Sunday, August 21, 2011

2011-12 European Football Wrap - Episode Two

Week 2 was a little bit less exciting than expected with all the games in La Liga's opening weekend called off due to an ongoing player strike. Nevertheless, we had plenty of games with plenty of goals from around the continent.




With Serie A still to come but everyone else moving through the gears and picking up pace, the new season is off and running. Italy's Serie A joins the fray on August 27th.

Arjblog will be bringing you a weekly round up all the action in all the big leagues along with snippets from around the continent. Football is back. Soccer hath returneth !

With the transfer window still open till the end of August, continuing Previews (England and Spain) and Meet and Greet features (The Big Five) will follow over the course of the coming fortnight. Champions' League and Europa League previews will appear after the draw for the group stages at the end of the month.

Weekend of August 20:

France

The weekend saw round three in France as defending Champions Lille picked up their first win of the season, beating Caen, 2-1 away, on Saturday. Nicholas Debouchy and summer arrival Benoit Pedretti (formerly of Auxerre) scored the early goals before Benjy Nivet pulled one back, from the spot, for Caen. Elsewhere, there were a flurry of draws around the league as only two of the six matches on Saturday, recorded results.




Lyon was held 1-1 at Brest (stop sniggering at the back) - Benoit Lesoimier's opener being cancelled out by bull-in-a-china-shop striker Bafetembi Gomis. Toulouse was also stopped at Nice, drawing 1-1, with Lyon youth starlet Anthony Mounier opening the scoring just past the half hour mark before Adrien Regattin equalised for Toulouse in injury time.

Yoann Gouffran put Bordeaux on their way at home to Auxerre, but the side tipped to struggle this season, showed plenty of spirit to get back even, with Alain Traore scoring his third goal in as many games, and finish 1-1. Two promoted sides drew 1-1 in the final match on Saturday with Ajaccio taking the lead through Frederic Sammartino, his second goal in two games, before Evian drew level through Kevin Berigaud.


Alain Traore
Sunday saw four more games as Sochaux and PSG both won. The former won away at Nancy as Mathieu Peybernes and Sloan Privat secured an early load that was only eroded slightly by Youssef Hadji's strike for the home side. PSG picked up their first win of the season as well, with a 2-1 home triumph over Valenciennes. Kevin Gameiro and Remis Gomis traded goals just before half time, before Nene converted a penalty just after the hour mark to give the Parisians the win.


Montpellier hammered Rennes 4-0 at home as Younes Belhanda and Geoffrey Dernis put the home side on their way before Souleymane Camara added a late double. In the late game, Olympique Marseille could only draw goalless with St. Etienne at home, a result that sees the latter drop their first points of the season.


With three rounds gone, realistic analysis of a league table can begin. Montpellier leads Toulouse and St. Etienne with nine points from three games as opposed to the latter pairs' seven.


Fave-watch: Lyon are fifth, while Lille, PSG and Marseille are all in midtable. Lyon and Marseille are unbeaten but the latter have drawn all three of their games.


Surprisingly Auxerre's Alain Traore leads the scoring charts with three goals.

Germany

This weekend was round three in the Bundesliga as well with six matches on Saturday and plenty of goals.

Dortmund got their second win in three with a swift 2-0 defeat of Nurnberg at home.  Kevin Grosskreutz and Polish winger Robert Lewandowski scoring the goals. Bayern summarily thrashed Hamburg 5-0 at home as Daniel Van Buyten, Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic all got on the scoresheet.  With their second defeat in thre games, Hamburg, as expected, look to have a long, hard season ahead of them.

Stefan Keissling's 28th minute strike was enough to give Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win at Stuttgart who have now, in sequence, won, drawn and lost a game. Hoffenheim got a goal from former Ajax and Liverpool winger Ryan Babel and a penalty conversion from Sejad Salihovic for a 2-0 win at promoted Augsburg.

Cologne and Kaiserslautern played out a 1-1 draw as Mato Jajalo and Ivo Ilicevic scored for their respective sides. The highlight however was an eight goal thriller between Werder Breman and Freiburg, who showed plenty of fight. Clemens Fritz, Claudio Pizarro, Marko Arnautovic, Aaron Hunt, from the spot and Wesley all scored as the home side beat Freiburg 5-3.

Stefan Reisinger and Papiss Demba Cisse, with a double, did what they could to stem the tide but Werder had just too much firepower. After Cisse had given Freiburg the lead, they managed to pull it back to 2-2 and then 3-3 before late goals from Hunt and Wesley sealed the points. Epic.


