“As part of our ever expanding features this season, we introduce a new section to the website – the classics. As important as the current scheme of Spanish football is, and the future, it would be wrong to neglect its fine history. To overlook this area for us will be Mohamed Moallim, who becomes our chief writer on all things of a historical nature. Here he starts with a ‘phenomenal’ story…” Spanish Football
“Friday should have been a night of triumph for Greece. A 2-0 win over Croatia moved it back to the top of its Euro 2012 qualifying group, and a draw away to Georgia on Tuesday will guarantee the top spot in the group, while Slaven Bilic’s Croatian side has to go through a playoff. But the events in the stand that caused the match to be stopped for seven minutes cast a long shadow. None of Greece’s 11 national sports papers led with the hooliganism, but these were serious outbreaks, not something to be brushed under the carpet of a satisfactory result.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“It’s the same teams, three months apart, coming up with a totally different spectacle. Back in July the Copa America in Argentina was always enthralling, but its fascination was frequently the grim, attritional kind, with defences holding the upper hand. Now in October, the first round of South America’s marathon World Cup qualification campaign produced four open games – at times absurdly so – and 15 goals. Much of this can be explained by the differing demands of tournament and league football.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“An economic downturn, the calciopoli scandal, pockets of violence and racism have all scarred Italian football in recent years, but some truly dreadful planning hasn’t helped either.” In Bed With Maradona
Jacques-Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women
“Wayne Rooney was sensationally sent off for the second time in his England career to spoil what should have been the celebration of reaching Euro 2012. First-half goals from Ashley Young and Darren Bent were enough to claim a draw against a Montenegro side who were rampant in the second half following Elsad Zverotic’s deflected effort in stoppage time before the break, and they levelled at the end through Andrija Delibasic to grab a play-off berth. But the journey home for England was spoiled by Rooney’s red.” ESPN
Montenegro 2 England 2: match report
“On a stormy night in the Balkans, England made desperately heavy weather of reaching Euro 2012, receiving a timely wake-up call about the work required before next summer, also receiving a painful reminder that Wayne Rooney can still walk on the wild side. No excuses for Rooney. No expectations for England. As the rain lashed down, goals from Ashley Young and Darren Bent put Fabio Capello’s side in charge but poor concentration allowed Elsad Zverotic and then Andrija Delibasic to underline the reality that England are only a qualified success.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Montenegro or bust: England must be wary of an in-form striker
“England: beware Mirko Vucinic! He has a penchant for scoring goals against English sides; as he showed when he was playing up front for Roma. Now the Montenegro striker is playing up front with great success for Juventus and had an outstanding match last weekend when Juve beat Milan in Turin. Just turned 27, Vucinic was the perfect all round lone ranger, linking cleverly with his midfielders, well able to hold the ball up, as well as to strike for goal.” World Soccer
Self-harming England give Fabio Capello plenty to ponder
“Fabio Capello must now prepare not for one European Championship, but two. At some point in the group stage – after one game or two if Uefa extends the punishment – the England coach will have to take his team sheet for the start of the tournament and rip it up, to allow for the return of Wayne Rooney, who was dismissed against Montenegro for a lamentable loss of self-control.” Guardian
Euro 2012: Five lessons Fabio Capello can learn from World Cup failure
“1. Avoid a repeat of the claustrophobic training camp in Rustenburg. England and Fabio Capello appear to have learned from their experiences in South Africa, where their choice of base – the isolated, if plush, Royal Bafokeng complex on the outskirts of Rustenburg – prompted the familiar complaints of mind-numbing tedium from his squad.” <a href=”
“By Tuesday evening we’ll know the 12 of the 16 nations which will participate at Euro 2012. Poland and Ukraine will be there as hosts of the tournament, while England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain can already book their flights. The eight group winners qualify automatically along with the best runner-up. As three groups only have five teams, the groups with six teams will have the record of the team finishing bottom of the group ignored to calculate the best runner-up. We take a group-by-group look at who can still qualify, and how they can get to the finals. Head to head record comes before goal difference in this qualifying campaign.” ESPN
