Soccer Pie 21 November @ 03:47 AM EST
The thing that we all knew happened: Henry is a fraud. However, in the
tradition of French smooth frauds he is someone who made it into an art; in his country the books
about thieves are popular.
But the ‘hand' is not the only thing that makes Henry what he is; it is
simply incredible how people in England or football fans in general forget all the things this man
did.
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There are times in the life of the average non-league fan when he wonders if he is really and truly
sane. I had such a moment Saturday as I watched Bath City defeat Chelmsford City 1-0. I was
standing on the Bristol End terrace at Twerton Park in pelting rain and howling wind. I was cold
and wet and tired.
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Before yesterday's game, all
Man United needed to do to qualify for the next stage of the
Champions League was to win or draw. Last night there was a six-goal thriller at Old
Trafford where things didn't go the way they were supposed to.
CSKA had got off to the better start but United were starting to control the game, when the
visitors took the lead.
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by JAMES CURTIS The rage in Cesc Fabregas' eyes was uncontrollable as he raced to one corner of
the Emirates, executed a mini knee-slide and bounced back up with clenched fists to celebrate
Arsenal's second goal. Just one minute earlier Robin van Persie had circled the same section with
his arms flung out and chest pumping having opened the scoring.
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Chelsea looked to keep their lead atop the English Premier League table as they traveled to face
Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, October 31, 2009. Here's a recap of the match along with video
highlights.
Chelsea beats Bolton Wanderers 4-0 Video Highlights
1st Half
Chelsea were the better team early but Bolton played solid to keep it scoreless through the
first 20 minutes.
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Soccerblog 28 October @ 07:56 AM EST
This season is bringing back memories of some of the more undesirable aspects of the 70s and
80s.
The Barnsley and Man Utd Carling Cup fixture is now better known for its hooliganism (with more
pictures). Catering staff were trapped for almost half an hour inside a food kiosk as Man Utd fans
stole food and cash.
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A few numbers to have a peer at.
First thing that jumps out:Â when the bookies have not got our games quite right (4/9),
all four results have been in our favour.
That's interesting isn't it? I appreciate that bookmakers' odds are not the be all and end
all, but they are a good neutral barometer of what we might generally expect to happen in a
game.
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After last week's World Cup packed podcast, let us return to our own affairs and look back on an
eventful weekend in the Premier League.
Chris and Graham reflect on their respective team's performance in the London derby twixt West Ham
and Arsenal. Manchester City's credentials are examined further after an unconvincing 2-2 draw with
Fulham and we celebrate the Liverpool v Manchester United Super Classico or at least the last half
an hour or so.
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Scott the red over at 'The Republik of Mancunia' has kindly taken the time to answer some questions
about - amongst other things - where it all went wrong for United at Anfield yesterday.
Jaimie Kanwar: What went wrong for United at Anfield?
Scott the Red: The first problem was the team selection.
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Following United, the expectation is our lads will create at least five clear cut chances and at
the very least, one will get put in the back of the net.
At Anfield yesterday this wasn't the case but the frustration we feel through the hangovers
today could have been avoided if several things had been done differently.
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Evening all.
Apologies for not finishing my preview post/s. However considering the game is on Sunday I
thought delaying it was a reasonable thing to do. Besides fatigue has got the better of me
completely today. It is a strange feeling when one minute there is enough energy within me to
challenge Usain Bolt to a race, but the next minute it feels as if challenging Michael Essien in a
sleep marathon contest was more appropriate.
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Given the circumstances leading upto the game (preperations hampered through injury and an
international break) and then during the ninety minutes itself (going a goal down on the stroke of
half-time and then playing the final half an hour with ten men) a point can be seen as a very good
return.
It is, I suppose, a measure of the current sides mentality that we came away with a point rather
than empty handed, and also a sign of the ambition and expectation there is that there is also a
sense of frustration to not come away with all three-points.
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I got on to the concourse just in time to catch the Chelsea game from the 89th minute onwards.
After Villa had gone 2-1 up I thought at best Chelsea would score an injury time equaliser, at
worst, an injury time winner but kept my fingers crossed they would drop points regardless.
There was a roar at the final whistle before then pouring up the steps in to our seats in
anticipation it what could be a table topping result.
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Arseblog 18 October @ 04:18 AM EST
Morning all,
Arsenal moved into the top four yesterday with a good win over Birmingham, but it wasn't quite
as comfortable as we would have liked. We started well, pretty much bossed the game and it was no
surprise when in the 15th minute Robin van Persie put us ahead. Collecting a low, hard pass from
Alex Song his first touch was quite brilliant and his finish first class.
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1. The governing bodies have finally succeeded in stacking the deck so firmly in favour of the
major footballing nations that it is almost impossible for them not to qualify. Portugal won just
two of their first seven games, but still managed to reach the playoffs simply because over the
course of such a long group, they had time to recover.
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Introducing a new series of features on national teams travelling to the FIFA World Cup in South
Africa. We start with Switzerland.Stealth technologists would do well to examine the characteristics of the Swiss national team. It
seems that despite their successful qualification for the
World Cup, no-one seems to be
paying any attention to them.
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SoccerLens 15 October @ 10:27 AM EST
Take a listen to Episode 24 of the world famous Soccerlens Podcast with ex-footballer Adrian
Clarke and sports journalist Iain Spragg for half an hour of fascinating football discussion.
This week's chipper chat centres around Sir Alex Ferguson's ongoing run-in with the
powers-that-be, the pro's and cons of Emile Heskey (more cons), and the possibility of a breakaway
Atlantic League.
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It didn't take long for the bottom club Hertha to appoint a new coach after parting company with
Lucien Favre only days after Week 7.
Friedhelm Funkel had had a distinguished spell
at Frankfurt up until last season. However, he was let go in the summer in the hope that a new
manager will be able to inject some new zest in the side.
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A Nicklas Bendtner inspired Denmark side over came Sweden this evening in a battle of
Scandinavia to claim the final three World Cup qualifying points they needed to reach next summers
tournament, with bragging rights for the natives to boot.
The exciting forward has led his country's charge to South Africa and started on the left hand
side against the Swede's who boasted Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack.
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SoccerLens 10 October @ 01:20 AM EST
Hello and welcome to episode 23 of the world famous Soccerlens Podcast. Join ex-footballer
Adrian Clarke and celebrated sports journalist Iain Spragg for half an hour of proper football
chat.
This week's entertaining show covers Internet-only football, a good old fashioned seedings
stitch-up, Fergie v Referees, World Cup previews (including Russia v Germany and Republic of
Ireland v Italy)  – and to round things off the dynamic duo share a lively discussion on the
weird and wacky world of football club ownership!
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Christ...where to begin.
Sunday morning I was down the Thai Port shop checking out a couple of things. Even at the
relatively early time of 10 am there were people hanging around and buying things. They were due to
play PEA that same day but I had to be elsewhere.
Muang Thong Thani is pretty new I think.
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Well, the game kicks off in half an hour, I need to get a shift on.
Blackburn and their vile manager are visiting the Grove this afternoon and after United slipped
up yesterday we need to take advantage and close the points gap, especially with Liverpool and
Chelsea playing each other. This season is certainly shaping up to be an interesting one, teams
lower down the table believe they can beat any of the top 4 teams this season and we have had a
fair few suprises in a short amount of time.
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Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick s Liverpool gained revenge for last season's 2-2 draw also at
Anfield.
The Spaniard opened the scoring on 20mins with a bit of trickery before drilling home in the far
corner.
Hull grabbed an instant equaliser when a poor headed clearance by Skrtel fell to Brazilian Geovanni
whose low shot beat Reina.
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Reina
Johnson Skrtel Carragher Insua
Lucas Gerrard
Benayoun Kuyt Riera
Torres
Goals:Torres 12' 28' 47'
Geovanni 15'
Gerrard 61'
Babel 88' 90+1'
So much for struggling to beat the teams that just want a draw at Anfield. 13 goals put past Stoke,
Burnley, and Hull – and Liverpool dropped points against Stoke and Hull last season.
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bridge views 24 September @ 07:03 AM EST
After the Hull game back in August I wrote a brief post questioning why it takes so long to
queue to get through the turnstiles at Stamford Bridge. That day it took me half an hour to get
from the Britannia Gate to my seat, and I missed the first 12 minutes of the Spurs game on Sunday
despite joining the one of the queues into the Matthew Harding Lower at 3.
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bridge views 24 September @ 07:03 AM EST
After the Hull game back in August I wrote a brief post questioning why it takes so long to
queue to get through the turnstiles at Stamford Bridge. That day it took me half an hour to get
from the Britannia Gate to my seat, and I missed the first 12 minutes of the Spurs game on Sunday
despite joining the one of the queues into the Matthew Harding Lower at 3.
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Adam Griffin may feature on Saturday when County travel to Yorkshire to play Huddersfield Town,
The 25 year old played around half an hour and scored midweek against Everton Youth.The midfielder
may come straight into the side as Oli Johnson is a doubt after going for a scan on his Ankle on
Monday.
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This was always going to be a tricky game, one from which Liverpool had everything to lose whilst
Leeds United, doing so well in League One, were going to be determined to do well in front of their
own fans. For Benitez, the headache was going to be who to play: on the one hand there was the
calls to put in some of the younger players but on the other there was the fear of being shown up
by Leeds with the hammering that would undoubtedly follow.
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Anfield Talk 22 September @ 11:15 AM EST
A week ago I said that Rafael Benitez will have been looking for more of his side other that Steven
Gerrard and Fernando Torres to join Yossi Benayoun as match-winners but the Liverpool manager will
still be delighted with his star striker's two-goal blast at West Ham.
It's not like the Spanish international has been struggling in front of goal so far this season –
he netted in three consecutive Premier League games against Stoke, Aston Villa and Bolton last
month – but his brace at Upton Park signalled a return to the kind of devastating form he is
capable of.
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Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has praised 18 year-old teenage striker Nile Ranger for the
second-half display which turned the game for Newcastle against Plymouth Argyle. Nile Ranger -
great in last 30 minutes on Saturday With the score at 1-1, just over half an hour left, Â andÂ
things not looking too good for the Magpies, Ranger was brought [.
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Public displays of fake unity are never entirely convincing. Take Brown and Blair in the 2005
election campaign or Ritchie and Madonna in the final days of their marriage. However, the
post-goal celebration between
Franck Ribery and his boss
Louis van Gaal was
positively coital in its intensity.
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Stoke City may be a small club, but that never seems to faze them when they walk out in front of
the crowd at The Britannia. Saturday was no different.
Chelsea was visiting, and they brought their undefeated record with them, too. Stoke was ready
for a battle, though. It's pretty hard to describe how different Stoke is as a team when they are
playing at home.
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It has been a while since I have been so passionate about a topic in the world of football that
I have felt compelled to grace you fine people with one of my articles. However, having watched
just half an hour of Manchester United's dire Champion's League Match against Besiktas, the subject
on which I am to write this article has infuriated me so much that I cannot wait any longer: Nani
– why is he playing in the Premier Division, let alone for the English Champions?
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