All posts by h79snht.top

Newcastle’s win over Liverpool at St James’ Park on Saturday was all about three men: Andy Carroll, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan. These three players were simply awesome and have been for most of the season, contributing to the vast majority of Newcastle’s goals and assists in the Premier League so far. They have fired Newcastle up to 8th in the table, but new manager Alan Pardew will be hoping that another Magpie can keep up his good form.

They often say that the stats don’t lie and if that’s the case then Jose Enrique should be highly commended for his performance against Liverpool and his form this season. In Picklive, the LIVE fantasy football phenomenon, Jose Enrique outscored Carroll, Barton and Nolan to emerge as Newcastle’s top scorer on Saturday. He has scored bucket loads of points all season as well, trailing just Nolan and Barton in the charts.

Numbers don’t always tell the full story but you can’t deny that Jose Enrique is going from strength to strength for Newcastle. There is never a question of the Spanish left back not playing, which tells you its own story, and Enrique matches up well against any winger in the Premiership. He’s strong, has a fair amount of pace and has pretty decent positioning, something he utilised by saving a shot on the line on Saturday.

Against Liverpool he completed 40 passes, made 22 interceptions and a couple of tackles, in addition to laying the ball off for Carroll to power in Newcastle’s third goal. This shows that Enrique has a good all-round game, and while there may be question marks around Newcastle’s defending in previous games, I don’t think many criticisms are aimed at Enrique. He’s certainly becoming a fans’ favourite and the Bull has put his early difficulties in English football well and truly behind him.

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Carroll, Barton and Nolan may well be at the heart of Newcastle’s creativity and goal scoring, but Jose Enrique is also an essential player for the Toon. So if you fancy playing LIVE fantasy football then make use of your FREE Picklive trial now and remember, if Newcastle are playing then make sure that Jose Enrique is the first name on your team sheet as he’s sure to rack up the points for you!

Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Play Picklive for FREE and join the fantasy football revolution Watch and bet live – spices up any game!

Sir Alex Ferguson must have been a contented man this week as all the runners and riders for the top spot dropped points leaving United clear at the top of the table. An FA Cup win against the old enemy would cap the perfect week for Manchester United who certainly look good value in landing a record 19th title.

At FFC we have seen a mixed bag of articles which includes the rise of Nani; Berbatov’s critics move the goalposts, while Fergie performs a transfer faux pas.

We also look at the best Man United articles around the web this week.

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VIDEO: The GREATEST Premier League goal ever…you decide!

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From poor man’s Ronaldo, to now a mainstay at Old Trafford

Which SIX players will be victims of an overhaul at Manchester United?

Time to revamp the January window so to avoid this annual circus?

Top TEN Transfer Window guarantees this January

Berbatov’s critics forever moving the goalposts

Where does this Manchester United side rank among the past greats?

A transfer faux pas by Sir Alex Ferguson?

Does he possess the right qualities for Manchester United?

Time for this Manchester United legend to call it a day?

The Top TEN January transfer window disasters

Fergie’s ‘greatest’ Manchester United XI of his time?

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Best of WEB

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Is Smalling, not Evans, Ferdinand’s natural successor? – United Rant

Is Ferguson Pondering A Facelift For United? – The United Religion

When Bobby Charlton silenced the Kop in the FA Cup -RoM

United vs Liverpool in the FA Cup: 1 good & 1 bad – The Busby Way

Mid-season report 2010/11- United Rant

Man United not Man U? – The Busby Way

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Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of Man United v Liverpool and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!

Atletico Madrid returned to sixth place in La Liga with a 3-0 win over Mallorca on Monday, despite going down to 10 men.

Juan Valera met a Jose Antonio Reyes corner to head the hosts in front after 13 minutes at the Vicente Calderon.

Uruguay front-man Diego Forlan made it 2-0 in the 34th minute, collecting a Tiago through-ball and rounding Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate to slot home his seventh goal of the season.

Atletico were a left a man short from the 70th minute when captain Antonio Lopez received a straight red for tugging down Emilio Insue inside the box, preventing the striker from running through on goal.

