The Soccer Blog: Preview

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Sunday, 23 September 2012

EPL 12-13 City v QPR Mancini Preview Part 2

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Saturday, 3 December 2011

Premier League Preview: Everton v Stoke

After making history in Europe, Stoke City travel to Everton on Sunday looking for their first win at Goodison Park in over 30 years.

A 1-1 draw with Dynamo Kiev at Britannia Stadium on Thursday gave Stoke the point they needed to secure progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League from Group E, and they will have their eye on more history on Sunday.

Stoke recorded a 1-0 win at Goodison in April 1981 but have failed to take full points in their next seven visits.

And it will not be easy to break their hoodoo as they face an Everton side beginning to find form after successive victories against Wolves and Bolton.

Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini scored in Everton’s 2-0 win at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday and feels his side are well prepared for the visit of Tony Pulis’ men.

“We’d not got two wins from two games and it was an important victory at Bolton,” Fellaini told the Liverpool Echo.

“It was a good game, we were lucky because they had to play with 10 players but I think it was a red card. It’s a great result. It’s good for the confidence of the team ahead of next week.”

“Stoke have the same sort of style as Bolton but we are playing at home, have confidence and we will hope to win again.”

Fellaini and his team-mates will feel confident of scoring against a Stoke side who have conceded in each of their last eight matches in all competitions.

What is also in Everton’s favour is the fact Stoke have lost all four Premier League matches that have come after Europa League group stage fixtures, conceding 14 goals in the process and scoring just once.

That statistic will motivate Stoke but whether they have enough to defeat a resurgent Everton remains to be seen.

View the original article here

Friday, 1 July 2011

Copa America Preview: Players to Watch

The Copa America is upon us and we’re all pretty excited to see some of the worlds best in action in the coming weeks. But hwo should you keep a eye out for? Here’s our picks for the most exciting and significant players to look out for in the tournament.

1.) Neymar, Brazil

The latest Brazilian wunderkid is coming off the success of his success with Santos in Copa Libertadores and while his dives and histrionics are ultimately a turn off for me, there is no denying his skill. I’d look for lots of incisive run along the wings followed by tricksy shots and some selfishness to color his play in that Brazil jersey throughout the tournament.

2.) Lionel Messi, Argentina

Probably the best player to grace the field since Pele, Messi is a dominant force for Barcelona and an integral part of Argentina’s squad. Messi is one of the few players who has come up in recent years who has the skill to play anywhere, and isn’t interested in being a professional cry-baby. His play unselfish and unrelenting play this past season ensured Barcelona mopped the floor with Real Madrid, Tottenham, and Manchester United. If they hope to take home the Copa they’ll need to use him to maximum effect up front.

3.) Carlos Tevez, Argentina

Manchester City’s favorite subterranean homesick alien should be lining out for Argentina during the tournament and makes a good partner for Messi upfront. Realistically, he’s the only player they have who can properly feed off Messi’s passes, but also generate his own runs and movement to score without aid. Look for a few cheeky goals from this guy, he loves to play for his country, and we all know he’ll relish a chance to go home for awhile.

4.) Giovanni Dos Santos, Mexico

Despite his brother being sent home under less than honorable circumstances this week, Gio Dos Santos is a quick and creative player who loves to go on the run and should have an impact El Tri. His career hasn’t come to anything at the club level, as he seems unable to break into the team anywhere he goes. But there’s no denying he’s a great player when he’s wearing the Mexico jersey, and his annihilation of goalies in the recent Gold Cup is already the stuff of legend.

5.) Chicharito, Mexico

Manchester United’s latest hero and the prolific goal scorer for El Tri, there’s no denying he will have an impact in the tournament, especially with so many Mexican players sent home in disgrace. His creativity and ability to truly play with both of his feet makes him a mobile threat anywhere on the pitch. I have him marked for top scorer on the Mexican team, and he rarely disappoints. The only issue for him may be fatigue, as I’m not sure how much more of this his body can take after the EPL and Gold Cup.

6.) Fernando Muslera, Uruguay

The Uruguayan keeper is a man mountain, and many a side has paid the price for underestimating his throw and ability to drop the ball into play 70 to 80 yards down the pitch from his line. He’s also not afraid to mix it up with forwards and, as some league forwards will attest, his bark matches his bite in this regard. Look for him to flatten a few players, and if it really kicks off, he’ll be in the thick of it.

7.) Alex Sanchez, Chile

One the best, most underutilized in the arsenal of Camp Nou, Sanchez will be looking to remind the world why he deserves to be at Barcelona. He spends most of his time there on the bench, but by all accounts he’s a zealous trainer and should be more than fit for the competition. His repressed striker instincts and appetites should cause him to run riot all over the opposing half as he scores from around 20 yards out.

