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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

Chelsea Striker  Diego Costa Celebrates Scoring  his 2nd goal in 4-2 win

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

 

Chelsea is threatening to run away with the English Premier League title before fall officially begins, and standing in the way of an early Blues runaway is the defending champion Manchester City.

The Citizens play host to Jose Mourinho’s side today in the weekend’s marquee match-up. Chelsea has cruised to a 4-0 start, and could open up whopping eight-point lead on Manchester City with a win. Manuel Pellegrini will need to find a way to contain red-hot Chelsea striker Diego Costa, who is expected back in the starting lineup after being rested for Chelsea’s mid-week Champions League action.

Manchester United hit the road to take on Leicester City, looking to build some momentum after last week’s impressive 4-0 romp over Queens Park Rangers. A win in Leicester could propel the Red Devils ahead of the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham, and within striking distance of a top four place in the Premier League.

In Spain, Barcelona puts their perfect record on the line against a Levante side sitting in last place in La Liga. Neymar and Lionel Messi have been working well together, but it has been Barcelona’s defense, which has yet to allow a goal in league play, that has been a telling story in the early season.

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 Soccer TV schedule is after the jump):

TODAY’S SOCCER ON TV

8:30 a.m. – CNBC – Leicester City vs. Manchester United

8:30 a.m. – Premier League Extra Time – Tottenham vs. West Bromwich Albion

9 a.m. -beIN Sports en Espa̱ol РGenoa vs. Lazio

9 a.m. -beIN Sports USA – AS Roma vs. Cagliari

9:30 a.m. – GolTV USA – Wolfsburg vs. Bayer Leverkusen

11 a.m. – Premier League Extra Time – Everton vs. Crystal Palace

11 a.m. – NBC Sports Network – Manchester City vs. Chelsea

11 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – AS Monaco vs. Guingamp

11 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Villarreal vs. Rayo Vallecano

11:30 a.m. РGolTV USA РFC K̦ln vs. Borussia M̦nchengladbach

1 p.m. РbeIN Sports en Espa̱ol РCordoba vs. Sevilla

1 p.m. – Univision – Toluca vs. Monterrey

3 p.m. – UniMas – Toronto FC vs. Chivas USA

3 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Levante vs. Barcelona

3 p.m. – GolTV USA – Flamengo vs. Fluminense

3:15 p.m. – Univision Deportes – Porto vs. Boavista

6 p.m. – UniMas – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Queretaro

Comments

  1. Watched about 10 minutes of TFC vs Chivas. All I can say is there isn’t a whole lot of energy in the building and the skill on display seemed rather lacking on occasion. I don’t have a great understanding of Spanish but it seemed liked a few times the announcers were impressed with how much Chivas sucked. After a couple of astray passes and mistouches they just started laughing.

    Reply
    • Looks like you missed Gilberto’s goals, Jr.’s deft touch, and the Reo-C vs Jackson fight. Also, is there a person on the planet that doesn’t know that the goats suck?

      Reply
  2. Lampard ties it in the 84th minute for 10 man side City. Fantastic volley.

    However, it was not a pure hit, he only got the ball with the side of his foot. I wonder if a certain commenter
    will call it a fluke, he mis-hit it.

    Reply
    • And that’s the second yellow on Zavaleta. Huge call. And a goal for Schurrle with the extra man. City very, very, very hard done here, IMO.

      Reply
  3. Everton got a little too cocky after all of their possession and fell asleep at the back – miscommunication between Howard and the defense leads to penalty goal. Then they luck out when another shot hits the crossbar. Wake up! They look great in attack, they just have to stay focused.

    Reply
  4. Two extremely questionable non calls with Costa fouling Dzeko in the box and the ref smiling and making sarcastic gestures. Very odd and kind of disrespectful behavior by an official IMO. Has to be very frustrating for City players to have a ref seemingly not taking job seriously.

    Reply
      • He’s smirking, he’s pointing to his head and making other odd gestures. Seemed unnecessary to me. If I were a City player, I would find it a bit disrespectful if I got dragged down in the box and the ref is pointing to his head and laughing at me.

