DAY ELEVEN: SO CHELSEA HAS WON IT

After a neck-to-neck season, finally Chelsea was crowned the new holder for the Barclays Premier League. It has not been an easy, nor a straightforward season. The fact that Chelsea won the title with a mere solitary point is enough to explain and immaculate the season. No more one horse racing, but this time a two horse-racing. In fact Arsenal was still a front runner (that's three horse racing) up to their sudden collapse late last month.

With the Chelsea's win, they ended Manchester United's hope to retain the title after unprecedented three seasons win in a row, hoping to clinch their 19th to leapfrog Liverpool on the record book. Yes, Chelsea has won while Manchester united have to settle for a point behind on second. Truly, Chelsea deserves the title for been magnificent on this season. Their last 4 or 5 wins have been chalked up by a huge margin of goals spree. The hammering of Wigan by 8 goals at home Stamford Bridge proved that they can score big - something that have been lacking for the Old Trafford's side.

Nevertheless, I have been enjoying this season so much and I am excited to see how things will be different for the next season. The 2009/2010 season has been more than a wreckage of dreams and desires for many (particularly Liverpool or Everton or Portsmouth - dealing with numerous problems and struggles). The season has been a nail-biting, neck-to-neck battle - with almost five or six teams have been on top of the table throughout the season. More dramas, more unsatisfactory towards the referees should be a concern too, why not. Controversies are everywhere but the spirit of sportsmanship prevails.

Rather been disappointed, I have to say that the dismay season for Manchester United may not be long. Over the years, they continue to perform with dominance in style on the English and European soils. Probably, it is a wake up call - something need to be done to correct the agonizing current player structures or the current instable week-to-week performances. Horse race is over, but the fans of football (or soccer in some country) will continue to cheer for more excitement, with World Cup is scheduled exactly a month from now. What can you ask for more?

MANCHESTER UNITED STUMBLED BECAUSE FANS TOOTHBRUSHING ON THE STADIUM

Yeah, probably many have heard about it.

Manchester United stumbled to the late goal by John Terry, no thanks to the superb free kick by Frank Lampard that has created a bit of havoc. The 76th minute goal is to become the only goal of the match, a decisive marginal victory for Chelsea and a marginal defeat for Man United.

Despite several chances from both sides, several misses and several saves can be seen. Watch the highlight video below. Wayne Rooney missed two good chances.

Chelsea's win marked their 11th straight home wins in any competitions.

Also, for a bizarre story- some moments from the fan box. A fan filmed brushing teeth at Stamford Bridge during the match. WOW!! I wonder why he did that?

According to UK's Telegraph newspaper, this is what they wrote about it:

"During his show on BBC Radio 5 Live, DJ Spoony asked: "Why has he got a toothbrush in the stadium? And more importantly, why is he brushing his teeth in the stadium?"

Co-host Gabriele Marcotti joked: "Dental hygiene. Every time you eat something, afterwards you should be brushing your teeth. You were taught that, right? You should also be flossing too, I would add."

Spoony went on: "So you're in the football stadium, you have had your pie, you brush your teeth. I mean where do you rinse, or gargle?"

He appealed for calls from the fan's friends to explain why he cannot leave his toothbrush at home."

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHDAY 5

A week break for international duty and the EPL resumed for the Match Day 5. The international duty has soared England to eventually qualify for next year’s World Cup in South Africa with styles, indulging a 100% win record in the qualifying stage along with Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and Japan among others.

Back home, EPL matches last weekend saw both Chelsea and Manchester City continued their impressive run for 100% win while Portsmouth became the only team pointless, rotting down on the bottom of the table.

Man of the week this week was none other than Liverpool’s Israeli midfield, Youssi Benayoun whom had scored a pulsating hattrick to help Koppers trashed out Burnley by 4 goals to none.

EPL MATCHDAY 5

Saturday, 12 September 2009

BLACKBURN ROVERS 3-1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Ewood Park, Blackburn (Att: 24,845)

BLA: Diouf 19", Roberts 56", Dunn 63"; WOV: Maierhofer 88"

LIVERPOOL 4-0 BURNLEY

Anfield, Liverpool (Att: 43,817)

LIV: Benayoun 27”, 61”, 81”, Kuyt 41”

MANCHESTER CITY 4-2 ARSENAL

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (Att: 47,339)

MANC: Almunia 19” (og), Bellamy 74”, Adebayor 80”, Wright-Phillios 83”; ARS: van Persie 62”, Rosicky 87”

PORTSMOUTH 2-3 BOLTON WANDERERS

Fratton Park, Portsmouth (Att: 17,564)

