When transfer deadline day rolls around, Sky Sports News' Jim White gets more excited than a puppy attached to a leash made of bacon. So excited, in fact, that sometimes his mouth is so overeager to spit out the latest transfer dealings that it creates a perfect sized opening for his foot.

Some historical context first.
Back in March, 2004, we were leading United by a single goal at Highbury. As the game entered the final 10 minutes, Arsene put Pascal Cygan (remember him) on for Freddie Ljunberg, in an attempt to sure up our defence and see the game out. Instead, Cygan went AWOL up the field, United pushed forward, and Saha scored a later equalizer to deny us the victory.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the United States National Team players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O'Connell, Julian Cardillo and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 1-0 victory over Venezuela.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

With the SuperDraft behind us, thoughts now turn to the nitty-gritty of the 2012 Union season. Naturally, questions arise. Over a two-part series we pose ten questions to our Union beat reporter, Eli Pearlman-Storch, which began with a look formation, roster depth and leadership roles within the starting XI in Part 1.

Image via MLS on Facebook.

Kickettes, give a pageant queen wave hello to Dom Dwyer, Sporting Kansas City's first round draft pick at yesterday's 2012 MLS SuperDraft. There's a lot to learn about Dom, but because he's still so box fresh, we're only sticking to the need-to-know facts for today.

Glen Johnson's two-footed lunge near the end last night's victory again Manchester City has provoked the ire of Roberto Mancini, and I can totally understand why. I agree with Mancini - it was arguably worse than Vincent Kompany's tackle against Man United but, as per usual, Liverpool fans, players and management will never admit it.

January, the start of a new year, is often seen as a month of hope. Resolutions made as the previous year came to an end are still fresh in the mind as is the belief that they will be maintained. That similar resolutions were made (but not kept) before doesn't matter. This time round will be different, this time round I will make it.

Love this quote from Robert Khoo, the business manager of Penny Arcade:

Everything that you do is a commodity. In many many instances, the only difference between you and the next guy is how much you're willing to sacrifice... your sleep, your social life... it's not a healthy lifestyle, that of an entrepreneur, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Continuing on with the caps trend, here's the updated stats for caps as a member of the SKC Wizards. First is the caps that a player got while with KC, the second number is goals scored in those caps.
Josh Wolff - USA - 38 - 6
Jimmy Conrad - USA - 28 - 1
Preki - USA - 26 - 4
Roger Espinoza - Honduras - 21 - 3
Kerry Zavagnin - USA - 21 - 0
Eddie Johnson - USA - 20 - 3
Shavar Thomas - Jamaica - 19 - 0
Chris Klein - USA - 17 - 3
Gary Glasgow - Trinidad & Tobago - 16 - 1
Khari Stephenson - Jamaica - 15 - 3
Scott Sealy - Trinidad & Tobago - 14 - 1
Tony Meola - USA - 12 - 0
Craig Rocastle - Grenada - 9 - 0
Sunil Chhetri - India - 9 - 5
Stephane Auvray - Guadeloupe - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - USA - 7 - 1
Kei Kamara - Sierra Leone - 6 - 0
Nick Garcia - USA - 6 - 0
Uche Okafor - Nigeria - 6 - 0
Onandi Lowe - Jamaica - 3 - 2
Mike Sorber - USA - 3 - 0
Miklos Molnar - Denmark - 3 - 0
Teal Bunbury - USA - 2 - 1
Mark Chung - USA - 2 - 0
Jermaine Hue - Jamaica - 2 - 0
Peterson Joseph - Haiti - 1 - 0
Chris Henderson - USA - 1 - 0
Steve Pittman - USA - 1 - 0
Digital Takawira - Zimbabwe - Unknown
Unfortunately I've still been unable to find a source for Digital Takawira's caps for Zimbabwe while with Kansas City, I've tried contacting the FA and the CAF, but have struck out in both instances.

You might be wondering howManchesterUnited and online bingo actually go together but they do. Many of the fans that love Manchester United also love to play bingo. The demographics show that many young people who are fierce fans of Manchester United are also in the same age group that loves to play online bingo.

