TweetAt the end of another season in which Everton recovered from distinctly average pre-Christmas form to finish in a respectable 7th place, attitudes towards the club from the outside are once again based on over-achievement, of gritty battling qualities and a propensity to ‘punch above their weight'.

TweetAt the end of another season in which Everton recovered from distinctly average pre-Christmas form to finish in a respectable 7th place, attitudes towards the club from the outside are once again based on over-achievement, of gritty battling qualities and a propensity to ‘punch above their weight'.

I don't care if there's no 'end product'. I've honestly never seen a footballer who's as fun to watch as Mousa Dembele.

We sit in what I used to think of as "Paintil Corner", the area of the Riverside where John Paintsil was most active when defending the Hammersmith End. The thing with being that close to the action is that you lose a lot of perspective, but you do grow to appreciate the speed and nimbleness of top level football.

I don't care if there's no 'end product'. I've honestly never seen a footballer who's as fun to watch as Mousa Dembele.

We sit in what I used to think of as "Paintil Corner", the area of the Riverside where John Paintsil was most active when defending the Hammersmith End. The thing with being that close to the action is that you lose a lot of perspective, but you do grow to appreciate the speed and nimbleness of top level football.

The saying goes, 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you.' In other words, it's best not to purposely act against those on whom you depend.
Doesn't Cole Hamels realize that Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals' rookie sensation, is the hottest marketing machine with integrity to come along for MLB since Fernando Valenzuela?

But lately, I've been feeling more and more cast out about being a woman who follows MLS. The latest incident came Monday, when Simon Borg, who is a writer and editor on the league website and co-hosts two podcasts, said on Extra Time Radio (you can fast-forward to the last 5 minutes of the show) that women who were super-fans (to be distinguished from "casual fans") were not appealing to potential male partners.

When Brad Friedel arrived at White Hart Lane in the summer, many fans expected that he would spend most of the season warming the bench behind Heurelho Gomes.

We were proved wrong but as soon as Harry Redknapp confirmed that the 40 year old American had been installed as his first choice, rumours began to circulate as to who would come in to replace him on a long term basis.

Images via canadiansoccernews, wikipedia.

Former Montreal Impact MVP David Testo announced yesterday that he is gay.

The midfielder, who also played for Columbus Crew and the Vancouver Whitecaps, was cut from the Impact's roster a month ago, and said in his statement that he regrets not coming out publicly earlier.

Overall, despite a brief scare that followed Jay Bothroyd's goal in the second half, Spurs' win over QPR was comfortable and after the match, manager Harry Redknapp declared that his team were a ‘joy to watch' at times.

While Gareth Bale and VDV grabbed the headlines for their goals, Scott Parker and Luka Modric were brilliant in midfield while the back four were solid enough to cope with any QPR attack.

For years, Manchester City were no threat to us, yet derby day was still the fixture most United fans looked forward to. Fighting it out with your local rivals, knowing anything could happen and form doesn't matter, playing for pride and bragging rights, is one of the best bits about football. You win the derby and you can go on about it for days.

There are a lot of funny and impressive incidents in football this week, and all of them related to 'attitudes'
I think this is the best (or worst) dive I seen in my life,
He got yellow card, however with this attitude, I think he deserved a red one :)
Well, did you think that player was cheating or he did over-dive?

Roy Keane has warned Manchester United's title rivals that his former club will "only get stronger".
Keane said United were "red hot favourites" for the Premier League and believes only an injury to Wayne Rooney could pose a serious problem.
Keane, 40, who was sacked as Ipswich manager in January after 20 months in charge, told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek: "United to me are just going to get stronger and they are the team to beat as usual.

Roy Keane has been very complimentary of his former club today, claiming that thanks to the quality of the academy, we'll only continue to improve.

"United to me are just going to get stronger and they are the team to beat as usual," said Keane. "At reserve and academy level, they have got such good young players coming through.

