Arsenal's Fruitless Hunt Continues....

What is it now? 6 years without a trophy?

Lmfao and the only remaining member of the famous 2003 "Invincibles" side is Gael Clichy who, along with fresh new blood Jack Wilshere, were Arsenal's best players. They were really lacking in invention after yet another injury to their inspirational captain Cesc Fabregas and were also undone by some rather senseless substitutions by Wenger, who brought van Persie off at 1-1 and brought on Bendtner, who isn't the best striker around. At least bring on Chamakh or something! Well Wenger listened but brought off Arshavin, another one of Arsenal's great players. =/ .__. .

But that didn't mean that Birmingham had to give around 150% to beat this Gooners team. They really should've had a penalty when Lee Bowyer rounded Gooners keeper Wojciech Szczeny and was pulled down, but somehow the assistant flagged for offside. If he didn't, the score would in all likelihood have been 1-0 to Birmingham and Szczeny would've been sent off, leaving Arsenal down a man. And this was in the opening 2 minutes.

Arsenal had a few shots in the early game, with both Arshavin and Nasri coming close. But Birmingham were lethal on the counterattack and won a corner, which Nikola Zigic (or the Serbian Peter Crouch) nodded home for 1-0. Arsenal were level 11 minutes later, after a Wilshere long shot crashed down off the crossbar and van Persie knocked home the rebound. However, Arsenal were really bad the first half and Birmingham should've had this game wrapped up.

They were a bit better in the second. Nasri again went close and Bendtner had his shot saved by Foster. Birmingham fought on and Fahey crashed a shot off the bar but there was no striker to bury the rebound.

But Arsenal only had themselves to blame for Birmingham's winner. Or, more precisely, their defense. The goalkeeper spot in Arsenal was precarious, with Manuel Almunia (a former Osasuna B team member), Lukasz Fabianski (who's Polish =p but seriously, he sucks) and Szczeny the contenders. Szczeny's weaknesses were already shown in the early stages, and now he dreadfully misinterpreted a Zigic cross after center back Koscielny (another weak spot) missed his cross. In a move like Petr Cech's against Turkey in Euro 2008, Szczeny spilled the ball and Obafemi Martins tapped home on an empty net.

Defense has proven to be the Gunners' Achilles Heel again. Ever since Jens Lehmann left in 2008, there has been no world-class goalkeeper in Arsenal's squad. And Arsenal's defenders aren't really that good either, as after Kolo Toure left for Man City, they only have Sebastien Squillaci and Clichy as reliable defensive players. Maybe they should get Puyol =P.

So the Arsenal Quintuple dream is truly finished. They lost the Carling Cup and United are reopening the gap in the Premier League. They could still win the FA Cup and the Champions League, but their recent shaky performances don't bode altogether well.

Survivor Redemption Island Episode 2 "You Own My Vote" Review

Yep I've added episode names =).

So, previously on Survivor, Phillip revealed himself to be a crazy spazz. Russhole made yet another "cute little girl" alliance with Stephanie and the Robfather made a great move in voting out the Fusah priest Francesca 4-3-2.

This time, Russhole added another girl, Krista Klumpp (a Natalie White 2.0 if ever there was one) into his alliance but Ralph "Rooster" Kaiser manages to grab everyone else and steal the hidden immunity idol from right under Russhole's nose. Rooster seemed unaffected by Russhole's intimidation tactics, and doing so earns him admiration from David and Da Soldier Mike, although they might just be envious of his body hair.

On Ometepe, Robfather is in complete control with an alliance of just about everyone except Kristina and Phillip. However, he notices Matt and Andrea getting close and is wary, since Amber and him were a dominant duo on Survivor All-Stars.

Now to Redemption Island! Francesca arrives and begins writing in her journal and.....that's it. Honestly, CBS should've portrayed Redemption Island more as Francesca's character could be developed so much more. >:(

So, to the immunity/reward challenge. Ometepe take an early lead after Sarita slows down Zapatera, but Zapatera comes back at the ball-throwing stage as Rooster hits 4 targets in a row while Phillip hits 1. Although Phillip has a late rush which ties the score at 4-4, Rooster does the trick by burying the final target, winning Zapatera immunity. Then, Matt just enlarged the target on his back by blithely shaking hands with the Zapateras, causing Robfather to hate on him even more. Matt's chances of elimination are rising into the early 90%s.

