10 conclusions from Saturday games

1. Rooney scored his 100th (and 101st) goal for the club and its unlikely that he'd stop.

2. Altidore made his debut for Hull with a great assist and two glorious chances to get a goal as well.

3. Gary Givet scored his first for the season and new club, Blackburn Rovers.

4. Cesc Fabregas is injured (again!)

5. Adebayor has bought some very expensive shoes with his inflated salary, scoring two goals in as many games of the season.

6. Arsenal have now scored 10 goals in two games of the season. They mauled Portsmouth 4-1 at the Emirates.

7. With Birmingham's scoreless (and boring!) draw at home versus Stoke City we have the first drawn game of the season.

8. Manchester United put five goals past Kirkland at the JJB with two from Rooney and a well taken free kick from Nani. It would be relieving to see for Sir Alex Ferguson and the fans to see Berbatov and Owen score.

9. Hull's victory ends their woeful home run in the premier league. They hadn't won a game at the KC Stadium since December 6 against Middlesbrough.

10. After 3 games played, Paul Hart's Portsmouth are bottom of the table with three losses. He looks likely to be the first to get the sack this season.

Rovers sign "New Viera"

Rovers manager,Sam Allardyce has made his third signing of the summer in the form of youngster Steven N'Zonzi from relegated Ligue 2 side Amiens SC.

N'Zonzi has been lamented as the new Viera,a title which is too huge to be given to a 20 year old who has only represented the country in the youth competitions.

The deal has been signed for a span of four years and the amount for the transfer is not revealed.

He follows the arrival of defenders Gael Givet , Lars Jacobsen and midfielder, Elrio van Heerden.

Big Sam still would require some reinforcements going upfront after losing Roque Santa Cruz to Manchester City and Matt Derbyshire moving to Olympiakos.

Blackburn sign Jacobsen

Blackburn have signed experienced defender in the form of Lars Jacobsen from Everton.

The Dane spent the last season at the Merseysiders but had only four opportunities throughout the season.

The contract is for two years.

Blackburn faced competition from Premiership newboys Burnley for the player as well but Big Sam was able to get his man in the end.

This is Blackburn's third signing of the season after Elrio van Heerden and Gael Givet.

He would try to reduce the void created by the exits of Andre Ooijer and end of loan contract for Danny Simpson.

Givet signs for Rovers

Blackburn Rovers have made the signing of defender Gael Givet permanent.

The Marseille player arrived at Ewood Park in the January transfer window and played 14 games for them.

The 27 year old Frenchman has signed a four year deal which would run till end of 2012.

Manager Sam Allardyce had this to say about the permanent signing :

It is a critical signing. Gael made a massive impact last season while on loan here and I think he can get even better,

A player coming from abroad would usually need a fair amount of time to adjust to the different culture, the different climate and the different way of doing things.

So much so,the manager lamented the players ability to keep the club from going down.Thats some praise coming from a veteran manager like Allardyce.

Matt Derbyshire signs for Olympiakos

Greek club,Olympiakos have signed Rovers' striker Matt Derbyshire on a four year deal.

He arrived in Athens on Tuesday and passed a medical there and then.

The striker spent the latter stages of last season with the Greek club on loan and was overjoyed with the deal being made permanent.

He said :

I am very happy with this transfer. I wanted to stay at Olympiakos. I hope to improve myself and become much better next season. I want to score more goals with Olympiakos.

With Roque Santa Cruz and now Matt Derbyshire leaving for Manchester City and Olympiacos respectively, Rovers are in a crunch situation as far as attackers are concerned.

Santa Cruz joins City from Rovers

Manchester City have made their second big signing this summer by acquiring the services of Paraguayan striker, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers for £17million.

He reunites with his manager Mark Hughes who managed him a season ago at Ewood Park.

Santa Cruz had to prove his knee injury had healed with a lengthy and a stringent medical test after he missed the end of the season due to it.

City had earlier signed Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for £12million.

