AC Milan vs Barcelona Preview, Live Streaming Online Champions League 2013

Its not the first time, as both teams are facing each other because they have already got the fixture against each other in UCL. The statistical table shows that the Barca got an edge over AC Milan in last two games. In 2010-2011 UCL season Barcelona won by 3-2 against AC Milan and in 2011-2012 UCL season they met again and in that match Barcelona again got dominance over AC Milan where Barca beat AC Milan in quarter final by 3-1 on aggregate now this time they are meeting again. It is difficult to predict that which team will overcome to other team.

AC Milan team is ready to take down the Barcelona, as AC Milan has to settle the previous revenge. This time AC Milan got a clear concept and that is to win against Barca. Most awaited match is about to began in some hours, Get ready for live action and catch the every single second of this game and fell free to express yourself in below comment box. Stay tuned…

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Falcons must explore contingency plans at tight end

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

While the great Tony Gonzalez is working through his own version of “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” the Falcons must carry on.

General manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith are set to leave for this week’s NFL scouting combine while working on several contingency plans for the tight end position.

Both of them, along with the team’s assistant coaches and scouts, will be on hand for scouting and information sessions with more than 300 of the nation’s top NFL prospects that start Wednesday and run through Tuesday in Indianapolis.

While waiting to hear if Gonzalez, the future Hall of Fame tight end, is going to retire or sign up for another season, they plan to thoroughly scout for tight ends.

Gonzalez, who will turn 37 on Feb. 27, played at a high level last season when he caught 93 passes for 930 yards and was voted to his 13th Pro Bowl. He’s widely considered the greatest tight end of the modern NFL era.

His 1,242 catches over 16 seasons — 12 with Kansas City and the last four with the Falcons — rank second on the all-time receiving list behind Jerry Rice’s 1,549 receptions.

The Falcons have not placed Gonzalez on a timetable, but Dimitroff has stated that he believes there’s a 50-50 chance that Gonzalez will return. During the season, Gonzalez repeatedly stated that he was 95 percent sure that he would retire but left himself some wiggle room. With the Falcons ending up just 10 yards short of making the Super Bowl, he might want to chase a Super Bowl title for one more season.

“Simply stated, the sooner we know the better and yet there are no deadlines on this for Tony,” Dimitroff said. “Tony needs to come to his decision and be at peace with his decision.”

After the NFC Championship loss to San Francisco, Gonzalez was the last player to leave the locker room at the Georgia Dome. Following his end-of-the season meeting with club officials, he met with Smith privately and the coach let him know the team wanted him back.

“We have evolved and have been quite outspoken about our interest in having Tony back,” Dimitroff said. “He’s still a very adept and athletic tight end in our minds and can continue to help us win a lot of games. But again, it’s ultimately up to Tony to make that decision for himself and his family.”

Among Falcons tight ends, Chase Coffman and Michael Palmer finished the season as Gonzalez’ backups. Andrew Szczerba was on the practice squad and Adam Nissley and Tommy Gallarda were on injured reserve. Palmer is a restricted free agent.

If Gonzalez does not return, the team will have to explore free agency which starts on March 12, draft a college tight end in April or they can remain with their current group. That could require Harry Douglas, the team’s third wide receiver, to pick up some the production void that Gonzalez’s retirement would create.

Tennessee tight end Jared Cook, who played at North Gwinnett High and South Carolina, appears to be the best available possible free agent tight end. But Cook could receive the Titans’ franchise tag, which would take him off the market.

Other possible free agent candidates include Martellus Bennett (Giants), Fred Davis (Redskins), Heath Miller (Steelers) and Dustin Keller (Jets).

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. believes there are two elite tight ends in the draft class: Stanford’s Zach Ertz and Notre Dame’s Tyler Eifert. NFL Network’s Mike Mayock believes that San Diego State’s Gavin Escobar fits in next to Ertz and Eifert.

