The World Wildlife Fund wants Messi to wear a Real Madrid jersey for a day

If I supported Real Madrid, I'd be pumping up my bike tires as I type this. In an effort to spread awareness for Earth Hour, which is an hour of "uniting people to protect the planet", the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has celebrities teaming up with the organization to help spread awareness of Earth Hour and promote sustainable habits.

Fernando Torres has been the focus of press and media attention ever since he signed for Chelsea. He scored 81 goals in just 142 games for Liverpool and everyone expected more of the same here but it hasn't happened. Everyone is asking questions, people are beginning to turn and doubt Torres but I am posting this because I for one believe in Torres.

As pointed out by just about everyone, this image is a perfect representation of where football stands in average America it's simply too good not to share.

A milestone achievement by one of the greatest athletes on the planet at the age of only 24 earns his own Time magazine cover 'cept in the US of A.

This is something that I feel I need to have a moan about. It's not the case week in, week out but at times this season our substitutions this season have been very strange.
AVB, like Jose Mourinho, is of the mindset that you make sure you use all three substitutions in the game no matter how well or bad you are doing which is fair enough.

Sir Alex Ferguson proved why he is the best manager ever in the Premier League and earth after beating Arsenal 2-1 in their home at Emirates Stadium. United knew they needed a win to keep chasing...
Continue to the full story

By Chris Wright

With the Bundesliga currently ensconced on their mid-season break, Schalke 04 took the opportunity to send their players 1,000 metres below the surface of the Earth on a tour of the Auguste Victoria coal mine in Marl, Germany what with the club originally being founded by miners back in 1904 and all.

Yes yes, we know what you're thinking : "How on Earth is David Beckham still relevant?!" or "And why are you guys so gross?!" This was supposed to be in yesterday's Offbeat column, but updates there got too packed (just as other things are in this photo) so we had to leave out Beckham's latest editorials for his exclusively-designed H&M's male underwear range.

Liverpool legend Tommy Smith has urged Kenny Dalglish to add a 'proven' striker to his ranks this month in order maintain their challenge for a top four finish.
Despite spending in excess of £50 million on the dual striker pairing of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in January last year, Liverpool has toiled for goals all season.

After watching Fernando Torres' performance yesterday for Chelsea I thought to myself "He's had a good game today". Then I saw the report of Ex-Liverpool Phil Thompson on Skysports "Soccer Saturday" and couldn't believe what I was reading!. Thompson is quoted soon after the game saying:

"He's not anywhere near.

You could see it coming a mile off couldn't you!. Once again we struggled to break a side down that comes here and lines up with ten men behind the ball. It's all well and good having the majority of the possession of the ball but you HAVE TO do something with it.
How many fucking times am I saying the same thing over and over again?

Why Bolton's troubles run deeper than Owen Coyle's management

Owen Coyle is facing major problems at Bolton – and if they go down it could put the whole club's future in doubt. Why on earth is no-one talking about Bolton's £110million debt? People watched Portsmouth unravel and they're fighting for their very existence.

So with the crux of the holiday season around the corner here are the top 5 noise makers for the blues this merry season:

#5 - Romeu

Highly understated. His performances have been amazing, most notably the assurance with he passes the ball around in his position. Very glad to hear that Barca only have a first option to buy him ONLY IF Chelsea decide to release him and not a buy back clause as initially reported!

I really am beginning to wonder about Fernando Torres now. The game on Saturday night was a blatant example of the fact to me anyway that there seems to be "issues" between AVB and our Spanish striker.
I stand by my match report and everything I said there. Why on earth we go 1-0 up, see that Drogba is not having his best game and keep him on the pitch, ask Torres to warm up and then not even use him is beyond me!

Here! Have some points!

It's easy to sit here and criticise, of course.

So here goes.

Why on earth did we sit back and (seemingly) play for a 0-0 draw against a fragile team who let's face it we match up very well against?

