Kevin Keegan, today, made it official.  He has resigned as manager of Newcastle United FC.  This comes after a week of speculation as to whether he was still with the club.  Word had leaked on Monday that he had been fired, a rumor the club later refused.  With news outlets monitoring the team’s facility, noting Keegan’s parking spot had been empty all week, there w ere only so many secrets that could be kept.  After releasing a statement through the League Manager’s Association today, Keegan made it official.  Newcastle has lost their manager.
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Sunderland had played so well over the schedule’s first two weeks, but on Sunday they were exploited by a new look, more athletic Manchester City squad.  The Citizen had Jô, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Richard Dunne for the first time this season, and they looked a completely different side.  The eleven they started at the Stadium of Light were exactly the kind of squad that Roy Keane should have nightmares about:  an athletic team that uses their athleticism as a tactic, not a crutch.  The last two City goals in their 3-0 were perfect examples if this.

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I just finished posting my Week 3 review article to American Soccer Reader. Here is a direct link.  I name Player of the Week, Manager of the Week, XI of the Week, talk briefly about how the teams lay giong into the international match break, and rank the tops one through twenty.

Now, I am going to spend some time updating ASR for all the big Premiership news.  There are three main pieces which stick out (off the top of my head):  Dubai, Robinho, Berbatov.  I’m sure I’ll find other news, too.

I got too busy yesterday to publish my thoughts on Shaun Wright-Phillips moving to Manchester City, though I just updated American Soccer Reader with the story.

The move came about pretty quickly.  Not so much the Wright-Phillips moved from Chelsea-part.  That seemed to be a given all summer, and it was somewhat surprising when, over the last two weeks, it seemed Wright-Phillips would not be moving.  If anything, he looked to play less under Scolari than he had last season.  But this week rumors regarding Everton and Manchester City surfaced, and while they were initially denied by Wright-Phillips, the winger moved on Thursday.

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Now everything makes sense. It took us three weeks, but that Ligue 1 I grew to love last year is back. The top three in the table are Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux. I exhale in relief.

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t too concerned about the state of Ligue 1 without the typically successful clubs at the top. In fact, I wasn’t phased at all, but I am eager for the start of what looks to be a three team championship race. There yet isn’t sufficient distance between Bordeaux (third, as of now) and the rest of the table, but with the three at the top looking at another relatively easy week this weekend, that distance may be coming.

As for the pretenders from last week, Grenoble never threatened Lyon, losing 2-0 after going down six minutes into the match, and Monaco’s lacking attack could not get three points at him from Caen. This week, Grenoble and Monaco face each other, meaning at last one will have trouble keeping up, while two other teams on the heals of the top three (Nice and Valenciennes) are also matched-up. This might be the week that gap starts to form.

But for all this talk about how the top of the table is shaping up, the match of the week involved two teams who currently rank no higher than tenth. Rennes put in two injury time goes to take three points over Lille, the first win for either club, in one of those matches that leaves a neutral slack jawed. Did that just happen?

With Week 2 done and gone, French clubs shifted focus to the continent, where Marseille finished qualifying for Champions League only to see them slotting into the group that got Atletico Madrid from Pot 4. That meant they would be in the deepest group, joined by Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven, in a quartet that gives them a chance to move on. Lyon and Bordeaux each get tougher groups, and some think Lyon’s to be as deep as Marseille’s.

In UEFA Cup qualifying, Rennes was able to overcome a one goal deficit after their first leg against Norway’s Stabaek. The join Paris St. Germain, Nancy, and St. Etienne in awaiting tomorrow’s UEFA Cup draw for the first round. With none of those four playing that well at the season’s start, they will be hoping to avoid some of the draw’s giants: AC Milan, Schalke 04, Benfica, Valencia, Galatasaray, and Manchester City.

Just kidding about City.

Karim Benzema has already risen to the top of the league in goals, the only player to reach three. Without being the best player in any individual week, he has been the league’s overall best player thus far and continue to raise his international profile. With a goal in France’s friendly last week against Sweden, Benzema already has four total goals this season. This week at St. Etienne, he will have his work cut out, though Les Verts have been allowing a goal a match through three.

And in Ligue 1, the sack race is over. Nantes fired Michel der Zakarian earlier this week after the promoted club found themselves at the bottom of the table after three games. Given the timing, Nantes seems to have had to beat Bordeaux, at Bordeaux, last weekend to keep his job. Clearly, getting the club promoted last season was not enough, and I wish whoever replaces him the best of luck. Your goal, apparently, is not staying up. It’s catching Marseille.

