Chasing the Big Leagues FC Zwolle (Dutch Eerste Divisie) is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's Tales from Tier Two series, in association with @tiertwofooty, concludes now with a look at the runaway leaders of the Dutch Eerste Divisie:

FC Zwolle

FC Zwolle are in pole position to return to the Dutch Eredivisie eight years since they were cruelly relegated after both Volendam and Vitesse claimed rare victories as Zwolle were being thumped 7-1 at Feyenoord.

Amid the controversy surrounding the Jose Moreno fiasco, an interesting piece of news came to light on Thursday. After he was waived - rather surprisingly - by DC United on February 3rd, second-year forward Blake Brettschneider tweeted today that he would be joining the New England Revolution for a trial on Sunday.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

With the signing of Lionard Pajoy, the Union may just be nearing the end of their offseason transactions (at least for outfield players). In a set of three installments, PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch outlines the most likely formations for the Union in 2012 and how the roster, as currently composed, is suited to play in each.

Adriano is both one of the most gifted strikers of his generation and one of the most disappointing, ballooning to Ronaldo's late-career playing weight right smack in the middle of his prime, among other, non-gravitational-field-related issues (drinking, partying, shooting people, etc). Now at Corinthians and fresh off an Achilles injury and platter of Happy Meals, he's back in trouble for being fat.

Well, what a difference a day makes.

Emotionally we've gone from disappointed and disillusioned to euphoric over the result of one game. Beating Blackburn 7-1 was the sort of result we needed to awaken our supporters.

Arsenal played the sort of football that we all love to watch and for once the end result substantiated the level of our overall performance.

Arsenal legends Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams are squaring up for a head-to-head clash – with the winner securing a coaching role at the Emirates.

The former Gunners are frontrunners to replace Steve Bould within the coaching staff at the club at the end of the season.

Bould is poised to replace the retiring Pat Rice as Arsene Wenger's No.

It wasn't surprising that Alan Pardew was delighted to see Papiss Cisse score a great goal on his Newcastle debut this afternoon at St. James' Park. The two Dembas celebrate after Cisse goal The two Senegal strikers showed what they are capable of this afternoon, with two opportunistic goals for the Magpies, to give them all 3 points against a decent Aston Villa side.

Newcastle beat Aston Villa 2-1 this afternoon at St. James' Park and it was Senegal strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse - making his debut that both scored good opportunist goals to get Newcastle the win. It was after Tim Krul had made two good saves to keep Newcastle in the game, that Demba Ba scored his 16th league goal of the season after 30 [.

After I wrote a while ago that Manchester City were the clear favourites for the Premier League title this year, my opinion seems to have changed over the past few weeks. Their recent form has seen them playing decent enough but Manchester United have gone that extra mile. Manchester City has lost on far too many occasions this season.

With Arsenal currently sitting 7th in the Premier League Table, it's now truly inevitable that Robin van Persie will choose a new club come summertime, barring some miracle. Because it seems so predestined, the notion doesn't trigger anxiety levels of Fabregas proportions in summers past, where you just really didn't know what was going to happen.

The departure of Mohamed Zidan from Borussia Dortmund has opened the door of opportunity for U.S. Under-23 national team forward Terrence Boyd.

With Zidan having moved to Mainz during the transfer window, Boyd and fellow youngster Marvin Duksch have been summoned from their respective reserve teams by head coach Jurgen Klopp.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has dismissed suggestions that the club will part ways with either Didier Drogba or Fernando Torres in the near future, insisting that both will have roles to play at Stamford Bridge.

Torres has struggled for goals since his £50 million move from Liverpool a year ago and his goal return has not been improving while Drogba has been on international duty with Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.

He's baaack!

I like to think my post yesterday made the difference. That it was the final piece that brought Buddle back. Okay, maybe not. But I can still think that.

I was excited when Buddle first joined the Galaxy. He was not so highly rated, but I had seen him play and thought he had a lot of potential.

