In the UK, and very possibly elsewhere in the world, there is a saying that goes, 'a week is a long time in politics'. Well in football it's a lifetime. In fact five minutes can change your entire world. After all it only takes a second to score a goal.At Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth this weekend, beleaguered manager Tony Adams must have thought he had saved his skin when with only five minutes left his Pompey team were leading Liverpool 2-1. How wrong any premature feelings of relief proved to be when Liverpoool's Dirk Kuyt was picked out by Fernando Torres, before creating half a yard and shot wide of David James in the Portsmouth goal to make it 2-2. As if that wasn't painful enough, Liverpool grabbed a winner with seconds remaining when Yossi Benayoun's cross was put away by Torres to win the match. Tony Adams has no doubt seen it all before in his long and impressive playing career with Arsenal, England, and his management career to date. Back at his first managerial role at Wycombe Wanderers, he only won 12 out of 53 games, losing 20 before leaving the club. Since succeeding Harry Redknapp, never an easy thing to do, he won only two out of his 16 in charge at Portsmouth. In fact this defeat was the seventh out of the last eight games. In that time last season's FA Cup winners have been knocked out of the same cup, and slipped to just one point above the relegation slot. Something had to give and today the club announced that Tony had been sacked. That last five minutes could have been so different. Football can be so very cruel. This set of circumstances proved once and for all that 'if' is indeed the biggest word in any sporting dictionary. There seems to be two candidates for the Portsmouth hot seat. Firstly there is the favourite ex-West Ham United manager Alan Curbishley. Also in the running is ex-Chelsea boss Avram Grant, and some newspapers are mentioning ex-SS Lazio, England, and Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson. Meanwhile Paul Hart takes temporary charge of the team.Elsewhere in the Premiership Manchester United won 1-0 again, this time at West Ham United to stay top, two points ahead of Liverpool. Their goal came from a glorious effort by the evergreen Ryan Giggs. Picked out by another United legend, Paul Scholes, who drilled a long pass out to the left touchline where Giggs was lurking, the winger cut inside, skipped past two challenges, and threaded his shot into the West Ham net. It was enough to give United their seventh consecutive win and keep yet another clean sheet in the process. In fact they haven't conceded a goal since November 8th. For the record Ryan Giggs has now played nearly 800 club games in all competitions, scoring nearly 150 goals in the process. The big north London derby, Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal, ended in a surprising 0-0 draw. I say that having seen this fixture produce many exciting goal-laden encounters over the years. It also ended in a draw earlier in the season but on that occasion it was a thrilling 4-4. This time the game was dominated by the first appearance by striker Robbie Keane since his return to Spurs from his brief spell at Liverpool, the potential debut of Arsenal's big signing from Zenit St. Petersburg Andrey Arshavin, and two refereeing decisions that changed the course of the match. Firstly Arsenal had a goal disallowed when Emmanuel Eboue was judged to have fouled Spurs defender Jonathon Woodgate. Then the same player received two yellow cards and was sent off leaving the visitors down to ten men. Despite this, Spurs, who included expensive signing Wilson Palacious, who cost a reported £14 million from Wigan Athletic, could not break Arsenal down and it ended 0-0. The home team must have been pleased with the form of Croatian Luka Modric who was impressive throughout. Arsenal have now gone 11 games without defeat but have failed to make significant progress on the leaders having drawn seven of them. They are still without influential midfielder Cesc Fabregas and England forward Theo Walcott but remain in 5th a massive 12 points behind Manchester United, and five behind 4th placed Chelsea.Aston Villa continued their impressive run by winning a potentially difficult match at improving Blackburn Rovers. England pair James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the goals in a 2-0 win. It was Villa's seventh consecutive away win, a club record, and takes them into 3rd, two points ahead of Chelsea, and five behind the leaders.Chelsea meanwhile were