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Yes, the great Server Meltdown of 2010 is over, and everything now seems to be back in order. You might notice that we don’t exactly do this for money, as evidenced by our lack of ads, and our lack of eye-catching graphic design. Well, if you like us and want to help us get some better web hosting, maybe you could purchase one of them t-shirts we are flogging over there to the right? I know, I know. Begging is so very uncool. But hey, just saying, you get what you pay for!
Speaking of which… there is some brilliant armchair analysis, fixtures, and your comments after the hop.
Right, so on to the football. Probably today’s most intriguing match is Stoke at home versus Spurs. Stoke have been very solid at the Brittania Stadium this season, where they have conceded all of 9 goals. Spurs, on the other hand, will be trying to hold on to fourth place, and they’ll have to do it without Jermain Defoe, who is out with the dreaded six-week hamstring injury. Today also marks Ryan Shawcross’s return from suspension after that incident against Arsenal. The less said about that the better, but trust me, it will be an ad naseum talking point. Unfortunately, this match is on Fox Soccer Plus, which I believe is currently available to all of 3 people in Guam. Oh well.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa hosts Wolves in the early EPL match, as Arsenal hosts Wet Spam. Both winnable home games for two teams hoping to remain in contention for fourth place and the EPL title race respectively. Hull makes their Phil Brown-less debut against Pompey today, which is certainly as good a game as any for Sloth Dowie to take the reins. In Serie A, Roma and Inter each have fixtures after their high and low of midweek European action. It’ll be interesting to see how the teams respond, especially given Inter’s poor run in the Italian league of late. And then in the Championship, Newcastle are away to Bristol City, who like Hull will be looking to the proverbial new manager effect. Newcastle, however, have a real chance to solidify their lead in the Fizzy Pop league and look to be a good bet for an eventual return to the EPL.
Oh and tonight marks the grand opening of the Red Bulls Arena, where yours truly and Ned will be there to watch Robinho Juan Pablo Angel a bunch of players we have never heard of at a beautiful new soccer-specific stadium, which will soon be sitting unused due to the MLS strike.
Without further ado, today’s selected fixtures….
EPL
—–
8:30 Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (ESPN2)
11:00 Stoke City vs Tottenham Hotspur (Fox Soccer Plus)
11:00 Everton vs Bolton (FSC)
11:00 Portsmouth vs Hull City
11:00 Sunderland vs Birmingham
11:00 Wigan vs Burnley
1:30 Arsenal vs West Ham (FSC)
Rest of the World
—–
10:30 Eintracht Frankfurt vs Bayern München (ESPN360.com, ESPN Deportes)
11:00 Middlesbrough vs Reading
11:00 Swindon vs Norwich City (Ned’s House)
11:00 Wycombe vs Exeter City (Spectator’s House)
11:00 Aberdeen vs Dundee United (u75′s House)
1:00 Deportivo La Coruña vs Real Valladolid (ESPN360.com, ESPN Deportes)
1:00 Fiorentina vs Genoa (ESPN360.com, Fox Soccer Plus)
1:20 Bristol City vs Newcastle United
1:30 Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen (Gol)
2:45 PSV vs Twente (ESPN360.com)
3:00 Real Madrid vs Sporting Gijón (ESPN360.com, ESPN Deportes)
3:45 Palermo vs Inter Milan (FSC)
3:45 AS Roma vs Udinese (ESPN360.com)
4:00 Palmeiras vs Ponte Preta (Gol)
5:00 Espanyol vs Sevilla (ESPN360.com, ESPN Deportes
6:30 New York Red Bulls vs Santos FC (FSC)
Iain Dowie can eat my soggy sock.
Can this game replace “Hargo” as the top story on ESPN?
I’m prepared to bet that Iain Dowie can be the one to single-handedly destroy the New Manager Effect.
Good morning, UF’ers!
I am not looking forward to the combination of us hoofing ball’s at that long streak of piss and Stoke’s Sally-Bar-the-Door tactics, but this Villa scoreline has brought a smile to my face.
Morning Phil. NOW DROP SOME F**KING POINTS PLEASE
Stoke v Tottenham
Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Higginbotham, Collins, Delap, Whelan, Whitehead, Etherington, Fuller, Kitson.
Subs: Begovic, Lawrence, Sidibe, Pugh, Sanli, Wilkinson, Moult.
Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Kaboul, Modric, Bale, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko.
Subs: Alnwick, Palacios, Gudjohnsen, Livermore, Dervite, Parrett, Townsend.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Sunderland v Birmingham
Sunderland: Gordon, Hutton, Turner, Mensah, Ferdinand, Campbell, Meyler, Richardson, Malbranque, Bent, Mwaruwari.