Hughes had brought the then out of favour hitman from Bayern Munich and he showed his mettle with 23 goals in 43 appearances. Although the last season would be one to forget with just four finishes in the back of the net.

This brings the number of strikers under contract with Manchester City to a mind boggling 10.Jo,Robinho,Craig Bellamy,Bojinov,Caicedo,Ched Evans,Benjani,Sturridge and Vassell being the other 9.To make matters even complicated for them is their inclination towards bringing in Tevez too.

An interesting question which a fellow blogger and tweeter,Craig Decker asked,Will City be able to find room for all of them on the pitch.What do you think?

Mokoena moves to Pompey

Blackburn midfielder,Aaron Mokoena has agreed to sign a three year deal with Portsmouth.

The South African wants to get some games under his belt for the World Cup next year as he has seen very few games recently.

A 3 year spell at Blackburn comes to an end with the last game being the one against Bolton when he came off the bench in a 0-0 end.

The 28 year old spoke to Rovers Radio and said :

I am going to Portsmouth, I am going there to play, it is what every player wants to do.

I have decided it is time to move on for me. As we know we have a World Cup in South Africa and I have to play, I have to play week in, week out.

So it is going to be a good challenge for me going to Portsmouth and we'll see how it goes.

Is it a good signing by Pompey? What do the fans reckon?

Ooijer to move from Blackburn to PSV

Blackburn's Dutch defender,Andre Ooijer would return to Eredivisie next season as part of a one year deal.

The player arrived from PSV in 2006 and would bring curtains to his career with Blackburn who are safe in the Premiership.

34 year old would want to improve PSV's next season who ended this season 4th in the league which is low as per their standards and ended 4th in the group stages of Champions League.

He also would try to keep his place in the Dutch team for the world cup in 2010.

Tugay to retire at the end of the season

Veteran Blackburn Rovers' player Tugay would retire cum the end of the season.

The news has been confirmed by manager Sam Allardyce.

This brings curtains to the playmaker and one of the cleanest strikers' career to an end which lasted 8 years at Ewood Park after his move from Rangers.Also known for fabulous tackling and defensive capabilities, the turk would leave a huge gap to be filled in the Rovers' lineup.

Sam Allardyce had this to say :

We will say farewell at the end of the season and thank you very much for what you have done for Blackburn.

"Certainly if we remain in the Premier League, Tugay can bow out gracefully after playing at the top level most of the time.

"He has had a fantastic career. But at 38 and the ever-increasing demands of the Premier League, certainly in a physical sense, it means you cannot go on forever."

Here are two amazing Tugay goals to enjoy.



[v Spurs]




[v Fulham]

Rovers come from behind to down Spurs

This was one game which was not short of controversies.Spurs opened the scoring at the 30 minute mark through Robbie Keane who slotted home from the penalty spot.

The penalty awarding is in itself a dubious decision with the ball hitting the defender with some distance from an attempted Lennon cross.It was more of ball to hand than of hand to ball.

The placement of the ball on the penalty spot was a little doubtful too with Robbie Keane placing the ball not entirely on the 18 yard spot but the ball fairly touching the mark.

Spurs went into the locker room with a goal advantage.

The second half produced much the same of what the first did.Spurs players put many balls in the area but Rovers defenders were equal to it or weren't expected by Keane or Bent.

The game changed in favour of Rovers when Palacios was given his marching orders.The replay showed he didn't touch the player or the ball in all fairness.

Rovers took advantage of Spurs' lack of defensive players availability with goals from Mcarthy in the 82nd minute and Ooijer in the 89th minute.

Both goals came courtesy Spurs' horrible man marking as both players were left totally unmarked in the box to slot the ball home.

This is a fabulous result for Rovers who're down on the bottom of the table and would boost their hopes of staying in the Premiership.

Premiership Roundup - 20/09

SUNDERLAND 2 - 0 MIDDLESBROUGH
Chopra 81'
Chopra 90'

Michael Chopra started off his season in fabulous fashion after troubled personal life over the past few months.He got on the score-sheet twice.First on the 81st minute and then again he confirmed the 3points for The Black Cats.The two goals were the first home goals for Sunderland this season.

