Chelsea vs Manchester United

Ball Harambee By Bagga Wilks

In the quarter-final of the F.A. Cup at Old Trafford, Manchester United and Chelsea gave soccer fans a special rendition of what Pele calls, the beautiful game. Prior to the Manchester United/Chelsea game, the other F.A. quarter-final game, we witnessed an example of how ugly the game can be played when Milwall and Blackburn played to a nasty nil all draw.

The Manchester United vs Chelsea game started with great tempo. For the first forty-five minutes, Manchester United played like the league leaders on their way to another EPL championship.

Garrick, Cleverly, Rooney and Kagawa controlled mid-field and before Chelsea could blink, Chicharito was on the scoreboard and Rooney from a free kick had Cech retrieving the ball from the back of the net.

For the first half, Chelsea was outplayed and outnumbered in mid-field. Nani, Rooney and Hernandez seemed unstoppable as they kept Chelsea on the back foot.

But the game is not for the swift but for those who can endure it to the end. In the second half, Manchester United lost their dominance. Their mid-field faded. The much maligned Chelsea manager, Rafael Benitez made a deft change in the second half. He brought in Hazard for the ineffective Victor Moses. The aging Lampard was replaced by Mikel and that allowed Ramires to push forward.

The Chelsea mid-field took control of the game and the substitute Hazard wreaked havoc on the Manchester backline. It was Hazard who opened the Chelsea score with a curling beauty that beat DeGea. Later the rampaging Brazilian, Ramires, teamed up with playmaker Juan Mata and Chelsea was level. In the waning minutes of the game Juan Mata should have scored but De Gea made a game saving stop with his outstretched legs.

The ninety minutes of soccer was simply scintillating. Ferdinand and Evans, Manchester’s two central defenders, were outstanding. David Luiz was heroic and indefatigable as Chelsea’s central defender Hazard coming on in the second half changed the game. He showed incredible guile and at the age of twenty-two has a great future in the world of soccer.

Milwall and Blackburn will go at it again as will Manchester United and Chelsea in the span of ten days.

In the other F.A. match up, Manchester City ran rough-shod over Barnsley. Wigan shocked Everton, scoring three goals in the first half in the space of three minutes. Wigan and Manchester City wait in the wings.

The semi-final and final at Wembley will provide us with more renditions of the beautiful game.

The EPL: The Beginning of the Sorting Out

Ball Harambee By Bagga Wilks



Most of the teams in the EPL have played six matches and as the winners and losers are sorting out themselves, there are, hitherto, some surprising results. Chelsea is at the top of the tables with 16 points after beating Arsenal 2-1 on Arsenal’s home ground. To everyone’s surprise, Everton is riding high in second place with 13 points. Manchester United who lost to Tottenham at home is in third place with 12 points. Defending champions, Manchester City are in fourth place with 12 points. Tottenham is beginning to look as if they are for real and they are in fifth place with 11 points. Again surprisingly West Brom is in sixth place, ahead of Arsenal, with 10 points. Vanquished by Chelsea over the weekend is the inconsistent Arsenal with 9 points.

Newcastle, who finished with a flourish last season and had a chance to play in the Euro Championship League, is off to a slow start in 2012. They are in ninth place and drew this weekend top against Reading. Liverpool has had an un- Liverpool start and are in fourteenth place. But Liverpool won this week spearheaded by a Suarez hat-trick and a handsome and sorely needed 5-2 victory against Norwich City.

The three teams in the regulation zone are Norwich, Reading and Queens Park Rangers. QPR, who barely escaped relegation last season, has not reaped much dividend on all the money spent in the off-season.

Arsenal vs Chelsea: A Battle of Coaching Wits

Di Matteo seems to have settled on Chelsea’s starting eleven. Lampard will have difficulty breaking into the starting eleven. Oscar’s play on both sides of the ball has forced Di Matteo to include the Brazilian who has also forced his way into the starting Brazilian National Team.

Rather than playing Ramires on the right wing where he played most of last season, Di Matteo has brought Ramires into the center of the mid-field, playing in front of Mikel, Chelsea’s defensive mid-fielder.


