Gary Cahill made his long awaited debut for Chelsea against United last Sunday and I thought he did well and looked calm and composed. OK there is an argument that he was part of a defence that conceded three goals but two of them were penalties and you he is in no way at fault for the Hernandez header.

1. It's a strange one to take, I think if you had asked me before hand I would have said that it was important Chelsea didn't lose the game. Saying that, to play well for the first ten minutes of the second half and find ourselves 3-0 up was a bonus!. To throw it all away is tough to take.
2.

It seems the Tories simply can't get involved with altering contracts...it would be utterly unthinkable for then to intervene in RBS boss Stephen Hester's bonus. This is definitely a tricky one but the bottom line is that that bank is just not performing.
The interesting point for me is that whilst the Conservatives hold contracts in the financial services sacred they just take it as a given they can totally rip-up the contracts of all those public sector workers and their pensions agreementsSent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, is getting ready to kick Peyton Manning to the curb. It's obvious to anyone who has been paying attention. And while I don't have a problem with that, I do have a problem with the way Irsay is handling it.

Instead of giving Manning and heart-felt send off, Irsay is instead running Manning's name through the mud.

Don't forget to let the vid play until you see the bonus Mario Balotelli abs at 14:26.

Would you would live happily ever after if you could have Gareth Bale's heaving, sweaty abdominal muscles in your line of sight for just a few seconds? Pinky swear?

Well, thanks to our honorary intern and supreme short tent stalker, Blake, now you can.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp set-up a secret offshore 'bung' account named after his pet dog, a court heard yesterday. Redknapp was said to have received "bungs or offshore bonuses" from former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric during his time at Fratton Park. The payments were allegedly received into a bank account in Monaco.

The Home Internationals Soccer Tournament, 1946-84, A Complete Record by Gary Watton is a match-by-match record of this annual tournament, once played amongst the four national teams of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Each match gets its own page and the details include lineup (interestingly including which club the player played for at the time, a great touch), scorers, and a brief summary to give it context.

Everything about Samir Nasri's look here screams: "TA BOUCHE! I'm worth £4million more than you!" (SNAP to the Maybelline Mascara ads) but even Liverpool's Jordan Henderson must've shrugged it off in their slim 1-0 victory over Man City last night.

Arsene Wenger thinks that the FA Cup is a very minor competition in the footballing calendar, and says that it is "compulsory" for Arsenal to reach the Champions League every year rather than win the world's most famous cup competition. "The FA Cup is something that is for enjoyment. It is a bonus that we [.

Arsene Wenger thinks that the FA Cup is a very minor competition in the footballing calendar, and says that it is "compulsory" for Arsenal to reach the Champions League every year rather than win the world's most famous cup competition. "The FA Cup is something that is for enjoyment. It is a bonus that we [.

A tale of absent friends made this cup tie somewhat less of an occasion than it could otherwise have been. We knew that Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote wouldn't feature in this game, but when Blackburn lined up without Yakubu and Samba that was a bit of a bonus. Also missing was Paul Clement, [...]

If there's a better way to celebrate your birthday than with a trip to Cowdenbeath's Central Park then I'm not sure what it is.
Obviously seeing your team winning on said trip would be something of a bonus but that's in the hands of Pat Fenlon and his less than merry band. Drink shall either dull the pain or intensify the joy.

The last post I wrote about featured a Columbus Crew Jeff Cunningham jersey, and it got me searching for old Crew uniforms for a comparison. This BigSoccer thread is the mother load, with plenty from other teams thrown in as well. I've got to say, the Crew have had some pretty nice uniforms in their time.

Martinez and Dalglish agree – there's more to Liverpool than Suarez

THE FESTIVE fixture list continues for Liverpool tomorrow night at the DW Stadium when Kenny Dalglish's side take on Roberto Martinez's Wigan Athletic. Kenny has almost a full-strength squad at his disposal but there won't be a return – for now at least – for Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool striker Andy Carroll to pick up £150,000 loyalty bonus report

Despite making just 13 starts and scoring only four goals since his £35 million arrival from Newcastle in January, the 22-year-old is set to receive a cash injection from the Reds

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-15 14:22:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Last January Liverpool paid 35 million pounds to Newcastle for striker Andy Carroll and 13 starts later that its not looking like the greatest purchase ever. Despite his struggles Carroll is set pocket £150k bonus from Liverpool, according to the Daily Mail. Not bad for a guy who has only scored four times for the reds.

Image via twitter.

This photograph does not meet Kickette quality control standards. However, we examined it thoroughly and decided that posting it would fulfill certain other 'personal' requirements for our readership, with the potential bonus of encouraging other players to take (sharper) nudey photos of their team-mates and post them on Twitter.

Andy Carroll pockets £150k bonus from Liverpool

Andy Carroll will pick up a staggering £150,000 loyalty bonus from Liverpool next month despite making only 13 starts since his £35million move from Newcastle.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-14 22:49:48 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

When the Carling Cup draw pitched Arsenal against Manchester City, Arsenal fans were already anticipating a tough, nearly impossible to win match against the dominant team in the League at present. Indeed, there is reason to believe so. The Manchester City squad is a very deep one with immense quality – even players like Nigel [.

Urban Meyer has officially been introduced as the new coach of Ohio State football. That isn't very newsworthy since it's been obvious for days that he was going to take the job. However, what is newsworthy are his contract details.

• Here are some of the details and incentives included in his contract:
• Urban Meyer gets $4 million per season guaranteed for six seasons.

