RVP's Screamer!!!!

Surely the goal of the season.

You beauty!!

Rafa's Stadium Dream

Nice insights on how to move a massive club to a spanking new stadium, but still retain the atmosphere.

With the Reds still planning to leave Anfield for a larger stadium in Stanley Park, Benitez has spoken for the first time about what it would mean to him personally to be the Reds manager on the day the Reds kick-off a new era in a new ground.

"My dream is to lead out the team at the new Anfield," revealed Benitez, "and, if I stay here for three or four more years, then we have that possibility. That would make me really happy. The atmosphere in Anfield is amazing and, if we can do the same in another big stadium, that will be perfect.

"I have been talking to the chairman and Rick Parry about how to do this. It's not easy but I think we can do it. How can you keep the spirit? You can if you keep the support. Then, in maybe 50 years' time, we can talk about the history of the new stadium. But we must feel the supporters behind us.

"Anfield has always been special because of the boot room, the people, winning trophies, the supporters. So just think about a new Anfield with even more fans. The design will be so important. When you talk about a new stadium, it's not necessary to plan one too big.

"If that happens, you separate the supporters from the pitch. The new stadium can be closer and still bigger. I've been to the Boca Juniors stadium - La Bombonera - and that's fantastic. The stands are very steep and I remember being on the bench and the supporters were above me. The atmosphere was amazing. The screaming came from above your head. It's like a coliseum.

"The Kop is amazing. So are all our supporters around the ground. If we can bring these people, plus 10,000 or 15,000 more and, if we are close to the pitch, the atmosphere will be the same as Anfield.

"I know for a fact that it will be easier to bring more money into the club if we have the possibility of a new stadium. Liverpool are special in that we are one of the few clubs in this country who could fill a stadium like that every game."

Source.

The Big 2

******** Chris reports**********

No Thierry Henry? Check. Rubbish Arsenal defence? Check. Crappy Arsenal midfied? Check. Home ground advantage? Check. Good record against opposition? Check. Defeat expected against Arsenal? NO. Now that was the result from last night’s Big Showdown. Now read this, Man U 0-1 Arsenal!!! A goal score by someone you never thought of. Emmanuel Adebayor with good assist from Francesc Fabregas…. Great match to watch….The Other Hightlight of the night was Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool who was playing with ten men Ballack was sent off for a stamping on Sissoko and Chelsea scored from Drogba.

So it’s a night when the big two London clubs won as another Londoner West Ham lost to the rebuilding Toon 2-0 and Tottenham Hotspurs(******) draws Fulham. Goals from new boys Damien Duff and Martins settled the match. So Tevez and Mascherano isn’t that special after all…. After all that action the EPL leader is actually PORTSMOUTH!!!! And…. They are undefeated….

A taste of its own medicine

It seems not too long ago when the Gunners lost their 49 matches unbeaten run to the Red Devils. For last nite, hails to Arsenal for making Man Utd have a taste of their own medicine at their homeground. Like what is nick implies, 'The Theater of Dreams'........i guess it is Dream Over as of last nite when Man Utd's short perfect run of 4 has prematurely ended.

It was all guns blazing at the Devils last nite....they got nowhere to run nor hide. A lineup without Thierry Henry or Robin Van Persie but it was a goal four minutes from time by a "Kanu-resemblance", Emmanuel Adebayor gave Arsenal a richly-deserved win on Sunday.

Arsenal dominated a thrilling EPL encounter, yet wasted a string of chances, including a first-half Gilberto penalty, and finally found the breakthrough as the contest entered its final stages. Manchester United had their chances of course. Lehmann's clearance eventually fell to Ronaldo and the Portuguese winger returned the ball with interest only for the keeper to save gymnastically. Then in the dying seconds Fletcher’s deep cross eluded Emmanuel Eboue and Ronaldo controlled the ball before lashing the ball at Lehmann from point-blank range. The ball hit the German in the face and he needed treatment for a couple of minutes. Later on, Lehmann still saved wonderfully from Ole Gunner Solksjaer and then Brown volleyed in the German’s hands.

I guess it jus summed up a bad day for the losing team. The points truly deserved by Arsenal!

*Quack Quack*

What an opening stanza.

Without checking the record books, I can safely say that this first couple of matchdays have yielded one of the highest number of goals scored in the first couple of games of the new League season in my recent memory.

Barca whipping Levski for 5.

Bayern spanking Sparta for 4.

Olympiakos and Valencia sharing 6 goals.

Roma crushing Shaktar 4 nil.

Man U and Celtic in a 5 goal scoring-fest.

