Reds leave Chelsea feeling blue
Time for a quick look around the football world.
Liverpool came up big on Sunday at Stamford Bridge, handling Chelsea a 2-1 defeat. Glen Johnson’s goal at the 87-minute mark extended Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the league to seven matches and lifted the team above Arsenal into sixth place, level with Chelsea at 22 points.
“It’s not easy to collect the points, but we’ll keep doing everything we can,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said after the game. “If we do have a secret, you can guarantee one thing, it’ll not be announced.”
While the Reds have been on a nice run, we still that they have left too many points on the pitch that they will need later in the season – most notably at home to Swansea City, Norwich City and Sunderland, but also even against Manchester United and Stoke City.
Hopefully they can roll out the secret again on Sunday, when Manchester City, currently resting comfortably at the top of the table in the Premier League, visits Anfield.
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Congrats to David Beckham and the Galaxy for winning the MLS Cup on Sunday night.
We like Beckham as a player (we wish we could have seen him in his prime at Manchester United) and winning a title was a nice way to close out the final year of his contract with the Galaxy.
Beckham wants to continue playing and it seems likely he will make a return to Europe after the first of the year as he has been linked to Paris St. Germain, which currently sits at the top of the table in Ligue 1.
“I have a decision to make and I haven’t made it yet,” the 36-year-old Beckham told The Daily Mail. “I’ve got options, which is amazing at my age. A couple of big European clubs are after me. I need to decide what’s best for me.
“Whenever a big club comes in for you it’s a temptation. At 36, to still have a big Euro club after me means a lot.”
It will be interesting to see if Beckham can make the transition back to top-flight football in Europe. We’re still on the fence about the quality of play in the MLS, which seems the equivalent of AAA baseball compared to the top leagues in Europe.
And when you consider that Beckham, at 36, and Thierry Henry, at 34, were named to the league’s Best XI squad this year, we wonder about the overall talent in the league.
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The group stage of the Champions League is nearing an end, with Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Benfica all punching their tickets to the knockout stage on Tuesday.
The news isn’t so bright, however, for the two Manchester Clubs.
Because of its 2-2 draw with Benfica, Manchester United needs at least a point at Basel in its final game to advance to the knockout stage for the sixth year in a row.
Meanwhile, Manchester City is in a tough spot following its 2-1 loss at Napoli. Now, Napoli only needs a win at Villarreal to grab the second spot in Group A and leave City on the outside looking in.
“I think we have a 30 percent chance of going through but if we don’t, we will make do with the Europa League,” Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini said in published reports. “Our life does not finish if we don’t go through. I’m disappointed with the result, but not the performance.”
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Finally, if you are an NBA fan wondering how to fill your time with no games being played, why not check out the Premier League?
Red Right 88 