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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

When the Spanish Primera season began, a team from Madrid was expected to challenge Barcelona for the league title, but that team was Real Madrid, not Atletico Madrid.

Radamel Falcao has done something about that, driving Atletico Madrid to an unbeaten season to date. They are currently tied with Barcelona atop La Liga, eight points clear of Real Madrid. Atletico faces a dangerous Valencia side they will be hoping to knock off to keep the pressure on Barcelona.

In England, Robin Van Persie faces Arsenal for the first time since leaving the Gunners for Manchester United in the summer when Arsenal visits Old Trafford this morning. Arsenal needs a win to boost their top four aspirations, while Manchester United needs a win to keep pressure on Chelsea for the top spot in England.

If you will be watching today’s soccer action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):

TODAY’S SOCCER ON TV

8:45am- ESPN2/ESPN Deportes– Manchester United vs. Arsenal

9am- Fox Soccer Plus– Hereford United vs. Shrewsbury Town

10am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Boreham Wood vs. Brentford

10:30am- GolTV– Borussia Dortmund vs. Stuttgart

11am- Fox Soccer Channel– Swansea City vs. Chelsea

11am- Fox Soccer Plus– Tottenham vs. Wigan Athletic

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Norwich City vs. Stoke City

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Sunderland vs. Aston Villa

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Fulham vs. Everton

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Bristol Rovers vs. Sheffield United

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com– Forest Green Rovers vs. Port Vale

11am- beIN Sport en Espanol– Malaga vs. Rayo Vallecano

Noon- Univision Deportes– Paris St. Germain vs. Saint-Etienne

1pm- beIN Sport– Barcelona vs. Celta Vigo

1pm- RAI– AC Milan vs. Chievo

1:30pm- Fox Soccer Channel– West Ham United vs. Manchester City

1:30pm- GolTV– Hamburg vs. Bayern Munich

1:45pm- ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes– Ajax vs. Vitesse Arnhem

3pm- beIN Sport en Espanol– Real Madrid vs. Real Zaragoza

3pm- beIN Sport– Paris St. Germain vs. Saint-Etienne (Delayed)

3:45pm- beIN Sport– Juventus vs. Inter Milan

4:30pm- ESPN3.com– Benfica vs. Vitoria Guimaraes

4:45pm- ESPN3.com– PSV Eindhoven vs. Heracles

5pm- beIN SPort Espanol– Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid

8pm- NBC Sports Network– New York Red Bulls vs. D.C. United

9:30pm- beIN Sport– Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid (Delayed)

Comments

  1. About 2 months ago I had an argument with a couple people on this website when I said that Van Persie was a better player than Dempsey and they told me I was a crazy euro snob and Dempsey was a way better player….hmmm…10 games into the season am i still crazy?

    Reply
    • I challenge you to find a posts from two separate people claiming that Dempsey was better than Van Persie. And extra credit for finding posts where the called you crazy for disagreeing.

      Reply
      • I have better things to do then look back through 2 months of posts on a website, but it happened; why would I lie? You should not be surprised that their are USA fanboy internet posters out there who are delusional and irrational about how they feel about the players they desperately want to be regarded amongst the worlds best.

  2. Just got back from am p/u game. How was Ream in the first half ?
    Why was Cameron performance considered weak (by poster above?
    What happened exactly as he was looking good for the first 30min i watched

    Reply
    • You say that as if players can pick any club they want to play for. Someone had to buy him, and Spurs were the only ones that made an offer. (Not counting Liverpool’s low-ball, of course.)

      Reply
  3. St. Pauli looked great today under new coach Michael Frontzeck, winning 2-0 against Munich 1860 at Allianz Arena (home to FC Bayern). Joe Gyau did not enter the game until the 87th minutes, but he had played a full hard match Wednesday in Stuttgart. The TV announcer was really talking him up when he got off the bench to warm up before he came on, saying about how he is on Klinsmann’s radar and preparing the viewers for Gyau’s speed and ball skills. And when Gyau finally came on the announcer said he hoped he would have a few chance with the ball to show his stuff.

    Gyau ended up with only two touches, and both were cool. First one he took the ball on the left wing moved in a few yards and took a shot that just missed. He looked very disappointed, so I suppose there was a direct opening to goal. And he ended up with the ball at midfield on a Munich give-away and took the ball to the top of the box with two defenders on him and then tried a shot that was blocked. I think he probably should have passed. But he looked hungry and confident and dangerous. I get the feeling that some big and positive changes are percolating within the kid and he is on the verge of rapid development.

