[ENG] Premiership 2007/2008 (41 Viewers)
- Thread starter ReBeL
- Start date
- Status
* Ledley King has been plagued by injuries in the last two years and has yet to feature for Tottenham this season.
But Jol believes the England defender should be able to play by the end of November if his return to training goes as planned.
“He’s still making progress and hopefully he will be back with the group in two weeks’ time, maybe longer,” Jol said.
“I’m used to it because he was out of the team injured last year for seven months, so hopefully when he returns now he will be back for a lot of games.”
* Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he would like Edwin Van der Sar to remain at Old Trafford for another season after his contract expires next summer, rating him as one of the best buys of his entire 20-year stint as manager.
But Van der Sar, 36, said: “We will decide in December what we are going to do, the same as last year.
“At the moment I want to get back playing and get back to the form I was in before.”
But Jol believes the England defender should be able to play by the end of November if his return to training goes as planned.
“He’s still making progress and hopefully he will be back with the group in two weeks’ time, maybe longer,” Jol said.
“I’m used to it because he was out of the team injured last year for seven months, so hopefully when he returns now he will be back for a lot of games.”
* Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he would like Edwin Van der Sar to remain at Old Trafford for another season after his contract expires next summer, rating him as one of the best buys of his entire 20-year stint as manager.
But Van der Sar, 36, said: “We will decide in December what we are going to do, the same as last year.
“At the moment I want to get back playing and get back to the form I was in before.”
I did not question Ljungberg's place in that dream team though. He has been an impact player for Arsenal over the last decade, helping them win a bunch of major trophies. Sure, players like Hleb and Overmars and perhaps someone else were always more skillful players, but has not left their mark in the history of the club, the way Ljungberg did. And plus, it is understood that Freddie is a great person to have in a team. A great character on and off the field.
There was always competition in a top team like Arsenal. He managed to keep his place in the starting eleven because he was good. But ok, if you're not too fond of Freddie, even though you're an Arsenal fan, I'm not gonna force you too change your mind. 
int:
int:
Premier League - Weekend winners and losers
A brief look at who was hot and who was not over the weekend, with Didier Drogba proving a point to Chelsea fans.
WINNERS
Didier Drogba - The Chelsea hitman cannot seem to make his mind up off the pitch, but on it he continues to be utterly decisive. His goal got the Blues on their way to a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough and added weight to his claim that he is still 100% committed to the Stamford Bridge cause.
Fulham - They went into the game occupying a relegation place. They played out a dismal goalless draw at home with dismal Derby. Paul Konchesky, who manager Lawrie Sanchez described as the Cottagers' "best player this season", got sent off for an elbow. Yet, thanks to results elsewhere, they moved five places up the table and into safety.
Alan Curbishley and Arsene Wenger - The managerial duo proved their worth with some inspired substitutions over the weekend. At the Emirates, Wenger brought on child star Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky with Arsenal struggling to break down a stubborn Bolton defence while over at Upton Park, Curbs called on the exotic sounding duo of Luis Boa Morte and Nolberto Solano with his side being held at 1-1 by Sunderland. All four players were involved in either scoring or making goals which brought victory to their respective sides. Genius? Quite possibly.
Jamie Carragher - Having admitted last season's Merseyside derby defeat was one of the lowest points of his career, the defender's joy at beating Everton on Saturday was understandable as he jigged across the Goodison pitch at full-time. And to think he nearly gave away an injury time penalty that would surely have deprived his side of two valuable points and the even more important local bragging rights.
Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez - Incompatible? Absolute guff. The diminutive pair tore apart Aston Villa, Rooney gallantly choosing to pass up on a hat-trick by missing a penalty and Tevez running the home defence ragged all game long. Opposition defences be warned - underestimate the pocket rockets at your peril.
LOSERS
Craig Gordon - Not just for the cruel rebound off his heel that went in and gave West Ham their crucial second goal. For a man who didn't concede a goal in 180 minutes of football against France, being caught flat-footed by a looping header and then being beaten at your near post just isn't good enough.
Everton - To say a sense of injustice pervaded at full-time after the Merseyside derby would be one of the understatements of the season. 'We was robbed' is a rather overused phrase, but it would have been perfectly apt at Goodison Park as Everton somehow managed to lose 2-1 to bitter rivals Liverpool. Ask referee Mark Clattenburg for an explanation - it was he who awarded Liverpool a dubious penalty and then failed to give the Toffees a clear spot kick of their own in injury time.
Steven Gerrard - England's stand-in skipper may have been on the winning side at Goodison, but his dive to win a penalty was anything but the behaviour of a winner. He got his comeuppance by suffering the ignominy of being subbed in one of the biggest games of his season with Rafa Benitez claiming he needed his players to start playing with their heads and not their hearts. Make of that what you will.
