Our friends at TSC received over 141 comments regarding the Uruguay jersey for the upcoming World
Cup. All we can say is that it is a tremendous regression from the kit that they were using during
the qualifiers.
Not a good move by Puma as Uruguay did not use the African templates that generated a great deal of
acclaim.
There are some who would crawl over shards of glass dipped in alcohol and salt for any and all
individual awards they can accumulate. Dimitar Berbatov is no such man.
In fact, he doesn't want the good sports journalists of Bulgaria to vote for him at all anymore.
Now is the time to think of the children, he says.
First big ups to Jeremiah for holding down the fort as I was without the internet for more than
24 hours. Posting from a smart phone is fine for snippets, but posting the type of thing I like to
post from a phone is nearly impossible. Thank you for your patience. It did give me the opportunity
to take a few steps back and just think, without posting.
By Chris Wright
Dutch footballing icon Johan Cruyff has lambasted the current Holland side's
regression to 'anti-football' tactics during their World Cup final defeat to Spain.
Cruyff, who was a central figure in Holland's pioneering totaal voetbal ethos during
the 1970′s, has admitted that he was saddened to see the thuggish methods employed by
Bert Van Marwijk's side on Sunday night.
After months of hitting out at Barcelona for their tapping up of Cesc, the
official site have lowered themselves to their level with this article with Bakary Sagna
talking about Emir Spahic, the Montpellier defender.
Its the lowest of the low, and just months after arsenal.
The problem: loads of extremely talented midfielders all vying for a limited amount of
positions.
There's not too many ways available to keep all of them happy, let's be frank. During a single
game, at most, there'll be five midfield positions available and just four on some occasions. It's
hard to squeeze so many good players into that formation, especially when there's some that you
simply shouldn't be leaving out.
I'm a little behind on some of my data collection for this season, but in case you were wondering
where things stand so far this year on goal to shot ratios and other common metrics, I'll be
providing some updates in the days ahead. So here's a first small installment to whet your
appetite. This one is on goal to shot ratios (one of the stats we have Charles Reep to be thankful
for).
Like last year (and the year before...), I want to start off the season review posts with a
comparison of campaigns under Benitez. No prizes for guessing which was the worst of the six. The
first one! This year was only second worst in most categories! Hooray!
Liverpool's league record under Benitez:
04/05:
Home: 12 wins, 4 draws, 3 losses
Away: 5 wins, 3 draws, 11 losses
58 points
05/06:
Home: 15 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss
Away: 10 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses
82 points
06/07:
Home: 14 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss
Away: 6 wins, 4 draws, 9 losses
68 points
07/08:
Home: 12 wins, 6 draws 1 loss
Away: 9 wins, 7 draws, 3 losses
76 points
08/09:
Home: 12 wins, 7 draws
Away: 13 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses
86 points
09/10:
Home: 13 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses
Away: 5 wins, 6 draws, 8 losses
63 points
Away record, away record, away record.
When Massimo Moratti appointed Jose Mourinho the new Internazionale manager in May 2008, some
wondered "why"? Inter had won the Serie A for a third successive season yet Roberto Mancini
declared after their Champions League exit that he would be leaving. The reasoning behind
appointing Mancini's successor was simple, Mourinho was then and is now a winner.
FIFA have announced plans to replace the vuvuzelas with an angry man from Wigan, following
complaints from Western fans that the drone of the horns is drowning out their usual cacophony of
xenophobic bigotry. Nick Griffin, director of FIFA communications, said the vuvuzelas were evidence
of evolutionary regression and argued they distracted from the true [.
This is the last one, I promise. With two extra weeks to write about England given the early
exit to Germany, almost everything has been written about the team and their coach. The barbs have
been thrown at all angles, but Don Fabio, hiding behind the substantial shield of his £12 million
pay-off clause has survived to fight another qualifying campaign.
A few days ago, I wrote an article discussing the online betting for next season's Premier
League title. I found it puzzling that Liverpool were a significantly shorter price than Tottenham
going on last season's form, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding the future of their star
players. Gerrard was to be joining Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid and Torres was also allegedly keen
to move, that is if anyone is brave enough to risk millions of pounds on a player that looks to
have serious issues if his World Cup performances are anything to go by.
