Season 25 week 11 processing...

Welcome to the half way stage of the season.

A great game at the weekend between Liverpool and Man City, it's good to see english players doing so well at Liverpool and them getting back to their best. Two cracking goals as well and two disallowed, could of been a bit of a tanking for us and our shaky defence.

I'm just about to start the reset for this week, then I'll get to opening the envelopes.

No orders this week from Fulham & Schalke.

Friendly games are running now. So Wednesday 1000 hours for the league games.

Does anyone want to ping me the fixtures?

Plymouth v Man City Fulham v Birmingham
Spurs v Man United Watford v Liverpool
Everton v Blackburn Charlton v Chelsea

Thanks Rob

Just to confirm league games are ready to run wednesday at 1000.

Plymouth v Man City

If Watford could have a dream fixture it's this one and I'm sure Jamie will have one eye on Home Park as well as on his own boys. Both teams need a win to keep the pressure on Watford. Plymouth are 100% at home and City have only dropped 2 points away. This is set up to be a classic. A draw isn't good enough for either team. With the attacking talent on display this is the one all the neutrals want to see. Probably a few butterflies for Ben and Geoff but this is what it's all about.

Fulham v Birmingham

It was supposed to be a clash of the men from Kendal but no orders arrived in from Phil. The tabloids are having a field day and reporting the last message on Phil's voicemail was left by Luis Suarez asking him to go out for a bite. Phil hasn't been seen since .....

On to the game. Phil's restructuring with the arrival of Luka Modric combined with the huge point won at home against Watford had built momentum for the home team which may be lost this turn. Rich brings his hard working Brum side and with van Persie, Fellaini and Nani in good form this one could see Fulham slip into the bottom 3.

Spurs v Man Utd

A mid table clash of evenly matched teams with contrasting tactics. The visitors are vulnerable on their travels with LVG's Cruyff inspired TOT tactic. Spurs are solid if uninspiring at The Lane and heavily reliant on Clint Dempsey for goals. With the loss of creator in chief, Modric, to Fulham the goals could really dry up for the home side. This could possibly be the one where you make a cup of tea during Match of the Day.

Watford v Liverpool

Top versus bottom. Sublime versus sub-standard. Both teams had shocks in their last games. Watford were held to a draw by a late Zabaleta goal at Fulham and Liverpool shocked their fans and themselves by actually scoring a goal in their 4-1 hammering at Birmingham. I don't expect the Reds to reach the same heights as last week or in fact the half way line even against the Hornets. Jamie's team will be stung by the 2 dropped points and out to take advantage of Liverpool this time out. I feel a backlash coming on. As I mentioned earlier a big win for Watford here would crank even more pressure on to the Fulham v City encounter.

Everton v Blackburn

As significant as the top of the table clash is this battle in the bottom 3. A winner in this game would probably move out of the drop zone if results go their way. Both teams lack quality although Blackburn have 6 goal Roque Santa Cruz as a potential match winner against a team who have already conceded 24 times this season. Both teams have severe weaknesses and this could be a case of who wants it most with a real dog fight to stay at the top table. Not one for the purists but this could be a nail biter.

Charlton v Chelsea

Charlton, along with Birmingham, have a great opportunity to close up on 2nd and 3rd place this week. If Tom has learnt from his match analysis last week we could see him get the best from his newly reviewed front pairing of Sterling and Sturridge, supported by the classy Coutinho. Chelsea don't score or concede many but I have a feeling that they won't enjoy this trip across London to the Valley.

Villa v Blackpool

League One leaders Villa host Blackpool at Villa Park aiming to maintain their unbeaten home record. Kevin Mirallas comes back into the side in attack but Remy Cabella has gone back to his parent club. Blackpool secured a fantastic draw at Forest last time out and will hope to continue their good run again this week. This one ended in a scoreless draw in the season opener and in what is proving to be a very low scoring division I expect this one to be decided by the narrowest of margins.

Cagliari v Ancona

The Sardinians are difficult to beat on home soil having only lost their once this season. Added to this they have an exciting mix of Italians and Brazilians with the French flair of Gourcuff to add some sparkle. Ancona have ..... everything. Bale, Cuadrado, Shaqiri, Montolivo, Marchisio plus 2 top scorers Immobile and Giovinco. It's a line up that strikes fear into every opponent. It's a case of the irresistible force coming to meet the immovable object. Expect fireworks.

Inter v Roma

Only 1 team has taken points from Inter this season and that was Roma in the season opener. This is a clash of Italy's meanest defences with only 5 league goals conceded between them. This is a game in the spirit of great Italian defenders like Baresi, Maldini and Bergomi. It may not be spectacular but for those who appreciate the dark arts of defending it could be a masterclass. It should be a close one and one piece of brilliance or one missed tackle could decide it either way.

Awesome reviews Rob, thanks very much. Not sure which game I'm going to watch now !

The players are out warming up and we're only minutes away from kickoff now...

and we're off...

First goal of the day comes at Fulham where Clive Everton is watching the action unfold for us today, come in Clive, you have a goal already...

yes, welcome to what looks like being a very tough day for the home side after Nani gave Birmingham an early lead here, making it

Fulham 0 Birmingham 1

after just 2 minutes.

so a good start for in form Birmingham, but while we were at that game I heard other scores...

Real 0 Valencia 1 Jonas on 2 minutes.
St Mirren 0 St Johnstone 1 Jackson.
Tampa 1 Cosmos 0 Beresford.

Dortmund 0 Berlin 1 Tardelli, the veteran striker continues his fine run of goals.

Hibs 0 Celtic 1 Toja on 4 minutes, good start for the League leaders here.

Flamengo 1 Cruzeiro 0 Lewandowski on 6 minutes.

Villa 1 Blackpool 0 Cabaye freekick on 9 minutes.

Inter 1 Roma 0 Higuain on 10 minutes.

Barcelona 1 Sociedad 0 Toure on 12 minutes.

and we have Faye Carruthers reporting for us today from Watford and I understand there has been a goal in that game, so lets go to Faye to get the details...

Some robust defending resulting in a freekick for Liverpool which Alberto Aquilani duelly dispatched for the away side, so here, against the run of play, the early scoreline is

Watford 0 Liverpool 1

after 15 minutes.

a bit of a shock there as the bottom club lead.

Wimbledon 1 Stoke 0 McDonald penalty on 15 minutes.

» Season 26 week 23 processing...into the pre-season break...
» Season 24 week 1 processing ... new season ...
» Season 26 Week 22 processing...End of the season...
» Season 25 week 1 processing ... the new season ...
» Season 23 Week 11 processing...