The Soccer Thread (IV)

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/122312/Brown-delighted-with-strike-duo

"It has been a tale of two weeks, that substitution," said Brown. "The kid got back into London from an all-night flight from the USA Friday morning, 6 o'clock. We then flew him up to the KC by helicopter.

"I looked at the whites of his eyes, asked if he was fit to play and the answer was fantastic. He was raring to go. It was a calculated risk that we didn't start him."

 

Burnley win again, 1-0 against Everton, who slip back below Pompey to the bottom of the table.

 

And Spurs are back atop the table after a 2-1 win at West Ham.

 

Deal apparently agreed between Man City and Everton for Lescott. £24 million ... something tells me Citeh are overspending.

 

Leeds top of the table in League 1 or Division 3 or whatever the hell it's called now. They will rise again ... maybe.

 

Think about just how bad things would have been for Everton at the start of this year and then all of last year without Tim Howard. Seriously, the guy keeps them in more games than they have any business being in.

 

I don't know if anybody's gotten to see it, but Altidore's assist was spectacular. Kind of a 3/4-bicycle kick that moved the ball forward into his teammates' path. (ESPN should have had it among its Sunday morning plays of the day, instead of Rooney's just-plain header).
Jozy could have scored a second time but rushed a chip as the keeper closed on him; he missed an open net.
He had another chance a third time but took too long to shoot.
All in all, it was a heck of a debut. Lotta trouble caused in 30 minutes.

 

You would be correct on that front.

Watched the Man City-Wolves game on DVR. The announcers said Man City's front three: Robinho, Adebayor and Tevez, went for £80 million.

And I like Wolves. They've got a future in the Prem.

 

Liverpool v. Aston Villa kicking off on ESPN2 in a few. Monday soccer, hooray!

 

I guess City really needs someone to fill the 'left back with dodgy knees' gap left by Michael Ball's absence.

It wouldn't stun me to see Moyes take off at the next good offer. Everything he's trying to build at Everton seems hamstrung by a chronic lack of investment. Every off-season is the same -- see the roster thin through attrition, possibly lose the club's best player, make one "big" signing and find a bunch of jobbers to make up the numbers.

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Our cable company dropped ESPN and Star Sports, so I'll have to make do with Falkirk-Hibs on something called GoalTV 2 (GoalTV 1 is running ManYoo-Galatasaray from 1994).

 

Too bad there is no 360 feed.

 

Villa takes the lead on an own goal.