Man, where do I even start? First, let me apologize for such a long hiatus. These past few months have been pretty crazy for me for a number of reasons, but I'm back now. If there's anyone out there that actually still reads this blog, thank you for your patience. This hasn't been a fun time for me, but things are starting to look up.

Liverpool have hit some sort of form since Gerard has returned from injury. Chelsea stole a point late in the game at Swansea and are now six points ahead of Arsenal. This season has always been about a battle for fourth an it's time for the Gunners to buckle up and pick up the points in games like the next one at the Reebok, many much tougher games will anyway see Arsenal dropping points in the coming weeks.

On this side of the Atlantic, the football news that received quite a bit of attention over past few days was Friday's FA Cup tie between Everton and Fulham, featuring Clint "Hat Trick" Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Tim Howard. Everton won, and as SI.com put it,

Landon Donovan etched his name further into Everton lore with two assists in the Toffees' FA Cup victory over Fulham.

It was, in short, a poor afternoon. Let's just say our trip to Spain couldn't have come at a better time. More, after the jump:

Begging for Mercy

I'm a hazy mess. Well, not a mess per se. But, disappointed by what was without a doubt a toothless display of our ineffective style that sums up our season.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (10-4) vs. Norfolk SharX (3-11)
Game Time: 1/20/2012 7:35 PM
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
Keys to victory for the Blast:

• Quicker distribution: In their loss to the SharX eight days ago, the Blast tired to get too cute with fancy footwork and trying to take on and dribble through multiple defenders.

We're not gonna do this. Not right now. Just go read the Blackburn recap. Or the Swansea recap. Or any other match in which Liverpool never really looked like doing something worth watching, subtract any chances that were created but not taken, punch yourself in the face for watching the whole thing, and then go back to drinking yourself into oblivion.

Earlier last night, I was alerted to the recent Chron.com blog piece by Jose de Jesus Ortiz, and his idea to get Brian Ching back from the Montreal L'Impact. You can read the full blog piece here. In my time as a Dynamo Theory Blog writer (ok, I know I haven't been nearly as active as of late. I blame work), I've read over a ton of ideas about how to fix or better the team.

There's some news you might be interested in. Might. More, after the jump:

Back to France

Dijon have confirmed that, after a protracted series of negotiations, Gael Kakuta will be joining the club for the remainder of the campaign. Over the last ten days, Chelsea have been engaged in a series of loan discussions with both Dijon and Olympiakos.

After the wild final day of the January window and a finish to the season that was reason enough for optimism, all eyes turned toward the summer. Even with the relatively disappointing end to the campaign, Liverpool looked to have the opportunity to strengthen a squad that seemed just a few pieces away from truly challenging the league leaders on a consistent basis.

Most of the attention paid to Luis Suarez today will focus on the belated hearing in the ongoing Patrice Evra racism saga. It's obviously a sensitive issue, and one deserving of attention, but also one that's become farcical in terms of the way it's been handled. While we can't and shouldn't ignore the severity of the situation, it's also worth paying a little bit of attention to the performances that Suarez has been able to turn out in a climate that's become increasingly hostile.

Morning all,

let's start with early team news ahead of tomorrow's trip to Wigan and nobody who played on Tuesday is added to the sicklist, but Tomas Rosicky remains out with a thigh knack while Abou Diaby will miss 10 days with 'a slight muscular problem'.

Obviously I don't think anybody is surprised by that but Diaby now seems to be caught in an infinite loop of injury.

Liverpool legend John Barnes is my favourite footballer of all time. No other player has given me as much joy and excitement over the years, and he always has compelling views on football. However, I have to disagree with Barnesy's recent assessment of Stewart Downing's impact for Liverpool.

Now that we've had a few days to examine things from every angle and formulate responsible judgments, I feel the time has come for a measured and well thought-out reaction to the Jay Heaps hiring. And no, it's not an unintelligible exclamation of frustration.

I still have plenty of reservations about Jay's lack of experience, and also about his leadership style.

