Soccer Europe |
- LIVE Diary of an Everton Nutter: Everton v. Aston Villa (Week 2)
- Match Preview: PSG vs. Bordeaux
- The Gringo in Bahia: Beauty of Salvador
- Sunderland complete Steven Fletcher signing from Wolverhampton
- Matt Jarvis joins West Ham in £10.7 million transfer
| LIVE Diary of an Everton Nutter: Everton v. Aston Villa (Week 2) Posted: 25 Aug 2012 08:09 PM PDT
 To all my footballing peeps – welcome to my “LIVE Diary of an Everton Nutter” where I spend 90 minutes bantering about the Premier League’s most fascinating side.For this weekend’s match the Toffees head to Villa Park to square off with an Aston Villa squad that was dumped by West Ham 1-0 last weekend. Everton Starting XI: Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Neville, Gibson, Naismith, Pienaar, Fellaini, Osman, Jelavic. Aston Villa Starting XI: Aston Villa team to face Everton: Given, Lowton, Clark, Baker, Vlaar, Bannan, Herd, N’Zogbia, El Ahmadi, Bent, Delfouneso. 0:00 – LET’S GET THIS MUTHABLUCKER ON!!! Just a note before we start, I’m streaming the match so the first 15 minutes may be a little slow because there are a ton of ads popping up on this site that I’m having trouble dealing with. 0:30 – First 30 seconds and I like the way we look already. We look sharp and hungry. It seems like we picked up right where we left off against United. 3:00 – Amazing goal by Pienaar!!!!!! Stunning! The South African bangs a right footed shot from outside the box into the top right corner of a ball by Naismith. HELLOOOOOO!!!!! Ring that dinner bell, baby!!!!!! 12:28 – Everton are dominating right now. Looks like we’re playing at Goodison. 13:22 – Nathan Baker takes down Naismith from behind. How that wasn’t a card I have no clue. 14:48 – Jelavic earns another Everton corner. Baines swings in a tasty in-swinger and Jelavic heads over. The Croatian looks sparky today. 17:00 – Everton put three on Delfouneso and win the tackle. Lack a pack of wolves, the Toffees are today. 19:18 – Villa enjoy a nice passing spell but N’Zogbia runs it out of bounds. 21:30 – Gibson! Just over the bar from 30 yards out. A nice little dipper there off a Jelavic move in the box. 23:46 – N’Zogbia runs it out of bounds again, losing possession for Villa. Maybe it wasn’t Alex McLeish’s fault. Maybe N’Zogbia just sucks? 26:19 – Free kick here for Villa from 35 yards out. What will they do? They’ll play a terrible ball in for a goal kick. Nice work there. 27:25 – An interchange between Neville and Jagielka nearly goes horribly wrong. I don’t mind Neville at outside back on the odd game but still prefer the Hibbopottamus. I also was a bit pissed at Moyesy for starting Neville at CDM last week against United but it proved to be a great call. The man definitely still has some gas left in the tank – just not enough gas to be on the pitch every week. 29:26 – Fellaini just takes some guy down in that Fellaini-esque way of casually bumping into someone awkwardly while playing defense. It looks dirty because it usually <i>is</i> a little bit dirty. But then Fellaini has that way of waving to the ref, shrugging his shoulders and just giving that ‘look’ that says: “I am sorry but look at me – I’m a bit goofy with these elbows and knees and sometimes I can’t control them.” And, amazingly, referees seem to buy this excuse because he doesn’t get nearly as many cards as he probably should. 30:25 – FELLAINI!!!!!!! BANANAS!!!!! Absolutely BANANAS THIS MAN! A TOWERING HEADER AND SHAY GIVEN SQUANDERS IT INTO THE NET!!!!! VILLA FANS WILL FEEL AGGRIEVED BUT EVERTON SUPPORTERS, WE WILL BASK IN THE GLORY THAT IS MAROUANE FELLAINI AND WHAT THIS MAN DOES FOR OUR CLUB!!!! AND ABSOLUTE BEASTLY BEAST OF A MAN!!!! WHAT A GOALAZO TO FOLLOW UP HIS PERFORMANCE FROM LAST WEEK. Everton 2-0. 32:36 – I’m still catching my breath, here. And we’re off again running, with Neville blasting wide. Neville’s hair looks good today, definitely had it tipped during the mid-week. 33:17 – Neville hits N’Zogbia awkwardly for the foul. 35:26 – I want to get back to my pants-swell over Fellaini. How freaking good is this dude? I mean, the talent has always been there but personally, I always wanted more out of him. Always felt like he seemed to lope around too much, if that makes sense. It turns out, he’s just a really awkward jogger. 