European Soccer Weekly
Issue 27 - Friday February 6th, 2004
News
The knives have been out in France this week as
Lens manager
Joel Muller and
PSG boss
Henri Michelle are both sacked. Having won the league championship last season
Lens Chairman
Gervais Martel has just run out of patience as his club sits in 11th place in the table.
PSG have now disposed of their third manager in just under two years as they desperately seek to restore their former glories.
There have also been two managerial casualties in Scotland as
Motherwell, currently propping up the SPL, parted company with
Terry Butcher and
Dundee sacked
Jim Duffy. Having finished 3rd and 4th in the last two seasons,
Dundee’s struggles during this campaign have prompted drastic action even though
Duffy has lifted them to within touching distance of a top-six place in recent weeks.
In Wales
Connah’s Quay have been bumping along near the bottom of the table all season and manager
Nev Powell has paid the price. League Champions two seasons ago they finished in mid-table last season and Chairman
Ron Morris is desperate to turn around their slump.
League Roundup
Belgium
Sint-Truiden and
Charleroi show no signs of cracking under the pressure as they maintain their fine form.
Sint-Truiden defeated
AA Gent 1-0 whilst
Charleroi won 2-1 at
Virton. Anderlecht played twice in the week and blew a glorious chance to put pressure on the top two. They were kept scoreless by
GBA on Saturday and lost 2-0 at
Lierse earlier today. Having won 3-2 at
Westerlo on Saturday,
Lierse have now climbed to 4th in the table.
La Louviere are starting to lose touch at the bottom of the table as
Antwerp picked up points in a 2-0 defeat of
Lommel and
Mons drew 3-3 at
Lokeren. The visitors came within 3 minutes of taking all the points but the home side managed a very late equaliser.
England
Man Utd are now 8 points clear of
Arsenal with a game in hand following last week’s results. United had a comfortable 4-1 win over
Everton and the Gunners suffered a 4-2 reverse at
Newcastle. Liverpool were in action twice and a 3-0 victory over
Southampton coupled with a scoreless draw at
Aston Villa has taken them level on points with
Arsenal having played a game more.
Blackburn also profited from two games, beating
Chelsea 3-0 and then winning 1-0 at
West Brom to go 4th. Six points for
Tottenham takes then to 5th as they triumphed 2-0 over
West Ham and then won 1-0 at
Southampton. The Hammers did manage a 2-0 win over
Charlton in their other game but they have slipped down to 6th. Two more defeats for
Brighton brings them even closer to the First Division and a 1-1 draw between
Sunderland and
Charlton was of no great help to either side. A 2-1 win for
West Brom at
Fulham has taken the Baggies out of the bottom three as
Charlton drop below them.
France
Sedan have closed to within a point of leaders
Nantes as they played twice this week and recorded victories over
Bastia and
Nice. Nantes were held to a 1-1 draw by
Auxerre but they have a two-game cushion over their nearest rivals.
Rennes were defeated 2-0 by visiting
Lille but remain 3rd. 4th place
Bordeaux closed the gap however drawing 1-1 at
Auxerre and wining 2-0 at
Guingamp. A 1-0 defeat at
PSG keeps
Troyes bottom and
Lorient and
Guingamp also lost.
Germany
The big guns are starting to take over at the top of the Bundesliga as
Dortmund go to the top of the table after the beat
Werder Bremen 3-1 and
Nürnberg were held 2-2 at bottom of the table
Cottbus. A 4-2 win at
Greuther Fürth takes
Leverkusen 3rd and
FC Bayern regain 4th position with a 1-0 win at
1.FC Köln. A 2-0 defeat at
Kaiserslautern drops
Schalke 04 down to 5th.
Greece
There was a top of the table showdown this week as
Olympiakos visited
Panathinaikos with the home side triumphing 3-2 thanks to an 88th minute goal. A 2-0 win over
Panachaiki for
AEK has moved them into 2nd place on goal difference above
Olympiakos. Bottom club
Giannena had a rare win, just their second of the season, as they upset 4th placed
Aris by recording a 2-0 victory in Salonika.