8.) Arturo Vidal, Chile

The other half of the Chilean dou of doom has been making a name for himself terrorizing the midfield of the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen and has attracted attention from both the EPL and Serie A. He’s going to keep things interesting for Chile as they can count on him to hold up play in the middle and play more men forward to support Sanchez giving them a flexibility and attacking formation to rival the Mexicans.

9.) Rademel Falcao, Columbia

Porto’s speedy attacker shoots on goal with amazing accuracy, and has the pace to get clear of defenders. A quick, nippy little player, he’s also good in close and seems to have taken the Brazilian style of samba soccer to heart as he weaves through defense men. The rumor is he’s going to Chelsea, so he’ll be eager to show off for his new employers and bring it home for Columbia. Hopefully he’s not hamstrung by the mediocrity of the rest of the Columbian side.

10.) Guardado, Mexico

Guardado is one the most undervalued players on the Mexican side, and should be playing an integral part in their game as he did in the recent Gold Cup. Guardado moves with the play, and seems to have an almost intuitive understanding of where things are happening, and where they are going. Always in the right place at the right time, I’d look for him to have some serious impact on any game he plays in. He’s also able to score goals, and when you seem him running towards to you flanked by Chicharito and Dos Santos, most defenders leave him free to deal with the greater threats. Overall a great player, and one to watch.

They’re plenty more exciting players going to be on the field during the tournament, but these are our picks for the best to watch.

Written by: Matthew Wall and soccerprose.com staff, editor, soccerprose.com

View the original article here

Friday, 13 May 2011

FA Cup Preview: Manchester City v. Stoke

The storied franchise of the FA Cup will be renewed once more tomorrow as Manchester City meet Stoke at Wembley to decide who will carry the Cup home. Man City are hot favorites for this encounter, but don’t look for Stoke for to lie down and die. Both clubs are sorely hurting for silverware, and will give everything to take something away from Wembley today.

Manchester City are a club who have managed to secure Champions League football next season, but it has to be said that this was only the side show to the real hope of their supporters, an end to the 35 year trophy drought that has come to define them. Kevin Keegan may have put it best in his column on ESPN:

“If you win one trophy then often others will follow. It can spark a domino effect. City haven’t won something for so long – 35 years, since the 1976 League Cup final – so they really need to have their name up in lights once again to get that winning feeling back. Yes, the Champions League is lucrative and prestigious, but if you could pick either fourth place or the cup, I would have said the cup. The men in Manchester City jerseys have a trophy drought hanging over their heads, and ending it is paramount.”

City will have to do more than just show up today to make it through the men from Stoke, but if they can wake up early on in the match, and not get complacent, their superior quality in players and management should lift the mover the top. If they do get complacent, look for Stoke to punish them on the break, scoring from outside the box with longer shots. They know they can’t stand toe to toe with City defense, and they won’t try.

For Stoke to upset City, they’ll need to play out of their skin for all 90 minutes. If they can manage to strike early, and keep City on the back foot, they may be able to hold on for long enough to win. Mancini’s tactics on the pitch have shown he adapts poorly to these situations, and once his side with less than 20 minutes remaining he becomes reckless. If Stoke can exploit this, they may just pull it out of the hat.

Overall, I hope it will be a good even match, but I’m prepared for a one sided affair.

Prediction:

Manchester City 3-0 Stoke

Written by: Matthew Wall, editor, soccerprose.com

View the original article here

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Stoke City - Arsenal Preview

Stoke City – Arsenal Preview - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Rambo Set For Stoke Clash; Plus, Guess Who’s Injured Now? | Home | Stoke City – Arsenal PreviewBy: Martin | May 7th, 2011
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Stoke City

Position: 10th, 12-7-16 (43 points, even goal differential)

Home Form: 9-4-4 (31 points, +12 goal differential)

Recent Form: DLDWD

Last Meeting: Arsenal 1 – Stoke City 0 (February 23, 2011)

Back in action tomorrow as we travel to the Brittania to take on Stoke.

As we all know, this has become a pretty heated rivalry in the last couple of seasons. We have really struggled with them on the road — 2 seasons ago, they beat us at the Brittania, and last season, they knocked us out of the FA Cup and then there was the infamous Ramsey-Shawcross leg-breaking incident and Arsenal comeback.

And once again, that seems destined to be the talking point — most of the pre-match media coverage has centered around that. But I don’t have too much energy for it today — you will recall that last time we played Stoke, the site got bombarded by Stoke trolls pounding away at their keyboards with rocks and primitive tools to express their displeasure at what I had written. But it’s been over a year, Ramsey is back, and I’m more concerned about winning matches and trying to hang onto 3rd place than any of that subplot.

….

