Combustible words from Mario Balotelli's agent Mino Raiola after his client was banned for four games for his stamp on the head of Scott Parker at the weekend.

Raiola was just getting warmed up when he said that he will take his client away from the Premier League if referees do not do a better job of protecting Balotelli:

"I don't want to say that they are always against him, but when English players are involved nothing happens," Balotelli's agent Mino Raiola said in an interview with Italian radio station Radio Radio on Tuesday.

Yesterday I discussed some of the basic roster rules in MLS and how it ties in with the salary cap. Hopefully the swelling in your brain has reduced sufficiently to allow you to move forward with your lessons as I attempt to help you further understand (to the best of our ability), the league's various roster mechanisms.

You'll like this. The difference between success and failure in football can be minute you need every edge you can get. And when you think about it, so much of football is in the mind. We talk about teams playing with confidence: that's a mental state. We talk about players looking nervous, or not knowing what they're supposed to be doing, or playing tentatively, or showing complacency.

U.S. soccer coach Jurgen Klinsmann: 'You can't stop soccer in the U.S.'

Writer for The Arizona Republic picks the brain of Jurgen Klinsmann. Many very thoughtful questions asked and answers that show the direction Klinsmann wants to take.

Firstly I have no time for anyone who is so fickle as to suddenly turn on our manager after a short series of poor results, get a grip on reality and try to be objective, I know it's hard sometimes but engage your brain before letting loose with any bitter resentful bile. Secondly well played Swansea, they played some excellent football and their style deserves praise.

Elite coaching is an art.

This is my response to reader John, who left an excellent set of comments. The last of which I'll address here.

Specifically:

I'd love to see you talk about specific tactics, Gary. I have no doubt that you are very a bright guy, but I wish you'd share your knowledge with us.

If you've been stopping by Aston Villa Central for a while now you would have noticed something amiss this past weekend and may have assumed that I had joined Darren Bent on a quick shopping jaunt.
I had no such luck I'm afraid. I did indeed watch the 2-0 loss at the hands of Liverpool, but for the first time in a few years I hadn't done any preparation before the game.

Mikel Arteta has been an essential piece in the Arsenal midfield set up ever since his deadline day transfer from Everton. He has impressed many Arsenal fans with his footballing brain, accurate passing, ability to keep the ball and technical ability. Now, the Arsenal midfield maestro is looking to beat Manchester City in the big [.

Wayne Rooney scored his first league goal since September as Manchester United crushed Wolves 4-1 on Saturday. But with all the analysis and comments that followed an eventful week for Rooney, one quote stood out.

As well as stating that ‘Wayne was brilliant', United defender Phil Jones went on to say, ‘but he still has an influence on the team even when he is not scoring.

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain today... Didier Drogba with a complete revival yesterday in Chelsea's 3-0 Champions League win. The aging Ivorian looked fit, ruthless, and back to his best. What does that mean for his ... Continue reading →

When Arsenal brought Chelsea down 5-3 at Stamford Bridge, it was with a rather maniacal chuckle that Alan Hansen talked about van Persie. The same man who spoke of Walcott's lack of a "footballing brain" was finally going to get on Arsenal's back. "Arsenal almost looking like a one-man team!" he commented rather casually.

Liverpool manager Kenny Daglish slammed the shambolic scheduling of Carling Cup games several times prior to last night's 2-0 victory over Chelsea, and he reiterated his frustration again in his post-match press conference.
Prior to the game, Liverpool held discussions with the Sky, the Premier League and the Football League in an attempt to get one of the games moved, but the club's requests were roundly ignored, something that has clearly irritated Dalglish, who scathed:
"It's totally irresponsible - three teams in the quarter-finals have got problems with fixtures: ourselves, Man City, and Crystal Palace, who play on Wednesday night, and then have to play again on Friday.

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain... Adebayor sends Tottenham into third place [BBC Football] 8 reasons why NBA fans should watch soccer [EPL Talk] Bonjour Beckham [The Independent] Will Chelsea sack Villas-Boas? [Tribal Football] AWOL Carlos Tevez ... Continue reading →

By Chris Wright

Remember Dynamo? The magician that reduced Nemanja Vidic to a puddle of bubbling silicon and nano-circuitry, blew Bobby Zamora's brain and then made Gary Neville swear like a navvy with his sleight-of-hand shenanigans? Remembered him? Yes? Well now forget him, because football's got a new magic man and his name is Iker the Incredible.

