Monday, October 31, 2011

Photospecial: RSC Anderlecht-Standard de Liege 5-0 (16-10-2011)






















The good, the bad, and the downright ugly!

By Paul Frederickson

Sometimes you have to declare your allegiances because trying to be impartial, can in fact, lead to you to be unfair to your own interests. Therefore I have no qualms in making my own local, and loved team, to be this week's good. I hope your own team was good to you over the weekend!

THE GOOD
Down 1 nil after 5 minutes to a clever goal from a former young star of the club and to be dominated by a potential challenger had the Brisbane faithful concerned for 21 minutes last Friday night. Within the space of 8 minutes the Brisbane Roar put four goals on the board, three of those to new Albanian recruit Bershart Berisha giving him the fastest hatrick in A-League history. By half time, 40 minutes after taking the lead, Adelaide walked into the visitor's change room as a shattered unit, the determined Adelaide United resistance worn down to the cheers of the delighted crowd of over 11,000. By full-time the Roar had their biggest win, 7-1, and extended their unbeaten streak to 32 games. People were talking about their progress, skill and dominance as a team for the whole weekend. Football was being talked about, and the talk was good, Adelaide fans excused for their lack of enthusiasm on the subject!





THE BAD
One of the giants of Dutch Football and their record speaks for itself. Feyenoord has won 14 Dutch Championships, 11 Dutch Cups a European Cup, two UEFA Cups and an Intercontinental Cup so the club and its supporters have every right to expect perennial success. The Rotterdam team would still be in shock after being humbled by mid-table team FC Groningen 6 nil on the weekend.





THE UGLY
Maybe John Terry should visit, http://farenet.org/, and brush up on what effects racism has not only on football, but the wider and global communities. Many news agencies reported stories of alleged racism by John Terry against QPR player Anton Ferdinand in a recent London derby. The effects of his alleged comments on his own team cannot be underestimated as Chelsea fell to this season's roller coaster side, Arsenal, 5-3 over the weekend. Whether you believe in Karma or not it certainly seemed to come back and slap Chelsea hard in this match because whilst Terry scored in the match it was his defensive slip that allowed Arsenal to take a late lead and complete the rout with a late 5th goal that completed Robyn Van Persie's deserved hatrick.




DON'T PARTICIPATE OR TOLERATE RACISM GUYS, VISIT http://farenet.org/, FOR SOME INFORMATION ON A EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM!

WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHAT WAS YOUR GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY?

Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly!

By Paul Frederickson

My Aston Villa team were humbled in a Midlands derby whilst my home team, Brisbane Roar, won their local Queensland derby. The football gods giveth and they taketh away! How were your football fortunes this weekend?
THE GOOD
Manchester City relegated in 1996, and on top of the Premier League in 2011. What a day for one half of Manchester who should feel anything but blue. Sir Alex and the other half of Manchester would definitely be seeing red. No one could have EVER predicted the scoreline, 6-1 to the noisy neighbours and a 5 point lead in the early days of the 2011/12 EPL season. Noel Gallagher, enjoy!




Runner up: AC Milan's 4-3 win against Lecce after trailling 3 nil!



THE BAD
A really good build up and great crowd for the A-League's pin-up match of the rivalry round between Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory saw no goals. Whilst a nil all draw can still be a fantastic match it means the much touted attacking stocks of the Melbourne Victory are yet to score in over 270 minutes of football.Admittedly it is early in the season but after three rounds the Victory already trail the defending champions, the Brisbane Roar, by 7 points. Victory players have even gone as far as apologising to their fans.




Runner up: The one and only Mario Balotelli who set fire to his house on the eve of the Manchester derby when he and his friends were letting off fireworks outside his apartment window!

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/premier-league/manchester-city-striker-mario-balotelli-forced-to-flee-after-setting-fire-to-own-house-with-firework/story-e6frf4a3-1226174143636

THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY
The Asian Champions League has been building momentum nicely in recent years and with a huge potential for audience growth the competition should be going from strength to strength. The semi-final of the competition between South Korea's Suwong Bluewings and Qatar's Al Sadd will be remembered for abhorrent violence and unsportsmanlike conduct for a very long time and is a black mark on a great competition.





What do you think? What were your Good, Bad and the Downright Ugly?


