I will keep this short and I will keep it sweet. I was wasting a few minuted on Twitter this afternoon when it was pointed out that Robbie Savage is a complete waste of space as a football pundit, I couldn't disagree, I find his unique brand of stupidity and speaking without thinking particularly offensive, in fact I often turn the radio off when he is involved in one of the phone ins.

One-Nil to the Arsenal seems like an apt score to mark the 125th anniversary of the club, although there is an argument it doesn't really represent the Arsene Wenger era.

This game was anything but typical though. David Moyes took a surprisingly brave approach and attacked Arsenal from the kick-off.

One-Nil to the Arsenal seems like an apt score to mark the 125th anniversary of the club, although there is an argument it doesn't really represent the Arsene Wenger era.

This game was anything but typical though. David Moyes took a surprisingly brave approach and attacked Arsenal from the kick-off.

That five thoughts on the expansion draft post seemed to work pretty well yesterday, so with time short and you (maybe? hopefully?) interested, here are five more on how the Montreal Impact might be the new evil geniuses of Major League Soccer.

And they might just be that. Because right now Montreal looks evil, re: Brian Ching, and they look like geniuses, re: Justin Braun.

Former Liverpool Striker Stan Collymore has launched a scathing attack on Sepp Blatter in response to the FIFA President's cretinous comments about racism in football.
Blatter recently argued that there was 'no racism in football', and suggested that even if there was, it could be dealt with by players 'shaking hands' at the end of the game.

In a grotesque display of gargantuan imbecility earlier today, FIFA's pernicious President Sepp Blatter vomited out the sickening opinion that there is 'no racism in football'.
When asked by CNN World Sport if he thought there was racism on the pitch, the man who runs world football (!

By Chris Wright

Scotland Yard have confirmed that QPR received 'malicious communication' addressed to Anton Ferdinand which was, according to several of the morning papers, delivered by hand to Loftus Road on Friday afternoon.

The death threat reportedly contained such graphic detail that the club weren't even prepared to show it to Ferdinand for fear of further upsetting the centre-back who is, I'm sure you're aware, currently embroiled in a Met investigation over allegations that he was racially abused by Chelsea's John Terry.

The qualification for Euro 2012 is almost done. England will be in Poland and/or Ukraine next summer after comfortably finishing top of Group G, albeit by handing Motenegro an unlikely point and a place in the play-offs in the final game. Ireland also made it to the play-offs, and could be drawn against Montenegro, but Wales and Scotland miss out once again.

Rooney Not Helping England - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Last night Wayne Rooney's astonishing moment of stupidity ensures that Manchester United star is set to miss the start of Euro 2012 next year. It remains to be seen whether he is handed more than a single match ban by UEFA for his act of madness.

This was arguably our easiest game of the CL group, so of course, everyone was just waiting for us to slip up so they can go back to "Arsenal in crisis" mode. Yep, despite the fact that Man City collapsed to a great Munich side, Man U had to labor to rescue a 3-3 draw in Arsenalesque fashion against Basel, and Chelsea gave up a stupid equalizer against Valencia, all eyes were on us to falter so the bloodhounds press hacks could get their self-righteous column templates up.

By Chris Wright

The Met have confirmed that six men are being held in police custody today after a 44-year old Wales fan died in hospital after being attacked outside Wembley following England's 1-0 win last night.

The Police have also identified that the six men being held are all Wales supporters and that the victim, a Cardiff fan domestically, was assaulted due to his club loyalties while, presumably, all seven men were sporting the red of the land of their fathers.

What will be today's most prevalent discussion in the bars before the game today? Lack of signings and our injury problems. The signings may well arrive but once again we go into an early season game with a long injury list and a threadbare squad. I cannot recall us starting a season with a fully fit squad in many years what is the point of pre-season training and friendlies if we are to lose players with such startling regularity?

Listen.

I sat down at the keyboard last night and stared at the screen. Nothing. I just couldn't get jazzed to write a reaction piece. Some of that was because I could copy and paste many of my prior talking points. Some was because the match was pretty dull.

But the main reason was because the result was so infuriatingly predictable.

photo courtesy of Mike Kuhn
So I thought I'd be able to avoid discussing this issue in depth, but things that have been around today have just made me want to write about it. For those that have been living in a cave the last 24ish hours, last night after Sporting KC's first goal by Graham Zusi, two "fans" in the south stand threw the heads from the Omar Bravo bobble head towards the field.

