In recent transfer windows and recent seasons we constantly hear Wenger and the Board remind us that we are building a team for the future, a club for the 21st century, one that does things differently promotes from within and doesn't need to pay huge transfer fees to compete.

Some fans have countered this reasoning (fairly) that without a present the future means nothing, and that the future has as little guarantee as signing a £50million striker or a £35million striker depending on which team you prefer laughing at the most.

In the modern game of football, 600,000 Euros is an extremely insignificant price to pay for a player. It is a low risk, high reward situation for the club. If the player ends up as a failure then the loss was very minimal. However if the player goes on to be a success, than it looks like a genius move.

Given that Sam Allardyce supposedly had the hex over us while he was in charge at Bolton, it was interesting to find out that we've actually won 9 out of our last ten games against Bolton in the league. Until today, our last failure to beat Bolton was the rather galling 2-1 defeat last year, when Nasri choked, and we failed to defend our set-pieces.

This match saw the welcome return of Captain Coloccini, and also the absence of Yohan Cabaye a victim of trial by television and the London FA earlier in the day. Chris Samba was missing from the Blackburn Rovers line-up following the club's failure to release him during the January transfer window clearly fit [.

Manchester City have officially went out from another competition, this time it's the Carling Cup after Roberto Mancini's side only managed to get a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the competition's second leg, while getting beaten 1-0 in the first meeting.

Mancini himself was very disappointed at that failure but once again he put the blame on refereeing decision instead of his team's own performance, which the manager though already pleasing enough.

Manchester City have officially went out from another competition, this time it's the Carling Cup after Roberto Mancini's side only managed to get a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the competition's second leg, while getting beaten 1-0 in the first meeting.

Mancini himself was very disappointed at that failure but once again he put the blame on refereeing decision instead of his team's own performance, which the manager though already pleasing enough.

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has refused to get carried away with suggestions that the club won't qualify for the Champions League next season, pointing to the forthcoming return of midfielder Jack Wilshere and right-back Bacary Sagna as a major boost.

The Gunners trail fourth-place Chelsea by five points and third-place Tottenham Hotspur by another five, leaving Arsene Wenger's side with much work to do in the four months ahead.

FC Barcelona would be looking to finish off the good job done at the Santiago Bernebeu last Wednesday when they meet Real Madrid at the Fotress Camp Nou. In the league Camp Nou has been an un-penetrable fotress till Betis broke it a week before. This season Barca has scored 67 goals at Camp Nou and conceded just 6(2 in Super Copa, 2 in La Liga and 2 in Champions League).

Chelsea once again failed to maintain any consistency in their performance as they only managed a draw against Norwich City, despite controlling the match and created more chances especially in the second half but their inability to finish off their chances cost them two points.

The club's ineffectiveness in front of goal once again being noted by the Blues' manager, Andre Villas-Boas, as the cause of their current inability to stay close with the top three teams in the league.

Eighteen matches into the season and Juventus are undefeated and sitting in first place. Everything seems rosy red, or pink (like their away shirt), in Turin. While Juventus find themselves in an ideal situation heading into the second half of the season, their rise to the top has been much due to their own good work as it has been to many of their rivals' failure to truly assert themselves as.

Liverpool's chances of making the top four seem to be dissipating with every home game, and after fourteen points dropped at Anfield so far this season, the heat is most definitely on for Kenny Dalglish's underachieving team. Most fans probably see finishing outside the top four as a major failure, but, unsurprisingly, Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has a different view.

Arsenal's inability to hold on to Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri last summer will be repeated this year with Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song all joining the exodus. This is a simple by-product of Arsenal's failure to show ambition to win trophies by investing in top class players.

By Chris Wright

This just appeared on Vincent Kompany's official Facebook page; a personally written note touching on the Manchester City captain's failure to get his red card against Manchester United overturned yesterday...

All-in-all, right or wrong, a very level-headed and considered response from an impressively intelligent footballer.

