Here we are, just a week after Martin said his goodbyes, and now I will be saying goodbye too. This will be my last post here at Arsenal Offside.

I almost don't know what to say. I'm not very good with goodbyes, so I'll try to keep things short. I basically came to this blog like the rest of you, as a fan and a frequent contributor to the comments section.

Here's, the FFF-produced video for the French women's national team:
Yikes. I mean, parts of it are cute, I guess. But not so much the parts where individual members of the team lip sync.
Members of the national team also posed nude in 2009, for an FFF campaign with the lovely slogan, "Do we have to show up like this, in order for you to come see us play?

It's only 2 weeks until the beginning of the Fantasy Premier League, and again tension rises as it gets more and more imminent to choose the players you want to have in your team. FPLBlog will be here once again to give you the best tips, so that you choose the best possible team for this years fantasy soccer.

GEYLANG UNITED 13-1 REVOLUTION FC (MALAYSIA) on 9th Jan 2011
Geylang Utd beat Revolution FC from Malaysia 13-1 in friendly fixture at the Bedok Stadium.
By the first half of the game, the Eagles were already 7-0 up against the amateur outfit from the other side of the Causeway.
With a comfortable margin, Geylang altered much of their original first XI in the second half to wrap the game with six more goals with two from a trialist known as "Mikey" (Mihailo Dutina - pictured above "floating in the air") with the visitors pulled one consolation along the process.

RedRants wants to know your opinion on the possible introduction of a 'Like / Dislike' function in the comments boxes. Thanks. View This Pollsurvey software Please refrain from making comments bcause the post will be deleted in about 24hrs. "Vote: Like or Dislike" was originally published at Red Rants - Manchester United Blog.

As the blog's resident Gooner, I figured it was my moral obligation to weigh in on the move of Clichy to Manchester City over the weekend. As is usually the case with Arsenal over the last five or six seasons, my feelings on the topic are complex. Here's some thinking on as many aspects of the move as I can think of: Arsenal's Loss of Clichy - Of the people who were SUPPOSED to be first

Omar Salgado was the surprise number 1 pick yesterday. (photo vis MLS)

Yesterday was an absolute crazy day. The SuperDraft came and went in a hurry too. I wanted to first of all thank those who joined me here for the live blog. I'm sorry I was only able to keep it going for the first two rounds and really the second round was a bit light on my part.

As we were awaiting confirmation last night of Alex McLeish's appointment at Villa Park, the Birmingham Mail's Mat Kendrick spoke with theScore's Brendan Dunlop and Kristian Jack of The Footy Show podcast to share his reaction to events over the past week or so.

It's an interesting insight so I've borrowed a little under five minutes from the final 16 minutes or so of the podcast which featured the interview with the man from the Mail.

Before we start this is just what I am hearing from a number of sources and might not be 100% true.

I'll be live blogging today from the MOA Field where the 2011 MN State High School Soccer Tournament is taking place. Check out the Live Blog and join in on the discussion. Click Here

We've been told that U.S. WNT goalkeeper Hope Solo and actress Jennifer Carpenter, most known for her critically acclaimed role as Debra Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter, bear a remarkable resemblance to each other.
We've got to admit, we see it.
Hope tells the WNT Blog that more than a few people have made the comparison to her and while she's not so sure, she also can see how some might think it true.

Former West Ham player, Demba Ba has been filmed at St James's Park while in Tyneside to have a medical for Newcastle United. As we published on this 'blog on June 11th the chief football writer of the Sunday Mirror, Paul Smith, alleged after a converstion with Derek Llambias that the player had "agreed terms [.

Only a fool would tell Ferguson how to do his job, but sometimes you have to voice your concerns and the news that United are being strongly linked to Joey Barton will surely have angered many United fans. Free signing or not, this blog doesn't want to see Barton pulling on a Manchester United shirt under any circumstances.

The longest running transfer saga of the summer has finally come to an end as Barcelona have signed Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal.

