Champions League Match Day 1. September 13, Saturday – Aston Villa (Home) September 16, Tuesday – Ludogorets (Home) September 20, Saturday – West Ham United (Away) Liverpool begin their campaign in the coveted Champions League with arguably their easiest round of fixtures of the Group stage. While an injury hit Liverpool side prepare for the … Read more
Manchester United’s title hopes took another blow today when they drew at Cardiff City, but here are five things that we learned from the clash.
Wes Hoolahan is one of those rare footballers that has inspired his own cult following. Throughout Giovanni Trappatoni’s reign, he has consistently ignored the Norwich playmaker. However, this weekend, at the age of 31, he made his competitive debut for the Republic of Ireland in the 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands.
Andrey Arshavin was Arsenal’s record signing in January 2009, as a £15m purchase from Zenit St. Petersburg. As he departs on a free transfer, four and a half years later, did he ever really live up to that billing, or was his status as one of the world’s most sought after players misplaced?
Goalkeepers, for the sake of their manager’s heart-rate, should stay inside their own penalty box at all times, occasionally rushing out to close down an on-rushing striker, but only in an emergency. There are exceptions to this rule, but they must possess the finishing ability of an Alan Shearer, or the set-piece brilliance of a David Beckham. Such creatures do exist, and mainly in the footballing utopia that is South America.
Stuart Pearce, as a manager, very much landed on his feet with the England Under-21 gig. His time at Man City is remembered as a failure, with his final season only bringing 10 goals from 19 home games. So how did he get his current job, and will he be continuing past the European Championships, as he wishes?
Craig Bellamy is no stranger to transfer negotiations, having played at nine different clubs throughout his career. However, it is the one move he didn’t make that may give us a clue as to new Man United boss David Moyes’ intentions when shopping this summer. As revealed in Bellamy’s newly released autobiography, the striker came very close to joining Everton in 2005. Why didn’t he join forces with Moyes?
While many of us like to think of ourselves as football purists, with the action on the field mattering above all, it is undeniably fun to watch a manager dispensing with pleasantries and saying something that makes you stop and think ‘did he just say that?’