Back from Scotland, weekend thoughts, tomorrow's podcast.

Hello everyone.

I'm back from bonnie Scotland - It was aiiiggght.

No it was really good. Go Edinburgh before you die, it is well worth a visit.

The football from this weekend kept up the good start to the Premier League season with some drama, talking points and entertaining games.

All the big points will be looked at during the Direct Football Podcast which should be up on itunes and on the net for download tomorrow night.

Looking at things game by game we will start with the big shock result on Saturday which was Wigan defeat of Spurs at White Hart Lane. I was over the moon as I hate Tottenham and relish in seeing them suffer. The match of the day highlights didn't show us much and I get the impression that Spurs just never really got going until the last ten minutes. On the other hand Wigan seemed dangerous - due mostly to Spurs' shambolic defence - and deservedly took the three points. For Spurs there was a lot of talk about 'reality checks' and 'first European hangovers'. Naivety is what I would call it. You spank somebody in the Champions League and assume your next opponents are there for the taking. Well Spurs have got to realise quickly that these 'hangovers' wont get any easier. They will get a lot, lot harder. Hosting Young Boys on a Wednesday, followed by a home tie with a confidence shot Wigan on a Saturday should not be difficult.

Try travelling out into Europe - Russia or the Ukraine on a Wednesday night then having to go away up-norff on a Saturday afternoon. Everton, Sunderland or Newcastle. That is hard. They need a slightly bigger squad, and I'm sure they will add in the last few days of the window.

Arsenal are still going for Mark Schwarze and they got a solid result against Blackburn on Saturday. First half was very entertaining - end to end, competitive and a couple of good goals. Myself and Buttsy discussed Theo Walcott on last week's pod. I'm not going to say his goal proves anything, but it was a fucking good finish.

United and Chelsea got expected and comfortable home wins. That leaves the top three looking pretty familiar....but it is very, very early.

Liverpool also picked up a win against West Brom which I have absolutely nothing to say about. Nothing. Actually....good goal by Torres. That is it. Oh, and it wasn't a red card....

City lost. Makes people who were saying they could win the league last week look a bit stupid eh?!?!?! Nah, like I say, nothing to read into that. Interesting that City drew a blank - with the attacking talent they have they should be getting goals. However, therein lies the issue - who is the best combination up top? It was a stupid pen to give away and it was poor defending by Toure...

Villa got a very valuable win against Everton after a terrible week. The toffees have had a terrible time at the start of the season (thanks mostly to me saying that they wouldn't do so). Meanwhile on Sunday morning, Bolton and Birmingham played out an entertaining game which ended in a fair point in my view.

Newcastle and Wolves gave us plenty of food for discussion in Salgado Watch for tomorrow's podcast. Was a 'bruising' game and a point both teams would be happy with. And Blackpool opened up their account at Bloomfield Road by grabbing a point from Fulham. Well done them, was a good game that.

That was about that - there were some big talking points, red cards, pens and discussions all to be addressed tomorrow evening in the podcast. On top of that we will have a run down of Capello's England squad for the Euro qualifiers and just generally rambling about football things.

So for now I shall leave you with another recommendation, to follow up from the Edinburgh one: listen to the podcast on itunes or podbean.com tomorrow night!

Cheers

Podcast, Predictions and Weekend away

Hello Everyone,

Yeah, so the direct football podcast is up now to download from itunes, so do have a listen. This episode we look at every game from last weekend, take a closer look at the new match of the day title sequence, wrap up all the movers from the past seven days, and reveal our premier league predictions for this week.

Other than itunes, you can listen to it here: http://directfootball.podbean.com

Now to the results from last weekends predictions....

Now that we are four strong, the rules are changing to 3 pts for 1st, 2pts for 2nd 1pt for third and fourth - but of course anybody who scores 6 pts or more less than the winner than week gets zero, even if they finished second overall that week.

I scored a magnificent 3, Buttsy got 2, Haddow picked up 2 as well while Lawro scored himself 6.

So that is 3 pts for Lawro this week, 2 for me and 1 a piece for the other three.

The standings are

1. Buttsy and Lawro - 4
3. Kingy - 3
4. Haddow - 1.

Check out the blog over this weekend for predictions and reactions, listen to the podcast and that and will try to keep it up the next few days but I'm up in scotland for the fringe so may be a little sketchy!

Cheers

Podcast Up tomorrow, L'pool v City, Quick round up.

Hey guys, Tuesday podcast will be up tomorrow night, reviewing all the big stories from the weekend andhaving a laugh as we go!

Of course the major story of the weekend was Newcastle's enormous victory over villa. Truely incredible. Arsenal and Chelsea also registered 6-0 wins and after tonight's game there is a new record ammount of goals over the first wo Premier League weekends. Big whoop eh? I also enjoyed Fulham v United on Sunday, great game and a nice result for an Arsenal fan early on in the season. Tune in to the podcast, which will be available via facebook, this blog, podbean.com and of course itunes!

Tonight's game was Liverpool v City. I didn't see the whole thing but it wasn't quite as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest. Joe Hart's save from Torres at 1-0 was fantastic. Was definitely a pen, definitely not a red card (whoever was asking for one) and that second goal was DEFINITELY not Tevez'!

Fair play to City, great result for them and the top four looks ominously familiar for the likes of Pool, Everton and Spurs. Saying that at this stage in the season is fucking stupid to be fair though, but its going to be like that in the morning.

Right - there isn't much to round up! England's 2018 big has been described as 'unbeatable' - will believe that when it happens - hope it is successful though. That would be fucking awesome. Arsenal look set to sign Squillaci from Roma (will go into that tomorrow) and Javier Mascherano was left out of the pool squad today. He's on the way it would seem!

Have a lovely Tuesday, and do download our podcast tomorrow night or Wednesday!

Cheers

Friday Fuzz, Football, predictions and news

Hello everyone,

Sorry there was no blog yesterday - after work I ended up in Camden and now my head is a little bit fuzzy. Lovely jubbly.

So firstly, lets have a look at the premier league predictions and previews for this weekend....

Arsenal v Blackpool: This should be a pretty simple win for Arsenal who have seemingly spent all week trying to not pay enough for players. Blackpool will probably still be on a bit of a high and I expect them to score. Hoping for a boring thrashing to be honest!

Kingy 3 v 1, Buttsy 5 v 0, Haddow 4 v 0, Lawro 3 v 0.

Birmingham v Blackburn: Can this be a good game? I'm not sure....Blackburn started well against Everton last week and the Brums clawed back against Sunderland.

Kingy 1 v 1, Buttsy o v 1, Haddow 0 v 0, Lawro 2 v 1

Everton v Wolves: I think this will be a really good game, maybe with Wolves grabbing a lead. Should be good Match of The Day viewing come Saturday night!

Kingy 2 v 1, Buttsy 2 v 0, Haddow 3 v 0, Lawro 2 v 0

Stoke v Tottenham: Should also be a good game. Stoke have got a chance to capitalise on a tough Euro trip in the week for Spurs - again could be a mid-Match of The Day classic!

Kingy 2 v 2, Buttsy 2 v 0, Haddow 1 v 1, Lawro 1 v 1

WBA V Sunderland: I don't really have much to say on this at this stage of the season. Don't really know why I've gone for that prediction. Sure to provide some talking point...surely!?

Kingy 0 v 3, Buttsy 1 v 1, Haddow o v 1, Lawro 1 v 1

West Ham v Bolton: I almost want to change my prediction to a draw, but I will stick by it cos I'm sick like that. Could be an awful game, could be a pleasant surprise...

Kingy 1 v 2, Buttsy 0 v 0, Haddow 1 v 0, Lawro 2 v 0

Wigan v Chelsea - Simply a thrashing.

Kingy 1 v 4, Buttsy 0 v 3, Haddow 0 v 2, Lawro 0 v 2

Newcastle v Villa: This should be an entertaining fixture. The atmosphere will be electric in St James Park and there are two teams with a lot to prove going head to head. Now I've said that I bet it is rubbish.

Kingy 1 v 2, Buttsy 1 v 2 , Haddow 1 v 2, Lawro 2 v 1

Fulham v Manchester United: United's bogey team Fulham will be looking to make it three in row against Fergie's team at the Cottage.

Kingy 0 v 2, Haddow 1 v 2, Buttsy 1 v 2, Lawro 0 v 2

Man City v Liverpool: Best game of the weekend surely? Cannot wait for some great MNF action

Kingy 1 v 2, Buttsy 1 v 1, Haddow 2 v 2, Lawro 1 v 1

There we go. Now that is out the way just a quick word on a few of the big stories from the last couple of days. William Gallas now seems destined for Spurs. Comparisons with the Sol Campbell move are laughable. I will probably rant about that on Tuesday's podcast!

Liverpool are still looking for an owner. They need this to be resolved soon because the longer it drags on the more uncertainty there is - an uncertainty is not good for Liverpool right now. Roy is doing a decent job for now, he needs a decent boss.

Nemanja Vidic has signed a new contract at United which is great for them. He is a very solid player and will be part of their first eleven for years. You do have to wonder who will be his long term partner though, Ferdinand is looking shaky when he actually gets on the pitch.

Quite humorously, Alberto Aquilani might be loaned out from Liverpool - that is madness, how unhappy must he be? Woy must see him as Rafa's signing so he might be a bit isolated. Shame for him really.

