Oldham 2-0 Swindon

Chris Taylor’s early strike set Oldham Athletic off to a flying start as they ended their run of four matches without a win against a lacklustre Swindon Town. A dangerous cross by Morais was headed away only as far as Taylor who, with far too much space, curled the ball into the right hand corner from just inside the box.

Paul Dickov was full of praise for the forward, "Chris' all round game today was fantastic. He was threatening when he had the ball and we all know he's got quality when he gets the chance."

Dale Stephens sealed victory for the home side with a late penalty, after a frustrated Charlie Austin was judged to have handled in the box. Stephens confidently smashed home a penalty as Oldham laid their recent demons to rest.

Swindon striker and top scorer, Charlie Austin had a frustrating game and Dickov praised his centre-backs for their performance.

"Both centre-backs were excellent. Charlie Austin is one of the best strikers in this division and I thought both of them were fantastic, as all of my team were."

"I’m delighted with all the boys. Too many times we've talked about individual errors but there was none from any of my players today."

With the inclusion of new arrival goalkeeper Ben Amos, on loan from Manchester United goalkeeper, Dickov has a strong set of players fighting for positions.

"Ben is a great 'keeper, it's going to be a competitive spot for the goalkeeper now. Ben gives us, as a back four, the chance to do well this year", said Oldham full-back Paul Black.

Black reclaimed his place in the squad after being left out on Monday against Rochdale.

"In most positions there's a competition and there's a great togetherness. Even after two defeats no one's head went down."

"I was disappointed to be left out; hopefully I can stay in the team now and get a few more results, starting on Tuesday in a tough match against Southampton."

In what was an evenly contested match the Swindon manager, Danny Wilson, felt his team were unlucky to leave without a point but conceded that they were the makers of their own misfortune.

"All of our great performances have been followed up by an average one and that was exactly the same again today."

Swindon had the chance to equalize in the 85^th minute when Michael Rose’s 25-yard free kick rattled off the post. Sometimes when things aren’t going your way you don’t get a break and this was the case for Swindon today.

"Playing two back to back games seems to be our problem at the moment. We don’t get out of the blocks; we’re slow in our passing, our tempo, our accuracy. "

The win takes Oldham takes up to 9^th in the League although Black insists that there is no talk of promotion in the dressing room just yet.

"We're just taking each game as it comes and we want to win every match. We bounced back today and hopefully we can go on a bit of a run again now."

Teams:

Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): B. Amos, R. Hazell, D. Furman, C. Taylor, K. Lee, D. Stephens, P. Black, F. Morais (R. Brooke 90), C. Evina (K. Millar 76), O. Tounkara, N. Trotman.

Substitutes not used: R. Jones, J. Jarrett, W. Feeney, D. Brill, A. Holdsworth.

Booked: Lee, Furman.

Goals: Taylor 4, Stephens (pen) 88.

Swindon Town (4-5-1): P. Smith, M. Rose, A. Frampton (Cuthbert 63), P. Caddis, S. Ferry, D. Prutton, M. Timlin (J. Douglas 57), S. Morrison, A. O’Brien (D. Ball 57), M. Ritchie, C. Austin.

Substitutes not used: J-P. McGovern,V. Pericard,T. Dossevi, M. Scott.

Booked: Austin, Douglas.
 

Referee: D. Drysdale.
 

Attendance: 3, 573

Oldham 1-2 Rochdale: Match Report

Chris O’Grady’s brace against his old club was enough to claim victory for Rochdale in an entertaining local derby. Despite the Latics looking like the hungrier of the two teams, the 'Dale defence was solid and the visitors kept the home side at bay until they went down to ten men.

Oldham captain Reuben Hazell was at fault for both of the goals after fouling Craig Dawson in the box and conceding a penalty. ‘Dale top scorer Gary Jones stepped up to take the spot kick and hit the post but was thankful when Chris O’Grady hit home the rebound. Ten minutes later Hazell played an awful back-pass which O’Grady pounced on and doubled their lead.

The game looked to be out of Oldham’s reach until Scott Wiseman found himself seeing red for a seemingly innocuous foul on Cedric Evina. Furman volleyed one back from 15 yards but the home side were unable to find the equaliser in the dying minutes despite piling immense pressure on their rivals.

