"Hand of God", by Balakov on FlickrThere's been lots of ink & pixels spilled about Thierry Henry's handball. Let me add to the clamor a little bit. I mean, why have a blog, if you can't spout off whenever you feel like it?
This Twohundredpercent piece, Trying To Dissect The Thierry Henry Handball, sums up the rational, measured response. Click to continue reading...

The Second Annual "Gillette - EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming Tournament on Xbox 360," is the world's largest multi-sport online gaming competition that pits gamers from around the globe against each other, and ultimately for the winners, against some of the biggest names in the world of sports, including Gillette Champion Tiger Woods. Click to continue reading...

Many of the regular readers of EPL Talk will know that I'm a massive fan of retro football computer games, so I was pleased to come across a video showing what the original Football Manager game, made in 1982, looked like when played on a Sinclair Spectrum computer.

The video painstakingly goes through step-by-step of how to play Football Manager, which was the classic computer game that started the football management game craze.

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(AP Photo)

Galaxy 2 Houston 0

Game story.

It was a weird ending to a weird season that started with a franchise in shambles, a new coach, 16 new players, seemingly interminable and in some cases lucky draws and a very public spat between the team's two superstars.

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I awoke to the terrible news yesterday that Robert Enke had taken his life, leaving his wife and daughter behind. This news put my stomach in a knot but also replayed that tired old cliché saying of 'putting things into perspective'.
I hadn't known much about the player to be honest, but this horrific story made me eager to find out why a player had been driven to end his own life. Click to continue reading...

Houston travels to L.A. on Friday to take on the Galaxy for the Western Conference crown. This is the matchup of all matchups. The two best teams in the West (which makes it all the more funny that RSL is in the East and yet the city is farther west than Houston, but who's counting really?

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While newly-minted MLS coach of the year Bruce Arena has assembled an LA Galaxy team largely from scratch (outside of its two superstars of course) the squad they host in the Western Conference final tomorrow night counts on a core of players that has played together for years. "You kind of know when you need to step it up and raise your game," said Brian Ching said. Click to continue reading...

I'm not quite sure where this week has gone. It's absolutely motored past. However, I suspect I drifted along, basking a bit too much in derby delight, and before I could whistle, the Champions League game had been and gone, and Stan Kroenke had hoovered up yet more shares.

We continued our fine form, albeit against what turned out to be the limited AZ.

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Have you voted today?

You did? That's "super"!

Wait, you didn't? You forgot? Again?

Eh, that's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Well, not really.

Ironically, "super" is the worst adjective in the dictionary. Its various definitions are simply too diverse to be sloppily thrown into one word.

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Big Story
MLS looks like it will kick off next season without its two biggest stars, David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, with the former set for a return to Milan and the latter returning to Veracruz.

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Javier Mascherano has further rocked the listing Anfield boat this morning by snubbing a new contract.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, already on the ropes after four straight defeats, has always believed the Argentine midfielder would join his golden list of long-term stars.
Skipper Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Daniel Agger and Yossi Benayoun were all secured on bumper summer deals. Click to continue reading...

The Beauty: Melina Pitra like many of the WAGs we have profiled here @ STO is from Argentina. While she is not actually one of the top Argentine WAGs (or even one of the hottest), she is on this list for one simple reason. The player she shagged has the most appropriate name ever at least judging by the picture at left.

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The Guardian has an interesting piece on a forgotten tale involving United players, 100 years ago. Here's an extract:

The first meeting of the Association Football Players Union in 1907 was chaired by United player Billy Meredith – the "Welsh Wizard", who was one of the first footballing superstars.

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Well Maradona's boys are on their way to South Africa. To the delight of this football crazy nation, the two time World cup winners (1978 and 1986) managed to pull off a 1 – 0 score. A solitary goal from Mario Bolatti gave them victory over their worthy opponents at the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo in Uruguay last night in front of a very disappointed home crowd.

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Listen to the report here Transcript

Footballing superstars Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have much in common: known throughout the world as skillful players that can win a game single-handedly. Yet they also share the possibility that they may not appear in next year's World Cup finals.

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By CHRIS LARKIN With Rugby Union's blood gate incident taking up the majority of Sky Sports' time I was relieved to see Football back as the main focus point of the channel and was shocked to see that Chelsea had been ban from making any transfers until January 2011.

I do have sympathy towards Chelsea's case in the way they appear to be singled out but if I'm quite honest I find it hard to actually feel sorry for teams when so many Stockport County players have been poached over the years for pittance, it's disgraceful we spend time and money training quality players that could get County to the next level and then get sold on for alot of money but the ‘bigger' clubs always come in and coax the naive kids into coming to the bigger team, when in actual fact all it does if deprive County of a player that could've really helped us and in many cases will ruin the players career.

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From what I can see there isn't too much going on out there. I suppose the biggest discussion point at the minute (apart from the FA's refusal to punish Bellamy, Neville, or Mascherano) is Arsene's insistence that the enforcement of a restriction on the transfer of u18's would ruin his youth policy, and while Arsenal probably have more at stake than most other clubs, it is a rule which will negatively impact every club in Engalnd.