36:40 – OH! Helavic was in there but Given made a nice save. The Jellyfish takes down like a 60 yard ball on his chest, Given comes out, Jelly tries to flick it to Given’s side but doesn’t hit it pure. 37:55 – The cameras pan to Paul Lambert who looks. . . well, he looks confused. It’s understandable because I’M A BIT CONFUSED – AND I’M AN EVERTON SUPPORTER. It’s gonna be bold but I’m saying it. This is the best football we’ve played in MULTIPLE YEARS. We are so hungry. We look lethal. 40:25 – Remember earlier when I was making fun of N’Zogbia, talking about how he sucked? Well, he just shimmied like 2-3 of our boys on the way to a 60 yard dribble into our box. So, you know, “stay tuned” on that prediction. 42:20 – FELLAINI, JUST HIT IT, SON!!!! Oh! The big man receives a perfect Pienaar pass from a HUGE run. THe Belgian takes a bit too long to hit his shot. 43:18 – JELAVIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An UNBELIEBVABVLE GOAL. Oh my god I’m peeing myself over here!!! I want so badly to watch it on replay again and again but unfortunately I’m streaming this game. A one time shot from near the pk line goes side netting!!! A brilliant strike from the Croatian, who has looked up for it this match. Everton 3-0. 45:00 – HALFTIME. Everton 3 Villa 0. So here’s my deal at halftime. I’m streaming this match on some website http://www.thefirstrow.eu/ and it’s pretty decent but for some reason it keeps opening up my I-Tunes and playing AC-DC, which is the first album in my collection. So basically every 10 seconds the match commentators get interrupted by the beginning of a live version of “Hells Bells,” which happens to be one of my favorite football psych-up songs. But I just heard it like 37 times in a row and I can’t seem to quit I-Tunes. So I just muted the match. Since I’m a massive Everton supporter, most of the commentary is pretty well devoted to fluffing the collective potato-sacks of all Everton players and supporters alike. As a natural consequence, the opposition (in this case, Aston Villa) will be hated a bit more but I’ll do my best to make fun of anyone on your squad until they prove me wrong (as N’Zogbia did above). Anyway, a quick reflection on the first half of play – this is the best I think I’ve ever seen Everton play (aggressive call, I know). They are just so determined and hungry. They’re playing with an insatiability that I knew we had inside of us as a club, but had no idea it could get to this level. I say all that to say this relatively bold statement: WE ARE PLAYING LIKE TITLE CONTENDERS RIGHT NOW. HONESTLY? I WISH OUR NEXT FOUR MATCHES WERE AGAINST CHELSEA, CITY, ARSENAL AND LIVERPOOL BECAUSE WE’D HAVE A GOOD SHOT AT DOMINATING EACH OF THEM. 45:00 – Second half kicks off. Paul Lambert walked to the dugout looking like he just survived a heart attack. Moyes, on the other hand, looks like he just got laid. 45:30 – Crap my stream just went out. Oh, this really sucks, I can’t get the game back up on my computer. Damn you Fox Soccer!!!!!! Why wouldn’t you be showing Everton right now!?!?!?!? Did you see them bash United last week? Donkeys. 47:47 – AND WE’RE BACK UP!!! 48:00 – Lambert still looking like he strangled someone at halftime. 48:23 – Crap. Naismith is down. This isn’t good. Looks like he may have hit his head. He almost scored there, the Villa defender (Baker) had a terrific tackle. Naismith appeared to just fall awkwardly and hit his head. Concussion test time. He’s probably ready to come off anyways. Will we see the debut of Kevin Mirallas!!!!!!! 51:28 – Corner and Everton look dangerous again. That time it was Distin nearly heading one in. Distin’s been solid. 