The referee had an astonishingly bad game and unfortunately most of the media attention has been focused on his performance rather than the exciting encounter between the sides. Paul Dickov was left frustrated by the decisions he made and ‘Dale manager, Keith Hill, agreed it was “a little bit of a farce”. The red card was so baffling that the Oldham fans began chanting choruses of “You don’t know what you’re doing” towards the man in black with Paul Dickov focusing on this point afterwards and agreeing that the referee had a poor game.

Oldham, as well as the defeat, now have to wait on the medical news concerning centre-back Jean-Yves Mvoto after he was stretchered off. The manager is hoping it won’t be too serious but admits that the player has taken a “bad whack” to his ankle. 

Dickov said “I’m disappointed, but delighted with the boys. I feel we were the better team today from start to finish.”

“Full of character we are, if we keep playing like that we’ll go up this league”, he added.

It was a tight encounter and one Rochdale were lucky to leave with all three points rather than just the one as Oldham pressed very hard for an equaliser after reducing the goal deficit by half after Wiseman’s dismissal.

“It was a bit nervy at the end. I thought we were really good defensively”, said Dale manager, Keith Hill. The manager praised the team’s resoluteness and is pleased with the fact that ‘Dale have notched up 6 points from their two games of the new year.

Rochdale move up to 16^th in the league just one point behind Oldham who sit in 12^th.

Teams:

Oldham: Brill, Mvoto (Trotman 20), Hazell, Furman, Taylor (Millar 83), Lee, Stephens, Morais, Evina, Tounkara, White (Brook 78). Subs not used: Fleming, Black, Kelly, Feeney.

Goals: Furman 87

Rochdale: Lillis, Wisemen, Widdowson, Holness, Dawson, Kennedy, Barry-Murphy (Done 61), Jones, Thompson (Adams 55), Grant (Akpa Akpro 83), O’Grady. Subs not used:  Edwards, T Kennedy, Thompson, Elding.

Goals: O' Grady 64, 76

Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea

A fast paced encounter with a largely unexpected, but deserved, outcome saw Wenger's side overcome, at least some of, their demons. Robin Van Persie was given the task of attacking Chelsea with Arshavin and Chamakh starting on the bench at the Emirates. With Frank Lampard, John Terry, Essien and Drogba all starting it was looking to be an uphill battle from the get go.

Chelsea were cynical to say the least and John Terry may well have been yellow carded first after wrestling with Robin van Persie on the halfway line. Van Persie failed to connect with a Walcott cross in a superb position, it seems Ivanovic done just enough to put the dutchman off.

 After numerous attempts including a well worked free kick by Nasri which Cech done well to hold onto, Arsenal did the unthinkable and took the lead through an unlikely source, Alex Song. The ball was knocked past the Chelsea defence by Wilshere into the feet of Cesc Fabregas who was taken down in the box and amongst the penalty shouts Song, without hesitation, smashed the ball past Petr Cech to put The Gunners ahead.

The Chelsea defence were as nervy as they've ever been, coupled with the fact that Arsenal are playing, and more importantly defending, as a unit and was not surprising that Arsenal were leading at half time.
 

 

Chelsea's luck did not change after the break, despite taking off Mikel for a more creative central player in Ramires, and they found themsleves 2-0 down. Robin Van Persie's good work in holding the ball up against John Terry paid off, with a bit of luck involved too; Essien chipped in to help his skipper out and inadertedly poked the ball behind the back four into space where it was met by Walcott who slid the ball to Fabregas to finish in front of an open goal.

Little than two minutes later Arsenal added to their lead. Some good work from Theo Walcott, nicking the ball from a doddling Malouda in his own half. Walcott finished, leaving Cech helpless and frustrated with his back four. Suddenly Chelsea were seeing stars and found themselves 3-0 down at the Emirates.

Chelsea made another change, this time Kakuta on for Malouda. Just as Arsenal were getting used to a three goal cushion Chelsea narrowed it down to a two goal lead. Branislav Ivanovic headed home a Didier Drogba cross. A sloppy goal for Arsenal to concede and small questions about the 'keeper's decision making as it looked like Fabianski considered coming to claim the ball and stopped halfway leaving himself off his line and at a disadvantage.


