When Rafa Benitez splashed out £17 million on Roma sensation Alberto Aquilani, you could fully understand Liverpool supporters' optimism that their Champions League winning coach had taken their team another giant step closer to winning their first league title in nearly twenty years.

Darren Gibson's classy two goals, helped an experimental Red Devils triumph over a near full strength Tottenham in their Carling Cup quarter final match at Old Trafford last night... and Sir Ferg. was happy as Larry. Goal.com And Darron Gibson is the one player in our club who can score great .

Anyone who thought that Arsene avoided contact with Manchester City boss Mark Hughes post the 3-0 Carling Cup defeat was down to being a bad loser was wrong. Very wrong. CLICK HERE to see Studs Up's hilarious take on the the whole thing.

Liverpool v Arsenal: win or kiss Champions League goodbye - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Liverpool fans are on a high after winning the Carling Cup last weekend, with Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard heralding the triumph as the start of a new era of success for the club. Whether this season is a success or not may well depend on the outcome of this Saturday's fixture against Arsenal however.

Now, it's the turn of El Capitan. I don't know the original source of this interview and have read different parts on different sites. I believe most of you must have read these comments but I will reproduce them for those who haven't.

Throughout the game [at Manchester City in the 3-0 Carling Cup defeat last Wednesday], we had a lot of possession but didn't really have anyone to go in behind the defenders, apart from Carlos Vela.

As if just to antagonise Chelsea fans, Fabregas was widely quoted yesterday as saying Chelsea would be merely an average side were it not for Didier Drogba.
Having watched his side's defence get pummelled by the Ivorian just over a week ago, you can perhaps understand Fabregas' comments.

Manchester United had knocked Tottenham out in the Carling Cup quarter finals. Darren Gibson had once again proved his worth when being called upon.SCROLL FURTHER DOWN FOR MORE FOOTBALL ACTION

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He looks like a woman but plays like a half-man, half-beast
We've had some exciting midweek matches and a mouthwatering Carling Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Manchester United is soon to come, but all eyes are on the Premier League (and the World Cup draw) this weekend.

Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea LIVE English Carling Cup Wednesday, December 2, 2009 20:00 GMT, 15:00 EST

Much has been made of Liverpool's catastrophic start to the season; out of the European Cup; out of the Carling Cup, and in danger of finishing outside the top four. As they would if any of the top four were doing badly, the media has overreacted and (predictably) come up with age-old clichés to explain Liverpool's problems.

The biggest news in club action this past week has to be the championships won in South America. At midweek, Brazil's Fluminense defeated Ecuador's LDU Quito 3-0 but it wasn't enough to keep LDU Quito from winning the final 5-4 in aggregate and take home the 2009 Copa Sudamericana. Over the weekend, the top domestic league in the Western Hemisphere, the Brasileirao Serie A, concluded with Flamengo dethroning Sao Paolo as the champions following a 2-1 victory over Gremio.

WTF?

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Can someone please try to explain to me what is going on? Rafa Benitez bought a footballer who was suffering from a long term injury, in fact he invested £20m (albeit in installments) in said player, and yet when he finally gets himself fit and ready for action, he isn't picked!

Mark Hughes has spoken of his sacking, with an official statement on the LMA website:

"I was informed after yesterday's match against Sunderland that my contract with Manchester City was being terminated with immediate effect. Notwithstanding media coverage to the contrary, I was given no forewarning as to the Club's decision.

After a busy set of festive fixtures thoughts will naturally drift towards New Year's Eve and a look back at what 2009 did for us.
When picking a ‘team of the year' I naturally look at the winners for highlights. In England we saw Manchester United win the Carling Cup (thanks to Ben Foster's Ipod!

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger told reporters that he's "free to shake hands with who he wants", after he walked straight down the tunnel in frustration without shaking Mark Hughes' hand as his young guns lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the Carling Cup.

Two different gestures, two similar outcomes.

Last week, it was Thierry Henry showing his hand to send Ireland plunging out of the World Cup and sending millions into a meltdown. FIFA is now considering a World Cup ban for his "unsporting conduct."

Today it was Arsene Wenger not showing his hand that had Mark Hughes frothing in the mouth.

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After Mark Hughes' Manchester City side produced a 3-0 victory Arsene Wenger's Arsenal in the Carling Cup quarter-finals last night, Hughes was found looking unsuccessfully for his counterpart Wenger before the traditional post-match shake of hands. Wenger of course is no stranger to controversy and rarely retreats in his opinions or criticisms, and he can be described slightly ungracious loser at times.

