The Old Hammer Trick, Eh?
Tuesday, 11 December 07, 01:56 PM
Well there's only one major story today, and unfortunately, it's about Liverpool, so here's a preview of Grand Slam Tuesday Group A (tm) in which Marseilles face Liverpool in a bid to qualify for the
next round.
Liverpool played poorly against Reading and will need to be at the top of their game tonight to resist the French. Djibril Cisse and Boudewijn Zenden, despite being in and out of the team so far this season, would be expected to make the classic old boy revenge (and I'm not talking about ripping teeth out with a hammer, as in the film Old Boy). Cisse has been rightly castigated for being rubbish season, and Niang has instead been providing threat up front. Valbuena has provided creativity and their league form is slowly coming around.
Marseilles manager Eric Gerets said: "It will be a fast-paced match and in my opinion, Liverpool are going to try to pass the ball around three times quicker than they did on the first match between us".
It must be a mis-translation, I'm sure he meant 3 times further, eh, Stevie G?
Rafa Benitez says it's the most important game of the season so far, and he's right, but there's a lot more of them to come over the coming months, especially for a man under fire like he is.
Liverpool have scored 22 goals in their last six games and should go into this game with confidence, the Reading result not withstanding. Carragher, Torres and Gerrard should be well rested after their 70 mins on Saturday, and providing Ricky Hatton didn't keep them up too long I am predicting Liverpool to get the result they need, a win. Liverpool should play with "controlled fury"* and at great pace, and Marseilles should have no answer. Any other approach and I fear the Pool could be in big trouble.
Either way it should be a great game of football, and I'm most interested in seeing what hairstyle Cisse is sporting and whether Zenden has learnt how to control a football.
In the other games tonight:
FC Porto v Besiktas - 2-0. Porto should have enough quality for the win to see them through
Chelsea v Valencia, - 2-0. Valencia seem to be a shambles. It's called Karma, Koeman!
Schalke 04 v Rosenborg, 2-1. Schalke have done well this far, the dream ends for the Norwegians.
Olympiakos v Werder Bremen and Real Madrid v Lazio. All 4 teams can qualify but Real are a certainty, 2-0, and I've a sneaky feeling Werder could win in Greece, but the smart money is on a draw that will send Olympiakos through: 1-1.
Enjoy,
Mark.
The Okey Doke Football Podcast is available every Friday morning, subscribe here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball
* Copyright Stephen Hunt
Liverpool played poorly against Reading and will need to be at the top of their game tonight to resist the French. Djibril Cisse and Boudewijn Zenden, despite being in and out of the team so far this season, would be expected to make the classic old boy revenge (and I'm not talking about ripping teeth out with a hammer, as in the film Old Boy). Cisse has been rightly castigated for being rubbish season, and Niang has instead been providing threat up front. Valbuena has provided creativity and their league form is slowly coming around.
Marseilles manager Eric Gerets said: "It will be a fast-paced match and in my opinion, Liverpool are going to try to pass the ball around three times quicker than they did on the first match between us".
It must be a mis-translation, I'm sure he meant 3 times further, eh, Stevie G?
Rafa Benitez says it's the most important game of the season so far, and he's right, but there's a lot more of them to come over the coming months, especially for a man under fire like he is.
Liverpool have scored 22 goals in their last six games and should go into this game with confidence, the Reading result not withstanding. Carragher, Torres and Gerrard should be well rested after their 70 mins on Saturday, and providing Ricky Hatton didn't keep them up too long I am predicting Liverpool to get the result they need, a win. Liverpool should play with "controlled fury"* and at great pace, and Marseilles should have no answer. Any other approach and I fear the Pool could be in big trouble.
Either way it should be a great game of football, and I'm most interested in seeing what hairstyle Cisse is sporting and whether Zenden has learnt how to control a football.
In the other games tonight:
FC Porto v Besiktas - 2-0. Porto should have enough quality for the win to see them through
Chelsea v Valencia, - 2-0. Valencia seem to be a shambles. It's called Karma, Koeman!
Schalke 04 v Rosenborg, 2-1. Schalke have done well this far, the dream ends for the Norwegians.
Olympiakos v Werder Bremen and Real Madrid v Lazio. All 4 teams can qualify but Real are a certainty, 2-0, and I've a sneaky feeling Werder could win in Greece, but the smart money is on a draw that will send Olympiakos through: 1-1.
