Soccer Blogs Posts Tagged midfield

Who Needs News When You Can Just Make Stuff Up?

2008-10-08T23:00:37+00:00

Have you ever known that the percentage of outlandish news and rumors seems to spike during international breaks? You know, stuff like finding Cesc & Sergio Ramos dotting Milan's lineup next year. Or seeing Juventus switch their interest from one Merseyside-based Spaniard (Xaba) to another (Rafa).

Vote for Red Bulls Fan of the Year!

2008-09-29T19:32:37+00:00

The guy that puts together your favorite tailgate parties? The gal who puts together supporters group trips to enemy territory? The person who sneaks in the confetti? Or the one who composes all the new DC HATE chants? Hell, even your favorite friggin blogger ! The Red Bulls are asking you - "Who is the Red Bulls Fan Of The Year?

Lack of depth at the back?

2008-09-29T12:38:23+00:00

Yesterday's team selection against York underlined Boro's lack of depth at the back. With Luke Oliver missing after picking up a knock against Grays, Graham Westley opted to play Michael Bostwick alongside Ronnie Henry in defence. Instead of moving Albrighton to centre half and bringing in Anaclet, Westley unsettled both the midfield and defence and paid [.

New York Score Four and We Still Win?

2008-09-28T21:44:00+00:00

Everyone got their breath back? The final whistle blew almost 24 hours ago and I can't seem to shake this game out of my mind. The image of Mehdi Ballouchy's fantastic cross onto Conor Casey's outstretched boot in the final minutes of the game remains largely fixed. It was not that the defenses were so poor on both sides.

Sporting weekends

2008-09-28T20:19:00+00:00

Everton 0 - 2 liverpool

Blackheath 48 - 12 Waterloo

Ugh, what a crappy weekend of sport. Everton got lost the derby and Waterloo got another beating down in Blackheath.

The main problem with Everton on Saturday was that their usually hard-to-play-against 4-4-1-1 was shackled all day and kept as a 4-5-0-1.

With our backs against the wall

2008-09-28T20:09:00+00:00

Flight from LA to Honduras: 11 hours
Flight from Honduras to DC: 8 hours
Flight from DC to Dallas: 6 hours

So DC United has spent over 24 hours on airplanes in the last week. And those are three separate days in the past week that we did not have an opportunity to practice. I don't mean to make excuses, but it's hard to believe that a team playing in this situation really has a fair chance.

In Extremis

2008-09-28T09:11:00+00:00

Real Madrid have not lost the killer instinct they demonstrated to devastating effect in the first half of last season and which effectively gave them their second successive league title. Playing one man down for most of the second half they saw Betis equalise their early goal and then lay siege to Iker Casillas's goal.

Arsenal 1 - 2 Hull City

2008-09-28T08:30:26+00:00

Well, that was a bit fucking shit, wasn't it? Not exactly the 83 nil we were hoping for, and perhaps it's reward for exactly that kind of attitude. Not that I'm saying it's my fault. Oh no, we all know who's fault it is.

First things first, all credit to Hull. They did completely the opposite of what many teams do when they play us at home; instead of smothering the midfield and putting 10 men behind the ball, they came to play football, and that they certainly did.

Saturday Action: Bradley Hits The Bench

2008-09-27T16:49:15+00:00

M'gladbach fell further in the league table today, dropping a 1-0 result to Hamburg SV (they now are second to last in the table). Michael Bradley was an unused substitute, and you have to wonder what the manager is thinking. Gladbach is disastrous in possession and also has shown really poor tackling in the midfield, [.

A Flying Winger Is Still A Necessity For Liverpool

2008-09-27T02:08:00+00:00

Former Tottenham's crafty forward Robbie Keane look to set be Liverpool's most significant transfers this summer, but in my opinion it is a another flying winger that would benefit the team most.

With youngster Ryan Babel already making an impressively vibrant impact last season on the left-hand side of midfield, I believe a similar type of player on the right-hand side would be extremely helpful to the side's stuttering attacking play.

