One of the players playing extremely well at the moment is Genoa fantasista Raffaele Palladino. Palladino has always been a player that could do things with the ball that others could only dream of doing, but he never had the consistency to show that talent at a high level.

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Rafael van der Vaart doesn't have it easy. Not because he doesn't get to play for Real Madrid so much. Nor is it because Bert van Marwijk overlooked him at first. Raf is going through a difficult time because the light of his life, tv-personality Sylvie Meis, was recently diagnosed Click to continue reading...

Orlando Engelaar is back in Oranje's definite selection for the Down Under Trip. Van Marwijk announced this at Zeist last Friday. Raf van der Vaart and Mark van Bommel aren't part of the excursion...eh...holiday...friendly. Vaart simply lacks match rhythm while Van Bommel is still recovering from injury. Click to continue reading...

Brian Clough's managerial career has been well documented, but it often completely overshadows the success Clough had as a player. Whilst he was often accused of nepotism towards his son Nigel whilst he was the manager of Nottingham Forest, it wasn't hard to see where the younger player got his footballing talent from.

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Ground: Noose Lane
Date: Tuesday 18th August 2009
Match: Willenhall Town 1 Leek Town 2 HT: 1-1 ATT: 92
Warren 39: Griffiths 27 (og), Hawthorne 52
Comp: Unibond Division One South
Additional: Entrance £6 Programme £1.50 Coffee/Tea 50p Chips 80p

Noose Lane in pictures

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My first game following Leek Town and their first away game of the season, after a 3-3 draw at home to Loughborough on the opening day. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool fans, it's time to be honest – Xabi Alonso is all but on his way to Real Madrid. You didn't want it to happen, he (initially) didn't want it to happen, and perhaps even Rafael Benitez didn't want it to happen, despite his previous attempts to sell off his fellow Spaniard.
Considering that the boy from the Basque Country has just come off a season in which he displayed the sort of composure, consistency and class that even Steven Gerrard never could in a central playmaking role, it would be sheer madness to even consider selling him. Click to continue reading...

With a day or two to catch our breath before U.S. v. Spain on Wednesday -- aka Bob of La Mancha (the impossible dream) -- let's discuss a couple other things floating around the world these days with a nice quickee post. 1. Carlos Tevez leaves Manchester United. Carlito was a weird case study at Old Trafford. Click to continue reading...