A new season is upon us! Irish involvement in Scotland today, Aiden McGeady starts for Celtic vs Kilmarnock, O'Dea on the bench.
Wes Hoolahan is now available to feature for Blackpool and started against Leicester City. He'll tear up the Championship if he can be bothered. The dispute is not yet over though. http://www.livingstonfc.co.uk/newsdet.php?news_id=818&type_id=1 http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~1089376,00.html
Scorers: Alan Lee (Ipswich) (2 - 1 was a penalty) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Sean Thornton (Leyton Orient) Keith Andrews (MK Dons)
Thoughts on what I watched today: Sunderland vs Spurs -Paul McShane is an outstanding defender. Against physical opponents like Berbatov, anyway. Best man on the pitch IMO. Stokes looked much more comfortable as a striker, and I was impressed with Murphy's holdup play. Overall, Sunderland could really do with an Andy Reid in their team, though. Serious lack of creativity in midfield. Robbie Keane was excellent playing off Berbatov, his vision and passing were excellent. West Ham vs Manchester City Dunne was just as impressive as McShane. We have two solid defenders in those lads. Ireland started very well, but faded as the match went on. Good to see him start, Man City look a decent outfit this season. Wolves vs Watford Breen was good until he got injured. Potter solid in midfield, can still spray the passes around. I still say if he can stay injury-free Stephen Elliott will be a fantastic striker. Steve Ward was wasted on the left wing. Andy Keogh was superb. Vision, passing, movement... he's a brilliant footballer in the most literal sense of the word. Maybe doesn't have the technical ability of, say Robbie Keane, but I definitely want to see him involved against Denmark.
I thought Stokes looked more comfortable on the wing in preseason, he looked awful yesterday. McShane was great and Murphy was OK, below what I expected though. Miller wasn't great either. Keane was fine, looked dangerous Didn't see I don't want to talk about this game I've also just recieved word that John O'Shea is playing striker. Is the first time a player has played keeper, defender, midfielder, and forward in 365 days?
Hi I am writing from Omagh, Northern Ireland and I was thinking that it would be nice to hear from anyone and everyone involved in soccer around the world Our website is www.omaghunitedfc.com We have a forum etc. and it would be great to hear from people all over the world Best of luck to everyone for the new soccer seasona nd I hope your team does well, where ever they play
Some encouraging stuff last night... Aiden McGeady had a great game for Celtic vs Spartak Moscow. I thought Stephen Ireland was excellent for Man City vs Bristol City. And most importantly, Shay Given started and played the full '90 for Newcastle in their Carling Cup tie against Barnsley. Let's hope he plays and keeps fit in their weekend match.
Big day today. Shane Long and Paul McShane are doubtful for their respective club matches with injuries.
Shay Given does NOT start for Newcastle. Also no sign of Shane Long for Reading, reckon he must be a doubt for next weekend.
On this side of the pond, you've got Ronnie O'Brien at Toronto and Bryan Byrne at my team, the Revs. You won't see much of Byrne as he's a youngster on a veteran squad but what with all the injuries we've been piling up we might get a better look at him.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/6969678.stm Good interview with Keogh
Ben Burgess (Blackpool) scored against Hull last night Alan Lee was voted 2nd best player in the Championship for August on Football League Review David Connolly scored for the Sunderland reserves tonight against Everton
Not much to report this past weekend... though Steve Finnan was remarkably fit-looking for Liverpool. And Andy O'Brien made his first Premiership start for ages for Bolton.
Andy Reid scored a brace for Charlton last night, both penalties. Also hit the woodwork three times during the course of the match. Ben Burgess, Leon Best and Chris McCann (another great prospect) were also on targer for their respective Championship clubs. Darron Gibson broke his toe, and will be out for some time. Real pity, I felt as though he was on the verge of breaking into the Manchester United first team.
Garry Breen played 90 mins for Man City reserves, Harte played 90 for Sunderland while Kavanagh played 67
Encouraging news this week/weekend. Robbie Keane scored in Europe in midweek, and again vs Bolton this afternoon. Joey and Andy O'Brien both start for Bolton vs Spurs. Liam Miller scored a fantastic goal for Sunderland vs 'boro.
Steve Hunt and Shane Long both bagged goals for Reading in their 7-4 loss to Portsmouth this weekend. I watched Birmingham vs Manchester United and I was quite impressed with Stephen Kelly. Didn't offer much in attack and his distribution was questionable at times, but defensively he was excellent.
Robbie Keane scored his second Premiership goal of the season tonight - a penalty in Spurs 4-4 draw with Aston Villa.
I thought they changed the ruling on Long's goal? I saw it, Harper's volley took a slight deflection off of him and they awarded it to him at first, but I thought I heard they had changed the ruling