The Portland Timbers are certainly not resting on their laurels heading into February as they just announced a new player acquisition in Charles Renken, a midfielder, via the MLS waiver. According to assistant coach Amos Magee:

"While only 18, Charles is a talented player who is already accustomed to the professional environment," said Amos Magee, Timbers assistant coach.

Could the Spaniard be given less defensive duty?

As is customary during this period of the season, games come thick and fast. Tonight sees us visiting Villa Park and this is the first of 4 games in 13 days. Yet, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. This is as big a test as the Manchester City game.

Liverpool are in the midst of a brilliant 10-game unbeaten run, which for most managers would be a reason to celebrate, but for Kenny Dalglish, it's not good enough. Liverpool have drawn five home games this season, dropping 10 valuable points in the process, and despite the high level of performance, Dalglish is (rightfully) not satisfied.

Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam has stated that he is relishing the competition for first-team places at Anfield this season.
The 25-year-old has been a regular feature in Kenny Dalglish's starting XI so far this term, following his summer transfer from Blackpool.
Whilst Adam believes his switch to Merseyside was a 'reward' for his performances at Bloomfield Road last season, the Scottish international is not taking his place for granted, with fellow midfielder Steven Gerrard still to make his return to full fitness.

Morning to you,

we're back into the swing of things now and there's Champions League action to look forward to this week, a crucial game against Borussia Dortmund that can ensure our qualifcation for the knock-out stages. For now though, the post-Norwich stuff continues with the manager feeling a lot better about the team.

Carlo Ancelotti has revealed his great admiration for Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, describing the Scot as a brilliant leader who knows how to delegate responsibility and develop those around him.

Ancelotti, who was replaced by Andre Villas-Boas last summer following a trophyless season in-charge of Chelsea, insists that he is enjoying life away from football but relishes the prospect of managing in the same league as Fergie.

If I were a manager of a football team, I would never be one to rest on my laurels. I would always be on the lookout for new talent and ways to improve my team. So as an Italy World Cup Blogger, I apply that same winning mentality to this blog, and today, I am very pleased to announce a new blogger who will bring to this blog what Fulvio Collovati brought to the Azzurri in 1982.

Adam aims to keep improving

Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam has insisted he has no intention of resting on his laurels despite making a strong start to his Anfield career.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-09-17 14:55:08 from: Sky Sports

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

Jamie Carragher came in for criticism after Liverpool's 1-0 loss at Stoke but TEAMtalk's Sam Nightingale feels he still has plenty to offer.
Carragher brought down City striker Jonathan Walters as the two battled for the ball at the Britannia Stadium and referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot before Walters fired in the penalty.

Jamie Carragher came in for criticism after Liverpool's 1-0 loss at Stoke but TEAMtalk's Sam Nightingale feels he still has plenty to offer.
Carragher brought down City striker Jonathan Walters as the two battled for the ball at the Britannia Stadium and referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot before Walters fired in the penalty.

The Importance of Juan Mata - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Juan Mata's £23.5million transfer seemed to happen on a breeze. With the perpetual summer transfer saga of Luka Modric, hype was outwardly reserved. However, now with the foliage on the floor and the Premier League blooming, Mata's importance to the Chelsea team has been keenly signified.

Liverpool veteran Jamie Carragher admits he's in a battle to keep his first team place at Anfield.
The 33-year-old's error against Bolton cost the Reds a clean-sheet in a 3-1 win against Owen Coyle's side, and the defender was again at fault when he was adjudged to have fouled Jonathan Walters on Saturday, with the Stoke striker converting the subsequent penalty in a 1-0 win for the Potters.

I feel like I've written 'this is the Sounders hardest X game left this season' a lot in the last few weeks, where X is 'road' or 'home' or 'group stage' or whatever. It's a sign that the difficulty of the Seattle regular season peaked in a brutal July and August stretch that featured two games against a dangerous FC Dallas, a match in Monterrey, and matchups with the Colorado Rapids, the LA Galaxy, and a Cascadia derby match at Jeld-Wen field.

Reports are circulating that Liverpool are trying to sign Argentine front man Mauro Zarate to bolster their attacking options.
The Reds spent big in January in acquiring Andy Carroll from Newcastle and Luis Suarez from Ajax for a combined total of £58m but manager Kenny Dalglish is not ready to rest on his laurels.

The Portland Timbers didn't play the best soccer against the Vancouver Whitecaps on August 20, but they took advantage of opportunities and gutted out a 2 to 1 win over their Canadian Cascadian rivals. Coach John Spencer called the win "a real test of character", but the Timbers can't rest on their laurels with a midweek match against Chivas USA looming.

The fate of both Hariss Harun and Safuwan Baharudin (pictured below) to join the national team for the upcoming World Cup group stages qualifiers is still hung in a balance, despite having their names on the 24-men squad list released by the Football Association of Singapore this evening.
Would Sufawan having the last laugh?

congopress Nigeria: Football Crisis is Costing Us Laurels - Sports Minister - http://allafrica.com/stories... 5 hours ago from AllAfrica News: Latest - Comment - Like New minister of sports and chairman National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, has attributed the failure of the Super Falcons at the just concluded FIFA World Cup held in Germany, the non qualification of the Dream Team V and their women counterpart for the forthcoming 10th All African Games in Maputo as well as the inability of the country's U-17 football team, Golden Eaglets to reach the last African Youth Championship and the World Cup held in Rwanda and Mexico respectively to the crises in Nigerian football administration.

