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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

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Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj and Aston Villa have climbed out of the relegation zone on the strength of a three-match unbeaten streak, but they still sit just two points from the bottom three.

They can extend that gap with a home win today against a Stoke City side enjoying their own impressive campaign. The Potters stand just four points from the top four, and Geoff Cameron’s side are riding a 4-0-1 run.

Struggling Arsenal have managed just one win in six league matches,  a skid that has the Gunners sitting in 10th place. They face a West Brom side currently in fifth place in the EPL, with only goal difference keeping the Baggies out of third place ahead of Chelsea and Tottenham.

If you will be watching today’s 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

9:30am- GolTV- Augsburg vs. Bayern Munich

10am- ESPN2- Sunderland vs. Chelsea

10am- Fox Soccer Channel- Arsenal vs. West Bromwich Albion

10am- Fox Soccer Plus- Aston Villa vs. Stoke City

10am- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Southampton vs. Reading

10am- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Swansea City vs. Norwich City

10am- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Wigan Athletic vs. Queens Park Rangers

10am- beIN Sport Espanol- Real Sociedad vs. Getafe

11am- Univision Deportes- Paris St. Germain vs. Evian TG

11:30am- GolTV- Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg (Delayed)

Noon- beIN Sport Espanol- Atalanta vs. Parma

2pm- Univision Deportes- Montpellier vs. Ajaccio

2pm- beIN Sport- Real Valladolid vs. Real Madrid

2:45pm- RAI- Roma vs. Fiorentina

3:30pm- ESPN3- Porto vs. Moreirense

4pm- beIN Sport- Roma vs. Fiorentina (Delayed)

4pm- beIN Sport Espanol- Osasuna vs. Valencia

Comments

  1. wow Bradley seemed as if he played every position on the field…attacking, defending, wing play, even goalie providing a goal line cleareance. Great work rate!!!! A goal would have been icing on the cake for him…excellent

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  2. MOst Impressive Yank abroad this season so far goes to……… Mr. Michael Bradley. Seriously Bradley has looked really impressive for Roma. He looks so much better in a #8 role versus strictly a #6.

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  3. The ESPN commentators were gushing about Bradley most of the second half, mostly about his insane work rate. He probably should have scored several goals, off a header that he put wide and several runs into the box that the keeper saved right at his feet. Bradley also saved a goal off the line. Really impressive performance

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    • He’s awesome. Played a great ball into the box in the 41st. He made 2 runs at the end of the 1st half where if he’d gotten decent, quick square balls would’ve had good shooting opportunities on his right foot.

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    • Great match to watch; the beautiful game in all aspects. Bradley consistently getting looks in the box but not able to make anything of them. He’s been incredibly fast on the counter attacks. I can see why he has been getting minutes for Roma lately.

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      • Speculation on moving DeRossi is pretty heavy so Roma may as well find out about his potential replacement sooner rather than later.

  4. Bradley in the starting lineup for Roma with De Rossi on the bench. If and when Zeman tries to reintegrate De Rossi it will be interesting to see who makes way.

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  5. Guzan and Lichaj For The Win. POlish Americans doing it big. Maybe Wondo can latch on with AV?

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    • Seriously. With AZ’s dip in form Jozy has also suffered. Hey, it’s only been a month but let’s root for a consistent season throughout. 20 goals to the former Red Bulls player!!!

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      • If you take into account his overall performance rather than the date of his last goal, it hasn’t been “only a month.” He has scored exactly two goals since Sept. 16th. That is close to three consecutive months of pretty awful form. Given the large role Jozy is asked to play in AZ’s attack one could easily argue that the theory that “with AZ’s dip in form Jozy has also suffered” gets everything backwards.

    • Are peeps watching Jozy’s game? He just got fouled in the box at the 29th minute and the commentators not only agreed it should have been a foul but they said it’s the 2nd one the ref does not call for AZ, not sure if they were both on Jozy but this is so unfair if true….

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      • Should have been a penalty, no doubt. That would have salvaged an otherwise lackluster game. He’s pretty much lost at sea right now.

      • His touch failed him on that one cross from the left but then he came close with a shot to the near post….

        Ref was very bad towards AZ today….

