I imagine I wasn't alone in being totally gutted upon learning there is next to no chance of Carlos Tevez returning to Old Trafford for the Manchester derby. Whilst it would have been so annoying if he had scored against us, I was really looking forward to the even more heated atmosphere his presence would have brought.

I have managed to get hold of one Arsenal fan that was in the stands, directly at the front when everything kicked off against City after Adebayor's goal celebrations.

As it turns out, the 'Elephant' song, as it is being coined in the press, was not sung in the stands at all. It was the 'Arshavin version'.

Fabio Capello is doing everything in his power to avoid the mistakes of previous World Cups for England's national team. Mostly that pressure-filled duty would involve the manager's important decision making in what moves should be made on the pitch. But recently the World Cup bound coach has voiced his game plan of stopping his players from making moves off of the pitch.

So tipos have landed in Chile for their friendly against the national side tomorrow, and immediately checked into Hotel Sofitel Salvador. The substitutes trained at an open area within the hotel while the starting 11 enjoyed some muscle regeneration time with Senor Paixao at the physical therapy pool.

The Seattle Sounders have a little song they sing in the locker room after a road win. It goes something like this:
"BLAH GAH GAH GAH GO BLAHHHH!!!! RAH! RAH! RAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Coach Sigi Schmid, can you be a little more specific on the lyrics? We couldn't really hear it from the hallway, loud as it was, after Saturday's 2-1 win at D.

There is absolutely no doubt that Fulham's gritty displays of late are deserving of their newfound reputation as the people's club in the Premier League. The masses can relate to their mid-sized squad and down-to-earth players while tourists from all over the world simply cannot resist the amazing atmosphere at the conveniently located Craven Cottage.

Just in case seeing Carlos Tevez with his arm around Patrice Evra put you off our defender, the Frenchman has got himself back in our good books following his comments about derby day.

"Sometimes we need mistakes to have a great game like this," Evra said. "I really think we could have killed the game early on, but when we scored we started to make mistakes.

Sigi Schmid has created a tremendous culture within the Seattle Sounders FC, and his players buy into what he is preaching.
A great example of this is Brad Evans - after returning from a stint with the US National team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, he found himself out of the lineup after Peter Vagenas had stepped into his role.

In the past, the present and I'm sure in the future, supporters of other clubs have often laughed at our expense because of a lack of atmosphere at our home games.
Laugh they may but at least we always turn up!
There was over 56,000 at the Carling Cup game with West Brom the other night.

REAL MADRID CF had their official photo team session today, with all the players, Coaches & Directives present. We have the video herefor the many Real Madrid fans & readers of SFS. As you we see a veryjovial atmosphere at the Club:

Saturday's Manchester City v. Arsenal match was exciting for many reasons: six goals, fast, fluid play, a fun atmosphere, two players playing against their former team, fans throwing all sorts of things at one certain player... All of this made for a great match. While I'll only mention Adebayor's celebration just this once, we can all agree it provoked emotion from both sides, which is ultimately why we watch football.

Alex Ferguson believes it was Paul Scholes' reputation which earned him United's first red card of the season in the 3-1 victory over Spurs on Saturday.

Scholes was sent off for two bookable offences; first taking down Defoe before a clumsy challenge on Huddlestone. Scholes clearly tried to pull out of the challenge with Huddlestone and Ferguson believes the referee made a rash decision.

It's the Manchester derby between United and City on Sunday and we've got two pairs of tickets to give away, courtesy of Betfair.

Betfair recently became the official betting partner of Manchester United and now we've teamed up with the world's leading betting exchange, to give you a chance of attending the big match.

This weekend's match between Manchester United and Manchester City has the potential to be the most explosive match of the season so far. There are so many storylines and the game hasn't kicked off yet.

Fortunately, we've got two pairs of tickets to give away, courtesy of Betfair.

It's the Manchester derby between United and City on Sunday and we've got two pairs of tickets to give away, courtesy of Betfair.

Betfair recently became the official betting partner of Manchester United and now we've teamed up with the world's leading betting exchange, to give you a chance of attending the big match.

It seems an eternity since the defeat at Eastlands just over a week ago, but Emmanuel Adebayor has done his best to ensure the fallout over the two incidents has kept his name in lights ever since.

I think that the three match ban was correct for the stamp, and I hope the F.

The majestic awesomeness of the Champions League theme song is something we have all long been aware of, but AC Milan have gone beyond mere appreciation and actually had the genius stroke to harness its untold powers to help them in their domestic campaign.