“The release of Football Manager 2012 is just weeks away, but we have a sneak preview of what the enhanced 3D Match Views will look like. As you can see from the above video, the level of detail that has been added to the 3D Match Views is quite substantial. That includes everything from improved stadiums, player injuries, animated player responses, better lighting and much more.” EPL Talk
“The idea that Belgium could have an outside chance of winning the 2014 World Cup might seem strange to anyone who considers its lack of recent success and a domestic league suffering from low budgets and poor stadiums. However, a look at the current squad shows that for the first time in 20 years there is talent to spare: Vincent Kompany, Marouane Fellaini, Eden Hazard, Steven Defour, Axel Witsel, Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Moussa Démbéle; the list is endless. This sudden blossoming of talent though is more by accident than design. Sadly, there is no Belgian blueprint.” SI
“Alejandro Sabella’s first competitive game ended in a convincing 4-1 win over an ever-entertaining Chilean side. Sabella chose a flexible 4-4-1-1ish shape for the game – more on that later. One of the more eye-catching selection decisions was his choice of Rodrigo Braña in the holding role, his trusted number five from Estudiantes. Having played 3-4-1-2 for most of the Copa America, Claudio Borghi tilted the midfield triangle to include both Mati Fernandez and Jorge Valdivia, leaving Carlos Carmona as the sole holder in an unusual 3-1-4-2ish shape. Main man Alexis Sanchez was out injured.” Zonal Marking
“Spain continued their 100% record in Euro 2012 qualifying and kept Scotland’s hopes of sealing a play-off place from Group I alive with a dominant win over the Czech Republic. Juan Mata’s calm finish in the sixth minute put the visitors in control and they doubled their lead midway through the first half as Xabi Alonso slotted home a fine cut-back from David Silva.” ESPN
“Just a few months ago Arsenal were riding high, as they still had credible chances to win trophies in four competitions. However, a late defeat to unfancied Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final initiated an awful sequence of events. Elimination by Barcelona in the Champions League was maybe predictable, though hopes had been high after a scintillating victory in the first leg, but the collapse of form in the Premier League was less understandable.” The Swiss Ramble
“In the build-up to France’s final two Euro 2012 qualifiers, the French press have been quick to draw comparisons with the situation that faced Les Bleus at the end of their ill-fated qualification campaign for the 1994 World Cup. Needing just a single point from their last two matches at home to Israel and Bulgaria, Gérard Houllier’s side somehow conspired to lose both to gut-wrenching last-minute goals. The stunning failure confirmed France’s unwelcome reputation for producing gifted but psychologically fragile sportsmen and the trauma of the event was only partially alleviated by the outcome of the next World Cup on home soil five years later.” Football Further
“The 2011 EFW Oktoberfest will take place between October 20-24. Based in Prague, and branching out as far afield as Bratislava, forty or so fans of clubs from all around Europe will attend a festival of football, beer and giggles. Danny Last and Stuart Fuller put some meat on those bones……” European Football Weekends
“Brian Howard Clough was never less than a complex man; the sum of a contradictory bunch of impulses, desires and drives. Jonathan Wilson, in this first full, critical biography draws an intimate and powerful portrait of one of England’s greatest football managers, and his right-hand man, Peter Taylor, and reveals how their identities were forged in the unforgiving world of post-war football, a world where, as Clough and Taylor’s mentor Harry Storer once said, ‘Nobody ever says thank you.'” In bed With Maradona
Brian Clough, Bosnia & Bruce – Our Chat With Jonathan Wilson
“The words ‘genius’ and ‘legend’ are bandied about football these days far too easily. Nyron Nosworthy accidentally does a Cryuff turn in the face of Wayne Rooney, he’s a ‘legend’… A manager staring defeat in the face brings on two strikers with ten minutes to go, they both score, the team wins, he’s a ‘genius’… please, don’t insult us.” Roker Report
“It has been, by any standards, a quiet twenty-first birthday. The reunified German nation celebrated its coming of age on Monday, not with wild revelry, but with a mature, modestly demure acknowledgement of this remarkable achievement. Of course, Germany has been young before its time. Alcohol consumption began not this week, nor surreptitiously in mid-teens, but with uncharacteristic abandon upon its very birth, in the wreckage of the Berlin wall in the remarkable autumn of 1990. Germany has been financially responsible for itself for a long time; and for some years has held the keys to the Eurozone door. It is a protective parent, privately admonishing a young, careless Greece, whilst agreeing to bail it out of its worst excesses.” In Bed With Maradona
