Rob Smyth's Blog, page 47
September 27, 2023
Carabao Cup: Newcastle to face Man Utd in fourth round after beating City – as it happened
Alexander Isak settled a game of two halves at St James’ Park and set up a repeat of last year’s final against Man Utd
1 min Peep peep! City kick off from left to right as we watch. Looks like their shape is 4-3-3 with Grealish and Bobb playing wide.
“Never mind mouth-moistening ties, Rob!” weeps Justin Kavanagh. “The very first one on your list has just induced dreadful flashbacks to the 1977 League Cup final between Villa and Everton, that went on forever (well three games). As a young footie fan, I suffered through all these on the telly and (I think) one on the radio. And if memory serves, the ref even called the two captains together at one point to remind them to, you know, play a bit as the country was watching on. My mouth has now gone dry just thinking about it. By the end of it all, I couldn’t even care who won or lost. I was a soccer cynic. The horror. The horror.”
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Australia beat India by 66 runs: third one-day international – as it happened
Mitch Marsh’s punishing 96 and a career-best 4-40 from Glenn Maxwell gave Australia a much-needed morale boost in Rajkot
6th over: Australia 46-0 (Warner 24, Marsh 22) Good over from Siraj, troubles Warner with the short ball a couple of times and the Australian opener can’t make contact. Two singles.
5th over: Australia 44-0 (Warner 23, Marsh 21) Another good shot from Warner, flicking Bumrah behind square leg and beating the fine leg for four. That after Jadeja stopped a Marsh cut on the boundary to save three runs with a good dive.
Continue reading...India v Australia: third one-day international – live
3rd over: Australia 21-0 (Warner 2, Marsh 19) First ball of this over gets schpanked! Not the classical cover drive this time, the brutish straight drive. Marsh gets under Bumrah’s fuller length and hits him over the top for four. Plays a couple with an open face, not beating the field, then drops short and Marsh bangs him for six. Hefty pull shot, plenty of top edge in it, so it hangs over the boundary before dropping, but it goes well in front of square. Nothing but middle on the fifth ball though, smoked through point for four! Width gets a big square drive. Bumrah closes the over with a slower yorker that Marsh defends.
2nd over: Australia 7-0 (Warner 2, Marsh 5) Siraj to share the new ball, and starts well, swinging the ball, drawing some false shots. Warner particularly can’t time him, miscues a couple of shots. Two singles from the over.
Continue reading...September 24, 2023
Atlético Madrid 3-1 Real Madrid: La Liga – as it happened
Alvaro Morata scored twice against his old club to give Atletico a rare but fully deserved victory in the Madrid derby
That’s a very nice goal. It was made by the left wing-back Samuel Lino, who cut inside Fede Valverde and curled a wicked inswinging cross with his right foot. Morata pulled away from Alaba and glanced an accomplished header past Kepa.
Alvaro Morata scores against his old club!
Continue reading...Sheffield United 0-8 Newcastle: Premier League – as it happened
There were eight different goalscorers at Bramall Lane, where a rampant Newcastle inflicted a record home defeat on Sheffield United
7 min Guimaraes slides a nice pass through the inside-right channel to Wilson, who drills a low shot from a tight angle. Foderingham gets down to his right to save at the second attempt.
5 min It’s been a good start from Sheffield United, who are pressing aggressively. Newcastle are yet to get going.
Continue reading...September 23, 2023
Brentford 1-3 Everton: Premier League – as it happened
Dominic Calvert-Lewin got off the mark to help an impressive Everton to their first Premier League victory of the season
4 min That crackle of electricity from Lewis-Potter aside, it’s been a slow, subdued start to the game.
2 min Mbeumo curls the free-kick well wide.
Continue reading...September 21, 2023
Brighton 2-3 AEK Athens, West Ham 3-1 Backa Topola: Europa League – as it happened
Liverpool and West Ham came from behind to win, but Brighton’s European debut ended in disappointment
Rennes aren’t messing about. The Ligue 1 side are already 1-0 up against Maccabi Haifi as Ludovic Blas feasts on a rebound and slams it home.
