OSG Prem: Manchesters And Everton Have Rough Days

((HT: BPL on NBCSN))

It was just one of those days... and that's what makes the premier League what it is...
Just when you think you have everything figured out- forget it...

First, Burnley was hosting Manchester United- Easy one for the Reds, right...???
Nope... a goalless draw...

Maybe van Gaal was right. It might take a year...
((HT: Beanyman Sports))


City didn't do any better on a day where they could have had SERIOUS bragging rights. Mark Hughes returned to his old haunt coaching Stoke against the Citizens and he came away with the 1-0 win. Once again... shocking...


The best squad money can buy is pitting up some serious numbers already. So much for Diego Costa being out for as many as six weeks with that hamstring he hurt in training. The Blues put up 6 against Tim Howard and Everton. Costa put in two on his own...


Elsewhere, a really mad Harry Redknapp lost Loic Remy in a sale before the transfer deadline. But QPR got the 1-0 win today over Sunderland.
Neil Warnock and Crystal Palace went toe-to-toe with Newcastle- both teams left with a point after a 3-3 draw.
Nathan Dyer put two on West Brom and the Swans added another just because in a Swansea City 3-0 win.
Southampton found some offense somewhere and won 3-1 over West Ham...

DEVELOPING: Moyes To Be Sacked At ManU...??? (UPDATED)

((HT: The Telegraph))

Only 11 months in, the Chosen One could be the Departed One...

David Moyes, hand-picked to be the successor for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, seems to have lost the locker room and the executives. If Moyes is looking for any kind of assurance that he's going to be around after this season, he could be out the door before this week's game with Norwich.

It would be a cleaning house...

Moyes, Mike Phelan, Rene Meulensteen, Steve Round, Jimmy Lumsden and Phil Neville would all be gone with Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp the leader in the clubhouse to replace Moyes.

Here's what seems to be the last straw- the 2-0 loss to Everton over the weekend...


If Moyes is let go, Ryan Giggs would be expected to take charge of the team for the balance of the season. United is facing not being involved in European football for the first time since the 1981-82 season.

More when we know more...

NOON UPDATE: Looks like, according to Sky Sports, that the sack may happen in the next 24 hours...

OSG Prem: Looks Like It's Liverpool's To Lose...

((HT: NBCSN/BPL/BBC))

Just don't tell them that...

Norwich continues their gauntlet of all gauntlets to end the 2014 Premier League season- and, maybe, their Premier League lives...

First stop was a game against Liverpool who had the chance to extend their lead at the top of the table...
A 3-2 win will do exactly that... although the HQ will give the Canaries credit for sticking it out to the end this year and not giving up without a fight- even if it was their fifth loss in a row...


Elsewhere, it was a miserable return for David Moyes to Everton as boss of Manchester United...
He was booed at every turn and even had a guy dressed as the Grim Reaper standing behind him at Goodison Park- for 15 minutes- before someone asked the guy removed his outfit.

It was a not-even-close 2-0 loss where the Evertonians got their pound of flesh for his exodus and the raid of Marouane Fellaini and attempted raid of Leighton Baines. Not so surprisingly, Moyes sounded like this after the match:


Oh, and Arsenal won the Premier League pre-match version of the NIT- the FA Cup- with a 3-0 win over Hull City...

OSG Prem: The Top And Bottom Get Closer Again...

((HT: BPL on NBC/BPL))

Everton needed to keep pace with Arsenal to keep the pressure on for the fourth Champions League spot. Crystal Palace has done wonders under Tony Pulis and it looks like the Blues squandered a major chance to stay involved in the discussion.

Pulis should take Manager of the Year honors as the Eagles have won their fourth in a row...
Jason Puncheon started the scoring in a game that Martinez felt his team played scared in a 3-2 loss...


Sunderland is still six points from safety, but their efforts in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City may go a long way in reinforcing their mental wherewithal to think they can stay up and get past Cardiff City, Fulham, and Norwich.

Connor Wickham sent a lot of fantasy players scrambling for some salary cap help after scoring twice and tripling his career Premier League output. Man City now needs to win out and get some help if they want to make it past Liverpool for the Premier League title.

OSG Prem: Arsenal Slide Continues, Liverpool Wins Grinder (BREAKING: Hughton Sacked At Norwich)

((HT: BPL/NBCSN))

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for Arsene Wenger and the Gunners...

The team had only won 3 of their last ten, and needed to do something... ANYTHING!!! at Goodison Park against Everton to keep their tenuous hold on 4th place and the last Champions League spot for 2014-15. But it didn't work out that way...

At all...