POT: Kaboul 25”, Boateng 63”; BOL: Cohen 13”, Taylor 41” (pen), Cahill 88”

STOKE CITY 1-2 CHELSEA

Britannia Stadium, Stoke (Att: 27,440)

STO: Faye 32”; CHE: Drogba 45”, Malouda 90”

SUNDERLAND 4-1 HULL CITY

Stadium of Light, Sunderland (Att: 38,997)

SUN: Bent 12" (pen), 66", Reid 49"; HUL: Drogba 45”, Malouda 90”

WIGAN ATHLETIC 1-0 WEST HAM UNITED

DW Stadium, Manchester (Att: 17,142)

WIG: Rodallega 55”

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1-3 MANCHESTER UNITED

White Hart Lane, London (Att: 35,785)

TOT: Defoe 1”; MANU: Giggs 24”, Anderson 40”, Rooney 78”

Sunday, 13 September 2009

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0-1 ASTON VILLA

St Andrews Ground, Birmingham (Att: 25,196)

AST: Agbonlahor 84”

FULHAM 2-1 EVERTON

Craven Cottage, London (Att: 24,191)

FUL: Konchesky 57”, Duff 78”; EVE: Cahill 32”

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHDAY 4

This is last week's EPL result and I have to say Liverpool escaped another humiliation. I wonder what people are suggesting Mr Rafael Benitez will do? Say bye bye to Anfield or continue this kind of form?

Obviously Manchester United benefited from a precious victory against The Gunners. Thanks to Diaby's mistake by netting the ball into own net, it could have been a point a piece for both.

Anyway, here are the last weekend's results:

MATCHDAY 4

Saturday, 29 August 2009

CHELSEA 3-0 BURNLEY

Stamford Bridge, London (Att: 40,906)

CHE: Anelka 45", Ballack 47", Cole 51"

BLACKBURN ROVERS 0-0 WEST HAM UNITED

Ewood Park, Blackburn (Att: 23,421)

BOLTON WANDERERS 2-3 LIVERPOOL

Reebok Stadium, Bolton (Att: 23,284)

BOL: Davies 33", Cohen 46" - LIV: Johnson 40", Torres 56", Gerrard 82"

STOKE CITY 1-0 SUNDERLAND

Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent (Att: 27,091)

STO: Kitson 42"

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1-1 HULL CITY

Molineux, Wolverhampton (Att: 27,906)

WOV: Stearman 46" - HUL: Geovanni 2"

MANCHESTER UNITED 2-1 ARSENAL

Old Trafford, Manchester (Att: 75,095)

MANU: Rooney 58" (pen), Diaby 63" (og) - ARS: Arshavin 40"

Sunday, 30 August 2009

PORTSMOUTH 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY

Fratton Park, Portsmouth (Att: 17,826)

MANC: Adebayor 30"

EVERTON 2-1 WIGAN ATHETIC

Goodison Park, Liverpool (Att: 17,826)

EVE: Saha 62", Baines 90" (pen) - WIG: Scharner 56"

ASTON VILLA 2-0 FULHAM

Villa Park, Birmingham (Att: 32,917)

AST: Pantsil 3" (og), Agbonlahor 59"

GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED - THE NEW BLOOD

Manchester United had lost the 2008's Footballer of the Year to Real Madrid, following last month's gigantic 80 million Pound move of Christiano Ronaldo to the Spanish club. Not only that, the inspirational Carlos Tevez also made an exit to the city rival, Manchester City. This has left Sir Alex Ferguson with out a possible strong attacking options. Losing both inspiring players at the end of 2008/2009 season could be a dreadful feeling for the supporters.

Recently, Manchester has brought in a few players to replace them. (Note: Only pictures of those confirmed entrance will be here)

WHO'S COMING IN?

Michael Owen arrived to Old Trafford with a free transfer following the end of his contract in Newcastle. Before signing in, there were speculations that linked him with Hull City, Stoke City, Everton and Aston Villa. I bet you didn't see him coming, don't you. (status: CONFIRMED)

Antonio Valencia in the meantime arrived with an undisclosed fee, presumably around 16 million Pound from Wigan. This Ecuadorian right-midfielder will be a property to watch, I hope, in years coming. Nominated for the Best Young Player at the 2006 World Cup it appears the 23 year old who has 34 caps for Ecuador has a bright future. (status: CONFIRMED)

Gabriel Obertan, a young arrival from French club Bordeaux. Playing int he winger position, he may not be absolute replacement for Ronaldo but with 3 million Pound with a four-years contract sealed recently, this player dubbed to be another younger version of Thierry Henry. (status: CONFIRMED)

