Newcastle United’s matches everyday more excting for audience, Manchester United gives champion sign for 2013, Liverpool fanstatic with Suarez.
Arsenal 7 Newcastle United 3:Hey Wenger stop to put bench Theo Walcott
The comparisons are clearly laboured. After all, what Thierry Henry achieved at Arsenal is a cut above anything all but an exalted few can expect to match. But at the Emirates on Saturday, to see Theo Walcott race away, his sights on goals, the No 14 on his back and dominating a match, it was impossible to ignore the obvious.
Not least when his manager, Arsene Wenger, had dared to make the link between the two players before this match; still more when Walcott himself has made playing in this central position such a key part of his protracted contract negotiations. And especially as the Frenchman was watching from the stands.
For while Walcott may not be Henry, his hat-trick in an exhilarating goal-frenzied match does make him Arsenal’s most potent player at present. And if this performance does not induce the club to make a fresh offer in order to resolve that contract issue, then Arsenal might as well officially declare their days of ambition over.
For on Saturday, amid a clutch of fine performances – many of them from Newcastle, with Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan and Demba Ba all excellent – Walcott was outstanding. Not perfect, for there were still loose balls and the odd poor decision, but he was a threat from start to finish.
And there were moments when he was sublime. Cutting in from the left on 20 minutes, heading straight for goal and finishing clinically, it was as though the great man had returned. ‘That was a Thierry Henry-type goal,’ agreed Wenger with a smile.
Then there was the moment when, as he skipped past a clutch of defenders, he was felled but jumped to his feet to lift the ball over Tim Krul on 90 minutes. That was a goal of which the world’s greatest players could be proud, Henry included. ‘That had determination, running into the box, dribbling,’ purred Wenger. ‘He has learned a lot because he is an intelligent player. And because he is intelligent he will continue to improve.’
Arsenal, though, had the benefit of a game cancelled on Boxing Day while Newcastle were slogging it out in a 4-3 defeat at Manchester United, which might account for the three goals they conceded in the last five minutes.Walcott then showed there is more to his game, going wide when Giroud came on. And on 84 minutes he delivered a super cross for the Frenchman to stoop and head home.
Yet there was further humiliation for Newcastle. Giroud picked up a loose ball on 87 minutes to shoot from just inside the area and score his second and Arsenal’s sixth. But, as if not to be upstaged, Walcott produced his finest moment, weaving his way through a clutch of defenders, making light of a tumble, and picking himself up to lift the ball over Krul from a tight angle. It was his day.
ARSENAL: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla (Coquelin 86), Oxlade Chamberlain (Giroud 74), Podolski (Ramsey 82), Walcott. Subs not used: Mannone, Rosicky, Ramsey, Djourou, Coquelin, Gervinho.
Goals: Walcott 20, 73, 90+1 Oxlade-Chamberlain 50, Podolski 64, Giroud 84, 87.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Krul, Simpson (Ferguson 83), Coloccini, Perch, Santon, Obertan, Bigirimana (Shola Ameobi 82), Tiote, Marveaux (Tavernier 89), Ba, Cisse. Subs not used: Harper, Sammy Ameobi, Abeid, Streete.
Goals: Ba 44, 69 Marveaux 59.
Booked: Santon
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
Watch Arsenal vs Newcastle United video
[media id=775 width=610 height=340]Manchester United 2 West Bromwich Albion 0:If you got Van persie you dont need to much think
Despite his recent outbursts at officials, opposition players and fellow managers, there is actually not a lot to cloud Ferguson’s horizon.
He received a birthday card – fittingly in a red envelope – from fourth official Phil Dowd and even a pat on the back from one of the referee’s assistants after a jokey confrontation.
But his best presents have already been opened – United’s seven-point lead in the Premier League, a rare clean sheet, an injury list that is shortening by the day and a matchwinner in Robin van Persie.
And to confirm his sense of contentment, Ferguson feels he does not need to enter the tricky January transfer market because he has assembled a squad “as good as any in my time here”.
His recent animated behaviour suggests there has been no dilution of the competitive juices despite the advancing years.
West Brom boss Clarke, 49, a fellow Scot who has been working as player, coach and manager south of the border for virtually the same time span as Ferguson, marvels at his enduring drive.
“I have met a few grumpy 70-year-olds,” said Clarke, “and he is a typical grumpy Scot.
“He likes to go chasing. He hasn’t lost his hunger or his desire. I don’t know if I’d last till 71!
“I think it would be great to think there could be someone like that, someone who has that longevity. But the way the game has gone it is now more short term, and it will be really difficult, if not impossible, to match his achievements.
“It will be much harder to build a dynasty and be in a job as long as he has been.”
As he surveys the first half of a season which has yielded 49 points and 50 goals, Ferguson says that despite being linked with Robert Lewandowski, Leighton Baines, Asmir Begovic and Ashley Cole, among others, he has no need to reach for the chequebook.
“I don’t have to because I am more than satisfied with the players I have in my squad – a group as good as any I have had in my time here,” he said, while also confirming he is not looking to sell Nani either One huge boost has been the return of skipper and defensive rock Nemanja Vidic.
But despite looking pretty much like his old self as United kept only their fourth clean sheet of the season, Vidic admitted it will take at least two months before he is back to his best after virtually 16 months out.
He said: “The doctor is managing the games I am playing. Over the first two or three months I have to really look at that because sometimes I might have a reaction.
“It is nice to be on the pitch and playing games. Hopefully I can play more often so I can build my form and play better.”
After the drama and controversy of the Boxing Day thriller against Newcastle, this was a more routine affair, not helped by a bog of a pitch – it had to be inspected twice before being passed fi t.