In the other Sunday game, it's the response that your team has when you're not at your best that may decide your drive at the end of a very long road...

It was obvious that Liverpool didn't have it all Sunday, But what they did have was enough good fortune- whether given by the officials or not- to get a hard-fought 2-1 win at West Ham United.


Here's the table to date

1 Liverpool 33 74
2 Chelsea 33 72
3 Man City 31 70
4 Arsenal 33 64
5 Everton 32 63

BREAKING: And in, possibly, one of the dumbest ideas ever in the history of ever...

Norwich, who really should be worried about being relegated, decided to sack manager Chris Hughton with immediate effect:

Neil Adams, the team's under-18 manager, is now in charge for one of the nastiest gauntlets to finish a season the HQ can think of in any kind of memory- recent or otherwise...

"...the Club would like to place on record it's sincere thanks to Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope for all of their hard work on behalf of the Club since they took over in June 2012.

Chris's achievement in guiding City to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League last season was an excellent one and he has represented the Club with dignity throughout his tenure.

However the recent run of four defeats in our last six Premier League games and six consecutive away league defeats, left the Club with no choice but to act, with five games still to play in the current campaign.

Those five games...???

Fulham at Craven Cottage, home to Liverpool, at Man United, at Chelsea, and home to Arsenal
Yeah... good luck on that...

OSG Prem: Words You Can't Say On Live TV... Well, Maybe, In Britain...???

((HT: Iain McIntosh/Tony Jameson's Vine))

Jamie Redknapp will end up being quite correct on his assessment of Arsenal with Mathieu Flamini's yellow card that he picked up in the Sunday contest against Everton...

He's out the next two games including the FA Cup semi against Wigan...

But he did say this on air in previewing the game against the Toffees...


And I know a lot of analysts that would love to use language like that...

But we all know it's a big boo-boo...

OSG Prem: Reds At The Top Of The Table, Fulham Still Bottom

((HT: Sportsnet))

The lead at the top of the table is now Liverpool's to keep... even as Manchester City has two games in hand on the bunch...

The Reds have now gone their last 13 without a defeat- including 8 wins and a dismantling of Spurs at Anfield this afternoon. Makes the HQ wonder just how much patience the front office will have with caretaker manager Tim Sherwood after another throttling by a top five club...

Here's the wrap...
Elsewhere, the matinee on Sunday was Everton trying to put another nail in Fulham's relegation quest with a win at Craven Cottage. Believe it or not, the reserves were the ones coming through over and over again as Roberto Martinez's squad solidified their top-5 place... ((HT: ProSoccerTalk))

OSG Prem: Barkley Efforts Help Everton, City Shuts Out United

((HT: BPL on NBC/Everton Vines))

It was one of the two make-up days for the Premier League this week to swap out games in hand from all the Europa, Champions League, and FA Cup ties...

Everton got to make an early statement against Newcastle and it came from Ross Barkley as the Blues held a league at the half, 1-0 and went on to win 3-0...

Here's the Barkley coast-to-coaster


The Manchester Derby showed how City is City this season and United is United...

It took Edin Dzeko all of 42 seconds to get the Citizens on the board and he repeated the idea in the second half to, pretty much, destroy any ideas of making the Europa League qualifications for ManU this season...

Here's the first...


An abject disaster for the fans at Old Trafford as City won 3-0 with goal 3 coming from Yaya Toure...

Elsewhere, Lucas Podolski scored twice in a two minute span to (one would have thought) save Arsenal from certain embarrassment hosting Swansea at the Emirates. But a Flamini own goal in the 90th minute gave the Swans a needed point...

Two games Wednesday with Liverpool taking on Sunderland and West Ham taking on Hull City

OSG Prem: Chelsea And Man City Escape, United, Hull, Arsenal Roll...

It was an interesting day...

It went until the bitter end for Chelsea before they knocked off Everton 1-0...
John Terry with the game-winner...

The Chosen One seemed a little shell-shocked at his fortunes...
((HT: BBCSport))


Arsenal put the hammer down against the Black Cats...up 3-0 early and 4-1 final...
Arsene Wenger called it a "vital and convincing win..."
((HT: SkySports))


Manchester United got a huge three points at Crystal Palace- one of the goals coming from Wayne Rooney


Manchester City held off Stoke 1-0 and the action at the bottom made life interesting...
Hull City got two from Nikica Jelavic and smoked Cardiff 4-0
West Ham took care of Southampton in a bit of a surprise 3-1
And West Brom and Fulham resolved nothing in a 1-1 draw...