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There were a full slate of Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) matches in the midweek with the marquee one being Villareal v Real Madrid. Both teams finished near the top of the table last season and this season doesn't appear to be any different. However, Real Madrid has added several superstars and is aiming to knock off defending La Liga champions FC Barcelona.

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Trust the superstars over at Liverpool to grind out a 1-0 win against a bunch of industrious folk, whose team name sounds more like a brand of motor vehicle than football club. Don't get me wrong, they put in a mighty effort and were lucky to only concede one, but ... Click to continue reading...

 A lot has been said about Serie A's decline over the past couple of years. Critics have claimed the English Premiership and Spain's La Liga have become Europe's best leagues leaving Serie A to challenge the Bundesliga for third spot. Â

Sadly, Serie A has witnessed a sharp decline in the past few years that cannot be attributed to the lack of financial means alone.

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An interesting piece from Henry Winter in todays Telegraph:

The temporary absence of all his expensive attacking superstars for Sunday's derby may appear a cruel conspiracy to City, but it also provides an opportunity for Hughes to show how he can juggle depleted resources, how he can devise a game-plan to frustrate the champions.

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The clubs in the Premier League have agreed to a new rule for next season that requires 8 players on the roster (out of 25) to be "home-grown". Â Basically, 8 players you recruited and trained yourself.

Now, I know I was going off the other day about the "Everton Way", but this is an interesting twist on the same idea.

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Real Madrid spent the summer spending their money. Â REALLY spending their money. Â After forking over 136 Million Euros on Ronaldo and Kaka' the boys in Madrid didn't stop. Â They also acquired Karim Benzema in a move that could only compete with the New York Yankees.

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Do we need him?

It's just as wop doors in order to get first pick of the January sales. First shoved into his reusable hand-stitchell then that Manchester United can provide some transfer grist. Sir Alex Ferguson is packing his sleeping bag and Thermos and is prepared to spend New Year's Eve bivouacking outside the shed hemp satchel will be Valencia's David Silva.

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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been compared to the Argentinian legend 'El Diego' throughout their career. Messi has been brought up as the natural heir to Maradona's throne, while Ronaldo has always maintained the view that he is above all in the world. As far as I am concerned these comparisions are futile and I have stated the same many times earlier. Click to continue reading...

So far this Premier League season, what would you say have been the biggest surprises?

We're only four matches in and there are plenty of talking points. I tend not to get too over-excited during the beginning of the season especially because there's a long way to go. But for me the biggest surprises have been how well Manchester City have started the season.

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A step too far?

Apparently Tottenham made a last minute approach to Real Madrid to snap up one of the last remaining Dutch footballers at Real Madrid, the one and only Ruud Van Nistlerooy, would such a move have been tolerated or perhaps even welcomed by Liverpool to help ease their relative lack of striking options?

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Real Madrid debuted the most expensive team in soccer history on Saturday and the start was a winning one for Manuel Pellegrini's men.

New signings Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo scored goals in Real Madrid's 3-2 victory vs. Deportivo La Coruna. Kaka didn't score, but his beautiful pass on Benzema's goal started the proceedings.

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Going through the football news and bloggers  since we lost to Villa was very very interesting and disheartening at the same time.Â

If the slating came from the usual enemies of LFC, then it is understood. These vultures, the so-called expert on journalism but do the most copy-and-paste reporting, will forever lurk around LFC and find even a slight bit of excuse to go after us.

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Mit der Verpflichtung des niederländischen Superstars Arjen Robben, der bei Real Madrid keinen Platz mehr hatte, nachdem die Weltstars Kaka und C. Ronaldo das Trikot der Spanier tragen, hat der FC Bayern München einen echten Transfercoup gelandet. Somit wurde man also doch noch einmal tätig auf dem Transfermarkt – und reagierte damit eventuell sogar auf das Drängen der Fans, die (zumindest teilweise) in einem öffentlichen Brief ihrem Ärger Luft machten.

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Real Madrid have scoured Europe for the top talent and signed a good chunk of it all in one summer but who will be the most influential and kety signing that Madrid have signed this summer? There are a lot to choose from with Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Xabi Alonso to name a few all pulling on a Real Madrid shirt this season.

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How to squeeze so many superstars into just one team? That's the major challenge facing Real Madrid boss Sam the Eagle. Here's the default team I would go with (based on Real's squad at time of posting): My XI...

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United visit Turf Moor, a stadium whose environs could give one the impression of being transported to a different era. The brilliant Two Hundred Percent blog, gives an insight into the club and what it's been through all these years, and as a segue it's a good read. I'm sure the press will spare a few words on the old world charm of Turf Moor, however, for United's superstars and most pampered Premier League stars the dressing rooms will be a dump.

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Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Lionel Messi today has been given medical clearance to play in the Gamper on Wednesday against Manchester City. Messi had been sidelined since last week when he suffered a left thigh injury in practice. He was not able to play in the Argentine friendly or this past Sunday against Athletic Club Bilbao.

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This is a David vs. Goliath battle, but then again, we all know who came up on top in that one.

Manchester United have been handed a fairly easy fixture to kick-start their Premier League campaign, and should ease their way to the three points.

However, even a draw at Old Trafford will result in a few raised eyebrows pointing towards Real Madrid and Manchester City – the two clubs that drained two superstars from Sir Alex Ferguson's side Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

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