At 3pm this afternoon all the talking stops and it's down to those players entrusted wearing our shirt by AVB this afternoon to get out on that pitch and to give everything to get three points.
We are taking a battering from all quarters right now and rightly so. The only thing that can start to turn things round now is a win.

It isn't just one man, damn it. It's ZORRO(s). For a while last night it looked like there was going to be more face masks than goals during the Champions League match between Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen. Petr Cech's almost looks like part of the furniture now. You're so used to seeing him in the [.

It isn't just one man, damn it. It's ZORRO(s). For a while last night it looked like there was going to be more face masks than goals during the Champions League match between Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen. Petr Cech's almost looks like part of the furniture now. You're so used to seeing him in the [.

Like I said in a previous post, I got out my 2004/5 season DVD last night to cheer myself up and watch a Chelsea side that new how to defend. On the bonus DVD there is an interview with Jose Mourinho at the end of that season, looking back at some of the headlines and comments from the press also.
One particular moment in that interview struck a chord with me when Chelsea TV's Gigi Salmon asked him about the negative press the side was getting for winning games 1-0 and not having a lot of flair.

(Photo: Earl Gardner)

On Wednesday, we took a look at who should be protected in the 2011 Expansion Draft by the Philadelphia Union based on the player ratings we do after each game. We now look at who earned Man of the Match—the highest rated player in each game— honors in 2011.

Pictures: Sexy Swedish WAGS v England's finest, plus bonus bikini video!

Click the arrows to see a smorgesbord of stunning Swedes ahead of England v Sweden

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-11-15 14:45:49 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Despite being the club's second-highest shot-creator, Liverpool left-winger Stewart Downing has failed create or score goal in over 15 hours of football this season. It's a concern, especially for an an International player in the prime of his career, but the former-Aston Villa midfielder is the first to admit that things need to improve.

Richard Dunne has confirmed what we already knew; he was heading for the exit door under Gerard Houllier. He's yet another player to lift the lid on a testing atmosphere under the Frenchman last season.
Speaking to ESPNsoccernet ahead of Ireland's vital Euro 2012 play-off match against Estonia the veteran defender said:

Last season was very difficult for me as I was not enjoying coming to work every day at Villa and there were some issues with the Ireland team as well.

Liverpool Football Club has today announced a new two-year partnership with Turkish Tourism.
The partnership is the first of its kind for Turkish Tourism in the UK and will include advertising rights and other benefits.
Ian Ayre, Liverpool FC Managing Director, said: "Turkey is a great country and we all have fantastic memories of our European Cup win in Istanbul in 2005.

Well, more 'fan attacks', really. Steaua Bucharest defender George Galamaz, busy doing the outrageous thing of living. And then came the fan and chaos soon ensued. A flare not the guy committing assault on another human being permanently ended the match later on.

And don't forget the bonus of Gigi Becali yelling in a language you probably don't understand.

By Chris Wright

With Steven Gerrard staring down the barrel of yet another protracted injury lay-off, it's good to know that a Tanzanian bus service have done the hard yards on behalf of Liverpool's global scouting network and identified a perfect, heaven-sent successor to step into the breach at Anfield.

Like many in the Seattle Sounders media I'm working on a post about Kasey Keller's time here. One of those I talked to was someone who just got his first 90 minutes at keeper this week for the team. While talking to Josh Ford we also chatted about his year and having to wait for his opportunities.

Gael Kakuta has spoken out this week at his lack of first team opportunities so far at Bolton and it's no surprise really. Kakuta signed for Bolton on a season long loan in the summer hoping to follow in the footsteps of Danny Sturridge but so far has just been limited to a fantastic debut in the league cup against Aston Villa where he scored a cracker.

By Chris Wright

Catch them while you can...

1. Kim Kallstrom, SWEDEN 3-2 Holland

Not a bad way to open the scoring...

2. Edin Dzeko, France vs BOSNIA

His kickin's better than his Edin...

3.

Three of the Chelsea boys managed to make it on the scoresheet for their international teams on Friday as we continue the agonizing wait for the Premier League to resume.

Juan Mata managed to beat the offside trap against Petr Cech's fellow defenders, latching on to a nice pass and slipping the ball past his club's number one as Spain ran out 2-0 winners over the Czechs.

• Top 50 MLS Cup Moments: #47 Orange Crush [MLS Soccer]
• Dynamo Stadium grass being grown in Damon, Texas [Houston Dynamo]
• Houston's Cameron named MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Month [MLS Soccer]
• Houston's Bruin continues to push for starting spot [MLS Soccer]
• Hainault giving Dynamo his all [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston's Cam Weaver to have season-ending hip surgery [Sporting News]
• Academy College Report - Oct.

By Chris Wright

In which Arsene Wenger breaks out a few of his finest flourishes during a couple of Arsenal training sessions from earlier in the week...

And just because we've got nowhere else to put it, here's a bonus clip of Chelsea young'n Josh McEachran pulling off a classy little flick during England U21 training yesterday.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish believes his club will benefit from the loan system after Jonjo Shelvey became the latest player to move away on a temporary basis.
Shelvey, 19, joined Championship side Blackpool last week and put in a sparkling display to help his temporary team to a 5-0 victory on his debut, and Dalglish believes the England youth player will benefit from playing regular football.

Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has hailed team-mate Andy Carroll and backed the striker to go from strength to strength following his first Premier League goal of the season.
Downing moved to Anfield in the summer in a £20 million move from Aston Villa and has made a good impression, and believes that Carroll will get a lot of confidence from his opening goal in the Merseyside derby.

Downing backs Carroll to keep on scoring

"That goal is a real bonus and for it to happen in the derby is extra special for him," says Liverpool winger

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-03 10:06:51 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.