Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has dedicated his team's recent 7-1 mauling of Blackburn Rovers to their under-pressure manager Arsene Wenger.

The Gunners dominated the relegation-threatened side last weekend, which was the first time that they collected all three points this year. The lopsided victory means that Arsenal are now just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who threw away a three-goal advantage against Manchester United on Sunday.

Make no mistake about it, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has created a buzz amongst Gooners that is only comparable with Charlie Sheen mangled on Tigerblood.
The boy has burst onto the scene in explosive fashion since making his first league start for Arsenal against Manchester United last month.

It has been announced that the Philadelphia Union would be hosting the 2012 MLS All-Star game at PPL Park. Philadelphia is an ideal location and few could argue they do not deserve to host such an event. They have a lively crowd who are passionate, knowledgeable and they have a facility which rivals every stadium in MLS save perhaps for LiveStrong Park.

So I started writing a blog the other night, canned it, and came back to it again with the intention of letting time dilute my disappointment. Why? Well the first effort was just too doom-laden, hairshirt-wearing, chest-thumping and – well it was a miserable read all round. I didn't enjoy writing it so I added one and one together, made two, and realised that nobody of a sound mental disposition would much care to read it either.

Remember Yuri Zhirkov? The man with a big reputation as one of the upcoming stars of European football joined Chelsea for a fee of around £18m in 2009 and being honest, did little really to cement his place in the team or force his way in. I think we could realistically, count on one hand the amount of games he played well in for Chelsea.

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona were winners yesterday to ensure that their is no let up in the La Liga title race. However, despite the win, things are not looking too rosy for Madrid Coach Jose Mourinho.

Madrid fans were heard jeering Mourinho despite his side's 4-1 over Athletic Bilbao.

Click Here to get a Free £50 with Paddy Power Norwich v Chelsea The Canaries have been this season's Blackpool, impressing with their battling spirit and attacking style in the first half of the season. The big difference being that Norwich are actually good. There's a whole lot more substance and depth to Paul Lambert's [.

The abuse I've seen thrown at Aaron Ramsey lately has been a sick joke.
Some of it has even bordered on things I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemy.
I couldn't believe my eyes at some of the stuff I've seen. I mean death threats?! Over a game of football?! Come on behave yourself.

2011 – A Thank You

It's been a drunken busy Christmas and New Year period and I haven't got round to summarising 2011 on the site. I wanted to take the chance to belatedly amend that now.

2011 was the first full year GhostGoal has been in operation and it's been great that it's developed as it has.

Part I of the 2nd Annual Yanks Are Coming Best of US Soccer Awards featured 2011′s US Soccer disappointments, frustrations, and best hairdo. The second portion of our awards focuses on the promise of youth, goalkeepers, and the goals scored in what was a thrilling year in American soccer. Again, a list of the finalists [.

You know we had to go with this.
Preston Zimmerman opened a can of worms. Pandora's box. He let the cat out of the bag. Choose your overused cliche, but American soccer took a look at the elephant in the room yesterday.
The former U-20 National Team member set Twitter abuzz yesterday (and doubled his follower count) with comments about U.

Hitting the halfway stage of the SPL Advent calendar. Another annus horribilis for Hibs.
Even those well versed in the grimness of the SPL might have been taken aback by the sheer scale of the despair Hibs have engendered amongst the faithful this season.
If appointing Colin Calderwood was a mistake it was an exponential error, compounded by every signing he was allowed to make and every show of support the board made.

Real Madrid moved back to the top of La Liga after a stunning 6-2 win over Sevilla with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging another hat-trick In what will make for some painful viewing for Sevilla fans everywhere, a rampant Real Madrid side took out their frustrations at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán following last Saturday's 'El Clasico' [.

14. D.C. UNITED
The most successful franchise in the early years of MLS has struggled mightily to find a better stadium situation than it currently has at RFK, and the ongoing frustrations in the nation's capital have caused United to consider perhaps moving to Baltimore. Out-of-town owner Will Chang may or may not be committed for the long haul, and the club is trying to start over from scratch on the field under coach Ben Olsen.

Yesterday in the Friday Free Kicks, I essentially lambasted Brad Friedel for his comments regarding Landon Donovan. Along with other journalists, I was under the impression that Brad Friedel was stating that Donovan took the easy road and my quarrel with this was large. Apparently though, he was misquoted and I misunderstood.

The Bundesliga doesn't get the concept of extra time. On paper the Bundesliga referees get it. It's up to them to decide, how much time was wasted through substitutions, injury delays, time wasting or excessive goal celebrations. It's OK for them to routinely add only one or two minutes or call it quits after exactly 90 minutes.

The Syracuse Silver Knights rode into Wichita with a 3-4 record on Friday night. The Knights started things off quickly scoring in the first twelve seconds of the game, but that would prove to be half of their team's points as the Wings came back with twelve unanswered points. After Syracuse finally got a break with their second goal, Jamar Beasley answered with back-to-back goals.

By Cliff Fox
The Syracuse Silver Knights rode into Wichita with a 3-4 record on Friday night. The Knights started things off quickly scoring in the first twelve seconds of the game, but that would prove to be half of their teams points as the Wings answered with twelve unanswered points, and after Syracuse finally got a break with their second goal, Jamar Beasley answered with back to back goals.

According to one of the tabloids in the UK this morning, Danny Sturridge has been into see AVB and has asked that he is played through the middle from now on.
Sturridge is the one striker we have who is on form, playing well and scoring goals and I guess he has every right to ask the question.

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.

Exciting times for Andre-Pierre Gignac. According to this article in l'Equipe:

Gignac had a barny with Deschamps after not being picked for a recent Champions League game
Gignac threw a water bottle and was asked to apologise to the group
He refused. Deschamps then asked Gignac to cease using the "tu" (familiar) form of address, and to switch to the "vous".

Ravel Morrison was left out of last night's Reserves game and voiced his frustration on Twitter, hinting he may leave the club at the end of the season.

After saying he couldn't wait for the season to end, Wayne Rooney replied to him, claiming his season might end sooner than he thought with that attitude!

Goals:
Jones 43'
Suarez 54' 85'
For 53 minutes, it was last month at Stoke and last weekend at Norwich all over again. The same overriding, unavoidable, all-consuming narrative: Liverpool couldn't take their chances while the opposition managed to tally from far fewer, usually from a defensive mistake.

I posted the other day about Salomon Kalou and the fact I was gob smacked that he had been offered a new deal at Chelsea and the fact that he was being linked with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal. Since then, Kalou again never featured against Everton and came on and scored against Genk the other night in the Champions League.

I have to say that I was surprised to read the comments made by Thibaut Courtois the other day about Petr Cech and the longevity of his career. Courtois was speaking of the situation with joining Chelsea and being out on loan and told Spanish radio station Onda Cero the following about Petr Cech:

"I know he has problems with his knees and back, Chelsea's goalkeeping coach told me he doesn't know how much time Cech has left at the top level.

The Seattle Sounders travel down to the Home Depot Center to face Chivas USA. Each team could really just consider this a 'super reserves' game. For the Sounders it will be preparation for the MLS Cup Playoffs and the ultimate goal of the 2011 team, the MLS Cup. For Robin Fraser with Chivas it will be another chance to make decisions about next year's talents.

Arsenal captain Robin van Persie has rubbished suggestions that he is already planning a move away from the club and before his brace helped the Gunners overcome Sunderland 2-1 this afternoon, the Dutchman said that some of the claims were laughable.

Van Persie, who is in the final two years of his contract, has been open about his frustrations regarding Arsenal's slow start this season but in the last week, media reports have exaggerated his feelings by concluding that his days as a Gunner are numbered.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Saturday's 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes was just the latest addition to a season of disappointments for the New England Revolution. Unsurprisingly, the mood in the locker room after the game was one of frustration.

Shalrie Joseph aired his frustrations after Saturday's loss to San Jose.

Football League blog: Will Donny Rovers revolution signal the death of the club... or a rebirth?

For the new season, MirrorFootball is teaming up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even more great football reads every single day. Friday is Football League day, so please be upstanding for theseventytwo.

In the build up to Denmark's vitally important qualifiers against Cyprus and Portugal, N.B-52 has joined a new club on loan in the Barclays Premiership Sunderland Afc, he's done well there thus far, getting his first goal on the weekend, and having 2 assists already in his name, one of them a fine assist cutting in from the left side before whipping in a telling cross for his Sunderland team-mate Elmohamody to head in, building up a telling partnership with Phillipe Sessegnon.

I undertsand that times are tough, that there are many people with serious frustrations & emotional needs to belong. Sports is traditionally a "release button" of emotions which eases the five-six days of "pain". However, when the "frustration" gets mixed up with twisted illusions & many times "intoxicated" minds we sadly get events that occured at the ATLETICO DE MADRID "Vicente Calderon"

The Colorado Rapids unloaded a month of frustrations on Isidro Metapan, beating the Salvadoran side 3-1 at home on Wednesday night.

In the process, the Rapids (2-2-1, 7 points) also threw a lifeline to a CONCACAF Champions League campaign that appeared dead after losing two matches at home by a combined 6-2 margin.

Could Lampard, Gerrard and Hargreaves be the three lions that roar at Euro 2012

Fabio Capello has got a tale of three midfielders ahead of next summer's Euro 2012 finals. Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves are all under the microscope for different reasons at the moment.

After initially attributing Arsenal's shocking 4-3 defeat at Blackburn to fatigue and a stroke of misfortune, Arsene Wenger has finally broken his silence on what he thinks has led to the club's worst start in 58 years.

The Gunners have managed only four points from 15 in their opening five fixtures and their latest setback at Ewood Park caused many to wonder precisely what it is that continues to cause issues at the Emirates Stadium despite a host of major signings bolstering the squad at the transfer deadline day.

Good afternoon, readers. It's been a while...

Sorry for the recent lack of inactivity. Generally, life has thrown me some rather challenging obstacles lately and in turn, I've had to deal with them accordingly. Everything seems to be back on track now, and it seems that normal service can finally resume, once again.

If you haven't figured out today's theme is surprises and upsets, then now is the time to clue you in. QPR lays the beatdown on Wolves as 80,000 quid/week hipster Joey Barton takes out his man UGG hating frustrations on Wolverhampton with a goal in the opening 10 minutes. 80 minutes later, it's all over but the Tweets.

Clarke: We'll bounce back

Steve Clarke is backing Liverpool to take out their Stoke frustrations on Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane this Sunday.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-09-14 07:40:53 from: Liverpool FC

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

That starting line up...made a lot of sense

One of the major frustrations this season has been the instability in the starting line up. Lately, a lot of the comments on the PSP addressing how it sometimes takes until the second half for Nowak to put out a line up that many would like to see as the starting XI.

By Chris Wright

Understandably, seeing as though they've lost seven of their last nine games and currently lie second-bottom in the Blue Square Bet Premier Conference, sections of the Grimsby support got a little uppity after Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Darlington, and Mariners joint-gaffer Rob Scott took the terrace heckling as an opportunity to voice the frustrations of nearly every single lower league manager biting back after being told he needed new players, to be less shit, etc, etc.

Arsenal have had all summer to buy players. Why they haven't done so until now is very much an area of conjecture. Have we been unwilling to do so or simply unable to get our business done?

For all our frustrations, it's hard to imagine that we've remained as static as we have through choice.