We broke the story earlier in the week on our Arsenal blog, and it looks like all the fine details in the agreement have been finalized. The deal is worth €40m which includes €29 + €6 variables + €5 from Fabregas in bonuses he will not receive.

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)
The home ground of Hougang United - Hougang Stadium
SINGAPORE, 24 June 2011: Mr Winston Lee, Chief Executive Officer of S.League said: "FAS has noted the contents of the complaint letter which we received earlier this morning and we believe that it is identical to the version sent out to the press yesterday.

Ever since I started calculating shot to goal ratios as well as conversion and accuracy ratios of teams' offensive (and defensive) production, I've been concerned that these ratios do not tell the full story of what happens on the field. Conversion, you may remember, is the ratio of goals to shots on target - that is, how many of the high quality chances teams generated actually resulted in goals: how good teams are at finishing.

As you may know reading this blog, I've been digging through some of the Opta/Guardian Chalkboards data on shot and goal creation in the Premiership and I finally had the time to take a quick look at some of the season totals to update the numbers I reported at the half-season mark.
A quick caveat: the numbers are subject to the definitions of match situations used by Opta/Guardian Chalkboards, of course.

Not every supporters group has it as good as the Timbers Army

This past Saturday the New England Revolution played against the Chicago Fire at home. Naturally, as is the custom with all MLS teams, the supporters went to their respective positions and began doing what supporters do best: singing, chanting, screaming, being passionate.

Everton (in blue) took the lead first in the game through Calum Dyson's header.
The fact remain is playing this kind of three-team group round-robin sort of group fixture is NEVER TO LOSE and you are guarantee to be SAFE to the next stage.
With that in mind, the NFA U16 did just that by ensuring two draw results against Flamengo and Everton to progress to the next phrase of 23rd Canon Lion City Cup in the expense of the Merseysiders.

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)
Johan Gouttefangeas - the founding chairman of Etoile steps down (file picture)
SINGAPORE, 24 June 2011: Mr Zainudin Nordin, President of Football Association of Singapore said: "We would like to express our appreciation to Mr Johan Gouttefangeas for his contributions to Singapore football.

Obviously I've been strongly hinting at this opinion in my blogs throughout the summer, so I'll try not to restate everything I've already written. But I do have a few more points to make, and I want to sum up why I feel Arsenal needs a new manager. And the more I think about it, the more I feel that it's not even a close call either.

Image Source: Misadventures Around The World blog.

And just when you thought the sight of Gerard Pique and Shakira wearing cowboy hats at a rodeo in Jackson Hole, Mississippi couldn't get any better, we found a semi-invasive video to go along with it. Ya know, for added affect.

Happy Friday Kickettes!

En el blog de Fernando Palomo, de ESPN, se reproducen unas frases que el español dijo en una entrevista telefónica realizada por la cadena televisiva. Allí habla sobre lo inconveniente que resultaría llegar a El Salvador en estos días para ver al equipo y la estructura de la federación. "La Copa Centroamericana es un torneo [.

You may not know that I am currently enjoying some time in the North of Spain. Finding an Internet connection at this time is a small miracle, but with SPANISH CUP results in & SFS Blog readers in mind, here is a quick summary of tonights results. Please excuse me if the post is not as detailed as it is normally.

It is unclear at this time but rumors are circulating in the greater-Blackpool metropolitan area that rather than using his time-tested methods for inspiring his team at halftime (see dryer, hair and yelling...lots) Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson used yesterday's blog post on this very site to inspire his charges.

Yesterday I was full of rage combined with sadness. I believe I've never been so disappointed after a Wolves game. I was actually thinking about to shut my blog down and stop to report about the team that keeps letting me and all their supporters down, time after time again. A couple of more games [.

Finally managed to find a team photo of Spanish Football Club VALENCIA CF. There are many Valencia fans throughout the global & habitual readers of Spanish Football Sports Blog that may enjoy the image & thus satisfy a few emails I have been getting requesting such image. Below is the Valencia starting 11 team photo in yesterdays Champions League match against Schalke 04.

