Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Finsceal Beo gets me off the mark.
Horseracing tip number 3, Finsceal Beo won quite readily for me over the weekend at odds of 4/5. Not world beating stuff but a good winner whatever the price is always welcome. I had been negative 2 but now I am getting back some of my losses, now negative 1.2.
Nurnberg deny Stutgart the double.
Congratulations to Nurnberg.....a city where I have very fond memories and many good friends. I have been at Nurnberg's stadium a few times and the atmosphere there has been fantastic.
Here is an exerpt from "Sportinglife.com"........
Nurnberg won the DFB-Pokal for the first time in 45 years after edging an entertaining affair against the 10 men of Bundesliga champions Stuttgart. The Bavarians needed extra-time to finally claim the advantage in one of the most exciting cup finals in recent years. Cacau had put Stuttgart ahead in the 20th minute, but Marek Mintal soon replied before Cacau was given his marching orders on the half-hour mark. It was advantage Nurnberg when Marco Engelhardt headed home two minutes after the break, but just as Hans Meyer's side were beginning to celebrate, Stuttgart were awarded a penalty which Pavel Pardo swept in to force extra-time. A Jan Kristiansen strike just after the first period of extra-time then sealed the win for Nurnberg, earning them their first piece of silverware since 1968.
Having won the Bundesliga title seven days ago, Stuttgart were hoping to complete the double by breaking their seasonal jinx against Nurnberg. The Bavarians were the only side to twice beat the Swabians in the Bundesliga this year. It looked like that was about to change, though, when former Nurnberg striker Cacau beat the onrushing Rafael Schafer to put Armin Veh's side in front. The lead lasted seven minutes before Mintal brought Nurnberg level, starting and finishing a move which involved Bastian Reinhardt sending in a cross from the wing for the Slovakian to divert in. The turning point of the game came minutes later when Cacau was shown a red card for aiming a punch at Andreas Wolf.
With just 10 men, Stuttgart found it more difficult to create any chances. Early in the second half, Engelhardt finally put Nurnberg ahead, heading Javier Pinola's cross past Timo Hildebrand.
The Nurnberg fans were beginning to celebrate when referee Felix Brych gave Stuttgart the chance to get back on terms from the spot. Mario Gomez fell under the challenge of Schafer and, although the ball was running harmlessly out for a goal kick, the intervention was judged worthy of a spot-kick, and Pardo swept it in in the 80th minute. Extra time it was, then, and once again it was Nurnberg who made their one-man advantage count, particularly as Stuttgart began to tire.
Four minutes into the second period, Kristiansen stole the morning headlines with a wonder-strike from almost 30 yards. It was a goal worthy of winning any match and as it cannoned in off the underside of the bar, the Nurnberg fans began to celebrate, this time with the result not challenged.
Here is an exerpt from "Sportinglife.com"........
Nurnberg won the DFB-Pokal for the first time in 45 years after edging an entertaining affair against the 10 men of Bundesliga champions Stuttgart. The Bavarians needed extra-time to finally claim the advantage in one of the most exciting cup finals in recent years. Cacau had put Stuttgart ahead in the 20th minute, but Marek Mintal soon replied before Cacau was given his marching orders on the half-hour mark. It was advantage Nurnberg when Marco Engelhardt headed home two minutes after the break, but just as Hans Meyer's side were beginning to celebrate, Stuttgart were awarded a penalty which Pavel Pardo swept in to force extra-time. A Jan Kristiansen strike just after the first period of extra-time then sealed the win for Nurnberg, earning them their first piece of silverware since 1968.
Having won the Bundesliga title seven days ago, Stuttgart were hoping to complete the double by breaking their seasonal jinx against Nurnberg. The Bavarians were the only side to twice beat the Swabians in the Bundesliga this year. It looked like that was about to change, though, when former Nurnberg striker Cacau beat the onrushing Rafael Schafer to put Armin Veh's side in front. The lead lasted seven minutes before Mintal brought Nurnberg level, starting and finishing a move which involved Bastian Reinhardt sending in a cross from the wing for the Slovakian to divert in. The turning point of the game came minutes later when Cacau was shown a red card for aiming a punch at Andreas Wolf.
