Team scouting report week 1

This week we take a look at Roberto Martinez' Wigan side who aim to avoid relegation to the championship. And this season it will be tougher that ever before for the latics.

The best starting line up
Al habsi Boyce Caldwell Alcaraz Figueroa Diame Macarthy Gomez Moses Sammon/Rodallega Beausejour

Best players
1. Ali al habsi The Oman international keeper has provided some great saves to earn wigan vital points this season
2. Mohamed Diame The senegal international can score some great goals and makes the midfield tick.
3. Victor moses. The young winger can beat a man for fun and on occasions provides goals and assits he's also won Wigan penaltys this season and has been crucial in the absence of last season's star man Charles N'Zogbia

The manager
Roberto martinez
The young spanish man has done quite well at wigan if you consider the money he has had to spend not alot in truth but he has made some very good buys such as Al habsi Diame Moses Mcarthy and Beausejour also players such as Sammon and Di santo still look like they can provide they just need the games. Also martinez who is nicknamed by the wigan supporters as Bobby has done well with the young players a few of them have played in cup matches and have looked ok especially Jordan Mustoe and Callum
Mc mannaman remember the names!

Can they stay up?
Anything is possible in this mad mad game, and wigan have sometimes achevied the impossible , for example Wigan hadnt won back to back games all season last season until the last two games of the season come around and wigan have to win the last two games and guess what ! They did aswell. I think Wigan will stay up because tey have the experiance in the squad and many players at Wigan have done it all before.

Predictions Week 1

The predictions game is back and has now got a new format! We'll select all the Premier League games + a few big games from all over the world. If you predict the right outcome (win, draw, loss...) you get 3 points, if you predict the right score, you get 5 points. There might also be a miscellaneous question. If you get that right you get 4 points. Every week, we'll also have a special guest, either our friends or anyone involved in football (like the players).

Week 1:

Special Guest: Daniel White. The two admin's best friend. He's a big Wigan Athletic fan and has a season ticket along with Tom Horn.

Adebayo Akinfenwa! (I made it on Paint)

Whitey:

Arsenal 2-1 AC Milan

Birmingham 1-2 Chelsea

Tottenham 1-1 Man Utd

Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal

Blackburn 1-2 Aston Villa

Man City 3-0 Bolton

QPR 1-2 Everton

Stoke 2-0 Norwich

WBA 1-1 Chelsea

Wigan 8-0 Swansea (di Santo hattrick of course)

Newcastle 2-1 Sunderland

Fulham 1-1 Wolves

Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Bayern Munich

Tom Horn:

Arsenal 3-1 AC Milan

Birmingham 1-1 Chelsea

Tottenham 1-0 Man Utd

Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal

Blackburn 0-0 Aston Villa

Man City 5-0 Bolton

QPR 2-2 Everton

Stoke 3-1 Norwich

WBA 1-1 Chelsea

Wigan 3-0 Swansea

Newcastle 2-1 Sunderland

Fulham 0-0 Wolves

Bayer Leverkusen 3-3 Bayern Munich

Vishal Chahwala:

Arsenal 3-2 AC Milan

Birmingham 1-0 Chelsea

Tottenham 2-1 Man Utd

Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal

Blackburn 2-0 Aston Villa

Man City 4-1 Bolton

QPR 2-1 Everton

Stoke 1-0 Norwich

WBA 1-1 Chelsea

Wigan 0-8 Swansea (Àngel Ràngel hattrick of course)

Newcastle 2-1 Sunderland

Fulham 2-0 Wolves

Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Bayern Munich

Next week it's Adebayo Akinfenwa!

Comment your scores to challenge to experts and be in with a chance of being on our website.

Should Chelsea Sack AVB?

You only have to look at the managers that have gone through Chelsea's revolving door over the last decade to know there is a very fine line between success and failure at Stamford Bridge.

Avram Grant was whiskers away from sealing a treble, Carlo Ancelotti went from hero to zero in just 12 months, while Luiz Felipe Scolari found out what happens when you have a bad January.

Andre Villas-Boas may not even make it until then, but should he stay or should he go?

Two reasons to go…

Poor organisation
They have already conceded 31 goals this season. Only 5 teams, all in the relegation battle, have conceded more at home and for all of Villas-Boas' eye for details, he can't get his back four working as a unit and still struggles to find his best forward line.

 

Underachieving

It may be Villas-Boas' first season but he has made a worse start than any other manager in the Roman Abramovich era.

Two reasons to stay...
Too early to judge
To question Villas-Boas' future after just 26 league games is madness. Mourinho's instant success at Chelsea has become an unfair bar for his successors to try and reach. His success at Porto was no fluke.

Squad Problems

The superstars in Chelsea team have already reached their peak but are now getting older. With hallmarks of Mourinho's Chelsea still around the club, Villas-Boas is going to need more than one summer in the transfer market to define his own team that doesn't contain yesterday's stars or expensive flops from previous regimes - not mentioning any names...

Match report wigan 0-0 aston villa

Wigans biggest home attendance all season wasnt enought to inspire wigan to a victory in a decent game at the Dw stadium.

The game started with wigan playing some nice passing but failing to create and convert chances Aston villa grew in to it as the first half whore on it was still goaless at the break wigan created one chance but macarthy was unable to strike a chance from 6 yards out cleanly enough.