What have we been telling you about for weeks? Months, even? Have you been paying attention? Do you know what's happening this week? If you guessed that all hell was breaking loose in the rankings then you've been paying attention.
A few weeks ago, when English and Portuguese clubs had last season's numbers drop out of the equations, it didn't cause a huge tremor in the rankings.

If the sign of a good team is winning when not playing the most coruscating stuff then I suppose our lot are trundling towards half-decent, and the Top Four goodies contained therein. Although things picked up in the second half, today we were certainly not at our Give-Scousers-The-Run-Around-And-Score-Goals-For-Fun best.

Arsene Wenger asked for more time for his back four to jell together after their shocking 4-3 defeat at Blackburn last weekend and based on the first-half showing against Bolton, a lot still remains to be desired.

A full week of training for the Gunners' starting back line, which comprises of Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, and deadline day signing Per Mertesacker, appears to be insufficient as a lack of coordination at the Emirates handed the visiting Trotters some good scoring opportunities.

The United Soccer League's (USL) PRO division Twitter account tweeted today that the Harrisburg City Islanders' goalkeeper Chase Harrison will train with the Philadelphia Union this week.

Harrison training with the team possibly signals that current back up Thorne Holder was injured during the Union's 2-1 Reserve League loss to the Columbus Crew.

Featured image: Paul Rudderow

When Freddy Adu joined the Union, Roger Torres must have wondered if he would get relegated to starring in reserve matches for the rest of the season. Fortunately, the Union's most improved young player has found the minutes plentiful in recent weeks and has played some of the best soccer of his Union career.

Park Chu Young is still awaiting his visa

In his first ever press conference after transfer deadline day, Arsene Wenger disputed the perception the 8-2 thrashing at the hands of Man Utd triggered the desperate last minute signing spree.

Instead the process was more deliberative in the like for like calibration for departing players.

The Quakes managed to secure another point on the road last Saturday against Toronto FC in Toronto. The result marked the 13th game since the Quakes recorded a win in MLS, but the Quakes were lucky to come out of Toronto with the draw they managed. João Plata managed to slip the offside trap in the second, half thanks to a nice through ball by Ryan Johnson, and beat Jon Busch to finish, but the linesman ruled Plata to be offside.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images(Bleacher Report)It is a hard thing to quantify, what makes one a loser that is. There is no real grounds for the label of a loser other than what your personal beliefs hold you to take as such.
In making the decisions for the inclusions in lists such as this some cases completely solve themselves for you.

Portland's Setup: Portland set up in a traditional 4-4-2, as compared to their unusual formation that they used Sunday against Houston. Chara and Jewsbury were the two holding midfielders. Both were lacking aggression and energy, and it showed as Zusi and Espinoza especially controlled the flow of the game.

Well we have had a day or so now to evaluate our 0-0 draw against Stoke so I thought I would tell you exactly where I am about the result and the performance.
We always knew Stoke away was going to be a hard and physical game so it came as no surprise some tackles were flying in and the physical stuff set pieces happened as they did.

Whoever wrote the headline to Beau Dure's latest piece, "Women's soccer seemingly has options for growth," has a sunny disposition I don't share. First, WPS owners have radically different ideas about the way forward and think this arrangement can work in the long run:

"We [owners] don't all agree all the time," Philadelphia owner David Halstead said.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

In the aftermath of Charlie Davies' dive that earned a penalty against Real Salt Lake earlier this season, Major League Soccer's discipline committee promised further punishment for future offenders.

Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio found that out first-hand on Friday, as the league suspended him one game and fined him $1,000 for his dive last weekend against the San Jose Earthquakes that deceived referee David Gantar, who called a penalty and gave a red card to Bobby Burling.

When Martin Kelly joined Huddersfield for a couple of months towards the end of the 2008–09 season, it was the perfect move. This was a team that played football the way that it should be played – ball on the ground and with a thoughtful passing game – and a manger who had confidence in the player he'd just gotten.

It was the offensive explosion for which we've all been waiting.

Against Toronto, the Union nearly doubled its goal total for the year. And it did so with multiple goal scorers—four in total—with two of the goal scorers scoring four of the team's six goals on the day.

More attempts = more shots on target = more goals

Through the first nine games of 2011, the Union scored only six goals.

