With such blistering pace at just 4.5M, I'd have a silly grin on my face too
Our Funny Feeling Friday this week is Arsenal's left back Kieran Gibbs. With starting left back Gael Clichy out for a month or more with a stress fracture in his lower back, Gibbs should take over the starting spot and comes with the price tag (4. Click to continue reading...

Tonight Rafa Benitez is on the managerial tightrope when his side faces Lyon in the Champions League. Liverpool have to win, if Fiorentina and Lyon win then Liverpool can say goodbye to major silverware this season and Benitez can probably say goodbye to his job.

Benitez's side is decimated by injuries and an awful lot of responsibility is on the shoulders of Fernando Torres tonight if he plays.

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Frank Lampard today hailed Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba as the best in the world!. Lampard said: "Nico has been fantastic all season. Along with Didier they are a great partnership," Lampard said. "He (Anelka) has tremendous pace and balance, particularly when he runs at defenders. "He is so cool, so we have two players who for me are the best at what they do in the world" Nico gives

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Given - Match saving performance. Three superb saves and the penalty stop to 'win' the point. 8.5
Zabaleta - A strong performance, not a step out of place. Put more distance between him and Richards. 7
Kompany - Cool, calm and assured. Forged a nice partnership with Lescott in dealing with the lively front pair. Click to continue reading...

Clay Goodson capped off his 2009 Eliteserien with a goal helping pace fellow American Hunter Freeman and Start over compatriot Troy Perkins and Valerenga while Jay Needham and Alta split the points with Nybergsund. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 2

Looks like we have the most entertaining game of the playoffs so far on display here this afternoon in Carson.

The upper deck has filled in nicely, too, which means a good walk-up (must be the quality of those previews this morning).

This game has threatened to spiral out of control a couple of times, with the fast pace contributing to errors in the middle of the park.

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By 1970's GoonerGranted Spurs were missing pace up front with the absence of Lennon and Defoe but I still think that we would have still run out easy winners in the end. They were facing two major problems. One was their inability to gain control of the midfield areas with Huddlestone, Palacios and Jenas unable to counter Song, Diaby and Fabregas. Click to continue reading...

There is one lone English Premier League match on Sunday, November 1, 2009 as Manchester City travels to face Birmingham City. Live coverage of the match can be found on our other site, Free Live Sports TV. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT. Will Man City continue their strong start and keep within pace of Chelsea and Man United?

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By the time the final whistle blew today I was wondering when United were going to get started. That's the measure of Champions isn't it, being able to win when still in first gear? Well that's all fine and well but with Chelsea and Arsenal building up their goal differences each week, we could do with battering the teams we totally outplay.

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Real Madrid takes on Getafe looking to keep pace with FC Barcelona in the La Liga on Saturday, October 31, 2009. Were they able to win or did Getafe score an upset? Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

Real Madrid defeat Getafe 2-0 Video Highlights

Real Madrid did not start out strong as the match was scoreless through 15 minutes.

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dig, dig, dig.

Good afternoon everybody! I thought it would be a good opportunity to do another live match report as this is naturally such an important match. The big news to start off with is that we're playing in a 4-3-3 again with an attacking trident of Bentley, Crouch and Keano.

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This week's QOTW is a very controversial quote by Sir Alex Ferguson, head honcho at Manchester United. After a 2-2 draw Sir Alex Ferguson commented on the fitness levels of the referee Alan Wiley, here is his quote so you can see what the scottish boss said about Alan Wiley.

"He just wasn't fit enough for a game of that standard," Ferguson said.

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   Photo by ISIphotos.com

The 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award was far from an easy one to vote for, with the only clear aspect of the voting being that it should probably go to a keeper from the Western Conference.

Kasey Keller looked like he might run away with the award early in the season, but neither he or the Sounders could keep up that early pace.

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By Phil Gregory Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates stadium for Wednesday's Carling Cup tie. The Reds, already six points off the pace in the Premier League despite a solid home win over champions Manchester United are expected to put out a below strength side for the tie with an eye on their match at Craven Cottage [. Click to continue reading...

So, there, Cummins is gone. Duane Rollins thinks his leaving won't account for much, following his convincing argument the other day for Trader Mo's dismissal as sporting director.
Fine Cummins out, so can we stop the ex-lower level Luton/Newcastle parade now? These are the last of clubs in a long line of Graham Taylor-Watford-Wimbledon eighties style Charles Reep football, and follows a "we need this part to fit in this cog" line of thinking to work properly—you have to have two centerbacks and they both have to be big, you need a poacher near goal with a runner in behind him, and you need a classic lined up midfield to grease that 4-4-2. Click to continue reading...

Game story.

Notable: The Galaxy set a new club record tonight for shutouts - 12. Quite a turnaround from last year when the team had just two - a club-record low for a season.

Quotable:
Here's former Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop on his old club's playoff outlook -

"They're well-organized.

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The Spanish Primera Division or La Liga had three matches on Saturday, October 24, 2009. Real Madrid looked to keep pace with Barcelona as they face Sporting Gijon. Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

Real Madrid draws with Sporting Gijon 0-0 Video Highlights

Courtesy of UK Reuters Full article is here

MADRID (Reuters) Depleted Real Madrid ended a disappointing week with a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijon in La Liga on Saturday, after city rivals Atletico conceded a farcical last-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 with nine-man Real Mallorca.

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London Derby number two is up next when we play West Ham and as usual the media are building it up in their own typical manner.

Couple of them focused on Wenger's thoughts on Upson. As we know, Upson never quite fulfilled his potential at Arsenal. If I'm wrong about this do correct me but his last ever game in an Arsenal shirt was against Aston Villa in 2001 where he was absolutely shocking in the first half.

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I have been on road for last two days and missed the Champions league match against Rubin Kazan. So this one resulted in the first defeat officially this season. Now if we take the last three matches into presective, there could be some alarm bells ringing. The 1-0 victory against Almeria was far from convincing, the draw at Valencia was aided by some heavy fortune and the 2-1 defeat can be attributed to lack of the same. Click to continue reading...

It was with some sadness I heard that Gareth Southgate had been sacked yesterday. I always felt he had the making of a decent manager. I suppose in these days of quick fix changes and changing managers when a few results go wrong, none of us should be surprised.

OK, Boro were relegated last season but I felt he was working with his hands tied a little.

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As I do with most home games against any teams outside the top few teams in the Premier League, I'd expect victory for Spurs against Stoke. Tony Pulis has done wonders firstly to get his club into the league and secondly, turning them into a formidable top flight side.

While Stoke are renowned for their home form, they have also been a lot more solid on the road this season than they were last.

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AZ v Arsenal
by acidsaid10

Well, as Peevish said in the comments, that wasn't much fun.

To start with, though, let me just say that this is not a bad result for Arsenal. Yes, we're a much better club, but AZ are the defending Eredivisie champions, and has now played 35 home matches in European competition, and has lost just once.

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 Well if Tom is correct Rafa will make four changes (click here for the team)- which he needs to. Ngog deserves the start and how Voronin gets any sort of match time ahead of him is beyond me. He holds the ball well, has pace and as we have seen he can score, unlike the [...]
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Schellas Hyndman has done something rather magical with what was, just a few months ago, a honestly terrible side. For the first time in several weeks I went out and watched the team in person. What Dallas is trotting out on the pitch is a squad with pace, balance and patience. Click to continue reading...

With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

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The Alan Wiley drama finally came to a head with the FA charging Sir Alex with improper conduct for questioning Wiley's fitness levels. It could impose a fine and a touchline ban.

"He just wasn't fit enough for a game of that standard," Ferguson said. "The fitness of the players, the pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit.

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Given the circumstances leading upto the game (preperations hampered through injury and an international break) and then during the ninety minutes itself (going a goal down on the stroke of half-time and then playing the final half an hour with ten men) a point can be seen as a very good return.
It is, I suppose, a measure of the current sides mentality that we came away with a point rather than empty handed, and also a sign of the ambition and expectation there is that there is also a sense of frustration to not come away with all three-points. Click to continue reading...

Despite a knee injury suffered by Theo Walcott, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was delighted with their 3-1 win over Birmingham City.
By the time Arsenal lost Walcott, they were already 2-0 ahead through Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby.
However, Lee Bowyer capitalised on a mistake by young keeper Vito Mannone - preferred to fit-again Manuel Almunia - to pull a goal back before half-time. Click to continue reading...

Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter branded the decision to allow Sunderland's winner against Liverpool FC on Saturday as "absolutely amazing".
Darren Bent's strike beat Liverpool FC goalkeeper Jose Reina with the help of a sizeable deflection off a beach ball which had been thrown onto the Stadium of Light pitch by an away fan. Click to continue reading...

Not quite the humiliation we were hoping for but good enough. Arsenal started where they left off against Blackburn: quick thinking, crisp passing, fast flowing football and being two up after 20 minutes was no more than we deserved. Van Persie scored what now must be viewed as his trade mark goal; he seems to score in similar fashion in every game: the sublime take, the swivel and the bullet like shot, hard and low along the ground, past the goal keeper, who, because of its speed is unable to get down quick enough to do anything about it.

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This morning I have already seen three stories on Luis Nani's Man United career. The 22-year old made (according to wikipedia) only four appearances so far this season, but he has scored two goals.
After being left on the bench again against Bolton yesterday, The News Of The World believe that Nani could be on his way out of Old Trafford this January, being replaced by Valencia's David Silva. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona's winning streak came to a hold at the Mestella, when they were held to a goal less draw by Valencia. Actually Barca was lucky not to have lost the match, a combination of great goal keeping by Valdes and some poor finishing by Valencia players prevented a Valencia win. Valencia were the better team in both the halfs, especially in the first half. Click to continue reading...

The USA finished their World Cup qualifying on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica. With the entire qualifying campaign in the books, it makes me wonder why there was so much complaining during this cycle. From internet complaining you would think that this was the worst US team in a while, but the stats tell a different story. Click to continue reading...

"A site with real potential that landed a Nemanja Vidic exclusive earlier this season. The news services is often off the pace, though, so that needs sharpening up."

Well, we just sneaked in at number 10. Potential? For a blog that's been around for a while, I thought we were through with the potential part, going on to a plateau of mediocrity.

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Aston Villa-Chelsea

This is the lone battle of Premier League giants this week and I've already come up with a clever match title. The Thrilla in Villa Park hosts the number seven club, Aston Villa, verses the number one squad, Chelsea. Chelsea has only lost once so far this season; whereas Aston Villa is one of the hottest teams recently with only one loss and one draw in their last six competitions.

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