classic John Terry attempt at dragging down, Cahill slid fairly for a ball with goalkeeper Petr Cech. Despite pulling out at the last second, Cahill managed to graze Cech with his studs and cause a small cut over the Czech’s eyebrow and accidentally pressing his ‘off’ switch.
Chelsea seem to think that because Cech got his head stoved in by Steven Hunt four years ago that no one is allowed to go near him now, so predictably Terry acted like a knobhead and got in Cahill’s face. The obligatory scuffle ensued, with lots of pushing and postulating but no actual violence, while the Chelsea medical staff set about rebooting the big goalkeeper. After seven minutes of frantically pressing ctrl, alt and delete they managed to get Cech back on his feet and avoided having to bring on one of their comedy reserves.
Everton continued to push forward and finally grabbed the equaliser on 86 minutes. Baines again showed his quality by picking the ball up on the half-way line, accelerating past four Chelsea players and swinging a beautiful cross into the box. Cahill and substitute Jermaine Beckford split Terry, and Cahill headed the ball across the Chelsea captain for Beckford to nod beyond the flailing Cech.
There was seven minutes of injury time in which both teams were positive but neither really created any more chances. Both sides could claim to have dominated a half, but Everton wouldn’t have been flattered by three points.
Monday 6 December 2010
Strange days
A quick look at Everton’s results over the last two months should be enough to tell you why I just haven’t been able to bring myself to write anything about them. Four good points from tough away games at Fulham and Birmingham were followed by a hugely satisfying 2-0 win over probably the worst Liverpool team in living memory. Everton then drew at Tottenham, beat Stoke at home, and got a few draws to go with disappointing home losses against Arsenal and West Brom.
Getting beat 4-1 at Goodison by West Bromwich Albion was probably the lowest moment of what has been an up and down season, where the downs have so far outnumbered the ups by some distance. Relegation has never really seemed a realistic fear, but after that game even Europa League qualification appeared just as unlikely. Everton were garbage all over the park and I began to wonder if everything had simply gone stale.
We’ve had virtually the same players, using the same system and tactics, for three years now without winning anything or getting into the Champions League. There’s no doubt that Everton’s pathetic excuse for owners need to be improved upon if the team are to ever challenge at the high end of the table, but with Kenwright and Friends refusing to so much as name an asking price for the cub it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening anytime soon.
The board’s inability to raise funds means that it’s sell to buy for the Everton manager, which is something that David Moyes struggles with. A large chunk of the money from Joleon Lescott’s transfer to Manchester City was wasted on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and John Heitinga, neither of whom have offered anything at all this season, and we’re about to lose Steven Pienaar (who is the club’s best player in my opinion) for either a meagre fee in January or absolutely nothing at the end of the season.
I feel as though this current side peaked with the FA Cup final in 2009, and worry about whether or not Moyes has it in him to be ruthless and offload players to facilitate bringing in a right-sided midfielder and a centre forward – two positions where we are so badly lacking. Apparently Joseph Yobo has impressed during his loan spell at Fenerbahce and is set to make a permanent move for around £3.5m, which could go towards getting in a decent replacement for Pienaar such as Niko Kranjcar, but we’ll still need in excess of £10m to get the striker needed to consistently hit 15-20 Premier League goals.
Something must have gone on with Yakubu Aiyegbeni for him to be pulled from the starting line-up just when he was starting to hit form. Louis Saha is dreadful, and even though he scored yesterday, Jermaine Beckford is shite. The fact he is willing to run around a bit and move opposition defenders around instantly makes him a better option than Saha, but there’s just no way that this team is going to improve with League One's answer to Andy Cole as the main striker.
There’s no way Moyes will even consider a clear out in January, but he really needs to think about getting rid of a few underachievers in order to raise some money for new signings. I wouldn’t be surprised if come July Heitinga, Yobo, Pienaar, Yakubu and Bilyaletdinov have all found new clubs, and it’s going to be a big test for Moyes to find adequate replacements and move the team forward with only the money he’ll get for whoever leaves available to him.
His tactics are also an issue. Everton set up well away from home, with yesterday’s encouraging 1-1 draw at Chelsea being our fourth consecutive score draw away from home, but at Goodison we're just too negative and predictable. Any team with a bit of pace and organisation can expect to take points from Goodison, as was demonstrated by West Brom last week.
After the game finished I found myself genuinely thinking that it was time for Moyes to go. I can accept that he is a cautious manager, but the overwhelming negativity of his starting XI, along with his baffling substitutions, had me strongly believing that change was needed.
Why pick Tony Hibbert (who is never a Premier League footballer) at right-back if you’re going to play Heitinga (a centre-half) in midfield? If Heitinga isn’t mobile enough to cover an attacking full-back like Seamus Coleman then he clearly shouldn’t be given a holding midfield role. And on the subject of Heitinga, why did it take weeks and weeks of poor performances before he was finally dropped to the bench?
It’s not like Moyes doesn’t have options. He could have brought in a £10m international midfielder like Bilyaletdinov and moved Pienaar inside, or given a chance to Jack Rodwell, who is supposed to be one of English football’s biggest talents.
Not having Heitinga or the horribly out of form Mikel Arteta in the middle of the park made such a big difference against Chelsea. Marouane Fellaini and Rodwell were athletic enough to match Chelsea’s midfield and comfortable enough in possession for us not to miss Arteta passing the ball sideways over and over again.
At least Arteta had the decency to get himself suspended for three games by stamping on some West Brom players’ ankle towards the end of last weekend’s debacle. His form pre-injury and during the second half of last season had me believing he’d finally found the consistency that his career has always sadly lacked, but his performances so far this season suggest otherwise.
Arteta is one of the players who seem a bit too comfortable at Everton. He, along with Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Tim Cahill are all a bit too sure of their places in the team and too friendly with Moyes. In fairness to Cahill, he’s one of the only players to give everything every week this season, but the rest of them have been able to perform very poorly safe in the knowledge that there’s no way they’ll find themselves dropped. Jagielka did have a good game at Chelsea, but at home his horrendous distribution is a massive hindrance.
Next week is Wigan at home and Everton have to win convincingly. Wigan are the sort of team who can only really play if the opposition let them, which is exactly what Everton have been doing at Goodison lately. Moyes needs to get his team playing a high line (the centre-backs are very fast but poor in possession, which makes having them pushed up seem like a no-brainer anyway) and pressing high up the pitch at a much quicker tempo.
I’m confident that if Moyes sticks with Rodwell and Fellaini in midfield then Everton can really give Wigan a hiding. If we camp fifty yards away from their goal and pass sideways, with Saha standing still next to their centre-halves, they’ll grow in confidence and the likes of N’Zogbia and Rodallega will cause us problems.
Everton showed enough in the second half against Chelsea to suggest that this season can still be turned around, but it needs to happen fast. Rodwell and Fellaini were impressive in midfield and Leighton Baines was brilliant. Him and Pienaar down the left combine to create almost every chance Everton have, and his run past four Chelsea players to cross for the equaliser on Saturday was outstanding.
There’s no denying that Everton have been very slow, predictable and easy to play against for a while now, but the beauty of this Premier League season is that everyone is taking points off each other, and even though we’ve played nearly half a season of terrible football, there’s still time to mount a charge for Europe.
Getting beat 4-1 at Goodison by West Bromwich Albion was probably the lowest moment of what has been an up and down season, where the downs have so far outnumbered the ups by some distance. Relegation has never really seemed a realistic fear, but after that game even Europa League qualification appeared just as unlikely. Everton were garbage all over the park and I began to wonder if everything had simply gone stale.
We’ve had virtually the same players, using the same system and tactics, for three years now without winning anything or getting into the Champions League. There’s no doubt that Everton’s pathetic excuse for owners need to be improved upon if the team are to ever challenge at the high end of the table, but with Kenwright and Friends refusing to so much as name an asking price for the cub it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening anytime soon.
The board’s inability to raise funds means that it’s sell to buy for the Everton manager, which is something that David Moyes struggles with. A large chunk of the money from Joleon Lescott’s transfer to Manchester City was wasted on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and John Heitinga, neither of whom have offered anything at all this season, and we’re about to lose Steven Pienaar (who is the club’s best player in my opinion) for either a meagre fee in January or absolutely nothing at the end of the season.
I feel as though this current side peaked with the FA Cup final in 2009, and worry about whether or not Moyes has it in him to be ruthless and offload players to facilitate bringing in a right-sided midfielder and a centre forward – two positions where we are so badly lacking. Apparently Joseph Yobo has impressed during his loan spell at Fenerbahce and is set to make a permanent move for around £3.5m, which could go towards getting in a decent replacement for Pienaar such as Niko Kranjcar, but we’ll still need in excess of £10m to get the striker needed to consistently hit 15-20 Premier League goals.
Something must have gone on with Yakubu Aiyegbeni for him to be pulled from the starting line-up just when he was starting to hit form. Louis Saha is dreadful, and even though he scored yesterday, Jermaine Beckford is shite. The fact he is willing to run around a bit and move opposition defenders around instantly makes him a better option than Saha, but there’s just no way that this team is going to improve with League One's answer to Andy Cole as the main striker.
There’s no way Moyes will even consider a clear out in January, but he really needs to think about getting rid of a few underachievers in order to raise some money for new signings. I wouldn’t be surprised if come July Heitinga, Yobo, Pienaar, Yakubu and Bilyaletdinov have all found new clubs, and it’s going to be a big test for Moyes to find adequate replacements and move the team forward with only the money he’ll get for whoever leaves available to him.
His tactics are also an issue. Everton set up well away from home, with yesterday’s encouraging 1-1 draw at Chelsea being our fourth consecutive score draw away from home, but at Goodison we're just too negative and predictable. Any team with a bit of pace and organisation can expect to take points from Goodison, as was demonstrated by West Brom last week.
After the game finished I found myself genuinely thinking that it was time for Moyes to go. I can accept that he is a cautious manager, but the overwhelming negativity of his starting XI, along with his baffling substitutions, had me strongly believing that change was needed.
Why pick Tony Hibbert (who is never a Premier League footballer) at right-back if you’re going to play Heitinga (a centre-half) in midfield? If Heitinga isn’t mobile enough to cover an attacking full-back like Seamus Coleman then he clearly shouldn’t be given a holding midfield role. And on the subject of Heitinga, why did it take weeks and weeks of poor performances before he was finally dropped to the bench?
It’s not like Moyes doesn’t have options. He could have brought in a £10m international midfielder like Bilyaletdinov and moved Pienaar inside, or given a chance to Jack Rodwell, who is supposed to be one of English football’s biggest talents.
Not having Heitinga or the horribly out of form Mikel Arteta in the middle of the park made such a big difference against Chelsea. Marouane Fellaini and Rodwell were athletic enough to match Chelsea’s midfield and comfortable enough in possession for us not to miss Arteta passing the ball sideways over and over again.
At least Arteta had the decency to get himself suspended for three games by stamping on some West Brom players’ ankle towards the end of last weekend’s debacle. His form pre-injury and during the second half of last season had me believing he’d finally found the consistency that his career has always sadly lacked, but his performances so far this season suggest otherwise.
Arteta is one of the players who seem a bit too comfortable at Everton. He, along with Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Tim Cahill are all a bit too sure of their places in the team and too friendly with Moyes. In fairness to Cahill, he’s one of the only players to give everything every week this season, but the rest of them have been able to perform very poorly safe in the knowledge that there’s no way they’ll find themselves dropped. Jagielka did have a good game at Chelsea, but at home his horrendous distribution is a massive hindrance.
Next week is Wigan at home and Everton have to win convincingly. Wigan are the sort of team who can only really play if the opposition let them, which is exactly what Everton have been doing at Goodison lately. Moyes needs to get his team playing a high line (the centre-backs are very fast but poor in possession, which makes having them pushed up seem like a no-brainer anyway) and pressing high up the pitch at a much quicker tempo.
I’m confident that if Moyes sticks with Rodwell and Fellaini in midfield then Everton can really give Wigan a hiding. If we camp fifty yards away from their goal and pass sideways, with Saha standing still next to their centre-halves, they’ll grow in confidence and the likes of N’Zogbia and Rodallega will cause us problems.
Everton showed enough in the second half against Chelsea to suggest that this season can still be turned around, but it needs to happen fast. Rodwell and Fellaini were impressive in midfield and Leighton Baines was brilliant. Him and Pienaar down the left combine to create almost every chance Everton have, and his run past four Chelsea players to cross for the equaliser on Saturday was outstanding.
There’s no denying that Everton have been very slow, predictable and easy to play against for a while now, but the beauty of this Premier League season is that everyone is taking points off each other, and even though we’ve played nearly half a season of terrible football, there’s still time to mount a charge for Europe.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Bottom of the league
I almost totally gave up writing about Everton after the Newcastle and Brentford debacles, but the performance in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Fulham provided a tiny glimmer of hope that we might be about to hit a bit of form.
The 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Goodison Park turned out to be a false dawn. Everton were largely battered in that game anyway, with David Moyes going a bit mad and picking Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill up front, but given the fight shown by the players to come back from 3-1 down and score twice in the dying minutes it was hard not to feel at least a little bit optimistic ahead of the home game against Newcastle United.
Despite Yakubu coming off the bench to good effect against Man United it was Jermaine Beckford who was chosen to lead the line against last season’s Championship winners. With Cahill injured it was left to Fellaini to support the former Leeds striker, who continues to look woefully out of his depth in the Premier League, and unsurprisingly Everton never really looked like scoring.
Hatem Ben Arfa settled with game with a well-taken goal on the stroke of half-time. The France international cut inside from the left-wing, asked phoney enforcer John Heitinga to move out of the way, and smacked a cracking effort past Tim Howard. Cue Geordie bedlam.
You can add Ben Arfa’s name to those of Alex Hleb, Martin Petrov, Hamit Altintop and (at a stretch) Jermaine Pennant on the list of natural wide players who were available either on loan or a free transfer during the summer, but whom Everton showed no interest in.
If you thought things looked bleak after Newcastle then you were probably ready to bounce your season ticket off Moyes’ head in the wake of the League Cup tie away at Brentford. Everton sent out a strong team against a side struggling near the bottom of League One, so there were really no excuses when after failing to hold onto a lead or break them down a second time Everton were dumped out of the competition on penalties.
The fact that Alex Ferguson didn’t bother showing up to his side’s 5-2 win at Scunthorpe shows what little regard the League Cup is held in, but it remains Everton’s most realistic means of ending what will soon be a 16 year trophy drought. Winning a domestic cup is probably Everton’s best hope of getting back into Europe at this point as well.
Moyes was probably relieved that his team’s next game would come away from home at Fulham, as it’s hard to imagine the Goodison crowd showing much patience with Everton’s new brand of football; which essentially involves sitting very deep, passing the ball across the back for thirty seconds and then running out of ideas.
