After 2 weeks wait our team failed us, what went wrong?� I don't really know, a slight attitude problem I would guess. We need more desire to win.� We need to believe..

If we still need to find a scapegoat� we cannot for a change point the finger at our favourite villains Diaby, Eboue or Bendtner.

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Continuing the series where we vote "River" for players that we want to see DC United cast away and we vote "Life" for players that we hope will return, let's take a look now at DCU's defenders. I have a feeling this group will prove more interesting than the defensive midfielders, who received mostly favorable ratings. Click to continue reading...

Following their 5-4 defeat last week against Persebaya the Papuan side nicknamed the Highlanders made keeper Timothius Mote the scapegoat, dropping him and bringing in Gery Mandigir. But the spikey haired keeper was all at sea for the first 25 minutes and it was down to prro finishing that Persik only led by a goal to nil at half time. Click to continue reading...

So Mo Johnston's big state of the no-union address was to remove the "interim" tag from head coach Chris Cummins title. He also removed the word "head" and "coach" from the affable Englishman's job description as well.
Yes, the ever-humble Johnston dispatched yet another manager from the TFC bench with Cummins being the convenient excuse for the mediocrity which Mo has taken nearly four years to build. Click to continue reading...

In the midst of the Alonso summer saga, I posted the results from different midfield pairings. Lucas/Mascherano's line looked like this:
6 wins, 4 draws
2-0 West Brom, 3-0 West Ham, 4-1 United, 1-1 City, 1-1 Wigan, 0-0 Stoke, 5-1 Newcastle, 3-1 PSV [4-4-2], 0-0 Fulham [4-4-2], 2-1 Marseille
Let's ignore the PSV and Fulham games because of the 4-4-2 formation in Gerrard's absence (and Torres' against PSV). Click to continue reading...

Lucas Leiva has vowed to repay Rafa Benitez for his faith, with the Liverpool boss now the man under pressure at Anfield.
Brazilian Lucas has constantly been scrutinised by fans for his unconvincing displays in a Reds shirt since his arrival from Gremio in 2007.
Benitez has persistently defended the player's abilities, but now the tides have turned as the Spanish boss is under immense pressure as a result of Liverpool's dreadful form. Click to continue reading...

2 Blackouts. Stuttgart continued to show signs of life in their game against Sevilla and they continued to produce stupid defensive lapses, which continually cost them the games. Two such mistakes, coupled with the referee missing an offside position helped Sevilla to a comfortable 3-1 victory.

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If Jay Spearing needed a lesson in the fickle nature of football fans, he certainly got it this week. Given the Lucas Leiva's continuing unpopularity, Spearing somehow became not only a viable alterative for the Brazilian but also a better player. A sort of 'he can't be any worse than him' attitude took over. Click to continue reading...

What's there to say?
The coach is sacked, a whole lot of laundry is aired, some no doubt utter bullshit, other true. Frank is scapegoated for a long period of administrative incompetence in the Roar and the FFA.
At the same time - quick, someone mentioned a 50% hike on the already most expensive tickets in the league might have 'contributed' to the disappearing crowds - the Roar announces a 15% price cut and a special promotion letting kids in free. Click to continue reading...

In spite of assuring everyone that Leonardo will finish this season and won't pay for Berlusconi's stinginess and selling of the best player, the Brazilian probably won't stay on the bench if he keeps this up.

We have already written about that he will be the scapegoat and it is hard to tell who will inherit his post.

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Nobody is happy with losing at Chelsea. But some of the doom and gloom and rubbish being spouted in Liverpool's direction is well over the top.
If you're asking me whether I think we can still win the league, the answer is simple.
Yes. Of course we can. We definitely can.
And as for people blaming Javier Mascherano for their first and decisive goal – well I just don't buy it. Click to continue reading...