When Swansea scored (a fluke, but a fluke that was absolutelydeserved) Fulham woke up and attacked, and for half an hour gave Swansea a relative pasting.

Rumours are circulating in Spain that Barcelona are considering an Earth-shaking move to sign Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo. So is there any truth in the mounting speculation which would see the most expensive player in the history of world football make a totally unexpected switch from the Santiago Bernabeu to the Camp Nou?

The dust of MLS Cup and the Expansion Draft has settled and there is still one topic currently making the rounds in MLS circles: the selection of Brian Ching by the Montreal Impact.
Jesse Marsch likely made few friends in Houston with his selection of Brian Ching in the expansion draft. Really though, Houston have no one to be mad at but themselves.

By Chris Wright

This really is terrible. The Football Association of Wales have confirmed reports that Wales manager Gary Speed has been found dead at his Cheshire home after apparently committing suicide this morning. 'No suspicious circumstances' is the official Police line.

Anyone else reached the slightly absurd conclusion that we should really win all but two of our remaining 27 fixtures? The bubble will presumably burst at some point, but if the earth continues its merry rotation around the sun in the time-honoured fashion of a few thousand years there is little reason to expect anything other than the standard, slightly tortuous three-point haul.

The more I think about our "slump" and dip in form at the moment, the more I keep thinking about our rotation policy. Let me explain.
At the moment, things are against us and we need to stop the rot sooner rather than later. I wrote a earlier in the week about getting back to basics as far as our defending is concerned and I really think the constant rotating players in our defensive line isn't helping our situation either.

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"Making the Arsenal" – the book of Arsenal's rebirth

Follow us on Twitter @UntoldArsenal

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By Walter Broeckx

Sometimes you have those games that after 20 minutes you look at the scoreboard and think: is this really the score of the game I am seeing?

Wait, what???

Seeing Red

Well color me surprised. It seemed that this bit of business was all done and dusted last month. Now comes the revaluation that Seyi Ojo has, in fact, agreed a deal to join Liverpool. The 14-year old deemed that his future would be better served on Merseyside, hence the change of heart.

Who would Steven Gerrard invite to his ideal dinner party, and what food would be served? Liverpool FC's captain recently revealed all...
Dinner guests?
"I think Michael Jackson would be one; I'd ask him what was going on his life"
Perhaps someone should let Gerrard know that Jackson is no longer of this earth.

Some Spanish headlines reporting the end of the dream run ......
At the kingdom of Navarra stadium, Levante were dethroned," declared Marca. "Levante: back to earth," said AS. They were on the cover of El País and El Mundo. "Levante fall," said el Mundo; "the party's over," said El País. "The dream is over," said Sport.

Chris Rolfe continued his strong play for Aalborg with an assist on their lone goal in Sunday's draw against Brondby while Michael Parkhurst and Nordsjaelland were brought back to earth by Lyngby.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is a decent NFL quarterback. At best, he's an average starter. But don't tell the Buffalo Bills because they apparently believe that he's elite. On Friday, the Bills gave Fitzpatrick a contract extension worth nearly $60 million over six years.

Yes. $60 million. For Ryan Freakin' Fitzpatrick.

Rooney deserves his three-match ban.. and we're to blame for indulging him

I heard the earth-shattering news about Wayne Rooney's three-game ban on TalkSport. "Clearly someone doesn't want us to do well in the European championships," said a furious Adrian Durham. Within minutes the Twittersphere was filled with gems like this from Phil Neville: "If it was a Dutch, Spanish or Italian player they wouldn't even get one game.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sometimes we wake up and it's as though the mysterious, unseen powers that govern this earth have just decided to shower us with delights that we could never have imagined in our wildest dreams.

Like this video of Fiorentina having a 'shirt removal' training session?

This is highly interesting. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, according to an insightful piece in today's Independent, purchased 100 Chelsea Pitch Owners shares at £100 each in April 2011. This entitles him to the maximum 100 votes in the upcoming apparent make-or-break meeting on 27 October.