Injuries to perennial starters Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert gave Moyes an opportunity to try something different at Craven Cottage. Phil Neville came in at right back with Seamus Coleman ahead of him, Fellaini dropped back into his favoured holding midfield role alongside Mikel Arteta, and Cahill returned to partner comedy figure Yakubu Aiyegbeni in attack.
Although Yakubu appears to have completely lost his ability to accelerate he remains by far Everton’s best all round striker. He’s the only one with the intelligence to drag opposition defenders out of position and create space for the midfield to attack, and despite his sitter at the end he showed enough to suggest he might be getting back to something like his old self.
Everton looked far more balanced at Fulham than in any other game so far this season. Coleman’s pace and direct running on the right provided the kind of outlet we’ve been looking for since Landon Donovan’s departure, while Arteta and Fellaini were able to exert more influence on the game without Heitinga getting in their way.
It’ll be interesting to see what Moyes decides to do with Heitinga. Given how poor a pairing Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin have been it must be tempting for Moyes to drop one of them in favour of the Dutchman. Jagielka and Distin are both out and out stoppers with distribution that is limited at best, whereas Heitinga is extremely comfortable in possession and has the ability to bring the ball out of defence and pick a forward pass.
The draw with Fulham leaves Everton bottom of the league after West Ham’s somewhat surprising home win over Tottenham. It’s best not to get carried away with league positions at this point, but if Moyes really does have designs on qualifying for Europe then Everton need to start picking up points immediately.
Barring any injuries Moyes will almost certainly start with the same team away at Birmingham on Saturday. Alex McLeish’s side haven’t lost at home in over a year and it seems unlikely that Everton’s static, predictable attack will have enough to break down such an organised outfit, but I can’t help but sort of fancy us in this one.
We should have won last weekend and, regardless of their fine record at St. Andrews, we should be looking to beat Birmingham as well. As much as I was expecting to see Fulham grab a late winner, with Mark Hughes running up and down the touchline wearing a Joleon Lescott mask and flicking V-signs at Moyes, Everton had the possession and late chances to feel disappointed at having to settle for a share of the points.
0-1, Cahill with a late header.
Starting XI for Saturday: (4-4-1-1) Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Coleman, Arteta, Fellaini, Pienaar; Cahill, Yakubu
The 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Goodison Park turned out to be a false dawn. Everton were largely battered in that game anyway, with David Moyes going a bit mad and picking Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill up front, but given the fight shown by the players to come back from 3-1 down and score twice in the dying minutes it was hard not to feel at least a little bit optimistic ahead of the home game against Newcastle United.
Despite Yakubu coming off the bench to good effect against Man United it was Jermaine Beckford who was chosen to lead the line against last season’s Championship winners. With Cahill injured it was left to Fellaini to support the former Leeds striker, who continues to look woefully out of his depth in the Premier League, and unsurprisingly Everton never really looked like scoring.
Hatem Ben Arfa settled with game with a well-taken goal on the stroke of half-time. The France international cut inside from the left-wing, asked phoney enforcer John Heitinga to move out of the way, and smacked a cracking effort past Tim Howard. Cue Geordie bedlam.
You can add Ben Arfa’s name to those of Alex Hleb, Martin Petrov, Hamit Altintop and (at a stretch) Jermaine Pennant on the list of natural wide players who were available either on loan or a free transfer during the summer, but whom Everton showed no interest in.
If you thought things looked bleak after Newcastle then you were probably ready to bounce your season ticket off Moyes’ head in the wake of the League Cup tie away at Brentford. Everton sent out a strong team against a side struggling near the bottom of League One, so there were really no excuses when after failing to hold onto a lead or break them down a second time Everton were dumped out of the competition on penalties.
The fact that Alex Ferguson didn’t bother showing up to his side’s 5-2 win at Scunthorpe shows what little regard the League Cup is held in, but it remains Everton’s most realistic means of ending what will soon be a 16 year trophy drought. Winning a domestic cup is probably Everton’s best hope of getting back into Europe at this point as well.
Moyes was probably relieved that his team’s next game would come away from home at Fulham, as it’s hard to imagine the Goodison crowd showing much patience with Everton’s new brand of football; which essentially involves sitting very deep, passing the ball across the back for thirty seconds and then running out of ideas.
Injuries to perennial starters Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert gave Moyes an opportunity to try something different at Craven Cottage. Phil Neville came in at right back with Seamus Coleman ahead of him, Fellaini dropped back into his favoured holding midfield role alongside Mikel Arteta, and Cahill returned to partner comedy figure Yakubu Aiyegbeni in attack.
Although Yakubu appears to have completely lost his ability to accelerate he remains by far Everton’s best all round striker. He’s the only one with the intelligence to drag opposition defenders out of position and create space for the midfield to attack, and despite his sitter at the end he showed enough to suggest he might be getting back to something like his old self.
Everton looked far more balanced at Fulham than in any other game so far this season. Coleman’s pace and direct running on the right provided the kind of outlet we’ve been looking for since Landon Donovan’s departure, while Arteta and Fellaini were able to exert more influence on the game without Heitinga getting in their way.
It’ll be interesting to see what Moyes decides to do with Heitinga. Given how poor a pairing Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin have been it must be tempting for Moyes to drop one of them in favour of the Dutchman. Jagielka and Distin are both out and out stoppers with distribution that is limited at best, whereas Heitinga is extremely comfortable in possession and has the ability to bring the ball out of defence and pick a forward pass.
The draw with Fulham leaves Everton bottom of the league after West Ham’s somewhat surprising home win over Tottenham. It’s best not to get carried away with league positions at this point, but if Moyes really does have designs on qualifying for Europe then Everton need to start picking up points immediately.
Barring any injuries Moyes will almost certainly start with the same team away at Birmingham on Saturday. Alex McLeish’s side haven’t lost at home in over a year and it seems unlikely that Everton’s static, predictable attack will have enough to break down such an organised outfit, but I can’t help but sort of fancy us in this one.
We should have won last weekend and, regardless of their fine record at St. Andrews, we should be looking to beat Birmingham as well. As much as I was expecting to see Fulham grab a late winner, with Mark Hughes running up and down the touchline wearing a Joleon Lescott mask and flicking V-signs at Moyes, Everton had the possession and late chances to feel disappointed at having to settle for a share of the points.
0-1, Cahill with a late header.
Starting XI for Saturday: (4-4-1-1) Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Coleman, Arteta, Fellaini, Pienaar; Cahill, Yakubu
Thursday 9 September 2010
UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn II
Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar laid to rest any doubts over who the best lightweight in the UFC is, as the New Jersey wrestler dominated BJ Penn over five one-sided rounds to defend his 155lbs title for the first time.
Many, myself included, thought that Penn did enough to win the first fight and would set the record straight once and for all at UFC 118. Much of the former champion’s pre-fight rhetoric centred around claiming that Edgar could do no better than his performance in Abu Dhabi, while insisting that he would be suitably motivated to up his game and blow ‘The Answer’ away at the second attempt.
It wasn’t to be though. Penn looked very much the same slow, plodding fighter that he did in the first bout, whereas Edgar, while employing similar tactics to those that beat Penn first time around, appeared faster, stronger and more confident than ever before.
Edgar showed fantastic conditioning and energy, bouncing around the cage and landing fast, accurate combinations at will on his ponderous foe. Penn appears to have fallen into the same trap as Quinton Jackson of simply trying to stand and box with his opponents, and it wasn’t until late on in the bout that he mixed up his offence and took Edgar to the mat. Even then though, Edgar showed tremendous technique and power as he reversed position on one of MMA’s most decorated jiu-jitsu players.
It’s customary after any BJ Penn defeat to look for reasons as to how such a talented fighter could perform so poorly. Apparently Penn has broken away from the Maranovich brothers, who led his training camps prior to dominating victories over Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian, with some speculating that his performances against Edgar suffered as a result. There has also been criticism levelled at Penn’s corner during the fight, particularly from UFC commentator Joe Rogan, for the way in which they simply coddled him in between rounds rather than giving any real instruction.
All that aside, you have to give full credit to Frankie Edgar. The lightweight champion displayed a level of speed and stamina that 'The Prodigy' just couldn’t live with, and at this point it’d be remiss to say anything else other than that he simply has Penn’s number.
UFC 118’s co-main event saw the MMA debut of multi-division boxing champion James ‘Lights-out’ Toney. After chasing UFC president Dana White up and down the country, Toney was finally granted his opportunity to prove himself in a bout with former two-weight champion Randy Couture. It lasted all of four minutes, as Couture took Toney down with laughable ease and eventually worked his way into an arm triangle. It appeared as if Toney didn’t even know how to tap out, causing referee Mario Yamasaki to intervene on his behalf.
Elsewhere on the card Gray Maynard cemented himself as the no.1 contender for Edgar’s lightweight title with a decision victory over Kenny Florian. Maynard used his impressive wrestling to take Florian to the mat and keep him there, and while his safety-first performance didn’t go down too well with Florian’s native Boston crowd, it was enough to secure him an overdue title shot against a man he has already beaten once.
Nate Diaz was another to stake a claim for himself as a top contender. The younger Diaz brother showed crisp boxing and excellent jiu-jitsu as he choked out Marcus Davis in round three of their bloody ‘fight of the night’ confrontation.
A clash of heads early on opened up a nasty cut above Davis’ right eye and impaired ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’s’ vision throughout. The fight was eventually stopped after Diaz caught Davis with a guillotine choke in the third round; Davis refused to tap and referee Yves Lavigne eventually called a halt after seeing that he had lost consciousness.
The win was Diaz’s second at 170lbs but, when interviewed after the fight, the Stockton native expressed an interest in returning to lightweight to challenge Gray Maynard, a man who he defeated on season five of The Ultimate Fighter.
Former middleweight title contender Demian Maia took on fellow Brazilian Mario Miranda to round off the main card. The clash of jiu-jitsu black belts followed much the same pattern for three rounds, with Maia dragging Miranda to the ground and hunting for submissions. Miranda, a student of the Nogueira brothers, showed impressive submission defence to escape several perilous positions and probably did enough to earn himself another UFC bout, despite dropping a unanimous decision.
Many, myself included, thought that Penn did enough to win the first fight and would set the record straight once and for all at UFC 118. Much of the former champion’s pre-fight rhetoric centred around claiming that Edgar could do no better than his performance in Abu Dhabi, while insisting that he would be suitably motivated to up his game and blow ‘The Answer’ away at the second attempt.
It wasn’t to be though. Penn looked very much the same slow, plodding fighter that he did in the first bout, whereas Edgar, while employing similar tactics to those that beat Penn first time around, appeared faster, stronger and more confident than ever before.
Edgar showed fantastic conditioning and energy, bouncing around the cage and landing fast, accurate combinations at will on his ponderous foe. Penn appears to have fallen into the same trap as Quinton Jackson of simply trying to stand and box with his opponents, and it wasn’t until late on in the bout that he mixed up his offence and took Edgar to the mat. Even then though, Edgar showed tremendous technique and power as he reversed position on one of MMA’s most decorated jiu-jitsu players.
It’s customary after any BJ Penn defeat to look for reasons as to how such a talented fighter could perform so poorly. Apparently Penn has broken away from the Maranovich brothers, who led his training camps prior to dominating victories over Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian, with some speculating that his performances against Edgar suffered as a result. There has also been criticism levelled at Penn’s corner during the fight, particularly from UFC commentator Joe Rogan, for the way in which they simply coddled him in between rounds rather than giving any real instruction.
All that aside, you have to give full credit to Frankie Edgar. The lightweight champion displayed a level of speed and stamina that 'The Prodigy' just couldn’t live with, and at this point it’d be remiss to say anything else other than that he simply has Penn’s number.
UFC 118’s co-main event saw the MMA debut of multi-division boxing champion James ‘Lights-out’ Toney. After chasing UFC president Dana White up and down the country, Toney was finally granted his opportunity to prove himself in a bout with former two-weight champion Randy Couture. It lasted all of four minutes, as Couture took Toney down with laughable ease and eventually worked his way into an arm triangle. It appeared as if Toney didn’t even know how to tap out, causing referee Mario Yamasaki to intervene on his behalf.
Elsewhere on the card Gray Maynard cemented himself as the no.1 contender for Edgar’s lightweight title with a decision victory over Kenny Florian. Maynard used his impressive wrestling to take Florian to the mat and keep him there, and while his safety-first performance didn’t go down too well with Florian’s native Boston crowd, it was enough to secure him an overdue title shot against a man he has already beaten once.
Nate Diaz was another to stake a claim for himself as a top contender. The younger Diaz brother showed crisp boxing and excellent jiu-jitsu as he choked out Marcus Davis in round three of their bloody ‘fight of the night’ confrontation.
A clash of heads early on opened up a nasty cut above Davis’ right eye and impaired ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’s’ vision throughout. The fight was eventually stopped after Diaz caught Davis with a guillotine choke in the third round; Davis refused to tap and referee Yves Lavigne eventually called a halt after seeing that he had lost consciousness.
The win was Diaz’s second at 170lbs but, when interviewed after the fight, the Stockton native expressed an interest in returning to lightweight to challenge Gray Maynard, a man who he defeated on season five of The Ultimate Fighter.
Former middleweight title contender Demian Maia took on fellow Brazilian Mario Miranda to round off the main card. The clash of jiu-jitsu black belts followed much the same pattern for three rounds, with Maia dragging Miranda to the ground and hunting for submissions. Miranda, a student of the Nogueira brothers, showed impressive submission defence to escape several perilous positions and probably did enough to earn himself another UFC bout, despite dropping a unanimous decision.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Summer's almost gone
Plenty has gone on in the three weeks or so since I last updated.
Everton laboured to a disappointing 1-1 home draw in the face of Mick McCarthy’s Wolves and their ultra-violence. This was followed by a hugely frustrating 1-0 defeat away at Aston Villa and, finally, the closure of another near-silent transfer window for the Blues.
After the incredible form shown during the second half of last season there was a feeling amongst Evertonians that if David Moyes could somehow get through the summer without losing any first team players, and perhaps even find some way of kidnapping Landon Donovan, we’d have a real chance at challenging for fourth place.
So far things haven’t quite panned out as expected. Everton have developed into one of the better ball-retaining sides in the division – unthinkable during the days of the Lee Carsley/Phil Neville midfield axis of evil – but for all our neat sideways passing there has been a distinct lack of a final product.
Donovan’s impact last season showed the difference a pacey outlet can make, and it was hoped that even if Everton couldn’t swindle LA Galaxy out of the USA winger we would at least bring in someone similar. It didn’t happen.
