Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

Rafael Da Silva has made just three league appearances this season after bad luck with injuries have kept him out of the team. Even when he does get on the pitch, there are plenty of tongue in cheek sweepstakes amongst United fans predicting what time he will be subbed off with an injury.

Rafael has reflected on this bad luck but wonders whether his style of play has an influence on it.

News that Jose Mourinho could be about to de-camp to yet another club will no doubt result in managers at some of Europe's top clubs looking over their shoulders. It was ever thus. Mourinho is of course hugely successful; his wins to games ratio at 69% is astonishing, that's an incredible ll% higher than Ferguson's - though, it's true the United manager has been around for a lot longer.

Head Coach Jay Heaps oversees the first day of preseason practice at the Dana Farber Fieldhouse on Monday (Photo: Chris Aduama/Aduama.com).

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Jay Heaps couldn't wait to get his players together for the first practice of 2012.

On the first day MLS allows its clubs to convene for preseasons training, the new Revolution head coach was busy overseeing and instructing his squad at the Dana Farber Fieldhouse Monday afternoon.

Their Words "I like to be around the ball. Whatever gets me close to the ball, that would work." 2012 SuperDraft #1 pick Andrew Wenger. Other Sources Tottenham can keep Premier League leaders looking over their shoulders - from The Guardian's Kevin McCarra: The Everton game highlighted another trait expected of those with true aspirations.

Newcastle Untied's Demba Ba looks to be in the form of his life and with the African Cup of Nations looming it seems like his clubs loss could be Senegal's gain.
The 2012 African Cup of Nations is the 28th renewal of the event and it gets underway on January 21st and given it lasts until February 12th a number of Premier League side could be without their star players for some time.

Courtesy of Professional Arena Soccer League Press Release
Sockers, Waza on Top at Midpoint
The San Diego Sockers and Detroit Waza lead their respective divisions at the virtual midpoint of the 2011/12 PASL season. San Diego, 5-0, has won 13 in a row dating back a full calendar year.

Five things we learned from the Boxing Day football | Jonathan Wilson

Dimitar Berbatov has still got it but Ashley Cole appears to be losing it and Andy Carroll is just unlucky Berbatov's still got it One of the sadnesses of modern football and the prevalence of large squads is the talent that does not get to play.

Jamie Redknapp: Arsenal need to re-sign Thierry Henry

Why are Arsenal waiting to strike a loan deal for Thierry Henry? He may not be as quick as he was but his arrival will give them a shot in the arm and take some of the weight from Robin van Persie's shoulders.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-25 23:32:50 from: The Mail

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

The cloud over Luis Suarez's EIGHT match ban seemed to weigh heavily on the player's shoulders as they were held scoreless at the DW Stadium.
With the players and Manager Kenny Dalglish all donning tee-shirts in support of Suarez, the team went all out for victory against Wigan away.
Plenty of chances went a begging and Charlie Adam missed a penalty.

The cloud over Luis Suarez's EIGHT match ban seemed to weigh heavily on the player's shoulders as they were held scoreless at the DW Stadium.
With the players and Manager Kenny Dalglish all donning tee-shirts in support of Suarez, the team went all out for victory against Wigan away.
Plenty of chances went a begging and Charlie Adam missed a penalty.

To wrap things up with the "What I Want For Christmas" series, we'll begin with a bit of a tactical aside before prioritizing the shopping list...

(In case you missed the beginning of this discussion: Part I and Part II are available.)

Our likely man in the middle?

In all of this discussion, we've curiously ignored tactics for the most part.

· Have we ever had a less important match in our schedule? Friendlies aside, this is one of the greatest non-events in our history. With Sunderland and Chelski coming up in the League over the next week, and the cyanide-laced chalice of Europa qualification limited to mathematics equations of the absurd, ‘Arry would be forgiven for just leaving Clive Allen and Tim Sherwood to take care of the kids tonight, or maybe fielding Allen and Sherwood themselves.

Whilst browsing the comments on AA a few days ago I was quite taken by an exchange between FGG and GN5 about the importance of football. How important is football and in particular Arsenal to me I asked myself? Pondering the answer I could only come to one conclusion.... " A hell of a lot".

Ray Kennedy heads title winner against Tottenham in 1971

I suppose it all started in the early seventies when as a kid my old man used to take me to Highbury and I would sit on his shoulders.

Whilst browsing the comments on AA a few days ago I was quite taken by an exchange between FGG and GN5 about the importance of football. How important is football and in particular Arsenal to me I asked myself? Pondering the answer I could only come to one conclusion.... " A hell of a lot".

Ray Kennedy heads title winner against Tottenham in 1971

I suppose it all started in the early seventies when as a kid my old man used to take me to Highbury and I would sit on his shoulders.

Last Tuesday night I sat through a freezing cold 4:0 defeat at Burnley and it was gutting.
I spent the whole drive home in deep thought, trying to make sense of what is going wrong with my beloved Ipswich. I came to the conclusion that the most significant contributing factor to the 6 straight defeats was a lack of confidence.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Jordan Harvey is a Union original. Acquired from Colorado in the 2009 MLS Expansion Draft, Harvey featured in 46 of the Union's 47 matches before being dealt to the Vancouver Whitecaps for allocation money on July 7, 2011.

Luis Suarez could be in trouble again after allegedly giving Fulham fans 'the finger' after Liverpool crashed to defeat at Craven cottage earlier tonight.
After the game, which saw the Uruguayan fail to score in the league for seventh match in a row, Kenny Dalglish was asked about the incident, and he responded:
"I haven't seen the picture and I'm not taking anybody's word for it.

