England Retain, Just.

Well the World Cup of Darts was at the weekend, and it is fair to say that the event has become truly global. Who would have thought a few years ago that Belgium would reach the final or that Finland would have made the semi? It seems as though if you have two decent players playing their best then you can go along way, the Spanish team sums this up. How did England win this event with Lewis playing so badly?

Well mainly because they have Phil Taylor averaging 105+ in every game and Scotland and Holland were dispatched early on. Still in the match against Wales they got lucky big time as Wales basically threw the win away from 3-1 up and 100+ ahead. I suppose that can happen with Ritchie about, its worth watching any event just to see this man play, his arm flailing bout all over the place after every third dart. The Belgium team on the other hand were the definition of steady with both players playing well throughout although Ronnie might have found the going a little though towards the end. So the answer what do you need to become World Cup of Darts Champions? As the German fans kept reminding us, 'there's only one Phil Taylor'.

German Masters Glory for Carter

This week the snooker bandwagon moved into Berlin for the third staging of the German Masters. The event which is staged in the Temperdom has been a roaring success with near capacity crowds in attendance at every session. The crowd have been very respectful to the players and there has been a great atmosphere all week. The coverage on Eurosport was been good enough, although it is disappointing that once the game on the main table is completed coverage does not switch to one of the outside tables. It was also vexing that the first session of the final was not broadcast live, something to do which tennis or something, pssh.

Ali Carter might not have been the first name on most peoples list when it came to picking a winner, likewise Marco Fu as a potential finalist. But is you look at their respective form Carter's run to the UK semi, where it has to be said he should have reached the final and Fu reaching the Australian Open semi and International quarter, both are also former ranking event winners. There were a number of upsets though most notably young Mr. Trump losing to the Sheriff of Pottingham and Higgins losing out to Peter Lines, both players look woefully short of form at the minute. In the final, well I think it started at 5-3 to Fu, Carter came out firing and knocked in consecutive centuries in great style, from then on Fu never seemed to recover missing a hat full of chances and allowing Carter to take victory with relative ease, his third ranking event in total and who's to say he can't follow up at the Welsh Open next week?

32,000 carat Gould

Well the Shoot Out is over for another year, time to review how it went. Starting with the venue, well its in Blackpool which is no big surprise with organisers trying to bring a bit of the party atmosphere to the game. Seemed to work well for the most part although why there is a need for walk on girls I have no idea, they only walk about three yards then disappear into the night almost immediately! Most of the players seem to embrace the event although if you've been following Mr. Williams on that twitter machine you'll know not all are overly enthused.

One thing that did hamper the viewing experience for those watching on sky was the at times uncomfortable response to the crowd of some of the commentators when they 'got out of hand' - You can't have it both ways. The actual standard of snooker was somewhat impaired by the shot clock with some lets say unusual shot selection at times. Selby's century was a particular highlight as was the Allen v Maguire semi, a fixture which you wouldn't be disappointed to grace any ranking event final. You can take nothing away from the victorious Martin Gould though who played superbly throughout, still can't work out how he sights a ball in those glasses though, but the man certainly has composure in abundance.

One slight downside perhaps was the absence of Messrs Trump and Robertson two real stars which the crowd would no doubt have liked to see in action, nevertheless the absence of some of the more established players allowed some of the lower ranked to take centre stage, the real highlight for me though was the sight of Dave Harold trotting around the table, reminded me of a young Steve Cram, marvellous stuff.

Swansea secure Anfield stalemate

Liverpool 0-0 Swansea

Premier league    5^th November 2011    KO: 15:00   Ground: Anfield    Att: 45,013

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Skrtel, Henderson (Kuyt, 46), Downing, Lucas, Adam, Suarez, Carroll (Bellamy, 74).

Swansea: Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Monk, Rangel, Britton, Dyer, Routledge (Sinclair, 74), Allen, Gower (Agustien, 90), Graham.

Poor Liverpool held at home once again

Liverpool failed to win at Anfield for the third successive game after they were kept at bay by an inspired Michel Vorm. It is exactly this kind of result which Liverpool need to avoid if they are to stand any chance of regaining their champion’s league status in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Spurs and Arsenal. On the other hand Swansea will be delighted with the point, although they could well have nicked all three after a spirited second half performance.

