Was a little upset on Saturday, when I realized I'd forgotten to set the DVR to record the Champions League final. So I didn't get to see Chelsea's improbable run there culminate. But I did see that I still had Man U's final game, against Sunderland, still sitting on the DVR, unwatched.
So I turned that on, and watched, seeing the in-game standings updates as various teams scored. That was sort of amusing, seeing the standings table updated so frequently. I must admit, it felt kind of silly, but it was certainly interesting to see.
The game itself didn't rate too much; although Rooney's twentieth minute goal stood up, Sunderland was only able to really challenge once or twice. Man U vastly controlled possession, and Sunderland's only chance(s?) was on the counterattack.
But it was interesting seeing the crowd reactions to results at Etihad Stadium, where City first led, then allowed an equializer, and then a go-ahead goal to a short-handed QPR. You don't really notice that kind of instant reaction from crowds in US games (it was loud enough to be heard as the background noise, and was before the announcers said anything). I'm really not sure what that says about British or US crowds, though it certainly indicates that the British are more likely to have a radio in their ear while watching a game.
And that's pretty much how the Man U game went. But it was interesting that the City game had more stoppage time, so it ended a couple of minutes after the Man U game. And City found a way to score two in stoppage time, to preserve their goal-differential edge over Man U to take the Premiership title.
So it was an interesting game to watch, even if the game itself wasn't really all that interesting. I wish I'd had the City game saved, but I forgot about it being on a different channel, so I hadn't set the DVR at all.
Oh, and I almost forgot that Chelsea winning the Champions League assures them of a spot in the Champions League again next year (which I knew), but also pushed Tottenham out (which I didn't). So the Spurs last-game victory ended up meaning nothing after all.
Showing posts with label rooney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rooney. Show all posts
20120521
20120411
Wigan-tic victory
I haven't been watching many Premiership games, of late; I've just had too many other things going on. I was going to watch the Manchester City/Arsenal tilt over the weekend, but my DVR deleted it before I got to it. (My fault; I should have made sure that wasn't possible.)
But when a Man U game showed up today on the DVR, I decided that I had enough time to watch it. Despite it being against Wigan (currently in relegation territory), I decided to watch for a while. And I'm glad I did. United started out very strong for the first couple of minutes, but then Wigan just took over. Possession remained slightly in Man U's favor, but the rest of the first half was played mostly in front of the goal Man U was defending.
Wigan wasn't able to score, although they did have a goal disallowed on a rather questionable call. But they still looked much the better team, with a number of good chances, and a large edge in corners.
And that carried over a bit into the second half, where they finally managed to score off a short corner five minutes in. Maloney provided the shot that avoided a couple of defenders, and De Gea. Play continued back and forth for a while, but when Nani was subbed in for Rooney (who didn't look especially sharp, but it was still quite a surprise), Manchester pretty much took over. From that point on, Wigan had a couple of decent counterattacks (one was particularly nice, driven by Simmon (sp?)), but it was almost all United.
But despite the waves of attacks, they weren't able to get through the Wigan defense, even with five minutes of added time. It was quite the performance; for the last 10-15 minutes, most of the Wigan players were looking really gassed. But they valiantly held on for their first ever (I've got to admit, that blows my mind, but there were only 14 previous games) point against Man U. And they got three points.
So, hats off to the Latics for a phenomenal game. Let's hope this gives them momentum enough to keep them in the premiership.
But when a Man U game showed up today on the DVR, I decided that I had enough time to watch it. Despite it being against Wigan (currently in relegation territory), I decided to watch for a while. And I'm glad I did. United started out very strong for the first couple of minutes, but then Wigan just took over. Possession remained slightly in Man U's favor, but the rest of the first half was played mostly in front of the goal Man U was defending.
Wigan wasn't able to score, although they did have a goal disallowed on a rather questionable call. But they still looked much the better team, with a number of good chances, and a large edge in corners.
And that carried over a bit into the second half, where they finally managed to score off a short corner five minutes in. Maloney provided the shot that avoided a couple of defenders, and De Gea. Play continued back and forth for a while, but when Nani was subbed in for Rooney (who didn't look especially sharp, but it was still quite a surprise), Manchester pretty much took over. From that point on, Wigan had a couple of decent counterattacks (one was particularly nice, driven by Simmon (sp?)), but it was almost all United.
