I have always thought that one (of the many) reasons that I did not become a footballer was because I am too intelligent. In fact, as has often been the case, with some notable exceptions (Jorge Valdano, Socrates, Ruud Gullit....), intelligent footballers seems to be more the exception that the rule, and at a time when the media scrutiny is so intense, the demand on a bit of brains in footballers

Last time we checked, wearing hair rollers in public was a "Don't" in most sensible ladies' books.

Well thanks to a recently misinterpreted decree from Vogue, the British press is now claiming that the baffling, mind-boggling and completely WAG-like trend of wearing hair rollers whilst out and about is now in fashion.

One of the more potential-filled midfielders in the U.S. youth pipeline is coming to MLS.

The Portland Timbers have acquired U.S. Under-20 midfielder Charles Renken through the MLS waiver process, according to a team release, bringing the 18-year-old to the Pacific Northwest from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Fitness continued to be the focus for the Portland Timbers as they neared the end of their first week of preseason training in 2012. The sun shone brightly on the turf and allowed some players to shed their extra layers. Again the players participated in an 8v8 half field scrimmage after warming up and doing a few drills, but the consistent theme throughout the session was keeping everyone constantly in motion.

The MLS 101 series will be a "living/breathing document" in that I will continue to edit and update these post to keep up to date with the inevitable changes that MLS will make. I encourage you to bookmark the post so you can use them as a reference going forward.

In this edition of MLS 101, it's time to tie up some lose ends about MLS roster rules, along with player movement and acquisition.

Monday MLS Breakdown: Application Of Home Grown Player Rule - Goal.com

The most complete look at the current state of the HGP rule and the exceptions to the rule that have been granting. Yes, Brent Richards was an exception, but there have been a few others.

There's also a nugget that now seems to incentivize a club operating an amateur PDL team in order to main their connections to former U18 players who are then at colleges.

Many people argue that there is no such thing as a certainty in sport, especially football but there are always exceptions to the rule and Barcelona winning the Champions League in 2012 looks just as good as a football certainty as you could find... The current odds of 13/8 about Barcelona winning the Champions League [.

Many people argue that there is no such thing as a certainty in sport, especially football but there are always exceptions to the rule and Barcelona winning the Champions League in 2012 looks just as good as a football certainty as you could find... The current odds of 13/8 about Barcelona winning the Champions League [.

Wednesday's Carling Cup defeat to Crystal Palace was both embarrassing and disappointing for Manchester United, as even with an under-strength side, United were expected to take care of business at home against the Championship side. But with a couple of exceptions, that under-strength side put in a poor performance, and credit to Palace, they came [.

I started thinking about this question again in the wake of some recent comments by Dennis Bergkamp about what's going on at Arsenal. He stated his views about tactics, a need for a true goal scorer, and Patrick Vieira. Naturally, this led a few writers to wonder if Bergkamp would be a good future manager at Arsenal.

In memory of Al Davis' death today, I'll rip a page from his book to provide some helpful advice for Klinsi today: Just score, baby. With a few exceptions, the style points have been there. We've seen advances in stylish play that seemed a pipe dream during RoboBob's preference for the robotic, some brief glimpses of progress in this 4-3-3 implementation and some serious defections, most notably

On Sunday, the Union played Chivas USA to a drab draw in front of a sparsely populated Home Depot Center in Carson, California. After a slow-paced first half that yielded few chances, Justin Mapp opened the scoring in the second half before the sensational Juan Pablo Angel drew the home side level at the death.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Whenever the Major League Soccer Players Union releases players' salary numbers, it's usually the rare opportunity to step back and see who's worth their salary and who's not. So that's exactly what we're going to do here, with a look at each Union player's salary and evaluation of whether they're worth it or not.

By 1970's GoonerForget the disappointment of the first three games of the season. They will prove to be aberrations, exceptions to the rule, a thing of the past. Performances that will be remembered by the end of the season only as an example of how a team can improve so much.Remember that everything was at a virtual standstill during the preseason.

Which probably raises the question what the Lex Leverkusen was in the first place? It has to do with the 50+1 rule, which again probably raises the question what that rule is as well. And then, what has it all to do with the Bundesliga?

The 50+1 rule means you can't buy more than 49% of a Bundesliga club.

MLS is on the rise at the turnstyle, too...
2011 has been a banner year at gate across Major League Soccer. The league is averaging more than 17,300 fans per game in 2011. This is the first time since the league's inagural season that average attendance has crested the 17k figure. Perhaps even more impressive, the median attendance in 2011 is at an all time high, easily surpassing the previous high (1996) of approximately 16,100.

In the next installment of "what happened last season in the Premier League?", here are season totals on teams' defensive prowess. Much has been made of Arsenal's inability to defend well and its need to improve defense during this transfer window. But the numbers tell a slightly different story - at least in part.

1. Bob Bradley's lineup will look a lot like the one we saw against Panama, with a couple of exceptions. While it would be ideal to start Clint Dempsey up top, the decision is really between Juan Agudelo and Sacha Kljestan. Since Sacha had a fairly bad game against Panama, we're going to say Juan gets the nod.

A footballer in this era showing some loyalty is unheard of but there is seemingly a few exceptions. As Roberto Martinez showed by staying at Wigan when Aston Villa came calling, Angelo Palombo is now doing the same by staying with Sampodria after their relegation to Serie B. The scenes of him crying at the end of the Palermo game as he asked for the fans forgiveness behind both goals as.