Chelsea’s mid-field is formidable, both offensively and defensively. Mata, Oscar, Ramires and Mikel constitute a hard running and creative force, with Hazard behind the improving Fernando Torres. The back four has become somewhat impregnable with the charismatic David Luiz making less mistakes in the back and ably supported by John Terry, Ivanovic and Cole.

Arsenal had their chances. Unfortunately, Abou Diaby, who was hurt while performing for France, had to be removed in the 20th minute.

Arsenal failed to live up to expectations. Poor defending on set pieces gave Chelsea the match. And Arsenal’s strike force with the exception of Gervinho did not look sharp. Cazorla did not have any impact on the game. Podolski was equally innocuous. Giroud came on as a substitute but late in the game missed a crucial scoring opportunity which would have changed the outcome.

Wenger keeps trying with Ramsey but the Welsh captain has not been a positive factor. The find for the season has been Kieran Gibbs and Jenkinson in replace of Sagna has played well.

Arsenal’s dilemma is the 4-3-3 formation. Their style of football means that they have to maintain possession and cannot be outplayed in mid-field. The Chelsea four outplayed them in mid-field yet Arsenal’s wing play with Chamberlin and Walcott presented Chelsea with problems. Throughout the game, Chelsea controlled the middle and Arsenal controlled the flanks.

Di Matteo has settled on his starting eleven. Wenger is still sorting out his starting eleven. Arsenal’s fortunes for 2012 will depend heavily on avoiding defensive lapses like what occurred against Chelsea and the durability of the resurrected Abou Diaby.

Winning Championships and the Management Factor: Chelsea 1-1 Stoke City

Ancelotti is in the same basket as Wenger. They are both limited as tacticians. Chelsea also had to win and were facing the troublesome Stokes. Drogba had brought Chelsea back into the game and with a 1-1 tie, Ancelotti made changes that diminished his team’s chance of winning. He removed Anelka and Ramires and brought in Torres and Kalou. That weakened Chelsea’s defensive and mid-field capabilities as Ramires is an end to end player and not being on the pitch made Stokes more of an offensive threat. Neither Kalou nor Torres made a difference. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

szólj hozzá: Stoke Chelsea 1:1 highlights

EPL: The Tide Rises

By
Bagga Wilks

Tottenham vs West Ham

Every game in the English Premier League for the remainder of the season will be exceedingly consequential. When Tottenham faced West Ham on a glorious English afternoon, Tottenham sought maximum points to remain in the top four and thus be eligible to play in the Champion UEFA League next season. They triumphed over A.C. Milan and will face Real Madrid in the quarter final, quite a formidable undertaking.
West Ham is fighting to avoid relegation, to maximize points to remain in the Premier League. The 0-0 draw earned a valuable point for West Ham. The game was telling as it demonstrated that football is not just about talent and finesse but also about hard work and tenacity.

Tottenham has incredible fire power, speed and guile in their fairly young team. Lenon and Bale are like larvae to a defense and it is difficult to contain their volcanic eruptions from the left and from the right. Modric is blossoming to be quite a playmaker. There are lots of riches up front with Defoe, Van de Wart, Pavlyuchenko and Crouch.

Their defensive mid-fielder, the Brazilian Sandro is adapting to the League and has both defensive and offensive skills. Despite the abundance of talent, Avran Grant’s posse kept them from scoring for ninety minutes. Bale is just back from a back injury and is fighting to recapture his form. Defoe, a prolific goal-scorer, is suffering from the “Torres syndrome” and cannot buy a goal.

With much less talent but matching Tottenham with tenacity, West Ham showed that the future had a place for blue collar workers. The West Ham defense kept their shape and fought for every ball. They are still mired in the woods of relegation and Tottenham are in danger of missing out on Champion League ball next season.

Arsenal vs. West Brom

Arsenal is still in the running to win the coveted Premier League title. At half time they were down 0-1, and shortly after the second half, were looking down the barrel of a 0-2 defeat.