Predictortron ii first week test scores:

Man Utd v Liverpool: predicted 1-0 or 2-1 actual 2-1
Blackburn v QPR: 1-2 actual 3-2
Bolton v Wigan: 1-0 or 2-1 actual 1-2
Everton v Chelsea: 1-1 actual 2-0
Fulham v Stoke: 1-1 or 2-1 actual 2-1
Sunderland v Arsenal: 1-1 (1-2 next) actual 1-2
Swansea v Norwich: 2-1 or 0-0 actual 2-3
Spurs v Newcastle: 1-1 actual 5-0

What do we think then?

You have all been thrilled by the CCN predictortrons (I know this because of the stunned silence whenever I bring the subject up).

Now I'm aiming for the stars and adapting the tools for individual games!

The added advantage of this is that I'll be able to simulate games between any teams in English football history by the time I'm done.

Crazy stat alert: we out-passed Manchester City on Saturday.

No, I'm not grasping at straws. And yes, one can easily nuance that point away (weather stunk so the passes were short and 'easy', we were chasing the game, City was more than willing to play 10 men behind the ball), but still, the stat remains: we out-passed City, the team that almost attempted 1000 passes in a game.

Arsenal have now gone four League games without a win, but that run could pale into insignificance if the Gunners don't start improving very quickly. Arsenal may have an "easy" home game this weekend against Blackburn, but if the DON'T win it may be hard to forecast where the next win will come from as [.

Rich made a comment in my previous post that got me thinking, "just how hard was our first half?"

Well, unfortunately, soccer is a bit behind on the sabermetrics such as SOS and RPI and Power Rankings or other crazy mathematic formulas/systems that determine, well, everything.

What we can figure out is our points haul from one half of the season to the other.

Here we go again. Last day of the transfer window and we're all waiting for at least a striker after offloading Vokes as a loan and sold Keogh. Surely 3M must bring in at least one striker, and hopefully one with som class and skills?! Well, that's very important of course, but of more immediate [...

It only took eight years for the Revolution to get Jeremiah White into preseason camp.

White, who spurned MLS for Europe shortly after he became New England's third round pick 2004, was long gone by the time the team opened camp that year. And even after his contract with Polish side GKS Belchatow expired in 2010, it appeared that the opportunity to don the paint-brushed stars and stripes had long since passed.

Everybody knows by now that its like riding on a roller-coaster to be a fan of Wolves, but this game gave me a ride I'll never forget. I was totally exhausted afterwards and it felt like I'd been out there with the lads for 90 minutes. Already against Spurs there were two players that took [...]

A blogger friend of mine reports unrest among the Wolves fans and some of my friends are past the boiling point aswell. I suppose that it's not totally fair though if they measure the strength of Wolves from a couple of cup-games with our second tier, but those games didn't leave much to rejoice about [.

Note: This post comes with a Geek Alert!
Television has had a profound influence on football: the players, agents, business models of clubs, the relationship between league play and international football - you name it. And few television programs are more loved by fans than highlight shows like the BBC's Match of the Day, which has been on the air with interruptions) since 1964.

Swansea 3 (Sinclair pen 16, Dyer 57, Graham 70) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 5, Walcott 69)
(Premiership)

Two weeks ago, the Arsenal fanbase was pretty content. A win over QPR had lifted us back amongst the top four at the turn of the year, a remarkable turnaround given the position we were in after seven games.

I exaggerate to make a point, of course, but the game yesterday seemed to sum up 'bad Fulham' under Martin Jol. When we get it right, we're excellent. When we don't we're extremely frustrating. This is shown in the second diagram, illustrating our habit of trying to walk the ball through massed defences (who have funneled us accordingly, knowing that we can't hurt them wide).

Before we played Tottenham last we were unbeaten after two wins and one draw in the league and there were high hopes for a very good season in and around Wolverhampton. Not only for the points, but because we played well and looked sharp. After that game the journey down began. For the Tottenham faithful [.