“Football pays homage to the great and the good through various touching appreciation. At the bottom, above conversation in the pub of course, are songs, ‘I still see that tackle by Moore and when Lineker scored Bobby belting the ball and Nobby dancin,’ that sort of thing. In England most clubs will honour a real legend with a staute, Billy Wright outside Molineux, Billy Bremner at Elland Road, Sir Stanley Matthews at The Britannia. Great managers get roads; Sir Matt Busby Way, Brian Clough Way, Sir Alf Ramsey Way. That prospect certainly gives the adage; Where there’s a will there’s a way, a more physical feel. Finally there’s stands; the Matthew Harding Stand at Stamford Bridge, the Gill Merrick Stand at Birmingham City and so on.” In Bed With Maradona
“As recently as two decades ago, when Ecuador met Venezuela in World Cup qualification it was about as significant as when Liechtenstein take on the Faroe Islands. Not any longer. This Friday, the two South American countries face each other in the opening round of the continent’s Fifa 2014 World Cup qualifiers – with both entitled to believe that they are taking the first step on the road to the finals in Brazil.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“He isn’t green or fat, he doesn’t have a movie franchise and there is no Princess Fiona in his life, but Valencia defender Adil Rami is happy to answer to his nickname, “Shrek.” The French-Moroccan will freely admit it’s because he eats voraciously and has been known, just occasionally, to belch. Loudly.” ESPN
“Following Keith Millen’s exit from the managerial post at Bristol City earlier this week, we are very pleased to welcome Paul Binning for our latest interview. Paul trades under the name @cider1977 on Twitter and runs the consistently enjoyable blog, The Exiled Robin. He also contributes a regular feature on social media and football that appears in the Bristol City matchday programme and I was lucky enough to pave the way for this conversation when I met Paul in person at Bedminster Cricket Club last week. Here are his thoughts on the interregnum at Ashton Gate…” thetwounfortunates
“Tall, powerful, sneering Cristiano Ronaldo and short, slippery, cheerful Lionel Messi ought to form one of the great dichotomies in sports — think Magic/Bird, only in Romance languages. They’re the two best soccer players in the world.1 They star on opposite sides of Real Madrid versus Barcelona, currently the game’s most compelling rivalry. And they’re temperamental opposites — Ronaldo a flamboyant, collar-popping he-diva who measures time in lingerie models, Messi a low-key, affable team player who seems to live for the game.” Grantland
“When a football club averaging just 350 regular fans plays its way into the European history books you cannot help but wonder how it has belied the odds against it. After frightening mighty teams such as RSC Anderlecht and CSKA Sofia in recent years its progression could be the catalyst for a generation of change both in its own fortunes and the league in which it plies its trade.” In Bed With Maradona
“Like every aspiring plutocrat who loves AC Milan, I sometimes fantasise about owning the club. I have big plans for it. Investing heavily in the youth programme. Engineering unbreakable bonds of affection between players and club. Brokering a creative and generous understanding between our ultras and local government. Smiling calmly from the director’s box as the team crushes English clubs in the Champions’ League. This is before we lead our revolutionary boycott of UEFA competitions, demanding a structure that creates more equitable opportunities for smaller leagues and clubs. Giving incentives to star players for participating in local coaching initiatives, and encouraging young players (from the revitalised youth programme) to undertake higher education. Improving the rose gardens at Milanello. Exacting lasting vengeance on those who let so much as a single tear fall from the eyes of Andrea Pirlo.” Run of Play
“Connected by the local overland regional train, the S-Bahn, Germany’s industrial heartland is home to Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund and German Cup holders Schalke in the top flight, along with Duisburg and Bochum in the second tier. All four enjoy a healthy fan base, with Dortmund and Schalke pulling in some of the highest attendances in Europe, while even modest Rot-Weiss Essen, who reached the German Cup Final as recently as 1994, attract relatively good crowds to their Regionalliga West games in the country’s fourth division.” World Soccer