To all the fans of Standard Liege, I want to extend my apologies for the the Premier League match is more important than the meaningless final game away to Olympiakos. If it meant that the Greek side wins and go through to the next round, then there is nothing you can do about it. This is just the advantage and privilege of qualifying to the next stage of the Champions League with a game to spare, that we get to parade and field the reserves and future stars of the club.

Or rather, for a change, who do you want to start

10 out of the 18 making it to Greece to play against Olympiacos are teenagers. Days like these don't come along that often, if at all, so they should make the most of this opportunity.

Of course unlike the Carling Cup, the result will not matter as we have already claimed the top position in our group.

I can already see tomorrow's headlines. If our kids get beaten tonight in Greece (which, frankly, they should Olympiakos are a very decent outfit who will surely progress from the group), the fact that we're missing an entire team through injury, and resting the remainder for the weekend, will be entirely forgotten, and the youngsters will get panned.

Without a doubt, the third round of the FA Cup is one of the highlights of the calendar year for football supporters. It's a golden opportunity to see the giants of football compete against amateur teams made up of people with ordinary professions such as postmen, labourers, accountants and policemen, etc.

keano's influence tonight will be in the spotlight.

With Pavlyuchenko out of the picture and probably the first player moving this winter transfer window, eyes now move away from his input in our cup campaign; (which notably last season, included a spectacular finish against Manchester United).

Harry linked with a move for Ivorian striker.

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Tottenham are planning a £10m bid for Ivory Coast striker Seydou Doumbia according to reports today.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez insists he will not bow to critics who want Alberto Aquilani to be rushed into the first team.
The Reds boss' tactics have been questioned as his £20million summer signing has remained on the substitute's bench over recent weeks and only earned a strange 30-second outing in the UEFA Champions League win at Debrecen.

English Carling Cup Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur: Live Stream here Manchester United - Tottenham Hotspur : Highlights here Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today

Sir Alex Ferguson's side eased past Tottenham thanks chiefly to Irishman Darron Gibson who netted twice.

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1-0 Gibson

2-0 Gibson

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Europa League on GolTV: Salzburg - Lazio at 1pm, Slavia Prague - Genoa at 3pm, and Valencia - Lille at 8pm. Carling Cup on Setanta: Manchester City - Arsenal at 2:40pm. Copa Sudamericana Final on Fox Sports en Espanol: Fluminense - LDU Quito at 6:30pm. All Times Eastern

The English Carling Cup began its quarterfinal round on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 as Manchester Unite defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the English Carling Cup. Here are video highlights of that match.

Manchester United (2) Tottenham Hotspur (0) English Carling Cup Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Arsenal will face Manchester City away from home this evening in their attempt to keep their Carling Cup chances alive. As usual, manager Arsene Wenger will rely on his "team B", with the likes of ...

Sir Alex Ferguson ignored the famous Alan Hansen "you will never win anything with kids" line and gave his young players much-needed experience in the Champions League and the Carling Cup.Darren Gibson rewarded his faith in the young guns by scoring both the goals that dumped Totteham Spurs out of the Carling cup.

Brad Guzan and Eric Lichaj were the only two Americans to play substantial minutes in midweek as there was action in the Carling Cup quarterfinals and a full program in League One and League Two.

A Manchester United team featuring some of the team's upcoming talent defeated a full strength Tottenham side 2-0 last night at Old Trafford in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup. Darron Gibson scored twice for United in minutes 16 and 38 while Tottenham's offense fizzled out after a decent opening twenty minutes.

Kindly find below links for websites providing streaming services for the Manchester City vs Arsenal Carling Cup game. These links will be updated before and during the match so make sure to refresh the page ...

Kindly find below links for websites providing streaming services for the Manchester City vs Arsenal Carling Cup game. These links will be updated before and during the match so make sure to refresh the page ...

Lineups are in:

Manchester City: Starters: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Ireland, Bellamy, Tevez, Adebayor. Subs: Taylor, Kompany, Onuoha, Weiss, Johnson, Santa Cruz, Robinho.

Arsenal: Starters: Fabianski, Eboue, Song, Silvestre, Traore, Ramsey, Eastmond, Rosicky, Wilshere, Merida, Vela.

A slightly tardy ha'penny's worth – the rigours of the real world having inconsiderately interfered in the business of interweb rantings – but one advantage of this delay has been an opportunity to let the dust settle on last night's defeat to Man Utd, take a few deep breaths and survey the wreckage.

Well, honestly, that was about what we expected. Not that it's not still disappointing, especially with us managing to get to halftime all tied up. But as I said in the preview, our first team has lost the last two years at Eastlands, and City definitely fielded their first-choice XI, so it would have been asking a lot of our youngsters and back-ups to go up there and win.

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