Another exciting match is upon on us Monday when two of the historically best teams in Italy collide in the country's capital, as Juventus travel to face Roma. This will be the Old Lady's fifth game in a little over two weeks. Juventus are coming in with blistering form as they continue to get positive results.

A few eyebrows were raised when Spurs picked up Brad Friedel on a free during the summer and the majority of supporters were assuming that the American had joined as Tottenham's back up keeper for 2011-12. He would either be warming up the bench, putting pressure on Heurelho Gomes or a new man would have stepped in to replace the Brazilian.

Failure to beat Cagliari on the season's opening game served to make Roma's trip to Inter a considerably more daunting prospect. Normally, both a clean sheet and an accompanying San Siro point would have been considered a profitable raid to the north, but in retrospect, Enrique was left to rue his team's bewildering inability to score.

By Chris Wright

In which, on Saturday evening, Inter defender Lucio (a perennially sneaky bastard) takes his opportunity to administer a devious kick to Maarten Stekelenburg's temple and duly knocks the prone Roma keeper unconscious...

Stekenlenburg was stretchered from the field completely sparko in a neck brace, but thankfully has 'avoided any serious injury' according to the Giallorossi website no thanks to a certain borderline-feral, monobrowed Brazilian centre-half.

There was a scary moment in Serie A's big Saturday evening match between Inter and Roma at the San Siro in Milan when Roma Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg was kicked in the head by Inter's Lucio. Although the kick to the head does not appear to be intentional, Stekelenburg clearly lost consciousness before hitting the ground and Lucio was awarded a yellow card.

There was a scary moment in Serie A's big Saturday evening match between Inter and Roma at the San Siro in Milan when Roma Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg was kicked in the head by Inter's Lucio. Although the kick to the head does not appear to be intentional, Stekelenburg clearly lost consciousness before hitting the ground and Lucio was awarded a yellow card.

Tim Krul has been outstanding form for Newcastle United in their four games so far this season. Tim Krul in great form for Newcastle this season A combination of a fair amount of luck, and some great goalkeeping from the Dutch International has seen Newcastle win three of their first four games of the season and draw the other one.

Transfer are always the talking point during pre-season (and for many, the lack of them). Obviously we're all much more aware of what's been happening here in Albion and the big money transfers, but around Europe teams have been snapping up bargains all over the show, so we have compiled an eleven of players signed up in what may turn out to be inspired deals.

Season Preview: Roma Opening/Recap To say that Roma disappointed last season would be an understatement, like proclaiming that peanut butter and jelly is a somewhat popular snack amongst children. Claudio Ranieri tried to improve his side from the second place finish of the season prior, but was ultimately sacked amongst a midst of horrible results.

Last year's campaign saw Roma possess the second worst defensive record of Serie A's top twelve teams and worryingly, an inferior concession rate to all but one of the three sides demoted to Serie B. Therefore and understandably, Luis Enrique made buying a keeper his priority and finally secured the services of Dutch giant Maarten Stekelenburg.

Last year's campaign saw Roma possess the second worst defensive record of Serie A's top twelve teams and worryingly, an inferior concession rate to all but one of the three sides demoted to Serie B. Therefore and understandably, Luis Enrique made buying a keeper his priority and finally secured the services of Dutch giant Maarten Stekelenburg.

Saturday

- Wes & Yolanthe in Ibiza should be the last 'ballers on breaks pictures you'll be seeing for awhile, dear friends. The couple was seen celebrating their 1 year wedding anniversary with fam and friends aboard a yacht on Saturday.

- Maarten Stekelenburg's first day at Roma (which we know wasn't this weekend but we still felt the need to mention anyway) went a lil something like this: drive to training, give presser in English since non parla l'italiano, watch Gabby Heinze roll up his shorts.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images (Bleacher Report)Arsene Wenger is accusing the transfer sagas of both Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas as the reason for their not being more signings for the Gunners this summer. Two days ago he promised that a signing of "Super Quality," would be arriving next week.

Maarten Stekelenburg, numero uno dell'Olanda, e ormai ex Ajax (squadra nella quale ha militato per 14 anni), è arrivato a Roma per mettere nero su bianco e iniziare la sua nuova avventura, tra i pali della porta giallorossa. Il portierone, nato ad Haarlem nel 1982, è sbarcato nella capitale ieri sera e, questa mattina, si [.

I wrote this article two days ago, but Wordpress hates me, so I could only get it up now. Sorry if it feels old...

It's exactly forty days until the Serie A season officially begins (28th August 2011). I think I'll take a break from criticising the FIGC to write about some recent transfer rumours and an argument in Rome, with some pre-season friendlies thrown in for good measure.

Editor's Note: We continue a great new feature on the Free Beer Movement site. In collaboration with the quality soccer site, "The Other 87 Minutes" we present the "Tuesday XI" (and sometimes the "Tuesday Ten") a thoughtful list on a variety of topics in the world of soccer.
Make sure you head over to "The Other 87 Minutes" and check out all the.

Heurelho Gomes' future at Spurs was brought into sharp focus at the end of last season with a number of high profile errors including blunders against Real Madrid and Chelsea highlighting the liability that the Brazilian can be at times.