Having realized that their form in their Champions League has often been better than their form in Serie A in recent years, the club's vice president Adriano Galliani decided to have the team listen to the song before Sunday's game against Bologna.

Since leaving Manchester United for Manchester City, Carlos Tevez has repeatedly talked about Sir Alex Ferguson and spoken of his strong feelings towards the fans. It is understandable that he would have a hard time getting over his time at United, given that in his two years with the club he won two league titles and played in two European Cup finals.

I'm sure I wasn't alone in being unimpressed with City's travelling support in the weekend. Whilst they sung a song or two in the aftermath of a goal, they didn't give out the impression it was derby day and they were really up for it. Whilst the Old Trafford atmosphere is often mocked, honest City fans there that day would have to admit they were completely outdone on Sunday.

When I launched EPL Talk in 2005, my initial vision for the site was that it would be highly interactive and would embrace technology to bring English football supporters closer together. The main feature at that time was an online chat that would be hosted every weekend so that website visitors could chat at the same time they were watching Premier League matches, no matter where they lived in the world.

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy revealed the squad is much more united this season when compared to the last one, with the 24-year old believing last year's centre-back duo were simply not clicking together anymore.

The Frenchman told the Mail on Sunday:

The atmosphere is definitely better than it was last year.

It's one of the fiercest rivalries in world football. Two giants of the game who have never seen eye to eye, don't like each other and cause a heated atmosphere whenever they meet. No, not Argentina and Brazil; but Diego Maradona and Pelé.

I was in London the day after England crushed Croatia 5-1 in Wembley, on two goals by Frank Lampard, two by Stephen Gerrard and one by Wayne Rooney. The atmosphere was understandable extatic as England thus made sure that with wight consecutive victories in the World Cup qualifying Group 6, they are now sure to be going to South Africa.

Top notch youngster.

Portsmouth Vs Liverpool Tickets Still Available!

Jay Spearing reflected on his first start for Liverpool and admitted it was a special night as he helped the Reds reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup after a 1-0 win over Leeds United.

Nicholas "Niko" Gkionis is a friend of mine, a special guest Online Soccer Academy player, and has guest blogged and appeared for JMSocccer10.com a few times. Recently we have been talking and hopefully soon he will be posting on a regular basis. Today he talks about making his 1st team debut with his professional club in Belgium Royal Football Club de Liege.

Liverpool starlet Jay Spearing has hailed his first start for the club against Leeds as a 'special night'.
Highly-rated midfielder Spearing played the full 90 minutes of Liverpool's Carling Cup victory over Leeds at Elland Road.
Spearing impressed against Leeds and he is hoping to earn a regular run in Rafa Benitez's plans.

Leeds turned the clock back to the start of the decade as they gave Liverpool a stern examination in third round Carling Cup action last night.
A second-half goal from French striker David Ngog eventually settled the third-round tie in the Barclays Premier League side's favour but it was the fallen Yorkshire giants who took most of the plaudits.

Barney Ronay nails the epidemic of moral outrage that's sweeping through English football, leaving broken syringes scattered over the pillaged Red Cross stations in its wake:

Perhaps it might be more useful to wonder why we're so angry. My theory is that the Premier League has become a bit like one of those Pandora's Box-themed disaster/horror movies where the avaricious and hubristic white-coated scientists unwittingly release the rapacious virus into the atmosphere.

Stoke fans were more concerned with booing our players than they were with cheering their own on when they visited Old Trafford last season. I can't stand that small-time mentality, an obsession with another team that makes hating another team more important than supporting theirs.

Stoke are famed for their great support though and have loads of original songs.

Hello everyone. It has been quite a while since I have posted on here. Been busy settling into my dorm here in London and of course busy heading up the The Emirates to check out the lads in person. I was among the 56,000 Gooners who made the trip to the stadium on Tuesday night.

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy revealed the squad is much more united this season when compared to the last one, with the 24-year old believing last year's centre-back duo were simply not clicking together anymore.

The Frenchman told the Mail on Sunday:

The atmosphere is definitely better than it was last year.

I haven't got an internet connection until the weekend, but thought I better put something up tonight after a superb result and performance away at Luton Town. I arrived about 45 mins before kick off after finding somewhere to park in the ghetto! The atmosphere was electric in the ground. The Boro fans can be very proud of themselves tonight.