Arsenal made their first substitution of the evening just after 70 minutes taking off the inspired Theo Walcott and replacing him with Abou Diaby as well as Chamack getting a run out for Robin van Persie who had his first really good game since the start of the season. Van Persie flourished as a forward creative player, made possible by the hard work of his wingers and willingness of Fabregas and Wilshere to get forward.

Chelsea had a goal not given for offside; a free kick which resulted in a scramble in the box which saw a blocked shot from Drogba then a rebounded goal for Kalou which hit the post and bounced in off Fabianski's back but the linesman saved his blushes as the clocked ticked 90.

The game finished 3-1 leaving Chelsea with 3 points from a possible 18. Arsenal move up to second place but today was a victory for the Gunners' mentality, tonight's win was more than just three points for Arsenal.

Teams:
Arsenal: Fabianski, Djourou, Koscielny, Sagna, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Walcott, Nasri, Van Persie. Subs: Szczesny, Chamakh, Bendtner, Diaby, Rosicky, Squillaci, Diaby.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Ferreira, Cole, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Malouda, Kalou, Drogba. Subs: Turnbull, Kakuta, Ramires, Van Aanholt, McEachran, Bosingwa, Bruma.

Man of the Match: Theo Walcott

Real Madrid 1-0 Sevilla

Real Madrid put on a fascinating performance last night at the Bernabéu when they beat Sevilla by one goal to nil. A game which saw a sending off from each side highlighted the desperation felt by the Spanish giants in their quest to end a three-year trophy drought.

Di Maria found the back of the net in the second half when the Seville defence were all at sea in a moment of confusion. Outdone by an over hit pass that was picked up by the Argentine, Sevilla ‘keeper Palop was forced off his line only to allow Di Maria’s shot in between himself and his near post. 

The only goal of the game came in the 77^th minute following several chances for both sides. Although the match remained open throughout it was largely dominated by the home side who failed to penetrate with their final ball. However, one of the first clear-cut chances fell to Sevilla when Negredo was through facing a one on one with Iker Casillas only to lose his composure and blast his shot over the bar.

The signs were looking good for the visitors when, shortly after, Ricardo Carvalho saw red for a second yellow card for leading with his elbow in an aerial challenge with Negredo.

The final five minutes descended into chaos; carrying on the ill-feeling that was apparent at half time when words, and fists, were exchanged between opposing club officials. Di Maria was guilty of exaggerating a facial injury in the 85th minute which lead to a mass brawl as the players were outraged at his juvenile attempt to get opponents sent off. However, it worked a few minutes later when Mohamadou Dabo followed through with a challenge on Di Maria, catching him in the thigh.

Overall, the feeling of desperation on the pitch and in the stadium was evident as the minutes counted until Real scored. Ronaldo’s free kicks were poor and he was shooting from ridiculous distances, even by his standards. The failure to successfully break through the Sevilla defence highlighted the fact that most of these players are yet to really gel as a team and as a unit. Already influenced by Mourinho’s arrogance, nine players received bookings in the match and none seemed particularly apologetic afterwards.

A distinct lack of respect whether brought on by their situation or their manager, or maybe both; it was despicable nonetheless. I paid particular attention to the performance of Karim Benzema who looked lazy and disinterested. Caught offside on several occasions, the Frenchman was not only guilty of missing chances but also of giving the ball away in the final third. His runs were unimaginative and his touch poor which was surprising since I thought he had quite a good game for France against England which might have helped turn his fortunes around. With Higuaín set to be out for another six weeks or so, there is no wonder than Mourinho is concerned about his striking options.

Madrid now sit two points behind Guardiola's Barcelona. This is probably the most difficult task The Special One has taken on although the chances of winning the league are 50/50 they are up against a Barça side that have a goal difference of +42 after 16 league games. That’s an average winning margin of 2.6 goals per game. Bona sort, Jose.

Starting line-ups:
Real Madrid (4-2-3-1): Casillas, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Pepe, Ramos, Diarra, Khedira, Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo, Benzema.
Sevilla (4-4-2): Palop, Navarro, Escude, Caceres, Dabo, Capel, Zokora, Romaric, Konko, Negredo, Fabiano.

Stockport County 3-3 Crewe Alexandra

Tansy 24                        Donaldson 45+1

Poole 74                        Donaldson 47

Tansy (pen) 72             Shelley 64

 
Stockport County’s Man of the Match Greg Tansy has now bagged four goals in five games after his brace against Crewe Alexandra.