Tyler Polak could fill the Revs need at left back. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead / MLSsoccer.com)

With the 2012 MLS SuperDraft now in the books, the writers at New England Soccer Today handed out their grades for the New England Revolution's 2012 draft performance. The Revs selected UCLA midfielder Kelyn Rowe with the third overall pick and Creighton defender Tyler Polak with the 22nd overall pick.

Interesting comments from Martin Jol regarding his use of Clint Dempsey (see Hammyend.com for more).

Essentially he's saying that Dempsey is operating as more of a classic 10, now.

This is interesting. From our unusually lofted positions high in Johnny Haynes, Toby and I spent a bit of time on Saturday wondering where everyone was supposed to be playing.

Interesting comments from Martin Jol regarding his use of Clint Dempsey (see Hammyend.com for more).

Essentially he's saying that Dempsey is operating as more of a classic 10, now.

This is interesting. From our unusually lofted positions high in Johnny Haynes, Toby and I spent a bit of time on Saturday wondering where everyone was supposed to be playing.

Alright, not really, BUT we went from this post, in which it was noted that our goalkeeper gave the ball away 21 times out of 24 kicks in the second half against Norwich, facilitating the home team's comeback no end, to this:

Then this:

Much more like it!

Of course I expect it was the club's coaching staff who set the kicking agenda and we had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I'm awfully late, I know, and haven't commented on the Bolton game. I will do that later, but can say that it was a game of two halves, simply because McCarthy opted for the far-fetched solution to the inner-midfield problem by putting Ward in the role. He didn't find the right position and that made [.

One of the things that's surprised me this year is David Stockdale's distribution. Earlier in his Fulham career he seemed to be clearly better than Mark Schwarzer in this area. Now? Not so sure.

Take yesterday:

Which looks unfortunate: 31 possession concessions there (and I accept that we may have won a bit of second ball there, but on past form, probably not much, and not enough to justify just giving the ball back like that).

As we gnash teeth, but before we point fingers and burn Jol in effigy and point out that was our 100th goal conceded in the final 15minutes this season and make excuses such as the following...

Where in the blue blazes did 5 minutes in stoppage time come from?!?

Some people has called this game a twelve-pointer, maybe not totally without reasons. It's a water shedder for both teams and extremely important for the clubs to win if they want to keep their supporters happy and avoid relegation. Maybe a little bit more so for Bolton who are under the relegation line already.

Next a terrific guest contribution from Nick Johnson, who you'll remember from his articles in the Fulham Review.

For most Premier League clubs mere survival is the name of the game. While all but a select few know that sooner or later the axe will fall, the risk is generally higher for newly promoted teams.

The failures of the Revolution's 2011 season have been well-documented. A five-win season (fewest in franchise history). A nine-game winless streak (tied for a franchise high). A scant 28 points (tied with Vancouver for the league low). A season-ending seven-game victory drought.

And so on.

Don't look now, but Fulham are tied with Wolves for the most yellow cards in the league (37). We had 52 yellow cards all of last season, 46 in 2009-10, and 40 in 2008-09.

Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Danny Murphy, Moussa Dembele, and Steve Sidwell all have 4 yellow cards. Mark Schwarzer has one.

I remember reading about Liverpool's issues in front of goal a while ago. This article on the BBC Football site has some key details, and The Times ran a chart in yesterday's edition talking about the same thing (behind a paywall, sadly).

The point of all this is that Liverpool are having a terrible time converting their shots to goals, and at that point were only scoring with 10% of their shots.

First of all. I'm happy to have been wrong about todays result and will never again sell Wolves short. We are fighters and I consider all ten out there the last 21 minutes of the game as nothing less than heroes. Most of the praise must of course go to our Welsh wonder-warrior Wayne Hennessey. [...]

Easy goal?

Only because Clint made another fantastic run. There were 20 other players on the pitch who could've got themselves into the area there, but Dempsey again made the right moves at the right time to get where he had to get.

I haven't got time to frame-by-frame this one, but look at the goal here.

