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Five Spices

"One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best." (Alan Shearer) And our Chairman Damon can never be said to be one to make unfair criticisms.

Harsh, but fair, our Chairman dispenses his trenchant, pithy post match analysis of the overpaid heroes and goats that make up the “Happy Band” of Euro 2008. If you're in the prawn sandwich and skim latte club, or part of the "Dippy Darling" brigade this column is not for you!!

Who's hot? Who's not? Who's left their bottle at home? Watch this space carefully as the tournament unwinds.

Previous Analysis :

Week 21.... Week 20.... Week 19 - Boxing Day.... Week 18.... Week 17.... Week 16

The Late Show

 

Manchester United 1 - Wigan Athletic 0

United close to within striking distance thanks to an early Wayne Rooney strike. Rooney struck in the first minute when sliding home Cristiano Ronaldo's cross but only lasted another five minutes before being forced off with hamstring twang. Wigan enjoyed plenty of possession thereafter but didn't ever really look like snatching an equaliser in a surprisingly low-key game.

 

Blackburn Rovers 3 - Newcastle United 0

Big Sam sticks it to his patched-up former employers to get Rovers out of the bottom three. Newcastle had probably edged the first half of a game that was low on quality but offered enough incident to be entertaining, with Andy Carroll's header being cleared off the line by the much-maligned Keith Andrews and Michael Owen seeing his cross-shot blocked by Stephen Warnock. The match was turned in the second half, though, when Benni McCarthy fell in the box under a challenge from David Edgar and referee Rob Styles gave the latest in his long sequence of soft penalties, with McCarthy picking himself up to convert. Tails up, Rovers made it two just five minutes later when Jason Roberts smashed home after Morten Gamst Pedersen's run had been half stopped. Nicky Butt then saw red before Roberts finished the scoring when side-footing home Pedersen's cross.

 

Bolton Wanderers 0 - Manchester United 1

Man Utd bag their second win in a week to come out of the weekend in top spot. It looked for much of this game as if Wanderers were going to frustrate their visitors for the full ninety minutes, with some committed defending backed up by Jussi Jaaskelainen in top form. You always know with United, though, the game's never over until the final second and Dimitar Berbatov stooped to nod home Carlos Tevez's right-wing cross right at the death. It could all have been so different had Kevin Davies made the most of a close-range header just minutes before, rather than crash it over Edwin van der Sar's crossbar, but the defending champions march on.

 

Chelsea 2 - Stoke City 1

Chelsea turn things around in a dramatic last couple of minutes to put their challenge back on the rails. The Londoners dominated this one for the entire ninety minutes and should have taken the lead on at least two or three occasions before being hit by a classic sucker punch on the hour mark. James Beattie got on the ball with his back to goal and his reverse pass found Rory Delap, who's forward run had been lost by Ashley Cole. Delap had plenty to do but with Alex, Cole and Petr Cech closing in, he produced a deft dinked finish to put the underdogs ahead. It looked as if the goal would be enough to take all three points, with time running out and Chelsea looking desperate, but then Franco Di Santo did well to nod Salomon Kalou's cross back across goal and Juliano Belletti stole in at the far post to level. Then, in a grandstand finish, Miroslav Stoch's cross from the right found Nicolas Anelka. The striker's shot was typically and bravely charged down by the Stoke defence only for the ball to break for Frank Lampard, who smashed an unstoppable left foot drive, via a slight nick of Michael Ballack's back, past Thomas Sorensen for the winner.

 

Hull City 1 - Arsenal 3

Arsenal leave things late at the KC Stadium but stay in with an outside chance of the title after a critical win. Hull, on a poor run of results, came out of the blocks meaning business but Arsenal came closest to scoring in the opening stages when Boaz Myhill tipped Robin van Persie's rapsing free-kick onto the bar with Bernard Mendy getting in smartly to prevent Johan Djourou putting away the rebound. The deadlock was broken on the half hour when Emmanuel Adebayor out-jumped Michael Turner to head home van Persie's corner and the visitors slowly took control but weren't able to put the game to bed. They were made to pay on sixty-five minutes when Daniel Cousin thumped a header into the top corner from Mendy's cross and it was the home side who were now in the ascendant as the rain belted down. Nine minutes before the end, Arsenal re-established their lead through Samir Nasri's pin-point cross-shot and with four minutes left, substitute Nicklas Bendtner made the game safe when poking home from close range.

 

Liverpool 1 - Everton 1

Tim Cahill heads home a late equaliser as Liverpool spurn the chance to reclaim top spot in Monday night's game. In difficult conditions, the Merseyside derby was a scrappy affair with Liverpool just shading first half possession but Everton forcing Pepe Reina into a couple of good saves. Fernando Torres should have done better when one on one with Tim Howard, only to dink his effort against the post from eight yards and the first forty-five minutes finished scoreless. With twenty minutes left, Victor Anichebe tumbled in the box under a challenge from Martin Skrtel but referee Howard Webb waved away his appeals and Liverpool broke quickly. The ball found its way to Steven Gerrard who, once again, smashed home a shot from distance that looked as if it might win the game. Everton kept at it, though, and grabbed a deserved equaliser just three minutes from time when the criminally unmarked Cahill was allowed the freedom of the box to flick home Mikel Arteta's free-kick and bring a dramatic weekend of action to an appropriate close.

