Liverpool - Birmingham preview

Rafael Benitez is a man under pressure - and this weekend's clash with Birmingham could be his last shot at redemption. Recent criticism has focused on his team selection, formation and a seeming inability to motivate his players, and he will be keen to put an end to the sniping with a victory over Birmingham. With Gerrard unlikely to feature and Torres not 100% fit it will be more important than ever that Rafa gets his system right - and for this match that means being positive and going for the jugular. If he can rid himself of his safety first mentality and instill confidence in his players then Liverpool should have enough quality to run out comfortable winners. Look for Rafa flooding the midfield by getting his fullbacks to push on - and as a result freeing up the likes of Benayoun and Babel to run at the Birmingham defence with pace. Maybe taking a gamble on the inclusion of Aquilani could be the master-stroke he is looking for. Alex McLeish cemented his reputation as a top manager when in charge of Glasgow Rangers, and since joining Birmingham City has presided over both a relegation and promotion. A typical wily Scot he will have done his homework on Liverpool and in particular their tendency to concede sloppy goals. He will set his side up to defend first-and-foremost - playing a bank of five in midfield ahead of a conventional back four. He will then look to hit Liverpool on the counter-attack and to cause problems at set-pieces. McLeish knows that if he can keep the Reds at bay for the first half hour then the crowd could turn on the home team and that could give his players the confidence the spoil the Anfield party.

EPL:Liverpool - Aston Villa goals

Liverpool took on Aston Villa at Anfield looking to close the gap on leaders Manchester United to 1 point. Aston Villa also had their target, to keep fighting for the Champions League spot.

Liverpool 5 - 0 Aston Villa
1-0 - Kuyt - Watch
2-0 - Riera - Watch
3-0 - Gerrard - Watch
4-0 - Gerrard - Watch
5-0 - Gerrard - Watch

Enjoy............

UEFA Champions League 2009: Round of 16 highlights

The first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League produced some great goals. The first knockout round saw many big teams crash out and too without even scoring a single goal. Get all the highlights of the first knockout round.

First Leg
All matches - Link

Second Leg
March 10
Liverpool - Real Madrid - Link
Bayern - Sporting - Link
Panathanaikos - Villareal - Link
Juventus - Chelsea - Link

March 11
All matches - Part1 - Part2
(Manutd - Inter,
Roma -Arsenal,
Barca - Lyon,
Porto -Athletico)

Enjoy.....

EPL:Manchester United - Liverpool goals

Liverpool beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on what was a largely disappointing day for the Champions. Ronaldo opened the scoring with a penalty but goals from Torres within five minutes leveled things and 3 more second half goals meant Liverpool had cut United's lead at the top to 4 points with a game in hand for the Red devils. Vidic saw red after a foul on Gerrard.

Manchster United 1 - 4 Liverpool
1-0 Ronaldo(pen) -Watch - Download
1-1 Torres - Watch - Download
1-2 Gerrard(pen) - Watch - Download
1-3 Aurelio - Watch - Download
1-4 Dossena - Watch

UEFA Champions League 2009:Liverpool - Real Madrid goals

Liverpool outplayed and Out classed Real Madrid with a sublime display of football. Real Madrid on the other hand were pathetic, showed no willingness to fight. They were simply not up for it against a team that was tactically strong, something missing from Real Madrid. And were it not for the excellence of Iker Casillas in Madrid's goal the Spanish giants could have been embarrassed further. Its been five years since Real progressed past the first knock out round, something to worry about for a team that has won the cup a record nine times.

Liverpool 4 - 0 Real Madrid
Torres - Download
Gerrard(pen) - Download
Gerrard - Download
Dossena - Download

Enjoy.....

UEFA Champions League 2009: Round of 16 - Second leg preview

The first knockout stage of UEFA Champions League is nearing its climax. After the first leg, most of the matches are still in balance apart from a few like Bayern - Sporting. The performance of few of the big clubs in the group stages were poor and they could manage only second positions in their groups, which had lead to the fixtures we had got for the Round of 16. When one sees the fixtures, they might get a feeling that each of these fixtures should have been the finals. But only 8 teams can go through to the quarterfinals. Liverpool, who play particularly well in the Champions League have got a lead against Real Madrid and they are at Anfield. So I can't see them losing against Real. Manchester United battered Inter Milan at the San Siro but could not get a goal but it was a totally different team that played in Milan with Rooney on the bench for that. And at Old Trafford they will play their normal 4-4-2 formation and they are real favourites to progress. Chelsea have 1-0 lead going to Turin against Juventus. That's a small lead considering Juve's home form so the match will be real tight one. Arsenal too have a 1-0 lead going to Rome but AS Roma will be heavily dependent on Totti. If he plays Arsenal will have some serious problems. This match too is a tight one. I fancy Arsenal as this is the only trophy that they are left to play for this season and they will be fired up. Barcelona have a crucial away goal against Lyon and at Camp Nou you would expect them to walk over Lyon. Sporting were buried at Lisbon and I would not be surprised if Bayern play a second string team at Munich as overturning a 0-5 deficit is near impossible for the Portugese club.

