You know, it's pretty hard sometimes to come up with ideas for articles. Especially when you have such a great writing team around you as we have here at DT.com. All the good ideas are always taken. In all seriousness, I have a huge amount of respect for all of the writers and readers of this blog, and am honored to provide yet another installment of Fusion's footy rants.

Following consecutive league defeats (both games in which we took the lead) I think we can all agree the need for savage and violent revolution is obvious. A blood thirsty, shrieking gallop to the hills followed by a good fortnight of medieval combat ought to sort it. Because nothing quite says "ambitious football club" like flapping through a wooded area wearing Arsene Wenger's skin as a dress and Peter Hill Wood's nuts for earrings.

Any hopes we had of tiptoeing under the radar were swiftly punted into the Thames on Wednesday evening after every man and his lame dog in the days following declared Tottenham of Hotspur as genuine title contenders™. Alan Hansen, David Platt, S'ralex- even our own Heemskerk Howitzer, Rafael Van der Vaart, has pitched his tent in the side of ‘why the heck not'.

Former Chelsea Coach Carlo Ancelotti believes that English sides Arsenal and Chelsea will struggle against Italian opponents AC Milan and Napoli. The 52 year old further went on to say that state of the game in England is 'unwell'.

These are very interesting remarks coming from a coach who helped led the Blues to the Premier League title in 2009/2010.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he feared for Steven Gerrard's career after ankle infection

The Scot praised the club's medical staff after they discovered the seriousness of his most recent fitness problem and insisted the midfielder would not be rushed back

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-18 18:57:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The swelling went down, the MRI was done, and the news came back confirming the worst fears and least palatable rumours: Lucas Leiva will be out, at best, for the remainder of the season after injuring his ACL. This is, of course, horrible news for the player himself, whose development into one of the best holding midfielders in world football had finally seen a long overdue shift in public and media opinion.

CARSON, Calif -- I really do like Bruce Arena.

I mean, I like and appreciate him the way I like and appreciate a really mean dog in my neighborhood. I respect that dog. And over time, I think that dog has come to respect me. Why? Becuase I know what I'm doing around dogs. And I don't take any shit from that dog.

As is our usual policy when it comes to matters of extreme seriousness in football, we choose to plead the fifth amendment. For those not familiar with the United States constitution, it reads as follows:

'No Kickette staffer should be forced to comment on a footballing situation that may or may not involve crime/infidelity/buffoon-like behaviour, on the basis that they are completely ill-equipped to deal with such matters and will invariably panic and say something that will get the site sued and/or look really stupid.

Video highlights and reaction Match Report

So, a 0-0 draw with Marseille means there's still work to do in the Champions League. Expectations were high after Chelsea but if football has taught us anything down the years it's that highs such as the one Stamford Bridge mean things can feel a little flat afterwards.

(In)Famous Facial Hair in Football: Then and Now - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It's something that's perhaps said almost as much in jest as it is in seriousness, but for some, the mark of a true manly man is all in the facial hair.

If you subscribe to that notion, then you may also be among the population that feels that football isn't what it used to be, with finesse, flair, and frailty pushing physicality in the past, or at best compressed into several three-to-five minute Youtube compilations.

By Chris Wright

It's so ironic, it simply must be fattening!

As we creep toward Bonfire Night and stupid children start dreaming about doing stupid things with over-the-counter explosives, Man City have started a club campaign called TREACLE to promote firework safety this November and who better to front that campaign than a man who nearly lost everything (on his towel rack) at the weekend in a fireworks-related house fire?

Gerrard Admits Career Low

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has admitted that his recent six-month spell on the sidelines was the low point of his career. The 31-year-old had been suffering with a recurring groin injury before making his full comeback with a start against Manchester Utd last Saturday.

It's been over 24 hours since the U.S. Open Cup Final ended but after so much wind-up, there needs to be some wind-down. Somel thoughts on the final separated by pressing topics and personalities.

Section 8 Chicago - The Independent Supporters Association for the Chicago Fire Soccer Club

The legend grows.

So it rained like a b*tch in San Jose today, which essentially ruined the day for working photographers who needed to snap the Brazilian players during training! Neymar, David Luiz and Fred just wrapped up their press conferences a few hours ago, and (in all seriousness, graças a deus!

With the fast pace of today's websites it often hard to gauge just what readers and users want. Especially for sports fans who all seem to want something different depending on their choice of sport or team. That's why the great marketing gods from on high have blessed us with the magic of surveys.

The news that Carlos Tevez refused to play for Manchester City last night is still unbelievable to think about especially for a professional footballer who gets paid a princely sum each week. The seriousness of the issue can best be ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.

Never mind continuing his goal streak, I'll be happy be a defensive performance

There's only so many times one team can restart a season, which is why I won't even go into this thinking that this is where it begins for us again. We are now in 17th position in the league. Our next opponent, Bolton is 19th.

