The Pieman's Blog for Friday, 27 February

Liverpool pull off the result of the week - one nil winners in Madrid against Real. What a result, a win and the away goal should it be needed in the return at Anfield. Chelsea win again under new manager Guus Hiddink - one nil at home to Juventus. Chelsea should win return in Turin. A good week for our four English clubs.

Dutchman Guus Hiddink is Chelsea’s new manager until the end of this season. He agreed to combine this post with coaching Russia toward the World Cup. The Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is believed to pay part of his national wages so obviously it was not a tough decision for Hiddink to make. He is a world class coach with world wide experience. He has already said his players are not fit enough. For sure he will change that and the tactics. Chelsea, with their talented players, will surely be transformed under Hiddink. They will be back in business. It will be interesting to watch this Saturday lunchtime’s visit to inform Aston Villa (live on Sky Sports). Fair play Chelsea, this is a very good appointment...

Eduardo scores two goals for Arsenal in their easy-peasy 4-0 FA Cup fourth round replay against last season’s FA Cup finalists Cardiff from the Championship. Eduardo suffered a terrible injury after a challenge by Birmingham City’s defender Martin Taylor. The first fears were that Eduardo would never play again. But the Croatian striker is back and what a difference he should make to Arsenal. They have been on a decent unbeaten run but goals have dried up in recent matches. Now they have a fifth round FA Cup tie against another excellent cup side from the Championship, that’s Burnley, and if they win that then they will be at home in the quarter final to either Sheffield United or Hull. The latter have won at the Emirates Stadium this season but Hull have lost form since. Those pundits who reckon Arsenal may not finish in the top four may have been hasty. They are correct to say they will not win the Premier League title this season but the Champions League place for next season is not out of the window just yet.

Manchester United look most likely to retain the Premier League title. One of their heroes Ryan Giggs has just signed a one year contract which will take him past his 37th birthday. He is a model one club professional who has scored in each of the past 19 seasons. They should give Ryan Giggs a knighthood.

Will Sven Göran Eriksson be the new manager of Portsmouth? And will he do the business for them? Paul Hart and Brian Kidd are caretakers but Sven, currently coach of Mexico, is their top choice. He is not having much fun on the pitch with Mexico - but Sven will always enjoy it off the pitch. He did a fair job for England and Manchester City. Can he raise the bar to that achieved by Harry Redknapp and lowered by Tony Adams? Is this the right job for Sven? I am not sure...

Things they wish they had not said:

“”It’s like a game of chess now: keep your cards close to your chest.” JASON PRICE
“It’s not great on the eyes, but it’s super to watch.” STEVE CLARIDGE
“He dived one-handed like a swan.” BBC
“He offers something different to what we have not got.” SIMON GRAYSON
“It’s the expected start to this game - Nil-Nil.” JOHN MURRAY
“He (Wayne Rooney) is inexperienced, but he’s experienced in terms of what he’s been through.” STEVE MCCLAREN
“They (Arsenal) have a lot of games coming up in recent weeks”. LES FERDINAND

The new Pieman and Tom Ross show will be up on http://www.piemanradio.com/ this Friday. We are bound to row! We do not agree on much. Tom can’t sing either but the Piegirls can. Catch their new song at the end of the show...

The Pieman's Blog for Tuesday, 10 February

Two Premier League clubs at either end of the table panic and sack their managers. Chelsea, fourth in the table and seven points behind leaders Manchester United, dismiss Luis Felipe Scolari while less surprisingly Portsmouth sack Tony Adams as they sink to within one point of the relegation zone. Scolari had 36 games as Chelsea boss after replacing Avram Grant in June. He is Chelsea's third manager in a year! Adams took control after Harry Redknapp left for Spurs at the end of October and won just 2 of his 16 Premier League matches. Results are the only real name of the game in football.

Scolari, 60 years of age, won the World Cup as Head Coach of Brazil in 2002 and went to manage Portugal. But it did not work out at Chelsea with 57 per cent winning return only and talk of unrest with strikers Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka while players were complaining about his tactics and boring training. The last straw came with the 0-0 home draw with Hull. Chelsea used to be unbeaten for several seasons at Stamford Bridge but this season they have only won 6 PL matches out of 13. Owner Roman Abramovich, according to Scolari's camp, made the decision. The Russian had dismissed the successful Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant went after losing the European Champions League final after a penalty shoot out to Manchester United.

Portsmouth appointed their number two Tony Adams as manager after Harry Redknapp left for Spurs at the end of October. I was heating my Pukka Pie at the time and remember thinking how often do assistants really do the business? Not very often! Adams is a strange man. A brilliant player, but management material? I doubt a person on that score, when in one of his first interviews he says he does not like people. That's like some-one saying to the True. He said he was not given much money to spend. £I 2 million in fact, so that is true. Adams says he did not have much time but he has only taken two points from the last possible 27. He appeared to be getting muddled in the high pressure situation. The Pieman believes in fair play mate. I defend players, managers and referees when I can. But I think Portsmouth had to cut their losses and make a change. They made a mistake and should compensate Tony Adams accordingly. Fair play mate.

