With all the build up revolving around Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, this afternoon's early kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool lived up to the pre-match hype. Arguably the spiciest fixture in the Premier League calendar, it was given even more zest before a ball had even been kicked, when Liverpool's Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra's extended hand.

It's ok... I've got it...Liverpool make the short trip up the M62 on Saturday to face their North West rivals Manchester United. After knocking United out of the FA Cup last month Liverpool will certainly feel like they have a great chance on Saturday despite the match being played on United's home turf.

The more than 500 hundred million dollars that went into the recent renovations of BC Place seem to be well spent as the incredibly aesthetic building as been a great host to the USA and all the teams in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The down-sizing of the upper deck with flowing tarps that drape out over the field rather than back over the seats makes the venue intimate and the artificial turf field is about as good as you can get for that kind of surface.

The Frank Lampard Appreciation Society offers another unique, unadulterated glimpse into the voyage of life of one tragic Monseur Lampeur.

DECEMBER 6, 2011

It's funny how the clothes we wear reflect who we are, and I don't mean those t-shirts that the mentally handicapped wear and include the person's name, number, and address.

Pep'll make a Mess of your hand An El Clasico just isn't an El Clasico without Pepe proving that he's a nasty bar steward. During last night's Copa Del Rey clash, the Real Madrid man stayed true to form. The Portugal international stamped on Lionel Messi's hand after the Barcelona star has the temerity to [.

By Alan Duffy

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League 14th January 2012

Much has been written and spoken in recent weeks about Tottenham's title burgeoning title credentials. However, against Wolves at White Hart Lane, the Lilywhites somewhat struggled to live up to the hype, producing a disappointing display in front of their home fans.

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his attempts to have the 4 match suspension he received following his red card against local rivals Manchester United rescinded.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.

Will be relishing a return to a more familiar position

Arsenal and Leeds United become the last 2 teams to play their 3rd Round match of the FA Cup as they take on each other tonight at the Grove. There was no giant-killing acts in this round as what the romance of this competition usually alludes to.

In the realm of sport, there is a constant observance of the two games, football and soccer. Seemingly, these two games repeatedly are seen as total opposites of each other. One played with feet, one with hands. One demands constant replays and call reviews, while one cherishes the controversial decisions in the heat of the [.

Liverpool host League One strugglers Oldham to-night with the home side looking to put right the wrongs of their 3-0 drubbing at Manchester City. The tale of the tape of these two side's are as follows:

MATCH FACTS
Liverpool have won the FA Cup on 7 occasions 1965,1974,1986,1989,1992,2001 and 2006.

Joey Barton reponded to his sending off today via twitter saying;
"Well feel for the officials, they've been conned. Admitted to me at HT they never saw it. I was pulled back 1st, then kicked 2nd!."

"Linesman definitely never saw it, all he seen was Johnsons reaction. My head dosent move forward at all.

It is the week of the MLS Combine, which means it is time for one final mock draft before things get real interesting here.

I debated long and hard over the New Year weekend on whether or not to post this before the Combine or wait for the Combine to take place. What I decided to do was just to post this now and then have one final mock draft after the Combine.

The Old Firm derby didn't go the way of the Americans on Wednesday, with Celtic taking the lead in the Scottish Premier League. Joe Ledley was the goal scorer, converting in the 52nd minute at Celtic Park. Frasier Foster got the shutout in a game where Rangers only put two shots on target. However, replays showed that a sixth minute header from Lee Wallace crossed the goal line and should've counted.

Honestly, despite my reputation as the Negative Nancy blogger, I thought we'd snatch a winner all the way up to the final whistle. Not only did we control possession, chances, corner kicks, free kicks, etc, but we also played the final 20-ish minutes (including added time) with a man advantage.

It's a bit fitting that the skull n'crossbones club would be the killjoys of Christmas and take out Santa, and that's what we have from St. Pauli. Though they might be saviors for those of us who've seriously contemplated carving out the portion of our brains which replays Christmas music with the nearest set of utensils, plastic and plastique acceptable.