And finally.....Crystal Palace have signed Edgar Davids. This is amazing and I want to wait till the podcast to really get my head around this one. Crazy shit, but could be a stroke of genius by the eagles.

Crazy Times, Lets hope for a good weekend across all four divisions!

Off to a wedding now, have a nice day!

For the first time ever...Good evening!

Good evening.

"That's new!" I hear you cry.

Yes I am transferring my entries to the evenings because of new early morning commitments involving trains and shit, so my time is now in the dark hours.

It allows me to reflect on a day that has just past, rather than looking ahead much.

So looking back at today. Not a lot happened but there are some tasty transfer rumours flying around.

Yesterday James Milner completed his move to Manchester City so well done him. It is a good signing and 24 million plus Ireland whilst being a little too much is pretty close to a fair price. It may be that Milner has some sell-on value for City on top of the clear quality he will bring to the squad.

Other than that things still rumble onward with the Blackburn story with the typical stories about "transfer war chests" and shit like that. Good luck to them, but I cannot see whoever invests having as much at their disposal as most other teams in the Prem have now. Sunderland and Birmingham spring to mind - loads of cash, no appeal to top players. Except for Chucho...oh and Darren Bent....and Bramble? hmmmm.

Meanwhile, in tonight's football Villa got what should be a decent draw away to Rapid Vienna - they should really progress now with the home leg to come. Youngsters Albrighton and Bannan linked up to give Villa the lead, nice to see for the Villa faithful no doubt.

Liverpool have just beaten Trabzonspor 1-0, Celtic have beaten Utrecht 2-0 and City got a 1-0 win away at Tiramasu. Wel done all of them. L'pool could be in a spot of bother though...Turkey never easy! I mean, they should be ok...but you never know. L'pool have been growing in confidence recently and they would be wise not to get to complacent, there is still a lot of work for them to do!

Hope the transfers start flying around soon, its getting a bit turgid now. The last week of the window should be outrageous though!

Anyway, the direct football podcast is growing each day. It is now available to subscribe to for free on itunes! You can join the facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Directfootballpodcast/133647433345713?ref=ts

while the facebook group for this blog is available here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140120802673618&v=info&ref=ts

So tomorrow I will be putting up our predictions for this weeks Premier League games! If Lawro gets his arse in gear that is! Stay tuned lovers.

Cant wait for the weekend. Cheers

Couple of things.....

Also,

Wanted to give this weeks scores for Kingy vs Lawro vs Buttsy!

In this Premier League prediction game each player gets 3 points for guessing a correct score, 1 point for guessing the correct result and 0 for anything else.

This weeks scores were Buttsy: 11 Kingy:10 and Lawro:9

Haddow is now involved - us three made our predictions for next weekend on yesterday's podcast - we await Lawro's Friday predictions.

So the winner each week gets 3 points, the runners up 1 each (unless either of them are more than 5 points away from the winners total - in wihch case they've had a shocker so deserve O.

The standings after week 1 are thus:

1. Buttsy 3 pts

2. Kingy 1 pt

3. Lawro 1 pt

4. Haddow 0 pts

Keep reading!

New podcast! Hello Young Boys! Round-up

First up,

We have a new podcast available! On this second episode we discuss all the big events since the weekend and look (looked) forward to the midweek games and next weekends Premier League fixtures.

Have a listen - it is available at http://directfootball.podbean.com/2010/08/17/podcast-2-august-17-2010/

So last night Young Boys stunned Spurs in the first 25 minutes but Tottenham should really be through with a home leg remaining, two away goals, and something to prove. As an Arsenal fan I found it all quite funny until the last ten minutes. Was a good game, but Spurs will surely turn it around at the Lane.

Looking at a round-up of the news coming out of yesterday, there are some initial rumblings about Blackburn getting taken over. Very strange one that but we shall see how it develops as these things always do.

In transfers we saw Craig Bellamy go to Cardiff. A great deal for all parties. Cardiff now surely have undisputed claim to the best player in the Championship. A homegrown lad to boot. City have got rid of a disruptive influence on team morale without having to give him to a Premier League rival. And as for Bellamy himself. I think he is fine with it. He wasn't going to win the league or champs league at Fulham or Spurs - so why not go down a division to be at home? As a former Cardiff resident, I know he popped up a few times in bars while I was down there. He loves it there and given his untenable position at City and their unwillingness to give him to a Premier League team, he's fine.

Elsewhere Brad Jones went to Liverpool and Ozil has gone to Madrid. Two big whoops.....Man City are also 'closing in' on Milner. Great journo rhetoric there

Listen to the podcast!

See you tomorrow.