After Brad Friedel arrived at Spurs last month, it seemed that Gomes may be on his way back to PSV Einhoven despite still attracting public support from Harry Redknapp who said that he now had three great keepers at the club.

Thomas Di Benedetto is a stranger in a strange land. As an American in charge of an Italian football club Italy being infamously insular when it comes to calcio the Bostonian needs to make a strong and favorable impression immediately upon the minds of Romanisti. The club's most noticeable problem is a leaky defence, the likes of which is prone to spectacular mistakes in judgments.

Injuries for Maarten Stekelenburg and Michel Vorm meant that last Saturday young Tim Krul was making his debut in Oranje against Brazil, all of a sudden. The 23 year old wasn't impressed at all, even if the opponent was Brazil and Krul had a massive first game and kept a [read more]

By Chris Wright

According to several sources in Spain, notably AS, it looks like Manchester United are within days of wrapping up a deal for 20-year-old Atletico Madrid 'keeper (and part-time Norwegian rapper) David De Gea as a replacement for their outbound No.

So DC lost to Ajax in front of 10,000 people. The Dutch side dominated for most of the game despite being without Maarten Stekelenburg and Christian Eriksen, and having started with Gregory van der Wiel, Jan Vertgonhen and Siem de Jong on the bench. DC went down 1-0 in the tenth minute, then leveled the score in the 58th with a goal from Blake Brettschneider, only to be finished off by Vurnon Anita's goal in the 87th minute.

Have you Evra seen anything like that? Following the recent exploits of Sergio Ramos, Maarten Stekelenburg and Manchester United reserve player Scott Wootton, Patrice Evra had a joke at the expense of dented silverware the world over by pretending to drop the base of the Premier League trophy during the presentation this evening.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

A great week for Manchester as both United and City win trophies United win their 19th League title and City win their first silverware in 35 years the FA Cup.

By CALEB SONNELAND

Police were called to the Grosvenor Hotel in London Monday night after a brawl broke out at West Ham's end-of-season dinner.

West Ham striker Demba Ba was at the center of the altercation, after he reportedly got into an argument with a fan, which resulted in the fan racially abusing the Senegalese player and an ensuing fracas.

While Harry may feel that Spurs are only a couple of players away from being a top four side again, many fans and TV pundits think that one extra player is needed in all areas of the pitch – goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attack.

For the rest of this week we'll take a look at some of the names available and try to work out who the club should sign to get us back in the Champions League running.

Championship trophies seem to be flying off buses a little too often nowadays . Less than a month after Sergio Ramos dropped the Copa del Rey, Ajax keeper Maarten Stekelenburg has managed to... Read more »

This weekend Ajax matched to win the Eredivisie title with a 3-1 victory over FC Twente. The win enabled Ajax to jump ahead of FC Twente on the table and secure its 30th domestic title.
Subsequently, in a scened reminiscent of Real Madrid's post Copa del Rey victory, Maarten Stekelenburg dropped the Eredivisie trophy from the top of a bus.

Transfer rumours today link Spurs with players that would provide either a last line of defence or a first line of attack and while the name of Klass-Jan Huntelaar has emerged again, one of his Schalke 04 team mates could be unexpectedly available.

It was firmly believed that goalkeeper Manuel Neuer would be leaving his present club to join Bayern Munich at the end of the season, but the Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had this to say:

"I don't really think we are going to find a quick agreement.

Maarten Stekelenburg
Stekelenburg 28-years-old playing for Ajax in Eredivise league, is still waiting for offers from Arsenal and other big clubs such as AC Milan and Manchester United.
The Dutchman has appeared in 36 games for Ajax this season.
I personally think that the Gunners do not need Stekelenburg at the moment since we have Szczesny as our first choice goalkeeper, but adding him to the squad would not be a problem.

With the summer transfer window fast approaching and Manuel Almunia in goal for the Gunners, it is no surprise for a goalkeeper to be linked with Arsenal. According to Italian newspaper Tuttosport, Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg ...

D.C. United's strong offseason hasn't been limited to player acquistions.

In the aftermath of bringing the likes of Charlie Davies, Dax McCarty and Perry Kitchen to the nation's capital, United announced it will host Dutch power Ajax Amsterdam in a friendly on May 22.

Ajax is in the race for the Eredivisie title and boasts Netherlands internationals in goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, defender Gregory Van Der Wiel and midfielder Demy De Zeeuw, among others.

Liverpool will this summer look to follow up their purchase of Luis Suarez from Ajax by attempting to lure teenage playmaker Christian Eriksen to Anfield. The promising Danish international has impressed many with his mature performances for the Eredivisie club and many have tipped the youngster to be a big star in the future.

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Holland's Maarten Stekelenburg head a three-man shortlist to replace Edwin van der Sar at Manchester United following the 40 year-old's confirmation that he will retire from football this summer.

Manchester United: The search for a new number one begins is a post from: Just Football

With news of Edwin van der Sar's impending end of season retirement, Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson now have the huge task of replacing the big Dutchman. Of course at the age of 40, the news has come as no shock, but there were no doubt many, including Sir Alex himself, hoping that Van der Sar would stick around for just one more season.