EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Ferguson changed the lineup slightly: Tevez up front; Giggs, Anderson, Carrick and Park in the midfield with Hargreaves playing a defensive midfield role; Silvestre, Pique, Ferdinand, and Brown on defense. The change in lineup was perhaps due to Manchester United’s 2-0 win against Roma last week. Roma’s starting lineup had 4 yellow cards (Mexes, Vucinic, De Rossi, and Cassetti); Totti was still out injured.

Man Utd. were much more active attacking and had multiple good opportunities when Roma’s defense had not gotten back in time. The second leg of the quarter finals tournament began with Manchester United dominating by a slight margin. In the 29th minute De Rossi dashed into Manchesters penalty box and Wes Brown tried to slide kick the ball away from him, though he came close he never touched De Rossi who fell down and earned a penalty kick. De Rossi soared the ball way over the goal demonstrating to all the children in the world how a penalty kick should never be taken. The close call seemed to rattle Uniteds nerves; until the halfway point they were shaky on defense though Roma’s attacks were far from fluid.

In the 68th minute French international Ludovic Giuly came on for Pizarro. Tevez stole the ball from Roma off the throw in, he dribbled halfway down the field and passed the ball off to Hargreaves and then ran into the box. Hargreaves crossed the ball to Tevez who dove low and headed the ball to the far post past Roma’s keeper (69th minute). Ryan Giggs came off for Rooney just a few minutes later, but after the first goal Roma had lost hope and Manchester United had moved on to the Semi-Finals having beaten Roma 3-0 aggregate.

In a thrilling semi-final, 2nd leg game, Liverpool once again showed their composure in European competitions. Liverpool had the initial advantage from last weeks game with Arsenal (1-1) where they earned an away goal. Also, Van Persie was unable to play as he had knee problems from last weeks game; Rafael Benitez surprisingly decided to start Peter Crouch (Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt also started). Arsenal started the game with lightning speed, beautifully constructed passes which threatened Liverpool’s defense. Arsenal’s Abou Diaby scored in the 13th minute with a hard near post shot.
Arsenal continued to dominate the midfield and the game until Gerrard took a corner in the 30th minute; Sami Hyypia lost Senderos, and headed the ball in at the top right of the goal leaving Almunia no chance. The goal seemed to give life back to the Anfield crowd. Crouch threatened to dominate Senderos in the air and Kuyt threatened the Arsenal defenders with his speed. Rafael Benitez’s plan to overwhelm the Arsenal defense with Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt and Crouch was working. Momentum shifted away from Arsenal even more when Mathieu Flamini left the field after an ankle injury.

It had been 1-1 for 38 minutes until Almunia kicked the ball long, the ball bounced over Crouch’s head and fell at Torres’ feet; with two Arsenal defenders on him and more nearby he turned and curled the ball around Almunia and into the top left netting (68th minute). Arsenal was getting desperate when Theo Walcott ran furiously across the entire field dribbling straight by 4 players. He dound himself on the right side of the penalty box with 3 Arsenal strikers in the box, he passed it right into the center and Adebayor neatly put it in (84th minute). 1 minute later Babel was running into the penalty box with a decent chance of scoring; Adebayor and Toure were right behind him, Adebayor jostled to get ahead and jumped behind Babels running feet. He barely touched Babel who lost balance and fell, a penalty was awarded which Gerrard put in. Arsenal, devastated by the penalty and seeming to care very little yet trying to press forward allowed Babel to score a goal in the 90th minute.

Arsenal fans will mourn after this one, Arsenal had the aggregate tied up at (3-3) until Babel fell in the penalty box in the 84th minute. The final aggregate was 5-3.
Rafael Benitez described playing at Anfield, “It is easy to say that you do not have any problems with big crowds in away games of this importance. But when you have to face our fans for 90 minutes on top of you then it is not easy for the majority of players. The difference is the Champions League, it’s knockout now and that is the difference.”

He also stated where he thought Liverpool’s weaknesses against Arsenal lay, “It is about small details. We have conceded twice from set pieces in the previous two games. That is a small thing to some but to us it is a big problem. But we have conceded too many crosses and set pieces. We have analyzed and know we must stop them at source. And we also feel that we should defend with greater intensity in such situations. It is not about zone marking - we need to be more aggressive in such situations. And I always try to support Reina and encourage him to try to go to attack the ball in the air. He is confident and knows he can do that. I have talked with him, and I feel he will be okay for this game.”

Manchester United played Middlesbrough (at home) only to have their league hopes put in jeopardy by Alfonso Alves. Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 10th minute off a cross from Michael Carrick; he managed to slip away from his defender and shoot the ball in from the six yard box. 27 year old Brazilian striker Alves was the biggest threat to United, constantly pressing on defenders, who uncharacteristically, seemed to not be cohesive. Vidic was absent for the game and Ferdinand limped off in the second half, Ferdinand left with his foot in a protective case (upcoming games should be interesting with Vidic out for 2 weeks, Ferdinand out for an unknown time and United’s defense in disarray). Alves scored in the 35th minute to equalize the score and then again in the 56th minute. Rooney saved Manchester United from disaster in the 74th minute; JS Park neatly beat Taylor to cross the ball, Rooney capitalized.

In the end, it was apparent that Man Utd had barely escaped from a potentially disastrous game with Middlesbrough. United defense was completely rattled and Middlesbrough should have scored 3 goals with all the opportunities they had.

Ferguson described the game, “We could have lost the game there’s no question, they had some chances and at times our defending was a bit haphazard I thought. But at other moments we could have won the game because some of the quality of our football was terrific. At 1-0 we looked very strong, and were controlling the match and Wayne Rooney was unlucky to be given offside when he was clear through - it wasn’t offside. They changed the formation back to 4-4-2 got an equaliser and I thought it was a great game of football after that. It was end to end and both teams deserve great credit for producing a game of football like that at this time of year. At times we played some fantastic football but in the context of the game Middlesbrough also produced some great moments and it was just a fantastic game.”

With the lead between Chelsea and Man Utd limited to 3 points, Chelsea now has a good chance of winning the league; especially since Manchester United has to play Chelsea at home (Stamford Bridge).

Newcastle won their 3rd game in a row this time against Reading. Strikers Mark Viduku, Michael Owens, and Obafemi Martins all scored to win the game 3-0. Last week Tottenham lost to Newcastle 4-1, with Owen and Martins each claiming a goal. Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan described the situation as unusual, “Viduka is totally different to Michael, who is totally different to Oba, but it somehow works, and it is causing other teams problems.”

But now Newcastle can safely play without worrying about relegation as they a solid 12 points away from the zone. They also threaten teams in the middle of the table, especially Tottenham (just 2 points up) and West Ham (6 points up). “The main focus still is to finish as high in the Premier League as we can. I don’t want to be manager of this club and finish with less than 43 points, which is the lowest total they have ever got.”

“My personal ambition is not to be remembered as the manager who got the lowest points. I am looking forward to my holidays, to be honest with you - but not yet. It would be nice if we could finish the season by continuing to play and enjoy our football like we can and send the people here away for their holidays thinking. Wow, next season could be very, very good for Newcastle United. We could give them some optimism, and that’s all we can do this year. This will still be a poor season for Newcastle United. It won’t be remembered by the fans as a classic season. But we can still plant some seeds for next year, and that’s what we are trying to do.”

Arsenal and Liverpool will be playing each other three consecutive times in the next 6 days; in the first match, both teams started with their first string players. Van Persie almost scored in the 17^th minute when he got an excellent long chip from Flamini over the entire Liverpool defense. He only managed to get a toe on it and it went over the bar by a foot; but it was a great opportunity. Soon thereafter, Van Persie got another chance when through a series of classic Arsenal passes he was found open for at the top of the box with an open shot; he took it but just didn’t seem to connect, the ball bounced quickly to the bottom right but Liverpool keeper Reina managed to deflect it. Off an excellent corner quick Adebayor jumped in the air and headed the ball in (23^rd minute).

Everything seemed to be going Arsenals way until Gerrard decided to dribble the ball in to Arsenals penalty box and cross it low right in front of Arsenals keeper (Almunia); Dirk Kuyt, sprinting between 2 Arsenal players managed to get his foot to the ball first and kick it in (26^th minute) and get a crucial away goal. The first game of three consecutive games that Arsenal and Liverpool would play together was well underway. As the game proceeded Eboue proved to be the weak link on Arsenal consistently giving the ball away and taking the worst shots the entire time he was on the pitch, until finally Arsene Wenger took him off in the 65^th minute. In the 47^th minute Almunia made a great save when Kuyt got the ball of a corner and took a low shot towards the far post. Hleb however, showed his mastery of the midfield and his great agility and power the entire game. In the 66^th minute he darted straight at the goal from 4 yards past the penalty box. He slid between 5 Liverpool defenders and was only a few yards away from Reina when he fell down as Kuyt jostled with him; cries of a penalty were heard and they may well have been justified as Kuyt did pull on Hlebs arm. Fabregas also shot on goal multiple times with some very close calls.

Most of the time the game was marked by Arsenal dominating the midfield and playing with the ball outside of Liverpool’s box. Liverpool proved completely unable to produce any comprehensible passes and could only hope for a goal by passing long to Torres. Kuyt played hard throughout the game but but his efforts were wasted by the miserable Liverpool midfield. Next week Arsenal will have to play at Anfield and score at least one away goal.

Roma (at home) showed a lack of creativity during this first leg and was completely unable to breakdown Manchester’s defense. Scholes was a poor midfielder throughout the game often giving the ball away and struggling to pass. He did manage to assist in Cristiano’s goal (39th minute) though Rooney really created the opportunity with an excellent turn. Scholes crossed the ball lightly and Ronaldo came out of nowhere to head the ball in. In the 66^th minute JS Park kept the ball in from a curling cross and headed it toward the center of the 6 yard box. Roma’s keeper bumbled the ball which landed at Rooney’s feet who promptly tapped it in. Minutes later Ronaldo floated between the Roma defenders; he struck the ball which floated inches above the ground at the left side of the goal. Roma’s keeper tipped the ball with his fingertips which then deflected out of bounds and off the post. Though Roma lacked Totti during the game it’s doubtful if it would have made a difference. Roma now has a mountain to climb as they play Man Utd in 8 days at Old Trafford.

In an exciting display of skill, Manchester United demonstrated their ability to score goals with unique creativity. Cristiano Ronaldo once again demonstrated that he was the best player in the world by directly assisting 3 goals and scoring one. Ronaldo was the unstoppable force who began the game by scoring in the 17^th minute. During a corner kick Ronaldo stood perfectly placed at the top of the 6 yard box, the ball soared in and was headed down right at Ronaldo’s feet; however, the keeper was ready and there were about 3 Aston Villa defenders in the way, Ronaldo placed the ball between his feet and side heeled the ball through a defenders legs and right past the keeper. The next goal came from a curling wing cross from Ronaldo to Carlos Tevez who jumped high in the air and fiercely headed the ball at the ground into the goal. In the 53^rd minute Wayne Rooney scored an easy goal from volley, back heeled flick on from Ronaldo which curved past a running defender. Ronaldo gave Rooney another assist in the 70^th minute after Sir Alex Ferguson made several changes (Man Utd will play in the Champions League against Roma on Tuesday). Aston Villa got away lightly as multiple opportunities to score were wasted by Man Utd. Either way the game showed that Manchester was in form and would prove to be a formidable adversary in the Champions League.

Newcastle seems to have avoided relegation this time with more class. Kevin Keegan and the Newcastle players were getting a lot of pressure as Newcastle rested in the relegation zone with the season ending. Despite this, Keegan repeatedly stated that he was confident in Newcastle’s ability to recover from the string of losses they endured. He also said the players spirits were still high and he believed in his strikers abilities to deliver goals. His optimism was well founded because Newcastle beat Fulham and now Tottenham. Despite being a goal down Newcastle rallied and scored 4 goals in the 2nd half: Nicky Butt (45), Geremi (52), Michael Owen (65), Obafemi Martins (83) all scored. This win brought Newcastle into a much more comfortable 12th place with 35 points.

Keegan set his sight even higher stating, “We’re definitely not safe yet but we can look up not down. We could catch Spurs up and we could catch up West Ham. People would have said that was ridiculous a few weeks ago.Newcastle is now 9 points above the relegation zone and would need 9 points to get into the top half of the table. We have three home games and three away left and playing like this, I think the players will look forward to playing anybody.”

Didier Drogba had an early opportunity to score against Arsenal but wasn’t able to capitalize off a one on one with the keeper. Much of this game was marked by Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia producing multiple saves showing incredible reactions and forethought. Almunia caught a great curving free-kick from Ballack that would have slid in along the slide netting. He also somehow prevented Drogba from scoring a near post rip that would have earned him a hat trick. Though his play throughout the game was actually pretty poor, in the 59th minute, French defender Sagna (Arsenal) scored an excellent near post header against Chelsea. In the end it was Drogba’s breathtaking ability to score that won the game. After a ridiculous series of injuries and delays (which ended in Carvalho with bandages on his head, Sagna off with an injury, and multiple substitutions) Drogba scored. In the 73rd and then 82nd minute he scored decisive goals to which Arsenal was unable to respond. The final score was 2-1; Avram Grant was deeply satisfied as Chelsea pulled 1 point ahead of Arsenal, and only 5 away from League leaders Manchester United.

Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Luis Nani all scored against Liverpool. Manchester had 61% possession compared to Liverpool’s 39%. In the 2nd half, first Torres and then Masherano both talked back to referee; Torres earned a yellow card. Masherano who had already had a yellow for a tackle against Scholes ended up earning himself a red card. Rafael Benitez described the situation saying, “Javier was sent off for dissent, but to be sent off for asking the official something is a surprise.” The final score was 3-0 giving Manchester a clean 3 points.