A roundup of the latest football headlines, delivered to you every day.
A few questions that have been asked - some in the past 24 hours, others in the past year or so. Surprisingly (or not) they involve the big four (and their two closest challengers), so let’s look at them one by one:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
“We are top of the Premier League and through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. We beat the holders at home, so why can’t we win them both?” The words of an understandably excited Cesc Fabrigas after Arsenal’s wonderful victory in the San Siro.
Arsenal are far from the only team looking to do a League and European double this season. Is it likely, or even possible, to win both? If it is, which teams are in pole position?
Written by Graham Fisher. 7 comments
Well, that was a surprise. No, not Real Madrid losing at home to Roma (bye bye Schuster, hello Jose?), although Roma must be commended for their excellent efforts (for full coverage, read Chris’s live blog / report).
No, the surprise was seeing Liverpool fans searching on Google for information on the 2nd leg game against Inter (easily outstripping the search efforts of Chelsea fans, so there’s one debate settled about which club has more fans) - apparently a large contingent of Reds thought that Liverpool were playing this Wednesday. What, Hicks and Gillett are too busy dragging the club through mud to send you guys a memo?
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 2 comments
With Europe coming to a standstill (or the whole world, if you believe Scudamore) for the 2nd leg of the Champions League round of 16, we’re not doing the daily news today, just a wrap-up of Champions League action. Of course, there’s the small matter of Liverpool being taken over (ok, I mean under discussions), but let’s save that for a different article.
On to the review / preview:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
Today’s roundup - a quick wrap of interesting links plus a look at today’s Champions League games:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 13 comments
Fun, fun weekend, eh? Hmmmm…tomorrow I’ll be previewing the midweek Champions League fixtures, so keep a lookout for that.
Today though, we have a quick roundup:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 8 comments
Some people got pissed off yesterday on a few of the articles. Here’s the thing - personal abuse (i.e. calling the author shite) is not on. You want to do that, go and setup your own blog. If you’re going to comment, do the responsible thing and criticise the opinion instead of the man.
On to today’s news:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 9 comments
Since Graham’s been going on and on about predictions, here are a few I’ve made in the past (1, 2, 3, 4). I got a few specific ones wrong (David Jones was sold, Alan Smith was sold, Rossi was sold) but in hindsight, that was wishful thinking. I got a few key ones right as well - Makelele’s decline, Scholesy and Giggsy decline and Arsenal’s problems last season.
In any case, I hope you guys enjoy Gerry’s and Graham’s weekend previews - on to the rest of today’s news:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 12 comments
Something you folks didn’t know about Paul Gascoigne:
Handed £1000 over to Jimmy Five Bellies after betting that the burly boozer couldn’t withstand a cigarette lighter’s heat on the bridge of his nose for five seconds. Jimmy could. Twice.
More on Gascoigne, plus Israel, Iran, Italy, Idiots and the Premier League (just about par for the course…).
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
It feels like Thursday afternoon although it’s just Tuesday morning (or afternoon in my part of the world). So, allow me to rush through today’s news roundup (juicy as always) as we struggle with weight issues and the obvious lack of time in our lives.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 13 comments
Friday, 22 February, 2008.
A very good morning to you, dear Soccerlens readers. Got an email this morning from Hugo telling me that he was emailing a few organisations to see if he could find some slaves for us. Or something to that effect. I’m pleased, of course, but a bit concerned Hugo - are we going for this or this?
Anyway, on to the real stuff.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
In today’s roundup, we solve the following mysteries: was James Bond any good at football, why Liverpool fans are wasting their time, whose responsibility is it to stop the tapping-up of young players, and which club in Manchester is more popular?
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
So, where to start?
Do I lead in with Liverpool’s crushing defeat at home, or do I kickoff things with Manchester United’s demolition of Arsenal?
Written by Eddie Griffin. One comment
Allegations of match-fixing approaches and resigning coaches have stole some of the headlines in the African Cup of Nations over the last several days, but while all of that’s going on, there’s a pretty entertaining football competition to turn your attention to at the same time.
The four groups are in the midst of wrapping up their final round of group stage matches, and several sides are still mathematically in the running to qualify for for the quarterfinals.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 4 comments
Steroids, miracle remedies and performance pills begone! The latest innovation in the doping technology (even though it remains perfectly legal, for now) are “ionized shirts”.