Holland
The league programme is just restarting and one game was played earlier today as
PSV beat
Heerenveen 2-0 to cement second place in the table.
Italy
Leaders
Milan had a fine 2-1 win over
Roma to maintain top spot and 2nd place
Parma kept up their good form with a 4-0 defeat of struggling
Palermo. Sampdoria go 3rd with a 3-1 win over
Lecce as
Inter drop to 4th after a surprise 1-0 defeat at
Torino who have now climbed to 11th place after 8 league matches without a defeat.
Chievo gave their relegation fight a boost by beating
Ascoli 2-1 although they still have a long way to go.
Northern Ireland
The top four all won this week -
Portadown beat
Glenavon 4-0,
Distillery won 1-0 at
Ballymena Utd, Coleraine came back from
Newry with a 3-2 win and
Glentoran’s 1-0 win at
Institute has condemned the bottom club to a relegation playoff place at best.
Portugal
Sporting have now re-taken first place following their 3-0 defeat of
Academica as
Benfica were not in action.
Gil Vicente stay 3rd despite dropping points in a scoreless draw with
P. Ferreira and 4th place
Porto also drew 2-2 at
Salgueiros. There is a gulf between the top six teams and the rest and there is a mere 5 points between 7th and 17th so if any of these teams can put together a few wins they can go shooting up the table.
Republic of Ireland
Dundalk stay top having beaten
Monaghan Utd 1-0 and 2nd place
Shamrock Rovers won 4-1 at bottom club
Finn Harps. 3rd place
Bohemians won 3-2 at
Waterford Utd despite having to fight back from 2-1 down with 10 men.
Scotland
The Old Firm both dropped points this week with scoreless draws.
Celtic were held by
Hearts and
Dundee held
Rangers. Raith Rovers take over 3rd place after a remarkable 6-2 win over
Livingston.
Spain
A narrow 1-0 win for leaders
Barcelona over bottom club
Elche stretched their lead to 9 points as 2nd place
Sevilla dropped points in a 2-2 draw at
Badajoz. A good 2-0 win over
Valencia has taken
Athletic Bilbao to within a point of
Sevilla. 4th place
Deportivo lost 2-1 at
Oviedo and
Real Madrid remain 5th with a 2-0 win over
Malaga.
Turkey
Despite not being in action this week
Besiktas are still top as
Fenerbahçe spurned the opportunity to go top as they were held 1-1 at
D. Bakirspor. Adanaspor stay 3rd having defeated
Samsunspor 2-0 and
Galatasaray suffered another defeat as they lost 3-1 at home to
G. Antepspor. Bottom club
Sekerspor gained their second win of the season but still remain 10 points from safety.
Wales
Bangor City’s first defeat in 10 games dropped them to second as
Carmarthen Town won 2-1 and
Aberystwyth Town go top after their 3-1 win at
Flexsys Cefn Druids. A 2-1 win for
Welshpool at
Afan Lido takes them 3rd and a 1-1 draw for
T.N. Solutions at
Caersws drops them to 4th.
Cup Roundup
France
Last weekend saw the League Cup 3rd Round completed and a couple of First Division clubs came unstuck against Second Division opposition.
Le Mans came back from
Nice with a win in the penalty shootout after their game finished 2-2 at full time and extra time failed to produce a result. The
Le Mans captain
Stefan Preda (33, GK) was the hero as the Romanian saved a penalty in normal time and two more in the shootout. Troubled
PSG were humbled 1-0 by
Chateauroux at the Parc des Princes as their season goes from bad to worse and the next day manager
Henri Michel was fired.