Chasing the Big Leagues Real Valladolid and the contenders (Spain Segunda) is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's Tales from Tier Two series, in association with @tiertwofooty, continues now as we continue with Spain's Liga Adelante. First we assessed the promotion chances of Deportivo La Coruña in Spain's Segunda Division:

Real Valladolid

Real Valladolid have been in and around the top six all season in Spain's Segunda Division following a run of just 2 defeats in 22 games since kicking off the season with a 3-0 win at Gimnastic Tarragona.

Newcastle managed to keep all their top players during the January transfer window, and even bring in top Senegal striker Papiss Cisse for £9M from SC Freiburg. The Senegal strikers Demba Ba and Papiss will not however be available for tonight's game at Blackburn, and the big problem we have about this game is who is [.

Goals:
Carroll 52'
Bellamy 61'
Kuyt 78'
The result implies dominance, and Liverpool were fairly dominant throughout, but 3-0 did not look likely at half-time.
Sure, had Liverpool taken one of their multiple first half chances, most notably from Kuyt in the third minute, or had Anthony Taylor given Adam an absolutely dead certain penalty in the 35th, the side might have strolled to victory sooner.

Photo by Andrew Katsampes/ISIphotos.com

While the Vancouver Whitecaps are busy stockpiling forwards, the New England Revolution's quest to find any reliable strikers continues.

That quest became a bit more difficult after definitive word that Rajko Lekic has returned to his native Denmark to join Lyngby after spending the 2011 season with the Revs.

Martin Rennie looks to have built an offensive juggernaut. (Photo via Vancouver Whitecaps)

With the news of Sebastien Le Toux joining the Vancouver Whitecaps on a trade today. It has to, no, it must be pointed out exactly how stacked these Whitecaps are on offense.

Just look at these names currently on the roster (and in camp):

• Camilo
• Eric Hassli
• Atiba Harris
• Omar Salgado
• Darren Mattocks
• Davide Chiumiento
• Lee Nguyen
• Long Tan
• Sebastien Le Toux
• Etienne Barbara (not currently signed)

Holy smokes.

Well after signing Gary Cahill, it hasn't taken Chelsea long to get their business done before the game tonight as the Belgian side have announced that we have signed Belgian International Kevin De Bruyne on a five and a half year deal for a reported £7m. DeBruyne will remain with Genk on loan until the end of the season.

I stumbled across this story when catching up on all the latest football news and thought i would highlight here not because it is one of the biggest transfer stories on this last day of the transfer window, but rather because of its almost near obscurity.

Frankly, speaking , i thought Toni had retired from the game so imagine my shock when i read that he had actually been with Juventus all this time.

On Sunday afternoon, Revolution Head Coach Jay Heaps, along with players Benny Feilhaber and Chris Tierney, took part in a conference call with media members.

Along with the adjustment of a new head coach and different formation, a large question mark entering this season is who will provide the offense in the final third of the pitch.

Martin Jol is set to end his month-long pursuit of a striker as the Fulham boss is on the verge of unveiling Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak from the German Bundesliga's VfB Stuttgart.

The 28-year old Pogrebnyak has been capped 30 times by his country, scoring eight goals on the international stage while also scoring 15 times in 64 league appearances for Stuttgart.

And then there were two Scotsmen! While we were still wrapped in all the controversy and tension from the Valencia fiasco it seems like the Timbers FO was able to quietly get the third designated player deal all wrapped up in a nice little package. In an abrupt press announcement today, the Timbers announced that Kris Boyd will join the team as the third designated player, joining the likes of the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls as having used all three spots.

By Alan Duffy

With a name that makes us all thank the stars for 'copy and paste', Pavel Pogrebnyak looks set to move to west London in one of the biggest deals so far in this rather moribund transfer window.

The Russian international striker has never been the most prolific of strikers, however, the imposing forward is best utilised as a targetman who can hold up the ball, and he'll no doubt be confident of making a (hard-to-spell) name for himself at Craven Cottage.

While the New England Revolution has added experienced players to both the backline and midfield since Jay Heaps took over as head coach, one area that has gone largely unaddressed is striker. Since the Revs declined options on Argentinean striker Milton Caraglio and Danish forward Rajko Lekic, no proven replacements have signed on.

The fallout from last week's El Clasico loss was astounding. The fallout from the coming El Clasico – should we lose (which is a likely event) will perhaps be equally astounding. . The players are shit – we need to buy 6 new players. We need a new defense We need a new midfield, We need better strikers.

By Alan Duffy

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Newcastle United FA Cup 29th January 2012

Oh how Newcastle boss Alan Pardew must be counting down the hours 'til his double dose of Dembas, Ba and Papiss Cisse, return to the north-east of England.

Ducky's Note: Rathna Prashanth looks at a novel way to solve Torres' striking problem. By getting rid of Drogba!

Legend, proven goal scorer, leader on the pitch- these are some of the terms that describe the powerful Ivorian Drogba, aka the Top Dog of the Bridge. At 150 goals and still counting, not only has he been an amazing goalscorer for Chelsea, he has also been a tremendous athlete.

Alan Pardew has said in his Brighton press conference this afternoon, that Newcastle may try to get Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse back for the Premier League game next Wednesday evening at Blackburn. Alan Pardew - when in Tenerife earlier this week Alan was asked about what he thinks about Senegal strikers Demba Ba and [.

Winning, US-style.

The British press compares the value of "strikers" Fernando Torres, Andy Carroll & Tim Howard. (Thank you Jesse for the find)

This was one result i was not expecting, however one i totally agree with. Right from the start of the tournament and even through out the Qualifying period, the Lions of Teranga had established themselves as one of the very few sides who were strong favourites to lift the AFCON trophy on Feb 12th.

Equatorial Guinea pulled off a shock result tonight, when they beat Senegal 2-1 at the Estadio de Bata in Bata Demba Ba Senegal beaten - cannot advance from their group Both Newcastle strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse started the game up front for Senegal. Equatorial Guinea went two goals up with goals from C.

Liverpool face off against Manchester City on Wednesday evening in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final. Liverpool lead the affair 1-0 but with at least 90 minutes still to play the tie is obviously very delicately poised. The second leg will take place at Anfield and with the home crowd roaring them on Liverpool will consider themselves favourite and the more likely of the two teams to succeed.

Liverpool have opened talks with FC Groningen over exciting striker David Texeira, as manager Kenny Dalglish steps up his transfer activity in the closing stages of the window.
Dalglish had previously made buying a striker his top priority for January, with Luis Suarez missing for eight matches through suspension, and Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt struggling to find their feet this term.

Over the last few seasons Arsene Wenger has gathered an assortment of players, paid them good wages and has waited for them to deliver. Unfortunately, they have not delivered the goods nor have they developed into the world class players we thought they would turn into.

For a few transfer windows we have been expecting these players to be sold, but the ridiculous wages, for their limited wages has meant we have not been able to get rid of these deadwood players.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has revealed that former Liverpool striker Michael Owen was one of his great footballing inspirations when With 14 goals and 4 assists in 21 games this season, Aguero is proving to be one of the best strikers in the league, and in a recent interview, the Argentine spoke of his admiration for Owen: "I'm not so much a fan of Liverpool, but one of the players

Arsene Wenger continues to stick by Andrei Arsharvin despite being a serial under achiever in his three years at the club. Kedah management seem to be thinking that after four games their two Brazilian imports aren't up to the mark. One hasn't played yet but I guess that's just a minor detail.
The manager says the team 'play well so far' but they can't find the goal.

Arsene Wenger continues to stick by Andrei Arsharvin despite being a serial under achiever in his three years at the club. Kedah management seem to be thinking that after four games their two Brazilian imports aren't up to the mark. One hasn't played yet but I guess that's just a minor detail.
The manager says the team 'play well so far' but they can't find the goal.

Want to be part of something special? Are you hungry for soccer?
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Get the new Ultras membership package!
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• Ultras T-shirt
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With the pressure and excitement of each and every week's matches, it's sometimes easy to lose the overall plot of how a season has evolved in the league as a whole. Since we are just past the halfway point of the season, I thought I'd take a look at a couple of trends in teams' output in the Premier League this season.