English football in 'shambles' shocker. With a major tournament around the corner, the FA intervene and strip John Terry of the England captain without consulting the manager. The manager resigns. England have no captain, no manager and naff all chance of winning Euro 2012.
In many ways, I don't blame Fabio Capello for leaving.

The out-Stoking of Stoke at Anfield two weeks ago, followed a week later by the utter shambles of a performance at Bolton, set the table for a four-day stretch in which Liverpool's future, not only in the two domestic cup competitions, had been placed in the balance by a fairly significant portion of those who fancy themselves supporters of both Liverpool and general unrest.

Liverpool Whilst success in the Carling Cup provided KK with a degree of respite after last week's shambles at the Reebok Stadium, will (or perhaps more pertinently should) Liverpool fans be happy with the poorest domestic trophy and a top four finish? One suspects so, but with Liverpool six points of the Promised Land of [.

Bolton 3: Davies 4′, Reo-Coker 29′, Steinsson 50′
Liverpool 1: Bellamy 37′

Bolton thoroughly dominate Liverpool at the Reebok and coast to a 3-1 victory that boosts them out of the relegation zone. The host's performance was certainly deserving of victory, and Liverpool's was equally deserving of a loss.

Liverpool's blind loyalty to Luis Suárez leaves no room for contrition

Liverpool looked to have seen the light in not appealing against the verdict but club and player still refuse to accept they are in the wrong At last Liverpool have seen sense. At least that was the initial reaction when news broke that the club would not be appealing against the eight-match ban and £40,000 fine imposed on Luis Suárez for racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Time for the 2011 season grades to (finally) continue! Corey, Matty, and I have looked at the four major areas of the team - goalkeeping, defense, midfield, forwards - and assigned our grades on a 4.0 scale.

Unfortunately for the New England Revolution, we don't curve based on the rest of the league.

The Arab Football Spring - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The performances of the North African national football sides in 2011 have reflected the political actions of the Arab Spring.

The failure of Egypt, the champions of the past three tournaments, to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations (ACN), alongside the absence of regional heavyweights Cameroon and Nigeria, has thrown the tournament wide open.

The MLS offseason has certainly been interesting recently. Whether it was the Lee Nguyen lottery, the on again/off again Beckham to PSG debate (rumored to net Beckham 1 million dollars per month on an 18 month loan), or Americans to Europe talk, there hasn't been a shortage of news lately. A recent deluge of stories have come out recently linking Americans with moves to Europe.

Also file under: brilliant stadium porn

I have a deep connection with traditional media, having been raised reading newspapers, then launching a journalism career at what was then considered the country's best sports section.

Now the industry is a shambles and, in some ways, shamefully complicit in its own demise.

At the beginning of the season it was fair to say that Arsenal were playing shit.
We seemed a bigger shambles than a pissed up David Hasselhoff trying to eat a hamburger.
At the time there many people jumping on an RIP Arsenal Football Club bandwagon. A bandwagon that was gaining more speed than Keanu Reeves on a bus.

Chelsea score a vital three points away to Newcastle in a match that was, well, fucking insane. I mean, Salomon Kalou played clearly at the suggestion of Devin and even contrived to score the pivotal second. Yes, it was that bizarre of a day.

Old Man Winter

Um, yeah.

Melbourne Victory's first half performance was the best they've ever played this season according to Coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Blimey!
I know the standard has been poor this season but best they've ever played takes the biscuit.
A flukey penalty gave them a 1-0 lead after 40 seconds and then after the usual huff and bluff died down at Aami Stadium the Gold Coast started to turn the screw.

Last night I got stuck at work till 2200 so Sky+'d the game. Obviously kept up to date with the score while I was here and knew we had lost. I was reading twitter comments and some comments posted on here last night and had the impression that this was a shambles and Chelsea had a shocker! My view is far from that and we were hard done by.

First of all and believe me I really hate saying this, but credit to Liverpool for their performance yesterday. In the first half they rattled us, pressed high up the pitch, fought for every ball and looked dangerous every time they went forward.
Second half they dug in, rode their luck on occasions but continued to work hard all over the pitch and took all three points with a fantastic goal from a great first touch and dribble in the box from ex-Chelsea man Glen Johnson.