Charlie Adam is determined to silence his critics, with the Liverpool midfielder vowing to prove he is not just a flash in the pan.
Adam was one of the stars of the Premier League last season, with his efforts for Blackpool earning widespread praise.
The midfielder's displays were ultimately in vain, as Blackpool was relegated, but they earned him a move to Liverpool.

Big night for U.S. soccer and the men's national team won in Europe for the first time in 3 1/2 years, beating Slovenia 3-2. Yes that is not a misprint. The U.Sc. scored three goals tonight, more than doubling the number of goals that they had scored in the previous six games under Jurgen Klinsmann.

I tell you what, this is something that interests me if it happens!. Let's be honest, on his day Theo Walcott and beat anyone, destroy teams and is unplayable. The problem is, he hasn't done it enough for Arsenal in the six seasons he has been there. However, he is showing signs of playing better on a consistent basis and is becoming a real force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.

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.

One-Nil to the Arsenal. Thank you very much.

I would have been happy with a draw so a win, and that too in such a manner with a clean sheet to boot, has put me over the moon which is a lovely place, you should join me. Ah! I see many are already here and some others on their way. Wonderful.

Failing to score an open net in Chelsea's last match against Manchester United, grows again people's doubt on Fernando Torres' ability to regain his old form considering that the miss chance could always dropped the striker's confidence once again.

However, that theory is being disagreed by the Blues' main goalie, Peter Cech, who urged people to refer their judgment more on the performance that Torred did against United instead of the bad finishing he made.

By THOMAS FLOYD

When Freddy Adu, fresh off a breakthrough performance in the Gold Cup, signed with the Philadelphia Union last month, the 22-year-old playmaker was seen as the key missing cog for a team with lofty playoff aspirations.

But for a player whose club playing time in Europe has been sporadic at best over the past few years, gaining the fitness to contribute on a consistent basis has been a challenge early in his second MLS stint.

Gael Kakuta has been speaking for the first time since his six-month loan move to Bolton was made official on transfer deadline day. The young Frechman is saying all the right things, despite the rags' best attempts to skew it.

Make or break?

This is a pivotal season for Kakuta.

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger: We can still improve despite unbeaten start to season

Dane pleased with team's start to campaign but believes they must maintain this high level on more consistent basis before early season optimism can be truly justified

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-08-29 11:43:00 from: Goal

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

CAMRBIDGE, Mass. With their playoff hopes on the line, the Breakers got two goals from Lauren Cheney as their 2-0 victory over Sky Blue FC earned them a trip to the WPS postseason on the final day of the regular season.

Cheney, who only recently came back from an ankle injury she suffered earlier this summer, scored in the 1st and 18th minutes while Alyssa Naeher made seven saves on the night to help steer Boston to its second consecutive WPS playoff appearance.

Last Saturday, D.C. United gutted out a 2-0 at San Jose. Dwayne De Rosario's two second half goals gave D.C. a lead in a frustrating game for both teams. It was only after Andy Najar was sent off for a professional foul that San Jose seized the initiative, but a committed rear-guard performance saw D.

Tommy Smith, the legendary Liverpool defender who won four domestic championships in his 16-year stay at the Merseyside club, has tipped summer signing Stewart Downing to revive the team's fortunes.

The Reds, who haven't been crowned the champions in over two decades, strengthened their squad with a host of signings this summer, including promising young midfielders such as Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam.

Photo by Rick Osentoski/ISIphotos.com

United States national team striker Jozy Altidore was introduced at new club AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday, putting pen to paper on a four-year deal that seals his permanent move from Spanish club Villarreal.

Altidore, who will wear the No.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Vancouver Whitecaps have finally admitted it. They want to sign Owen Hargreaves.

Prior to a friendly versus Manchester City on Monday night, Whitecaps co-owner Jeff Mallett confirmed rumors of interest in Hargeaves, saying that the oft-injured midfielder knows of the club's desire to sign him.

Claudio Reyna was a long way from the glare and glamour of the World Cup, sitting in a folding chair beside a patchy suburban soccer field and eating a boxed lunch.
The former U.S. national team captain watched intently as a youth academy team from Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls took on the Dallas Texans, a top club team.

