League Cup - round up

Some League cup matches took place last night. Man City needed extra time to beat Newcastle by two goals to nil. 

Man City are definitely working harder than last year to get wins. But most importantly the hard work is paying off and they are getting good wins. 

Tottenham needed extra time and penalties to beat Hull City. From Tottenham prespective they better hope that this long match does not impact on their ability to win their next game at the weekend. 

 

But I am sure Spurs are just grateful that they won the match and have now progressed to the next stage of the League Cup competition. 

For their hardwork Man City face Leicester and Spurs face West Ham. For place in the semi- finals and these ties will be played a week before Christmas and should be good matches. 

WTA Championships - Review

The WTA Championships did not really live up to its high profile billing. This because players like Victoria Azarenka and Aga Radwanska did not play as well as they where expected to.

This meant that players like Petra Kivitova, Jelena Jankovic and Ni La who have had relatively quiet year where then able to shine.

After reading the comments that both Jelena Jankovic and Ni La made about Serena William's gamesmanship I was a little surprised. 

Both Jelena and Li Na have had average year and Serena has won eleven tournaments. As a fan I can understand why she would have been tired. 

I suspect some players might be already fed up with playing on tour with someone who some fans have given legend status. 

However Serena Williams has worked incredibly hard to achieve this and things have not always gone so well for Serena. 

But the fact she is still playing at such high level and at the age that most of her  

contemporaries have retired or thinking of retirement is amazing in itself. 

Serena's perseverance to win this tournament even though she was not feeling 100%. To me can only be admired so it is little disappointing to read comments made by fellow professionals. 

Serena to me was a worthy winner and whilst her contemporaries where falling apart. 

Serena weathered her own storm and retained her title and it was amazing to watch and to think that I was witnessing history.

League Cup - round up 29/10/13

Yesterday's league cup matches where interesting to say the least. Arsenal lost two nil to Chelsea. 

Arsene Wenger practically put out a first team squad but he chose the wrong striker in Nicholas Bendtner. 

Nicholas looked overweight and could barely run for the ball. It looks like his Arsenal first team days are long gone. 

Nicholas could prove me wrong and end up scoring some amazing goals. Somehow I doubt it, Arsene Wenger needs to get rid of him quick before he drags the team down with him. 

Other than a poor Nicholas Bendtner, there was no width or creavity in the Arsenal team. 

Arsenal has three crucial matches coming up and the first one is against Liverpool and nothing less than a win will do. 

By contrast the much maligned Man United beat Norwich City by four nil to progress to the quarter finals. This win would have eased a little bit of the pressure from David Moyes's shoulders. 

But the reality is, is that for the big clubs winning the league cup is not enough. Success is measured by winning either the Premiership, FA Cup or the Champions league. 

So Arsenal losing wasn't great but what will help is if they can win the previously mentioned trophies.

Premiership - a Roundup

Another good weekend of premiership football and Arsenal managed to beat Crystal Palace by two goals to nil. 

It's been while since Arsenal have managed to stay at the top of league for consecutive weeks. 

But like I said in my previous blog it is all about the November test for Arsenal. Which historically is the month we tend to struggle with the change of weather.

Man United came from behind twice to beat relegation bound Stoke City by three goals to two. 

David Moyes is still under massive pressure and close wins like this would not have helped his cause.

 I think that if by the start of the new year Man United are not top four then it will be hard for David Moyes to hold on to his job. 

Liverpool continued there impressive start to the season by beating West Bromwich Albion by four goals to one. 

I think Liverpool are the team to watch and this is there best start to the season for quite sometime. 

Arsenal will nervously looking over its shoulder as Liverpool have got the team and the desire to win the premiership.

Chelsea and Tottenham Spurs also recorded wins and they are only a couple of  points dividing teams in the top of the league positions. 

So it is still very early in the season with most of the top teams all doing well at the weekend.  

WTA Championships - Final

The WTA championships final took place yesterday and as widely expected Serena Williams beat Li Na in three sets to retain her title. 

It was not easy for Serena who was fighting fatigue and she lost the first set, then had to dig deep to win the remaining two sets. 

Li Na played well but I am not really sure she believes that she can beat Serena. 

 Li Na has not had a great year so reaching the final has hopefully set her up for better year next year. 

By contrast Serena has had a good year and at thirty two she is not getting any younger, but hopefully she will have a good 2014 and make even more history and break more records!

WTA Championships - Semi Finals

The semi-finals of the WTA championships took place yesterday and in the first semi-final Li Na beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. 

This was a really good win for Li Na who hasn't really had a great year. However in the final she faces the formidable Serena Williams.

Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in three sets to make the final. It was a weird match in that Serena appeared to be injured. 

However on the on-court interview she said that it was tiredness that affected her game. 

So the final between Ni La and Serena Williams will be interesting as Serena is battling fatigue so this could be Li Na's best opportunity to beat her. 

WTA Championships - day three

Day three of the WTA Championships and Serena Willams beat Petra Kivitova in straight sets. 

Petra was trying so hard to win every point but Serena is just the better athlete and more comfortable in these pressure situations. 

In both sets Serena played flawless tennis hopefully she can keep this level up for the semi-finals.

Na Li also managed a very good win over Jelena Jankovic. It was a hard fought match in which Na Li eventually on in three sets.

But the shock so far of this tournament was Angelique Kerber beating  Aga Radwanksa in straight sets. 

This means that Aga goes out of this tournament with no wins and three losses. 

It was definitely a surprise for me as I didn't expect Aga lose so early. It also means she can go home get some rest and prepare for 2014.