With just 10 men, Stuttgart found it more difficult to create any chances. Early in the second half, Engelhardt finally put Nurnberg ahead, heading Javier Pinola's cross past Timo Hildebrand.
The Nurnberg fans were beginning to celebrate when referee Felix Brych gave Stuttgart the chance to get back on terms from the spot. Mario Gomez fell under the challenge of Schafer and, although the ball was running harmlessly out for a goal kick, the intervention was judged worthy of a spot-kick, and Pardo swept it in in the 80th minute. Extra time it was, then, and once again it was Nurnberg who made their one-man advantage count, particularly as Stuttgart began to tire.
Four minutes into the second period, Kristiansen stole the morning headlines with a wonder-strike from almost 30 yards. It was a goal worthy of winning any match and as it cannoned in off the underside of the bar, the Nurnberg fans began to celebrate, this time with the result not challenged.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Jockey Fran Berry.
Here is an exerpt from Irish-Racing from last week....
"There was also a double on the card for champion jockey Declan McDonagh who got Hard Rock City back to winning ways on his seasonal debut to complete the two timer. In a dramatic contest the Michael Grassick trained seven year old got up by a half a length from the game Duff in second. Duff was ridden by Fran Berry who's irons snapped leaving stalls and following an uncomfortable spin around was unlucky not to hold on."
I saw this race last week and watched in amazement as Frans footing in the stirrups were lost. I felt at that stage that his mount "Duff" had no chance of registering any kind of result. And yet as the group approached the last furlong it appeared that the pairing might in fact get an unlikely win. Fran was riding this horse at a very high pace and with no real control over his balance in the saddle there was no sign of him taking the easy way out and just saving himself. He cojoled his horse to give everything and it was great shame that in the end he got worn down to finish runner up. I felt sure that he would have won this race had he not have had that misfortune and Fran lost nothing in coming second.
Fran has been a long time friend of my brothers and for a long time now I have been following his racing career with interest. There are a lot of good jockeys in Ireland and Fran does not always get the kind of good rides he deserves but with the rides he does get he has proved well up to the task. It is a difficult lifestyle and I wish him the best in the future. I take delight in watching his every victory and just yesterday he had a nice victory on "Munnings" at the Curragh, his home venue.
"There was also a double on the card for champion jockey Declan McDonagh who got Hard Rock City back to winning ways on his seasonal debut to complete the two timer. In a dramatic contest the Michael Grassick trained seven year old got up by a half a length from the game Duff in second. Duff was ridden by Fran Berry who's irons snapped leaving stalls and following an uncomfortable spin around was unlucky not to hold on."
I saw this race last week and watched in amazement as Frans footing in the stirrups were lost. I felt at that stage that his mount "Duff" had no chance of registering any kind of result. And yet as the group approached the last furlong it appeared that the pairing might in fact get an unlikely win. Fran was riding this horse at a very high pace and with no real control over his balance in the saddle there was no sign of him taking the easy way out and just saving himself. He cojoled his horse to give everything and it was great shame that in the end he got worn down to finish runner up. I felt sure that he would have won this race had he not have had that misfortune and Fran lost nothing in coming second.
Fran has been a long time friend of my brothers and for a long time now I have been following his racing career with interest. There are a lot of good jockeys in Ireland and Fran does not always get the kind of good rides he deserves but with the rides he does get he has proved well up to the task. It is a difficult lifestyle and I wish him the best in the future. I take delight in watching his every victory and just yesterday he had a nice victory on "Munnings" at the Curragh, his home venue.
Horseracing week 3.
Last time my selection "My Paris" was narrowly beaten into second place leaving me with a negative 2 points, and still having no winners.
This week, in an effort to recoup those losses I am going for "Finsceal Beo" at the Curragh in the Irish 1000 Guineas. It will be a short enough price, maybe evens. Lets hope I can get a winner today.