The second half started in a simalar fashion wigan applying the pressure but no real cutting edge upfront ,however villa where growing into the game and Al habsi was forced into a save from a Gardner effort where Wigan going to be punished for missed oppotunities?

Darren Bent was forced off on a stretchur after he hurt his knee in a challenge with Altolin Alcaraz.

Midway through the second half Villa made a change Heskey was brought on for Marc albrighton this brought the villa fans to sing "you dont know what your doing" to Alex Mcleish

Wigan where still pressing but it was starting to look like it wasnt goin to be it was corner after corner and Jean Beausejour was taking them well and looking dangerouss out on the wing but 0-0 it finished.

Monday Madness!

Not much madness this week...

He's worse than Yakubu!

Flamengo striker Deivid added another howler to his catalogue of misses in his side’s narrow Guanabara Cup semi-final defeat to with Vasco da Gama. You know how much I hate Yakubu for his horror miss in the World Cup, but this guy is shocking.

The 32-year-old forward has built up something of an unenviable reputation for missing sitters, and it seems his curse in front of goal struck with a vengeance as he squandered an open goal from three-yards out.

The video on the left is the miss and the one on the right is a compilation his his worst misses.

Brazil crush Spain - with their new ad
Brazil have gone head to head with world champions Spain in launching their new kit manufacturers' adverts at the same time - with Brazil coming out on top. Nike's advert, launched on Monday, features Brazil - in yellow - against Brazil - in blue. The Adidas advert for Spain's new Euro 2012 second kit was launched 24 hours after Brazil's, and strikes a more sober tone. Their film has only been available 24 hours longer than the Spanish one, but has gathered over 1.8 million hits, compared to Spain's paltry
42,000.

Not so Incredible Hulk
Porto issued a complaint to UEFA about the behaviour of Manchester City supporters on Wednesday night – for the heinous act of suggesting that their striker Hulk did not have super powers. Chelsea are interested in signing the Brazilian striker. Porto have said they want £85m for him. I think it's a rumour.

Team knowlege test week 2

This week we test your knowlege on recently crowned carling cup champions Liverpool!

1.Who wears the Number 18 For the reds

2.What is the name of their famous Stadium?

3.How much did they pay Newcastle for Andy carroll

4. Who is their manager?

5. Who missed a Penalty in their 0-0 draw at wigan in December?

England where improvement is needed.

Well obviosly at the moment our national side have no boss or captin that certinatly isnt ideal with a crucial tournement just around the corner

Fabio cappello's exit was suprising in a way but has opend a door of opportunity for a english boss to manage the team and bring the youngstars through which it undoubtubly what as a nation england need if they hope to have a chance at world cups and European championships.

The next manager?

Its a two horse race for the job it looks like ethier Stuart Pearce or Spurs boss Harry Rednkapp will be offerd the job Pearce will take charge of the up comming Friendly against Holland

Next captin

I think Scot Parker should be given the new england captincy he is never in the press for the wrong reasons unlike numerous other candidates and also he is a great pro and someone who whould inspire the younger internationals

The 25 man Squad i whould pick for the Netherlands match

GK
Joe Hart (Man city)
Ben Foster (West brom)
Scott Carson (Bursaspoor)

DF
Kyle walker (Spurs
Micah Richards (Man city)
Phill Jones (Man united)
Rio Ferdinand (Man United)
John terry (Chelsea)
Micheal Dawson (Spurs)
Leighton Baines (Everton)
Ashley cole (Chelsea)


CM
Steven gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Scott Parker (Spurs)
Gareth Barry (Man city)

Wingers
Daniel sturridge (Chelsea)
Alex oxlade Chamberlin (Arsenal)
Ashley young (Man united )
Adam Johnson (Man city)

Strikers
Danny welbeck (Man united)
Frazier Cambell (Sunderland)
Darren bent (Aston villa)
Bobby Zamora (Qpr)

The starting line up i whould play

Hart
Richards Jones. Dawson. Baines/cole

Parker Barry

Sturridge Gerrard. Ao chamberlin
Welbeck/cambell

I think this is the ideal friendly to play some of our younger or less experienced players and see how they fare.

Why no Rooney?
Welll rooney will miss two of the three group matches so we need to get used to life without him.

Why start with all those youngsters??

As i said before we need all the young players such as welbeck , Sturridge , Oxlade Chamberlin , Jones etc to have as many caps as possible before the tourdement starts especially as some are aiming to be on the plane to Poland and Ukraine and each of thise players are playing well for their respective clubs.

Weekend review

Missed any footie this weekend? Yes ? Well your gonna regret it get the highlights up! What a weekend!.

To start after years and years of angry waiting.... ( HASHESKEY HAS SCORED A HATRCK!?!)Sorry we cant say heskey has scored a hat trick yet im afraid but we can say that liverpool have finally won a trophy after beating championship side Cardiff City on penalties Cardiff where superb on te day but liverpool just edged it in all honesty.

And it didnt stop there Arsenal looked poor at sunderland a week ago but today they beat Harry Rednkapps spurs 5-2 despite bieng 2-0 down at one point. Surely thats Spurs' title hopes over for one season

In other premier league games this weekend A late Ryan Giggs goal saw Man united win 2-1 at Norwich, Aston villa held wigan to a 0-0 Draw at a buzzing Dw stadium, Man city beat blackburn Rovers 3-0 at the Etihad to remain top , Fulham got a vital win at local rivals qpr , Martin Oneills Sunderland where thrashed 4-0 at a on form West brom side, and terry connors rain as Wolves Boss started with a impressive 2-2 draw at Newcastle United.

