I don't care which side you happen to support. If you're a Liverpool or Manchester United supporter, or just a neutral viewer, this is a dire day in the Barclay's Premier League. It's the day we saw petulance win out ...
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In their first meeting since Liverpool's Luis Suarez returned from his eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, Suarez continued the already tedious matter and proved he's not above lying to his own manager all during the nonsensical pre-match handshakes.

As the Liverpool players shook hands with their counterparts, Suarez tried to skip over Evra and shake David De Gea's hand, but Evra tried to force a gesture of peace by grabbing Suarez's arm.

"Sheer stupidity."
Maybe Leigh Griffiths had been fed that line in the bizarre public apology issued by Hibs today.
But it's pretty much bang on the money as a description of his behaviour in the past few weeks.
Gesturing Griffiths, the daftest laddie in the whole of Leith.

What price genius? It has been suggested more than once this season that Mario Balotelli may be more trouble than he is worth. The firework-igniting, errant child-correcting, trampoline-buying Manchester City forward carries a very unique kind of baggage around with him, but the evidence of this season brought very firmly into focus this season has demonstrated that every piece of baggage that he carries (including the suitcase that contains a talking toucan wearing a bow tie that he bought when his mother sent him out to buy a can of sardines) is worth the occasional bouts of petulance, the occasional show-boating that will probably cost his club a major trophy of some description at some stage and his perpetually aggrieved facial expression.

Building the game is not about quality. It is about capturing the imagination of the live sport watching public. The crowd chooses the marquee game, not FFA, or Fox.
FFA was surprised in season one about the rivalry that Brisbane people felt about Sydney FC. The opener and one of the best crowds for the new league was 20,000 against the doomed Auckland Knights.

The qualification for Euro 2012 is almost done. England will be in Poland and/or Ukraine next summer after comfortably finishing top of Group G, albeit by handing Motenegro an unlikely point and a place in the play-offs in the final game. Ireland also made it to the play-offs, and could be drawn against Montenegro, but Wales and Scotland miss out once again.

Ok, the headline may sound strange. But given his act of petulance against Montenegro will have ramifications on England's preparations for next summer, it may force England into a beneficial reshuffle.
At time of writing Rooney is set to miss just the opening game of the finals in Poland and the Ukraine, though that could be extended to two or more.

For all the panic and soul-searching, then, England have qualified for next year's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, although their performance last night was again patchy and hinted at a team that is likely to struggle against the very best in Europe next summer. Moreover, England's night which should, or might, otherwise have been an evening for celebration of some sort was further soiled by the decision of Wayne Rooney to take a kick at Miodrag Dzudovic with just over fifteen minutes of the match left to play and get himself a red card and a suspension for the start of next summer's tournament.

From one recalcitrant to another, we have Mancini's first test: curing a suicidal Manchester City malaise (by Darshan Joshi)

At least Roberto Mancini's selection headaches are thinning. The petulance of Edin Džeko will see the Bosnian left out of City's weekend clash with Blackburn, while Carlos Tévez's latest insipid tirade has seen Mancini finally pull the plug on last season's top goalscorer.

Why Mancini now faces a career-defining decision over what to do with Carlos Tevez

Through his shock and his anger, Roberto Mancini said one thing loud and clear. That what Carlos Tevez did last night would never be tolerated at one of Europe's elite clubs like Bayern Munich, AC Milan or Manchester United.

By Chris Wright

In which Cristiano Ronaldo is seen doling out the old middle-finger salute while boarding the Real Madrid coach after getting a pretty rough reception from fans gathered at Santander Airport...

It's all a bit 'Meh' in this humble scribe's opinion, but Ronaldo's gesture seems to have caused a wee bit of a stir in Spanish media circles, with a couple of outlets admonishing such a heinous act of aloof petulance while pro-Real spout MARCA are unsurprisingly claiming that the Portuguese greaser was in fact just flipping Pepe the bird an explanation that seems entirely plausible to me.

As a Liverpool fan, you could be forgiven for not being surprised that I'm glad to see Arsenal lose their 'star' players. But honestly, it's not what you think. My concern is more for the behaviour of footballers... and the lack of respect with which Arsenal Football Club has been treated by many of it's players.

We'll be giving over a lot of time to the non-league game over the next few days on Twohundredpercent out of deference to Non-League Day, which is to be held this Saturday. We'll have more on this later in the week, but first of all here's NLD's co-founder, Mike Bayly, on the decline of terrace wit.

If you noticed like I did a pint sized player who took over midfield for the Philadelphia Independence in Sunday's semi-final against the MagicJack and wondered idly, "She is something special", don't go into the scouting business just yet.

