Archive for August 2010
Bright start for Atletico
Atletico who beat Inter Milan in the UEFA Super Cup three days earlier, scored two goals in each half to start the season with a high scoring win.
It wasn't a good start for rivals Real who were held goalless by Real Mallorca.
Defending champions Barcelona started with a 3-nil win over Real Santander.
Sevilla were the other team to score four goals as they overcame newly promoted Levante 4-1.
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Black Cats stun Man City
The Black Cats scored from a penalty in the dying moments of the match to inflict Man City to its first defeat of the season.
There was also another surprise loss in the round with Tottenham Hotspurs losing 1-nil to Wigan at White Hart Lane.
Wigan had shipped ten goals in its first two fixtures but managed to keep a clean sheet against Spurs to record first win and first points.
Liverpool also recorded its first win of the season after overcoming West Bromwich Albion 1-nil at Anfield.
No 6-nil in round 3 and the highest winning margin came from Old Trafford where Manchester United beat winless West Ham United 3-nil.
AC Milan, Real in same group again
In last season's competition the two teams came through their group and this time its more interesting with former Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho having taken the reigns at the Bernabeau.
Champions Inter Milan are in the same group as Werder Bremen, Tottenham and Dutch champions FC Twente.
Debutantes Bursaspor have been placed in the group comprising Manchester United, Valencia and Rangers.
The other debutantes MSK Zilina will face Chelsea, Marseille and Spartak Moscow.
Below are all the groups for the 2010/11 Champions League:
Group A - Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, FC Twente
Group B -
Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Group C -
Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor
Group D -
Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan
Group E -
Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj
Group F -
Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina
Group G -
AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre
Group H -
Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, FK Partizan
2010/11 Champions League draw
The teams to come through the qualifiers are Ajax, Auxerre, FC Copenhagen, MSK Zilina, Spurs, FK Partizan, FC Basel, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Werder Bremen and Braga.
The 32 teams who have qualified for this season's competition will be grouped into four pots as shown below:
Pot 1: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon
Pot 2: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos
Pot 3: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow
Pot 4: Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor
Too easy for Spurs
Spurs were trailing 3-2 on aggregate at the start of the second leg but four goals at home means they will be the fourth team from the English Premiership in this season's tournament.
This will be Spurs' first entry into the Champions League in its current format.
The English Premiership will be the only league with four teams in this year's edition after both Sevilla and Sampdoria failed to win their qualifying matches. The two teams had finished fourth in La Liga and Serie A respectively.
6-nil : Its the order of the season
This is like 20% of the matches have finished with such a high number of goals.
Defending champions Chelsea have won their first two matches 6-nil and they have been joined by Arsenal and Newcastle who won their round 2 matches by the same scoreline.
Here is a list of all the scorelines in the Premier League so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 0 - 6 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 2 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 3 |
| 6 - 0 | 3 |
Interestingly no single match finished 6-nil last season and here is the list of scorelines for the 2009/10 season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 32 |
| 0 - 1 | 26 |
| 0 - 2 | 16 |
| 0 - 3 | 3 |
| 0 - 4 | 4 |
| 0 - 5 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 33 |
| 1 - 1 | 39 |
| 1 - 2 | 19 |
| 1 - 3 | 8 |
| 1 - 4 | 4 |
| 1 - 5 | 1 |
| 1 - 6 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 34 |
| 2 - 1 | 42 |
| 2 - 2 | 21 |
| 2 - 3 | 5 |
| 2 - 4 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 23 |
| 3 - 1 | 16 |
| 3 - 2 | 8 |
| 3 - 3 | 4 |
| 4 - 0 | 10 |
| 4 - 1 | 5 |
| 4 - 2 | 3 |
| 4 - 3 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 4 |
| 5 - 1 | 3 |
| 5 - 2 | 2 |
| 5 - 3 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
| 6 - 2 | 1 |
| 7 - 0 | 1 |
| 7 - 1 | 1 |
| 7 - 2 | 1 |
| 8 - 0 | 1 |
| 9 - 1 | 1 |
Sydney, Heart anchor table
The new Melbourne team, Melbourne Heart also have a single point to their name after a loss in round three.