The game began with Swansea playing their customary passing game, although good pressure from Liverpool meant this was largely restricted to their own half. Liverpool were playing with the high tempo that they have regularly displayed at the start of games this season, with Adam, Downing and Suarez looking particularly threatening down the left hand side.

Indeed it was the home side that fashioned the first clear cut chance of the game after seven minutes, Adam and Downing combined brilliantly but Andy Caroll could only smash the England winger’s cross against the bar from close range when he should have found the back of the net.

Swansea almost punished the miss when Wayne Routledge, having one of his rare better games found the in form Graham with a pin-point cross but his touch was week and Reina somehow managed to save from point blank range. These two opportunities provided the main highlights in an otherwise drab first period.

The game came to life in the second period as the game stared to open up, and it was Swansea that were applying the majority of pressure as they began to assume control of possession in midfield taking advantage of some sloppy passing from Liverpool. The usually reliable Reina then made a couple of uncharacteristic errors, after first almost getting caught in possession by Graham inside the six yard box he then spilled Dyer’s shot in to the path of Graham before making amends with a superb block.

As so often at Anfield this season Liverpool left it until the last ten minutes before applying any real pressure on Swansea’s goal, which resulted in a flurry of chances inside the last few minutes of the game bringing the best out of Vorm, who first tipped wide a Suarez strike before somehow managing to turn over Glen Johnson’s last minute volley and secure a point for the away side.

Tasty second half performace from Mainz serves up first win in nine

1.   FSV Mainz 05 3- 1 VfB Stuttgart

Bundesliga         4^th November 2011          KO: 19:30             Ground: Coface Arena   Att: 34,000

1. FSV Mainz 05: Christian Wetklo, Ulreich, Kirchhoff, Bungert, Polanski, Caligiuri, Pospech, Ivanschitz (Choupo-Moting, 73), Soto, Baumgartlinger, Ujah, Müller (Yunus 82, Fathi, 87)      .

VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich, Maza, Tasci, Molinaro (Traore, 66), Boulahrouz, Kuzmanovic, Kvist, Cacau, Hajnal (Gentner 82), Okazaki (Hemlein, 64), Harnik.

Tasty second half performance sees Mainz end winless run.

Three goals in the space of ten minutes give Mainz first win in nine matches as both sides have a man sent off in a thrilling second period, in which Mainz were controversially awarded a penalty.

The first half was comparatively even with Mainz starting the brighter before Stuttgart began to play with the confidence of a team that had tasted defeat only once in the past seven games. It was Mainz though who came closest to breaking the deadlock, Andreas Ivanshitz burst into the box, but his goal bound effort was cleared by Khalid Boulahrouz.

The second half was a far more entertaining affair; Cacau put the visitors ahead when he raced into the area to meet the impressive Martin Harnik’s low cross to beat Christian Wetklo from six yards.

The lead only lasted four minutes before Anthony Ujah out jumped Maza to nod in Elkin Soto’s cross. The game then changed completely in the space of nine minutes, first Mainz were awarded a very soft penalty when Maza was adjudged to trip Nicolai, who himself did not even appeal.

Ivanshitz duly dispatched the resulting spot kick before capping an excellent individual performance by heading down a cross into the path of Ujah who took advantage of a mix up between defender and keeper to slot into an empty net.

There was still time for nerves to set in for home supporters when Polanski was shown a harsh red card for a tackle on Hemlein that only warranted a yellow as Stuttgart pressed to get back into the game. Hemlein himself then miss kicked from only three yards out as the ten men defended admirably to keep Stuttgart at bay.

Several Stuttgart players then proceeded to lose their heads after the final whistle surrounding the referee, in protest of the crucial penalty decision awarded to Mainz. The result of which was a needless red card for Maza to add to the frustration of the away team who missed the chance to move up to second in the table.

Lowly Gaziantepspor stun nine men Galatasary

Galatasary 2-4 Gaziantepspor

Süper Lig    26^th October 2011    KO: 6:30     Ground: Türk Telekom Arena

Galatasary: Muslera, Sarioglu, Zan (Cetin, 34), Ujfalusi, Balta, Inan, Melo, Kazim-Richards (Eboue, 15),  Baytar (Guleslam, 78), Riera, Elmander.

Gaziantepspor: Karcemarskas, Güngör, Kurtulus , Nounkeu, Saraiva, Adin, Has (Gulle, 50), Binya, Popov, Demir (Tosun, 73), Wagner (Sosa, 86).

