Rob Smyth's Blog, page 76
May 5, 2022
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 West Ham (agg 3-1): Europa League semi-final, second leg – as it happened
Aaron Cresswell and David Moyes were sent off as West Ham’s Europa League dream ended on a sad and frustrating night in Frankfurt
“It’s really good to see how Declan Rice has progressed this year but interesting also as he was arguably outshone in England’s central midfield by Kalvin Phillips in the summer,” says David Wall. “I wonder if Phillips has got similar potential to kick on to the extent that Rice has. It certainly suggests that Leeds would be nowhere near the trouble they’re in if he’d been fit more this season.”
Phillips is three years older so I doubt he has quite the same scope for improvement. He’s already a superb player though, unique in English football. I know all teams get injuries but Leeds have been desperately unlucky. If Phillips and Patrick Bamford had played 75 per cent of the games, never mind Liam Cooper, I think they’d be fine.
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May 3, 2022
Villarreal 2-3 Liverpool (2-5 agg): Champions League semi-final, second leg – as it happened
Liverpool survived a huge scare to reach their tenth European Cup final, with the introduction of Luis Diaz inspiring a comeback from 2-0 down
“There are at least 15 Premier League sides that would absolutely love to trot out Liverpool’s bench as their starting XI (minus one, obviously). You know they’ve got depth for days, but to see it laid out like that is frightening stuff.”
As if to rub it in, Jurgen Klopp has picked a bench that you can fit into a realistic XI, rather than one of those fantasy teams people pick with Pele and Maradona at centre-half.
Continue reading...The Fiver | Villarreal’s Mission: Nigh-on Impossible against Liverpool
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The legend of Liverpool has been built on glorious comebacks against foreign opposition. The list, the very long list, includes Club Brugge in 1976, Saint-Étienne in 1977, Milan in 2005, Hicks and Gillett in 2010 and Barcelona in 2019. So even though most of us think Liverpool have nine toes in the Big Cup final, they’ll be taking the square root of bugger all for granted in Villarreal. Liverpool lead 2-0 from the first leg, in which their sadistic heavy metal football came within an overzealous semitone of causing collective tinnitus among the Villarreal squad.
Continue reading...May 1, 2022
Birmingham City 0-1 Chelsea: Women’s Super League – as it happened
Chelsea are one win away from the title after Pernille Harder’s second-half penalty gave them a hard-fought victory over the bottom club
6 min: Kerr hits the bar! This has been a brutal start from Chelsea. Reiten moves into the area from the left and finds Kerr, who shifts the ball onto her left foot and belabours it off the underside of the crossbar!
5 min Reiten’s cross flashes across the six-yard box, and then Ramsey almost backpedals over her own goalline after claiming Eriksson’s cross. She slipped slightly but managed to keep the ball in front of the line.
Continue reading...Everton 1-0 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened
Richarlison’s goal and some stunning saves from Jordan Pickford helped Everton to a priceless victory over Chelsea at Goodison Park
“Hello from Pittsburgh!” writes Eric Peterson. “I’m a former sports radio announcer, so I’m a fan of not just the games but its many elite announcers. Peter Drury is as good as it gets - especially that knack for the perfect line at the perfect time (‘Where does football go from here?!’ still gives me a shiver). After Manchester City’s 4-3 instant classic against Real Madrid in the Champions League, he said, ‘and, breathe. And, ponder on what you have just witnessed.’ Awesome line to hear, until I thought of him maybe saying the same thing in three weeks, in the wake of Everton’s season-ender against Arsenal, in a spectacularly different context.”
It’s interesting, listening back to the Wimbledon game in 1994, to hear how relatively restrained the great Barry Davies was.
Continue reading...April 30, 2022
PSG 1-2 Lyon (3-5 agg): Women’s Champions League semi-final, second leg – as it happened
Ada Hegerberg and Wendie Renard scored superb headers as Lyon finally overcame PSG to set up a dream final with Barcelona
2 min There’s a lot of attention of the PSG keeper Barbora Votikova, who had a dreadful time in the first leg. And she almost gets in trouble again, dithering over a backpass and eventually having to lunge feet first at Macario to win the ball. Sheesh.
2 min “Hi Rob,” says Stewart Bowling. “The question is why wouldn’t you want to read the frantic stylings of some old bloke? I (and many others) certainly do!”
Continue reading...Watford 1-2 Burnley, Norwich City relegated from Premier League – as it happened
Jack Cork and Josh Brownhill scored late goals to move Burnley five points clear of Everton – and confirm Norwich’s return to the Championship
GOAL! AFC Wimbledon 3-4 Accrington Stanley (Rudoni 66). Come on, it’s still a pipe dream ... but at least Wimbledon are going down in style!
GOAL! AFC Wimbledon 2-4 Accrington Stanley (O’Sullivan 63). Any sliver of hope is gone for Wimbledon now. Let’s face it, it was a pipe dream.
Continue reading...April 28, 2022
West Ham 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt: Europa League semi-final, first leg – as it happened
The home side conceded after 49 seconds and then hit the woodwork three times on a frustrating night at the London Stadium
“I knew you were a United fan, but I could be forgiven to think you were actually West Ham United, reading with pride how you spoke of the transformation under the Moyesiah in the preamble,” says Rob Lewis. “I was at Wembley on that last great day for us in 1980, so am I excited tonight? I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
I don’t think the imagination needs to do much work here.
Continue reading...April 24, 2022
Liverpool 2-0 Everton: Premier League – as it happened
Andy Robertson and the substitute Divock Origi scored as Liverpool overcame a dogged Everton
Frank Lampard’s pre-match thoughts
“They’re a great team in great form. We just have to focus on ourselves and believe we can get a result. We have to be absolutely spot-on today to get something. We need to be brave, disciplined, stick together and put in a huge amount of effort.”
Continue reading...April 23, 2022
Bayern Munich 3-1 Borussia Dortmund: Bundesliga – as it happened
Robert Lewandowski scored his 48th goal of the season as Bayern clinched their tenth consecutive title with victory over their biggest rivals
3 min A decent start from Dortmund, who have had most of the ball in the early exchanges. Both teams are playing 4-2-3-1.
1 min Peep peep! Erling Haaland gets this mighty match under way.
Continue reading...Rob Smyth's Blog
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