ADDICTED to the round ball? Read through the daily press, various blogs, forums and still can't get enough football?Well, now there's a new monthly fix, Half-Time Heroes, an online fanzine combining a bit of serious analysis with a bundle of laughs.The bumper first edition is out, a couple of days ahead of the new season, and can be found at the following link;http://issuu.

A POSTSCRIPT to the piece I wrote on The Roar a couple of weeks ago about the importance of quality A-League surfaces, it was great to hear these comments from Lawrie McKinna after training at Bluetongue today;"The field (at Bluetongue) is back to its best, back to where it used to be. They've worked hard to get it back up, and it was fantastic today.

WITH only a week till the start of the new season, two fresh clubs to cast an eye over, a stack of returning Roos, a European at the helm in Sydney, God looking down from up north, Bleiberg and Palmer cranking up the rhetoric, ABC Grandstand finally on board (if only in Melbourne, for now), the Socceroos qualified for South Africa, the World Cup less than a year away, a World Cup bid book to

Long time TRBA readers will know I've long been a fan of fantasy football, and with only a week or so till the start of A-League season five, it's time to get the thinking cap on and join the TRBA A-League Fantasy League via the Foxsports website.Will some of the youngsters who broke-through last season continue to shine, or will a new set of kids come through and capture the imagination?

OF course, a team can't completely be made up of little fellas that are great on the ball, but we need to start encouraging the kids that can make a real difference in the front third, kids like Dimi Petratos. Check out more in my latest Roar post.

ARGUABLY the most intriguing part of the Socceroos selection last Wednesday was to see how Nick Carle would go with a rare start.I thought he started pretty well, touching the ball numerous times in the opening 10 minutes. Australia were on top and it was only natural he would find the ball, even if his use of it wasn't always of the usual crisp standard.

A BIG thanks to the TRBA regulars who have touched base over the past couple of weeks to enquire about why I haven't been writing about all the big football games and news doing the rounds over the past month and half, where we've been witness to such wonderful things as Barcelona's UCL success, the Socceroos WC qualification and the launch of our compelling World Cup bid.

"PATCHED-UP, put out, played well, the fulcrum of much of Newcastle's play".The great Martin Tyler on Viduka being replaced in the 88th minute of this morning's crucial 3-1 win by Newcastle over Middlesbrough, which could just be enough to keep Shearer's men up, and consign Brad Jones' 'Brough and Richard Garcia's Hull to the drop.

Join the debate in my first article on www.theroar.com.au, or add your two bobs worth in relation to the other semi, where Arsenal were never in it, both physically and, more importantly, mentally.

The yellow brick wall; Chelsea came to the Nou Camp, set the stall out in a very defensive 4-5-1, which twin screeners in Obi Mikel and Esssien, and five out and out midfielders. The idea was undoubtedly to stifle all the space across Barcelona's attacking third and get in the face of both Henry and Messi, and it worked an absolute treat.

PROPHETIC work from the former Socceroos gloveman, this time from the comfort of the analyst's chair in Fox's Pyrmont studios. Speaking during the coverage of Saturday night's EPL coverage, and before the Man U v Spurs game, the subject invariably switched to Sir Alex Ferguson's sideline rant in the FA Cup semi final loss to Everton, when the United manager went ballistic when his team wasn't

SOME good signs on the field last season through the likes of Dadi, Rukavystya, Pellegrino, Srhoj and Trinidad, and further signs here that Perth appear headed in the right direction with the release of its new logo. Nice work indeed.Still trying to work out though what happened with the vetting of the Fury's logo.

YOU could hardly watch a more thrilling morning of football action and be left thinking that it only improved the lot of the defending champions. Liverpool's 4 all draw with Arsenal was one of the best games you are likely to see. It was a must win for Liverpool and a sideshow to the main event (the Champions League) for Arsenal, safely in the top four after an wonderful run of late.

...NOW there's a sole focus, the EPL, and I'm loving that.BTW, congratulations to Guus Hiddink for having the balls to leave out the scrapper Jon Obi Mikel in favour of a far more offensive central midfield trio of Essien (outstanding), Lampard and Ballack.It wouldn't have happened under Mourinho.It allowed Chelsea to control the game, kept them on the offensive, made for an eye-catching game,

THE most intriguing part of Pim Verbeek's selection last night was to discover exactly what he would do with our much talked-about front third. All week the speculators had been doing their best to talk the manager into a more offensive formation, much to his growing frustration, one sensed. Given the personnel, or, more to the point, the lack of personnel at his disposal, I was