As we mentioned the other day, Adidas' boot with a brain is now with us. The f50 miCoach monitors the performance of the wearer during matches using a speed cell inserted under the insole of the boot. OTP has already received its boots (see photo below), so now lesser mortals such as Lionel Messi, David [.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has played in many tough games over the last 12 years, but there's one particular game right at the start of his senior career that he classifies as one of the 'hardest' times he's ever had on a football pitch.
The game in question was Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Spurs at White Hart Lane in December 2008.

By Chris Wright

It may have pace in abundance, but does Bob Mancini's latest big money target have the necessary 'footballing brain' to push on? Never stopped Shaun Wright-Phillips I suppose...

"£15 million you say? I'll take ten...and still pick Gareth Barry over all of them.

You might recall that in the summer OTP witnessed some strange going on with a blacked out Adidas 'boot with a brain'. That boot has since become the Adidas f50 miCoach, which allows players to track performance on the pitch. See it in action in the video above.

You might recall that in the summer OTP witnessed some strange going on with a blacked out Adidas 'boot with a brain'. That boot has since become the Adidas f50 miCoach, which allows players to track performance on the pitch. See it in action in the video above.

By Chris Wright

Wales whooped Norway 4-1 at the Cardiff City Stadium to make it three wins in a row, but the undoubted highlight of the match has to be Wayne Hennessey's assist for Erik Huseklepp's consolation goal...

Hennessey's little brain fart aside, Wales scored a couple of stunning goals with Gareth Bale's angled opener and Craig Bellamy's top-corner curler definitely worth a watch.

By Chris Wright

Wales whooped Norway 4-1 at the Cardiff City Stadium to make it three wins in a row, but the undoubted highlight of the match has to be Wayne Hennessey's assist for Erik Huseklepp's consolation goal...

Hennessey's little brain fart aside, Wales scored a couple of stunning goals with Gareth Bale's angled opener and Craig Bellamy's top-corner curler definitely worth a watch.

Here we go again. This time it is Brian Umony, Peter Lowry, and Rodrigo Lopez. Don't forget to check out the rest of the Protected List articles here:

How it works:

• For each player we will post a front page article highlighting a specific players pros/cons and any stats (if available)
• Vote by posting a Yes (to Protect) or No (don't Protect) in the subject of a comment, then explain why in the message
• We (the editors) will keep track of all the yes/no votes for each player
• At the end of the whole roster we will total up the results and post the community's Protected list
• Your list will be compared to the list of each contributing editor
• The only player we will not be voting on is Darlington Nagbe as he is automatically protected based on his Generations Adidas Status.

AC Milan and Italian star striker Antonio Cassano will undergo minor Heart surgery on Friday after Doctor's confirmed the player suffered Ischemic Cerebral Damage, which in simple layman terms is a lack of blood flow to the brain after touching down in Milan following their flight from Rome at the week-end and falling ill.

This is not our normal programming, but I had to spread the word on this. This is wild.Long story short: This summer, legendary b-boy Steelo had a ruptured brain aneurysm, so he had surgery. Then it ruptured again. More surgery, another following rupture. Four times. He's got a one-year-old son that he currently cannot walk or talk better than.

A bit of what's going on in Butt's Brain after a shocking weekend in the Premier League... Berbatov and Owen (and perhaps M.B. Diouf) should start today in the Carling Cup for Manchester United. Berbatov will be making his 100th ... Continue reading →

One of the most frustrating aspects of yesterday's draw with Norwich was the substitution of Craig Bellamy, who scored Liverpool's goal and was a consistent attacking threat. After the game, Liverpool legend David Fairclough echoed the thoughts of many fans and expressed his disappointment at Kenny Dalglish's decision.

There have been many times when I have blasted ex-Arsenal players, that have become TV and newspaper pundits, who continue to knock Arsenal when we are down.
These 'experts' claim to love the club yet jump on a bandwagon that has gained more pace than Frank Lampard chasing an ice-cream van down a hill.

