Morning all, hopefully you were lucky in the Cup. FP wasn't - he drew Daffodil in the sweepstakes, which turned to be about as effective as a daffodil.
While the Glory boys will be training pretty hard for the remainder of the week, there aren't any scheduled media pressers until Thursday, so either FP will scrape the bottom of the barrel or he'll just make up stuff. Click to continue reading...

Bruce Arena ... did he get out-coached?

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Alternate headline: Where Galaxy-Chivas USA, Captain Ramius and bids for good journalism converge

There's a great moment in Hunt for Red October that always resonates in my life.

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! Article Start >Who sang Twilight Cafe in 1981? Ah, hang on, not that sort of 'bits and pieces'. No indeed, just some bits and pieces about Newcastle United from the last few days that haven't managed to get their own article. Much has been said of Hughton's now permanent role as manager for the rest [. Click to continue reading...

"...numerous systems emerged after Rafa's. Wenger had his own but couldn't take it beyond four games, Allardyce had his own which was successful only in bits and pieces. The mere legacy of the Rafa 0-0 draw is what makes Liverpool and Rafa very special."Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â A Retired Test-cricketer.

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- Visit also the combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If you're interested in constantly-updated news re anything QPR-related (not infrequently not found on other QPR sites)and also QPR nostalgia, the QPR Report Messageboard has both - along with assorted eclectic non-QPR football material. Click to continue reading...

So, bits and pieces of this past weekend are slowly coming back to me, mainly as a result of going through my pictures, the best of which have been uploaded to my Facebook page.But here are some thoughts:

I stayed in the West Wing at MGM Grand. It was smaller than their usual rooms, but much more interestingly decorated.

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Well here we are. It's almost Football O'Clock.

As per usual Arsene spoke to the media yesterday so there are bits and pieces from that to get through. More up to date team news sees us without Eduardo, as expected, Carlos Vela, as expected due to his travel arrangements, Nicklas Bendtner who picked up an injury in training and Gael Clichy who will be replaced by Kieran Gibbs.

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Hullo there, happy Friday to you. This week appears to have gone by a bit quicker than I had thought it would. Or than I thought it was going when I stopped to think about it. Which is good.

A few bits and pieces around so we'll crack on. England U21 boss Stuart Pearce has played down reports that Arsene Wenger and him had a massive falling out over Theo Walcott.

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There is an article in the generally appalling Daily Mail on who owns football. They give a list of each EPL club and then look at the money that person has. There are some rather amusing bits and pieces in there as with what they say when they get to West Iceland United where it [...] Click to continue reading...

Israel have produced wonderful midfielders over the years...Avi Cohen, Ronnie Rosenthal, Eyal Berkovic and Yossi Benayoun. After four matches and three goals for Bolton, you can add Tamir Cohen onto that list.
Tamir Cohen joined Bolton in January 2008 for a mere fee of £37,000 from Maccabi Netanya. Click to continue reading...

Just got this in my email. Raymond Domenech critics, I think you will approve:

The national coach, after the draw in Serbia did not speak about the game in his interview but he spoke about his life and said : "I just want to thank all the people who are supporting us.

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Just a few bits and pieces tonight. I've gotten a couple thoughts on some club's playoff chances along with some info on Blanco's future in the Windy City and some thoughts on an interesting interview with Peter Wilt.

First up the playoff talk. Most of you know I mention Sportsclubstats.com when I talk about playoff chances for each club.

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While we sit around all day and wait for bits and pieces of the US Men's National team roster to be released today, this should tide us over until the final roster names are out there at 4pm ET today.

Here in an interesting and kind of funny interview with LA Galaxy star Landon Donovan.

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Coming home after a long absence isn't always easy. Tougher still when the weight of thousands of supporters' expectations are riding on your shoulders. When Dwayne De Rosario signed with Toronto FC this past off-season, the club could claim that it had its first true star - no offence Andrea Lombardo. Click to continue reading...

As I swallow the last bits and pieces of vomit stuck in the back of my throat from the W Connection game, and the subsequent silence from the Austrian Overlords, I think I am ready to get back to work!

Tomorrow.

So until then, enjoy this little bit of Metro Memories . . . Youri's first goal as a Metrostar.

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Here are the latest European Tranfews News stories including Chelsea signing Russian star Yuri Zhirkov, and AC Milan target Real Madrid's Huntelaar and Sevilla's Luis Fabiano.

Chelsea signs Zhirkov - Chelsea have confirmed they have completed the signing of Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow on a three-year contract.

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After my little rant the other day about lack of information coming from clubs fair play to Albirex Niigata who do at least produce a double sided photo copied team sheet listing both squads as well as gentle reminders about their website and merchandise available on match days.
Last season Geylang United used to do a folded colour match programme featuring squads plus other bits and pieces. Click to continue reading...

This week and this week only, we're back to visuals. What are the photos? Non-British club crests. These are bits and pieces from club crests from leagues around the world. I give you the photo, you see if you can identify the club. Leave guesses in the comments. Answers tomorrow. Crest 1 [. Click to continue reading...

