Following on from the Gaffer's suggestion for articles to use as resources one of the key elements of a Football match are the Tactics each team employs. Unfortunately for converts the terminology can be impenetrable – 4-4-2 & 4-3-3 are just random numbers and with two teams lining up it can be hard to understand how it all works.

Before the game I was quite anxious. In the last two seasons we've seen young teams struggle in this competition away from home against top 6 Premier League sides. Thankfully, Arsene had learnt his lesson and he put out a really strong starting eleven. And once I saw the Tiny Totts' starting line-up all the anxiety was turned into anticipation of a big win.

Thanks to the proactive drive within a few classy female football fans, a great movement has started on Tumblr and Twitter promoting the cause to end the often-ignored issue of homophobia throughout the beautiful game. On Twitter, be sure to tweet #redcardhomophobia. On Tumblr, show your support by checking our the movement's official page.

Ian recently highlighted The Offside's Names to Remember series, which original Offsider Bob started back in 2006. Bob's other legacy was a series of posts spotlighting weird versions of soccer. Take football, tweak it by adding an outside factor like trampolines or motorbikes, and the beautiful game becomes the bizarre game.

People are always guessing what is going to happen in the future. It may be, 'Is it going to rain tomorrow?' 'Will my team win the league?' or 'Do you think I should invest my money in this company?' Predicting the future is part of our daily life and our everyday conversation. You don't have to be a Nostrodamus to try to predict what will happen in the future.

Where the worlds of great music and the beautiful game collides. This week Silversun Pickups, Free Energy, OMD, Arctic Monkeys, Pixes, Black Lips, The Horrors, New Order, Felix da Housecat , The Strokes, Egyptian Hip Hop and Brian Wilson CSRN MEDIA PLAYER HERE

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By Ollie Irish

If he was still with us, the great Bill Shankly would be 97 years old today, and no doubt still an avid fan of the beautiful game, and particularly his beloved Liverpool. So happy birthday Shanks he passed away in September 1981, but he'll never be forgotten, not at Anfield anyway.

Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for the new season.
Every week he will be here to offer you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and, on occasion, to settle the odd bet.
Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

Recently had the opportunity to do some Q & A with the Motor City Supporters. This club is dedicated to bringing the MLS to Detroit and uniting football fans in the area. They are helping pave the road to the MLS in Michigan are you? How many members does MCS currently have?
Currently we have a reach of 750 people and that number grows every day through facebook, twitter, email and meeting in person.

As reported earlier this week on the STO, FIFA officials are currently here visiting in the States on official business and the voting committee for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup will visit 5 of the 18 select cities that could possibly be involved in hosting World Cup matches for one of those two summers.

For most, the 2010 high school soccer season starts tonight. For some, it started Tuesday night. I want to reach out to the players and give them a couple words to think about. I know you guys worked your butts off to get here. I know the sacrifices you make to be the best at the sport you love. The beautiful game.

(Courtesy of Rhodes)

The third lecture in the annual Teach-In, this year entitled 'After the Thrill has Gone: Reflections on the 2010 FIFA World Cup', took place on Wednesday this week. Foregoing Res food, an exuberant crowd gathered to hear Peter Alegi talk about the historical phases of the beautiful game in an African context, giving a broader significance to South Africa's hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

The battle for Northwest supremacy begins in 2011.

Frankly, the above photo is the reason I absolutely adore the beautiful game. Seattle Sounders FC and Portland Timbers have not played in the same division since 2008 when the Emerald City side made the jump to Major League Soccer for the 2009 campaign.

EA Sports has released another preview of FIFA 11. This time it's a sneak peek of their gameplay footage for the PC.

The preview features a match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. As you can see from the graphics, gameplay and the audio, this is a fantastic representation of the beautiful game we love.

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We at 11Gunners are thrilled to announce not one but two new full-time writer's! After months of look-out, we can proudly boast to have made the right choices.

