This is how Celtic pranksters Kris Commons, Joe Ledley and Scott Brown spent their Wednesday;
covering misfiring striker Mohamed Bangura's Audi in hundreds of Post-It notes after the dud
Senegalese forward was shipped back out on loan to former club AIK until Christmas earlier in the
week.
The result leaves Chelsea with no choice but to win the Champions League final against Bayern if
they have to make it back to that competition next season.
Not the best day for Ross Turnbull in the office. Petr Cech's stand in was nowhere to be found
when Daniel Agger scored his header and his terrible give away to Jonjo Shelvey resulted in another
goal.
Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll illustrate perils of a striker's lot | Paul
Hayward
Spain and England left out £85m of misfiring striking talent this week but when a
centre-forward is on song it lifts the entire team As any Middlesbrough fan will tell you – just
mention Afonso Alves or Massimo Maccarone as prompts – buying the wrong striker is a peculiarly
calamitous act that invites external derision and internal angst.
Football At Last Ah... the Football Begins at last! It's been a long wait for top
level football since after the Euros and what a weekend for it to begin for me (with today –
Monday, being a public holiday)! I spent my Satuday night watching West Brom shock Liverpool to a
3-0 win (unlucky with the refereeing, their football wasn't bad but their finishing was still
atrocious) while flicking through the channels seeing how Arsenal would do with Santi Cazorla and
without Van Persie (a scoreless dud).
Football At Last Ah... the Football Begins at last! It's been a long wait for top
level football since after the Euros and what a weekend for it to begin for me (with today –
Monday, being a public holiday)! I spent my Satuday night watching West Brom shock Liverpool to a
3-0 win (unlucky with the refereeing, their football wasn't bad but their finishing was still
atrocious) while flicking through the channels seeing how Arsenal would do with Santi Cazorla and
without Van Persie (a scoreless dud).
Ducky's Note: A guest post on George Best's birthday from our reader Vignesh
Murali. As they said, Maradona Good, Pele Better, George Best.
Almost 7 years have passed after the demise of George Best and Manchester United are still
appertained to the mercurial Irishman who changed the face of the club and the English game
forever.
The Tevez-Pato "will he? won't he" questions ricocheted every which way this January as the
musical chairs transfers song played at AC Milan, but at the end everyone retook their own chairs.
Boring. Perhaps they were dating Berlusconi's daughter, or were on £200,000 a week slave wages
that no one else could match, but whatever the reason, that anti-climax will be followed up by a
busy February and early March.
Some Quick Thoughts on Last Night's Champions League Results:
. Borussia Dortmund 1 - Arsenal 1 It's hard to recall the glory days of Thierry Henry and
Patrick Viera's Arsenal: wonderful to watch but with a strong, rock-solid core. Today's Arsenal
strike me as little wimpy boys.
As the transfer rumour season gets under way, the press is busy slaughtering us for our lack of
activity.
Well let's look at what has happened so far.
Liverpool have spent £20M on an England u-21 international, a player who is not as good as
either Wilshere or Ramsey, so what did they expect us to do, spend money for the sake of spending
money?
Former Arsenal dud Julio Baptista (currently of Roma or, more accurately,
Roma's reserves) is in line for a return to North London come January, after hinting that he may
have already received an offer from Tottenham.
When pressed specifically about speculation linking him with a move to White Hart Lane, the
Brazilian brick-house told Spanish radio station Canal Sur:
"I have received something but there is nothing formal.
Dud deals Following hot on the heels of yesterday's best signings, here is the worst signings of
the season so far. The Premier League transfer market dabbling which currently look like the buying
clubs involved were ripped off. 1. Laurent Koscielny Arsene Wenger spent relatively big on his
defence this summer, not least £8.
Dud deals Following hot on the heels of yesterday's best signings, here is the worst signings of
the season so far. The Premier League transfer market dabbling which currently look like the buying
clubs involved were ripped off. 1. Laurent Koscielny Arsene Wenger spent relatively big on his
defence this summer, not least £8.
Ducky's Note: A guest post on George Best's birthday from our reader Vignesh
Murali. As they said, Mardona Good, Pele Better, George Best.
Almost 7 years have passed after the demise of George Best and Manchester United are still
appertained to the mercurial Irishman who changed the face of the club and the English game
forever.
