It's difficult to find any negatives in Town's signing of Elliott Hewitt.

He's young, a defender in a position we need back up for and a good prospect for the future. Isn't that great?!

His arrival at Town is easy to compare to our Player of the Year for 2011/2012 Aaron Cresswell: he's young, from a lower league and highly rated: former boss and ex-Macclesfield manager Gary Simpson sent a message to Town fans in the EADT: 'if he continues to play as he has done he'll make it to the Premiership, without a doubt'.

"Gallowgatetooners" aka Ross & Affy are the best makers of Newcastle United videos, and here's their latest, "Newcastle United The Goals 11/12." Here's what they say about it: "Every goal of the 2011/2012 season. A season which produced European football, and a season which re-ignited belief within the fans that maybe, just maybe, silverware might [.

Micky's post on Sunday: ‘Calling International Gooners', in which he asked why ‘millions of bright eyed and highly intelligent young guns from around the globe discovered their spiritual homes at The Arsenal', led to a fantastic collection of comments. It became very clear there is a great support for Arsenal across the world and that the passion, with which International Gooners (IGs) support the mighty Arsenal, is equal to that of those who are based on British soil.

Liverpool's hunt for a new manager could be over after it emerged that Roberto Martinez is set to announce his future plans on Tuesday.
Press Association Sport understands Wigan will hold a press conference this week in which Martinez is expected to announce whether or not he will stay at the club.

After the events of the weekend, there is bound to be another summer or speculation over Tottenham's top players ahead– most notably Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. The game in Munich had barely finished before the first Modric to Madrid story had emerged and to be honest, another bid from the Croatian to leave the club seems somewhat inevitable.

The top club competition in the world comes to an end with Bayern Munich hosting Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League final. The match will take place at the Allianz Arena which is the home stadium of Bayern Munich.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo

'Cahill and David Luiz trained the whole week so we are very hopeful, and Malouda will join the group today.

Their Words "We've missed out on this trophy once before, so we're even more motivated now, The belief we can win this trophy is greater than it was two years ago." Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm. Other Sources Juan Agudelo ran out of patience with Red Bulls, forcing trade to Chivas USA - from The Newark Star-Ledger's Frank Giase: "but sometimes when you work in this sport you have to put on larger glasses.

The Arsenal winger Theo Walcott is in exactly the same position as Robin Van Persie, having only 12 months left on his contract at the Emirates. Everybody has been trying to decipher Van Persie's statements to see whether the Dutchman is really going to re-sign, but little or nothing has been said about Theo Walcott's [.

Kenny Dalglish believes his Liverpool side finally got what they deserve at Anfield on Tuesday as they rounded off their home campaign with a 4-1 win over Chelsea.
A convincing victory over the side that put them to the sword in the FA Cup final just three days earlier offered a clear indication of what the Reds are capable of.

A picture tells a thousand words

If John Henry is as serious about Liverpool being successful as we want him to be, he needs to be stark raving mad by now.During yesterday's match, I was in the middle of a conversation with a friend who asked what happened to the Liverpool that ended last season (2010-11).

Matt Johnson is a friendly fellow with, as you will shortly find out, awesome social skills. Lately, however, he has found himself wondering whether the football supporters that he approaches and talks to on trains share his enthusiasm for chewing the cud on the subject of the national game with people he's never met before.

Oh, how the seasons in football change so quickly! Three years ago, you'd hardly bat your eyelid at the prospect of the Manchester Derby. Today, you're all going to write down your predictions before Mancini can even manage a "KUN!" over his buttered toast at breakfast.

As regular readers will know, I have long prattled on about goal difference as a good indicator of things not being quite right. If a team is higher or lower in the league than their goal difference suggests they should be then before too long they'll probably regress or progress to their rightful place.

As regular readers will know, I have long prattled on about goal difference as a good indicator of things not being quite right. If a team is higher or lower in the league than their goal difference suggests they should be then before too long they'll probably regress or progress to their rightful place.

That was Rafa Marquez fouling Shea Salinas over the weekend. Today the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended Rafa Marquez for 3 games. As I discussed a couple of times last year, the one thing you can be sure of is that the Disciplinary Committee will be inconsistent and this is another example of it.

Surely, if you are Roberto Di Matteo last night after everything has died down and you are left alone with your thoughts before you went to bed last night / this morning, you must have thought to yourself "I have just beaten Barcelona!"?.
He may be saying the right things to the press and the media, but deep down he must feel as though he is doing and has done more than enough to be a serious contender for the job on a full time basis now?

It has been a frustrating season for U.S. international midfielder Stuart Holden, who has had to face another long-term injury while trying to build on his early success in the Premier League. That injury has not changed his stature as one of Bolton's more important, personable players, though.

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Man United have almost secured their 5th League title in six seasons.

Consistency, Efficiency and Determination are words often associated with ManU. If they go on to win the title this season, they'll further enhance their reputation as the best team in England.

After the weekends results it seems almost certain that the Premier League title is heading to Old Trafford to give United their 20th title. In Sunday's earlier game, United defeated QPR 2-0 after being given a fortuitous penalty decision which saw QPR skipper Shaun Derry sent off. In the later kick-off at the Emirates, a late Mikel Arteta strike gave Arsenal the victory over Manchester City, who ended the game with 10-men after the headline grabbing Mario Balotelli saw red after escaping a red card for a shocking tackle on Alex Song in the tenth minute.