Serie A Weekly welcomes writer Kirsten Schlewitz to our Italian football frontpage For some reason, when gearing up for Napoli's match last week, I was convinced that they were playing Cagliari. Perhaps I simply had a premonition that the Partenopei were about to be beaten by Parma – at the San Paolo, mind you.

Easily one of the most underrated aspects of football is the prematch press conference photography. Before the Champions League? It's magic. Dozens of photogs clamoring for the best facial expressions, angles and moments of maniacal madness.

Andres Villas Boas appears as though he's running through the cycle of emotions posed by an acting class teacher, while Massimiliano Allegri is looking to explode someone's brain with his own.

Image: ROBERTO SALOMONE/AFP/Getty Images.

On the surface, Marek Hamsik had once given us reasons to strike his name from our list of people we would consider jail time for. This haircut for instance is a good case as to why.

Then we found this picture of Marek from yesterday's Napoli press conference and it gave us pregnant pause (in figurative and daydream senses).

As the game wound to a close, I was toying with an opening line for a reaction post, something along the lines of: "These two teams could play for 90 days instead of 90 minutes and never find the damn net."
So imagine my surprise when a late whistle finally answered a United attacker flinging himself to the ground in the box.

Special Report: Revealed: The secrets of football's child catchers

One leading agent admits immoral practices are 'rife', a chairman compares it to 'slavery' and a coach claims players are brain-washed to believe they are 'the next Messi'.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-10-11 23:36:05 from: The Mail

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

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with Footballnutra.

Footballnutra brings quality, cutting edge nutrition products to football players of all levels.

Footballnutra offers better nutrition which can help players improve performance, recover quicker and play more football.

The club has today confirmed that Tom Cleverley has signed a new four year deal with the club, reportedly worth £40,000 a week.

After making a great start to the season, Cleverley has been missing since our 5-0 thrashing of Bolton after Kevin Davies injured him.

Cleverley is set to return to the team after the International break and the manager previously hinted he could be involved in our game at Anfield this weekend.

By Chris Wright

Good news folks! Dynamo's back, and this time his incredible card and shirt-based jiggery pokey is making Comrade Neville swear like a f**king navvy...

Thanks to Pies fan Tom for the nudge.

More of Dynamo's Premier League bamboozlement on Pies.

I'm telling ya, all these baseball late nights are making my brain foggy. Meant to have this up last night, but just fell out and I'm slow today. Plenty coming your way, let's get started...The MLS Goal of the Week decision is rough this time. It's hard to pick a standout.This crazy concoction by Bayer Leverkusen's Eren Derdiyok will be remembered for a long time.

Why Oxlade-Chamberlain proves there's still a future for Wenger's philosophy

Arsene Wenger has been pilloried all summer for his refusal to spend big money on players unless they're young Englishmen from lower leagues. Many thought buying Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain instead of splashing the Fabregas cash on the likes of Juan Mata would be the death-knell for Wenger's philosophy.

Herzogenaurach, 29th September 2011 Today, adidas unveils the intelligent football boot, the adizero f50 powered by miCoach. Soon to be made famous as the ground breaking ‘football boot with a brain', the 2011 adizero f50 is bringing smart technology to the field of play. It is now available at World Soccer Shop and Big [.

The new adidas adiZero F50 miCoach - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Is it a football boot? Is it a football boot with a brain? Or is it just adidas finally putting a microchip in their adiZero F50s?

Yes, no and of course. The new adidas adiZero F50 miCoach (165g, retails price starts at £200, out in November), thanks to a built-in microchip and tracking software available for your smartphone as well as an online portal, promises to enable both professional and amateur footballers to analyse their personal speed, distance and work rate.

By Chris Wright

Adidas first teased us about their new 'intelligent' boots when Lionel Messi took to the field against Nigeria in a pair a few weeks back, but the big day has finally rolled around with the official launch of the new adiZero F50 miCoach boots an eye-catching (that's putting politely) piece of footballing footwear design which incorporates a nifty little microchip in the sole, thus giving the 165 gram boot a 'brain'.