held to a 0-0 home draw by Hull City, a result that takes the newly promoted side to 12th. Manchester City had to rely on new signing Craig Bellamy's first goal for the club in a 1-0 win over lowly Middlesbrough. Everton destroyed Bolton Wanderers 3-0, a win that saw on-loan (from Manchester City) striker Jo score twice on his debut.Wigan Athletic and Fulham fought out a dull 0-0 draw. Sunderland beat Stoke City 2-0 with two late goals, and West Bromwich Albion lost 2-3 at home to Newcastle United despite two goals from Fortune. Ex-Glasgow Rangers winger Peter Lovenkrands was on the score sheet for Newcastle, whose win must have cheered up manager Joe Kinnear who was admitted to hospital the day before with high blood pressure.Who would be a Premier League manager?ScotlandIt was cup weekend north of the border. Celtic made extremely hard work of beating amateur side Queens Park at Parkhead 2-1. Meanwhile Rangers' match at lowly Forfar Athletic was called off due to the weather. Falkirk won 1-0 at Hearts, Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Kilmarnock 2-0, and Hamilton Academicals knocked out Dundee United 2-1. Motherwell also went through beating St. Mirren 1-0.BelgiumStandard Liege stay top having won 2-0 at newly promoted KV Kortrijk. 2nd placed Anderlecht eventually beat relegation threatened RAEC Mons in Brussels 3-2. KV Mechelen were easy winners at struggling Tubize by 5-1, and Cercle Brugge drew 2-2 in an exciting match at home to Charleroi. Meanwhile their neighbours Club Brugge were winning 3-0 at FC Dender to stay 3rd. At the bottom KSV Roeselare drew 2-2 at home with Germinal Beerschot Antwerp who continue to climb out of trouble. Racing Genk lost ground on the league leaders losing 1-2 at home to Zulte-Waregem.Standard are top on 46, Anderlecht 2nd on 44 but have a game in hand, and Club Brugge are 3rd on 40. At the bottom Roeselare stay last on 14, two points behind Mons. Dender and Tubize both have 18. Two go down.FranceChampions Lyon returned to form winning 3-1 at Nice with two goals from ex-Lille midfielder Jean II Makoun, and another from Benzema. 2nd place Bordeaux lost ground by losing to a last minute goal at Marseille. They also had Diawara sent off to complete a miserable match. They remain 2nd but are now four points adrift of Lyon. Elsewhere, Paris St Germain continued their good form winning 4-1 at Nantes to stay 3rd level with Bordeaux. Toulouse are now 5th following their 2-0 home win over Le Mans. St. Etienne won a hard fought and valuable victory over Caen by 3-2. Lorient and Monaco drew 1-1, and Nancy lost 0-2 at home to Auxerre. Lille beat strugglers Sochaux 3-2 in Lille but the surprise of the day came at bottom team Le Havre who beat high flying Stade Rennais 1-0 through a last minute goal from Alassane. At the bottom Le Havre have 15, five points behind Valenciennes, who drew 0-0 at Grenoble and have a game in hand, and Sochaux. St Etienne now have 24 the same as both Auxerre and Caen. Three go down.GermanyTable topping TSG Hoffenheim just did enough to stay in first place drawing 1-1 at bottom side Borussia Monchengladbach. Bayern Munich stay 2nd after beating Borussia Dortmund 3-1 despite going a goal down inside a minute. Ze Roberto amd Kose grabbed the Bayern goals. Energie Cottbus beat Hannover 96 by 3-1, and Bayer Leverkusen were soundly beaten 4-2 at home by Stuttgart. Meanwhile Eintracht Frankfurt and Cologne shared four goals and the points in an exciting draw. Wolfsburg beat struggling Vfl Bochum 2-0 and Karlsruhe beat Hamburg 3-2 in a potentially vital win.Hoffenheim stay top on 39, a point ahead of Bayern Munich, 3rd are Hertha Berlin who drew 1-1 at Arminia Bielefeld on 37, and are followed by SV Hamburg on 36. At the bottom Borussia Monchegladbach, who only regained their top flight status last year, are set for another relegation battle and are bottom on 12. Bochum have 14, and Cottbus and Karlsruhe both have 16.HollandAjax were soundly beaten 4-1 at Vitesse Arnhem for whom the wonderfully named Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club. It piles yet more pressure on manager Marco Van Basten who despite being an Ajax legend looks increasingly under fire. Meanwhile his position is not helped by the leaders AZ Alkmaar who remain invincible beating Willem II by 3-1. Elsewhere Twente Enschede moved to 2nd above Ajax by drawing 2-2 at second bottom side De Graafschap. Heereneveen beat NAC Breda 3-1, Sparta Rotterdam won 1-0 at Roda JC, Heracles and NEC Nijmegen drew 1-1, and Utrecht beat UDO Den Haag 3-1 despite the away