Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

Lecce claimed only their fourth Serie A win of the season after a Guillermo Giacomazzi goal ended Inter Milan's seven-game winning streak on Sunday. Lining-up in a 3-5-2 formation with new signings Manuele Blasi and Leonardo Miglionico thrown straight into the XI, Lecce produced one of the shocks of the season so far.

After getting thru the anti-climax that was QPR, Chelsea have announced that John Terry will miss the trip to the Liberty Stadium, coincidentally in line with the week his trial for racial abuse commences. More, after the jump:

M.I.A.

In a late-night conversation with The Doc, we both agreed that John could profit from a stretch of rest.

Richmond Kicker Press Release:
KICKERS ANNOUNCE PRESEASON SCHEDULE Local Favorites, NCAA Champions and ACC Powerhouse Featured
RICHMOND, VA – (Monday, January 30, 2012) – The Richmond Kickers are pleased to announce the 2012 preseason schedule, featuring games against local favorites Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday, March 3 and NCAA National Champions University of North Carolina Chapel Hill on Saturday, March 17 at the state-of-the-art sports complex, Ukrop Park.

With just a day left in the transfer window, the normal last minute rush that has been so common in past years looks non existent with many clubs choosing to remain very quite in this January.

Carlos Tevez's big money transfer that we were all keenly looking forward to failed to materialise after City refused to back down on their €30 million buying price.

It has certainly been an eventful week for Liverpool FC and it is far from over just yet as the club prepares for one of the biggest games of its season when Manchester United takes the pitch at Anfield in the FA Cup tomorrow afternoon.

On the pitch, Liverpool have already taken care of another Manchester team earlier in the week, knocking league leaders City out of the Carling Cup 3-2 on aggregate to progress to the final at Wembley.

The Fire have made official the signing of Kheli Dube, their lone pick in the 2011 MLS re-entry draft. This builds on the busy offseason the Fire have had, with Dube becoming their fifth player added to the Fire roster this offseason. Follow me after the break for a couple of comments and some info on Dube.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that the club's 8-2 defeat away to Manchester United five months ago will have no impact on their preparation for this Sunday's rematch at the Emirates while skipper Robin van Persie strongly feels otherwise.

Speaking to the club's website ahead of United's trip to North London, Wenger explained that no matter what, his side cannot reverse the disaster that occurred in Manchester last August and hence, they must look at Sunday's match as a new opportunity altogether.

The snow is here and is there a better way to spend an hour or so of your snow day other than listening to Nos Audietis? We think not.

In this highly educational episode, Aaron teaches us about "Ragnarock", the Norse Apocalypse and how it applies and translates to our own "Snowgnarock".

Arsenal has suffered some terrible bad luck with defensive injuries this season. We lost Sagna, Gibbs and Jenkinson all with a 17 days in October, but the loss that has hurt us most was the loss of Santos in December. Santos was an attacking full-back and gave us extra attacking options something that has been lacking in recent weeks.

Kenny Dalglish has given the clearest indication yet that Liverpool will not be making any new signings during the January transfer window.In his press conference earlier this morning, Dalglish was once again overly defensive when asked simple questions about Liverpool's January transfer activity.

Bye bye Timmy?Good morning! With MLS preseason training beginning in just three weeks and the MLS Combine complete, there should be a lot of player movement and a ton of new signings announced in the coming days. The 2012 MLS SuperDraft kicks off tomorrow, and though the New York Red Bulls only have one selection (the 31st overall pick in round two), it's not inconceivable that we could see a trade or two happen while the general managers and coaches are assembled in Kansas City.

Getting close in securing Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea apparently will still continue their surge in the winter transfer market and capture at least another quality player.

This confirmation was revealed by the club's tactician, Andre Villas-Boas, who unfortunately still can't confirm, whose the other player they're trying to grab this January aside from Cahill.