Chelsea remains a point ahead of Arsenal atop the table. Man City is third with 57 points. Liverpool are fourth with 53 points. The Europa League spot is Spurs at the moment as they're five points clear of both United and Everton.

Relegation remains Sunderland, Cardiff City, and Fulham

OSG Prem: Liverpool Smokes Everton, Arsenal Survives, Merson Laughs...

((HT: NBC Sports/BPL))

A hearty welcome back to the Premier after the FA Cup ties shows us that Liverpool looks like they'll be hanging around for a while...

Sturridge had two, Gerrard and Suarez one each and the reds blew Everton out of the gym, 4-0, at Anfield...

It was 3-0 before you could blink, really, and Sturridge looked motivated and enjoyed taking USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard to Lob City with his second...


But, probably, the funniest moment of the day was when Sky Sports Paul Merson absolutely lost it when Sturridge skied his PK attempt for the hat trick...
((HT: Sky Sports))


Manchester United wasted no time welcoming back Robin van Persie with a mark on the score sheet and new import Juan Mata added some handiwork on his own as ManU took care of Cardiff, 2-0...

Swansea picked up a needed three points with a 2-0 shutout of Fulham...

Southampton and Arsenal each picked up a point in a 2-2 draw. The more important issue is the red card of Flamini, which will keep him out of three matches in the Arsenal midfield...

Norwich and Newscastle ended 10v10, but it didn't add any offense for their scoreless draw...

And Crystal Palace held off 10-man Hull City 1-0 and pick up a huge three points for Tony Pulis

OSG Prem: Boxing Day Recap Borders On The Wacky

((HT: BPL on NBCSN))

Let's start with the less eventful...

An own goal saved Manchester United's hind-quarters at Hull City FC, 3-2...

Chelsea scored once and beat an offensively-crippled (at the moment) Swansea, 1-0...

Tottenham and West Brom tied at ones...

Arsenal took care of a tiring West Ham squad in the second half, 3-1, but are concerned over an Aaron Ramsey injury as the weekend continues...

Tony Pulis' turnaround with Crystal Palace continues with a stoppage time goal win over Aston Villa...

Fulham needed a win over Norwich to start a climb out of the bottom of the table and got one, 2-1...

And now for the final four matches of the day...

We'll start with Cardiff and Southampton since the HQ is under the impression that the porous defensive showing in the first half in a 3-0 loss may have buried manager Malky Mackay in the eyes of joke of an owner Vincent Tan. Protests by Cardiff City fans outside the stadium before the match numbered in the hundreds, and there were a lot of fans wearing the team's original color, blue, in the stands...

Here's Mackay's post-match interview...
((HT: BBC Sport))


Everton keeper Tim Howard was sent off for the first time in ten years after getting a red against Sunderland- the team at the bottom of the table. And one goal was all that the Black Cats needed as Gus Poyet continues the team's climb from the basement...


Stoke was leading 1-0 until all hell broke loose, The Potters went two men down on red cards, manager Mark Hughes exploded and was sent to the stands and Newcastle scored 5 in a row to win 5-1.

Here's Hughes eviscerating everyone in ref's colors...
((HT: BBC Sport))


And the finale was Liverpool and Man City...

After Liverpool got the early lead, the rest of the game was Man City's with goals from Kompany and Negredo for the three points and a 2-1 win...

Reds manager Brendan Rodgers was less than pleased...
((HT: BBC Sport))


And that's the beginning of the weekend...

OSG Prem: Transfer Window Closes With Flair

((HT: Sky Sports))

The HQ will say, without fail, that the largest event of the end of the Transfer Window in the Premier League was the move of Everton striker Marouane Fellaini to Manchester United- for 27.5-million pounds. The Devils lost out on a joint bid of Fellaini and Leighton Baines for 36-million. There's still talk of Coentrao joining from overseas on loan, but there's nothing official.

Here's the recap


Victor Anichebe’s move to West Bromwich was huge as well as Gareth Barry from Manchester City to Everton.
Everton also adds Romelu Lukaku on loan and James McCarthy from Wigan- a man Roberto Martinez coached last year.

Mesut Ozil broke the bank for Arsenal as an import from Real Madrid and Victor Moses is now on season-long loan to Liverpool from Chelsea.


Swansea gets Getafe's Alvaro Vazquez on loan for the year...

And one that could fly below the radar is Stephane Sessegnon going from Sunderland to West Brom on a three-year deal. It could either make or break Sessegnon in a new environment in the Premier.

Interesting moves in the Championship include Harry Redknapp and QPR getting Benoit Essou-Ekotto as part of a mass loan of Tottenham players (read... three)

Now, let's see how all this money turns up in the positive or negative...