At 10-year Anniversary Of Dark MLS Days - Daily Soccer Fix

This recap of the days when MLS was the very precipice of failure is a must read. Just 10 years ago MLS was paying to be on TV (that actually ended in 2002), contracted 2 teams, had only 1 soccer stadium and couldn't dream of DPs nor averaging more than 17,000 fans per game.

Uh oh, Franck Ribery doesn't look too impressed up there! Let's all pretend that it's a major case of jet lag and Franck's failure to pick up the David Luiz Book Of Hospitality. To be fair, it must be dreadful stuck in a training camp where you're forced to sing Birthday songs to the President, train in the sweltering heat and not get to fist pump on the streets or wherever you'd like!

Liverpool's failure to come down on Luis Suarez's well documented racial abuse of Patrice Evra seems to have emboldened a LFC fan or a few fans to heap the same on Oldham's Tom Adayemi in their FA Cup fixture. The right back was visibly upset and had to be calmed down by Steven Gerrard, his team mates, and the referee.

By Alan Duffy

Seeing your team squander a whole load of chances in the first half and then capitulate in the second would be enough to make anyone a teeny bit frustrated at the very least. However, the failure of Theo Walcott in particular, to make the most of Arsenal's first half dominance looks to have sent Arsene Wenger a bit mad.

Ever since Paolo Maldini retired in 2009 to the completely undeserving jeers of a certain few ultras – inexplicable this happened to such legend of the club – the left full back position has been a problem area for Milan. The club's attempts to find the solution have seen one failure after the next, to [.

With all the furore over Luis Suarez getting another ban, Liverpool getting a £20,000 fine over Jay Spearing getting sent off and all the dismal draws instead of wins as we slide down the table, it is the same old story with Liverpool FC, failure to beat lower league opposition, failure to stay in touch with the Manchester teams and now Tottenham Hotspur.

'We are missing that final touch' – Daniel Agger concerned by Liverpool's failure to score against Blackburn

The Dane has been part of the tightest defence in the league but he believes all members of the team need to start chipping in at the other end of the pitch to turn draws into wins

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-28 09:17:00 from: Goal

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

'We are missing that final touch' – Daniel Agger concerned by Liverpool's failure to score against Blackburn

The Dane has been part of the tightest defence in the league but he believes all members of the team need to start chipping in at the other end of the pitch to turn draws into wins

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-28 09:17:00 from: Goal

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

'We are missing that final touch' – Daniel Agger concerned by Liverpool's failure to score against Blackburn

The Dane has been part of the tightest defence in the league but he believes all members of the team need to start chipping in at the other end of the pitch to turn draws into wins

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-28 09:17:00 from: Goal

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

'We are missing that final touch' – Daniel Agger concerned by Liverpool's failure to score against Blackburn

The Dane has been part of the tightest defence in the league but he believes all members of the team need to start chipping in at the other end of the pitch to turn draws into wins

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-28 09:17:00 from: Goal

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

Danish defender Daniel Agger insists Liverpool must maintain belief if they are to solve their recent woes in front of goal.
The Reds were again left frustrated by a failure to take their chances in the 1-1 home draw against Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day.
Rovers keeper Mark Bunn produced a number of top saves to deny the home team - particularly from Andy Carroll's late volley.

Time for the 2011 season grades to (finally) continue! Corey, Matty, and I have looked at the four major areas of the team - goalkeeping, defense, midfield, forwards - and assigned our grades on a 4.0 scale.

Unfortunately for the New England Revolution, we don't curve based on the rest of the league.

Liverpool legend Steve Nicol was massively disappointed by his old club's failure to beat bottom-club Blackburn yesterday, and he feels that Kenny Dalglish must now go out and sign an attacking midfielder to play off Suarez. Nicol, who played alongside some of Liverpool's greatest attacking midfielders, argued that time is running out for the likes of Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson.