Los que siguen el blog desde hace algún tiempo sabrán que soy un enamorado de las categorías inferiores de Alemania, de las cuales siempre he dicho y sigo reafirmándome en que son para mí las mejores de toda Europa en la actualidad, por delante de España, Francia o Inglaterra. Hemos hablado de muchos delanteros, opciones de cara a una selección alemana que solo ha visto en Thomas Müller la renovación de la punta de ataque, donde siguen anotando goles jugadores ya tan clásicos en éstas convocatorias como Miroslav Klose o Lukas Podolski.

Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba spoke to ESPN after the game.
KTBFFH
Follow me and my blog on Twitter - http://bit.ly/gP9Dwt
Follow the blog on Facebook - http://on.fb.me/i5OTbj
Grab my RSS Feed - http://bit.ly/ijgiIT
Sign up to my email updates - http://bit.

Amy LePeilbet eyes her options
The U.S. WNT had the afternoon off from training, but our talented in-house videographer/photographer Julie got some good images from yesterday's training that we'd like to share with you. What do you think of the new training gear? The WNT Blog thinks it's pretty sweet.

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)

• FAS Disciplinary Committee to convene on Thursday, 16 June 2011

SINGAPORE, 06 JUNE 2011: The FAS Disciplinary Committee will adjourn to Thursday, 16 June 2011 at 7.00pm (Jalan Besar Stadium conference room) with regards to the incident at the Great Eastern – YEO'S S.

It's the Matildas, Socceroos and Harry Kewell and a big welcome to guest Nearpost presenter Nick Amies.
We're streamed live 6.30 aest www.2xxfm.org or get the poddie on itunes or here on the blog.

I think alot of us are sitting here waiting as the days go by for Chelsea to pull their fingers out and sort out the manager sooner rather than later. We are seeing the likes of United, Liverpool and City making moves in the transfer market and as some of you have said on my blog "we are getting left behind!

I know. I missed a few things.
Mostly the launch of the Blizzard, what that meant for football blogging and whether it heralded a new page in football journalism, which I hope to talk about in the coming days.
As I hope you've been aware, I've been writing daily posts for The Score's Footy Blog, which has been an incredibly useful discipline.

NFA U15 4-3 NEWCASTLE UNITED
Epic finish till the end of the 23rd Canon Lion City Cup opener that saw the match drawn by yours truly had the NFA U15 came from the jaws of defeat to see them beat the replacement side Newcastle United 4-3.
The epic finishing by Faridzuan Faud rocked the JBSBut the Baby Cubs got to watch their backline that was caught flat to allow baby Magpies to score in the first place.

On this episode, Amanda, Kirsten, and Megan finally have something positive to talk about with regard to the USMNT. The cover several talking points from their Gold Cup quarterfinal win against Jamaica, including weddings, dives, Jozy's hammy, and more. They interview Tanya who, along with traveling US Soccer Prarie and and Kaela, is putting together a collaboration of stories from female US Soccer fan all across the country.

The author (inexplicably wearing a D.C. United t-shirt) and younger brother, Daniel.

Regular readers of my weekly Tuesday soccer column and this blog know that both have been on hold for a couple of weeks now as I deal with family issues, specifically the unexpected death of my younger brother and last surviving sibling.

One negative thing for me and this is only purely based on speculation for me is the future of Danny Sturridge at Chelsea. Sturridge like the rest of the players at Chelsea will meet with AVB and have his chance to impress.
If as expected, AVB decided to line up in our 4-3-3 formation with just the one striker through the middle then we HAVE TO believe that Fernando Torres will be the main striker, with possibly Didier Drogba playing off of him.

I would like to start by addressing those who used to comment in the old comments section of the blog but are reluctant for a reason or another to join the discussion in ...

The new season is here and we kick off our campaign against Newcastle at St James' Park. Kick off is 5.30pm and we'll post team news as soon as we have it. Get live text commentary right here from the first whistle to the last.

Live blog is 100% free to follow on your computer or mobile device.