Subs: Carson, Bardsley, Zenden, Henderson, Da Silva, Kilgallon, Cattermole.
Birmingham: Hart, Carr, Dann, Johnson, Ridgewell, Gardner, Michel, Ferguson, Fahey, Jerome, Benitez.
Subs: Taylor, Bowyer, Larsson, Phillips, McFadden, Parnaby, Vignal.
Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
Wigan v Burnley
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Caldwell, Bramble, Figueroa, McCarthy, Scharner, Diame, Thomas, Moreno, Rodallega.
Subs: Stojkovic, Gohouri, Amaya, Scotland, Moses, Gomez, Sinclair.
Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Duff, Cort, Jordan, Alexander, Elliott, McDonald, Paterson, Steven Fletcher, Nugent.
Subs: Weaver, Edgar, Blake, Bikey, Thompson, Eagles, Cork.
Referee: Michael Jones (Cheshire)
Portsmouth v Hull
Portsmouth: James, Mullins, Rocha, Hreidarsson, Belhadj, Smith, Mokoena, Wilson, O’Hara, Owusu-Abeyie, Piquionne.
Subs: Ashdown, Diop, Brown, Finnan, Webber, Kanu, Basinas.
Hull: Myhill, Mendy, McShane, Mouyokolo, Dawson, Folan, Marney, Bullard, Kilbane, Fagan, Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Subs: Duke, Barmby, Geovanni, Garcia, Cooper, Olofinjana, Cairney.
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Everton v Bolton
Everton: Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Anichebe, Heitinga, Arteta, Pienaar, Cahill, Yakubu.
Subs: Nash, Hibbert, Yobo, Bilyaletdinov, Saha, Osman, Rodwell.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Andrew O’Brien, Knight, Robinson, Lee, Muamba, Cohen, Wilshere, Kevin Davies, Elmander.
Subs: Al Habsi, Cahill, Taylor, Riga, Mark Davies, Ricketts, Weiss.
Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
Jozy can’t even get PT against Pompey? Lame
No s**t, Tommy. Villa would have expected three points from this and no-one expected Wolves to play so well? But it’s a f**king derby, a**hole.
Meanwhile, why can’t Vlad Weiss get a game at Bolton? He’s really quite good and will show that in the WC.
Yes: healthy Torres + healthy Gerrard + healthy Aquilani = potentially 4th place. No thanks to Stevie though.
Tommy making a rare good point that it’s not like Beckham was going to be starting.
Yeah. As we all kinda agreed last week, he’s not the biggest loss. He’s not even Top 10 on that list.
Kaboul at HOLDING F**KING MID!?!?!?! F**k me, ‘Arry is a Scouser.
@JamesT Yeah, that’s really odd about Weiss. Although Lee has been very good for them this season.
Wow, Phil. Seriously.
rule 1: Never pick a lineup that plays down to your opponent. I guess he’s picking ugly to face ugly…
@Phil: Ten deep breathes
@Everyone else: I wish I could take bets on people getting yellows/reds, I’d put $100 on Kaboul
Now saying that Altidore picked up an injury in training this week. A likely story I say. Iain Dowie, why do you HATE AMERICA?
@wac: I think you’re right about Younes. I’ll be shocked if he finishes this match.
Stoke already putting ten men behind the ball, and the Spurs fans are letting them hear about it.
Stoke play offense? For SHAME!
Darren Bent continues to score for fun.
Anichebe refuses to shoot the ball
Stoke are a bunch of filthy, hacking blighters.
Jeez, SD looks horrible when you swap between it and HD. Of course, in about 15 minutes or so, I’ll be lucky to get anyD the way the skies look…
Faye will be off today if he keeps tackling like that.
F**k, you, Peter. F**k. You.
i know this has been beaten into the ground but jesus delap takes a solid minute to take his throws. its absurd
Anichebe is on the stretcher…….looks like he needs a hip replacement
Bring on Landyc- Oh……lame
Morning gents. And good bye to anichebe
Modric and Kranjcar become totally useless with Crouch in there. He ruins, ruins, ruins our tactics.
Ooh. Chance for crouchinho
F**k off, Dean, Jordan is right. Stoke are clearly targeting Bale and it’s the third time now he’s “accidentally” been hit on that same f**king knee, you knob.
Bolton chanelling their inner Stoke…..or is it the other way around?
is ricardo fuller actively going for the male prostitute look?
@TSE: To be fair, that was just a rebound from Niko’s shot, and Crouch, as usual, got there late.
@Phil: I was actually being supportive. I’d only he’d been 6foot11. Then he would have gotten there.