Glendale Falcons, Austin Hart

The 2011 Region 2 Boys Camps are being held in Overland Park, KS this week. The Camps bring in the State teams from Region 2 offering age group competition between the teams and leading to what is termed the Holdover Camp where individual players are invited to stay and participate on a Regional level squad.

While he looks arguably a better prospect than Giovani dos Santos was, is Bojan Krkic going to be another over priced disappointment from the fringes of the Barcelona squad? A £14m price tag would suggest this 20 year old is a bit special but as he's yet to do it on a consistent basis at the highest level, this transfer would be a very risky one.

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

Ashley Young's arrival at Old Trafford has been met with mixed reaction amongst Manchester United fans. At around £15m some say he's good value English talent when compared to the £20m Liverpool paid to bring in Jordan Henderson from Sunderland, but could he end up being a £15m bench warmer?

Morning all, welcome to Friday and it's with Cesc we're starting today.

It seems Barcelona have made their first bid for the captain, a measly €30m. Rightly enough Arsenal have told them to 'get real' and come back with something more suitable.

Catalan daily Sport are reporting that Barcelona's vice-president of sporting stuff, Josep María Bartomeu, went to London this week to meet with Ivan Gazidis.

Few quick thoughts on the first half;

• The United States has played well however before we get all excited Guadeloupe is giving the Yanks all kinds of space. With all the time in the world it is much easier to make good decisions, which thankfully the US is taking advantage of.
• Eric Lichaj has moved forward into the attack more in the first half that Bocanegra did in the last two games.

Yuri Zhirkov has well and truly taken aim at Chelsea's medical team and has more or less confirmed that he wants to leave the club in order to play first team football. It's the situation with his "injury" that he has revealed hurt him the most this season, so much so, he doesn't want to talk about it cause it "hurts".

"The Nani of centre-midfield," I've heard some label the enigmatic Anderson. In fairness, you can see where they are coming from he has the ability to amaze and frustrate in equal measure however, like Nani, the talent and potential is clearly there. Recently, Anderson has pulled out what many would recognise as ‘coming of age performances'; against Everton he was sensational dictating the play like the midfielder we all so very much want him to be and against Schalke on Wednesday night, he scored his first ever brace for United doubling his total goal tally for the Reds in a matter of minutes.

I don't normally spend much time talking about transfers so this is somewhat of an unusual post. There have been some thoughts in my mind for a while and they clicked in place when I saw the news that Clarence Seedorf is going to be a free agent in the summer.

In the Arsenalsphere, countless hours and column inches have been devoted to the discussion on leadership, experience, and mentality issues.

I realize this is a radical question that can easily be misinterpreted as being defeatist or lacking ambition. But that doesn't take away the fact that apart from Wenger no one has come close to winning the Premiership on Arsenal's budget. Even then if we accept for a moment that Arsene should go, it's important to consider who can come in and deliver the big trophies.

I suppose if anybody's got a plan as to how we're going to claw ourselves back into this thing with Madrid tomorrow night, now's probably a good time to speak up. No? Anybody? Oh, well. Here's an easier question, then. One in which the answer doesn't centre around the idea of placing several highly-trained snipers in the East Stand Upper.

I want to start this blog post by saying that it will take a HUGE amount of money for Chelsea to sign Gareth Bale from Spurs. I cannot see Spurs even entertaining any bids for Gareth Bale and will stand firm stating that he is simply "not for sale!".
However, bearing in mind Harry Redknapp is their manager, bearing in mind he always has an eye for a player and bearing in mind Roman Abramovich is willing to splash whatever it takes to get his man once again, I just wonder if there will be a substance to this come the summer.

"This guy I know. He's radical. I wouldn't f*** with him." Charlie Sheen

So off we went to the Seaside, and away we go with three points after a night of unimpressive football. Lacking was the continuity and crisp attacking display from Tuesday's second half in its place a sloppily administered 4-4-2 that the players have yet to grasp.