Results update 2007

[johntheclaret]

Newcaslte 2 - 0 Fulham
Kevin Keegan enjoyed his first win since returning to Newcastle United, Sunderland picked up three points away from home for the first time and Bolton Wanderers stay in the bottom three.
Mark Viduka and Michael Owen provided a relieved Keegan with a much-needed lift as Newcastle beat struggling Fulham 2-0.
Newcastle enjoyed a dream start in front of a bumper St James' Park crowd when Viduka turned smartly on the edge of the area and fired a low shot inside the far post for his first goal of 2008.
Obafemi Martins had a goal disallowed for offside before Owen made the points safe seven minutes from time when he met Geremi's free-kick unmarked to head beyond Kasey Keller.
A Villa 0 - 1 Sunderland
Sunderland boosted their survival hopes with a first away win of the season as substitute Michael Chopra scored the only goal at Aston Villa.
Chopra, who netted Sunderland's first goal this season, came up with another important strike when he latched on to Kieran Richardson's pass to finish coolly beyond Scott Carson on 83 minutes.
Bolton 0 - 0 Man City
Bolton Wanderers are stuck in the relegation zone after being held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester City at the Reebok Stadium.
The hosts came closest to scoring when Icelandic defender Gretar Steinsson headed a corner against the post in the first half.
b4st4rds 3 - 1 Wigan
Blackburn and Wigan both had a man sent off as Rovers battled to a 3-1 win at Ewood Park.
Blackburn were ahead on 12 minutes when Roque Santa Cruz stooped to head home his 13th Premier League goal of the season from close range after Chris Kirkland could only parry David Bentley's swerving shot.
But Wigan were level within five minutes after Blackburn defender Christopher Samba was sent off for a slight tug on Emile Heskey's shirt in the box, and Marlon King stepped up to equalise from the spot for his first goal for the club.
Rovers, though, were back in front in first-half injury-time when former Wigan striker Jason Roberts showed great skill on the edge of the area before slipping his shot through Kirkland's legs.
The home side continued to make light of their numerical disadvantage and scored a third goal on 63 minutes when Bentley curled in a cross from the left for the arriving Santa Cruz to head home at the far post.
Wigan's chances of a comeback took a further knock on 69 minutes when Wilson Palacios was sent off for a second bookable offence after bringing down David Dunn.
Reading 2 - 1 Birmingham
Reading climbed further away from trouble after Andre Bikey grabbed both goals in a 2-1 win over relegation rivals Birmingham City at the Madejski Stadium.
The Royals edged in front just past the half-hour mark when Bikey nipped in at the near post to glance John Oster's free-kick into the net.
Mauro Zarate pulled Birmingham level on 65 minutes when the Argentinian scored his first goal for the club after firing home from Mikael Forssell's pass.
But Blues were undone by Bikey again on 79 minutes after the Cameroon international darted in to meet Nicky Shorey's free-kick.
Tottenham 2 - 0 Pompey
Darren Bent made a decisive impact from the substitutes' bench as Tottenham won 2-0 at home against Portsmouth. Centre-half Michael Dawson rattled the crossbar in the first half for Spurs before Bent came on to fire Dimitar Berbatov's scuffed shot beyond David James with 10 minutes to go.
Just two minutes later, Bent turned provider as he played in a cross to supply Jamie O'Hara with a simple tap-in.
Boro 1 - 0 Derby
Middlesbrough inched ever closer to securing their Premier League status for next season after a 1-0 win at home to bottom club Derby.
Woeful Derby defending contributed to Boro's winning goal on 32 minutes when Tuncay Sanli collected George Boateng's inside pass and sauntered into the box before steering a low shot beyond the wrong-footed Roy Carroll.

[johntheclaret]

Big relegation battle weekend this. Toons win for the 1st time under Keegan in a match they couldn't afford to lose. Viduka comes back into the side for the 1st time in months and nets the opener.
The Black Cats won at Villa and Reading turned over Brum, opening up a bit of a gap between the bottom 4 and the rest.
Bolton just picked up a point at home but it was disasterous for Birmingham and Fulham.