Stupidity from Gervinho

Football is back. First match over and done with. A sense of deja vu to add into the mix. Last season we ended up drawing 1-1 at Anfield and Laurent Koscielny got sent off. This time around Gervinho got sent off as we also ended up in a stalemate in the first fixture of the season.

All-round stupidity will be the only memorable part of this predictable, drab encounter.

Arsene went with the expected line-up and the Gunners played higher up the pitch than would have been advisable. Whenever the Gunners got the ball out wide, and there were at least four or five defenders against an attacker or two.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you guys when and how to watch soccer, but I really hope you all didn't just head out to the absinthe parlor after the US game to celebrate, because Japan put on a special clinic in the second game. Either Sweden didn't see so much as a frame of the Japan-Germany game film, or Japan is so skillful they can completely neutralize teams that are bigger and stronger.

What an impact an successful tournament makes, isn't it? What an impact a wonder goal makes, isn't it?Two weeks before I was shouting at the loudest voice in another Barcelona blog about the foolishness of letting Thiago slip away inorder to facilitate the signing of Cesc Fabregas. No one cared.

It is quite difficult to write something during the summer break. Last season was quite different. The constant Cesc quest produced infinite number of stories and for people like us it was quite good. This season things are back to normal and the transfer market is quietly evolving. But earlier indications looks like we are once again losing the plot with the endless Cesc saga.

So a desperate season comes down to this.
It is, after all, just football. A game where championships can still turn on the final day, a game where the drama should be confined to the pitch.
Today has already been dubbed Helicopter Sunday.
It says much for the bankruptcy of the SPL's ideas departments that they think using a six year old marketing device will still engender excitment.

Talk about late drama. Or talk about the ref once again stealing two points from the Arsenal. Or talk about stupidity.

When things are not going your way some minor detail, which might on another day have been insignificant, inevitably ends up being a game changer. In this case it was a clever piece of cheating by Lucas, who leaned into Eboue, that conned the ref who seemed intent on playing long enough to give Liverpool a scoring chance.

Robin Van Persie has compared Chelsea to Barcelona but not in a way any of us expected. RVP, speaking of his dismissal in the Nou Camp the other week which I think you will agree WAS harsh, but then again he should never have put himself in that position with his stupidity for the first booking he received, has had a pop at Barcelona's players for their conduct on the pitch.

What a fight back. When a team can play 11 V 14 and make a comeback like that you know they're special. This game showed us the best of Arsenal against the worst of typical Premiership Rugby and officiating.

Everton started at a high tempo discussed in the preview. They were pressing high up and not giving the Gunners any time on the ball.

Morning all,

so transfer deadline day came and went and as expected there were no significant events involving Arsenal. Some young players went on loan but frankly they barely even register even if the manager says he might recall one or two of them. To be honest I don't think he will, not unless we pick up more injuries along the way.

BIRMINGHAM, England A debt-ridden car dealer from who conned almost £250,000 out of an Aston Villa footballer after promising to supply him with luxury vehicles has been jailed for 40 months. A judge at Birmingham Crown Court condemned Richard Esprit for using "the verbal equivalent of smoke and mirrors" to steal from striker John [.

That Andy Gray and Richard Keys have been suspended from duty by Sky Sports for this evening's Premier League match should come as no great surprise. The issue of their off-the-microphone comments regarding several different issues relating to the role of women in football has spiralled out of the control of the broadcaster and hasn't blown over in the manner in which Sky might have hoped.

And the hits just keep on coming.

Honestly, outside the first 20 minutes or so, I don't think we were too bad (although I was expecting a little more vibrancy), a bit nervy here and there, but far from being second best. Houllier named an unchanged side, they created chances, they had control of the game for the most part, but made life difficult for themselves with frustrating mistakes.

And the hits just keep on coming.

Honestly, outside the first 20 minutes or so, I don't think we were too bad (although I was expecting a little more vibrancy), a bit nervy here and there, but far from being second best. Houllier named an unchanged side, they created chances, they had control of the game for the most part, but made life difficult for themselves with frustrating mistakes.