Wigan v aston villa match preview

Kick off 3pm Dw stadium
.
Match Preview
Roberto Martinez's first game in charge of Latics was against Aston Villa on the opening day of the 2009/10 season when a super strike from Hugo Rodallega and a well-worked goal from Jason Koumas gave Latics the 2-0 win.
Strangely, there has been just one win for the home side in this fixture in the Premier League, that was the reverse fixture at Villa Park back in October. But this fixture almost guarantees goals with the two sides only ever having played out a goal-less draw on one occasion.
Wigan Athletic are looking to build on the fantastic win at the Reebok Stadium against fellow strugglers boltkn last time out while Aston Villa have not won in four in all competitions. With Wigans' nearest rivals all having tough fixtures this weekend could see them climb out of the bottom three for the first time for a long time.
Team News
Roberto Martinez, not for the first time this season, has a fully fit squad to choose from with Callum McManaman having shaken off a back complaint in Oman. A number of unnamed members of the squad have also recovered from a virus.

Richard Dunne will miss the game through the shoulder injury he picked up against Manchester City. Ciaran Clark is another long term absentee not expected back until late March. Barry Bannan (ankle) is rated at 50-50 and could be available after picking up his injury in the reserves.
Head to Head aston Villa have the slight edge over Wiganin terms of previous league meetings with five wins to Latics four, with four draws. Last time the two sides met at Villa Pa rk in October was the first time that the home side has won the game. When there has been a winner previously, it has always been the away side.
Hot Shots
Wigan Athletic
Franco Di Santo - 4Jordi Gomez - 4Ben Watson - 4
Aston Villa
Darren Bent - 10Gabby Agbonlahor - 6Martin Petrov - 4
Last Line ups
Wigan Athletic (v Bolton [A] W2-1): A Al Habsi, G Caldwell, E Boyce, M Figueroa, A Alcaraz, J Beausejour, V Moses, J Gomez (H Rodallega, 75), J McArthur, J McCarthy, F Di Santo (D Jones, 89).Subs not used: A Crusat, R Stam, B Watson, M Pollitt, M Diame.
Aston Villa (v Man City [H] L0-1): S Given (N Baker, 90), A Hutton, C Cuellar, R Dunne, J Collins, S Petrov yellow card, M Albrighton (S Ireland, 78), G Gardner, D Bent, R Keane, E Heskey (C N'Zogbia, 69) Subs not used: B Guzan, S Warnock, A Weimann, B Bannan.

Weekend preview!

The big game this weekend is the carling cup final at wembely stadium Liverpool v Cardiff City , both teams havent won a trophy for a few years now so expect a open game especially as both teams are in decent form in their leagues.
In the premier league this weekend expect some enthrolling encounters with teams from all parts of the table playing eachother. At the bottom Bolton take the long trip to Chelsea , Blackburn travel to Man city, roberto martinez' Wigan Athletic host Aston villa , Qpr host fulham in a local derby while Managerless wolves take a trip to newcastle.
At the top its a north london derby as 3rd place Tothenham go to struggling Arsenal.City host blackburn and Man united play Norwich city at Carrow Road. The two big games in the Championship are Leeds taking the trip to administrated Pompey in niel wornocks 1st game also its a london derby as promotion pushers west ham host Crystal Palace

League Cup Final Preview

On Saturday Liverpool take on Cardiff City in the League Cup Final. Will Liverpool finally win their first trophy since 2006 or will Cardiff surprise them?

The teams:

Liverpool have been playing well recently but off-field controversies have let them down. Their emphatic 6-1 win over Brighton will definitely be a great rehearsal for them. 

Cardiff City are the underdogs. This is the fourth time they have reached Wembley - but they have never won.

The managers:

Kenny Dalglish may not be doing as well in the league as many would have thought at the start of the season, but his great cup run has definitely let the pressure down a bit.

Malky McKay is far less experienced. But so far he has done extremely well at Cardiff. Liverpool fans call Dalglish ‘King Kenny’, however Malky is so popular in Cardiff after his work this season the way he is portrayed is closer to some form of God.

The key players:

Craig Bellamy. Last year he was one of Cardiff's key players. But now he's a Liverpool player. Suárez has just come back from an 8 match ban and Carroll isn't on form. Therefore, Bellamy has to step up and will probably be an important player in the fianl.

Tom Heaton. He was the hero against Crystal Palace after the penalty shootout. The goalkeeper is usually a benchwarmer for Cardiff after David Marshall is their top choice goalie. However Marshall is injured. Can Heaton keep the goals out against Liverpool? Or will it be a repeat of the Brighton horror show?

The outcomes:

Cardiff have to be realisic of their chances against a side that is seventh in the Premiership. It will be their toughest Wembley experience after failing against Blackpool and Portsmouth at the same stage. As well as some good ones, Liverpool have also had some dreadful performances this year. How will they play on the day? I think Liverpool will either take advantage of an unexperienced keeper and maybe repeat a similar scoreline against Brighton or not play well at all.

My prediction:

1-1 Bellamy scoring early with Kenny Miller equalizing late on. If it goes to penalties anything can happen. Liverpool are like Germany at penalties - they never lose. But Tom Heaton was the excellent in their shootout win over Crystal Palace.

