how appropriate

Happy mad-libbing!

_______________ (Possession/4-3-3/Passing out of the back) like __________________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) would never work for a __________________ (Mid-low table Premier League/Major League Soccer/NCAA Division I) team. The __________________ (British/American/American College) game is too ____________ (Fast/Physical/Aggressive) for a ________________ (British/MLS/College) team to play like that.

The President of Rwanda wants his buddy Arsene to step down? Robin van Persie is furious with Arsene...Or is he? And, does Real Madrid really want Arsene?

It's been quite an interesting week for the Arsenal so far. If you haven't been following the news as much as I have, allow me to illuminate you.

By Alan Duffy

They may only be a Southern Football Premier League side, but the decision by Oxford City to sack player Lee Steele over homophobic Twitter comments he made will have a significant influence on the game in general.

In refering to the out-gay Welsh rugby player, Gareth Thomas, and his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Steele Tweeted: "I wouldnt fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockeda**ehole".

Although it's fair to say that Arsenal have enjoyed a rather strange season, lurching from one extreme to another, the fact remains that they have somehow managed to get themselves back in contention for a Champions League place, something that seemed like a distant dream after the crushing 8-2 defeat they suffered against Manchester United early in the season.

We tend to be quick to condemn the managerial merry-go-round as propelled by the Largs mafia.
But we're also too often suspicious of incomers who come into the SPL with their odd ways and their funny accents.
We should embrace them. Especially if they're such a delightful puzzle as Kenny Shiels.

By Alan Duffy

Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool Premier League 18th December 2011

Kenny Dalglish's decision to bring Craig Bellamy back to Anfield is proving to be one of the best transfer deals of the summer, with the fleet-footed Welshman bringing much-needed pace to the Liverpool attack.

Is that a tangerine in your stocking or are you just pleased to see me? Through the great SPL Advent calendar window today: Dundee United.
Consistency, as Motherwell's progress this season has shown, can work wonders in the SPL.
But it eludes three quarters of the league.

Is that a tangerine in your stocking or are you just pleased to see me? Through the great SPL Advent calendar window today: Dundee United.
Consistency, as Motherwell's progress this season has shown, can work wonders in the SPL.
But it eludes three quarters of the league.

The British media is a wonderful thing, responsible for bigging up any footballer that shows even an ounce of ability at whatever level over even the shortest amount of time. If said players are English, extra-strength arse-sore cream is complimentary at all pharmacies, followed by a voucher for free anti-depressants when the tabloid rimming descends [.

Last week, in the wake of England's heroic (cough) win against Spain at Wembley in what can only be described as the friendly international to end all friendly internationals, we took a look at a few matches from their past in which the national team had managed to pluck a result from somewhere against a decent team, but failed to capitalise upon it.

Noted American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand has graciously cleared her hectic social schedule to answer a few questions about the MLS cup, David Beckham, and also her philosophy of "objectivism." Please note that while I am a fan of MLS and respect Mr. Beckham's sporting endeavors, I do not intend for this post to serve as an implicit or explicit endorsement of Ayn Rand's philosophy.

Rejoice! International break is officially over, and as far as we can tell, everyone should return to Liverpool in relatively good health. Which mostly just means that we can shift our collective focus of complaining from the utter stupidity of having a bunch of mid-November ticklefights to the teeth-gnashing prospect of two matches away to Chelsea sandwiched around a home date with Manchester City, with the latter two coming in a 48-hour stretch just under two weeks from now.

Chicharito does it again. He salvages mediocrity out of the jaws of defeat for Man U. In a game that saw the Red Devils outpossessed and easily outshot, the Little Pea puts the only goal in and thus earns 3pts for Man U as Everton lose at home.Video: footytube
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A month ago I wrote an article on why it would be best if Steve Nicol left New England. The plan was to publish it into the off-season and have the conversations that came with it then. Yesterday, I deleted that article because the Revolution beat me to it. Rightfully so. It was time for Steve Nicol to leave the club he lead for an MLS record ten years.

Sven-Goran Eriksson sacked by Leicester City Telegraph.