Whilst Akhil is based in London & makes it to all the games; Sri does the same from Coimbatore, here in India! Whilst the former is second-to-none when it comes to exclusive insights from the Emirates; our guy from down-south, is as astute an analyst as they come.

In a scary story that makes us appreciate all the little things about the beautiful game and life in general, former Celtic and Bristol City midfielder Evander Sno suffered a heart attack today while playing for Ajax. Though he has ... Continue reading →

Is the captaincy important at United? Yesterday Sir Alex Ferguson surprised the press corps when he revealed that Gary Neville will no longer wear the captain's armband at Manchester United, although he also went out of his way to say that the veteran was still club captain.

Often referred to as "our shop steward" by Rio Ferdinard in his Twitter twitterings, Neville replaced Roy Keane as skipper when the eternally obstreperous Corkster acrimoniously left the club in 1995.

Patience maybe a virtue but in many walks of life it is an absolute necessity, the world of football is no different.

As the dust settles and fans reflect on a 0-0 draw away at Birmingham, switching their focus to the Europa League on Thursday, patience is a word that is only going to be heard more often.

What goes on behind the scenes of the beautiful game is rarely beautiful. Often, the experience of watching a beautfiul goal or combination on the pitch requires forgetting the transfer-gossip nonsense and arglebargles that allowed it to happen, or at least thinking that they are substantively less important to our experience of a match than they may actually be.

After the World Cup, I was so jazzed about the beautiful game. I couldn't wait for the Premier League season to commence. I had checked out all the options available to a DirecTV subscriber, as well as the possibility of foxsoccer.tv since we do have broadband. Foxsoccer.tv were rather sluggish in putting information about their package for the 2010-11 season, so I went out and picked up the DirecTV Sports Pack (to get Fox Soccer Channel) as well as Fox Soccer Plus.

Harper Perennial, 299 pages, 14.99, June

With a terse visceral intensity, Steve Bloomfield takes you along with him as he dives into politics and sporting life on the African continent, his adrenaline, as well as yours getting up equally to the thrill of a match or a dodgy situation in Mogadishu.

In life, things evolve. That includes the EPL Talk Podcast which has transformed from its launch in 2006 as an interview show to it's current format which is a mixture of expert analysis on the Premier League and a bonus of an occasional interview now and again. Over the years, we've conducted interviews with some of the biggest names in the sport such as Paul Scholes, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Steve McClaren and over 100 others.

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The Piggy is FULL

After my rant the other day, I thought I should take a different route. The general view on world football is very negative at the moment. When people talk about our beautiful game, they often talk about money. Transfer fee's and wages are often the debating point in many conversations in pubs and clubs.

Another Premier League Saturday is about to kick off and there is plenty of matches to look forward to. The London derby between West Ham and Spurs is always entertaining. So too will be the clash of the billionaires club between Manchester City and Chelsea at Eastlands.

Then later we have Liverpool against Sunderland where the Reds are desperate for three points (and where Liverpool fans are scheduled to enact a sit-in protest against Tom Hicks).

FIFA 11 (pictured) was released today in North America, with Australasia and Europe to follow in the next couple of days. For fans of both video games and the beautiful game, this is a big deal, with gameplay improvements like Personality+ (players will behave as they do in real life, so presumably Zlatan Ibrahimovic will kick teammates in the head) and 360-degree jostling (you can push and pull opponents from all angles).

It isn't normally a worry if a player misses a few weeks through injury. However, when it is on the back of a poor run of form in the World's biggest tournament and followed by a period of keeping a low profile due to personal problems, it is maybe time to start fearing for Wayne Rooney's career.

People are always guessing what is going to happen in the future. It may be, 'Is it going to rain tomorrow?' 'Will my team win the league?' or 'Do you think I should invest my money in this company?' Predicting the future is part of our daily life and our everyday conversation. You don't have to be a Nostrodamus to try to predict what will happen in the future.