It’d be remiss to write Everton off at this stage, not least because we’ve been garbage for the opening months of the last two seasons before turning things around, but I do worry about where the goals are going to come from.
Jermaine Beckford remains unproven at the highest level, though his early performances suggest he needs more touches than Premier League defences allow. Louis Saha is reaching parody status, with his wacky medieval medical treatment being followed by going off injured ten minutes after coming on as a substitute for France, while Yakubu Aiyegbeni is yet to make a competitive appearance due to some dubious calf injury.
Tim Cahill is always good for around ten goals a season, and Mikel Arteta, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Leon Osman, Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar are all capable of getting forward and hitting the net, but such has been the lack of movement from up front that opposition defenders aren’t being dragged out position and no gaps are opening up for the midfield to attack.
Moyes has never really been the wheeler-dealer type, but he knew from the start of the summer that there was no money to spend and should have set about moving some of his fringe players on to raise funds. Apparently James Vaughan is about to join Crystal Palace on loan and Joseph Yobo has moved to Fenerbahce on a temporary basis as well. No doubt the board will be pleased with not having to pay these players’ wages while they’re away, but surely it would have been better to try and sell anyone the manager deems surplus early on and use the money to improve elsewhere.
Nobody expected Everton to spend big money without selling first, but it was pretty galling to see Alex Hleb, who really is a top-quality footballer, moving to Birmingham City on loan for the season. Hleb would be such a huge step up from Osman, Bilyaletdinov or Jack Rodwell on the right of midfield.
Now that the window is shut all we can do is hope that our two remaining Nigerians re-emerge and make a significant impact. Yakubu played in Jamie Carragher’s big day out on Saturday and has hopefully gone some way to shedding the excess weight he was rumoured to be carrying after his post-World Cup break. The smiley goal plunderer is better suited to Moyes’ system than any other forward at the club, and his intelligent (albeit slow) movement and underrated link-up game could go a long way towards improving the team’s performance in the final third.
Victor Anichebe, meanwhile, appears to be Moyes’ preferred choice on the right of midfield. He’s played there to good effect over the past two seasons but seems rather injury prone (obviously the Van Daminator he suffered at the hands of Kevin Nolan doesn’t count) and questions still remain over his attitude. The fact we’re pinning so much hope on two of the more unreliable players at the club is quite concerning, but there’s basically no other option.
Next up for the struggling Toffees is a home fixture against Manchester United. It’s nice to go into this game without worrying about Alex Ferguson’s trophy hoarders dominating possession in midfield, but that aside it’s hard to see Everton having the cutting edge or breakaway pace to hurt United, whereas their slick forward line will likely cause all sorts of problems for the Blues’ shaky defence.
I’ll post a full preview for Saturday’s game and reaction from UFC 118 separately.
Everton laboured to a disappointing 1-1 home draw in the face of Mick McCarthy’s Wolves and their ultra-violence. This was followed by a hugely frustrating 1-0 defeat away at Aston Villa and, finally, the closure of another near-silent transfer window for the Blues.
After the incredible form shown during the second half of last season there was a feeling amongst Evertonians that if David Moyes could somehow get through the summer without losing any first team players, and perhaps even find some way of kidnapping Landon Donovan, we’d have a real chance at challenging for fourth place.
So far things haven’t quite panned out as expected. Everton have developed into one of the better ball-retaining sides in the division – unthinkable during the days of the Lee Carsley/Phil Neville midfield axis of evil – but for all our neat sideways passing there has been a distinct lack of a final product.
Donovan’s impact last season showed the difference a pacey outlet can make, and it was hoped that even if Everton couldn’t swindle LA Galaxy out of the USA winger we would at least bring in someone similar. It didn’t happen.
It’d be remiss to write Everton off at this stage, not least because we’ve been garbage for the opening months of the last two seasons before turning things around, but I do worry about where the goals are going to come from.
Jermaine Beckford remains unproven at the highest level, though his early performances suggest he needs more touches than Premier League defences allow. Louis Saha is reaching parody status, with his wacky medieval medical treatment being followed by going off injured ten minutes after coming on as a substitute for France, while Yakubu Aiyegbeni is yet to make a competitive appearance due to some dubious calf injury.
Tim Cahill is always good for around ten goals a season, and Mikel Arteta, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Leon Osman, Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar are all capable of getting forward and hitting the net, but such has been the lack of movement from up front that opposition defenders aren’t being dragged out position and no gaps are opening up for the midfield to attack.
Moyes has never really been the wheeler-dealer type, but he knew from the start of the summer that there was no money to spend and should have set about moving some of his fringe players on to raise funds. Apparently James Vaughan is about to join Crystal Palace on loan and Joseph Yobo has moved to Fenerbahce on a temporary basis as well. No doubt the board will be pleased with not having to pay these players’ wages while they’re away, but surely it would have been better to try and sell anyone the manager deems surplus early on and use the money to improve elsewhere.
Nobody expected Everton to spend big money without selling first, but it was pretty galling to see Alex Hleb, who really is a top-quality footballer, moving to Birmingham City on loan for the season. Hleb would be such a huge step up from Osman, Bilyaletdinov or Jack Rodwell on the right of midfield.
Now that the window is shut all we can do is hope that our two remaining Nigerians re-emerge and make a significant impact. Yakubu played in Jamie Carragher’s big day out on Saturday and has hopefully gone some way to shedding the excess weight he was rumoured to be carrying after his post-World Cup break. The smiley goal plunderer is better suited to Moyes’ system than any other forward at the club, and his intelligent (albeit slow) movement and underrated link-up game could go a long way towards improving the team’s performance in the final third.
Victor Anichebe, meanwhile, appears to be Moyes’ preferred choice on the right of midfield. He’s played there to good effect over the past two seasons but seems rather injury prone (obviously the Van Daminator he suffered at the hands of Kevin Nolan doesn’t count) and questions still remain over his attitude. The fact we’re pinning so much hope on two of the more unreliable players at the club is quite concerning, but there’s basically no other option.
Next up for the struggling Toffees is a home fixture against Manchester United. It’s nice to go into this game without worrying about Alex Ferguson’s trophy hoarders dominating possession in midfield, but that aside it’s hard to see Everton having the cutting edge or breakaway pace to hurt United, whereas their slick forward line will likely cause all sorts of problems for the Blues’ shaky defence.
I’ll post a full preview for Saturday’s game and reaction from UFC 118 separately.
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Blackburn 1-0 Everton, Big Nog out of UFC 119
After all the pre-season talk of being potential dark-horses this year, Everton began the new Premier League season with a disappointing defeat against Blackburn Rovers.
Ewood Park has become a difficult place to pick up points since ‘Big’ (which is just a nice way of saying fat) Sam Allardyce rolled into town with his barbaric brand of percentage football. Blackburn only lost something like three home games last season, but Everton were so poor that it makes it difficult to simply put this one down to a one-off stumble in the face of difficult opposition.
Much of the praise that is heaped on David Moyes and his players is well-deserved. We have a good team who work hard for each other and, more often than not, play with some style. However, such are the gaping holes in certain areas of the pitch that I can’t help but feel as though a lot of Evertonians think we’re a lot better than we actually are.
Many blues have been boldly predicting Champions League qualification, pointing to the superb run Everton went on during the second-half of last season as evidence that Moyes finally has a squad good enough to compete at the top-end of the table. Factor in the manager finally having the majority of his players available to him after various long-term injuries, as well as there being no added Europa League fixtures to deal with, and it’s easy to see why people are feeling so optimistic.
Unfortunately though, things are rarely as easy as they first appear in football. Going on a great run of form when your season is effectively dead and buried anyway and there’s no real pressure or expectation from the fans or media is all well and good, but it means very little if you can’t repeat the feat when there are prizes to be won. Losing away from home on the opening day of the season is hardly an indication that a team is doomed to fail, but there were a number of issues evident on Saturday that need to be addressed.
Everton’s biggest problem lies in the final third, where a total lack of movement from the forwards prevents space being opened up for the midfield to attack. Louis Saha and Tim Cahill are useful players in their own ways, but as a pair they seem more interested in contesting individual battles with centre-halves than linking with the midfield or running the channels to drag defenders out of position.
It remains to be seen whether or not Jermaine Beckford is going to cut it in the Premier League or if Yakubu even has a future at Everton, but at this point it looks as though Moyes is going to have to find someone better to lead the line. Money is clearly in short supply so the only option is to move on the likes of Yakubu and Joseph Yobo - two big earners who really shouldn’t be at the club if the manager doesn’t rate them as good enough for the bench.
Speaking of the bench, where was Seamus Coleman? The lad has excelled whenever given a chance in the first team and featured in every pre-season fixture. Considering Everton’s total lack of attacking pace, and the fact Johnny Heitinga was on the bench, it seems bizarre that Moyes felt the need to include Tony Hibbert among his substitutes at Coleman’s expense.
It’s fairly obvious that Everton can’t afford to buy Landon Donovan or any other winger of note to play on the right of midfield, which makes having Coleman over-lapping one of our many centre midfielders that get stuck out wide seem like a no-brainer. Unfortunately Moyes appears to value shoe-horning class prefect Phil Neville into the side above all else.
The goal itself was a freak. As much as I don’t rate Tim ‘lead boots’ Howard it would be stupid to call his comical dropping of a standard catch anything other than a one-off that could have happened to anyone. The American doesn’t seem to let errors damage his confidence so hopefully this won’t lead to a run of poor form.
It’s difficult to say how big an impact Howard’s calamity goalkeeping had on the match. Kalinic’s goal certainly gave Allardyce the invitation he craves to have his team sit back and smash the ball as hard and far as possible, but given how much Everton dominated possession there’s little excuse for not being able to carve out a couple of chances against limited opposition.
Moyes made the changes you’d expect when chasing a game: Beckford came on for the obligatory ten minutes of 4-4-2, Cahill moved to the right of midfield because taking him off is apparently incomprehensible, and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was given fifteen minutes to try and score a screamer. Jack Rodwell also got on the pitch but didn’t have much time to make an impact.
Everton’s only real effort on goal came from a Phil Jagielka piledriver in the dying minutes, although Beckford did manage to drag a shot about twenty yards wide on the turn. Blackburn didn’t do much themselves but still looked the more likely to add to the scoring with on-loan forward Mame Biram Diouf looking particularly dangerous after replacing Kalinic.
A convincing performance is a must in Everton’s next game at home to Wolves on Saturday. Saha deserves to be dropped and Leon Osman has no business playing wide-right. It’ll be interesting to see whether Rodwell comes into the side at the expense of the blatantly unfit Marouane Fellaini (who was all over the place at times on Saturday), though it seems more likely that the only change will be Bilyaletdinov coming in for Osman.
In other news, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has pulled out of his UFC 119 main-event rematch with Frank Mir, citing long-standing hip and knee injuries which require surgery. Former Pride GP winner Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic has agreed to step in and face Mir in the card’s headline bout.
As a big Cro Cop fan who can’t stand Frank Mir I’m really hoping to see a vintage Filipovic performance, but even in his recent win over Pat Barry the Croatian Jack Bauer looked a shadow of the man who terrorised heavyweights in Japan. It’d be sweet to see Mir be the first to suffer a classic Cro Cop left high-kick knockout in a UFC ring though, even if it is pretty unlikely.
Ewood Park has become a difficult place to pick up points since ‘Big’ (which is just a nice way of saying fat) Sam Allardyce rolled into town with his barbaric brand of percentage football. Blackburn only lost something like three home games last season, but Everton were so poor that it makes it difficult to simply put this one down to a one-off stumble in the face of difficult opposition.
Much of the praise that is heaped on David Moyes and his players is well-deserved. We have a good team who work hard for each other and, more often than not, play with some style. However, such are the gaping holes in certain areas of the pitch that I can’t help but feel as though a lot of Evertonians think we’re a lot better than we actually are.
Many blues have been boldly predicting Champions League qualification, pointing to the superb run Everton went on during the second-half of last season as evidence that Moyes finally has a squad good enough to compete at the top-end of the table. Factor in the manager finally having the majority of his players available to him after various long-term injuries, as well as there being no added Europa League fixtures to deal with, and it’s easy to see why people are feeling so optimistic.
Unfortunately though, things are rarely as easy as they first appear in football. Going on a great run of form when your season is effectively dead and buried anyway and there’s no real pressure or expectation from the fans or media is all well and good, but it means very little if you can’t repeat the feat when there are prizes to be won. Losing away from home on the opening day of the season is hardly an indication that a team is doomed to fail, but there were a number of issues evident on Saturday that need to be addressed.
Everton’s biggest problem lies in the final third, where a total lack of movement from the forwards prevents space being opened up for the midfield to attack. Louis Saha and Tim Cahill are useful players in their own ways, but as a pair they seem more interested in contesting individual battles with centre-halves than linking with the midfield or running the channels to drag defenders out of position.
It remains to be seen whether or not Jermaine Beckford is going to cut it in the Premier League or if Yakubu even has a future at Everton, but at this point it looks as though Moyes is going to have to find someone better to lead the line. Money is clearly in short supply so the only option is to move on the likes of Yakubu and Joseph Yobo - two big earners who really shouldn’t be at the club if the manager doesn’t rate them as good enough for the bench.
Speaking of the bench, where was Seamus Coleman? The lad has excelled whenever given a chance in the first team and featured in every pre-season fixture. Considering Everton’s total lack of attacking pace, and the fact Johnny Heitinga was on the bench, it seems bizarre that Moyes felt the need to include Tony Hibbert among his substitutes at Coleman’s expense.
It’s fairly obvious that Everton can’t afford to buy Landon Donovan or any other winger of note to play on the right of midfield, which makes having Coleman over-lapping one of our many centre midfielders that get stuck out wide seem like a no-brainer. Unfortunately Moyes appears to value shoe-horning class prefect Phil Neville into the side above all else.
The goal itself was a freak. As much as I don’t rate Tim ‘lead boots’ Howard it would be stupid to call his comical dropping of a standard catch anything other than a one-off that could have happened to anyone. The American doesn’t seem to let errors damage his confidence so hopefully this won’t lead to a run of poor form.
It’s difficult to say how big an impact Howard’s calamity goalkeeping had on the match. Kalinic’s goal certainly gave Allardyce the invitation he craves to have his team sit back and smash the ball as hard and far as possible, but given how much Everton dominated possession there’s little excuse for not being able to carve out a couple of chances against limited opposition.
Moyes made the changes you’d expect when chasing a game: Beckford came on for the obligatory ten minutes of 4-4-2, Cahill moved to the right of midfield because taking him off is apparently incomprehensible, and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was given fifteen minutes to try and score a screamer. Jack Rodwell also got on the pitch but didn’t have much time to make an impact.