EXCLUSIVE: Lack of black managers shames English football says Sol Campbell

England hero backs Mirror campaign against "pathetic" attitudes to non-white bosses

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-09-15 20:00:41 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Newcastle United reserves lost 4-3 to Sunderland earlier in the week but some comments by Peter Beardsley got me thinking about team attitudes and how they might affect results. Yesterday I was visited by a bunch of Bible-bashers called Seventh Day Adventists and their big beef with things amongst all the problems the world [.

Post by Pedro Gomes- Most of us remember the after school PSA commercial about drugs that ended with one kid asking another, "What are you chicken?" and the other replying with "I'm not a chicken, you're a Turkey." Then turns away from the peer-pressuring dope dealer and walks off triumphantly.

Happy Friday to you! With national team thoughts, Real Salt Lake/Philadelphia coming up and the transfer window, here's whats on my mind for this Friday.
Jurgen Klinsmann and the National Team: Klinsmann is certainly making waves in the media despite only being in charge only a month.

NEW Podcast starring Robbie Savage, Alexi Lalas and John Cross

The MirrorFootball podcast is back for the new season bigger and better than ever! Join host Simon Head as he talks about attitudes towards the Carling Cup with Robbie Savage, Arsenal's European victory and Arsene Wenger's transfer conundrum with MirrorFootball's John Cross and discusses and Robbie Keane's move to the MLS with ESPN analyst and MirrorFootball blogger Alexi Lalas.

Jan Versleijan and Han Berger have been slated by many over the last few weeks for their team performances at the various World Cups.
Versleijan as manager of the teams, and Berger for laying down the 1-4-3-3 revolution, with a little help from Rob Baan the former Dutch Technical Director.

I was bit sad for Mourinho yesterday, despite I was very happy that Barcelona won the Super Cup. Mourinho, after a great summer of preparations, tactics, great players, and a lot of team work, seemed to be left helpless again against Barcelona and the 'unfit' Messi.
The camera caught Mourinho with very good attitudes and sportsmanship, showing to the public how stinky Messi is, and then, twisting the ear of the Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova : )
After the game Mourinho was not upset of his players red cards:
"What happened, happened because somebody provoked the situation and it certainly wasn't a player from Real Madrid"

This week's cover of France Football is a first for the squad - the headline "On Vous Aime!" has a lovely double resonance. It means "We love you!" and it's used by football fans - I have a Marseille scarf with this exact thing written on it. (Who writes that on a football scarf but the French!

I've never seen Arsene Wenger look as frustrated as I did on Sunday during the defeat against Aston Villa.
He looked like a man who was told he could spend the night with Nicole Scherzinger but, unfortunately for him, he suffers from impotence.
His demeanour and the angry looks tell me a thousand words.

When it comes to the approach that MLS Commissioner Don Garber is attempting to take with developing and encouraging attacking play within Major League Soccer, I do think that Paul Gardner and I are on the same page on this one.

You hear a lot in NBA basketball about 'the star players being protected' by the officials, and even recently, Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy has been pretty outspoken about the lack of protection and support for his star player Dwight Howard.

But there's also an element of snobbery, I think we'll all admit it, and I'll even admit that I quite often fall into that trap myself. This isn't just a Whitecaps problem. If the subject comes up with almost any group of North American soccer supporters, you'll see the same attitudes.

MANAGING a football club is a highly stressful job as there is an unrelenting pressure to grind out results week in week out.

The past week has seen two of Britain's most decorated managers wage war on the media for different reasons after their sides saw their domestic and European ambitions dented respectively.

Argentina and Independiente have both lost 1-0 to Ecuadorian sides in the last couple of days, but the attitudes to those defeats are very different. Argentina Under 20s' loss to their Ecuadorian counterparts on Monday night in the first match ... Continue reading →

This was the image towards the end of our previous final:-

Next month when we play on the same stage, albeit at a different stadium, this team are determined that picture won't be replicated across the back pages the following day. They have worked to get to their first Wembley final in a long, long time and if the attitude and determination of the players last night is anything to go by it will be a successful one.