Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti has admitted his surprise at Liverpool's Premier League struggles this season.
Rafa Benitez's men were expected to mount a serious title challenge this term but are already badly off the pace after losing five of their opening 12 games.
The Anfield outfit is already 11 points adrift of Ancelotti's league leaders, who have a five-point cushion over Arsenal and Manchester United following their 1-0 victory against the champions before the international break. Click to continue reading...

Watch the Thierry Henry handball video from the France versus Ireland game here. In the analysis by Irish TV station RTE, the pundits dissect the controversial moment in the game and analyze whether it should have been offside or not and whether the video of the Thierry Henry handball shows if he cheated on purpose or not.

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So we are just shy of being one-third of the way through the season and we're already at our third (!) interlull. When we return, it will be crunch time with 11 matches in the next 42 days, including Chelsea at home, Liverpool away, the final CL group stage fixtures, and, of course, City away in the Carling Cup quarterfinals.

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I wrote previouslythat he had been protective of the defence in recent times, but Mark Hughes went on the offensive today with MOTD - and particularly Alan Hansen - in his sights:

"Pundits on Match of the Day or whatever just have an opportunity to nail individuals in the public domain," said the Manchester City boss.

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Way back in March, I wrote a post with links to the preseason predictions of some of the most widely read soccer pundits. Among the prognosticators that went so far as to designate playoff teams were Ives, a consolidation of ESPNSoccernet writers, Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports and seven others.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is irreplaceable according to most pundits if not all of them; and the signing of Antonio Valencia in the summer wasn't to replace the talisman but was instead brought because of the quality in which he had.

Valencia only scored three goals for Wigan last year, and this time around with United, not even halfway through the season, he has scored that many.

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By Walter Broeckx What is the difference between The Arsenal this season and Arsenal last season? For this and last season Arsenal were written off by almost all the pundits and it was sure we were the one who would fall from the top 4.  It is not happening. Why not? Last year around this time, the championship [. Click to continue reading...

It was the Friday before the start of the Premier League season and I was on a plane home. The two gentlemen next to me starting talking and the conversation soon moved to football. One of them was lamenting Southampton's relegation into League One, he then said to his friend, "So it's four years without a trophy now then?

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As you know, EPL Talk focuses on the Premier League and not the lower leagues of England, but my day didn't start so well when Setanta-i had technical problems which prevented me and all other Setanta-i customers from viewing the Welsh derby featuring the club I've supported all my life, Swansea City, against Cardiff City.

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'sorry? (...) yeah shut the **** up.'

That wasn't really what I was expecting to be honest. Despite notable absences from the Sunderland side, and to a certain extent a lack of bite in our midfield today's game was one that we won't be forgetting for a while. It's safe to say that it was somewhat of an aggressive affair with both sides putting boots where perhaps they shouldn't have been and this incision found its way into the general scheme of play.

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Manchester United go into tomorrow's big Premier League clash against Chelsea with many pundits expecting a hammering for the champions, there's no surprise there given what happened at Old Trafford in the summer with the loss of two world-class strikers and the quality of the replacements that followed. Click to continue reading...

Forget Haye v Valuev, this is the big one Chelsea v Manchester United. This year's favourites take on the Premier League champions. But while Chelsea and Drogba are in top form, United's injury problems mount.

And it is Didier Drogba who pundits alike are talking about. He is in the best form of his life, and if there was a better time to face United for the Ivory Coast forward, it would have to be now as he will be up against a rather depleted looking back line.

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As Anfield, the city of Liverpool, and every Liverpool fan jumped for joy during Sunday's humbling of Man United, one man stood still...emotionless; impassive, and controlled. That man was, of course, Rafa Benitez - the heartbeat and Commander in Chief of everything Liverpool FC.
If one was to spend the whole match against Manchester United watching Rafa, it would be hard to judge the scoreline at the end. Click to continue reading...

I really feel for the 'supporters' who are in the Anti-Rafa Brigade. Yeah, really, if you believe cows can fly. The go on and on about wanting Rafa to be sacked while ignoring glaring FACTS. And what happens to them after each game?

When we lose, these supporters will be happy because they feel that their argument is justified, BUT they will be unhappy because we have lost.

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Former teammates; Alonso and Gerrard

I really can't wait to read the December installment of FourFourTwo Magazine. In this issue Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard finally states what we all know: the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid has undeniably damaged the Merseyside club.

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When we beat the Mancs last week, everyone including his pet rock was jumping with joy I am certain. Everyone except those in the clueless bandwagon. Then, afterwe lost to Fulham, the dam burst further!

How do some fans miss the obvious I do not know. We have been overachieving with Rafa at the helm and yet these people scream murder and want Rafa to be sacked.

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Chelsea's unstoppable striker Didier Drogba struck twice in the span of six minutes to silence over 50,000 Atletico Madrid fans at the Vicente Calderon stadium. Atletico's Argentine sensation Sergio Aguero netted either side of Drogba's brace, but that was not enough to prevent the Rojiblancos from UEFA Champions League elimination.

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The fans half feared it, the pundits shook their heads and even the club had doubts, but when it comes to juggling the demands of the Barclays Premier League and European competition, while Fulham are coping magnificently, Rafael Benítez's team are not.
The fragility of Liverpool's season was never starker. Click to continue reading...