“Begrudgingly, Arséne Wenger may have to accept progress has been made despite facing defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal didn’t play like second-best but the difference in confidence was evident between the two sides; Tottenham with a ruthless ambition about their forward play and Arsenal, nervy and twitchy around the box. When Spurs took the lead, there was an uncertainty about Arsenal’s attacking play. Both their most direct players – and both carrying knocks before the game – were withdrawn, making you wonder why they both started.” The Arsenal Column
“Manchester City’s forward pressing, a lack of understanding up front for West Brom and Pepe Reina’s sharp distribution” Guardian
“Traditional top scorers charts rank players simply by counting the number of goals scored, thereby assuming that every single goal scored has equal value. This goes against both emotional feeling and rational thinking. A late winner against superior oppositions ranks higher on both these scales than a goal that extends a dominating home team’s lead from four to five goals.” 11 tegen 11
“It didn’t start with ‘an exciting interpretation of the 3-4-3 formation,’ but Barcelona admitted a move from pop to pretension with that teaser. As brilliant as Pep Guardiola’s team has been at times this season — last Saturday’s 5-0 win over Atletico shimmered in the floodlights, as did Wednesday’s 5-0 win over Bate in the Champions League — its winks at the pantheon have left it the kind of self-conscious that can be crippling. Three draws from seven games so far are the result: it’s far too good for any of that nonsense. The club is riddled with third album syndrome. Two European Cups down, the search for a third has come with a nasty awareness of what great is and what great should be. The tick-list on what’s required for history-making has been drawn up and handed out to players and coaching staff.” SI
“Below are MOTD video highlights for all the EPL matches on October 1, 2011. The full edition of MOTD can be viewed here (a link will be added here later).” The 90th Minute
“St Pauli moved level on points with 2. Bundesliga league-leaders Eintracht Frankfurt and Greuther Fürth after punishing Energie Cottbus’ mistake-laden defence. The home side cannot stop shipping goals this season, but the worst part was that against St Pauli, they barely created enough chances to compensate for their numerous lapses in concentration at the back. Full credit to the visitors, though, who put in a disciplined performance on and off the ball, capping it by showing their top-flight credentials in front of goal.” Defensive Midfielder
Joseph Vernet, Imaginary Landscape, Italian Harbor Scene
“Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was the villain in the eyes of Everton fans after he was involved in the sending-off of Jack Rodwell before scoring the second goal in a controversial 2-0 derby victory. The Uruguay international was berated as a cheat by the majority of Goodison Park – and appeared to have a coin thrown at him – after making the most of Rodwell’s sliding tackle midway through the first half.” ESPN>
Everton vs. LIVERPOOL: 15 positives to take from the game
“Liverpool’s victory against Everton at Goodison Park was marred by an outrageously negligent red card decision, but there were still plenty of positives to take away from the game.” Liverpool Kop
“Our latest conversation is with Danny Brothers, author of a number of posts for us including a look back at Northampton Town’s 1996-7 play-off winning side. Danny runs his own blog and this has the obligatory moniker, A Load of Cobblers, although he spreads his net beyond the watershed of the River Nene to League 2 as a whole, joining forces with our last interviewee Ben Mayhew and Maxi Hobbs for an enjoyable preview of the season back in August. Here, Danny gives us his views on Gary Johnson, Adebayo Akinfenwa, the challenge of the oval ball game and the club’s current home at Sixfields…” thetwounfortunates
“By putting up an intense physical battle and smartly targeting their opponent’s weaker points, Groningen earned a 1-0 victory. Winning most tackles in midfield, while pressuring Ajax early on, Groningen frustrated their opponents, paying a price in terms of yellow cards earned, but getting away with three well earned points. Ajax made a powerless and tired experience and never really got to their opponent’s box in order to exploit their own strengths.” 11 tegen 11
Roberto Soldado
“Despite losing to Sevilla last weekend, Valencia have made a very promising start to this season, most evidently when they led reigning champions Barcelona twice before securing an unexpected draw. On the one hand, this should not be too much of a surprise, as Valencia have finished third in La Liga in each of the past two seasons, though admittedly they were a hefty 25 points behind Pep Guardiola’s superlative team last year. On the other hand, this represents a hugely impressive achievement for Los Che after all the upheaval they have faced both on and off the pitch.” Swiss Ramble
