Page 2 - Monthly Archives: September 2015

Are VfL Wolfsburg headed toward another solid season in the German Bundesliga? It certainly seems that way as Wolfsburg has strong start to 2015 - 2016 Bundesliga, following the first five weeks of competitive play. The Wolves are one of only three undefeated clubs left on the 18-team table, and while they aren't quite keeping pace with the league leaders, they are still maintaining dark horse contender status thus far.

Wolfsburg's Recent Bundesliga History

Wolfsburg have only won the Bundesliga title once ever, in 2008 2009. However, the football club's lack of trophies in the league doesn't have much to do with poor performance. Instead, it's a byproduct of the dominance that Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have enjoyed in German football over the past decade and a half.

The Chelsea football club enjoyed a reprieve of sorts last week, winning their first match in the 2015 2016 UEFA Champions League and snagging a Premier League victory against Arsenal. However, after what has been a truly disastrous start to the 2015 2016 season at Stamford Bridge, those two wins alone aren't going to turn things around for the Blues. Indeed, with Chelsea stranded back at 15^th place in the EPL, some soccer analysts are even wondering if Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho, is still the right man for the job.

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Mourinho's Track Record

Mourinho has been managing Chelsea since the 2013 2014 season and has a history with the football club that dates back even longer. This stint is the Portuguese manager's second at Stamford Bridge: he previously coached the

With the football season well underway AFC Ajax lead the 2015 - 2016 Eredivisie, but can they stay there? A year ago, AFC Ajax were in pursuit of something that is hitherto unprecedented in the Dutch Eredivisie. Specifically, the Lancers were gunning for a fifth consecutive league title. In the history of Dutch football, several football clubs have won four championship titles in a row. HVV tallied four around the turn of the 20th century, while PSV Eindhoven did it twice-first in the late 1980s, and then again in the mid-2000s. In all three cases, the winning streaks broke in the fifth season, and the same prove true for the Lancers as they aimed for their five-titles-in-a-row run.

The team that shattered the impressive soccer streak for AFC Ajax was PSV Eindhoven, and they did so decisively. Indeed, in the

Well, this is certainly an unexpected turn of events. A month and four matches into the 2015 2016 Italian Serie A, reigning league champions Juventus FC are nowhere to be found in the top 10, and Inter Milan are in the lead. Juve, of course, have won the past four Serie A titles. They are coming off a great season where they clinched the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italia and reached the finals in the UEFA Champions League. Internazionale, meanwhile, came in eighth place last season and have experienced a real rough path over the past few years. Everything, after month one of 2015 - 2016 Serie A appears to be upside down.

The Downfall of Juventus

It was pretty clear Juventus were headed toward trouble this summer when three of their best players-Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal, and Andrea Pirlo-all transferred to different football clubs. The Zebras still held on to a few of their biggest names (Gianluigi Buffon, Paul Pogba,

It's been a surprisingly subdued first month of La Liga 2015 - 2016 competition. Reigning champs FC Barcelona are back in the lead and have won all four of their games so far, but aren't quite firing on all cylinders just yet. In fact, Barca have only scored eight goals in their four matches-less than the teams in second (Real Madrid), third (Villarreal), and fourth place (Celta de Vigo). Real Madrid's Vikings, meanwhile, have been on blast offensively but are lagging behind Barcelona thanks to a scoreless season opener against Sporting Gijon.

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Barcelona's Slow Start

To say that Barca have had a "slow start" in the 2015 2016 La Liga may be a bit of an exaggeration. After all, they've obviously done enough to put themselves back in the frontrunner position for this

Last weekend's Chelsea V Arsenal 2015 fixture was expected to be one of the highlights of the EPL season. Before we review the game let's rewind a bit. A week ago, following the Chelsea football club's 1-3 loss against Everton, club manager Jose Mourinho noted that his team was suffering from a severe spot of bad luck. He had a point: other than an August 23^rd victory against West Bromwich Albion, the Blues hadn't won a Premier League match all year. Worse, their winless streak reached all the way back to the end of July, suggesting that the reigning English title holders may have just lost their mojo over the summer months.

Then, something weird happened: Chelsea's luck turned.

Indeed, Mourinho's comment

Both Atletico Madrid and Benfica disappointed at last year's UEFA Champions League. Atletico, fresh off a runner-up finish in 2013 2014, bowed out of the tournament in the quarterfinals, losing to the same team that had beaten them to the title the year before. Benfica, meanwhile, finished at the bottom of their group, only managing two goals and one win out of their six matches. In light of those disappointing outcomes, fans of both football clubs had plenty to be happy about on Tuesday, September 15^th. That day marked the start of the Champions League 2015 - 2016 Group C, and both Atletico Madrid and Benfica had strong starts.

Year-to-Date Improvements

Last fall, both teams kicked off the UCL on the completely wrong foot. Atletico Madrid lost 3-2 in an away
match against Greece's Olympiacos-easily one of the most surprising events of the competition. The Mattress Makers would go undefeated for the rest of

Traditionally, Poland's Legia Warsaw have not been high-profile contenders in Europe's club football tournaments. While the team reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League in 1970 (and the quarterfinals of the UCL in both 1971 and 1996), they never won a title in the tournament. Their history at the Europa League, while more consistent, is even less noteworthy. While Legia Warsaw have been a near-constant presence in the early qualifying rounds of the UEL, they've only made it past the group stage twice before. What should we expect from Legia Warsaw in the Europa League 2015 2016? Only time will tell.

Legia Warsaw's Europa League History

The good news for football fans in the Legia Warsaw home jersey 2015 2016 is that the Legionnaires have enjoyed their best Europa League performances in just the past few years.

Indeed, the first time the Polish football club made it beyond the groups was in 2011 2012.

For several weeks now, one of the big questions of the 2015 2016 UEFA Champions League has concerned Manchester United. Specifically, football fans throughout Europe have been wondering how the Red Devils might do in this year's prestigious European soccer tournament. On one hand, Man United are playing well in this year's English Premier League so far, after making several intriguing signings over the summer. On the other hand, the Red Devils haven't competed at the UCL level in two years and only managed a spot in this year's tournament thanks to a dynamite playoff performance. So the question is, will Manchester United make a triumphant return in the Champions League 2015 - 2016 Group B? Or will we see the football team bow out of the competition after the group stage?

There were teams that suffered bigger losses, point-wise, but of all of the football clubs involved in this year's UEFA Champions League, Manchester United might have had the worst start. Playing in Group B alongside PSV Eindhoven, VfL Wolfsburg, and CSKA Moscow, Man United suffered a 1-2 loss to PSV in their first game of the 2015 2016 tournament. Worse, Manchester's promising young left-back had to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher with a double leg fracture. We take a look at the Luke Shaw injury, how bad is it, did the tackle deserve a sending off, and what are Luke's prospects for recovery?

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The Injury

Shaw's potentially season-ending injury came 15 minutes into Manchester's September 15^th fixture