In the real world, if you buy something, you expect it to work. And if you spend a lot of money on it, you expect it to work very well, for as long as you'll need it to (maybe even forever). So it's easy to think that paying millions of dollars for a player should yield instant results. But it's the rare occasion when this actually comes to pass.

Luis Suarez has been back in action for twenty-five minutes, and he's already lucky he hasn't been banned two or four or seventeen more times. In related news, the buildup to a match against Manchester United is always so very much fun...

* In amongst all the excitement over Kenny Dalglish reminding the world that the club never thought Suarez' ban was an entirely appropriate punishment, following Monday's match there was an even more ridiculous Suarez b-plot that popped up when Wayne Rooney hopped on Twitter to suggest that the Liverpool striker should be banned for his mis-timed kick to Scott Parker's midriff.

For many, there has been a belief that in order to get the most out of Charlie Adam he must be played as part of a three-man midfield, alongside players who will be able to cover for his shortcomings and in doing so allow him to do what he does best—break down tough opponents and create scoring opportunities.

Big game at the Bridge on Super Sunday. Personnel decisions are likely to play a significant role in the outcome. So, let's channel our inner Andre Villas-Boas and sort this one out.

Cool? Cool.

I see you.

Andre Villas-Boas faces all kinds of issues entering our match against Manchester United.

After months of praise for being one of the best defensive units in the Premier League, Saturday's game against Bolton saw Liverpool's normally stout defensive line concede three against the side with the worst home record of any club in the seven leagues that make up the top end of the English footballing pyramid.

In the wake of Saturday's match against Stoke, much was made of the draw representing a complete tactical failure by Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke. The key failure in that larger breakdown was meant to be the deployment of three centre backs in a formation nearly identical to the one which had defeated Stoke at Anfield a year earlier, as in the eyes of many those three centre backs represented an overly defensive approach when facing a club with so little attacking intent.

By Richard Nash

Tottenham's victory over Everton last week left them level on points with Manchester United and three points off league leaders Man City, confirming their position as genuine title rivals to the Manchester clubs. Much has been made of the additions of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor as a reason for the club's success, but the biggest change since last season has been the use of their wingers, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon.

Manchester City 0
Liverpool 1 Steven Gerrard 13′ (pk)

A week after falling 3-0 to Manchester City in the league, a Liverpool side without two of their top players returned to face a City side missing three of their best for the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals.

Villarreal's tiki-taka exhibition

15 passes in about 20 seconds? Barcelona may have mastered the art of tiki-taka, short one and two-touch passing (normally formed in shifting triangles created by three footballers), but Villarreal showed us this past weekend against Valencia that the likes of Borja Valero are on to you, Xavi.

By Richard Nash

After starting the season with their customary 4-3-3 formation, Wigan have now lined up in a 3-4-3 system ever since their 3-3 draw with Blackburn on November 19th. Roberto Martinez trialled the system in a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on October 1st, but then reverted back to his familiar 4-3-3 for their following game against Bolton.

By David Chalmers

If you'll excuse the pun and read on...

Over a number of years, football has played with systems and tried to define formations while the brains on the bench tell us that their players aren't confined to a sole set of instructions, but taking a look at the Premier League this season, it's looking increasingly more like target men are the focal point of most sides at this moment in time.

There was hope. Hope in Dalglish's return. Hope in Suarez' arrival. Hope in the introduction of a more pleasing brand of football. And then, in a moment, it seemed to have all been ripped away.

People talked about the club being bigger than any one player, and they rationalised that things would be alright given that that particular player hadn't really made much of a contribution to any kind of success over the previous eighteen months.

To wrap things up with the "What I Want For Christmas" series, we'll begin with a bit of a tactical aside before prioritizing the shopping list...

(In case you missed the beginning of this discussion: Part I and Part II are available.)

Our likely man in the middle?

In all of this discussion, we've curiously ignored tactics for the most part.

By Oli Baker

At the time of writing, no side in Europe's top five leagues has made as few tackles per game as Wolves (15.4) or as few interceptions (11.9).

For a team that gained a reputation as being tough and uncompromising last season, these are startling statistics.

Although Wolves do fare quite well in the possession stakes, averaging 50.

By Oli Baker

At the time of writing, no side in Europe's top five leagues has made as few tackles per game as Wolves (15.4) or as few interceptions (11.9).

For a team that gained a reputation as being tough and uncompromising last season, these are startling statistics.

Although Wolves do fare quite well in the possession stakes, averaging 50.

Norwich City grabbed a 1-1 draw in their trip to the northwest to face Everton on Saturday. The home squad lined up in their usual 4-4-1-1 shape, with Louis Saha finding himself up top with Tim Cahill withdrawn in the ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

Oliver Sparrow and Eric Beard had the pleasure of spending an hour with esteemed author and journalist Jonathan Wilson on the AFR Podcast. Jonathan writes for The Guardian, The Independent, Sports Illustrated, World Soccer, and FourFourTwo. He is also the editor of a quarterly publication called The Blizzard, which is filled with content from some of the biggest names in football journalism.

It's remarkable how varied soccer teams' attitudes towards possession are. Obviously, no team is more deeply committed to possession in all situations than Barcelona, even though that commitment can cost them, as it did in the recent Clasíco, when Real was handed their early goal via an uncharacteristically dumb and easily-intercepted pass from Víctor Valdés.

Berbatron's Note: Long-time Blues fan Ratna Prashanth tells us what to expect from the big money battle between the two Blues of the premier league.

Stamford bridge is going to be the venue for a great showdown tomorrow. Its Chelsea vs Man City, otherwise titled the battle of the 2 BLUE spenders.

And the key fixtures keep on coming. Fresh off our impressive showing in Europe, which ensured Chelsea's advancement to the first knockout round of the Champions League, comes a home date with Manchester City. While we have been on an upward trajectory in recent weeks, this match represents a true litmus test for the club.

by Adam Bate

Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't look like an underdog. He doesn't feel like one and he most certainly doesn't act like one. But this weekend he is the player more than any other who will be tasked with the role of challenging Barcelona's footballing oligarchy.
And yet, don't expect people to thank him for it.

Vedran Corluka's requests for first team football had spread around the teamRight, call off all the bets. The season's as good as over and the title is ours. As if any further proof were needed that this year's Spurs are made of different, more robust stuff than previous incarnations, this weekend provided further evidence that we are indeed, as Herman's Hermits said, into something good.

Follow us on Twitter @Untold Arsenal

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"Making the Arsenal" – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store.

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Goals, assists and other stuff

By Alek Pan

This is the second statistical analysis of the way in which football (mostly [.

Follow us on Twitter @UntoldArsenal

Possession, pass success or shots?

By Alek Pan

Almost everyone knows that Arsenal is very successful in the areas of possession, pass success and shots on target, but which component is more influential in terms of league position?

Yesterday we broke down Liverpool's winning goal, and while the focus may have been on Glen Johnson's run from deep and his fantastic finishing of it, the team effort involved in the buildup was plain to see. It might be fair to say that most goals, if you dig deep enough, are team efforts, though often that effort can either be fairly self-evident or, conversely, hopelessly muddied.

Craig Bellamy Hated Rafa Beitez! Lucas Leiva Makes Alex Song Look Terrible! Tony Pulis is Probably a Human Being! Other Inflammatory Headlines...!

* Craig Bellamy's feisty, roaming performance on the weekend played a key role in Liverpool's success, even if the more senior player inevitably tired after a frantic first half that saw Liverpool fly at their opponents.

Dirk Kuyt draws Ashley Cole inside to cover for John Terry. Glen Johnson's run from deep catches Florent Malouda unaware. And Liverpool recover from a long stretch where they were outplayed by Chelsea to win for the second time in a row at Stamford Bridge under Kenny Dalglish. For some, Johnson's composure in the box and skilful, left-footed finish might seem one more reason to deploy the attacking fullback higher up the pitch.

