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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

ArsenalLiverpool (Getty Images)

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

Last weekend, Liverpool stunned English Premier League fans with a 5-1 rout of then-league leaders Arsenal at Anfield. Today, the Reds will look to repeat that performance at Emirates Stadium as they take on the Gunners in the FA Cup Fifth Round.

After the big loss at Liverpool and a disappointing home draw with struggling Manchester United, Arsenal could use a home win to keep themselves alive in another trophy chase and grab some momentum ahead of next week’s Champions League matchup with Bayern Munich. On the other side, high-scoring Liverpool are coming off a dramatic 3-2 victory against Fulham to keep them in the thick of the EPL title race. In their first meeting of the season at the Emirates, Arsenal defeated Liverpool 2-0 in league play.

The other FA Cup match between EPL sides Sunday will be Everton’s matchup with Swansea City at Goodison Park. Everton have won five of their last six home matches against league competition heading into Sunday’s battle with the Swans. After a rough stretch that saw manager Michael Laudrup’s firing, Swansea fought back to a road draw with Stoke after a 3-0 rivalry victory against Cardiff City, and they will be looking for another big result ahead of their Europa League tie next week with Napoli.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid will look to keep their hot streak going in La Liga play with a trip to Getafe. Also in Spain, Athletic Bilbao return to the San Mames, where they are undefeated this season, for a match against Espanyol. The top-two teams in Serie A will also be in home action Sunday as Juventus host Chievo Verona and AS Roma take on Sampdoria.

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):

7:45am – Celtic vs. St. Johnstone – Fox Soccer Plus

8:30am – Everton vs. Swansea City – Fox Sports 1

9am – Juventus vs. Chievo – beIN Sports USA

9am – Sassuolo vs. Napoli – beIN Sports en Español

10am – Sheffield United vs. Nottingham Forrest – Fox Soccer Plus

10am – Ajax vs. Heerenveen – GolTV USA

11am – Arsenal vs. Liverpool – Fox Sports 2

11am – Getafe vs. Real Madrid – beIN Sports USA

1pm – Athletic Bilbao vs. Espanyol – beIN Sports en Español

1pm – Pumas UNAM vs. Atlas – Univision Deportes

2pm – Corinthians vs. Palmeiras – GolTV USA

2:45pm – AS Roma vs. Sampdoria – beIN Sports USA

3pm – Sevilla vs. Valencia – beIN Sports en Español

3pm – Saint-Etienne vs. Marseille – Univision Deportes

5pm – Sud America vs. Nacional – GolTV USA

6pm – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Queretaro – UniMás

7:30pm – Boca Juniors vs. Belgrano – GolTV USA

Comments

  1. There are several sites that pay you for giving your opinion about an upcoming court case. These sites ask you to read through the material that will be presented at a legal proceeding and give your opinion on whether the defendant is guilty or not. The amount of pay will depend on the amount of time it will take to read through the material.

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  2. “Everything that’s wrong with English soccer can be seen in how they failed to understand and use Gerrard when he was at his peak.”

    That’s ironic considering for most of his career, Gerrard was not managed by English managers.

    Dalglish is Scottish and Rogers is Welsh.

    For Liverpool it was Hodgson for a brief period and for England he might have played a game or two for Keegan, Peter Taylor and Stuart Pearce but basically it has been Hodgson and McClaren.

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      • Nonetheless, the politics of the FA ran the show now matter who managed. There is a mind set to their approach that never seems to change and explains some of the disparity between the style of play of the best teams in the Premier League and how the national team plays.

        I wish I could find the quote, but a Brazilian national team player a few years ago talked about what a different player Beckham would have been if he had grown up in Brazil. In England he was a right sided player asked to do nothing but cross. In a more creative culture, he could have done so much more. That’s the culture I’m talking about

      • It is also possible that if Beckham had grown up in Brazil you would never have heard of him since those skills that made him stand out in England are not so unusual in Brazil.

        What you have now in the best EPL teams over the years is a combination of creativity and traditional British physicality and fighting spirit.

        The creativity ,brains and fighting spirit used to be provided by the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh . Now it is provided by players from all over the world.

  3. Gerrard should have been sent off today. Thought the first PK was soft but Liverpool clearly should have had one later. Suarez’s break dancing skills after getting fouled probably cost him the call though, no need to act like a rag doll thrown down a staircase when you’re touched. Also how did Sterling get nothing for poking Webb at the end of first half? Should be a red by rule shouldn’t it?

    Arsenal were extremely lucky today, sometimes luck is needed in cup tournaments though so I’m not complaining.

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    • Exactly. Everyone is going on about the PK. Suarez undermined his own case. It is not simply his rep. It was the overreaction to the contact. He spends so much time on the ground rolling around in pain that it’s a joke. And his teammates are just as bad,

      Sure Arsenal had some luck today. They could also have gotten some call and been a man up if Gerrad didn’t enjoy a special set of rules. But bottom line: a B arsenal lineup just booted Liverpool out of the FA Cup.