52:10 – Wow, I wonder what the pubs in blue Liverpool are like today! Would love to be there slamming home pints watching our lads perform like this! 53:10 – Villa’s Barry Bannan with a few dangerous plays in a row. I’ve always been huge on Barry Bannan, think he’s got BAGS of talent. I also like that he looks like a Hobbit and found it relatively hilarious that he got caught speeding around town after a night on the drink. Such a little badass, that Barry “Bilbo” Bannan. 55:17 – Whoa Baker gets into it with Fellaini and Baker looks to be the dirty party in that one. He obviously isn’t used to the “Fellaini Awkwardness”. 57:00 – Wow. My feed just went out again and now my computer appears to be getting a virus. Hmmm. This just took a turn for the worse. Let me see if I can straighten a few things out here. 63:25 – And we’re back up. Sorry about that. Coleman on for Naismith, who almost definitely was just playing potentially concussed. 64:15 – So the update on my computer seems bad. A whole bunch websites I had opened just closed. I tried to open new sites and it wouldn’t let me. It’s ugly over here at chateau Second Ball. 66:58 – Pan to Moyes, who sits as if he’s contemplating quantum physics. Smile, David. Things are going well. 67:50 – Amazing work here from Everton!!!!!! This time it’s Coleman who takes Baker to the line and the Villa man has another nice slide. Nathan Baker looks like he could be a very good defender. Big, strong instinctive left back who’s 21 years old. Pay attention to him. 69:00 – We just had a flurry of possession in the box that, honestly, looked like Barcelona. 69:30 – Our boys are literally just BEASTING Villa on every 50/50 ball. We look like we’re on steroids. We’re effectively Barcelona on steroids, haha. 70:00 – Here comes Mirallas!!!!! The Belgian takes off Darron Gibson. 71:05 – OH!!!!! Everton on the break again and this time it’s a thru ball from Fellaini to Coleman, on the right, and he centers it first time but the Villa attack touches it wide. Mirallas was there waiting, LIKE A HAWK. 72:05 – Quite a bit of pace to this game. You’d think Everton would be tired but absoutely not the case. One thing is for sure – Moyesy has these boys fit as fiddles already. 73:43 – Everton looked threatening but lost possesion and it’s NZogbia again. Then ball comes out to El Ahmadi who hammers an absolute banger from 30 yards out. Everton 3, Villa 1. 75:22 – “Holte End The 12th Man” is the banner that’s shown. So let’s see if the Toffees can take some of the heat out of this one. It has been a SPICY affair so far here at Villa Park!!!! 76:10 – My computer is seriously diseased up right now. I must’ve clicked on some ads because now my machine definitely has some sort of non-curable STD. 77:22 – And I’m back up. And so is another shot of Paul Lambert. The camera guy obviously has a man crush. 78:00 – Mirallas appears to be playing right in the hole, inside left of Jelavic. He looks lively but hasn’t seen much of the ball yet. Villa is pumping us a bit here. 79:45 – Mirallas has a half-chance and looks to take on a defender but he’s sniped. It’s a box-to-box match here with both sides really flying at each other. Villa has done well despite being down 3-1. But we’ve been the better side on the whole and our goals have been SUBLIME. 82:00 – Another Everton attack that should’ve been hit first-time and wasn’t. Our boys have to have more confidence to take first-timers from 23 yards out. Have a go, son. 83:14 – Vlaar just had a terrific tackle on Mirallas in the box that at first looked like it could’ve been a penalty. 84:00 – Wow. Not sure how that wasn’t a foul! Jelavic just got his leg snapped from behind after releasing a dulled shot to the right. The Croatian looks injured – but he’s also quite a passionate man when he goes to ground, so I think he’ll be fine. 84:58 – Villa fans heading to the exit. Really? Not a good look. 86:00 – 2 minutes of straight Everton possession works it’s way into the box and results in a blocked shot. The Jellyfish is headed off with Jonny Heitinga coming on. Smart sub, there from the gaffer. 