I don't care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players... It doesn't work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions... How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The Click to continue reading...

1. Like father, like son. John Terry knows how to score when it matters. 2. Phil Brown will live to fight another day after Hull's last gasp victory over Stoke. 3. If fatherhood has changed Wayne Rooney, the only noticeable difference is he seems more inclined to shoot from 25 yards instead of passing to team-mates in [. Click to continue reading...

Recently, it was brought to my attention that someone had posted a defence of Liverpool, and specifically Benitez's, transfer activity.
At first glance, the conclusion is clear:
Total Players Bought: £228,976,000
Total Players Sold: £145,100,000

Total Net Spend: £83,876,000So, that's a total spend of just over £83m in 5 years at the club. Click to continue reading...

1. Congratulations to Robert Green, who went fishing on Saturday afternoon and caught a Kieran Richardson. 2. Rafa Benitez's chances of getting the Right Guard contract have gone. Now that is a man under pressure. 3. With nine red cards this was officially the dirtiest weekend in Premier League history. Click to continue reading...

1. Liverpool might rely too heavily on Fernando Torres, but if you have to rely too heavily on anyone it might as well be him. 2. This season really is so open and unpredictable. Just when you thought Liverpool and Chelsea were out of form, and Manchester United and Arsenal were safe bets, it is suddenly [. Click to continue reading...

After their irmãos lost to Ghana in the painful U-20 World Cup final last week, Lucho Nizzo's kids are raring to go and win the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, which kicks off tomorrow! We could probably call them fetos (fetuses) for now, but Coutinho doesn't look like one, so we'd best find another name.

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1. ITV should have broadcast the Real Madrid-AC Milan match. A mouthwatering contest that for once delivered. 2. Andrea Pirlo knows how to hit a football. 3. Fergie will be delighted to see Antonio Valencia developing a goalscoring streak. 4. Salomon Kalou grabbed two goals but also showed why he is not good enough for Chelsea. Click to continue reading...

1. OTP thought the most controversial 'outside agents' in the Premier League this weekend would be Harry Redknapp's security team. Little did we know... 2. Pepe Reina should probably have tried to save the match ball rather than the beach ball. 3. Unbeatable Chelsea suddenly look a bit wobbly. 4. Tweeting can defeat the Big Four! Click to continue reading...

Take my word, I haven't just looked at a couple of blurry Youtube clips before coming to a conclusion about the Standard Liege player who Manchester United have been strongly linked with recently.

Sir Alex Ferguson sent a 'get well soon' letter wishing him a speedy recovery which has caught the attention of the media, with fans on various internet forums discussing their thoughts on a possible signing.

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1. Peter Crouch's gangly legs are not supposed to be involved in six-yard tap-ins. They were made for bicycle kicks. 2. David Beckham has brown hair, a ginger moustache and a black beard. What is that all about? 3. Twin, dwarf, right-footed wingers is probably not a viable tactical option against decent opposition. Click to continue reading...

1. Manchester United really don't help Sir Alex Ferguson's case with these injury time goals. Another get of of jail card in time added on, this time to grab a draw against Sunderland. 2. Rafa Benitez hasn't got the injury time touch yet. He moaned about the lack of stoppage time to the fourth official only [. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... draws three conclusions from the latest action in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

This will be short and sweet, really more of a collection of "quick hits" than an actual match reaction. That's because Jabloteh were so bad, and we were playing so many non-regulars, that it's hard to draw any large conclusions beyond (a) Jabloteh... Click to continue reading...

1. Chelsea are beatable after all. 2. And Wigan are capable of beating one of the Big Four after all. I don't think too many people would have backed them to break their 34 game duck against Carlo Ancelotti's unbeaten side. 3. One little slip and suddenly Manchester United are top again. You'll have to watch them, [. Click to continue reading...

September 21 officially signals the end of the UK summer and we move into that leaf-peeping season curiously referred to by our Transatlantic cousins as the Fall. The term is apt if you're a Royal, a Bluebird, a Pilgrim or a Tractor Boy, but as the weather resolutely refused to turn on another blisteringly Indian Summer of a weekend, which conclusions did we make? Click to continue reading...

Motty squawks at Aaron Lennon We already noted in our Top 10 conclusions that Motty was getting a bit camp during yesterday's Chelsea-Spurs game. And this example is no exception. With Aaron Lennon on the counter attack, Motty adopts his best teenage boy falsetto to proclaim: "He's going all the waaay. Click to continue reading...

1. 4-3: the internationally recognised hallmark of a Premier League corker. 2. Michael Owen has now proved he was worth every penny of his free transfer. 3. Millions of pounds can buy you a new squad of players, but it can't buy you control of Sir Alex's special Old Trafford timekeeping clock. I'm kidding, of course. Click to continue reading...

Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion is rarely mentioned in the same breath as Peterborough United's London Road but both are at the centre of one of the hottest debates among football fans of recent years: the issue of standing at matches. The Taylor Report's seemingly incontrovertible conclusions sprung up in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster and its preceding long decade of trauma and Click to continue reading...

No conclusions today, only questions 1. Was giving Standard Liege a one-goal headstart part of a deal cut between Eduardo and Uefa to overturn his diving ban? 2. Why are the best games on paper always the worst in reality? I'm looking at you, Inter and Barca. 3. If Arsenal had lost 3-2, having led 2-0, and conceded [. Click to continue reading...

Arsène Wenger's big test will be to find the balance between the pass-and-move style of football and providing greater protection from the counter.
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Two goals were scored away from home and four were conceded therefore it should be clear which end of the pitch the problems lie.

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1. Emmanuel Adebayor certainly got his own back for any perceived treatment he received from the Arsenal faithful. You'll have to ask him whether victory, scoring a goal, celebrating in front of Arsenal's fans, making a goal-line clearance or raking Robin Van Persie's face was most rewarding. 2. After all the talk of which of the [. Click to continue reading...

1. What a disappointment. Where was the nailbiting last gasp qualification securing goal/hard fought 0-0? Two games to spare? Give us a break, Capello. 2. Only kidding! We're going to South Africa. And what an emphatic way to make sure. 3. Composed passing play, coherent attacking play, neat angles and positioning. Click to continue reading...

1. Wayne Rooney would never, ever dive to win a penalty. Ever. You could have seen that coming after his comments this week! 2. It is a shame he didn't tell a press conference that he was too honest to score a goal for England so that might have acted as an omen too. Wazza had [...]

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Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 on Saturday after the Gunners dominated much of the play. Worryingly for them, they couldn't finish off a United side who were enduring what will probably be remembered as their worst performance of the season. Regardless, Arsenal tested Ben Foster on just one occasion after scoring, which allowed United back in to the game.

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They Think It's All Over... draws three conclusions from the weekend's Premier League action. Click to continue reading...

You will hopefully have noticed that OTP has not been updated for a few days while I take a well deserved (and ongoing) rest. Normal service will be resumed over the next couple of days. In the meantime, I have seen precisely zilch of the weekend's Premier League action, so this week's conclusions are over [. Click to continue reading...

So, through four games, Liverpool's conceded seven goals. All seven have come from set plays (if we count Ashley Young's penalty). Zonal marking has been a scapegoat since Benitez came to the club, so it's worth a look at the proportion of goals Liverpool's conceded that have come from set plays over his five seasons. Click to continue reading...

1. Everton must be getting to the stage now where they would consider paying Joleon Lescott to leave and get back to some sort of normality. 2. Another convincing Arsenal win seems to have announced their return as a major title race contender. Roll on next week when we see how they cope with the reigning [. Click to continue reading...

Despite already losing a game, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes it's too early to draw conclusions on the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's 15:00 kick-off against Portsmouth, the Frenchman said:

It is unusual [that they both lost] but they have played two difficult opponents – Tottenham for Liverpool and Burnley for Manchester United.

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There was only one Bill Shankly; he was the best manager this land has ever seen, and despite the claims of many a Manchester United fan, his achievements will never be equalled. Benitez is not, and never will be, the next Shanks, But could he be the next Liverpool manager to write his name into Anfield folklore? Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... draws three conclusions from the first two rounds of the Premier League season. Click to continue reading...

1. Arsene Wenger definitely saw that! 2. Some beautiful goals to ring in the new season. Take a bow Hugo Rodallega, Denilson, Didier Drogba and Mark Noble. 3. Didier Drogba's last-gasp winner for Chelsea against Hull put paid to any musings on whether Stephen Hunt likes kicking Chelsea when they are down. Click to continue reading...

Book Review: Red Race by Paul Tomkins
If you're a fan of American sport (something that I have to admit I'm not) then you'll be familiar with the love affair that there is with statistics and how numbers are used to explain almost everything.
Up till a few years back such an approach was alien to football where the only numbers you were likely to get were those pertaining to the scoreline. Click to continue reading...

1. This was possibly the first England friendly in history in which the team's performance was improved by a host of second half substitutions. 2. That was the stereotypical game of two halves. A draw was probably about fair in the end. 3. Holland's big screen was a good way of lowering England morale. Click to continue reading...

What did the game against Olympiakos tell us?Firstly that you shouldn't draw too many conclusions from pre-season friendlies. Remember Roma!BassongThey weren't really bothered so its difficult to judge Bassong's performance. He didn't do very much because he had no pressure and he did it competently apart from one 'Newcastle' moment which he just about retrieved. Click to continue reading...