Where Has Angry Hans Gone?Hans Backe was back in charge of Red Bulls practice at Montclair State University today, having sufficiently recovered from the surgical procedure that kept him from making the trip to California. He met with reporters at training, and in addition to providing an update on injured squad members (Rodgers and Solli both available for Saturday, Henry recovered from his illness), the Gaffer took some time to speak about RBNY's recent results and his expectations for Saturday.

Photo by alemaxale

Sir Alex Ferguson has already signaled his intent to the rest of the Premier League and world soccer, snatching up Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David De Gea for around £60 million. Sir Alex Ferguson and United are surely not resting on their laurels. They're improving their squad that won the record-breaking 19th Premier League title as well as finished runners up in the Champions League.

Chicharito has helped Mexico progress to the Gold Cup semi-finals as the competition's top scorer this year with six goals.

The young Mexican has reflected on his début season in England, claiming he is at the best club in the world.

"I am very happy that, as a squad, we won the English championship," said Chicharito.

There is no time for Sir Alex Ferguson to dwell on the glory of Manchester United's record-breaking 19th championship. Resting on laurels is not one of the United manager's traits, but this summer is one of his more important rebuilding windows. He needs to be active in the transfer market as the task of building the next Old Trafford dynasty becomes more pressing.

The young Jack Wilshere may have taken the Premiership by surprise this season, but he is by no means resting on his laurels and knows that he will have to improve if he wants to keep his place in the England and Arsenal teams next season. Wilshere said: "There are still big players missing [...]

To remain at the top, you can't afford to rest on your laurels, and despite winning a fourth Premier League title in five seasons and advancing to a third Champions League final in four seasons, the expectation is that this year's summer transfer window will be a relatively busy one for Manchester United, at least in comparison to the last couple of summers.

Roberto Mancini has issued a rallying cry to his Manchester City side warning them not to mess things up in the FA Cup final.

The Citizens are celebrating ensuring Champions League qualification for the first time in their history, securing that Premier League top four spot with a 1-0 win over Spurs.

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen has criticised Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger for recently suggesting finishing in second place behind Manchester United in the Premier League would constitute a successful season.

The Match of the Day pundit argues Sir Alex Ferguson would never dare suggest finishing as runners up would be successful and suggests his former Liverpool side of the 1980s would have a similar mentality, intimating it was win at all costs for the ex-defender, who won eight league titles during his glittering Anfield career.

FC barcelona vs Real Madrid Clash promises to be a Classic

Update: Puyol has been declared fit and is included in squad.

So it's officially starts tomorrow - The Grand Series of El Clasico. FC Barcelona will be going to Bernebeu to kill any ray of hope that lingers in the Real Madrid fans and players' mind of lifting the La Liga trophy.

Tally Hall lost last week's MLS Save of the Week award to Jake Gleeson on the Portland Timbers...this is of course unacceptable. Dynamo fans, get on your computers and VOTE FOR TALLY!!

In more Tally "The Wall" Hall accolade news, for the second straight week our goalkeeper was named to the MLSSoccer.

That's how you start a season! The Rapids celebrated their championship and then did what champions do, put an end to an expansion team's hope early and often.
8 minutes in Omar Cummings proved that he's only gotten better, splitting two defenders at the corner flag and pulling his patented run at the box and cross move.

ARSENAL came up short once again as Barcelona shattered their Champions League dream at a raucous Nou Camp stadium last night.

Billed as a tie bringing together two of the greatest exponents of the beautiful game, the Gunners were outclassed, outfought and outthought as Barcelona proved why they are the most feared side on the planet.

Tottenham pulled off a magnificent win in the San Siro on Tuesday night with a Peter Crouch goal ten minutes from time giving Spurs victory in the away leg. The Milan boss was definitely wary of the threat posed by Redkanpp's side, but to take the spoils in Milan was better than expected for the North London side.

Rafael has been able to step up to the challenges that have come his way so far during his United career, but even though he has proved that he can deliver at the very top level, it will take time for fans to start to embrace him in the same way that they acted towards club legend Gary Neville.

If Rafael can start to show that he can be a longstanding part of a defence that could go on to establish United as the single most successful club in British football, whilst also starting to generate an intense hatred on the behalf of Liverpool fans (something Neville managed throughout his successful career to the delight of United supporters), he may just have the talent to one day rank alongside the now retired Neville as a United great.

Newcastlke United manager, Alan Pardew, has admitted in an interview that there is still work to be done before Newcastle United were a "good team in the Premier League", hinting that he will not be complacent or rest on his laurels in striving for further improvements in the side. He also said that he was [.

With MLS' drafting season nearly complete (the Supplemental Draft is tomorrow...more on that after the jump) we can start to get a better picture of what the Houston Dynamo roster will look like in 2011. The most obvious change is the youth movement, with several veterans not returning including Pat Onstad, Richard Mulrooney and Adrian Serioux.