It is being reported today that Arsenal have turned down a request from West Ham Utd to take the 31 year-old French defender Sebastien Squillaci on loan. The Hammers recently had Manuel Almunia at Upton Park for a month while Robert Green was out injured and Sam Allardyce was hoping for a similar deal for [.

With England's ticket to the 2012 European Championships now booked, Fabio Capello's thoughts will be away from the colder temperature and focused on his 23 man squad selection for the tournament next summer.

The question of who to take, and who to leave out, always excites a media frenzy, with the age-old debates of club form, age, and experience brought out to trump up heroes or tear down villains.

West Ham United have announced the emergency signing of Arsenal's back-up goalkeeper Manuel Almunia as a replacement for first-choice stopper Robert Green, who will be sidelined for almost six weeks due to a knee injury.

Almunia, who currently ranks third in the Gunners' pecking order behind the Polish duo of Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski, will be on loan at Upton Park for a month and Hammers boss Sam Allardyce has expressed his gratefulness to the North London outfit for approving the deal.

Voices floating over Hadrian's Wall after Sunday's Old Firm derby sounded curiously, positive. Curiously positive in the sense that, with so much about Scottish football being accompanied by the sound of a death knell of late, hearing something good about two SPL clubs struck a more upbeat note. Rangers and Celtic gave those in attendance at Ibrox, along with those watching abroad, a fierce display of quality football for the majority of the ninety minutes, showcasing much of the skill and drama that draws us to this game.

Q. Which English Championship team's fans were chanting 'USA, USA' yesterday...? A. Cardiff City's, in tribute to West Ham's former England goalkeeper Robert Green, whose side lost 0-1 to the Bluebirds at Upton Park in their first match under Sam Allardyce. As an England fan who watched Green's butter fingers from behind the goal in Rustenburg, even I found that funny, although on that chilly

West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has called on his players to live up to their reputations and deliver an instant bounce-back to the Premier League. The Hammers were unlikely relegation victims last season, but are among the favorites for promotion as the new season kicks off this weekend.

"We are the favorites, the big boys in this league and I have told the players 'Everyone wants your scalp, you are going to have to live up to your reputation from day one because they are going to want to turn you over,'" said the former Bolton boss.

Football transfer rumours: Gary Cahill to Liverpool

All today's Rumours are feeling sick Summer's gone. You can tell because it's raining outside, and football's coming back. Oh summer! Cycling, cricket, golf, even the odd shaft of sun finding its way through the cracks in the curtains every now and then.

Artist Gary Finkler has been so inspired by US women's goalkeeper Hope Solo's heroics in front of goal for Team USA, that he created this fun cartoon featuring Hope Solo (dressed as Han Solo) battling off the evil force of FIFA (i.e. Darth Vader).

You can see more of Gary's cartoons on his website at http://7thinningsketch.

There is something almost Riefenstahlian about the official site's daily descriptions of the squad's pre-season fitness regime; the luxuriating in the mundane minutiae of each training drill and the fetishistic depictions of lythe young bodies in the throws of physical exertion. So it is we learn that it was a mixture of work and play for West Ham United's players as the squad continued their pre-season training camp in Switzerland.

Sam Allardyce suffered defeat in his first game in charge of West Ham United, narrowly losing 2-1 to Swiss side Young Boys. The respectable result was the culmination of a hectic day three of the pre-season tour in central Switzerland, which saw the squad conduct two training sessions ahead of their opening Uhren Cup fixture.

Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?

Abhinav's Note: This has been quite an interesting series for us authors at BFZ, and I personally hope we are back with this at the end of next season too. Oh, I'm getting too emotional. [I really can't express those yawning or wailing sounds like Ducky, so just imagine Rebecca Black singing]

You know what I just realised?

On a day of wonderful goals and woeful goalkeeping, Mexico had reason to celebrate at the Women's World Cup.

A 30-yard blast from Monica Ocampo gave Mexico a 1-1 draw against England on Monday in Wolfsburg, the biggest surprise so far after two days of the three-week tournament. A superb curling free kick from star player Aya Miyama earlier sent Japan past New Zealand 2-1 in Bochum.

Robert Green, eat your heart out England under 17s were held to a draw against Canada after a late freak strike from goalkeeper Quillan Roberts. The goalie struck from his own-half after an awkward bounce beat England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, of Sunderland. The match finished 2-2 after Roberts' 86th minute equaliser.

We stumbled across this beer and American soccer marketing gem and couldn't resist having a little fun with it. Found while reading SI.com a banner ad caught our eye, "Modelo Especial Shootout with Clint Dempsey."
Hey! We love beer! We love the Deuce! First though was... do you think the Dempsey used to sling back Modelos with his bros in Nacogdoches?

Newcastle United have rejected a £3m offer for midfielder Kevin Nolan from West Ham but an improved offer for his services is expected as new West Ham boss Sam Allardyce goes about rebuilding his team who are already set to lose the services of Robert Green, Matt Upson and Scott Parker following their relegation from the Premier League.

Well, thank God we rested our starters against Spain. I don't know what would have happened otherwise.
Canada was waiting four years for that? All that righteous indignation, for nothing. I wonder why they didn't call up Dwayne De Rosario.
Anyway, now that the tournament has started, it's important to remember that group games mean nothing outside of (1) results and (2) making sure no one gets injured.

It's been a long...but fun, year. About 51 weeks and several hours ago, my football obsession began. As Robert Green spilled a Clint Dempsey shot over the goal line last June, my interest was stirred. At the time, I didn't know Robert Green from...
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Under-21 Euro 2011: Players To Watch - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

With no senior tournament for Europe this summer, it is the chance for the next generation to shine. Here are eleven youngsters hoping to catch the eye at the forth coming 2011 Under 21 European Championships in Denmark.

Been a sleepy morning, trying to finish up a final week of teaching, but here you go with some great news.Brad Friedel.Wait, oh, um, Brad Friedel + Tottenham = You know you love some Spurs nowYeah, Tottenham still has issues keeping Gomez from messing up a game they are winning. Actually, he, personally, has cost them 9 points in the standings this year alone on Robert Green type moves.

Sam Allardyce has been named as the new manager of West Ham United, replacing Avram Grant, who was sacked after the Hammers' relegation.

Allardyce comes into the position fully aware that several of the Hammers' big names, like Scott Parker, Carlton Cole and Robert Green, will be sold this summer.

The Toast is excited to announce our newest site feature: tabs!
The tabs above mostly pertain to kit news (don't worry, we'll be sure to alert you on the main page as well when there is new information to report), but you will also be able to find when and where you will be able to find European and International soccer on TV in America.

Philadelphia Union midfielder Amobi Okugo will be out for at least the next three weeks after suffering a high ankle sprain against the Chicago Fire over the weekend, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

Okugo suffered the injury in the opening minutes against the Fire and was replaced by Kyle Nakazawa, who figures to see the lion's share of Okugo's minutes while he is out.

Sidelined for almost the whole season in favour of Heurhelo Gomes, the 37 year-old veteran keeper has arguably gone beyond the call of duty when asked to stand in for Heurhelo Gomes for two brief periods during the season when the No. 1 was hit firstly with a match ban and then more recently was ruled out with a back injury.

By their very nature relegated teams are not overloaded with talent worthy of the Premier League. That is not to say that West Ham United, Blackpool and Birmingham City do not have players who will attract interest from top flight clubs. Some players are already the subject of approaches.
West Ham have a core of English players who, whilst generally have been disappointing this season, will be attractive due to their Premier League experience and native nationality.

Is your club completely skint? Still waiting for your Arab oil sheikh to sink billions of his black gold profits into your first team? Just like the rest of us, you'll probably we waiting a long time. As Manchester City fans are going to find out in the next few seasons, money can't guarantee you long-term success.

West Ham United's relegation from the Premier League has been on the cards for some time. This in itself prevents the Hammers' demotion from being a surprise, but a look at the club's squad suggests a bottom placed finished was unexpected and something few predicted at the start of the season.
When Avram Grant replaced Gianfranco Zola as manager in June 2010, optimism at Upton Park was genuine.

A long tradition in the English top flight means nothing these days, as it looks like time has run out for the Upton Park faithful. As they arrived at Green Street today, they knew they had three winnable games remaining, and a chance to save themselves after a very disappointing season. Now after failing to beat Blackburn, the new management are heading for the Championship.

There are certain natures, purely contemplative and altogether unfit for action, which nonetheless, impelled by a mysterious and unknown motive, act at times with rapidity of which they would have believed themselves incapable. Thus, Baudelaire introduces us to Le Mauvais vitrier; the exemplar of what Poe coined The Imp of the Perverse, and as exemplified by David Gold's unpropitious comments in this morning's papers.

Sheer, unbridled bliss. Quite a feeling this, one a certain Spaniard hadn't exactly been familiar with since his January move to Chelsea Football Club. Not so much anymore.

We all experienced such a feeling Saturday afternoon. That's when our newest No. 9 opened his account for the club. It's a moment many of us will not soon, if ever, forget.

Your PFA Player of The Year? Image: Getty Images/Zimbio

Having studied the habits of Kickette staff over the last four years, our data has demonstrated that emotional stress causes increased ingestion of cookie dough and white wine. As we approach the business end of the season, a review of our orders to the bakery suggests that we're in for a record year, and we predict that unfulfilled threats to join a gym will spike in late May.

Despite playing in the most beautiful spring sunshine imaginable at the weekend, it still never rains but it pours for West Ham United. The season is at that point where timing can become everything yet even the fixture secretary seems to be against them. The previous weekend's loss to Manchester United made it seven straight League defeats to Sir Alex Ferguson's team so West Ham could have done with playing a side on Saturday with a whiff of the patsy about them; somebody willing to surrender and give them three desperately needed points.

Tottenham vs West Ham 19th March 2011- 19/3/11- 12.45 UK kick off, White Hart Lane Final score:- Tottenham v West Ham 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur create plenty of chances, but some excellent goalkeeping from West Ham keeper Robert Green, including one fabulous save from a Gareth Bale free kick, keeps the scoreline at 0-0 at the [.

Kenny Dalglish has warned Fabio Capello that he needs to "be responsible" in not relying on Andy Carroll for England's internationals against Wales and Ghana.
Carroll has only just returned to fitness, and made his first Liverpool start on Thursday after suffering a thigh injury before he signed for £35 million in January.

Micah Richards' header sent Manchester City into an FA Cup semi-final blockbuster with Manchester United next month as they eded out Championship side Reading.

It will be the Blues' first appearance at that stage of the competition for 30 years and they will hope to avoid the nerves that affected them against the Royals.

Micah Richards' header sent Manchester City into an FA Cup semi-final blockbuster with Manchester United next month as they eded out Championship side Reading.

It will be the Blues' first appearance at that stage of the competition for 30 years and they will hope to avoid the nerves that affected them against the Royals.

Seriousness versus frivolity. Aesthetics versus the dour practicality of not having the money to be able to spend on the very best players in the world. It has felt this season as if there is a new schism opening up in football. It now feels as if there is a type of football that is artistically, technically and, dare we say it, morally superior to all others.

Photo by The Gaffer.

The convincing 5-1 win in the FA cup against Championship side Burnley Monday confirmed that West Ham might be turning a corner. A good thing too, as they would look an expensive joke in the Championship with a half full Olympic Stadium after 2012.

West Ham's season so far has been one of inconsistency, lack of goals and more worryingly, the third worse goals against column in the league.

There could have been 100 goals in the 2011 Asian Cup tournament, if North Korea and the United Arab Emirates had been a bit less shi...ocking. And as there were nearly three goals-per-game and the best and most entertaining team won, this tournament can be filed in the success column – whatever Alex Ferguson may think of "this Asia Cup thing.

Birmingham City are heading to their first Wembley Final for 55 years after beating West Ham 4-3 on aggregate in their Carling Cup semi-final. Birmingham will play Arsenal in the final on the 27 February.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg, West Ham seemed to have a place at Wembley all locked up when Carlton Cole put them one up (and 3-1 on aggregate) in the 31st minute.