But despite the waves of attacks, they weren't able to get through the Wigan defense, even with five minutes of added time. It was quite the performance; for the last 10-15 minutes, most of the Wigan players were looking really gassed. But they valiantly held on for their first ever (I've got to admit, that blows my mind, but there were only 14 previous games) point against Man U. And they got three points.
So, hats off to the Latics for a phenomenal game. Let's hope this gives them momentum enough to keep them in the premiership.
20120304
Spurious defeats
It wasn't planned, but I've caught the last two Tottenham games, versus Arsenal and versus Man U, and both were very entertaining games. The Arsenal game had Spurs go up two-nil, and Arsenal storm back with five unanswered goals. van Persie continues to impress me (I guess he better, since he's leading the Premiership in goals :) and the whole side looked quite good.
Today's Man U game was interesting from an entirely different angle. Spurs dominated the first half almost entirely; neither Rooney nor Nani got significant touches and Tottenham got a number of good chances (one goal called back on a hand-ball, even). But Rooney got his head on a corner kick in the waning moments, and the Red Devils took a small lead into the half.
Tottenham continued to play very well, still dominating play through the first third of the second half. But a defensive breakdown gave a dangerous cross to Man U, and Ashley Young caught the end of it and put it in the net on a nice volley. And nine minutes later, Ashley Young got the ball just outside the box with some time, and put it into the corner of the net. That left Tottenham basically out of it, almost completely deflated. They did score a late goal on a terrible giveaway by late substitute Giggs, but the outcome wasn't in doubt.
Tottenham have to be downcast; that ended their chance of putting themselves in the running for the title, and left them vulnerable to charging Arsenal. So they could find themselves barely qualifying for the Champions League for next season. The end of the season will be interesting.
And two more notes on Ashley Young: he looked terrible in the first half, but came back for the pair of goals in the second. And those were his third and fourth goals of the season; the first two were also scored in only one game (against Arsenal). Very funky.
Today's Man U game was interesting from an entirely different angle. Spurs dominated the first half almost entirely; neither Rooney nor Nani got significant touches and Tottenham got a number of good chances (one goal called back on a hand-ball, even). But Rooney got his head on a corner kick in the waning moments, and the Red Devils took a small lead into the half.
Tottenham continued to play very well, still dominating play through the first third of the second half. But a defensive breakdown gave a dangerous cross to Man U, and Ashley Young caught the end of it and put it in the net on a nice volley. And nine minutes later, Ashley Young got the ball just outside the box with some time, and put it into the corner of the net. That left Tottenham basically out of it, almost completely deflated. They did score a late goal on a terrible giveaway by late substitute Giggs, but the outcome wasn't in doubt.
Tottenham have to be downcast; that ended their chance of putting themselves in the running for the title, and left them vulnerable to charging Arsenal. So they could find themselves barely qualifying for the Champions League for next season. The end of the season will be interesting.
And two more notes on Ashley Young: he looked terrible in the first half, but came back for the pair of goals in the second. And those were his third and fourth goals of the season; the first two were also scored in only one game (against Arsenal). Very funky.
20110918
To the rich go the spoils
Got a bit lucky this weekend. I remembered the Man U-Chelsea collision this weekend Saturday evening, and thought I'd missed it already. A bit of checking, and I saw that it was going to be today. To quote a book my daughter likes, "'Hooray,' they yelled twice". (And you thought this was another tax policy rant. Hah! :)
And on the plus side, in checking, I got to see most of the US/Canada women's friendly. Although, as my wife pointed out, there was nothing really friendly about it. The Canadian defense, in particular, didn't seem to believe in playing the ball; they were just brutal (their captain did manage to pick up a card for jersey grabbing. Not only was it right in front of the ref, but holding on the side where the ref was, but she didn't even let go until well after the whistle blew). And it's a good thing (for them), because that was the only thing that kept the US from winning by a large margin.
The US just completely dominated possession, despite a disturbing number of passes behind their targets. Most of those were still completed, but it really disrupted their flow. And with the defense the Canadians were showing, they didn't have anyone who could penetrate (at least not in the first half; Heath, I think, was doing a very nice job in the second half). Damn, and now I'm showing the time between the game and now, as I remember feeling that Rapinoe wasn't doing well, but can't remember why. In any event, the game ended in a one-all draw, but it really shouldn't have.
To get back to the main point, Man U came out firing on all cylinders. They were strongly dominating the play through most of the first half, although they did allow Chelsea a couple of close calls with two or three atrocious passes around their back line. Chelsea also generated one really nice chance without help with a pass over U's back line to the side, followed by a full-volley pass across the goal-mouth to a striker on the other side who shot it on a full volley, but the goaltender got it.