Frank Ribery should be an expensive one. The French is a possible suitable candidate to replace Ronaldo. But Bayern Munich could not be ready to release him yet and possibly he may going to Spanish sides instead. Fergie has booked a 60 million contract bid on him. His abilities are unquestioned, great dribbler, pace and immense skill, he also added goals to his repertoire scoring 14 in all competitions this season. (status: SEEMS HE IS MORE ON SPAIN THAN ENGLAND - COULD BE AS HIGH AS 87M Pound)

Karim Benzema could be as great as Eric Cantona, or maybe I am too over-rated on him. The French striker is a hot property of Lyon. A seasoned Champions League performer, 24 caps for France and over 50 goals for Lyon in two seasons tells you a bigger picture about him. He has been a primary target for Fergie for years. (status: LYON SAID THAT HE IS NOT 'UNTRANSFERABLE' - AROUND 30-40M Pound...Now he has signed for Real Madrid - BUGGER!!!)

David Silva, a Spanish with great pace, skill, vision, great technical ability and a lethal shot on him. Valencia's financial burden may sees him off soon but rivals like Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid are after him as well. (status: LOWER 30M POUND)

And a part of those list, you also have names like:

• Mirko Vucinic (AS ROMA - STRIKER)
• Douglas Maicon (INTERNACIONAL - DEFENDER)
• Luis Fabiano (SEVILLE - STRIKER)
• Douglas Costa (GREMIO - WINGER)
• Sergio Aguero (ATLETICO MADRID - STRIKER)
• Andre-Pierre Gignac (TOULOUSE - STRIKER)
• Nilmar (INTERNACIOANL - DEFENDER)
• Iker Casillas (REAL MADRID - GOALKEEPER)
• Ashley Young (ASTON VILLA - WINGER)
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (INTERNACIONAL - STRIKER)

EPL: IT'S THREE DIFFERENT STORIES

Matchday 32 in the Barclay's English Premier League. The weekday match is a bit too much for the Big 4. Manchester United already had a run of 6 games successive all weeks round and it is getting too much hectic. Liverpool had a rest day over the weekend when the FA Cup Semi Final was enrolled. The weekday matches produced slightly different stories for different teams, particularly the Big Four.

LIVERPOOL vs ARSENAL

Liverpool was thrown out of the Champions League after a dramatic finish in Stamford Bridge last week. Nevertheless, the title which is still within their reach is the League title. Arsenal meanwhile is still in CL but suffered a comeback defeat by Chelsea over the weekend. Arsenal is still within points of reach to catch up the third place of Chelsea at the moment.

THE OUTCOME: A goal spree in a dramatic styles again. Is this Liverpool way of giving out so much entertainment? 8 goals last week and another 8 goals this week - Liverpool has let down 11 goals in the last 4 competitive games - that is not good. Indeed, Mr Gerrard is still struggling with injury in which he has been sidelined for weeks. The massacre of 4 goals a piece is made more entertained when Andrei Arshavin exploded 4 goals for Arsenal. He is a goal-scoring-wild-machine, in fact all 4 goals by Arshavin were created through 4 shots on target. Liverpool failed to capitalise the dominance they have while seeing endless shots that never get pass Lukasz Fabianski, a young Pole keeper on the other side. Not even 2 goals by Torres and Benayoun could do much to avoid any more points dropped.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Andrei Arshavin

CHELSEA vs EVERTON

Chelsea is through to the semi-final of CL and final of the FA Cup. Everton is still eyeing for the fifth place when Aston Villa's form began to deterioriate. This is the first match out of the two that will see this both side will be competing each other. Wait for another epic on the end of May where both will battle it out again for the lucrative FA Cup.

THE OUTCOME: It was not easy for both teams as both are known to be resilient in some form of artistic in football. It was the night when both goalkeepers were forced to make much of it to which in a resultant of frustrating goalless draw. Joleon Lescott, Steven Pienaar and Tim Cahill fired much of the ball towards Cech but it was some form of misfortune that the ball just did not went in. Meanwhile good runs by Frank Lampard were frantically cut out by a over-working Joseph Yobo, if not his performance may lead to the ball lurking straight for Drogba. Drogba was not much on fire but still he is dangerous. Set pieces fell to be converted by Lampard and Ballack. In fact the attention of the night was Tim Howard, with superb saves. In the end, no goals and a frustrating night for both.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Tim Howard

MANCHESTER UNITED vs PORTSMOUTH

Manchester United booted out by everton on an extra-long match with a casual-lifeless penalty shootout. Nevertheless, no more quintiplet titles but letting go one may ease some pressure and ensuring the focus on the League title. Either way, Portsmouth still lingering on the mid of the table but may still find themself lucky enough for another season in top flight, mathematically.