But Cameroon striker Pierre Webo failed to convert the resulting penalty, with his spot-kick saved by David De Gea.

Any hope of a comeback for Mallorca receded further when midfielder Jonathan De Guzman saw red for a late tackle on Juanfran.

Reyes then wrapped up the scoring in the 90th minute.

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Finding himself unmarked at the back post, the former Arsenal and Seville man shot low beyond Aouate to make it 3-0.

Atletico move back to sixth at the expense of Athletic Bilbao, while Mallorca remain ninth.

After all the rumours, obituaries and tales of back-stabbing, Avram Grant has somehow kept his job at West Ham. The precarious nature of his position has not changed, the Hammers remain bottom and have played a game more than everyone else around them, however the Israeli will hope that he is now given some space to help save the football club.

With a Carling Cup semi-final second leg to come, this fixture hardly represents a chance to rest players, and Grant would take three points at Goodison Park at the expense of the cup dream.

Everton were excellent in patches during the Merseyside derby- the attacking impetus of Tim Cahill was most certainly a big miss, however with the Australian again missing out, David Moyes may feel that the decision to allow Nigerian, Yakubu away on loan was a premature one.

The Hammers need something here. Last weekend’s thrashing at the hands of Arsenal was dispiriting, and with a string of season defining fixtures on the horizon, a decent showing on Saturday is a pre-requisite.

Prediction: 1-1

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NEC Nijmegen won just their second league match in 10 appearances after recording a 2-0 victory over Excelsior in the Eredivisie on Sunday.

NEC entered the fixture on the back of five consecutive draws in all competitions but put relegation-threatened Excelsior to the sword courtesy of a second-half Niki Zimling brace.

NAC Breda slumped to their third consecutive loss when they were beaten 2-0 by mid-table rivals Heerenveen at Rat Verlegh Stadion, with Luciano Narsingh and Ousama Assaidi the goalscorers.

Roda JC came from behind to steal a point off Ajax in their 2-2 draw at Parkstad Limburg Stadion.

Goals from Miralem Sulejmani and Siem de Jong had third-placed Ajax ahead 2-0 after 35 minutes, but Mads Junker pulled a goal back before the interval and Anouar Hadouir netted the equaliser in the 82nd minute.

De Graafschap held Groningen to a 1-1 draw at the Stadion Se Vijverberg.

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Fourth-placed Groningen could have jumped into third with a victory on Sunday following Ajax’s slip-up, and took the lead after 32 minutes through Danny Holla.

But Rydell Poepon restored parity for the home side to ensure a share of the spoils.

The Champions League returns this week and will see the Premier League’s four clubs in the competition: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur all attempt to progress to the quarter finals. In the coming days there are two mouth-watering clashes involving English clubs, as Tottenham take on AC Milan at the San Siro and Arsenal host Barcelona at The Emirates Stadium, before Manchester United and Chelsea take on Marseille and FC Copenhagen respectively next week. The question is, how many Premier League clubs will emerge victorious from the last 16?

bet365 fancy TWO English teams to make it through – what about you? bet365 are betting on how many English sides make it through to the quarter final stage of the Champions League and the firm are 11/10 about two. bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth “injuries mean we’ve recently eased our price on Spurs progressing and it’s no secret that Arsenal have it all to do against Barcelona.” Also Barcelona are the firm’s 3/1 favourites to be the top scoring Champions League side this week.

I am slightly more optimistic about the English clubs’ chances in the Champions League in the coming weeks. Although neither of their opponents should be underestimated, you would expect both Man United and Chelsea to make it through without too much trouble. Then there’s Arsenal and Tottenham and while the Gunners face an uphill task, I think that if Spurs can snatch an away goal in Milan and be no worse than 3-1 down, they can make it yet another magical European night at White Hart Lane in the return leg. So I’m going for THREE English clubs to make it through – sorry Arsenal fans!

