The beast from the North East

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.

Recent trips to Wigan have been eventful but the memories aren't particularly pleasant for Gooners. Arsenal have dropped 5 points in the last two visits after conceding late goals in games that the Gunners dominated and should have won.

I hope the dominance continues but the 'Be a Gooner, be a Giver' mantra is not taken on to the field.

Ajax' members will make history this coming Monday. The members will make a decision whether they support the current Board of Directors and support their decision to make Louis van Gaal Ajax' general manager? Or will they vote against it and therefore go the Johan Cruyff route?

One key question is: [read more]

Nice article from the local paper giving boss Rudy Funk's opinions on the Retford v Boro match.
SCARBOROUGH Athletic boss Rudy Funk was delighted with his side's last-gasp point on the road at NCEL Premier title challengers Retford United.He said: " I'm delighted, but it is nothing more than we deserved .

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.

Afterwards, opinions ranged from Andy Carroll having finally shown something of his worth as more than a target for long clearances to him having done nothing in particular to rewrite the gargantuan failure narrative he's been saddled with since arriving at Liverpool for £35M in January. Sometimes those wildly divergent opinions even came from the same pundit.

Is there any other manager in world football who would have his name chanted on the terraces when his team are 3-0 down and reduced to nine men?
Around 70 minutes had gone on Sunday when Kenny Dalglish held his hand aloft to acknowledge the corner of White Hart Lane where hundreds of Reds supporters sang his name.

For the fifth successive game the New England Revolution conceded a goal after the 81st minute, and on Saturday it cost them three points against the New York Red Bulls.

In a rare example of offensive firepower the Revolution jumped out to a 2-0 half-time as the Milton Caraglio, the Revs first-ever desiginated player, scored his first two goals in MLS.

As the mood of English football's most celebrated sleeping giant lifted following the return of Kenny Dalglish last January, as did their level of performances on the pitch.
Aided by the arrivals of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll and the emergence of youngsters such as Martin Kelly and John Flanagan, Liverpool ended the season with a tactical fluidity that had been missing at Anfield for nearing two years.

Quote: Originally Posted by Casey Anthony Wow, I don't know how Amy LePeilbet is going to be able to show her face in public. Quote: Originally Posted by Jeff Agoos What? I thought LePeilbet played fine.

If we play like that we'll never beat USA conquerors Sweden.
Wily fox Tom Sermanni ditched Emily Van Egmond, left Sally Shipard on the bench and went for a three pronged attack against previous World Cup winners Norway this morning - a team we'd never beaten.
The results said it worked.

West Ham go Route One back to Premier League - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Messrs. Gold and Sullivan have stumbled from bad decision to ludicrous decision since taking over at West Ham but they may well have struck gold with the appointment of Big Sam. The quickest form of transport is through the sky and that's why Allardyce's long ball football could provide the Hammers with an instant return to the topflight.

"I hate perception. There is far too much of it in the game. I prefer to stick to reality."
- Sam Allardyce

One of the perceptions in the game right now is that Owen Coyle plays football the right way. Apparently he's introduced football at the Reebok – and football writers are falling over themselves to lavish praise on him:

"Coyle has won admirers for an attractive style of passing football at Bolton, where predecessors Sam Allardyce and Gary Megson were noted for their direct play.

Whereas the discussion in Monday's match against Chelsea has focused around Clint's penalty, to me the bigger story in the game was the formations. And how they would dictate the, erm, "spectacle".

Chelsea came out with the predictable 4-3-3, albeit Drogba started on the bench. Hughes countered with an inverted 4-4-2 that was mostly a 4-4-1-1 with Duff on the right and Dempsey on the left.

The marquee matchup of the Round of 16 is without a doubt Arsenal vs. Barcelona. That's partly because Arsenal is the one group-stage favorite that slipped into 2nd place in their group (behind Shakhtar Donetsk, due to losses at Donetsk and at Sporting Braga), and hence had to draw a group winner for the Round of 16.

League 2 - Tuesday 25th January 2011This match was posponed from last year and its a pity it wasn't posponed again. Lincoln had watched the Wycombe and Accrington matches on the coach. The secret seems to be that if you keep attacking Cheltenham and score early then you can watch them resort to route one and fail.

Our picks for the weekend a couple Premier League games, a couple Serie A games, a USMNT friendly, and the final of the Copa Centroamericano. As usual, culled from SoccerInsider's comprehensive listings, and all times ET:

Saturday, Jan 22

England, Wolves-Liverpool 7:30 a.

[Two men sit in a television studio, jaws slack as highlights play out on the screen behind their desk. One is drooling while that song from every damn movie trailer ever made plus the movie that everybody knows for the joke about "ass to ass" but nobody's actually seen plays in the background.