Leicester City today dismissed, or "agreed by mutual consent to part ways" depending on which news source you trust, former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson after 12 months in charge and after something close to $20m of player purchases had been flushed down the sewer.

Late October is a funny time of year. Your first or second favourite club is now in full swing across the ocean, while your second or first favourite club is wrapping up their season with a game steeped in frivolity and mediocrity. Toronto closes out their season against a side who was eliminated from the post-season sometime in mid-July.

Newcastle United are looking to be an interesting force this season as so far Alan Pardew's team managed to stick themselves in the top four and among the few teams left unbeaten after eight matches of premier league.

This fine development apparently give a confidence on Pardew's mind as he hopes that Newcastle under his management can finally be a team than win trophies again in at least the next two years.

Roman Pav-erage-lachenko once again temporarily silenced his critics and showed why he is the most frustrating Spurs player in the history of the game. Month after month of mediocrity with flashes of quality few and far between. And last night brought us one of those flashes, and was swiftly followed up with his latest mood swing in his post match comments.

"Perhaps we gave our fans too much by winning the Double. Once you've eaten caviar, it is difficult to go back to sausages."

-Arsene Wenger, after a draw against Middlesbrough, 1998.

There is always a certain impishness to Arsene Wenger's comments that draws people towards his press conferences.

After our ignominious defeat to Manchester United (I'd H8-2 be an Arsena- *joke cut short by baseball bat swung in the face*), it was obvious that new and better signings were needed. Not just obvious, absolutely essential. And while you may argue over the reasons and quality and other minutiae regarding our new signings, the fact remains that they were signed, and none have reached Silvestre/Squillaci levels of awfulness.

After the rest of the Eastern Conference playoff contenders choked on their mediocrity yesterday, the Philadelphia Union can return to the top of the pops with a win over Chivas USA tonight.

No pressure.

It would be easy to say that the Red Bulls needed a late bit of wonderskill from Thierry Henry to tie Toronto because the Red Bulls suck.

Another summer has come and gone, and as the leaves begin to change into their familiar autumnal hues, the brazen few citizens of Revs Nation once again will be forced to mutter the all-too-familiar statement, "well, maybe NEXT year". It's a statement that is fortified in 16 years of heartache and near-misses, as well as what can also be perceived as organizational apathy.

Attacking Fluidity: Is Carroll starting to fit in?

AnfieldIndex Liverpool FC Stats | Liverpool FC Blog | Liverpool FC Forum Fluidity. That's the word on every Liverpool fan's lips and how we soon hope to be able to describe our attacking play on a regular basis. Pass and move is part of Liverpool's footballing heritage and it is just as important to supporters that we start playing the ‘Liverpool way' as it is we start giving the trophy room manager a selection headache again, and with Kenny Dalglish at the helm anything is possible.

Six matches into the season, and the discussion about where things stand from a Liverpool perspective, both individually and collectively, is well underway. Noel's given us a couple of great pieces already, first looking at Andy Carroll on Monday and Charlie Adam today. While both have a titular (not like that, pervs) focus on specific individuals, both have also created excellent conversation about these individuals' impact on the team as a whole, which, given the changes in the side, is an interesting and, in some cases, divisive topic.

There is, one again, renewed interest in a Las Vegas MLS expansion. One article has a $1.4 billion muti-sports complex being built in the city of Henderson for both the NBA and MLS. But I wonder... where's the motivation for an MLS team in Las Vegas? No offense to the city's sports fans, but unlike with Portland, Philadelphia, or even San Antonio there's not a strong ground swell of support.

Same old Arsenal part......I lost count! by Adam Kemp Sequels rarely deliver much entertainment or win any accolades with the critics. However, last season's problems do not appear as damaging as the problems that face the future of Arsenal. Arsenal has shipped an incredible 14 goals in their opening first 5 league games thus far.

Four of Bill Shankly's greatest players will appear in a unique autumn show when the stirring, tartan tones of their legendary manager resonate around Southport Theatre.
Archive clips of the great man, from an interview only recently released, will feature in The Bill Shankly Anniversary Show which hits Southport on October 7.

This is a guest post by Jacques Pelham.

