Zenit continued their seemingly unstoppable march towards the Russian Premier league title with a 6-1 rout of Saturn, taking them four points ahead of Rubin Kazan with two games in hand. The teams had some similar aspects to their gameplans: Zenit lined up in what resembled a 4-2-1-3, with Saturn in a 4-2-3-1; Zenit pressed…
After Milan’s defeat at the hands of Cesena, the reality of the task ahead of Massimiliano Allegri became clearer. In all the hype over the signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho, there were lingering questions over how Allegri was going to fit all of the “Fantastic Four” into his starting team that became more frequent…
A rather dull game by all accounts. Not that anyone should have expected much; Birmingham were without their exciting new signings Aleksandr Hleb and Jean Beausejour and their success is based on organisation, while Liverpool are adapting to a new manager with a big focus on shape. Birmingham did little of interest tactically, aside from…
Rafa Benitez is perhaps fortunate that Jose Mourinho had a stuttering start to his stint at Real Madrid, otherwise he could have had to avoid a great deal of mud flung from the Spanish capital. And for good reason: Inter weren’t impressive – but then neither where they all that bad. It appeared it was…
Roberto Di Matteo’s return to Chelsea didn’t go quite as well as he would have hoped for his team, nevertheless the game acts as an excellent example of the difference in quality between the two sides. Despite the scoreline, West Brom didn’t play that badly; Chelsea are just significantly better, even if they barely get…
1998 was a happier time. A time when Michael Owen was a fresh-faced teenager who “could be up there with the all-time greats”; Alan Shearer wasn’t embarrassing himself on Match of the Day; England had a reliable goalkeeper; Sir Bobby Robson was still alive; El Tel wasn’t orange and Glenn Hoddle hadn’t revealed he thought…
A return to the Metallurg stadium for CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky was extremely comfortable. Playing against the cash-strapped team he departed from last year, his team barely had to turn up let alone get out of first gear to get a win over Krylya Sovetov, showing exactly why they’re footing the table in the…