taking the lead. In the weekends biggest scoring match PSV Eindhoven won 5-3 at bottom of the table FC Volendam. At the top AZ have 56 and are 11 points clear of Twente on 45. Ajax slip to 3rd on 42 a point ahead of PSV Eindhoven. At the bottom Volendam are stuck on 15, two behind De Graafschap. Roda have 18 and Den Haag one more.ItalyChampions Internazionale recovered some of the spluttering form of late by winning 3-0 at lowly Lecce. Their goalscorers were Ibrahimovic, Luis Figo, and Stankovic. It leaves them seven points ahead of 2nd place Juventus. Juve, who had lost their previous two games, won 2-1 at Catania with a last minute Poulsen goal. Fiorentina go 3rd having beaten Lazio 1-0. Star studded AC Milan were surprisingly held at home by bottom side Reggina 1-1. Milan's equaliser coming through a penalty from Kaka. Udinese and Bologna drew 1-1, Palermo beat Napoli 2-1, Roma won 3-0 at home to Genoa, and Sampdoria and Siena drew two each. At the bottom Torino and Chievo played out a tense 1-1 draw in Turin. At the top it's Inter on 53, Juventus on 46, one ahead of AC Milan, 4th are Fiorentina on 41.At the bottom Reggina have 16 despite their heroics in Milan, Chievo and Torino both have 19, and Lecce are on 22.PortugalThe big match of the day was in Porto where Benfica were the visitors. The game ended in a 1-1 draw which leaves things as they were at the top. Porto are top on 35 with Benfica 2nd but only a point behind. Sporting Lisbon lost some ground but remain 3rd despite losing 2-3 at home to Braga. 4th placed Leixoes beat Trofense 2-0. At the bottom Rio Ave beat Academia 1-0, and Vitoria Setubal gained a valuable point in a 0-0 draw at Amadora.All three at the bottom, Vitoria Setubal, Trofense, and Rio Ave are on 13 points.SpainBarcelona are proving untouchable and won again this time at home to Sporting Gijon 3-1 with two goals from Eto'o. Real Madrid stay in 2nd, twelve points behind Barca, having won 1-0 at home to Racing Santander. Sevilla stay 3rd despite losing the local derby at home to Real Betis 1-2. Villareal beat Numancia 2-1, and Valladolid beat Athletic Bilboa 2-1. Atletico Madrid won impressively at Recreativo Huelva 3-0. At the bottom Espanyol gained a point at Getafe in a 1-1 draw, and Mallorca also drew 1-1 with Deportivo La Coruna.Barca of course are top on 59, Real Madrid 2nd on 47, nine points ahead of 3rd place Sevilla.Mallorca and Espanyol prop the division up each on 18, two behind Numancia and Osasuna who are both on 20.SwitzerlandSwiss football returned following their winter break. Top team FC Zurich have 43 points and are five ahead of Basle who have 38. Zurich drew 2-2 in the local match at Grasshoppers. At the bottom Lucerne gained a point in a 3-3 draw at Neuchatel Xamas but stay three points behind FC Vaduz.SummaryAs we have seen five minutes can make or break a managers career. As the season heats up there is still a long, long way to go, and anything can happen. Manchester United look odds on favourites to win the Premier League in England but watch out for the ever more impressive Aston Villa. They may not have enough to take the title this year but I for one wouldn't bet against a Martin O'Neill side. In Scotland the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers will take it to the wire. Only in Holland where AZ seem to be unbeatable and in Spain where Barcelona are romping ahead do things look anywhere near to being sorted. Then again poor Tony Adams must have thought just that, winning 2-1 at home with just a few minutes left. Instead he is the latest managerial casualty. Thought For The WeekEx-England manager Terry Venables once remarked, 'If history is going to repeat itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again'. So who's next for the chop on the manager merry go round?
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Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
Aston Villa are showing no signs of wobbling but I wouldn't put money on them for the title, at least not this year. Still, it's looking likely that they'll crash the Big Four party, which is always a welcome happening!
Arsenal look like they might miss out on the Champions' League next season (unless they win it this!), although they should remain hopeful of catching Chelsea. It remains to be seen if Hiddink (assuming Abramovich gets his man) can turn things around at Stagnant Bridge.
Next manager for the chop? Hiddink in three games' time if he hasn't won :-) or Gareth Southgate at 'Boro, who are circling the bowl rather picturesquely of late.