Some good ones in MLS this week. My vote goes to Nizar Khalfan's laser-guided effort. Iran outfit Sepahan's Emad Mohammed's insanity here comes after he megged his defender. There seemed to be some gravity defiance in this shot. Slask Wroclaw's Sebastian Mila imitates the Earth's curvature with a divine free kick.

Ok, this is a weird one, and I'm still not entirely sure why I am bothering to post this up, but I have, and you are now reading it, so let's crack on.

I had what can only be described as the most vivid, lucid dream / premonition with regards to Arsenal drawing Manchester United in the Carling Cup quarters.

Why noble plan to prosecute Adebyaor and Arsene abusers is sadly doomed to failure

The gesture is noble enough two clubs who are the most bitter of rivals unite to weed out the despicable individuals who chanted unacceptable obscenities at the Tottenham-Arsenal clash last Sunday.

By Chris Wright

Jose Mourinho, in the act of winning the heart and minds of his people again by inviting all 30-odd of them round for a hot meat bonanza (which is, incidentally, Cristiano Ronaldo's nickname for himself) before they all jet off to the four corners of the Earth on international duty.

Now that was a little more like it. Credit to @danhodes for a nice screen cap of Fox Soccer's continual production failures -- beyond Warren Barton's continued employment.Nothing earth-shattering developed from this weekend's round of games. Really the only-eye opening event was Fulham erupting for a six-goal shellacking of QPR.

Steve McLaren, 30 August, 2011: "What happens over the next few days will decide whether we can win promotion or not. Absolutely it will, without a shadow of a doubt. What we do now, over the next few days, will determine whether we are good enough to challenge or whether we are scrapping to get into the play-offs.

By Chris Wright

You may remember not-so-very long ago when Pies broke the huge news that Michael Owen was a closet 1,000-piece equine jigsaw junkie. No? How could you possibly let an earth-shaking story like that slip from your memory?

Very well, let's move on.

Seems like L'il Micky's Manchester United teammates have now cottoned on to his penchant for the puzzle, taking a tell-all magazine clipping and blu-tacking it up in Owen's segment of the dressing room wall at Carrington, along with a rather hurtful sticker that read 'ZZZZ!

Round Six of the SPANISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE - La Liga - concluded tonight with its Monday match between GETAFE & REAL BETAS. Real Betis landed back to earth after a string of victories placed them flying high as Spanish League Table leaders . Tonight's game gave Getafe a much needed 1 - 0 victory & halted the aspirations of Betis escaping from the rest of the teams on the leader.

Guessing, the Neil Warnock face in the picture above pretty much sums up the Premier League weekend, which was ... eh?My ego isn't big enough, well hold that thought, let's frame it this way. Nobody on Earth -- my parents included -- want to waste 39 seconds of their Monday reading about me patting myself on the back for going 8-1 (through Sunday) on my EPL Round 6 picks.

I feel ya', Kandji Incredibly, MLS has fallen from an 8-1-1 in the CONCACAF Champions League to 10-8-2 overall in two weeks. We talked last week about the fall back to earth being a little more of what we expected. This? Not so much. FC Dallas being run out of Pizza Hut Park by Pumas, the Galaxy failing to muster a goal with Becks in the lineup away at Alajuelense, the Rapids falling all over

But the men done better Highlights of the Europa game and all four (yes four) goals against Liverpool ( yes Liverpool) at the end of the blog. The boys,and I mean the boys, done good, But the men done better. First the Europa cup entree. The PAOK supporters lived up to their reputation even if the team did not.

One of the things that struck me while researching "When Football Was Football" was the view across the pitch from the river side of the ground. Whether it's 1911, 1931, 1961 or 2011, in almost any photograph of a match you can see the silhouettes of supporters standing at the back of the Stevenage Road stand.