  6. A very convincing dive by Santi Cazorla in the box. 2-0 Arsenal.

    Cazorla is one of my favorite BPL players these days, but that flopping was just terrible.

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    • how about the no call that allowed Arsenal to ‘win’ the ball outside the 18 to create the PK? and I thought it was Chamberlain who got hacked down in the box on that 2nd PK

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      • got it. I missed that part of the game. thanks

        so both Arsenal goals are off ref gifts. great

        and what about Mertesacher’s handball in the box? could have been called, seen that called before.

      • My opinion, could be biased as I am an Arsenal fan, was that the call was correct. I thought he was fouled. Just because he’s frigin huge doesn’t mean its not a foul when his shirt is pulled and he’s grabbed from behind.

      • I hear you, I have no horse in this game, but that little shirt tug occurs on every ball into the box, rarely called. good for Arsenal the ref saw it that way, especially after the Caorla dive; that was the ref’s chance to make things right with Mertasacher’s hand

        needed in for Arsenal. enjoy your day!!!

  7. Two things.
    1) The more I watch the EPL, the more overrated it seems. Kick and rush, kick and rush.
    2) Michael Bradley DIDN’T make it into the Villa lineup, and did at Roma.
    again
    MB90 is good enough for Roma, but wasn’t for Villa. Lucky, lucky break. Imagine being stuck in that mess… Though it would’ve been cool for Lichaj Guzan and MB to be on the same team. Until relegation…

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      • And the guy he played ahead of Bradley was a guy named Jean Makoun who, in his first game, got a straight red. When he came back he immediately got a yellow. The guy was terrible but Houllier kept playing him. Not surprisingly, Houllier was gone as soon as the season was over. Bradley’s time at Villa should never be held against him.

  8. Ok, if I’m going to try and watch Villa-Stoke for the Americans, can I at least get some Peter Crouch for entertainment sake? Still 0-0 62nd

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  9. If you bet on Red Card Jermaine Jones today, cash your betting slips. Missed if it was a straight RC, if so harsh, but a dumb tackle. Schalke down 3-1 to Stuttgart.

    Pro Tip – the 9:30 Bundesliga games make for great ht viewing for the 10 EPL games

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    • Uh-oh. I have not seen any of the game, but it appears to be a straight red card for Jones and that probably means a three-game suspension. One Stuttgart player also got a straight red card and a second Stuttgart player a yellow-red. Must be a high-intensity game and Schalke is now in deep, deep stuff. The team seems to be unraveling. I think part of the problem is Klass Jan Huntelaar and Lewis Holtby both have contracts that end in June and neither have signed extensions, but they also have not explicitly said whether they want to leave the club in January and all the uncertainty is causing deep problems.

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      • Why would his straight red mean a 3 game suspension? Because he has a history? A red even if a straight red is usually just 1 game suspension?

      • Maybe ‘history’ is not exactly the term. Maybe ‘mostly deserved reputation’. He’s a thug. He’s our thug, I suppose, but he is a pretty dirty player.

      • “thug” is a bit harsh, IMO. He’s a hard player. So is Bradley. I love it when have both those guys in midfield for the nats, because the other side knows we mean business. Wish Gooch was in form and we had another hard man in central defense. But I digress…

        Jones is a hard player and hard players have a role. He’s no De Jong – that’s a thug.

      • You obviously have never seen him play and think you know about him by what you read on the internet. Hint: not everything on the internet is true.

  10. Guzan vs Howard. Looks like we have a Friedel/Keller 2.0 fight going as HOward seems to be droppong as Guzan’s continued PT has made him so much better

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  11. Ryan Nelsen scores for QPR! A great alum for MLS, and for those laughing at college soccer, he came up through that system too. Still bossing it at 35, haven’t seen him since his excellent ’10 WC.

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      • I think he may have just won some points with Villa fans by bowing a Stoke player (not Geoff) in the back to the ground, as retaliation for a previous Stoke foul that left a Villa player down.

  12. Big games for CFC and The Gunner’s managers. Rafa is in a pickle already, and Wenger needs to get a win before everyone loses faith in the squad that he built.

    I’m rooting for Stoke over Aston Villa. Gotta go with the former Dynamo player in the gringo love fest today.

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