“Could they please just let her dance in flats? That’s what I thought as I watched Hope Solo fight her way through a jive in high-heeled converse sneakers. Letting Solo dance in flats would make this whole Dancing With the Stars thing less anxiety provoking. Who isn’t worried about her turning her ankle? Those joints are of national importance! I have been so preoccupied by her feet I’ve scarcely noticed this season’s gender drama.” From A Left Wing
“Sport, and perhaps most predominantly football, is one of the few facets of society where men can be unabashedly emotional and not be frowned upon for being so. The TV cameras love identifying a fan showing their feelings at the end of a big game. Whether it’s the ecstatic character celebrating a title win or a weeping child commiserating relegation, football and emotions are inexorably linked and I, like any other fan have experienced every single one over the years.” In Bed With Maradona
“It was the night which saw Liverpool born again. The 25th of May 2005 is now synonymous with the European Cup’s most marvellous and fairy tale. Despite the great lustre and rich history surrounding Liverpool, the side were a distant second best to Carlo Ancelotti’s AC Milan boasting some of the best world’s greatest talents. Indeed, the route to Istanbul for Liverpool contained enough twists and turns for the Kopites to perhaps feel it was their team’s destiny to march on and claim their fifth European Cup.”The Equaliser
2000s Month: The Power of Anfield
“In the UK in the early May of 2005, there was a clash between two different ideologies, cultures and backgrounds as Liverpool played Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final second-leg at Anfield. A few days later there was a general election. Although it was a match low on technical excellence and even tactical nous, the drama of the night more than made up for it.” The Equaliser
“AC Jimbo is back to rummage through coverage of this week’s Champions League matches, revealing the exact percentages of credit to give to members of Bayern Munich’s team and how Porto are in a storm” Guardian – James Richardson
“The last time Ajax regularly played three at the back, Sandra Bullock was one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood with a bright future ahead, and the same could be said for Ajax who dined at the top of Europe’s elite table. Since those halcyon days Bullock has gone on to amass a fortune and bag an Academy award in the process whereas the Godenzonen have been in the doldrums, slowly losing their identity and barely feasting on the crumbs.” Just Football
“You want an intro? No chance. If you need an introduction you’re probably in the wrong place. Nice montage this though, and for once you don’t need to hit the ‘mute’ button. Enjoy! Click the image to watch.” In Bed With Maradona
“In the much anticipated replay of last year’s Champions League group stage game ,where Ajax took a true battering and ended up losing 2 – 0 at Madrid, Ajax lost 3 – 0 this time at the Estadio Bernabeu. In terms of ‘face value’ Ajax provided more counter play – in fact their amount of 19 shots registered was higher than any Champions League opponent achieved at the Bernabeu since Bayern in the 2006/07 Champions League quarter final – but the final score line and the dominance expressed by Real’s front four left little to the imagination. Ajax failed the benchmark test that was supposed to show the progress made under manager Frank de Boer in the past year.” 11 tegen 11
Valencia 1-1 Chelsea: Chelsea let the lead slip
“An open game ended with a point apiece. Unai Emery used the same outfield XI he fielded against Barca having rotated at the weekend, although there was a change in goal – Diego Alves came in. Andre Villas-Boas went with the usual 4-3-3 – Florent Malouda started on the left, and Juan Mata drifted in from the right, with Frank Lampard restored to the midfield. This was fairly evenly-balanced – Valencia were better in possession, but Chelsea probably had the better chances. Emery marginally got the better of the tactical battle in the first half, but a draw was a good reflection of the balance of play.” Zonal Marking
“Barcelona members have approved the Qatar foundation sponsorship and Real Madrid members have approved record-breaking revenues and plans to ‘wrap’ the Estadio Bernabeu. But this week’s major issue among the twin giants of the Spanish game concerns Leo Messi.” World Soccer
“Life could have been so different for Francesco Totti. ‘If I hadn’t been a footballer, I would have liked to have become a petrol pump assistant,’ he said. ‘When I was little, it was wonderful to smell the petrol fumes and see those guys handle so much money.’ Admittedly one does sometimes have to wonder whether those fumes ever went to the young Totti’s head.” FourFourTwo