Germany
Leverkusen confirmed their status as Cup favourites when they destroyed
M’gladbach 6-1 in the first Semi Final at the BayArena. In the other game at the Olympiastadion in Munich,
1860 Munchen triumphed 3-2 over
HSV after extra time. The visitors came back from two goals down to force extra time but 1860 scored the decisive goal 5 minutes into the extra period.
Holland
Three First Division clubs have made it into the Quarter Finals of the Dutch Cup.
Excelsior had a fine 2-0 win at
Groningen, Emmen won 1-0 at
Volendam and
Fortuna came back from a goal down to beat visitors
Heerenveen 2-1. The Semi Finals are guaranteed a First Division presence also as
Excelsior face
Emmen in one of the Quarter Finals.
Italy
The Italian Cup Semi Final second leg matches both produced upsets.
Milan were defeated 2-0 by visiting
Torino as home keeper
Christian Abbiati (26, GK) was red-carded but the league leaders still progress 3-2 on aggregate.
Atalanta produced a major upset in Parma, winning 3-0 to win 4-2 overall.
Parma’s highly rated French keeper and club captain
Sebastien Frey (23, GK) was criticised after the match for his poor performance.
Portugal
Seven of the eight Quarter Finalists in the Portuguese Cup are from the Premier Division, the exception being Second Division
Farense who pulled off a very good 2-1 win over
U. Madeira in the 6th Round on Wednesday.
Scotland
The Scottish Cup 3rd Round threw up a few surprises. First Division
Arbroath had a fine 3-2 win at home to
Hearts with captain
Craig Feroz (26, F RC) scoring the winner in stoppage time. Non-league
Cove Rangers held Division Two
Alloa to a goalless draw despite playing with 10 men for the last half hour. They went one better in the replay, coming back from
Alloa with a 2-1 win.
Falkirk, flying high in the First Division, had a 1-1 draw with
Motherwell at Brockville but were thumped 4-0 in the replay.
Spain
The Spanish Cup Semi Final lineup is now decided following Wednesday’s Quarter Final second legs. A 1-0 win at
Alaves completed a 3-1 aggregate victory for
Mallorca. Elche held
Barcelona scoreless at the Nou Camp but still lost out 5-0 overall.
Valencia had a good 2-1 win at
Betis thanks to a late winning goal to go through 3-2. But most impressive of all,
Oviedo turned around a 1-goal deficit against visiting
Real Madrid into a 3-1 aggregate win.
Real had
Robert Pires (31, AM RLC) sent off after just 4 minutes and lost captain
Fernando Hierro (35, D/DM C) and
Ivan Helguera (28, D/DM C) to injury in the first half. When
Helguera left the pitch
Real had already used all of their substitutes and they had to play the second half with only 9 men. Oviedo tied the scores on 55 minutes and then unlucky
Real conceded two further goals in stoppage time to tumble out of the competition.
Spotlight on .....The Champions League
With Champions League action just about to re-commence this week’s Spotlight homes in on the state of play in the second phase groups.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Group APhase 2 Group APos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Arsenal ENG 2 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 2nd Roma ITA 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Real Madrid ESP 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 4th FC Bayern GER 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0</pre>
In our opinion, whoever gets through out of this four will be amongst the strong favourites to go all the way.
Arsenal have made a dream start, beating
FC Bayern 1-0 in Munich and recording a superb 3-0 win at home to
Roma. Thierry Henry (26, S C) relishes the big stage and with 6 goals in his 8 CL games, his form in Europe is excellent. He scored a hat trick in the Gunners opening Phase 1 game at home to
Parma to overturn a 2-1 deficit and take 3 valuable points.
Arsenal are unbeaten in the CL so far with 7 wins and a draw in 8 games and look like a good bet to progress.
Roma beat
Real Madrid 2-0 in their Phase 2 opener, despite having
Walter Samuel (25, SW/D C) red-carded. Captain
Francesco Totti (27, F C) and
Luca Toni (26, S C) were outstanding in that game and
Toni has found the net 10 times in 8 games in Europe.
