Football randomness

Carling Cup:

Liverpool did it again! They went into Stamford Bridge, scored two goals and came away with a deserved win. This time they knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup! In doing so they also added loads more pressure on to Andre Villa-Boas shoulders. Goals by Maxi Rodriguez and future Liverpool captain Martin Kelly were enough to see Liverpool on to the semi-finals.

BTW ... Maxi is excellent in King Kenny's system. His movement is very good, he is technically very good and overall he is just a quality footballer. He doesn’t blow you away with power or pace but he is smart enough to always be in the right place at the right time. Maxi Rodriguez is like the old Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Chris Carter. All Chris Carter did was "Score Touchdowns"... Well at Stamford Bridge all Maxi does is Score Goals! 

The one big pain in the ass about this game is that Liverpool/Brazilian midfielder Lucas was carried off on a stretcher after suffering a knee injury. Rumors are already flying that he might be out 6 months. The little man in the middle has been exactly what King Kenny needed out of a holding midfielder. He will be missed. Look for the local lad, the “Wee Man” Jay Spearing to step in and fill in for Lucas

Manchester United were beaten ... AT HOME ... To CHRYSTAL PALACE... Who are currently residing in the bottom half of the Championship table! YIKES. To be fair to United, they played 0 stars and 0 starters. Berbatov, Valencia and Smalling did feature but those three were not enough. United were outworked and outplayed by Palace.

Manchester City beat Arsenal 1 - 0 on a late Sergio Aguero winner. This game displayed Manchester City depth versus Arsenal's youth. City's "B team" includes Samir Nasri (booed loudly throughout the game), Edin Dzeko and Adam Johnson. Arsenal phenom Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain consistently gave City problems down the right wing. Keep your eye out for him. 

Championship side Cardiff defeated Blackburn 2 - 0. Blackburn are seriously awful this year. So much so, that the supporters club is routinely demonstrating for the removal of manager Steve Kean. He will be gone soon

The draw for the semi-finals took place immediately following the United v Palace contest. The results were as follows

Semi Final 1:

Manchester City will play the first leg at home in the Eastlands, before visiting Anfield for the second leg.

Semi Final 2:

Crystal Palace will welcome Cardiff to Selhurst Park before traveling to the Welsh capital.

This draw ensures that this will be the first time that a Championship club comes up against Premier League opposition since 2001 when Liverpool defeated Birmingham in the Final.

Premier League:

This past weekend in the Premier league showcased so excellent games that for whatever reason ended in draws.

Liverpool hosted League leaders Manchester City at Anfield. This game ended in a 1 - 1 draw. However, Liverpool felt they deserved the win. City keeper Joe Hart was amazing! Hart made several key saves including a diving one-handed save from a close range Andy Carroll header. After the first 20 minutes Liverpool outplayed City but had to settle for another draw at home. Rats

Manchester United hosted feisty Newcastle. This game also ended in a 1 - 1 draw. But the score line does not do this fixture justice. United’s only goal has given to them in crazy fashion. Javier Hernandez had a ball kicked off his chest by a defender and the ball fell lazily into the net. Classic United.

But as soon as the 70,000 United supporters felt luck coming to the rescue they had their hearts ripped out by far linesman John Flynn. For some crazy reason Flynn called a penalty on Rio Ferdinand who clearly got all ball when he tackled Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa inside the box. It was NOT a penalty. But the officials gave it and Demba Ba coolly slid it into the net.

From then on it was an all out assault on Newcastle’s net. Newcastle even went down to ten men in the 79th minute. As many times as I have seen this scenario play out in Old Trafford I would have put my next 5 paychecks on United to score and win. But they didn't!

Tim Krull was sensational in the net for Newcastle. He was brilliant. If he is not the Dutch keeper in this summer’s Euro Cup I will demand that Paul Dischert denounce his favorite color.... ORANGE.

Arsenal hosted Fulham in another 1 - 1 draw. Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen was the only man on the scoresheet as he put one in both nets. This game highlighted something that is becoming increasingly clear watching Arsenal play this season. They are relying too heavily on superstar Robin van Persie. So far the Dutchman has been up to the challenge but I wonder if we are about to see Van Persie head to the training room soon.

Follow me on this...

Over the last 7 seasons Robin Van Persie has averaged 16 games a season. Each team in the EPL plays 38 league games. RVP has played more than 20 games only once in a season since he joined Arsenal. Van Persie is already at 12 games. He is carrying Arsenal right now with 13 league goals and 3 more in the UCL.

If Wegner doesn’t get Van Persie some help in the January transfer window, we will see the lanky dutchy make his annual trip to the trainers table and the Gunners will fall as fast they have risen these past few weeks. 

RVP rarely stays healthy for a whole season. He is going down soon. Remember this post. … Sorry Ryan

Champions League:

The best English side in this competition... Arsenal! Robin Van Persie bagged a brace last week in their game against Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal is through to the next round and Dortmund unfortunately are done and dusted in this competition.

Chelsea lost to Bayern Leverkusen 2 - 1 and currently sit in second place in their group. Chelsea must win their last group game at home to Valencia if they want to make it to the knockout rounds. Keep an eye out for Valencia striker Roberto Soldado in that fixture. His name is being mentioned all over the blogoshpere as a January transfer target for several English clubs. A strong showing against Chelsea could see him cash in on a big money move to the Premier League

Manchester United drew at home to Benfica 2 - 2 last Tuesday. They need a win on the road against Swiss side FC Basel on December 7th in order to ensure progression to the knockout stages. When these two sides met each other back in September, Basel stunned Old Trafford with a gutsy 3 - 3 draw.

After watching United in Europe for a few years now and watching Champions league draws for just as many years, I will go ahead and make a silly little prediction:

United will defeat Basel on a Basel OG about 7 minutes into stoppage time. They will then be rewarded with a knockout draw of Trabzonspor, Ajax, Marseille or Apoel Nicosia. Uefa will spare them a fixture against Barca, Madrid, Inter or Munich. Wait and see...

Bundesliga:

Things weren’t all bad for Borussia Dortmund last week. They defeated Schalke 04 to claim a share of the Bundesliga lead with... Borussia Monchengladbach!! I was fortunate enough to watch M'gladbach crush Cologne last week 3 - 0. That was a fun game

Dortmund and G'ladbach both leapfrogged FC Bayern as the Bavarian kings fell on the road to Mainz 3 - 2. Of course all of this chatter leads to the top game in all of Europe this weekend: Borussia Monchengladbach play host to Borussia Dortmund at the "Stadion im Borussia-Park". This is going to be fantastic stuff. GolTV is showing this one live.

Have a great weekend and just for fun... check out the Liverpool v Chelsea highlights:

YNWA