Sanford's Soccer Net

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Norman Hubbard on Arsenal's defensive questions

I've totally given up second-guessing Arsene. The Gunner boss has been correct on players so many times over the years that there is no point even thinking about it: he knows what he's doing. -Sanford

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=375880&root=england&cc=5901

European football's new underclass

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=375887&cc=5901

Thieves steal Van der Meyde's dog

This guy's had a rough few days!! -Sanford

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1845037,00.html

American dreamer: Watford's Jay DeMerit hits the big time

This is fantastic. The last time Watford graced the EPL the only decent thing about watching them was waiting for the cameras to focus on Elton John in the Director's Box (which makes for a nice drinking game, mind you). Now we've got another Yank we can root for in England's top division and that'll make matches like Watford vs. Villa that much more interesting. -Sanford

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1835715,00.html

Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: Curtain raised in Cardiff

Here's what Sanford Soccer Net's Chicago Correspondent Bab Sullivan had to say about the Community Shield. A link to the match report is below. -Sanford

Chelski played basically the same general lineup they did in Chicago and you can see why they may be headed toward the cliff. Essien is wasted in the Makelele role, Ballack doesn't fit the role of wide man in the diamond midfield (Lampard is a disaster in the same role) and Robben can't play centrally at all. Drogba and Shevchenko didn't play with each other at all. They don't really have the players to use the 4-3-3 that worked so well for them last year (at least not right now) but the midfield personnel they have is ill-suited to 4-4-2 as well, at least as presently constituted. Having said that, Shevchenko's goal was fantastic and you can see Chelski bagging at least one like that every game just because of their quality, but I can't see that roster working for them in Europe at all.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375806&cc=5901

Dolce & Gabbana & The Azzuri

I mentioned these to a friend of mine the other day and she had not yet seen them. They were all over Germany and made my buddy Simona in Hamburg very happy. So in case you've not had a chance to gaze at the Italian Stallions, here they are... -Sanford