Friday, January 17, 2014

Chelsea vs Manchester United, Neymar Hurt, The Joy of Six

And there goes the week that was. Friday is upon us once again, fair SSN friends, and that means footie on the horizon. Most eyes are on Chelsea's clash with Manchester United on Sunday. That should be juicy. Your Editor will have an eye on the Emirates where his sister and her family will enjoy Arsenal vs. Fulham in North London tomorrow. Here's everything necessary to get you prepared for the weekend's Premier League menu:



West Bromwich Albion have a new manager. His name is Pepe Mel. He's Spanish. We like him already. Sid Lowe knows.

Barcelona's season has been Johnny Marred a bit by an injury to Neymar. He'll be out for at least a month. That first photo is brutal!

Friday The Mill. Friday Plus One.

It's been too bloody long since we've had a good Joy of Six. Let's fix that. Today is Football Fiascos. Sounds so good we need to take a peek. Ahh...yes...Sheffield Wednesday 3 - 2 Manchester United from October, 1991. That was a fiasco.

Spain! La Liga! It's still a three-team race at the top. Let's take a gander, shall we?
Italy! Serie A! Juventus have pretty much sown things up. Let's take a gander, shall we?
Germany! Das Bundesliga! Nope. Still on break.

Barney Ronay is a fine scribe. Today, he's got a column about Arsene Wenger.

We'll finish the week on a high note: Getafe defender taken off against Barca with broken veins in a testicle! 

Onward!!

-SSN

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Manchester City Stronger, Manchester United Weaker, Southampton Falling Apart, Liverpool Has An Official Donut, Seedorf in at Milan, U.S. Hotlist

Apologies for the quiet. We had some issues here at SSN Headquarters that have been resolved. With violence.

Anyway, what's going on? Manchester City had little trouble with Blackburn in their FA Cup replay as Sergio Agüero returned to action with aplomb. Paul Wilson takes a look at the power in the City side as they attempt to win The Quadruple.

Watch out, because he's back, and he's scoring...
Meanwhile, across town at Old Trafford, more woe as Wayne Rooney looks to be out for a while longer with his groin issue. It turns out his "hot weather" holiday was in Egypt. We figured it was Dubai. Wrong again.

Southampton is going crazy all of a sudden. Their chairman has quit, their manager might leave, and suddenly this impressive, young, attacking squad could be completely unraveled. Dominic Fifield investigates.

Watch out! We're bouncing straight to The Mill and your Plus One.

Nemanja Matic is back at Chelsea. Because Chelsea can do things like that.

Remember Maurice Edu? We'd forgotten he was employed by Stoke City. Philadelphia want to give him some freedom (oh!) and bring him back Stateside. MLS isn't totally on board. Sticking Stateside, let's check out the U.S. Hotlist. Gooch has left QPR for (hopefully) pastures greener at Sheffield Wednesday.

Clarence Seedorf is the new manager of Milan. He's only 37! What did he accomplish in his 22 years of playing soccer? Only this: 400 appearances for Milan. Two Serie A and two Champions League titles. He was the first player to win the Champions League with three different clubs: Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998, and Milan, in 2003 and 2007. Now that's what we call a CV. Gabriel Marcotti has more.

Anderson. So much potential. Anderson. Such bad hair. Anderson. Out the door.

Ian Rush looks especially pleased...
And...Liverpool have announced a partnership with Dunkin' Donuts. Dunkin' Donuts: The Official Donut of Liverpool Football Club. You can't make this shit up.

Onward!!

-SSN

Monday, January 13, 2014

Honors Even In Madrid, Newcastle Controversy, Pellegrini Is A $@%#%* According To Alan Pardew, Milan Sack Allegri, Monday Night Football

Whew! And a very happy Monday to you and yours. Let's begin at St. James' Park where one of the best strikes you'll ever see was deemed not legit. Incorrectly. Louise Taylor usually reports from Newcastle and today is no different. She was there to watch a very eventful match that was eventually won by Manchester City. Not before Samir Nasri left on a stretcher (he's out for eight weeks) after being hacked by Yanga-Mbiwa. He only saw yellow. Not the best day out for Mike Jones and his crew. Nor Alan Pardew. Kristan Heneage has Three Things to say about all of it.



To be fair, Pardew did apologize for calling Pellegini "a fucking old cunt." Did he have a choice?

Meanwhile, in Stoke, Liverpool prevailed thanks to a handball, followed by a dive, followed by a penalty. It was an engrossing match that ended 3-5. Not surprisingly, Luis Suárez played really well. Richard Jolly was at the Brittania.

Here's all you need to know from the weekend in the Premier League where Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, Everton, Sunderland, and Southampton emerged victorious. There were no draws.


Unlike the matches in England and Wales, The European Match of the Weekend ended scoreless. Barcelona and Atlético Madrid provided some exciting fare, but nobody could find the net. Jonathan Wilson reports on a match played with ferocious intensity. As does Graham Hunter. Here's even more on that match plus a look at the other weekend action in Spain.

Well, AC Milan lost to Sussudio (some dude named Berardi scored four). They now sit 11th in Serie A, 30 points behind Juventus. That is simply unacceptable. So, they fired Allegri. Rumor has it The Diving Italian Inzaghi might get the call to take over.

Monday Night Football! Today we've got Aston Villa vs. Arsenal. The battle of the "A" teams. Teams that begin with the letter "A". Right. Check it out at 3pm EST on NBCSN. We're closing SSN Headquarters early in order to do just that.

OMG!! We almost forgot The Mill and your Plus One! Never!

That Ballon d'Or crap is today. We don't care.

Onward!!

-SSN