After Gareth McAuley’s early own-goal, Ben Foster denied United with three fine saves.
Albion, depleted by illness and injuries, gave United plenty of anxious moments before sub Van Persie finally ended their resistance in the last minute.
That’s 17 in a United shirt so far for Van Persie and means he ends a remarkable calendar year with 38, including 16 for Arsenal and five for Holland.
“He has made a vital difference to our chances of making our mark in the title race,” said Ferguson. “It is not just his personal scoring ability, it’s the way he has improved those around him.”
Manchester United: De Gea, Smalling, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley (Scholes 82), Valencia, Kagawa (Van Persie 65), Young, Welbeck.
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Giggs, Hernandez, Buttner.
Goals: McAuley 9 (og), Van Persie 90
Booked: Valencia
West Brom: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Tamas, Ridgewell, Thorne, Brunt (Morrison 75), Rosenberg (Lukaku 67), Dorrans (Fortune 83), Odemwingie, Long.
Subs not used: Myhill, El Ghanassy, Jara Reyes, Dawson
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)
Watch Manchester United vs West Brom match video
[media id=773 width=610 height=340]Queens Park Rangers 0 Liverpool 3:Luis Suarez catch to New Year
“You do realise you have a better win ratio than Bill Shankly” was the impish fact thrown at him at the press conference after he had stood in for his boss Brendan Rodgers and proved successful in his first game in charge.
The doctors who know rather more about norovirus say that bed rest is, in fact, the best medicine.
That and isolation, so that the rest of your work colleagues do not all come down with the same debilitating illness before, say, your next match against Sunderland 48 hours later.
That is why Rodgers had been sent home from the team hotel on the morning of the game, together with substitute goalkeeper Brad Jones and performance coach Glen Driscoll.
It is also why Pascoe, whose symptoms are less pronounced but clearly evident, was not even allowed to deliver his own half-time team talk – passing on his notes instead to the altogether healthier first-team coach Mike Marsh.
“It was this morning,” Pascoe said. “I wasn’t feeling very well myself, but Brendan’s worse than me. He woke up and wasn’t very well.
“The way the medical team and doctors tried to isolate the players and the staff, they’ve been fantastic. Hopefully they’ll have nipped it in the bud and not many will have been affected by it.
“But Brendan picked the team. All the preparation for the game was all done. The presentations we do to the players, that was all set for today’s game. But unfortunately Brendan woke up and felt unwell.
“I did the presentations today and [first-team coach] Mike Marsh went in and gave them some instructions at half-time.
“They wouldn’t let me into the dressing room. I haven’t heard once from Brendan – that’s how ill he is. He might have watched it, but he was very bad.”
To be fair, by half-time there was not a lot left to be said. Luis Suarez had done most of the talking on the pitch in a sublime first half hour. The Uruguay striker stung the hands of goalkeeper Julio Cesar – one of four changes to the QPR side that lost on Boxing Day – after just seven minutes.
Four minutes later, he strolled around Clint Hill as if he was in the Cotswolds and slid the ball in for the opening goal.
Then by the quarter-hour stage of his post-Christmas ramble, he had found the vast open spaces of the QPR penalty area, where he pulled the ball back across the face of goal. Although Nedum Onuoha got a foot in, the ball simply rebounded to Suarez, who found the back of the net with a nonchalant thwack as though flicking a loose rock from his path.
But actually, it was the third Liverpool goal that really caused the angst to build among the home fans at the size of the task facing the club in 2013. If you are going to turn the corner, first of all you have got to learn to defend one.
Moments before, Steven Gerrard, of all people, had been left in 15 yards of space at the edge of the area to collect Stewart Downing’s short corner.
He picked his spot, his drive was low, but somehow the ball was beaten away.
Lucky escape, but lesson learned, surely?
Incredibly, only Djibril Cisse thought to try to stop Liverpool doing exactly the same trick from their next corner.
Unfortunately, having set off from the half-way line, he was powerless to get to the Liverpool skipper before he clipped a perfect cross onto Daniel Agger’s head to cement QPR’s woes. Game over.
Inevitably, there was a slightly improved second-half display from Rangers. Liverpool, at the same time, began to jade as there seemed less and less urgency to run QPR ragged. But one fan whose seat was just in front of the press box missed all that.
As the third goal hit the back of the net and the QPR towel was collectively thrown in once and for all, he thought he would join in with a few club accessories of his own.
As he made his way to the exit, the hat came off. The scarf soon followed it in a spiralling trajectory towards the pitch. Finally, the replica shirt.
It was a cold day yesterday. Let’s hope he didn’t compound his misery by picking up a virus. There’s a lot of it going about.
QPR: Julio Cesar, Onuoha, Nelsen, Hill, Traore, Mackie, Diakite (Granero 63), Mbia, Wright-Phillips (Da Silva 80), Taarabt, Cisse (Derry 46).
Subs Not Used: Green, Ferdinand, Hoilett, Faurlin.
Booked: Mbia, Da Silva.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique (Fernandez Saez 71), Allen (Carragher 87), Henderson (Lucas 64), Downing, Gerrard, Sterling, Suarez.
Subs Not Used: Gulacsi, Assaidi, Coates, Shelvey.
Booked: Lucas.
Goals: Suarez 10, 16,Agger 28.
Attendance: 18,304
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Watch Queens Park Rangers vs Liverpool match video
[media id=774 width=610 height=340]Barclays Premier League game week 20 other Results
Sunderland 1 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Norwich City 3 – 4 Manchester City
Reading 1 – 0 West Ham United
Stoke City 3 – 3 Southampton
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Fulham 1 – 2 Swansea City
Everton 1 – 2 Chelsea
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