Champions League games 27th November 2013

In yesterday's Champions League games Manchester United beat Bayer Leverkusen by five goals to nil.

It was an emphatic and it ensured that they qualified for the knockout stages.

 This was a much needed win for Man United especially as they are struggling in the domestic league. 

Elsewhere Man City also recorded a four goals to two win against Viktoria Pizen and they have qualified for the knockout stage. 

This win followed a really strong performance in the premier league and Man City game is coming together at the right time. 

Champions League review 26th November 2013

Yesterday in the Champions League group stage match, Arsenal beat Marseille by two goals to nil.

It was a good confident win by Arsenal who would had many other chances to increase the score line including a penalty miss by Mesut Ozil.

But most importantly Arsenal won the game and are top of the group by three points. Arsenal play the last group game away to Naples. 

This group really was the group of death because despite having twelve points. Arsenal still need at least a draw from the game against Naples to qualify for the knock out stages. 

Elsewhere Chelsea lost away to Basel by one goal to nil. But have now qualified for the knockout stage as other group results went there way. 

It just goes to show that sometimes it really is the luck of the draw:)

Preview of Champions League: 26 November 2013

In tonight's Champions League games Arsenal are at home to Marseille. Arsenal need to win this match to bring them a big step closer to qualifying for the knock out stages.

 

On the plus side Marseille have not had good campaign and unlikely to qualify for the next stage as they don't have any points.

Theo Walcott and Mathieu Flamini are back from injury so that should hopefully give us more attacking options.

 

Elsewhere Chelsea are away to Basel and they only need a draw to qualify for the knock out stages.

However Basel are a tough team and it will be a tough match for Chelsea and could go either way.

Premiership review- 24th November 2013

Sunday's premiership games had a few surprises and Man City beating Tottenham Hotspurs by six goals to nil was a shocker!

I did not see that coming at all, especially  since Spurs have spent over one hundred million pounds in the transfer window.

It will be interesting to see if they can recover from this. But they don't have much time as there next game is at home to Man United.

 

Man United drew two all to Cardiff City in a match that I was also expecting Man United to win. 

This was a bad draw for Man United and their chances of retaining their title are becoming remote. 

As I stated earlier their next premiership game is away to Spurs and it is a bigger match than usual for either of these teams. 

Premiership review 23rd November 2013

The Premiership returned yesterday after the international break and Arsenal beat Southampton by two goals to nil.

This was a good win as Southampton where third in the league. I am mightly relieved that Arsene Wenger took this game seriously. 

This win was also needed after the disappointing loss to Manchester United. 

This winning this game would has helped us to stay top of the league and continue in the winning mentality.

Which is so desparately needed after eight seasons of no trophies. I was pleased that Olivier Giroud got the goals.

As I think he has not had a good start to the season. So hopefully this will encourage him to be more confident in front of goal. 

Lastly this win has helped us to break our  poor November record where we have not had many wins in this month. 

 

Elsewhere Chelsea beat West Ham by three goals to nil and this win has put them in a top four position and and just four points behind Arsenal. 

I was surprised at the ease in which Chelsea beat West Ham as the rivalry between both clubs would make this kind of scoreline difficult to get. 

Lastly Liverpool drew three all to Everton and I was not suprised by this result has merseyside rivalries would make this a tough encounter. 

However I was suprised that Brendan Rogers named Kolo Toure as a sub and then didn't play him. 

I would have thought the Rogers would know how important Kolo his to the defence. 

Liverpool have not been conceding too many goals. That is I fully expect Kolo to be back in the back four in the next match.

So with Liverpool drawing and Arsenal winning it has extended Arsenal lead at the top to four points. Definitely exciting times if you are an Arsenal fan!

World Cup round up - playoffs

Some of the World Cup playoffs took place last night and France beat Ukraine by three goals to nil.

It was a fantastic come back for the French as they had lost the first leg by two goals to nil.

I was relieved that Didier Deschamps left Oliver Giroud on the bench, as I think that technically Giroud would have been ineffective last night.

 

It is credit to Didier Deschamps that he went for more attacking line up which helped them to win the match and qualify for Brazil 2014.

Elsewhere Ghana qualified for their third successive World Cup and which means Ghana are now going to Brazil 2014.

International Friendlies - review

The last of the international friendlies for the year took place yesterday and Germany beat England by a goal to nil.

To be fair it was always going to be an up hill struggle for England to beat Germany. What made it even harder for England was that Roy Hodgson could  not play all his first team players. 

For England it's the first time in over thirty years that they have lost two back to back friendlies and it goes to show that there are no easy games at this level. 

Naturally there will probably be the usual media uproar, but we are still about six months away from the start of the Brazil 2014.

 

 I think these two losses will give the players and  the fans a reality check for Brazil 2014. 

Elsewhere the reigning World Champions Spain where beaten one nil by South Africa.

 I was shocked by this result and thought either South Africa have made some real improvements or Spain had a very bad night but most likely a bit of both.

It was probably a wake up call for a team like Spain no to be too complacent and it does go to show that unexpected results can happen to the best or worst of teams.