At Ometepe, Phillip makes a goodbye speech, convinced that he's going home next. But Robfather tells his alliance bar Matt and Andrea to blindside Matt due to his actions for Zapatera. With the whole alliance, he tells them to split the vote between Kristina and Phillip, causing one of them to go home depending on if Kristina plays her idol or not. Then, in a vintage Robfather move, Rob convinces Phillip that he's safe for the moment and tells him to vote according to his signal at tribal council

Tribal Council Time! Phillip goes on a much more balanced speech sounding like an epitaph, still convinced he's going home. Kristina wants to confirm this by playing her idol. Rob motions for Phillip to vote Kristina. And the votes are cast....

Phillip gets 2 votes. Kristina gets 2 votes, but both are negated. And Matt is in open shock as he gets 4 straight votes from his own alliance. Matt is voted off, 4-2-0!

Einstein's Lost Twin Brother Award goes to Rob/Rooster. Rob does great in recognizing the Matt/Andrea duo as a threat and garners Phillip on his side and causes Kristina to waste her idol. Rooster also gets his Zapatera alliance into a great position outnumbering Russell's alliance 6-3 with the hidden immunity idol in his hands too.

Dumber'n A Bag of Hammers Award goes to Kristina. Why the heck would you waste your idol like that???? Now you have no idol, no chance to blindside Rob and a huge target on your back. Best get ready for Redemption Island.

Crazy Man Award goes to Russell. He just randomly confronts Rooster about having the hidden immunity idol clue and goes all defensive instead of just admitting it. o.o not a great way to appease the majority alliance leader.

Next episode I predict that Zapatera will lose immunity, as Stephanie mentions a "blindside" in the trailer. However, Rooster has the idol, so either he makes a fake to fool Russell or Russell just steals his idol. On Ometepe, Andrea apparently goes all crazy in losing Matt, but I'm pretty sure that this is just a red herring. And on Redemption Island, I'm pretty sure Matt will beat Francesca as he is better physically and barely got a POV this season, while Francesca features pretty prominently in the 1st episode.

Stay tuned for our next episode.

What a Weird Week...

In the midweek Champions' League fixture Manchester United were rather poor in a drab 0-0 draw with the French team Olympique Marseille. Both teams mustered only 2 shots on target and only Darren Fletcher of United had a decent opportunity, his shot saved by OM goalkeeper Mandanda. Sure, Scholes changed the game in the final 18 minutes, giving United 2 chances, both wasted by Berbatov and Nani respectively and a golf ball was thrown in as United took a corner; the only talking point in a dreadfully boring contest.

The other midweek fixture between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan was much more interesting. Sure, it only ended 1-0 to Bayern, but both sides contributed to a great match which saw both teams miss chance after chance, and only Bayern's Mario Gomez tucked home a 90th-minute winner.

But in the league fixtures today, United scored 4 against Wigan. Despite the 4-0 scoreline, the Latics were much the better team throughout the first half and only a defensive collapse allowed United to score 3 goals in the last 15 minutes. Javier Hernandez scored his 12th and 13th goals of the season in this match, and gave the disappointing Berbatov a run for his money in the contest for the starting striker position. Rooney's recovery continued as he grabbed the assist for Hernandez's second goal and scored one himself, albeit a tap-in from Berbatov's cross.

This is the beginning of a tough week for United. They are away at both Chelsea and Liverpool this week. Sure, Chelsea need to recover from their FA Cup fiasco with Everton but Liverpool are fast on the road to recovery with the "Messiah" Kenny Dalglish playing a big role. This might be the week where United need to prove their title credentials i.e. their "match of the season".

Blackpool's slide continues as they stunningly lose 4-0 to Wolves, who now climb out of the relegation zone having a better goal difference than West Brom. Blackpool are now 14th and are only 4 points away from the relegation zone. And to think they were in the top 7 at the end of 2010. Villa's road to recovery continued as they easily dispose of Blackburn 4-1. Jermaine Beckford, who used to play with Leeds in League One, scored a brace in the 1st half for Everton to down Sunderland 2-0 and Newcastle hang on with 10 men to draw Bolton 1-1.