The game would have held a different outcome had Stewart Downing converted the second half penalty.As like his previous penalty miss against Stoke,the English player hit the ball over the bar.

Boro started the game without Mido who injured himself during the warm up.His place was taken by Alfonso Alves.

Chopra got the first with a nicely put through ball by Richardson which he put on the keepers left with a defender sliding in.

The second goal arrived on the tip of full time when Malbranque slipped the pass for Chopra to tap in the open goal after it took a wicked deflection.

Liverpool 0 - 0 Stoke City

Liverpool welcomed Stoke City on the back of a fabulous 2-1 win over Manchester United last week and then a 2-1 win away to Marseille in the Champions league.

Liverpool and Steven Gerrard thought they were up to a great start within two minutes when a Gerrard freekick bounced inside the box without taking a touch on the way although their celebration were cut short by the offside flag where probably Kuyt was ruled offside.I don't understand the offside rule! The player is supposed to touch the ball to be flagged offside,right?

Liverpool piled on the pressure throughout the 90minutes but the scoreline read 0-0 when the referee blew the full time whistle.

Despite the 24 shots and 19 corners,Liverpool weren't able to make Sorensen do much with the defense holding Torres and Kuyt back very well. These would be two points dropped for Liverpool and the first clean sheet for Stoke City.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Fulham
Derbyshire 84'

Blackburn Rovers were riding on a drubbing last week against Arsenal and had conceded 8goals in the past two games.

Paul Ince gave the most impressive display of his managerial career at Blackburn with an extraordinary attacking game against Fulham.

There were plenty moments of brilliance for Rovers who created chance after chance and showed signs of the play that was there when Mark Hughes was the manager.

The goal came in the 84th minute when Santa Cruz's cushion header lay in the path of Derbyshire who volleyed it home with his left foot.

West Ham United 3 - 1 Newcastle United
D.Michele 8' Owen 67'
D.Michele 37'
Ethrington 53'

Newcastle United continued their bad run and slumped to a third consecutive defeat at West Ham.

This was the first game for new boss Zola and the first start for Italian D.Michele. Both got off to a celebratory beginning with Zola and his Hammers grabbing three points and D.Michele getting on the sheet twice.

D.Michele started the scoring with a deflected shot off Taylor which flew over Shay Given's head and into the back of the net.

The second was a reflection of Newcastle's woeful defending and to some extent the skill of D.Michele.After a super save from Given the ball still found D.Michele who after a touch past the defender put the ball in the back of the net,on the near post of Given.

The third arrived in the second half when Newcastle were left exposed as Michele beat the offside trap and made the run towards the box and despite being on the verge of a hattrick he passed the ball towards the running Ethrington who put the ball past the keeper with ease.

Newcastle however managed a consolation goal when Michael Owen continued his impressive form against West Ham by putting a curler round the keeper to get his 4th goal against the Londoners in 2 games.

Certainly warning signs for the Magpies.

Bolton Wanderers 1 - 3 Arsenal
K.Davies 13' Eboue 26'
Bendtner 27'
Denilson 87'

Arsenal went top of the table with Chelsea due to play Manchester United tomorrow and as Liverpool slipped up against Stoke City.

Arsenal haven't had easy time at the Reebok in their previous visits.They have always been their bogey team but today's win was by far the most comfortable wins as compared to their win last season when they had a man sent off and recovered three points in the dying stages.

Bolton showed their set pieces prowess when they took the lead courtesy Kevin Davies who climbed over an Arsenal player to give the home side the lead.

This spurred the Gunners who put on many attacks thereafter.It paid dividends when Arsenal got two goals in a minute.

Arsenal equaled the scoreline when Eboue stroked the ball into the back of the net with suspicion of offside.

The next goal came from Bendtner who slid in from 6 yards out after a neat cross and an opening down the left from Denilson.

Theo Walcott was instrumental for the third goal when he made a lung bursting run from the halfway line to create open space for Adebayor who crossed the ball on the far side of the goal for Denilson to tap into open goal.