“Both Barcelona and Real Madrid can claim to have been more than entertaining in their respective weekend victories. The first 15 seconds at the Santiago Bernabeu, for example, were particularly compelling. And both clubs also delivered in their own special ways on the traditionally fusty, dusty institutional level. Normally a day spent watching pompous, boastful men in their 50s, jangling their jowls whilst talking endlessly about finances and waving voting cards is as skull-dentingly tortuous as a 2010/11 Deportivo season highlights DVD.” FourFourTwo
“Arsene Wenger was the keynote speaker at a soccer conference last year when he was asked, in a room packed with performance analysts and sporting directors from rival clubs in England and Europe, what the next innovation for coaches would be.” SI
“The constant beating of drums, the colour, the dancing, the screaming, the singing, the joy on people’s faces; it’s all around me. Bora Bahia! Campeão Carioca! (come on Bahia, Champions of Rio) screams the guy behind me. But I’m not in Rio, I’m in Salvador in North Eastern Brazil. On the pitch, Rio side Fluminense are being put to the sword and in the stands the carnival atmosphere is in full swing. Full time score: Esporte Clube de Bahia 3 Fluminense 0.” In Bed With Maradona
“Now, though, Manchester City’s players take the field in pale blue jerseys that suggest possibility as expansive as the sky itself. Or the fossil fuels beneath it. In 2008, the club was bought for $330 million by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, a member of the royal family of the emirate of Abu Dhabi who has fueled his team with an oil and talent pipeline.” NYT
“We watch a fair bit of the Eredivisie at IBWM towers and last season was a little tricky for us. We like to see the traditionally big clubs doing well and have always had a bit of a soft spot for Feyenoord. Seeing the Rotterdam club suffer a truly horrible 2010-11 by their standards wasn’t great to watch, but we enjoyed seeing how well Georginio Wijnaldum was coming along at the club.” In Bed With Maradona
Manuel Neuer
“It must be a peculiar feeling for Iker Casillas to feel like an old crony. Here is the player who for the best part of a decade was one of football’s great exceptions. In a position so specialist, so scrutinised, that experience and proven ability to handle the pressure is preferred, the boy from Madrid was an anomaly. There was, in every sense, very little he could not handle even in his teens.” Guardian
“Dragan Stojković was born on 3 March 1965, and is one of the finest players ever to emerge from the former Yugoslavia. Nicknamed ‘Piksi’ after a cartoon character from his childhood, Stojković made his name with hometown team Radnički Niš before establishing himself as one of Europe’s best creative midfielders with Crvena Zvezda of Belgrade in the late 1980s. He is one of five individuals to have been named Zvezdina Zvezda (a Star of the Star).” In Bed With Maradona
“Lionel Messi matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick as Barcelona turned on the style to dismiss in-form Atletico Madrid 5-0 at the Nou Camp. With the Rojiblancos having scored eight goals in their last two outings and Barcelona labouring against Valencia in midweek, some thought a shock may have been on the cards.” ESPN
FC Barcelona 5-0 Atletico Madrid – Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) – Saturday, September 24, 2011
Free Soccer Highlights
“Luis Suarez was visibly upset after being substituted against Wolves yesterday, and as soon as the final whistle went, he sped off down the tunnel as quickly as possible. Players get subbed off all the time, and there’s absolutely no shame in being replaced by Steven Gerrard, so why was Suarez particularly upset? For me, the answer is obvious, and I can understand his frustration.” Liverpool Kop
Reasons to be cheerful
“What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in familiarity. As many have done before them and, no doubt, plenty of others will do in the future, the travelling supporters from Wolverhampton asked: ‘Where’s your famous atmosphere?’ Their answer came three times before the final whistle. At a club where they celebrate their bona fide heroes and castigate the false idols, it was hard to say which drew the loudest cheer: was it Steven Gerrard’s first Anfield appearance for six months, a quite stunning goal by the irrepressible Luis Suarez or the announcement of Fernando Torres’ sending-off 200 miles away?” ESPN
“Manchester City found a way through at Etihad Stadium against a venerable Everton group, earning the 2-0 victory and a share of first place in the Barclays Premier League. City set up in the same formation they’ve used in the league since the close of the transfer window. It’s 4-2-2-2, marked by no wide players in the front 6. David Silva and Samir Nasri like to stay in tight, allowing Gael Clichy and Micah Richards to roam the flanks freely, which they do very well. Gareth Barry’s role is primarily to break up runs at the defense, while Yaya Toure is a little more fluid in moving forward and contributing in the offense.” EPL Talk