Peeeeeeeeep … looks like Royale Union SG v Toulouse is starting a little tardily, but the other early Europa League games are off and running.
Continue reading...September 20, 2023
England v Ireland: first men’s cricket ODl abandoned after heavy rainfall – as it didn’t happen
The first match of the series at Headingley was abandoned due to a saturated outfield following heavy earlier rain
Greetings from Headingley, where it’s a pretty bleak scene. Can’t help but wonder whether Joe Root should have looked at the weather forecast when put his name forward for this match over the weekend. There’s still two warm-ups in India before the World Cup starts and given the lurch in conditions, can’t see masses of value in it for him today, no disrespect to Ireland etc. Still, we may yet get a game of some description (that description set to feature words like truncated, rain-affected).
Ali Martin is such a good interviewer. This is a typically readable chat with Sam Hain, who should finally make his England debut at the age of 28.
Continue reading...September 19, 2023
Manchester City 3-1 Red Star Belgrade, PSG 2-0 Dortmund: Champions League – as it happened
The holders came from behind to win, Celtic endured a grim night in Rotterdam and Lazio keeper Ivan Provedel scored a late equaliser
GOAL! Young Boys 1-2 Leipzig (X Schlager 74)
Xaver Schlager has put Leipzig, who will expect to finish second in Group G, ahead in Switzerland. Red Star and Manchester City are the other teams in taht group.
Continue reading...Football Daily | The European groups look predictable. With one spectacular exception
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Since its introduction in 1999, the 32-team group stage of Big Cup has, it says here, produced thousands of moments that will stay with Football Daily forever, and the moment we remember one we’ll let you know. Actually, in the early years it was good fun. Who could forget when Sturm Graz lost 5-0 to Rangers and Monaco … and qualified ahead of both, eh? Or when Juventus failed to secure even the Big Vase parachute and Zinedine Zidane decided to see if anyone fancied a tear-up instead. But as football has become more unequal, so the group stage has become less interesting. For the best teams it has about as much jeopardy as an episode of Scooby-Doo.
Even as a City fan, I find it completely wrong that Pep Guardiola should laugh when asked about Manchester United’s title chances. Rolling around on the floor while clutching his sides would be a far more appropriate response” – Neil Bage.
Further to Stephen Rankin’s assertions that whistling Danny Boy would be enough to get an Irish cap (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), au contraire! Celtic musical knowledge was not a pre-requisite for representing The Boys In Green. There is the (potentially apocryphal) tale of Joe Kinnear, who to be fair was actually born in Ireland but left for England aged seven. Making his debut against Turkey in 1967, upon the conclusion of Amhrán na bhFiann (the Irish national anthem), Joe is alleged to have turned to a teammate and said: ‘Blimey, I hope our anthem isn’t as long as that!’ Twenty-six caps would follow” – Derek McGee.
Your photo feature on Newcastle’s European adventures (yesterday’s Still Want More, full email edition) had a rather downbeat ending, with a bemused Scott Parker holding the ‘trophy’ for their Intertoto Cup success in 2006. The design of the item struck me, with the 1-X-2 arrangement in the background being familiar to those of us of sufficient vintage to remember the football coupons in bookies’ offices. The design harks back to the tournament’s commercially pragmatic origins, which was to provide competitive matches in the summer months for European football pools companies. The tournament ran annually from 1961; Uefa was initially reluctant to get involved but did allow teams to participate. It was 1995 before it was formally brought under the umbrella of official Uefa competitions, and that year also saw the first English teams taking part. Given the widespread debate around the involvement and influence of gambling and its advertising in football, it’s another reminder that the links go back far and wide” – Mike Slattery.
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Continue reading...Rob Smyth's Blog
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