By definition, the Donnety Award goes to the player who has been the biggest disappointment for DC United in 2009. The award's namesake Matias Donnet came to United in 2006 and was seen as a potential all star due to his pedigree after playing for Boca Juniors, as well as spending some time in Serie A. Click to continue reading...

Be warned, Mr Rant Is back in Town

Arsenal Striker Eduardo: Heading for the Olympics?

If he's not, he damn well should be.

I despise people who dive in matches, so much so that I'd happily shout abuse at one of my own team who decided to take a tumble, and have before resorted to shouting 'Get up you nonce' at them down the pub.

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In the aftermath of England's destruction of� Croatia on Wednesday, it seems international football is suddenly back in fashion. Since the last World Cup, any� national team service was a nuisance. That it was seen as an unwelcome distraction from the money-printing industry that European club football has become.

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Arsenal Fans Can Have No Excuses

Emmanuel Adebayor is Public Enemy Number One at the moment, partly for his stamp on Robin Van Persie, and mostly because of his goal celebration in front of the Arsenal fans. "Inciting a riot". Of course it was ill-advised he must have Ashley Cole's Public Relations officer but it still should not defend the embarrassing actions of the Arsenal fans present, causing unnecessary injury to a steward.

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Ok the day after the loss to Man Citeh, I can rationalise that it is not the end of the world. We have won the premiership before having lost four games, but under those circumstances, we were scoring lots of goals and shutting out lower teams before half time. What really annoys me is the fact that we possess the players able to beat the likes of Man City, such as Eduardo and Jack Wilshere and yet the weekend after International fixtures we choose not to play them.

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The Fire Bob Bradley movement has returned front and center. This movement's proponents continue to advocate the termination of the current US coach while offering little advice in the way of a realistic replacement. Many proponents of this movement have also vastly over rated the talent level in the current US Men's National Team Player pool, believing that the failures that can be rightfully blamed on a poor youth system, college soccer and a domestic league that doesn't focus on player development as it once did are all down to a single man.

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A player who has come in for some unwarranted criticism in recent days who has already shown himself to be a good value Anfield signing.

There has been a lot said about Glen Johnson in the press and by pundits and supposed 'experts' in recent days and I have to say I am dumbfounded by anyone who believes that the former Chelsea and West Ham man is anything other than one of the best right backs in the World right now.

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Manchester United legend, Paddy Crerand, has recognised the improvement in home grown midfielder, Darren Fletcher. Crerand rightly states that Fletcher used to be singled out by United fans as a player who wasn't good enough, but then who would look good enough in comparison to Roy Keane and Paul Scholes?

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Seriously, is there a bigger frakking joke of an organization on the planet than UEFA?

Apparently they have now come out and said that they will not be instituting a regular program of reviewing suspected acts of simulation for possible suspensions. So, basically, Eduardo gets suspended, and none of the other scores of players who have committed or will commit virtually identical acts will.

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The unsurprising news arrived today that Eduardo has indeed received a two match ban from the Champions League after his dive against Celtic last week. UEFA took less than an hour to come to their decision despite a 19-page dossier sent by the club in defence.

But then we knew that was going to happen from the moment he was charged it was clear that Eduardo was to be UEFA's scapegoat, their statement of intent that diving would no longer be tolerated.

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So, through four games, Liverpool's conceded seven goals. All seven have come from set plays (if we count Ashley Young's penalty). Zonal marking has been a scapegoat since Benitez came to the club, so it's worth a look at the proportion of goals Liverpool's conceded that have come from set plays over his five seasons. Click to continue reading...

Eduardo, UEFA's scapegoat.

Let me begin by conveying how absolutely disgusted I am about this entire episode. First the dive by Eduardo (lets not kid ourselves, it WAS a dive) and then the hypocritical way UEFA has dealt with it.

We see the same circumstances every week. A player suffers insignificant contact and goes down and is awarded (or not) a penalty.