Greg Tansy

“It’s frustrating because we thought we dominated the first half and our lapses of concentration either side of half time have cost us,” said the midfielder.

“We’re disappointed; it feels like two points dropped to be honest. Their goals were poor goals on our part. We’re disappointed but on the other hand we’re happy that we’ve shown the mental strength to get the point.”

Tansy popped up with Stockport’s first goal, as well as putting away a penalty to level the score at 3-3 after Shelley’s 35-yard free kick put the visitors ahead once again.

Stockport took the lead after a lively start which saw The Hatter’s control much of the game and exploit the Crewe defence. Adam Griffin was in for the suspended Robbie Williams and the full-back made use of all the width of the pitch in attacks down the flanks.

A nervy match saw Crewe take the lead twice after coming back from a goal down by scoring at either side of the break. Clayton Donaldson proved tough work for County’s centre-back pairing of loan-signing, Tom Aldred and Mansour Assoumani.

Assoumani also found himself troubling his defensive counterparts as he was drafted in to loiter upfront and use his towering height and strength to gain possession in dangerous areas. It was his control and flicked pass to Wes Fletcher which lead to Stockport’s first goal midway through the first half.

Crewe’s defence left a lot to be desired as clear weaknesses were apparent at all set pieces. Stockport’s second game stemmed from a scramble in the box in which David Poole got the last touch when he headed the ball up into the roof of the net to bring the scores level at 2-2.

A 35-yard free kick from Shelley saw the visitors lead 2-3 before a penalty converted by Tansy levelled it up once and for all.

Shelley celebrates

“A great game for the neutral, but we’re still in trouble and we have to show character. We have to build on it now and make sure that this is as low in the league as we go,” remarked Paul Simpson.

The Stockport manager also reiterated the need to sign some new players in the January transfer window. “We’re still in trouble and we have to show character. We have to build on it now and make sure that this is as low in the league as we go.”

“We need to improve the squad. We need to get some fresh faces in there to give everyone a lift.”

More so than the need for fresh faces there is the impending issue of several key players’ loan deals potentially coming to an end in January including top scorer, George Donnelly.

Crewe manager Dario Gradi was scathing of his team afterwards: “We don't do well enough with the chances we get.”

Simpson

"We know before the game that we are going to create chances and perhaps concede goals too.”

Stockport: Glennon, Griffin, Assoumani, Aldred, Halls, Turnbull, Poole, Tansey, Simpson, Fletcher (Salem 75), Donnelly. Subs: Vincent, Conlon, Pulis, Pilkington, Rose, Ormson, Salem.

Crewe:  Taylor, Tootle, Blanchett, Westwood, Artell, Murphy, Moore, Shelley, Dugdale (Ada 57), Miller, Donaldson. Subs: Fogler, Ada, Grant, Mellor, Davis, Powell.

Premier League Round Up

Arsenal Hit The Top

Arsenal are top of the league after their win against Fulham at the Emirates. United sit just one point below The Gunners’ with a game in hand after their game against Blackpool was called off due to the bad weather. Despite the win, Arsenal fans remain frustrated at the inability to keep a clean sheet. It has been almost a month since Arsenal kept the opposition off the score sheet in the league when the beat Wolves at Molineux. With Thomas Vermaelen out until January at least the Gunners' will have to continue with operation we'll-score-more-than-you. However, usually the league winners consist of the team who have had the best defence throughout a season which might worry fans slightly. Next up for Arsenal is Manchester United at Old Trafford and although Samir Nasri has been outstanding there is talk of Cesc Fabregas returning to fitness in time for the match which would give Wenger's side a huge boost.

Hughton Down and Out

He's even got Newcastle hair

Newcastle United sack Chris Hughton and appoint Alan Pardew. I know what you're thinking. Me too. What on earth is going on? This is a difficult subject to comment on since it's not a decision that  can be made sense of in footballing terms. Pardew, having last been sacked by League One side Southampton must have jumped at the chance to manage a Premier League club. So, why did Hughton get the boot? “Lack of Premier League experience”, claims Newcastle owner Mike Ashley. I would like to know how much Premier League experience you need to take a newly promoted team to 19 points before Christmas including wins over rivals Sunderland, a 6-0 win over Aston Villa and a victory at the Emirates. It seems that, inexplicably, Ashley has been looking for an excuse to sack Hughton for some time now. How are new managers supposed to gain relevant experience these days if not given the chance? Alan Pardew’s reign at West Ham United ended in sacking and saw West Ham through their worst run in 70 years, not all-in-all great experience one might think.

