A new feature on Soccer Tickets Online. Here are some of the comments by Andre Villas-Boas, Sir
Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, David Moyes, Tony Pulis and Roberto Di Matteo ahead of this weekend's
Premier League matches.
Manchester City's Roberto Mancini
Manchester City face their first away test as champions as they travel to Liverpool on Sunday.
Stoke City have pioneered their way to a few footballing firsts of late; famously becoming the
first side to openly field a gibbon in their first team a few years back and, in the process, also
finding themselves ahead of the curve by providing said gibbon with a cutting-edge
smock to wipe his balls off on.
After having been reducing to a flapping and floundering wreck in the Anfield penalty area,
David De Gea is likely to have spent much of Sunday in a darkened room shaking at the prospect of
being confronted with any of the further tall, muscle bound players the Premier League has to
offer. But a twisted ankle suffered by Anders Lindegaard means that Sir Alex Ferguson is likely to
be left with no option but to force the young Spaniard to confront his demons in his sides clash
with Stoke the evening.
THFC1882 welcomes another guest writer on board. This time it's Glen Bocking.
Glen is an Essex boy but now lives in Stoke so is handily placed to attend this game. Glen's first
Spurs memories are the '91 FA Cup semi and final! Great start to his Spurs watching!
A plethora of streaks came to an end in today's Premier League action as Arsenal and reigning
champions Manchester United were held to home draws while under-pressure Chelsea finally won at
Stamford Bridge after back-to-back defeats in recent weeks.
In reality, though, the trend of streaks coming to an end started at Britannia, when Stoke City
ended a four-match slide with a 3-1 home win over the struggling Blackburn Rovers courtesy of goals
from Rory Delap, Glenn Whelan, and Peter Crouch.
And their funniest recent tweet 1. Jamie Redknapp LiterallyJamie "To cheer Dad up, we've bought him
some new golf clubs. His old clubs have now gone into administration" 2. Tony Pulis Tony_Pulis
"Remember that Friends episode when joey & chandler became bracelet buddies?well Rory Delap is in
for a surprise when he comes [.
A second-half brace from Luis Suarez sent Liverpool through to the quarter-finals of the Carling
Cup with a 2-1 win over Stoke.
Both managers named strong teams, and a crowd of just short of 25,000 at the Britannia Stadium were
rewarded with a first half full of chances that ended with Kenwyne Jones heading in the opening
goal after Jon Walters had robbed Sebastian Coates.
Scott Heavey/Getty Images (Bleacher Report) Liverpool were dealt a harsh blow when they failed to
convert 24 shots on goal and a dominating 73 percent possession.
Jamie Carragher was caught off balance and out of position, which resulted in Jonathan Walters
receiving a penalty that he converted.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images (Bleacher Report) Rory Delap has been a thorn in the side of multiple
EPL clubs over the past seasons. It is well documented how much Arsene Wenger despises the player's
long throw ability.
However, Liverpool have the fortunate advantage of making a trip to the Britannia Stadium this
weekend without having to come up against the Potters' not-so-secret weapon.
Michael Regan/Getty Images(Bleacher Report) Liverpool new boy Stewart Downing has been quoted
recently by the Daily Mirror as having tipped his new club for a strong top four push as the Reds
aim to return to UEFA Champions League football next season.
The £20 million wide man has so far enjoyed a great start with the club as they sit in third place
on seven points after the first month of action in the Barclays Premier League.
It was no surprise to hear Jon Champion use the term "Neanderthal" to describe the Stoke
experience on ESPN at the weekend. After all, when it comes to Stoke City, everyone seems to beÂ
pre-occupied with the notion of evolution.
This time last year, the man often seen as the personification of Stoke's direct approach
launched not a throw-in but a defence of his club's style.
It was no surprise to hear Jon Champion use the term "Neanderthal" to describe the Stoke City
experience on ESPN at the weekend. After all, this is a club that seems pre-occupied with the
notion of evolution.
This time last year, the man often seen as the personification of Stoke's direct approach
launched not a throw-in but a defence of his club's style.
Liverpool hasn't won at the Britannia Stadium in the Premier League and they will be in for another
tough game at Stoke on Saturday.
Tony Pulis has done some great business in the transfer market and it's been a real show of
ambition by Stoke.
They've brought in the likes of Peter Crouch, Matthew Upton, Jonathan Woodgate and Cameron Jerome
and look set for a good season.
"What the fuck were you doing?" Arsene Wenger shouted at Robin van Persie as he trudged off the
field, following his second yellow card, soon after the second half kicked off with Arsenal a goal
down against Southampton. It was the end of February and van Persie's sixth ever start in the
league, after usually being kept on the bench late in to the game before replacing Robert Pires or
Freddie Ljungberg.
"What the fuck were you doing?" Arsene Wenger shouted at Robin van Persie as he trudged off the
field, following his second yellow card, soon after the second half kicked off with Arsenal a goal
down against Southampton. It was the end of February and van Persie's sixth ever start in the
league, after usually being kept on the bench late in to the game before replacing Robert Pires or
Freddie Ljungberg.
The great red card debate reared its ugly head once more yesterday as Stoke City manager Tony Pulis
announced that his players will not be wearing studs for the rest of the season. For the second
time this month Pulis has been left fuming at one of his players being dismissed for ‘raising his
studs' [.
Arsene Wenger was recently in Switzerland with a host of other top European managers to discuss the
future of the game. Other attendees at the UEFA conference included Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep
Guardiola and Andre Villas-Boas. A ccording to the Metro Ajax coach Frank De Boer revealed a
controversial proposal put forward by the Arsenal [.
Valencia justified their pre-match billing as favourites by becoming the first foreign visitors
to win at Stoke City.
Mehmet Topal's brilliant first-half strike put Valencia in control of this round of 32 tie,
ending Stoke's proud unbeaten home record in Europe in the process. The home side went down
fighting, but it was the Liga outfit who were closest to a second goal when, with 19 minutes left,
Sofiane Feghouli stepped inside Andy Wilkinson and beat Asmir Begović, but not the post, with a
deflected shot.
Prologue: Salvador, up in northern Brazil, is so unlike Rio and Sao Paulo, the rest of the
country refers to Bahiaians rudely as "slow". As I trudged through the late afternoon sun looking
for the Newcastle Man Utd game, it struck me that the heat may have something to do with it.
What a great sight! Watching Tony Pubis 'kick off' because of our defenders using their (Stoke's)
tricks, er, tactics at throw ins. Namely, taking time to dry the ball with the towels provided for
Rory Delap's thunderbolts. He must have thought double drat when Ryan Taylor actually produced some
howitzers of his own; nice one [.
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To Any American QPR Fans: Happy Thanksgiving!
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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.
Stoke City 1-1 Manchester United Premier League September 24
Manchester United saw their perfect start to the new Premier League campaign come to an end
after a very difficult encounter with Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.
With Wayne Rooney sidelined with a hamstring injury, Antonio Valencia filling in at right-back
for Jonny Evans, who limped out of the pre-match warm-up, and Michael Owen coming on for the
injured Javier Hernandez after just 11 minutes, it just wasn't going to be United's day.
Stoke boss Tony Pulis has admitted Liverpool should have been awarded a penalty in their win over
the Reds.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was left fuming with a number of decisions that went against his side
at the Britannia Stadium and is considering making a formal complaint to manager of the
Professional Game Match Officials Board Mike Riley about the standard of refereeing.
Jamie Carragher has urged Liverpool to banish the memory of their 1-0 defeat at Stoke City when
they travel to Tottenham next Sunday.
The Reds' unbeaten start to the season was ended in controversial fashion at the Britannia Stadium
on Saturday.
Referee Mark Clattenburg awarded Stoke a dubious penalty when Carragher was harshly adjudged to
have brought down Jon Walters.
Familiar faces will be reunited when Stoke welcome Liverpool to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday,
with Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy both set for their respective debuts.
Former Reds striker Crouch became Tony Pulis' record signing on transfer deadline day after leaving
Tottenham in a £10million deal and he is expected to start this weekend.
Familiar faces will be reunited when Stoke welcome Liverpool to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday,
with Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy both set for their respective debuts.
Former Reds striker Crouch became Tony Pulis' record signing on transfer deadline day after leaving
Tottenham in a £10million deal and he is expected to start this weekend.
Stoke City 1-2 Liverpool | Carling Cup fourth-round match report
Luis Suárez answered some of his critics with the two goals that took Liverpool into the
Carling Cup quarter-finals. A goal down at the interval, the visitors were indebted to their
Uruguayan striker for masterminding their recovery almost single-handedly, dispelling in the
process the myth that he does not convert enough chances to be regarded a clinical finisher.
Liverpool Manager Kenny Dalglish wanted and got to see a refereeing official after Saturday's
defeat to Stoke, a game in which Jamie Carragher was adjudged to have given away a penalty against
Jon Walters(he did) and also when two clear penalties were disallowed by the ref when Rory Delap
and Mattew Upson hand-balled in the box.
Liverpool Manager wanted and got to see a refereeing official after Saturday's defeat to Stoke, a
game in which Jamie Carragher was adjudged to have given away a penalty against Jon Walters(he did)
and also when two clear penalties were disallowed by the ref when Rory Delap and Mattew Upson
hand-balled in the box.
Fans of hilarious throw-ins will forever savor this tour de force of fail from the NESCAC 2012 women's college soccer playoff between Amherst and Colby.
After accidentally catching a rival on the back of the head with her throw, the Amherst player launches a second attempt with Rory Delap levels of vigor.
Rory Delap can consider himself very lucky that this tactic hasn't been adopted by teams up and
down the country. Tottenham quelled the threat posed by Morten Gamst Pedersen's long throw during
today's match against Blackburn by getting their fans to touch his backside during his run-up. The
statistics for Blackburn's shots on goal suggest [.
