Fernando Torres has been the focus of press and media attention ever since he signed for Chelsea. He scored 81 goals in just 142 games for Liverpool and everyone expected more of the same here but it hasn't happened. Everyone is asking questions, people are beginning to turn and doubt Torres but I am posting this because I for one believe in Torres.

Welp, it's done.

Baguettes & Brioche

After months of exile, Alex is once again on the verge of relevance. His protracted transfer saga has come to a close, with PSG concluding a deal to acquire the defender for 4 million quid. After turning down the chance to ply his trade at QPR, that massive club, he elected to reunite with former gaffer Carlo Ancelotti and take his talents to the Champs Elysses.

Alan Pardew is still challenging our mercurial midfielder Ben Arfa to increase both his work-rate and energy when he's playing for Newcastle. Ben Arfa he's trying to improve work-rate That has to be a general statement because the lad worked his socks off for Newcastle against QPR, and had a very good game last Sunday in Newcastle's fine 1-0 victory.

That wasn't particularly good was it. The result was the least we wanted because of the results of those around us. It meant that we fall back by 1 point compared to before the start of the weekend's fixtures. But the bigger concern is with our performance or rather the lack of it.

For anyone who hasn't seen Swansea this season, their performance justified all the praise that Brendan Rogers and his team are getting.

It's a fortress, but there's just too many draws...Liverpool were held to another draw at Anfield yesterday as they struggled to get anything past Tony Pulis's Stoke side. The Potters played in their stereotypical way and whilst they would have been extremely happy with the point Liverpool were left frustrated.

After watching Fernando Torres' performance yesterday for Chelsea I thought to myself "He's had a good game today". Then I saw the report of Ex-Liverpool Phil Thompson on Skysports "Soccer Saturday" and couldn't believe what I was reading!. Thompson is quoted soon after the game saying:

"He's not anywhere near.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admits he will be glad to see the end of a year which has seen him sidelined with injuries for long periods.
Last season ended prematurely because of a groin problem in March which required surgery and his comeback in the new campaign was delayed by an infection.

Flying high: A toast to RVP and hoping he continues his stellar form in 2012

Soccerblog readers, thanks for being with us. We ring in a new year full of soccer. The battle for European supremacy this summer will be the signature theme and we hope we can bring it to your doorstep in a manner of speaking.

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard bids good riddance to injury-ravaged 2011

• 'I'll be glad to see the back of 2011′ • Latest absence had been 'absolute torture' The Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, has admitted he will be glad to see the end of a year which has seen him sidelined with injuries for long periods.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has a problem, and the solution is sitting in his dressing room.
The Reds' scoring record has been rightly criticized over the past two months, as it is pretty sub-standard for a team who are supposed to be challenging for a top four finish.
The record was then coupled with their best player and forward being handed an eight-match ban from the FA - this issue has caused much controversy, but the fact remains that Liverpool are facing a significant amount of time without him.

One of the more bizarre incidents of the weekend's action came from the clash between Reading and West Ham. The Royals' Jimmy Kebe decided to rub salt into the Hammers' wounds with a bit of sock-related showboating. The Mali international chose to highlight the amount of time he was getting on the ball by pulling [.

Newcastle missed the spark of Jonas Gutierrez last Saturday against Chelsea. Jonas Gutierrez in action for Argentina And it wasn't only his direct running at the defense that was missed, but the way he works his socks off and helps out Ryan Taylor at the back was missed too. And it wasn't a coincidence that Ryan got the runaround from Daniel [.

By Chris Wright

'Tis the season to flog computer games mercilessly, and EA have already dipped their bread releasing a FIFA 12 Christmas viral that sees Gerard Pique, a pre-transplant Wayne Rooney, bonsai fanatic Tim Cahill, a banjo-wielding Kaka and wee Jack Wilshere all acting their respective asses off in the name of the shill.

By Chris Wright

Crystal Palace made it into the semi-finals of the Carling Cup for the first time in a decade after beating Manchester United 2-1 in extra-time at Old Trafford last night.

After a dull first-half, Darren Ambrose put Palace one up in the 65th minute with a 30-yard 'Darren Ambrose Goal™' shortly before Kiko Macheda hauled United back level a few minutes later by both winning and sticking away a penalty.

In case you haven't seen this clip of Mario Balotelli scaring the socks off one of Man City's club personnel, here you go! Poor woman must've had the shock of her life... but we can't stop laughing. Is that bad? We have a feeling some of the ladies working at City are the subject of an unfair amount of pranks, but it still makes for fantastic TV!

The dirty truth about footballers' underpants

ROBBIE'S TWEET OF THE WEEK Thanks to @greenkeeperdave, who found this book in a shop and wrote: "It reminded me of you and Ola!" ** Samir Nasri's boxer shorts in Napoli reminded me of some colourful underpants I've seen in dressing rooms in my time.

Left foot, right foot. Easy as 1, 2, 3

Qualification to the next phase of Champions League, the first of any English club to do that in this season's competition. Finishing as group winners with a game to spare. Robin Van Persie continued his more than impressive goal-scoring form. Another stand-out defensive performance from the team (the one single minute apart).

Their Words Other Sources What Happened to Landon Donovan's Uniform from the 2011 MLS Cup? - from Upper Deck's Chris Carlin: "As an added bonus, we even threw in his socks." Hollywood Ending - from Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl: But there was more to the Galaxy's title than writing checks. Don't airbrush Beckham's legacy - from ESPN.

Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard has suggested that the club's handling of Andy Carroll in his first 6 months at Anfield may have had a negative impact on the player, and may partly explain why the former Newcastle man has struggled for consistency this season.
Gerrard, who is recovering from injury himself at the moment, observed:
"For me, Andy arrived with an injury and probably wanted to play very early on because he'd signed in such a fashion.

The bright blue leaked kit is in fact the official third kit for the Seattle Sounders. Today the team announced that the "super cyan" and "electricity yellow" kit will be the primary kit used in CONCACAF Champions League, US Open Cup and Friendlies. It will be worn in a cyan-cyan-cyan system from top to bottom.

Players, like fans, have plenty of pre-match rituals which they believe have the power to make the difference between winning or losing games.

I know someone who looks away for every kick-off, believing that will give their team the luck they need. Others have special pants or socks which apparently provide the players that extra boost on the pitch.

By Chris Wright

"For me, Manish, the guy's too old to be effective at this level"

The Beeb are reporting this afternoon that mumbly pundit and Football League hipster (the Premier League is soooo mainstream) has come out of retirement at the grand old age of 45 to sign on as a player and coach for Evo-Stik League Southern Division One South & West side Gosport Borough his 25th contract in a meandering pro career that both began and ended at Bournemouth (1984-2006), with a smattering of non-league appearances and managerial posts thereafter.

In the immortal words of Alan Partridge: S%*#t! Did you see that?! I mentioned before the game, very much in the manner of someone about to spend the next ninety minutes with buttocks and sofa in close proximity, that our Pav ought to pull his socks up for this one.

What are the odds Arsenal are outgunned in Marseille? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

After a shocking start to the season which followed the sale of their two best players, Marseille are the French version of Arsenal – as are Arsenal. The French side have won only one of their first 10 games and manager Didier Deschamps was read the riot act by the club's female owner who told him in no uncertain terms to pull his socks up and not leave them lying on the bedroom floor.

Yrsa Roca Fannberg, The Death of a Former Giant (watercolor on paper, 2009)
For most of my life, I've had very specific flying dreams. Mysleeping self unlocks gravity with a perfect physical coordination. I'll berunning, or dancing, and then somehow both at once - suddenly I feel weightless.

Half time at White Hart and its a familiar breakdown in defense that gives Spurs the one goal lead.

Emmanuel Adebayor floats the ball into the box. Per Mertesacker gets fronted easily by Rafael Van Der Vaart and Bakary Sagna fails to track back leaving the Dutchman free to control with a hint of a hand before he chests the ball down and finish past Szcezsny.