Gaziantepspor stun nine men Galatasary at the Türk Telekom Arena.

Having spent big during the summer the expectation at the Telekom Arena would have been nothing other than league success. Coming in to the game Galatasary would have been odds on favourites for this one and they expectedly dominated for the first half hour, Selcuk Inan scoring early on after Nounkeu failed to carry out a routine clearance from former Sheffield United man Colin Kazim-Richards cross allowing him to find Inan at the second time of asking. 

Despite this dominance Gaziantepspor somehow managed to turn the game on its head before half time, the lively Muhammet Demir finishing cleverly before Popov's cracking half volley from the edge of the area gave them an unexpected lead. Servet Cetin was then sent off for pulling back Demir denying him a clear goal scoring opportunity after he beat the offside trap on the stroke of half time.

Although the ten men equalised through the impressive Johan Elmander after 65 minutes, a mistake from Muslera gave Orhan a simple tap in to put the visitors back ahead before Sarioglu was sent off for a second bookable offense bringing the ill disciplined Galatasary side down to 9 men as Tosun completed the misery a minute before time.

The victory will provide Gaziantepspor with an unexpected and timely boost after a slow start to the season whilst Galatasary will be left to rue what could have been after dominating for large parts of the first period whilst ill discipline undoubtedly cost them any chance of taking something from the game in the second half.

Substitutue Holt secures a point at Anfield

Liverpool 1-1 Norwich City

Premier League         22^nd October 2011           KO: 17:30          Ground: Anfield        Att: 44,931

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Carragher, Skrtel, Bellamy (Henderson, 69), Adam, Gerrard, Downing (Carroll, 80) Kuyt (Agger, 90), Suarez.

Norwich: Ruddy, Martin, Barnett, Tierney, Naughton, Johnson, Pilkington (Crofts, 90), Hoolahan, Fox, Bennett (Holt 57), Morison.

Substitute Grant Holt secures a point at Anfield for the Canneries as Liverpool drop points at home again.

Following the visit of the champions Manchester United last week Liverpool must have felt that this game provided the perfect opportunity to pick up three points in their quest for Champions League qualification. This sense of optimism was evident in the blistering start to the game by the home side who could’ve easily been three up inside the first ten minutes, first Skrtel headed Gerrard’s corner against the bar then the mercurial Suarez turned the Norwich defense only to fire wide before meeting Craig Bellamy’s cross forcing an excellent save from Ruddy who tipped it onto the post.

Norwich’s appeared stunned by the host’s fast start, offering far too much time on the ball whilst at the same time attempting to play the ball long up towards the isolated Steve Morrison. The game was twenty minutes old before Norwich finally began to press the ball higher up the pitch allowing them to win more possession and frustrate the home side by effectively utilizing the offside trap.

Just as the game looked to be heading towards a goalless first half Bellamy arrived in the box from the right to score against his former club, his shot taking a sizable deflection off the unfortunate Tierney to go past Ruddy into the bottom right hand corner. The goal coming after Norwich had looked relatively comfortable in defense despite Liverpool dictating much of the play.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first with Liverpool again dominating play as Norwich seemed to drop off with Luis Suarez again unlucky not to get on the score sheet after his shot was deflected off Martin on to the post. The failure to build a two goal cushion was punished after manager Paul Lambert’s inspired substitution saw Grant Holt come on and almost immediately leveled things up. The Norwich captain beating Reina to head in Pilkington’s cross after Enrique had allowed the former Huddersfield winger far too much time on the ball.

Holt could well have then given city the lead as he arrived unmarked at the back post but his header was straight at Pepe Reina who did well to get in the way. This scare seemed to rejuvenate Liverpool who at times during the second half looked short of ideas with Suarez the only man seemingly capable of threatening Ruddy’s goal. The introduction of Andy Carroll on for an off the pace Stuart Downing with ten minutes to play inevitably saw a more direct approach deployed and this nearly paid off when deep into stoppage time but the England forward somehow missed his header from six yards out.

The drama was not over though as with six minutes of stoppage time played Suarez connected with Gerrard’s cross only for Ruddy to pull off another super save somehow tipping the ball over the bar. The point for Norwich ensures their strong start to the campaign continues whilst Dalglish will be left to rue missed chances which come May could prove costly in the battle for fourth spot.