Predictably, there are still many outstanding questions regarding Juergen Klinsmann and the US national team after Klinsmann's second and third games as US coach. On Tuesday, the US demonstrated sustained effort for 90 minutes and crafted occasional quality sequences against a Belgium team that effectively pressed the US without the ball and featured dangerous attacking talents.

Week 24 saw a goal scoring romp in Seattle, a stoppage time comeback in Kansas City and a 10-man Salt Lake team prove their resilience. Here's your weekly recap.
Seattle Sounders 6, Columbus Crew 2
The Seattle and Columbus match up was supposed to be a battle between the Eastern Conference leading Crew and the Western Conference Supporter Shield contending Sounders.

Overrated. Flop. Failure.

These are words that many believe encapsulate the Manchester United career of the elegant yet frustrating Juan Sebastian Verón. Arriving at United in 2001 for a then British record £28.1 million pounds, the Argentine playmaker was consistently disappointing, the sea of mediocrity that was his United tenure only occasionally giving way to the moments of class and quality one might expect from one of such considerable reputation.

Dallatasaray. If you don't know or get the parody, there's more football than just England, Italy, Spain and Germany.
You know what I like about the rain. When I'm indoors. I appreciate dryness, roofs, umbrellas, hats. They're brilliant. Really. This has to be one of the worst weather/luck scenarios at least in this team's history.

Liverpool are still a mid-table side - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It's usually wise not to judge a team after just two league games, but in Liverpool's case it might be possible to make an exception. The problems that Kenny Dalglish failed to address last year still persist, and you can expect to see them outside the Champions League places again this year.

The human mania for classification manifests itself in countless ways, and one of the more peculiar is somatotyping: organizing people by body shape, usually with the belief that there's some correlation between body shape and personality. These types tend to come in threes. In The Antichrist Nietzsche wrote that "In every healthy society there are three physiological types, gravitating toward differentiation but mutually conditioning one another .

Professional performance from Nasri

One point from the first two games of the season can probably be labelled as something that is not good enough. But it is because of it being the 2 games of the season, it is hardly justified to go all mental over the results. Of course I want us to win all games and to have 6 points now but 1 point does not mean that we will not win the league title or finish outside of the champions league positions or be relegated.

So... it transpires that England weren't rubbish after all, just in an impossibly difficult group. Mexico sit proudly in the Under-20s World Cup semi-final line-up and Argentina should have been alongside them. The apologies of a nation are due to Brian Eastick and his team. Details of Mexico's elimination of tournament hosts Colombia were impossible to find without possession of Eurosport HD among your package of cable channels, as the match was the only one not to feature on ‘ordinary' British Eurosport.

This column by Eric Giardini. Proof once again that he does, in fact, write for TSG.

Messi is to Michael Jordan as Pastore is to Magic Johnson

At the conclusion of their 1-0 home loss to Lorient, jeers from the supporters rained down upon the Paris Saint-Germain players as they left the pitch at the Parc de Princes.

While you wait for the editors at SI.com to post the Week 22 MLS review (with Team of the Week and Power Rankings), let's take a moment to update a list we all like to watch. We like to watch it the same we can't help but stare at automobile accidents on the shoulder of the road. We all have a dark side; what can we say?

When Paul Konchesky was sold to Leicester City earlier this summer, one of the strangest and most stressful periods of the past two decades in Liverpool's history came to a close. Seen as the embodiment of the mediocrity that had somehow become the norm at the club, Konchesky's departure was deemed as confirmation that the standards that had been allowed to drop were now being pushed upwards again.

When Paul Konchesky was sold to Leicester City earlier this summer, one of the strangest and most stressful periods of the past two decades in Liverpool's history came to a close. Seen as the embodiment of the mediocrity that had somehow become the norm at the club, Konchesky's departure was deemed as confirmation that the standards that had been allowed to drop were now being pushed upwards again.

After watching last night's MLS matches several things have stuck out for me. Sore points, frustrations, points of notice and this that please me... here are a few things to consider.Kyle Beckerman is a fighter.
RealSaltLake showed who they are, or rather, who they can be. The absolutely tore apart the New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium.