The Soccer Blog: Tough

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Saturday, 12 March 2011

Championship wrap: Tough work at the top

Top six clubs Swansea City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest all dropped points in the Championship on Saturday.

Derby County secured their first win at Pride Park since November as they overcame Swansea 2-1 with a helping hand from City defender Ashley Williams.

Williams had an early chance to put the Welsh club ahead, but his header went high over the crossbar.

To compound his miss, Williams committed the ultimate football sin when he misdirected his back pass to goalkeeper Dorus de Vries in the seventh minute. Despite the Dutch shot-stopper’s best efforts, the ball rolled over the line for the bizarre opening own-goal.

Derby doubled their advantage when Steve Davies headed home a Conor Doyle corner in the 54th minute.

Darren Pratley pulled a goal back for Swansea 12 minutes later but they could not find an equaliser, much to the relief of the home faithful.

The win moved the Rams six points clear of the drop zone, while Swansea maintained second spot on the table. Wins to Cardiff City (playing Sunday) or Norwich City (playing Monday), however, would see them shuffled out of the automatic promotion places.

Leeds were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Ipswich Town at Elland Road, with Simon Grayson’s men missing an ideal chance to go level on points with Swansea.

Nottingham Forest were also held to a 0-0 draw at their City Ground home by Doncaster, in what was Rovers’ second scoreless league affair this campaign.

League-leaders Queens Park Rangers extended their buffer at the top of the table to seven points with a 2-1 triumph over 10-man Crystal Palace.

Heidar Helguson put the hosts at Loftus Road ahead in the 20th minute, but the relegation-threatened Palace equalised through James Vaughan five minutes out from half-time.

However a red card to Patrick McCarthy and a consequent penalty conversion from Helguson in the 54th minute gave QPR a valuable victory in the race for the title.

Milwall crushed Burnley 3-0 at Turf Moor, with Paul Robinson scoring a brace, while Hull City beat Coventry City 1-0 away to move into eighth place on the table.

Leicester City trumped Scunthorpe 3-0 at Glanford Park courtesy of a Miguel Vitor double, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough played out a 0-0 draw and Watford thrashed nine-man Sheffield United 3-0.

Sat 12 March, 2011

Sunday, 20 February 2011

Mazzarri prepared for tough Catania

Napoli manager Walter Mazzarri thinks his side will be ready for the visit of Catania, despite a short break.

Mazzarri’s men hosted Villarreal in a goalless Europa League draw on Thursday but must back up for the Serie A match with just three days’ rest.

Despite the fact that Catania lie 16th in the league table, the Napoli boss is still expecting a stern test on Sunday.

“Catania is an excellent team and has the advantage of being fresh and having had a whole week to prepare the match against us,” Mazzarri said.

“We’re now one of the most valued team in Italy and they will spend all possible energies in order to play their best match, whereas we have played on Thursday and have had only a few days to recover.”

“We know what (Sunday’s) challenges are and we will do our best in order to overcome these.”

Mazzarri will be without forward Ezequiel Lavezzi due to suspension, but will be hoping that striker Edinson Cavani can add to his 20 Serie A goals he has scored so far this season.

Sun 20 February, 2011

Mazzarri prepared for tough Catania

Napoli manager Walter Mazzarri thinks his side will be ready for the visit of Catania, despite a short break.

Mazzarri’s men hosted Villarreal in a goalless Europa League draw on Thursday but must back up for the Serie A match with just three days’ rest.

Despite the fact that Catania lie 16th in the league table, the Napoli boss is still expecting a stern test on Sunday.

“Catania is an excellent team and has the advantage of being fresh and having had a whole week to prepare the match against us,” Mazzarri said.

“We know what (Sunday’s) challenges are and we will do our best in order to overcome these.”

Mazzarri will be without forward Ezequiel Lavezzi due to suspension, but will be hoping that striker Edinson Cavani can add to his 20 Serie A goals he has scored so far this season.

Sun 20 February, 2011

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Sunderland 1-0 Bolton. A Tough Ask.

By: Mark | December 18th, 2010

Britain Soccer Premier League At the start of the weekend, Bolton sit in 6th place with Sunderland just a point behind them in 7th. Results against the Black Cats have been hard to come by for the Whites, especially last seasn. Bolton opened their season against Sunderland last year with a 1-0 loss at the Reebok, Darren Bent the lone goalscorer. The away leg saw Sunderland run out 4-0 winners as Bent came back to haunt us again with a hat trick.

It would be hard to find two more in form strikers short of Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander but you cannot look past Sunderland’s Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan. Darren Bent has 7 so far and Gyan has contributed a further 5. The young Danny Welbeck, on loan from Manchester United, has added 4 to their tally.

Bolton’s lineup featured a surprise in Lee Chung-Yong on the bench with Martin Petrov getting the start. I suppose his temper tantrum after being subbed against Blackburn wasn’t enough to sway Coyle. Fabrice Muamba rightfully regains his midfield place after the Mark Davies red card last weekend. The other interesting sideplot from this match is that Sunderland is the club where Stuart Holden’s England career should have started. The teenager (at that point) was attacked outside of a Newcastle nightclub and left with a fractured eye socket. He never actually played a game for them.

Sunderland had the better of the chances throughout the first half and would start the scoring in the 32nd minute. The ball found its way to Darren Bent who did really well to control it and take a shot from a very acute angle. Jaaskelainen did as he should have done and got his body in front of it but the ball bounced in front of goal. Zat Knight dozed off for a second and no one was able to clear. Danny Welbeck dove in with a flying header and put it past Gary Cahill and Jussi Jaaskelainen, both on the line, to make it 1-0. Frankly, it was coming.

Bolton would nearly equalize on the stroke of half time. The ball bounced two feet short of the goal line and Zat Knight just had to tap it in. Somehow, Sunderland’s goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, made an absolutely phenomenal reaction save to deny the Whites. I got up. I was celebrating the equalizer and then nothing. What a let down.

1-0 to Sunderland at the half.

There wasn’t much to write about in the second half. Frustration all around. Missed chances and Bolton looked a half step behind for the entire match. Literally everyone was off the pace and the Whites just couldn’t make any late magic happen. A win at Sunderland was always going to be a tough ask and this match proved it. Lee Chung-Yong never saw the field.

The match ended a 1-0 loss and Bolton didn’t wake up until the final quarter of an hour. To be honest, the loss was deserved and that’s all there is to say about that one. The Whites just have to get over it and pick up a win against West Brom on Sunday.

Category: Team News

Tags: Bolton Wanderers, Craig Gordon, Danny Welbeck, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Stuart Holden, Team News
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