Having been drubbed by West Ham, there is an ever-growing concern amongst United fans. The
defence. As Sir Alex said moments after that game, United have been culpable of conceding
"terrible goals", and "are too soft", and that has, of course, been the case for most of the
season. Since the return of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic things have improved; but when both
are absent like they were Tuesday night, United's back four seem to capitulate.
The new season is nearly upon us and Off The Ball will be scratching around the underbelly of
professional football for some bizarre and often inexplicable revelations every step of the
way.
Twat...
This week, we have Manchester United spending £7.4 million on some bloke from the Portuguese third
division, Steven Gerrard claiming Joe Cole is better than Lionel Messi, Patrice Evra's attack on
Lillian Thuram and a referee running for his life.
With Manchester City giving a big ole middle finger to the global recession, ESPN thought it
prudent to concoct the world's most expensive lineup in the history of ever. It is, as one might
expect, littered with immense talent; talent that has both lived up to the lofty price and talent
which has failed quite [.
As Laurent Blanc's new look French side reach English shores, are there any future stars of the
Premier League amongst them? The French league is probably the largest of the European leagues to
suffer from losing home grown talent to English football since the inception of the EPL.
There are many good players that are plying their trade in Ligue 1, but the crème de la crème
of French football currently play away from home.
As Laurent Blanc's new look French side reach English shores, are there any future stars of the
Premier League amongst them? The French league is probably the largest of the European leagues to
suffer from losing home grown talent to English football since the inception of the EPL.
There are many good players that are plying their trade in Ligue 1, but the crème de la crème
of French football currently play away from home.
I'm not even sure crawling on your knees will get you out of this one hot-shot...
Well, I hope you didn't think that hiring Blanc and celebrating his first selection yesterday
meant the fall-out of the World Cup was over. Â In fact, its just heating up in the land of the
FFF.
The World Cup only shows up every four years, but at least it leaves with enough drama to fill
the gap in between.
One of those on the docket will be France's complete and utter collapse, with opinions raining
in from all corners. Lillian Thuram is one of those opinions, and as France's most capped player in
history and one of the sport's more respected athletes off the pitch, you listen.
France's all time most-capped player, Lillian Thuram, called an end to a distinguished career
Friday afternoon at a press conference in Paris. The central defender was in the process of
transferring from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain when the medical exam uncovered a heart defect
which led to Thuram's decision to end an excellent career.
Which 23 players will this fan be cheering for on August 11th..?
As punishment for the events that transpired during the World Cup, Blanc has asked permission
from the French Football Federation (FFF) to suspend the entire squad of 23 players that
represented France at the World Cup for the next friendly France play.
In life, four years is a drop in the bucket, unless it involves hard time and a bully of a
shower mate named Benny. In football, four years is eons; if we were to reappropriate football time
to equate real time, Germany would have a brontosaurus in net instead of Manuel Neuer. (Which
sounds like a stroke of genius with that tail.
Remember that fabulous Parma team that lifted the UEFA Cup in 1999?
Led then by manager Alberto Malesani the team was made up of superb talent from the back to the
front. A young Gainluigi Buffon kept goal, protected by a back three of Lillian Thuram, Fabio
Cannavaro and Nestor Sensini.
So Lassana Diarra is the next leader of France and is a favorite of Raymond Domenech, yet he
couldn't get into a game for France during Euro 2008. I have a lot of respect for Lillian Thuram,
he was one of the best defenders that I've seen play the game. I also rate Diarra very highly, but
something doesn't quite make sense here.