CHELSEA ARE OUT!!!

Alright so the FA Cup weekend has finished!

Chelsea, Crawley Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Fulham, Notts County and Brighton are out, while Leyton Orient and Arsenal still need a replay after a 1-1 draw. Manchester United, Birmingham, Bolton and Stoke are all in the quarter-finals while Everton face Man City in round 5.

So the best is first. Chelsea collapsed again at Everton, where they seemed to lack the drive to score goals. Lampard missed a hatful of chances, and Malouda spent 2 minutes just trying to get his wedding ring off his finger. In extra time, Lampard for once hit the target and Chelsea seemed destined to go through.

But Leighton Baines sent a 30-yard free kick into the top corner a minute from time and, guess what! Penalties are needed! Chelsea led 2-0 at one point when Lampard and Drogba scored while Baines missed for Everton. Jagielka kept Everton in it, and Anelka, so reliable in seasons past, bombed his penalty and Everton tied it up with Mikel Arteta's kick. Essien and Heitinga both buried their penalties, leaving the score 3-3. Then Heitinga's moment of infamy. While Ashley Cole was on his way for his penalty, Heitinga bumped him and Cole blazed the penalty over the bar. Phil Neville scored the final spot-kick and Everton won 4-3 on penalties.

So Chelsea showed again that they are an immensely overrated team. They simply have no stomach for pressure, just like AC Milan in their Tottenham game.

Manchester United just barely beat Conference side Crawley Town, who now have 5 games in hand and look certain to win the English Conference. Rooney, after his fabulous bicycle kick last week, looked ineffective and frustrated this one, while another United young boy Obertan was useless in attack. United had to thank Wes Brown, who scored a beautiful back-header and was rock solid in defense. But Crawley were surprisingly good for a Conference side, giving United no end in trouble. Ben Smith glanced a 30-yarder just wide, and Matt Tubbs tried a Rooney with an overhead kick of his own. Sadly, it went just over. Crawley's run was at an end.

Notts County, who were so good in the 2-2 draw with Man City, now lost 5-0 as the veteran Patrick Vieira scored twice while Dzeko, Tevez and Micah Richards also got on the scoresheet. Birmingham continued the Premier League clubs' rout by beating Championship side Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, while Bolton's Ivan Klasnic scored his 2nd goal in 4 days to down Fulham 1-0, and Stoke put Brighton away 3-0.

But the EPL clubs weren't all successful. Arsenal, who had been rocky recently, now drew at League One side Leyton Orient. Arsenal had just beaten Barcelona 2-1 in the midweek Champions' League fixture and looked to run away with it here, with 12 shots on target but somehow only managed a 53rd minute Thomas Rosicky goal. It wasn't enough as in the last minute Orient's Jonathan Tehoue broke through Gibbs and Miquel to score and ensure a replay for the Gooners.

So the quarter-finals of the FA Cup looks like this:

Stoke City vs. West Ham/Burnley

Man City/Aston Villa vs. Everton/Reading

Birmingham vs. Bolton

Man Utd vs. Arsenal/Leyton Orient

Survivor Redemption Island Episode 1: Review

Hooray the new Survivor season starts! =D

Sadly, Rob and Russell are in the show, and sadly both do not get voted out on thee 1st episode. But enough of that.

Every episode review I will say what I thought about the episode and give out awards for the dumbest, smartest and most interesting (ahem crazy) personalities.

Alright so the first episode starts off with the Nicaraguan military escorting the survivors back to Nicaragua, where last season was held. After a bit, Rob and Russell get a grandiose VIP entrance and Jeff Probst gives the amateurs a little history on their games. Then, Rob and Russell drew buffs to decide which tribe they're going to be on. Rob gets orange (Ometepe), while Russell gets purple (Zapatera). The Ometepes all welcome Rob like their king, except Francesca who correctly says she doesn't want to be with Rob, while the Zapateras give Russell a less-than-warm welcome. Jeff then introduces the Redemption Island concept to the players, and it's off to camp.