Enjoy,
Mark.
The Okey Doke Football Podcast is available every Friday morning, subscribe here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball
* Copyright Stephen Hunt
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Weird Jersey Reaction
Wednesday, 28 November 07, 01:58 PM
The best match I've seen so far in the Champions League was last night's 2-2 draw between Lyon and Barcelona. It was a joy to watch Messi and Iniesta (the latter in an unfamiliar role) ping passes
around with ease. Lyon, despite the lumbering fool that is Fred, created some great chances, and were generally composed on the ball. It wasn't good night for the youngsters. Hatem Ben Arfa was
generally poor, conceding possession and making poor decisions. After a bright start, including setting up Iniesta's opener, Bojan Krkic faded into obscurity, and at 17, still has some way to go it
seems. I was looking forward to seeing another wonderkid, Karim Benzema but unfortunately he missed the match through injury.
Juninho Pernambucano looked like a bum off the street who wandered onto a football pitch,
but it didn't stop him scoring from about 45 yards from a freekick. It's a pity that set pieces are the only thing to his game. Ronaldinho came on and had a few neat touches but it's clear that
Messi has replaced him as the heartbeat of the team. I hope Ronnie moves on, concentrates on football and becomes the best player in the world again. As for Lyon, they have a tough match in Glasgow
which they must win, and I feel confident that Alain Perrin will find a way to mess it up. Rangers played what looked like a great match against Stuttgart, eventually losing 3-2, but after a fine
display so far, they should scrape through to the next round
Inter Milan got a 3-0 win at home to Fenerbache, but the most important point of the game was - what is with the St George's Cross shirts? Or
perhaps they are going for a Knights of the Holy Grail look.... Either way, it was disturbing, sort it out Moratti.
PSV won 1-0 away to CSKA to give them a chance of making the knockout stage, while Roma hammered Dynamo Kiev 4-1. Mirko Vucinic, scored twice and looks like he will be a threat when Ireland play
Montenegro in the World Cup Qualifiers. The 24 year old currently has 4 goals in 4 games for the newly formed country.
Man Utd got a lucky win against Sporting - Ronaldo shocked the world by scoring a superb freekick. I suppose for every thousand, 1 must go in. Arsenal conceded top spot in the group to Sevilla (who
seemed to be sporting Inter's shirt too) after losing 3-1 in Spain, their first defeat since losing to West ham last April. Winning the group means a chance to avoid some big guns in the next
round, but frankly, if they entertain thoughts of winning the competition, they should not be afraid of anyone.
And finally, Steaua Bucharest got a 1-1 draw at home to Slavia Prague, which means Slavia qualify for the UEFA Cup. Watch out Bolton!
In tonight's matches, Liverpool face a tough battle against Porto, but I fancy them to nick a win. The commentators will again remind us of 'great European nights at Anfield' when the crowd belt
out YNWA during their support of the Rafalution. Chelsea are away to Rosenborg, in a match they could do with a win. Surely they won't be caught out for second time, after their poor 1-1 draw at
Stamford Bridge? Rosenborg are no pushovers, as Valencia will attest, and Stefan Iversen seems to be in the form of his life so I expect an 'English grit' performance and Chelsea will draw.
Celtic will be looking to avenge their defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk and I'd put good money on a home win, for no other reason than that's what the form book says.
After a lot of poor games in round 4, the 5th round of matches have started in cracking style, lets hope it continues later,
Mark,
Okey Doke Football Podcast is available every Friday morning, subscribe here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball
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By Mutual Agreement
Wednesday, 24 October 07, 02:22 PM
Hi All,
We all knew it was going to happen, but the Football Association of Ireland wait until past our bedtimes to tell us that Stan had parted by mutual consent. We were deprived of sleeping soundly and dreaming of Jose because those buffoons thought it would lessen the media attention by not sacking him until after the deadline for the morning papers. What do they take us for?
In a way it's sad to see a player with more than 100 caps have the mickey taken out of him in the media, and have torrent of abuse reign down on him at matches, but his hapless, distrustful & shambolic management style has brought it about. Ireland had a bad manager, but some very good players (Given, Finnan, Dunne), good players (Ireland, O'Shea, Doyle, Keane) and they failed miserably,. most importantly, in terms of performance, and in terms of points. Stan wouldn't have been sacked if we achieved plucky moral victories while showing team spirit and resilience, he was sacked because of the players attitude, his attitude and the inability of anyone to change things effectively.
