All had been quiet on the Luka Modric front until the end of last week when Spurs midfielder and Everton loanee Steven Pienaar made comments to the press suggesting that Tottenham would have difficulty in holding on to their Croatian genius once the season comes to an end.

It's worth looking at the South African's quotes in full,

"Luka is a top player for Spurs and if he leaves it is hard to say what will happen there," Pienaar told the Sunday Mirror.

Some players like lots of time and space, others can operate in crowds.

To play in central midfield you need to be at one end of what we'll call the space-time continuum; if you are not at the right end you may struggle in that role. In that case you need to find somewhere else where you will get space and time.

Following on from last month's design, Sir Alex's XXV, Bearded Genius' "Well Bred" is available to buy on Mancunia Merchandise with all profit from this design going to The Christie in February.

The t-shirts are available for £8.70 ($13.40) although because they have to be shipped from America, the p&p takes the overall price to around £17 for deliveries to Europe (more on p&p).

Arsenal have been linked with quite a few Borussia Dortmund players this season since playing them twice in the Champions League, especially the young genius Mario Gotze, but in typical Wenger style, the Gunners have instead bought another midfielder from the Bundesliga club. The 19 year-old Thomas Eisfeld is available for less than half a [.

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.

Mancunia Merchandise is proud to announce a partnership with The Christie, one of the largest cancer treatment centres in Europe. Every month there will be a sponsored t-shirt and all profits from that will go to The Christie, who treat about 40,000 patients each year. Bearded Genius is the man behind the designs, all of which are outstanding.

Swansea 3 (Sinclair pen 16, Dyer 57, Graham 70) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 5, Walcott 69)
(Premiership)

Two weeks ago, the Arsenal fanbase was pretty content. A win over QPR had lifted us back amongst the top four at the turn of the year, a remarkable turnaround given the position we were in after seven games.

Wallowing in the glory of Henry's movie-moment comeback was not meant to last all week, but for me it has. The YouTube video I breathlessly uploaded at about midnight on Monday has now had about 37,000 hits (and Analytics tell me 90.6% of those who watched it were male, with 9.7% female how do they know this I wonder – though my brother did confidently predict that he had watched it "about 28,000 times" so maybe there's some truth in that).

Episode 02: Eric Wynalda is the Art Bell of American Soccer

On this edition of the show, I explain why Eric Wynalda is the Art Bell of American Soccer...and why it's either a clever bit of genius or he's just completely insane. Either way, American soccer fans should be warned not to take him seriously.

Tottenham Hotspur tonight moved level on points with second placed Manchester United after a performance of patience and high quality.

Everton turned up at The Lane as many teams now do, to sit deep and try and frustrate Spurs. It's to the credit of Harry Redknapp and his team that they didn't get frustrated and saw the opposition off to seal the points.

Demba Ba... Wow, Newcastle just looks smarter every time that kid scores, and right now, that'd put Mike Ashley at the level of Mensa genius. Ben Arfa and Ba both score as Bolton manage only 1 shot on goal. Boy, does Bolton need Holden back soon.Video: Fox Sports
[[ This is a content summary only.

By Eric Beard

"Pelé doesn't know sh*t."

That was Sid Lowe's response to James Richardson's teasing statement on The Guardian's Football Weekly Podcast. Richardson, of course, was referencing Pelé's opinion that Neymar is better than Lionel Messi.

Wayne Rooney's Strategy for Charades

Just in time for the holidays, we get to go inside Rooney's mind...

"Hm... Bend It Like Beckham. Four words. Right, let's start with the fourth word. Make a squiggly line with your hand. That'll remind them of David.

Got, Not Got: Fags + coded football fixtures = marketing genius, '60s style...

It's been labelled "football porn" for "nostalgia addicts", and "a major contribution to football history". 'Got, Not Got' is this Xmas's must-have football nostalgia book... Thanks go out to Man City lifer Graham Aldred of Stockport for sending us this incredible chunk of 1960s-style complementary marketing, which flogs industrial-strength ciggies alongside high sporting ideals.

There were a number of solid performance in the weekend's Clasico, but as the game wore on, the untanned genius that is Andres Iniesta began to take over the show entirely. It was a maestro's performance worthy of its own lens on the internet.

And look at that.

Sit back and enjoy.

There was something poignant about the moment, mid way through the second half, when Arsène Wenger made his first two substitutions.

Gervinho and Abou Diaby were bouncing on the touchline: primed, eager and ready while the fourth official fiddled with his number board.

Three yards away from them, on the pitch, a small Russian man was standing on his own, looking downcast and waiting for the inevitable appearance of the number 23 on the official's board.

Craig Bellamy is the latest in a long line of great attacking players to strut their stuff at Anfield, and since returning to the club, the Welsh international has played an integral role in helping Liverpool' rediscover its 'pass and move' footballing philosophy. Fellow Welshman Ian Rush is arguably Liverpool's greatest ever striker, but Bellamy has a slightly different view on Rush's ability.

Andy Dunn's Big Match Verdict: Defence the new approach for Capello

That's it then, Fabio's cracked it. The genius — the coach worth £6million a year — has finally emerged, blinking into the Wembley lights. The world champions ­vanquished, Euro 2012 ­cannot come quickly enough.

Newcastle have found their Moyes, but Ashley won't hold onto him

Why Wembley fans must not boo young Lions against Spain Why Stoke's humiliation gave me the giggles Mike Ashley's grin must by be almost as wide as his waist. Despite the stick he took for letting Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan go, and refusing to spend the Andy Carroll cash, Newcastle have made an incredible start to the season, which must lead him to believe he's now a footballing genius.

By Alan Duffy

Soccer Saturday is already crammed full of over-acting buffoons (see "Merse" and his screeches when the ball goes anywhere near the goal in his particular game). However, while Paul Walsh was reporting on Pompey's game with Nottingham Forest at the weekend, a fan made the most of his moment in the limelight.

***One of those weeks, folks, the stars didn't quite align, the genius didn't filter down through my fingers. No sense lying about it, right?Instead, threw up a couple videos from the best Premier League goals from earlier in the year. Figure that's basically just as good as whatever rambling I come up with.

By Chris Wright

Arsenal could have secured themselves a spot in the knockout phase of the Champions League with a win last night, but a goalless stalemate ('stale' being the operative syllable) against Marseille at the Emirates will mean they carry a one-point lead over the French side at the summit of Group F going into their last two games.

This piece appears in full on TEAMtalk.

As Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates 25 years at Manchester United, TEAMtalk guest Adam Bate puts the manager's longevity down to his adaptability.

For many the personification of genius is the wizened portrait of Albert Einstein in old age.

Genius Fireworks at Old Trafford! Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has opened the scoring in the Manchester derby with a great goal totally against the run of play. Having found the net, the young Italian calmly lifted his jersey to reveal this 'Why Always Me?' t-shirt. We don't know why it's always you, Mario, but [.

—————————————– The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything —————————————– By Tony Attwood For years and years talented children and teenagers in England have been hindered if their talent is in the world of football. While talented youngsters who express their genius in terms of music, mathematics, the theatre, dance, visual art, literature or [.

Rubin Kazan is the next match up in the Europa league. With a feisty affair not really being on the cards. Both teams are favourites to qualify from the group, are likely to be happy with a draw and field weakened teams with the players not wanting to risk injury. Us with our youngsters, defensive holes, and Redknapp concentrating more on the league.

In the first half of the 1960′s, one team was on the minds of everyone with any interest in European football: Grande Inter. This Inter Milan side, led by the the eccentric Helenio Herrera described by famous player Gianni Brera as "a clown and a genius, vulgar and ascetic, voracious and a good father, sultan [.

Queens Park Rangers captain Joey Barton has found himself in the spotlight once again after harshly criticizing his club's most talented player, Adel Taraabt. Barton has called the midfielder's "genius" into question, despite the former Tottenham man being the driving force behind QPR's promotion to the Premier League.

The genius that is Lionel Messi scores a goal of sublime quality in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Racing Santander.

Sir Alex Ferguson is a 'genius', says John W Henry

Liverpool owner John W Henry has labelled Sir Alex Ferguson a 'genius' while also admitting he had serious reservations about appointing Kenny Dalglish as manager.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-10-14 13:53:55 from: The Mail

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

For Juventus supporters, it is hard not to be inspired by Antonio Conte. The passion and intensity shown by the Old Lady's new commander is infectious, for the players on the pitch as well as the fans in the seats. He has done well in his first five games, but I fear there just might be icebergs ahead and the captain needs to be ready to chart a new course if needs be.

There is no getting away from the fact that Wayne Rooney is a very talented player. Regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, the way which he moves on the pitch is the mark of a genius. That is until he gets into trouble and that has happened quite a bit lately.

Rooney's career goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Alright, so this is a bit odd.

Based on what we did for Pele yesterday, I've run the numbers for Diego Maradona.

And they're surprising.

High level:

With Maradona in the side Argentina were P90, W41, D 29, L20. Without him they were P97, W43, D34, L20.

Points per 38 games: 64 and 64!

Josh McEachran whilst training with the England U21 squad last week showed a touch of genius that was caught on the FATV's camera's.
We have all seen the Juan Mata video of his sublime piece of skill whilst training with Spain a while back haven't we?. If you haven't here it is to remind you:
Impressive eh?

I have always suspected Pele of being slightly overhyped. The Maradona v Pele debates always seemed interesting enough, but I don't know how many of the people involved had actually watched the latter playing, and if they had, how they were able to make those performances stand up against Maradona's extraoardinary genius.

This is easily the greatest thing to happen to cell phones since that thing with the bubbles which got many a person through hospital and doctor waiting rooms sans boredom. It's caled Eye Mou, and the video explains all. Basically, it's a taste of his own medicine.

But as with all great inventions, the genius is in the detail: That Guy in the background makes the whole thing.

By Chris Wright

After missing the entire 1993/94 season with a chronic ankle injury, Milan leggenda Marco van Basten was coerced into ruling himself out Holland's '94 World Cup squad that summer and was eventually forced to admit defeat in his bid to recover following several surgeries officially announcing his retirement from the game (aged just 28) on August 17th, 1995 after spending another year in fruitless rehabilitation.

Genius is not always recognized in its time. Genius is not even always recognized in its own language. We of the present must sometimes toil to correct the omissions, slights, and errors of the past. But above all, we must live fully in the present.

We can never turn back the pages of history to correct the sinking popularity of acting genius Gerard Depardieu.

In theory when you're a journalist you don't root for teams and therefore all you're looking for is an angle, something interesting to write about that will get people to buy your newspaper, click on your link, or head to the Facebook page to make some pithy comments about your genius idiocy. As much as we'd all like to believe that our journalists stick to this standard (because they tell us

By Chris Wright

Paolo Maldini. Il Capitano. The longest-serving one-club man in football history. He's won everything there is to win and then done it all again. A man who stood on the very apex of committed defending for almost 25 years. Cultured, consummate and quintessentially Italian.