We all know Luis Suarez has a fondness for handling the ball, but that's no usually because he's the goalkeeper. In a twist on the old adage that strikers are the first line of defence, the Liverpool star positioned himself in front of Reds keeper Brad Jones and proceeded to do his job for him. [...]
Ingenious. Got a keeper who's a bit dubious underneath the high ball? Simply place a sign saying 'CLAIMS SPECIALISTS' behind his goal facing the opposition strikers for the entire match. They won't even bother crossing the ball anymore knowing that the goalie would only claim it from the air like a specialist in any case.
Daniel Sturridge There's been alot of reports since the summer that Liverpool are interested in signing Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge. At just 23 the player still has huge potential if he can get his attitude right. Sturridge was loaned to Bolton in 2011 and went on to score 8 goals in just 12 appearances.
Liverpool FC supporters union Spirit of Shankly has released a statement calling for American
owners Fenway Sports Group to increase their presence on Merseyside and appoint a Liverpool-based
chief executive.
The club face playing half the season with only two senior strikers after failing to replace
loaned-out Andy Carroll before the end of the transfer window and principal owner John Henry
yesterday wrote an open letter to supporters explaining the club's transfer policy and admitting to
'mistakes' made in the owners' first 23 months in charge.
Liverpool's desperate attempts to lure former Fulham star Clint Dempsey to Anfield included
offering Jose Enrique, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing to teams around the Premier League in
order to meet Fulham's valuation of the player.
The Daily Mail report that Brendan Rodgers attempted to sanction the sale of the three players
before last Friday's transfer deadline in hope of raising the funds needed to complete a move for
the 29-year-old.
When Brian Kidd was named caretaker manager of Manchester City on Monday, it brought me down memory lane. As a young Fort Lauderdale Strikers ball boy, Kidd had been one of the goal scoring heroes of mine. In 1982, when the Strikers signed Kidd, it was such a big deal that my family and I set out on the road for a five hour drive north to Jacksonville to see the legendary attacking player's first game in the bumblebee Strikers kit.
Roberto Mancini says Manchester City are still in with a chance of retaining their Premier League title if Sergio Aguero plays like he did against Leeds United in yesterday's FA Cup clash. The Italian gave a downbeat interview following last weekend's defeat to Southampton in which he all but conceded the title to rivals [.
Ajax hotshot Siem De Jong looked like one of the best strikers in Europe when he bagged two goals at the Etihad Stadium to put one of many nails in the coffin of Manchester City's Champions League campaign. But an entirely different player appeared to turn up for the Dutch side's friendly against Vasco Da [.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's mysteriously out-of-favour Premier League players, here are five players who are being regularly picked for reasons best known to their managers. 1. Gervinho Where do you start? Arsenal splashed out £10.8million on Gervinho and have seen very little return. Arsene Wenger persists with the enigmatic Ivorian, presumably on the [.
One of the North American Soccer League's marquee rivalries will be renewed on Saturday when the Ft. Lauderdale play host to the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Lockhart Stadium for the first of two Florida Derbies this season.
The Strikers have yet to win this season in the NASL, losing two straight matches on the road where they conceded five goal.
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. It is no secret that these days it is vital for lower division clubs to havea sparkling, brand new soccer-specific stadium or at least a remodeled one to be considered a serious soccer franchise. With it, however, usually comes talk of eventually wanting to jump into MLS.
Minnesota Stars FC could not have picked a better time to get their first win in Puerto Rico.
The Stars upset the Puerto Rico Islanders, 2-1, in their NASL quarterfinals clash at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel on Sunday to grab their first victory in Puerto Rico in three years.
HIDALGO, Texas— The Rio Grande Valley used six first half goals to defeat the Texas Strikers by a score 12-3 Sunday evening at State Farm Arena. Read Full Story: Flash raced past Strikers
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9/26/12 - The Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL), enjoying a summer of unprecedented growth, announced the addition of the Texas Strikers for the 2012/13 season.The Strikers, owned by the...
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Sir Alex Ferguson has been asked about the different popular formations these days, with lots of clubs moving away from 4-4-2 and playing with just one striker instead. During Euro 2012, Spain played several games without any strikers, which is an approach Barcelona also use.
"It is only really Barcelona that play without a striker all the rest play with a striker," he said.
What a time to do a review of our striking options, eh? Robin van Persie just saved our sorry
asses against Southampton with a brilliant hat-trick. Who needs Rooney, and so on and so forth. We
have Arsenal! Yes, the very same person who said we didn't really need Robin is now going gaga over
our star striker.
Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal "The thriller at the Villa"
I spent a little while on Saturday morning musing about whether the new sponsorship deal could have an immediate uplifting effect on the club on the pitch as well as off it. You know, give the players something to think about.
Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal "The thriller at the Villa"
I spent a little while on Saturday morning musing about whether the new sponsorship deal could have an immediate uplifting effect on the club on the pitch as well as off it. You know, give the players something to think about.
Sure, you expect it from free-scoring, martial art specialist legendary Swedish strikers. But when a rugged French centre-back comes up with an equally glorious overhead kick, it's arguably even more special. Philippe Mexes scored this beauty for AC Milan against Anderlecht last night. Chest control, bicycle kick, bam!