@TSE: If he were 6′-11″, he’d be out of football. LOL
Man does stoke play like a bunch of hard asses.
Bolton’s keeper is timewasting…..in the 23rd f**king minute
Excellent stuff from Crouch and Pavs there!
Dear Peter Crouch,
You long streak of piss, your job is to stand at the far post on set pieces and corners. It’s all we ask of you. The least you could do is, you know, f**king do it. Ass.
Modric tries a Dempsey. Fails.
This game is painful to watch. But I only have everton Bolton on fsc so I guess I’m stuck.
F**king Kaboul.
F**KING SEND HIM OFF, DEAN. High, late, two-footed. F**king yellow, my ass.
3:1 on a leg breaking for Spurs?
Like I said phil, painful to watch
Whitehead and Faye should be off. This is disgusting.
Jozywatch continued: Now saying he was supposed to be in the 18, injured in warmups, scan coming on Monday.
Phil, you sound like an Arsenal fan lol
WTF? Why is ‘Arry pulling Pavs?
@wac: Not really. I don’t assume there’s some sort of massive conspiracy to allow teams to tackle us. I just think Stoke play like a bunch of hacking c**ts. Whitehead’s “tackle” on Modric is a straight red on another day, but Dean’s been letting the lads play today. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.
Glad to see I was missed; was running a half marathon in dc this morning. Just as well I missed that. At least Carew is flying.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s necessarily just us, Personally i think it’s against the pretty teams…..
And Stoke are just a bunch of thugs to everyone really
Timmay!
Spurs starting to TCOB now. Dawson and Charlie taking some justified shots at Fuller and Kitson.
@wac: it’s definitely worse at the Brittania, IMO. They really get out the nasty at home.
For sure some nasty stuff from Stoke.
Phil, did Pavs come off? Any idea why? Injury?
This Everton-Bolton match is pretty dire
No idea, Steve. ‘Arry just pulled him on 35′.
hmm, weird. BBC didn’t say anything specific about it, either. It’ll be great to have another striker injured. Pretty soon we’ll be playing a 4-6-0. Also, how is it that Crouch is our hardiest player? It looks like he could snap at any moment.
Steve, word on Spurs blogs is that Pavs has a thigh problem. Apparently, he picked it up around 15′ and finally had to be pulled on 35′.
I said it yesterday, but perhaps Spurs need a new physio? The number of muscle problems in the team is unreal.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! EIDUR AND WHAT A F**KIGN BALL FROM CROUCH!!!!
Fack
Nice goal by gudjohnsen. And 20 seconds in!
That was a lovely, lovely ball from Crouch. F**king class.
Yeah, goodbye, motherf**ker. Go barge into the locker room, you f**king thug.
Faye, you’re next.
Gudjohnsen!
(only three minutes late…)
Bale gets one back for Modders. Well done, young master Bale.
F**king Kaboul….
I’m liking Gudjohnsen’s play.
Frankfurt just scored twice after 85 minutes to go up over Munich.
HANDBAGS! Between Charlie and BAE! Trouble in the squad?
spurs in-fighting? did anyone see what set it off?
Yeah that was odd.
lol @ fuller being the voice of reason between teammates fighting
Pllllleeeaaaasseee put one of these away!
Goals at 87 and 89, Bundesliga race is back on.
@Omar: Spurs took a short corner, and were set up to play it around and cross in from the right, but when the ball came to BAE he blasted a shot wide. Charlie let him hear about it, rightly so, and BAE took exception to something Charlie said and shoved him.
Jesus, wtf
Kitson dives into the back of BAssong, and “earns” a penalty. F**k off, Dean.
And now BAE concedes a penalty? Was it him? My picture is a bit blurry.
That’s not a PK. Jesus, Dean.
Ahh Bassong. Yeah didn’t look like much.
Kaboul’s third shot into the stands. Great contribution.
More stupidity from Kaboul. STOP SHOOTING, YOU F**KING LUMMOX.
Wow. I watch five minutes of the everton match and I miss all kinds of s**t inthis spurs match
I’m sorry, but if we can’t break down 10-man Stoke, we don’t deserve 4th. We must take full points, or this match is a failure. Period.
jesus talk about against the run of play. i think that was stokes first attack of the half. and even for someone who doesnt really like spurs, that was a soft penalty
Frankfurt’s winner is your goal of the week, christ on a cracker.
‘Arry is chewing Sherwood’s ass on Spurs’ bench…
Wow. Whew.
Crouch almost gifts a goal to Fuller.
fuller misses a sitter. wtf happened to spurs?
@georger: the term christ on a cracker has me still laughing. its the mental image
And Robbie Keane scores a PK for Celtic..