Everton’s only real effort on goal came from a Phil Jagielka piledriver in the dying minutes, although Beckford did manage to drag a shot about twenty yards wide on the turn. Blackburn didn’t do much themselves but still looked the more likely to add to the scoring with on-loan forward Mame Biram Diouf looking particularly dangerous after replacing Kalinic.
A convincing performance is a must in Everton’s next game at home to Wolves on Saturday. Saha deserves to be dropped and Leon Osman has no business playing wide-right. It’ll be interesting to see whether Rodwell comes into the side at the expense of the blatantly unfit Marouane Fellaini (who was all over the place at times on Saturday), though it seems more likely that the only change will be Bilyaletdinov coming in for Osman.
In other news, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has pulled out of his UFC 119 main-event rematch with Frank Mir, citing long-standing hip and knee injuries which require surgery. Former Pride GP winner Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic has agreed to step in and face Mir in the card’s headline bout.
As a big Cro Cop fan who can’t stand Frank Mir I’m really hoping to see a vintage Filipovic performance, but even in his recent win over Pat Barry the Croatian Jack Bauer looked a shadow of the man who terrorised heavyweights in Japan. It’d be sweet to see Mir be the first to suffer a classic Cro Cop left high-kick knockout in a UFC ring though, even if it is pretty unlikely.
Monday 9 August 2010
UFC 117, Arteta signs new deal
The surprises have been coming thick and fast in MMA throughout 2010, and last night the main event of UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen came within half a round of topping the lot.
Outspoken All-American wrestler Chael Sonnen made good on almost every threat he made towards Anderson Silva during the protracted build-up to last night’s middleweight title bout, except the most important of all: that he would take the champion’s belt.
Sonnen used his elite wrestling and suffocating top-control to keep ‘The Spider’ on his back for the majority of all four and a half rounds, only for Silva to prevent one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by submitting the challenger with a triangle choke at 3:10 of the fifth and final round. Sonnen had dominated virtually every minute of the fight up until that point, even getting the better of Silva in stand up exchanges on several occasions, but once again the Oregon-native’s poor submission defence cost him at the death.
From the opening bell Sonnen took the fight to Silva; boldly refusing to show any respect for the champion’s vaunted muay-thai skills as he searched for takedowns. Sonnen displayed solid striking himself as he rocked Silva with a straight-left hand, with which he became the first man to visibly hurt Silva during his UFC run.
Much of Sonnen’s pre-fight rhetoric centred around forcing Silva to leave his comfort zone and engage from bell to bell, and that was certainly the case as he got in the champion’s face from the opening seconds of each round, refusing him the opportunity to feel his way into the bout or gauge striking distance.
Despite appearing to have absorbed far more damage than Silva after leaving the Octagon, Sonnen managed to land 298 strikes during the 23 minutes and 10 seconds of the fight – an MMA record. Silva dropped Sonnen with a hard elbow and looked to mount early in the fourth, but even then the Team Quest wrestler was able to demonstrate his superior grappling by reversing position and again riding out the round on top.
The moment Silva lost his footing at the start of the fifth round and again allowed Sonnen to pin his back to the mat, it seemed all hope was lost for the widely-regarded pound-for-pound king. Sonnen continued to rain down punches on his battered foe, apparently unconcerned with the position which Silva was working his legs into.
Having secured wrist-control and shifted his long legs up towards Sonnen’s shoulders, Anderson Silva slapped on a triangle followed by an armbar to coax a submission out of the no.1 contender at 3:10 of round five. Initially there was some debate over whether or not Sonnen had tapped, but replays showed that referee Josh Rosenthal had made the right call and Silva extended his record-breaking UFC run to 12-0.
In the wake of the fight Silva spoke of how a rib injury sustained in the week before UFC 117 affected his performance on the night, and given the champion’s nervous disposition upon entering the cage and complete lack of any takedown defence it isn’t difficult to believe him. ‘The Spider’ looked out of sorts from the opening bell and failed to demonstrate any of the glittering stand-up offence that has defined his dominance over the UFC’s 185lbs division.
Maybe Silva was injured, but it’s also entirely possible that a wrestling juggernaut like Sonnen could dominate the middle-weight champion even without bruised ribs. At 35 years old Anderson Silva could well be starting to slow down, and only a re-match will confirm whether or not Sonnen has the champion’s number.
If Silva vs. Sonnen taught us anything it’s that beating ‘The Spider’ takes three things: world-class wrestling, a willingness to fearlessly absorb strikes in search of takedowns, and, perhaps most importantly, a slice of good fortune. Chael Sonnen was all out of luck on Saturday night.
MMA websites and message boards are predictably filling up with talk of how Sonnen’s manhandling of Silva proves that the much-discussed super-fight between the middleweight champion and welterweight ruler Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre would follow the same pattern, only with GSP having the submission defence to finish the job. I disagree.
Regardless of whether Sonnen’s dominance was a result of injury or subpar takedown defence, of equal importance was the fact that he is an enormous middleweight who showed absolutely no respect for Silva’s knockout power. While I believe too much is made of GSP’s TKO loss to Matt Serra in terms of judging his chin, there’s no way he would be willing to recklessly storm into the pocket like Sonnen did. Add to that doubts over whether GSP, a natural at 170lbs, would have the size to ragdoll Silva at middleweight, and I don’t think there’s reason to suggest that St-Pierre is a sure bet to squash ‘The Spider’.
Elsewhere on the card John Fitch scored his second UFC win over Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves with a unanimous decision victory. Fitch shutdown the Brazilian muay-thai artist throughout the three rounds and cemented his position as the undisputed #2 welterweight in the world. It remains to be seen if Fitch will face the winner of GSP vs. Josh Koscheck in December for the 170lbs title, or if a no.1 contender match with whoever comes out on top between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann is next for the American Kickboxing Academy standout.
One thing that is certain is that Junior Dos Santos will face the winner of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez’s heavyweight title tilt in October. Dos Santos battered game veteran Roy Nelson for three solid rounds, showing outstanding boxing and takedown defence en route to a landslide decision victory over the durable ‘Ultimate Fighter’ champion.
Clay Guida re-established himself in the lightweight division with a submission victory over top prospect Rafael Dos Anjos. The Brazilian appeared to be ahead on the scorecards only for a broken jaw suffered in the opening round to force him to tap out while caught against the cage during round three.
Matt Hughes shared submission of the night honours with Anderson Silva after causing Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida to pass out from a never before seen front headlock choke. The win re-affirms Hughes’ relevance in the welterweight division after subpar showings in his last two outings against Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie.
There was good news for Everton fans on Saturday as Mikel Arteta somewhat surprisingly signed a new five year contract. The deal, worth a reported £75,000 a-week, will make Arteta the highest earner in the club’s history. The club did well to break the news on the same day that the team were comfortably beaten by the first decent side they’ve faced in pre-season, falling 2-0 away to Steve McLaren’s Wolfsburg.
Outspoken All-American wrestler Chael Sonnen made good on almost every threat he made towards Anderson Silva during the protracted build-up to last night’s middleweight title bout, except the most important of all: that he would take the champion’s belt.
Sonnen used his elite wrestling and suffocating top-control to keep ‘The Spider’ on his back for the majority of all four and a half rounds, only for Silva to prevent one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by submitting the challenger with a triangle choke at 3:10 of the fifth and final round. Sonnen had dominated virtually every minute of the fight up until that point, even getting the better of Silva in stand up exchanges on several occasions, but once again the Oregon-native’s poor submission defence cost him at the death.
From the opening bell Sonnen took the fight to Silva; boldly refusing to show any respect for the champion’s vaunted muay-thai skills as he searched for takedowns. Sonnen displayed solid striking himself as he rocked Silva with a straight-left hand, with which he became the first man to visibly hurt Silva during his UFC run.
Much of Sonnen’s pre-fight rhetoric centred around forcing Silva to leave his comfort zone and engage from bell to bell, and that was certainly the case as he got in the champion’s face from the opening seconds of each round, refusing him the opportunity to feel his way into the bout or gauge striking distance.
Despite appearing to have absorbed far more damage than Silva after leaving the Octagon, Sonnen managed to land 298 strikes during the 23 minutes and 10 seconds of the fight – an MMA record. Silva dropped Sonnen with a hard elbow and looked to mount early in the fourth, but even then the Team Quest wrestler was able to demonstrate his superior grappling by reversing position and again riding out the round on top.
The moment Silva lost his footing at the start of the fifth round and again allowed Sonnen to pin his back to the mat, it seemed all hope was lost for the widely-regarded pound-for-pound king. Sonnen continued to rain down punches on his battered foe, apparently unconcerned with the position which Silva was working his legs into.
Having secured wrist-control and shifted his long legs up towards Sonnen’s shoulders, Anderson Silva slapped on a triangle followed by an armbar to coax a submission out of the no.1 contender at 3:10 of round five. Initially there was some debate over whether or not Sonnen had tapped, but replays showed that referee Josh Rosenthal had made the right call and Silva extended his record-breaking UFC run to 12-0.
In the wake of the fight Silva spoke of how a rib injury sustained in the week before UFC 117 affected his performance on the night, and given the champion’s nervous disposition upon entering the cage and complete lack of any takedown defence it isn’t difficult to believe him. ‘The Spider’ looked out of sorts from the opening bell and failed to demonstrate any of the glittering stand-up offence that has defined his dominance over the UFC’s 185lbs division.
Maybe Silva was injured, but it’s also entirely possible that a wrestling juggernaut like Sonnen could dominate the middle-weight champion even without bruised ribs. At 35 years old Anderson Silva could well be starting to slow down, and only a re-match will confirm whether or not Sonnen has the champion’s number.
If Silva vs. Sonnen taught us anything it’s that beating ‘The Spider’ takes three things: world-class wrestling, a willingness to fearlessly absorb strikes in search of takedowns, and, perhaps most importantly, a slice of good fortune. Chael Sonnen was all out of luck on Saturday night.
MMA websites and message boards are predictably filling up with talk of how Sonnen’s manhandling of Silva proves that the much-discussed super-fight between the middleweight champion and welterweight ruler Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre would follow the same pattern, only with GSP having the submission defence to finish the job. I disagree.
Regardless of whether Sonnen’s dominance was a result of injury or subpar takedown defence, of equal importance was the fact that he is an enormous middleweight who showed absolutely no respect for Silva’s knockout power. While I believe too much is made of GSP’s TKO loss to Matt Serra in terms of judging his chin, there’s no way he would be willing to recklessly storm into the pocket like Sonnen did. Add to that doubts over whether GSP, a natural at 170lbs, would have the size to ragdoll Silva at middleweight, and I don’t think there’s reason to suggest that St-Pierre is a sure bet to squash ‘The Spider’.
Elsewhere on the card John Fitch scored his second UFC win over Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves with a unanimous decision victory. Fitch shutdown the Brazilian muay-thai artist throughout the three rounds and cemented his position as the undisputed #2 welterweight in the world. It remains to be seen if Fitch will face the winner of GSP vs. Josh Koscheck in December for the 170lbs title, or if a no.1 contender match with whoever comes out on top between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann is next for the American Kickboxing Academy standout.
One thing that is certain is that Junior Dos Santos will face the winner of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez’s heavyweight title tilt in October. Dos Santos battered game veteran Roy Nelson for three solid rounds, showing outstanding boxing and takedown defence en route to a landslide decision victory over the durable ‘Ultimate Fighter’ champion.
Clay Guida re-established himself in the lightweight division with a submission victory over top prospect Rafael Dos Anjos. The Brazilian appeared to be ahead on the scorecards only for a broken jaw suffered in the opening round to force him to tap out while caught against the cage during round three.
Matt Hughes shared submission of the night honours with Anderson Silva after causing Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida to pass out from a never before seen front headlock choke. The win re-affirms Hughes’ relevance in the welterweight division after subpar showings in his last two outings against Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie.
There was good news for Everton fans on Saturday as Mikel Arteta somewhat surprisingly signed a new five year contract. The deal, worth a reported £75,000 a-week, will make Arteta the highest earner in the club’s history. The club did well to break the news on the same day that the team were comfortably beaten by the first decent side they’ve faced in pre-season, falling 2-0 away to Steve McLaren’s Wolfsburg.
Wednesday 14 July 2010
World Cup final, UFC 116
The 2010 World Cup final capped an interesting but largely uninspiring tournament on Sunday night. Andres Iniesta’s extra time goal gave Spain a deserved victory over an incredibly dirty Holland team, led by the evil Mark van Bommel.
Van Bommel’s ability to escape bookings for horrendous challenges became more and more amazing with each passing game, but the final just took the piss. Both van Bommel and Nigel de Jong should have been dismissed before half-time, although de Jong’s chest-high, studs-up tiger crane kick didn’t seem as bad as it should seeing as though it was Xabi Alonso he hit.
The best chance of the game fell to Holland’s Arjen Robben, but the ancient-looking winger couldn’t beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas after making Carles Puyol look like Alan Stubbs and racing clear of the Spanish defence.
David Villa should have scored, and won me £80 (shithouse), after Everton’s own Johnny Heitinga fell over while trying to deal with a difficult cross. Villa looked certain to break the deadlock, only for Heitinga to somehow swing his legs around and block the shot. The defender’s night took a turn for the worse in extra time though, as Howard Webb showed him a second yellow card for seemingly placing his hand on Iniesta’s shoulder.
Overall Spain are worthy winners and unquestionably the best team in international football. They weren’t as exciting to watch as the young German side that everyone is obsessing over, but the way they’re able to completely dictate the tempo of the game through midfield is brilliant.
Elsewhere in the world of professional sport, Brock Lesnar submitted Shane Carwin to become the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. Lesnar weathered a brutal storm and looked dead and buried after Carwin battered him both standing and on the ground for the duration of the first round, only for the Minnesota native to rally back and secure a submission victory in the second.
Many observers claimed that referee Josh Rosenthal should have called an end to the fight during the opening five minutes, but Lesnar responded to the official’s orders to keep active and managed to absorb many of Carwin’s outrageously powerful punches with his forearms, keeping himself in the fight until the end of the round.
By the beginning of the second stanza Carwin was visibly tired - he later admitted that his legs were completely cramped up at that point – and Lesnar immediately smelled blood and successfully shot for a takedown. Landing in side control, Lesnar was able to mount Carwin but, quite shockingly, instead of trying to ground and pound his gassed out opponent, the former WWE superstar shifted into a triangle choke position and proceeded to stun the watching world by scoring the first submission win of his MMA career.
Despite being a hugely unpopular figure amongst hardcore MMA fans, Lesnar earned a lot of respect for the guts he showed in surviving Carwin’s onslaught – something that no other heavyweight was able to do in Carwin’s previous twelve outings. Even though Carwin didn’t finish Lesnar it appeared that he at least beat some humility into the champion, who spoke respectfully about his opponent during his post-fight interview.