    Reply
    • I didnt wake up early enough to see the whole game, but did catch gyau’s entrance into the game. He was very aggressive and flew by the defense with ease, particularly on the first play u mentioned. The crowd really responded well to his entrance and seems to be quickly becoming a fan favorite.

      Reply
      • I watched the St Pauli vs Stuttgart game. St Pauli in general was overmatched here. Gyau played the full 90. He started strong with his first two touches resulting in a corner and a foul in a dangerous area. Overall he looked good, but def still young. Sometimes he would simply run by a defender down the line because he could, but then he would get trapped in the corner or have nowhere to pass the ball. I think that will come with some more seasoning though. The announcers were also talking him up that match and it looks like he will get consistent minutes going forward.

      • Dear Bayern Kaiser,

        Bird clearly mention that he was speaking of the game vs Stuttgart. I wouldn’t normally mention it but you seemed rather hostile. I would just like to say when correcting people one should be polite because otherwise you end up looking foolish for being aggressive and incorrect.

  4. Geoff Cameron had his weakest match of the season today against the Canaries. Stoke City is looking very anemic going forward. After a great start to the season, it seems that they are dropping fast now. For Cameron’s sake, I can only hope that they get an attacking player during the next transfer window–it’s all they are missing.

    Reply
    • Stoke looking anemic going forward? Isn’t that kind of their thing? I think that’s their theme song. It’s either that or the rousing, “11 behind the ball and pray for a set piece goal!”

      Reply
      • TomG nailed it – this is the prototypical Stoke team, designed to avoid relegation but at the cost of hoping to challenge for a European spot. They play unattractive soccer which guarantees a mid-table finish, but little else.

  5. Spurs go down to Wigan. Spurs offense sucks. Hard to see how things don’t get shuffled up after this with the lineup. And we all know how things went for Chelsea last season with AVB….

    Reply
    • We (Spurs) need one of Dembele and Parker back in the midfield.

      Dempsey is getting no service. He creates what he can but gets hacked everytime he touches the ball. Adebayor is much more deserving than that POS Defoe who won’t pass the ball to save his life. Walking off slowly after your team has just conceded a goal?!! Are you kidding me? If I was the manager he wouldn’t see the pitch for a long, long, time for those charades. Is Defoe bigger than the club? He seems to think so.

      As far as the rest of the team, they were all uniformly awful. Didn’t start playing until the 60th minute or so, right after they gave up a goal. Embarrassing performance to say the least.

      Reply
    • This is true. Tottenham looked bad today. Bale had a particularly weak game, but so did Lennon, Siggurdson and several others. There was almost no service to the box the whole game. Tottenham is really missing Dembele. The Tottenham defense was lousy. Wigan could have won 3-0. Friedel could have cleared better on the corner kick where Wigan got the game winner, but he did appear to be shoved a bit Wigan player so he could not smack the ball clear as well as he might have. I am wondering whether it is time to make Hugo Lloris the starting goalkeeper.

      Clint Dempsey was generally strong the whole game, and particularly vibrant in the first half. He was open in the box several times but the ball seldom got close to him. He appeared to be frustrated by the lack of service. Adebayor was a mixed picture, a few good moments but some really dreadful scenes.

      Reply
      • excellent post biff. Dempsey is just 1 of 11 and he isn’t going to be Lionel Messi. It wil be interesting to see what AVB can make of this squad.

  6. I blame all of this negatism on Klnsmann.

    Spurs look disjoined – it is obvious that Dempsey is the problem, and probably because he cannot determine his role on the USMNT. It has nothng to do with an entirely new coach and a multitude of new transfers – not to mention Friedel, who even thoug he retired rom the USMNT does not give his defense enough faith that he can stop a shot.

    Jones gets subbed and all of a sudden Schalke comes back and scores to tie. Obviously Klinsmann’s fault because he isn’t showing Jones enough faith to make him a regular starter on the USMNT.

    Klinsman is even affecting those not getting regular call-ups – Lichaj is the worst defender clearly on Aston Villa (because everyone elseon that team is so good); Ream can’t seem to get into the Bolton squad and Klejstan is no longer a regular starter for Anderlecht.

    All Klinsmanns fault. American football is going downhill, we have no hope as we have no players.

    Reply
  7. dude why is Gooch on the bench? Seriously Malaga are in 3 competitions. He should have more PT. Maybe he should have stayed at Sporting Lisbon. They sure are sucky this year and could use him

    Reply
  8. Radio guys making reference to Clint and how they can’t see how his goal scoring record ends up in as good of shape as it has the last few season and how Adebayor may suit his role better. I’m really rooting for him to shove a few in the net, but Spurs in general look disjointed.

