Tuesday Champions League Round-Up

 Atletico Madrid, Champions league, Juventus, La Liga, Manchester City, Manchester United, Premier league, PSG, Real Madrid  No Responses »
Nov 032015
 

champions leagueTuesday night was the first night of match day 4 in the UEFA Champions League. The night started out with Astana hosting Spanish La Liga club Atletico Madrid. After thrashing them an astounding 4-0 in Madrid two weeks back, Diego Simeone’s men just couldn’t cracking down a rather spirit Astana side and that saw the match end in goalless draw. Manchester City displayed a first class first half performance to qualify for the knock out stages of the competition with a 3-1 victory over Sevilla. The Premier League club had to wait till the dying minutes to grab a winner the last time the two met but the case was different this time as the tie was decided in the first half with goals from Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Wilfred Bony was enough to give them a deserved win.

Wayne Rooney ended what could have been a third straight goalless draw for the red devils with a header in the 79 minute at Old Trafford. The coach’s trust in his captain finally paid off when the England international nodded in from close range to give Manchester United a 1-0 victory over a rather defensive CSKA Moscow. The game between Real Madrid and French champions PSG was also decided in the first half. The only goal came from the substitute Nacho Fernández who had come on to replace Marcelo as the later could not seem to shake off the injury he picked up. PSG playmaker Marco Veratti was also taken off in the early minutes of the game due to an injury.

The biggest winners of the night were Shaktar Donetsk who thrashed Malton an astounding 4-0. The first came in the first half with the remaining three coming in the second half. Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw against Borrusia M’Gladbach while PSV pulled a surprised 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg. Benfica also got a 2-1 victory over Galatasaray on the night. The events of match day 4 continues tomorrow and some of the teams would join City and Madrid in qualifying for the next round.

Premier League Round-up

 Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Premier league, Southampton, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Ham  1 Response »
Oct 182015
 

premier leagueA lot was expected as all the leagues returned to action following the long international break but the Premier League just had so much going on for it. Chelsea were expected to have gotten the break needed to get them back to winning ways, Liverpool fans couldn’t wait to see the effects of their new coach, Arsenal longed to see their good run continue and Manchester United just wanted to be over their heavy lose at the Emirates.

Chelsea seemed to have found their rhythm in the absence of their main talisman Eden Hazard as they capitalised on Aston Villa’s defensive errors to win the game by 2 goals to nil. Manchester City were on fire, thrashing AC Bournemouth 5-1 with Raheem Sterling scoring three of those goals. Meanwhile United got the better of the game at Goodison park by winning 3-0, captain Wayne Rooney rounded off the scoring when he picked up a superb pass from Ander Herrera and lifted the ball over the on rushing keeper. Liverpool played harder, faster and with more enthusiasm but ended up sharing the spoils at White Hart Lane.

Southampton gave away a two goal lead as Vardy lead Leicester City to a great comeback to draw level with the second goal coming-in in the 90th minute. Late goals from Lazzini and Payet helped West Ham secure a vital win over Crystal Palace. Hot sensation Alexis Sanchez lead the rout as Arsenal came in strong in the second half to win newly promoted side Watford. Berahino was the man to burst Sunderland’s bubble as faced West Bromwich later in the day.

Earlier today, Wijnaldum scored a staggering four goals as Newcastle trashed Norwich City at St James Park. The Netherlands international scored twice in both halves of the game. And that leaves us with the last match of this round, which is Swansea vs Stoke City and that would be played tomorrow night.

Manchester City facing injury woes

 Manchester City, Premier league, Tottenham, West Ham  No Responses »
Sep 262015
 

Manchester City has a total of seven players sidelined through injury as they travel to London to face Tottenham Hotspur later today. The long queue of injured players for the club includes play maker David Silva, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfried Bony who are expected to return in the first week of October. While Gael Clichy and Mangala, would be returning later that month. Summer signing Fabian Delph is yet to make an appearance for the team this season due to a hamstring injury. Manchester City appears to be the only Premier League club that can have this much star players on the sidelines and still have so much to offer and that is because of the depth of their squad. Manchester City has a lot of options in different roles but their match against Sunderland in the Capital One Cup required that the club need do with the available squad. City went on to win the match 4-1 with Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling all on the score sheet.

City’s manager, Manuel Pellegrini is hopeful that Samir Nasir, Pablo Zabeleta and his team captain Vincent Kompany would be available for selection today against Sunderland. With Aguero who missed most of the match against Juventus due to injury back to fitness, the manager is hoping the team could move on from their last week’s defeat to West Ham and win in London. Summer signings Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne are also available, with the later impressing against West Ham. Though they lost that match, his performance shows that he doesn’t need a whole season to adapt to the Premier League he left a season ago and that’s one reason why City spent so much on him.

Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling not yet up to par

 Champions league, Juventus, Manchester City, Premier league  1 Response »
Sep 162015
 

Nights like Tuesday night were the reason for Raheem Sterling’s switch from Liverpool to Manchester city during the last transfer window. Sterling joined city amid the controversial circumstances with his proposed move but he has impressed his new coach with his performances as he helped his side win all five of their opening fixtures in the premier league this season. But he has come under five after missing two clear cut chances that would have won the game for them in their 2-1 defeat to last year’s Champions League finalist Juventus. He was eventually replaced later in the game by fellow summer signing Kevin de Bruyne.

On a night when city so desperately wanted to win as was seen by their attacking play, Raheem Sterling failed to deliver. He had two clear chances to dash the hopes of Juventus with his first coming just two minutes into the game after being played through by Fernandinho. But his low effort was saved brilliantly by veteran Italian goal keeper, Buffon. City later took the lead in the 57th minute through an own goal by Chiellini when Vincent Kompany’s header was deflected off the defender. Although the Juventus center-back was furious that the goal was allowed to stand because he felt he was fouled by Kompany. Raheem sterling had a chance to all but bury the game just three minutes later and again Buffon did well top deny him the goal. That would prove to be his last chance of the night as was replaced few minutes later. Juventus got back in the game through a wonderful goal by Mandzukic in the 70th minute and took the lead when Alvaro Morata’s left footed shot was too strong for Joe Hart to stop.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pelligrini speaking at the post match conference, refused to blame the defeat on Sterling stating that the though they controlled the game, they should have buried their chances. Manchester City still has 5 more games to play and they would be hoping to grab the points they need to qualify from those games.