The football world already has it all planned out: fans, players, ex-players, pundits and journalists alike all want Harry Redknapp to replace Fabio Capello as England manager, following the Italian's resignation yesterday evening.

Some were already looking beyond Euro 2012 Capello had already planned to retire after this summer's tournament to the Redknapp era, convinced he would be the man for the job at some point.

Arsenal smashed Blackburn Rovers on the weekend. Scoring several goals, dominating the match and appearing genuinely impressive for the first time in a long time Arsenal looked like Arsenal used to look like. In the eyes of Arsenal fans Arsenal played like Arsenal should always be playing. In the eyes of neutrals Arsenal got their old swagger back.

Tony Pulis' Technical Area Tony Pulis was so unhappy with Robert Huth's red card against Sunderland that he emailed Match of the Day attaching a photo showing that the big defender's boots didn't make contact with David Meyler. Quite why the Potters boss thought MOTD would be lacking camera angles of the incident is unclear, [.

The Curious Case of the Lost Moral Compass - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Episode Four : A New Trial.....

In a time not so long ago, in a world departed from this reality....

A Man divided opinion of what was right and decent

A Man led a country; All its people, All casts,

All its hopes rested on his shoulders

His Name was John Terry.

When asked about possible transfers before tomorrow's deadline day, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was typically vague,

"I can't see an awful lot happening," Harry said.

"I will probably watch a game on Sunday but not with a real eye on anyone, although I'm not going to tell you which match.

It was concerning to read that Liverpool were planning to offer Andy Carroll in a direct swap deal with Carlos Tevez at the weekend.

At £35 million it is quite clear as far as the best bookmakers are concerned that the former Newcastle forward has not lived up to what might have been expected of him at Anfield in the year he has been with the club, but it is important to remember that he is still young.

...of punching Mark van Bommel in the face.

Footballers, pundits and fans have long held the unshakable desire to take a rolled up mound of knuckles and thrash them across any piece of van Bommel's face which may have it. Lazio's Andre Dias fulfilled this dream in the Coppa Italia yesterday, and it only cost him three cup matches worth in suspension.

Some footballers become pundits or postmen when they retire. And some join bands. Steve Wright looks at a couple of ex-Forest players who hung up their boots and picked up a guitar. Forest chairman Frank Clark was well known in his playing days for taking his guitar on the team bus to entertain the team [.

Mark Hughes has demanded an improvement from his Queens Park Rangers side after the 1-0 victory over MK Dons in the FA Cup third round replay last night.

Most soccer betting pundits will agree that the League One side were more than a match for Hughes' men for the majority and even though the home side eventually progressed to the fourth round, Hughes knows his team have to be better in all departments.

The Red Bulls made it an eventful Tuesday as they drafted three players in the 2012 Supplemental Draft. The three are Defender Mike Volk (UVA), Midfielder Christian Barreiro (UPenn) and Midfielder Nate Polak (Hastings).
I wouldn't bank on any of these guys making the team, as Soler has stated that it would be hard to find a player that could make the team in the Superdraft, nevermind the Supplemental Draft.

A real 3 pointer today, what with Spurs and Liverpool dropping points at home.

We all know that Swansea are a very difficult side to beat at the Liberty Stadium, in fact only MU have won there this season. The Swans have conceded just 4 goals at home (compared to AFC's 6) and have drawn half their home games (5/10) Spurs gained a very squeaky point a couple of weeks ago and Swansea will go into the game full of confidence.

Avram Grant takes over at Serbian champions Partizan

Avram Grant has taken many pundits by surprise by joining Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade as coach from today.

With fifteen games played so far this season in the Jelen SuperLiga, Partizan have a ten point lead over arch rivals Crvena Zvezda and already look set to continue their recent dominance by winning a fifth consecutive title.

The 2012 SuperDraft has been criticized as being a weak draft, but the positions that the Brotherly Game feels the Philadelphia Union should target have plenty of options from which to choose. Center back is one of the few positions that this SuperDraft has enough depth to wait until the second round to take a player, but it also has a few intriguing first round prospects.

