EPL Roundup 2
By Josh Bolander
It was a busy week in the English Premier League, with two full slates of games taking place both during the week and the weekend.
The featured game on the midweek docket turned into a defensive struggle at the City of Manchester Stadium as Manchester City battled Manchester United in the Manchester Darby. With tabloid villain Wayne Rooney sent to the United States for fitness training, United continued to sputter up front behind inconsistent striking from Dimitar Berbatov and young Mexican forward Javier Hernandez. However, despite injecting creative and attacking minded players like ex Middleborough winger Adam Johnson into the lineup late, City could not capitalize on their own chances including a late left footed bullet from Pablo Zabaleta that just flew over the woodwork. The game produced the first goalless fixture in the Darby in 6 years, when the two squads drew 0-0 in November of 2004.
With both City and United failing to capitalize on gaining three points, title contenders Chelsea and Arsenal took advantage with shutout wins over Fulham and Wolves respectively. Chelsea’s lone goal came from star midfielder Michael Essian, who sunk Fulham when he found the back of the net in the 30th minute. Meanwhile, Arsenal also only needed a single goal scorer as the Gunners new man MarounaeChamakh netted goals in both the first and last minutes of the match to lift his squad over Wolves 2-0.
Meanwhile, Fernando Torres continued his resurgence with yet another goal early in Liverpool’s contest with Wigan. However, in what has become an all too familiar sight for Reds fans this year, the Liverpool defense conceded a quick 2nd half goal to a lesser side and could only manage a single point on the road as the two squads tied with one goal apiece.
In other midweek action, both Everton v. Bolton and Tottenham v. Sunderland ended in similar 1-1 draws while Stoke City v. Birmingham City and Aston Villa v. Blackpool ended in exciting 3-2 shootouts that saw Stoke and Villa prevail. West Ham and West Brom drew 2-2 and Newcastle United fell to Blackburn Rovers 2-1 to round out midweek play.
As surprising as some of the results produced midweek were, nothing could have prepared EPL fans for the chaos that ensued after match week 14.
In perhaps the biggest upset of the Barclays Premier League season so far, Sunderland thoroughly dominated and dismantled an undermanned Chelsea team at Stamford Bridge 3-0, the first win for the Blackcats at Chelsea in over a decade. Without fullbacks Alex and John Terry and midfielders Michael Essian and Frank Lampard, Chelsea struggled to find a rhythm against a Sunderland squad who moved the ball with ease on the Blues defense. The game’s first goal was produced after a brilliant display of footwork by NedumOnuoha, who dribbled though two Chelsea defenders before a placing a perfectly struck ball in the bottom right corner of the net right before the half, but it was Ghanaian international AsamoahGyan’s finish just after halftime that would break the backs of the premier league leader and defending champs. After gashing the Blues defense with a series of quick one touch passes, Gyan slipped behind the Chelsea backline and slid a shot by goalkeeper Peter Cech for a 2-0 lead. Danny Welbeck would eventually send the patrons of Stamford Bridge toward the exits early after he intercepted an errant back pass that went awry from left back Ashley Cole and effectively ended the game,promptingChelsea manager Carlos Ancelotti to call the loss, “the worst he’s experienced” since coming to the London based squad in 2009.
It was a similar 2-0 deficit that brought the best out of title hopeful Manchester United while on the road at Villa Park against Aston Villa. Facing a 2-0 hole with under 20 minutes to play, United scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the contest with defender NemanjaVidic netting the games equalizer in the 85’ minute on a diving header from the left after receiving a brilliant right footed ball from Portuguese international Nani.
United salvaged point proved to be huge for the Red Devils, as Arsenal continued to hang around near the top of the table with its second win of the week over Everton 2-1, despite a late goal by the Toffee’s Aussie forward, Tim Cahill.
Meanwhile, Liverpool and Manchester City’s woes continued after Liverpool came up short on the road to Stoke City 2-0 and City was held scoreless in its second consecutive game at home against Birmingham City.
To wrap up the week that was, Welshman Garreth Bale continued his assault on European competition, getting Tottenham back on track with two goals in a 4-2 beat down over Blackburn. Fulham v. Newcastle and West Ham v. Blackpool both produced scoreless draws. Wigan picked up its fourth point of the week after a 1-0 victory over West Brom while Bolton picked up its sixth point of the week after a 3-2 victory over Wolver Hampton.
