Quick Linkage, And The Battle For My Soul As A Supporter

Sorry about the lack of recap coverage this weekend, but, well, I was being a lazy ass! Anywho, just wanted to provide an excellent (and homerrific) link to a solid Liverpool blog, just to show y'all the insane and undeserved Chelsea/ManU love out there among the mainstream, as compared to rampant Reds indifference:

http://ohyoubeauty.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-love-journamalism.html

One other note: No one cares about the Carling Cup. I understand this. And yet, I am compelled and intrigued by the matchup this week between the Reds and the assumed team of my heritage. My parents actually brought my grandfather's birth certificate back from Leeds a couple of years back, and as Leeds United are the only professional club in the city of Leeds, I feel some kinship with that team. Of course, it's hard to follow and support a League One side from the States, so I really don't know much about the club, other than that they sit atop League One at the moment. I chose Liverpool on mostly arbitrary standards compared to that connection.

So who am I supposed to root for? Should I root for the team from the city where my grandfather was born and briefly raised, or the team I chose a few years back because Steven Gerrard is a fucking God? Should I root for Leeds just because the Carling Cup is worth precisely dick, and I'd rather avoid an early season backlog of fixtures? Should I root for Liverpool because we all know a Leeds win means they'll automatically be drawn to play at Stamford Bridge next round in a bow by the FA to the money, power and influence of that jackass Roman Abramovich? No one wants to see Chelsea get yet another cupcake matchup.

I still have no true solution. I guess I'll just root for a fair game and plenty of orange wedges to go around at halftime...

Birmingham Derby: 9/13

Neville was forced from the game, so you know he wasn't just acting, like an Italian...

Birmingham City 0-1 Aston Villa

For a "fierce derby", this match was a pretty tame affair. Gabby Agbonlahor scored late for the visiting Villans to claim victory and move into 6th.

Fulham 2-1 Everton

Tim Cahill opened the scoring for the visiting Toffees. Unable to celebrate by shotgunning a giant Foster's can, he did a strange "fight with the corner flag" dance instead. After halftime, Fulham came out a different team, beating Timmy Howard with an unfortunate deflection and a solid strike by Newcastle castoff Damien Duff. The Cottagers jumped from 18th to 10th with the victory. Everton remain in 19th.

Spain:

Valencia used a David Villa double to beat Valladolid on the road, 4-2, and move into third with two wins from two matches. Also turning that feat was Athetic Bilbao, who defeated n00b Xerez 1-0 on the road. Despite the best efforts of American traitor Giuseppe Rossi, who opened the scoring for Villareal, his team was held to a 1-1 draw at home against Mallorca, dropping the Yellow Submarine to 13th, as they are winless from two matches.

Italy:

Genoa and Sampdoria joined Juventus as the only teams with three wins in three games in Serie A. Genoa achieved this result with a 4-1 victory at home over Napoli to surpass Juventus and take the table lead. Sampdoria got a 1-0 road victory to go third. Inter Milan and Roma also won on the day, moving the Nerazzurri into fourth place, and helping the Romans off the bottom of the table and into 15th.

Germany:

Schalke got a 2-1 road victory over FC Cologne, putting them three points behind the co-table leaders, in third place. Werder Bremen were held to a scoreless draw at home by Hannover, and find themselves in sixth.

Midweek Soccer:

UEFA Champions League group stage begins Tuesday, with the highlight matches Marseille hosting Milan, and Chelsea hosting Porto. Wednesday's premier matchups include Inter Milan hosting reigning champions Barcelona, and Stuttgart hosting Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers. Thursday brings the first day of the new Europa League's group stage, where Fulham and Everton will be in action.

Super Jew Yossi Benayoun: 9/12

Ugly and Uglier celebrate for 'Pool

Blackburn 3-1 Wolverhampton

It's never too early to get out of the "Relegation Zone", and Rovers put on a dominant display against n00b Wolves to get their first win of the campaign and jump from 18th to 13th.

Liverpool 4-0 Burnley

Yossi Benayoun scores a hat trick as Liverpool pwned n00b Burnley. The game was carried on the Worldwide Leader in dropped satellite feeds. Thanks for losing the feed three times, ESPN2, it reminded me of those times I watched Liverpool games with a shitty internet connection on my laptop last year! The Reds move to fifth with the blowout.

Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal

The story of the match that will be covered to death in the coming days was Adebayor following up his goal with a sprint to the opposite end of the pitch to essentially taunt the traveling Gunner fans. Nothing says classy like mocking the club where you built your name, which was what allowed you to jump to another club for a buttload of cash. City go third ahead of next weekend's Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

Portsmouth 2-3 Bolton

A back-and-forth score sheet suggests that perhaps this game wasn't as fail-tastic as you would expect from the two remaining clubs that entered today without a point. Even this early in the season, it looks like it is really going to take a lot of work to keep Portsmouth from being relegated.

Stoke City 1-2 Chelsea

Stoke were certainly up for the game, and found themselves ahead in the first half due to some questionable keeping by Petr Cech, but Horseface scored an excellent strike during the eight minutes of first half extra time, and Florent Malouda scored during the five minutes of second half extra time to claim victory and retain their spot atop the table. Sounds to me like Carlo Ancelotti might be the first manager in many, many years to challenge Sir Alex Ferguson for the title of "Best EPL Manager At Bitching About, And Getting, Egregious Amounts Of Extra Time".

Sunderland 4-1 Hull City

CAT FIGHT! The Todd approves:


The Black Cats got the better of their Tiger counterparts, with two goals from Darren Bent. Harry Redknapp's wife would've got the hat trick...

Wigan 1-0 West Ham United

Hugo Rodallega scored for the Latics to claim victory. **searches for joke, consults Wikipedia** I see that Hugo is Colombian, and he has 7 goals in 21 international appearances. I guess that explains why he hasn't been murdered by his fellow countrymen yet...

Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester United

Jermaine Jenas scored 50 seconds in on a solid bicycle-ish goal, but as the announcers for the game eventually pointed out ad nauseum, Tottenham vs. Man U matches follow a single script. 1) Spurs take a lead 2) Spurs lead does not last 3) The Red Devils eventually win running away. This one had the minor wrinkle of throwing in a Paul Scholes red card after Man U took a 2-1 lead, but- and I still can't figure out how this happened- Man U actually looked at their best with only ten men, adding another goal through Wayne Rooney. The win sent SAF's squad second.

Spain:

Barcelona sunk Getafe, 2-0, on goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi, and Real Madrid defeated Espanyol, 3-0, with prancing wonder Cristiano Ronaldo adding the final nail in the coffin in extra time. Stop me if you've heard this script before, but Barca and Madrid are first and second, respectively, in the Spanish table.

Italy:

Milan was held to a scoreless draw at Serie A n00b Livorno, and Juventus defeated Lazio, 2-0 in Rome, to move into first place.

Germany:

Two teams are relatively clear at the top of the Bundesliga at the moment, as Hamburg defeated Stuttgart 3-1 at home to maintain top position, and Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 at Wolfsburg to retain the second spot. Bayern Munich are charging hard after a poor start, winning 5-1 at Borussia Dortmund to move up from eighth to fourth at the moment.