87:39 – GOAL MIRALLAS! Oh NOOO!!!! Offsides by a whisker but the Belgian with a fantastic headball golazo. Wow. He took that clinically. I’m obviously gutted that he missed it but jeez the kid looks like he’s the real deal! Fast, slick on the ball, hungry for goals and sees the correct runs that he should be making. Did I mentioned we pipped him from Arsenal? Well we did, kind of. 89:59 – Villa hit the post on a rip by Weimann!!! Wow, that was a great buildup and shot by Villa. They’ve got talent, this squad. But they just need more time to develop under Lambert. The man is a tactical genius. Trust me, Villa will be a meddlesome club to play come January or February. 92:00 – Both sides are essentially done defending for the day. Actually, neither side has played any defense at all in the last 10 minutes. 92:40 – Dear me, an amazing dual display of skill by Pienaar and Fellaini near the corner there! They each literally danced on the ball for 20 seconds and then got through 2 Villa defenders. Barcelona on steroids!!! 94:00 – One last flurry for Villa fizzles high and wide and the referee blows. That’s it. Everton have sizzled in this fixture, truly deserved winners of the match. Credit also to Villa, who had some very bright moments of their own but today was Everton’s day. I’ll be taking my ‘LIVE Diary of an Everton Nutter’ onto Twitter next week, which will be a much better forum for the piece. Until then you can follow me @thesecondball for Premier League banter and Fantasy Premier League tips and information. In my piece earlier this week discussing Everton’s victory over United, reader Hans Schmidt asked me where I predicted Everton would finish this season. I replied that the realistic goal has to be Europa League qualification. I maintain this to be the case. I also predicted the Toffees would finish 5th/6th in the EPL and I’m sticking with that. But, I will now qualify those statements with this – I now believe there’s a slight chance that we could finish as high as 4th in the league. Yeah that’s right, I said it. Who’s with me? |
| Match Preview: PSG vs. Bordeaux Posted: 25 Aug 2012 06:42 PM PDT
Both teams do have some injury concerns and suspensions heading into the game. For PSG, it involves the three superstars they prized from the Serie A. Ezequiel Lavezzi is suspended due to a red card, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva have both picked up knocks and are doubtful for the match at the Parc des Princes. Bordeaux has three players out due to injury: Carlos Henrique, Jussie, and Andre Biyogo Poko. They also have three players who are doubtful: Landry N’Guemo, Jaroslav Plasil, and Abdou Traore. PSG’s starting XI in a 4-3-3 setup should be fielded as follows: Salvatore Sirigu-as the goalkeeper, captain Christophe Jallet-at right back, Mamadou Sakho and Alex as the center back pairing and Brazilian Maxwell at left back. Their midfield will boast holding midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who will be flanked by Argentine star Javier Pastore and Frenchman Clement Chantome. Their front three will likely include last season’s leading goalscorer Nene, crafty winger Jeremy Menez, and Kevin Gameiro-who will look to get back to the form he exhibited at Lorient. Bordeaux have been deploying Europe’s favored formation, the 4-2-3-1, and look to lineup as follows: Ligue 1 veteran Cedric Carrasso in goal; Brazilian Mariano at right back; Benoit Tremoulinas on the left side; Marc Planus and Michael Ciani as the center back pairing. The two holding midfielders are Senegal international Ludovic Sane and Frenchman Gregory Sertic. The attacking midfield trio include Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Henri Saivet, alongside Poland international Ludovic Obraniak- who has been in phenomenal form. Bordeaux’s formation will lend itself to possession play. PSG will be keen on terrorizing the flanks whenever possible, with Nene and Menez cutting into the box. I could see this match ending with a score of 3-1, given PSG’s potent attacking force. While Bordeaux may be on form, their first two opponents have not had the quality that PSG does. It looks like Les Parisiens will get back on track and show everyone that they are on their way to becoming a world football powerhouse.
