Musical chairs

Trapattoniby Striker

 

TO paraphrase an old Gilbert and Sullivan ditty, “a soccer manager’s lot is not a happy one”, an adage that would apply this week in many quarters in both England and Ireland.

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Beat the drop

Roberto Martinez

Roberto Martinez

By Striker

 

WITH just a couple of matches left for each team, the relegation battle in the Premiership is gradually turning into a red-hot contest, for, with Reading and QPR already condemned to the Championship, the identity of the third team to accompany them down is still right in the melting pot.

 

Aston Villa, just a few weeks ago, looked prime candidates for the drop, but, with some sterling displays since, have eased slightly away from the danger zone, and do look to have the capabilities for survival, as they are now on the elusive 40 points mark. Villa’s last two games are toughies, Chelsea at home, and their fellow strugglers Wigan away, and they would do well to get three points from these two games.

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Down to business

Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp

by Striker

 

Well, here we are, in the closing weeks of the Premiership season, and one could not say that the fight for the title was, from mid-season on anyway, the guts and garters effort that you would expect to get from teams when there is obviously so much at stake.

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The dreaded relegation

Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp

by Striker

 

The results of last weekend have thrown the Premiership relegation battle into a little bit more of a quandary, for, as I mentioned last week, QPR and Reading already have the going down look about them, but as to who will accompany them into the limbo of the Championship is still, to all intents and purposes, up for grabs.

 

The dreaded relegation magnet has, on the bare evidence of points totals and matches played, now pulled six other teams into the mix, namely, Stoke, Newcastle, Norwich, Sunderland, Wigan, and Aston Villa.

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The league needs characters

Paolo_Di_Canioby Striker

 

Well, wouldn’t you think that we had enough unusual characters in the top league already, especially when one looks at the weekly antics of the various managers trying to upstage each other, week in, week out, and playing the well known mind games before important matches, in an effort to psyche out their opposite numbers.

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A done deal

alex_fergusonby Striker

 

Since the Premiership looks like a done deal for the Red Devils, its only natural that the closing weeks of the season would be focussed on who is going to win the FA Cup, who will the final top four contain, and of course, who will be the the unfortunate three who will be taking the plunge into the relative oblivion of the Championship Section.

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Six-pointer for Trap

Trapattoniby Striker

 

What could anyone make of Man City? One would have thought that having made the transition into what are called the “money” teams, that they would eventually go on to collecting some silverware, either in England, or indeed on the European shelf.

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Under pressure

Brendan Rogers

Brendan Rogers

by Striker

 

As we head towards the last third of the English soccer season, one can see some signs of the extreme pressure that most teams are under, especially in the Premier League.

 

With some trying their utmost to survive in what they call the “money” division, and others endeavouring to win the only piece of the silverware left to them on the land of England, that of the FA Cup, which is still the oldest trophy in the wide world of soccer. [Read more...]

The merry-go-round

Rafa_Benitezby Striker

 

ONE of the real wonders of the current season is that Chelsea seem to have maintained their classy football standard, which has them steady in the top four places in the Premiership, especially when one thinks of the musical chairs that their directors have been playing with some of the top managers in the world of soccer over the years.

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1966 and all that

Bobby Moore World Cup 66 - vaultby Striker

 

Looking at the Premier League table at the moment puts me in mind of a situation many years ago, 1966 in fact, and the World Cup.

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