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Geregistreerd op: 28 Aug 2019 Berichten: 861
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Geplaatst: 02-12-2019 04:47:24 Onderwerp: LONDON -- The Premier Leagues most unpredictable title race |
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LONDON -- The Premier Leagues most unpredictable title race produced another surprise on Saturday as Chelsea lost at Crystal Palace for the first time since 1990. Fake Vans For Sale . Despite the 1-0 collapse after Chelsea captain John Terry headed Joel Wards cross into his own goal at the start of the second half, Jose Mourinhos side remains top as Manchester City was held to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal. "We depend too much on other results," Mourinho said, writing off his teams title prospect. "When you depend a little its possible, when you depend a lot, I dont think its possible. "We depend now too much. I dont think now we can win the league." Liverpool, perhaps? Brendan Rodgers side is a point behind Chelsea and will go top with a victory over Tottenham on Sunday. The points tally, though, is deceptive. Although City is third and two points behind Chelsea, the 2012 champions have two games in hand. The one certainty is the defending champions wont be keeping hold of the trophy, with Manchester United still in seventh despite by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1. Southampton, a place behind United but six points adrift, produced a resounding 4-0 victory over Newcastle. In a meeting of relegation-threatened teams, both West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff scored in stoppage time as they drew 3-3. Stokes impressive form continued with Peter Odemwingie clinching a 1-0 victory over Hull, the teams fourth success in five matches. Swansea climbed above Hull into 13th by ending a six-game winless run in the league. Jonathan de Guzmans clinical double and Wayne Routledges goal produced a 3-0 victory over fellow struggler Norwich. In the trophy chase, Arsenals concern will be its return of two points from its last three games -- even if the spirited fight back against City offered hope for the title run-in. With Arsenal still reeling from a demoralizing 6-0 loss at Chelsea last weekend, David Silva completed a counter-attack to put City in front in the 18th minute. But conceding early made Arsenal more assertive and Mathieu Flamini turned Lukas Podolskis cross into the net to level eight minutes into the second half. At Old Trafford, the start of the game had fans looking to the sky when a much-publicized plane flew overhead with a banner emblazoned with "Wrong One - Moyes Out." Just one person, who said he is a United fan, has claimed responsibility for the stunt with no supporters groups backing the protest. "The support inside Old Trafford has been terrific and if ever there was a show of support for their football club and for their team, it was today," Moyes said. But supporters faith in Moyes was tested when Ashley Westwood put Aston Villa in front in the 13th minute by sending a free kick dipping into the net. Villas lead only lasted seven minutes before Rooney sent a header from Shinji Kagawas cross into the net. And after Leandro Bacuna fouled Juan Mata, Rooney put United in front from the penalty spot before half time. The lead was extended in the 57th when Juan Mata scored his first United goal since joining from Chelsea in January for 37.1 million pounds (then $61 million), and substitute Javier Hernandez wrapped up the victory in stoppage time. On the south-coast, Southamptons victory will have offered England coach Roy Hodgson some encouragement for the World Cup -- with three different English scores. Jay Rodriguez put Southampton in front just before half time and netted the fourth in the 89th after Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana scored. Fake Vans 2020 . The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the league hasnt announced the award. Crawford was the Clippers third-leading scorer and the NBAs top-scoring reserve with 18. Fake Vans . - Kevin Labanc and Joseph Blandisi were a potent combination for the Barrie Colts on Friday night. https://www.vansfake.com/ . 22 because of a bruised foot and have added forward Sean Collins to the roster on emergency recall from Springfield of the AHL.With the game just past the half hour mark, Stoke winger Jonathan Walters sprinted towards the touchline, failed to keep the ball in play, and had to put his hands out to stop himself from going into the crowd. As he did so he picked up a cup from the fan in the front row and pretended to drink it. Unfortunately for the smiling Englishman the cup was empty. So, it seemed, was the wingers energy. Walters had been asked to play right wing at White Hart Lane in a 4-4-1-1 formation for Stoke, up against a Tottenham team that began in a 4-4-2 shape. His manager, Mark Hughes, had hoped that Walters could get forward to help out his solo front man, Peter Crouch, but instead he was being forced to play right back. One of the fittest players in the league looked exhausted. The reason? The supreme footballing intelligence of Tottenhams Christian Eriksen. Eriksen, asked to play left wing only when the opponents have possession of the ball, terrorized his opponent in possession, with outstanding movement and creativity. The Dane spent much of the match moving inside, the moment the ball drifted to the right side, and forced Stokes back four to get narrower and narrower, forcing Walters deeper. Stoke were bemused by Tottenhams shape and the free role given to Eriksen that hadnt been seen before in a Premier League match. System Much has been made of new head coach Tim Sherwoods tactical changes from previous manager Andre Villas-Boas, with a lot of the focus, rightly so, falling on Sherwoods decision to play two strikers up top together. Villas-Boas took charge of 16 Premier League games this season for Spurs and not once started with two forwards together. Sherwood has picked two up top from the start of every match he has managed so far. When he was questioned about that style after the FA Cup loss to Arsenal, he said: "A lots made of systems - 4-4-2, 4-3-3, whatever you want to call it - but its about passing the ball to your own team, keeping hold of it. Because whenever you lose the ball in transition, youre always going to be out of shape – otherwise youre going to be a rigid, boring team. So its about funnelling back in, shuffling across." Sherwood has now had seven post-match meetings with the media and the common theme in all of them has been his discussions about getting the ball to key players in key areas. At the top of this list is clearly 21-year-old Eriksen. When