WFP Ligue 1 Club Rankings

	Rank	Last Week	Club
	1	1	Marseille A workmanlike win on the road at Le Havre saw them held under four goals for the first time this season. The team has played two Champions Legaue qualifiers during this opening stretch and will be happy to get Sochaux this week and then the international break. Their reward: a tough but winnable Champions League group.
	2	2	Lyon Popped the Grenoble bobble and assumed their place atop the league. They might also want to Marseille return to “form” a bit, as right now it looks like Claude Puel will have a fight in Le Championnat. That fight has been compounded by a tough Champions League group, getting Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, and Fiorentina.
	3	3	Bordeaux Got back to their winning ways this week following a shock loss the week before to PSG. They got, for them, a horrible Champions League draw, a solid third best team behind Chelsea and AS Roma. Good luck with that, Laurent Blanc.
	4	9	Valenciennes This is will be a team that I’m biased towards all year on the back of a preseason prediction, but a strong home result versus Lorient this weekend justifies my faith. For now.
	5	6	Le Mans There were a series of clubs I was down on coming into the season, and Le Mans was one, but their last two weeks - particularly this week’s win over St. Etienne - has opened my eyes. They have no truly bad results on their resume and have won two in a row. They’ve been strong
	6	4	Caen Another club I was unsure about at season’s start. I’m not as high on them as I am Le Mans, and their ranking here reflects a general uncertainty with those below them.
	7	12	Monaco Have drawn two in a row after beating PSG to open the season. They have only three goals in three matches and lack dynamism in their attack.
	8	7	Paris St. Germain A lot of this ranking is based on their win two weeks ago over Bordeaux, the only loss any of the top three have been given. Their result against Sochaux was disappointing, but when penalty kicks are involved, I give extra consideration.
	9	5	Lorient Only Nancy has scored fewer goals than Lorient, but with a win at Le Mans and a draw versus Lyon, they could be ranked higher. Once they find some goals, I’ll move them up.
	10	13	St. Etienne I can’t shake the feeling that this team should be better. They should be scoring more goals, but they were shut out in each of their road appearances: at Valenviennes, at Le Mans. According to these rankings, that’s a bit of a tough schedule, and having taken care of business in their one home fixture, they get ranked in the middle of the table.
	11	8	Grenoble Lyon made it clear they had no business at the top of the table, but it was good while it lasted. They still have a ways to go to be back in a relegation battle, but for a team that was barely promoted, it’s a smashing start.
	12	10	Rennes This team hass been all over the place. They got that miracle draw in Week 1 against Marseille - the only points the leaders have failed to get - and then lost to Grenoble. They beat Lille this weak, but as they have been in the UEFA Cup, their Ligue 1 performances have been all over the place.
	13	11	Toulouse A 0-0 draw at Nancy could prove a strong result come April and May, and for a team that will struggle to stay up, it’s a great point.
	14	14	Le Havre Good on them to hold Marseille to one goal, the first time this year a team has contained them. The team also drew over 16,000 tot he match, a fine turnout.
	15	17	Nice This is the team with the greatest disparity between actual table ranking and WSP rankings. They have two wins, but they are against Nancy and Auxerre. They have allowed Nancy’s only goal. As of now, I don’t see it.
	16	19	Lille A tough loss to Rennes this week as Stade came back with two goals very late, doing their best Liverpool impressive, to take all the points. They are ranked a couple of spots higher here than they sit in the table, but I feel like I might be being generous.
	17	15	Auxerre Auxerre gets ranked behind two teams who have not won a match because their win was two weeks ago and they have looked terrible since. Playing Marseill and Nice might have something to do with that, but with their only win coming against Nantes, there is not telling. They have given up the most goals in the league.
	18	20	Sochaux Got a draw agaist Paris St.-Germain after a very disppointing start to the season, but their only goal came from the penalty spot. Had they not gotten that call, they would be without a point for the season. They did show some life on Saturday, though, and Michel Flaubert was mad to work for PSG’s point. If they can carry that over into next week and find another goal scorer besides Mevlut Erding, they can still turn this around.
	19	18	Nancy One goal in three matches and their best results being draws against Toulouse and Lille gives them nothing attractive for their resume. Until they can show an ability to score goals, it is hard to take them seriously. Replicating last year’s surprise result is a long way away.
	20	16	Nantes Amongst the teams at the bottom the table, they have done the least to recommend themselves. Part of that is uninspired play. Part of that is the schedule. No matter. Three games was too few to just their coach, and it serves them right that Alain Perrin has no interest in this ship.

The second round of the Carling Cup (England’s League Cup competition) almost finished today. One match, Manchester City’s visit to Brighton & Hove Albion, was rescheduled, with City scheduled for their UEFA Cup match in Denmark tomorrow. They will face FC Mitjylland, down 1-0 after the first leg. The Carling Cup match has been rescheduled for September 22.

This second round saw twelve of the twenty Premiership clubs enter the draw. The only ones who get free passes into the third round were those who qualified for European football through something other than Fair Play. Sorry, City.

The twelve match winners will join those eight Premiership clubs in the third round, the draw for which will be held Saturday.  In this round, three Premier League sides bowed out, while the league’s lowest tier, sees Rotherham United survive while Macclesfield Town gave West Ham United a scare.

Here are the results and the level at which each team plays: Continue Reading »

PSV Eindhoven unofficially began the defense of their four consecutive Eredivisie championships by downing Feyenoord for the Dutch Super Cup.  The match-up between the winner of the regular season and the winner of the league cup was scoreless at halftime before PSV found their edge in the second half, eventually winning the match 2-0.

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Yet another rumor surrounding Fluminense attacker Thiago Neves, though there is another suitor mentioned in this one.  This time, it is Manchester City, a team who is still looking for that marquee name after being used by Ronaldinho early this summer.  Neves, who just finished his Olympics commitment to Brazil, would fill that role, even if expectations of him are a bit high at this point.  Atlético Madrid has also been strongly mentioned in some reports, but Neves’s representation is speaking openly about a City move, something that is both a good and a bad sign.

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If you read my EPL preview over at American Soccer Reader, you know I think highly of Middlesbrough’s chances this season. I picked them to finish ninth, and the simulation I wrote saw them as having a outside but meaningful chance at finishing in the top seven. But given a chance to pick Boro when they hosted a team of similar standing (by the prediction) to open the season, I picked the visitor.

That’s because that visitor was Tottenham. Continue Reading »

Hamburger SV have accepted a bid from Manchester City for 22-year-old right back Vincent Kompany.  No personal terms have been agreed to yet, but a move seems likely as Hamburger wants to rid themselves of their formerly prized prospect after a rift has formed over the Olympics.

Hamburg had negotiated a deal with the Belgian football federation that would have their player return from Beijing for last Friday’s Bundesliga start at Bayern Munich.  When Kompany complained about having to leave the Olympics, Hamburg became defensive, publicly noting an agreement had been in place for some time.

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