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Real Madrid eased their way into the Champions League quarter-finals with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Lyon at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.Real, who held a narrow advantage on away goals after the opening leg in France ended 1-1, always looked in control at home and gave up few chances while creating plenty of their own.Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo was back in Jose Mourinho’s 11 after recovering from a hamstring injury, lasting 73 minutes and playing a hand in Marcelo’s opening goal.French striker Karim Benzema put the tie beyond doubt after the hour, and Angel Di Maria added another for good measure as Real clinched the tie with a 4-1 overall aggregate.The result gives Real a boost of confidence as they head back to La Liga to face city rivals Atletico on Saturday.The hosts were creating trouble for Lyon from the outset and needed just five minutes to come close to an opener through Sami Khedira, whose header from their first set-piece struck the left post.Goalkeeper Iker Casillas produced a fine diving save to redirect Cesar Delgado’s swipe from range beyond the right post – one of Lyon’s few real opportunities in the first half – while at the other end Lyon custodian Hugo Lloris did well to punch Ronaldo’s flat attempt over the bar.But a Real goal seemed inevitable given their complete dominance, and it came in the 37th minute after some terrific by-play between Marcelo and Ronaldo.The Brazilian left-back bullied his way to the edge of the area on a one-two with Ronaldo, cut inside a sliding Dejan Lovren and chipped his shot beyond Lloris to lift the Bernabeu to full voice.Benzema, who had found the net eight times in his past six matches, started to press for a goal of his own in the shadows of half-time.He found his way past Lloris with a header on 42 minutes, though it was rightfully disallowed for offside, and three minutes later Lloris produced an acrobatic leap to tip the Frenchman’s finish over the bar.But there was still time aplenty for the former Lyon man, whose 66th-minute goal owed much to a terrific ball by Marcelo.The Brazilian’s deep through pass cut Lyon’s defence open, allowing Benzema to go one out with Lloris in the area and slide in an easy finish.With the tie all but sealed Lyon’s heads bowed, allowing Mesut Ozil to get away a deft flick-on for Di Maria to race through and place his shot under the bar on 76 minutes.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insisted the Premier League remains his top priority after the Gunners thumped Leyton Orient 5-0 in the FA Cup.Orient secured a lucrative fifth-round replay at the Emirates thanks to a last-gasp equaliser in their opening tie, but a Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick and goals to Maroune Chamakh and Gael Clichy ensured there would be no such fairytale on Wednesday.Arsenal advance to a thrilling showdown at Manchester United in the quarter-finals, but with leaders United a mere four points away on the Premier League table Wenger said the Gunners were focused on the top-flight silverware this season.”The league is a vital race. For us, the most important one,” Wenger said.”It will be interesting until the end of the season. Every game now is a cup game – we had one tonight, and will have one on Saturday (against Sunderland).””The race is tight, exciting. I don’t rule out Chelsea or Manchester City because everybody can drop points everywhere. If we maintain our consistency we have a very good chance.”Arsenal let slip the Carling Cup trophy with a 2-1 loss to Birmingham City in Sunday’s final at Wembley, and Wenger was pleased to see his charges return to their winning ways so convincingly.”It was a good response, we took the game in a serious way. It was good to win the game,” he said.”We are in a fantastic run. On Sunday we lost a game in special circumstances.”Orient boss Russell Slade praised Arsenal for ruthlessly responding to their 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture.”It was a difficult night for us. Chances were few and far between,” Slade said.”Arsenal were in the mood tonight and made life difficult for us. They played some wonderful football and we tried to live with that.””They are a group of internationals who are very focused and disciplined and their attitude tonight was spot-on.”

%image% Australia scored a surprising 2-1 victory over European heavyweight Germany at Borussia Park on Tuesday.Despite Mario Gomez’ first half goal, the Australians rallied in the second half to topple the home side.

A neatly-taken goals by Blackpool’s David Carney, the 1000th goal conceded by Germany, and a penalty from Luke Wilkshire, consigned the Germans to defeat.

A late goal from Asamoah Gyan earned Ghana a 1-1 draw with England at Wembley.

