Ouch. Check em Glenn!
Good afternoon blog fiends, lots happening this afternoon, so lets get to it. Just in, it didn’t take Patrick Vieira long to get back to his old ways–He’s been charged with violent conduct by the FA for sticking his boot in Glenn Wheelan’s knackers last night. Pleasant.
Lets talk today’s footy!
Arsenal v Porto and Bayern v Fiorentina in the CL, Newcastle take on Coventry in the Colaship and in the EPL? Wigan and Bolton go head-to-head in a relegation 6 pointer, that one sounds like it will be an absolute thriller! Zzzzzzzz. All the fixture’s and team news after the Jump.
Uefa Champions League
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
FC Porto v Arsenal
Barclays Premier League
Wigan v Bolton
The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
Crystal Palace v Reading
Newcastle v Coventry
Coca-Cola Football League Two
Notts County v Grimsby
Clydesdale Bank Premier League
St Johnstone v Hibernian
Active Nation Scottish Cup
Rangers v St Mirren
International Match
North Korea v Turkmenistan (note that this one only happened if North Korea win. Otherwise Shhhhhhhhh.)
Team News!
Sol Campbell starts! Will he be able to contain the Hulk?
FC Porto: Helton, Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Pereira, Ruben Micael, Fernando, Raul Meireles, Varela, Falcao, Hulk. Subs: Beto, Guarin, Belluschi, Gonzalez, Maicon, Costa, Miguel Lopes.
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Diaby, Denilson, Fabregas, Rosicky, Bendtner, Nasri. Subs: Mannone, Vela, Walcott, Ramsey, Silvestre, Eboue, Traore.
And at the inevitably empty JJB DW Stadium in Wigan?
Wigan:Kirkland, Melchiot, Caldwell, Bramble, Figueroa, Scharner, McCarthy, Diame, N’Zogbia, Moreno, Rodallega. Subs: Stojkovic, Thomas, Scotland, Moses, Gomez, Sinclair, Boyce.
Bolton:Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Ricketts, Knight, Robinson, Lee, Muamba, Gardner, Taylor, Elmander, Kevin Davies. Subs: Al Habsi, Samuel, Mark Davies, Cohen, Andrew O’Brien, Wilshere, Weiss.
And in Germany?
Bayern Munich: Butt, Lahm, Van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber, Robben, Van Bommel, Schweinsteiger, Ribery, Gomez, Muller. Subs: Rensing, Altintop, Olic, Klose, Pranjic, Contento, Tymoschuk.
Fiorentina: Frey, De Silvestri, Kroldrup, Natali, Gobbi, Montolivo, Bolatti, Marchionni, Jovetic, Vargas, Gilardino. Subs: Avramov, Donadel, Felipe, Pasqual, Comotto, Keirrison, Carraro.
At St James Park?
Newcastle: Harper, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, van Aanholt, Routledge, Nolan, Guthrie, Jonas, Carroll, Lovenkrands. Subs: Krul, Pancrate, Smith, Hall, Best, Ranger, Taylor.
Coventry: Westwood, Wright, Crainie, Barnett, Wood, Baker, Clingan, Deegan, McIndoe, Morison, Eastwood. Subs: Turner, Gunnarsson, Stead, Sears, Hussey, Grandison, Konstantopolous.
And a Fabianski howler at Porto.
Sol Campbell equalizes..
One for the NY Kid. Arsenal wannabe Marouane Chamakh scores a super header in the French Cup this afternoon against Lorient. Bordeux currently 2-1 up.
It’s HT at Wigan and what a surprise…Its 0-0.
Uh oh, Fabianski AGAIN. What was he doing? YOU..CAN..NOT..PICK..UP..A..BACK..PASS…MATE! Porto 2-1 up from an indirect free-kick in the box. Actually the fact the ref allowed it taken that quick was nuts, Arsenal asleep and Fabianski running back towards his goal!
Or un croque-monsier
Bendtner has the first touch of a blind moose.
Where’s our Geordie!
1-1. Morison scores and 3 minutes later Spurs reject, wayne Routledge levels.
I was excited for Bentner to come back so we would have a proper striker. Rethinking that just now.
@Jape: I like Bendtner being back. His moments of comedy set up wonderful moments of brilliance.
Good to see the Gunners standing up for each other at the end of the half.
Bayern ref waived off a goal from open play to have Bayern take a penalty. Uh …
@ Jape…..Bendy means that we don’t lose possession on GKs…..that’s about it, I don’t look for goals from him, like at all
Holy Shit – highights of Porto goal. Fab-rock-ski, you suck.
NYK: get your eyes off of our Brad.
Idiot on FSC just said Vermaelan and Sol aren’t mobile……I’d like to see him beat Vermaelan in a race…..on a bike
@wac – aint that great? A big Danish f**ker, front and center, and none of us expect him to score. There was a give and go from Cesc near the end of the half that was all give and no go. F**king grade school soccer skills – even here in America.
I hate these f**king Porto whingers.
Oh Bendtner.
Classic Pink Boots misfire right there.
way to lean back Bendy
He is like the Danish Julio Baptista.
Oh that’s a PK, on first glance.
WHAT THE F**K
WHAT THE F**K?!
Get the F**K out’ve here. F**K YOU!
Fabianski is the biggest idiot in the world.
@Jape: Ha! When we got JB, I was so excited. WHAT THE MOTHERUFCKAERWQ’HJQ/NFR!
Wow, that is f**king brilliant, sorry.
what the f**k was that?
Good thing goals aren’t important in a knock-out comptetition or anything,
Bad on Sol, but why the f**k would he touch that ball? You could tell he even hesitated. Jesus.
Oh f**k you, ref.
