We expect James Perch to keep his position in central midfield alongside Danny Guthrie for today's tough game at White Hart Lane. James Perch will play alongside Danny Guthrie in midfield And that's because Yohan Cabaye serves the third game of his three match suspension for violent conduct, and Cheick Tiote will be playing for the Ivory Coast in the final of [.

We'll get some idea about how good Newcastle are against one of the top English sides tomorrow afternoon when the lads take on Tottenham Hotspur in London. Papiss Cisse and Alan Pardew during training yesterday But with a number of players missing, including Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Leon Best and Ryan Taylor, Newcastle will not be at their strongest, at least not in central midfield.

It appeared to us an act of desperation – the very last resort, Plan B (or, more appropriately, Plan Z), or any well-worn cliché – and it, well, was. For Manchester United, bringing back Paul Scholes seemed a step back. Truth is, it's gone better than we'd envisaged back then, ever since it was revealed ahead of the FA Cup 3rd round tie against Manchester City back in January.

Liverpool can't continue their hot streak and end up with their eighth home draw of the campaign, failing to take advantage of a Spurs side that were lacking in both personnel and intent. With the success of the past few weeks creating a healthy dose of optimism this one's got to be chalked up as a disappointment, and worrying in that Liverpool yet again failed to capitalize in a match that mostly looked like theirs for the taking.

The Dynamo continued their preseason undefeated with another convincing victory over a college side. Several trialist played well as they try to convince Dominic Kinnear to offer them contracts for the 2012 season.

Press Release

HOUSTON, TX (Saturday, February 04, 2012) -- The Houston Dynamo defeated Houston Baptist University 4-0 on a wet Saturday morning at Houston Amateur Sports Park.

Some players like lots of time and space, others can operate in crowds.

To play in central midfield you need to be at one end of what we'll call the space-time continuum; if you are not at the right end you may struggle in that role. In that case you need to find somewhere else where you will get space and time.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

The Los Angeles Galaxy and Philadelphia Union both made their fair share of headlines this week, so it is only appropriate that they combined for another one.

Los Angeles acquired central midfielder Kyle Nakazawa and a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft from Philadelphia Wednesday in exchange for an international roster spot.

Fabricio Coloccini as expected is back in the starting line-up for Newcastle at Ewood Park tonight. Coloccini missed Saturday's FA Cup 1-0 defeat at Brighton with a slight groin strain, but he comes straight back into the Newcastle side for a tough game against Blackburn Rovers. Ryan Taylor comes in for Yohan Cabaye in central midfield, and he did so well there in the QPR game, when Cabaye [.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United have signed Freddie Veseli from Manchester City.

The 19-year-old central defender joined the club in 2008 but has become frustrated by the lack of first team opportunities. He made his debut for the club in a pre-season friendly in the summer but when the dreadful Stefan Savic got the nod ahead of him during Vincent Kompany's absence, the Veseli clearly realised it was time to leave.

I watched the game and come away from it thinking "Good performance" and "Good result, we're through!" and being honest I cannot believe the negativity that has come from "Chelsea fans" on here and Twitter to me after the game.
Some of you lot need a kick up the arse and to get a sense of realism right now.

The United States is running out of chances to find some solid form before World Cup qualifying starts in summer. Tonight, they take on a Panamanian team they really should beat and they will be returning to the 4-4-2 that Jurgen Klinsmann has seemed so intent on doing away with. Chris Wondolowski will start alongside Teal Bunbury at forward.

The Portland Timbers held a lively practice today, playing some of what could actually be called soccer for the first time this preseason. After the usual warm-ups and passing drills, the Timbers played games of 9v9 which was a deviation from last season which saw the Timbers doing purely fitness and passing drills for their first several weeks together.

The Colorado Rapids are shifting their philosophy after going through a front office and technical staff overhaul, and that change is spreading to the field as well after the club announced the signing of Colombian attacking midfielder Jaime Castrillon from Independiente Medellin.

A couple of big-name matchups in 2nd legs of domestic cup competitions coming up later today:

Carling Cup semifinal Manchester City vs Liverpool 8:45pm CET / 2:45pmET / 7:45pm GMT (USA TV: FSC): We didn't see the 1st leg of this semifinal tie earlier this month, which somewhat surprisingly went 1-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.

The prevailing view amongst Liverpool fans seems to be that the defeat against Bolton yesterday could've been avoided if Lucas Leiva was playing. I don't personally subscribe to that viewpoint; for me, shambolic defending was the problem, and that still would've happened even if Lucas had played.