    Reply
  9. I like to follow along on Twitter to get a feel for how local supporters feel about our USMNT guys overseas (harder in Germany than England).

    It has not been pretty so far this morning, just a few…

    AVFC FORUMS ‏@avfcforums
    Lichaj booked for kicking the ball away….. Giving away cheap fouls and booked for stupidity. Wise up. #avfc

    The Villa Blog ‏@AVFCBlog
    Yellow card for Lichaj for kiciking the ball away. Childish #AVFC

    Andy ‏@Der_Wanderfalke
    Lichaj has been so poor in these last few games. I’m a tad disappointed.

    Samuel Tighe ‏@stighefootball
    Eric Lichaj is a ticking time bomb. #avfc

    7500 To Holte ‏@7500toHolte
    it’s to the point where Lichaj is a liability. Yellow for kicking the ball away. Smart, dude.

    VillaDude ‏@VillaDude
    Predicting Lichaj to either give away a penalty or red card in the second half against Johnson. Pathetic booking. #lichaj #avfc

    This is from the US Soccer blog Stars and Stripes–

    Stars and Stripes FC ‏@StarsStripesFC
    Eric Lichaj came on as an 11th minute substitute for Villa and it has not been pretty. Fingers crossed for a better 2nd half. #USMNT

    Reply
    • last week was the least confidence I’d seen from him ever, bummer to see. Hard to play this game without confidence. Have seen him play much better

      every player he faces smells the blood in the water and surges with confidence against him.

      Hang tough kid! Keep fighting. Has to re-find that belief in himself, re-earn it. No easy task but it gets done all the time too

      Reply
  10. Hope the kid can mature and become a valued player. Until then I think it wise we acknowledge that Klinsmann was wise to ignore Lichaj. This kid is rash, consistently out of position and drifts out pf the game. Martin Laurence just said on Twitter that he has reached the yellow card accumulation ban with only 3 PL starts.

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  11. If you’re wondering why Lichaj should not come NEAR the USMNT, turn on the Villa game. Also, he just got banned for the next match by YC accumulation.

    Reply
    • I have strong doubts about whether guys like Castillo, Parkhurst, Orozco-Fiscal, etc. could thrive in the Villa setup.

      Maybe Lichaj needs to be a decent player in a mediocre league, like the aforementioned players?

      As someone opined recently – Is Lichaj really not worth a spot on a depleted bench against Antigua?

      Reply
      • I didn’t watch the game, but Sky gave him a rating of six, with the comment “drifted in and out.” So it hardly looks like he had a shocker or anything. Keep in mind that he’s playing out of position, too.

        I really think he needs to move to another club, one where he’ll be played on the right. From reading Villa boards it really seems that the club isn’t a good fit for him. Time for a fresh start.

      • Lichaj is a liability at either left or right back, that’s the reason why Klinsman has left him out of the NT. He will be the next Jonathan Spector, a player that everybody clamored for the NT, but who, when in the NT, didn’t respond. Simply put, he’s not a NT player caliber, so, for the love of God, stop thinking/hoping that he will one day be the heir to Steve’s RB position on the NT

      • Not entirely fair bc we’ve seen Lichaj a bunch of times with USMNT and he’s looked very, very good whereas Spector never really impressed with ten Nats.

      • So many things wrong with this post. First, who said that I was “thinking/hoping etc.” anything regarding Lichaj? Second, if you think that Lichaj is a “liability at either left or right back” I doubt that you watched any of the games he has played for the US, where he has always been solid. Third, who were these people who clamored for Specs? Fourth, Spector played pretty well at the ’09 Confederations Cup.

    • A smaller club like Fulham will always miss a player of Dempsey’s skill, but they’re off to a great start this season. Seventh in the table, level on points with sixth-place Arsenal. Only ManU and Chelsea have scored more goals if I’m not mistaken, so they’re getting by just fine with him.

      Reply
  12. PL American rundown: Friedel and Deuce starting. Cameron starts. Howard starting. Guzan in goal. Lichaj on the bench. Edu nowhere to be found.

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  13. Faster than you can say, “Up the Arse!” RVP scores against his old team with Vermaelen possibly not realizing Van Persir doesn’t actually play for the Gunners anymore and giving it away.

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      • It’s really been all about health with him, hasn’t it? He’s finally healthy for a long stretch and the goals have followed.

      • he sure plays a lot tougher than he used to. if that’s due to the healthy streak or not I don’t know, but he’s mentally tougher now imo

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