Watching the FA Cup 3rd round tie between Arsenal and Leeds United on Monday evening might not have proved so entertaining if former Arsenal defender Martin Keown had not have been struck by a ball hit by a visiting Leeds player in the pre-match warm up. Keown was standing by the pitch alongside ESPN presenter Rebecca Lowe and ex-footballer Robbie Savage.

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has failed in his attempts to have the 4 match suspension he received following his red card against local rivals Manchester United rescinded. Kompany was given a straight red in the early stages of his team's FA cup 3rd round clash with United for a 2 footed sliding tackle - although replays seemed to show he did win the ball cleanly in the challenge.

The pundits all over the place are having a go at Chris Foy for expelling Vincent Kompany for a challenge on Nani in the FA Cup match last weekend. Their lamentations are everywhere: "It's the end of tackling as we...

Or, what if Tim Tebow was a Buddhist or Jew? Would he be getting the support and love he is receiving now from the sports world?
As a devout Christian, Tebow has raised many eyebrows inside and outside the sports world.
People are rooting for him because they like his style of play and because he stands for Conservative principles.

By Chris Wright

It seems that, with the recession still biting and Robbie Earle no longer around to 'sort everybody out', the money men over at the ITV Football department have been reduced to extreme bouts of penny-pinching when it comes to providing match tickets for their pundits.

In an extended podcast with 4 pundits, scattered around the world we discuss the return of Paul Scholes, Henry and the winning ways of Sir Alex. In a controversial and compelling game United ran out 3–2 winners. We pick over ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

It has become very hard for analysts and pundits to predict Chelsea results as their roller coaster form has led to inconsistent results for much of the season. However, could Chelsea's performances be linked to the supposed rift between senior players and the coach?

Chelsea did win last night's game against Wolverhampton 2-1 and despite that making the news, more controversy was raised during AVB's post match press conference where the young tactician denied there was a rift between him and some senior players after both Frank Lampard and John Terry were not seen celebrating with him.

Everybody yearns to be up there, to be a contender. Yet we're still puzzling over what success feels like. Here's another side of it, being the envy of other fans. Top four, playing dazzling football. It won't be long before the negative coverage begins. Players who have been doing well for an entire season will be picked on by pundits after a single poor performance, or young men playing out of their skin will fail to be at the top of their game for one of their 50 or so performances and people will pick holes.

In matchup of undefeated teams, the Portland Trail Blazers topped the Denver Nuggets by a final score of 111-102. These two Western Conference sleepers played a fantastic game that featured a lot of back of forth action. Don't be surprised if the Blazers and Nuggets face each other in the 2012 NBA playoffs.

After another Christmas of not doing especially a fat lot, I decided to take my usual place on the sofa and tune into a Boxing Day feast of football which comprised of the usual dose of Soccer Saturday followed by Match of the Day.
Whilst this for me is pretty much a perfect Saturday and nothing can quite beat the sound of Chris Kamara shouting "Unbelievable Jeff" or Paul Merson screeching "He's hit the Beans on Toast!

Some would call it robbery, a late Jordi Gomez goal denying Chelsea a fourth consecutive victory on Saturday at the DW Stadium. However, robbery would imply that the visitors actually deserved to win. That, my friends, was hardly the case.

Dejection

What is it with this team?

MirrorFootball Podcast: Listen again to Robbie Savage's MirrorFootball live chat with Steve Anglesey

He became known as football's Mr. Marmite during his days as a professional footballer, then he swapped his boots for a microphone to become one of the game's most outspoken and honest pundits before wowing the crowds in Strictly Come Dancing.

What are the odds Tottenham finish in the top four? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Three successive Stoke victories have finally forced pundits to accept that Tony Pulis has a realistic chance of getting the England job. Surely he can't do any worse than predecessor Martin Johnson.

Before the three tough game against the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea, most of those expert pundits thought Newcastle had very little chance of picking up any points. An anxious looking Alan Pardew last Saturday And despite performing well in all three of those games, the lads came away with just a single point from Old Trafford, but then came a [.

