Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton: The NFL's young brigade are animating the sport

Watching the San Francisco 49ers and New Orlean Saints putting together one of the NFL's classics last night, one was struck by the relative youth of the two opposing head coaches, patrolling the sidelines as an armada of assistant coaches and players milled around behind them.

I ordered the Chateau Pape de Neuf and you give me the Montepulciano?

The UEFA wizards ban Arsene Wenger for three matches for the offense of having a verbal altercation with referee Damir Skomina after the Milan Champions League match. Wenger is also fined £33,000.

Skomina was the referee who allowed Robinho's goal to stand after receiving a pass from a clearly offside Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The former Arsenal midfielder is enjoying a renaissance at Barca where he now scores goals regularly through headers, a hitherto unknown phenomenon.

He continues to blossom in the bastion of greatness aided by an unsurpassed system and a perfectionist coach. But Arsenal is never too far from his mind.

Be bold, Steve!

This is a long overdue move. Pat Rice was joined at Arsene Wenger's hip as his assistant, an association that dates 16 years since the Frenchman joined the club. He has been part of Arsenal's glorious past as well as its less stellar present. But it is clear that Arsenal need to reverse course with some new thinking especially when it comes to the defensive end.

szólj hozzá: Fulham vs Arsenal 2:1 MOTD

Depressing. Very depressing. As bright and incandescent as Arsenal were the first half, the second half was an absolute blight. The Gunners looked drained, bereft of ideas, and they let Fulham walk all over them. It was an reversion to many a game last season where Arsenal showed distinctly no ambition other than to run out 90 minutes.

szólj hozzá: Swansea City 3-2 Arsenal

Arsenal's bright start through who else but Robin Van Persie was dashed within minutes as Aaron Ramsey brought down Nathan Dyer, an absolute pest to the Gunners, and Scott Sinclair converted the penalty. The foul looked pretty soft. Andrey Arshavin who had threaded the pass through for RVP's goal was guilty of less precision in the second half as Ramsey could not latch onto his errant service gifting the ball to Joe Allen.

Arsene Wenger in his press conference asked about his somnolent transfer activity in the January window:

" You cannot buy a player every time you have an injury: where do you finish? England is bankrupt, the whole of Europe is bankrupt and everyone continues to spend like nothing happened.

szólj hozzá: Arsenal v Man United 1:2 MOTD

It was the 74th minute when Arsene Wenger went from mere arrogance to sheer incompetence. Replacing Alex Oxlade Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin. The Ox had been Arsenal's best player on the pitch providing the side with desperately needed speed, ambition, and some quality skills.

David Hytner's article hints at Ivan Gazidis's plans to sell the Arsenal brand:

" Gazidis has identified a huge discrepancy between the worldwide reach of the Arsenal brand and the revenue that it generates. He believes that bringing the latter up to speed - the club have sophisticated strategies in place to do so - is the surest way forward.

bolton 0-0 arsenal by Futbol2101

What does it take for any other player other than RVP to score goals? It is now official, he's not pretending any more - Theo Walcott has a mind made of mush in front of goal. Always. Aaron Ramsey is another. The Ox too for all his brightness was presented with a clear chance.

Kasabian: " Where did the love go?"

Lets face it. Tomorrow is a big match not just for these obviously narrow reasons. Not only is fourth place at stake, it is a match against the proverbial snapping North London shih tzus who are now and only now getting a hefty bite of that ankle and have suddenly gotten lock jaw.

So it does appear Prinz Poldi's Arsenal transfer is at an advanced stage but as of now, not yet official. There is the medical and personal terms to work out before he commits. The comforting thing is that his anticipated arrival at the Emirates is not in lieu of an impending RVP departure.

szólj hozzá: Q2-1A

Whew! Just when we had run out of bad things to say about Arsenal. Seven successive wins is a lifetime of antibodies against a virus when you are Arsenal. But it had to end. The Arsenal we saw today reminded one of the team that emerged tattered and unhinged in January.

szólj hozzá: West Brom 2-3 Arsenal

Ben Foster's injury withdrawal an hour before kick off turned out to be the best thing in Arsenal's afternoon at the Hawthorns. The Gunners actually turned in a poor display but sparsely played Martin Fulop who was Foster's stand in gifted the visiting side all their goals.