Andre Villas Boas has responded to accusations from Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny that his side lack quality saying the criticism would have more effect if it came from a fan. After the Poland international chose to speak out against Spurs, Villas Boas questioned whether a player was entitled to harbour so much hatred towards his [.
All this angst and hand-wringing over whether Tottenham will leapfrog over Arsenal if they beat Chelsea on Wednesday is just so much a total wasate of time. In fact we should be extyremely pleased that the Spuds are going to Stamford Bridge to contest their game in hand.
By now you must have seen this statement on RvP's official website announcing his decision to
not renew his contract with Arsenal.
This was probably an unsurprising yet gut-wrenching moment for many Arsenal fans. Ever since his
decision to postpone talks to the summer, which only led to a ban on media interaction imposed by
the club, there have been indications that Van Persie was not happy at the club and will not renew
his contract.
Neighbourly disputes must be the oldest cases heard in any court around the globe. We argue with
our next door neighbours, countries go to war with neighbouring nations, football fans fight
supporters from another neighbourhood.
Tottenham and Arsenal fans look the same, they live in the same area, many are related to each
other.
Neighbourly disputes must be the oldest cases heard in any court around the globe. We argue with
our next door neighbours, countries go to war with neighbouring nations, football fans fight
supporters from another neighbourhood.
Tottenham and Arsenal fans look the same, they live in the same area, many are related to each
other.
In a sudden but not wholly unexpected move, the Feline Association (FA) today detailed its
intentions to oppose handshakes of any form in the animal world.
"We have all been watching the kind of hatred and vitriol this simple gesture is causing in the
human world", purred one of the fat cats of the FA at their London HQ "and we are concerned that
such behaviour will soon spread to the animal world.
The death of Gary Speed has in my opinion put the trials and tribulations of supporting a
football team into some sort of perspective.
Look back over our posts since the CC final fiasco and see how many AA subscribers were tearing
their hair out, demanding immediate changes of all kinds as though the fate of our football team
was a matter of life and death.
The death of Gary Speed has in my opinion put the trials and tribulations of supporting a
football team into some sort of perspective.
Look back over our posts since the CC final fiasco and see how many AA subscribers were tearing
their hair out, demanding immediate changes of all kinds as though the fate of our football team
was a matter of life and death.
There was always something that left an uneasy feeling in the pit of the stomach about the post-Olympic craze for slating 'football' for its attitudes and behaviour, and there is still discomfort whenever anyone starts to discuss 'decency' with regard to the moral vacuum that is a professional sport-cum-business.
If there is one thing I've noticed about the Liverpool fan forums, it's that our level of
performance and league position in relation to them is directly correlated to how much they bitch
and moan about Spurs and how many posts riddled with bile spewing hatred of us there are.
As you can imagine, this is currently a high proportion.
What are the odds an Everton or Liverpool player 'does an Abel Xavier'? Derek McGovern's
Bets of the Day
It's a little-known fact that Peter Beardsley, Gary Ablett, Nick Barmby and Abel Xavier all have
the same middle name – Traitor. The quartet are the most recent players to have made that journey
no man should ever make – across Stanley Park (especially at night).
Say what you like about Steve Kean, but the man has got big balls. I wrote in this column a
couple of weeks ago that I thought he should go and, with only seven wins from 37 games in charge,
my feelings haven't changed even though I am told he is held in high regard in the dressing
room.
Fernando Torres has slammed critics constantly rip apart his patchy form for Chelsea by
insisting that a European and World Cup winner deserves more respect.
Torres, who moved to the Blues at the beginning of the calendar year, has since scored only
three times in 25 appearances a statistic that has been received particularly well at former club
Liverpool.
It's a saga which has stoked the flames of well, hatred, between the red half of Liverpool and
the red half of Manchester, but now, finally, The FA has passed judgement on Luis Suarez, with the
Uruguayan receiving a very hefty eight-game ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra.
Why Le Classique is shaping up to the best since the Marseille kids upset PSG in
2006
MirrorFootball is teaming up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even
more great football reads every single day. Thursday is Ligue 1 day, and here's French Football
Weekly's Andrew Gibney with his take on events across the Channel.
So the season is over and another summer is upon us. It's been here for four days and already
I'm bored of it. As Mick Jagger once drawled, "the sunshine bores the daylights out of me." (Not
that that presents a problem in London, but stick with the metaphor). Already I find myself looking
ahead to those glove handed, dribbly nosed November afternoons.
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.
Progress prolongs our existence. It is a beautiful reality that progress will one day find the
cure for cancer, the solution to global warming and the end to discrimination. Even individually,
each day is progression. We might do nought but lay in a hammock on a golden Maldivian beach,
wordless, but not thoughtless – never thoughtless – and that is progress in itself.
We get it, some of you don't really want to read about Mike Fucito anymore. But this certainly
merits attention: the former Seattle Sounders player (and a favorite of this site) has been traded
from the Montreal Impact to the ... Portland Timbers.
Yes, you read that correctly. The next time you see Mike Fucito on a MLS field, he will be
wearing the uniform of our favorite rivals.
So Tweed did this article and wanted me to do a follow up. "You're full of hatred and black
heartedness why don't you take a stab at who should be cut." He says to me over the Gchats. I pause
wondering if to take his comments as a compliment or just a statement of truth. "Hmmm that has to
be a compliment" I think to myself.
When he watches football... he likely doesn't watch Chivas USAWhile we are no fans
of changing team identities unless absolutely necessary (i.e. Sporting Kansas) sometimes you just
have to admit things are stuck in the Roller Hockey era and need a different approach (i.e. Crew,
Revolution, Rapids, Impact) While not lumbered with a 90's Nike-infused identity, Chivas USA were
branded in a way that alienates Los Angeles football fans who have a built-in hatred for The Goats'
parent club Chivas Guadalajara.
Growing up on the opposite side of the bitter Tyne-Wear derby was always going to be a problem
for a certain segment of Sunderland fans when Newcastle boy Steve Bruce was named manager in 2009.
And when the club sank down towards the relegation zone after significant investment during the
2011 summer transfer window, that problem was exacerbated to the point where Bruce was sacked in
November.
Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak has expressed his astonishment at being overlooked
as the replacement for Edwin van der Sar, suggesting that spending £18 million on David De Gea
last summer was not necessarily the right decision.
Kuszczak, who recently went on loan to Watford to revive his career after starting only 30
Premier League games in over five years at United, hailed the exceptional qualities of van der Sar
and revealed hopes of replacing the Dutchman following his retirement at the end of last
season.
Many are labelling this weekend's game as a grudge match with Spurs seeking revenge for the
beating they received at White Hart Lane earlier in the season. According to a recent poll by Sky
Sports, Spurs are also the favourites to win the league, no doubt partly due to the new-found
hatred that City has acquired.
Passion often equates to violence in football. PAOK has some passionate fans, as the YouTubers
tell us. Rapid Vienna traveled there for a Europa League matchup, where they found, according to
the official statement, "unimaginable hatred." Well then. That's something.
The Europa League should be sponsored by the companies which produce flares and balaklavas.
Whilst there has been bad feeling between Liverpool and United for some time, it's hard to
remember the last time there was as much hatred between us as there was last season. After Luis
Suarez was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra, their club disgracefully stuck by him,
continuing to stick their head in the sand and pretending he'd done no wrong.
Maybe not the individuals ...
or maybe so (think of all the shit that's said about Busquets).
But moreso, it's what they represent.
They have been exposing all of American soccer shortcomings and fallacies in a way that's
unprecedented. What they've been doing has gone against what the American rhetoric has been for
decades.
I will, this morning, be avoiding the hot topics of hatred and abuse and Match of the Day. In
the first instance there's very little you can do about it (especially as no club/fans are whiter
than white) and in the second any programme that would have The Goblin Prince as its guest, to
peddle his footballing philosophy, hardly needs me to further its agenda by complaining about them
and giving oxygen to the nonsense they broadcast most of the time,
Anyway, plenty to be going on with this morning, starting with the manager looking for the
skipper to drag us over the line and into third place this season.
Pardon me while I dissect the so-called rapper above for a few moments.
I hate Drake as a musician. I hate Drake as a person. This guy, to me, is new-era mainstream pop
personified just peep the hypocrisy going down during his verse in Stay Schemin.
"This guy was a thing, wasn't he?"With a number of season tickets still unsold, Toronto
FC's bean-counters can't be happy with the sudden sputter of the 2012 season. After the highs of
The Reds' CCL exploits, things looked very bright for "SIXual Healing" but a pair of major injuries
coinciding with a pair of shambolic fixtures to open the MLS season has tempered emotions.
So, this past Sunday I was invited along to Dagenham and Redbridge's Victoria Ground to
interview Spurs coach Clive Allen. Clive was taking part in an 'England Legends' match against a
supposed Sunday League side, Ivory FC. The Legends were made up of a number of ex professionals,
some who had played a lot more games for England than others, but the main thing they had in common
was that they all looked quite old.