      • You have to admit that sometimes professional soccer players are silly. They get hurt get up, they get all dramatic when they get touched and if they commit a foul they act like they are Mother Teresa. There isn’t a game I can remember ever watching that I didn’t think a player did something silly at one point. Imagine if you are in the middle of it having to officiate. The good refs seem relaxed and in the moment enjoying it with an occasional smile or a look at a player like “really are you serious”.

  5. Looks like TSO is going to park the bus again with 10 men behind the ball so far against MC. It’s sad that he has so little confidence in his tactical acumen that he is scared to go head to head against an opponent that is close to his own team’s talent level, even with all the wealth of attacking talent he has at his disposal this year.

    Reply
    • Oh TomG… Mou had a 70th minute counter attack goal penciled in the game plan all along :-). I agree his tactics can make for less than scintillating play, especially given the talent level of his attacking players, however isn’t he nearly undefeated against the other ‘top’ BPL squads since returning to Chelsea? So I’d call it tactical consistency as opposed to lack of confidence. My 2 cents.

      Cheers

      Reply
    • Parking the bus is a “tactic” and one commonly used against teams that are strong in attack and possession oriented. If it works I don’t see why you’d stop doing it.

      Reply
    • What nonsense. Chelsea are the runaway leaders in goals scored thus far, and have scored as many goals in their three away games as Man City have in all their 5 combined.(incl 3 home). They scored six at Goodison for crying out loud.

      Parking the bus? Whatever. How many more trophies does the man have to win before people stop questioning his “tactical acumen”.

      Reply
      • well, i’ve never thought he was a tactical genius; he’s just pragmatic. if he can win while playing pretty passes all day, sure, he’ll do it that way; but if he thinks he has a better chance by sitting back and waiting for the counter, he’s not going to be swayed by some aesthetic purists.

        either way, you’re right about the way chelsea have been playing lately. even last season, pretty much every chelsea game i saw, they were consistently playing attacking possession soccer.

        and that’s a great screen name you have there.

      • Why thank you, Nate. And I do agree… I’m not a Chelsea man and I do think Mou is happier in a mudfight than beauty competition. But credit where it’s due– the man wins and when you’re putting 3+ per game up against credible competition, maybe you deserve some measure of praise.

  6. Man U scares no one, love this result as all I heard last week is how Man U is back so on and so on after playing QPR for gods sake. No excuses in this one, 5 goals to Leicester? Can we please look at the salaries between the clubs?

    Reply
    • LvG didn’t help himself by taking his 2 most dangerous players off. Herrera has been M.I.A much of the game. Should have pulled him as opposed to di Maria

      Reply
    • Clattenburg was attrocious, but you CAN’T give up 5 to a club like Leicester even when the calls go against you. United are ridiculously weak not only at the back, but in team defense as a whole. This is the problem with starting all those attackers at the same time. Scary good going forward, but even worse than Liverpool when the other team takes the game to them.

      Reply
  7. Just turned on CNBC and we have a Man Poo v Leicester barnburner. Since Liverpool is stinkin’ it up so far, a Leicester victory would be a nice consolation.

    Reply
    • People gave me stick for saying Liverpool needed to spend more effort on recruiting defense this past offense, lauding their offensive signings. They are still scoring goals in bushels but their defense cost them last year and now they are midtable and negative GD.

      Reply
      • Agree. While the Red Dragons have added exciting fullback talent, the heart of the Liverpool D is not sturdy. Don’t get me wrong, Lovren, Skrtel and Sakho all have talent but the combination is not consistent, and we clearly need a rugged, skilled 2-way mid in front of Gerrard.

        What’s more concerning is the philosophy or players approach to it on the pitch appears different (so far). Where is the quick and incisive passing, where is the aggressive closing down of opponents’ mids to regain the ball, etc.?

      • This impenetrable United side are the most legit thing I’ve seen on CNBC since Cramer was pitching investment advice from Lenny Dykstra. I know I’ve said it before, but that is the absolute last time I consider a coke-addled dude from the car-wash plan my retirement.

        He did once face Sidd Finch though.

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