Papiss Demba Cisse
On Sunday, Hannover and Hertha Berlin drew 1-1 with Pierr Lasogga's equalizer for Berlin cancelling out Sergio Pinto's opener. Schalke finally got their season going with a crushing 4-2 defeat of Mainz in their own backyard. Andreas Ivanschitz and Elkin Soto gave the home side a 2-0 lead, which they held till the our mark. At which point the Westphalian side mounted a furious fightback to score four unanswered goals. Benedikt Howedes, Klaas Jan-Huntelaar, Joel Matip and Christian Fuchs all netted to give Ralf Ragnick's side their first win of the season.


At this germinal stage of the season, Gladbach and Hannover lead the standings with seven points from three games.


Fave-watch: Bayern, Schalke, Dortmund, Werder and Lerverkusen are all on six points with two wins and a loss from three games.


Last year' leading scorer Papiss Demba Cisse and Dutch striker Klaas Jan-Huntelaar both sit atop the standing with four goals apiece.

England

Saturday:

Liverpool heaped further misery on Arsene Wenger and Arsenal with a fortuitous but nonetheless deserved win at Arsenal, their first such win since 2000.  An Aaron Ramsey own goal and an injury time Luis Suarez tap in sealed a 2-0 win for Kenny Dalglish's side. Arsenal have had a difficult start to the season, but with further injuries and suspensions picked up in this game, look to be falling apart.

Newcastle and promoted QPR also won 1-0 away, at Sunderland, in the Tyne-Wear Derby and Everton, respectively. Ryan Taylor sealed the points in the Northeast while Tommy Smith scored the winner in the Northwest.

Aston Villa, European Cup winners in 1982, beat Blackburn 3-1 in Birmingham, with Darren Bent following up strikes from Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey. Morten Gamst Pedersen scored a consolation for Rovers, who already look like dead men walking.

Chelsea came from a goal down to beat West Bromwich Albion at home, 2-1. Shane Long's opener was offset by Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda. Meanwhile, Swansea and Wigan played out a goalless draw.


Edin Dzeko
Sunday:


Promoted Norwich City drew 1-1 with Stoke City at home.  The latter are looking good for the group stages of the Europa League with an away win in midweek, however, they could not crack City. Richie De Laet's goal for the Canaries was cancelled out by Kenwyne Jones' injury time equalizer.


Wolverhampton Wanderers, hereafter called Wolves, beat Fulham 2-0 at home, to start off the season with two wins from two games. Matt Jarvis and Kevin Doyle scored for the Black country side.


In the late game, Manchester City beat Bolton at the Reebok stadium in Bolton, with David Silva and Gareth Barry scoring early for City before Ivan Klasnic puled one back for Wanderers. The Skyblues then put the game out of reach with Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko's goal just after half time. Kevin Davies netted just after the hour, but it proved nothing more than a consolation as City held out for the remaining part of the game.


Manchester United host Spurs on Monday and could join Wolves and City with two wins out of two.


Interestingly, three Manchester City strikers have two goals after two games - Dzeko, Silva and new signing, Aguero.

Scotland

Saturday saw three games with Aberdeen beating Inverness 2-1, Dundee United losing 1-0 to Dunfermline at home and St. Mirren beat Hibernian 2-1 away.

Paul Burns scored the winner for Dufermline as they remain unbeaten with two wins and as many draws from four games. Robert Milsom and Scott Vernon gave Aberdeen a 2-0 lead before Richie Foran pulled one back for ICT.

However, Herge seems to have bought a team in the SPL, as after Gary O'Connor scored an opener for Hibs, Steven Thompson and Steven Thomson edged the game for St. Mirren. That's right, Thompson and Thomson, the identical detectives in the Tintin comics by Belgian author Herge.

Sunday then saw the big boys take the field as Rangers (Kyle Lafferty, Steven Naismith, Greg Wylde) beat Motherwell away and Killie draw goalless with Hearts at home.


Dave McKay
However, the early SPL season produced a major upset with Celtic losing 1-0 to St. Johnstone at home. Dave McKay scored the winner in what was the result of the round and removed Celtic's advantage over Rangers, who had drawn a game in an earlier round. At the start of play Celtic was looking to remain two points ahead of their rivals in blue but now trail them by a point.


With four games played, Rangers and Motherwell both lead the standings with 10 points but the latter have played a game more. Celtic are in third with nine.


Four players are tied with three goals each - Andy Kirk, Gary O'Conner, Anthony Stokes and Steven Naismith.

Holland

As part of round three, the Eredivisie witnessed four games on Saturday.

