They collapse against Tottenham, then rebound for a huge home win against Man United.

Their captain goes haywire before a loss to Man City, and then they roll into Stamford Bridge and come away with a gutsy 2-1 victory.

So naturally Arsenal’s youth – perhaps the most consistent performers for the Gunners so far this season – managed to bow out with a 2-0 loss to Burnley in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

The theme at the Emirates this year is something to the tune of: collapse, rebound, and repeat, with plenty of beautiful attacking football thrown in the middle. No one has any clue what will happen from one game to the next – especially manager Arsene Wenger....read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m12d2-Arsenals-topsyturvy-season-continues

While 11 matches played isn’t any normal marking point within a given EPL season, who says you need to reach halfway before doing a little table-wide analysis? Let’s check out a few key developments so far this year and see what might lie ahead.

1) The Big 4 are doing their thing. People might want more parity within the league, but we once again look like we’re heading toward the normal tight finish between the usual suspects. Aston Villa and Hull City both sit tied for fourth with Arsenal at 20 points, but right now only Villa looks like they could make a run at breaking into that select group.

2) Title already looking like a reach for Arsenal. Granted, it’s early. Quite early. But some things start to make you wonder about a team in the long run, and Arsenal’s last couple weeks have started to put those questions into our heads. The four-four draw at home against Tottenham, while a thrilling game, was an absolute disaster from the Gunners’ standpoint. Blowing a two-goal lead at home in the last couple minutes doesn’t bode well for a squad trying to build on last year, when they jumped out to a great start only to falter near the finish line. Even worse, they’ve failed miserably to bounce back from that defeat with a 2-1 loss to Stoke last weekend and then a draw at home to Fenerbahce (who they beat 5-2 away) on Wednesday. And those who read the papers see Wenger getting a bit edgy. You can’t call games must-win at this point, but losing all three points on Saturday at the Emirates to Man United would be rough to say the least.

3) Hard to differentiate between Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool at this point.  There’s no doubt that Man United suffered early from both injuries and a brutal schedule, but they look to be back on track now with an in-form Ronaldo and 21 points with a game in hand. Still, letting Hull back into Saturday’s game wasn’t a very impressive display, and the Reds have had some finishing issues lately (ending with Dimitar Berbatov’s miss last night that could’ve given United the win against Celtic). At this point, Chelsea and Liverpool have looked consistently the best, although both have suffered defeats in the last few weeks (Chelsea to Liverpool and Roma, Liverpool to Tottenham). Chelsea can’t be pleased with the 3-1 loss away to Roma on Tuesday, but they still l........read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d6-Five-talking-points-so-far-from-the-EPL 

If all Wednesdays are like that one, then mid-week specials should become a more prominent feature of the EPL’s schedule. ‘Cause after yesterday’s fireworks, there must be something to this whole playing under the lights thing.

Where to start? Let’s go with the best GAME, first, which also included one of the top goals of this year. Perhaps we should have known it would be special after David Bentley’s stunning 40-yard volley for the opener. Count Manuel Almunia as a shocked witness to that piece of brilliance, and it would only be the beginning of a tough night for the Arsenal keeper.

I arrived at a pub at the start of the second half to meet some friends, and luckily it was pretty evenly divided among the two teams in terms of support. What a half – six goals, a two-goal comeback by Tottenham starting in the 89th minute. The roars were deafening, and goals were so frequent it was like a boxing match, left, right, left, left. Those are the games we sit around praying for, and when they come you can’t tear yourself away.

Of course Arsenal will lament the defending near the end that allowed Jermaine Jenas the space for his sublime strike to make it 4-3, but for the neutral viewer this was one to remember. When Aaron Lennon deposited the rebound in the final minute of stoppage time, my friend looked over and told me not to die after seeing my expression. This could end up the game of the season.

And meanwhile, we had the reemergence of Cristiano Ronaldo with a brace at Old Trafford in the...read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Breaking-down-a-crazy-Wednesday 

What is this? Liverpool standing up in the face of adversity and winning at Stamford Bridge? Liverpool alone at the top? Liverpool winning without Fernando Torres?

I mean, good heavens. If Liverpool wins the league, what universal laws can we trust in anymore? Because I had the Reds failing to take the Premiership title right up there with gravity, or at least the chance that Cristiano Ronaldo ever plays a game without a full bottle of hair gel atop his scalp.

But it’s true – the streak at Stamford Bridge is over, and with a one-nil victory Liverpool becomes the first team since February 2004 to go in there and come away on top in league play (86 games unbeaten by the way– how incredible is that).

They did it with a deflected shot from Xabi Alonso in the 10th minute, and then managed to hold on the rest of the way for the victory even without El Nino up front to provide the decisive scoring touch.

It was a fun, tension-filled game to watch. Liverpool came out with some nice sequences of possession and buildup, but they rarely had the ball. Despite the rather fluky goal, for much of the first 20 minutes Chelsea floated beautiful balls from one side of the field to the other and felt out the Liverpool defense with some style.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d26-Chelseas-streak-is-over

Things we never thought we’d see: a man on the moon, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, a vice presidential candidate spending $150K on clothes…..

