They were calling it the biggest Premier League game in years, perhaps ever. Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield. The winner goes a long way towards sealing the EPL title. So much hype, so much excitement. They even had live radio commentary of the Liverpool team bus arriving.
Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.
And then there were three. So my beloved Arsenal are long gone but the fight up top goes on! Liverpool, City and Chelsea.
We’re at the stage now where nearly every game has something riding on it, be it a factor in the title race, European spots, or the constant threat of relegation in the bottom half of the table. Meaning there’s a bit to cover here.
West Ham had the unenviable task of hosting a rampaging Liverpool team this morning. Reid started and played 90, meaning he and James Tomkins got to spend the game marking Suarez and Sturridge, and to be fair to them, they did better than most have this year.
It’s been a long time, that’s for sure, since the dominating days of Shankly and Paisley. Brendon Rodgers has a long way to go before he can ever be mentioned in the same breath as those two legends, but with only 6 games remaining in the Premier League this season, he has the chance to do what no manager has done since Kenny Dalglish...
There were many heroes this week with their being so many big performances by the likes of Palace, Liverpool, and Swansea. It's hard to chose one so I'll pick two and they are Sterling and Speroni.
Chewing over the latest and greatest in the major footy leagues. A big week for Bayern Munich and Liverpool, not so much for a few others. The German league title is already decided, Italy is getting close, France too, but we're in for a thrilling race to the finish line in England and Spain.
Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.
Looks like we are down to a 3 horse race for the EPL title with Arsenal dropping points yet again. Chelsea still has the games in hand but Man City is right on their back and could prop up past Chelsea in the next fortnight.
I left a perfectly good bbq on Saturday night. I left, just after my Uncle and his best bud JT turned up to my parents place - geared up in their Stoke and Liverpool shirts, ready to talk EPL and other bullshit.
With there being big EPL games on both the weekend and mid-week, this weeks Rhubarb consists of both rounds. In the last four or so days we've seen Man Utd bask in the glory of Rooney's goal to then being outplayed by rivals Man City at Old Trafford.
The Holy Grail of European footy got a little closer for eight teams this week. The draw for the quarter finals of the Champions League was conducted Friday night (NZT) by a bunch of UEFA suits and ambassador Luis Figo (now there was a player...). It was Figo who drew the little plastic football's out of the bowl, and so by his hand we have the following, mouthwatering clashes:
Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.
Here’s how the internet works: People do their best to create, perform and inspire in the real world, some person makes a joke at the expense of people like that, it becomes a meme, it goes viral. It doesn’t take a lot to get your 15 mins of fame if you’re willing to embarrass yourself on youtube – which is cool, do what you wanna do. But when the comedy vultures come out...
Liverpool. 2nd on the ladder. Is that right? The club that somehow fought off teams all over the world to keep Luis Suarez in the summer is now putting their hand up to win the title. I had a conversation with a couple of Liverpool lovers at 5am after they had just smashed by beloved Arsenal 5-1.
Blaming the referee. Everyone’s done it. Some do it every week, no matter the result, while others will only drag out the cannons for extreme injustices. Ernie Merrick would be classed in the latter.
Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.
So I’ve been a bit slack with Phoenix banter lately. Excuses range from some monster days at work (Workin’ hard, or hardly workin’), the start of the footy season (Come on! Get in!), all the way back to moving back into my parents place (otherwise known as ‘living the dream’).
How the hell is Chelsea running away with the title?!!? Sure they have played more games, but still it’s impressive the way they have ground out results and got that champions mentality back. Jose Mourinho’s mind games are starting to come to the fore as well. He has said all season they aren’t going to win jack and it’s like people were starting to believe it...