SoccerBlogs

It's easy to forget the little things. Xavi may complete 100 passes every game, and while each one may not stand out exquisitely, there's something to be said for the sum of its parts. That creation, that compilation cannot be captured by YouTube highlights.

The cool one

Hello there and hope to find you well on this Friday morning. Another slightly over 24 hours to another Arsenal match, albeit the youngsters XI and probably around the same time that the first team will be on their Emirates flight to Asia. Up until this point, there's no list of names yet on who will be following the team to the Asia Tour, suggestion online says that Arsene Wenger will make his decision by today.

Steven Gerrard's groin is back. It's fit, rested, and ready to go. And maybe also tanned. Though for now that last bit remains unconfirmed. It also remains to be seen whether it's in it for the long haul this time around or fated to leave Steven Gerrard and millions of fans around the world feeling let down again.

It is a particular pleasure of mine to have been invited by my hero and inspiration, the good Dr. Gumperteer, to contribute to this series of lectures. I owe so much to him. You see, my own site, Sport Is A TV Show, struggled for years to attain the kind of success it so richly deserved. Sure, such articles as "The 101 Greatest Manx Footballers", "Watching Football: You're Doing It All Wrong, You Muppet", and "Lydersen: A Pal To Us All" attracted a golden shower of critical acclaim ("Blinding!

It is a particular pleasure of mine to have been invited by my hero and inspiration, the good Dr. Gumperteer, to contribute to this series of lectures. I owe so much to him. You see, my own site, Sport Is A TV Show, struggled for years to attain the kind of success it so richly deserved. Sure, such articles as "The 101 Greatest Manx Footballers", "Watching Football: You're Doing It All Wrong, You Muppet", and "Lydersen: A Pal To Us All" attracted a golden shower of critical acclaim ("Blinding!

I've been reliably informed that no match took place on Saturday, something a number of Liverpool players seem to have been on board with from the very start despite that the Premier League has registered them as having played. I've also been reliably informed that nobody who doesn't work for an English media outlet wants to talk about handshakes and Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra any more.

Like so much surrounding Fernando Torres in the past eighteen months, the sudden Twitter explosion about his possible return to Liverpool doesn't make much sense. A seemingly baseless rumor about his current club's willingness to sell for £30million less than he was purchased for eleven months ago, and all of a sudden there's legitimate-seeming people having legitimate-seeming conversations about the likelihood that Liverpool would make a move for him.

Around here, we take the tabloids with a grain of salt. You know this. But sometimes, sometimes a story is so ridiculous that you just have run with it.

We did it when the Guardian linked us with an £80 million move for Kaka in July 2008. We did it again when that wretched lot decided to really shake Middle-earth and shove a pair of Liverpool men down our collective throats.

(In)Famous Facial Hair in Football: Then and Now - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It's something that's perhaps said almost as much in jest as it is in seriousness, but for some, the mark of a true manly man is all in the facial hair.

If you subscribe to that notion, then you may also be among the population that feels that football isn't what it used to be, with finesse, flair, and frailty pushing physicality in the past, or at best compressed into several three-to-five minute Youtube compilations.

Lukas Podolski likely can't wait to pull on an Arsenal shirt.

His final game for FC Köln saw the team relegated, and his thank-you lap-of-honour was spoiled by scenes of unrest on the terraces. It was far from a fitting end to a career that had seen Podolski break into the Köln side at the tender age of 18, before returning to the club in 2009 after a three-year stint at Champions League finalists Bayern Munich.

We've know for ages it was happening, and this morning it became official: Darren Pratley is a Wanderer. But just who have we signed? He was a big name in the Championship last season, but many of us don't follow it as closely as we should. You may have read the BN's 10 Things You Didn't Know About Darren Pratley, which is a good start, but I think we need something a little more comprehensive.