Watch: Wales 0 - 2 England

England played impressively on away soil at the Millenium Stadium today, with two early goals separating the two sides. The three lions proved too much for the one dragon as England breezed to victory without any real problems at the back whilst performing very well in the midfield and out wide. 

Watch the Goals below:

How Did Vidic Get Red and Not David Luiz?

You may say it is a tad hypocritical for a Manchester United fan to say that the referee was unfair, inconsistent or incompetent considering the recent and well documented occurrences involving match officials and United. Fair enough, United do get the odd lucky decision their way, but tonight, Manchester United were the unlucky ones, with too many decisions changing the game unfairly in Chelsea's favour.

Wait! Before I go any further, credit where credit is due, Chelsea played far better than United in the second half. They controlled the game, they stopped us from creating, they scored more goals. They were the better side in the second period, and I am happy (not really happy actually, more angry) to admit it.

My notes tell me however, that United were far superior in the first half - at ease on the ball, dominant in possession, creating good opportunities, and overall, threatening Chelsea far more. My notes tell me that because it is true.

United played well down the wings, in a surprisingly open game. A Malouda shot early on, saw the Frenchman in acres of space only to weakly shoot into van der sar's chest and welcoming arms. This was countered with a United attack which saw Evra break into the box, only to swipe it across the goal mouth, agonisingly avoiding any United players contact.

29 minutes in however, United broke the deadlock, and allowed hopes of a very rare away win at Stamford Bridge, arise to the surface. It was a cute little interchange between Nani and Rooney, Rooney took a touch, and with Robin Hood accuracy, arrowed the ball into the bottom corner of the net. It was a great finish, and was, according to the statistics, Rooney's first goal outside of the box since February 2008 when he scored against Newcastle. It is his seventh League goal this season, as he continues to build his suspect goal tally.

As the end of the half neared, Chelsea realised where they were, and what they were doing, subsequently deciding that they better go for a goal rather than allow United to walk all over them. Their sudden interest meant a chance which showed just how valuable Mr Van Der Sar and Mr Vidic are. A sublime double save, and some quick thinking defending to scramble the ball away from goal after a Lampard free kick bounced around the area helped United go in at half time in the lead.

Now to the second half. The period where it all happened. Chelsea's decision to go for the win prompted an early response. The ball bounced to David Luiz to the left of the area, who was somehow clear of any defenders and Evra reacted too late to stop the ex-Benfica defender from smashing in an impressive volley which rifled past van der sar.

It was 1-1, and an hour had been played. Drogba came on for the ineffective Anelka to join the equally ineffective Torres up front. Then Giggs came on to replace Scholes, making his 606th Premier League appearance, equally Sir Bobby Charlton's record.

David Luiz. David Luiz. He looks like Sideshow Bob, a criminal from The Simpsons, and he acted just like that with at least two very bookable offenses. He got booked in the first half for a vicious and late tackle on Carrick, and then, in the second half, at a vital, vital time in the game, he stuck out a leg to cynically block off a Rooney run. It was off the ball, obvious, and unfair. It should have been another yellow and a red. It wasn't even a free-kick.

It is moments like that which change games. True enough, not long after that, Smalling gave away a penalty for much less than what Luiz did. Lampard duly scored which turned out to be the winner, causing United's second loss of the season, and a big, undeserved blow to the title chase (which Chelsea are out of).

Nemanja Vidic however, did get sent off. Player of the year so far, he tugged down Ramieres outside the box to receive his second yellow and his marching orders meaning he will miss the next game against Liverpool. In my opinion, this sending off is worse than the loss. Ferdinand is out with injury, Vidic has been United's rock and is now out, which puts more pressure on the young defender Chris Smalling.

Wilshere Admirers Grow by the Day

Jack Wilshere told of the best week of his life after Arsenal's win against Barcelona at the Emirates, and as his excellent performances become an ever frequent feature at the North London club, his fans, admirers, supporters, followers - call them what you like - increase by the day. No-one can doubt his obvious quality, skill and footballing artistry, and in such a young player it is very rare to see such natural ability so perhaps it is unsurprising that praise for him is not in short supply.