Everton and ManU did the most shaking, so they have the most to lose...

OSG Prem: Moyes To ManU Taking Over For Sir Alex

Not bad when the old boss recommends you for his job...

The job that he turned into the most successful soccer coach of ALL TIME!!!

Sir Alex told the folks at Manchester United that Everton boss David Moyes needed to be the man, so he's the man...
Once the season is over, Moyes accepts a six-year deal to move to Old Trafford and now speculation is that Wigan's miracle worker, Roberto Martinez, would move over to Goodison Park after the Latics season concludes- relegation or not.

"It’s a great honour to be asked to be the next manager of Manchester United," Moyes, the current Everton manager, said in a statement. "I am delighted that Sir Alex saw fit to recommend me for the job. I have great respect for everything he has done and for the football club."

"I know how hard it will be to follow the best manager ever, but the opportunity to manage Manchester United isn’t something that comes around very often and I’m really looking forward to taking up the post next season."

"When we discussed the candidates that we felt had the right attributes we unanimously agreed on David Moyes," Ferguson said in the same statement. "David is a man of great integrity with a strong work ethic.

"I’ve admired his work for a long time and approached him as far back as 1998 to discuss the position of assistant manager here."

This, probably, means that Jose Mourinho moves to Chelsea to take over for caretaker manager Rafa Benitez- as Rafa himself has intimated...

And don't be surprised that, when Ryan Giggs officially retires, he'll move to a seat next to Moyes.
Here's Sky Sports coverage...

OSG Prem: FA Cup Has More Surprises- Arsenal Out, Oldham Hanging Around

((HT: Fox Soccer/FA))

The HQ, these days, is enjoying watching live sporting events early on weekend mornings with all the soccer from across the pond...

We'll get to the early shock in a second, but League 1 mid-carder Oldham United has earned another replay with Everton after a late, late equalizer at home that wasn't without a bit of controversy...

Here's the equalizer with the answer...


But the larger surprise came from The Emirates where relegated Blackburn knocked off Arsenal 1-0 in Round 5...
Colin Kazim-Richards score in the 72nd minute gave the Gunners fans plenty of reason to boo when the game was over...


"I have said it for a while but it is about hard work, organisation and team effort. I thought the lads were fantastic," manager Michael Appleton said afterwards.

"We will enjoy that and then focus on Hull City in the league on Tuesday night. Matches like that have to be great for the confidence.

"The fans were great and I'm sure they will have a good night."

The HQ would agree on that one...

OSG Prem: Everton Denied Win By Lack Of Goal Line Technology

((HT: FoxSports))

On a day where the Merseyside united as one, a lack of goal line technology screwed Everton out of an easy win against Newcastle.

The Magpies, surprisingly, sat Demba Ba from their starting 11, but he would come back to pay for that decision over and over again.

But more on that later...

The night started with a fitting tribute for the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives at Hillsborough. This past week, it was determined by an independent inquiry that the South Yorkshire Police were at fault on multiple levels for the overcrowding and lack of personal care for victims whose lives could have been saved.

Everton made a point to have a tribute involving a ball boy and girl and a video presentation involving the song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother."

That was the only part of the evening where everyone agreed with sentiment. Goals by Fellaini and Anichebe were disallowed- one on a questionable offsides call and one because the side official failed to see the other the cross the goal line- which it clearly did.

Here's the highlights...


Toffees boss David Moyes was blunt: "I think it's a difficult call for them but if you're the linesman you're on the line and you'd hope you'd see if the ball went over the line.

"That's their job. He's looking right along so you'd hope he would see it."

So, where's that goal line technology again...???

BREAKING: Man Handcuffs Himself To Goalpost

((HT: Twitpic/HeyLandsberg))

Someone decided to interrupt the Everton-Man City game at Goodison in the 40th minute by doing what he did below...


No word as to why as of yet...
More when we know more...

1600 UPDATE: From British presenter Hayley McQueen, through her Twitter feed...

According to @pneGianni the handcuffed man is none other than Jaume Marquet Cot, also known as Jimmy Jump, a well known pitch invader.

OR

@willperrybbc has added that apparently the pitch invader handcuff man is Dave Kelly. Head of Everton group Blue Union

Here's early video of the alleged transgression...
((HT: FoxSoccer/FoxSports.com))


1620 UPDATE: More from McQueen...

Now been informed the mystery handcuff man was protesting about RyanAir, no idea why won't start guessing.

The only thing the HQ can figure is that RyanAir beat the analyst's estimates on earnings per share from the last quarter looking at it year-to-year...

Other than that...???
Dunno...