The Sun goes for the jugular British tabloid The Sun has this morning used its renowned tact and subtlety to attempt to convey to Sepp Blatter just how unpopular he is at the moment. The FIFA President who, as far as we know, is not at present implicated in any instances of mass murder, is [...]

The problem with goalkeepers is that they are a nostalgic breed.

I say "the problem" of course there are many problems with goalkeepers. But here's one. Most goalkeepers seem to be suckers for a bit of nostalgia.

And that's the thing about goalkeeper glove makes like Reusch and uhlsport.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (May 30, 2011) US Soccer Players -- In a lengthy statement, suspended CONCACAF president Jack Warner explained why he believes the process employed by the FIFA Ethics Committee is, shall we say, suspect. At issue is what always seems to be at issue in these instances.

That's one word to describe Livestrong Sporting Park. I haven't really been inside the stadium since the end of last season due to scheduling conflicts, and an inability to get out there when I'd have a chance to get a tour. So this was my first time inside the stadium in a long time. But my reaction would likely be similar to what it was today walking in.

"Sepp, no reason to go apoplectic ... just go apocalyptic"

Today was Judgment Day according to Harold Camping, the evangelist loon who proclaimed this day the Earth would be "raptured" and only the chosen few would survive.

Which means if you're a Man Utd fan you're safe.

One of the great things about a Liverpool victory is that we can usually expect some sort of highlight package to filter out in the hours and days after the match has ended. It's no secret that we're quite fond of those videos around here from the brilliance of Luis Suarez at Fulham to the five goal romp against Birmingham, we've celebrated the opportunity to reflect on quality performances from the squad and its individuals.

By Juan Ruiz - While the events caused by The Lovely Mother Nature, had the most negative effects on the way the two sides were going to compete on the pitch Saturday (5/14) night. There were a few instances where I was reminded why I should—HAVE to write something about this very important matter: SAFETY in the Stadium.

Beware the Ides of May.

Isolated, in perhaps more ways than one

Not exactly how the saying goes, but fitting for Carlo, embattled as he is. The soothsayer on this occasion? A certain dynamic Mexican.

First glance
My initial reaction to the result, less than two hours afterward

Not inside 20 minutes.

Ahead of Milan's important clash tomorrow against Roma, there has been much debate over who will and won't start for each team. Ibra? Pato? Vucinic? One player who for sure won't be starting however is AS Roma's future/present captain, Daniele De Rossi. He has received a three match ban for an elbow against Simone Bentivoglio in Roma's clash last weekend against Bari.

There has been lots of talk this year that Manchester United aren't playing the most beautiful or inspiring football, but that they owe their table position instead to playing well week in and week out. Really well, mind you, at least according to some of the metrics I've looked at, but they're not necessarily no.

If your TV isn't working you can go out and buy a new one. As long as the cable connection exists, you just have to plug the new one in and it starts working. In short, you can spend money and fix the problem almost instantaneously.

There are a lot of things in this world that work on the same principle.

TweetAn article by Sheena McStravick.

You can follow Sheena on Twitter at @sheenagerrard and also on her blog.

Recently I had the absolutely amazing opportunity of going along to the Liverpool vs Sparta Prague 2nd leg fixture in the Europa League at Anfield. And what an amazing night it was!

TweetAn article by Sheena McStravick.

You can follow Sheena on Twitter at @sheenagerrard and also on her blog.

Recently I had the absolutely amazing opportunity of going along to the Liverpool vs Sparta Prague 2nd leg fixture in the Europa League at Anfield. And what an amazing night it was!

An article by Sheena McStravick.

You can follow Sheena on Twitter at @sheenagerrard and also on her blog.

Recently I had the absolutely amazing opportunity of going along to the Liverpool vs Sparta Prague 2nd leg fixture in the Europa League at Anfield. And what an amazing night it was!

Indonesian Railways have rerouted and cancelled some trains ahead of Persib's game with Persija tomorrow.
They cite instances of damage caused by football fans using trains in the past to attend games and, in some instances, deaths when young fans have fallen from the roof of trains.
Shame.

There have been few, if any, managers in the history of the British game who could match Bob Paisley's genius in spotting players. The man who built three Champions' Cup winning teams did so not by outspending others but by identifying before anyone else players with the talent to play in his sides.