Real got their campaign back on track with a 2-0 defeat of
FC Bayern in game two and having spent £42M in the summer they expect to see a return on their investment. The German Champions lost two games in Phase 1 and have yet to score a goal in Phase 2.
Ottmar Hitzfeld has his work cut out if he is to turn them around as many commentators feel that some of his ageing first team players are past their best.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Phase 2 Group BPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Lyon FRA 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 3 1 6 2nd Barcelona ESP 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd AEK GRE 2 0 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 4th PSV HOL 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 1</pre>
Lyon barely scraped through their Phase 1 group so their position at the top of Group B comes as some surprise. But you can’t argue with their results - a 2-0 home win over
Barcelona and a 3-1 win over
AEK in the intimidating atmosphere of the Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens. In both of those games their captain, the veteran Brazilian striker
Sonny Anderson (33, S C) was a key figure.
Barcelona got back on track with a 3-0 defeat of
PSV at the Nou Camp with
Javier Saviola (22, F C) finding the net twice.
AEK and
PSV played out a 1-1 draw in their opening game in Eindhoven and if the Dutch champions don’t get a result in their next game at
Lyon they will struggle to qualify. They need big performances from their big names and will expect the likes of
Mark van Bommel (26, DM C),
Mateja Kezman (24, S C), and highly rated youngster
Arjen Robben (20, AM/F LC) to live up to their reputations.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Phase 2 Group CPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Milan ITA 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 4 2nd Athletic Bilbao ESP 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Olympiakos GRE 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 4th Liverpool ENG 2 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1</pre>
Even though they finished top of their Phase 1 group,
Liverpool didn’t look too impressive, losing at both
AEK and
Nantes. They started Phase 2 with a scoreless draw in
Bilbao but were perhaps unfortunate to lose 2-1 to
Milan at Anfield thanks to a late goal from
Andriy Shevchenko (27, S C). With 6 goals from 8 CL games, the Ukrainian hitman is in good form and Liverpool need
Michael Owen (24, S C) to find a similar vein of form. As it stands his solitary goal in 5 European outings is not an adequate return for a player of his abilities.
Milan breezed through Phase 1 unbeaten but also drew their opener when
Olympiakos held them to a nil-nil draw in Italy. There is still all to play for in a tight group and the next couple of games will be critical for all concerned.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Phase 2 Group DPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Man Utd ENG 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 6 2nd Betis ESP 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Parma ITA 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 4th Dortmund GER 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 1</pre>
Manchester United continue their imperious progress in the Champions League. Qualification from Phase 1 was secured with 5 wins and a draw with just one goal conceded. They are in pole position in Group D with a 100% record and two clean sheets into the bargain. A
David Beckham (28, M RC) goal saw off
Parma in their opener at Old Trafford and this was followed by a fine 2-0 win at
Dortmund. Having finished 3rd in the EPL last season, United had to play a qualifying match to get to the group stages but they brushed aside
Levski Sofia 6-1 on aggregate. In
Ruud van Nistelrooy (27, S C) United have one of the best strikers in world football and he has scored 10 times in 10 European games.
Real Betis finished as runner-up in the Primera Liga last season but are having a torrid time domestically and are just two places above the relegation slots but perhaps the Champions League provides a welcome respite from their struggles in the league.
Game of the Week
Wednesday February 4th, 2004
Scottish Premier League
Raith Rovers 6 Livingston 2 Raith Rovers welcomed the visit of
Livingston to Stark’s Park hoping for a win that would take them back up to 3rd place in the SPL, a position that they had held prior to the visitors usurping them. The visitors themselves were bottom of the table back in October but a terrific run of form has seen them climbing the table. Under the guidance of the canny
Jocky Scott, Raith have won consecutive league titles and have risen from the Second Division to the upper reaches of the Premier League and challenging for a place in Europe.
On a vile evening in Kirkaldy the home side set about the visitors with relish and soon had a goal for their endeavours.