Table

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man United 30 22 4 4 61 15 46 70
2 Arsenal 30 19 10 1 58 22 36 67
---------------------------------
3 Chelsea 30 19 8 3 53 22 31 65
4 Liverpool 30 16 11 3 55 21 34 59
------------------------------------
5 Everton 30 17 5 8 47 25 22 56
6 Portsmouth 30 14 8 8 44 31 13 50
7 Aston Villa 30 13 10 7 52 39 13 49
8 Man City 30 13 9 8 36 34 2 48
9 b4st4rds 30 12 10 8 39 37 2 46
10 West Ham 30 12 7 11 33 36 -3 43
11 Tottenham 30 9 9 12 58 51 7 36
12 Wigan 30 8 7 15 27 42 -15 31
13 Middlesboro 30 7 10 13 27 44 -17 31
14 Newcastle 30 7 8 15 31 57 -26 29
15 Reading 30 8 4 18 35 57 -22 28
16 Birmingham 30 6 9 15 34 46 -12 27
17 Sunderland 30 7 6 17 26 48 -22 27
-------------------------------------------
18 Bolton 30 6 7 17 28 45 -17 25
19 Fulham 30 4 11 15 27 49 -22 23
20 Derby 30 1 7 22 14 64 -50 10

Uefa Champions League: 1st, 2nd
Uefa Champions League pre Qualifying: 3rd, 4th
Relegation: 18th, 19th, 20th

[MightyEagles]

Man U v Liverpool tonight.
I'm hoping for a Liverpool Win.
But I draw will do it for me.

[RoosterMarty]

What a wonderful win by the Bluebirds over their arch-rivals Bristol City, Whittingham had his penalty saved but slid in the rebound with about 10 minutes to go.

Massive night tonight in the race for the EPL. Hopefully Man Utd can win the early game to really put the pressure on the other two, it's a must win game for both Arsenal and Chelsea, a loss to either side could almost end their title challenge.

[smithy]

RAFA has named an un changed line up.
Man UTD have made 8 changes from the side that defeated Bolton with TEVEZ on the bench.

[smithy]

Well done on Rooney keeping his feet after 6 mins when he could've easily gone down * for a penalty shout but kept his feet to try for a shot on goal.

O-O after 9 mins

[smithy]

Commentators keep talking about RAFA's "rotation" policy and how it has cost them earlier in the season, yet fail to re-mention the fact that Sir Alex made 8 changes from midweek...

0-0 after 15 mins

[smithy]

A VERY poor goal to Man UTd which came off Wes Browns back and a Reina error of sorts..

The goal should never of come about as Ronaldo made the most obvious handball just previous to the build up.
Man UTD 1 - Liverpool 0 after 36 mins.

[smithy]

Looks like Reina has been meeting with Grobelaars bookies the way he is performing today.

[smithy]

WELL DONE REF.............STEVE BENNETT U R A **** !

WHAT A ******* JOKE !

THE GUY CANT EVEN TALK ENGLISH, NO AGGRESSION,,,,DEVASTATED......

LITTLE WONDER NO ONE CAN WIN AT THE THEATRE OF WET DREAMS......
ALL THE PENALTIES, FAVOURABLE DECISIONS ETC...........f>>k

1-0 AT HALF TIME

[johntheclaret]

3 - 0 now smithy. Two quick goals after some good pressing by Pool.

Ronaldo is unstoppable. As much as I think he is up his own arse and a conceited prick, you just have to hand it to him. 85 mins gone and it really is all over now.

[smithy]

3-0 to the mancs after 81 mins now...

A ronaldo header from a corner after 78 mins and a NANi goal after 81mins makes it a good win for the mancs.

REF - totally f*cked this game up..........Mascherano should never have been carded in the 1st place nor the 2nd......10 against 11 at Old Trafford where the away team NEVER gets the spoils is impossible...

Anderson is hopeless........last season at the mancs surely......

The FA are apparently making a stand against players talking to the REF and would like it to be like rugby where the players just get on with things......................

FANF*CKINGTASTIC.................but why change things half way during the season...??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[johntheclaret]

That new trial isn't supposed to be coming in until next season. !st game they will try it is the Charity Shield.

They need to do something after Ashley cole's disgraceful outbusrt mid week. I wouldn't mind but he was bloody lucky he didn't get a straight red for that tackle. Disgrace.

[smithy]

That new trial isn't supposed to be coming in until next season. !st game they will try it is the Charity Shield.

They need to do something after Ashley cole's disgraceful outbusrt mid week. I wouldn't mind but he was bloody lucky he didn't get a straight red for that tackle. Disgrace.

The Comms keep bringing up Ashley Cole as an example...
Fair enough too.
As long as they are ALL consistent,, bet they aren't which pisses me off.
Mascherano shouldn't have been booked at all let alone red carded.

[smithy]

RAFA said mid week that Fergie was trying to influence the ref,,,,,,,maybe he did,, maybe not,,, but regardless, the ref had a say on the end result..........it still would've been a Man U win , no doubt about it i think but not 3-0.

[RoosterMarty]

You can't just blame the ref for the result, Man Utd completely outplayed them and Mascherano was an absolute idiot. First he turns his back on the ref, then commits a few fouls before chatting the ref again.