“It is a measure of Lyon’s progress under Rémi Garde that Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss at Caen could be shrugged off as a mere inconvenience. Garde allowed himself a rueful smile during a pitchside interview after the match as he admitted he had been perplexed by his side’s sluggish approach to the game and in the subsequent press conference he was equally equanimous, likening the defeat to ‘a little kick up the bum’.” Football Further
“Few tactical strategies have attracted as much controversy in recent years as the three-man defence, which – in the United Kingdom at least – has become synonymous with coaching gaffes, changing-room unease and on-pitch embarrassment. Blame for England’s 2-0 defeat by Croatia in a Euro 2008 qualifier in October 2006 was widely attributed to Steve McClaren’s decision to send his team out in an untested 3-5-2 formation, with Gary Neville (author of a memorable own goal that day) revealing in his autobiography that the system had been introduced in training only ‘a couple of days before’ the match. Attempts to ambush the Premier League’s top teams by deviating from the four-man defensive norm, meanwhile, have often met with humiliating failure.” EuroSport
“He sat behind the table in his navy blue suit and light blue shirt. Cameras flashed in front of him. Pursed lips and a sly smile occupied the face, but it was all in his eyes. His eyes took everything in: the body language of the people there, the mannerisms. The frenzied hand gestures of the people he will serve. Marco Tardelli’s appointment as Egypt boss in 2004 had crazed the nation. His exploits as an Italian legend preceded him. The expectation was huge. Fans wanted to get to the next World Cup in Germany badly. Egypt’s long search had begun after the previous African Nations Cup in Tunisia had ended with Mohsen Saleh unable to lead them past the group stage.” ESPN
“True enough, it’s only the Third Round of the League Cup and both of the teams playing this evening, whether rightly or wrongly, may well feel that they have bigger fish to fry than this competition this season. There is, however, something in the sea air in Brighton this evening. The trains into the railway station are jammed solid and the queue for the trains out to The American Express Community Stadium snakes out of the station and around the concourse outside. There’s no hint of trouble, of course, and everybody is safely in their seat by kick-off the time of kick-off, but the sheer volume of traffic of the majority of a crowd of almost 22,500 pouring through a main railway station during the rush hour adds inevitable pressures. It all seems, however, dealt with very professionally indeed.” twohundredpercen
“It was Fernando Roig who said it best, explaining the truth that lies behind the Spanish League or the LFP. ‘You go to a league meeting and you discuss things, you explain, you talk about your position for half an hour,’ the Villarreal president told the radio station Cadena Cope, ‘and then it turns out to be completely worthless. There you are making proposals, analyzing the situation and it means nothing because the decision has been taken by in some restaurant the day before the meeting. You can talk, but the decision has been made and there is nothing you can do.'” SI
“From Scotsport’s Bing Crosby-lite review of the year to Mullery v Allison, via Clough and Dunphy, here are some classic moments” Guardian
“Cesc Fabregas’ goal secured a point for Barcelona, but they were the weaker side in the first half. Unai Emery tried his trick from last season against Barcelona, fielding two left-backs in Jeremy Mathieu and Jordi Alba down the left, in order to deal with the forward runs of Dani Alves. Jonas dropped out accordingly, and Bruno Saltor was replaced by Miguel. Pep Guardiola went for a 4-3-3ish shape, albeit with Alves pushed very high up the pitch. David Villa was only on the bench. Valencia dominated the first half by doing two things well – first, pressing Barcelona, squeezing the play and forcing the away side into errors in possession. Second, by attacking Barca in behind Alves and creating three good chances through this route.” Zonal Marking
CF Valencia 2-2 FC Barcelona Highlights & Goals
YouTube
“My affinity toward Landon Donovan is remarkably simple: He’s about my height and about my age. It’s enough to create a bond in my brain. I suppose if I grew up in Europe the success he’s found in athletics despite his small stature might not surprise me quite so. But I didn’t, so it does. The kids born across the pond in the early 1980s had little guys such as Baggio (five-nine) and Scholes (five-seven) to adore after Johan Cruyff (five-eleven) led the way, but American sporting heroes of the 1990s were larger than life and simply huge. Bledsoe and Barkley, the Michaels: Jordan and Johnson. Hell, even Tiger Woods was so damn good at least in part because he was so damn big.” Run of Play
Scissors Kick 