Review of the Week #5

So this weekend was the international break when millions of men all round the country tell their wives that they're going to stay at home and look after them instead of going to football.

After the pain of watching England in the World Cup, it almost seemed like a chore to watch them play Bulgaria on friday night but a Jermain Defoe hattrick and tidy shot from Adam Johnson capped off an impressive performance. I'm not getting my hopes up (cos when that happens we get stuffed in the last 16 of the World Cup) but if Hart, Johnson and Defoe carry on in that form, we could well go into the 2012 European Championships with a good chance of qualifying from our group!

Elsewhere, Wales had a shocker as they lost 1-0 away to Montenegro while Scotland were held to a scoreless draw in Lithuania. The Scotland manager Craig Levein has expressed his anger at the Liechtenstein management who refused to send the Scottish FA the tape of their game against Spain ahead of their fixture on Wednesday night. Fair enough they should send the tape...but it's bloody leichtenstein! Its a country with 35,000 people! Frankly, if you need a DVD to work out how to beat them, you don't deserve to go to the European Championships.

Republic of Ireland beat Armenia 1-0 away and against Andorra on Wednesday have a chance to win their first competitive fixture by more than 1 goal under Trapattoni. Let me put into context how poor Andorra are. Their best player plays for the best club in Andorra who lost 9-1 on aggregate to the 4th best team in Denmark in EUFA Cup qualifying. Come on Ireland, you can score 2!

The oddest result of the weekend was in Group H with Portugal vs Cyprus ending 4-4 with Cyprus getting a last minute equaliser. Premier League's Mark Clattenberg watched on as a Portugal defensive error gifted Cyprus a point. Amazing highlights here if you've got a few minutes spare.

There were games in League 1 and the leagues below yesterday. Bottom of the league beat top as Brentford got their first win of the season against Sheffield Wednesday while Charlton Pathetic were beaten by an Exeter Penalty in the last minute (what a shame). In League 2, Torquay lost their 100% record as they were leapfrogged by Shrewsbury who went top with a win over Rotherham.

After Middlesbrough's 2-0 loss against Ipswich last weekend, Gordon Strachan was asked, "any action before the transfer window closes?". To which the Scot replied. "I don't know, you'd better ask my wife. But if I come in on Monday with a big smile on my face then you'll know the answer!" Always got a witty answer has Gordon.

My favourite football story this week was of Norwich fan Joe Green who was beaten up after the away game at Nottingham Forest because he was wearing an all-in-one green lycra (morph) suit. I know it's bad that he was beaten up but if you're going to wear that to a football match and spend the game getting lary, what do you expect.

One Nottingham Forest Fan said after the game, 'I felt sorry for him when I read about it but it seems he is a bit of an attention seeking tw*t (well, walking about looking like a gherkin you'd have to be anyway). Now, I'm not condoning him getting hit but to me simple logic dictates: act like a dick goading home fans whilst wearing bright green suit = someone's going to spank you!" Well said that man!


England won the first of 2 ODI's against Pakistan with the controversy over the alleged spot-fixing plot hanging over the game.

Andy Murray is winning his 3rd round US Open match against Stanislas Wawrinka as I type. The Scot will want to get through the early rounds with as little effort as possible since this is his best chance to date of winning a slam. He'll probably mess it up but maybe if he wins we'll actually see a smile. That'd be nice.
Edit: He messed it up

Check back next week when they'll be some proper football to talk about