This week, in an effort to recoup those losses I am going for "Finsceal Beo" at the Curragh in the Irish 1000 Guineas. It will be a short enough price, maybe evens. Lets hope I can get a winner today.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Manchester United miss chance to assert their position.
Manchester United had the chance to beat Chelsea not only today but for what could possibly would have been a large part of next season. United had only beaten Chelsea previously on one occasion and having successfully wrestled the premiership title away from the londoners, today was the perfect opportunity to assert that dominance. They did have chances to do so, and now may regret the fact that they did not win this game.
Who will now know what the effect of Chelsea losing today would have meant as the club may have transpired to lose certain personel and second guess the season that has just concluded. As it stands the season has not been an outstanding one for Chelsea but however it has not been a terrible one. The victory in the F.A. Cup will have put a positive spin on the club and now they will have the holidays and summer to re-group and come back stronger for the challenge of regaining the premiership. The competition for the main prizes again seem to be coming from Manchester United, Chelsea and I think Arsenal will be there also if they can get off to a good start particularly. This season has concluded with no apparent top dog in the english game. Yes United did win the league but today Chelsea have stated that they are going to be vying for that position also, they have stated their hunger for the fight. Arsenal -if injury free- can join the fight for the title next year, but for now United have lost the psychological initiative.
Who will now know what the effect of Chelsea losing today would have meant as the club may have transpired to lose certain personel and second guess the season that has just concluded. As it stands the season has not been an outstanding one for Chelsea but however it has not been a terrible one. The victory in the F.A. Cup will have put a positive spin on the club and now they will have the holidays and summer to re-group and come back stronger for the challenge of regaining the premiership. The competition for the main prizes again seem to be coming from Manchester United, Chelsea and I think Arsenal will be there also if they can get off to a good start particularly. This season has concluded with no apparent top dog in the english game. Yes United did win the league but today Chelsea have stated that they are going to be vying for that position also, they have stated their hunger for the fight. Arsenal -if injury free- can join the fight for the title next year, but for now United have lost the psychological initiative.
Horseracing Week 2.
Last week I picked "many volumes" and it really was never in the running. I am now negative one point. In an effort to get into the positive stakes here is my pick for Sunday 20th May.
Ripon 3.40 "My Paris". It has a very handy weight pull with Rio Riva and has had a recent victory and a good jockey.
Ripon 3.40 "My Paris". It has a very handy weight pull with Rio Riva and has had a recent victory and a good jockey.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Arsenal Season review.
This has been an Arsenal season like no other. Last season was quite simply the worst season Arsenal had ever had under manager Arsene Wenger. Arsenal had to rely on another team and an improbable "lasagnegate" situation in order to finish in the last champions league position. Fourth was a big drop from the lofty heights of the Invincibles. The season was largely called a year of transistion whether the team liked it or not.
Now one year later Arsenal find themselves in only a slightly better position having secured the same fourth position with a few games to spare and having contested another final. Arsenal have gone in recent times from being the winners of such prizes to now being the runners-up and getting to finals without winning any. Arsene Wenger has started the process of re-building and his plan is now in year two. The reality of a Chelsea who has had unlimited funding for the last 3 years has caused Wenger to start again with a new blueprint for success. Casting away the older members of the Arsenal recent past Sol Campbell, Patrick Vieira, Edu, Ray Parlour, and perhaps the biggest ones Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp. Due to the current state of the team Bergkamp and Pires have not been replaced properly, for so long Bergkamp had provided the flair and inspiration, the incisive pass and the fast counter attack whilst Pires has provided 10-15 goals consistently from wide positions. Arsenals decline has seemed to coincide with that of Bergkamp and there seems to be very few current members of the team that can do what Bergkamp used to do. Fabregas who just turned 20 years of age is the only player who seems to be trying to do the job of Vieira and Bergkamp together. That is surely too much to load onto one young player. All of the goals are now coming only from the strikers and very few are coming from midfield, with our player of the year Gilberto contributing 10 goals and he is supposed to a defensive holding midfielder. We are too well endowed with passing midfield players Fabregas, Hleb and Rosicky and they do not score enough goals.