Lesnar and Carwin headlined what turned out to be a fantastic card. Chris Lytle tapped out Matt Brown with a rarely-seen arm bar from a mounted crucifix position, cementing his status as the welterweight division’s premier gatekeeper.
Fight of the night honours went to Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama for their bloody three round war. Leben took the fight on extremely short notice, having stopped previously undefeated wrestler Aaron Simpson just two weeks prior to UFC 116, but he showed little sign of fatigue as he pulled out a third round triangle and submitted the world-ranked judoka.
Akiyama, who voiced his dissatisfaction at having to face Leben after Wanderlei Silva pulled out of the fight with a knee injury, looked good early on and was probably ahead on the score cards having used his world-class judo skills to take Leben down numerous times. The Japanese superstar’s cardio came into question late on though, as he allowed Leben to drag him into a stand-up war before gassing and getting caught in a triangle.
Another fight of the night contender was Stephan Bonnar vs Krzysztof Soszynski, which ended in a second round TKO victory for Bonnar, who downed his foe with a crushing knee before landing a barrage of punches to the downed Soszynski. The win snapped a three-fight losing streak for Bonnar.
George Sotiropoulos fired himself into title contention in the lightweight division after dominating Kurt Pellegrino over three rounds. Sotiropoulos controlled Pellegrino on the ground and outstruck him standing en route a unanimous decision victory.
Hopefully Gerald Harris has earned himself a future spot on the main card after KO’ing highly-touted prospect Dave Branch with a vicious power slam. Branch showed his lack of experience by trying to jump into a standing guillotine against a powerhouse wrestler like Harris, and the TUF 7 alumni took advantage of the situation, grabbing Branch's head before slamming him into the mat. The win was Harris’ third in a row in the Octagon and moved him to 19-2 in his MMA career.
It’s already been announced that Brock Lesnar’s next title defence will come against 8-0 wrestling juggernaut Cain Velasquez. In the wake of Lesnar getting tooled on the feet by Shane Carwin, many are speculating that Velasquez (who displayed excellent boxing in his bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) will beat Lesnar to the punch and have the cardio to finish what Carwin started.
I’m picking Lesnar though. No one in the division hits harder than Carwin and Lesnar was able to survive him, so I don’t see Velasquez finishing the champion either.
Van Bommel’s ability to escape bookings for horrendous challenges became more and more amazing with each passing game, but the final just took the piss. Both van Bommel and Nigel de Jong should have been dismissed before half-time, although de Jong’s chest-high, studs-up tiger crane kick didn’t seem as bad as it should seeing as though it was Xabi Alonso he hit.
The best chance of the game fell to Holland’s Arjen Robben, but the ancient-looking winger couldn’t beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas after making Carles Puyol look like Alan Stubbs and racing clear of the Spanish defence.
David Villa should have scored, and won me £80 (shithouse), after Everton’s own Johnny Heitinga fell over while trying to deal with a difficult cross. Villa looked certain to break the deadlock, only for Heitinga to somehow swing his legs around and block the shot. The defender’s night took a turn for the worse in extra time though, as Howard Webb showed him a second yellow card for seemingly placing his hand on Iniesta’s shoulder.
Overall Spain are worthy winners and unquestionably the best team in international football. They weren’t as exciting to watch as the young German side that everyone is obsessing over, but the way they’re able to completely dictate the tempo of the game through midfield is brilliant.
Elsewhere in the world of professional sport, Brock Lesnar submitted Shane Carwin to become the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. Lesnar weathered a brutal storm and looked dead and buried after Carwin battered him both standing and on the ground for the duration of the first round, only for the Minnesota native to rally back and secure a submission victory in the second.
Many observers claimed that referee Josh Rosenthal should have called an end to the fight during the opening five minutes, but Lesnar responded to the official’s orders to keep active and managed to absorb many of Carwin’s outrageously powerful punches with his forearms, keeping himself in the fight until the end of the round.
By the beginning of the second stanza Carwin was visibly tired - he later admitted that his legs were completely cramped up at that point – and Lesnar immediately smelled blood and successfully shot for a takedown. Landing in side control, Lesnar was able to mount Carwin but, quite shockingly, instead of trying to ground and pound his gassed out opponent, the former WWE superstar shifted into a triangle choke position and proceeded to stun the watching world by scoring the first submission win of his MMA career.
Despite being a hugely unpopular figure amongst hardcore MMA fans, Lesnar earned a lot of respect for the guts he showed in surviving Carwin’s onslaught – something that no other heavyweight was able to do in Carwin’s previous twelve outings. Even though Carwin didn’t finish Lesnar it appeared that he at least beat some humility into the champion, who spoke respectfully about his opponent during his post-fight interview.
Lesnar and Carwin headlined what turned out to be a fantastic card. Chris Lytle tapped out Matt Brown with a rarely-seen arm bar from a mounted crucifix position, cementing his status as the welterweight division’s premier gatekeeper.
Fight of the night honours went to Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama for their bloody three round war. Leben took the fight on extremely short notice, having stopped previously undefeated wrestler Aaron Simpson just two weeks prior to UFC 116, but he showed little sign of fatigue as he pulled out a third round triangle and submitted the world-ranked judoka.
Akiyama, who voiced his dissatisfaction at having to face Leben after Wanderlei Silva pulled out of the fight with a knee injury, looked good early on and was probably ahead on the score cards having used his world-class judo skills to take Leben down numerous times. The Japanese superstar’s cardio came into question late on though, as he allowed Leben to drag him into a stand-up war before gassing and getting caught in a triangle.
Another fight of the night contender was Stephan Bonnar vs Krzysztof Soszynski, which ended in a second round TKO victory for Bonnar, who downed his foe with a crushing knee before landing a barrage of punches to the downed Soszynski. The win snapped a three-fight losing streak for Bonnar.
George Sotiropoulos fired himself into title contention in the lightweight division after dominating Kurt Pellegrino over three rounds. Sotiropoulos controlled Pellegrino on the ground and outstruck him standing en route a unanimous decision victory.
Hopefully Gerald Harris has earned himself a future spot on the main card after KO’ing highly-touted prospect Dave Branch with a vicious power slam. Branch showed his lack of experience by trying to jump into a standing guillotine against a powerhouse wrestler like Harris, and the TUF 7 alumni took advantage of the situation, grabbing Branch's head before slamming him into the mat. The win was Harris’ third in a row in the Octagon and moved him to 19-2 in his MMA career.
It’s already been announced that Brock Lesnar’s next title defence will come against 8-0 wrestling juggernaut Cain Velasquez. In the wake of Lesnar getting tooled on the feet by Shane Carwin, many are speculating that Velasquez (who displayed excellent boxing in his bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) will beat Lesnar to the punch and have the cardio to finish what Carwin started.
I’m picking Lesnar though. No one in the division hits harder than Carwin and Lesnar was able to survive him, so I don’t see Velasquez finishing the champion either.
Wednesday 30 June 2010
One Month Off
Well, it’s actually been more like two months since I last posted but I like the title.
A lot has happened during the month I spent in Thailand, most notably the start of what’s been a very interesting World Cup, and in the weeks before I left there was the end of the Premier League season as well as the Champions League final. There’s also been more than a few major talking points in the MMA world, so instead of linking it all together like some sort of skilled writer I’ll settle for addressing each topic individually.
Everton
A phenomenal run of form throughout the second half of the season was still only enough to see Everton secure an 8th place finish. It’s easy to cite injuries and Joleon Lescott as reasons for the blues’ terrible start to the campaign, but the fact remains we’ve slipped three places and failed to make Europe for the first time in four years.
It’s difficult to see how David Moyes can realistically hope to get this team back in the mix for Champions League qualification while he continues to operate on what is effectively a transfer budget of zero. Of the seven teams who finished above us only Liverpool look vulnerable, but with rumours of an Arab buyout refusing to go away it seems likely that they’ll be bailed out sooner than later.
Moyes has been active in the transfer market though, making several modest acquisitions early on. Jermaine Beckford has signed on a free transfer from Leeds United, which says a lot about the manager’s opinion of Louis Saha and Yakubu. Beckford has a fine goal-scoring record in League One but it seems strange that at 27 years old no club at a higher level has taken a chance on him before now. He was the subject of an unsuccessful bid from Championship winners Newcastle United in January, and the woeful performances he put in after Leeds refused to let him go make Moyes’ decision to bring him in all the more surprising.
Jan Mucha, a goalkeeper who reached the second round of the World Cup with Slovakia, has also joined on a bosman. Judging by his World Cup showing he should certainly make reserve and League Cup fixtures more interesting with his madcap, Jens Lehmann style of goalkeeping. He’s made some cracking saves but overall it seems unlikely that he’ll depose Tim Howard as Everton’s no.1 anytime soon. The way he steamed off his line to try and clatter Dirk Kuyt, only for the unsightly Liverpool striker to beat him to the ball with ease and set up a goal, was positively Richard Wright-esque.
Portuguese striker Jao Silva is another new addition. Apparently he was mustard in Portugal’s second division last season so I can only assume that defences in the reserve league are in for a torrid time. I feel a bit bad for just dismissing Silva straight away but these obscure purchases never seem to amount to anything.
As always the papers are keen to get Everton’s best players sold off. One rag has been talking about Arsenal making a pair of ultimately failed bids for Phil Jagielka, but it seems very unlikely that such a story would fail to at least make the Sky Sports News ticker bar if there was any truth in it.
Little has changed with regards to Steven Pienaar’s situation. He had a quiet World Cup, but surely no one expected him to single-handedly drag South Africa out of the group stages anyway? If someone like Arsene Wenger is serious about moving for Pienaar then he’ll have made his mind up long before this tournament kicked off. I’m still hoping that he’ll sign a new deal but it seems extremely unlikely at this point.
The most alarming bit of gossip has been the news that Mikel Arteta is apparently pining for a move away from Goodison. The Spaniard being linked with a move away has become a staple of summer transfer windows, but the fact that the Echo ran the story with direct quotes from Bill Kenwright is a worrying sign that there could be something in this one.
Kenwright admitted that both he and Moyes had been working over the summer to persuade Arteta to remain at Everton beyond his current deal, which has two years left to run, though the chairman did refute claims that Arteta’s uncertainty has anything to do with the midfielder’s young son recently being diagnosed as partially sighted.
If Everton really are on the verge of losing Arteta and Pienaar then Moyes needs to act fast. No one wants to see our two most gifted footballers leave, but if it’s going to happen then it has to be done as quickly as possible so that we don’t start the season with a completely disjointed side and end up scrambling around in the last week of the transfer window looking for replacements.
The World Cup
It was a bit difficult to follow the World Cup while in Thailand as you never really watch the match properly when you’re drinking in a bar, but since getting back a week and a half ago I’ve found it extremely engrossing despite the number of high profile teams and players failing to perform.
England getting knocked out by the first decent team they faced was almost too predictable to be funny. Almost. As was always going to be the case, Fabio Capello’s authoritarian approach, which was the greatest thing ever when England were rolling over Croatia and Kazakhstan in qualifying, has now been derided as out of touch and the Italian has already been labelled Sven mkII.
It was clear from the squad England picked that they weren’t getting very far. The only decent goalkeeper was told he was too young to play, Jamie Carragher, who couldn’t get a game for England back when he was actually a good centre-half, was taken as a backup full-back, and Rio Ferdinand was named as captain after managing about twelve appearances for Manchester United last season.
Capello will probably have to go because his reputation in this country is pretty much shot in the wake of the battering he’s taken in the press since Sunday. Given how he banged on about not considering any injured or out of form players it’s difficult to imagine anyone taking him seriously again.
The folly of picking someone like Ledley King doesn’t need any further discussion. Carragher, Ferdiand and Terry all demonstrated rapidly declining abilities last season, while Matthew Upson has never done anything to suggest he could cope at the highest level. The very least a team needs to do well at a major tournament is a competent defence.
The reasoning behind spending obscene amounts of money on appointing a strong and experienced character like Capello was that he wouldn’t be afraid to make the tough decisions and leave players out without consideration for their reputations. But after all the talk it turned out that the supposedly ruthless autocrat was gripped by the same fears as the rest. Capello knew that as much as the press would lap it up if he chose to play only one of Lampard and Gerrard, as soon as England suffered a negative result he would be slaughtered for leaving out a star player.
Dunga and Burt van Marwijk were heavily criticised for leaving big names like Ronaldinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy out of their respective squads, but both Brazil and Holland have reaped the benefits of having twenty three fit and firing players at their disposal.
Anyway, now that England are out we can enjoy the football in peace. I like Spain a lot, but I reckon Vicente Del Bosque’s determination to shoehorn Xabi Alonso and a half-fit Fernando Torres into his team will cost them in the end. Spain played a perfectly balanced 4-4-2 when pissing the Euros two years ago, and as good as Alonso is it’s not like anyone watched that team and thought they were lacking a passer in midfield.
I didn’t think Brazil had the firepower to win the whole thing, but after the way they took apart Chile I wouldn’t bet against them. Argentina look good but are yet to be tested by a side who can get at their shaky defence or overrun what I think is a suspect midfield. Their game against Germany should be a cracker as neither team is very strong at the back while both are fantastic going forward.
MMA
Fedor Emelianenko’s stunning first round loss against massive betting underdog Fabricio Werdum has to go down as one of the biggest sporting upsets of recent times. Fedor dropped Werdum early in the bout before diving straight into the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion’s guard with reckless abandon. After powering out of a few submission attempts Emelianenko chose to remain on the ground, throwing wild hooks at a man who no heavyweight in the world should consider getting horizontal with.
It was then, at 63 seconds of the very first round, that hell froze over. Werdum caught Fedor in a deep triangle while simultaneously cranking an armbar, tapping out the man who had ruled the heavyweight division for seven years prior to this most unexpected of losses.
Fedor’s future looks uncertain at this point. With only one fight left on his much-maligned contract with M1-Global, Emelianenko could conceivably rematch Werdum sometime this year before finishing off his career with the UFC. However, with ‘The Last Emperor’ talking about retirement more and more frequently in recent months it seems more likely that his one remaining bout on US soil will be his last.
Werdum’s improbable victory is the latest in a series of surprises served up in 2010. Whether or not you regard Rashad Evans’ grounding out of Quinton Jackson as an upset or not, there’s no denying the cataclysmic shock caused by Frankie Edgar taking a decision over BJ Penn to win the UFC lightweight title. Added to that has been the sight of Lyoto Machida being knocked out cold in the first round of his light-heavyweight title rematch with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Chael Sonnen becoming the no.1 contender for Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown by dominating Nate Marquardt, as well as Jake Shields rallying back from a disastrous opening round to thoroughly outmuscle Dan Henderson in their Strikeforce middleweight title fight.
