Fergie’s Chewing Gum - April 29
Chewing over the recent happenings in the top European footy leagues. So to speak...
England
Just when it looked like they had in the bag, Liverpool went and slipped up against Chelsea. Literally. The title is up for grabs once more after Jose Mourinho masterminded a 2-0 CFC win at Anfield, snapping Liverpool’s 11 game win streak. Inspirational captain and a large part of the reason that Liverpool are in this position anyway, Steven Gerrard, was at fault for the first goal. He missed a pass across himself and slipped over trying to recover, allowing Demba Ba through for the first half injury time opener. Liverpool had dominated, and they continued to do so after the break, but Chelsea were prepared for it, and played deep and stacked the back. As Brendan Rodgers said, it wasn’t just one but two buses parked in front of the Chelsea goal. Stevie G took about a thousand shots trying to atone but there was no way through the defences. And this from a Chelsea team missing several key men, some through injury and others rested for the Champions League semi. Fernando Torres set up Willian for the second goal on a counter attack just before time expired.
The result means that with Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace (Dzeko & Toure scoring), the Sky Blues need only to win out and they will surely claim the title on goal difference (for the second time in three seasons). Chelsea are still more or less out of it unless both of those teams drop points (it could happen…), and Jose Mourinho will be rueing so many missed opportunities against the lesser teams. Considering that they have taken an incredible 16 points from games against the rest of the top 4, they should really have run away with things. Too many losses and draws against the weaker teams has blown it for them though.
via Who Scored.com
Ryan Giggs made the perfect start to his short reign at Manchester United. From the opening whistle they looked a different team; refreshed and motivated. It took until the second half for them to really get some confidence going forward though. Wayne Rooney inspired proceedings to start with a double, before Juan Mata came off the bench to bag a pair himself. 4-0 over Norwich – final score. Giggs received a thunderous welcome from the United faithful. Tottenham edged Stoke 1-0 to keep pace for sixth place, while Everton dropped points at home to Southampton, giving Arsenal the chance to get a strangle hold on fourth, which they did with an easy 3-0 win over hapless Newcastle.
Fulham blew a 2-0 lead against Hull to draw 2-2 – two dropped points that may doom them in a tight relegation battle. Sunderland had no issues in overcoming Cardiff, thanks to wunderkind Connor Wickham, who this season has gone from unwanted flop to serial loanee to survival champion, with two more goals in a 4-0 win making it 5 in the past 3 for him personally. Swansea City piled some pressure on Aston Villa with a 4-1 win, while West Brom beat West Ham 1-0.
The PFA Awards were announced this week, and there were none surprised to see Luis Suarez complete his redemption by being crowned Players’ Player of the Year (the first ever non-European to win the award). Eden Hazard was named Young Player of the Year. The Team of the Year is as follows – with no Manchester United or Arsenal players for the first time since 1987–88:
Spain
The race for the title is easily the most compelling in Spain for years. Atletico Bilbao are basically guaranteed fourth, it’s unlikely that Sevilla or Real Sociedad concede the two Europa League spots and the poor fellas in and around the relegation zone barely have a show against the top half teams anyway. But boy has the title race been good! Real Madrid were the first to pile the pressure on. They briefly moved above Barca, and still have a game in hand on them and Atletico, after a comfortable 4-0 win, inspired by a Cristiano Ronaldo double. Osasuna couldn’t even muster a shot on target in the game. Job done for Real. Next up, Atletico travelled to Valencia . The home team had 62% possession, but Atletico know how to play without the ball. They’ve learned that much in overcoming Barca and Real so far. Raul Garcia grabbed the only goal of the game just before half time. AM right back Juanfran was sent off just before the end, however the leaders did enough to hold on to that slight lead. Four consecutive clean sheets in La Liga for Atletico now. 7 points from their remaining three games will win them the Primera Liga title.
Barcelona meanwhile really had to fight for it. Four points behind Atletico, they’re only that close after a come from behind win over Villarreal. It was an emotional stage for Barcelona, their first game since the death of former coach Tito Vilanova from throat cancer, and there was a touching tribute to him before the game. After 55 minutes, Barca found themselves 2-0 down. Perhaps inspired by the occasion though, they fought back superbly, and two own goals saw them draw level before Lionel Messi (who else?) scored the winner with 83 minutes on the clock. 3-2 the final score.
A credit to Dani Alves in that game too. The Brazilian fullback found himself the target of some Neanderthals in the crowd throwing a banana at him. So what does he do? He picks it up and eats it as he sets up to take a corner. Eradicating racism one healthy fruit at a time!
Germany
Only two rounds remain in the Bundesliga, though the title has been long since sealed. Bayern returned to goal scoring form with a 5-2 win over Werder Bremen, with a close to full strength side used. This will have been great for the confidence at least, after failing to score against Real Madrid and thus heading into the second leg of that Champions League semi-final with a 1-0 deficit. Both Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen could only draw their games, keeping the fight for the Champions League qualifying spot wide open (Leverkusen are up by 1 point). Dortmund were the team that held Leverkusen, and they are guaranteed second place now after Schalke lost. Borussia Muchen Gladbach are hanging tough in sixth. At the bottom end, all three relegation zoned teams lost, so the only thing they’re playing for is who gets the coveted relegation playoff spot and thus a second chance at survival.
France
The big story out of the French Ligue 1 is that that PSG failed to seal the deal on their title as they could only muster a 1-1 draw against third to last Sochaux. Monaco did their best to delay the process beating AC Ajaccio 4-1 and PSG did little to take advantage of the strong position they had put themselves in after beating Evian Thonon (who sit 4 points ahead of Sochaux ... yeah go figure) only a few days earlier. It still seems like a certainty that PSG will be the ones having a shindig come seasons end (or the next time they play) but there are some dark clouds lurking over Paris with many pondering the fact that PSG could come under fire with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules and regulations. This cloud looks to be hovering above a few of the big clubs so it'll be interesting to see what happens as PSG haven't been shy of splashing the cash and could face some penalties ... more than likely just some fines or whatever.
Italy
Juventus showed why they are sitting pretty atop the Serie A with a come from behind 3-1 win over near bottom Sassuolo. Juve went down 1-0 early on but managed to show their class by putting 3 in the back of the net and should seal the title the next time they play. AS Roma had a good win over AC Milan 2-0 while Napoli could make any moves from their spot in third with a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan. Funny that the teams in second and third both battled the Milan teams as this week while Juve and Napoli put their feet up, it's the Milan derby! Well unless you're an Italian football lover, I wouldn't get too excited - Inter sit in 5th and Milan in 10th so there's not much at stake here. It's still a bloody Milan derby though, I mean check this out ...