Much has been made in many circles over the past month or so about Man Utd's lack of talent and depth in their central midfield, and with their "reincarnation" of veteran retiree Paul Scholes, it appears that there are people at the club who agree with that opinion. Despite the January transfer window, it appears that Sir Alex Ferguson's pledge to not add to his playing staff "unless the right man becomes available" will come to fruition.

szólj hozzá: Fulham v Newcastle 5:2 GOALS

Clint Dempsey's 50th, 51st, and 52nd goal for Fulham lifted the Cottagers over Newcastle.

The first half was all Newcastle and just before halftime they went ahead through Danny Guthrie's superlative left footed strike. Martin Jol must have mixed chili powder in his half time pep talk as he effected two very important changes, taking Bryan Ruiz from central midfield, bringing on Chris Baird, and introducing Andy Johnson as Fulham turned the game a 180 degrees in the second half

The former Crystal Palace man made an immediate impact troubling the Newcastle defense with his zip.

Ryan Taylor has been little short of a revelation this season for Newcastle. A good action shot of Ryan Taylor The Liverpudlian has so far played in both full-back positions, out on the right wing and last Sunday he filled in for Yohan Cabaye in central midfield, when the French International had to leave the field with an injured ankle.

Ryan Taylor has been little short of a revelation this season for Newcastle. A good action shot of Ryan Taylor The Liverpudlian has so far played in both full-back positions, out on the right wing and last Sunday he filled in for Yohan Cabaye in central midfield, when the French International had to leave the field with an injured ankle.

12:30pm ET, live in the US on FSC
Last four head-to-head:
3-1 Liverpool (h) 08.27.11
2-1 Liverpool (h) 01.01.11
1-0 Liverpool (a) 10.31.10
2-0 Liverpool (h) 01.30.10
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 0-0 Stoke (h); 1-0 City (a); 5-1 Oldham (h)
Bolton: 2-0 Macclesfield (h); 0-3 United (a); 2-2 Macclesfield (a)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Suarez 5; Bellamy 4; Adam, Carroll, Gerrard, Maxi, Skrtel 2; Henderson, Johnson 1
Bolton: Klasnic 7; Eagles 3; K Davies, Ngog, Reo-Coker 2; Boyata, M Davies, Muamba, Petrov, Ricketts 1
Referee: Kevin Friend
Guess at a line-up:
Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
Henderson Gerrard
Downing Shelvey Maxi
Carroll
The same questions and concerns continue to be the focus.

The last couple of seasons, seeing our midfield overrun, Wenger changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. This added more players in central midfield where too often we had lost vital games, but the flip-side meant that the striker was isolated.

For 4-3-3 to work you need at least one of your three central midfielders to get into areas to support the striker.

Angry, frustrated, disappointed. Once again Arsenal fans are left let-down, once again we are promised things will change and once again it is groundhog season for Arsenal, and we haven't even entered the annual departures of the close season.

Where do we start? It is obvious that things went wrong in the summer with Wenger anticipating that both Nasri and Fabregas will not leave these were the hopes of a man living in a dream land.

As we had expected, Danny Guthrie returns to Newcastle's starting line-up this afternoon against Queens Park Rangers at St. James' Park. The Shrewsbury-born player will start in central midfield alongside Yohan Cabaye, and comes in for 19 year-old Mehdi Abeid, who drops down to the bench. And Ryan Taylor replaces Gabriel Obertan on the right wing and Hatem Ben Arfa [.

THFC1882 presents another guest writer. This time it's a guy I've known on Twitter for a while and he's always got something to say on our beloved Tottenham Hotspur. It gives me great pleasure to present Kenny Palmer with a preview of this weekend's game:

Wednesday's victory over Everton in the postponed game in hand from the start of the season has left Spurs level on points with Manchester United and 3 off leaders Manchester City.

Wednesday:

• Tim Bolton

Wheater: No Rafa...

Reports say that Tim Bolton deal is etched.

Ream will battle former Middlesborough phenom David Wheater for playing time at Bolton with Wheater getting the first call obviously to replace The Overrated Gary Cahill.

The big names at the 2012 MLS Combine have for the most part lived up to expectations through two Combine match-days, but there have also been some lesser-known players who have also boosted their stock in Fort Lauderdale.

Three of the players to help boost their draft stock are Fordham goalkeeper Ryan Meara, Marquette midfielder Calum Mallace and Creighton forward Ethan Finlay.

The signing of Rafael Robayo is now official but still very surprising. Most club observers, including myself, assumed that the top priorities for Chicago's 2012 off-season were finding an elite strike partner for Dominic Oduro and a backup fullback for Gonzalo Segares and Dan Gargan. Robayo can not be confused as an option for either of those roles.

