• Kop That: Andre Marriner and Mike Jones to pay the penalty: Graham Poll http://t.co/IGhKBRn0 23:51:17, 2011-11-20
• Kop That: Liverpool are much sharper than a Kenny Dalglish one-liner http://t.co/Kfauj81D 23:51:14, 2011-11-20
• Kop That: Oliver Holt's Big Match Verdict: Young Reds step up as Chelsea's aging stars fade http://t.

The manager whose team bonding exercise involved killing a pig... plus the week's daftest football quotes

DAFT QUOTES OF THE WEEK "England have players who can rattle anyone's feathers" – MICHAEL OWEN "Belgium's not a hotpot of international football" – ALAN BRAZIL "This strikes me very much as a friendly international" – GRAHAM TAYLOR, AT ENGLAND v SWEDEN "Nicky Shorey is the provider but Shane Long has made this all on his own" – CHRIS KAMARA "Has England's win pampered over the cracks?

• Kop That: What are the odds Fergie drops at least five of the team thrashed by City? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day http://t.co/yaq8rpdA 22:34:10, 2011-10-24
• Kop That: Five more stunning Premier League results to match Manchester United 1 Manchester City 6 http://t.co/50azjlBK 22:34:07, 2011-10-24
• Kop That: Terry's tunnel bust-up with QPR stars http://t.

Team bonding, beating Oxford and my plans for next season

Matt Lawrence has played for seven league clubs including Fulham, Crystal Palace and Millwall, for whom he appeared in the 2004 FA Cup final during his 16-year career. Now with League Two Gillingham, his diary will appear on MirrorFootball every Monday.

Newcastle United's Dan Gosling stars in England U21 squad's X-Factor bonding session

To the list of activities that are pursued all in the name of team bonding add another event – X Factor night. Senior figures in England's Under-21 squad staged an impromptu get together.

There is something almost Riefenstahlian about the official site's daily descriptions of the squad's pre-season fitness regime; the luxuriating in the mundane minutiae of each training drill and the fetishistic depictions of lythe young bodies in the throws of physical exertion. So it is we learn that it was a mixture of work and play for West Ham United's players as the squad continued their pre-season training camp in Switzerland.

The Werder Bremen hierarchy has apparently found a much better use for the time of their athletes than getting inked:

Pony races.

There are a number of odd activities which take place in the preseason as team-bonding exercises. This one easily takes the cake.a

[101gg]

Team huddle: crucial for team bonding or a pointless gesture? Was Ekotto right all along? So not such a successful season after all. There have been some exciting highlights; Arsenal at the Emirates; Bale against Milan; the Champions' League in general. But they do not make up for the general mediocrity of our play in the Premiership, the disappointing, not to say awful, showings against the

Harry How - Getty Images

First stop in Arizona: To have a chat with Gary Smith and see where he's taking his Colorado Rapids this year. (I'll also check to see if he's hauling around that trophy in his back seat.

Posted by Jared Montz

My friend over at the Chicago Fire Jeff Crandall interviews Chicago Fire draft pick Davis Paul. Besides Davis being drafted to the Fire he is also a youtube star! Check out the video below to see why!

Awesome video from the Cal Men's Soccer team!

So right now, as I write this, Fabregas and van Persie have been taking pictures of their teammates as they sleep. I'm not sure what kind of a team bonding experience this is, but it's clear that this is how you are supposed to treat your teammates.

Wilshere is awake and tweeted that he is never going to be able to sleep while travelling again.