May Football

The new part of the blog continues as I rank the football matches I watched in April from least favourite to favourite. Based on nothing more than my opinion and enjoyment from watching each match.

Nashville 0-0 Inter Miami, Major League Soccer, terrible game where both teams looked best when the other side had the ball. 

Hertha Berlin 0-0 FC Koln, Bundesliga, would have been more exciting if neither side had turned up.

Brentford 2-0 Swansea City, Championship Playoff Final, Brentford went ahead early and closed up the match, Swansea didn't turn up.

Chelsea 2-1 Leicester City, English Premier League, very poor stuff with Leicester looking to play on the break against a boring Chelsea side. Chelsea have ruined Timo Werner, a dull match until some potential handbags late in the game.  

Kilmarnock 1-2 Dundee FC, Scottish Playoffs, a professional Dundee killed the game early and sapped Killies soul.

AC Milan 0-0 Cagliari, Serie A, Milan did not have their shooting boots on and it ended as a damp squib.

Villarreal 1-1 Manchester Utd, Europa League Final, Villareal could barely get through Manchesters midfield and Utd just had wave after wave of insipid attacks. It went to penalties, I didn't last that far. 

Tottenham Hotspurs 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers, English Premier League, Wolves tried to kill the game and very nearly did.

Sheffield Utd 0-2 Crystal Palace, English Premier League, awful game with deflected goals at either end of the match. 

Elche 0-1 Atletico Madrid, La Liga, very poor with Atletico reverting to type.

Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea, Champions League Final, Chelsea with a very good defensive display by Chelsea did Man City on the break as is there trademark and Manchester City just walked into it. 

Chelsea 2-0 Real Madrid, Champions League, a very ordinary Madrid got done on the break by Chelsea.

Manchester City 2-0 Paris St-Germain, Champions League, City overpowered PSG who threw their toys out of the pram and petulantly exploded.

Dundee FC 2-1 Kilmarnock, Scottish Playoffs, a delightful slugfest.

Barnsley 0-1 Swansea City, Championship Playoffs, the first leg of the Championship playoff with the home team dictating the play they did nothing but clog first half and went a goal down. The game got better as it went on. 

Rennes 1-1 Paris St-Germain, Ligue 1, Rennes outfought PSG who as they did so often this month combusted.

Southampton 3-1 Fulham, English Premier League, Fulham reverting to their start of season form and Southampton punishing them for it. 

Arsenal 3-1 West Bromich Albion, English Premier League, Sam Allardyce got relegated - Huzzah!  

Fiorentina 0-2 Napoli, Serie A, didn't get going until the second half and Fiorentina lost it with the red card. 

Levante 2-2 Cadiz, La Liga, good stuff from both teams - more exciting result than match.

Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City, FA Cup, a classic cup final goal by Tielemans and late VAR review proved the memorable moments for this final.

Roma 2-0 Lazio, Serie A, Lazio played the better in this derby but Roma were clinical.

Manchester Utd 1-1 Fulham, English Premier League, unexpectedly even fun game.

Melbourne City 3-2 Brisbane Roar, A League, an absolute insane game which might be the most one sided 3-2 I've ever seen. Due to it being on early and my wits not waking up I thought Melbourne were 4-0 up at one stage. 

FC Twente 1-1 Heracles, Eredivisie, good attacking game that Twente will be wondering how they didn't win.

Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal, English Premier League, good little game but after a very early game Newcastle should have come out with at least a few guns blazing.

Sasssulo 1-3 Juventus, Serie A, Weird game as Juve decided to play on the break and left Phil Collins boys in tears.

Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester City, English Premier League, strange game that had the end of an era feel as Sergio Aguero looked to do some big acting ala Gan in Blakes 7 as he was about to be written out.

Burnley 1-2 West Ham Utd, English Premier League, really good first half and a good lively game for a Monday night.

Angers 1-2 Lille, Ligue 1, a battling on the break away win clinched Lille the title. On another day Angers could have played exactly the same match and won.

Manchester Utd 1-2 Leicester City, English Premier League, Leicesters first team had a tough match against Man Utds reserves. 