Southend United 3-0 Leyton Orient

2008-09-26T21:03:00+00:00

Southend broke their Orient jinx and exacted revenge for their Johnstone's Paint trophy defeat to their rivals earlier in the month, with a comprehensive victory at Roots Hall tonight.

The Blues went ahead after just 47 seconds when Lee Barnard scored his third goal of the season following a good move.

Giving Colorado The New York Cheer: RBNY / Rapids Preview

2008-09-26T20:44:01+00:00

CURRENT SITUATION

The Bulls find themselves six points behind Chicago, and two over DCU. In this pivotal playoff chase, the Bulls, on paper, have the safest challenge of the above teams this week, facing an underachieving and unstable Colorado side. United finds themselves on the road against a resurgent Dallas squad.

Injuries Force Changes as Rapids Head East

2008-09-26T19:12:00+00:00

The Colorado Rapids, unbeaten in the past three games, are now headed to New York for a tough game on the turf against the Red Bulls. Much has been made of the consistency of the team in those recent games. Unfortunately, injuries mean there will have to be some changes in tomorrow night's line-up.

Gunners Star Wary Of Talented Youngsters

2008-09-26T18:22:59+00:00

Midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas believes he will have to raise his game after the performances of Arsenal's young guns on Tuesday night. Arsene Wenger used a squad with an average age of just 19 for the Carling Cup clash with Sheffield United at the Emirates, but still saw his talented men put in a masterclass display [.

Liverpool at Everton 09.27.08

2008-09-26T11:30:00+00:00

7:45am Eastern Time, live in the US on Setanta

Last four head-to-head:
1-0 Liverpool (h) 03.30.08
2-1 Liverpool (a) 10.20.07
0-0 (h) 02.03.07
0-3 Everton (a) 09.09.06

Last three matches:
Liverpool: 2-1 Crewe (h); 0-0 Stoke (h); 2-1 Marseille (a)
Everton: 0-1 Blackburn (a); 2-2 Hull (a); 2-2 Standard Liege (h)

Referee: Mike Riley

He's no Mark Clattenburg, that's for sure.

Have we turned the corner?

2008-09-26T10:34:00+00:00

Unbeaten in three, have Spurs finally found their feet this season?

There is a consensus of opinion among the more pessimistic fans that Newcastle was a bad result because it's just delayed the inevitable - Ramos' exit. Personally I don't agree.

Changing another manager isn't going to help us, we need stability.

Gameday: Galaxy Vs. Chicago Fire

2008-09-25T21:01:06+00:00

Tonight the Galaxy tries to keep its flickering post-season hopes alive in a must-win showdown in Bridgeview, IL against the Chicago Fire. Chicago has been struggling of late, losing the last two games by a combined score of 6-1, but the legendarily leaky Galaxy defense might be just what they need to get back on their game.

Roman Pavlyuchenko Doesn’t Like It Long Time

2008-09-25T18:30:46+00:00

Good day for Roman Pavlyuchenko yesterday. Scored his first Spurs goal against Newcastle, after thieving the ball in the midfield which wound up in the back of the net via his head. Safe to say he prefers gamedays too, because training for him is just a wee bit difficult. "But when there is a week's gap [.

The Circus Comes to Town!

2008-09-25T17:35:59+00:00

After watching the Fire get dismantled by Dallas last Sunday I decided that it would be better if I forgot about the game completely and not write about it. So with that being said lets move on to the next game which happens to be tonight against everyones favorite team to make fun of: The LA Galaxy.

Lucky Seven

2008-09-25T08:23:00+00:00

Poor Sporting de Gijón. Ten years out of the top division and on your return you have to face Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villareal one after the other in your first five weeks. On Sunday, Barcelona put 6 past them and on Wednesday night Real Madrid went one better, making them the worst defensive side in La Liga in over 50 years.

Marathon-DC: Halftime thoughts and more...