There’s every chance we’ll see another title change hands come Saturday night as Shane Carwin faces Brock Lesnar to decide the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship. Lesnar has been on the shelf for almost twelve months following a battle against a career-threatening intestinal illness, during which time Carwin became interim champion with a brutal first round knockout of former title holder Frank Mir.
Much will depend on how the time off has affected Lesnar in terms of ring rust, but either way expect a short fight.
A lot has happened during the month I spent in Thailand, most notably the start of what’s been a very interesting World Cup, and in the weeks before I left there was the end of the Premier League season as well as the Champions League final. There’s also been more than a few major talking points in the MMA world, so instead of linking it all together like some sort of skilled writer I’ll settle for addressing each topic individually.
Everton
A phenomenal run of form throughout the second half of the season was still only enough to see Everton secure an 8th place finish. It’s easy to cite injuries and Joleon Lescott as reasons for the blues’ terrible start to the campaign, but the fact remains we’ve slipped three places and failed to make Europe for the first time in four years.
It’s difficult to see how David Moyes can realistically hope to get this team back in the mix for Champions League qualification while he continues to operate on what is effectively a transfer budget of zero. Of the seven teams who finished above us only Liverpool look vulnerable, but with rumours of an Arab buyout refusing to go away it seems likely that they’ll be bailed out sooner than later.
Moyes has been active in the transfer market though, making several modest acquisitions early on. Jermaine Beckford has signed on a free transfer from Leeds United, which says a lot about the manager’s opinion of Louis Saha and Yakubu. Beckford has a fine goal-scoring record in League One but it seems strange that at 27 years old no club at a higher level has taken a chance on him before now. He was the subject of an unsuccessful bid from Championship winners Newcastle United in January, and the woeful performances he put in after Leeds refused to let him go make Moyes’ decision to bring him in all the more surprising.
Jan Mucha, a goalkeeper who reached the second round of the World Cup with Slovakia, has also joined on a bosman. Judging by his World Cup showing he should certainly make reserve and League Cup fixtures more interesting with his madcap, Jens Lehmann style of goalkeeping. He’s made some cracking saves but overall it seems unlikely that he’ll depose Tim Howard as Everton’s no.1 anytime soon. The way he steamed off his line to try and clatter Dirk Kuyt, only for the unsightly Liverpool striker to beat him to the ball with ease and set up a goal, was positively Richard Wright-esque.
Portuguese striker Jao Silva is another new addition. Apparently he was mustard in Portugal’s second division last season so I can only assume that defences in the reserve league are in for a torrid time. I feel a bit bad for just dismissing Silva straight away but these obscure purchases never seem to amount to anything.
As always the papers are keen to get Everton’s best players sold off. One rag has been talking about Arsenal making a pair of ultimately failed bids for Phil Jagielka, but it seems very unlikely that such a story would fail to at least make the Sky Sports News ticker bar if there was any truth in it.
Little has changed with regards to Steven Pienaar’s situation. He had a quiet World Cup, but surely no one expected him to single-handedly drag South Africa out of the group stages anyway? If someone like Arsene Wenger is serious about moving for Pienaar then he’ll have made his mind up long before this tournament kicked off. I’m still hoping that he’ll sign a new deal but it seems extremely unlikely at this point.
The most alarming bit of gossip has been the news that Mikel Arteta is apparently pining for a move away from Goodison. The Spaniard being linked with a move away has become a staple of summer transfer windows, but the fact that the Echo ran the story with direct quotes from Bill Kenwright is a worrying sign that there could be something in this one.
Kenwright admitted that both he and Moyes had been working over the summer to persuade Arteta to remain at Everton beyond his current deal, which has two years left to run, though the chairman did refute claims that Arteta’s uncertainty has anything to do with the midfielder’s young son recently being diagnosed as partially sighted.
If Everton really are on the verge of losing Arteta and Pienaar then Moyes needs to act fast. No one wants to see our two most gifted footballers leave, but if it’s going to happen then it has to be done as quickly as possible so that we don’t start the season with a completely disjointed side and end up scrambling around in the last week of the transfer window looking for replacements.
The World Cup
It was a bit difficult to follow the World Cup while in Thailand as you never really watch the match properly when you’re drinking in a bar, but since getting back a week and a half ago I’ve found it extremely engrossing despite the number of high profile teams and players failing to perform.
England getting knocked out by the first decent team they faced was almost too predictable to be funny. Almost. As was always going to be the case, Fabio Capello’s authoritarian approach, which was the greatest thing ever when England were rolling over Croatia and Kazakhstan in qualifying, has now been derided as out of touch and the Italian has already been labelled Sven mkII.
It was clear from the squad England picked that they weren’t getting very far. The only decent goalkeeper was told he was too young to play, Jamie Carragher, who couldn’t get a game for England back when he was actually a good centre-half, was taken as a backup full-back, and Rio Ferdinand was named as captain after managing about twelve appearances for Manchester United last season.
Capello will probably have to go because his reputation in this country is pretty much shot in the wake of the battering he’s taken in the press since Sunday. Given how he banged on about not considering any injured or out of form players it’s difficult to imagine anyone taking him seriously again.
The folly of picking someone like Ledley King doesn’t need any further discussion. Carragher, Ferdiand and Terry all demonstrated rapidly declining abilities last season, while Matthew Upson has never done anything to suggest he could cope at the highest level. The very least a team needs to do well at a major tournament is a competent defence.
The reasoning behind spending obscene amounts of money on appointing a strong and experienced character like Capello was that he wouldn’t be afraid to make the tough decisions and leave players out without consideration for their reputations. But after all the talk it turned out that the supposedly ruthless autocrat was gripped by the same fears as the rest. Capello knew that as much as the press would lap it up if he chose to play only one of Lampard and Gerrard, as soon as England suffered a negative result he would be slaughtered for leaving out a star player.
Dunga and Burt van Marwijk were heavily criticised for leaving big names like Ronaldinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy out of their respective squads, but both Brazil and Holland have reaped the benefits of having twenty three fit and firing players at their disposal.
Anyway, now that England are out we can enjoy the football in peace. I like Spain a lot, but I reckon Vicente Del Bosque’s determination to shoehorn Xabi Alonso and a half-fit Fernando Torres into his team will cost them in the end. Spain played a perfectly balanced 4-4-2 when pissing the Euros two years ago, and as good as Alonso is it’s not like anyone watched that team and thought they were lacking a passer in midfield.
I didn’t think Brazil had the firepower to win the whole thing, but after the way they took apart Chile I wouldn’t bet against them. Argentina look good but are yet to be tested by a side who can get at their shaky defence or overrun what I think is a suspect midfield. Their game against Germany should be a cracker as neither team is very strong at the back while both are fantastic going forward.
MMA
Fedor Emelianenko’s stunning first round loss against massive betting underdog Fabricio Werdum has to go down as one of the biggest sporting upsets of recent times. Fedor dropped Werdum early in the bout before diving straight into the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion’s guard with reckless abandon. After powering out of a few submission attempts Emelianenko chose to remain on the ground, throwing wild hooks at a man who no heavyweight in the world should consider getting horizontal with.
It was then, at 63 seconds of the very first round, that hell froze over. Werdum caught Fedor in a deep triangle while simultaneously cranking an armbar, tapping out the man who had ruled the heavyweight division for seven years prior to this most unexpected of losses.
Fedor’s future looks uncertain at this point. With only one fight left on his much-maligned contract with M1-Global, Emelianenko could conceivably rematch Werdum sometime this year before finishing off his career with the UFC. However, with ‘The Last Emperor’ talking about retirement more and more frequently in recent months it seems more likely that his one remaining bout on US soil will be his last.
Werdum’s improbable victory is the latest in a series of surprises served up in 2010. Whether or not you regard Rashad Evans’ grounding out of Quinton Jackson as an upset or not, there’s no denying the cataclysmic shock caused by Frankie Edgar taking a decision over BJ Penn to win the UFC lightweight title. Added to that has been the sight of Lyoto Machida being knocked out cold in the first round of his light-heavyweight title rematch with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Chael Sonnen becoming the no.1 contender for Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown by dominating Nate Marquardt, as well as Jake Shields rallying back from a disastrous opening round to thoroughly outmuscle Dan Henderson in their Strikeforce middleweight title fight.
There’s every chance we’ll see another title change hands come Saturday night as Shane Carwin faces Brock Lesnar to decide the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship. Lesnar has been on the shelf for almost twelve months following a battle against a career-threatening intestinal illness, during which time Carwin became interim champion with a brutal first round knockout of former title holder Frank Mir.
Much will depend on how the time off has affected Lesnar in terms of ring rust, but either way expect a short fight.
Friday 30 April 2010
Atletico Madrid v Fulham set for Europa League final
'Deadly’ Diego Forlan came back to haunt Liverpool once again last night, as the ex-Manchester United forward scored the decisive away goal that sent Atletico Madrid through to the Europa League final in Hamburg.
Atletico came into the game with a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg (with the goal in that game also coming from Forlan) and it was clear from Rafa Benitez’s team selection that he was wary of conceding what could, and did, prove to be a crucial away goal. Liverpool ’s injury problems at left-back meant Glen Johnson switching flanks and Javier Mascherano filling in at right-back. Mascherano never looked comfortable and his distribution, which is poor at the best of times, was terrible.
Liverpool played quite well in the first half but became overly cautious after opening the scoring through the improving Alberto Aquilani. The Italian gave his team the lead with a neat first-time finish from the edge of the box, and it looked as if Atletico were ready to collapse. The rest of normal time was played out without too much incident though, with both teams unwilling to open up in search of a winner.
Liverpool started extra-time aggressively and quickly made it 2-0 on the night through Yossi Benayoun, who is far and away their most underrated player. Benayoun held his run on the edge of the box and was picked out with a lovely pass from the otherwise garbage Lucas Leiva, and the Israeli beat 19 year old David De Gea with a calm left-footed finish. It was a nice goal but the goalkeeper really should have done better.
The game then picked up after the introduction of Juarado for Atletico, with the Spaniard picking the ball up from deep and driving at the heart of Liverpool ’s ever-declining defence. Atletico started to look more dangerous going forward and soon scored what would prove to be the decisive goal as Diego Forlan, scorer of a comedy goal at Anfield for Manchester United years ago, got on the end of Jose Antonio Reyes’ pass and absolutely hammered the ball beyond Pepe Reina.
Glen Johnson, who has never looked particularly solid defensively, made a mess of an aerial challenge with Reyes in the build up to the goal, and you have to wonder if Fabio Capello will have much confidence in his defending should England come up against quality teams at the World Cup. It’s hard to imagine Johnson coping with the likes of David Silva or Angel Di Maria.
Liverpool pushed for another goal but with Gerrard struggling to get into the game at that point they never really looked like scoring. The fact that Benitez could only turn to the likes of Nabil El Zhar shows just how poor Liverpool’s squad is beyond the first eleven (which itself isn’t too impressive). If Juventus’ offer is genuine then I’d be shocked if Benitez doesn’t get out of Liverpool now, before his reputation takes any further damage.
Atletico’s opponents in Germany will be Fulham, whose dramatic 2-1 win against Hamburg at Craven Cottage sent them through to their first major final. It really is incredible how far they’ve come under Roy Hodgson, who took the job with Fulham lying bottom of the Premier League in January 2007. Unless Alex Ferguson wins the title for a record fourth time in a row then Hodgson should surely be nailed on for Manager of the Year.
Fulham looked in trouble after falling behind to an incredible free-kick from Mladen Petric. They hit back though, with Simon Davies – quite possibly the most underwhelming player to ever pull on an Everton shirt – making it 1-1 with a superb piece of individual skill. “Cheeky bastard”, thought Evertonians everywhere, after witnessing the Welsh nonentity pull off something we never dreamed of seeing him do at Everton.
Zoltan Gera finished the job, controlling and finishing impressively in a packed penalty area. It’s hard not to be pleased for Fulham, who never seem to give up on their principles of keeping the ball on the ground and playing their own game.
A good night all round.
Atletico came into the game with a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg (with the goal in that game also coming from Forlan) and it was clear from Rafa Benitez’s team selection that he was wary of conceding what could, and did, prove to be a crucial away goal. Liverpool ’s injury problems at left-back meant Glen Johnson switching flanks and Javier Mascherano filling in at right-back. Mascherano never looked comfortable and his distribution, which is poor at the best of times, was terrible.
Liverpool played quite well in the first half but became overly cautious after opening the scoring through the improving Alberto Aquilani. The Italian gave his team the lead with a neat first-time finish from the edge of the box, and it looked as if Atletico were ready to collapse. The rest of normal time was played out without too much incident though, with both teams unwilling to open up in search of a winner.
Liverpool started extra-time aggressively and quickly made it 2-0 on the night through Yossi Benayoun, who is far and away their most underrated player. Benayoun held his run on the edge of the box and was picked out with a lovely pass from the otherwise garbage Lucas Leiva, and the Israeli beat 19 year old David De Gea with a calm left-footed finish. It was a nice goal but the goalkeeper really should have done better.
The game then picked up after the introduction of Juarado for Atletico, with the Spaniard picking the ball up from deep and driving at the heart of Liverpool ’s ever-declining defence. Atletico started to look more dangerous going forward and soon scored what would prove to be the decisive goal as Diego Forlan, scorer of a comedy goal at Anfield for Manchester United years ago, got on the end of Jose Antonio Reyes’ pass and absolutely hammered the ball beyond Pepe Reina.
Glen Johnson, who has never looked particularly solid defensively, made a mess of an aerial challenge with Reyes in the build up to the goal, and you have to wonder if Fabio Capello will have much confidence in his defending should England come up against quality teams at the World Cup. It’s hard to imagine Johnson coping with the likes of David Silva or Angel Di Maria.
Liverpool pushed for another goal but with Gerrard struggling to get into the game at that point they never really looked like scoring. The fact that Benitez could only turn to the likes of Nabil El Zhar shows just how poor Liverpool’s squad is beyond the first eleven (which itself isn’t too impressive). If Juventus’ offer is genuine then I’d be shocked if Benitez doesn’t get out of Liverpool now, before his reputation takes any further damage.
Atletico’s opponents in Germany will be Fulham, whose dramatic 2-1 win against Hamburg at Craven Cottage sent them through to their first major final. It really is incredible how far they’ve come under Roy Hodgson, who took the job with Fulham lying bottom of the Premier League in January 2007. Unless Alex Ferguson wins the title for a record fourth time in a row then Hodgson should surely be nailed on for Manager of the Year.