Amongst all the transfers this summer, it was the Milan clubs who swapped strikers, which has
been the most surprising and well planned by Internazionale. Inter's 28-year-old Italian striker
Giampoalo Pazzini suffered a poor year with the Nerazurri, playing in 33 matches and
only notching 5 goals.
Newcastle are short of at one good striker, but we have two strikers on the books who have no future at the club, but are being paid good wages, but will never play for the first team. Nile Ranger - outside Newcastle crown Court The first one is 21 year Nile Ranger, who seems to [...]
The Ivory Coast will play Senegal this afternoon in the first of a two legged play off,  to
decide which country will reach the African Cup of Nations finals to be held in South Africa
starting in January. And let's be clear straight away, if Senegal wins this play-off thenÂ
Newcastle will be in serious trouble in January and February with their two top Senegal strikers
[.
It occurred to me the other day that Robin van Persie must be one of the best pieces of business Arsene Wenger ever made for Arsenal, just on goals alone. When I thought about it further, I wondered where he would rank among the top strikers over the last 20 years or so, in terms of the cost of each goal scored; there can't be many strikers who score 100 goals or more for a club that come cheap.
Arsenal have surprised everyone this season with their form and all the new players have all settled in well. The defence is well organised and miserly. The midfield is fantastic, outpassing everyone and controlling every game they play. The strikers have all chipped in and are causing serious problems to opposition defences.
Seen as a defensively minded person, following his career in the defence position, many doubted his approach to Arsenal's attacking style of football, however he has integrated his defensive work into an Arsenal team that now work hard to defend and attack as a team and not just individuals.
France manger Didier Deschamps called Abou
Diaby the 'complete midfielder' after the Arsenal man scored his
country's only goal in a 1-0 win over Finland on Friday in their opening World Cup
qualifying game.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers believes his players need to be more patient at the top end of the
field if they are to overcome their goalscoring problems.
The Reds have found the net just twice in three Premier League matches - both goals coming in the
2-2 draw with champions Manchester City.
Their problem has been compounded by the limited options Rodgers has up front, having sent Andy
Carroll on loan to West Ham and failed to bring in a replacement after a deadline-day move for
Clint Dempsey broke down.
Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has warned nobody at the club can afford to lose faith as they seek
to turn around a worst start to the season in half a century.
Defeats to West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal have sandwiched a draw against Manchester City to leave
the 18-time champions of England with just one point in the Premier League.
The New York Red Bulls latest Designated Player, Tim Cahill, has been outspoken about his
transition into Major League Soccer but what does his new partner Dax McCarty think?
The 25-year-old veteran of the American top flight has found a solid form all season long while
teaming with a plethora of different options in the middle.
The New England Revolution had not won in 10 matches. The Columbus Crew had not lost in six.
With one result, both streaks are over.
The Revolution found a way to cool off Designated Player Federico Higuain and the red-hot Crew,
earning a 2-0 home victory to snap a franchise-worst winless skid and halt Columbus' momentum in
the race for a postseason berth.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who signed Nicklas Bendtner in 2004, still believes featured
player N.B-52 can still succeed at Arsenal and in the Barclays Premier League. The Boss reckons a
season in the tough league of Serie A will no doubt benefit Nicklas' game because he says it can be
very difficult for strikers.
First off, the leader is Chris Wondolowski and unless San Jose starts to fade or the stretch run
has someone go made (maybe like another couple 6 goal months?) he should be the MVP. There is no
doubt he is the Most Valuable Player in the league right now. Where it gets interesting for
Sounders fans is that they have four players that received at least one vote on the 20 ballots.
Milan made huge strides in signing one of the most gifted strikers of his generation in the form of Mario Balotelli. One of the kids in-house decided to let them know they've also got some options already on the payroll, and he is fast. Like double-italics fast. (____) His name is Ezekiel Isoken Henty (87% of people saw "great goal from a striker," that name, and immediately thought he's Titi's little cousin or something, before realizing the actual spelling) and he's a 19 year old Nigerian-born striker playing for Milan's Primavera.
Strikers seem to grow on trees in Argentina and at least one caught the eye of Philadelphia Union head coach John Hackworth this week.
Hackworth, and newly hired Director of International Player Development Ricardo Ansaldi, talked to Diego Leandro "Beto" Armani, according to Newell's Old Boys website director Pablo Soria.
One of the more promising developments for the MNT has been the steady production of its strikers for both for both club and country. Of the 21 goals scored in National Team games this year, 14 have been tallied by forwards.
The form carried over to the clubs this weekend, where three strikers scored and another set up the game-winner.
Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci escaped unharmed from an attempt to rob him at gunpoint by punching his attacker in the face. The Italy international was leaving a Ferrari dealership in Turin with his wife and baby when he was approached. A man held a gun against his head and demanded Bonucci hand over his expensive watch.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are to the home stretch. The games mattered before, but now they really matter. Way more than they did before. Now it's lose and you're out. Done. Finished. All those other words. As we talked about last week, the Scorpions and the Rowdies don't have to compete in this play-in game, due to their being one and two respectively in the league standings.
The USA return to World Cup qualifications today with their match against Jamaica at Kingston.
They are without Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley who are out with injuries. Amongst the
midfielders, Bradley has an established reputation for his box to box contribution and link up with
the strikers up top.
International break time and the podcast are fine with it. Why cry over crocked players? Stoke
certainly don't...but Laurence poses the question: are we not giving international football enough
credit? We discuss strikers, strikees and touch on...