2008-09-25T03:06:00+00:00

If Christian Miles describes something as "courageous" one more time, I'll lose it. I'm definitely adding that to the Christian Miles Drinking Game. One drink for every time he says "courageous", finish your drink when he describes something as amazing when he sounds like he'd rather wear black and listen to Depeche Mode.

Carling Cup Prev: Pompey

2008-09-24T03:44:24+00:00

Chelsea's attempt to regain the Carling Cup begins Wednesday against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Pompey will no doubt be out for revenge, following the 4-0 thrashing theytook in their Premier League season opener at Stamford Bridge a month ago.

They'll have a hard time doing so.

Portsmouth enters this match on the heels of its most embarrassing defeat in quite some time a 6-0 slump against Manchester City at the weekend.

Champagne Football - Really tasty vintage, Arsenal 6 - Sheffield United 0, Arsenal Goal Rankings; Plus - Vela has a Wicked Left Boot

2008-09-24T02:43:00+00:00

Frivolous goal rankings based on a careful review of the Arsenal.com's 10-minute highlights from tonight's League Cup match:

1. The 3rd Goal, from Carlos Vela. The first of his hat trick. Bendtner, who already had a double at that point, won it in midfield and chipped a sweet pass to Vela down the right who had a great touch to play the ball into the box, and a stunning shot with his left boot.

Colorado Rapids 1-1 New England Revolution

2008-09-23T03:18:00+00:00

What was with the end of that match? Calling the game in the middle of a breakaway? Next to just before a PK, that is the most absurd time a ref could possibly call a game in soccer. If you watched the game from your home (at least the part that made it on the air), you heard a lot of complaining about inconsistent officiating, but over all, it seemed pretty normal for MLS.

Michael Bradley makes German debut

2008-09-22T19:12:00+00:00

Like Maurice Edu with Rangers, a pre-match injury shoved daddy's boy into the starting lineup for Borussia Monchengladbach.

And according to this report from Goal.com, it went fairly well.

Donning the number 26, Bradley played well in his debut forcing an early save by Berlin keeper Jaroslav Drobny.

shut down in columbus

2008-09-22T15:11:00+00:00

Image via Wikipediawhat started off with a bit of promise in columbus ended with the wheels seemingly coming off the new york red bulls on thursday night.

the 3-1 loss against the league-leading crew stopped our potential roll up the eastern standings. the only saving grace of the week was that dc united got trounced by the galaxy and we retained our two-point lead for fourth place.

Denilson, Song, Eboue, Bendtner: who is this year’s Flamini?

2008-09-22T09:41:00+00:00

An excellent three-points at the Reebok against a team that used to intimidate us, and who managed to put us on the back foot in the early stages of the game.

Despite opening brightly, and comprehensively out-passing Bolton, they took the lead through a goal which, again, asked questions of our ability to defend from set-pieces.

Continuing the downward spiral

2008-09-22T02:38:00+00:00

As frustrating as it was to watch this team on a roller coaster ride that had its share of ups and downs the past few months, I would trade the past three weeks for that roller coaster. I'm not going to argue that we deserved to win this match, because clearly we didn't, but it sure made it hard for us to have a chance when we suffered from the worst display of officiating that we've seen all year.

Rossoneri Resurrection, AC Milan 4 - 1 Lazio

2008-09-22T02:21:53+00:00

Calling all Milanista, I got it wrong and admit it but what's more important is understanding why. The key to today's victory was manager Ancelotti getting back to basics. Take a look at the starting XI, leaving Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko on the bench was the right move. Ancelotti would instead go with young Pato and Marco Borriello and a Pirlo-less midfield that supported the front [.

Why I Don't Even Bother Watching Toronto FC Anymore

2008-09-21T22:23:00+00:00

Last night, Toronto FC coughed up yet another road game, another predictable mess, another exhibition of poor positioning and amateur on-field decision making, another embarrassing debacle for Canada's lone MLS club.

How long O Lord?

I can't even watch five minutes of TFC on tv anymore, and my home game visits are turning into predictable dirges.