Free Kicks - 15 September

Brian returns from obscurity to give us his thoughts on the latest news in the world of football. Hide the women and children.

Showdown Sunday
The Premier League has gifted us a delicious set of fixtures this Sunday. The highlights, of course, are the early contest at The Bridge between Chelsea and Liverpool, as well as the late contest at Old Trafford between leaders Manchester United and Arsenal. The four best teams in England all in action against each other? That should be enough to whet the appetite.

The Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry in the Mourinho-Benitez eras has been hotly contested. Liverpool is the only EPL team that has been able to cause the Blues fits in recent years. Neither team has played its best football this term. But the Reds look to be struggling even more than Chelsea these days. Liverpool was humiliated against Everton last week. Benitez responded by making six changes at midweek against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions league, including the benching of Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, and Luis Garcia. While Liverpool did finally keep a clean sheet, they also couldn't put one past the PSV keeper. Chelsea has struggled to adjust to its new midfield of stars. But after an early blip against Middlesbrough, the Blues have quietly been improving in recent weeks. They soundly defeated Werder Bremen, a quality team, at midweek. Prediction: Chelsea 2, Liverpool 0.

In the other big matchup, we have struggling Arsenal visiting the Red Devils. On the surface, these are two teams headed in different directions. Man Utd has taken 12 points from four games, while Arsenal is an unfamiliar 17th place in the league table. But perhaps a reversal of fortune is in the cards. Arsenal has played well despite the lack of results. Middlesbrough's lone goal last week game on their only shot of the game. The Gunners scored an impressive victory at midweek against Hamburg without Thierry Henry, who is out with a foot injury. Man Utd struggled through its game with Celtic. Rio Ferndinand, in particular, looked dreadful. With Henry out and Robin van Persie also a doubt, expect young prodigy Theo Walcott to get his full Premiership debut. Can Walcott do something spectacular on the big stage? In one man's biased opinion, absolutely. Prediction: Arsenal 1, Man Utd 0.

Say It Ain't So
Disturbing news surfaced today in the United States, where the AFP is reporting that Sven Goran Eriksson is under consideration to replace Bruce Arena as US manager. You have to be kidding me, right? The guy who did absolutely nothing with the most talented generation of English footballers in decades? I thought the idea here was to move US Soccer forward, not backwards. Jurgen Klinsmann is also a candidate, however reports say he is asking for $2 million a year. The most the US spent previously on a manager was $600K for Arena. Memo to US Soccer: pony up the cash for Klinsmann! Another intriguing candidate is former Argentina manager Jose Peckerman. However, as we saw in the World Cup quarterfinal against Germany, Peckerman bungles lineup choices much in the same vein as Eriksson. But at this point, I'm in the "anyone but Sven" camp.

Call in MI6
Once again, Chelsea is in the news for all the wrong reasons. News surfaced this week that listening devices, or "bugs," had been planted in Jose Mourinho's favorite Portuguese restaurant in London. Yes, this was the very restaurant were Mourinho was rumored to plot the Ashley Cole raid from Arsenal. Many Chelsea first teamers also dine in the restaurant. Coincidence? Well, as soon as the authorities let us know about Tottenham's alleged bad lasagne from last May, perhaps they can give us the skinny on this latest case of intrigue.

Pics courtesy yahoo.com and malefirst.co.uk. Email us at bookableoffense@gmail.com.