Ahead of another match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford this weekend, Alex Ferguson has made his position on the rash of race-related controversies in the game clear. He's surprised by it all and demands firm action.

As Richard Whittall of The Footy Blog points out, the fact that these cases are getting scrutinized and dealt with should be a sign that progress is being made, but Ferguson seems to want more.

This certainly isn't going to go down that well with the FA.

England manager Fabio Capello laid out his thoughts on John Terry and the FA's decision to strip him of the England captaincy to Italian broadcaster Rai 1 today. To say he's not pleased with what has transpired would be a gross understatement.

Amidst all the loan deals away from White Hart Lane yesterday there was one permanent departure and it came in the shape of Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko who has departed for Lokomotiv Moscow for a fee in the region of £7.5m.

It had been an unhappy eighteen months at the Lane for Pav, punctuated by occasional match winning strikes against the likes of Birmingham last season and against Sunderland a few weeks ago, where his solitary goal could yet prove vital in the course of the season.

No goals. No clean sheet. No points. No drive. No passion. No desire. No shape. No tactics. No ideas. No creativity. No threat. No positivity. No hope? [...] Read the original post on Through the seasons before us

Baron Davis is getting closer and closer to returning to the NBA. However, his return won't be this week. Mike D'Antoni on Tuesday said that Davis won't return until next week. Though he hasn't suffered a setback, D'Antoni says the trainers want Davis to be careful.

Davis missed the entire season with a herniated disk in his back.

The tackle that started the comeback

The team needed a lift after results of recent weeks. A 1-0 win is great but coming back from 2 goals down to win it, is surely going to give the team the boost that we so desperately need. A game of two halves is the old cliche but certainly applies in this scenario.

photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

The U.S. women's national team cruised through the Group Stage of Olympic qualifying and now just needs a win on Friday against Costa Rica to reach the Summer Games in London.

There's one problem: Hope Solo might not play.

And now, the resolution of The Bent Musket's 2011 season grades for the New England Revolution! 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 result last night has really put the cat amongst the pigeons with Chelsea now sitting eight points behind Tottenham in the Premier League. The remit for Saturday's game now is simple, we have to win and get the three points and the performance doesn't matter. We have to get on a run of results and keep picking up three points week in, week out and anything else will be a disaster!

Kenny Dalglish knows Liverpool still have work to do to reach the Carling Cup final despite their 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the first leg at the Etihad Stadium.
Steven Gerrard's 13th minute penalty set the Reds on their way, with the visitors dominating the first period before lacklustre City improved after the break.

Ahead of a proposed loan move, former Liverpool player Robbie Keane has been training with Aston Villa over the last few days, and according to Villa boss Alex McLeish, the Republic of Ireland striker is in 'tip-top' shape.Keane only lasted six months at Anfield before being unceremoniously dumped by former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, but McLeish believes the 31 year old can do a good job for

Twice to Montreal? That's handy.
Taking time from their busy schedule of designing dodgy new kits with blasphemous monochromatic badges, only being rumoured to actually sign players and wetting themselves over the possibility of David Beckham's extended stay with LA Galaxy, TFC today released the official 2012 schedule via Major League Soccer.

Liverpool feel the full force of Luis Suarez absence how will his eight-game ban shape their season?

The Reds chose not to appeal against their Uruguayan forward's ban and he endured his first match on the sidelines as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2012-01-04 08:58:00 from: Goal

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

Eddie Johnson's quest to revive his playing career appears to have hit a major snag after he was reportedly dumped by Mexican club Puebla because he was out of shape.

According to Medio Tiempo, Johnson showed up for Puebla training camp before the New Year, but he failed to meet the team's expectations of fitness and sharpness and was let go.

There was hardly a better way for Derry born James McClean to mark his first start for Sunderland as Ji Dong-won scored a last-minute winner against Manchester City.
The 22-year-old Irish flyer starred on the left wing for Sunderland, who recorded their third win in five games thanks to Dong-won's 93rd-minute goal.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

Charlie Davies' comeback in 2011 was one of the stories of the year in American soccer, as he returned to the playing field less than two years removed from a horrifying car accident that nearly took his life and did take the life of another passenger.

A bright first 15-20 minutes in which we probably should have been more clinical. However, without Lennon we have no shape and the attacks are rare and the match quickly turned sloppy. Chelsea probably should have won it and we could have nicked it at the end and a draw was probably a fair result. Did you also notice John Terry was wearing white boots?

What a result! Tough game, battling performance, well-earned points. Not vintage but victorious nonetheless.

I was surprised to see Coquelin in the starting line-up at Right Back as Arsene has said in the past the youngster doesn't isn't suited to the role. Perhaps it was due to Miquel's errors at City.

What a result! Tough game, battling performance, well-earned points. Not vintage but victorious nonetheless.

I was surprised to see Coquelin in the starting line-up at Right Back as Arsene has said in the past the youngster doesn't isn't suited to the role. Perhaps it was due to Miquel's errors at City.

Luis Suárez: what they said

• Suarez: 'I said nothing racist to him ... I said nothing of the sort' • Kenny Dalglish: 'Nine weeks to reach a decision is a joke' 16 October "Luis is adamant he has not used language of that nature and the club is totally supportive of the player" Liverpool statement 17 October "It's not something that we want to level at Liverpool, and it's not against Liverpool.

