Spurs centre-back Michael Dawson showed he's not too shabby with a cricket bat after a session in the nets with England bowler Stuart Broad. Dawson said: "It's been a long time since I've had a game of cricket. "When I put the pads on and the glove and what have you, get down and then [...]
Why do Joey Barton's team-mates need two eyes? In case he uses a cigar to burn a hole in one, of course. The Marseille midfielder has been telling the world about his golfing exploits after bagging a hole in one during a round yesterday. Barton tweeted: "1st ever hole in one today. 186yd par 3 [...]
Everybody's favourite violent psychopath masquerading as a centre-back, Pepe, has been relatively speaking a reformed character of late. But the Portugal international couldn't resist a return to his former ways during Real Madrid's Copa Del Rey clash with Celta Vigo last night. Pepe kicked opponent Roberto Lago in the Bernabeus during the match.
All new signings need a chant; this one, we're guessing, probably isn't going to be Olivier
Giroud's calling card at the Emirates...
Two things: Firstly, we're pretty sure it's pronounced 'Jeer-oo' (which is by-the-by we suppose
) and secondly, the man is 6'4", which blows the entire chant apart completely.
Skipper Steven Gerrard believes new signing Joe Allen will prove to be a top player for
Liverpool after the 22-year old impressed in their 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.
Allen put in a fantastic performance for Reds against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday,
looking comfortable with the ball and rarely misplacing a pass.
The curtain was well and truly raised by Chelsea and Man City at Villa Park, with the two
megbucks teams playing out a very entertaining clash.
Chelsea, starting with Belgian new-boy Eden Hazard (who did feck all), opened the scoring on 40
minutes courtesy of a rinky-dinky finish from Fernando Torres.
Wayne Rooney and Phil Neville got a bit touchy-feely during yesterday's match between Manchester United and Everton. The United striker celebrated playing against his former club by giving Neville a tap to the genitals. The Toffees skipper, also playing against his old club, responded almost simultaneously by touching Rooney's backside.
The Liverpool legend has been sold to Stoke: Times are tough at Anfield
Charlie Adam who spanked the ball around with authority on the pitch and was mobbed off it as if
he was Mick Jagger is departing for Stoke on a four year deal. In his closing statement the gap
toothed legend said, " Gareth Bale may run but he cannot hide" and then he was gone.
Things are really hotting up in the Crappyteam Won Cup, the competition no self-respecting team wants to win. After Premier League side Aston Villa attempted to give League Two Bradford a bye to to the final in their semi-final first-leg on Tuesday night, last night it was the turn of European champions Chelsea to give [.
Talking Tactics: How is Brendan Rodgers changing the philosophy at Liverpool? is a post from:
Just Football
Brendan Rodgers' Anfield career has already been an eventful one. Liverpool put
behind them a humiliating 3-0 defeat at West Brom on the opening day of the Premier
League season, by recording a hard-fought 1-0 win away over Hearts in a Europa League
play-off match.
I have to say I really thought we played well. Considering Newcastle will be up there challenging
for the top four positions this season, Chelsea put in a great performance and were worthy
winners.
I think if you are a Newcastle fan, you would agree that you really missed Tiote in midfield and
the new boy Anita struggled to bridge the gap.
One point at Stoke is not a bad result on its own. Few visitors will return from the Britannia
with three points and that makes it tough to criticize the Arsenal performance. The irony here is
that this was probably the Gunners' best defensive display at Stoke but by the end the hosts,
having realized their single attacking tactic had failed to generate any threat, just wanted to
hang on for a point.
Nike Maxim footballs for 2012/2013 season of Premier League, La Liga & Serie A - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
The Nike football to be used in the 2012/2013 European leagues is called the Nike Maxim. The
Premier League, La Liga and Serie A will have distinct colors for their footballs.
West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Liverpool Premier League August 18 2012
Sacked along with Kenny Dalglish at the end of last season, former Liverpool assistant manager
Steve Clarke oversaw a superb West Brom victory against his former employers.
Two weeks ago, Futbolita covered Manchester City on tour and caught up with their star striker and
possibly the worst football-singer in the world, Sergio "El Kun" Aguero.
It's true what we'd been speculating all along you could really ask Kun anything about Maradona,
terrible hotel food, advise for kids and his feelings about being forced to learn English, and he'd
either give you a brilliant answer or an equally humorous reaction.
The Olympics have wrapped, the women's soccer gold handed to Team USA several days ago now. For a
short time (literally, for about two hours yesterday), I was a little nervous about what comes next
for this blog. Then, on Sunday morning, there was the Community Shield match awaiting me and my
tea. Although I do love all those flaming queens in the EPL, and I do love football because it's
football (really, any football is good, minus the MLS—Christ almighty, minus the
MLS!
Cracking work from the fine gents at Balls.ie, who've created this GIF of an awkward moment involving Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. The ex-Swansea's boss could be seen visibly fighting his instinct to stare down the top of an LFCTV presenter. Alas, Rodgers succumbed to temptation and had a sneaky peek at his companion.
Liverpool v Arsenal – Player Ratings by AM Mannone – 6 He wasn't disturbed in the first half,
but didn't look quite confident handling crosses and aerial balls. Made one good save from Shelvey,
but spilled another from the same player and must be thankful to Vermaelen for being first to the
rebound.
Suarez pays tribute to an injured Lucas after scoring...
Image: sportpulse.netLiverpool secured their progress to the group stages of the Europa League
last night after a 1-1 draw with Hearts. The Reds were supposed to go through with ease but a
rather dire majority of the game was only livened up when Hearts found a goal late on, luckily for
Liverpool Luis Suarez managed to find a return.
Adidas Launch 2012/13 Champions League, Europa Match Balls - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
adidas have revealed the official match balls for the 2012/2013 season of the UEFA Champions
League, the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup competitions.
The adidas UEFA Champions League Finale 13 Official Match Ball will be used in all of
the group stage of the 2012/2013 competition.
Herzogenaurach / Monaco, 30th August, 2012 – Today adidas revealed a new line-up of Official
Match Balls for the 2012/2013 season of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa...
After every match this season, the staff here at The Bent Musket will be putting together player
ratings. Ratings are on a 1-10 scale, with 5 representing a thoroughly average performance, and 6 a
decent/capable showing. The final ratings will be averages of individual ratings from Steve Stoehr,
Corey Major, and Brendan Schimmel.
Matt Reis was easily the Revs top performer on Saturday. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of
the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5
average, 10 perfection).
After every match this season, the staff here at The Bent Musket will be putting together player
ratings. Ratings are on a 1-10 scale, with 5 representing a thoroughly average performance, and 6 a
decent/capable showing. The final ratings will be averages of individual ratings from Corey Major
and Brendan Schimmel.
Greek football always seem to be in trouble for somethin' these days. This would be a lot of
trouble for Anastasios Kakos were the ball to have landed in the back of the net, though with his
career as a referee surely over, he could probably triple his wages by sitting in the hole spraying
balls around the pitch for a European-caliber domestic side.
Portland Timbers control the first half for 45 minutes and 30 seconds and get the first goal.
The 30 seconds they didn't control the game the Vancouver Whitecaps get a Corner on a dubious call
and of course they score. Portland did not let the late first half goal get them down and they came
out firing on all cylinders and got the go ahead goal.
Can I have our ball back? Fulham's midfield were pretty stingey with the ball. Damien Duff
completed 94% of his 18 passes, Diarra 94% of his 90 (Murphy-equque), Dembele 96% of his 73, and
Kacaniklic 96% of his 27. Ruiz, the link man, was at 91% of his 54.
The right stuff: Ruiz made 3 key passes, as did Riise.
Can I have our ball back? Fulham's midfield were pretty stingey with the ball. Damien Duff
completed 94% of his 18 passes, Diarra 94% of his 90 (Murphy-equque), Dembele 96% of his 73, and
Kacaniklic 96% of his 27. Ruiz, the link man, was at 91% of his 54.
The right stuff: Ruiz made 3 key passes, as did Riise.
A ruddy balls up, I tell you. Just as I was getting into the spirit of making money each week, I got bitten by Lazio's inability to hold on to a half-time lead and Morocco's inability to score against Angola. Still Watford's 4-0 win (I could have been a great deal greedier on that one [...]
We still get a phenomenal amount of traffic from people Googling Jack Wilshere condoms... but it looks like the Arsenal star's contraception woes could be over. The England international took a forceful kick to the match balls during last night's victory for the Gunners against Reading. Now that's got to hurt.
This is the design of the official Adidas ball which was used in Friday's UEFA Supercup Final in
which Radamel Falcao's hat-trick gave Atl. Madrid a 4-1 win over Chelsea in Monaco.
The ball uses the same characteristics as the Tango 12 ball used at this Summer's Euro
Finals.
Buy all Official Adidas match balls for as little as $20.
Nike have announced that they will be replacing Umbro as England kit providers after signing a
five-year deal with the FA to do so. As such, the first Nike-designed England shirt will be
launched in the spring of 2013, with the partnership running until the summer of 2018.
Second match in a row that we have looked devoid of ideas, got a goal out of nothing, and then
conceded late on. Long balls, panicky defending, the team looks as scared as a new born lamb
walking down Tottenham high road late at night.
The first half was utter tosh. From Lennon there were a few successful crosses but more attempted
and failed ones, mixed in with some some promising, yet fruitless runs by Bale.
Team USA brings it to North Korea and everyone goes, "Really?"Surprising everyone on the planet,
Team USA, with some confidence, but assloads of poorly served balls, came out on top of the North
Koreans in their quarterfinal match. I did not expect this. I still think it was a boring game, but
that's only because this team does little for me stylistically, and I really anticipated the North
Koreans putting them to shame from the get go.
The Philadelphia Union fell to the Columbus Crew Wednesday night 2-1. The loss effectively marks
the end of the Union's playoff hopes for this season even though they may still be mathematically
alive. It is unlikely this situation will turn around given the personnel available. I will spare
you the gruesome details; suffice to say that the Union managed to lose a "six point" game at home
against another mediocre Eastern conference team fighting for a playoff spot while being up a
man.
We've seen many a player getting hit on the preferbials, but not as blatant as this.
Orlando Pirates defender Rooi Mahamutsa deliberatedly kicks Supersport United's Thabiso Nkoana
in the balls and doesn't think he should be sent off for it.
Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber suffered an early foul at the hands of Patrice Bernier
during Sunday's contest against the Impact. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. You couldn't tell the Revolution were in the throes of a six-game winless
spell with the way Revolution defender A.
We had said yesterday after the heavy defeat at Cardiff city that the one piece of good news coming
out of the game was the great performance of 17 year-old Adam Campbell, who looked more than quick
and set up two chances for Newcastle with two great through balls, and the 17 year-old was also
brought down [.