Dutch Courage for Liverpool

Liverpool completed the weekend’s fixtures on Monday night when they made easy work of an under-strength Villa side at Anfield. Ryan Babel started the match in a central forward role and the young Dutchman finally looked as if he may live up to all the hype after all – something which never looked likely under Rafa Benitez. The forward was lively and showed exceptional skill when he controlled the ball with a deft touch of the shoulder while on the turn and then smashed it across Brad Friedel into the net in what was Liverpool’s second of the evening. The importance of Dirk Kuyt was again reiterated; the first goal coming from a corner which Kuyt won after chasing down a nothing ball and forcing the Villa defence to concede a corner which lead to the opening goal for The Reds. As Liverpool get back to full strength hopefully a better reflection of Roy Hodgson as a manager will begin to shine through.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid

Jose Mourinho was humbled last night on his return to the Camp Nou with his Galacticos. Having made the fatal error of setting out to play football against his new arch rivals he could only watched as his team were outplayed and then slumped to violence against the Catalans. Real disgraced themselves when Cristiano Ronaldo shoved Guardiola on the touchline and then again later when Sergio Ramos pushed his Spain team mate in the face and received a red card for his troubles, both incidents striking up mass brawls between the two sides.

Before the report is lost on looking towards the bigger picture we must not forget that the nature of Barcelona's overall play, and especially the first goal, which was nothing short of breathtaking. Xavi and Iniesta teamed up for it, igniting more claims that they deserved to share the Ballon d’Or such is the exceptional standard of their telepathic understanding between one another. Iniesta saw space in the box where Xavi was loitering and played in a sweeping ball, his colleague controlled the ball with his back heel, flicked it over his head and, with the utmost composure, dinked the ball over an onrushing Iker Casillas. It really is worth another watch and you can see it here. Guapa!

Mourinho teams simply do not receive defeats like this and the manager knew he had made a mistake. Many prophesied Lassana Diarra to start and for Real to play much like Inter did against Barcelona in the Champions League; allowing Barça to play football, keep their shape and defend against them until the time comes to pounce. Yet, it was Mesut Özil who started high up the pitch leaving Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira, great passers although not great tacklers, to be overrun by Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.

Karim Benzema was largely ineffective and whenever he was given a chance to make good of his start he wasted it. This dressing down saw Real drift back to their worst, similar to the Real we saw at the start of the season. Cristiano Ronaldo resorted to desperately hitting shots from distance which never troubled Valdes and the team on the whole began to kick lumps out of the Barça players. The pressure and embarrassment was leading the team from the capital into self destruction which culminated in a red card for Sergio Ramos.

Pedro Rodriguez has firmly established himself within the Barcelona starting eleven and scored the all important second goal for the home side. His movement along with David Villa was outstanding throughout and the two are seamless in their position switching. Pedro has wholly justified Guardiola's faith in calling him up from the Barcelona B team and the five year deal he signed last year. He also remains the only player to score in six different club competitions in one season; La Liga, Copa Del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, Champions League, Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

It could have been more and although they will not like to face such realities, Real should considering themselves lucky that it was only five. The moral of the story is that a team of home grown players (and David Villa) comprehensively beat a team worth $300m + and Jose Mourinho. Not many teams can claim that scalp and Mourinho has never been beaten 5-0 before and, now widely named the 'Anti-Mourinho', Guardiola done the, frankly, unthinkable.

We must not forget the darker side of the good vs evil story; the violence that Real showed on the pitch mimics the violence shown to them the previous evening when arriving at their hotel. Upon arrival the team were stoned with various objects and forced to duck and dive into the hotel lobbing to avoid the aggression, one of the backroom staff were injured in the incident.

Jose Mourinho has stated that there are still many games to play and that this will not affect the title race in the long run but with his team receiving such brutal mental and physical punishment in Barcelona, how quickly will they recover? There are some very precious egos in the side that may have severe bruising today.