Torres won the free!! Why the hell did Torres and then Mascherano have to fire up at him? It was your ball!

Anyway another great win by United over Liverpool, you just can't score against us can you.

[johntheclaret]

That new trial isn't supposed to be coming in until next season. !st game they will try it is the Charity Shield.

They need to do something after Ashley cole's disgraceful outbusrt mid week. I wouldn't mind but he was bloody lucky he didn't get a straight red for that tackle. Disgrace.

The Comms keep bringing up Ashley Cole as an example...
Fair enough too.
As long as they are ALL consistent,, bet they aren't which pisses me off.
Mascherano shouldn't have been booked at all let alone red carded.

totally agree. Yet agqin inconsistent reffing. Coles abuse towards the ref was 10 times what Mascherano was doing.

Old Trafford + Referee = Man U advantage. Always has been and no doubt always will be.

[smithy]

You can't just blame the ref for the result, Man Utd completely outplayed them and Mascherano was an absolute idiot. First he turns his back on the ref, then commits a few fouls before chatting the ref again.

Torres won the free!! Why the hell did Torres and then Mascherano have to fire up at him? It was your ball!

Anyway another great win by United over Liverpool, you just can't score against us can you.

Mascherano made a lame foul that was yellow carded yet the foul on Torres was given nothing, that was his point.
To send him off after his lame foul and then talking to the ref 1/2 hour later about the Torres foul was stupid.

UTD would've won anyway I reckon as they were the better team but it does change many things when its 10-11 for a half.

[johntheclaret]

United are a great footballing side with a host of very talented players, and I doubt anyone could argue with that.
But there are a few factors that influence a game and today IMO all of those factors were very prevalent.
The referee was influenced by the Man U players and the crowd. The booking that Mascherano got fisrt time was for a no nothing challenge, but the crowd and the United players reacted and influenced the ref into giving a yellow card. Mascherano was always walking a tight rope having to play for so long with a booking against him.
Two other events that took place went unpunished. Firstly Nani's two footed stamp in the Liverpool box, left Reina very angry, yet the game carried on, and then the challenge on torres, where he wasn't just fouled, but deliberately kicked, whilst winning a free kick, the referee took no further action. this lead to Mascherano's dismissal. wht did the ref not take further action against the United player, after all he clearly thought it was a foul.
ronaldo went down like he had beed shot so many times today it was a joke, and how many times did the ref award a free kick. And when he didn't win a free kick for his blatant diving, how did the ref and Ronaldo react. the ref did nothing. surely if he felt Ronaldo had dived, then he should have booked him, but nothing at all. ronaldo in the mean time cried like a baby, throwing his arms in the air and winging to the ref. Yet again the ref failed to deal with the situatio.

How many goals has Ronaldo and Co scored from just outside the box, from fre kicks awarded by ref's who have been influenced by the players on the field. ??? Whilst this wouldn't necessarily determine the outcome of games against lesser sides where United are clearly the better side, but it does make a difference in the top games against the top sides. Knowing that Ronaldo will more than likely be awarded a free kick if he goes to ground, influences the defending team and this hesitation leads to openings for United.

When are the officials going to stop showing this favourtism to the top two or three sides in the league and start showing some consistency. Cole's challenge mid week was an absolute disgrace, but the ref bottled it and only gave him a yellow, when a red card was surely called for. Then the diatribe that followed far exceeded Mascherano's today yet Cole gets nothing and Mascherano gets a second yellow. 10 men against United at Old Trafford only means one thing and as Liverpool began to press for an equaliser the gaps appeared at the back.

I have no doubt that the officials are influenced by the top sides and the top venues, Man United and Old Trafford IMO are the biggest beneficeries of refereeing decisions, closely followed by Chelski.

Players like Terry, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo clearly now believe that they are bigger than the game itself and act accordingly. Unfortunately, the FA controls the officials but not the EPL which is governed by the League Premiership, a completely independant governing body. The EPL is so money orientated, that they are completely opposed the idea of broadcasting or even recording discussions between ref's and players (like they do in rugby League / Union). It appears that thye EPL would rather flash points in a game where the big two or three always come out on top as it makes better viewing and the gutter TV that SKY is laps it up.

So boys, in essence, the reason why Ronaldo can go around the place putting on the dying swan act, and Cole can get away with berating the ref the way he did, is because it makes good TV viewing and the amount of money the EPL prostitutes itself for means gutter sensationalism that is SKY can make those demands.

[devilsadvocate]

Brilliantly summarised JTC. The behavior of some player (led by those named) is a disgrace and a blight on the game.

Makes me want to .