There was a time under the soon to be booted nicest man in football when Sydney won 1-0 - boring but they won.
Then in season 2, they lost 1-0. More boring and more frustrating.
Now in Season 3 they lose, by 3, 4 or 5 and that's at home.
Mr Lavicka might be nice - but he's a pretty ordinary coach.

Viteslea Lavicka is leaving!
Well is he leaving or was he dumped? Guess it doesn't matter.
Has a manager in Australia, in Sydney, ever been given such an easy ride.
The media in Australia all write and tweet about the guy being a lovely bloke but what about his coaching, how will he remembered?

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Naturally, I'm describing Arsenal's 2011-2012 season. I'm a nice guy, and I don't want to hold Arsene wholly accountable for the team's woes, particularly due to the simple fact that, well, that's what everybody else already does.

Ireland striker Robbie Keane has already become Aston Villa's in-game gaffer by shouting out pitch instructions to his short-term colleagues.
Keane has ingratiated himself to team-mates and fans alike with his brilliant double in the 3-2 victory at Wolves last Weekend and it capped an amazing full Villa start for the 31-year-old Irish captain who is currently on loan from LA Galaxy.

Is Mehmet worse than Vitaslav?
Arguably they are about the same - although Mem hasn't had a lot of time to work his magic, I'd argue his appointment from Feb should have shown us some better football, better structure than what we've seen.
Should he be sacked?
Who knows but the Board gave him his chance, also Francis Awaritefe.

Football is a game full of Arseholes, even Messi (especially Messi). Please don't exit page just yet, I do go on to explain... Gareth Bale. He's a nice guy. He's dedicated to the game. He always gives 100%. He doesn't drink. And he never draws any bad press. But when he was younger, he was [...] Related posts:

1. Fantasy Football.

Featured image: Earl Gardner

2011 was a great year for Philly soccer fans. The Philadelphia Union made it to the playoffs in just their second season. For the second year in a row, and their second year of existence, the Philadelphia Independence made it to the WPS Finals. Nearly 58,000 turned out to see the Union play Real Madrid at the Linc, where the USMNT would host Mexico only a few weeks later (even if the home support was outnumbered by the support for the visitors at both games).

For the past two to three weeks, this story has been the most followed in footballing circle, especially related to La Liga. We heard about how Villa feels that he is being hard done by Messi, we also heard about Liverpool and Chelsea already waiting to land the unsettled Spanish national hero and the story goes on.

Villarreal vs Man City | Bayern Munich vs Napoli
Lyon vs Real Madrid | Manchester United vs Otelul Galati

Kun Aguero is a nice guy and all that, but none of you knew he could tie his hair up in a bun, did you? Jajaja, el sombrero se ve raro .

Liverpool defender Jose Enrique insists his club team-mate Luis Suarez is not a diver.
The Reds striker endured a frustrating evening against Norwich on Saturday when he came close to scoring on a number of occasions, and was left frustrated when no foul was given after Marc Tierney appeared to bring down the Uruguayan when he was clean through on goal.

Crikey! That's quite the title right? Well it has to be. Today's TTB is dedicated to an event which is just about to happen. We won't hear much of it in the lead up or probably even after, but it's coming. Essentially it's the US bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

The reason why I dedicated today's news round up to it is because there's a fantastic article below which I think every MLS fan should read.

Who's up for a derby?

Key Stats
League Position: 7th, 3-0-2, 9 GF, 9 GA, 0 GD, 9 pts.
Home Form: 1 W, 1 L, 5 GF, 5 GA
Last Meeting: Tottenham 3-3 Arsenal (April) (Premier League)
Last Arsenal Win: Tottenham 1-4 Arsenal (September) (Carling Cup)

Tomorrow sees us go to White Hart Lane to take on our eternal rivals, the Spuds Spurs.

If there is one image that defines the revival that Arsenal are about to embark on, it's this one:

There were many positives to take from our dispatching of Bolton Wanderers on Saturday but, for me, this was the one that really counted.