Ometepe gets the majority of the screen time, showing Rob being the good man he is and helping his tribe build shelters, as well as Phillip spazzing over everything. But already drama starts brewing as Kristina decides to pull a Russell and find a hidden immunity idol without a clue. Surprisingly, she does so, and I begin to think that Kristina is like the new Parvati or something until she decides to make an alliance with Francesca (fair enough) and Phillip (O.O). Why the heck would she do so? Phillip is crazy, and unpredictable too. If you do something to piss him off, he's gone. Also, Krista and the other women clearly heard Rob approaching Phillip in an earlier scene. Why align with him?

At Zapatera, nothing happens except Russell again using the "take a girl to the final" strategy by selecting Stephanie, but there's a catch. Russell and Stephanie will only work to the merge. For me that is absolute bull**** because whoever heard of a premerge alliance just randomly splitting up after the merge? Anyways, Mike and David of Zapatera decide that Stephanie is no longer reliable because of her association with Russell, and form a guy alliance.

First immunity! For some reason the show skipped the reward challenge this episode. Anyways, it's basically building steps to get to the next level, chopping rope to get to the next level and solving a puzzle. Easy peasy. Zapatera take an early lead and, despite Ometepe doing great at the puzzle, win immunity. After that, Russell gloats a bit to Rob, claiming his tribe is buff and all that.

Rob then goes with his gang and discuss the possibility of Kristina having an idol (which, obviously, she does). Rob then uses the tactic that he used in Heroes vs. Villains where his alliance split the votes between Kristina and Francesca. Luckily, this time there was no Tyson to mess things up and things seemingly are about to go to plan for Rob for once.

At tribal council, Phillip makes another random spazz and even goes against his allies Kristina and Francesca. He first tells everyone that Kristina and Francesca want Rob out, then even tells Rob that Kristina has an idol. Things quickly get out of hand and Rob basically demands Kristina's idol, but Kristina is a strong woman and denies him. After a word-fight between Francesca and Phillip, it's time to vote! Francesca has 4 votes from Rob's men and Phillip, Kristina has 3 votes from Rob's women and Phillip has 2 votes from Francesca and Kristina. Francesca goes to Redemption Island 4-3-2!

Einstein's Lost Twin Brother Award goes to....(drumroll) Rob! He organized his alliance well and ensured there was no mess-up like last time and got the job done, cutting Francesca off from Kristina for a while and ensuring his alliance in a dominant role in Ometepe. However, Mike and David on Zapatera get a mention too as they correctly identified Stephanie as no longer trustworthy.

Dumber'n a Bag of Hammers Award goes to....a tie between Francesca and Kristina! Kristina should not have made an alliance with Phillip in the first place and also should have hid her intentions for the idol from Rob too. But Francesca's duel with Phillip at tribal council ultimately forced her out of the game with Phillip casting the deciding vote. Francesca also could've voted for Kristina, resulting in a 4-4-1 tie vote and I am sure Rob would keep Francesca over Kristina.

Crazy Man Award goes to....Phillip! For obvious reasons.

Stay tuned for episode 2!

=D

=D =D =D Hooray I beat those damned Space Invaders 4-2. http://www93.hattrick.org/Club/Matches/Match.aspx?matchID=313436116&TeamId=1677466&BrowseIds=315867121,313436104,316151797,313436107,316263947,313436111,316486055,313436116,316701512,313436119,313436123,313436127&UpdateViewedReport=False

I'm "Rovers" by the way.

That means that.....I stay 3rd but Zeal go first after bashing bot team mongolians 10-0 and everything will go down to that Zeal-Invaders game on the 27th. However, my win means that if Zeal ties/beats Invaders, they will almost certainly promote. That's good for me, since I want them out of my league as fast as possible because their team rating is like 42 times better than mine, and Invaders are an easier opponent so I might actually promote next season! =D

MUBARAK GOES DOWN

Finally I have the time and desire to do this!