the former Ajax playmaker was brought to White Hart Lane at the end of August he was only Tottenhams 4th most expensive signing of the window; behind Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado and Paulinho. The day he signed, Tottenham also revealed the capture of Argentine Lamela, for almost three times the amount of Eriksen. If Tottenham wanted to keep the Dane under the radar, captured at a discount because his contract was close to expiring, they were certainly doing a good job at it. Eriksen made his debut in Tottenhams fourth game of the season, at home to Norwich, and the team had yet to score a goal from open play. The playmaker took 28 minutes to do what Tottenham couldnt do in 270, putting a perfectly weighted pass in to Gylfi Sigurdsson who opened the scoring. In the second half, Eriksen found himself in his office - the central space outside the penalty box - when he switched the play brilliantly to Paulinho on the right side. It was the kind of pass that most players wouldnt have even seen but seconds later Tottenham extended their lead when Sigurdsson tapped home the Brazilians cross at the back post. When he was taken off after 71 minutes, Eriksen got a standing ovation from his new fans. "It was a great debut for Christian, he is a pure number 10, a creative player and his individual quality made all the difference," said Villas-Boas after the match.Eriksen would start the next three games but with the side struggling to score goals he found himself on the bench following the October international break. The Dane played just 34 minutes in matches against Aston Villa, Hull and Everton, with Lewis Holtby starting all three games as AVBs pure number ten. Eriksen returned for the home loss against Newcastle and it would be his final appearance for Villas-Boas before he got injured playing for Denmark. When he was fit to return, Tottenham had a date at Southampton and Sherwood was now the boss. Eriksen was back but not as pure number ten, instead, asked to play in a central midfield role in a 442. It was Sherwoods attempt to get the playmaker in the side alongside Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor, who started hhis first league game of the season and scored twice in a 3-2 win. Fake Vans Cheap. It was a brave decision from Sherwood, who at the time was still auditioning for the job. The next day Sherwood was given an 18-month contract in charge of Spurs, four days later they drew 1-1 against West Brom, with Eriksen scoring a free kick, again playing central midfield. The games were coming thick and fast and with little time to work on anything as the head coach reflected after the draw against the Baggies: ""We could have done with a bit more guile around the penalty area, but overall I think well improve, its been difficult because we havent been able to have too much instruction to the boys in training, because of the amount of games, its been hectic, its a new voice, we are asking them to play a slightly different manner and hopefully theyll get better and better at it." Finding the forwards Sherwood needed to find a way for his team to get that guile while still maintaining the shape he was working with them on. Two days after the win against West Brom, he made the slight change over Eriksens positioning for the Stoke game. Tottenhams final game of 2013, with Eriksen in his new role, would turn out to be their best performance of the season as they seemed to solve the biggest problem Tottenham have had this season; getting service to Soldado, a man signed for 26 million pounds in the summer. The Spaniard received just 320 passes in the 13 starts he made under Villas-Boas, an average of just 24.6 per game. Against Stoke, Sherwood specifically asked his forwards to stretch their attack, with Soldado moving out to the right to connect with Aaron Lennon and Adebayor doing the same on the left to connect with Eriksen, with full backs on both wings creating overlaps when they can. Tottenham looked like a completely different side with both forward heavily involved. "The coach has told us to play more free," Eriksen said afterwards"We have seen that in the games he was been in charge of. He said it looked like we were a little bit afraid (before)."He said we shouldnt be afraid. He said we should just play and see that we are good. If we dare we have a really good team and really good chances."I think what you see now is how we should play." 2014 Since the turn of the New Year, Sherwood has stuck to his system and Eriksen has been the main reason for its success. At Old Trafford he was the outlet in his own half when Spurs countered, starting the move, sprinting into space on the right and providing a cross for Adebayor to head home. In the second half, for the second goal, Soldado came deep to help with Lennon, who sprinted on and found Eriksen, ahead of both strikers, drifting off the left flank to head home at the back post. On Saturday, at home to Crystal Palace, after a very poor first half from Spurs, Eriksen was the spark they need when he recognized a long cross field ball needed to be played by right back Kyle Naughton towards Adebayor, and the moment the ball came towards the striker, the Dane ran into the space created by his team-mate and smashed home the games first goal. His movement inside from the flank had confused another defence. Eriksen, like Spurs, had not been at his best that day but, at a time when it was needed, had the intelligence and skill required to make the difference. Despite the three points, the performance again raised eyebrows, specifically around Soldado, who was ineffective again despite having more creativity around him. Their remains a number of question marks over Tottenhams new system under Sherwood. Can whoever plays as the central midfield two do enough to cover the gaps in front of the centre backs and combine with the attack, specifically against teams better than Stoke and Crystal Palace? Will Eriksen still be influential in the role if left-sided Mousa Dembele isnt playing in midfield? How much more patience will Sherwood have with Soldado? And will Eriksen remain a left sided option even when others such as Nacer Chadli have come on to replace a striker, like he has in past matches. What should no longer be a question is Eriksens place in the team, no matter where he is asked to play. Sherwoods Tottenham will inevitably go through a difficult patch at some point during the second half of the season but what the versatile Danish star has shown in the last month is that he should be the first name written on the team sheet. Dont expect to see him benched for anyone again. This is a Premier League star in the making. ' ' ' |
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