Norwich City grabbed a 1-1 draw in their trip to the northwest to face Everton on Saturday. The home squad lined up in their usual 4-4-1-1 shape, with Louis Saha finding himself up top with Tim Cahill withdrawn in the ...
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The most prized left foot in the club now

When it rains, it pours. Especially when it is related to the Arsenal injury news. If you haven't already heard, Andre Santos will need to undergo a surgery to repair his damaged ligament in his right ankle. That will take him out of action right until middle of March.

German Bundesliga club SV Werder Bremen has launched its Nike 2011/12 "Christmas Tree" home jersey (or "Weihnachtsbaum-Trikot" in German). It is the tenth edition of the club's annual holiday kit and is an altered version of the Werder 11/12 home shirt with its badge in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Yesterday in the Friday Free Kicks, I essentially lambasted Brad Friedel for his comments regarding Landon Donovan. Along with other journalists, I was under the impression that Brad Friedel was stating that Donovan took the easy road and my quarrel with this was large. Apparently though, he was misquoted and I misunderstood.

Their Words I did not mean to disparage or demean Landon Donovan or his accomplishments in any way, shape or form. I was merely paying respects to Clint Dempsey for his fantastic career. I apologize if my remarks offended anyone, especially Landon. It was not my motive. I would never bash a fellow American player.

Happy Friday to you. A few things on the mind this morning.
First up is a reaction to Brad Friedel's comments on Landon Donovan taking the easy road by staying in MLS. What a ridiculous thing to say. Friedel is an accomplished player, one who is certainly deserving of respect. But for him to criticize Donovan so publicly was extremely out of line.

Rejoice! Peter Crouch has revived The Robot

England striker throws shape at Stoke's Christmas party

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-07 23:00:40 from: The Mirror

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

On Tuesday, adidas released the new match ball that will be used by Major League Soccer in 2012. According to the press release, the design is "inspired by the handles and shape of the Philip F. Anschutz trophy, awarded to the MLS Cup champion."

Some follow-up observations:

The team was hell-bent on keeping shape, which gave us some perhaps surprising (but perhaps not) tackling information. Etuhu and Murphy, and the entire back four, really didn't go for many tackles. Instead Dempsey, Dembele, and to a lesser extent, Ruiz, were doing a lot of the actual harrying.

The best team won. Simple as that.

It was a tough game. Dortmund are a top class side. Klopp set his team up to defend and play on the break. It worked for large parts of the game as the visitors limited Arsenal to just 3 shots on target. But such was the Gunners' quality in the final third that two of those went in.

I think we all agree that the Chelsea job isn't exactly a bed of roses based on the levels of expectation put on you as manager. You would imagine that only the most confident, determined and focused managers would even entertain the idea of taking the hot seat here and a task of taking the club out of the shadows of the Jose Mourinho era at the club.

Like I said in a previous post, I got out my 2004/5 season DVD last night to cheer myself up and watch a Chelsea side that new how to defend. On the bonus DVD there is an interview with Jose Mourinho at the end of that season, looking back at some of the headlines and comments from the press also.
One particular moment in that interview struck a chord with me when Chelsea TV's Gigi Salmon asked him about the negative press the side was getting for winning games 1-0 and not having a lot of flair.

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.

Jose goes riding Real Madrid has a topsy-turvy encounter with Valencia on Saturday evening. Despite taking the lead three times in the 3-2 victory, it took a late goal from Cristiano Ronaldo to secure the three points. When CR7 did find the net his manager, Jose Mourinho, could not contain his relief.

Over the course of the summer, Spurs brought in two talented young players in the shape of Cristian Ceballos and Souleymane Coulibaly to compliment the exceptional crop of youngsters that are already at the club.

There are suggestions today that the club is looking abroad once again and this time they are heading to Holland and Belgium in the hope of luring some of Europe's top talent.

Martin Kelly has all the attributes to play at centre-back in the future, according to first-team coach Steve Clarke.
The Reds have no plans to move the 21-year-old from the right side of defence, where his performances have helped him become an England U21 regular.
However, Clarke would not be surprised if Kelly one day returned to the central position he regularly played during his years at the Academy.

Time to sing "Everything you own in the box to the left!" to Diego Forlan because Uruguay have officially reaffirmed their commitment to their new national hero (handball and all), Luis SuaaaRez!

Of course, it's hard to ignore his four goals against Chi-le-le over the weekend but the Italians can sit down and relax because he won't be featuring against them tonight in the Italy-Uruguay international friendly.

U.S. head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
"That was probably the real piece that was missing was scoring a goal. From a technical perspective, the shape, working, and really finding a rhythm was good. I told them at halftime ‘guys, you can absolutely compete here. You can go for a win.

Jonathan Tannenwald, who I like, laid out a few reasons why an unbalanced schedule is a bad idea:

1. A balanced schedule exposes every bad market in MLS to every good market in MLS.
2. Every fan in MLS should have the opportunity to travel to every venue in the league every year if he or she wants to.

Many years ago I read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the classic novel set in the time of the great depression in the US. Families migrated towards California in search of work and it was evocative and really quite bleak.

Without trying to be melodramatic in any way, shape or form, this Interlull is already like the great depression and I'm considering packing up and heading west in search of elusive blog fodder.