“Those are the two battling to see who the first tight end drafted will be,” Kiper said. “The teams (seeking tight ends) would be the Giants at 19, possibly Pittsburgh at 17, the Bears at 20 and Atlanta at 30. Those could be some of the teams looking at the tight end spot. I have Eifert going to Atlanta at 30.”

There’s some depth at the position after the top two tight ends because of the junior-eligible players who entered the draft.

“Jordan Reed out of Florida and Dion Sims out of Michigan State have made this a very good tight end crop at the top,” Kiper said. “I didn’t even mention a guy like Gavin Escobar out of San Diego State, who is another underclassmen coming out early. (Levine) Toilolo, another guy from Stanford, is coming out early.”

Cincinnati’s Travis Kelce, Rice’s Vance McDonald, Arkansas Chris Gragg, UCLA’s Joseph Fauria and San Jose State’s Ryan Otten are other draftable tight ends, according to Kiper.

“Philip Lutzenkirchen (Lassister High) with the (hip) injury at Auburn, I think is a versatile kid who can help you,” Kiper said. “Jack Doyle is a kid from Western Kentucky who can help you. He has ability. Lucas Reed at New Mexico can catch the football.  There are going to be an awful lot of tight ends looked at, but the junior influence  . . . is the reason why the tight end position is pretty dog gone good.”

While serving as the fourth target in the offense over the past two seasons, Douglas caught 77 passes for 894 yards and two touchdowns. Douglas would likely move into the slot position as the third target if Gonzalez doesn’t return.

Source:

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/football/falcons-must-explore-contingency-plans-tight-end/nWSNn/

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Eagles' Dennis Dixon on starting quarterback

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was dead serious about open competition for the starting quarterback job.

With Dennis Dixon in the fold, it’s now a three-man field with veteran Michael Vick and sophomore Nick Foles the other competitors.

Dixon flourished in Kelly’s system at Oregon. With the NFL Combine cranking up next week, don’t be surprised to hear trade rumors involving Vick or Foles, as the Eagles would be foolish if they didn’t find out what market there would be for each.

 

“From my understanding, the job is open,” Dixon said on a conference call Monday after signing a two-year contract. “So it will be very competitive around here. It’s pretty much open. So may the best man win.”

Dixon, 28, actually has won more games than Foles, the starter down the homestretch in a 4-12 Eagles season that got Andy Reid fired. Reid is with the Kansas City Chiefs … who need a quarterback.

The Eagles need a few good disciples of Kelly to hit the ground running this year. Dixon said Kelly’s style is to practice and play fast.

It should be interesting to see how playing Kelly-fast goes over with Eagles veterans transitioning from the Reid era.

“I think they will welcome it with open arms,” Dixon said. “When something new is presented to the table you’re very curious. I think as far as the Philadelphia Eagles, if everybody buys into what Chip Kelly is selling, the sky is the limit.”

Dixon has been around good organizations.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, a drop due to his comeback from a torn ACL in his left knee.

In 2009, a healthy Dixon was beaten by the Baltimore Ravens in his first start, getting the nod when Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch were injured the previous week. Dixon didn’t throw a touchdown pass and his interception set up the winning points in overtime.

In 2010 Dixon started in the opener for the Steelers, who were without Roethlisberger the first four games due to suspension, as well as an injured Byron Leftwich. Dixon beat the Atlanta Falcons but tore a meniscus in his left knee.

Dixon was out of football in 2011 and joined the practice squad of the Ravens this past season.

Dixon doesn’t believe he will benefit from his knowledge of the Kelly system basically because while he expects the Eagles to play fast, it won’t be the way they did in Eugene.

“I expect something totally different from Chip Kelly of the past five years,” Dixon said. “That was Oregon. Moving forward we might see something totally different.”

Dixon isn’t the first Eagle to note what almost certainly will be a departure by Kelly from the Oregon offense. Other veterans looking at the personnel and the coaching staff with offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, a West Coast-style guy, see a collaborative type of offense.