Roberto, ditch Sheikh Mansour for Mitt Romney. He's got cash to give away.

The Italian is complaining that he's down to two central midfielders and one striker. James Milner and Nigel De Jong will start in the middle and Sergio Aguero patrols up front.

The Ivory Coast has refused his demand to release Yaya and Kolo Toure till after the Man Utd FA Cup showdown for their ACN campaign.

There's a moment in every superhero story where the protagonist momentarily loses his power. In the 1986 relaunch of DC Comic's Superman series, John Byrne revised the superhero's abilities so that it would be easier to for writers to come up with suitable challenges. Last night, Newcastle United was such a challenge for Manchester United's Phil Jones.

Newcastle United 3-0 Manchester United: Ba 33, Cabaye 47, Jones (og) 90+0

There's a moment in every superhero story where the protagonist momentarily loses his power. In the 1986 relaunch of DC Comic's Superman series, John Byrne revised the superhero's abilities so that it would be easier to for writers to come up with suitable challenges.

By Richard Nash

After starting the season with their customary 4-3-3 formation, Wigan have now lined up in a 3-4-3 system ever since their 3-3 draw with Blackburn on November 19th. Roberto Martinez trialled the system in a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on October 1st, but then reverted back to his familiar 4-3-3 for their following game against Bolton.

Luka Modric, perhaps the stand out performer of this English Premier League season so far, has said he might leave Tottenham during the January transfer window, although he is more likely to reconsider his position at the end of the campaign. The speculation began when Luka Modric's agent suggested that his client might leave Tottenham in January because "in football anything is possible".

Porto defender Jorge Fucile is being touted as a January signing for Liverpool as they look to improve their defence, according to The Daily Mail.
The 27 year old can operate at either fullback position and has been capped 34 times for Uruguay. Liverpool already has two Uruguayan players in their ranks with Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates.

2:45pm ET, live in the US on FSC.
Last four head-to-head:
3-0 Liverpool (h) 05.01.11
1-3 Newcastle (a) 12.11.10
3-0 Liverpool (h) 05.03.09
5-1 Liverpool (a) 12.28.08
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 0-0 Wigan (a); 2-0 Villa (a); 1-0 QPR (h)
Newcastle: 2-0 Bolton (a); 2-3 West Brom (h); 0-0 Swansea (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Suarez 5; Own Goal 3; Adam, Bellamy, Carroll, Maxi, Skrtel 2; Gerrard, Henderson, Johnson 1
Newcastle: Ba 14; Best 3; R Taylor 2; Sh Ameobi, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Gosling, Jonas 1
Referee: Lee Probert
Terrified of jinxing it, but since I bash referees here all the time, unfairly or not, probably should mention that Probert is one of my favorites.

Liverpool: Maxi 53′
Blackburn: Adam (og) 45′

Liverpool drop points again at Anfield, failing convert their late surge into a winning goal against a stubborn Blackburn Rovers side. The return of Steven Gerrard and two late chances got our hopes up, but in the end it was the same frustrating story we've seen from Liverpool so many times in the past year.

Manager Alan Pardew has made three changes to Newcastle United's starting line-up against West Brom last Wednesday. As expected, Mike Williamson returns to the side for his first start since he started the Carling Cup game at Scunthrope last August. And Yohan Cabaye starts again in central midfield, after having served a one-game suspension for [.

Nearly two weeks after selecting him in Stage 2 of the Re-entry Draft, the Revolution and former D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms came to terms on a contract for 2012.

The addition of Simms, a 29-year-old center half who started 147 of his 182 games in D.C. from 2005-2011, gives the Revolution some veteran experience in the middle of the park.

Benny Feilhaber has to feel relieved.

Since Jurgen Klinsmann's appointment as U.S. Men's National Team manager in July, the Revolution midfielder had inexplicably failed to make it onto any of the new coach's call up lists. Until Thursday.

With a pair of friendlies slotted for late-January, Klinsmann finally called in Feilhaber for National Team camp, which is scheduled to start on Jan.

There's a nice article in here on the Tmbers Army by iSportsWeb (never heard of em myself) with Garrett Dittfurth, one of the Board of Directors for the TA. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's embellishing what we've become in the north end, I will say, however, that it's a very flattering article.

Junior N'Tame (left) may be set to join the Revs after trialing with the team in October. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

Despite trialing under former New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol in October, Théophile Junior N'Tame may be a part of new head coach Jay Heaps' plans. According to a report on French site MLS-News.