05/03/2012

Monday Madness!

Hazardous Prank
Eden Hazard showed he has world-class skills as a prankster, as well as a footballer, when his trick on Nacer Chadli caused the Belgium national team's flight to be delayed.

Hazard's prank started afer taking his team-mate Chadli's Cartier watch from the basket at the airport metal detectors as the squad waited to board their flight home. He couldn't have hoped for a better outcome, as Chadli became irate when he discovered it was missing and insisted security staff emptied out bins and bags to search for it.

When that did not produce the watch, a number of the Belgium squad - including Fulham's Moussa Dembele - refused to board the plane unless they were allowed to review CCTV pictures to find out what had happened. Airport security rejected that request and the mood began to turn ugly, as the players thought one of the guards had taken the watch and the police were summoned.
At that point, a giggling Hazard decided it would be a good idea to defuse the situation by confessing.

The plane eventually took off for Brussels 30 minutes late, but Belgium manager Georges Leekens did not mind too much. 'This is proof that the atmosphere in the group is excellent. Nacer and Eden are childhood friends,' he said. Hazard's team-mates who struggled to make their connecting flights and the airport security staff apparently found the prank much less amusing.

Bungay Town v Bungay Town match preview
Bungay Town FC have launched a global search for people who share its name to play in a special match.

‘It will be a referee’s nightmare,’ said a spokesman for the Suffolk club.

The Black Dogs have been using several methods to find people with the surname, including visiting their local radio station, BBC Suffolk, and also propositioning people through Twitter. 'Are you a #Bungay & in the UK?,' a message on their Twitter account asked. 'Come & join us on Bank Holiday Monday 7th May for #BungayVBungay. 'We've got a game in which all players, ref, mascots, physio, linos, will all have the surname Bungay. Watch this space.'

A spokesman confirmed the Suffolk-based club has managed to get 25 Bungays so far.

Voodoo goes wrong
Gambia goalkeeper Musa Camara thought he could get one over on the opposition by sprinkling 'magic' white powder on his goal line but the hapless keeper still managed to make a dreadful error despite having the 'supernatural' aid. 

The substance has been confirmed as being ‘Gri Gri’, which is used in African voodoo to prevent bad luck. 

In this case it did the total opposite though, with Camara making a horrendous mistake that ultimately cost his team the win against Algeria in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

04/03/2012

Should Wigan sack Martinez?

Roberto Martinez has been at wigan fir just under three years now and every season wigan have been down at the bottom but just survived but it doesn't look likes that's going to happen this season as wigan sit bottom of the league.
Martinez' team selection has been questiond on many occasions and his recent starting line up against his old team swansea during their 2-0 home defeat raised a few eyebrows with him leaving three star players on the bench in Rodallega Diame and Moses.
After the awful perfomance against Swansea in whitch they lost 2-0 chairman Dave Whelan came on Bbc Radio 5 Live expressing his dissapointment and confusion at the team selection he said " it is the worst performance ive seen in over 5 years roberto's team selection was poor , the players didnt looked like they cared i will arrange a meeting with him on monday to discuss what's going wrong today he left our three star players on the bench and i need to know why some of our players have been on international duty but many teams players have he has been a good boss for this club but today he got it wrong on monday i will lay my cards on the table and he will lay his and we will find a way to move foward" In that statement whelan went from one extream to another in quick succesion
And that will leave wigan fans uncertian at the bosses future.
Martinez has done a quite bad job this season his team selection for numerous games has been wrong but he hasnt been given the money to spend on players after the departure of key player Charles N Zogbia he has attempted to replace them but he hasn't spent enough on them to get a decent winger in. In the summer wigan attempted to replace N'Zogbia with buying Shaun Maloney from Celtic and Albert Crusat from Espanyol but netheir have done much for the first team. The young spanish man was given five million to spend in the january window but used four of it on buying winger Jean Beausejour from N power championship side Birmingham City but the Chillian International is yet to find form and has been very inconsistent

Why the shoudnt sack martinez

Martinez showed wigan some great loyalty in the summer when aston villa wanted him but he stayed at wigan
Should Whelan repay that with not sacking him?

Also martinez has provided Wigan fans with some of the best days in their intire lives like the 3-1 win against Chelsea in September 2009 , the 1-0 win over Liverpool the amazing combacks Against Arsenal and west ham in both games they came from 2-0 down to win and the away wins at Blackpool and Stoke last season to help them to survival also this season a huge win at Bolton Wanderes.

But i think one way or another martinez will soon go ethier Whelan will sack him or in this meeting on monday Martinez may resign if it goes wrong.

02/03/2012

Wigan athletic v swansea match preview

Swansea make the long journey to bottom side wigan in a game whitch is likely to have lots and lots of passes in it!

However for wigan its more that just a game its a have to win game a crowd of around 20,000 is expected to be their cheering them on so the support will be thier for the latics who have been on a mini revival of late with two home draws and a impressive 2-1 win at local rivals and fellow strugglers Bolton also the latics are looking to build on a positive performance against Aston Villa a week ago.

For the Swans its a completly diffrent story they sit 14th in just there first season in the top flight and have pretty much nothing to play for with them bieng nine points off the bottom 3.

Wigan have a fully fit squad to choose from and Midfielder Mohamed Diame is pushing for a start, Swansea welcome back goalkeeper Michel Vorm after missing their 2-0 defeat at stoke due to illness.

29/02/2012

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...

28/02/2012

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.

27/02/2012

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.

26/02/2012

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.