Liverpool will attempt to bring talented Barcelona youngster Cristian Tello to Anfield as part of any deal that takes goalkeeper Pepe Reina to the Spanish champions. Barca want to bring 30-year-old Reina to Camp Nou to replace Victor Valdes, who is expected to leave the club this summer. Reds boss Brendan Rodgers is keen to [.
The Hugo Lloris issue is an unwelcome distraction at the moment and while it's tempting to
ignore it, the stories as to who is our number one just won't go away.
Over the weekend, Brad Friedel stirred those reports as he insisted that he remained AVB's first
choice.
"The fact of the matter is, right now, we have four quality goalkeepers at the football
club.
There was hilarity on the Real Madrid bench at the weekend when left-back Fabio Coentrao kitted out in his sub's gear took his seat. Everyone on the bench apart from Coentrao seemed to know that he hadn't been named as a sub. Those who were legitimately warming the bench, including Iker Casillas and [.
Given his game-changing substitute appearance, there's no doubting Tom Huddlestone's commitment to the Tottenham cause. But he did provide a comedy moment when TV cameras caught him joining Manchester City fans in a rendition of Blue Moon from the comfort of the Spurs bench. It is a catchy tune. This follows hot on the heels [.
Ex-Chelsea player Enrique De Lucas has caused a bit of a stir after TV footage showed him enjoying a beer on the substitutes bench. De Lucas enjoyed his beverage ahead Celta Vigo's 4-1 defeat to Sevilla last weekend, a match in which he came on as a 75th minute sub. But it his pre-match routine [...]
Giantkillers Oldham's FA Cup adventure ended in a 3-1 defeat at Everton. The Latics faced an uphill battle from the moment Kevin Mirallas gave the Toffees an early lead. Former Everton player Jose Baxter almost levelled, but his curled effort hit the inside of Tim Howard's post and bounced out. Goals from Leighton Baines and [.
Those dangers being that the advice you offer to the players you're analysing is probably also applicable to you. After Match of the Day 2 guest Michael Owen spoke about the ease of coming off the bench to score goals, Alan Hansen decided to subject Owen and fellow pundit Jason Roberts' current scoring record to [.
If you weren't aware that Edgar Davids has rejoined English football, your attention will certainly be drawn to it now. The former Holland international and current Barnet FC player-manager washappilychatting away on Goals on Sunday yesterday morning when he accidentally turned the air blue. Detailing his bemused response to recently finding himself on the bench [.
The fallout from the racism that overshadowed England U21′s victory in Serbia this week continues after the Serbian FA released an inflammatory video on their official YouTube account. The video is entitled: "Danny Rose is lying to whom?" It's accompanied by a lengthy spiel, which digs further into the Serbian position that there was no [.
Roberto Mancini has advised fellow Premier League managers to "shut up" after a touchline squabble with Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert. The pair clashed over a tackle on City's Gareth Barry by Villa youngster Joe Bennett. The prompted Mancini to observe: "There are some managers it is better to shut up.
Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle told a press conference that the squad has been "taking the piss out of" James McClean after his controversial Twitter activity following Friday's win over Kazakhstan. Sunderland star McClean took to the social networking site to vent his frustration at being left on the bench, but Doyle says there [.
West Ham United 3-0 Fulham Premier League 1st September 2012
Geordie boys Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan were reunited against Fulham on Saturday, with the
Hammers' new signing Carroll providing Sam Allardyce's hooftastic side with a big old-fashioned
battering ram up front.
There have been many rumours this morning saying that Lukas Podolski may be leaving Arsenal in the summer as he seems to be frozen out of the first team, despite scoring in his last appearance against Bayern Munich, but the German international has now spoken out to say he is happy to wait for Wenger to choose when to play him.
The word around the web this morning is that Arsene Wenger is going to freshen up the Arsenal starting XI today to try and galvanise a side that is getting tired by playing two games every week. Wenger is set to make four changes from the team that drew at Everton and the most interesting news is that Gervinho is going to revert back to being the centre-forward to give Olivier Giroud a rest.
The Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker returned from his bout of the flu just in time to play his part in countering West Ham's aeriel superiority on Saturday, and he admits that it was a tough game and even more so after West Ham scored the opening goal against the run of play.
Poor Cesc: torn between the love for his adopted family in London and his birth family
in Catalonia, he decided last summer to return to his original home, only to find himself not
fitting in properly there anymore.
Poor Cesc: torn between the love for his adopted family in London and his birth family
in Catalonia, he decided last summer to return to his original home, only to find himself not
fitting in properly there anymore.
Injuries form a brutal reality of football that every player hopes to avoid as much as possible
but for Arsenal's Abou Diaby, a background plagued by injuries is now only powering a redemption
mission.
The 26-year old Diaby has featured minimally for the Gunners over the last two seasons and
recently admitted that an extended period on the sidelines sometimes led him to the shocking lows
of depression.
Liverpool defender Jose Enrique insists he is ready to fight for his place in Brendan Rodgers
plans.
Enrique was recalled to the starting XI for last weekend's defeat to Arsenal after being named on
the bench for the draw with Manchester City.
Rodgers has also used Stewart Downing at left-back this season and Enrique is happy with the extra
competition for places at Anfield.
I fully expect Andrei Arshavin to make a decision on his future today and it is expected that he
will be returning to Russia with either Dynamo Moscow or CSKA Moscow being his expected
destination. Just like the January transfer window when Arshavin went to Zenit at the last-minute,
today is the deadline day for [.
Allen performed well in midfield...
Image: mirror.co.ukLiverpool lined up against Arsenal on Sunday with their two front men Fabio
Borini and Luis Suarez, after the loaning out of Carroll on deadline day, these two men have the
weight of the world on their shoulders as they are Liverpool's front line until January and they
need to score goals.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that midfielder Jack Wilshere is ready to return to
playing within the next month or so.
Wilshere, 20, has not been in action since suffering a pre-season injury last year and his
absence leaves a void in the Gunners' midfield, particularly after the departure of Alex Song to
Barcelona earlier this summer.
Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2 (Podolski 31, Cazorla 68) (Premiership)
There was a moment in today's game where you sensed that something had changed with this Arsenal
side. Lukas Podolski had just put us into the lead after an electric break involving Santi Cazorla,
but up until then the match had been fairly even, so a response was expected.
Wayne Rooney's wife Coleen took to Twitter to express her surprise that her hubby didn't start last night's match against Real Madrid. Rooney was left on the bench for the Champions League match, with Coleen tweeting: "Can't believe @WayneRooney isn't starting tonight!!!" Some of today's newspapers are pondering whether the selection decision spells the end [.
After leaving new permanent signing Emmanuel Adebayor on the bench for the first two games of
the season, the press are suggestion that Andre Villas-Boas is ready to trust the Togolese with
leading the line at Reading, providing he is satisfied with the player's fitness.
After weeks and weeks of wrangling over personal terms, it seemed surprising for many supporters
to see Ade starting on the bench against West Brom and Norwich but it seems that he may simply not
have been fit enough.
In League One this weekend a goalkeeping stalwart kicked a ball directly to an opponent – an
error which resulted in a goal, faced the first public criticism of his long standing spell between
the sticks and was dispatched to the bench. I am, of course, talking about Carlisle United's Adam
Collin, whose unbroken run in the Cumbrians goal ended at 149 appearances in this week's JPT clash
with Preston North End.
The Timbers held a short, early practice today before flying to Colorado this afternoon ahead of
tomorrow's game against the Rapids. Practice was closed after a brief warm up as the travel squad
broke off to prepare for the game while the rest of the team played a game of 5v5.
Trialist Pablo Di Fiori and practice player Cam Vickers were the only non-roster players with
the team today.
Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio substituted keeper Wes Foderingham having watched the calamity
keeper make several silly errors during Swindon's 4-0 loss to table topper Tranmere at the
week-end, Foderingham's replacement also let in two but they hadn't a third keeper on the bench I
guess.
Less than a week after literally kicking his players up the backside and pulling off the upset
of the Capital One Cup second round with a 4-3 extra-time win over Stoke, Paolo Di Canio and
Swindon Town returned to League One player and lost 4-1 to Preston North End. Preston scored twice
in the first 10 minutes, with the first goal coming off a goalkeeper error, prompting Di Canio to
take 21-year-old goalkeeper Wes Foderingham off in just the 21st minute.
Was it a shot or pass? For Daniel Paladini, the only thing that mattered was that he was able to
put it into the net.
The midfielder scored what ended up being the game-winner in the 19th minute as the Chicago Fire
defeated the Houston Dynamo 3-1 in front of a crowd of 17,007 at Toyota Park.
The Montreal Impact took a 1-0 lead on the Columbus Crew in their important Eastern Conference
clash on Saturday, but in a scene that Crew fans have become all too familiar with in recent weeks,
Federico Higuain drove the Columbus attack to a victory.
Emilio Renteria headed home a Higuain cross in second-half stoppage time to lift the Crew to a
2-1 victory at Crew Stadium on Saturday night.
There was nothing on the line for the New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union when they
squared off at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night, and it is probably a good thing.
Two teams playing out the string put together a forgettable 90 minutes of soccer and wound up
settling for a 0-0 draw.
Now that the push to the playoffs that never was is finally over, the Philadelphia Union (1.04
PPG) face a team they have actually performed better than this season, the New England Revolution
(0.
Lots of top footballers don't make very good subs. That's true in Lionel Messi's case, but in his instance it's because he's usually captured by TV cameras in compromising positions. That was certainly true during last night's defeat to Bayern Munich, just as it was during Barca's match against PSG. Via 101GG
Southampton manager Nigel Adkins is currently playing a game of pin the rat-tail on your first-choice keeper. And the buck has currently stopped with young Argentine Paulo Gazzaniga. Parents along the south coast will be hoping that Gazzaniga is back on the bench before the craze catches on.
Bendtner and Juventus are not on the same page. by TS
Nicklas Bendtner and Juventus are a match made in heaven. Just kidding. It's rare that a club decides to loan out a player then criticise themselves for doing so. It's actually unheard of to loan a player, pay his extra ordinarily high wages then make him sit him on the bench.
Here's the official announcement, the Rapids get a conditional draft pick from Chicago in exchange
for Wells Thompson.
There's a good deal of consternation in the on-line Rapids fanbase about wells asking to be traded
to find playing time, but it doesn't bother me. Look at what's happened this season:
*Wells was on pace for 727 minutes this year, his lowest season total of his career.
There was a time not too long ago when the U.S. national team enjoyed a wealth of midfield
options and a lack of forwards. As the team heads into Tuesday's must-win World Cup qualifier, the
Americans are faced with the opposite problem.
Injuries to Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan have exposed a lack of midfield depth and left
Jurgen Klinsmann's team lacking attacking punch and stability.
Sunderland star James McClean is lucky his international career before it's really started,
according to Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni. The 23-year-old took to Twitter to
vent his anger at being left on the bench during Ireland's 2-1 win over Kazakhstan on Friday
evening. He claimed the decision not to use him was a [.
Between the weird scheduling of the match on a Thursday night, the questionable officiating,
depleted rosters, and the rather languid play, last night's match between the Houston Dynamo and
Real Salt Lake took the "beautiful" out of the beautiful game. Until the final seconds of the
match, it appeared that the score would stay at 0-0 and the Dynamo would have to wait until
September 29th to finally pick up their first MLS home win since August 3rd, but then Macoumba
Kandji was fouled in the box and Colin Clark converted giving the Dynamo a 1-0 win and breaking
their 4 match streak of not winning an MLS match.