|
| The Gringo in Bahia: Beauty of Salvador Posted: 25 Aug 2012 06:28 PM PDT  Bahian Carnival in full swing In April 2011, I arrived at Esporte Clube Bahia to find a club that was restructuring itself after a few years of playing in the lower leagues of the Brazilian Championship. I encountered a group of players, staff and directors that, with hard work, are returning to the team back to greatness. For most of my life I have lived in the capital of Brazilian's most southern state, Porto Alegre. I also lived in Rio de Janeiro for a year while playing with Botafogo. Before coming to Salvador, I had already heard much about the city, especially about its natural beauty, huge Carnival party and that it is a place that many people would go for vacation. Living here for almost a year and a half now, I can say that besides its wonderful beaches, Salvador is a very welcoming city. My wife and I feel very comfortable here now and it has been a great experience in my life.  Fitinhas do Bonfim (little Bonfim ribbons) Salvador is the capital city of Bahia and was also the colonial capital of Brazil. It was an original gateway into the country for the Portuguese, and therefore as one of the oldest cities in Brazil, it has many historical and tourist sites. Some of the sites include: the Pelourinho, the Mercado Modelo and Elevador Lacerda. Several churches are here also, such as the Church Nossa Senhora do Bonfim, world renown for Fitinhas do Bonfim (little Bonfim ribbons). A popular tradition in Brazil, the Bonfim ribbons are wrapped around your wrist and secured with three knots. You make a wish for each knot and you are supposed to keep a secret about your three wishes. Once the ribbon falls off from natural causes, the wishes are supposed to come true. You are not supposed to cut it or tear it off, or you'll have bad luck.  Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador The weather in Salvador can be extremely hot, and during the summer, temperatures are near 40 degrees Celsius – an ideal climate to enjoy some of it's beautiful and most famous beaches: Itapuã, Porto da Barra and Praia do Flamengo. The Bahian Carnival is one of the best and most popular Carnivals in the world. It has several shows where performers sing and dance on top of the Trio Eletrico. The Trio Eletrico is a truck / float fitted with high powered audio equipment that drives through the streets of the city with a music group playing on the roof while everyone is partying around it. Salvador was chosen as one of the twelve host cities chosen by FIFA for the 2014 World Cup. A lot of preparation work is currently underway, and the new Fonte Nova stadium is being built especially for these matches. The work is almost complete.  Danny Morais enjoys a Bahian Acarajé The Esporte Clube Bahia, the Brazilian champions in 1959 and 1988, is the biggest team in the state. The team's biggest adversary is the Esporte Clube Vitoria, who now plays in the second division of the Brazilian Championship. Now that you know a little bit more about this wonderful city, I invite you to visit Salvador and enjoy a Acarajé, a typical Bahian food, here! – The Gringo in Bahia |
| Sunderland complete Steven Fletcher signing from Wolverhampton Posted: 25 Aug 2012 02:25 AM PDT  Image via SAFC.com The long awaited move of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Scottish international forward, Steven Fletcher to Sunderland has finally been completed. According to the Daily Mail the player makes the switch to the North East for a sum believed to be set at £15 million. Fletcher was one of the bright spots on a horrible Wolves English Premier League side during the 2011-12 season in which the club were relegated. His new manager Martin O'Neil expressed delight in the post training press conference for Sunderland as they prepared for the weekend fixtures in the English Premier League:
Wolves lost their Premier League status last season but I think he’s very good and I think he’s improving. He hasn’t played that much. He had a setback a few weeks ago so in terms of fitness he didn’t train with us today but I’ll assess him anyway. Fletcher will most likely see his first action for Sunderland the first weekend of September once he has finalized all of the last details of his transfer, and completes the paperwork on his new four-year deal with Sunderland according to SAFC.com. The new Black Cat striker made the following comments in his debut press conference late friday evening prior to Sunderland’s Saturday match against Reading being postponed:
Due to the extended time the club will have had to get Fletcher settled on Saturday, there is a good chance he will be involved with the club’s opening round match of the Capital One Cup (Previously Carling Cup) on Tuesday night against Morecambe. You can also follow me on Twitter @thedailyatz, Facebook and Pinterest. |
| Matt Jarvis joins West Ham in £10.7 million transfer Posted: 24 Aug 2012 06:44 PM PDT  Image via West Ham United Football Club After a frustrating season that saw Wolverhampton succumb to relegation from the English Premier League, one of their brightest talents in England international Matt Jarvis looked set to stay with the club as they hoped to bounce back up. However, Jarvis was a massive transfer target of several clubs during the previous summer transfer window, and once again became one for others this summer despite his poor season. The English winger only managed to be part of a few promising moments for Wolves in 2011-12 and was not one to step up and supply goals of assists in the wake of the clubs horrid second half of the season. According to West Ham United’s official site they have signed the player as the club's most expensive transfer in history as Jarvis joins the club for a fee just over £10.7 million. Jarvis made comment about his joy to be joining the club:
Jarvis makes yet another signing for manager Sam Allardyce who is determined to raise the Hammers back to the top half of the English Premier League table and hopefully back into European action in the next several seasons. You can also follow me on Twitter @thedailyatz, Facebook and Pinterest. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from SWOL To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment