Mark Ogden writes for The Telegraph about Manchester vs Merseyside

Studs Up looks at the Henry handball conspiracy theory

Oliver Holt writes for The Mirror about Henry's loss of reputation

The Times looks at how referee's favour the home team

When The Seagulls Follow The Trawler has a chat with Oliver Kay

"RoM Reads" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Statement tonight from the United Soccer Leagues:

"In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

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USL News Release Friday, November 20, 2009

TAMPA. Florida – In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

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"I know there are not four or five years ahead of me, not with the injuries I've had," revealed Bellamy. "Maybe I've got one or two years at the most. It will be all over before I know it, so I'm just enjoying it."

>>Craig Bellamy

I remember when he signed for us, Bellamy spoke of it being a 'last chance' of sorts for him which could well explain the attitude and form he has shown since arriving.

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I'm iller today than I was yesterday and can hardly see straight to watch TV let alone put something out there in a blog but after the reaction to Henry's hand I felt I had to blog. On Twitter last night as I signed of for the evening I advised everyone to keep a look out for how this would all be Arsenal's fault.

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Thanks Alexia for the photo!

So he's not exactly the world's favourite man right now, but Titipo Henry has officially joined The Dona's recreational volleyball club after his handball against Ireland. Ok, instead of calling him a hypocrite like everyone, let's sit down and have a drink.

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They started life as the Korean Super Reds back in 2007 but soon dropped the Korean bit. In 2008 they made a sustained bid for the title but fell away towards the end of the season. Now the Super Reds are looking at severing the Korean connection totally and becoming a Singaporen side. Reports suggest they have ditched most of their squad and are looking at changing their name to Yishun Reds. Click to continue reading...

According to Football Italia, Samuel Eto'o has cemented his reputation as the Oprah Winfrey of footballers by giving each and every member of the Cameroon national team, which he captains, a £30,000 watch simply because they qualified for the World Cup.

Meanwhile, every other national team captain is cursing his name for making them look bad.

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According to England manager Fabio Capello, thug-in-a-shirt Wayne Rooney could have the same impact for England that Pele, Johann Cruyff, Michel Platini and Diego Maradona had for their respective countries. In my view, Rooney doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as those players. Click to continue reading...

SHORT SCRIBE OF THE GAME
The first thing you noticed at the ground was the heavy security at the stadium.
Given the stakes were high and big crowds were expected that the organizers had decided to segregate both groups of fans from one and other.
And like most games played in Kallang in the recent years, it would always be the away fans that drummed up the atmospher (Why are we the passive lot? Click to continue reading...

A giant leap forward for disabled players Real Zaragoza are fast earning a reputation for giving players a chance who would have been thrown on the scrapheap elsewhere. Not only have they provided a warm home for the Jermaine Pennant, they have now handed a debut to a one-handed player. Alex Sanchez, aged 20, came on as [. Click to continue reading...

From the United-Chelsea game on Sunday...

and then afterwards:

When I saw this in real-time I missed the first incident and only saw Drogba writhing on the floor. I was worried for a few seconds; regardless of Drogba's antics you don't want to see a professional footballer badly injured and I was worried he had suffered a spinal injury or something that could keep him out of the game for a long period of time.

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Keith Hackett stating the obvious.

"I have said to managers in the past that this is an area of great difficulty for referees and it can come down to the viewing angle of the referee."

I think it is time to give him the goods on the human eye. The game has gotten a lot quicker and the art of deception even more perfect.

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And those words are: Meeting the challenge.

Right. So before the first playoff leg I predicted a series score of 2-1. Then before the second playoff leg, seeing the kind of chaos the two teams were creating and the resulting goals, I predicted 2-1 for the game on Sunday.

So, looking at a 3-2 aggregate and a 1-0 second leg scoreline, you can see that I bloody well can't predict anything when it comes to these two teams.

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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has challenged Yossi Benayoun to fill the probable void left by the ongoing injury problems of Steven Gerrard.
The Reds are again expected to be without captain Gerrard for Monday's match with Birmingham at Anfield as the England ace continues to struggle with the groin problem sustained against Ukraine in October. Click to continue reading...

Jonny Evans delivered a pretty brutal flying kung fu kick to Didier Drogba's chest, causing Drogba to drop to the ground and convulse like he just got tased. The reaction was a bit, uh, exaggerated, but Evans clearly deserved a red for trying to puncture his lung with his boot. Instead, Drogba's reputation (and spastic leg kicks) got him booked rather than Evans.

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Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are weighing up a move for CSKA Moscow winger Milos Krasic.
The Premier League trio were represented in the stands at Old Trafford on Tuesday night as the Serbia international impressed with the Russians' second goal in the 3-3 draw.
Krasic, who is 25 and 6ft 1ins, has forged a reputation as an intelligent player with good pace and an eye for goal. Click to continue reading...

Adriano has been doing really well since returning to Brazil and getting his head back together. So well, in fact, that people are even using his image on their products. Unfortunately, those products are drugs.

From the Corriere dello Sport:

Now that Adriano is back in Rio de Janeiro and is the top scorer in the Brazilian championship with Flamengo, he's so popular that his picture is even selling packets of drugs.