In the eighth minute, though, just after I had made a comment to my wife about how close the defensive marking was on both sides, Manchester got a free kick and two players were uncovered off the kick. Unsurprisingly, the nearer (Smalling) buried the ball in the back of the net.
Nani made it two-nil half an hour or so later with a rocket into the upper corner from just outside the box. And Man U's scoring was closed out shortly before the half when a scrum developed in front of the right side of Chelsea's goal. The ball popped out on a deflection to Rooney, who was loitering right at the middle of the goal and buried it.
It looked like things would be a lot closer in the second half, when Anelka (who had just come on as a sub at the half) hit Torres behind the defense for a very nice goal thirty seconds in. But that would close out the scoring, amazingly.
I say amazlingly, because there were a number of phenomenal opportunities remaining, but they would all be flubbed one way or another. Rooney slipped and fell on a penalty shot, kicking the ball into his plant foot and deflecting it way high and off to the side. Torres managed to sneak behind the defense one more time, make a great fake on the goaltender, and then shoot the ball a few feet to the side of the completely open net. Rooney got behind the defense quite a long ways from the goal, and passed when the keeper came out to challenge him. The pass went to Berbatov, who weakly put it towards the (mostly open) net, but Ashley Cole caught up to the shot and pushed it outside. Yes, with a bit of luck, Rooney could have had a hat trick of hat tricks. That would have been something.
I will say this from watching the game: both of those clubs are phenomenal on the counter-attack. And it seemed like ManU was relying more on the long ball than when I've seen from them in the past (and Chicharito was not an effective target for those balls, today).
With this, Manchester City drawing (to Newcastle, maybe? I wasn't paying too much attention when the highlights were playing) and the Gunners losing, Man U is alone atop the table with an awe-inspiring goal differential. They really do seem to be in a league of their own, at the moment.
And on the plus side, in checking, I got to see most of the US/Canada women's friendly. Although, as my wife pointed out, there was nothing really friendly about it. The Canadian defense, in particular, didn't seem to believe in playing the ball; they were just brutal (their captain did manage to pick up a card for jersey grabbing. Not only was it right in front of the ref, but holding on the side where the ref was, but she didn't even let go until well after the whistle blew). And it's a good thing (for them), because that was the only thing that kept the US from winning by a large margin.
The US just completely dominated possession, despite a disturbing number of passes behind their targets. Most of those were still completed, but it really disrupted their flow. And with the defense the Canadians were showing, they didn't have anyone who could penetrate (at least not in the first half; Heath, I think, was doing a very nice job in the second half). Damn, and now I'm showing the time between the game and now, as I remember feeling that Rapinoe wasn't doing well, but can't remember why. In any event, the game ended in a one-all draw, but it really shouldn't have.
To get back to the main point, Man U came out firing on all cylinders. They were strongly dominating the play through most of the first half, although they did allow Chelsea a couple of close calls with two or three atrocious passes around their back line. Chelsea also generated one really nice chance without help with a pass over U's back line to the side, followed by a full-volley pass across the goal-mouth to a striker on the other side who shot it on a full volley, but the goaltender got it.
In the eighth minute, though, just after I had made a comment to my wife about how close the defensive marking was on both sides, Manchester got a free kick and two players were uncovered off the kick. Unsurprisingly, the nearer (Smalling) buried the ball in the back of the net.
Nani made it two-nil half an hour or so later with a rocket into the upper corner from just outside the box. And Man U's scoring was closed out shortly before the half when a scrum developed in front of the right side of Chelsea's goal. The ball popped out on a deflection to Rooney, who was loitering right at the middle of the goal and buried it.
It looked like things would be a lot closer in the second half, when Anelka (who had just come on as a sub at the half) hit Torres behind the defense for a very nice goal thirty seconds in. But that would close out the scoring, amazingly.
I say amazlingly, because there were a number of phenomenal opportunities remaining, but they would all be flubbed one way or another. Rooney slipped and fell on a penalty shot, kicking the ball into his plant foot and deflecting it way high and off to the side. Torres managed to sneak behind the defense one more time, make a great fake on the goaltender, and then shoot the ball a few feet to the side of the completely open net. Rooney got behind the defense quite a long ways from the goal, and passed when the keeper came out to challenge him. The pass went to Berbatov, who weakly put it towards the (mostly open) net, but Ashley Cole caught up to the shot and pushed it outside. Yes, with a bit of luck, Rooney could have had a hat trick of hat tricks. That would have been something.
