Gerard Pique
“Barcelona’s team we know; Manchester United’s is a matter of speculation, a fact that, in itself, is indicative of two things. First, that Barcelona is the favorite, with such a defined and familiar style of play that, even in this age of rotation, it is possible, as with the greats of the past, to rattle through a first eleven.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“Considering Bolton and Owen Coyle received an enormous amount of praise earlier in the season, it’s slightly strange to find them down in 14th place at the end of the Premier League season. 14th place doesn’t sound particularly bad, but having flirted with a Europa League place earlier this season, it represents an alarming drop in form in the second half of the season.” Zonal Marking
“The word ‘nice’ gets a little over used for our liking, but this is a nice story in the nicest sense of the word. Answering a call via contacts made in junior football, the legendary Brazilian master Socrates turns out for Garforth Town against Tadcaster Albion in the Northern Counties East League in October 2004.” In Bed With Maradona
“Earlier this month, Major League Soccer proudly announced the launch of the Castrol Index to ‘objectively’ rank its players’ performances. As if the modern game was not already burdened with enough useless statistics, we can now enjoy the benefits of this ‘proprietary technology’ that purports to track around 1,800 player movements per game, and then produce a league table of ranked individuals. The first monthly table told us what we possibly already knew: Thierry Henry is the best player in MLS.” WSC
“Top flight team slumps into the third division before a well-off businessman takes control, recruits foreign coach, engineers a revival and targets the Champions League. Sound familiar?” In Bed With Maradona
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