Mitglieder-Steckbriefe » assists and the game-winning steal agai

LONDON -- Lukas Podolski scored a brace in the first half on Friday to help give Arsenal a routine 4-0 victory over third-tier Coventry in the fourth round of the FA Cup. In a game that Arsenal dominated from the start, Podolski put the hosts ahead in the 15th minute by slotting home a cool finish after being set up by Mesut Ozil. He then doubled the lead with a close-range header from a corner in the 27th. The win was never in doubt after that and Arsenal added two late goals as substitute Olivier Giroud struck in the 85th after replacing Podolski five minutes earlier, before Santi Cazorla slotted in the fourth. In Fridays only other FA Cup game, Nottingham Forest was held to a 0-0 draw at home against Preston. Playing in a steady drizzle in north London, it was the kind of comfortable victory Arsenal had hoped for as it looks ahead to facing Bayern Munich in the Champions League knockout round, while trying to protect its slim lead atop the Premier League. Despite playing at home against third-tier opposition, manager Arsene Wenger named a surprisingly strong starting lineup with both Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere in midfield -- perhaps worried about another upset after going out to Blackburn last season. And with Wenger contemplating buying a striker in the January transfer window, Podolski showed off his scoring touch by deciding the game in the first half. Podolski was first sent clear by Ozil on the left side of the area and calmly rounded goalkeeper Joe Murphy before slotting a left-footed shot into an empty net. The second came from a corner that Per Mertesacker met at the near post and headed on across the goal, with Podolski waiting at the far post to nod it into the net. "Podolski can score goals and when you have a goal chance you want him to have it," Wenger said. "He is very accurate in his finishing." Coventry was more enterprising after the break, enjoying several spells of pressure, but Leon Clarke wasted the teams two best chances for a goal. Clarke raced clear down the right flank in the 50th but got too close to the byline before firing a low shot from a tight angle that Fabianski parried. He then hit the right post with a first time effort from just inside the area as Arsenal seemed content to sit back and protect its lead. "I know it was 4-0 but when you consider the difference in resources of both clubs, I know its a hard luck story, but my players should take so much confidence from that performance," Coventry manager Steven Pressley said. Giroud took his only chance in front of goal by slotting in a finish inside the near post and Cazorla continued his scoring streak from a similar position for his third goal in two games. Arsenals talented 16-year-old midfielder Gedion Zelalem had also come on as a substitute, as Wenger for the first time gave a debut to a player who was born after the Frenchman became manager of the team. "That is more damaging for me than for him," Wenger joked. Zelalem has been touted as perhaps the clubs biggest talent since Cesc Fabregas and was given a rousing reception when he came on. Coventry is a former Premier League club and the 1987 FA Cup winner but has struggled both on and off the field in recent years. The team is 11th in League One this season and has been forced to play all of its home games at Northampton because of a rent dispute with the owners of Ricoh Arena. The contingent of about 6,000 Coventry fans protested the situation during the game, holding up signs in the 35th and 61st minute. Arsenal had its own stadium problems, with some of the floodlights at the Emirates going out just before halftime. The game continued without interruption, with hundreds of fans making fun of the situation by lighting up their mobile phones in the stands in mock efforts to illuminate the pitch. It was about the only thing that went wrong for Arsenal on the night. Matt Niskanen Jersey .J. - Pete Carroll is in support of the NFL looking further into whether medicinal marijuana could beneficial for players. Dustin Byfuglien Team USA Hockey Jersey .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. http://www.hockeyauthenticusaonline.us/R...h-Jersey/."; Bach is in Rome for the European Olympic Committees general assembly and meetings with Pope Francis. He also visited with Italian Premier Enrico Letta. "The prime minister appeared to be interested in a bid from Italy for 24, because he has realized that the games can serve as a catalyst for development for a city and a country," Bach told The Associated Press on Saturday. Custom Team USA Hockey Jersey . -- Gary Harris gave No. Dustin Byfuglien Jersey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to complete a sweep of the Washington Capitals when the clubs cap a quick home-and-home series Tuesday night in the Steel City.TORONTO - When the Raptors rolled into Detroit last month, the Pistons had hit rock bottom, a feeling Dwane Casey and most of his team are familiar with. Raptors fans had come down by the busload, packing the Palace and overpowering the home crowd on a night in which the Pistons would go on to drop their 12th straight in Auburn Hills. James Johnson dazzled Torontos traveling entourage with a vicious dunk on Andre Drummond, topped only by his post-game summation of the jam: I cocked that joint back and banged on him. As a miniture malice broke out following Drummonds cheap shot on Johnson, Josh Smith got into a verbal altercation with a spectator in Raptor colours, his swan song as a Piston. His former club has gone 9-1 since letting him go. They remind me a lot of us from last year after the [Rudy Gay] trade, Casey said ahead of Mondays rematch, a 114-111 loss to Detroit. Theyre clicking on all cylinders both on offence and defence. The Pistons are the NBAs feel-good team of the New Year and no one can quite put their finger on the exact science behind it, although weve seen it before. There are some obvious similarities between these two abrupt turnarounds - last seasons Raptors and this years edition of the Pistons - both of them brought on by the removal of a high-usage player. Addition by subtraction. The basics are relatively straight forward. Without Smith, Stan Van Gundy has had 32 minutes and 14 shots to redistribute nightly, doing so in a way that better suits his desired style of play. Much of Torontos leftover shots, following the Gay trade, went to Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross. The Pistons - like Van Gundys old Magic teams - are shooting a ton of threes, theyre playing harder on defence and getting unusually consistent production from Brandon Jennings, Mondays hero. But theres more to it than that, evident in the way the visiting Pistons clawed their way back in the second half after the Raptors had roughed them up during the first 24 minutes. The Pistons resurgence, primarily on the defensive end, is difficult to explain. They entered Mondays contest allowing 95.7 points per 100 possessions since waiving Smith, which would rank at the top of the NBA this season. Casey attributes it to something he would know a thing or two about: chemistry. You see something that kind of jolts your system like that, he said. You waive a player that [has] the status of Josh Smith, it kind of jolts your system. And [Van Gundys] been a good coach. Hes proven that what he does works and now theyre buying in and its clicking. I dont know if theres a magic wand. You cant really put your finger on it but sometimes things like that just come together. They play harder, said Patrick Patterson, after the Pistons outscored Toronto 66-51 in the final two quarters to seal their come from behind victory. A lot more intensity, a lot more ball movement. Everyones more active and sharing. There seems to be a lot more trust out there. Its certainly not unprecedented. Often times after a losing team undergoes any major shakeup youll see an immediate spike in produuction.dddddddddddd. For players and coaches that feel they might be next it could serve as a wake-up call, for others its a moment of bonding, a cause to come together and defy the odds. The question always is: can they sustain it? More often than not, they dont. Eventually the adrenaline wears off and ordinary players, playing over their heads, crash back down to earth. Even with their improved defence failing them - Toronto shot 52 per cent, scoring 111 points Monday - the Pistons found a way to grind it out, a quality the Raptors had perfected back in 2014. Shooting just 43 per cent from the field themselves, Detroit grabbed 17 offensive boards, got to the line 31 times (compared to just 14 attempts for Toronto) and scored 22 points off 19 Raptors turnovers. We shot ourselves in the foot, Casey said after the Raptors squandered a 12-point halftime lead and career night from Jonas Valanciunas. If you commit that many turnovers against a good team like that, you shoot yourself in the foot and thats what we did. Thats all on us. Are these Pistons for real? Is this sustainable? Thats the million dollar quandary and something no one, even Van Gundy - the teams engineer - can know for sure. Masai Ujiri and the Raptors had no idea what they had created after shipping Gay off to Sacramento in early December last season. Even as the team started to win, as Lowry broke out and DeRozan became an all-star, it took a leap of fate to keep that group together long enough to prove they could sustain their unexpected success. But, until recently, they have. The Pistons find themselves in a similar situation. Jennings looked like a star on Monday, outplaying Lowry, who had an off night. The former Bucks point guard has been the biggest beneficiary of Smiths departure, scoring 34 points to go along with 10 assists and the game-winning steal against the Raptors. Has he turned a corner under Van Gundy, like Lowry did a year ago, or is this another mirage in what has been an erratic NBA career to this point? He made some tough shots, Casey said of Jennings. We double-teamed him, we put James [Johnson] on him, we put size on him, we went under the pick and rolls, we did a little bit of everything. Youve got to shake his hand, he had a great night. Like the Raptors a year ago, Detroit has an opportunity to take advantage of a weak Eastern Conference. After Mondays win they sit just two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Do they continue to rebuild, add to their roster in the hopes of making a postseason run, or take a page out of Ujiris book and let this ride? Continue to win, I think it the most important thing, Casey said. I think the things theyre doing defensively [are] sustainable. Theyre shooting the lights out, I dont know if thats sustainable for anytime, whether its Detroit or whoever it is. Thats something that can come and go. But defensively theyre locked in, theyre tuned, theyre down, theyre talking, theyre a totally different team right now than they were when we played them [in December] defensively. And thats sustainable. 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