Robin van Persie, mobbed by a herd of Bolton spongiforms, didn't give an inch.

I can't even think the last time I called two penalty kicks against the same team - most of the time they're smart enough to avoid it. But there they were, both in the second half and within 15 minutes of each other. The oddest thing about it was that this was a men's game, and I issued no cards.
I'm rather fortunate that I let my instincts take over on the game, because as you could tell from my last entry, I was not in a good place emotionally to run the game.

Morning everyone,
Welcome to the blog.
So yours truly did end up going to the races yesterday. There was the usual mix of frocks, shocks and quite a few jocks.
A few people even got lucky with their horses and it seemed like a grand old time was had by all. But lady luck was not smiling in this direction.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish shows strain after Stoke defeat

• Dalglish complains about standard of Premier League referees • Liverpool consider lodging an official complaint For those with ambition and an appreciation of history there are few more appealing jobs in football than that of Liverpool manager.

In the most predictable news of this season (or indeed any of the last five seasons), Fabio Aurelio is injured *again*, which means he's now spent over 50% of his Liverpool career on the treatment table.
Let's take a look at the facts:
Oct 2006 - Injured: Out for 1 month
Jan 2007 - Injured: Out for 6 weeks
Apr 2007 - Injured: Achilles tendon.

It was an El Clasico: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona.
.One team, pressed, controlled possession and created chances, while the other one tried to keep up and with their first 2 opportunities to strike, scored 2 goals on the back of the super talents of their players. Which one was Real Madrid?

Former Charlton Athletic youngster Carl Jenkinson, signed by Arsenal this summer, has Bacary Sagna's right-back slot in his sights this season.

The young defender has looked impressive for the Gunners in pre-season, and says he has every ambition to become first choice at the club.

However, he has acknowledged Sagna's quality, and knows he will have to take any opportunity he gets to impress Arsene Wenger.

Union

With lone Union representative Faryd Mondragon on a MLS roster coached by and littered with Energy Drinks and other all-too-easy ho-hum selections, not to mention that fact that the Dragon isn't starting, does anyone around these parts really give a toss about the All-Star Game?

At first, the only kind of Philly related All-Star story Union fans seem to be able to expect is a retread of the Beckham/Mondragon meeting at the 1998 World Cup kind of story MLSsoccer.

After missing out on a place on the bench for the European Cup final, despite being the league's top scorer, Dimitar Berbatov confessed he was too upset to leave the dressing room. Whilst there were lots of disappointed players that day, none of them would have been as shocked as Berba was to learn he was missing from the squad.

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.

Real cute Toronto. Thought we wouldn't notice? Well... we did.
We see what you were trying to slip past us. It's not gonna happen. We're not happy with you.
Shhh. Shhh. Don't talk. Yeah we know you really took a bullet for us hiring Jurgen Klinsmann as your "consultent" or whatever.

1. Given the success most of the team had against Guadeloupe on Tuesday particularly the back line and center mids Bob Bradley will only make one change to this afternoon's lineup. Chris Wondolowski will be benched, Clint Dempsey will pair with Jozy, and Alejandro Bedoya's recent substitute performances will be rewarded with a start on the left wing.

Martin Skrtel believes that the future is bright for Liverpool with club legend Kenny Dalglish at the helm.
Dalglish was confirmed as the Anfield outfit's permanent manager on a three-year deal in May having taken over on an interim basis following the departure of Roy Hodgson in January.
The Reds enjoyed an impressive second half of the season, climbing from the doldrums of 12th place in the table to eventually finish the campaign in sixth spot.

1. Given the success most of the team had against Guadeloupe on Tuesday particularly the back line and center mids Bob Bradley will only make one change to this afternoon's lineup. Chris Wondolowski will be benched, Clint Dempsey will pair with Jozy, and Alejandro Bedoya's recent substitute performances will be rewarded with a start on the left wing.

This happens from time to time: a nice guy in a world seemingly comprised of those who have money at the forefront eschews any contract at all in order to help out a club. Joseba Exteberria did it. Damiano Tommasi did it. Others will do it.