Based on the current roster list on United's web site and the little scraps of information we have to go on, I thought I'd begin the Roster Reset in advance of the SuperDraft and the absolute rafts of new signings the United brain trust are just waiting to announce (hello, sarcasm, you insufferable trollop).

We are still a few days away from the Leeds game and I don't want to step on what will surely be another (auto paste here) splendid pre match from the master himself. But without wishing to step on toes I want to get some thoughts off my chest.

Having spent most of Christmas and New Year struggling to find the back of net I have started to change my mind about the importance of this game and who should be playing.

Glory Glory Leeds brings a mixed show this week despair at a hammering at Barnsley, more doubts over the manager's future and a massive sigh of relief at the win against Burnley to start 2012! We have loads of listener emails this week to read out (again thanks to all who take the time to send them!

Happy New Year! We hope all of you had a great holiday season and are getting even more excited for the 2012 Sounders Season.

The "Silly Season" is now in full swing and the end of 2011 was just heating up with all kinds of rumors and new signings for the Sounders and we think that's just the beginning.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Following Landon Donovan's loan to Everton and Thierry Henry's reported loan to Arsenal, a third MLS Designated Player could be on his way to the Premier League this winter, as Aston Villa is reportedly looking to sign Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane to a two-month loan deal.

Happy New Year! We hope all of you had a great holiday season and are getting even more excited for the 2012 Sounders Season.

The "Silly Season" is now in full swing and the end of 2011 was just heating up with all kinds of rumors and new signings for the Sounders and we think that's just the beginning.

2012: Rise of the Chinese Football Empire? is a post from: Just Football

Following the arrival of Nicolas Anelka and Jean Tigana at Shanghai Shenhua, the Chinese Super League (CSL) has received more attention in a month than it has previously done in almost a decade.

The CSL itself is coming up to its ninth year as China's top league since it superseded the Jia-A League in 2003.

Honestly speaking this hastily-arranged fixture came as a surprise to me when I was told the "Uniform Duo" (SAFFC and Home United)be playing against each other at Jalan Besar on the New Year's eve.
John Wilkinson (left) skippered Protectors against his old clubAfter all, not all the teams have started their pre-season training and let alone if DPMM's status is officially confirmed despite the earlier report on Asean Football Federation website (AFF).

Liverpool ended 2010-11 in fantastic form, perhaps even convincing those most hopeful that with a tweak here and a winger there a legitimate run at the title wasn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. With summer signalling that Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish were more interested in rebuilding than refining, though, that hope faced up to growing fears about all the that could go wrong with a largely new starting eleven as the season began.

Liverpool will reportedly look to lure Koln attacker Lukas Podolski to Anfield as the Merseyside club looks to beef up their attacking options following the FA ban handed to top scorer Luis Suarez.
Director of Football Damien Comolli has earmarked a move for the Polish born German international after seeing Suarez handed an eight match ban and was already scouting the 26 year old as Liverpool have been struggling for goals and have been far to dependent on the Uruguayan international.

I've been banging the drum about the need for new signings for a while now, so I suppose it's time for me to actually come up with a few suggestions. I'm going to stick to players I've actually seen play - a revolutionary concept on the internet, I know.
* Gary Cahill
I suppose this is just worthy mentioning briefly, if nothing else because it's not going to happen.

File Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

In Thursday's press conference, Peter Nowak reiterated a theme that he has stressed since the end of the season: he is looking to create competition among positions within the squad. "The more guys we have in [camp] being involved with the team and the team-mentality is better and will help us to have better results.

ATM are a club side in Malaysian football. Coached by Sathianathan they are fast becoming the moneybags club in the country as they put together a team for next year. Among their new signings is a familiar name to Kedah fans.
Marlon Alex James played a prominent role in guiding Kedah to consecutive domestic trebles before the door was slammed shut on foreign players.

After a couple of weeks off, we're back at it! We want to thank you for your patience and as we navigate the holiday season we will most likely be on a bi-weekly schedule until closer to preseason.