Tottenham Hotspurs 1-2 Aston Villa, English Premier League, a fun banter as Spurs imploded.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Brighton and Hove Albion, English Premier League, a feisty game that was all about red and yellow cards. Brighton went ahead and then got a man sent off, cue wave after wave of Wolverhampton attacks who took the win with two late goals. 

Napoli 5-1 Udinese, Serie A, Napoli not only dominated but kept Udinese in their pocket with a cracking defensive display that was better than the attacking.

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Mainz, Bundesliga, a game which Frankfurt dominated and cheeky Mainz escaped from with a draw.

Juventus 0-3 AC Milan, Serie A, Juventus did not have their shooting boots on and AC Milan made harder work of it than the scoreline suggested.

Burnley 0-3 Liverpool, English Premier League, so this is what its like to have an easy life...

Tottenham Hotspurs 4-0 Sheffield Utd, English Premier League, a fun gubbing and Spurs could have got more.

Liverpool 2-0 Southampton, English Premier League, good free flowing game.

Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace, English Premier League, after a few early scares Liverpool eventually slotted in two of their many chances in a one sided game and clinched a CL spot.

Sampdoria 3-0 Parma, Serie A, good free flowing game and Parma were unlucky which shows how thin the margins can be.

Burnley 0-4 Leeds Utd, English Premier League, even game despite the score line with Leeds getting a flurry of goals close together..

Ajax 3-1 VVV Venlo, Eredivisie, all attacking game in which Ajax got a player sent off then still scored two more goals.

ADO Den Haag 3-2 Feyenoord, Eredivisie, a fun bonkers Dutch league game and an insane end that saw five yellow cards.

Leicester City 2-4 Newcastle Utd, English Premier League, Leicester needed to keep it cool to make top four and Newcastle had their number and went for it. Utter utter fun.

Everton 1-2 Aston Villa, English Premier League, a game that looked beige in the opening minutes that was livened up by Ollie Watkins proper pouncing on Holgate.

Genoa 3-4 Atalanta, Serie A, Genoa turned it into an exciting finish after Atalanta went 3-0 up in the second half.

Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester Utd, English Premier League, good attacking game where two quick goals for Man Utd settled it.

Feyenoord 0-3 Ajax, Eredivisie, a game that had red cards, missed penalties, own goals and loads of attacking.

Atalanta 1-2 Juventus, Coppa Italia, good attacking final with goals, incidents and cards. 

Torino 0-7 AC Milan, Serie A, Milan rediscovered their shooting boots and didn't leave Torino with a pulse.

Leeds Utd 3-1 Tottenham Hotspurs, English Premier League, Spurs tried an all attacking midfield and Leeds outplayed and outfought them.

Brentford 3-1 Bournemouth, Championship Playoffs, one of the most eventful first halves of the season as Bournemouth went two nill up of aggregate, gave away a penalty and had a man sent off. Brentford were professional second half and go through to the final. 

Paris St-Germain 2-1 Lens, Ligue 1, good game and Lens could have got something if they hadn't overcomplicated their attacks.

Notts County 3-2 Sutton Utd, National League, exciting game as Notts went ahead three times with the third being in injury time with a man sent off.

Lille 0-0 Saint-Etienne, Ligue 1, Lille looked to potentially clinch the title with a game to go started out dominating but as Sarah Cracknells boys fought them off Lille began to mentally crack. From the dominating would be Kings at the start of the match, this game turned them into gibbering wreaks who could still yet crack and hand the title to PSG.  

Levante 3-3 Barcelona, La Liga, one of those typical bat bleep games you get in Spain as Levante got concussed and for 45 minutes thought they were Real Madrid.

Borussia Dortmund 3-2 RB Leipzig, Bundesliga, an all attacking game with a good comeback from Leipzig and a late winner from Dortmund.

Manchester Utd 2-4 Liverpool, English Premier League, most fun I've had watching football in ages. Both teams were on top at different points and various players who had poor seasons put form behind them to come up with a mighty performances.

Juventus 3-2 Inter Milan, Serie A, the game that overshadowed the FA Cup final. A game that had everything, Juventus went a man down when leading and Inter pulled level. Looking to get the winner in the final ten minutes they conceded a penalty and got a man sent off. A blood and guts match that delivered on the quality.  