Shaun Dennis played the ball out from the back, finding
Dariusz Adamczuk who showed excellent skill to beat
David Bingham. Alert to movement ahead of him the veteran Pole, signed from Rangers last season, picked out
Graham Barrett in the area and the on-loan forward finished neatly. Livingston responded positively and first
Bingham came close with a shot from the edge of the area and then
Barry Wilson smacked the crossbar with a left foot volley. But Raith were soon on the attack again as
Adamczuk and
Barrett combined neatly to find
Martin Prest. The Argentinean striker played the ball into the area looking for the head of
Marvyn Wilson but
Matt Heywood got there first. However, his clearing header fell nicely for
Stuart Lovell and the midfielder controlled the ball with one touch before firing home against his former club. The Australian international joined Raith on a Bosman at the start of this season and is one of a number of very effective signings that the Raith manager has made.
With Livingston caught firmly on the back foot,
Barrett scored his second a few minutes later.
Adamczuk was again the instigator as his clever pass found
Marvyn Wilson who sent in a teasing cross that the onrushing
Barrett despatched with aplomb. It was all Raith now as the visitors were clearly rattled. Another
Marvyn Wilson cross caused chaos at the back and
Stewart Greacen was forced to head behind for the corner.
Adamczuk swung the corner in and amidst the penalty area jostling that seems the norm these days, referee
Bobby Orr spotted an infringement. It isn’t clear quite how he picked out
Greacen as the culprit, but after some consultation with one of his assistants, the penalty was awarded.
Marvyn Wilson coolly put the kick away to make it 4-0 with less than 20 minutes on the clock and the game was effectively over.
Raith, perhaps understandably, dropped the pace a little, but still managed to score a 5th just before half time.
Lovell it was that swung in a dangerous cross to the near post for
Prest to head home. Livingston did manage to get on the scoresheet just after the restart. The goal was made by some excellent play by
Barry Wilson who made good progress on the right flank before delivering the cross.
Rolando Zárate climbed above
Brian McAllister to plant a firm header into the net. The scoreline became slightly more respectable some 10 minutes later as another piece of good play by
Barry Wilson created an opening for
KÃ¥re Becker to fire home.
Barry Wilson continued his one-man show, volleying narrowly over the bar after being set up by
Zárate and then striking the bar for the second time from a
Stephen Whalen knockdown. But Raith’s top scorer
Martin Prest rounded the game off with his 15th goal of the season following good work from
Barrett.
Jocky Scott was understandably delighted with his team’s performance and with the result as Raith’s fairy tale progress continues. The 50-year-old manager has a growing reputation for picking up players on the cheap and extracting the maximum benefit from them. His team is not the youngest in the division by a long shot - in fact no less that six of today’s starters are on the wrong side of 30 - but there are a few promising youngsters on the books too.
Teams
Raith Rovers: Jason Brown, Paquito (Brian O’Neill 73), Marc McCulloch, Brian McAllister, Shaun Dennis, Jarmo Saastamoinen, Dariusz Adamczuk, Marvyn Wilson (Captain), Martin Prest, Graham Barrett, Stuart Lovell
Subs not used: Matt Dickins, Dene Shields, Jamie Cureton, Andrew Clark
Livingston: Francisco Sánchez Broto, Stewart Greacen (Will Snowdon 73), Alan Wright, Rubio (Captain), Matt Heywood, Quino, Barry Wilson, Stephen Whalen, Kåre Becker, Rolando Zárate, David Bingham (David Bryant 50)
Subs not used: Ben Roberts, Adam Moffat, Vincent Sullivan
Scorers
Raith Rovers: Barrett 3, 16, Lovell 12, Wilson (pen) 19, Prest 45, 76
Livingston: Zárate 47, Becker 55
Man of the Match: Graham Barrett
Attendance: 7,986 Readers Letters
Well we had another full postbag this week - thanks to all of our correspondents and keep ‘em coming.