The most recent to heap praise on the 19 year-old is Barcelona's manager, Pep Guardiola. The manager, who has led Barcelona to eight trophies since taking over in 2008, is about to sign a contract extension at his club. Speculation had begun however, as to whether Guardiola may try to sign Wilshere for Barca in light of his brilliant performance against his side. The 40 year-old moved to rubbish the rumours, but not before adding his compliments to the players growing number of them:

"He [Wilshere] is a great player - a great player for Arsenal and in any case, Arsene Wenger doesn't sell his best players."

He continued to praise Arsenal:

"Arsenal are a wonderful side. You will not hear me discredit Arsenal - they are a great side with a great coach and they will be a very difficult opponent. It will be a great game against a great team."

His own manager has nothing but good to say about Wilshere. Arsene Wenger likened his playing style to that of Spanish players while applauding how he plays unworried and unfazed by his surroundings and occasion:

"He has a Spanish technique certainly, yes. He has an English heart because he's an English boy.

"He takes everything at the moment with a cool head, that's what I like. At his age you want to play and play again and show what you are. What I like as well is he isn't fazed by the occasion; he's not inhibited and just plays free off his chest which is fantastic."

Meanwhile his team mates, both club and country have told how they love to play with him. Fellow Arsenal midfielder Alex Song called him an "unbelievable young player" and he s "very happy to play alongside him". Song said Wilshere "always want to listen and learn" an invaluable quality in young players.
Wayne Rooney, who has had the privilege of playing with Wilshere for England and will undoubtedly do so in he future too, said after Wilshere's first start for England:

"I thought Jack Wilshere did really well. He is really composed on the ball and really good to play with. You can see the potential he has got."

Chelsea's Frank Lampard echoed Rooney's comments:

"We have learned that Wilshere can come in and continue showing the composure he plays with for Arsenal. Credit to him on his full debut because it isn't easy, but he is only going to get better and better now.

The media have given Wilshere rave reviews after watching his performance very closely, and he has been compared to the likes of Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, Wilshere's Arsenal team mate Cesc Fabregas, and the two Spanish central midfielders Xavi and Iniesta. He is a superb player, and one with a fantastic future. If he continues to improve and showcase his excellent performances on footballs biggest stages, there will be little doubt that in the future, up and coming quality players will be compared to Wilshere himself.


With the Nou Camp coming up, he will have possibly the biggest stage in world football to pull Arsenal through to the final stages of the Champions League.

Chelsea should pass their Arsenal Test

Last Saturday, Chelsea played Manchester City in there first real test of the season. Ancelotti's team mustn't have revised, because they failed their test - losing 1 - 0 thanks to a Carlos Tevez strike. But Mr Premier League Fixture List isn't the nicest of teachers, because he's only gone and thrown another test in front of Chelsea. The subject? Arsenal. However, this test may not be as hard as the Manchester City one, you can't really tell with the unpredictable Arsenal.

They were very big favourites last week, with what should have been an A-Grade pass for the Gunners against the newly promoted West Brom. Alas, they went 3 - 0 down, and only managed to claw back two goals and a little bit of dignity in front of their home fans to finish the match at 2 - 3.

Fabregas: Out of the Chelsea Game

On Sunday, when Chelsea and Arsenal lock horns, Fabregas will be absent in the Arsenal side, and the problematic position of the goalkeeper will be filled by Lukas Fabianski with Manuel Almunia still sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Ancelotti, the Chelsea manger has had a hard week, after discovering his father Giuseppe had died, and so has gone back to his homeland to attend his funeral - leaving his assistant and staff to work with the players during the week and prepare for the week-end. Ancelotti will be back for the game, but he will be without Frank Lampard, who is still recovering from his hernia operation and will be absent, as well as Salomon Kalou and Yossi Benayoun who both picked up injuries in their recent Carling Cup game.