Fulham looked in trouble after falling behind to an incredible free-kick from Mladen Petric. They hit back though, with Simon Davies – quite possibly the most underwhelming player to ever pull on an Everton shirt – making it 1-1 with a superb piece of individual skill. “Cheeky bastard”, thought Evertonians everywhere, after witnessing the Welsh nonentity pull off something we never dreamed of seeing him do at Everton.
Zoltan Gera finished the job, controlling and finishing impressively in a packed penalty area. It’s hard not to be pleased for Fulham, who never seem to give up on their principles of keeping the ball on the ground and playing their own game.
A good night all round.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Inter v Bayern set for Champions League Final
Jose Mourinho will face Bayern Munich in the 2010 Champions League final after beating Lionel Messi 3-2 on aggregate. Well, according to the papers that’s what happened anyway. Looking at the media coverage surrounding this game you’d think Inter and Barcelona were a team of misfits and no-hopers before these two came along.
Bayern secured their place in the final with an impressive 3-0 win away at French giants Lyon. The Germans entered the second leg with a one goal advantage after Arjen Robben’s deflected effort gave them a 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena last Wednesday.
Lyon were considered slight favourites to advance to their first Champions League final given their home advantage in the second leg, but they looked dead and buried once Ivica Olic opened the scoring for Bayern in the first-half. The home side were reduced to ten men after two harsh bookings in quick succession saw centre-half and captain Cris dismissed. The Brazilian was initially booked for what looked like an excellent challenge on the half-way line, and then given his marching orders after mockingly applauding the referee’s decision. The tie pretty much ended right there.
Two more goals from Croatia striker Olic emphasised Bayern’s superiority over the two legs as Louis Van Gaal’s team progressed to the final with a 4-0 aggregate win.
The second semi-final was also marred by a controversial sending off, though it’s fair to say that Thiago Motta’s dismissal for ‘violent conduct’ had a far greater impact on the game’s outcome than Cris’ did a night earlier.
It was already clear that Mourinho had set up Inter to frustrate Barcelona from his initial team selection, with Romanian defender Christian Chivu, who looks like a simpleton in his Peter Cech helmet, replacing forward Goran Pandev moments before kick-off. It remains uncertain whether Pandev, who missed Inter’s weekend fixture through injury, was genuinely set to play before breaking down in the warm-up, or if it was an intentional attempt by Mourinho to influence Pep Guardiola’s tactics.
The match was playing out as expected, with Inter prepared to defend the 3-1 advantage they held from the first leg, when Thiago Motta was inexplicably sent off for what was nothing more than obstruction. The former Barcelona midfielder held out his arm to shield the ball from the utterly garbage Sergi Busquets, only for the odd-looking Spaniard to collapse to the ground clutching his face.
Busquets writhed around like a tit and Motta was shown a red card. It looked as if the furious Motta, who looks a bit of a loose cannon anyway, was about to lash out at Busquets for his antics, but quite surprisingly the Brazilian settled for grabbing him by the back of the neck and shouting abuse down his ear.
If there was any justice UEFA would rescind Motta’s sending off and hand Busquets a three game suspension for shaming the sport infront of a global audience. Unfortunately such a thing is very unlikely.
As can sometimes be the case in these situations, Inter were galvanised by being unfairly reduced to ten men and proceeded to defend as resolutely as ever. Barcelona continued to dominate possession, as you’d expect, but with Inter’s world-class defence and goalkeeper in top form the Catalans were largely restricted to shifting the ball sideways in the hope of either Xavi picking out an impossible pass or Messi dribbling through the entire Inter team.
Barcelona look like the football equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters when teams like Arsenal are stupid enough to set up to play a wide open game and try to match Barca’s brand of possession football with inferior players. But when someone like Mourinho shows up with a gang of top-draw arl arses and no any interest in how his tactics will be perceived in the press it can be a different story.
Guardiola can be his own worst enemy at times, and his apparent obsession with making a point to Real Madrid by winning trophies with as many youth academy products in his side as possible looked flawed last night. Thierry Henry should have started. The France striker is still a very high level player and remains vastly superior to youngsters like Bojan Krkic and Jeffren, who both got on the pitch ahead of him, as well as the woeful Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Henry has the turn of pace and direct style that Barca were sorely lacking last night, and it was shocking to see Guardiola overlook him when his team were in desperate need of goals.
I’ll be very surprised if the Barca fans and board don’t take steps towards forcing Ibrahimovic out in the summer, especially if Real pip them to the title, though it’s hard to imagine anyone paying the enormous fee he’d probably command. Usually when Barcelona are faced with a team packing the centre with defenders it’s against jokers like Almeria or Sporting Gijon, whose players inevitably aren’t up to the task, but Inter’s quality defence showed just how badly Barca are missing the pace, work rate and intelligent movement of someone like Samuel Eto’o (who ran himself into the ground whilst playing in a variety of positions for Inter).
Barcelona did eventually force a break through late on when Gerard Pique, arguably the best centre-half in world football at the moment, sold Julio Cesar with a beautiful turn and calmly finished. The home side’s passage to a second consecutive final should have been secured when Bojan almost broke the net from close-range in the dying moments, but the referee gave an incredibly harsh free-kick against Yaya Toure after Lucio’s clearance appeared to strike the Ivorian’s arm before bouncing through to Bojan.
The way Inter defended in the wake of Busquets’ deplorable play-acting, as well the fact that Bojan missed an absolute sitter minutes earlier, makes it difficult to have too much sympathy for last season’s competition winners. It also spares us from a final that would have almost certain been as one-sided as last year’s.
Pazza Inter!
Bayern secured their place in the final with an impressive 3-0 win away at French giants Lyon. The Germans entered the second leg with a one goal advantage after Arjen Robben’s deflected effort gave them a 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena last Wednesday.
Lyon were considered slight favourites to advance to their first Champions League final given their home advantage in the second leg, but they looked dead and buried once Ivica Olic opened the scoring for Bayern in the first-half. The home side were reduced to ten men after two harsh bookings in quick succession saw centre-half and captain Cris dismissed. The Brazilian was initially booked for what looked like an excellent challenge on the half-way line, and then given his marching orders after mockingly applauding the referee’s decision. The tie pretty much ended right there.
Two more goals from Croatia striker Olic emphasised Bayern’s superiority over the two legs as Louis Van Gaal’s team progressed to the final with a 4-0 aggregate win.
The second semi-final was also marred by a controversial sending off, though it’s fair to say that Thiago Motta’s dismissal for ‘violent conduct’ had a far greater impact on the game’s outcome than Cris’ did a night earlier.
It was already clear that Mourinho had set up Inter to frustrate Barcelona from his initial team selection, with Romanian defender Christian Chivu, who looks like a simpleton in his Peter Cech helmet, replacing forward Goran Pandev moments before kick-off. It remains uncertain whether Pandev, who missed Inter’s weekend fixture through injury, was genuinely set to play before breaking down in the warm-up, or if it was an intentional attempt by Mourinho to influence Pep Guardiola’s tactics.
The match was playing out as expected, with Inter prepared to defend the 3-1 advantage they held from the first leg, when Thiago Motta was inexplicably sent off for what was nothing more than obstruction. The former Barcelona midfielder held out his arm to shield the ball from the utterly garbage Sergi Busquets, only for the odd-looking Spaniard to collapse to the ground clutching his face.
Busquets writhed around like a tit and Motta was shown a red card. It looked as if the furious Motta, who looks a bit of a loose cannon anyway, was about to lash out at Busquets for his antics, but quite surprisingly the Brazilian settled for grabbing him by the back of the neck and shouting abuse down his ear.
If there was any justice UEFA would rescind Motta’s sending off and hand Busquets a three game suspension for shaming the sport infront of a global audience. Unfortunately such a thing is very unlikely.
As can sometimes be the case in these situations, Inter were galvanised by being unfairly reduced to ten men and proceeded to defend as resolutely as ever. Barcelona continued to dominate possession, as you’d expect, but with Inter’s world-class defence and goalkeeper in top form the Catalans were largely restricted to shifting the ball sideways in the hope of either Xavi picking out an impossible pass or Messi dribbling through the entire Inter team.
Barcelona look like the football equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters when teams like Arsenal are stupid enough to set up to play a wide open game and try to match Barca’s brand of possession football with inferior players. But when someone like Mourinho shows up with a gang of top-draw arl arses and no any interest in how his tactics will be perceived in the press it can be a different story.
Guardiola can be his own worst enemy at times, and his apparent obsession with making a point to Real Madrid by winning trophies with as many youth academy products in his side as possible looked flawed last night. Thierry Henry should have started. The France striker is still a very high level player and remains vastly superior to youngsters like Bojan Krkic and Jeffren, who both got on the pitch ahead of him, as well as the woeful Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Henry has the turn of pace and direct style that Barca were sorely lacking last night, and it was shocking to see Guardiola overlook him when his team were in desperate need of goals.
I’ll be very surprised if the Barca fans and board don’t take steps towards forcing Ibrahimovic out in the summer, especially if Real pip them to the title, though it’s hard to imagine anyone paying the enormous fee he’d probably command. Usually when Barcelona are faced with a team packing the centre with defenders it’s against jokers like Almeria or Sporting Gijon, whose players inevitably aren’t up to the task, but Inter’s quality defence showed just how badly Barca are missing the pace, work rate and intelligent movement of someone like Samuel Eto’o (who ran himself into the ground whilst playing in a variety of positions for Inter).
Barcelona did eventually force a break through late on when Gerard Pique, arguably the best centre-half in world football at the moment, sold Julio Cesar with a beautiful turn and calmly finished. The home side’s passage to a second consecutive final should have been secured when Bojan almost broke the net from close-range in the dying moments, but the referee gave an incredibly harsh free-kick against Yaya Toure after Lucio’s clearance appeared to strike the Ivorian’s arm before bouncing through to Bojan.
The way Inter defended in the wake of Busquets’ deplorable play-acting, as well the fact that Bojan missed an absolute sitter minutes earlier, makes it difficult to have too much sympathy for last season’s competition winners. It also spares us from a final that would have almost certain been as one-sided as last year’s.
Pazza Inter!
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Everton 2 -1 Fulham
A last-minute penalty from Mikel Arteta spared Everton from what would have been a wholly disappointing home draw against an under-strength Fulham side, as Roy Hodgson made nine changes from the team that picked up a 0-0 draw away to Hamburg last Thursday.
David Moyes rewarded Yakubu Aiyegbeni for his impressive substitute performance at Blackburn last weekend by starting him ahead of top-scorer Louis Saha. Saha hasn’t found the net since his stunning brace against Chelsea a few months ago, so it seems inevitable that people will soon start claiming that he’s stopped trying since signing a lucrative contract back in January.
Really though, Saha has always spent much of his time in a blue shirt strolling around, waiting for a chance to drop. When they do he is capable of scoring absolute screamers, but when they don’t he looks like one idle bastard.
Speaking of idle bastards, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was dragged off at half-time after failing to impress the manager with his first-half display. He was no worse than usual – and certainly not as bad as at Ewood Park last week – but after Victor Anichebe’s positive performance I wouldn’t expect to see much of the Russian in the remaining two fixtures.
In fairness to Bilyaletdinov he did hit the post with a cracking first-time volley and it probably doesn’t help that half the ground groans before he even has a chance to lose possession. Whether or not you think the excuses about him playing without a summer break are valid, it’s still worth giving him more time to settle in to Europe’s most unforgiving league. I’m just clinging on to the fact that players as good as Robert Pires and Florent Malouda looked as bad as Bilyaletdinov has in their debut seasons.
Fulham took a first-half lead after a woeful back pass from Leighton Baines put Erik Nevland one on one with Tim Howard, leaving the striker with a relatively easy finish. It seems harsh to criticise Baines too much at the end of a season where he’s been forced to play in pretty much every game and has still managed to avoid any real dips in form, but it was still a terrible error. Hopefully, for his sake, Fabio Capello won’t hold it against him when picking his World Cup squad in a few weeks.
Everton started the second-half brightly and the equaliser soon came when Steven Pienaar and Arteta combined beautifully down the left hand side before the Spaniard floated a cross which was met by substitute Anichebe. The striker’s header deflected off the head of Chris Smalling and was quite harshly given as the Fulham defender’s own goal as it crept past Mark Schwarzer into the Park End net.
From there Everton pressed hard for a winner and came close on a few occasions, with Tim Cahill heading straight at Schwarzer from a corner and substitute Saha putting a header of his own in to the side netting when he really should have scored. Fulham created a few chances of their own on the break, the best of which fell to Stefano Okaka (a big grock they’ve loaned from Roma) after a fantastic pass from the impressive Clint Dempsey sent Nevland clear of the perennially wrong-side Sylvan Distin. Luckily Nevland opted to cut the ball back to Carlton Cole clone Okaka, who fired a poor effort straight at Tim Howard.
Just as we were all ready to start grumbling about drawing at home with Fulham reserves, Everton were given a golden opportunity to take all three points as the referee (I can’t remember who it was, they’re all equally shie) awarded the home side a rather dubious penalty.
Our good fortune began when Saha’s poor first touch knocked the ball out of play, only for the linesman to inexplicably give the throw-in Everton’s way. This led to a bit of head tennis in the Fulham area before one of their defenders appeared to kick Cahill in the chest while attempting to clear the ball. Cahill went down like he’d been shot and a spot-kick was given. Arteta sent Schwarzer the wrong way, securing the points in the 94th minute with pretty much the last kick of the game.
So Everton’s superb post-Christmas form continues, which is certainly something to be happy about, even if it was a bit of an underwhelming performance against a weakened side. It seems very unlikely that we’ll manage to qualify for next season’s Europa League, but I suppose that could end up being a blessing as long as the player exodus hinted by Tim Cahill earlier in the week doesn’t take place
David Moyes rewarded Yakubu Aiyegbeni for his impressive substitute performance at Blackburn last weekend by starting him ahead of top-scorer Louis Saha. Saha hasn’t found the net since his stunning brace against Chelsea a few months ago, so it seems inevitable that people will soon start claiming that he’s stopped trying since signing a lucrative contract back in January.
Really though, Saha has always spent much of his time in a blue shirt strolling around, waiting for a chance to drop. When they do he is capable of scoring absolute screamers, but when they don’t he looks like one idle bastard.
Speaking of idle bastards, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was dragged off at half-time after failing to impress the manager with his first-half display. He was no worse than usual – and certainly not as bad as at Ewood Park last week – but after Victor Anichebe’s positive performance I wouldn’t expect to see much of the Russian in the remaining two fixtures.
