#AupaMirandes (Come on Mirandés!)

Miracle is the word that comes to mind as Mirandes go to Bilbao in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final. Marcelo Bielsa's Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Mirandes' Estadio Anduva last week, and the odds are overwhelming leaning towards them to reach the final, where they'll play Barcelona or Valencia.

It's widely expected that Louis Saha will make his Spurs bow this evening as there are injury doubts concerning Jermain Defoe, Rafael van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor. However, these are only doubts and as we've seen before this season, these worries have a habit of failing to materialise.

We've all made jokes about Sergio Busquets' habit of falling down and clutching his face for no good reason, but this time it was his knee and he wasn't faking.

A mere seven minutes after entering Barcelona's 2-1 win over Real Sociedad in the 76th minute, Busquets was accidentally stepped on by Carlos Martinez, opening up a deep gash under his right knee.

I don't know if you've noticed, but January has been pretty awful so far. We've lost all three of our league games, and we've gone back to our old habit of throwing away leads. United swept us aside with an ease that was almost saddening, given how massive the games between the two clubs used to be.

You all know how much I hate fake "reports" about transfers, so let's just bat one down for good. I have fully confirmed that AGF Aarhus is not the SAS Liga team interested in Charlie Davies, something I've been trying to do almost since whatever Danish tabloid that started the rumour first aired it.

It's how he'd want to be rememberedThe man who filled the coveted "Supervillain" role after Maxim Usanov left town has been unceremoniously dispatched himself. Without having to sabotage a giant laser, use a submarine Lotus or rake any moons, TFC waived Mikael Yourassowsky from the roster.

I exaggerate to make a point, of course, but the game yesterday seemed to sum up 'bad Fulham' under Martin Jol. When we get it right, we're excellent. When we don't we're extremely frustrating. This is shown in the second diagram, illustrating our habit of trying to walk the ball through massed defences (who have funneled us accordingly, knowing that we can't hurt them wide).

He does score goals szólj hozzá: c,o1-0F[][Matchhighlight.com] Paul Scholes made a dramatic goal-scoring comeback for Manchester United in his first Premier League start since coming out of retirement. The Scholes of old had a habit of arriving in the penalty area at just the right time. These days he's happy to hang around at the [.

Craig Bellamy has a habit of scoring against his former clubs, and Liverpool fans will be hoping the Welshman continues this trend against Manchester City tonight. However, as he revealed this week, Bellamy takes no real pleasure in scoring against his former teams. Since returning to Liverpool, Bellamy has scored against former teams Norwich and Newcastle, and whilst it's great for Liverpool,

Sweet strike Demba Ba has revealed the secret of his stunning Premier League scoring streak: strawberry syrup. The sweet-toothed Newcastle hitman needs his daily syrup fix to keep him on top form. Speaking to Sky Sports before opening the scoring in tonight's match against Manchester United, Ba said: "I love syrup.

There were no JT-shirts at the Lane but Chelsea's defence is still in best hands, by Oliver Holt

The Chelsea players did not wear T-shirts supporting John Terry in the warm-up at White Hart Lane last night. The club said they did not feel it was necessary to copy Liverpool's gesture of solidarity with Luis Suarez the previous evening.

Former Indonesia Under 23 coach Rahmad Darmawan has admitted it was decisions taken by the PSSI that forced him to step down. He had earlier led Indonesia to the SEA Games Final where they lost on penalties to Malaysia.
The PSSI announced only players who take part in their own Indonesia Premier League would be eligible for the national team.

Most of the attention paid to Luis Suarez today will focus on the belated hearing in the ongoing Patrice Evra racism saga. It's obviously a sensitive issue, and one deserving of attention, but also one that's become farcical in terms of the way it's been handled. While we can't and shouldn't ignore the severity of the situation, it's also worth paying a little bit of attention to the performances that Suarez has been able to turn out in a climate that's become increasingly hostile.

So Friday rolls round again in a flash, apparently seven days after it last did. That doesn't feel quite possible.

Olympiacos on Tuesday started badly and never really picked up, but if you haven't yet filed that one away under ‘nothing to dwell too much on' then I shall politely recommend that you do.

Villas-Boas was wrong about media favouring Chelsea but which managers do get the easiest ride?

Andre Villas-Boas raised a great debate about whether the media have favourites. Does the media really prefer Manchester City to Chelsea? There's no way I agree. Sorry, Andre, but City being top of the table, unbeaten and favourites for the title compared to Chelsea's inconsistencies may be the reason why they are getting a more favourable press.

Winning is a habit, however, occasionally competitions have to be prioritised and anyone slating the team selection for the Olympiacos game needs to understand that.

Football is down to money, and whilst the Champions League may bring in more money than the majority of football clubs could ever dream of having, one away tie with the group already won can afford to be treated as an insignificant game.

Manchester City captain and defender Vincent Kompany insists that the Premier League leaders are ready for Bayern Munich. The German giants can end the Citizens' Champions League hopes with any result at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow, but Kompany remains confident.

"Any team coming here is not going to be favorite, I don't care who they are," said the Belgian defender.

After the Man City game last week, I posted an article arguing (in the interests of fairness) that Lucas, Charlie Adam and Dirk Kuyt did their best to persuade the referee to send off Mario Balotelli. It was unsporting behaviour on a grand scale, and the photo evidence I provided backed this up.

NOTE: I know several of you have stated that you really don't care when I write about that other sport I referee. If that's the case for you, you can safely skip this series of entries. This blog still has the same purpose as always (self-evaluation and venting when necessary), but it won't be focused on footy for a while, as for me this is the soccer off-season.

The Brazilian national championship has made a habit of last day climaxes in recent years and this season's competition is no exception. Corinthians (Played 38, Points 71) won their fifth Brasileiro tonight, their first league title since 2005, following a goalless draw against arch rivals Palmeiras.

By Walter Broeckx

Well what do you want more, my dear. In Belgium and Holland, where I come from as you will know by now, this weekend we have a special child festivity. It is called Sinterklaas. And it is the habit that this Sinterklaas (an old historical figure – just google it if it [.

Picking up another defeat against Liverpool at the Carling Cup in the midweek, simply made things tougher for Chelsea especially their manager, Andre Villas-Boas, who got intensive criticism recently.

Trying to calm things down, one of the Blues' main player, David Luiz, believed that his team is not actually in crisis but simply just having a string of bad results, which they're eagerly want to end in their two upcoming matches.

Got, Not Got: Which was better, Subbuteo or Striker? There's only one way to find out...

My mate Steve and I would have the same heated debate over and over about the various merits of Subbuteo versus those of Striker. There were no more salient points to be made, no new evidence, we just argued out of habit.

It's that all too familiar story for the Reds really. Weather an early storm, improve and make a decent contribution to the game, a cross comes in we don't defend it goal. A very frustrating habit we seem to be getting ourselves into, and one I'm sure Steve Cotterill must be banging his head against the wall to try and fix in training.

Can Craig continue trend?

Craig Bellamy is hoping to continue his habit of scoring against former clubs in a red shirt when Manchester City visit Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-11-27 09:04:54 from: Liverpool FC

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

LDU Quito have given themselves a great chance of reaching this year's final by defeating Argentinian giants Vélez Sársfield in the semi final, first leg.

Following a goalless first half, LDU Quito had Hernan Barcos to thank for scoring the goals which have allowed the Ecuadorians to put one foot in this year's final.

After a day spent eating food with enough butter to kill Lil' Sebastian, my Thanksgiving celebration has finally ended. On the plus side it means my late afternoon hangover's gone, but on the downside it means dealing with the repercussions of a meal I spent ridiculing my wife's aunt. Overall it was a push, at least until I realized Liverpool players need have a good attitude and that means you, Andy Carroll.

I have this habit of over-estimating Cardiff in recent years and I'm hoping that habit continues, because I think a trip to their ground is a daunting prospect. An overtly talented squad at their disposal last year did have the considerable drag factor of manager Dave Jones to counterweight it, whilst now a more sensibly assembled collection of players is enhanced by the undeniable talent of Malky Mackay at the helm [.

How Glen and Becks can prove the doubters wrong

Credit to Glen Johnson. A lot of us had begun to write him out of the reckoning for the increasingly fiercely-contested England right-back slot. Then he produces a fine performance and a wonderful winner for Liverpool against Chelsea on Sunday.

LA Galaxy are ready to make an effort to sign Liverpool's Dutch International Dirk Kuyt with a view to signing the player in January but loaning him back to Liverpool for three months.
Kuyt's time at Liverpool is coming to and end and it was always thought that he would return to his native Holland, however the speculation is that it is LA Galaxy that he is destined for.

An ice age ago Arsenal played their last game, would I be correct in thinking we beat WBA? And our last away fixture was .... remind me?

Before the Interlull

Very excited to see us back playing Norwich. Lovely town, good beer and pubs, beautiful countryside.

Chelsea are eying to bounce back after the horror home defeat against Arsenal in their last last league matches by picking up a good result against Liverpool this weekend.

In order to confirm the three points, the Blues' goalie, Peter Cech, is also hoping that he would be able to keep a clean sheet against the Reds, as not conceding a goal has been a pretty rare occasion for the blues in the league this season.

Looking back over the course of Bruce Arena's tenure with the LA Galaxy, it's hard to argue with the stellar success of his teams. While many will argue that his achievements are tempered by the fact that he was able to go out and buy new, multi-million dollar players as needed, it can be said that he's done the opposite outside of his designated players.

With Liverpool facing Chelsea in a week's time, I thought it interesting to look at the club's recent record against the best and worst of the Premier League. Long story short, Liverpool have a habit of playing up or down to the opposition's level under Dalglish.
Against top-five opponents:
• 1-0 Chelsea (a)
• 3-1 United (h)
• 3-0 City (h)
• 1-1 Arsenal (a)
• 0-2 Tottenham (h)
• 2-0 Arsenal (a)
• 0-4 Tottenham (a)
• 1-1 United (h)
Overall record: 4W-2D-2L
Points per game: 1.

Javier "Chicarito" Hernandez is becoming one of the fans favorite at Manchester United especially with his habit in scoring important goals for the Red Devils since arriving at Old Trafford this season.

With his current bright future, no one wouldn't thought that the 23-years-old Mexican actually almost ended his footballing career back when he was still playing in his country's league around three years ago.

2007 seems a long time ago. That was the last time Thailand won the SEA Games, a competition they had come to view as one they were entitled to win. After all, 2007 was their 8th consecutive triumph, a run dating back to 1993.
No more. They were humiliated in 2009, failing to get past the group stage for the first time in yonks conceding late goals in a draw against Vietnam and, crucially, the deciding game against Malaysia when the eventual winners scored in injury time.

Ballon D'Or points way to more Euro failure but at least the Prem is more competitive than La Liga

The Ballon D'Or short-list is out and one solitary English player is included in the 23-strong field. That is not a mistake. There is no anti-English agenda, no bias or conspiracy going on.

I'll begin with a caveat. I'm not a gamer. Not anymore, at least. My one remaining vice in the genre is the Football Manager (née Championship Manager) series, which I shuffle up to the till to purchase every year, a process that has grown increasingly frictionless. Given such a limited gaming habit and the fact that I'm on a Mac, I've never had any use for Steam and have always bought a physical copy of the game.

Bayern home games have a fascination of their own. For the past couple of seasons I developed the habit of watching the first half of a FC Barcelona game to cap off a hectic and unpredictable day of Bundesliga action. I did it less for the uncertainty of the result, but the uncertainty of how many goals Barca could score before the break.

With over 80 England caps to his name, a Champions League winners medal and countless other medals to boot some might claim it is a little premature to be calling the time on Steven Gerrard's career when he is only 31 years old.

Steven Gerrard still has plenty of ambition, numerous targets finals success with England and a Premiership title medal for Liverpool, to name just two -and age on his side.