However, Hull City sitting at No. 1 on the Premier League table has to be pretty high up there. Take a nice, hard, long look, and if you’re a fan, you oughta cut out today’s table and frame it. With 20 points in their first nine games, Hull sits at the top with Liverpool and Chelsea.

Yes, they have played one more game than those other two mega clubs, and yes, tomorrow’s meeting between the two makes it impossible for Hull to stay atop with an even number of games, but come on. Soak it in, because in this day and age of big money, stories like this don’t come around very often.

Hull has won its past four games in the Premier League, including away at Arsenal and Tottenham. And after returning back home this weekend, they cleaned up West Brom today with a three-nil performance to keep the magic carpet ride flying high for the time being. With a ticket in hand to next Saturday’s Hull/Man United game, I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with at Old Trafford after silencing the Emirates.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Hull-City-is-first-in-the-EPL-and-no-thats-not-a-joke

I would have paid a significant sum for a glance in the Manchester United locker room after Saturday’s draw at Everton, since Sir Alex must have said something to the extent of “what in the world happened?” –that being the edited version, of course.

After grabbing a Darren Fletcher goal in the first half to sit on top one-nil at the half (when it could have been more, as the announcers pointed out), it was a different United team on the field for the second 45. As the crowd got into it and the home club responded, you could visibly see the Reds shrink from the atmosphere. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen in a while.

There was former Everton player Wayne Rooney, who was not as active and came out soon after the questionable decision to kiss the United patch on his jersey while holding it out from his body. With the crowd already at a fever pitch, you have to think that’s not really the time for such a move.

But it was there on the field, too. Wes Brown simply overran a ball that led to a good Everton chance, and Rio Ferdinand tried his best to gift the go-ahead goal by nearly whiffing a back-pass to Edwin van der Sar, leaving the keeper on his own from point-blank range where he managed to parry the shot just far enough wide to bounce off the post.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-A-different-Manchester-United-in-the-second-half

Manchester United and Arsenal had the statement games last night for those of you who tuned in, with 3-nil and 5-2 victories (the latter being away), respectively. United certainly controlled their game against Celtic, but the visitors surely had reason to gripe that both of Dimitar Berbatov’s goals came from the offside position (although the first was a deft little touch for the score).

But the real story is Wayne Rooney, who looks more dangerous every night and now has an absurd nine goals in his past seven games for United and England. This time it was a sweet little shake near the top of the box to get himself space and then a clinical finish just inside the left post. Hope people caught his expression after that one – the impish grin that says, “Hey guys, I’m feeling it right now in case anyone hasn’t noticed.”

Sir Alex said after the game that Rooney is capable of reaching Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42-goal level of 2007-8 (that level, not that number), but that might be a little much. Still, he’s on fire right now for sure....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Champions-League-discussion

It was one crazy night in Madrid, and one certified nightmare for the linesmen – who shouldn’t be calling any Champions League games for a while.

Liverpool looked strong in the first half in the midfield (despite a terrible-looking pitch in terms of both speed and footing), and Steven Gerrard’s cut-throat pass down the middle to a slightly offside Robbie Keane gave them the early one-nil advantage.

In addressing Liverpool’s season as a whole this looks like a strong midfield, and the addition of Albert Riera has been a helpful one. Still, once Gerrard went out in the 61st minute (a curious decision if it was not for injury), Atletico Madrid seemed to find themselves a bit and started applying pressure.

But the linesmen had the biggest say in this game. Yossi Benayoun was clearly on when his goal was disallowed early in the second half, and Madrid were subsequently called off twice – one for a goal that was scored – despite being well back of the last man each time. Inexcusable decisions on those last two, as there wasn’t even a question.

Still, the home team claimed their deserved equalizer thanks to a slip-up from Jamie Carragher on a long ball and a beautiful shot from Simao into the right corner. Credit to Madrid, who didn’t allow their subpar first half to affect them too much and showed some nice possession in the second half...........read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Liverpool-slips-to-a-draw

The question is where Carlos Tevez will be fitting into this lineup with Dimitar Berbatov up front now. Tevez played some beautiful football during the first month of the season while Rooney seemed to struggle at times, but he has now started only one of United’s past five games. There was talk earlier in the season about signing the Argentinean to a long-term deal, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be excited about such a move now. ......read the rest at: 

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d8-EPL-discussion-and-the-Tevez-issue

There was an interesting article in The Guardian a day or two ago. For any of you who saw the Manchester United/Chelsea game on Sunday, referee Mike Riley got an earful all game long and dealt out a sea of yellow cards against the Reds, including several for dissent.

Some might argue that the plethora of cards in part came from the extremely tight game that Riley called right from the start, but the issue at hand here is whether the campaign started this season to respect referees (which was backed by each Premier League team) is already struggling.

Whether it was a cocky wave of the finger from Cristiano Ronaldo or Rio Ferdinand ending the match by berating Riley, there was certainly little respect in this game. And to be honest, perhaps it will take several games like this one for players to finally shut up and realize that accumulating a yellow card simply isn’t worth their time. To draw a comparison to the U.S., a couple years ago the NBA started the season with extremely strict rules about talking to officials. The result was an early-season wave of technical fouls, but perhaps it did help a little bit in the long run.......

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d24-The-wave-of-yellow-cards