Easy goal?

Only because Clint made another fantastic run. There were 20 other players on the pitch who could've got themselves into the area there, but Dempsey again made the right moves at the right time to get where he had to get.

I haven't got time to frame-by-frame this one, but look at the goal here.

Well, I certainly expected more of what we saw on Wednesday. Chelsea needed to win, or at least that's what their manager said before the game started, so naturally they'd exploit our weak flanks...right?

Well, somehow, it didn't turn out that way.

I watched the entire match and still can't encapsulate what, or how it all happened.

Well, I certainly expected more of what we saw on Wednesday. Chelsea needed to win, or at least that's what their manager said before the game started, so naturally they'd exploit our weak flanks...right?

Well, somehow, it didn't turn out that way.

I watched the entire match and still can't encapsulate what, or how it all happened.

So what can we expekt from the 24 hours delayed trip to London? Well, not any points for Wolves I'm afraid. Maybe I can pick up something in the sales if I got the time to bother about such things, but I'll probably sit at a pub in Soho with som flea relatives from London [...]

Martin Jol's record against Alex Ferguson:

21.12.2011 Fulham 0-5 Manchester United 26.08.2007 Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur 04.02.2007 Tottenham Hotspur 0-4 Manchester United 09.09.2006 Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur 17.04.2006 Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Manchester United 22.10.2005 Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 04.

Like James Brown and his brand new bag, Manchester United have rediscovered their "groove". For a team supposedly in crisis, this win – and indeed, the general response post-Basel – serves as an emphatic reminder to the critics that they are very much still a force. Ryan Giggs perfectly summed up what was so good about Manchester United's performance against Fulham last night: "When you have so many options on the ball – people running in behind, people dropping in the hole – we're a very difficult team to play," Giggs eulogised after the impressive 5-0 win.

Like James Brown and his brand new bag, Manchester United have rediscovered their "groove". For a team supposedly in crisis, this win – and indeed, the general response post-Basel – serves as an emphatic reminder to the critics that they are very much still a force. Ryan Giggs perfectly summed up what was so good about Manchester United's performance against Fulham last night: "When you have so many options on the ball – people running in behind, people dropping in the hole – we're a very difficult team to play," Giggs eulogised after the impressive 5-0 win.

This from Alessandro Zauli's "Soccer, modern tactics" in which he interviews a coach called Maurizio Viscidi about the 4231 formation.

The key issue here is that with four attacking players you can be outnumbered in defence. We did okay at avoiding this because Dembele in particular worked very hard to get back, but the principles still apply.

An anemic New England Revolution offense started to turn around towards the end of the 2011 season thanks to some late additions, but new head coach Jay Heaps might not get the chance to build upon that improvement in 2012.

Jay Heaps may have to replace Rajko Lekic and other key players from the 2011 squad.

Wolves came very close to win this game with three goals to two, as I predicted in my pre-match article, but the assistant referee just had to spoil our fortune by waving Fletcher off for offside. A correct decision, but still... It didn't start too well though, with former Wolves player Surman allowed to roam [.

Wolves came very close to win this game with three goals to two, as I predicted in my pre-match article, but the assistant referee just had to spoil our fortune by waving Fletcher off for offside. A correct decision, but still... It didn't start too well though, with former Wolves player Surman allowed to roam [.

Tom Goom is a physiotherapist and Gooner. He loves Arsenal, cheese and shooting thirty yards over the bar. He hate grass munching, racist centre halves, and former Manchester United strikers who look like Black Beauty's ugly diving younger brother.

This week, the grisly details of Abou Diaby's ankle injury:

May 1st 2006.

Revolution right back Kevin Alston keeps a close eye on Galaxy midfielder Miguel Lopez (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com).

Heads down. Hands on hips. That was the unofficial pose of the Revolution defense in 2011.

After giving away goals at a philanthropic rate (58, the second-most in MLS last season) it's not a stretch to say that the biggest task head coach Jay Heaps faces this offseason is improving his team's porous D.