The Only Football Blog

It was very interesting to watch the Aston Villa vs. Blackburn Rovers Carling Cup match, especially because both teams showed spectacular plays and strategies. Ten goals were scored during the match –yes, that’s 10 — leading to Aston Villa’s victory. Playing at Villa Park, both teams came very prepared for winning a spot at the Carling Cup’s final match.

Blackburn stole the first goal through their very own Nikola Kalinic, scoring a beautiful goal 10 minutes into the first half. Not only that, Nikola Kalinic also scored the second goal not too long after, leaving Aston Villa’s fans startled and worried. Villa entered this match with 1-0 lead from the previous match, but the 2 goals they just lost made the situation looks bad.

Not wanting to fall behind, Villa’s Stephen Warnock scored the team’s first goal 30 minutes into the first half. The fans were cheering happily for the team’s comeback. Not only that, James Milner also successfully executed a penalty just minutes before the first half ended. The penalty was given to Aston Villa after Christopher Samba tackled Gabriel Agbonlahor harshly inside the penalty area. Samba was given a red card for the incident, and Blackburn had to play with 10 players.

The goal-vaganza continues as both teams are trying to take lead of the match. Blackburn’s players showed signs of breakdown after Steven Nzonzi accidentally committed an own goal; 3-2 for Aston Villa. Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey scored two more goals for Aston Villa, before Martin Olsson scored one for Blackburn. The game was getting pretty intense, especially after Brett Emerton scored another goal for Blackburn several minutes before the match ended; 6-4 for Aston Villa.

Yesterday’s match between Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal brought the Arsenal to number one position in the Premiere League’s standings, after the team won with a solid 4-2. Arsenal took the lead with 48 points, leaving Chelsea and Manchester United behind. Chelsea has 48 points as well, but they have to give the lead to Arsenal for better number of goals; Manchester United, on the other hand, dropped down to third position with 47 points. The Trotters, on the other hand, are still in the degradation zone with 18 points.

The match against Bolton Wanderers was very interesting to watch indeed. Arsenal’s crowd at the Emirates Stadium was silenced by Bolton’s goal just seven minutes into the first half. This was shocking for many people indeed, with several chained attempt before goalkeeper Manuel Almunia finally missed the ball; Gary Cahill scored the first goal of this match.

28 minutes into the first half, Lee Chung-Yong was tackled inside the penalty area; the ref quickly awarder Bolton a penalty kick and Matthew Taylor successfully added another point for Bolton Wanderers. With 0-2 on the score board, Arsenal retaliated by scoring a goal several minutes before the end of the first half. Tomas Rosick took the shot from 18 meters away for one of the best goals I’ve seen this weekend.

Fabregas continued Arsenal’s attempt to win the game by scoring another goal just several minutes into the second half. The team took their lead when Vermaelen scored another goal; 3-2 for Arsenal. Andrei Arshavin concluded the match with another goal for Arsenal.

It is a great weekend for Liverpool, scoring a spectacular v2-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspurs and climbing up the Premiere League rankings gradually. Liverpool has been showing positive improvements this past couple of weeks; the team is looking pretty solid and we can expect more victories from them for sure. They now scored 37 points and are in sixth place. Spurs, on the other hand, remains in the fourth position with 38 points.

Without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, two of Liverpool’s best players, the team entered the match without too many expectations. However, the team’s manager Rafa Benitez used Liverpool’s usual formation (4-5-1), placing Dirk Kuyt as the team’s sole striker while Alberto Aquilani act as a supporting attacker for Kuyt. Phlippe Degen, Liverpool’s fullback, was placed at the centerline to help create movements and set the game’s pace.

The strategy worked out beautifully, with Kuyt scoring the first goal of this match after a mere six minutes into the first half. Kuyt showed a spectacular teamwork with Aquilani before scoring a beautiful goal for Liverpool. Spurs tried to return the tide by pushing forward and pressing Liverpool’s defense line intensely, with several great opportunities including the one where Martin Skrtel made a high-powered attempt against the goal and missed by a couple of inches.

Spurs continued to press forward during the second half, but their attacks were not good enough to break Liverpool’s solid defense. At the very last minute, David Ngog was tackled roughly inside the penalty area; Kuyt did a great job executing the penalty.