The referee Martin Atkinson missed Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips kicking out in retaliation in an incident that saw Stoke's Rory Delap quite rightly red-carded for violent conduct. Delap is serving a three match suspension for being sent off. The FA studied the video of the game and gave Wright-Phillips the same punishment. He will miss Manchester City's away games at Portsmouth, Liverpool and West Ham. Fair play mate. Often it’s the retaliation that is spotted and not the original offence. However, you just cannot fight back, tempting as it is. What would I do if someone nicked my Pukka Pie? Give them a kiss and hope that some-one would deal with the thief? Steady on, Pieman, it’s not that serious...... But what does really upset me is the daft rule that if a referee and particularly a linesman sees an incident and takes no action then the FA still take no action. Take the recent Liverpool-Chelsea match. Referee Mike Riley sends off Frank Lampard but later admits he was wrong and the red card is rescinded afterwards. But in the closing minute the Chelsea defender Jose Bosingwa is clearly seen kicking Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun up the backside near the corner flag right in view of the close-up linesman who takes no action. Hardly fair play mate! The law needs adjusting.

Meanwhile Manchester United return to the top after the Champions won at West Ham - their sixth 1-0 win in their last 8 PL matches. Ryan Giggs scored the goal which makes him the only player to score in each of the 17 Premier League seasons. Fair play mate! United, in the process kept their consecutive 13th clean sheet (no goals conceded!) which is a British record. 1212 minutes without conceding passing Glasgow Rangers’ (with Chris Woods in goal) record of 1196 minutes set in the 1978-79 season. Next on goalie Edwin Van Der Sar's horizon is the World Record of 1275 minutes set by Atletico Madrid (Abel Resino in goal) in the 1990-91 season. The United defence is terrific and Vidic quite rightly was chosen as the Barclays Premier League player of the month for January. Sir Alex Ferguson won the manager of the month. He's got more medals, trophies, Cups and titles than even this Pieman has eaten pies, let alone hot dinners.

A word about Joe Kinnear, the Newcastle manager who suffered a heart attack in 1999 when Wimbledon's boss.Joe has had a hard time of it this season since taking over from Kevin Keegan and he had to be taken to a Sutton Coldfield hospital in the West Midlands before the away win at West Bromwich Albion, feeling unwell. Joe was suffering from high blood pressure but hopefully he is recovering well. Joe is one of the great characters in the high pressure world of football management.

It’s International week with England playing a friendly in Seville against the current FIFA ranked number one country, European Champions Spain. Others are involved in both World Cup qualifiers and friendlies. Then it’s the FA Cup at the weekend. Plenty to reflect on in my next blog. The next Pieman and Tom Ross internet radio show on this website will be available this Friday (13th, but hopefully not unlucky). Bad weather prevented Tom travelling to the studio last week but he was more upset that I ate his pie!

I will finish this blog with more of what they wish they had not said:

"If there's one thing Derby have lacked this season, it's pace and power." ALVIN MARTIN
"With apologies to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, will it be Wolves
or West Brom who are singing in the rain tonight?" IAN WINTER
"A tremendous free kick! It probably would have gone in if he had put it where he intended to put it." STAN COLLYMORE
"Some Hull City supporters have had to wait 104 years for this day." RADIO 5 LIVE
"He (David Beckham) has lost his legs at the highest level." CHRIS WADDLE
"Diouf is the master of the dark art of the winger: draws you in, sucks you off...." GARRY BIRTLES
"There's not many players who would have hit him (Fabio Capello) in the eye and made him put his hat on." GLENN HODDLE

The Pieman's blog for Monday, 2 February

The transfer deadline finished with a lighter flurry than the snow that hit much of Britain. But Spurs manager Harry Redknapp splashed out big to sign three former Spurs players - Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda. Defoe is already out injured - maybe for the season - with a foot injury so the capture of Robbie Keane to replace him was vital. Good business too for five million less than Keane was sold to Liverpool a few months ago. £15 million in fact was this transfer. The Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez left Keane out of the Liverpool squad again so the writing was on the wall. Fair play, Harry. Can Robbie now keep Spurs up - they are still only one point outside the drop zone but I will bet a tray of my precious Pukka Pies that Spurs will be playing Premier League football next season.

Hey, such a gambler. I will wager another tray of my favourites - Balti Pies by Pukka - that Manchester United will retain the Championship. Let’s face it, at this stage the only Premier League team with a real challenge left are Liverpool after Sunday's 2-0 home win over Chelsea. The visitors’ boss Luis Philipe Scolari complained with justification that Chelsea's Frank Lampard should not have been sent off by referee Mike Riley after a tackle with Alonso. Scolari is right but he still had the good grace to state that Liverpool were the better team. Chelsea are surely going to appeal about the decision in the same way that the previous week West Bromwich Albion successfully did over the incorrect decision by referee Rob Styles to send off Paul Robinson. I like to support referees but I think these two incidents called for the refs to take more time and consideration including consulting their linesmen. Then it would be fair play.