This Arsenal team is totally different from the team in recent years, they are very bad at defending set-pieces and especially corner kicks and a lack of concentration has seen the team too often concede the first goal. It is very hard to win games in the premier league if you concede the first goal, although Arsenal have shown great character a number of times to come from behind to win or draw games. How many more points would this team have amassed if they had not conceeded a number of those goals first. The transistion to the new stadium has taken its toll also with a number of points dropped at the stadium in the first half of the season. There is however cause for great optimism as the team has scaled the heights against the best, they have beaten the best team twice home and away and drawn twice with the second best team and won once and lost once against the third placed team. It has been lapses against the lower teams that has cost this team. Arsenal are a team that at their best can beat anyone but with injuries and inconsistencies resulting from the younger players inexperience.
Arsenal need to add a wide player in the mould of a Ljungberg or a Pires someone who can add some goals from midfield. Ribery will suit, that and an injury free campaign, the adjustment ot the new stadium and some of the younger players growing up a bit will all contribute to a better campaign next year.
Now one year later Arsenal find themselves in only a slightly better position having secured the same fourth position with a few games to spare and having contested another final. Arsenal have gone in recent times from being the winners of such prizes to now being the runners-up and getting to finals without winning any. Arsene Wenger has started the process of re-building and his plan is now in year two. The reality of a Chelsea who has had unlimited funding for the last 3 years has caused Wenger to start again with a new blueprint for success. Casting away the older members of the Arsenal recent past Sol Campbell, Patrick Vieira, Edu, Ray Parlour, and perhaps the biggest ones Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp. Due to the current state of the team Bergkamp and Pires have not been replaced properly, for so long Bergkamp had provided the flair and inspiration, the incisive pass and the fast counter attack whilst Pires has provided 10-15 goals consistently from wide positions. Arsenals decline has seemed to coincide with that of Bergkamp and there seems to be very few current members of the team that can do what Bergkamp used to do. Fabregas who just turned 20 years of age is the only player who seems to be trying to do the job of Vieira and Bergkamp together. That is surely too much to load onto one young player. All of the goals are now coming only from the strikers and very few are coming from midfield, with our player of the year Gilberto contributing 10 goals and he is supposed to a defensive holding midfielder. We are too well endowed with passing midfield players Fabregas, Hleb and Rosicky and they do not score enough goals.
This Arsenal team is totally different from the team in recent years, they are very bad at defending set-pieces and especially corner kicks and a lack of concentration has seen the team too often concede the first goal. It is very hard to win games in the premier league if you concede the first goal, although Arsenal have shown great character a number of times to come from behind to win or draw games. How many more points would this team have amassed if they had not conceeded a number of those goals first. The transistion to the new stadium has taken its toll also with a number of points dropped at the stadium in the first half of the season. There is however cause for great optimism as the team has scaled the heights against the best, they have beaten the best team twice home and away and drawn twice with the second best team and won once and lost once against the third placed team. It has been lapses against the lower teams that has cost this team. Arsenal are a team that at their best can beat anyone but with injuries and inconsistencies resulting from the younger players inexperience.
Arsenal need to add a wide player in the mould of a Ljungberg or a Pires someone who can add some goals from midfield. Ribery will suit, that and an injury free campaign, the adjustment ot the new stadium and some of the younger players growing up a bit will all contribute to a better campaign next year.
HorseRacing picks through the summer.
Just for the hell of it I am going to pick a horse each saturday or each week and starting with 1 unit stake lets see if I am going to be in the positive stakes or negative stakes.
Todays selection is in the Lingfiled Trial and the names is "Many Volumes". Lets see how I do through the summer.
Todays selection is in the Lingfiled Trial and the names is "Many Volumes". Lets see how I do through the summer.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Update: Arsenal Vs Chelsea will be title decider.