When the draw was made last month in Lyon, everyone expected a Barca vs Chelsea match up in the semi-final. Now with both the teams winning their respective Quarter Final ties, that expectation has turned into reality. In normal circumstances players try to underplay past issues, results and other facts into the build up to one of the most important matches of the season.

They say that everything is bigger in Texas. Well, if that phrase holds true, then a Revolution win at FC Dallas Stadium may be huge.

Facing a depleted and demoralized FC Dallas squad, New England who is looking for its third straight win Thursday may have the Hoops right where they want them.

Emmanuel Adebayor did much to restore fans' faith in a top four finish with his two goals in the 3-1 win over Swansea on Sunday. The striker's future at the Lane has been firmly under the microscope in the last few days but for now, he is clearly focussing on making certain of fourth place at the very least.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is set to give youngster and Celine Dion fan Josh Vela a start against Wolves. The midfielder, who counts My Heart Will Go On as his favourite song, is expected to bolster Coyle's depleted options in the middle of the park. Vela first came onto OTP's radar in January 2011 when [.

Arsene Wenger's latest starlet, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, says that he always knew that Arsenal would sort out their problems and recover from their awful start to the season. Chamberlain knows that Arsenal have always had the players to pull themselves out of the slump, and now they have the belief and confidence that they can win [.

Monday's 1-0 win over Fulham had all the hallmarks of a Manchester United win in the closing weeks of a season.
Rio Ferdinand believes their experience of such tight encounters gives them the belief they can hold their nerve while others would panic. He also thinks such wins have a negative mental impact on the rivals.

Belief will do tonight. Greg scores a late column just before the deadline whistle. Let's hope we don't require anything like it tonight. Our recent performance at Chelsea, and the return of Lennon should trump the Muamba factor. No miracles, no excuses, just get out there, play football and onwards to Wembley, for King Harry and St.

It may have been a gloomy few weeks at White Hart Lane with just two league points out of a possible 15 but Spurs are still handily placed as they enter the crucial part of the season. Rafael van der Vaart could be a man to play a key role in the run in and the Dutchman himself is positive about the games to come.

Interesting piece about the spontaneous outpouring of support for Fabrice Muamba and how it manifested itself as prayer
Prayer is natural for footballers
It seems the family are Christians and so regardless of the reasons and what people think of prayer and belief in general it seems to have been spot on.

Interesting piece about the spontaneous outpouring of support for Fabrice Muamba and how it manifested itself as prayer
Prayer is natural for footballers
It seems the family are Christians and so regardless of the reasons and what people think of prayer and belief in general it seems to have been spot on.

Arsene Wenger and Arsenal had a thoroughly miserable end to last season. The Gunners were challenging for all four competitions, then after the farcical defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final, the team just seemed to lose all belief in themselves and quickly dropped out of contention in the other three competitions as well.

A little late on this but as I always say "better late than never".

Quotes:

Portland Timbers Quotes

Head Coach John Spencer
General thoughts on the game:

"We dominated for a long period of time in the second half. The difference between the first half and the second half was that we started to believe in ourselves.

Fernando Torres scored twice and set up two goals to inspire Chelsea onto a 5-2 win over Leicester in an FA Cup quarter final at Stamford Bridge yesterday. The win not only extended Di Matteo's unbeaten record, but more importantly, restored confidence to Chelsea's record signing.

Despite the calm celebrations displayed by the Spaniard, you could literally see the relief on his face.

Arsene Wenger has rubbished suggestions that his side's terrific recent form is aimed at finishing above Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League standings, insisting that it was only a matter of time that his players displayed their true potential.

The Gunners have been sensational in the league over the course of the last few weeks, winning five in a row and outscoring opponents 18 goals to six during that stretch.

The Portland Timbers have been very active in the off season. Any regular reader here or in any of the other Timbers focused communities can tell you that. Despite what EA would have us believe, the depth the Timbers have added is staggering. Where last year there was a clear first team player for each and every spot, this year it feels like every position is up for grabs between players of equal quality.

We posted this not only because it's another "Dos a cero" against Mexico (hey, even at the youth level we'll take it), but for the complete performance that the Baby Nats put in against our CONCACAF rivals.
There's a mentality that is spreading in this U.S. program.

There seems to be a real belief in Palembang that this year could see them lifting their first title since 2007/2008 though they were pushed all the way yesterday by Mitra Kukar, leading 3-0 just to cling on 4-3. The fans seem to believe as the crowd figures show.
Yesterday's victory puts them three points clear at the top of the ISL though 2nd placed Persipura have two games in hand.

Another chapter of the Lionel Messi legacy was last night etched into history. The mercurial Argentine became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League match, helping Barcelona to a 7-1 second leg victory over a less than inspired Leverkusen side. While Arsenal put on a master class in how to over-turn a first leg deficit, Leverkusen showed us exactly how you do not go about it.

Through Ryu's Lens - Arsenal vs. Milan, The Comeback That Could Have Been

After winning 4-0 at the San Siro in the first leg, AC Milan thought they would stroll right into the Champions League quarterfinals. Arsenal had other ideas, scoring 3 goals in the first half at the Emirates.

The ‘belief' factor by KJ Recently, I've been analysing Arsenal's mental qualities and presenting the possibility of a new ‘Invincibles' under Wenger. Although it's very unlikely, it's still a great possibility to have these types of characters on the field, in the dressing room, on the training ground.

Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain admits that he pays a lot of attention to the end product of his performances rather than simply taking the satisfaction from making an intangible contribution on the field.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored four times in all competitions this season while also adding a famous assist for Robin van Persie's goal against Manchester United earlier this year.