Pull your socks up, son After 10 games without a win, Brazilian side Flamengo were beginning to get a bit desperate. So when opponents America Mineiro had the chance to take a lead from the penalty spot they were willing to try anything to push things in their favour. Defender Junior Cesar decided to pull [.

Do we really need words here?

She's wearing gingham and wee socks. She has tiny chub legs and that little puckered baby bow lip. She's just gorgeous, Kickettes.

Victoria and Harper are in New York for Fashion Week, of course, with Victoria presenting her Spring 2012 collection on Sunday.

Just about 2,200 Reds fans had the chance to witness our first win of the season in the bleak Keepmoat arena, cheering on the boys in well, black and green with white shorts and socks. A kit combination of epically awful proportions. However, it seems to have done the job so let's not get too hung up on the fact that Terry the Kitman is clearly severely colour blind [.

By Chris Wright

If you immediately responded 'GET THE POWER, ON YOUR FEET!' at the top of your voice after reading that headline then you, like me, were at school in the early-ish 1990′s a glorious period in which Bull Boys (never heard of before or since) enlisted one Alan Hansen to flog their godawful football trainers.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle has admitted that his side would like to sign Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, although raised concerns over the player's wages.

Wright-Phillips hasn't seen much playing time at Manchester City since returning from Chelsea, and would be a welcome addition at the Reebok Stadium as Coyle builds another strong Bolton side.

Saturday

- Francesco Totti was spotted soaking wet, in a bulge cupper on an Italian beach. Just how God intended it (PS his wife and kids were there too).

- We gave a warm chorizo welcome to Chelsea's latest transfer signing, Oriol Romeu. Don't be shy in your hellos, Kickettes, he doesn't bite*.

Now before we all line-up to shoot our Coach, Han Berger, Jan Boultbee, Andrew Dimitriou (didn't he nick all our players) maybe, just maybe we ain't so bad.
We went in as Asian Cup losers and lost Matthew Leckie before the tournament.
The World Game is tough - Spain are tougher still.

Roman Pavlyuchenko has given me an exclusive preview of his upcoming summer diary from this years summer break. I've picked out the key points of his summer for your reading pleasure.
On the right, I celebrating one of my Super Pav goals against Birminghams and pointing to the crowd to tell them to sing the Super Me-La-Chenko song.

Bolton Wanderers 2011/12 Kits - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Reebok and Bolton have recently released very futuristic-looking shirts and this one tops them all off.

The trotters will wear white, red and blue home strip and a black and yellow away strip.

Bolton 11/12 Home Kit

The home shirt is white with blue patches around the neck, shoulders and lower back.

Uh huh, you know what it is. The Trotters are back in black for the first time since the Anelka days. A photo of our away shirt leaked ages ago but this morning, we have got a photo of Gretar Steinsson wearing the full kit and in my opinion... It's fantastic.
As you can see, the kit is all black save for yellow badges, yellow Reebok logos, a white 188Bet sponsor logo, and some yellow accents.

Having one of their important player, Stuart Downing, being the target of big clubs, Aston Villa are working hard in trying to keep the player at Villa Park next summer and new manager, Alex McLeish, is trying his best effort.

Although McLeish admitted that Downing is obviously distracted by the strong approach from Liverpool but the manager believe that the England international will be able to professionally accept Villa's decision to keep him.

Confirmation, if needed, that Higgy is not one to run with the crowd. Image: Reuters/Daylife.

To say the Copa America hasn't quite got going yet is like calling Sergio Ramos' dress sense erratic. It kind of hints towards the full horror of the situation but in no way prepares you for what you might discover if you probe a little deeper.

Amidst all this politics and media scandal it's nice to have something sporty to think about for once. The new Everton home shirt has been revealed.
Blue socks? Not happy, nothing good will come of it. I know this is perhaps one of the most pointless posts in the blog's history but this is the only Everton news around!

The West Brom home and away kits have been released, and are on sale now.
2011-12 West Brom Home Shirt:
3.5/5 Stars
First, let me say that as far as jersey templates go, this Adidas one is a winner. Their design for this new West Brom shirt is equally winner-ish.