Arsenal have sacrificed our football legacy for a financial one. by GP
Let me be very clear. Arsene Wenger is the best manager we have ever had. Because of the contribution he has made to not only the English but the world game, I have him up there with the very best. Not winning the champions League maybe be a blot on his Arsenal CV to some but his record as a coach developing players into great players cannot be equalled by anyone else.
Arsene Wenger wants his players to strike a blow at the heart of last season's champions, Manchester City, tomorrow. The French tactician is well aware that tomorrow's result will not decide the title race, but an Arsenal win could have a massive psychological effect on the Citizens.
City are at home and the pressure is on them to perform after a slightly shaky start and a demoralising defeat by Real Madrid in the champion's league.
In a nightmare for Arsenal and its fans, Robin Van Persie declined to renew his contract leaving
the club with no alternative other than to sell him to the highest bidder although he still has
that final year of his contract to see out. This paves his path to the Etihad in a by now familiar
pattern of exits.
Arsenal FC midfielder Tomas Rosicky has said that there is plenty of football
left in him even though he is now in his thirties. The 31-year-old playmaker has missed a large
chunk of his Arsenal career due to a series of injuries and therefore, he claims that his hunger
and desire to play at the highest level is more than his age suggests.
Simple question but with a difficult answer as Chelsea simply cannot afford to have the same result
as Arsenal did last week in Italy.
We're down in the dumps, struggling for form and taking flack from everywhere as AVB continues to
struggle with our players. Like I said yesterday, it's as much the players fault as it is
AVB and I am glad people are finally seeing that too.
Arsenal fans are still trying to come to terms with their shock FA Cup exit after they suffered
a 2-0 loss to Sunderland yesterday in a FA Cup 5th round tie to cap a horrible week for them in
Europe as well as domestically.
It's now very certain that the Gunners will end the season without any silverware extending
their trophy drought to an astonishing 7 years.
In his exclusive interview with the Evening News, Wayne Rooney has reflected on October 2010
when he dropped the bombshell of wanting to leave United for a club that could meet his
ambition.
After changing his mind, he lifted United's record breaking 19th title at the end of the season,
making them the most successful English club in history, as well as scoring in the Champions League
final, making a mockery out of his suggestion that United weren't a match for him.
In his exclusive interview with the Evening News, Wayne Rooney has reflected on October 2010
when he dropped the bombshell of wanting to leave United for a club that could meet his
ambition.
After changing his mind, he lifted United's record breaking 19th title at the end of the season,
making them the most successful English club in history, as well as scoring in the Champions League
final, making a mockery out of his suggestion that United weren't a match for him.
Athletic Bilbao finished what they've started as Marcelo Bielsa's team spectacularly eliminated
Manchester United from the Europa League with another inspiring victory in the second leg. Marcelo
Bielsa's team once again showed their quality and defeated Man United 2-1 on the night, extending
the total aggregate to 5-3 in favor of the Basque outfit.
Nicks' note: What, you thought Sahil Dumir was like Romelu
Lukaku, that he would swirl his cape around and swoosh into nothingness after one blog post? He's
back for seconds, and not very tasty ones at that. The little blue tyke dissects Chelsea's loss to
West Brom here.
Sir Alex Ferguson has had his say (as he does on most things) about Chelsea overnight and has
already tried to put pressure on us for this season. Fergie, like most football fans will know,
Chelsea had been fighting to win the Champions League ever since Roman Abramovich took over as
owner and now we have won it, Fergie believes there will be even more pressure at Stamford Bridge.
Former Bayern Munich wing-back Danijel Pranjic has hinted that he is closing in on a move to
Everton as he took time away from a family holiday to acknowledge the Toffees' interest as an
honor.
Pranjic spent most of his time at Bayern on the bench last season but despite a frustrating club
season that he ended as a free agent, the 31-year old managed to feature for Croatia in Euro 2012
group stage last month.
The good feeling that Chelsea fans have from being Champions of Europe, took a hit today as a
result of the interview that Fernando Torres had with Guillem Balague after the
win in Munich last night.
Amidst the Chelsea celebrations, Torres could not hid his disappointment and frustration to
Balague about his move to Chelsea from Liverpool"
"It's contradictory because I feel like I'm at a peak moment in my career, with more desire and
hunger than I've felt in a long time but I've had to spend the final on the bench.
Manchester City may not have enjoyed the most popular title celebration this week but that
doesn't bother the club's players, who firmly believe that they can beat bitter rivals Manchester
United to the crown next season.
Carlos Tevez stole headlines earlier this week when he held up a 'RIP Fergie' sign given to him
by a fan during City's parade across Manchester.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has won the "Best Manager" in the English Premier
League for the first 20 seasons awarads. The awards mark the 20th season of the EPL era and
Ferguson was the clear choice as United won 12 of 20 league titles. Â The following is an excerpt
from the news on the official Premier League site.
Arsenal will miss out on snaring Pep Guardiola as a new manager because he will take over from Sir
Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Â That is the belief of former Gunners midfielder Ray Parlour,
who accepts that Guardiola's footballing philosophy he and Arsenal have been cited as a good fitÂ
by supporters and pundits alike makes him an ideal candidate for the position should Wenger leave
or "move upstairs".
Roberto Mancini seems to show that he is not someone who likes to hold a grudge especially
towards his players, as the Italian coached recently stated his joy on welcoming Carlos Tevez back
with the first team.
Mancini revealed that he has already forgotten the problem that previously occurred between him
and Tevez, adding that the Argentinian recent effort in training has simply pleased the former
Inter Milan manager.
Steve Bruce has claimed that of all the players to have graced the Premier League, Ryan Giggs
and Paul Scholes stand out from the rest.
"The achievement of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, to play 900 and 700-odd games respectively
for Manchester United is remarkable," he said. "To still have the hunger and desire to be
as good as they are is remarkable.
The United States continues their warm-up for World Cup qualifying with a friendly against
Brazil. The match will take place at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland with kickoff scheduled for
8:00 PM USA Eastern time.
USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann
"Tomorrow, it's down the players to suffer and chase these yellow shirts [Brazil] that are
pretty good.
If you don't replace the foundation, the building might fall down. This applies to the national
team. The upper floors of international US soccer have been furnished over the last decade with
consecutive World Cup appearances and thrilling moments. We can hang the portraits of the heroes
Landon Donovan, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey,
and Tim Howard on the walls and admire their commitment to the colors.
Andy Carroll has described Steven Gerrard as an inspirational figure and admits he used to pretend
to be the midfielder when he was a kid playing in the park with friends.
The 31-year-old Liverpool skipper has led from the front for both his club and country and won
admirers all over the world with his all-action displays.
Though the striker was born and bred in the north-east, Carroll admits that when he played
football with his mates he was inspired by Steven Gerrard and the Reds skipper is still inspiring
him now.
"You see Stevie playing the way he did against Everton, scoring three and driving the team
on.
Here at the Liverpool Offside we've got some shocking news to share with you today: Andy Carroll
thinks Steven Gerrard is kind of awesome. No confirmation on whether he thinks he's big and fucking
hard, too, though if you really dig for it you could infer that he does. And that could probably
get a little awkward for some of you if we decided to mention Steven Gerrard's Groin alongside
regular Steven Gerrard right about now.
Liverpool ended their six years title drought after successfully lifting the Carling Cup on
Sunday after dramatically beating Cardiff City in an intense penalty shoot out.
This success is being cherished by the Reds' manager, Kenny Dalglish, who aside from believing
that his team truly deserved the title is also stating his hunger to give more silverwares for
Merseyside based outfit.
New signing Barry Robson has moved to reassure VancouverWhitecaps fans he has not moved to MLS for
a cosy end-of-career wind down.
The franchise announced this week they had brought in the former Rangersfavourite as a Designated
Player and Robson says he cannot wait to get goingacross the Atlantic and try and transform the
Whitecaps into one of the MSL's major soccer betting tips.
Celtic v Inverness Preview, Prediction, TV Listings, Betting Odds SPL 11 February 2012 - The
90th Minute Soccer Blog
Celtic have not lost a league match since early October as they host 10th place Inverness in the
Scottish Premier League. The match will take place at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday,
February 11, 2012.
Ashley Young has reflected on his first year at United, claiming that his strong desire to win
is something he shares in common with Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Sir Alex Ferguson has been a massive influence on me," Young told The Mirror. "I
said at the time that as soon as Sir Alex comes knocking at the door, it's a no-brainer.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- When Terrence Boyd found out he would start in the U.S. men's national team's
friendly against Scotland last week, he could not help but smile. Boyd was happy as can be knowing
he would get a big chance to prove his worth in just his second cap with the United States, and he
called his parents to share his excitement.
D.C. United is on the cusp of earning what has turned into a rare distinction for the club this
deep into the season in recent years. With a win over the New England Revolution Saturday night,
D.C. will enter its three-week international break in first place in the Eastern Conference.
Following a few seasons plagued by injury and losing out on his place in the England squad,
people wondered whether Rio Ferdinand's career was coming to an end.
Rio has gone from strength to strength this season, having already played in more games than he
has in the past two seasons, and Nemanja Vidic has claimed his top performances shouldn't have come
as a surprise.
Partnering with ECNL, US Club Soccer, and US Soccer, Nike will be inviting the top 100 female
soccer players around the country to attend a 3-day National Final Camp at Nike's World
Headquarters Campus in Beaverton, Oregon at the end of July.


From that Camp, Nike will select the final team of girls that will receive an international soccer
experience of a lifetime.
Here's Raul during the launch of the campaign "Football against Hunger" in Brussels lsat week.
Image:Â AP Photo/Yves Logghe.
This lady is employing a classic Kickette distraction technique. Watch and learn, everybody, as
she casually points to a random object in the middle distance, waits until her mark (in this case,
the deliciously dressed and entirely unsuspecting Raul) is sufficiently engaged and then pounces,
hurling him to the ground and doing what we all would, given this level of access.