Or 4-0 to Liverpool of course! :D

 

 Liverpool FC v Cardiff City FC

League Cup Final 2012

Sunday 26th February 4pm

Wembley Stadium

The team quiz week 1 this week we test your knowlege on stoke city!

What number does striker cameron jerome wear?

What is their managers name?

What was the score this season when they played liverpool at home (in the league)

What is stoke's nickname?

What color shirt do they play in?

Comment your answers please!

Monday Madness!

Kadlec and Friedrich argue over Messi shirt! 

After Barcelona's 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Last 16 of the Champions League. Michal Kadlec was keen to swap shirts with three time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi but a row broke out after team-mate Manuel Friedrich claimed it for himself. 

The result: Kadlec won and got the souvenier. But...sporting director Rudi Voller felt that the eagerness to get the Messi momento did not portray a good image on the club. 

'I can guarantee that Kadlec and Friedrich will auction off their Messi shirts for a good cause. What the pair did was a bit over the top,' the former Germany forward told Die Bild. 

How to attack yourself (part 2)!

Valencia midfielder Ever Banega has undergone an operation on his injured ankle after accidentally running himself over with his own car. The Argentine international managed to suffer the injury on Sunday after leaving his car's handbrake off, stepping out of the vehicle and seeing it roll backwards over his ankle. This is just days after Eren Dersiyok attacked himself with a tootbrush. (That's why it's part 2!)

Passport Plonkers!

Manchester United’s Europa League adventure got off to the worst possible start after Danny Welbeck and Nani forgot to bring their passports for the flight to Amsterdam. The duo both left their travel documents at home, and were forced to hang around Manchester Airport check-in while a member of the United security team dashed back to retrieve the IDs. 

Aston Villa's new winger: revealed!

Aston Villa desperately need a winger to help keep out the opposition at and finally they have one - but this one has feathers. Gee the harris hawk has been called in to keep the Villa Park pitch in perfect condition after magpies were seen attacking the surface and digging holes in the ground. 

Talking of holes on the ground...

Harry Redknapp was full of excuses after Spurs side came away with a goalless draw in their FA Cup fifth round clash at League One side Stevenage. He claimed the pitch was too bumpy and not suitable to play on.

Match report sunderland 2-0 arsenal

Sunderlands good run of form since martin o neil joined as boss conitinued as they beat arsenal 2-0 to put themselves into the quater finals of the fa cup with budwiser. However that result did absolutly nothing to ease pressure on gunners boss Arsene wenger.
Fourth in the premier league pretty much out of the uefa champions league due to the 4-0 defeat to ac milan in midweek arsenal look like their goinf to have a seventh consecutive trophiles season.

The game started in a end to end fasion with sunderland just about edgeing the game and creating the better of the chances . Arsenal where later in the second half punished for giving a way a free kick slopperly when Sebastian larsonn crossed to find kieron richardson who smashed a shot into the far corner.
In the second half arsenal did pressure but never really made a proper chance and eventually sunderland scored when Alex Oxlade Chamberlin turned Seb larsons shot into his own net.
The game finished 2-0 at again mr wenger is centre of attention but sunderlans performance was top class . The makems will now play everton away in the quater final

Weekend review

This weekend in england has been fa cup 5th round week, if your team is lucky enough to still be in the competition.also this weekend has but two managers under extreme pressure Andre villas boas (chlesea) ,and Arsene wenger (arsenal). Chelsea despite playing a full strenth team drew 1-1 at home to championship side Birmingham and Arsenal lost 2-0 To sunderland at the Stadium Of Light
With kieron richardson on the scoresheet. In other games this weekend in the Fa cup Stoke city despite going down to 10 men early beat League 2 crawley 2-0,also Bolton made up for last weeks horror show against wigan with a much needed 2-0 win and championship strugglers millwall.Probably of the biggest shocks of the 5th round was leicsters win at mid table premier league side norwich
At carrow road.Leicter took the lead before Norwich equalised through wes Hoolahan but in the second half david nugent finished brilliantly to secure His team won 2-1 and are in to the quater finals one game from wembley.Also stevenage v spurs will go to a replay as the game finished 0-0 but didnt lack exitement. In the other sunday game liverpool beat brighton 6-1 .In the n power championship southampton took full advantage of west ham not playing as they thrashed Derby 4-0 at Home. Also Leeds' New boss Niel Warnock was in the stand to see his new team beat Bristol city 3-2 despite bieng 2-0 down

The relegation battle 2011/12

I think there are five teams who are in seirios danger of facing the dreaded drop wigan,bolton,blackburn,qpr,and wolves. But all of those teams can get out of it if they string a decent run together

Why these teams are here

Bolton

I didnt expect them to be where they are but losing their to best players in the summer sturrige and elmander didnt help with no real replecement being brought in by owen coyle. also, this seasons defending from bolton has been below par also if they want to stay up they must improve their home form.

Wigan

Wigan always seem to be in the bottom 3 at this stage in the season ,and somehow find a way to avoid relegation. but the reason they are down here this season is because of their lack of goals and pace upfront , but saturdays 2-1 win against local rivals bolton has lifted spirits around the DW stadium there next few games are winnable with 2 home games agaknst swansea ,and villa amongst them.