In fairness to Bilyaletdinov he did hit the post with a cracking first-time volley and it probably doesn’t help that half the ground groans before he even has a chance to lose possession. Whether or not you think the excuses about him playing without a summer break are valid, it’s still worth giving him more time to settle in to Europe’s most unforgiving league. I’m just clinging on to the fact that players as good as Robert Pires and Florent Malouda looked as bad as Bilyaletdinov has in their debut seasons.
Fulham took a first-half lead after a woeful back pass from Leighton Baines put Erik Nevland one on one with Tim Howard, leaving the striker with a relatively easy finish. It seems harsh to criticise Baines too much at the end of a season where he’s been forced to play in pretty much every game and has still managed to avoid any real dips in form, but it was still a terrible error. Hopefully, for his sake, Fabio Capello won’t hold it against him when picking his World Cup squad in a few weeks.
Everton started the second-half brightly and the equaliser soon came when Steven Pienaar and Arteta combined beautifully down the left hand side before the Spaniard floated a cross which was met by substitute Anichebe. The striker’s header deflected off the head of Chris Smalling and was quite harshly given as the Fulham defender’s own goal as it crept past Mark Schwarzer into the Park End net.
From there Everton pressed hard for a winner and came close on a few occasions, with Tim Cahill heading straight at Schwarzer from a corner and substitute Saha putting a header of his own in to the side netting when he really should have scored. Fulham created a few chances of their own on the break, the best of which fell to Stefano Okaka (a big grock they’ve loaned from Roma) after a fantastic pass from the impressive Clint Dempsey sent Nevland clear of the perennially wrong-side Sylvan Distin. Luckily Nevland opted to cut the ball back to Carlton Cole clone Okaka, who fired a poor effort straight at Tim Howard.
Just as we were all ready to start grumbling about drawing at home with Fulham reserves, Everton were given a golden opportunity to take all three points as the referee (I can’t remember who it was, they’re all equally shie) awarded the home side a rather dubious penalty.
Our good fortune began when Saha’s poor first touch knocked the ball out of play, only for the linesman to inexplicably give the throw-in Everton’s way. This led to a bit of head tennis in the Fulham area before one of their defenders appeared to kick Cahill in the chest while attempting to clear the ball. Cahill went down like he’d been shot and a spot-kick was given. Arteta sent Schwarzer the wrong way, securing the points in the 94th minute with pretty much the last kick of the game.
So Everton’s superb post-Christmas form continues, which is certainly something to be happy about, even if it was a bit of an underwhelming performance against a weakened side. It seems very unlikely that we’ll manage to qualify for next season’s Europa League, but I suppose that could end up being a blessing as long as the player exodus hinted by Tim Cahill earlier in the week doesn’t take place
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Wolves 0-0 Everton
Everton extended their unbeaten run but failed to take all three points in an unsurprisingly drab encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molinuex.
With Mikel Arteta missing from the centre of midfield Everton were always going to struggle for creativity through the middle, and the onus was on Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman to provide a bit of craft from wide areas.
The two diminutive midfielders combined to create Everton’s best chance of the opening stages, with Osman getting on the end of Pienaar’s cut-back and forcing Wolves’ American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann to make a good save with his feet.
Everton probably did enough to feel aggrieved at having to settle for a draw, as Louis Saha, Tim Cahill and Dan Gosling all had opportunities to open the scoring, but Wolves were solid, hard-working and organised, and in a way it’s difficult to begrudge them a share of the points.
A win would have temporarily taken Everton to within two points of Liverpool, but in truth a late run at the Champions League was never really on the cards anyway. It’s easy to talk about ‘what ifs’, but even with the horrific injury crisis that Moyes had to contend with there’s still no excuse for some of the points Everton dropped in the early part of the season (the 1-1 home draw with Wolves springs to mind), so let’s not feel too sorry for ourselves.
Hopefully the players are desperate to play in next season’s Europa League and will continue to perform right up until the end of the season (which given some of their dreadful pre-December performances is the least they can do), because if that’s the case then there’s every chance we can catch Aston Villa.
Next up for the Blues is a home game against Gianfranco Zola’s woeful West Ham. The Hammers have lost five on the bounce and Everton should be looking to give them a serious hiding. West Ham have a couple of decent players in Scot Parker, Valon Behrami and the much-improved Carlton Cole, but all in all they shouldn’t be good enough to outplay, or organised enough to frustrate, a team as good as Everton. Key word there being shouldn’t, of course.
Assuming Arteta is out again I’d like to see Moyes give Diniyar Bilyaletdinov a game. West Ham aren’t the most physical team so the willowy Russian should be perfectly capable of imposing himself against them. Maybe bring him in at Jack Rodwell’s expense, with Leon Osman moving into the centre alongside Johnny Heitinga
With Mikel Arteta missing from the centre of midfield Everton were always going to struggle for creativity through the middle, and the onus was on Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman to provide a bit of craft from wide areas.
The two diminutive midfielders combined to create Everton’s best chance of the opening stages, with Osman getting on the end of Pienaar’s cut-back and forcing Wolves’ American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann to make a good save with his feet.
Everton probably did enough to feel aggrieved at having to settle for a draw, as Louis Saha, Tim Cahill and Dan Gosling all had opportunities to open the scoring, but Wolves were solid, hard-working and organised, and in a way it’s difficult to begrudge them a share of the points.
A win would have temporarily taken Everton to within two points of Liverpool, but in truth a late run at the Champions League was never really on the cards anyway. It’s easy to talk about ‘what ifs’, but even with the horrific injury crisis that Moyes had to contend with there’s still no excuse for some of the points Everton dropped in the early part of the season (the 1-1 home draw with Wolves springs to mind), so let’s not feel too sorry for ourselves.
Hopefully the players are desperate to play in next season’s Europa League and will continue to perform right up until the end of the season (which given some of their dreadful pre-December performances is the least they can do), because if that’s the case then there’s every chance we can catch Aston Villa.
Next up for the Blues is a home game against Gianfranco Zola’s woeful West Ham. The Hammers have lost five on the bounce and Everton should be looking to give them a serious hiding. West Ham have a couple of decent players in Scot Parker, Valon Behrami and the much-improved Carlton Cole, but all in all they shouldn’t be good enough to outplay, or organised enough to frustrate, a team as good as Everton. Key word there being shouldn’t, of course.
Assuming Arteta is out again I’d like to see Moyes give Diniyar Bilyaletdinov a game. West Ham aren’t the most physical team so the willowy Russian should be perfectly capable of imposing himself against them. Maybe bring him in at Jack Rodwell’s expense, with Leon Osman moving into the centre alongside Johnny Heitinga
Friday 26 March 2010
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Well, a lot has happened at Everton since the last time I updated this page.
Marouane Fellaini turned Super Saiyan around November and looked about as good a centre midfielder as any in Europe, only for a shithouse challenge from Liverpool’s Georgios Kyriakos to end his season in February.
Everton played quite well in the season’s first derby at Goodison back in November but still managed to lose 2-0. The return game at Anfield, in which Fellaini was injured by a two-footed lunge that also saw the aforementioned yard dog Kyriakos sent off, was nothing short of a disgrace. Despite Liverpool playing over half the game with ten men, Everton produced a pathetic demonstration of predictable attacking and farcical defending, and were deservedly beaten 1-0.
There have been a few truly fantastic performances though; the most notable being the 2-2 draw away at Arsenal and back to back home wins over Chelsea and Manchester United. However, these were followed by a woeful collapse in Portugal which saw Everton crash out of the Europa League at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.
The performance in Lisbon and defeat at home to Birmingham in the FA Cup third round have been the most frustrating points, as those competitions represented our only chance of turning this season into one of success rather than transition. As it stands Everton will have to keep winning right up until the end just to qualify for next year’s Europa League.
Landon Donovan came and went. The American spent three months on loan from Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy and his pace, work rate and direct running showed David Moyes exactly what this Everton side have been missing since Andy Johnson's departure. It’d be great if we could somehow bring Donovan back permanently in the summer transfer window, but given the club’s awful financial state it seems unlikely.
Another loan player to leave was Brazilian nonentity Jo, who decided to take himself on holiday to Brazil for some reason or another, resulting David Moyes declaring him an unperson and packing him off back to Man City. City didn’t want him either and quickly sent him out to Galatasaray, where he continues to stand offside and clap through balls that he’s never quick or sharp enough to get on the end of.
Speaking of Galatasaray, they also picked up Lucas Neill in the January window, landing the Australian defender for just £750k. It was a bit of an odd transfer, given that Neill is easily better than both Phil Neville and Tony Hibbert, but the story from Moyes was that he was never going to offer Neill anything like the terms available to him Turkey, and so he left.
Neill now joins Matteo Ferrari and Lars Jacobsen on the list of right-backs who were inexplicably bombed before Hibbert.
Cynics would suggest that the real reason behind Neill’s departure was the club’s need to get him off the wage bill and bring in extra funding to pay for the January loan signings of Donovan and Phillipe Senderos.
Senderos, who is out of contract at Arsenal in the summer, joined Everton on loan until the end of the season and has thankfully played only one full game (the away win at Wigan), in which he looked painfully slow. Given that the egg-headed stopper is apparently desperate for first-team football it seems unlikely that he’ll remain at Goodison after his loan deal expires.
We’ve also seen the returns of Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka to the Everton first-team. Arteta, who was out for almost a year before coming on as a late substitute against Birmingham in January, is getting back to his best already and has been absolutely outstanding over the past six weeks. His free-kick against Bolton last week was a reminder of just how incredibly talented he really is.
Jagielka has understandably looked a little shaky at times since coming back from his own horrendous knee injury, but like Arteta he has also shown signs of getting back to old form. It’s difficult to name too many better centre-half pairings than Jagielka and the superb Johnny Heitinga, who should get a chance to form a partnership sooner rather than later.
Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Man City was one of the more satisfying of the season. Sky have already awarded City level billing with the established ‘top four’ clubs, so it’s been nice to send everyone a reminder of how far they’ve yet to go by turning them over twice. Had Arsenal or Man Utd scored a goal like Everton’s second it’d still be getting played every hour, on the hour, on Sky Sports News.
I don’t actually mind Man City that much. This new rivalry we've developed with them seems a bit forced to me. The way they went about buying Lescott was pretty snide but it’s the sort of thing that goes on all the time. City are yet to master the sort of subtlety that Man Utd and Chelsea employ when tapping players up, but I’m sure they’ll get there in the end.
Next up for the Blues is a trip to Wolves on Saturday. They’ve been playing quite well lately and got a big win at Upton Park on Tuesday night, but Everton are in great form too and owe Wolves one after Kevin Doyle’s late equaliser forced a share of the points at Goodison earlier in the season.
It’s a difficult game to predict, but I reckon if Arteta and Pienaar are on their games then Everton should pick up three points.
Marouane Fellaini turned Super Saiyan around November and looked about as good a centre midfielder as any in Europe, only for a shithouse challenge from Liverpool’s Georgios Kyriakos to end his season in February.
Everton played quite well in the season’s first derby at Goodison back in November but still managed to lose 2-0. The return game at Anfield, in which Fellaini was injured by a two-footed lunge that also saw the aforementioned yard dog Kyriakos sent off, was nothing short of a disgrace. Despite Liverpool playing over half the game with ten men, Everton produced a pathetic demonstration of predictable attacking and farcical defending, and were deservedly beaten 1-0.
There have been a few truly fantastic performances though; the most notable being the 2-2 draw away at Arsenal and back to back home wins over Chelsea and Manchester United. However, these were followed by a woeful collapse in Portugal which saw Everton crash out of the Europa League at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.
The performance in Lisbon and defeat at home to Birmingham in the FA Cup third round have been the most frustrating points, as those competitions represented our only chance of turning this season into one of success rather than transition. As it stands Everton will have to keep winning right up until the end just to qualify for next year’s Europa League.
Landon Donovan came and went. The American spent three months on loan from Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy and his pace, work rate and direct running showed David Moyes exactly what this Everton side have been missing since Andy Johnson's departure. It’d be great if we could somehow bring Donovan back permanently in the summer transfer window, but given the club’s awful financial state it seems unlikely.
Another loan player to leave was Brazilian nonentity Jo, who decided to take himself on holiday to Brazil for some reason or another, resulting David Moyes declaring him an unperson and packing him off back to Man City. City didn’t want him either and quickly sent him out to Galatasaray, where he continues to stand offside and clap through balls that he’s never quick or sharp enough to get on the end of.
Speaking of Galatasaray, they also picked up Lucas Neill in the January window, landing the Australian defender for just £750k. It was a bit of an odd transfer, given that Neill is easily better than both Phil Neville and Tony Hibbert, but the story from Moyes was that he was never going to offer Neill anything like the terms available to him Turkey, and so he left.
Neill now joins Matteo Ferrari and Lars Jacobsen on the list of right-backs who were inexplicably bombed before Hibbert.
Cynics would suggest that the real reason behind Neill’s departure was the club’s need to get him off the wage bill and bring in extra funding to pay for the January loan signings of Donovan and Phillipe Senderos.
Senderos, who is out of contract at Arsenal in the summer, joined Everton on loan until the end of the season and has thankfully played only one full game (the away win at Wigan), in which he looked painfully slow. Given that the egg-headed stopper is apparently desperate for first-team football it seems unlikely that he’ll remain at Goodison after his loan deal expires.
We’ve also seen the returns of Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka to the Everton first-team. Arteta, who was out for almost a year before coming on as a late substitute against Birmingham in January, is getting back to his best already and has been absolutely outstanding over the past six weeks. His free-kick against Bolton last week was a reminder of just how incredibly talented he really is.
Jagielka has understandably looked a little shaky at times since coming back from his own horrendous knee injury, but like Arteta he has also shown signs of getting back to old form. It’s difficult to name too many better centre-half pairings than Jagielka and the superb Johnny Heitinga, who should get a chance to form a partnership sooner rather than later.
Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Man City was one of the more satisfying of the season. Sky have already awarded City level billing with the established ‘top four’ clubs, so it’s been nice to send everyone a reminder of how far they’ve yet to go by turning them over twice. Had Arsenal or Man Utd scored a goal like Everton’s second it’d still be getting played every hour, on the hour, on Sky Sports News.
I don’t actually mind Man City that much. This new rivalry we've developed with them seems a bit forced to me. The way they went about buying Lescott was pretty snide but it’s the sort of thing that goes on all the time. City are yet to master the sort of subtlety that Man Utd and Chelsea employ when tapping players up, but I’m sure they’ll get there in the end.
Next up for the Blues is a trip to Wolves on Saturday. They’ve been playing quite well lately and got a big win at Upton Park on Tuesday night, but Everton are in great form too and owe Wolves one after Kevin Doyle’s late equaliser forced a share of the points at Goodison earlier in the season.
It’s a difficult game to predict, but I reckon if Arteta and Pienaar are on their games then Everton should pick up three points.
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