Veronica Boquete is already out there and is the WPS player of the year because she is special.

After weeks of build-up, pundit induced hype and millions of pounds spent, not to mention the free bets the Premier League is back. But rather than returning with a bang, the first weekend went off like wet gunpowder.

The truth is, we were left bitterly disappointed. Bolton aside, there was a frustrating lack of goals, top sides flattering to deceive – none more so than Arsenal, and childish squabbling from players and managers alike.

From arrogant Swedes to bratty Brazilians, there are many players who will have a big spotlight on them in the upcoming season. While some of these players are about to make the biggest move of their career, others will need to solidify their position they hold at their current club. For some, this season could be the last one which they're considered worth looking at.

I don't like Manchester United.

From the owners of the club, to the manager, to a whole host of players past and present and onward to "19″— I'm not a fan.

So, you'd naturally think I'd be supporting Barcelona in Saturday's Champions League final.

Lefty. Progressive. Unicef.

Mario Balotelli, the clown prince of football, has had a turbulent life with an abundance of misdemeanours that have left scars all over his undeniable talent

The press condemn with a thirsty disgust his petulance and attitude, whilst ignoring the tribulations he has had to endure.

Blasphemous though it may seem, for all the dazzling array of skills which they bestow upon me as a mere spectator, I do not worship at the altar of Barcelona. I worship at the altar of football. Despite the Catalan club's increasingly jubilant marketing campaign, there is a distinction between the two.

Early on in the game against Getafe he managed to whack a fan in the stands on the face when he cleared the ball.It caused some damage to the person concerned.
At the end of the game he came over and gave him a brand new Real Madrid shirt and a hug.A nice gesture from a player with a reputation for petulance and sulking and other such things.

Is anyone else sick and tired of the whining and childish petulance from both sides of El Clasico?

Apparently UEFA is not. In fact apparently UEFA is having a bit of fun with the whole thing.

In one of Jose's many ludicrous rants the man's descending into Sir Alex levels of delusion he listed, or rather blacklisted, several referees he thinks are 'pro-Barca'.

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On this week's football review we feature Champions League hero Raul, a goalkeeping gaffe and a spot of petulance from Neymar. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.

Thierry Henry, we all get frustrated. Nobody will judge or blame you for being human and not being pleased with either your own performance of that of your team. What we will judge you for is kicking out the feet of a defenseless player because of your frustration. Your needless assault on Hunter Freeman was petty and childish and what's worse, the league will probably do nothing about it.

Considering my first half thoughts would have boiled down to "physical, got bodies around Messi, kept shape," the stirring second half that saw the US really make a credible match of it leaves me with a few more talking points to get through. Let's do so, shall we?
* There can be only Juan?

Considering my first half thoughts would have boiled down to "physical, got bodies around Messi, kept shape," the stirring second half that saw the US really make a credible match of it leaves me with a few more talking points to get through. Let's do so, shall we?
* There can be only Juan?

MANAGING a football club is a highly stressful job as there is an unrelenting pressure to grind out results week in week out.

The past week has seen two of Britain's most decorated managers wage war on the media for different reasons after their sides saw their domestic and European ambitions dented respectively.

There have been few, if any, managers in the history of the British game who could match Bob Paisley's genius in spotting players. The man who built three Champions' Cup winning teams did so not by outspending others but by identifying before anyone else players with the talent to play in his sides.

Gennaro Gattuso's pathetic display of petulance helped an Italian team revert to stereotype last night and it's debatable whether his absence in the second leg will be a bigger blow to Milan or Spurs.

Amidst Gattuso's childish performance we saw imaginary cards being waved and a horrendous two-footed tackle from ex-goon Flamini that could have easily inflicted far more damage than it did.

Some quick thoughts on Spurs' triumph at the San Siro, just as soon as I try and stop an Italian from headbutting a 59 year old Scot...

First and foremost, that was a fantastic performance from pretty much everyone on the Spurs team. Gomes made some crucial saves, the defence looked more solid than ever and the midfield linked up well with Crouch, creating numerous chances.

By Alex Netherton

Liverpool have a history of near-hysterical levels of imagined persecution and self-mythologising. Everybody knows they had the chippiest fans of all the top teams. Now they're not a top team, so who's next? Given the actions of the past few years and particularly the last few weeks, it has to be Arsenal.

A much better showing than the previous 2 outings, but nowhere near the dominating performance that we expect from our our boys especially at home.

Some impressions:

1. Nani adds such a cutting edge to our attack. He also brings an arrogance onto the field that may border on petulance at times, but gives us more confidence going forward.