Lewes 1-0 Hampton and Richmond Borough (07:11:09)
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If you've had the misfortune to have read some of my ramblings on European football, you'll realise by now that most clubs abroad have a 'friendship' with at least one other club. St Etienne are best mates with Bordeaux, Pogoń Szczecin regularly get into bed with Legia Warsaw and last week we discovered that Rot-Weiss Essen are all over Werder Bremen. Click to continue reading...

'Put paid to what you say and put your money where your mouth is' sang Miles Hunt during The Wonderstuff's top 16 hit 'Unbearable'. Well, Mr Hunt, have we got news for you my friend. European Football Weekends - fresh from our tour of the Netherlands and Germany - are back with a bang. We have unearthed some petty cash from underneath the sofa and we're sponsoring the match ball as our heroes Lewes FC take on Hampton and Richmond Borough this coming Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has admitted he was focused on the inflatable beach ball during Saturday's loss to Sunderland having lost sight of the real match ball.
Darren Bent's winning goal, which deflected off a ball thrown onto the pitch by a fan, was allowed to stand by referee Mike Jones which meant Liverpool slumped to their third consecutive loss and fourth of the season. Click to continue reading...

The Premier League have confirmed that Liverpool's game at Sunderland on Saturday will not be replayed despite the controversial nature of the game's only goal.
Darren Bent struck the winner for the Black Cats when his shot deflected off a beach ball. The involvement of an unrelated object should have meant that the goal was chalked off. Click to continue reading...

1. OTP thought the most controversial 'outside agents' in the Premier League this weekend would be Harry Redknapp's security team. Little did we know... 2. Pepe Reina should probably have tried to save the match ball rather than the beach ball. 3. Unbeatable Chelsea suddenly look a bit wobbly. 4. Tweeting can defeat the Big Four! Click to continue reading...

Fernando Torres has now scored 33 goals in 34 games at Anfield for Liverpool.
It is a quite astonishing statistic and he walked off with the match ball after Liverpool trashed Hull 6-1.
But sadly I do believe Liverpool are becoming a two-man show, with Steven Gerrard and Torres running things for Rafa Benitez's side. Click to continue reading...

The former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore believes his former club are more reliant than ever on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, following the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.
Collymore acknowledges the aforementioned two as world class performers but suggests the club is too reliant on their abilities, and will struggle away from Anfield. Click to continue reading...

by CARL ELDRIDGE The majority of press coverage of the Arsenal this morning is obviously taken up by the 1-0 win at Fulham at Craven Cottage yesterday as you can imagine.

And it's young Gunners keeper Vito Mannone who gets rave reviews after an astounding performance kept Roy Hodgson's side at bay.

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And well might you wonder how a soccer ball can be improved, given that tech nol ogy has been work ing on the issue for well over 100 years. The devil is in the detail as you'd expect, but suf fice to say that the new 14-panel design has resulted in a ball with the most con sis tent per for mance char ac ter is tics ever, enabling the play ers to show their true skills. Click to continue reading...

And for the second time in this young season, Suarez was allowed to take the match ball home. It's the standard present for a player who scores three times in one game. Yesterday, the Ajax player on fire even scored four against Slovan Bratislava. Before the season, the skipper promised his Click to continue reading...

The new English Premier League season kicked off at the weekend in sensational fashion, with many players and clubs crushing the lazy assumptions and predictions surrounding them in the press. But, critic-defying performance aside, something else struck me about the opening round of matches in our beloved league, something that has had as big an impact as the new signings or the unwanted injuries.

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This is the new Nike ball that you will see being kicked around next season. It's called the Nike Total 90 Ascente and will also be used in the EPL and in Spain's La Liga. The ball will be used in all Serie A, Serie B, and Coppa Italia matches as well as the SuperCoppa this August and in all Primavera matches.

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