This week we talk about the loss of players James Riley and Tyson Wahl. As you probably know, Riley was selected by Montreal Impact in the expansion draft and immediately traded to Chivas USA and Wahl was traded to the Impact for allocation dollars.

After a couple of weeks off, we're back at it! We want to thank you for your patience and as we navigate the holiday season we will most likely be on a bi-weekly schedule until closer to preseason.
This week we talk about the loss of players James Riley and Tyson Wahl. As you probably know, Riley was selected by Montreal Impact in the expansion draft and immediately traded to Chivas USA and Wahl was traded to the Impact for allocation dollars.

Melbourne Victory's first half performance was the best they've ever played this season according to Coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Blimey!
I know the standard has been poor this season but best they've ever played takes the biscuit.
A flukey penalty gave them a 1-0 lead after 40 seconds and then after the usual huff and bluff died down at Aami Stadium the Gold Coast started to turn the screw.

Kelantan are building for an exciting season including AFC Cup action, will they be able to play their home games in Kota Bahru, and are taking advantage of new rules that allow them to sign foreigners.
In has come Lebanese striker Mohamed Ghaddar for example. He has proved a regular scorer for his national team, 26 goals in 46 games according to Wiki.

-
Photo from the Bushman archives- Next: Norwich vs QPR - Players who played for both Clubs
-
- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has issued a warning to those players who are given a spot on the bench, maintaining that if they are unhappy then they can leave.
Liverpool had a number of their expensive new signings on the sidelines - Andy Carroll (£35 million), Stewart Downing (£20 million) and Jordan Henderson (£16 million) - during last weekend's 2-1 victory against Chelsea.

Who's ready for a good old fashioned England-Germany turf war?

With City at the hands of the Footballing Gods after their 1-2 loss to Napoli, United not so good themselves after their 2 Hilarious Mistakes-2 Benfica draw at Old Trafford, and Chelsea sucking right now, it's fair to say that England haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in Europe this season.

By Azeem Banatwalla

Andre Villas-Boas's visage has leapt across many extremes over the last month and a half. From quiet confidence to near-childish defiance, and more recently, after falling at home to Arsenal and Liverpool, a mix of anger and worry.

Good Player Guide #18 Nolito is a post from: Just Football

Nolito
(Benfica / Spain)

Signing a Barcelona player would, in itself, normally suffice to excite fans of any club. However, the fact the Spanish forward was just one of a plethora of new signings at Benfica this summer, which included the much heralded Bruno César, Enzo Pérez and Axel Witsel, meant that when the 2011/12 season kicked off, Nolito was considered anything but the star turn.

Steven Gerrard admits he is haunted by the fact he has never been able to win the Premier League.
The 31-year-old has tasted just about every success you can as a player with Liverpool winning the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Carling Cup.
But the title medal remains nothing more than a dream at this point, and Gerrard admits that troubles him.

Since returning to Anfield, Kenny Dalglish has spent more than 100m on new players. Which, if any, of these players could be sold at a profit for Liverpool in the future?
One of FSG's goals is to buy young players with a view to increasing their value over the duration of their contracts, with Liverpool (hopefully) benefiting in the meantime.

• Kop That: Firing Line: Will Kean be feeling the Blues? Under pressure Rovers boss stays top http://t.co/ipw9mAri 23:34:24, 2011-11-03
• Kop That: Fergie's 25 years at United: Alex's teams play with lots more flair than he ever did! Dalglish http://t.co/HsSEfw4S 22:48:14, 2011-11-03
• Kop That: FA may order Capello not to pick Terry http://t.

There has been lots of talk about the goal glut that is happening in the Premier League right now. Are pricey strikers to blame or is it the death of quality defense? Decision Technology's Ian Graham has already taken a look at debunking the Guardian's piece on the "goal glut". I thought I'd add my two cents.