week 24

Everton v Manchester City
Manchester City came out of the traps the way you would expect a team of their calibre to do. They were energetic, aggressive and technically brilliant and their dynamic formation always seemed to give them a spare man.
Everton, however, can take great pride in the stoic nature of their defence. Their manager asked for 100% and that's exactly what they gave as they fought City for every ball.
Unfortunately, a single moment of individual brilliance from Mesut Ozil to release Rooney was all it took to clinch this tough tie.

Everton 0 Manchester City 1
Rooney (Ozil)



Leicester City v Southampton
It has become something of a cliche to see a side managed by Renegade take the game to their opponent with mesmerising skill but that was once again the case today. Impressing in particular were Di Maria and Cazorla as they pulled the strings all around the pitch. By half time they could have been 4-0 up but for some outstanding last ditch tackles and it took until the second half for an ambitious ball from Cazorla to unlock Southampton's defence and leave Higuain with the tap in.
From there on it looked like plain sailing for the foxes, until a late hoofed ball - mixed with some calamitous South American defending - granted Jackson Martinez with the chance to steal a point back to the South Coast.

Leicester City 1 Southampton 1
Higuain (Cazorla)
Martinez (Blind)



Wolves v Arsenal
If the previous result was something of a shock, then this result was mind boggling. Arsenal's potent attack is rightly feared, and few could Wolves fans could have imagined a positive result when they saw their team lining up already on the edge of their own box.
Things would get from bad to worse when a lovel Benzema lay off would give Ronaldo the time and space to hammer a 25 yard shot in to the top corner.

However, this was as good as it got for the Gooners, as they found the tightly packed defence a struggle to get through. They also found the feisty Argentinian up front a handful, especially when he took Coutinho's through ball in his stride before deftly chipping the on-rushing keeper.
This goal spurred on the home team and, late on, their immense efforts were rewarded when a cleared set piece feel at the feet of Marchisio, who promptly scored a goal of the season contender to claim a surprising 3 points.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Arsenal 1
Tevez (Coutinho), Marchisio
Ronaldo (Benzema)




Portsmouth v Chelsea
Few games whet the palette more than a clash between two incredible attacks and this one did not fail to live up to the lofty expectations. Plenty of attacks, end to end stuff, brilliant tackles and saves to stop the scoreline being even greater but, ultimately, the 2 most important things are that there were plenty of goals and that Chelsea's attack slightly outweighed Portsmouth's.

Portsmouth 2 Chelsea 3
Martial (Silva), Costa (Silva)
Aguero (Pen), Verratti, Aguero (Dybala)




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comment by RenegadeOF (U9457)
posted 4 days, 18 hours ago
Liverpool 1 - 1 Newcastle
Williams (Rakitic) ; Suarez (Cesc)
Red: Filipe

This game started quickly, with Newcastle forcing Pool to defend deep but proving difficult to breakdown. Suarez proved too hot though for the Pool cbs when he did get chances and got himself on the scoresheet. Liverpool’s attacks worked well down the wings though which made for an even game, the stats showing Newcastle had more possession but less shots. The red card came quite late on with no real impact on the result in the end.

Aston Villa 2 - 1 Stoke City
Costa (Hazard), Reus (Hazard); Hulk

A slightly unlucky result for Stoke who were setup really well, and have some real quality throughout the side. Villa’s attacking four has a fantastic mix, and their tactics were setup well to break down a really solid side, but they also allowed Stoke’s quick attack tactics to work reallyy well. With home and the quality of attack in their team though Villa had the more slots and had the result go their way.


AFC Bournemouth 0 - 2 Manchester United
Lewandowski (Gundogan), Lukaku (Turan)

No Bournemouth tactics. I know Lubo has issues getting on, so not sure if this one is a walkover but not heard in a week so is for now anyway.


Birmingham City 2 - 2 Hull City
Vardy (Mertens) ; Carrasco

Formed on a solid defence Brum’s play worked well, working the ball out wide and attacking with pace, simple and effective. Hull’s attacking play also proved effective though, their 3 man front line working well against a quality defence that simply couldn’t contain them. Draw was how the result came and seemed a fair result on the face of it, although Brum at home had the edge.

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comment by Welshy (U1348) posted 18 hours, 40 minutes ago
Right I need to add those on I thought there was something wrong