Yesterday (or the day before, I forgot =P), President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt finally resigned from his post. Unlike the Tunisian President Ben Ali, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, Mubarak decided to stay in Egypt and is probably relaxing at his million-dollar-mansion at Sharm-el-Sheikh by the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula, bordering Israel. Sadly, Egyptian democracy is still a long way away as Mubarak has left the High Council of Egyptian Armed Forces in charge. Basically, all of the military officials of the Mubarak government are still there, and only Mubarak (who I now regard as a puppet for the army), has left. Sure, the Council has dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, but it probably aims for appointing more of its own members in official positions. It shares a faint resemblance to Hitler's rise in power in 1930s Germany, with the dissolving of the German Reichstag numerous times just for more Nazis to get elected. Same in Tunisia, where there are still protests going on against the new Tunisian government, which, coincidentally, is also a military official. Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood is behind all of this after all!

I could go on for ages, but I've been on the computer for far too long and I need to rest my eyes. Bye!

Hattrick- Game 11

My Hattrick season has been "disastrous". The only team I've actually beaten are the computer-controlled bots, and I'm 3rd out of 3 human managers. To be fair, I'm a noob, and also both have much more talented players and more managerial skill and the scores aren't actually that bad. 0-2 against Space Invaders and 0-4 and 1-2 against Zeal FC. I'll be playing Space Invaders again in around 15 minutes, and since I'm feeling nice I'll actually try to win and do Zeal a favor because if I win, Zeal will be #1 by goal difference. Still, I might just fail miserably and everything will be on the Zeal-Invaders game on February 27th.

So for all fellow noobs, wish me luck!

Rooney Saves the Day

Alright I was wrong about Rooney.

His strike was AWESOME, and it saved United from almost certain defeat by City, who I reckon were the better side. Certainly the Goal of the Season, unless somebody else does something even more spectacular.

Apparently it was Rooney's best ever goal too, in a season where he had only scored 5 times. Although he did score 30-yard shots against Arsenal and Newcastle before, this was undoubtedly the best in a rather lackluster season for the striker, after 34 goals in 42 appearances last season. That old geezer Scholes did a pretty good pass to Nani, who delivered a rather poor cross which was fortunately deflected by Pablo Zabaleta (who had a disastrous appearance) and Rooney did his magic to send the ball into the top corner.

Chris Smalling, somebody I never even heard of, contained that traitor Tevez very well, so that he didn't even get a shot in, and City's only goal was a very fortunate deflection off David Silva. But United were no better and Nani's opener was due to a long blaster from Van Der Sar who unfortunately will retire at season's end. Nemanja Vidic was also epicly awesome to cover for John O'Shea, who I never really liked (he's Irish, after all. Just kidding.). But the midfielders, apart from Nani, were all rather poor, and Fergie should really have used the January transfer window to buy new playmakers to cover for Darren Fletcher, who rather lost his form these days, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who are now too old, and Anderson, who is virtually non-existent.

In other news today, Arsenal bounced back from their 4-4 draw with Newcastle to beat Wolves 2-0 and gain some small revenge for Manchester United. Blackpool finally ended their 5-game losing streak to draw 1-1 at Aston Villa. West Ham came back from 0-3 down to West Brom to tie 3-3 and deny Baggies's new boss Roy Hodgeson an opening win. Birmingham's Nikola Zigic struck in the 91st minute for his team to beat Stoke 1-0. Blackburn and Newcastle had a goalless draw. Liverpool tied Wigan 1-1 and Tottenham just finished beating Sunderland 2-1.

OMFG

OMFG THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT.

Rob and Russell are actually gonna be on Survivor 22! Apparently they will be the leaders of their respective tribes.

I'll see absolutely no way that both of them will make the merge, thus wasting 2 out of 18 Survivor spots. What makes me angry is that this rejects potentially interesting allstar-type players the chance to shine. And Rob will be playing for the 4th time!!!!!! >:( and Russhole the 3rd in 4 seasons >:O.

Hopefully they both get booted early so I won't get bored from all that crap.

Mousebreaker

Ever heard of it?

Mousebreaker produces great online soccer games, bettered by very few in the world. And they create it all through flash, and the games have tremendous depth-they're easy to play but hard to master.

Overall my favorite game on Mb is probably the "Jumpers for Goalposts" series, where you guide a striker from the rookie leagues to the World Cup final.. And my favorite Jumper for Goalpost is #2. #1 was really hard because nearly all of your goal chances were volleys, which I suck at. And the all-new Jumpers for Goalposts 3 takes too much to run and often slows down my computer, to the point where lag kicks in and it takes 5 seconds for my command to register, and by that time I would've missed the chance. Give me #2 any time: the controls are easy, there's virtually no lag to worry about (due to its simplistic graphics) and the gameplay is great!

