There appears to be a split amongst Gooners at the moment that an Olympic gymnast would be very proud of.
So when I pose the question; is Tomas Rosicky worth a new contract at Arsenal? I expect many differences of opinion.
In the past Tomas has frustrated me. Not because I think he is a bad player but because during his time at the club he has spent at least 78% of it in the physio room.

It is now emerging that Neymar will not be leaving Santos after all. Premier League club Chelsea have confirmed that they have ended their pursuit for the teen star after he committed his future to Santos until 2014.

Villas-Boas revealed that his side have failed in trying to sign Neymar and that he has already chosen his next destination which will most likely be Barcelona.

I don't think they come lower than Pepe. Even animals have a sense of fair play. This man if you can call him that should be banned from the sport for life. Leo Messi goes down after colliding with Callejon and while he's down, Pepe strolls casually over and deliberately plants his studs on Messi's hand.

Well... not for the direct purpose of ignoring you, anyway. There's just been 43 things buzzing about nonstop, allowing crazy to win the day. I missed my own soccer game and have just now eaten what should probably pass for lunch at 11 pm. I inadvertently and unknowingly caused a sourcing delay for some of my peers.

Like many high school seniors across Wisconsin, Lucas Cardona is planning to go to college and play soccer.

But it's highly unlikely any of his peers are taking the same approach as the former Madison Memorial standout.

Cardona will graduate in January, a semester ahead of his classmates, and head to his native Uruguay to study at the University of the Republic in Montevideo.

Photo by Max Becherer/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. - Prior to November, the last time Jared Jeffrey suited up for a U.S. youth national team was in 2009, and much has changed for him since then.

Since representing the United States at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup three summers ago, Jeffrey has switched clubs, learned a new language and overcome the nagging hip injury that put him on the shelf for much of last season.

Former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Alexander Hleb will be without a team at the end of the year after his current club Wolfsburg revealed that they will not be renewing his contract when it ends later on this month.

Hleb who struggled to assert himself in the Barcelona line up was eventually loaned out to Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in August on a short term switch that was meant to improve his fitness and form after an injury prone post Arsenal career.

Although this distant view of Peter Lowry's midsection was taken at a less than optimal angle, we still find footballers who proactively offer up shirtless pictures of themselves to be more attractive than their camera shy peers. Image via Twitter/@KerryBakes.

szólj hozzá: Villarreal 0-2 Napoli

City managed to rain on Bayern's parade by beating them 2-0 but it was not enough as Napoli turned on the screws against Villareal to run out 2-0 victors. Bayern and Napoli go through to the Champions League knock out stage.

It's no idle conjecture imagining Napoli going far into the CL maybe even to the finals.

After a long and illustrious career as one of America's best goalkeepers, Kasey Keller has one more award to walk off into the sunset with.

The 41-year-old Seattle Sounder was announced as MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Tuesday in a move widely expected after he was named to the MLS Best XI last week.

Yes, I heard that. It would obviously be a step higher, and that has always been my goal. I did well last season when I was not injured, through many matches for Fulham. So why not step higher?

Why not indeed? You can look at this a couple of ways: one, footballers are too dull and never say anything noteworthy, so Dembele is to be applauded for answering a question (in this case about the very real interest from Spurs) honestly.

Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung has lavished praise on manager Sir Alex Ferguson for his ability to stay at the top of his game after 25 years in control at the Premier League giants.
"He knows past and present things about football," the former South Korea international told the club's official website.

Because nicknames are.... bad names, yeah? Footballers are often an unintelligent bunch, but occasionally they have sparks of innovation and create amusing nicknamesfor their peers. When this is cobined with the dry humour of fans and pundits, the results are impressive. Here are ten of the best from the Premier League: 10.

In a match that saw Liverpool create 25 chances and only take one, it's hard to say that one of those responsible for converting chances was the star man. But it's undeniable that, save for finding the net, Luis Suarez has few peers in terms of the ability to absolutely terrorize the opposition's defense.

Less than two weeks ago, Arsenal legend George Eastham celebrated his 75th birthday, in comfortable retirement in South Africa. He is best remembered by his peers as a skillful inside forward with an exceptional eye for a pass. Qualities that led to 19 England caps and selection to the 1966 World Cup squad.

The Ox in the Box shows he doesn't dick around the box

Arsene Wenger's summer signing of Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain did not go down very well with a number of fans. Here we were in the midst of a midfield crisis that could see all the quality sucked out in one fell swoop and Wenger was blowing £12m extremely valuable ones on an untested talent.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that the UEFA Champions League far exceeds the global reach of FIFA World Cup due to the overall higher level of quality within the squads of top European clubs.

The Gunners, who are yet to hit top gear this season, are still clearly a better side than many national teams that compete in the World Cup and based on that logic, Wenger insists that there are no peers on the national team level for clubs like Champions League holders Barcelona.

Yesterday marked Dalglish's 30th game in charge since taking over last January. The side's record over that span is 15W-6D-9L. How does that compare with previous bosses?
Read the hexagonal diagrams from left to right, in rows of six. Just to make things confusing. Linearity isn't really the point anyway.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 30, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Like most of you, I only knew Bobby Rhine as a soccer player. Considering the outpouring of sentiment after news of his death, that's a shame. What we've learned from those that did know him is that we've lost a person who was well respected by his peers, admired even, and for many represented the best American soccer has to offer.

Golden Ball anyone? 3four3 will be looking to hand out some hardware to the nations best college player.

I've seen numerous lists of top college players/pro prospects in the last few weeks and quite frankly they've made me laugh. The same robotic big athletic players are being hyped up and called the nations top players.

Daniel Pacheco Ready to Call Time on Liverpool Dream

Danny Pacheco looks set to pull a curtain on his dream of one day breaking into the senior Liverpool squad by looking elsewhere in search for first team football. The Spaniard, who was once highly rated among his peers, has only managed 14 appearances for the club since he joined from Barcelona in 2007.

Professional MISL player and coach, David Bascome wraps up HSBC School of Excellence Program.
David Bascome said; "Today's graduates have showcased to their peers the results of their work experience which included developing a marketing plan for Hope 4 Life, an initiative against drug abuse and gang violence.

Some weeks ago Arseblog readers submitted some questions for Lee Dixon, and now, in association with I AM PLAYR, we have his answers.

I love the way he says Arseblog.

Lee Dixon is a script and storyline contributor for I AM PLAYR, the first-ever point-of-view football online game.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is ready to make a move for Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam when the summer transfer window opens for business according to reports in the Daily Star.
Dalglish has completed the deal to bring Sunderland's Jordan Henderson to Anfield in the summer for £20m and is now turning his attentions to playmaker Adam.

Today we'll look at the final two contenders for our player of the year and then please have your say as to who deserves the accolade. Here are two more midfielders and it won't surprise many to hear that we won't be moving on to include any attackers in the short list!

Gareth Bale

To abuse a footballing cliche, it was a season of two halves for Gareth as he took the first part of 2010-11 to establish his reputation as one of the best players in the world.

BERLIN, Germany — German-born Turkish international Nuri Sahin, who is leaving Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid, has been voted Bundesliga player of the 2010-11 season by his peers, Kicker magazine said Monday. The 22-year-old midfielder was voted best outfield player with 46.1 percent of the vote, the magazine's survey of 298 players showed, followed in [.

Keep the faith Gooners..

It's been a long time since I blogged. Lots of travel (both personal and work-related), plus a change in job (which included a hell lot of transition) and most of all, Arsenal's poor form, kept me away from 11G, something I feel very apologetic about. I sometimes doubted my allegiance towards the lads, as the trend suggested I kept away at a time the team wasn't doing well.

Keep the faith Gooners..

It's been a long time since I blogged. Lots of travel (both personal and work-related), plus a change in job (which included a hell lot of transition) and most of all, Arsenal's poor form, kept me away from 11G, something I feel very apologetic about. I sometimes doubted my allegiance towards the lads, as the trend suggested I kept away at a time the team wasn't doing well.

Nothing like some mid-week MLS action to get everyone excited!

The defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids come to Robertson Stadium tomorrow night in a match-up of two teams moving in opposite directions. While the Dynamo are on a six-match unbeaten streak, the Rapids haven't won a game since April 3rd.

Gareth Bale has been chosen the players' Player of the Year at the PFA awards in London.
The Tottenham flyer won the vote from his peers following some explosive left-sided displays for his club in Europe, notably in Spurs' defeats of Inter and Milan, which have left the 21 year-old Welshman one of the most coveted men in football.

Spurs two nominees for the PFA player of the year award are polar opposites with bookmakers to land the honour. Gareth Bale is the runaway favourite at around 2/7 with Rafael van der Vaart the rank outsider at 40/1.

Bale is some distance ahead of second favourite Nemanja Vidic and at such slim odds, there's little point in putting your money on our Welsh midfielder to receive the honour from his peers.

A general outline not meant to capture exceptions:

1) Be obsessed with the game.
2) Put in your 10,000 hours.
3) Have coaches for many years at the youth level that can polish you.
4) Debut professionally as a teenager. Again, with a coach that has a clue.

None of the Tottenham players will be daunted by the prospect of Tuesday¹s eagerly-anticipated Champions League quarterfinal against Real Madrid. After all, three of its likely starting lineup have reached this stage of the competition before -- Heurelho Gomes (PSV), William Gallas (Arsenal/Chelsea) and Peter Crouch (Liverpool) -- while another six have represented their countries at major tournaments.

Article reprinted with permission of the author: Coree Reuter
It was raining this morning when I woke up and headed down south to Stafford, VA to watch Virginia's State ODP training session. Rain is my favorite soccer weather, so I should have known straight away it was going to be a good day.

It is no secret that Tottenham winger Gareth Bale is one of the most coveted stars in English football today. In fact, many have even ranked the young Welshman to be the best in his position in the world.

Bale's performances this season have been of the kind that have won over the detractors and stimulated great interest in the neutrals.

Glenn Davis seems to think so. Read the link to his blog from the MLS Combine, as well as an excerpt of it below.

Some might believe that the University of Akron could be re-shaping how we see the game of college soccer. Others may not be so quick to support this theory but one thing is for sure, Zips coach Caleb Porter is definetly clear on the philosophical way his team will play the game and is stirring the pot directly and indirectly with his peers.

The Denver Broncos have a new head coach. John Fox, who just completed a 2-14 season with the Carolina Panthers, has been hired as the Broncos. Fox takes over a team that desperately needs an experienced, professional head coach after the disaster that was the Josh McDaniels coaching reign.

Said Fox: "I am very thankful to Pat Bowlen and John Elway for giving me the opportunity to coach a football team with such a proud tradition.