I posted earlier this week a rant AVB had about the media coverage of Chelsea and quite rightly so. We had previously see him defend Fernando Torres' form in pre season by claiming that they were "turning him into an obsession".
Last week, we heard him defend David Luiz and his position in the Chelsea side again, because of focus from the media.

Former Arsenal keeper Jens Lehman expressed delight at seeing both Manchester sides eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday but was more happy with league leaders City's failure to progress to the next stage.

According to Lehman, City play very boring football and deserved to be dumped out of the competition.

Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

It's not uncommon for American soccer fans and pundits to debate on who is the better U.S. men's national team player between Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, but one former U.S. international has weighed in on the matter and has created quite the stir in doing so.

Let me say this before I say anything...
Trabzonspor and Trabzonspor fans will never forget Inter Milan!
The score came out of Milan in the last minutes of the match, against CSKA Moscow ,really hurt Trabzonspor and their fans...
Let's not forget ,Trabzonspor is the only team who got four points from Inter in this group.

After a long time, Europe's premier competition has thrown up a few surprises and plenty of excitement. At the time of the draw few, if any, would have expected United to bow out. Fewer still would have expected the Gunners to qualify from a tough group before the other three English clubs and with a game to spare.

After a long time, Europe's premier competition has thrown up a few surprises and plenty of excitement. At the time of the draw few, if any, would have expected United to bow out. Fewer still would have expected the Gunners to qualify from a tough group before the other three English clubs and with a game to spare.

Over the past few years Arsenal have had some exceptional players. For all the bemoaning of the lack of trophies, there has remained a bountiful supply of top talent strutting their stuff at the Emirates Cesc Fabregas remains the best young midfielder in Europe, one we kept for seven years, and we have more that could be labelled 'amongst the best in their position, or for their age' the likes of Vermaelen, Van Persie and Wilshere can certainly be counted in those categories, with others knocking on the door.

Liverpool have entered the race to sign Switzerland youngster Fabian Frei, but face competition from a host of European clubs such as Juventus and Schalke as interest intensifies.
Considered by many pundits as a hot prospect, Frei has established himself as full international since his step up from the Under-21 squad in the summer and remains an integral part of Basel's squad though Swiss media are suggesting that his seven year stay at the Swiss Super League champions could be coming to an end if the interest from Liverpool is genuine which its believed is.

I'm going to take a small break from writing about Arsenal today to vent on a subject that has infuriated me since listening to the European Championship draw on Friday evening, and that is the supreme arrogance of English pundits with regard to the national team. We all know that England are forever overhyped before major tournaments, but it is the dismissive contempt for many of the other countries (those not called Spain, Germany or Italy) that winds me up the most.

By Chris Wright

I don't mind admitting it absolutely galled me that the sycophantic tools on the Match of the Day sofa just flat-out refused to acknowledge and/or call-out Wayne Rooney's petulant slash at a prone Fabricio Coloccini last night, despite watching replay after replay of the United meathead poorly masking his errant boot as an attempt to prise the ball out from underneath the Newcastle centre-half.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has polarised opinion ever since he arrived at Anfield, and he's often been on the receiving end of unwarranted criticism. One of the recurring criticisms levelled at the Brazilian is his lack of attacking impact in the final third of field, but club legend John Barnes insists that he should not be judged along those lines.

Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 49, 86) Borussia Dortmund 1 (Kagawa 90)
(Champions League)

You should never get ahead of yourself in football. Sing the praises of a team too early, and they can fade away and make you seem foolish (see the pundits handing Chelsea the title after five games of last season).

Dare I say the game is overtaking these lads?

An overseas video on how Beckham and MLS are viewed by dare we say xenophobic pundits.

Interesting here that the two ex-players involved in this exchange has interesting backgrounds:

Dion Dublin played some of his best ball at Coventry in partnership with none other than MLS star Darren Huckerby he featured for about 15 games at Manchester United but over 140 at Aston Villa as well.