 

Manchester City 1 - Wigan Athletic 0

Wigan's recent good run comes to an end at Eastlands. With the build-up to the match dominated by the outlandish Kaka transfer saga, it was another Brazilian who provided much of the home side's creative impetus, with the out-of-favour Elano finding his countryman Robinho with a couple of excellent through balls that should have seen City ahead before the break. A scuffed finish and a Titus Bramble clearance of the line ensured the teams went into the interval goal-less, however. Ten minutes after the restart, Pablo Zabaleta finally gave the Mancunians the lead when controlling Paul Scharner's clearance before volleying it back into the Wigan net. If Mark Hughes's men had hoped to kick on from the opening goal, they were forced to revise their plans just a minute later when Richard Dunne saw red for kicking out at Amr Zaki in retaliation for a sneaky elbow from the Egyptian. Wigan duly dominated the last half an hour or so but with Zaki heading over when a goal looked odds-on and Lee Cattermole denied what could have been a penalty (though a soft one) when tapped by Zabaleta, City were able to hold on for the win that puts a little daylight between them and the drop zone.

 

Sunderland 1 - Aston Villa 2

Ten-man Villa maintain their challenge with a late winner at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland enjoyed the better of the first half and deservedly took the lead when Danny Collins rose above Carlos Cuellar to head home Carlos Edwards's free kick after eleven minutes. The Black Cats might have gone further ahead through Dean Whitehead and Anton Ferdinand but found themselves pegged level in controversial fashion on the hour mark. Ashley Young crossed from the right and James Milner, bundled over by the retreating Pascal Chimbonda, got his head to the ball but his last touch seemed to be with his hand as he scuffed it into the net. Ten minutes later and the visitors' chances of the win looked to be slim after Young was sent of for an airborne clatter into Whitehead but with ten minutes to go they were an awarded a penalty when Paul McShane almost decapitated Gabriel Agbonlahor on the edge of the area (though it looked just outside, to me). Gareth Barry stepped up to confidently stick it away and the Villans remain a real threat to the recent status quo.

 

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - Portsmouth 1

An enjoyably open game ends all square after Jermaine Defoe predictably bags an equaliser against his previous club on his second Tottenham debut. This one hit top gear straight from the whistle with chances going begging at both ends in a frantic first half. David James was performinh wonders in the Pompey goal while only a superb last-ditch tackle from Vedrun Corluka prevented Armand Traore from sending the visitors in a goal up at the interval. Despite the breathless pace, it took an hour for the first goal to come when David Nugent finally opened his Pompey account with a drive across Huerelho Gomes that clipped the unlucky Gareth Bale on the way through. Spurs swarmed forward in response and got a deserved equaliser ten minutes later when Defoe smashed a left-footed effort into the bottom corner after some excellent work from Luka Modric. The draw, in truth, does neither side much good as they look to escape from trouble but it was probably a fair result and neither side really deserved to finish empty-handed after serving up some much-needed entertainment.

 

West Bromwich Albion 3 - Middlesbrough 0

Albion make it three home wins on the trot to briefly climb off the bottom of the table. Nothing's going right for a Boro side in an appalling run of form and they went behind in controversial fashion with just four minutes on the clock. Chris Brunt was standing a good three yards offside as Carl Hoefkens's cross came over from the right. Tony McMahon's weak defensive header fell to the Baggies winger, who's subsequent shot then deflected off the hapless defender and past Ross Turnbull in the Boro goal. With Alfonso Alves in particularly profligate mood, Middlesbrough spurned a succession of chances to get back on level terms and were made to pay when Robert Koren spanged a pass into the net via new signing Marc-Antoine Fortune after the break. With Koren himself bagging the third, shortly after Didier Digard had been sent off for an unnecessary stamp and with a quarter of an hour left, the game was up for the Teessiders and they now find themselves deep in trouble.

 

West Ham United 3 - Fulham 1

West Ham are suddenly on a roll after seeing off an unusually porous Fulham at the Boleyn. Daniele Di Michele started for the Hammers, after Craig Bellamy's want-away strop had ruled the Welshman out, and sneaked in on the blind side to make the most of John Pantsil's casual chest down to put his side ahead after only six minutes. United were a goal up and in control until, out of the blue, Paul Konchesky charged forward before unleashing a screamer into the top near corner to put Fulham back on terms. The full-back plummeted from hero to zero within a quarter of an hour after the restart, though, when he was initially caught in possession by the busy Carlton Cole before desperately bringing the striker down as he burst into the area. Mark Noble tucked away the penalty with little fuss and the Eastenders were back in control once more. Superstitious types say bad luck comes in threes and it was certainly the case for the Cottagers as, with fifteen minutes left, Dickson Etuhu's slopping midfield pass was intercepted by Jack Collison who started a rapier-like Hammers counter-attack that saw Cole rolling home to make the game safe.