Who Are Ya? By Simon Bailey The press have gleefully swooped on Arsene's comments at the AGM and it is now gospel, we are bringing home silverware this season. Personally, I saw Arsene re-iterating the same position he has taken all season. Pundits are getting very fond of saying that we have more chance of winning the CL [. Click to continue reading...

There have been plenty of success stories at Sydney FC this season. The wonderful mobility of the Brosque-Bridge partnership, Stuart Musialik's return to form, the impressive fitness levels...not to mention the much-improved relations with the media, with Vitezslav Lavicka's courteous and dignified manner putting all four of his predecessors to shame. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez's future at Liverpool has become even more cloudy following Fulham's determined 3-1 win at Craven Cottage. Liverpool picked up two red cards along the way as Erik Nevland's clever goal proved to be enough for Fulham to grab all three points.

Bobby Zamora got things going for the home side in the first half, but his strike was quickly cancelled out by a stunning Fernando Torres goal.

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There are so many clichés that commentators, pundits, coaches and players use, whether intentionally or inadvertently, when talking about the Beautiful Game (that's one). One way or another, pretty much all applied to FC Dallas in 2009.
ASN's Marc Stern provides a thorough season review over at our FCD page. Click to continue reading...

The pundits' pundit by Walter Broeckx We know them all. The modern oracles. The know-alls. We know them as the 'pundits. What do these pundits actually do in football? They say how it should have been done. They see the mistakes. They see the flaws. Is there somewhere a goal? The pundits know "who did it". Click to continue reading...

What a tumultuous ten weeks it has been. When the season kicked off, even the most Italian-friendly pundits were predicting that this season, dubbed 'Year Zero' by the AC Milan fans, would be the dullest season in Italian history.

But it is now clear how wrong that prediction was. In the first two games of the season, most predictions were proven true as AC Milan were pummelled 4-0 by rivals Inter Milan, while Roma slumped to two successive defeats and Genoa and Juve both played with style.

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Gregan'em (pronounced like the Southernism "Momma'nem"*) take the show on the road to Harrison for the laying of the final piece of sodding sod. They're also joined by special guests Tab Ramos & Ritchie Williams to talk stadia, New Jersey stuff and playoffs. They also prove that --standing next to Ramos & Williams they are the tallest team of pundits in the American soccersphere. Click to continue reading...

This is the famous burst and flattened beachball look. Priceless!

I am still celebrating even though I know it was only a battle we won and not the war. But still, how often have we felt this euphoria in the last, say, 20 years? Not so many times. Anyways, I bet many of us fans have had friends or collegues gone missing the past two days.

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Coming from a long-time Arsenal fan, this article is not easy to write; but at the same time, if any fan of football today chose to watch Arsenal vs West Ham, you would have seen a pattern like this:

Arsenal take the lead through an attacking move with less than 6 passes (the most common move of scoring a goal, as stated in Inverting The Pyramid) and partly due to an error by the England first-choice goalkeeper, Robert Green.

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I officially have no voice. It is not very nice and I am resorting to writing insults down and showing them to the intended recipient rather than just shouting it at them. Some people might say its karma, I just call it a bloody annoyance, and a painful one at that.

So we make the short trip to Upton Park today and it has been the scene of many a hardfought game over the past few years and on a few occasions we have come out of it with a big fat 0 points.

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The postal strikes, the controversial leader of the BNP Nick Griffin and even pesky little Beach Ball's are things that we have heard of a lot this week in the papers (though in this article, we won't mention anymore about the postal strikes or politics). The word 'beach ball' for many football fans, especially Manchester United fans, would never be thought of in the same way ever again.

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Inter Milan drew 2-2 at home to Dynamo Kiev in a game that saw them behind twice and could have ended in defeat. Inter Milan are now at the Bottom of group F and only have one remaining home game left to play.

Although it is true that Inter are at the bottom of the group they have 3 points from 3 games but it is not quite as bad as it sounds with the other 3 teams all being tied on 4 points.

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A look at the winners and losers after week nine of the Premier League.

Winners
Manchester United
If the mark of a champion is winning when not playing well then Manchester United are in line to win another Premier title. That United are top of the Premier League while struggling in all but two of their nine league fixtures since August shows that they have the heart of a champion.

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A look at the winners and losers after week nine of the Premier League.

Winners
Manchester United
If the mark of a champion is winning when not playing well then Manchester United are in line to win another Premier title. That United are top of the Premier League while struggling in all but two of their nine league fixtures since August shows that they have the heart of a champion.

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By far, the World Football Phone-In show on BBC Radio 5 is the must-listen-to football podcast. The weekly show exudes everything that is wonderful about football from the lovely and knowledge callers to the scholarly pundits such as Tim Vickery, Andy Brassell and Sean Wheelock.

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Liverpool have endured a tense start to the 2009-10 Premier League season, losing three of their eight games so far - not to mention their Champions League defeat at the hands of Fiorentina.
The Reds lost just twice in the league last term as they pushed Manchester United right until the final weeks, but their tame 2-0 reverse at Chelsea a fortnight ago has left pundits and punters alike wondering aloud whether the men from Merseyside can match it with their Big Four rivals. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has vowed to silence the critics who have suggested he is over the hill.
Carragher, 31, has been singled out for criticism by some pundits in a struggling side which has already lost three Premier League games this season.
However, the former England international is determined to answer his critics on the pitch.

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