New look City will beat Liverpool to the promised land

A lucky bounce has put a major dent in Aston Villa's Champions league ambitions and allowed Liverpool back into the race.

The game which had the makings of being a classic as Villa piled on early pressure in the driving snow, but as the contest wore on the teams cancelled each other out and it was apparent that only a mistake would break the deadlock, it certainly was not going to be referee Lee Probert, who refused both teams clear penalties and seemed to be systematically bottling out of contentious decisions.

The mistake finally came when Stephen Warnock played a pass into the path of Carols Cuellar, the Spaniard slipped and allowed Yossi Benayoun to break towards the box from the right wing, Agbonlahor put in a tackle he thought would guarantee the point but instead fell to Fernando Torres' right foot. Game Over.

Liverpool are now in seventh place (an achievement which only highlights how far they have fallen in the past 12 months) only four points behind Spurs who currently occupy 4th place and must visit Anfield when the premier league resumes after this weekends cup distractions.

The next five games will see Liverpool stumbling back into the top four race, after Spur's visit they have four tricky but very winnable games comprising of trips to stoke and wolves before ending January in the sanctuary of the Kop for meeting with Bolton and bitter rivals Everton.

Aston Villa and Tottenham will fall by the wayside, and a newly resolute Manchester City will be Rafa's main opposition to the Job saving Promised Land of fourth place in the league.

But as February rolls on Benitez will face Major tests first visiting the Emirates in a midweek encounter before the beginning of their Europa league assault against Unirea Urziceni sandwiches a vastly more important League meeting with Manchester City at Eastland's.

As Torres tucked his chance away in the 92nd minute my gut reaction was that this is the beginning of the scouse march to the champions league, but they will be desperate to win the FA cup along with the Europa League to salvage a dreadful season, but the fixture pile up will be too much for Rafa's poor squad, only an early exit from either European or domestic cup will allow them beat Mancini's Nouveau riche to Europe's biggest stage.

Dupuy appeals 6 month ban

French scrum-half Julien Dupuy has appealed against his 24 week ban for eye-gouging Ulster’s Stephen Ferris in their Heineken Cup meeting at Ravenhill last week.

The Stade Francais number nine was handed the lengthy suspension on Friday after television pictures showed him twice place his hands in the face and eye area of the Ulster back row in the second half of the feisty encounter which Stade lost 23-13.

In the days following the game Dupuy had refuted claims of foul play telling French media:
"The pictures aren't really in my favor but I really didn't mean to put my fingers in his eyes” adding that “I don't think I'm a dirty player.''
But a statement from the European Rugby Commission (ERC) said that the independent Judicial Officer, Jeff Blackett found that “the offence was at the top end in the level of seriousness”

The existing suspension would see Dupuy out of action until June missing the springs Six Nations competition and France coach Marc Lievremont has encouraged his first choice scrum half to appeal “I hope Julien or his club appeals and that his punishment is adjusted to something more reasonable,”

Lievremont added that without a reduction in his sentence the 26 year old can rule out an inclusion in les Bleus squad for summer tests against the Springboks:
“If he hasn't played for six months, it's totally out of the question that he'll leave for South Africa a week after the end of his suspension. It's obvious: if the sanction is upheld, his season is over”

Max Guazzini, president of Stade Francais has agreed with Lievremont that the suspension was not reasonable, and has suggested the hard line approach was taken only because the player was a high profile French international:
"The ERC wanted to make an example of a symbolic player of Stade Francais and of the French team which has never had a disciplinary problem,”

Dupuy may face an extension to the season ending ban if his appeal is not upheld.

The Premier League at Christmas

Another weekend of twists and turns in the Premier league means that going into Christmas we are no closer to knowing what May will bring. As players in other European leagues are winding down for the festivities premier league teams are picking themselves off the treatment table and ready to brave the frost.

Manchester United fell to another lackluster defeat, this time to a fantastic Fulham side who, in a measure of their evolution under Roy Hodgson, will not be spending this week celebrating their 3-0 victory over the country's most famous team.
Those in the United camp may have been forgiven for hanging their heads and feeling a little sorry for themselves expecting Chelsea to shoot six points clear, but the pensioners put in an equally abject display, But as is the way with the 21st century blues they always seem to find a way back into a game and Frank Lampard showed amazing self confidence to rifle in the equalising penalty at the third attempt. The fact that the referee made him re-take the spot kick twice suggests he knew that Matthew Upsons challenge was fair but instead of imposing his power by overruling his assistant he opted to make it difficult for Lampard, but penalties for the England midfielder hold no fear, his recent miss at the City of Manchester Stadium merely a blip.

West Ham upped their game in a local derby where defeat would have put them bottom of the league on Christmas day, and all the superstition and statistics that comes with it.
As it stands Portsmouth hold the unwanted title, trailing the Hammers by a point, but with Avram Grant at the helm, Portsmouth have looked like a side with renewed purpose, hassling and bullying a beleaguered Liverpool team into submission on Saturday morning showed there is real hope for the south coast team. But they're financial position is a real worry, they will consider it a boost to make it through January with their current squad in tact.