Blackburn

Well again its their defending thats put them where they are ,also the protests against manager steve kean have really not helped at all and have only really put a gloomy affect around ewood park and have caused blackburn to play much worse in that particular game. However in the recent defeat at arsenal in witch they lost 7-1 they can have no complaints


Wolves

Wolves are down at the wrong end of the table for not simply converting te chances they create, aslo they struggle to keep a lead.and key players like mathew jarvis , and kevin doyle havent played up to their potential so far.

Qpr .

There is no doubt in mind that there squad has talent, but there is so many players there that team morale cant be good players like dj cambell have bearly had a sniff of action all season, also a problem is there defence but mark hughes chould sort that out.


What players can provide the spark to keep their team up

Bolton : mark davies

The midfielders driving runs from midfield are going to be needed if bolton are to survive, aslo he needs to start scoring more goals.

Wigan : victor moses

The pacy winger needs to carry on playing how he is playing, but also chould do with getting a few more assists , and goals due to wigans strikers failing to score.

Blackburn : yakubu
He is a proven goalscorer at this level, and he has been the main source of goals for rovers so far, so he needs to be firing.

Qpr : joey barton he makes the midfield tick if he is on form, And will create chances galore for the strikers if he is playing well.


Wolves : steven fletcher

Wolves create many chances, so fletcher needs to fire , also he must stay fit.


The teams ratings and where i think they will finish

Wolves 3/5

At times this season wolves have looked like they have a chance of staying up , but recent results especially at home have dampend there chances of staying in the premier league and sacking manager mick mcarthty was not a wise move.

I think they will finish 19th

Wigan 4/5

Wigan have been inconsistent this season what the pattern has been is go on a losing streek of about 7 games and then have a mini revival for about 5 games.but if wigan are to stay up they need to improve their home form and score more goals,however i think roberto martinez' men have what it takes to beat the 'dreaded drop'

Predicted finish 17th


Bolton 2/5

Bolton,Bolton,Bolton Where has it gone wrong this season?

Bolton have lacked firepower this season and there defending is a shadow of last season.On paper boltons strike force isnt to bad with players like martin petrov, David ngog , mark davies, tuncay and more all bieng proven top-flight players.
This season has been extremly poir and i cant see where it stops as tere confidence is certinetly the lowest out of all the 5 in this scrap also the january buys arent up to standered

Predicted finish 20th


Qpr 3.5/5

I really cant understand why the hoops are down in this dog fight there strikeforce is europa league quality and even since the january buys have come in results have not improved at all tey chould do with taarbat and barton creating chances now and scoring to.
I think that they will go down simply because they need to 're gell " wotch chould take months also they have a very big squad so many players will be unsetteled.



Predicted finish 18th

Blackburn 4/5

Similar to wigan inconsistent but different to each of there other relegation rivals they have a striker who will score goals, yakubu the nigerian has provided many goals at vital times for rovers this season and, if he can keep firing expect a fight from blackburn

Predicted finish 16th

Monday Madness!

Redknapp's applies for England job! 

Twitter's community of football fans have been having their fun at the expense of Harry Redknapp - mocking up a joke application for the vacant England job that's gone viral. 

Clarke Carlisle for England?

The Burnley defender, on loan at Northampton Town, revealed his shock on Twitter after finding out he was a 500/1 long shot with bookmakers to replace Fabio Capello, who resigned from his position on Wednesday afternoon.

‘Ha Ha!! Apparently I'm 500/1 for the England job!!!!! Utterly ludicrous!!,’ said the 32-year-old on his social network page. 

  

The next Suárez?

A young Aston Villa mascot showed that kids really can be influenced by Premier League stars, by seemingly refusing to shake hands with a rival one day after Luis Suárez's high-profile snub of Patrice Evra. 

It was the cat's fault!

Sergio Busquets seemed to get a serious knee injury the same night a black cat rat across the Camp Nou. It happened at Anfield in Liverpool's stalemate with Tottenham!

Tevez: mancini treated me like a dog

Carlos tevez will resume his manchester city career despite accusing city boss roberto mancini of treating him "like a dog".

In an interview with an argentinen newspaper the striker goes on to say the city boss swore at him and said "horrible things" after he apparently refused to warm up in citys 2-0 defeat in munich in september.

Tevez did add
"hopefully i can return to help city be champions again"

He will add to citys strong (very strong) attacking line with great players such as nasri david silva aguero dzeko ballotelli milner and more.

Weekend review

Quite a eventfull weekend this and it all kicked off well in the premier league when luis suarez refused to shake patrice evra's hand in the 12:45 kick off at old trafford witch man united won 2-1 a great start to the weekend (from a neutral perspective anyway) .

Then in the 3.00 kick offs there was a equal amount of excitement as especially at the bottom of the table results were intresting like wigan winning 2-1 at bolton and blackburn beating qpr 3-2 despite a late revival from the visitors.in other games thierry henry provided a great end to his loan spell at arsenal as he fired in a late goal at sunderland witch saw the gunners win 2-1 also everton beat chelsea 2-0 to heep presure under andre villas boas. In la liga barcelona sufferd a shock defeat 3-2 to oasasuna

Sunday was also entertaning as wolves lost 5-1 at home to black- country rivals west brom (ouch!) a result that saw wolves boss mick mcarthy lose his job . Also man city won 1-0 at aston villa.