I'm sure there will be more about in the coming weeks, but the managerial position now up for grabs should not go to any of - Souness, Venables, any Irish ex-pro with no
experience, or mercenary types like Philippe Troussier. Please FAI, pick up a youngish manager from Europe with some experience of success and pay him what he wants,
performance related, on a contract until the World Cup.
****************************
The Champions League last night threw up plenty of great goals. Arsenal's 7-0 victory was superb, as was United's attacking play in Kiev, while Rangers did well to get a draw with
Barca. All 3 British teams should be in the last 16.
To tonight's matches - Liverpool are away to Besiktas in a kinda-have-to-win-but-must-not-lose encounter, but they are lucky in that Turkish football is absolute crap these days and
Besiktas have lost their first two matches in Group A without scoring a goal.
They do have a couple of decent player to trouble old man Hyppia though - Edouard Cisse (ex-West Ham), Ricardinho (21 caps for Brazil, World Cup
winner & ex-Boro!), Rustu Recber, Matias Delgado and Marcio Nobre.
So, not all plain sailing for the Pool, who have a few injury problems, but they should be strong enough.
Benfica play Celtic, and they really should look to break their Champions League away form hoodoo, and Benfica are not up to much really. However, it is more
than likely that Celtic will remember their 3-0 thrashing in Portugal last year, and cave in again.
Finally, Chelsea play Schalke, and I fancy them to scutter through it, primarily for the reason that German teams have been poor in the CL for a few years
now and also that John Terry is injured, so they should be more solid at the back. Peter Lovenkrands and Kevin Kuranyi could cause trouble however
but it is hard to see anything other than a home win.
Mark,
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The Elano Supremacy
Tuesday, 23 October 07, 11:57 AM
Hi All,
Another weekend of top notch Premier League action has passed by, and it's Elano Blumer who once again catches the eye. The former Shakhtar Donetsk man has been the inspiration behind Man
City's excellent ascent to the Champions League positions, and is surely the buy if the season so far (other notable nominees - Santa Cruz, who is a man reborn, Sagna, and Torres).
On recent evidence, one wonders why he spent so long in Brazil, until 2005, before moving to the Ukraine. It was a lucrative move but eventually Sven trusted him to do the business in the Prem. 4
spectacular goals in his first 10 ten games, and 5 assists is a great return.
See his amazing freekick against Newcastle, and against Boro.
He recently gave an interview in The Times and seems an all round nice guy, an (so
far) unassuming man who is the Brazilian equivalent of Michael Essien, playing in every position for Santos, bar goal. Inevitably, a player so talented will be subjected to transfer rumours,
and it seems to me that City will need to finish in a high position in the table to keep him. Then again, they could give him a massive contract at the end of the season - after all, it worked for
Berbatov...
Man City look set for a great season, now how about a striker to liven things up in the top 4?
******************
The Champions League is back tonight, and after the poor quality football on display in the Internationals, it is a welcome relief. For the neutral there are not many interesting games, on the
surface, but there are bound to be some interesting events, as there is always. Arsenal play Slavia Prague at home, in what should be a routine victory. Lassana Diarra has been complaining of
not getting playing time (despite playing 2 full matches for France recently) so we may see him come in to anchor the midfield. Also, in his last 2 sub appearances, Walcott has done well, but will
Wenger risk him from the start? Eduardo da Silva has a bit to prove after his nondescript showing at the weekend, and a goal here could do his confidence good.
Man Utd play Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine, which they seem likely to win if they can be bothered, and the Rangers v Barca tie should be an interesting affair. Barca will want to bounce back after defeat
at the weekend, and Ranger's will be buoyed by their stuffing of Celtic (and their 100% record in the CL so far)
Tomorrow: reaction and more previews.
Mark,
PS Goodbye Stan, :)
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ODF 05 Oct Podcast Online
Friday, 05 October 07, 10:21 AM
Hi All,
Our latest podcast is online now.
We discuss:
Fixtures & Results - Premiership & Champions League
Pub Talk: Sven & the old ladies, Luque, Toshack, Gerrard, Bribery, Gregory, Barton, Wise, Carrick & Ronaldo
Featured section - We hate Jamie Redknapp. Some Youtube links:
Swears on TV http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0NVQy8T86qE
His love for Cristiano http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C30BCFX39Y4
Keys & Redknapp http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e3hLU5POvxE
Get in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZVs_2gGPQ
Jay Z fans? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UgfFGw7btiw
But we don't hate his wife, Louise. Oh no.