We’ll start with the delayed response to
LeytonOrient212 regarding
Gary Alexander.
The only
Gary Alexander that we can find is a 24-year-old striker currently playing for
Hull City in the English Second Division. A former
West Ham youth player, Gary was released by the Hammers and picked up by
Swindon and then moved on to
Hull in the 2001/2002 season. Gary played very well last season, finding the net 18 times in 48 starts but he is not in quite such good form in this campaign. In total he has made 199 starts in his senior career and has scored 67 goals.
Reader
AntPaulseno was in contact asking how
Swansea are doing. Well Ant, the Swans are currently riding high in the English Second Division having achieved promotion from Division Three last season. Manager
Alan Curtis has turned the club around since his appointment back in May 2002. The team finished 16th that season but with the new man at the helm they took the runners-up spot to gain promotion. Currently second in Division Two they are on target for back-to-back promotions. Curtis has made sweeping changes to the squad with 25 players coming in and a mere 11 departing. His biggest signing was the very recent acquisition of the experienced
Gerry Taggart (33, D LC) from
Leicester for £650K and the Northern Ireland International has been made club captain and is already a key figure in defence. The biggest sale took place at the start of this year when
David Theobald (25, D C) made a £1M move to promotion rivals
Boston United. The big defender was a top performer for the last couple of seasons and his departure has raised a few eyebrows amongst the supporters. Some of the club’s best performers are local lads -
James Thomas (25, S C) is scoring goals for fun right now and
Kristian O’Leary (26, D/DM RC) is in great form. Division Two is very competitive but the Swans have been there or thereabouts for most of the season and have a good chance of automatic promotion but
Port Vale, Hull and
Luton are all pushing hard.
We received a very nice letter from
Jordi, one of our new overseas subscribers. Jordi wanted to know about Spanish team
Lleida and we’re glad to be able to help.
U.E. Lleida currently sit in 13th place in the Spanish Second Division. They gained promotion from the B Division in season 2001/2002 but have struggled to adapt to the higher level, finishing in 16th place last season. However, they have kept faith with manager
Paco Martinez, recent results have started to improve and a mid-table finish is on the cards. The manager has been very active in the transfer market having spent £1.6M on 29 new players with just 5 players being sold for a total of £975K. The biggest sale took place at the start of this year when
Juanma (28, D C) joined Division Two strugglers
Langreo for £450K - not bad for a player who cost only £30K in June of 2002. The biggest fee paid was £475K to
Melilla for
Jose Carlos (31, F RC), also in June 2002. The team’s top performers are team captain
Loreto (32, AM/F C) and
Javi (34, F LC). Loreto was purchased for £190K from Murcia last season and has made a big impact since his arrival with 34 goals in 66 games. However, he will be leaving to join
Tenerife in the summer at the end of his contract. Javi also joined last season and cost a modest £20K from
Girona. His play on the left wing is a major source of goals for the Lleida attack.
Navarro (31, D C) is still with the club but hasn’t played as much as he might expect thanks to a series of injuries in the early part of the season.
Txema (32, SW/D/DM C) spent 6 seasons at
Racing Santander before joining
Getafe but you may be pleased to know that just 2 weeks ago he rejoined Lleida in a £375K move!
One of our younger readers, 11-year-old
Katie, asked about some former Tottenham heroes.
Osvaldo Ardiles is now back home in Argentina managing
Racing Club. Details of his track record are a little sketchy here in Europe but we believe that he is very happy there although he still follows the fortunes of
"Tott-ing-ham".
Gary Lineker is no longer directly involved in the game but he earns a very lucrative living as a TV presenter and professional "nice guy".
John Barnes has not had any gainful football-related employment for some time although we understand that he would be keen to get back into the game if the right offer came along.
Finally we would like to thank
Fantaboy for his continuing good wishes, although his yearning for
Arsenal to overtake
Manchester United in the EPL seems unlikely to be fulfilled!
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