THE OUTCOME: It is a less interesting match where as usual United dominates but sprung only few goals. A good pass by Anderson allowed a thought-offside Giggs to cross before Rooney converted the first goal. After that the total domination was seen, with great passing and runs were not materialize with the failure to convert - finishing was somehow blunt. It was not until the substitute Carrick found his run unchallenged before kicked the ball pass David James for the second in dying hour. Portsmouth on occassion looked dangerous but somehow still not capable to breach Van Der Saar. In the end, a sweat victory over Pompey and the winner of the week is perhaps The Red Devils. However, Fergie must be concerned with the double injury on Gary Neville and John O'Shea - the priceless left back.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Wayne Rooney

THE STANDINGS

Manchester United (74pts, with a game in hand, GD +35)

Liverpool (71 pts, GD +38)

Chelsea (68 pts, GD +35)

Arsenal (62 pts, GD +26)

WHO EVER THEY ARE, HUMAN ARE JUST ARROGANT

It was supposed to be match of the week, but after 74 minutes into the game, it turned sour and it turned very ugly. After 90 minutes of lifeless performance by my favourite team, it quickly turned hopes into dopes. I agreed, should the nervousness and the plans went well, the ending may not be like this. Eventually I could not stand it anymore, walked out of the cafeteria where all eyes of the fans or the anti-fans were fixing to the medium-sized television in the dining hall. Later, I went to my room and I just bursted into tears while still typing the message into the Innit chatbox.

Yes, last Saturday, it was the day when all Manchester United fans gloomed. We mourned for our lost in the hands of the in-form Kop. We failed to defend our good record against them in our home, Old Trafford since 1936. We failed, outclassed, outpaced and outsmarted in all forms. I don't really care if they lost the game but the defeat at such number is a humiliation. However, as the disappointment looming and growing expansionally, with the jeers of all the Liverpool fan; I was still fortunated that there were some good words coming out from peoples surrounding me.

Oh yes, losing a game even as terrible as this will not make any differences. Manchester United is still on a less-cushioned 4 points lead with an extra gane in hand. Losing a game whether a big margin or small margin still gives no point and winning a game big or small is still worth a three points. There is one even reminded me that any teams in the world will eventually need a wake up call. Barcelona and Real Madrid were once a champion of Europe. So do Juventus or Inter Milan or even Liverpool itself whom had won any trophy they contested. Once a champion, there is no assurance that you will remain a champion tomorrow.

1-4 defeat to Liverpool is really a wake up call. A solid defence line up for the past two seasons headlined by Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand with Edwin Van Der Sar on the goal mouth had rarely did mistake for all this while. Truly last Saturday was not their night. Performances on the midfield failed to shine as well with most passes mis-Q terribly. However, those dark episode is just one of hundreds episode need to endure by each giant team every season. It is a lost that humiliate us and make us humble-down-to-Earth and this is just football. Whatever written on the piece of paper may not translate well into a result. Champion or no champion, some day they will bow down.

This morning, when I read the paper when Mr. Rafael benitez claimed that since Liverpool had beaten both Real Madrid and Manchester United in a single week, especially Manchester United been the European champion and world champion, they can now claimed themselves as the true champion. Manchester United fans may regard this remark as somehow arrogant. It is the same way the Liverpool fans may regarded all those remarks made by Sir Alex Ferguson himself over the last two seasons. The same statement was uttered by Rafa few years back when they won the Champions League which in the end, they did not defended their title at all and mostly played as rank third behind Manchester United and Chelsea.

Even the mastermind of once mighty Chelsea, Jose Mourinho when they were the dominant in 2006 and 2007, although failed to win the European Champions League, also once said that Chelsea was the best team in the world. Ironically, they failed to win the European club title, not at one under Mourinho's helm. Not to forget, Arsene Wenger also claimed that they have the best and talented team in the world but yet still unable to make any impact, while winning three times of the Premier League since inauguration in 1992.

So, who ever they are, human will always been arrogant. In football, tell me which of them never been arrogantly said that they are the best team in the World? Who said Fergie didn't? Who said Rafa never said so? Who said Chelsea or Arsene Wenger never? In football, arrogancy plays a vital role in building the team spirit or destroying reputation once they fall.

Come on, tell me who is not selfish and arrogant in this world? As a football fans, you only have two options, two roads in front of you - Manchester United fan or no Manchester United fan. What disgust me the most, some people wearing Arsenal's or Chelsea's jerseys and pledged support for Liverpool. Or else some Liverpool fan supported Chelsea or Arsenal when playing against Manchester United. This is reality. It's either you love or you hate them.