Mick McCarthy would have been forgiven a long gloat or an exaggerated cup of his ear to home fans after his first choice team beat Burnley 2-0 at Molineux, his decision to rest his 10 outfield players for the trip to Old Trafford seemed to upset the footballing world,
But six points from the last three games, which included two trips to the current top four, any fan of wolves who would have traded a point at the home of the champions for a win against their fellow promoted team is not familiar with the big picture of a relegation dog fight, Mick McCarthy is.

Another man not familiar with the Premiership scene is Roberto Mancini, the decision of the Manchester City owners to finally push Mark Hughes out the door was not unexpected, after all he was already in situ when they bought the club and many thought that he would be out on his ear soon after Robinho swaggered in. The club statement rightly pointed out that; winning just two games in 11 was not good enough with the investment City have received.
However, the league is wide open this year with even consistent teams dropping points in the most unusual locations. At the end of Hughes' tenure the sky blues looked to have turned a corner; beating Arsenal in the Carling Cup followed by a win over Chelsea, Saturdays win over Sunderland moved sparky's team two points ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand.

Mancin will enter the fray and will be thrown in at the very deepest end the English league can offer; the Christmas period where games come thick and fast. the former Inter coach's league record is admirable (although the first title was donated after the Juventus match fixing scandal) but he has never taken the nerazzuri to be a real threat at European level and Jose Mourinho seems only now to have finished picking up the pieces left by Mancini to mould the giants into a winning side.

Munster blitz Perpignan and secure bonus point

Munster once again defied all the odds and proved they are still a team to be reckoned with by beating Perpignan 14-37 in Stade Aime Giral picking up an invaluable bonus point along the way to put them top of Heineken Cup pool one.

The French champions had previously lost only two games at home in European competition but Munster were clearly feeling bruised by claims from all quarters suggesting they were over the hill after a sluggish start to the season.
The Irish province poured into every ruck and the hosts were never given a moment to settle thanks to a terrific display from David Wallace. With the majority of the game played in their territory the Catalans were visibly discomforted.
Tries from Denis Fogarty, Denis Hurley, Jean DeVilliers and Doug Howlett were the result of the visitors’ dominance in all areas of the pitch.

Head coach Tony McGahan said the match was: “certainly our best away win in my time here, I’m delighted for the players”
Hard work was certainly the order of the day for Munster as the replacements could be heard encouraging their starting 15 with only the words “work-rate!” as they marched from the tunnel.

The teams traded early penalties before the Magners League champions showed their intent, laying down a marker through Wian DuPreez and John Hayes scrummaging the French pack backwards. The platform allowed the visitors a prolonged attacking period on the try-line, which finally resulted in Denis Fogarty burrowing over near the posts.
From there the Catalans looked resilient and found their way back into the game through the boot of David Mele, although he may rue his missed chances as the first half ended 9-10.

The home side emerged from the dressing room intent on imposing their flair on the game but the two time European champions were again able to quell the expansive attacks at source and at the other end, the superb Tomas O’Leary made an untypical dart from the base of a ruck and forced a penalty inside the oppositions 22.

Soon after O’Gara was presented with another kickable opportunity as, on the touch-judge’s advice, referee David Pearson showed a yellow card to Jerome Schuster for head butting Denis Leamy.
O’Gara managed to shut out the hostile crowd to increase the lead to 9-16. But the fly half soon had his own trip to the sideline as he cynically tackled a red shirt chasing a loose ball.
The Heineken Cup’s record points scorer was not missed however as the dynamic Paul Warwick moved seamlessly from fullback to fly half in time to fizz a flat pass for Hurley to crash over in the corner and put the game beyond the home team.

Both sides emptied their benches in a bid to add fresh legs and quick thinking from replacement hooker Guillem Guirado provided the host’s only score of the second half. But DeVilliers magnificently cancelled out that score after stepping off his right foot 20 metres out he unstoppably thundered towards the line.

With just over 10 minutes remaining McGahans men showed the confidence that had been lacking in recent months and went for the crucial bonus point, an unthinkable result pre kick-off.
The southern province once again stole the ball from a red jersey five metres out and as the space opened up O’Gara sent a pinpoint grubber kick through for Howlett to put the finishing touch on a magnificent performance.

The result leaves Munster top of pool one with 15 points, they will travel to Treviso in the new year before the final pool game against Northampton in Thomond Park. After three defeats in four, Perpignan need nothing short of miracles to progress to the quarter finals.


PERPIGNAN: P Burger; F Sid, D Marty, M Mermoz, C Manas; G Hume, D Mele; J Schuster, M Tincu, N Mas (capt) O Olibeau, R Tchale Watchou; Y Vivalda, B Guiry, O Tonita.
Reps: G Guirado, P Freshwater, K Pulu, R Alvarez Kairelis N Durand, J Grandclaude, J Porical, Y Parent.

MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, D Hurley; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; W du Preez, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt); A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.
Reps: D Varley, D Hurley, T Buckley, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, J de Villiers.
REF -- D Pearson

Heineken cup preview

Ronan O’Gara looked back to his best last Friday as he scored all of his team’s 24 points in the win over Perpignan. But the return match in Stade Aime Giral will require a much-improved performance from his 14 teammates.

The French champions have won their last 16 Heineken Cup games on home territory and will be out to prove their worth against the two time winners.

Denis Fogarty will line out at hooker amidst the news that exploratory surgery on Jerry Flannery’s achilles tendon has indicated he will be fit to return in late january, instead of the three month lay off which had been initially feared.

Jean DeVilliers is pushing for a recall to the centre after he was omitted in favour of the dynamic Keith Earls, but Lifeimi Mafi may be the one feeling under threat from the South African as he struggles for form.

Defeat in Catalonia by more than seven points would move Munster down to third in the table (assuming Northampton overcome Treviso.) With only first place guaranteed to progress, McGahans men might just need another miracle match at Thomond Park to reach the quarterfinals.

Like the southern province, Ulster will face a French team seeking revenge with defeat fresh in the memory. Victory for Stade Francais will not be the formality it may have been for the parisiens, as they have hindered themselves by moving the game to what will be effectively a neutral venue in Brussels.

Coach Brian McLaughlin looks set to be able to welcome back BJ Botha, Paddy Wallace and Timoci Nagusa who all missed the Ravenhill clash due to injury

A further boost for the red hand province should come on Thursday in the form of lenghty suspensions for Stade scrumhalf Julian Dupuy and prop David Atoub, both guilty of eye gouging in Belfast.

The pair apologised publicly on Tuesday with Dupuy stating: "I don't think I'm a dirty player.'' But the number nine did admit: "The pictures aren't really in my favor but I really didn't mean to put my fingers in his eyes.”

The apology is unlikely to affect the citing commission and if the duo are found guilty they would face a minimum suspension of 12 weeks. Noel Herman Gelschig who came on to replace fly-half Lionel Beauxis last week is the most likely to wear the number nine jersey.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika looked to have no further injury concerns as he named his squad on Tuesday. Shaun Berne will continue at number 10 while Jonathon Sexton recovers from a broken hand.

Inviting Llanelli back to the RDS the boys in blue will look for a repeat of a first half, which saw them blitz the Scarlets for 22 points. Cheika has highlighted the drop in intensity and performance in the second half of that game, and the home side led by Brian O’Driscoll will look to put that to rights.

Shane Horgan placed himself into the rugby hall of fame at Parc y Scarlets, as he became only the fourth player to notch 25 European Cup tries. The winger is set to escape the citing commissioner after he foolishly (but harmlessly) placed his hands on the face of fullback Daniel Evans, although the incident was incomparable to Depuy’s double attack on Stephen Ferris.

Pool six will reach its climax in the last week of January when Cheika’s men travel to London Irish seeking to avenge Octobers defeat against the exiles. With the teams level on points, Leinster will seek to maximise their tally while at the RDS before visiting the Madejski stadium.

Premier league midweek action

I love it, get home from work and there's football to look forward to.

Yeah there is Champions League on every other week (and platini wants to rob us of that aswell) but a lot of groups are decided by matchday 4, and man united barely fielded a full strength team once in that competition so far this year.

So the premiership on a Tuesday is a refreshing change: Every game counts, everyone is going out for the win and at times it seems; the players just perform better under lights.

United at Old Trafford can't lose, well they can't afford to, after losing again on Saturday. Ferguson always says: its not about the defeat its how you follow it up. And after the reserves knocked McCarthy's team out of the Carling cup with only 10 men earlier this year I'd expect united, even without The great number 11 to win comfortably.

I've a suspicion that Wayne Rooney might just be rested, but he'll be on the bench, just in case.

Sunderland at home to Villa looks like a cracking game as the managers i would choose to replace SirAlex go head to head. the excellent Stephen Warnock is villa's only injury doubt as the most exciting team in England look to build on their top four killing spree.

Kenwyne Jones should be fit to lead the line and Phil Bardsley should slot into fullback as the wearsiders look to get out of the slump which has seen them win only twice in the last eight games.

Bolton against west ham as got 0-0 draw written all over it. Well it would if the trotters weren't allergic to clean sheets. Mark Noble is suspended for the irons and they're having real trouble scoring goals, Kieron Dyer will probably start after making his 102nd injury comeback at the weekend. Gianfranco Zola has only 17 players to choose from the the trip north.

Travelling south are Blackburn rovers, they visit a buoyant Birmingham City looking to extend their seven game unbeaten run and big eck can name an unchanged team.

Rovers will still be without the creative powers of David Dunn and without him sam allardyce will be lucky to escape the 2nd city with a point.

Can't Wait!