Not to be outdone by other club's season ticket renewals, the San Jose Earthquakes are doing something that I really hope catches on from other MLS clubs. Renew your season tickets today and you get a free NASL throwback kit.

That my friends is bad ass.

I've been hoping for a long time now that several MLS clubs do the old NASL throwback day here soon.

Tonight at 6pm PT the Seattle Sounders will play DC United, a team which, with a win, would jump back ahead of the Portland Timbers in the wild card standings, knocking our boys back below the playoff cut. This situation puts Timbers fans in an uncomfortable position, one that many of us saw coming but few of us would admit to being prepared for.

In my whole entire stinking existence I have never seen Arsenal involved in a relegation scrap.
There is always a first for everything I suppose!
People say Arsenal will find it tough to get into the top four this season.
Well, at the moment, I'd be happy if we finish outside of the bottom four!

Hello there and welcome to eight days before the transfer window closes.

The focus now is on tomorrow night and the Champions League qualifying game with Udinese. The team will fly out today, the question is who's fit and who's not. Although nothing's confirmed I'm not sure we're going to see any of the returns we'd hoped for.

Joel Lindpere and the Red Bulls hope to help their playoff chances in New England. (Getty Images)

It is finally Friday. Moving into the weekend phase of this week is something I've been looking forward to since well...last weekend. In all seriousness though, Major League Soccer shifts into their weekend phase after three decent midweek games.

Years of trade union negotiating experience taught me the value of reading things very carefully. The English language's propensity for nuance is part of both its charm and its devil. But however carefully I read what has been written about and said by the main protagonists in Plymouth Argyle's five-months in administration, I can't escape the feeling that the language used has often seemed more misleading and plain wrong than nuanced.

...And thus, that shall be the first and only time you will see me mention Oxtail-Chamberpot by his full and proper name.

In all seriousness, today both Arsenal and Southampton announced the signing of the young forward to Arsenal, where he will immediately come into the first-team and start training with them.

The brief furore surrounding Mario Balotelli's fluffed backheel and subsequent substitution by Roberto Mancini left the public divided. Was this just the latest indication of a player on the verge of a mental breakdown or a manager over-reacting to a bit of fun in a pre-season knockabout?

There's little need to wade further into that debate.

Becks has no regrets about coming to America. Not even this haircut. But in all seriousness, this is probably the most MLS-centric interview with our David we've seen since his first season here. But why do they have to bring on the chicken?

The game with the mighty impressive sounding title was played near Washington.Man Utd beat Barcelona 2 -1.
Barcelona however were playing without Messi,Xave and Gerard Pique. Pep Guardiola's take on the seriousness of the game could be estimated by his attire which consisted of bleached jeans and white trainers.

More and more sports teams continue to allow younger players into their professional ranks. That's good for individual sports franchises in a couple of ways. Everybody loves to see a young kid shine on the field and compete well against older, more experienced players. It makes us feel good because it appeals to the side of us that root for the underdog.

By Chris Wright

In which Seattle Sounders' striker Roger Levesque (who sounds like the dashing star of many-a Jackie Collins novel) takes advantage of New York Red Bulls 'keeper Greg Sutton's rubbishicity to roll the ball home, then caps the 'gimme' goal by plunging into the briny deep from the advertising hoardings.

So over the past couple of months, things have maybe gotten a bit hostile on the football blog scene.
I apparently played a part.
A while ago, a certain writer well known to most of you from the entertaining blog Surreal Football, wrote a piece on ESPN Soccernet about the new tactics snobbery.

Sandro Rosell: "Fab is not so fab, so lets fob you off"

Cesc Fabregas has been downgraded by his boyhood club. He should come cheaper as per Sandro Rosell after 'wear and tear'. A football Moody's rating if you must. By the way where did that Capello Index go?

This really should be seen as an insult more so as Barca announced on the same day their serious interest in landing Alexis Sanchez, the Udinese striker who will cost them a pretty packet.

On Saturday, the New York office of CONCACAF released a statement saying acting president Lisle Austin had been relieved of duties for violating CONCACAF statutes. Later on Saturday, CONCACAF released the following statement from new acting president Alfredo Hawit. I am honored to serve as Acting President of CONCACAF.

Gerard Houllier has reflected on his departure from Aston Villa and admitted that it was entirely necessary; it was just too risky for both the club and his own health. He also says that the club were "still traumatised" by the nature of Martin O'Neill's exit five days before the season started.

The transfer window still doesn't officially opens across Europe until July first. In England it actually opened at midnight on the day the domestic season ended. Either way, there are always pre-agreements to be made and fees agreed, and all because most players a club might be after couldn't officially be transfered for another month doesn't mean nothing can happen.