West Bromich Albion 1-2 Liverpool, English Premier League, football is about moments. We were 1-1 and a disappointing season was about to peter out, Alisson goes up for a corner five minutes into injury time and heads it into the back of the net creating the best moment of the season.

Euro 2020 - England Sqaud

Thoughts on the keepers: won't lie the keeper choices make you realise how poor the standard in the EPL is right now. Dean Henderson could proper grab that starting spot if he has his game face on.

Thoughts on defence: theres a real sense of England catching up with the rest of the world with the only throw back being Harry Maguire whose in there on the strength of being a supposed hard case. The rest include some really good footballers and players who are multiskilled and can play in multi positions.

Thoughts on midfield: Jordan Henderson looks the midfield general but there are questions about his fitness. I'm looking forward to seeing what Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips can do. I'm looking forward to Jesse Lingard starting and becoming the new Darren Anderton in starting the season terribly and ending it by running midfield in the national team. Otherwise its full of players I'm looking forward to seeing.

Thoughts on attackers: Looking forward to seeing Sancho, Sterling and Foden running at defences. Harry Kane will no doubt do Harry Kane things as he does but the big questions are what Southgate will do with EPL newcomer Watkins and in form Calvert-Lewin.

The further forward you get in this squad the better it gets.   

Lost - Every Man For Himself

This is the point where I stop harping on about the slow start as at the four episodes mark more is happening and we're moving on from the start of the season. The flashback is perfectly counterpointed with the main action as we see Sawyer in action as a con man in a well constructed plot line featuring Bill Duke of Predator fame. In real time Ben slowly toys with and manipulated Sawyer into thinking he has an implanted pacemaker that will blow up his hart if his blood pressure gets to high.

Theres also other stuff going in, we get repercussions from earlier in the season as Jack is asked to perform surgery on Colleen only to find an x-ray of spinal cancer. At the Losties camp Desmond appears to predict a lightning strike giving another indication that Desmond is seeing the future.

A fun tight episode with lots of things going on an 9/10 from me.

Euro 2020 - Poland Squad

 Lots of familiar names in that Poland squad which is more than Lewandowski and co.

Grzegorz Krychowiak, part of that Sevilla team a few years back but the move to PSG didn't work out. Not just a defensive midfielder, over the last few years he's learnt how to score.

Piotr Zielinski is the closest thing they have to a household name after the boy Lewandowski being an ever present for Napoli.

Matty Klich has had a good season for Leeds in the EPL although I keep forgetting he's 30 and looks like a youngster.

Arkadiusz Milik is someone I want to see perform well, he's the poster boy for "looked good in the Eredivisie but disappointed elsewhere." This seasons loan to Marseille hasn't seen much improvement but he's still young enough to be around for multiple tournaments and has to be seen as the successor to Bob Lewandowski.

April Football 2021

The new part of the blog continues as I rank the football matches I watched in April from least favourite to favourite. Based on nothing more than my opinion and enjoyment from watching each match.

Leeds 1-1 Liverpool, English Premier League, happening at the height of the European Super League nonsense and viewed through a seething angry lens.  

Chelsea 0-1 Porto, Champions League, two of the most cynical teams on the planet playing anti football - a Sam Allardyce wet dream.

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City, FA Cup, Chelsea killed the game and scored on the break.

Paris St-Germain 0-1 Lille, Ligue 1, terrible game with so many fouls.

Leeds Utd 0-0 Manchester Utd, English Premier League, poor game with lots of wayward passing.

Arsenal 0-1 Everton, English Premier League, low quality affair with an own goal winner. 

Napoli 1-1 Inter Milan, Serie A, a game bogged down in midfield with Inter rescuing a point after a daft own goal.

RB Leipzig 0-0 Hoffenheim, Bundesliga, a tight game with Leipzig unable to break through a determined Hoffenheim.

Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool, Champions League, Liverpool played awfully and Madrid were nothing special.

Atalanta 1-0 Juventus, Serie A, a proper one for fans as the teams slogged it out in a tense game that got a late winner via a corner. 

AC Milan 1-1 Sampdoria, Serie A, Sampdoria with a good disruptive away performance and unlucky not to get away with three points.  

Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City, English Premier League, standard Leicester trying to play on the break against a better team. City broke through and were comfortable.

West Ham Utd 0-1 Chelsea, English Premier League, good little attacking game with flowing football albeit with limited chances created. Let down by a late iffy red card but a lot of fun to be had. 

Southampton 1-1 Leicester City, English Premier League, a game disrupted by Saints losing a man but turned into a decent silly buggers game as Saints got a penalty and got away with a one all draw.

Liverpool 2-1 Aston Villa, English Premier League, a frustrating match as Liverpool threw everything at Villa only to go behind. It was a fantastic ending with a deep injury time winner.

Leicester City 2-1 Crystal Palace, English Premier League, lively game with Leicester coming from behind to win.

AC Milan 2-1 Genoa, Serie A, fairly even game with Milan winning with an OG, very unconvincing.

Paris St-Germain 1-2 Manchester City, Champions League, a good semi final and a classy looking accidental equaliser from Kevin De Bruyne.

Arsenal 1-1 Fulham, English Premier League, a good silly buggers game where Arsenal threw everything at Fulham who went ahead with a penalty and Arsenal finally equalising with a late goal.

Liverpool 1-1 Newcastle Utd, English Premier League, another silly buggers game as both teams played like they'd put money on a 4-3 score line. Neither could finish, Liverpool displayed all our season long weaknesses and Newcastle got a late equaliser.

Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham Hotspurs, League Cup, a typical all attack and not many goals City game but we had a crowd who created the highlight of the game with a rendition of "who let the fans out". 

Reading 2-2 Swansea City, Championship, Readings season combusted and Swansea clung on to the final playoff spot.

Crotone 1-2 Udinese, Serie A, fun attacking game with lots of chances.

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Werder Bremen, Bundesliga, Dortmund went behind and then turned on the pressure scoring four goals and looking professional albeit disappointingly sane.

Norwich City 1-3 Bournemouth, Championship, Norwich were promoted before kick off and started like a steam engine, however they stoked the boiler to hot and a player saw red. Bournemouth then proceeded to fill their boots.  

Manchester Utd 3-1, English Premier League, all Man Utd but Burnley managed a quick equaliser and kept it level long enough to be a banter.

Everton 2-2 Tottenham Hotspurs, English Premier League, good fun game with loads of chances. 

Atletico Madrid 5-0 Eibar, La Liga, when did Atletico learn how to play attacking football? I know it was today but what time?

Paris St-Germain 0-1 Bayern Munich, Champions League, a very good second leg with tons of incident Munich had more of the play but PSG moved forward in the competition.

RB Leipzig 0-1 Bayern Munich, Bundesliga, a big feel match settled by one goal in an incident packed game.  

Newcastle 3-2 West Ham Utd, English Premier League, a game of four quarters as the first part of both halfs were dull but Newcastle went ahead and West Ham had a man sent off before half time. The final twenty minutes or so saw a West Ham comeback and Newcastle winner.

Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Bundesliga, end to end stuff and a fun match.

Mainz 05 2-1 Bayern Munich, Bundesliga, really fun game with a nifty goal to get things started and a real sense of the underdog having a lot of fun.

Wolfsburg 2-3 Bayern Munich, Bundesliga, one of the most free flowing games of the season. Bayern threatened to run away with it but the home team made a game of it.

Atalanta 3-2 Udinese, Serie A, very attacking game with Udineses first goal coming at a good moment for trading.

Torino 2-2 Juventus, Serie A, a fantastic derby as both teams went ahead at one point. Juventus had most of the play but Turin played out of their skin for a point.  

Arsenal 0-3 Liverpool, English Premier League, Liverpool dominated and finally clicked when Jota came on - he needs to start.

Bayern Munich 2-3 Paris St-Germain, Champions League, utter barnstormer of a game, it was all Bayern yet Paris got a two goal early lead Bayern came back only for PSG to score again. Bayern continued to batter the PSG goal but to no avail.  

Cagliari 4-3 Parma, Serie A, one of the games of the year! Parma went ahead on the 5th minute and at one point were 3-1 up, Cagliari didn't get level until the 91st minute eventually going ahead on the 94th. Sexy Football!