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Paul Ince is new Blackburn manager

Englishman,Paul Ince has been confirmed as the new manager to take over at Blackburn Rovers.


Blackburn had Steve McClaren,Sam Allardyce and later Michael Laudrup as the contenders for the job.Steve McClaren later joined dutch club FC Twente and Sam Allardyce opted out of running.


Paul Ince takes over from Mark Hughes who joined Manchester City.The deal has been signed for three years.He leaves league two winners MK Dons to join at Ewood Park.He still does not have the necessary UEFA Pro license but hope to get it in the tenure itself.He would be the first black English manager in the Premier League.

McClaren for Blackburn post

Former Middlesbrough and England manager,Steve McClaren is on the horizon for vacant Blackburn Rovers manager position.
He had been out of work since the sacking from England national team after a forgetful Euro 2008 qualification campaign which ended in a shameful loss to Croatia.Blackburn had been manager-less after Mark Hughes joined fellow premiership side Manchester City.
Other contenders for the job are Sam Allardyce and Paul Ince.
Who would be the best choice for Rovers?

Hughes almost out of Ewood park?

Mark Hughes has taken a step closer to an exit from Ewood park,home of Blackburn Rovers.Rovers' official website released a statement today saying, "Blackburn Rovers can confirm that they have reached an agreement with Manchester City on compensation terms for Mark Hughes."
This comes after Blackburn Rovers' board had given Manchester City the go ahead to talk to Mark Hughes following the departure of Sven Goran Eriksson.(read here)
Hughes had taken over Blackburn in 2004 and had been currently linked with the Chelsea post too.He is expected to take a decision by Wednesday.
Will this be the right move for the Hughes who could bring the stability to Manchester City,but will he be able to contend the owner,Thaksin Shinawatra?

Manchester City and Sven part ways

After weeks and months of speculation surrounding Sven Goran Eriksson's future at Manchester City,the club's official website has declared that the club has parted ways with the Swede following mutual consent.
The owner Thaksin Shinawatra was not especially happy with Manchester City's performances in the second half of the season where they lost out for the place in UEFA Cup following their league position but managed to get in via the Fair Play Award at the close of season.
Sven,former England manager has been touted as the next Mexican National team coach.

"I have enjoyed my time at Manchester City very much indeed and in particular, I would like to thank the fans, players and staff for their amazing support over the season,'' Eriksson told the club's official website.
"I wish the club - and everyone associated with it - much success in the coming years."

Reports have linked Mark Hughes,current Blackburn Rovers manager to be in talks with the Eastland club officials.There has been consent from Rovers officials for Manchester City to talk to Mark Hughes,who has also been linked to the vacant Chelsea post,Valencia position and had been seen as the replacement for Sir Alex when he retires from Manchester United.

Will Hughes' attacking style of play bring any silverware to Man C?Will they succeed in Europe?

Bentley a target for top clubs

Blackburn Rovers’ classy midfielder, David Bentley is on the brink of a move from EWood Park and top clubs like Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea are looking to sign the Englishman who is currently on international duty with friendlies against USA and Trinidad and Tobago. The quoted price being in the range of £15million
Asked if he had agreed a new deal with Blackburn, Bentley said: "No I haven't signed it but we're not talking about that now.
"I watched the Champions League final and of course that's the sort of match I want to play in. Every player when they start their career wants to reach the top of their game, and I haven't done that yet.
"I wouldn't say I'm impatient - but I'm hungry for success.
"I don't look at myself as a full international. I haven't played in a big tournament, haven't played in the Champions League, so I've still got it all to do at the moment.
"That's what I'm trying to do. I've still got to work hard, get better as a player and hopefully one day I'll be in the big games."
It would be interesting to see where he finally lands up in and frankly speaking the player deserves more than what he’s currently achieving(read NOTHING!). Although the quoted price may be too much for a player who has not been much of an influence in UEFA Cup and in the international scene but he would certainly prove to be a great asset for any club that acquires him.