1. Mario Balotelli responded to his latest bout of controversy with a typical shrug of the shoulders, but he put it to great effect on this occasion. 2. Feed the Yak some Venky's chicken and he will score. 3. The 'Kean Out' protests are always likely to sound a tad more hollow after a 4-2 [...]

After a couple of seconds of "WTF!?!?!!!??" the real Oranje fan shrugs his shoulders and cries: "We don't care! We want to win this! So if we have to beat them all to do so, we will!!".

And let's face it. We don't do well in friendlies or against minions. We [read more]

Photo: Earl Gardner

Raving about Roger Torres is as natural as dooping for Union fans. Ever since he made his first chicken-armed run onto the pitch, the teenager has been an electric presence.

But it is one thing to create electricity and quite another to control it.

Blossoming

In 2011, Roger Torres grew from a player with skill into a skilled playmaker.

By Chris Wright

Sergio Ramos has just posted a picture of his new ink on Twitter and it's quite...well...let's be kind and say 'distinctive'...

I'm all for being proud of your acheivements, but having your CV needled across your body is a little much. What next?

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club... a Futbolita special! Bruno Oro, the fantastic Catalan actor who plays Cristiano Ronaldo's character (you know it!) has returned again with a fantastic rendition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is dumbfounded by the heavy criticism heaped at manager Andre Villas-Boas in the wake of the club's recent struggles, arguing that the manager cannot run on the pitch and prevent errors made by the players.

Cech's teammate Florent Malouda made the same assertion before the disappointing 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen last night but Villas-Boas maintained that he must take the responsibility on his shoulders.

Remember Alex, protect the left side

13th of September 2011 seemed like such a long ago now. Both Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund were really struggling at that time. A little over 2 months since both teams played out a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park and pretty much everything happened in between these 2 games.

Dear Andre,

I get it. This isn't an easy gig. There's plenty of pressure on your Portuguese shoulders. Our owner is fickle, our fans are impatient, the press relentless, and the expectations massive. Trust me, I understand what you're feeling. Well, not really in a literal sense- but I get the jist of it.

Ladies, gentlemen, we have now entered the last 24 hours of the 2011 MLS Season. It's been a good one, perhaps one of the best, and, as we prepare for the final in LA, I'm sure we all have our bets on which team will take the cup. But first, let's catch up on the results of MLS's annual awards.

What are the odds Torres doesn't celebrate if he scores against Liverpool? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Fernando Torres claims he is in debt to the Chelsea fans and that's no surprise – he's from Spain. Everyone's in debt there, as they are here in Britain. Torres is grateful that the Blues fans have backed him ever since Chelsea paid £50million – £25m per left foot – for him last January and promised that, though his form has deserted him, he would never give up.

Charlie Adam is determined to silence his critics, with the Liverpool midfielder vowing to prove he is not just a flash in the pan.
Adam was one of the stars of the Premier League last season, with his efforts for Blackpool earning widespread praise.
The midfielder's displays were ultimately in vain, as Blackpool was relegated, but they earned him a move to Liverpool.

Luca Vialli has hit out at the selfish culture of players these days. I just wondered what you guys all think of what he has said?.

"It's not simply a case of managing players as they used to be any more, because players now are like small companies. You have to deal with their agents and it's become extremely tough being a manager these days.

On the defensive side of the game, the Seattle Sounders had three near iron-men. Three players whose presence on the pitch made difference. Three men who highlight why this is a "defensive" player rather than defender of the year vote.

Furthest up the pitch is Osvaldo Alonso, the Honey Badger.

By Chris Wright

Just who was that masked man?

Why it's Michael Ballack of course, who took to the field for Bayer Leverkusen against Valencia looking like some kind of latter-day superhero (the stars on the shoulders are a nice touch) and even got into the spirit by doling out a bit of vigilante kung-fu justice.

Billy Kennedy, the head coach of the Texas A&M basketball squad, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He has decided to leave the team to deal with the disease, however he's expected back at some point.

The diagnosis points to Kennedy's disease being in an early-stage. He had tests run recently have complaining of pain in his shoulders and neck that lead to exhaustion and a lack of sleep.

Defenders Oliver Nicholas and Rhema Obed maybe unfamiliar names to many but they have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Conor Henderson, two highly rated young Arsenal players. In fact, anorak alert, the four of them feature side by side in the Arsenal Handbook 2008/2009.
They're together no more of course.

Nice to see Man Utd getting hammered at home by mega-rich Man City today.
A 6-1 defeat is as bad as it gets for Ferguson's mob.
While it has belatedly softened the abject disappointment of the 1-1 draw with Norwich City, it does not disguise the glaringly obvious decencies in our team.

By Chris Wright

Brought together by a common hatred, both Manchester United and Manchester City fans are being urged to ditch their Carlos Tevez replica shirts into a skip ahead of this weekend's Manc derby as part of Betfair's 'Trash Your Tevez' jersey recycling campaign.

It's not everyday that Leo Messi walks into the room to fulfill his media duties, so all those guys in Barcelona's press room obviously came prepared (yes, better camera lenses, extra jerseys to get signed, shoulders to rub, etc) when they heard the news!

The 2011 ESPN Magazine Body Issue is hitting the shelves soon. In it, there are a number of star athletes naked. Perhaps the most famous naked athlete this year is reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin. Blake Griffin naked pictures? Personally, I don't get the point.

What would Blake Griffin get out of appearing naked in ESPN Magazine.

Eclipse Select Communications
CHICAGO -- Eclipse Select Soccer Club U-18 goalkeeper Klaire Adee has made a verbal commitment to play for the University of Akron women's soccer team beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.
The Rockford, Ill., native is in the midst of her 2011-2012 senior year at Boylan Catholic High School.