AOB - we finish the show with some listener comments and thank you for your advertising support
We hope you enjoy the show.
Download it: http://media.libsyn.com/media/okeydokefootball/odf04Oct07.mp3
Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball
Cheers,
Mark
http://www.okeydokefootball.com
Our latest podcast is online now.
We discuss:
Fixtures & Results - Premiership & Champions League
Pub Talk: Sven & the old ladies, Luque, Toshack, Gerrard, Bribery, Gregory, Barton, Wise, Carrick & Ronaldo
Featured section - We hate Jamie Redknapp. Some Youtube links:
Swears on TV http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0NVQy8T86qE
His love for Cristiano http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C30BCFX39Y4
Keys & Redknapp http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e3hLU5POvxE
Get in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZVs_2gGPQ
Jay Z fans? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UgfFGw7btiw
But we don't hate his wife, Louise. Oh no.
AOB - we finish the show with some listener comments and thank you for your advertising support
We hope you enjoy the show.
Download it: http://media.libsyn.com/media/okeydokefootball/odf04Oct07.mp3
Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball
Cheers,
Mark
http://www.okeydokefootball.com
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Here's Sissoko, Oh No, Now Marseille Have It....
Thursday, 04 October 07, 02:04 PM
These Champions League reflections are much easier than predictions, so with ease of mind, I'll get started.
Liverpool - Benitez is assuming the look of a desperate man (and no, I'm not talking about his 'goatee deflecting attention away from fatness' look) and he has started blaming his players outright. The players he bought.
Liverpool - Benitez is assuming the look of a desperate man (and no, I'm not talking about his 'goatee deflecting attention away from fatness' look) and he has started blaming his players outright. The players he bought.
"Everything was wrong" he blubbed, "it is the whole team who played badly". The team you picked, Rafa.
"Today the team was not good enough". "We were not controlling the middle".
It is hard to control the middle when you have the position-insensitive Gerrard buzzing around the place, and Momo Sissoko, the professional footballer for whom the old quote applies - he can
control it further than I can kick it. His misery of attempting to control a football was shown last season against Man Utd, when he attempted to solo the ball, but instead kicked it 20 yards up in
the sky. Last night he gave another reminder of his ineptiude.
So, tough times for the 'Pool, but they plays Spurs at home next, which should be the perfect chance to get their season back on track, and take the heat off Rafa. And if they can't, what fresh
excuse will he dream up?
Man Utd - another lack lustre (like an empty can of pear halves) performance, but another 1-0 win. Roma had good chances to at least draw the game. Nani showed glimpses of his talent in his best
game so far, but his play-acting and poor decisions are reminiscent of the old, bad Ronaldo. Anderson's cameo was lively enough, but he looks a bit lightweight yet. United have Wigan at home to
continue their run of wins but the absence of Fletcher, Carrick & Hargreaves will probably mean the horror of O'Shea in midfield.
Arsenal - another game, another win, how long will it be before everyone is tipping them for trophies? Doubts remain, but they are cruising so far.
Chelsea - is the old spirit back? No, it's Carvalho. A fantastic player who made vital interceptions and organised the back line well. That John Terry fella looks like a good player with him in
tow. Terry and Ferdinand must get together and pray that their co-defenders never get injured again. Sheva must wish he invested in an English teacher rather than make the move to London to learn
the language. Nobody missed his witless presence last night.
Celtic - they are short on quality but they held their own against a Milan team who didn't look too bothered about the whole thing until they fell behind. Gave away a ludicrous penalty but fought
back well and received their just rewards. They are handicapped by having an extremely annoying, jumped up runt of
a manager and idiot supporters who think it's a good thing to run onto the pitch and caress
Dida's breast.
Rangers - I thought they'd head to France and get a draw but they surpassed themselves against Lyon. Poor oul Alain Perrin must be feeling the heat over this one. 6 points from 6 for Rangers mean
even a spectacular collapse should see them into the UEFA Cup.
So, it's all action this season, it's UEFA Cup time tonight but that won't get interesting until next March, join us from tomorrow morning for the podcast, where, among other things, we hate Jamie Redknapp. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com
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On Revie vs Clough