EPL:Best league in the World?????

I've seen and heard most people saying that English Premier League is the best in the world. But is really the best??? I certainly have my doubts. EPL, without any doubt is the most glamorous and most popular league in the world, thanks to marketing of the game across the globe and the popularity the clubs command in the Asian countries. Nearly 5% of the world's population are Manchester United fans. And clubs like Chelsea,Liverpool & Arsenal are not far behind in the popularity charts. But when it comes to competitiveness of the league, I would say the teams in EPL are not as good as those in Spain or Italy. The point I would like to state here is you don't see the lower teams for eg. West Brom or Stoke are expected to take points off the bigger teams like Manutd or Chelsea. But in Spain, even the teams in the lower half will get results in matches against the bigger teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona - "The Unpredictability", which has made La Liga so popular . This doest not mean that bigger teams in Spain are not that strong as those in England. Real Madrid and Barcelona have the maximum trophies than any other club in Europe. All I hope is the quality of the teams(apart from biggies) improves in the English Premier League, so that all the matches can be viewed with interest. And by looking at the way the things are going in the current season, the monopoly of "Big Four" seems to be broken by the young Aston Villa side. Lets see if others can also do the same in the coming seasons.

EPL:Portsmouth - Liverpool goals

Fernando Torres came off the bench and scored the winner in stoppage time and helped Liverpool to move to the top of the table. They are now a point ahead of Manchester United, who have 2 games in hand as of now.

Click here for the goals
1-0 - Nugent - Watch
1-1 - Aurelio - Watch
2-1 - Hreidarsson - Watch
2-2 - Kuyt - Watch
2-3 - Torres - Watch

Goals in downloadable format to be posted later.......

FIFA:World Player of year 2008 gala videos

Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA player of the year award for 2008 while Brazilian Marta took home the women's player of the year. Get the videos of the grand gala, which was attended many footballing greats including Pele

Click here for the videos
Part1 , Part2 , Part3 , Part4 ,
Part5 , Part6 , Part7 , Part8 ,
Part9 , Part10 , Part11 , Part12

Enjoy......

EPL:Week 23 - Mid Week : Goals

Liverpool further dropped points away at Wigan while Chelsea moved up to second after beating Middlesbrough. Bellamy scored on his Manchester City debut while Hull City slumped to a sixth successive Premier League defeat at West Ham United.

Chelsea 2 - 0 Boro
1-0 Kalou - Watch
2-0 Kalou - Watch

Wigan 1 - 1 Liverpool
0-1 - Bennayoun - Watch
1-1 - Mido - Watch

Everton 1-1 Arsenal
1-0 Cahill - Watch
1-1 Van Persie - Watch

Goals in downloadable format will be posted later

FA Cup:Round 4 goals & highlights

Chelsea and Manchester United marched into the next round while Liverpool could manage only a draw against fierce rivals Everton, earning a replay at Goodison Park while Arsenal came with a draw against Cardiff. Holders Pompey were dumped out by Swansea while Hull,Boro and West Ham progressed.

Cardiff City 0 - 0 Arsenal
21 '- Nasri Chance
54 ' - RVP free kick
67' - RVP Chance
75' - Adebayor chance
76' - Nasri shot

Liverpool 1 - 1 Everton
0-1 - Lescott
1-1 - Steve'G
Highlights

Chelsea 3-1 Ipswich Town
Highlights

Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham
0-1 Pavlyuchenko
1-1 Scholes
2-1 Berbatov

Liverpool:Xabi Alonso goals

Xabi Alonso has been a central figure in Liverpool's midfield. And he has got the knack of scoring some great goals. Enjoy all his goals for Liverpool.

1. Fulham
2. Arsenal
3. AC Milan
4. Sunderland
5. West Ham
6. Aston Villa
7. Luton
8. Luton
9. Newcastle
10. Charlton
11. Watford
12. Charlton
13. Derby
14. Derby
15. Chelsea
16. Blackburn
17. Newcastle

EPL:Week 22 goals & highlights

Here are the goals and highlights of the matches played in week 22 of the Barclays Premier League


Bolton Wanderers V Manchester United
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE

Chelsea V Stoke City
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

Sunderland V Aston Villa
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

Manchester City V Wigan Athletic
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

Hull City V Arsenal
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

West Ham United V Fulham
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

Tottenham Hotspur V Portsmouth
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -

Liverpool Vs Everton
Gerrard
Cahill

EPL:Liverpool draw with Everton, Manutd remain top

Liverpool missed the chance to go back to the top of the table after they could manage only a 1-1 draw against bitter rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. Liverpool started with Torres and Keane upfront, an attack minded line up with Alonso and Gerrard in the midfield. Everton played a 5 man midfield without the suspended Feliani. Gerrard opened the scoring in the 68th minute with a thunderbolt from 20 yards but Cahill broke their hearts as he rose to head home an Arteta free kick in the 87th minute and equalise. Liverpool, who have played a game more than Manchester United might live to regret the lost points as "The Champions" are firmly in control of the title race now and it wont be easy to catch them.