In the championship southampton beat burnely 2-0 to move 1 point behind top of the table west ham , however west hams game at peotoborough was called off. In other results reading beat bottom club coventry 2-0,milwall drew 0-0 at home to Derby county , also leicester beat cardiff 2-1 .

Africa Cup of Nations 2012: Team Reports

★=Shocking

★★=Bad

★★★=OK

★★★★=Good

★★★★★=Excellent

Group A:

Equatorial Guinea: ★★★★★

Considering they were ranked 151 in the world (worst ranking in the competition), qualifying for the last 8 would be almost impossible. They showed great organisation and managed to finish the group in second place after beating Libya 1-0 and Senegal 2-1 after a 95th minute goal. However, their dream run ended with a 3-0 loss the Ivory Coast in the quarters.

Best player: Kily Gonzalez. Had an amazing game against Senegal. He plays for a Spanish 4th division side and scored the winner against footballers at some of the biggest clubs in the world.

Libya: ★★★

Just months earlier, Libya was in crisis with the revelution and Gadaffi. Their players were stranded. They hadn't played football for a year. They came into the competiton not expecting much. They ended up 3rd in Group A.

Best player: Ahmed Osman. Scored 2 of Libya's goals and was simply their best player.

Senegal: ★

Everyone expected Senegal to do well. They were the third favourites but had a shocking tournament. They lost every game in their group. It wasn't even a tough group.

Best player: The woodwork. That's how bad they were.

Zambia: ★★★★★

The champions! Their aim was to honour the Zambian footballers who died in a plane crash in Libreville in 1993. 19 years on, they won the competition in a final hosted in the same city. They just wanted to do well and make Zambia proud. Instead, they did much, much more. Definitely deserved to win it as they beat teams like Senegal, Ghana and Ivory Coast on the way.

Best player: Christopher Katongo. Their captain guided them to their historic win.

Group B:

Angola: ★★

Won their first match but just seemed to disintegrate from there onwards. Unlucky to have gone out on goal difference to Sudan. But still should've done better.

Best player: Manucho. It was a 1 sided team, really. No-one else played extremely well.

Burkina Faso: ★★

Not a nation famous for its footballing talent, except for the Kaboré brothers. Played quite poorly though and lost every match. Didn't do Angola a favour by losing to minnows Sudan.

Best player: Alain Traoré. No-one really stood out but he scored an awesome free-kick against Angola. That's the only reason why.

Ivory Coast: ★★★★

Their "golden generation" just had to win the competition this year. The last few years they have come so close but this year they had a perfect opportunity with most of the big teams not even qualifying. Their world superstars walked through their qualifying group. They walked through every game infact. Going into the final against Zambia, they had won every match and not conceded a single goal at all. Would they become the first team to do so? No. They became the first team not to win the competition after getting clean sheets in every match, instead.

Best player: Boubacar Barry. Everyone played well but Barry didn't let a single goal in.

Sudan: ★★★★★

They just somehow managed to creep into the Last 8. This was the first time they qualified for the competition in 42 years. They were the second worst ranked team in the competition - and it showed. But as I said, they creeped in after beating Burkina Faso in the last match. They lost to Zambia in the Last 8, 3-0, by the way.

Best player: Mudathir. For trying to replicate Maradona's hand of God. It didn't work.

Group C:

Gabon: ★★★★★

Gabon were excellent. They played like contendors for the competition. They claimed a historic win against Morocco after M'Banangoye curled in a free kick in the 98th minute to make it 3-2 to Gabon. They were inspired by key players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Daniel Cousin. Sadly, they went out to a penalty shootout against Mali.

Best player: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. This guy is amazing. He's got speed and flar. He'll get signed up by a big team definitely.

Morocco: ★★

They were great against Tunisia. But they lost. They were great against Gabon. But they lost. They were unlucky in the compeition.

Best player: Houssine Kharja. Scored three goals in three matches. Was a great leader for Morocco.

Niger: ★★

Nigeria didn't qualify this year, but neighbours Niger did. The poor country from West Africa were drawn in a tough group with Morocco, Tunisia and Gabon.

Best player: Tonji N'Gounou. Scored Niger's first ever AFCON goal.

Tunisia: ★★★

They haven't been consistent at all. Their qualifying campaign wasn't convincing and neither have the finals. Tunisia managed to get to the quarters but lose to Ghana after extra time.

Best player: Youssef Msakni. He set up most of Tunisia's goals and scored two himself.

Group D:

Botswana: ★★

They aren't recognised for footballing ability and they didn't surprise us either. They did lose 6-1 to Guinea though.

Best player: Mogakolodi Ngele. Because he scored. That's it.

Ghana: ★★★

Over the last few years, Ghana have been impressive. Winning the U20 World Cup in 2009 and reaching the Quarters in the World Cup in 2010. However, this year, they weren't as impressive. Maybe because they didn't have key player Kevin-Prince Boateng?

Best player: John Mensah. He was sent off twice but the defender did score two crucial goals for Ghana.

Guinea: ★★★

They beat Botswana 6-1. But still went out. They played well but they just didn't get through. They had a tough group, though. With Ghana and Mali.

Best player: Abdoul Camara. Controlled the right wing in their matches.

Mali: ★★★★

Had a great competition. Came third. They lost to Ghana in the group stage but reversed that in the 3rd place match. They also faced a nervy penalty shootout against Gabon in the quarters. They played quite well, Mali.

