Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta remains confident coach Pep Guardiola will continue his successful spell at the helm.

However, he has confirmed the club have drawn up contingency plans should Guardiola decide to leave the Nou Camp.

Zubizarreta is optimistic it will not come to that despite the Catalans, who visit Osasuna on Saturday, trailing arch-rivals Real Madrid by seven points in the La Liga title race.

It appeared to us an act of desperation – the very last resort, Plan B (or, more appropriately, Plan Z), or any well-worn cliché – and it, well, was. For Manchester United, bringing back Paul Scholes seemed a step back. Truth is, it's gone better than we'd envisaged back then, ever since it was revealed ahead of the FA Cup 3rd round tie against Manchester City back in January.

News from Italy, concretely from "Tuttosports" & picked up locally via Spanish Sports daily "As", mentions that JUVENTUS has REAL MADRID forward GONZALO HIGUAIN as mximum signing objective for next season. But there is more, in case it all gets difficult , Juventus has a Plan- B , that is, KARIM BENZEMA.

Arsenal legend Alan Smith has criticised current manager Arsene Wenger's recruitment policy, which he believes could cost the Gunners a UEFA Champions League spot at the end of the season. The retired striker, who has now turned to commentating, also believes that Wenger should have pursued central defender Gary Cahill more aggressively before he was signed by their London rivals Chelsea earlier this month.

Saturday's win did many things but most of all it reminded us that, while the current Fulham squad does need a bit of tweaking, it contains a number of good players and making moves in January for the sake of making moves in January is probably not something we need to get too involved with.

Take the AJ situation.

What's say, since it's TGIF, we make it a treble?After two rejected bids, it appears as though Sochaux have given up on getting Mo Edu. Two sources from different worlds have told me they are about to sign Plan B for that defensive midfield role instead.That out of the way, let's survey what's left. Edu still has interest, but I can confirm there are no other offers at this time.

Images via Facebook.

With his biographical film premiering in the UK on January 17th, we figured now was the best time to have a chat with USMNT/Vancouver Whitecaps footballer turned movie star, Jay DeMerit.

Needless to say, we had a great time grilling Jay until he was visibly uncomfortable.

For the last few months if speculation has been made over where Arsenal should make a signing in January it's been in the striking position.

Beyond Robin van Persie we have few options. Or, to put it another way, we have options which no longer produce goals or which the manager clearly has little faith in.

"Nobody can play beautiful football all the time," Robin van Persie commented ahead of the match against Aston Villa, "I tell our lads ‘If it's not happening for you, just try to kill off the game so we can move on.'" Rarely does Arsenal score from a set-piece. Even rarer yet does Arsenal win matches [.

What are the odds Sunderland are relegated this season no matter who replaces Bruce? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short described results as "simply not good enough" – but could just as easily have been describing sacked boss Steve Bruce.

What are the odds Sunderland are relegated this season no matter who replaces Bruce? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short described results as "simply not good enough" – but could just as easily have been describing sacked boss Steve Bruce.

What are the odds Sunderland are relegated this season no matter who replaces Bruce? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short described results as "simply not good enough" – but could just as easily have been describing sacked boss Steve Bruce.

What are the odds Sunderland are relegated this season no matter who replaces Bruce? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short described results as "simply not good enough" – but could just as easily have been describing sacked boss Steve Bruce.

Spain's 2-2 draw with Costa Rica last night, and their 1-0 loss to England on the weekend, suggest that the European and World champions have become too predictable. Only a David Villa goal three minutes into injury time in San Jose prevented them from being embarrassed twice in four days.

It seemed for so long that Arsene Wenger just didn't seem to know what was wrong with his Arsenal team. For the past six seasons, it was clearly obvious to fans and viewers that Arsenal had no Plan B to their attacking ...
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GRETTON 2-9 WELFORD VICTORIA
Saturday 12th November 2011
Northants Combination Premier Division
Kirby Road, Gretton
Northants Combination logo
After last weeks plan B scenario thankfully there are no problems for today's trip to Northamptonshire. According to Google maps my journey from the Braunstone area of Leicestershire should take me through Leicester city centre along the A47 and out towards Uppingham, before heading south.

A couple of weeks ago, Gary Gillespie revealed that when he was at Liverpool under Kenny Dalglish, the players were 'just told to go out and play', and that during his 8 year spell at Anfield 'the days we were actually coached I can count on one hand'. Against Swansea yesterday, it seemed like the coaching had regressed back to Gillespie's 1980s heyday for the afternoon.

BELTON VILLA 1-2 GENESIS Saturday 5th November 2011 North Leicestershire League Cobbin Trophy 2nd Round Recreation Ground, Church Street, Belton
Like the heading says this was Plan B today due to my first choice being postponed. I had originally planned to watch the Castle Donington - Butler Court tie in the same competition, but on arrival at Spittal Park (home of CDFC) I thought it strange that there were no nets up or players warming up.

::: FistedAway welcomes a guest post from Elliott,
editor of the rather lovely Futfanatico :::

If the summer was bad for the Gunners, the start to the season was even worse. No Nasri. No Fabregas. Fine. But the loss to injury of Jack Wilshere was devastating, and Arsenal touched bottom in a humiliating loss to rivals Manchester United.

For Juventus supporters, it is hard not to be inspired by Antonio Conte. The passion and intensity shown by the Old Lady's new commander is infectious, for the players on the pitch as well as the fans in the seats. He has done well in his first five games, but I fear there just might be icebergs ahead and the captain needs to be ready to chart a new course if needs be.

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.

Wojciech Szczesny
If it weren't for the young Polish keeper, Arsenal would be bottom of the league. Szczesny has been pulling off world class saves in each and every Gunners match this season.
A- – How long before his head is turned?

