Premiership review 16/12/06

By tdf, December 17, 2006

Arsenal v Portsmouth

Portsmouth, under Harry Redknapp, Tony Adams and Joe Jordan, have been in exceptional form this season and fancied their chances of upsetting Wenger’s Henry-less Arsenal. Both Campbell and the league’s top scorer, Kanu, were making returns to the former employers. The French boss opted for a Van Persie/ Aliadiere attack, with big Adebayor made to warm the bench.

Early on an Ebou cross finds Van Persie in the box, but James denies the Dutchman, diving to his right to parry the shot. Soon after, Ljunberg hopped off the pitch; hamstrung.

As the half progressed Arsenal eased into the ascendancy. Fabregas tried his luck from range pushing James into a save which fell to the feet of Van Persie, but yet again James performed the necessary acrobatics to defend his goal.

Scorer of a the 40 yard wonder strike last week Matthew Taylor floated in a free kick, which Thompson got his head to. With Lehman beaten, the shot hits the post then Pamarot is on hand to nod in the rebound.0-1.

During the half time interval Arsene Wenger complained bitterly to the official about the free kick which led to the goal his side conceded, and promptly return after the break exiled to the stand.

Within minutes of the restart, Taylor finds the ball deflected into his path in the area and delivers a wonderful volley from 18 yards out, with the outside of the left boot which flies straight into the far corner…perfect strike…0-2

Sensing the need for an instant change of fortunes, Wenger threw on the mammoth Adebayor to lend some bulk and height to the attack and the African youngster almost won a penalty seconds after taking to the field when Johnson’s tackle sent him tumbling to the turf…The replay was inconclusive.

Hleb sent Walcott down wing who ate up the yards rapidly before playing the ball across the area for Adebayor to poke home past James…1-2 58’

The Gunners recovery was building steam by the second…Toure hits one towards goal after a useful run from defence, Walcott fluffed the rebound but the ball fell kindly to Gilberto who thumped it through the crowd and into the far corner of the net…2-2..replay shows the shit took a small but important deflection 60′

Adebayor, Van Persie and Flamini all had late chances to win the game but it ended 2-2.

FT:2-2

Arsenal will no doubt count themselves unlucky to have walked away from this one with only a point but
Portsmouth, mainly James, fought tooth and claw for their part of the spoils. The home side were a completely different team when Adebayor was brought on and I doubt whether we will be seeing Aliadiere starting in his place again this season unless injuries and suspension compel it to happen. Another great goal for Matthew Taylor; that left boot is becoming increasingly clinical from range. An exciting game but one can’t help but notice how much Arsenal lack when their talisman and protagonist in chief, Henry, is sidelined.

MOM- James

Arsenal’s manager, Arsehole Wenger, wanted by the police for aggravated assault…

Charlton v Liverpool

Ex Everton stalwart, Tomas Myre came in between the sticks in place of
Carson.
Liverpool’s form of late has been impressive with Benitez finally appearing to have accepted that a settled side holds the key to optimum success.

An early Penalty was rightfully awarded after Traore kicked Pennant in the head. Alonso scored confidently from the spot for 0-1. 4’

Liverpool imposed themselves quickly with Bellamy and Pennant both going close before half time.

The second half saw Charlton’s resistance abruptly falter and the passage of play become very one sided. Myre saved well from a long distance Alonso curler. The consistently profligate Kuyt hit the post but Charlton did create a couple of chances of their own.

Rommedhal set up Ambrose for a volley 10 yards from goal, which he skied over. Bent also wasted an opportunity to equalize by sending a close range shot 5 yards wide. Normal service was soon resumed with livewire Welshman Bellamy scoring a classy strike after nipping onto the end of a clever through ball to finish across the body of Myre for 0-2 82’

Gerrard was found on the edge of box; the midfielder turned his body then picked his spot, lofting the ball nonchalantly into top corner…0-3… 4in 6 for Gerrard 88’

After the match Les Reed said the right lines but looked like a man destined to relegate Charlton. His team’s performance was shocking and if anything, they look worse under his stewardship that they did under recently sacked manager, Dowie.

The score could have been 0-20 were it not for prodigal son, Dirk Kunt, failing to hit the target with any of his 17 chances…Alan Hansen said he ‘can’t remember a worse performance in the premiership…’ and also ‘My granny could tell you where the danger is’…

Mom- Traore. For kicking Pennant in the face…

Les ‘smeagol’ Reed remains upbeat despite the whipping his boys got from Liverpool

Aston Villa v Bolton

Former Palace keeper made his debut in goal for Villa as Sorenson is laid up with crabs.

All the early running was made by the home side with Agbonlehor, Gardner and Cahill all sending shots towards the Bolton goal but Jaskelannan was proving his pedigree with a series of world class saves. Despite the constant pressure from Villa, it was Bolton who opened the scoring after Anelka was crumpled in the area by Petrov. Gary Speed, playing his 100^th game for the club, stepped up to send the ball home for 0-1

Angel almost grabbed the equalizer after busting through the Bolton rearguard but Allardyce’s men held on for a fortuitous victory.

Jaskelannan won these points for Bolton with a classy display of goalkeeping. Villa will have every right to feel desperately disappointed and an out and out goal scorer will be high on O’Neil’s shopping list when the transfer window re-opens in January.

MOM- Jaskelannan

Big Sam Allarcyde will be happy for his team’s smash and grab victory at Villa.

Reading v Blackburn

Reading’s recent good form looked set to continue when Harper was put through on goal and finished well past Freidel for a deserved 1-0 lead. 41’. After the break Blackburn seized the initiative, none more so than Benni Mcarthy who had 3 goals ruled offside before finally hitting the net in the 64^th minute with a well taken header. 1-1.

The Blackburn winner came courtesy of Bentley. The midfielder ran down the right channel before cutting into towards goal and lashing a magnificent drive through the outstretched arms of Reading keeper, Hammeman. 1-2 84’.

FT 1-2

Mark Hughes must have berated his charges with a few choice phrases at half time because Blackburn were drove forward in the second half like a team possessed. Reading were always in the match but
Blackburn were the deserving winners.

A few carefully chosen words from Mark Huges transformed Rover’s fortunes…

Newcastle v Watford

Roeder was pleased to welcome back the bullish industry of Emre and silky skills of Dyer, who both returned to action after recovering from recent injuries.

Butt was the first to threaten after battling through from midfield but his shot was typically lame.

Former Gillingham striker Darius Henderson, unsurprisingly still yet to find his first premiership goal, went close to breaking the deadlock with a first time left foot half volley, which was tipped over by Given

The teams went into half time level after what was an even first period.

On 49 minutes, Milner sent in a lovely cross which Martins rose well to head past Lee for 1-0. 49’…But Watford are soon level with a scrappy goal by Boazza who got lucky in a melee just in front of Given’s goal, poking over the line after Tommy smith headed an effort towards the corner. 1-1

Tidy work from Duff down the left wing ended with a pass into the box, finding Martins, who steadies himself before thumping one home for 2-1.

FT 2-1

Newcastle were lucky to nick this one and Roeder will need to either add to or intelligently re-arrange his defence which continues to be porous against any level of opposition.

Watford played with heart and passion but lacked the skill. Will be in the mix near the bottom come May

MOM: Martins

The load continues to lift from Roeder’s fragile shoudlers…

Wigan v Sheffield united

A dire match for the neutral decided by a dubious strike from Rob Hulse. Quinn played a pacey ball into box where Hulse collected before adroitly turning then side footing into the net from close range. 0-1

There was a penalty awarded when De Zeuw was adjudged, by the ref, to have handled in the area but after consultation with the linesman, the referee decided to cancel the spot-kick. The replay almost confirmed that the linesman got it right.

Cannonball framed, former bouncer Paul Jewell was seen threatening Blades boss Warnock, but he didn’t mind because his team ran out winners of this unentertaining encounter.

Kirkland was in fine form throughout the match denying several good chances for Sheffield United to increase their lead.

Towards the end of the game there was an unsavoury incident involving Wigan meathead, Mculloch and Chris Morgan. The striker was seen to smash the Sheffield United skipper in the face and soon enough after the assault, Morgan’s eye puffed out and reddened. This was the second time in a week Morgan has been the recipient of foul play after catching an elbow in his last outing…Still, despite the nastiness of Mculloch’s ‘tackle’ he did make a visit to the Sheffield United dressing room after the final whistle to apologize for his actions, which is commendable.

A good result for the excitable Warnock and on chances created his team merited their victory.