I quit this f**king team. For real. Come on Fulham!
Anyone read Wenger’s remarks re: Fabianski before the match? He is ruing his words.
Are you effing kidding me…. the ref cannot allow that no matter what the commentator is saying… the ref was standing over the ball when he kicked it.
It didn’t look like Campbell meant to touch the ball…..like it looked like he was running….also, usually make them wait for a wall?
Nasri just bailed out Clichy big time.
I miss Almunia.
Fiorentina away goal.
I miss mad Jens.
I did not expect this game to be as chippy as it is. Meow cat fight!
I miss David Seaman
So, Arsenal 1, Fabianski -2?
Didn’t Fabianski control the ball before he handled it?
Jesus Christ Porto, I know you’re wearing blue, but you don’t have to dive like Chelsea too
no way that should be allowed to stand
Watching that replay pisses me off. Ref gifted that goal. Asks for the ball, hands it to POrto player, blocks Sol, goal.
Both the ref and Fabianski f**ked that up. Fabianski for handling the backpass. If Fabianski doesn’t hand the ball over, it’s a yellow for delay. The ref should not have allowed a quick free kick. Amateur hour
Ok, I’m gonna kick Rosicky over, and then say that he dove when my team is full of diving c**ts…..ready BREAK!
Not to make fun of the Palin’s retarded baby, but I think Fabianki might be retarded.
Bring Eboue on…..we need some divers
I miss Cesc.
-Highbury Library, August 2010
Per Kroldrup, he of the worst transfer in EPL history, scored the goal for Fiorentina.
@PR, excuse my French, but f**k Salin Palin…. Rush Limbaugh uses satire, but Letterman doesn’t?? Pfft
I’m just irate right now…..
Wow! A save!
Okay now THAT was a dive, a fairly impressive one too.
Oh f**k you, Porto douche. Get the f**k up.
It’s Fucile Jerry!
Show a card you c**t!
We have no one with a shooting leg…
It says something about the game when Diaby is the most collected player on the field.
Fucile should be off.
He didn’t hand it to him he dropped the ball in front of him and the player caught it.
Who is this announcer that constantly hates on Arsenal? We’re not playing the best of games, sure, but it’s not like everything we’re doing is awful.
The ref’s lost the plot on this game… he’s letting too much rough play go on with no consequences.
Yeah considering the mistakes made, the fact that as it stands all you need is a one goal win at home isn’t bad, I still don’t think Porto win this tie.
Let’s watch Theo get knocked off the ball for 20 mins.
Agreed, Hocks. I like flowing games, but not reckless ones.
I hope any Arsenal fans who defended the Henry decision see the hilarious irony in potentially getting f**ked by Hannson.
Theo is about to get punched in the mouth repeatedly…….
Theo Walcott: Nope.
Is it just me or is there an astounding number of empty seats here?
And there it is……The first of many Theonot called fouls
mmph. Fake Brazilian.
What decision? Nobody ever said he didn’t handle it. The ref just missed the call. Here, he actually impeded the only defender in the box. For hilarious irony, the ref would have had to handled the ball to Galgas.
It’s delicious, ain’t it, Georger?
Sorry, defending the LACK of a decision.
That bicycle clear was ridiculous. How f**king lucky can this team get?
F**K YO IRONY!
That Porto goal was a shocker. Ref wants to allow it to be taken quickly, it has to be clear to the other team. Keeper had his back to the goal, Its a real shocker.
Our midfield has just disappeared from the pitch… no link ups, no getting back, pathetic play.
Francesc is going to punch somebody before this game is over.
Have to give it to Porto, some great defending the last ten minutes.
Fabregas gets ran into…..oh, the defender is sheparding the ball out? play on
Would anyone be shocked to hear that Arjen Robben just dove to draw a straight red for Fiorentina? Because that just happened.
Well played by Sol to not get nutmegged.
Bah, this ref hurts my head
If Hannson weren’t a bad enough ref, his gay little goatee makes it even worse.
I hope Martin Hansson gets raped by a baboon in S. Africa
Miroslav Klose just went in with a flying two footer, caught the guy fat, and gets just a yellow. If you thought the officiating was bad in Portugal, holy s**t.
Really Georger??? That’s bananas
“Klose has now gone in horribly late on Felipe with his studs up and he gets a yellow. Obviously a different set of rules apply for Bayern.”
Soccernet’s headline for this game right now is “Another fine mess.” Is that a reference to something, or are they just being a dick?
Carlos “are we playing against CCC competition? No?, then it doesn’t matter cause he won’t do anything useful” Vela is on
Vela for Bendtner… ugh… yet another little person on the pitch for Arsenal.
For Bendtner???? goddammit
It’s like they’re taking turns going in hard on Cesc
F**king ref’s hand goes up while the ball is on it’s way for the assist.
Bayern have the really odd pinstripes on their white kits like Arsenal do on their blues. And their players couldn’t agree on wearing the same color gloves, which Ribery is wearing with short sleeves, which is a look I’ve never understood.
If Fiorentina can get out of Germany with an away goal and the draw, down a man, well it looks like Bayern will choke yet again.
I love how this commentator thinks the second goal was Arsenal’s fault because we didn’t stand in front of the ball….. or as I like to say….cheat
Dear Arsene,
Thanks for the last 13+ years. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Signed,
Highbury Library
Eboue on. Season appearances: 5. Great.
You get Pixie and who else back for the return leg? Still like your chances, especially if Fabianski isn’t playing I guess.
Really HL?? on this game?? Wenger didn’t do much wrong, aside from having a competent backup GK
@HL: Because of a loss to Porto, going away, with 5 starters out? A wee bit harsh, no?