Best player: Seydou Keita. The Barcelona midfielder was Mali's key player and leader.

So that's my opinion on the teams this year. Some of the big teams didn't even qualify. This gave the not-so-good teams a chance and they took it (except for Botswana losing 6-1 to Mali)! A few big shocks. Senegal were shocking. Zambia were excellent.

Suárez: I'm sorry

Liverpool's Luis Suárez has apologised for not shaking Patrice Evra's hand before the Man Utd v Liverpool game. 

His statement on the Liverpool website reads:

"I have spoken with the manager since the game at Old Trafford and I realise I got things wrong. I've not only let him down, but also the Club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened. I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions. I would like to put this whole issue behind me and concentrate on playing football."

Match report: Bolton 1-2 Wigan Athletic

This relegation six pointer went to wigan but in truth it should have finished more than 2-1. early on in the match franco di santo forced a good save off wanderes keeper adam bogdan also victor moses drilled a shot into the side netting before all wigans pressing payed off when caldwells header from jean beausejours corner looped into the top corner after 43 mins .the second half started in a similar fashion with wigan creating many chances and james macarthur should of scored from a victor moses cross before kevin davies ought to have been sent off for a lunge on maynor figueroa . Wigan where mayed to pay for missed chances when mark davies scored from a lump upfield by keeper bogdan but shortly after james macarthur made up for his earlier miss when he converted victor moses' shot into a empty net and wigan held on well for the remaining 10 mins to secure a vital victory witch leavs them within 2 points off 16th

Man of the match:
Gary caldwell wigan
Scored a great header and kept bolton at bay well

bolton v wigan preview

As the bottom six go head-to-head across the country over the weekend, nowhere will the stakes be any higher than at the Reebok Stadium.
Bolton Wanderers versus Wigan Athletic might not readily quicken the pulse-rate of the neutral, but for supporters of these two clubs this fixture has loomed large since the New Year. both teams need the win and if ethier lose there season looks is doubt and its away days at coverntry and petobourgh look likely on the other hand a win chould kickstart a season especially as its a local derby.

Premier league so far

Top 5 players
1 david silva
2. Demba ba
3.gareth bale
4.sergio aguero
5.juan mata


Worst 3
1. Fernando torres
2. Andy carrol
3.david de gea


Scouting reports (7 teams)

Man city

There creative midfielders are ripping teams apart especially david silva and when youve got strikers like balotelli aguero and dzeko up front goals come easy
Predicted finish 1st

Man united
The return of ashley young from injuru will be a huge boost to the red side if manchester who are pushing city all the way but they need rooney and chicarito to find form.

Predicted finish 2nd (sorry utd fans!)


Spurs

There is quality in that squad for sure but spurs chould of done with a big window singning like a samba or ba

Predicted finish 3rd


Newcastle

Most say the geordies have over achived but if demba ba can stay on form and the new striker cisse expect newcastle to be around the top 6

Predicted finish 6th



Wigan athletic (my team)

Well its been a struggle so far this season and its difficult to find a real match winner in that squad moses and rodallega need to find form to give wigan a chance of survival

Predicted finish 17th/18th

Liverpool

If carrol whould of found form and suarez not been charged with racism liverpool chould be finding themselvs in the top 4 but to many draws at home have cost them

Predicted finish 5th

Blackburn rovers

Hard hard season for poor steve kean this but if yakubu stays on form they have a chance but they need to win their home games

Predicted finish 19th

Capello resigned!

Fabio Capello has officially resigned as England manager after he had no control over John Terry's captaincy. Harry Redknapp is the favourite to replace the Italian.

Who do you think should get the job?

Monday Madness!

Horror Penalty!

Jay Rodriguez blew his chance to score a hat-trick for Burnley against Nottingham Forest when he sliced a penalty kick painfully wide after slipping over at the crucial moment. Watch it here.


Amazing "Flying Back-Heel Bicycle Scorpion Kick Goal!"
The title says it all really. Erlan Mealla scored this goal in the Bolivian league for Nacional Potosi against...The Strongest! Watch it here.

His ticket being placed on.

Not-So-Super Mario!

Mario Balotelli is back in the news this week! This time he parked on a double yellow line and therefore got (another) parking ticket. Balotelli is notorious for getting parking fines and it was reported last year that he had notched up £10,000 worth of tickets, and had had his luxury Maserati impounded 27 times.


How to attack a Linesman!
Mexican striker Carlos Vela failed to live up to his potential at Arsenal but he is now proving to be a big hit in Spain - and by big hit I mean he is slamming into officials and wiping them out. Watch it here.

Neymar and co.

How to attack Neymar!
Brazilian star Neymar recently notched the 100th goal of his career on his 20th birthday, but instead of presenting him with a celebratory cake, his Santos buddies decided to turn him into one.


How to attack yourself! 
Swiss international Eren Derdiyok entered the hall of fame for the maddest injuries - a tootbrush related injury. The Bayer Leverkusen striker will be out for 3 weeks.