This should be the game of the week-end, with both teams challenging for the Premier League title. If Manchester United lose against Sunderland on Saturday, then Arsenal could move a point behind leaders Chelsea with a win.
Arsenal must work very very hard for a win though, because nowadays, Chelsea don't often lose two Premier League games in a row - it may well be a harder test for Arsenal than it will be for Chelsea.

Team           P   W   D    L   GD     Pts
1. Chelsea     6    5    0    1    +19    15
2. Man Utd   6    3    3    0    +7      12
3. Arsenal     6    3    2    1    +9      11

Stop Blaming Capello

As England fans sit down in front of their televisions on Friday to watch England play against Bulgaria, it will bring back all the memories of the latest World Cup exit and leave a sickening feeling in even die hard England fans. We all know that it is hard to watch England, with catastrophic mistakes just around the corner and uncharacteristic errors just seconds away. These blunders are magnified enormously as they are watched by millions of fans around England and the world. Fabio Capello knows more than anyone that when mistakes happen, everyone wants someone to blame. In the most recent World Cup failure, as with so many others, the manager has been the one who has been attacked as the weak-link in the team. He is blamed for the failings of a team with the players of such high-quality that they should be able to beat any nation on any given day. But with the only thing to change between major competitions being the manager (and of course the retiring of players) it must be questioned as to why the new manger is blamed when it has been the players who have failed to deliver.

Capello has been under massive pressure to leave his England post by certain newspapers who have branded him as stupid and evan a "jackass" since England lost to Germany in the World Cup. Yes, he made mistakes during the competition, but so did the players. I fear that fans and newspapers like to demand the manager to be sacked because they think it will make things better, and also because they can. Under massive pressure of the media, the FA can crumble and try to appease fans by giving them the managers head. But this is only a short term solution. It doesn't solve much, and it makes you wonder, who would want to be manager of England. The criticism of Capello is hardly fair. He understands that he made mistakes, but to call a manager who has won most of Europes top prizes and managed Europes top clubs stupid and a "jackass" is absurd.

As fans, we need to realise that over the past forty four years, England, with excellent players have won nothing. We have been the victim of incredibly bad luck over the years, Robert Green and Frank Lampard could tell you that. But the ammount of managers that we have gone through without winning anything - and these are highly experienced, top class (well paid) managers, we need to think logically and realise that it isn't all the managers fault, and the easier we turn against the men who lead out our nation in major competitions, the harder it will be for them to do their job.

Platini's refusal to admit that he is wrong is stupidity of the highest degree

Irritating

With calls for technology in the game of football being as loud as can be, you would think there would be a response from the heads of UEFA. Well there has been a response. But it isn't a good one. Michel Platini, who is still fiercely against technology in football despite so many big decisions being judged wrongly, believes that the resolution to refereeing mistakes is to have two more referees. Not only that, but he is, with the help of Pierluigi Collina is going to make all referees as fit as the footballers themselves. With such a magnificent idea as that, he must be so proud of himself *extreme sarcasm*.

He believes that this new, revolutionary idea (again, oozing sarcasm) will, according to him, provide a "99 to 100 percent" guarantee of no more mistakes. 5 referees were present and supposedly working together to get all the decisions correct in the game between Tottenham and the Young Boys on Wednesday, and all five of them missed Jermaine Defoe's handball. Conveniently, when asked, Platini hadn't seen the incident. But this means, that this incident is down to the referees fitness. Is that what your telling us Platini?

Embarrassing: Referees Decision

It just makes you want to laugh it's so ridiculous. If there is a guarantee that 99 to 100 percent of the time, there will be no mistakes, which I doubt very very much, then why not make it a 100% guarantee that there will be no mistakes by introducing video technology?

I have seen no evidence as yet that five referees makes any difference to the final decision. There have been very few times when the officials behind the goal in Europa League games have intervened during the big decisions, either because they haven't seen it, or they are too scared to over-rule the referees decision. It takes less than 20 seconds for us watching at home to see on the replays what actually happened, yet Platini and Blatter's ego's are to vast for them to admit that they are wrong and turn to video technology to make football decisions accurate, but most importantly, fair.