Mighty big match at the Bridge on Sunday. Could be described by some as a must-win. Others, like me, reckon it's only half a must-win. Yeah, I don't know what that means, either.

What I do know is that our tactical approach of late has been heavily flawed, and thus criticized by any and all comers some with a genuine argument, others not so much.

Two weeks without club football? Check. The potential for the club's most important players to pick up injuries? Check. All the time in the world to stew over a bad performance leading into the break? Check. A fully functioning liver? That might depend on how many Liverpool players go to sleep Tuesday night without having picked up an injury between now and then.

The end product may not be there yet, with a bad miss in the opening minutes against Swansea highlighting that fact, but in recent weeks Andy Carroll has certainly put in a shift—and looked far more useful for it, especially compared to the opening weeks of the season when he could at times seem indifferent.

This month I contributed my second piece to Goalkeeper Magazine. If you haven't heard about it, it's a bimonthly glossy magazine and describes itself as follows:

Goalkeeper Magazine is designed for all goalkeepers across the world of any age and all abilities. It is being produced with passion and love for the game, and the unique position of the goalkeeper.

On Saturday, Swansea's unheralded midfield trio of Mark Gower, Leon Britton, and Joe Allen overran their Liverpool counterparts, maintaining possession patiently and allowing Swansea to dominate for long stretches. They didn't, however, significantly outplay either of Liverpool's midfielders individually, with Lucas having the most effective passing game of any player on the pitch and Charlie Adam giving arguably his most controlled performance in a Liverpool shirt.

The English FA has gone quiet when it comes to Patrice Evra, Luis Suarez, and allegations of racism, but with the case still theoretically open there's finally some new information to talk about. Plus Liverpool's inability to stick with Plan A even when it seems to be working and preparing for a public execution at Wembley in today's news and notes.

"El 'loco' que Pep lleva dentro"

We've been remiss in posting our weekend TV guides the past couple weeks. This weekend we offer a belated and truncated version, consisting of a single match that's kicking off in just a few hours: La Liga's late match on Sunday, Athletic Bilbao hosting FC Barcelona, kicking off at 8pm in "la Catedral de futbol" Estadio San Mamés (which corresponds to 2pmET; televised in the US on ESPN Deportes, and also available via ESPN3.

As for a Genk recap, friends, I'm not doing it. Jack's not doing. Jamie's not doing it. Your loyal scribes simply refuse to put words on that performance. Dire, would be as far as I'd go in terms of a description. Beyond that, I've got nothing else to say about the match itself. But, I do have some thoughts on what we've witnessed since the QPR debacle that may well shed a light on some of our misfortunes of late.

West Bromwich Albion marked the first time that Jamie Carragher hasn't started at centre half this season, and with it came the first chance in ages to see Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger paired at the back. The long-delayed partnership, one many assumed Rafa Benitez intended to use as the replacement for Hyypia and Carragher before a series of injuries made it nearly impossible to imagine, put in an almost flawless performance.

There have been some raised eyebrows across the Major League Soccer punditry about Peter Nowak and his choice of formation to begin the Eastern Conference Semifinal First Leg. The iconic manager of the Philadelphia Union pulled a tactical rabbit out ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.

It's Monday, which means you probably don't need an excuse to get your drink on. But just in case you do, that's a current picture of Steven Gerrard there on the right. We're pretty sure it's not a Halloween costume. But more on that in a little bit...

* Against West Bromwich Albion, having Henderson tucked into the middle worked at both ends of the pitch.

In the first half of the 1960′s, one team was on the minds of everyone with any interest in European football: Grande Inter. This Inter Milan side, led by the the eccentric Helenio Herrera described by famous player Gianni Brera as "a clown and a genius, vulgar and ascetic, voracious and a good father, sultan [.

By Walter Broeckx We know that one of the things that some part of the fans throw at Wenger is the fact that he can't organise a defence. And that he is stubborn. And then they come up with the fact that he needs to get a defensive coach. Because of his stubbornness he doesn't [...]