Weekend review

City beat fulham 3-0 and united drew 3-3 at chelsea after bieng 3 behind wigan remain bottom but gain a point on nearly all of their relegation rivals with a 1-1 draw with everton norwich beat bolton 2-0 blackburn lost 7-1 at arsenal sunderland won 1-0 at stoke newcastle beat villa 2-1 In the african cup of nations ivory coast beat equitorial ginuea 3-0 with yaya toure scoring a amazing free kick West ham are top of the Championship after beating millwall 2-1 coventry are bottom after losing 3-2 at home to ipswich

Wigan 1-1 everton

A game that never really got going in truth but franco di santo forced a good save out of tim howard in the frst half everton never really threatend and found themselves behind when a jean beausejour cross somehow found its way into te net was it a deflection or a bobble dont know haha but everton threw men forward at wigan and eventually scored after baines whips in a corner to find anichibe who nods home but towards the end wigan attacked and had chances in numerous scrambels

This transfer window the most unbelievable rumours

Tevez to west ham on loan! What ? He refuses to play in the champions league so i very much doubt he will play in the championship drogba to qpr: for a start how whould terms be agreed when drogba is at the africa cup of nations and why whould a player that good join a relegation battle demba ba to arsenal: wait this guy aint french!! Plus arsene wenger wont spend 18m on a player who will probably just be used as a benchwarmer as rvp is in so good form carrol/tevez swap: yes this may be good but liverpool have faith in carrol and he is a player for the future but he whouldnt get a kick at city with aguero dzeko balotelli etc and tevez wanted to move abroad

Cup of Nations: the Last 8...

The Group Stages are over and quarter finals start tomorrow! This year top teams like Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Algeria and Egypt didn't even qualify. The competition was also going to be hosted in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea - 2 countries definitely not famous for football. However, the competition has been exciting for sure. This is a review on the teams in the last 8.

Zambia: Group A Winners
Path to the Last 8:
Senegal 1-2 Zambia
Libya 2-2 Zambia
Equatorial Guinea 0-1 Zambia

Zambia have played well especially in their 2-1 win over Senegal. They are the underdogs and realistically have a good chance. They play their quarter final game against Sudan which should be easy and then the winner of Ghana v Tunisia in the semis.

Equatorial Guinea: Group A Runners up
Path to the Last 8:
Equatorial Guinea 1-0 Libya
Equatorial Guinea 2-1 Senegal
Equatorial Guinea 0-1 Zambia

Everyone expected both the host nation to play valiantly but not get any points. This is because they are ranked 150 in the FIFA rankings - which is the worst in the tournament. However they surprised us all. They beat Libya...which was a shock. Their dream run continued as they also got three points against Senegal - the third favourites with a last minute winner. This meant they had qualified for the quarters and knocked out Senegal. Equatorial Guinea will play Cote d'Iviore in the quarters and the winner of Gabon v Mali in the semis. Who knows? They might shock us again?

Cote d'Ivoire: Group B Winners
Path to the Last 8:
Cote d'Ivoire 1-0 Sudan
Burkina Faso 0-2 Cote d'Ivoire
Angola 0-2 Cote d'Ivoire

Cote d'Ivoire were the pre-competition favourites and they still are. This is because they have world stars like Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré. As a result, they literally walked through their group. They had an unconvincing win against Sudan and then played their second team against Angola after making 9 changes but they still won all their game. In the quarters they play the hosts, Equatorial Guinea and the winner of Gabon v Mali in the semis.

Sudan: Group B Runners up
Path to the Last 8:
Cote d'Ivoire 1-0 Sudan
Angola 2-2 Sudan
Burkina Faso 1-2 Sudan

Sudan are another surprise entry in the last 8. They had a really tough group but just managed to sneak in on goal difference at the expense of Angola. 42 years ago Sudan won the competition but since then it has all gone down hill. Their goals against Angola were their first in 36 years and their win against Burkina Faso was their first in 42 years. They face Zambia in the last 8 and Ghana or Tunisia in the semis if they get there.

Gabon: Group C Winners (I'm supporting them)
Path to the Last 8:
Gabon 2-0 Niger
Gabon 3-2 Morocco
Gabon 1-0 Tunisia

Gabon have played extremely well and deserve to be in the last 8 after being the better side against teams like Morocco and Tunisia - two North African giants. M'Banangoye curled in an amazing free kick in the 98th minute against Morocco to send them through. Their key player and playmaker has been Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang. He is just amazing. "He looks like Neymar and has the status of him too here in Libreville..." He's a benchwarmer for Lille OSC by the way. Gabon play Mali in the quarters and Cote d'Ivoire or Equatorial Guinea in the semis.

Tunisia: Group C Runners up
Path to the last 8:
Morocco 1-2 Tunisia
Niger 1-2 Tunisia
Gabon 1-0 Tunisia

Tunisia have been inconsistent in the qualifying and also in the finals. They may have got through but definitely haven't played too well. North African rivals Morocco dominated in their match v Tunisia but Tunisia hung on. They haven't been convincing. They play Ghana and then Gabon or Mali in the semis.

Ghana: Group D Winners
Path to the Last 8:
Botswana 0-1 Ghana
Ghana 2-0 Mali
Ghana 1-1 Guinea

Unlike Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana had a tough group. Mali and Guinea are both good teams. Ghana walked through their group as well but were also unconvincing. They'll play Tunisia and then the winner of Zambia v Sudan.

Mali: Group D Runners up:
Path to the Last 8:
Mali 1-0 Guinea
Ghana 2-0 Mali
Mali 2-1 Botswana

Mali have played good. They're definitely underdogs as well as Zambia. They face Gabon in the last and then either Equatorial Guinea or Cote d'Ivoire in the semis.