Everybody I talked to said the same thing – we were up for it like no other game in recent memory. Not just a derby, this one has become more sour over the last few years. There's a bitter edge to it, compared with the intense but long-standing rivalry with the Arsen*l, heightened by the welcome but unusual sensation of being third and favourites.

As noted, I was in the gents under the Johnny Haynes Stand when this went in. Like the players, I thought we'd won. Unlike the players I couldn't hold it any longer.

Nevertheless, I was surprised when I saw the replays. I had expected Orlando Sa to have done something daft. Then a a couple of respected people on twitter were talking about Frei's showboating (Fulham fans still blaming Sa though).

What a result that was just when we needed it. I had said a week or so ago that the next three games could make or break our season just as everyone was writing Chelsea off, stating we were in a slump and a shadow of the side we used to be.
Three wins out of three against Newcastle, Valencia and last night against Manchester City has firmly put our season back on track!

Hi everyone,
As most of you have seen the game between Stoke and Tottenham there were a few questionable decisions made by the referee Chris Foy.
First I think its right to talk about Peter Crouch's handling of the ball before setting up the goal. It could be said that the referee did not have a clear view of the incident, however the fact that the assistant referee could have signaled should not be ignored.

I am sure like me, many of you were surprised when you saw the result of Wednesday's Champions League match between French side Olympique Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia.

However, it is now emerging that Olympique Lyon's 7-1 drubbing of Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday could have been as a result of a betting scandal.

Confirmation of the live televised matches for the Third Round of the FA Cup came early this year, and while there was no great shock in the Manchester derby a match which has, arguably, taken on a heightened level of importance given the events in the Champions League last night, even if it still isn't the main even of either teams season it was a little surprising to see that the decisions were taken by both ITV and ESPN before next weeks Second Round replays had even been played.

Clint Dempsey is once again the hero in West London, scoring the only goal in a surprising win against Liverpool. It wasn't easy for Fulham, who needed the officiating crew to call a Liverpool goal offside that replays showed wasn't and the benefit of an additional man to take all three points. Playing a man up from the 72nd when Jay Spearing was sent off, Dempsey got the rebound after Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina was.

Nothing seems to be going so right for Sunderland at the moment, The Mackems created several chances before going down to a 1-2 loss in stoppage time from a miscommunication from the defender and the keeper. Featured player Nicklas Bendtner is still finding his feet in his new club, on his 10th appearance, He had a relatively quiet game yesterday, but played a part in Sunderland's first goal cutting back onto his right foot, before smashing a low effort that bounced up towards Al-Habsi, who fumbled it and it fell to Swedish midfielder Sebastian Larsson who smashed it in from close range.

Nothing seems to be going so right for Sunderland at the moment, The Mackems created several chances before going down to a 1-2 loss in stoppage time from a miscommunication from the defender and the keeper. Featured player Nicklas Bendtner is still finding his feet in his new club, on his 10th appearance, He had a relatively quiet game yesterday, but played a part in Sunderland's first goal cutting back onto his right foot, before smashing a low effort that bounced up towards Al-Habsi, who fumbled it and it fell to Swedish midfielder Sebastian Larsson who smashed it in from close range.

Absolutely pathetic.

Dothraki Ballack

Miserable stuff. Just terrible across the board. It seems to go from bad to worse every day around these parts, and if you're looking for excuses I'm fresh out. There really isn't any excuse that would work though, it's just a damn fact that our squad are playing like a pub team.

Does it make me a guy that after the game was over all I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep? Okay, I stayed for a little bit of cuddling and pillow talk, but when it was over I was done.

In the last few posts I've talked about manifest destiny and how this was our time. But all along the way I have been bracing myself for the possibility it might not happen.

Video highlights and reaction match report -

Good morning and apologies for the lateness of this particular blog but then *boilk* and nobody should criticise a man who was drinking whiskey at 6.30am. It's just not the done thing.