Other than JfG, the Volley Challenges are rather fun too. You play a season as a team in the English league pyramid and try to become league champion through scoring points from volleys. Each match has a "draw" and "win" target, and when you run out of balls at the "draw" target you get a draw and so on. The zombie world cup game used to be really fun, but since I've beaten it its' grown really easy, and the manager games are very good, except 2010 where the action moved way too fast.

The Combo games are among the better games on Mb. You control your team's offensive prowess, creating opportunities by passing, crossing and shooting to victory. It would've been much better if we could control the defensive aspect of the game too, but sadly no game is perfect.

Goals Galore in the Premier League

Wow...what a day in the Premier League!

In soccer, 2-2 is already normally a contender for "match of the day". 3-2 might even win the competition. Today, both these scores featured, but neither came close.

There was a 5-3, a 4-4 and a 4-3. The league leaders Manchester United lost for the first time in 29 games to the bottom team Wolves, Newcastle came from 4-0 down even though they just sold their top forward Andy Carroll to Liverpool and Joey Barton scored 2 of their 4 goals, when only 2 years ago he was in jail. Tottenham Hotspur missed a penalty, got a goal ruled out for offside, and was denied another penalty and still won the game in almost the 93rd minute. Louis Saha, a name almost none of us have heard of, scored 4 goals for Everton against Blackpool but Everton still struggled to repel the Tangerines. Defender John Pantsil scored his second own goal this week in a Fulham shirt, but his team still drew Aston Villa, while another defender, Stoke City's Robert Huth, managed to score 2 goals in 1 half. And Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, who recently handed in a transfer request, scored a hattrick.

This was no ordinary Premier League day. Tottenham-Bolton, Stoke-Sunderland, Fulham-Villa and City-West Brom could've won the "match of the day" in previous weeks. But now they've been relegated to the back pages in favor of Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal, Wigan 4-3 Blackburn, Everton 5-3 Blackpool and Wolves 2-1 Manchester United. No ordinary game has a comeback from 4-0 down. No ordinary game had somebody scoring 4 goals. No ordinary game had two bottom-half teams score 7 goals between them. And CERTAINLY no ordinary game had 20th beat 1st.

Why oh why Manchester United? Why did your amazing unbeaten run have to end at WOLVES of all teams? No offense to them, but they aren't exactly the best team in the world. And that gingerhead Scholes attempted to throw the ball into the net! Not exactly the best way to score (and not get sent off, for that matter...). Even worse, Ferdinand is now out for 2 weeks, and while he was gone, United once conceded 2 goals in 3 minutes in a 3-3 draw with Everton. And Rooney, who was so good last week, failed to show up this time. Maybe last week's double was just a 1-hit-wonder in a miserable season for the guy. Still, you have to give credit to Wolves. They went 1-0 down after only 3 minutes and still managed to win and hold on to their lead in 5 minutes of injury time.

Survivor: Redemption Island-Rob vs. Russell?????!!!!

I've just heard a rumor on the internet that the 22nd season of Survivor will feature Boston Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz from seasons 8 and 19 respectively as players in its season!

Russell should most definitely NOT be in Survivor 22. Even though he should have won Samoa Hantz down (I'm so funny eh? =P) he should not appear for the 3rd time in 4 seasons. At least get Richard Hatch to replace him! The guy's one of the best players ever but hasn't appeared since ages ago! Although I'm not sure if he's out of jail or not...

Robby shouldn't be in it either. In my mind he is so overrated that he makes Natalie White from Samoa look like a deserving winner who didn't charm the jury with her dumb-girl act. Rob didn't even make the jury in season 4, admittedly did well in season 8 but was crap in season 20, where he didn't even make the merge. So, he only made it far in 1/3 seasons, while Russell made it to the final in 2/2 seasons. =/

Both Russell and Rob should NOT be in S22. I've personally had enough of Russell and Rob is just crap. Maybe Survivor should just not invite ANYONE from past seasons and instead invite interesting people who've never appeared on the show before.