So which was more shocking for you: Clint Dempsey's menagerie of missed sitters or Bob Bradley finishing the game with Dempsey as his lone striker? It's not an idle question. My notes, even from early in the first half, mention Dempsey looking heavy-legged and lacking his usual spark. I think it was about a half hour in that I wondered why Bradley hadn't started the energetic Bedoya, saving Dempsey, coming off a long club season, for emergency sub duty and the latter stages of the tournament.

Hands up if you saw that result coming. Hey. You there are the back... put your hand down, you little fibber!

Well, okay, Arsenal have really gone off the boil as this season has lumbered to its conclusion, but I can't honestly claim to have expected a win today. A draw perhaps. I'd have been delighted with the point that would have finally guaranteed our Premier League survival regardless of other results.

Hands up if you saw that result coming. Hey. You there are the back... put your hand down, you little fibber!

Well, okay, Arsenal have really gone off the boil as this season has lumbered to its conclusion, but I can't honestly claim to have expected a win today. A draw perhaps. I'd have been delighted with the point that would have finally guaranteed our Premier League survival regardless of other results.

In the past four years, with some exceptions, Arsenal has been a step away from going through the Premier League finish line triumphant. Losing several key players during the transitional phase of moving to the Emirates robbed the Gunners not only of depth, but also of experience.

Inevitably, results suffered.

I've been spending a few posts looking at shot creation in the Premiership. One of the things I haven't spent much time on is differences across teams in in terms of who has been creating the most and least shots from different kinds of situations. These situations are open play, corners, free kicks, fast breaks, and penalties.

I've been spending a few posts looking at shot creation in the Premiership. One of the things I haven't spent much time on is differences across teams in in terms of who has been creating the most and least shots from different kinds of situations. These situations are open play, corners, free kicks, fast breaks, and penalties.

Jeremain Lens will need to be on point against Feyenoord come Sunday

We're approaching the end of club football in Europe, and while no fixture can be taken for granted at this point, there's not a whole hell of a lot that's particularly interesting this weekend. The games are important at the top and bottom of the table for sure, but will that make them something we want to watch?

It's one of funnest and most satisfying sports within the sport of football: complaining about the tedious, predictable, if not nauseating commentary foisted on us by the networks. With barely disguised pleasure, we chat or tweet our criticisms of the uninvited guests who join our football watching party.

A general outline not meant to capture exceptions:

1) Be obsessed with the game.
2) Put in your 10,000 hours.
3) Have coaches for many years at the youth level that can polish you.
4) Debut professionally as a teenager. Again, with a coach that has a clue.

I recently purchased an iPad2 and one of the apps I was excited to get my hands on was the MLS app. The features I had read about, especially the matchday live streaming, were things I had been looking forward to using during the season to keep me up to date on the day to day of the league. Over the past week, I've been using the app to get me ready for the upcoming season.

As I mentioned in my "Formations" post many weeks ago, the 3-5-2 is a complex species with many breeds, and every time it is deemed "extinct" it has the habit of popping back up again. What is notable is that 3-defender systems are usually used to provide a spare man at the back for teams that want to bottle up their opponents and defensively stifle the game.

Nicolas Anelka, the third of two forwards in Carlo Ancelotti's 4-4-2 (Photo credit: jaymeydad/Flickr)

Numeric annotation of formations was on my mind before I started firing off emails late last year. Even before I got his response, I'd seen Michael Cox's thoughts on the practice, the Zonal Marking owner giving his views to Tom Williams.

Since my last report about conversion and shot records for various teams in the EPL, I've been wondering how things were looking so far this season on the shot frequency/conversion front. But instead of analyzing one league at a time, I thought it'd be interesting to compare several leagues together.

More photos » Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images

Sigi Schmid is using the Sounders' huge roster of players to try some things, including throwing his roster of youngsters and invitees straight into the fire.

Juan Argudelo: One of only two with potential

There are pros and cons to watching games on TV versus being at the field.

When it comes to assessing the details of a player's technique, off the ball movement, and overall awareness, the television can not compete.

How many shots have teams needed to score goals this year? In an earlier post, I had reported goal and shot ratios for the Big 4 leagues overall. Here's where we stand mid-season for the leagues and by individual teams.
Recall that, over the long run, the goal to shot ratio tends to be around .111 - or 1 goal in 9 shots.

Book Review: Scouting for Moyes by Les Padfield
If nausea happens to be your initial reaction upon seeing what this book is about, then it would be understandable. These days everyone remotely involved in the game of football seems all too eager to write down his life story irrespective of what comes out.

Football can be a form of torture, seemingly designed to twist your blood into knots, defying any logic and contradicting even the wisest pundits and fans.

If Roy Hodgson had just lost to Manchester United and Blackpool there would be a full-throated cry from most Liverpool fans to get him out and bring in King Kenny.

Which teams are the worst (and best) defensive teams in the big leagues of European soccer? Let's take a look at defensive performance so far this year - since it's roughly the halfway mark everywhere, these numbers should be more or less comparable across teams and leagues (assuming that the leagues are similar in important ways, which we know to be sorta true from previous analyses I've posted here .