And perhaps most surprising to me, Steaua humbling Dynamo Kiev 4 - 1 in the frozen tundra of the Valerie Lobanovsky Stadium. Liverpool played their qualifying round second leg against Maccabi Haifa there and the conditions were horrid. To go and bang 4 goals past Kiev in their backyard is no mean feat. I doubt Kiev are that bad, neither to I think Steaua are that good. I'm chalking this result down to freakiness.

Fresh on top of the pile is Lil' Baby Duckie. Hot on her heels is Hugo, with a mindbending 11 points this round. Kheva jackpot 2 nights ago, but last night eat yummy claypot rice. He tumbles down to midtable ignomity.

Stay tuned on 26 & 27 Sep for the next round of games.

Curtain Raiser

We have almost all the predictions in for the first round of matches in the Champions League 2006/2007.

For those of you who have not had the time to send them in, fret not. You have until 30 min before kick off to send it to me and I will still compile them.

I'd like to think that we here at The Beautiful Game are a progressive lot and so as a step forward from the World Cup Predictor days, instead of pasting every single person's predictions in the post (which resulted in super duper lengthy posts), we have decided to adopt this nifty new technology by Google, in the form of a shared spreadsheet.

For those who want to see your predictions, can check HERE.

You need to sign up for a Google account if you don't already have one. If you do, simply log in to see the consolidated predictions.

Kheva is back!

Ole Ole Ole........I am finally back to my faithfuls! Have been out for quite awhile recovering from the trauma suffered from scoring only 2 goals in the World Cup. Well...things jus get a little better since my high profile transfer to Shears Bridge......though i still did not score more than 2 goals at least I'm enjoying 4m pounds a year of wages and driving my ferrari in the city capital.... come on, who needs a salary cap here manz!

Back to business......i'm here to promote my new predictor game, K.C.L.P with the support of my 2 foreign soccer buddies, Kenneth Perez and Christian Vieri. There are as many as 125 games to predict till the Final held in Olympic Stadium, Athens on 23 MAy 2007. The eventual winner of this game may jus be in for a big surprise!

Reds Run Over

Ouch ouch ouch.

Fairplay to Everton. From the looks of the scoreline, they played my beloved Reds off the park.

I (mercifully) didn't manage to catch the game, but I did watch a bit of the match highlights. In all fairness, so many things went wrong, we deserved to get smacked for 3.

Reina.

Just heard from Kheva that he will be benched in favour of Dudek after his comical performance in the derby. The juggling act on the line on Everton's second goal was something I've not seen a top-flight keeper do. Ever. I'll go on record to say that I never was that sold on Reina. Sure, he set (or equaled, I forget) the record for most consecutive clean sheets last season. But he was playing behind one of the safest backlines in football. Now with Hyypia one year older and Carra one ankle down, he's starting to show his flaws. I've always found him rather jittery. Dudek isn't that much better, what with his Istanbul heroics and all. It was a series of howlers which got him benched to begin with! Calamity James? His moniker says it all. One Reds keeper whom I genuinely liked and provided the safe feeling keepers are supposed to provide was good old Kirkland. Too bad poor Kirky has the body and constitution of a crystal wine glass. His talent is undeniable. Hopefully his body holds up. We can still take him back from his loan spell to Wigan. RAFA! Are you listening?

Tactics.

Fowler up front. Carragher back in the cauldron. Every soccer pundit fancies himself as the master tactician, but I don't think any of us would have gone with a half-fit Carra at the back, with an utterly rampant Andy Johnson scoring goals for fun. Fowler up front is another noodle-scratcher. Does Rafa honestly think that he has to rest players on international duty? Kuyt would have still been fresh and full of running. It's the FIRST MONTH OF THE SEASON for crying out loud. It's not as if these fella have run 5 marathons in a row. I also heard that Senor Benitez didn't exactly cover himself in glory with his post-match excuses of international duty taking it's toll on the players. Rafa, I love you, but give credit where credit is due.

History.

First time Everton has knocked 3 goals past Liverpool in 40 years.

40 years.

40 years ago, I was minus 11 years old.

Euro Qualifiers Kick Off

Fresh off the beat, our Euro reporter Chris sent in this Telex on the recently kicked-off Euro2008 qualifiers that just started. Chris, I know you're sending this from the frozen tundra of Belarus, but you better not bring any of that frozen reindeer meat back to the office this time.

=======================================================
Report by Christian "I Bleed For My Peeps"

Just about 2 months ago Italy took the WC and last night France got their revenge with 3-1 win against the world most famous kelong team Italy.

So another kelong session last night?

Goals from Sidney Govou (2) and Thierry Henry sealed the match for Les Bleus with Alberto Gillardino getting a concsolation. Other scores for the night, Germans walked over San Marino with 13-0 win and Holland defeat Belarus with Van Persie getting 2 goals in 3-0 win.

But England only managed a 1-0 win against Macedonia with a goal from Robo Crouch. At least its better than nothing. UCL next week!!!