And Takayuki Suzuki is doing it for Mito Hollyhock in the J.

As a final ode to the season I thought I'd look at two aspects of what's been and what's to come. The first part is a look back on how the players have done, a sort of rating for the season as a whole. The second part which will follow at a later date will be my view on what I hope happens in the summer and what I think will happen, probably two very different things.

It is hard as a football fan not to like Carlos Tevez: a small, nice guy from one of the poorest and harshest neighbourhoods, who had a harsh upbringing, but fought against it to become an outstanding footballer. He is a great striker, and his constant fighting for the team, running, tackling, and taking responsibility upon his shoulders, has made him loved in every single place he has played.

The Union overcome familiar adversity in ten man win over San Jose | American Soccer News
Early afternoon Flyers and Phillies games didn't dampen the support for the Union as PPL Park was rattling in anticipation of a showdown with a San Jose squad that was deep in the Western Conference doldrums.

Luis Moreno has struck again, and this time he chose an opponent. The Panamanian defender currently plying his trade in Columbia with Deportivo Pereira faced widespread condemnation back in February after fatally booting an injured owl off the field of play. The mascot of their opponents and hated rivals Junior Barranquilla, the owl had landed on the field and was struck by a pass.

Wayne Rooney is not Manchester United, but he is a massive part of the club and is key to their ability to break inferior teams down while showing the resolve and strength that is needed to win the Premier League title and his bizarre yet slightly understandable four letter rant that was sent in the direction of the TV cameras after his goal for United took them into the lead against West Ham highlighted just that.

No doubt tomorrow at some stage John Terry will be jeered and booed by members of the crowd at the Millennium Stadium as England take on Wales tomorrow. We may even hear a section of the England fans doing it too but for all the negative press he has received, for all the ex players who have waded in with their "valued" opinions about reinstalling John Terry as England Captain it's nice to hear from someone within the camp who has nothing to do with Chelsea, speaking of the man that Terry is.

Danny Sturridge is featured in the Independent in one of the most open interviews he has ever given. When you think of Danny Sturridge you immediately think of him being arrogant because of the image he has been portrayed as in the past. Sturridge is keen to make a point that away from football, he wants to remain as grounded as possible.

Kolo Toure made a terrible decision by taking a banned substance, and regardless as to whether it was intentional or not, he needs to be more responsible about what he puts into his own body.
Robbie Savage writes about how he feels that players need to be more paranoid about what they put into their own bodies.

Poor old Manuel Almunia really looks like he has had enough doesn't he?
He looks about as interested in playing for Arsenal as Elton John would be in a threesome with Megan Fox and Cheryl Cole and about as nervous as a virgin in the same situation.
To be fair who could blame him?

West Bromwich Albion have this morning confirmed the appointment of Roy Hodgson as their new Manager/Head Coach. Acquiring Hodgson is a bit of a coup for Albion as he is by far the most high profile manager they have had in some years. Albion have always been termed a yo-yo club as they go up and down every season, and because of that they have never attracted a really big name as manager.

Photo by blenky64

I feel I'm in a good position to discuss Chris Hughton. He was the manager of my team Newcastle United for 18 months and after the late Sir Bobby Robson he's the only manager that I was unhappy to see leave.

It wasn't always so positive. When he first joined as a coach during the tenure of Kevin Keegan I was slightly hesitant.

I would posit it wasn't...
Ignoring that yesterday was probably the most ridiculous day in the history of football transfers, there's been a lot said throughout January that Arsenal needed to sign a centre back. Now, I'm not convinced we needed to sign any players at all - but the wider point is I really don't think our weakest position is centre back.

Martin Skrtel believes Liverpool's defensive problems are on the mend thanks in no small part to the presence of Martin Kelly.
Caretaker boss Kenny Dalglish had to wait until his fourth game back in charge for a victory due to a clutch of rearguard lapses.
Successive clean sheets have helped Liverpool collect six points from their last two fixtures - evidence that work on the training ground is paying off, according to Skrtel.