Fernando Torres scored both Liverpool's late goals. Chelsea will have it all to do now -particularly if Lampard's sending off is not rescinded and he gets a three match suspension. Chelsea's Anelka is the PL's top scorer with 14 goals. Lampard has 9 but he is the all round star that is so vital for an ageing Chelsea team.

I cannot believe some Aston Villa fans were booing Martin O'Neill after the unlucky goalless home draw with Wigan. Villa have had a brilliant season so far and O'Neill is an outstanding manager. Villa are third; still in the Fa Cup and UEFA Cup and they have only lost 4 matches in the Premier League. They were desperately unlucky as Wigan defended with guts and determination. The Wigan manager Steve Bruce also said they were lucky not to lose to Villa before paying his tribute to his own team. So what is the matter with you, Villas fans? Try making as much noise as the Stoke fans do all the while. Wake up and smell the coffee Mr.O'Neill is brewing. Villa fans were claiming the team did not want it enough. Disgraceful re-actions. No Pies for you crusties!

Villa will not win the Premier League this season but they may finish fourth and secure a multi million pound place in the European Champions League. Signing Emile Heskey has improved their chances. At £3.5 million the striker was a steal. But don't underestimate Arsenal. O'Neill will not. Arsenal are five points behind but they too have signed a striker, Zenit St.Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin who does score goals. Arsenal are unbeaten in 10 games but they missed out on two vital points in the goalless home draw with West Ham.

We know what a good job David Moyes has done at Everton with little money and recently without an established striker. I hope his deadline day signing of Jo on loan from Manchester City works out for him. The Brazilian cost City £19 million but has been a flop.
Word of praise for manager Steve Bruce and Roy Hodgson. Wigan are seventh; Fulham 9th. Both had relegation worries last season. Both have performed splendidly. It shows what can happen if clubs are patient and do not panic by sacking the manager.

Some interesting draws and fair play mate to the battlers at the bottom. West Brom twice coming back to draw 2-2 at Hull; Middlesbrough against Blackburn goalless, Stoke winning 1 nil against Manchester City with ten men - after Rory Delap was rightly sent off but what about the retaliation shown by City's Shaun Wright-Phillips that went unnoticed? Mind you, in fairness it is sometimes the other way round!

Portsmouth, as the Pieman keeps writing and saying, continue to be on the slide. Only 2 PL win from 15 matches since Tony Adams became manager - the last being in November. This weekend Pompey lost 3-1 at Fulham. Adams is under enormous pressure and the word in the Pieshops is that he has three matches left to rescue his position. They are Liverpool at home on Feb 7, Manchester City, also at home on February 14, and Stoke away on Feb 21. These are the cold facts - Portsmouth were 7th in the PL when Adams took over as manager on October 28. They are now 16th. Portsmouth have collected 10 points from a possible 42 under Adams. They have suffered 10 defeats in all competitions, kept 1 clean sheet under him and scored 13 goals in 14 PL matches. P45 material.

So we come to mighty Manchester United, now grinding out their 7th 1-0 win from their last 10 PL matches record 12 PL clean sheets. Their goalkeeper, the outstanding Edwin van der Sar has beaten the English League record of 1104 set by the late Steve Death of Reading in 1979. If United go 75 minutes without conceding at West Ham on Sunday they will beat the British record of 1196 minutes set by Chris Woods for Glasgow Rangers in the 1986/87 season. It’s terrific. But full credit to several other players including my players of the month for January, Vidic andCarrick. Vidic gets my vote but Carrick has been immense in mid-field. Vidic has to be the best central defender in the game as is Rio Ferdinand. Sorry, John Terry!

And their opponents West Ham have really pulled it round under Gianfranco Zola. He is a good man and a very good manager. West Ham are unbeaten in eight away games.

Hope you enjoy the Pieman song and my radio show with Tom Ross even if we do not agree on much! Both are available on the website. My new show will be up and running on Friday February 6 - Birmingham owner David Sullivan's 60th birthday. I wonder if his birthday cards come in brown wrappers!

Finally: Did they wish they had not said:
"A nd I never thought I would say this word - no cutting edge!" ANDY GRAY
"The significance of that goal cannot be under-estimated." JOHN MOTSON
"If you came in from the pub and didn't know who was playing, you wouldn't know who was playing." NEVILLE SOUTHALL
"What a great goal with his so called right foot." DEREK JOHNSTONE
"Everything is being looked at with a fine tooth comb." GRAEME MURTY
"Avram Grant is like a lot of managers - if his team doesn't win tonight he'll be in a no-win situation." GRAHAM TAYLOR
" For the first time, they'll be looking again over their shoulder." LEE DIXON
and:
"and Hull City, to use a pun, have really got their tails up." RADIO LANCASHIRE

Yer what?