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10am, live in the US on Setanta
Last 4 head-to-head:
3-0 Liverpool (h) 12.26.08
2-0 Liverpool (a) 11.15.08
3-1 Liverpool (a) 03.02.08
4-0 Liverpool (h) 12.02.07
Last two matches:
Liverpool: 1-3 Villa (h); 4-0 Stoke (h); 1-2 Spurs (a)
Bolton: 1-0 Tranmere (a); 0-1 Hull (a); 0-1 Sunderland (h)
Referee: Alan Wiley
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Liverpool's been abhorrent in two of the last three games, and I'm still picking the same line-up. Click to continue reading...

Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Goals:
Lucas (og) 34'
Davies 45+2'
Torres 72'
Young 75' (pen)
See, I told you I'd jinx it. Three games into the league, and Liverpool has the same number of losses as the whole of last season. Click to continue reading...

The release of the alleged bomber of Panam Flight 103 Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from Scottish prison is the VERY BEST PIECE OF NEWS.
He is innocent of the crime.
Totally.
My friend Yvonne and her daughter Bryony were on Flight 103.
We all received our Christmas cards after learning of their deaths, like that should have any relevance to anything, but, in some small way, it did matter, and still does. Click to continue reading...

It seems that whenever a team does poorly they just fire the coach. Well I guess they have to blame somebody. It's no surprise that the New York Red Bulls were the worst team in the MLS this season holding a 2-16-4 score.

Juan Carlos Osorio - N.Y. Red Bulls

I suppose that the blame could could have been pointed at anyone of the players but the scapegoat turned out to be the head coach, Juan Carlos Osorio.

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It is well-known that Silvio Berlusconi has no scruples and that he is able of wearing any player out and seeing him off with irony and disdain. Nothing is sacred for Italian prime-minister; he toys with everything and the people are replaceable, like chess peons.

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Okay, so I don't want to single out Marlon (second time that I've posted because of one of your comments!), but I think this sentiment deserves to be here rather than subsumed beneath 15 previous comments.

At this point I'd rather see Lucas come good then seeing a new signing flourish in our midfield.

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Laughter is probably not really appropriate in regards to any injury news, but this did give me a chuckle.

Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky has suffered a minor injury setback after returning from 18 months on the sidelines.
After playing half the recent pre-season game against Barnet, Rosicky was substituted as a precaution by boss Arsene Wenger.

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It's been five days since I posted, and a few nice new things have happened in the land of Toronto FC and Major League Soccer. For example, both Ali Gerba and O'Brien White made their debuts during Wednesday's friendly against River Plate. Also, you might want to mark July 24 on your calendar as the day "Major League Soccer fined David Beckham. Click to continue reading...

With the annual friendly with Barnet only a couple of days away, the question arises in the mind of every Arsenal fan, if the team is capable of ending their four year drought for silverware. The pre season matches to be played will help us make a better assessment of the team's capabilities.

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This is our second of four posts in review of the moves DC United has made since the end of last season. Last week we looked at their acquisitions, today we'll look at the players who departed, and then later we'll look at their trades.
1. It's hard to imagine how different DC United's season would be had they retained Marcelo Gallardo in 2009. Click to continue reading...

With this weeks 4-0 drubbing of England u21s by the German u21s, Die Mannschaft completed a hat-trick of youth level European Championships (winning the u17, u19, and u21 tournaments). Such success indicates that the future of the Bundesliga is bright, and that while the Serie A begins a period of decline, the Premier League is used as a scapegoat for the failures of the English national team, and La Liga devolves into a 2 horse race, the Bundesliga is poised to regain its place amongst the top 3 leagues in Europe.

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Two week ago I authored an article about the evolution of US tactics since Steve Sampson's days.

Since that article, Bob Bradley has switched his tactical setup for two consecutive matches while continuing his incredibly consistent and predictable squad selection.

Bradley went from the empty bucket 4-4-2 against Honduras to a 4-5-1 with essentially three holding midfielders against Italy.

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