Monday, October 17, 2011

AFC Ajax-AZ 2-2. 15-10-2011








The good, the bad, and the downright ugly!

By Paul Frederickson

Mondayitis has kicked in for sure, that can only mean its time for this week's version of 'The good, the bad, and the downright ugly!'.

THE GOOD

30 games undefeated, a premiership and championship in the one season. The long break between seasons hasn't slowed the A-League's Brisbane Roar down at all, in fact they may be getting better!Noticeable: Manchester City's 4-1 demolition of Aston Villa has seen them ascend to the top of the English Premier League and be, arguably, the best team in Manchester.


THE BAD
17th with 4 points garnered from 6 games. They have changed managers but things seem to be going backwards for not only one of Italy's but the world's most followed teams, Inter Milan. Things just got worse over the weekend with a 2-1 loss to Catania.
Noticeable: Big signings by Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory have yet to reap rewards for either side and Suarez is fielding claims of racism from Patrice Evra.

THE UGLY
A 2 nil win would normally find a team on cloud nine but two bizarre red cards in the last ten minutes on the weekend against the Newcastle Jets found Wellington's fans and neutral observers dumbfounded. Two seemingly innocuous tackles, and two quickfire red cards has the already depleted Wellington team wondering what wrongs they must have committed in the pre-season.

What do you think? What were your weekends 'good, the bad and the downright ugly'?

Monday, October 10, 2011

The good, the bad, and the downright ugly!

By Paul Frederickson

It is that time of the week again when we look back at the weekend's, the good, the bad and the downright ugly. This week's edition has a decidedly A-League feel with the Australian football competition completing its first round over the weekend.

THE GOOD

Two of Australia's biggest cities and two of the countries biggest football clubs played an entertaining nil all draw in front of over 40,000 passionate supporters. The game had it all, Kewell headers and a missed Emerton penalty rounded off by a red card. Who says a nil all draw is boring!
Even the Victorian police saluted the crowd!




THE BAD
James Brown scored a wonder goal that deserved to be watched by more than the paltry 4000 that attended Gold Coast United's opening home fixture. The scary part is that crowd was double the amount that attended most GCU home games in the 2010/11 season. Come on Gold Coast, get behind a team that has performed brilliantly in their first two seasons!


THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY
Wayne Rooney, he as an abundance of skills, fame and money and a distinct lack of common, or any sense whatsoever. In a week where his family issues were spread across the globe Rooney should have let his football do the talking. For a large part of the Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro he did just that, until he decided to kick his opponent. Not the most malicious tackle of the weekend but one of the dumbest. The tackle has already thrown England's Euro 2012 campaign in to disarray as the red card will see Rooney miss at least two of the group games.



What do you think? What were your weekend's, good, the bad, and the downright ugly?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Monday, October 3, 2011

This weekend's the Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly!

By Paul Frederickson

Another weekend, and if your team played, there was a win, loss or draw to digest, analyse and depending on the result, celebrate.

THE GOOD
Too old, too slow, too good! Frank Lampard's hat-trick in Chelsea's 5-1 demolition of Bolton Wanderers must have at least a few critics biting their tongues. Champions are always champions.


THE BAD
This was a very tough call this week. Inter Milan's protestations against the weekend's refereeing in their 3 nil home-loss to Napoli just pips Tottenham's Clive Allen in his rant regarding the lack of a handshake from Arsenal's Arsene Wenger. Wenger's team had just lost a heated derby match against bitter rival Spurs and shook the hands of Harry Redknapp and his assistant. Allen needs to grow up a wee bit!




THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY

There is no place in the world for racism. It keeps rearing its head in so many facets of society, and football is no exception. As if losing to Tottenham is not bad enough, Arsenal fans have further disgraced their club with chants against former son, Emmanuel Adebayor. Three people died when gunmen attacked Togo's national team bus in Angola during 2010. Some of the visiting Arsenal fans chanted at Adebayor: "It should have been you." DISGRACEFUL!







Do you agree? What was your weekend's, the Good, Bad and the downright Ugly!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Man Utd-Chelsea 3-1. 18-09-2011

















Republic of Mancunia shirt in the Bernabeu at Real Madrid-AFC Ajax (27-09-2011).