Happy Friday to you. Some bits and pieces to get through so let's get through them, these bits and pieces that must be got through.

Where to start? Ok, Emmanuel Adebayor. Arsene Wenger has spoken to French TV about the future of the Togonian and says:

If he does not want to stay, he will leave but I think that he will be still at Arsenal this season.

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Let's go back to the beginning.

We critics always talk about artists as the sum of their parts, how well they created their own style out of their influences. When you see this clip of I Want You Back, you hear why Michael Jackson could become anything other than a megastar.

I listened to this about five times yesterday, and finally hit upon the reason.

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So it's official. The new Tottenham kits have been unveiled, the home shirt being white with urine-like streaks of yellow across the chest. The away shirts are relatively inoffensive, but if the home kit were a player it would be David Bentley – trying too hard to look flash, when keeping it simple would do the trick.

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So it's official. The new Tottenham kits have been unveiled, the home shirt being white with urine-like streaks of yellow across the chest. The away shirts are relatively inoffensive, but if the home kit were a player it would be David Bentley – trying too hard to look flash, when keeping it simple would do the trick.

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So it's official. The new Tottenham kits have been unveiled, the home shirt being white with urine-like streaks of yellow across the chest. The away shirts are relatively inoffensive, but if the home kit were a player it would be David Bentley – trying too hard to look flash, when keeping it simple would do the trick.

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Thai Port aren't the biggest name in Thai football. Far from it. But from what I saw the other day they are a model clubs certainly in Singapore and Indonesia should look at.
Before the game we went to the club shop. As I type this I realise that this is the first club shop I have been t in my time covering football in the region. Click to continue reading...

Part II of this odyssey takes you to the realms of middle-earth, also known in modern times as the middle-field, or simply, midfield. The concept of the midfield here has been tweaked ever so slightly to consider only the positions in the centre of the park. The wings were covered in chapter one of this epic trilogy, so kindly proceed here to read it in case you haven't.

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Morning all,

A few bits and pieces to be going on with this Sunday morning. In which I'm not hungover at all. Oh no. Not one bit.

Now, you know the way everyone, and by everyone I actually mean everyone in the whole entire world, even people who don't care about Arsenal or know about Arsenal or even know what football is, wants Arsene Wenger to buy more experienced players?

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Hello there,

as we creep ever closer to the end of the Interlull there are a few bits and pieces to be going on with.

Amaury Bischoff is a signing that baffled, perplexed and bemused most Arsenal fans. He has barely kicked a professional ball in anger but says he's eager to repay the faith shown in him by Arsene Wenger.

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It was a hectic weekend here in Erie, but one that I wouldn't mind living again. I posted early last week that I'd be taking a brief leave of absence to get situated at college, which is what I've been doing for the past few days.
Clearly I've missed a lot in the soccer world with the transfer deadline having come and gone and a whole round of fixtures played. Click to continue reading...

This weekend was certainly packed with really exciting games and I am here to offer my thoughts on the ones that I watched.
The Blackburn/Everton game was certainly the most exciting of the weekend in my opinion. Blackburn looked very strong in the first half and Everton was lucky not to have given up more than one goal. Click to continue reading...

Morning morning, from a despicably rainy Dublin.

Some bits and pieces to go on with this morning, starting with the promotion of Jack Wilshere from number 55 to number 19 for the season ahead. It shows that what the boss said yesterday was true, it's about what he's doing on the pitch and with 7 subs allowed this season he's got a good chance of being involved from time to time.

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If you're like me, then you not only love sports, but the business of sports. As we head toward the Beijing Olympics, this weeks' Economist has a fascinating section on sports business.
I'll be plucking bits and pieces from this section over the next week or so but to start, I'll share the latest chart to make you all wish you'd taken up golf as a kid - but aside from that, it also lists the other 10 highest earners in sport. Click to continue reading...

Morning all,

happy Sunday to you all. A 1-0 defeat to Juventus yesterday in the Emirates Cup made it unlikely that we'll retain this most prestigious pieces of silverware, unless we spank Real Madrid today.

The Trezeguet goal was miles offside, even a blind man who didn't know the offside rule would have given it.

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By: Ko Po Hui
Special to Soccer City FC
Up to today I still have friends, colleagues come up to me and lamented,"Why isn't there any local football news on the paper?"
I'm not sure if scenario like this occurred in other places as well, but as a matter of fact Singaporeans football fans does have this problem – they don't seems get enough information from where they supposed to – the mainstream media. Click to continue reading...

Morning all,

hope you're fine and dandy this Sunday morning. Some bits and pieces to get through and there's a lot of chaff amongst the wheat today.

The Mail is reporting Newcastle have made a bid for Philippe Senderos but the whole article is so utterly rubbish I'm not linking to it.

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Brett Emerton, 29, has signed for Blackburn for four more years. And Josip Skoko, 32, has gone back to play in Croatia for Hadjuk Split.
Fair enough. But don't come back to the A-League Emo and Josip after these contracts run out. You'll be too old, too slow.
Emo has talked about playing in Sydney while he still has something left. Click to continue reading...