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Liverpool and Rangers are drinking in the last-chance saloon while Arsenal are hoping to toast their progress into the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League. Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan, who have not won in the Champions League for over a year, must drop their reputation as draw specialists when they face Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine where the former Chelsea boss will once again be up against ex-Blues striker Andriy Shevchenko. Click to continue reading...

19 year-old Hungarian defender defender, in only his second league outing, further enhanced his growing reputation as he put in a solid showing alongside returning Argentine International Fabricio Coloccini. Tamas Kadar solid game last night well done! Sheffield United were a very physical side last night, as most sides will try to be against [. Click to continue reading...

Among the performers who have lit up this burgeoning Championship campaign are some familiar names. Michael Chopra has so far justified every last dime of his weighty fee, Kevin Nolan has buckled down and rehabilitated his reputation as an all purpose midfielder-cum-forward, and Adam Johnson's sleek skills on the Middlesbrough wing have helped Smogheads forget the injured Stewart Downing. Click to continue reading...

This morning FIFA confirmed the match referees who will be in charge of the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff. Alberto Undiano Mallenco, who is from Spain, will direct the first leg. He was the match referee for the 2007 U-20 World Cup final, the most recent Real Madrid-Barcelona match, and a number of UEFA Champions League matches. Click to continue reading...

I was browsing over at 3nil when I found this joke of a dive, it is taken from Shakhtar Donetsk vs Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian league. The Kyiv player Vukojević (in white) gets sent off for this prod in Kucher's back, but it is the Shakhter players response that is an absolute joke.

It appears that reputation has come before Ognjen Vukojević of Dynamo Kyiv, as he is known as the Croatian equivalent of Gattuso.

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This was a game where, more then anything else, Liverpool were looking to see which players would enhance their reputation. And, in that respect there is plenty about which to be satisfied despite the defeat. Make no mistake, this was nothing like last year's feeble surrender at Tottenham: Liverpool played with determination and commitment that deserved a better outcome. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool are keen on securing the services of Sampdoria midfielder Vladimir Koman, The Daily Mirror claims.
The Hungarian starlet is currently on loan at Bari and is valued at £4 million.
Koman, who is building a reputation as a free-scoring midfielder, is under contract in Genoa until 2012. Click to continue reading...

Rafa eyes up another Hungarian.

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Liverpool are tracking Hungarian starlet Vladimir Koman.

Sampdoria midfielder Koman, currently on loan at Bari, caught the eye during the World Under-20 championships.

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Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has been under a lot of criticism recently after making several crucial mistakes in front of goal. And now his reputation sunk to a new low Tuesday night after a couple of Barnsley yobs invaded the pitch at Oakwell and scored a goal past him.

Foster didn't look too amused, did he?

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Legendary French striker Jean-Pierre Papin has tipped Liverpool striker Fernando Torres to push Barcelona duo Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi as the race for the Ballon d'Or heats up.
The Spaniard has been in tremendous form at both domestic and international level since leaving Atletico Madrid, sealing himself a reputation as one of the world's most deadly strikers. Click to continue reading...

Jozy Altidore was excluded from the Hull City game with no explanation for his absence to be found. But the young lass loves his social networking sites, so the mystery didn't take very long to figure out. While Hull was already playing, Jozy sent his fans a little tweet to explain what had happened:

"Apologize to the all of you.

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It was a great weekend in the Premier League for Chelsea. Not only did the Blues finally hit top gear to crush Blackburn 5-0, Liverpool took three points off Manchester United while Man City and Arsenal both dropped points having surrendered two goal leads.
Chelsea now sit two points clear at the top of the table with the joint best goal difference and, whilst more difficult games are on the horizon (not least Man Utd next month), things are looking bright.

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It was a great weekend in the Premier League for Chelsea. Not only did the Blues finally hit top gear to crush Blackburn 5-0, Liverpool took three points off Manchester United while Man City and Arsenal both dropped points having surrendered two goal leads.
Chelsea now sit two points clear at the top of the table with the joint best goal difference and, whilst more difficult games are on the horizon (not least Man Utd next month), things are looking bright.

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The 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea in the CL group stage was the last straw. With Atletico almost out of the CL and only one win in the Liga, it has been a horrible start to the new season. Goals have been hard to come by given that the club boasts the likes of "Kun" Aguero and Diego Forlan.

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Alan Smith will miss his second game because of suspension on Saturday and that is not particularly good news for Newcastle. Alan Smith misses game through suspension on Saturday But Alan plays in such an aggressive way and often his reputation goes before him, and he will always pick up more than his fair share of [. Click to continue reading...

Gareth Southgate has been relieved of his duties as manager of Middlesbrough Football Club with immediate effect. The decision was announced in the early hours of this morning and came hot on the heels of yesterday's 2-0 victory over Derby County at the Riverside.

The win over Derby ended a run of three straight home defeats in the Championship, and it is this along with falling home attendences - less than 17,500 for the Derby game - that is being rumoured as the contributing factors to Southgate's dismissal.

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For those on the inside looking out, nary a worse manager reigns in the international realm; for those on the outside looking in...

Viva la Domenech.

What he lacks in coaching abilities, he makes up for in deliciously idiotic words. He's kind of like Maradona without the playing career.

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