What Dixon (6-3, 200) sees as the constant is Kelly’s penchant for spreading out the defense with formations and running the football. A mobile quarterback such as Dixon or Vick opens up even more of the field.

“Chip Kelly made it known that he wants to throw the ball and mix up the run and the pass,” Dixon said. “And I wouldn’t expect anything to change.”

He can tailor his offense to whoever is presented at that given time. “When 11 guys are on the same page, it’s great to see. … It’s a very fast pace on both sides. He makes both sides very, very, very competitive when practice comes so when the games come it becomes easy.”

Source:

http://delcotimes.com/articles/2013/02/19/sports/doc51230d92bc6ee972982735.txt?viewmode=fullstory 

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Five Questions For Arsenal Against Bayern

What to do about the left-back issue?
Ever since Kieran Gibbs limped out of Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Liverpool at the end of January, the question of who would play at left-back against Bayern has plagued the nightmares of Gooners everywhere. At that stage, it looked like it would be Andre Santos, but clearly Arsene Wenger decided that no specialist cover at all was better than the hapless Brazilian and packed him off to Gremio. So who will play? The out-of-form and out-of-position Bacary Sagna, or perhaps the out-of-form and out-of-position Thomas Vermaelen? The latter is probably a better option, but he has missed the last couple of league games with an ankle problem.

It sounds like a stupidly obvious point to say Wenger must pick the player he thinks will defend the best, but it's particularly appropriate in this situation given who he'll be playing against. This Bayern team is currently so good that Arjen Robben spends the majority of his time on the bench. That's partly due to the usual injury problems (groin and back issues wrecked the first half of the season), but also to the form of Thomas Mueller, who has scored an impressive 11 goals from 19 starts on the right this season. And then of course there's the problem of the overlapping Philipp Lahm, playing at right-back these days. One fears those nightmares could become reality for Arsenal fans

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How should the midfield be constructed?
This Bayern team is pretty decent. They're 15 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and have only dropped nine points all season. Arsenal dropped nine points in January. But if the team is good, the midfield is ridiculous - the likely starting trio will be Javi Martinez (assuming he shakes off a knock), Bastien Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos, which is basically the perfectly balanced three with defensive cover, box-to-box options and creativity all present and correct.

So will Arsenal need to make special plans to combat this trio? One might think that a more physical presence might be required, but Arsenal aren't exactly overloaded with such talents. Abou Diaby seems to be the obvious option, but the obvious fitness concerns weren't exactly allayed by the man himself last week. "I think I will be good in the last two months of the season," he said. "At the same time, when you come back, it's not easy because you're not fit enough." Diaby last played 90 minutes of a league game in September, suggesting that it would be quite the gamble to chuck him in against Martinez and Schweinsteiger, but it's a gamble that Wenger may well have to take.


Where will Theo Walcott play?
Trying to pick holes in this Bayern side is almost impossible. They have conceded only seven goals all season in the league, scoring 57. It's no wonder Wenger was grumpy in his pre-game press conference on Monday - most attributed it to annoyance with the press and the defeat to Blackburn, but equally he may have just emerged from a meeting with his scouts in which they stared blankly at a piece of paper titled 'Bayern's weaknesses', clacked their tongues then quietly slipped away when the awkward silences got a bit too much.

Despite that fearsome domestic defensive record, there are a couple of things to give Arsenal a little hope. Firstly, they haven't been quite so strong in Europe, conceding seven in their six group games - they even lost once, to BATE Borisov. And secondly, in their final group game Jerome Boateng was sent off, meaning Daniel van Buyten will have to start against Arsenal, and quite apart from him being a little rusty (he's only made five starts this season), he's quite the lumbering old sort. One imagines he would be quite happy dealing with the game but limited Olivier Giroud, but might have a few more problems against Theo Walcott. 

Wenger might decide that the best chance of exploiting Van Buyten's lack of pace is to play Walcott as the central striker he wants to be when he grows up and then simply hope for the best. That might limit Walcott's effectiveness a touch, because he has scored all-but four of his 18 goals this season from the right, but it's worth a shot.