Robert Earnshaw - You scored on midweek international duty , and now you're watching from the bench as your team are struggling at 0-0. You're told to warm up, then strip off, ready to come on and score the goal that wins the game for your team. Then a defender gets injured, tactics are changed and you're back on the bench. Ten minutes later, you stay on the bench and watch as Steve Howard goes on in your place. Ever wondered why you even bother?
eurosport
A brief look at who was hot and who was not over the weekend, with Didier Drogba proving a point to Chelsea fans.
WINNERS
Didier Drogba - The Chelsea hitman cannot seem to make his mind up off the pitch, but on it he continues to be utterly decisive. His goal got the Blues on their way to a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough and added weight to his claim that he is still 100% committed to the Stamford Bridge cause.
Fulham - They went into the game occupying a relegation place. They played out a dismal goalless draw at home with dismal Derby. Paul Konchesky, who manager Lawrie Sanchez described as the Cottagers' "best player this season", got sent off for an elbow. Yet, thanks to results elsewhere, they moved five places up the table and into safety.
Alan Curbishley and Arsene Wenger - The managerial duo proved their worth with some inspired substitutions over the weekend. At the Emirates, Wenger brought on child star Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky with Arsenal struggling to break down a stubborn Bolton defence while over at Upton Park, Curbs called on the exotic sounding duo of Luis Boa Morte and Nolberto Solano with his side being held at 1-1 by Sunderland. All four players were involved in either scoring or making goals which brought victory to their respective sides. Genius? Quite possibly.
Jamie Carragher - Having admitted last season's Merseyside derby defeat was one of the lowest points of his career, the defender's joy at beating Everton on Saturday was understandable as he jigged across the Goodison pitch at full-time. And to think he nearly gave away an injury time penalty that would surely have deprived his side of two valuable points and the even more important local bragging rights.
Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez - Incompatible? Absolute guff. The diminutive pair tore apart Aston Villa, Rooney gallantly choosing to pass up on a hat-trick by missing a penalty and Tevez running the home defence ragged all game long. Opposition defences be warned - underestimate the pocket rockets at your peril.
LOSERS
Craig Gordon - Not just for the cruel rebound off his heel that went in and gave West Ham their crucial second goal. For a man who didn't concede a goal in 180 minutes of football against France, being caught flat-footed by a looping header and then being beaten at your near post just isn't good enough.
Everton - To say a sense of injustice pervaded at full-time after the Merseyside derby would be one of the understatements of the season. 'We was robbed' is a rather overused phrase, but it would have been perfectly apt at Goodison Park as Everton somehow managed to lose 2-1 to bitter rivals Liverpool. Ask referee Mark Clattenburg for an explanation - it was he who awarded Liverpool a dubious penalty and then failed to give the Toffees a clear spot kick of their own in injury time.
Steven Gerrard - England's stand-in skipper may have been on the winning side at Goodison, but his dive to win a penalty was anything but the behaviour of a winner. He got his comeuppance by suffering the ignominy of being subbed in one of the biggest games of his season with Rafa Benitez claiming he needed his players to start playing with their heads and not their hearts. Make of that what you will.
Robert Earnshaw - You scored on midweek international duty , and now you're watching from the bench as your team are struggling at 0-0. You're told to warm up, then strip off, ready to come on and score the goal that wins the game for your team. Then a defender gets injured, tactics are changed and you're back on the bench. Ten minutes later, you stay on the bench and watch as Steve Howard goes on in your place. Ever wondered why you even bother?
eurosport
now the same folk that talked about the class of rooney and tevez together are laying into gordon?truth be told i watched all the highlights and believe that all the praise for rooney and tevez is mislaid as is teh criticism of gorson. truth of the matter is in both games the defending was absolutely awful, watch the manure goals, watch the comical defending by villa and it takes the gloss off of said strike pairs performance.
similarly sunderland should have scored 4 goals in the second half but their awful defensive displays continue to leave gordon exposed. first goal the bal out wide should have been stopped, the cross should have been stopped and when it came in there were 3 west ham players ready to head it in,in the end it was played back across gordon who had little chance.
second goal, defender could have cleared it, tried to control it, missed it and it broke to solano, gordon tried to get back across but was again overly exposed by the defence, it went by him, hit the post and came flying out where it hit off his ankle and went in. in that situation not many goalies would have saved teh shot, just bad luck that it went in off.
gordon is having an excellent season but none of the sunderland back line is anywhere near his standard, i see him moving on in teh summer toa bigger club after sunderland are relegated
similarly sunderland should have scored 4 goals in the second half but their awful defensive displays continue to leave gordon exposed. first goal the bal out wide should have been stopped, the cross should have been stopped and when it came in there were 3 west ham players ready to head it in,in the end it was played back across gordon who had little chance.
second goal, defender could have cleared it, tried to control it, missed it and it broke to solano, gordon tried to get back across but was again overly exposed by the defence, it went by him, hit the post and came flying out where it hit off his ankle and went in. in that situation not many goalies would have saved teh shot, just bad luck that it went in off.
gordon is having an excellent season but none of the sunderland back line is anywhere near his standard, i see him moving on in teh summer toa bigger club after sunderland are relegated
Could have a bad game v Italy next month 1st though.........
- Status