November 15, 2010
2010/2011 English Premiership Table
RK TEAMPts
1 Chelsea 28
2 Arsenal 26
3 Manchester United 25
4 Manchester City 22
5 Bolton Wanderers 19
6 Sunderland 19
7 Tottenham Hotspur 19
8 Newcastle United 18
9 Aston Villa 17
10 Stoke City 13 16
11 Liverpool 16
12 West Bromwich Albion 16
13 Everton 15
14 Blackburn Rovers 15
15 Blackpool 15
16 Fulham 14
17 Wigan Athletic 14
18 Birmingham 13
19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 9
20 West Ham United 9
EPL ROUNDUP
By Josh Bolander
After looking dead in the water and falling into the relegation zone for the first time in over 50 years, Liverpool has found its form over the last three weeks culminating in an electric 2-0 win over current English Premier League leader Chelsea. The Reds, most notably Spaniard sensation Fernando Torres, jumped on the Blues early when Torres took a long, looping ball from Dirk Kuyt, who was making his first EPL appearance since injuring his ankle in international play a month ago, and lodged it in side netting to give Liverpool the early 1-0 lead. Torres’s brilliance was once again on full display after the striker received a ball from Raul Mierles near the outskirts of the eighteen yard box and bent it around two gawking Chelsea defenders into the back of the net for his second goal of the game. With the win, Liverpool has moved to the top of the table for the first time since the early goings of the season and with upcoming games against EPL bottom feeders Stoke, Wigan, and West Ham there is almost certainly a positive aura around Anfield right now.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s loss opened the door for Manchester United who survived a visit from Wolver Hampton only after seldomly used Ji-Sung Park found the net late in the 93rd minute to lift the Red Devils to a 2-1 victory. However,ManU was one of the few teams who took advantage of the rare Chelsea loss as inconsistent Spurs fell 4-2 to a lesser Bolton side and Arsen Wenger’s Arsenal squad could not finish a bevy of chances against Newcastle, whose embattled striker Andy Carroll had the lone goal of the game, a header that just beat the outstretched arms of Gunners keeper Luis Fabianski, leaving many Bristish tabloids wondering aloud if the London squad is in need of a keeper come the December transfer window. To round up the weekend, Blackpool v. Everton and Birmingham v. West Ham ended in similar scores of 2-2. Sunderland stayed hot with a 2-0 over Stoke City, and Blackburn defeated Wigan 2-1.
Rank/Team/Points
1 Chelsea 25
2 Manchester United 23
3 Arsenal 20
4 Manchester City 20
5 Newcastle United 17
6 Bolton Wanderers
7 Tottenham Hotspur 15
8 Sunderland 15
9 Liverpool 15
10 West Bromwich Albion 15
11 Everton 14
12 Blackpool 14
13 Fulham 13
14 Aston Villa13
15 Birmingham 12
16 Blackburn Rovers 2 12
17 Stoke City 10
18 Wigan Athletic 10
19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 9
20 West Ham United 7
Iowa Soccer End Season in Dramatic Fashion
By Kif Richmann
They finally did it!
The Iowa women’s soccer team finally got a Big Ten victory!
Iowa Women's Soccer head coach Ron Rainey (Photo via Hawkeyesports.com)
The only problem is that the first win took the entire Big Ten schedule, and the win didn’t come until the final game of the season.
For the victory, the Hawks had to dig deep against Purdue on Saturday night. Down 2-0, the Hawks rallied in the second half for a 3-2 victory over the Boilermakers.
What does this say about the team?
To me it says they never gave up on the season, which started out great (7-1) but fizzled around late September. From September 19th to October 31st, the Hawkeye soccer team went 0-8-3. It wasn’t until November 6th that Iowa finally got a win in Big Ten play.
At the Iowa soccer complex Saturday night, Iowa finally got the ball rolling in the second half after playing a less than impressive first.
Now the Hawkeyes go into the winter season with a better-than-bitter taste in their mouths. Although they Hawkeyes finished 8-9-3 overall and 1-7-2 in Big Ten play, it’s got to feel a lot better to know that they sent the seniors out on a W, and a dramatic W at that.
Sure, it’s a losing record.
Sure, it’s a one win season in conference play and there will be no NCAA Tournament for the Hawkeye soccer team.
But ending the season with not only a win, but a scrappy come-from-behind win, means that the team can go into the off season feeling good, not hanging their heads.
More importantly, the seniors who will hang up their cleats can leave the Iowa soccer team, which they have poured their souls into over the last four seasons, thinking of proud memories, not sulking on a winless Big Ten campaign.
Seniors Kali Feiereisel, Amanda Martin, Keli McLaughlin, Jenna Aleo, Mandy Hiemann and Stephanie Swanson will move on. But eventually they will return to The University of Iowa, and most likely they will recall the dramatic win over Purdue, not some pithy record or meaningless stat sheet.
Now head coach Ron Rainey needs to retool for the 2011 season. The self described grinder will look to the future, as all good coaches do, and find a way to improve on a season that was all at once disappointing and invigorating.