Vitesse edged Utrecht at home with Wilfried Bony scoring a double while Jocob Mulenga briefly equalised. Excelsior and De Graafschap tied 1-1 while NAC Breda and Groningen also drew 2-2. In the early game on Friday, RKC beat Roda away 2-0.

Twente hammered Heerenveen 5-1 away as Luuk De Jong, Wim Janssen, Emir Bajrami and a souble from Marc Janko provided the goals. Heerenveen look doomed already and slumped to their second defeat in three games.


Marc Janko
Sunday witnessed four more games.


Heracles drew 1-1 with Feyenoord while Jozy Altidore scored a double for AZ who routed NEC Nijmegen 4-0 at home. Ahmed Musa paced VV Venlo with a double as they took the lead before eventually drawing 2-2 with Ajax (Theo Janssen, Kolnbeinn Sigthorsson) before PSV hammered ADO Den Haag 3-0 away through goals from Dries Mertens, Giorginio Wijnaldum and captain Ola Toivonen.


After three games, Twente lead the standing with a perfect nine points from three games. Ajax have seven and PSV, six.


Austrian marksman Marc Janko leads the charts with four goals.

Belgium

The weekend saw seven games with four matches on Saturday and three more on Sunday.

Lierse and Beerschot had drawn 1-1 on Friday in the early game while the rest of the division played out round four on the weekend.

Lokeren (2-0 over Sint Trulden), Mechelen (2-1) over Leuven and Gent (3-2 over Westerlo) all won away. Mijat Maric scored a double for Lokeren in the early game while Yassine El Ghanassy scored two for Gent, including the winner.

Cercle Brugge edged champions Genk at home, winning 3-2.  In a week of doubles, Kevin Janssens scored a pair for Cercle with Rudy scoring the winner. Denis Viane scored an own goal for Cercle to put Genk on the board before Thomas Buffel scored a consolation.

Sunday saw three of the big clubs take the field. Giants Anderlecht draw 2-2 at home to Mons while fellow heavyweights Club Brugge also drew, 1-1 at Warengem. Argentine midfielder Lucas Biglia and Nathan Kabasele scored for Anderlecht. Standard Liege fared much better, beating Kortrijk 3-1 at home. Antonio Dos Santos, nicknamed Kanu, Alan Nong and Mbaye Leye all scored for Standard.


Jeremy Perbet
Mechelen are the surprise leaders with nine points from four games while Club Brugge have eight points. Anderlecht and Standard both have seven points while defending champions Genk are in midtable.


Belgium has an eclectic format with the table splitting into three groups after 20 odd games. Genk, Anderlecht, Standard Liege and at a pinch, Club Brugge, are the main contenders for the title.


Jeremy Perbet, who scored for Mons this week, has five goals atop the scorer's table.

Portugal

Porto summarily beat Gil Vicente on Friday before Benfica did the same to Feirense on Saturday. Both giants won 3-1. Hulk with a double and Cristian Sapunaru scored for Porto while Nolito, Oscar Cardozo and Bruno Cesar did the same for Benfica.


Nolito, whose real name is Manuel Agudo Duran, and has scored two goals in as many games, is a highly rated Spanish attacker who lit up the Segunda A under Luis Enrique at Barcelona B, last year. After serving an apprenticeship at Benfica, he is widely expected to return to Spain, possibly Barcelona in the coming seasons once David Villa hangs up his boots. He turns 25 this year.


Watch this space and Benfica's progress accordingly.


Nolito
On Sunday Academica kept pace with Porto, winning their second game in a row, at home, 1-0, over Rio Ave. Pacos and Braga also won, beating Leiria and Maritimo 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. The third domestic giant Sporting, had a disappointing weekend, managing a goalless draw at Beira Mar.


Olhanense play Setubal on Monday night.


The title is a straight race between Porto and Benfica.  Although Porto have lost manager Andres Villas-Boas to Chelsea and striker Radamel Falcao to Atletico Madrid, they are still the best and most threatening team in the country. Benfica are just a notch below but will fancy their chances this season.


Hulk and Nolito have both notched two goals in successive games.

English Championship 

The second flight played two round this past week as it maintains the frenetic pace is requires to have in a 24 team division with each side playing 46 games.

Round three was Wednesday/Thursday while round four was played over the weekend. Tuesday had eight games on tap with a busy schedule.

Nottingham Forest notched a 1-0 win at Doncaster with former Spurs player Chris Gunter scoring the winner. Crystal Palace also won beating Coventry 2-1 at Selhurst Park for their second win in a row. Irish attacker Sean Scannell and Jermaine Easter scored late in the game and in injury time after Lukas Jutkiewicz had given the visitors the lead. A great result for both Forest and Palace.