How will Arsenal approach the game?
There are a number of reasons for Bayern's excellent defensive record, the most obvious of course being their excellent defence, enhanced by Manuel Neuer - one of the better goalkeepers in Europe. They also keep the ball better than most - only Barcelona have a better possession percentage in Europe, making scoring against them a rather tricky business. Another reason is that Neuer actually hasn't had a great deal to do - on Friday they conceded their first shot on target in about four hours of football, firstly suggesting that both the defence and midfield do a decent job of preventing too many efforts flying in, but also that their opposition aren't terribly adventurous.

Former Bayern and hairstyle great Paul Breitner said during their recent 4-0 win over Schalke: "They don't even want to score a goal. They are thinking: as long as we only lose 2-0 or 3-0 then that's great. We [Bayern] are not even in third gear and we're already 2-0 up." Could Arsenal's best chance of getting something from this tie be to go on the attack in the home leg? The element of surprise alone could throw Bayern off a little. And let us not forget that Arsenal have a terrific home record in Europe - in recent years they have beaten Barcelona, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Roma at the Emirates, and have only lost three times at home in the last ten years.

However, it doesn't exactly sounds like Wenger will go for broke. He said on Monday: "It is vital to keep a clean sheet. Nil-nil is not a disaster at home, but of course we will try to score goals." On this occasion, containment could be just as risky as aggression.


Where should Jack Wilshere play?
This one is not so much a question, more a suggestion for M. Wenger, for he will of course inevitably read this piece at some point. Wilshere does a fine job next to Mikel Arteta in a slightly more withdrawn midfield role, but the place he can really influence games is slightly further forward. Santi Cazorla usually fill the 'number ten' position, but the best way to balance all of the questions mentioned above could be to move Wilshere there, with Diaby and Arteta providing a reasonably solid midfield base. This would mean shifting Santi Cazorla out wide, but he has played there on a few occasions this season and been just as effective.

So a possible line-up could be Diaby and Arteta in midfield with Wilshere in front of them, and Cazorla and Lukas Podoski on the wings providing service to Walcott up front. It would provide a balance between attack and defence, with Wilshere able to get forward when required then drop back to help out the defence too - it also displays what a fine all-round player Wilshere has become that he is good enough to fill both of those roles. This might be one of those games when Arsenal needs Wilshere at his best - one of those games when he decides to win the thing by himself.

Source:

http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8508632/F365-Focus

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Austin Collie determined to continue NFL career in 2013

A series of four scary concussions already had Austin Collie's NFL career in question before a ruptured right patellar tendon injury ended his 2012 season in late September.

On the heels of the Indianapolis Colts' decision to send Collie to free agency, the oft-injured wide receiver isn't ready to give up hope of making an impact in 2013.

 

"I'm playing. Right now, it would take a doctor to tell me, 'You can't play anymore.'" a determined Collie told the Indianapolis Star. "I feel like this is a gift that I've been given, and personally I feel I should still be doing it. That's just me."

Collie has no hard feelings for the Colts' decision-makers, who informed him of his exit in person. "They showed a lot of class," Collie said. "I told Mr. Irsay thanks for everything, thanks for giving me a shot."

Although Collie may never recapture early 2010 form -- when he averaged over seven receptions and 80 yards per game in six games before thumb surgery -- he's optimistic about his chances of being ready for training camp in late July. "My knee feels better than it has in the last four or five years," Collie insists.

Asked where he might play this season, Collie replied, "I honestly don't know."

It's only natural to suspect Collie might end up reuniting with Peyton Manning in Denver as Brandon Stokley's successor in the slot.

Source:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000139979/article/austin-collie-determined-to-continue-nfl-career-in-2013

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The fact of the Mata is Lamps is a legend

JUAN MATA has added his weight to the Frank Lampard contract debate.

 

Chelsea is ready to let Lampard walk away for free in the summer after refusing to offer the midfielder a new deal.

At 34, the Blues believe they have seen the best of a player who has contributed so much to the club’s success.

But with Lamps just three goals shy of Bobby Tambling’s long-standing record as Chelsea’s top scorer, Mata has revealed his admiration for the England international.

He said: “I understand why the fans want Frank here — the supporters love him.

“He is a great guy, a great captain who is a legend. For me and the team-mates it is an honor to play with him.

“For 10 years he has been scoring more than 10 every season in the Premier League. He is one of the best.”

While Mata is keen to see Lampard stick around, the Spaniard is fully aware of the new generation of stars blazing a trail at Stamford Bridge.

Brazil international Oscar scored Chelsea’s second goal as they defeated Brentford 4-0 to book an FA Cup fifth-round date with Middlesbrough.

And Mata insists there is much more to come from the talented midfielder.

He added: “Oscar is a great player. He is still 21, very young, and already a very, very good player.

“I feel really pleased to play with him. I’m glad because he is a great guy as well.”

While rumors continue to circulate about the future of interim Blues boss Rafa Benitez, Mata claims the players are firmly behind him.

He said: “Rafa is the manager; we are all with him supporting him.

“The manager, staff, supporters and players all want the same thing — to win trophies. We are here to win.”

Source:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4800848/Juan-Mata-wants-Chelsea-legend-Frank-Lampard-to-stay.html

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GM Les Snead Says St. Louis Rams 2013 NFL Draft about ‘Wants’ Not Needs

GM Les Snead Says St. Louis Rams 2013 NFL Draft about ‘Wants’ Not Needs

The 2013 NFL Draft could signal the dawning of a new day for a St. Louis Rams franchise that has been down on its luck for the better part of the past decade. This past season saw the club finish with its best record in that same time period with plenty of young talent leading the way. Instead of focusing in on needs and filling gaping holes in their roster this time around, the Rams may opt to draft some players that they want rather than strictly players that they need.

General Manager Les Snead was quite successful during his first offseason with the team and he has some sound reasoning coming into his encore effort as well. The GM said: “Sometimes when you ‘need’ something, you become desperate. When you’re desperate, you can make bad decisions.”

There in lies the problem that plenty of rebuilding franchises fail to understand. Just because a team has a glaring deficiency doesn’t mean it must be address right away or with reckless abandon. Last year the team had plenty of holes to fill so it was much easier to add players and plug them in anywhere because there weren’t much strength on the roster. Now that the rebuild has a year under its belt, there won’t be as much roster turnover and there are fewer pressing areas of need for the team.

One area where they want and need category could overlap however is at the safety position where the Rams are quite thin. Snead is happy that the draft doesn’t have the same problem as he said: “It seems like every year, the quote is: ‘It’s not a deep draft.’ I take the opposite approach. I’ve never seen a thin draft. This is your chance to go improve your football team. You take the glass half full. This year, you could find a larger group of safeties come in and be starters (out of the draft). So it’s got ebbs and flows.”

Along with the need at safety, the Rams certainly have some concerns at wide receiver and tight end, all along the offensive line, and outside linebacker. Snead talked about his mentality when it comes to addressing those areas saying: “You’re almost like, ‘If we really want that (position filled), we’re gonna have to either get him in free agency or it’s gonna run dry after the second round (of the draft).’”

Snead has already shown that he is more than capable of finding starters beyond the glamor rounds of the draft including wide receiver Chris Givens last year who was a 4th round selection. Also kicker Greg Zuerlein and punter Johnny Hekker were tremendous additions to the team and came in the 6th round and undrafted respectively.

There’s no doubt the Rams are taking the proper mentality into this year’s draft. There will be no reaching, no desperation, and that will lead to more sound decision making in the end. The strategy of drafting for want over need certainly paid off in 2012 so let’s hope the results continue in 2013.

 Source:

http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2013/02/17/gm-les-snead-says-st-louis-rams-2013-nfl-draft-about-wants-not-needs/

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