Manchester United's Champions League campaign started with a dud against Rangers, but tonight,
United could seal a place in the round of 16 at Rangers' expense as the two tangle at Ibrox
Stadium.
Rangers' held United to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in September, but since then, United have
reeled off three wins in a row to move into pole position Group C, scoring a 1-0 win over Valencia
at the Mestalla and wins of 1-0 and 3-0 over Turkish champions Bursaspor.
Local Aussie journos are wetting themselves over the upcoming Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC clash
and are starting to twitter themselves into a frenzy.
They want Brett Emerton and Harry Kewell to play for their respective clubs rather than for
Australia, in Canberra, against Malaysia.
Of course the Malaysia game is a walk in the park and a friendly at that - but it is four days
before the World Cup clash with Oman.
FC Dallas was able to extend their shutout streak to 399 minutes. (Getty Images)
The end of the world didn't come this weekend which was nice but at the same time it also
brought us some very tight games in week 10. In all, week 10 in Major League Soccer went nearly as
I thought it would on Friday.
With most Euro-leagues on winter break, MLS in the depths of its off-season, and no
international action to speak of, the past month has been predictably slow. That's not to say that
all has been quiet on the American soccer front, but as we move into January, drafts, transfer
windows, and friendlies get the news flowing once again.
The Galaxy has landed: Becks and the boys deplane in Australia (APF Photo).
*The Galaxy play their final game of the season at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, a friendly in Australia
against the Newcastle Jets.
Apparently one local pundit sees the game for what it is - a farce (which seems a bit harsh to
me, but then I'm a sensitive soul as regular readers know).
I thought coming into this week, we would be talking a little more about how the NASL playoff
picture would be a little clearer. Of course, every team did everything possible to not move away
from each other. Well, thats a bit of an over statement, as the bottom of the table became a little
clearer, but that doesn't help many people.
You know the drill. Before every Premier League Gameweek we preview I) The most exciting match from
a neutral's perspective II) The most fantasy friendly affair III) Stud & Dud player selections and
IV) Our predicted best scoring starting XI. ... Continue reading →
We did something pretty amaze yesterday, Kickettes. We were backstage for Victoria's Fall 2012
show and we lived to tell about it. Nor are we currently coming to you from the comfort of a jail
cell. So that's something.
It should come as no surprise that Victoria Beckham put out another fabulous, evolvedÂ
collection this morning.
Can we ever love the Europa League? Two great cups have merged into a dud
It's Thursday, so it must be the Europa League. Hapoel Tel Aviv v Legia Warsaw. AZ Alkmaar v FC
Metalist Kharkiv. Birmingham v NK Maribor. Get ready to switch TV channels. Does anybody fancy
watching EastEnders?
So far, Copa America has been a dud. Only a little more than 1 goal per game has been the average.
It`s not just the lack of goals making for a dissappointing show so far, also, it is the lack of
innovative and skilled play, which has been associated with South American Soccer for decades, that
is making the viewing experience surprisingly stale.
There's been a littany of problems in so many American sports lately. College football has an
annual crisis of players, coaches and boosters scheming the system, Ohio State University being the
latest. College basketball has its own share of problems as witnessed earlier in the year when the
University of Connecticut got busted for recruiting violations only to bounce back and win the
national championship a month later.
Brisbane played their best football so far. ran rings around a slow Gold Coast. You know a team is
in trouble when they are 1-0 in 2 minutes and their centre backs start arguing within 10 minutes.
The referee should have given more protection to Brisbane's skills.
Heading into the 2010 fantasy football season, these players were supposed to be fantasy
football superstars. However, somewhere along the way, something went wrong. If you had one of
these players on your fantasy team, there's a good chance your season ended a long time ago.
Without further ado, here are our biggest fantasy football disappointments of the 2010 season:
QB Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
Last season, Brett Favre was outstanding.
Cold. That's probably the thing I'll remember most from MLS Cup 2010. In retrospect, holding the
game on a Sunday evening along frigid Lake Ontario may not have been the wisest decision. And I'm
not just saying that because fans froze their asses off outside (and inside) BMO Field. TV ratings
(down 44% from last year) were also abysmal.
Let's just say you're probably not going to like this idea very much. We've talked before about
the potential re-branding of the Kansas City Wizards. Well it seems that this Sporting KC thing is
definitely real.
Down the Byline (wonder KC blog) were able to get their hands on this new logo.