Leeds destroyed Hull 4-0 at home as Ross McCormack, Tom Lees, Robert Snodgrass and Ramon Nunez scored for the Yorkshire giants.  Lees scored an own goal to level things before finding the net himself. West Ham did the same at Watford - winning 4-0 - James Tomkins, Joey O'Brien, Carlton Cole and Scott Parker notching for the East London side.

Middlesborough also won away, beating Barnsley 3-1.  After a Stephen McManus own goal gave the home side the lead, Scott McDonald, Barry Robson and Riverside favourite, Dutch attacker Marvin Emnes all netted. Former Reading player Dave Kitson, scored for new club Portsmouth against his old side for a 1-0 win at Fratton Park.

Southampton and Ipswich served up a feast at Portman road, as the Saints won 5-2. Robert Lambert with a double and DAvid Connolly gave the south coast club a 3-0 win before former Blackburn Rover Keith Andrews and former Gunner Jay-Emmanuel Thomas briefly made it 3-2 for the home side. Adam Lallana then scored a late double to crush any Ipswich hopes for a win.

Wednesday saw the remaining four games played out with Milwall and Peterborough starting things off with a 2-2 draw. Liam Trotter and Hamir Bouazza gave Milwall a 2-0 lead before Lee Frecklington and Paul Taylor ground out a point for Posh.

Bristol City won away at Leicester with a Nicky Maynard double either side of a David Nugent strike for the home side, sealing the points. Brighton also won away, at Cardiff City with Ashley Barnes scoring twice, the second from the spot and William Hoskins putting the match out of reach for Cardiff before former Villa winger Peter Whittingham getting a late consolation for the Welsh side.

In the final game on Wednesday, Debry matched Forest's result with an away 1-0 win over Blackpool. Craig Bryson scored the winner.


Kevin Phillips
Saturday saw the first 10 games of round four played out with Crystal Palace, Southampton and Derby continuing their excellent form while Peterborough notched an impressive result. Crystal Palace won its third game in a row, triumphing 1-0 at Hull with Jermaine Easter scoring his second goal in as many games. Nottingham Forest drew 2-2 with Leicester City as Lewis MgGugan and George Boateng replied to claim a point after visiting Leicester had gone two goals up through David Nugent and Swiss winger/striker Gelson Fernandes.

Southampton beat Milwall 1-0 at home courtesy of a Guillerme winner while Derby beat Doncaster 3-0 at home with goals from Irish midfielder Kevin Kilbane and the two Davies, Steve and Billy. Bristol City and Portsmouth drew 0-0 as did Coventry and Watford. Brighton and Hove Albion maintained their unbeaten season with a 2-2 hosting of Blackpool. Chris Mackall-Smith and Ashley Barnes (three goals in two games) put The Seagulls up 2-0 before Kevin Phillips scored his second double of the campaign to secure a point.

Charlie Austin's early goal was not enough for Burnley as Robert Earnshaw levelled for Cardiff City. Barnsley notched a great result, beating Reading 2-1 away.  Stephen Foster and Matt Done scored for Barnsley before Hal Robson-Kanu pulled one back from the spot for Reading.

Peterborough however recorded the result of the round, absolutely demolishing Ipswich 7-1 at home. After Keith Andrews had the temerity to put Ipswich in the lead, Lee Tomlin scored a hat-trick, while Paul Taylor and Grant McCann scored doubles to put the result beyond all doubt. To be fair Ipswich did have both Lee Martin and Tommy Smith sent off around half time, but United were already 4-1 up by then.

Sunday played out the final two games of the doubleheaders this week.  West Ham drew 2-2 with Leeds in a game that harked back to the Premiership in the early part of the previous decade. Carlton Cole and a Patrick Kisnorbo own goal cancelled out goals from Ross McCormack and Adam Clayton. Twice West Ham took the lead, and twice Leeds pegged them back with Clayton's goal coming after 90 minutes.


Middlesborough continued their good form beating Birmingham City 3-1 at home. After Andy Rooney scored an opening goal from the penalty spot, Barry Robson, Faris Haroun and Malaury Martin scored unanswered goals for the team on Riverside.

At the moment Southampton and Derby are the class of the league with four wins from four. The Saints lead Derby with a goal difference of +8, as opposed to the Rams difference of +7. Middlesborough and Brighton are just behind them with 10 points from their four games. Crystal Palace with three wins on the trot are doing well in fifth while Forest are in midtable with five points from four games. Doncaster looked doomed with four defeats from four games.


Blackpool's elder statesman striker Kevin Phillips has scored four goals from four games to lead the division.



From next week, the English Championship will be its own blog and independent of the European Football Roundup.

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