I will say this from watching the game: both of those clubs are phenomenal on the counter-attack. And it seemed like ManU was relying more on the long ball than when I've seen from them in the past (and Chicharito was not an effective target for those balls, today).
With this, Manchester City drawing (to Newcastle, maybe? I wasn't paying too much attention when the highlights were playing) and the Gunners losing, Man U is alone atop the table with an awe-inspiring goal differential. They really do seem to be in a league of their own, at the moment.
20110531
Barca Bash 2011
I recorded the Champions League final the other day, intending to watch it that night. But I didn't feel well, so between that and taking care of the kids, I didn't get around to watching it until tonight. Alas, I already knew who won, but I still watched it.
It was quite the impressive display of talent. At about the 80 minute mark, I noticed the announcers saying that someone (I think it was one of the players or coaches) saying that the top of the Champions League has more talent than in the World Cup. I'm not sure that that's true, but I must admit that I'm not sure it isn't, either.
Anyway, ManU started out playing very well, dictating play for the first ten minutes or so, but it was all downhill from there. They did manage a goal in the 34th minute off a broken play, but they were utterly dominated from about the tenth minute on. Measure it any way you want, and Barca had the better of it. It still took quite a while for them to get their second and third goals, but with the chances they were getting, you knew goals were coming.
ManU's goalkeeper, I thought, had a pretty good game, despite the final score. He didn't have any really spectacular saves, but he saved everything you'd realistically think he might stop.
What's left to say about Messi's play? He is just unbelievable with the ball in tight spaces. He was muscled off the ball a few times, but not often. And the one time they gave him space around the box, he scored. (And a pretty goal it was, too, into the upper corner from just outside the box.)
Rooney had a very nice play that led to his goal, and generally looked very good as well. I will say, though, that after scoring, when his teammates all crowded around him, he looked like he was thinking, "Damn, these guys are lucky to have me on their team". He didn't look at any of them, nor did he return any of the hugs or any of that. You'd think, at the least, he'd have a gesture of thanks for the guy with whom he did the give-and-go just before the shot.
But other than that, the story was just one of Barca dominating in the midfield, controlling the ball, and attacking whenever they felt like it.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be soccer without talking about the diving. I will say it was better than many World Cup teams. I wasn't keeping a careful count, but I only remember five or six dives (all but one of them from Barca, which didn't surprise me). So it wasn't as bad as I expected, at least.
In any event, congratulations to Barca and their fans for a very well-played game. I would have been a bit happier, I think, with a ManU win, but there was no question that the better team won.
It was quite the impressive display of talent. At about the 80 minute mark, I noticed the announcers saying that someone (I think it was one of the players or coaches) saying that the top of the Champions League has more talent than in the World Cup. I'm not sure that that's true, but I must admit that I'm not sure it isn't, either.
Anyway, ManU started out playing very well, dictating play for the first ten minutes or so, but it was all downhill from there. They did manage a goal in the 34th minute off a broken play, but they were utterly dominated from about the tenth minute on. Measure it any way you want, and Barca had the better of it. It still took quite a while for them to get their second and third goals, but with the chances they were getting, you knew goals were coming.
ManU's goalkeeper, I thought, had a pretty good game, despite the final score. He didn't have any really spectacular saves, but he saved everything you'd realistically think he might stop.
What's left to say about Messi's play? He is just unbelievable with the ball in tight spaces. He was muscled off the ball a few times, but not often. And the one time they gave him space around the box, he scored. (And a pretty goal it was, too, into the upper corner from just outside the box.)
Rooney had a very nice play that led to his goal, and generally looked very good as well. I will say, though, that after scoring, when his teammates all crowded around him, he looked like he was thinking, "Damn, these guys are lucky to have me on their team". He didn't look at any of them, nor did he return any of the hugs or any of that. You'd think, at the least, he'd have a gesture of thanks for the guy with whom he did the give-and-go just before the shot.
But other than that, the story was just one of Barca dominating in the midfield, controlling the ball, and attacking whenever they felt like it.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be soccer without talking about the diving. I will say it was better than many World Cup teams. I wasn't keeping a careful count, but I only remember five or six dives (all but one of them from Barca, which didn't surprise me). So it wasn't as bad as I expected, at least.
In any event, congratulations to Barca and their fans for a very well-played game. I would have been a bit happier, I think, with a ManU win, but there was no question that the better team won.
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