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      • I was explaining to my son that six to eight years ago, when Gerrard was England’s most creative player, he was by passed for the captaincy (for John Terry!) and shoved out wide to make room for Lampard. Now that he’s older and his skills have deteriorated to the point where he is mostly a wily enforcer… he’s the grand man of England…. Everything that’s wrong with English soccer can be seen in how they failed to understand and use Gerrard when he was at his peak.

      • Loved this from the Guardian live feed: ” Gerrard blocks, allowing Andy Gray to fawn all over his hero.”

      • I support my countrymen when they where my national team shirt. And, of course, I root for their personal success. But, say you’re a Yankee fan and they are playing the Red Sox in the playoffs. A Dominican is pitching for the Yankees and a native born American for the Red Sox. Would I expect you to root for the Red Sox based on that? Of course not; you’d regard it as a silly question.

        I’ve been an Arsenal fan for twenty plus years. I dream of the day when a Yank plays at Arsenal. But when Arsenal played Spurs last year, for example, I wanted Dempsey to get a hat trick – as long as Arsenal won 4-3.

        Sorry, but I’m hardly the only US fan who thinks the same.

  4. If Suarez tried to stay on his feet, if he tried to get the ball, if Liverpool doesn’t make playing for PKs a major part of their attack, then maybe he gets that call. Instead, he he acts like he was hit with a sledge hammer. Let’s talk about about Gerrard, who deserved three yellows today.

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      • Took the words right out of my mouth. Webb now seems to be focused on being assigned to the best games this summer in the World Cup and it is having a negative effect on his PL reffing.

        As for the comment on Suarez, there are a lot of players, including well known stars, who hit ground a lot easier than he does and much more often than he does and they get a free card when they do it. Suarez is the only player who is constantly singled out as a diver and constantly given bad press.

      • Sturidge and Sterling embellish just as much. And it is not necessarily diving, which is going down when there is nothing. It’s that they play for contact and go down like they’ve been shot.

        Webb was bad, again. But he blew just as many calls the other way. gerrard should have been off the field. But that hardly gets a mention.

      • If you are willing to name names, TomG, I am willing to listen. Yes, of course, other players are called for diving, but it is never with the force that people use against Suarez and is soon forgotten. I mean, no doubt in my mind that Ashley Young is a bigger diver than Suarez, but he does not get a quarter of the bad press that Suarez gets. Messi dives its over and done with and hardly noted in the game reports, if at all. Suarez gets it non-stop 24/7/365 in the written press and broadcast press. He’s an easy target. I don’t understand it, quite frankly.

      • Agree Biff with your main point. And to Travis’ post below, Luis, as much as I’m glad he’s on LFC, makes himself a target with his very apparent whining and (in some cases, not all) exaggeration of contact.

      • biff,

        “Suarez is the only player who is constantly singled out as a diver and constantly given bad press.”

        Singled out by who? Over what time frame? This weekend? This year? The entire 2013-14 season? During the entire history of the EPL?

        Suarez is currently one of the best players in the EPL, possibly in world football at the moment. He plays for a high profile team. His EPL and Uruguay tenure have been marked by his excellent play coupled with a series of colorful incidents starting with his game changing hand ball in the 2010 WC Ghana game.

        He has been, for the last three or four years, just generally is a very high profile player for lots of reasons good and bad.

        Ashley Young , for example, is about as bad a diver but is about 1/8th the player Suarez is so no one cares what he does good or bad.

        Januzaj and quite a few of the Man U lineup , Clint Dempsey and Juergen Klinsmann are /were all equally as unstable on their feet as Suarez. But Mrs. Suarez’s boy is flavor of the month/year.

        I’m sure Suarez is a wonderful guy and kind to strangers and little children but when you have such an extremely high media profile, most of it brought on by his own interesting behavioral choices he’ll have to take the good with the bad.

        I doubt he’s losing any sleep over it.

  5. Liverpool seems more of a danger to score. I don’t want a replay but it May benefit Liverpool more wore down arsenal is better for the league. Was hoping Chelsea would have tied city yesterday for the same reason.

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    • agreed. but all I want is Liverpool to finish in the top 3. doesn’t hurt if we get in the quarters of the FA Cup

      Down to Chelsea and Man City and Man U’s of the world

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    • The replay rule should be abolished. Ridiculous with already congested schedules the teams are now playing to force replays on a draw after 90 minutes. Should just be penalty shoot-outs to declare a winner and move on.

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  6. Wenger should not start either Ozil or Podolski against FC Bayern in the Champions League on Wednesday. Both those guys would be worthless against their buddies on the German national team. Wenger needs guys on the field willing to fight Bayern like they are doing today against Liverpool. Ozil and Podolski simply are not capable of fighting against Bayern.

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      • Agreed, Increase0. Poldi has more to prove against the boys of the German national team and would have more fight in him against Bayern than Ozil, who, if you remember, was pretty wimpy against Bayern two years ago during the Real Madrid-Bayern Champions League meetings. At the time, I thought Mourinho should have played Nuri Sahin, who chose to play international for Turkey and with his Dortmund background and would have fought like hell against Bayern. In any case, for the second game of the tie in Munich Wenger should leave Ozil in London.

  7. Brooks back on the bench for Hertha, that’s a step in the right direction

    Looks like Kljestan finally back in the start line up for Anderlecht, still not sure what that was all about

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  8. Up the Arse!! Lucky bounce around the box leads to fairly easy Ox finish. Gunners have had the most of the possession since a dominant first 5 minutes by Liverpool.

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  9. Anyone else getting motorcycle crap instead of Arsenal Liverpool? I’m in Maryland, heard the same predicament in Minnesota… where is the game? I hate Fox. HATE

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  10. Man, Scousers almost score in the first 2 minutes. Gerrard with a long through ball, making it look positively simple to go right through Gunners defense like a knife through butter. Again! Suarez puts Sturridge through on a beautiful lofted flick and Sturridge misses his second. Looks like a long day for Arsenal if they don’t figure things out.

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  11. I just checked for the arsenal match on my TV guide and it’s coming up under foxsports2. I only get foxsports1. Anybody know where I can stream the game or something?

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  12. Well, Timmy Chandler isn’t in the lineup. Sounds like he wasn’t just making this injury up to avoid having to travel to the Ukraine 🙂

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    • To me, it seems like he’s trying to play more of an on-the-ball playmaker role instead of a cut throat finisher who does a lot of work making clever runs off the ball and lurking off the back shoulder of the defender.

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      • +1 he needs to go back out to LM for both SSFC/Fulham and USA

        Not a creator, he is a finisher. Go back on watch his highlights, every goal he has ever scored for the US has been when he is the 4th attacker in the box. Most of his club goals are like that too

      • Four attackers in the box? USMNT? This could be a revelation of sorts. Whose bright idea is that? Arena or Bradley? The MLS school of thought? Such a thought provoking idea..this could change the game [sarcasm off]

      • +1

        trying to do too much. we’ve been seeing this since the move to Seattle. if anything the money seems to have made him overdo it imo, trying to justify it maybe? whatever, he needs to settle in at Seattle and integrate into that team’s fabric; never accomplished it last year

    • Here’s the best answer. Nobody here knows enough to make a valid conclusion. Plus, it is way too early considering he was out of fitness and then injured when he first was at Seattle and Fulham was a very unsettled situation–third manager in what, 3 months?

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  13. Considering Liverpool plays Swansea next Sunday and Everton still has designs on a 4th place spot. I’d enjoy a 4-4 tie with a bunch of injuries on both sides.

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  14. The fact that Monaco will have traore on their bench next year is the height of unfairness… Well the fact that west ham got him his work permit then he went to Everton is messed up too.

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    • FIFA is denying Spanish government access to files particular to Neymar’s transfer to FCB

      There are A LOT of things wrong with FIFA. Their are A LOT of things wrong with domestic football leagues and their are A LOT of things wrong with every major organized professional sports league, their committees and tournaments, but nobody cares because money makes the world go round.

      la-dee-da, la-dee-da…

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      • Agreed. I think people will look back on this time in FIFA as a particularly disturbing period, because so much corruption has been exposed, and yet the same corrupt people are still running the organization. I’m sure the corruption that we haven’t learned about yet will be jaw-dropping once it comes out.

      • You could easily be talking about MLS and Garber. The way they hide and change the rules and how they fix the league to benefit certain teams reeks of corruption.

      • No, these aren’t at all the same thing. MLS is a single entity private organization that is free to operate as it has. FIFA and national FAs are governing organizations that are chartered with the task of implementing/enforcing rules fairly across a competitive marketplace of private clubs. It’s like comparing McDonald’s to the Fed. Don’t conflate a lack of transparency with corruption.

      • It’s not the same your completely right that their should be no comparisons between a domestic league and organizations involved in overseeing lawful practices and principles, regulations and such, but it’s still disturbing none the less, to know that MLS, just like any other professional sports league, is a private enterprise that isn’t prohibited in tinkering and and manipulating things as they see fit.

        The skill athletes demonstrate are amazing and keep me involved, but things like wins, losses, championships, titles, awards, honors, should and need to be always be taken with a grain of salt

      • Except that what FIFA is doing is not illegal. Even the court in Brazil denied Sao Pablo’s request to release the documents. Unethical? Maybe, but not as unethical as MLS buying players and giving them to certain teams which is, in fact, fixing the league something not even FIFA does.

      • So many thing are lawfully illegal really. There aren’t any rules or laws in place that prohibit the worlds leagues from “influencing” wins and losses, scores or any sort of stat a referee could possibly influence

        FIFA is completely aware of any sort of “fixing” that happens though.

        Online betting is a billion dollar industry only growing bigger and bigger with the growth of soccer and globalization

      • They can’t get away with that long term. They must not have done whatever the Spanish equivalent of a subpoena is yet. I do agree that I have no idea how FIFA doesn’t get investigated more often.

      • FIFA is not denying the documents, they’re asking Ruz to go thru the Swiss courts before releasing them, as they should.

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