The feet-dragging on various issues pertaining the S.League is not doing any good if the league authority is keen to have the struggling competition back on its feet.
With mysteries of the identities of Winston Lee's replacement for the league's CEO, the 13th and 14th team still looming large, plus the near "black-out" on S.

Few stories floating round in the Twitter-verse that I thought I'd comment on in more depth.
Firstly, the guy over at Republik of Mancunia produced one of his periodic stats analyses, with the goal, I presume, of showing that United have the worst injuries record in the prem. However, in his analysis, he was forced to admit that we, in fact, have the worst injury record out of the top English clubs.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish knows he can do little to prevent speculation that suggests he will try to sign a striker in January.
A failure to convert chances this season has undermined the Anfield club and they have already suffered five irritating home draws, the most in the Premier League, as a consequence.

Two years ago it was Rafa Benítez with his folded sheet of paper containing various "facts" about perceived Liverpool grievances. On Thursday in the same room Kenny Dalglish went one better, with a DVD display illustrating why Liverpool were more sinned against than sinning at Fulham on Monday, a match that earned the club a double dose of disciplinary trouble from the Football Association, with Luis Suárez accused of making an offensive gesture to home supporters and Liverpool charged with failure to control their players following the dismissal of Jay Spearing.

Former Arsenal keeper Jens Lehman expressed delight at seeing both Manchester sides eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday but was more happy with league leaders City's failure to progress to the next stage.

According to Lehman, City play very boring football and deserved to be dumped out of the competition.

Welcome to the 17th Can They Score Manchester United podcast. If you're listening on a Mobile Device, use this link Episode 18 After our nightmare night in Basel, this week's episode features Christopher, Samuel and I as we dissect United's failure to progress to the knock out stages of the Champions League [.

Kenny Dalglish uses DVD to show 'truth' about sinned-against Liverpool

• Manager shows videos of flashpoints in Fulham match • Flurry of accusations against Luis Suárez irk Scot Two years ago it was Rafa Benítez with his folded sheet of paper containing various "facts" about perceived Liverpool grievances.

Liverpool have been persistently linked with Belgian winger Eden Hazard this season, and after Lille's elimination from the Champions league this week, it's conceivable that Kenny Dalglish may have a better chance of signing the player in January. Speaking on French TV after the game, Hazard was clearly disappointed after Lille's failure to progress from the Champions League group stages:"It's a

Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini are not the only people in Manchester disappointed at the failure of Man Utd and Man City to progress to the group stage of the Champions League.

Liverpool's 1-0 defeat against Fulham leaves the club five points adrift of fourth place, and it's now looking like an uphill battle for Champions League football next season. Kenny Dalglish's team has put together a great unbeaten run over the last two months, but as we saw again last night, some of Kenny's decisions are mystifying to say the least, and they continue to cost the club valuable points.

Liverpool defensive stalwart Jamie Carragher has revealed his frustration over the club's failure to reach a final or a semi-final of a domestic cup competition since 2006.
Carra, who helped Liverpool keep a clean sheet against Chelsea in the recent Carling Cup quarter final, said:
"The minimum Liverpool should be looking at each season is getting to the semi-final of one of the cup competitions, either the FA Cup or the Carling Cup.

Women's Professional Soccer (upper case) and women's professional soccer (lower case) are both in trouble in the United States and scrambling for survival.

I have the perspective of being intimately involved in the creation and launch of WPS from 2007 through 2009 as founding President of WPS' Chicago Red Stars.

That's the verdict of AVB has he took on his press conference with the media ahead of tomorrow's game against Newcastle.
As we all know the pressure on the manager here is immense according to the media because of the levels of expectation that is demanded by the owner. AVB was quick to defend his role here and said:

"I am 100 per cent certain I will be at Chelsea at the end of the season.

You would think, with the economy sucking as much as it does, that more people, even those who previously retired, might don stripes and referee. High School soccer pays pretty decent (I'd get $40-$45 a center for high-school ages at the club level - high schools pay close to $70), but I've been getting emails, and now texts, from assignors desperate for officials - and just not getting them.