Has our annual November slump started early again?

Did our defense even come out of the locker room? What was going on? Arsenal's defense were a shambles as well but at least they seemed to get it together a bit after the half. We got worse. Not used to playing with eleven on the pitch anymore?

Arsenal travels to West London on Saturday for the early match at Stamford Bridge (7:30AM EST on ESPN2). It's the sternest test since the desperately needed improvement of late, and the result will reveal whether the team has finally shaken the pernicious monkey off its back or if the Red and Whites really are a defensive shambles with only one dependable goalscorer.

After another loss, Jurgen Klinsmann is beginning to come under fire. The United States lost 1-0 to Ecuador at home. The performance was impressive at times and tepid at others. However, despite the frustration of losing, there are some positives to take away.
Chief among them would be the performance of Oguchi Onyewu who looked better than we've seen him in years.

Many outsiders look at Singapore and consider the place a perfect example of how a city can be run. They point to a progressive public transport network, a popular airline and a thriving tourist industry as supporting their arguments.
Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't. But when it comes to running sports Singapore is as cack handed as the rest of the region.

The 2011 fantasy football season already has its first huge story: Jamaal Charles is likely out for the season. Charles, who was drafted in the top three in many fantasy football drafts, likely tore his ACL in Week 2. If that's true, the Kansas City Chiefs running back will be gone until next season.

Arsenal's season reached a new low on Saturday as their 4-3 defeat at Blackburn left them just outside the relegation zone and already out the Barclay's Premier League title race.

In spells, Arsenal did look as though the valuable point picked up against Borussia Dortmund in midweek had marked a revival in the Gunners confidence and play, as for periods in the first half against Blackburn they knocked the ball about with ease and looked to be in total control of the match against Steve Kean's men.

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that the back-and-forth ball movement between Manchester United and Chelsea resulted in a very competitive fixture at Old Trafford on Sunday but praised Phil Jones and Nani for helping the champions win 3-1.

United were off to a flying start when Chris Smalling headed past Petr Cech in the early stages and although the Blues were to blame for lackluster marking, there is no doubt that the goal was scored in an offside position.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Union

Today is Roster Freeze Day in MLS and at 5pm the final Philadelphia Union roster for the remainder of the season must be submitted to the league. Will there be any surprises?

How did some of the Union players react to the shambles that was the 2–2 draw between Columbus and Houston on Wednesday night?

I'm not entirely sure where to start with this article, but I can safely say that yesterday represented, for me at least, the culmination of almost 12 months of agony whilst following the fortunes of England and it's now hapless manager, Fabio Capello. A good place to begin would be to think back to the Group qualifying game against Algeria in South Africa last year at the 2010 World Cup.

I am an eternal optimist but what I have heard of the club's dealings this summer smacks more of an amateur shambles than a multimillion pound company. The talk has been of dumping the blame at the door of the manager or the board, but both have been key in the club's systematic failing in the transfer market.

Freddy Adu speaks at the Philadelphia Union press conference announcing his signing (AP Photos).

To MLS, not Southern California, although it should be noted that Freddy Adu and the Philadelphia Union will visit Carson Oct. 2 for Chivas USA's penultimate home game of the season.

It seems like a long time ago now that a "spoiled" Adu was introduced to the media at Home Depot Center the first time he signed to MLS.

I tried to write about the game in the immediate aftermath last night and got absolutely nowhere, but to be honest an extra 24 hours hasn't made it make any more sense. You can be prepared for most things as a blogger a close fought win, a thumping triumph, an unlucky defeat, a poor display, but now and then something extraordinary comes along and all of a sudden you're lost for words.

The gravity of yesterday's result and performance has struck me this morning when reviewing the game on the TV. That was a bad performance, it was far worse than bad, it was absolutely catastrophic. Our squad is an absolute shambles and the season is underway, we have one point from three games. Injuries and suspensions left us short, but no squad should be so short that it has to throw in so

By 1970's Gooner The whole squad is in shambles. We are reduced to fielding in the starting 11 kids who have never played a league game before. The kids on the bench did not have to get permission from their parents to turn up at the Emirates as it was a lunch time kick off. We would have had trouble fielding the substitutes if the kick off was in the evening.

Arsenal is a shambles right now and Arsene Wenger needs to get his wallet out. The side, only two games into the season, are decimated by suspensions, injuries and lack of depth. And now. after losing to Liverpool 2-0 at home for the first time in...
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Stade Brestois 29 Olympique Lyonnais Week 3

It hasn't been all sunshine and lollypops for Lyon coach Remi Garde's kick-off to the season, he still hopes to take the team out of the curse of the conceded goal. Is it just a fluke or do they really need this wake-up call?

The Title and nothing less!

It was shaping up to be a packed weekend, with some interesting EPL matchups and the start of the La Liga season in Spain. But alas, Spanish football is still in shambles, with the players on strike over unpaid wages. Hopefully that will be resolved over the coming week so that we'll see those interesting fixtures next weekend.

It's probably no coincidence that while Barcelona dominates the club football landscape and the Spanish National Team, youth and adult, has seemingly won every trophy available to them in the past 3 years, the Spanish domestic league isn't just in shambles, it's shutting down indefinitely through a player strike.

Jurgen Klinsmann will begin his USMNT coaching career with a game against Mexico tonight in Philadelphia.
While the result won't mean a whole heck of a lot, some (many?) fans and media are taking this game rather seriously. Of course, it's a game no US supporter wants to lose. It doesn't matter if it's a friendly, a qualifier, a game on FIFA 11.

Jurgen Klinsmann will begin his USMNT coaching career with a game against Mexico tonight in Philadelphia.
While the result won't mean a whole heck of a lot, some (many?) fans and media are taking this game rather seriously. Of course, it's a game no US supporter wants to lose. It doesn't matter if it's a friendly, a qualifier, a game on FIFA 11.

Kenny Dalglish has moved for Birmingham star Scott Dann after Liverpool's pre-season defensive shambles.
Dalglish wants to make the £8m-rated centre-back his fifth summer signing after seeing his side leak 15 goals in six friendlies.
He was eyeing Liverpool-born Dann, 24, earlier in the summer but opted to strengthen his midfield, landing Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson.

Here's part #2. Again, the cast is: Rob is Rob Griffin; Rich is Rich; Jamie is JamieR; Dave is Chopper; Tim is me; Don is HatterDon; Nick is Nick Johnson; Colin is Colin Baker.

Enjoy.

After being just a point off bottom on New Year's Day, what do you think happened in the locker room or training field that saw our fortunes change in 2011?

Nothing confirms more that the English Premier League was founded on a lie than native attitudes to the Under-20s World Cup, which started in Colombia last night. England actually opened the tournament against Korea DPR, which seemed like a surprise move until the ghastly goalless draw revealed FIFA's plan to start with a 90-minute tedium masterclass to make the rest of the games look good.

No trophy is on the line today - merely pride. For one participant in Round 3 of the Cascadia Cup 2011 pride is nearly all they have left as the Portland Timbers season is in shambles. For the Seattle Sounders though this is a game where a statement can be delivered. While the national media will focus on the intense passion in the stands, including a "creative" tifo display that is admittedly going to be small that tends to ignore that Seattle has played in passionate stadiums in the past.

When sports journalists describe Equatorial Guinea as an unknown quantity, I wonder if that's just their way of saying they haven't wanted to look too closely at the team and the country's football association.
Since they upset Nigeria in the 2008 African Women's Championship, they haven't been much of a mystery to followers of African women's football.

For Union, attention to detail means wins | Philadelphia Daily News | 06/10/2011
Hey, it's not a issue for us, either. While blogs have done a superb job of running with it, the mainstream media have kept it quiet. In fact, only two credentialed reporters waited to shed light on the situation Wednesday, only after the fan-driven blog, the Brotherly Game, first reported it Sunday.