Its early days in the new season but Perth Glory are flying and now sit on top of the table with seven points and they are the only team to have won twice so far this season.
The Glory next meet Heart at AAMI Park.
A quick look at the scorelines so far shows that 3-all is the most popular result at the moment with three matches having finished that way.
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 1 | 1 |
| 0 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 1 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 3 | 3 |
Osieck takes Socceroos helm
Osieck who has experience in Asian football will lead the Socceroos at the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.
After the Asian Cup his task will turn to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
If the Socceroos win the Asian title in Qatar then there will be the 2013 Confederations Cup to contend with as well.
More about Osieck's background can be found here.
O'Neill leaves Villa Park
Neill has been at Villa Park from 2006 and at one time during the last two seasons his team has challenged for a Champions League finish.
Last season Villa finished in sixth place and qualified for the Europa Cup where they are drawn to meet Rapid Vienna later this month.
Here is some of the stats for O'Neill's Villa in the 2009/10 season:
| O'Neill's Villa | 2009/10 season |
|---|---|
| Final Position | 6 |
| Played | 38 |
| Points | 64 |
| Won | 17 |
| Drawn | 13 |
| Lost | 8 |
| Goal difference | 13 |
| Clean sheets | 15 |
| Failed to score | 8 |
| Goals scored | 52 |
| Goals conceded | 39 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Biggest loss | Chelsea 7 - 1 Aston Villa |
| Scored 3 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 3 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 32 |
| Won | 8 |
| Drawn | 8 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | 13 |
| Goals scored | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 32 |
| Won | 9 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 5 |
| Goal difference | 0 |
| Goals scored | 23 |
| Goals conceded | 23 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 |
Draws dominate A-League opening round
So the Central Coast Mariners were the only winners and their first half goal was enough to get all three points against new boys Melbourne Heart.
There was a contrast in the drawn matches with two ending goalless and the other two ending in high scoring 3-all draws.
The champions Sydney could not get a winning start as they defend their title.
However, should be happy that at last they managed to score against Sydney in a league match having failed to find the net in three attempts last season.
The North Queensland Fury got a last minute goal to secure a point in the other scoring draw of the round.
This week I will take a look at all the results for the Mariners from season 1 in the opening round:
| Match | Score |
|---|---|
| Perth Glory vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 1 |
| Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners | 1 - 0 |
| Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC | 0 - 1 |
| Newcastle Jets vs Central Coast Mariners | 1 - 1 |
| Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 2 |
| Melbourne Heart vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 1 |
So the Mariners have lost in the first round only when they have played Sydney FC and twice have opened the season in Melbourne and won.
Ajax face Dynamo hurdle in playoffs
The winners of the ties will join the Champions League in the group stages whilst the losers will drop into the Europa Cup draw.
Sporting Braga dispatched Celtic and for their efforts they will face Sevilla.
Tottenham Hotspurs will meet Young Boys with the second leg being at White Hart Lane. A win for Spurs will see the Premiership once again with four stages in the group stages.
Another interesting tie will see Werder Bremen against Sampdoria.
The rest of the draw is as shown below:
Dynamo Kiev v Ajax
Young Boys v Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting Braga v Sevilla
Werder Bremen v Sampdoria
Zenit St Petersburg v Auxerre
Salzburg v Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Rosenborg v Copenhagen
Basel v FC Sheriff
Sparta Prague v MSK Zilina
Partizan Belgrade v Anderlecht
Heart, Mariners kick off 2010/11 A-League season
The two teams are coached by coaches with no previous experience in the A-League and it will be interesting to see how the match will be approached.
Round one will also see the grand final rematch as defending champions Sydney FC take on runners up Melbourne Victory.
For the first time the A-League will have byes now that there is an odd number of teams and the first team to get the bye will be Wellington Phoenix.
Once again there will be a number of posts on the A-League this season in a season which looks very unpredictable especially with Heart looking good on paper but it has to be seen what they can do on the pitch.
