TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Is this the craziest Premier League yet? It's the final Football Weekly of the year – indeed the decade – so we've rolled out the big guns for our end of the noughties extravaganza.James Richardson is joined by Barry Glendenning, Raphael Honigstein, and Fernando Duarte to take stock of the Premier League at the halfway point of the season. Can Chelsea keep setting the pace? Have Arsenal got what it takes to go the distance? Will Liverpool finally get their act together? And are Birmingham City or Fulham going to nudge past Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League spots? Plus, we play our joker and look ahead to the third round of the FA Cup, and speculate wildly as to who will be splashing the cash when the transfer window reopens.Finally, we look back on the highlights of the last 12 months of podding. It's a short segment.We are back on Monday 4 January, but until then have your say below, find us on Facebook and Twitter – and follow these links for Wolfsburg's Grafite doing his thing against Bayern Munich, coach Dragan Stojkovic showing his players how it should be done, a cracking goal by Giuseppe Cozzolino, and that Chippendales video too.James RichardsonBen GreenBarry GlendenningRaphael HonigsteinFernando Duarte guardian.co.uk |
Middlesbrough 0-1 Manchester City For a chap who has only been in the country for a couple of weeks, Roberto Mancini seems to have got the hang of the FA Cup pretty quickly. Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tevez and Gareth Barry began on the bench for Manchester City and Robinho was nowhere in sight.It wouldn't have been a day for the Brazilian – you did not have to be a weatherman to see that. Even the Middlesbrough faithful took one look at the wintry snow flurries on freezing Teesside and decided to give the romance of the Cup a miss. The conditions were ripe for an upset, though, with the ground barely half full, hardly anyone would have even noticed. Or cared. "We've brought more fans than you," the City supporters sang, possibly inaccurately, though a head count would have been a close-run thing.With the small matter of a Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United coming up on Wednesday, Mancini seemed determined to protect his resources and fully explore the options he has available.Dedryck Boyata and Vladimir Weiss made their first City starts and there was a rare glimpse of Benjani Mwaruwari, who scored just before the interval to take the sting out of the game for the Premier League side.Middlesbrough began brightly, with the eager running of Jonathan Franks causing a few problems for Sylvinho and Javier Garrido on the visitors' left flank. But it was clear, from an early stage, they lacked a cutting edge in attack and Shay Given did not have one of his busier afternoons.Marcus Bent played up front on his own and never received much service, even before Adam Johnson succumbed to a hamstring injury and his replacement, Marvin Emnes, concussed himself in a collision with Pablo Zabaleta.Emnes had an opportunity towards the end of the first half, when he was well found by Rhys Williams, but a well-timed tackle from Boyata snuffed out the danger. Martin Petrov then shot wide after a promising one-two with Benjani, before the same pair conjured the first half's only moment of real quality – and the game's decisive strike.Petrov broke strongly from just inside his own half, running unopposed at the heart of the Boro defence as Chris Riggott and David Wheater backed away, then released Benjani with an elegant diagonal pass that bisected the defenders and left the striker with a shooting chance.Benjani may be short of games, but he has lost none of his finishing ability and he confidently beat Danny Coyne with a low shot.Mancini sent Barry and Tevez out for the second half and brought on Bellamy for the last 20 minutes, yet – even though Gordon Strachan gamely introduced 16-year-old Luke Williams as his third substitute – the score remained unchanged.MiddlesbroughManchester CityFA CupPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Sol Campbell plays for Arsenal Sol Campbell is on the verge of making a dramatic return to Barclays Premier League club Arsenal on a free transfer after playing a trial match for the Gunners' reserve team. foxsports.com.au |
Ronaldinho's hat trick lifts AC Milan: Italian roundup A hat trick from Ronaldinho guided AC Milan to a 4-0 home win over Siena on Sunday, moving Leonardo's side to within six points of Serie A league leader Inter Milan. cbc.ca |
Sam Allardyce: referee error cost Blackburn Carling Cup final place Blackburn manager points accusing finger at referee Martin Atkinson following failure to reach Carling Cup final. telegraph.co.uk |