But you know I couldn’t just leave it at that, right? I guess the main thing is that Ramsey will start in this one. I expect he will not get a warm welcome from the Stoke fans (the temerity of the boy, to have his leg broken like that!), although it would be great if they proved me wrong. And they’ll give a warm welcome to Shawcross, because that’s the sort of people they are. I just hope Aaron deals with it okay psychologically, and the players on both sides don’t get caught up in all of it and just concentrate on playing football. And this effort to turn Shawcross into the victim is so laughably, obviously wrong-headed that I don’t need to say anything more about it. Much of the talk leading up to the match has been about the fact that Rambo has apparently not told Shawcross that he forgives him, and Ramsey has drawn some criticism for that. Look — I try to be a good Christian, and believe in forgiveness, but this is between the two of them and is no one else’s business. If Ramsey doesn’t forgive Shawcross, what good would it do for him to say so insincerely? And the bottom line is that none of us were in his position and had to lose a year of our livelihoods and see our entire career threatened and possibly irreparably damaged at such a young age, and if Ramsey believes the tackle was very reckless (as I do), who among us can say that he should be compelled to forgive?

Anyway, on to the match. We know Stoke, and we know what they do. They will be content to let us have the ball in midfield, but the will hassle like gangbusters once we bring it too deep into their area, they’ll tackle hard, they’ll try to hit us on the counter, and will try to draw as many set pieces as possible, where they can use their superior size and strength to cause us a lot of problems. We really do need to be much more careful than usual about kicking the ball out of bounds deep in our own half and fouling in our own half. We need to take the approach that they cannot hurt us from open play, and to let them have space and opportunities we don’t ordinarily look to concede, but it can be very tough to change your approach on something like that just for one match.

Stoke’s strength is going to be their defense. They’ve conceded 43 goals — only 6 teams in the Premiership have conceded fewer. And they are especially stingy at home, where they’ve conceded less than a goal per game. There likely will not be a great deal of goals in this one, so we need to make the most of every opportunity we can create. But it seems like we say that every week.

Sairax covered most of the team news yesterday. Cesc, Diaby, and Nasri are all out. Clichy and Djourou are doubts. Flaps is out. In better news, the big positive is that Vermaelen is actually, finally back, for the first time since September. Here’s my best guess at a lineup:

Wojo

Sagna-Vermaelen-Koscielny-Gibbs

Wilshere-Song

Walcott-Ramsey-Arshavin

van Persie

Bench: Lehmann, Squillaci, Eboue, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner, Chamakh

Wojo keeps his place in goal. Sagna starts on the right. Assuming Clichy doesn’t make a huge physical recovery in time for the match, we’ll get to see Kieran Gibbs in action along the left — I’m a big fan of Gibbs, but he hasn’t been the most impressive in action for us thus far this season. Koscielny will definitely start, and the big question is who starts alongside him. Assuming Djourou isn’t fit enough to start, the decision Wenger must make is whether to start Squillaci or whether to put Vermaelen back in. Vermaelen played a full match for the Reserves last week, so his fitness level must be pretty close to ready, and I think Wenger would rather give Vermaelen a return to get him back integrated into the side. And it will be very, very good to have him back, although I would caution that I don’t think we should expect too much from him — he’s been out of action for 8-9 months, with only one Reserves match. The rest of this season will just be about him getting back into the side and getting used to playing with his teammates, and then next season with the benefit of full pre-season training we can look forward to having the player we had last season back.

The midfield kind of dictates itself with the injuries — Jack and Song will hold it down at the back, with Rambo in more of an advanced role, although as many of you pointed out, there was a lot more switching between Rambo and Jack last week, which gave the midfield a bit more movement and dynamism. But I can’t really see Denilson or Rosicky getting a start this week barring a late injury.

And then up front, van Persie keeps his place as the striker. I have to think Theo will maintain his starting spot. And out left, Arshavin is the most likely candidate, especially after his hard-working, tough shift in the second half against Manchester United. Rosicky, Chamakh, and Bendtner are all available in reserves, but I think they’re more likely to see some time as substitutes than they are to start.

And this match is meaningful. We are not going to win the title, so put that out of your mind. But St. Totteringham’s Day should happen either today (if Spurs fail to beat Blackpool) or tomorrow (so long as we can get a point), and that will clinch a top-4 finish. And with Manchester City falling to Everton today, we are now 5 points clear of them, and they don’t have a match in hand any more. So a win tomorrow would take us 8 points clear and on the verge of clinching a top-3 finish and straight into the Champions League group stages. Which would take a lot of pressure off going into the final 2 matches. So let’s go ahead and do that and take some pressure off, eh?

That’s about it, really. This will definitely be a tough one because of the bad blood between the sides, although Stoke don’t technically have a lot to play for, since they are comfortably in mid-table and have the massive FA Cup final coming up on Saturday. In terms of how timing, we could have done a lot worse, but I don’t for a second think that they’re going to roll over and let us win. We’ll need to have a good match to get 3 points, but we can do it.

Come on Arsenal.

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Category: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview, Stoke City

Tags: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview, Stoke City
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