Recent Liverpool signing Andy Carroll put the Three Lions ahead just before the interval but the English were denied a victory over the World Cup quarter-finalists when Sunderland forward Gyan curled in a fine goal for the Africans.

France and Croatia played out a scoreless draw at the Stade de France, in a rematch of the 1998 World Cup semi-final which saw Croatia coach Slaven Bilic controversially have his opposite number Laurent Blanc sent off.

World Cup semi-finalist Uruguay overcame a late comeback to grab an entertaining 3-2 win over Ireland.

A Shane Long headed effort cancelled out Diego Lugano’s goal but then strikes from Edinson Cavani and Abel Hernandez put the Uruguayans 3-1 ahead.

A Keith Faley penalty gave the Irish a chance but the Uruguayans held on.

The hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Russia and Qatar respectively, played out a 1-1 draw in Doha.

Qatar grabbed a surprise lead through Mohamed Kasoula, but they were denied a famous victory when Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko equalised with a shot that Qatari goalkeeper Meshal Mubarak got a hand to.

Former World Cup champions Italy beat Ukraine 2-1 in Kiev thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Alessandro Matri.

Greece was held to 0-0 draw by Poland in Piraeus despite a handful of scoring opportunities falling their way in each half.

Portugal beat Finland in Aviero thanks a brace from debutant Rúben Micael.

Canada edged out Belarus at a near-empty stadium in Antalya in Turkey courtesy of a 58th minute strike from Houston Dynamo defender Andre Hainault.

A Michael Krohn-Dehli winner saw Denmark come out on top against Slovakia. Denmark drew first blood after an own goal from Slovakia’s Kornel Salata although the Slovakians drew level Filip Holosko but it was the Brondby midfielder who had the last laugh for the Danes.

A solitary goal separated Bulgaria and Cyprus with the Bulgarians coming out on top courtesy of a contentious Martin Petrov goal.

In Asia, China resoundingly defeated Honduras by three goals thanks to a from goal from Huang Bowen, and a Yang Xu double – all of which were set up by Schalke midfielder Hao Junmin.

In Latin America, Ecuador were held 0-0 by Peru in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Peruvians, who were reduced to 10 men, managed to hold on after goalkeeper Salomon Libman’s saved Ecuador captain Walter Ayovi’s penalty in the first half.

A Matias Fernandez free-kick and Jean Beausejour strike saw Chile beat Colombia 2-0.

Sunderland led twice but fell 3-2 to West Bromwich Albion at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.Albion leapfrogged their opponents on the table and are on the brink of safety in the English Premier League, but it was not until the dying stages that they found themselves ahead and on their way to a hugely significant result.

It looked as though the Black Cats were on their way past the 40-point safety mark when they took an early lead ? Asamoah Gyan’s cross from the left in the 11th minute deflected towards goal and defender Nicky Shorey headed it past Scott Carson under pressure from Ahmed Elmohamady.

Albion equalised just before the half-hour mark when Sunderland failed with some basic defending and striker Peter Odemwingie capitalised, stretching to turn the ball past Simon Mignolet.

The Wearsiders almost instantly regained the lead when Phil Bardsley smashed a free-kick home after Gyan had been brought down 20 yards from goal in the 31st minute and Steve Bruce’s men successfully held on to their lead until half-time.

The second-half might have gone either way but Sunderland were gradually broken down, as Albion took heart from the home team’s nervy play.

The visitors levelled in the 54th minute through another scrappy goal, Albion passing it around static Sunderland players and Odemwingie given far too much time to find Youssouf Mulumbu who scuffed a shot home from 10 yards out.

Sunderland continued to play dreadfully and for the second time in consecutive weeks they were indebted to a fantastic performance from Mignolet between the posts to keep them in the game.

But there was nothing he could do about Albion’s 72nd minute winner – the visitors once again given the freedom of the park before Odemwingie found Paul Scharner 12 yards out and he finished dutifully.

Sunderland mounted a late surge but it never looked like being enough to snare a point, and at the final whistle, the home team were jeered for their poor second-half performance.