With Manchester United leading 1-0. Tommorow Arsenal will play for themselves in order to claim third place in the premiership- a situation Arsenal must improve on next year. If by some happy coincidence this will mean Chelsea and especially Cashley Cole do not win the premiership and lose their champions tag then I will be all the more happy.
I do however have a distinct feeling that Cashley Cole will have some kind of phantom injury which will enable him not to be selected to play against Arsenal. Arsenal are not at full strength but nevertheless I hope that they can win tomorrow. Certainly I do not expect them to lose. Tomorrow will be sweet as Mourinho will have to shake Wenger's hand and then make some kind of perverted excuses for the reason that they did not win the premiership this year. Start thinking Mr Mourinho.
I do however have a distinct feeling that Cashley Cole will have some kind of phantom injury which will enable him not to be selected to play against Arsenal. Arsenal are not at full strength but nevertheless I hope that they can win tomorrow. Certainly I do not expect them to lose. Tomorrow will be sweet as Mourinho will have to shake Wenger's hand and then make some kind of perverted excuses for the reason that they did not win the premiership this year. Start thinking Mr Mourinho.
Now Chelsea are happy to look to the future!
I'm sorry Mr Mourinho, you cant now say that this team is going through a period of re-building and that in the future the Chelsea team will win such prizes that they were not able to win this year. Shevchenko (30 million) and the other high profile transfers Ballack and (Cole) signalled Chelsea's intent to take any/all of the major trophies this year not next year. What was patently obvious last august was that Chelsea were serious about retaining the premiership -something they probably took as a given- and very very serious about winning the champions league. The champions league was the whole reason why they brought in the two high profile players and it was widely regarded that Chelsea would be one of the favourites to win the highest european club trophy.
Now Mourinho is happy to say next year will be better for them. They will have lost the premiership by tomorrow evening and have been dumped out of europe in the last few days. It appears that the F.A. cup will be their last chance for a semi important piece of silverware. Everyone would agree that the premiership and europe are the two top trophies for the top teams. Now Chelsea who have already won the Carling Cup wrestling the trophy from the grasp of the Arsenal "kids", will have to go toe to toe with Manchester United just to have a semi sucessful season. Would the F.A. cup and the Carling cup be enough for a financial giant that Chelsea is?. I dont think so... and this is presuming that Chelsea even win against Manchester United. For both teams can soon turn their attentions to the final in a couple of weeks as the premiership will be won quite soon and its not going to London.
This is not how the season was supposed to be for Abramovich and his Chelski henchmen.
Now Mourinho is happy to say next year will be better for them. They will have lost the premiership by tomorrow evening and have been dumped out of europe in the last few days. It appears that the F.A. cup will be their last chance for a semi important piece of silverware. Everyone would agree that the premiership and europe are the two top trophies for the top teams. Now Chelsea who have already won the Carling Cup wrestling the trophy from the grasp of the Arsenal "kids", will have to go toe to toe with Manchester United just to have a semi sucessful season. Would the F.A. cup and the Carling cup be enough for a financial giant that Chelsea is?. I dont think so... and this is presuming that Chelsea even win against Manchester United. For both teams can soon turn their attentions to the final in a couple of weeks as the premiership will be won quite soon and its not going to London.
This is not how the season was supposed to be for Abramovich and his Chelski henchmen.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Champions league final - I make Liverpool favourites.
Having won their way through to the final of the champions league final, Liverpool look set to repeat their thrilling victory over AC Milan. Chelsea have been dispatched by a gutsy Liverpool victory in going to penalties and Milan will feel a very familiar and nervy deja vu in which they will fear another defeat.
If Liverpool can bring the game to Milan and the game becomes tight then Milan will fear an inferiority complex and wonder if they are going to be good enough to prevail. My best guess is that they will not prevail and as in 2005 Liverpool will become champions of europe again.
If Liverpool can bring the game to Milan and the game becomes tight then Milan will fear an inferiority complex and wonder if they are going to be good enough to prevail. My best guess is that they will not prevail and as in 2005 Liverpool will become champions of europe again.
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