Poor+Heartless = Liverpool

EPL: All those who thought that a managerial change would bring about a positive reaction were left with their dreams in shambles on Sunday as the previously ‘mighty’ Reds suffered a humiliating 2-1 defeat at Anfield to promoted team Blackpool.

Liverpool were unable to recover from the 2-0 first half deficit created by goals from Craig Adam and Luke Varney. Sotiris Kyrgiakos scored the consolation for the Reds. Their rivals Manchester United, while not as disappointing gave nothing for their fans to cheer about in a significantly sub-par performance against Sunderland in a 0-0 stalemate.

Chelsea continue to make their intentions known as they recorded a 2-0 win over London rivals Arsenal. Didier Drogba continued his immaculate standard against the Gunners with his 13th goal in as many apperances against them while Alex with a superb free kick provided the winner. Everton claimed their first win of the season with a similar 2-0 win, this over Birmingham City. Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs made notable leaps up the table with 2-1 wins over Newcastle United and Aston Villa respectively. The in-form pair of Carlos Tevez and Adam Johnson were the scorers for Man. City while Rafael van der Vaart bagged a brace for Spurs.

Five on the trot

La Liga: After a disappointing opening day loss to promoted team Real Sociedad, Villareal have really turned things around by winning five consecutive games. Their most recent was a 2-0 win over Racing Santander through goals from strike partners Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi. Valencia continue to lead the tables as a 90th minute strike from Vicente helped them to a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Sevilla climbed to fifth place in the standings with a 3-1 thumping of Atletico Madrid. Alvaro Negredo scored a superb strike to open the scoring for the winners.

An unfortunate own goal from Juan Forlin in the 85th minute of play handed Real Sociedad a much appreciated 1-0 win over Espanyol. Real Madrid recorded the most impressive La Liga result thus far crushing Deportivo 6-1. Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace for the winners. Despite the return of Lionel Messi as well as a strike by the Argentrine Barcelona could only manage a 1-1 draw with Mallorca, dropping two vital points.

A rare win

Serie A: A 93rd minute strike from Mehdi Benatia handed Udinese their first win of the campaign, defeating promted team Cesena 1-0. AC Milan and Lazio were also 1-0 winners over Parma and Brescia respectively. Milan bagged three points through an Andrea Pirlo strike in 25th minute. Despite the win, their impressive strike force is yet to fully gel. While Lazio’s Stefano Mauri strike in the 45th minute turned out to be the only goal of the game.

Fiorentina were undone by first half strikes from Josep Ilicic and Javier pastore as they fell 2-1 at home to Palermo. Alberto Gilardino scored their consolation in the 58th minute. AS Roma’s poor start to the season continued as a 2-0 whipping at the hands of Napoli condemned them to second from bottom. A Marek Hamsik strike and a Juan own goal sunk Roman hearts. In Sunday’s big clash, Inter Milan and Juventus played to a 0-0 draw.

Bayern in shambles

Bundesliga: German champions Bayern Munich have lost their second consecutive match, both to early forerunners, after being downed 2-0 by Borussia Dortmund. After falling to leaders Mainz 2-1, goals from Lucas Barrios and Nuri Sahin in the space of 10 minutes condemned them to another defeat. In-form strikers Adam Szalai and Andre Schurrle were among the scorers as league leaders Mainz thumped TSG Hoffenheim 4-2.

St Pauli continue to pull off impressive wins as they clipped Hannover 96 1-0 through a 6th minute Marius Ebbers strike. Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen played to an entertaining 2-2 draw.

Champions League Review

English teams previal

CL: Roman Pavlyuchenko bagged a brace for Totteham Hotspurs as they whipped Twente 4-1. A late strike from Javier Hernandez sealed all three points for Manchester United against Valencia in Spain in a 1-0 win.

A late strike from Andel Di Maria helped Real Madrid to an away win over Auxerre while first half strikes from John Terry and Nicolas Anelka helped Chelsea to a 2-0 win over French champions Marseille. Arsenal recorded an impressive 3-1 away win over Partizan Belgrade while Bayern Munich came from behind to defeat FC Basel.