EPL : Liverpool draw at Stoke

Liverpool held to a second goalless draw of the season by an organized and hardworking Stoke City to prevent Rafa's men from opening up a six point lead at the top of the table. Liverpool endured a frustrating night in a match that did not see much goal mouth action with both defences remaining solid. Stoke also had their moments in the match but their finishing lacked quality and they even had a goal by Ryan Shawcross disallowed for offside. For Liverpool, its a chance missed as Manchester United have 3 games in hand and if they win all the three, the Champions will replace Liverpool at the top of the table. Benitez once again erred by playing a five man midfield with Dirk Kuyt as the lone striker, a decision he may live to regret come end of the season. If a team wants to win a league, it has be positive against smaller teams away from home but the defensive mindset of Rafa might prove costly as they can't afford to drop points against smaller teams, both home and away. One has to wait and see how costly these points dropped are....

FA Cup 3rd round goals

The 3rd Round of FA cup saw some great action. Plenty of surprises and goals. Here is the action.
Click here for the action
Southampton 0-3 Manchester United
Highlights

Manchester City V Nottingham Forest
Link
Chelsea V Southend United
Link
Preston North End 0-2 Liverpool
Riera
Torres
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Wigan Athletic
Pavlychenko
Modric
Camara
Pavlychenko

1st Half Highlights

2nd Half Highlights

Champions League Round of 16 draws

What a draw!!!!!! If anyone told me at the start of the season that the round of 16 in the UCL would be Real Madrid-Liverpool, Manutd - Inter, Chelsea-Juve , I would have told them not to joke. These are the teams that anyone would want to avoid in the earlier stages of the competition. But!!!!!!!!!!! the fact is they gotta play each other so early in the cup. But the fans can be assured of absolute crackers from the round of 16 itself. These kind of draws had nothing to with the alleged fixing the draws, as the rule clearly states that 1st place team of a group would face a second placed team and all the above mentioned teams are those who should have finished at the top (i.e) teams like Real, Chelsea , Inter & Arsenal must have finished at the top. So they got to face the heat for finishing second, resulting in tough draws. This does not mean the problem is not only them but also for those(1st placed) whom they will be facing in the first knockout round. Who could have written the script better for Torres, a return to his favourite rival Real Madrid. A return to Old Trafford for Mourinho, a job he is tipped to take over once Fergie steps down. Chelsea up against a very strong Juventus. A journey to England again for Roma, who would like to put behind the miseries Manchester United caused them in the last two years. Anfiled would see Spain's top striker and its two best Goalkeepers in action. But the crucial thing is The second placed teams(Real,Chelsea,Inter,Arsenal) would have to play the return leg away from home. This may be great for the fans but some of them have got to exit the tournament at an early stage which might reduce the fun in the later stages.....Let the best teams go through.....

Ties to be played on 24th/25th February and 10th/11th March.

Champions League draw
Chelsea v Juventus
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v FC Porto
Lyon v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Arsenal v Roma
Inter Milan v Manchester United

EPL Title race 2008-09 season

The race for the title in the English Premier League is turning out to be one of the closest in the recent years. The pace setters in the last 5 years have been Chelsea and Manchester United with Liverpool dropping out of the race early and Arsenal dropping off the pace in the latter part of the season. But this year Liverpool have started so well and that may be the reason why many feel the race will be very tight this year. Arsenal's form this year has been very wobbly. They have struggled with the very young squad and they have found the going tough against teams that are ready to shut them down and those who try to be physical. While Liverpool have been getting results against the big teams and them ending Chelsea's proud record at the Bridge made some believe they will also be a tough nut to crack this season. Arsenal's win against Chelsea has brought them back into the title race after few ruled them out so early. The Champions Manchester United have not got into their rhythm yet but considering the fact that they have played the top 9 teams of last season away from home and also taking into account their record at Old Trafford, they are also in a very strong position. Chelsea have been very good away from home with 11 consecutive away wins but their home record is a cause of concern for Big Phil. It remains to be seen if Liverpool will be able to focus on the premier league title as Rafa always considers Champions League as his priority. So its all in readiness for a cracking season in the EPL.