Bacary Sagna
Sagna has been Arsenal's best defender this season, which isn't really saying much.

Craig Bellamy – Our Shrewdest Summer Signing?

Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli wisely spent around £60m on new players this summer. Most of them fit into our new, yet old, philosophy of securing young, preferably British talent and working to develop the individual at Anfield.

El Atlético ha conseguido una cómoda victoria por dos goles a cero ante el Celtic de Glasgow en la jornada inicial de la Liga Europa. Los goles de Radamel Falcao y Diego Ribas llevaron la fiesta a un Vicente Calderón que cada vez está más emocionado con la nueva era de los suyos.
Muy pronto se le puso de cara el encuentro al Atlético, cuando Falcao conectaba de forma impresionante un cabezazo al fondo de la red tras un córner servido por Diego Ribas.

Persib Bandung's search for a new continues. Last season saw them work their way through three different coaches yet none were able to make any real impression on a team filled with stars yet seemingly unable to turn potential into results on the field.
Daniel Roekito, who ended last season with Persib, has taken over the reigns at Persisam Samarinda and till now Persib have hit a brick wall in their efforts to replace him.

Following on from the crushing defeats to both Manchester teams, Daniel Levy must surely be considering the position of Harry Redknapp at Tottenham.

United and City will probably be competing for the title this season, but the pathetic manner in which we capitulated in both fixtures demonstrates the difference in class and also highlights the lack of improvement over the last season.

The summer transfer window has closed and the Seattle Sounders did not make any moves. That's the main story, the one there's really no getting around. There is, of course, a little more to story than that.

The Sounders, as you may have heard, were pretty close to acquiring a player GM Adrian Hanauer described as their "No.

After what seems like an eternity this summer, Chelsea take on Stoke in about an hour and I really can't wait to get started. There will be so much media attention on us and everyone is expecting us to fail. Reporters and "pundits" all over the country are looking at Chelsea wondering if we can really challenge United and hopefully today they will see signs that we can.

Thank the football gods, for preseason is over and the Premier League season is finally upon us.

Seven wins out of seven in preseason, one goal conceded, Sturridge our top scorer. New manager, new assistant. What did we learn? Here are a few of my thoughts and observations feel free to add your own.

Poor Bob Bradley. He always was U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati's Plan B.
Twice, Gulati failed to land his prized national team coaching candidate, Jürgen Klinsmann, and twice he settled on the stoic but hard-working Bradley.
To his credit, the no-nonsense New Jersey native never indicated he suffered from wounded pride.

Early today an article stating ex-Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly caught my attention as he claimed that the reason Carlo Ancelotti was sacked was purely because he couldn't get the best out of Fernando Torres and nothing else.
Now straight away I thought to myself "Are you for real!

At last we have played some football and wonder of wonders a new wind of optimism seems to be blowing through the blogs after the most excruciating month of self-flagellation I can remember in 60 odd years following the Arsenal. From learning to read the match reports of Desmond Hackett : he of the Brown Bowler hat: on the back page of my fathers Daily Express, to watching Nubile young ladies sensationalise each and every action on Sky Sports News.

This is a good one. Spanish Barcelona based Sports paper "Mundo Deportivo" publish that Belgium & LILLE player EDEN HAZARD is the "Plan B", if the signing of Alexis Sanchez or Villareal player Rossi fail to come to good port for FC BARCELONA. The initial reaction is to think that this is just another "paper selling" gig & flying Football rumour.

As a Chelsea supporter reading this, you will have your own opinion. You may go to other sites and read their thoughts and opinions on Chelsea and you may or may not disagree but wouldn't take time to give your view and click that button and move onto something else.
I want to hear from as many Chelsea fans out there as possible (so share this post on Facebook or Retweet it on Twitter) to try and get a much broader perspective on how you the fans feel and if you feel the same as me.

And just like that, the transfer insanity ratchets up another couple of notches, as twelve hours after news broke that Liverpool had signed Jordan Henderson it became clear that the other highly regarded Engalnd u21 player making the rumour rounds was heading off to sort his medical and finalise terms with a club.

Duncan Fletcher, of SB Nation's Toronto FC blog Waking The Red, and I exchanged three questions a piece, ahead of today's Philadelphia Union-TFC game at BMO Field. To read my responses to Fletcher's questions, click the linked text here.

Scott Kessler: Last year saw the Union drop a game because of a silly foul that resulted in a red card for Danny Califf and the resulting freekick, by Dwayne DeRosario, that was fumbled by Chris Seitz into the net for a 2-1 loss (and of course the penalty that Seitz gave up).

"TFC, up to no good - gotta play better in the neighbourhood"TORONTO FC (15th) VS. PHILADELPHIA (5th)
　
BMO FIELD - SATURDAY 12:30PM
TV: GOLTV
　
THE KICKABOUT:
- How has Philadelphia become such a rounded squad in one season as opposed to the 15-year plan Toronto FC is currently under?

Now Messi knows what it's like to play against the best

In many ways, the season that has just ended is reminiscent of the previous few seasons. Starting relatively well, keeping up with cup and league challenges until the February/March period before fading away the rest of the season. We all love the good kind of repetition, the kind where we lift trophies every season but the one which just ended frustrates a lot of fans and supporters.

The Football Association's decision to abstain from the FIFA Presidential Vote garnered unwanted criticism in the press at home.
There is no shame in rejecting both candidates and ticking 'none of the above'. On the contrary, it sends a clear message that FIFA is foul and needs change.

Remember Victor Estupinan promising he would get thirty goals this year for Chivas USA? Well, right now he's twenty-nine short.
Oh, wait, my bad - I was reading the wrong column. He has one shot on goal so far.
Well, if he is gonna break the league scoring record for Chivas USA, he's going to have to do it this year, because today the club announced that it would get rid of him this year.