So, we beat Norwich yesterday to continue our good run of form and winningness, again we have to give thanks and praise to the Lord our Robin for his two goals which sealed the deal.

U.S. at Slovenia (today, noon, ESPN2) ... inquiring minds wants to know where will Koman Coulibaly be watching this match? And what's the over/under on amount of times ESPN replays Maurice Edu's goal that wasn't a goal at the 2010 World Cup?Since this is probably the final match from the U.S. in 2011, let's at least cobble together a couple quick thoughts, considering time is at a premium these

Big day for our veterans, past and present. Remember them. Big day, also, for Frank Lampard who was named England captain for tomorrow's friendly against Spain at Wembley.

It will be Super Frank's second time captaining his country. Congratulations, my friend.

Leading man

Elsewhere on a Friday:

Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas charged with improper conduct
Via The Telegraph

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas could incur a touchline ban after being charged by the Football Association over his allegation that referee Chris Foy gave Queens Park Rangers preferential treatment during Chelsea's fractious 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road last month.

There is something fishy about Simon Borg's article about the Gabriel Farfan's tackle on Danny Cruz that was posted today on both the league's and Union's website.

If you read the version of the article posted on MLSSoccer. com (HERE), it looks different from the version posted at PhiladelphiaUnion.

I begin with a basic and ironic premise: when dealing with racism, we too often think in terms of black & white. No, not black people and white people, but rather innocence/guilt, right/wrong, good/evil. The most dangerous aspect of evil is its ability to snuff out empathy, even for its own evil bad-ass self.

Happy Halloween MLS fans. The past weekend saw the first round of the playoffs provide a number of story lines. After the Wild Card match-ups we were left with an impressive slate of matches and drama delivered. Goals were scored in each match and a few surprises came through in the form of shoving, ball throwing antics.

Sexy Sexy Football from Spurs. In the first half at least Spurs were sexy, QPR were crap. Second half was more hit and miss, hanging on stuff mixed with the sexy football. But at the end of the day. QPR we're woeful enough and we were sexy enough for us to get the win. We're now unbeaten in 17 home premier league London derbies.

Kenny Dalglish paid tribute to another star showing from Luis Suarez after watching the Uruguayan torment West Brom on Saturday.
Suarez played a part in both of Liverpool's goals as they left The Hawthorns with a 2-0 win.
He won the penalty from which Charlie Adam opened the scoring, before playing in Andy Carroll for the Reds' second.

Gems of the Lower Leagues: Charlie Austin is a post from: Just Football

by Ally Poole

Charlie Austin has made a meteoric leap from being a bricklayer playing for part-time Poole Town as late as September 2009 to free-scoring striker for Burnley in the Championship.

Didier Drogba's tackle yesterday that earned him a straight red card for me was scandalous. It's because he deserved it, I said it as soon as he did it and replays showed that even Frank Lampard knew it.
I simply cannot get my head around why he did it, especially after knowing that Jose Bosingwa had already been sent off and we were down to 10 men!

Manchester City beat Manchester United at Old Trafford by 6-1. The win was deserved, even if a late deluge of goals made the scoreline slightly more embarrassing than warranted. Still, bloodbaths of this magnitude tend to fray the senses, melt the mind, and sportswriters revert to a Neanderthal mental state.

Finally, a late goal goes in our favor, we keep a quality opponent from scoring, and we secure a huge win in the Champions League. Aaron Ramsey, who only came on in the 78th minute, coolly fired home in stoppage time after a nice cross from Djourou was deflected by Gervinho, right onto Ramsey's path.

Patrice Evra has told Sir Alex Ferguson he wants to pursue his allegation of racism against Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
Evra was fuming after Manchester United's 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday, claiming in an interview with Canal Plus that Suarez had racially abused him on a number of occasions during the game.

Charlie Adam firmly refuted suggestions that he dived to win the free-kick that led to Liverpool's goal against Manchester United on Saturday.
The hosts took the lead at Anfield through a Steven Gerrard set-piece that had been won by Adam on the edge of the box after being challenged by Rio Ferdinand.