Developed by New Zealand kit firm Canterbury, the new ‘IonX’ shirts are made from a fabric that “contains a negatively charged electromagnetic field”. This means the process of ionisation, which produces electrically charged atoms long understood by former Eastern Block scientists to improve sporting performance, can occur in the body during training and even competitive matches.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 2 comments
Technically Serbia is just over one year old (it was only in the middle of the 2006 Germany World Cup that Serbia & Montenegro was fragmented) but corruption and organized crime are age-old entities there. Serbian society is still unable to solve the high crime rate and corruption and these ugly scars are running into Serbian football too.
UEFA President Michel Platini is truly committed to uplifting the football standards in Eastern Europe but he has to look no further than Serbia to realize that a lot has to be accomplished in the area. At the centre of the ongoing police investigation into alleged corruption and organized crime in Serbian domestic league football is the country’s biggest and most successful club and that just illustrates how deep-rooted the entire problem is.
Written by Subhankar Mondal. One comment
Barcelona-Real Madrid. Celtic-Rangers. Boca-River. Manchester United-Manchester City/Liverpool/Arsenal/your mother, sister, and cousins. Those are some of the most intense rivalries in the world of football. But, you can’t talk about intense rivalries without bringing up Fenerbahce-Galatasaray.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 4 comments
José Antonio Reyes might not be the most reliable person when it comes to loyalty and love but he is certainly the one who is most rocking the Bernabéu. Not because he is still loved for his performance against Real Mallorca on the last day of last season that ended the Spanish club’s three year trophy drought, not because he has been playing well for cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid, but because he has brought a ruthless allegation against his former employers.
Reyes has accused Real Madrid of not paying his wage for 8 of the 10 months that he played for Real Madrid last season as an on-loan player from Arsenal. He has also proclaimed that he wasn’t paid the promised title bonus and has threatened to lodge a complaint and take the matter to formal proceedings should the club not pay him soon.
Written by Subhankar Mondal. Leave a response
A Christmas party to remember for a lifetime: that’s what the Man Utd players are preparing to cap a pretty successful 2007 year. According to the Daily Mirror, the EPL Champions have in store something big enough “to make the Wags rock back on their designer heels”…
Written by Marco Pantanella. 19 comments
After Frank Yallop’s departure as the manager of LA Galaxy, so he could return to coach the San Jose Earthquakes for the second time, his replacement has been world player of the year for 1987 and ‘89 – Ruud Gullit. As well as the Galaxy’s poor form last season it’s been said that another contribution to Yallop’s leaving has been the added pressure of David Beckham’s high profile arrival.
Read the rest of this entry »
Written by James Massoud. 4 comments
Although this is the morning before the Premiership weekend round of matches, not a lot is happening apart from the typical few niggling injuries and suspensions.
Should be a cracking round of games today, with Chelsea looking to win their first game in three Premier League ties against Fulham; Arsenal face bogey side West Ham at Upton Park; Liverpool take on Wigan and Manchester United have a late kickoff against Birmingham- you can read previews and predictions here.
Written by Jason Pereira. 2 comments
The thing that has caused the most amount of debate between football fans this week is the Carling Cup ties- you can read more about that here. Apart from that, there are always things happening in the Premiership- some of the most important events are mentioned below.
Written by Jason Pereira. Leave a response
Here’s a quick look at today’s main Premier League news:
Written by Jason Pereira. 5 comments
A look at the football news headlines today:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 4 comments
Edward Harrison writes on the popular (and dare I say BBC-acclaimed) Newcastle United blog.
A couple of good interviews with Sam today.
First one has Sam talking for the first time on the contract dispute the club are in with Steven Taylor. Sam thinks it was a good offer but seems determined to get this sorted out as quickly as possible.
Big Sam also talks about Michael Owen and how good he has looked recently and is just so happy one of the big four clubs didn’t get him for only ₤9M in the summer.
Written by Ed Harrison. Leave a response
Some transfer rumours and other sordid gossip from the dirty world of tabloids to pass your Sunday evening:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 4 comments
The good news today for Newcastle fans is that Sammy Lee has said that he will no longer stand in the way of letting Abdoulaye Faye leave for Newcastle, and the transfer is expected to go through imminently.
A fee was agreed over the weekend between the two clubs and the other items that were holding up the transfer - whatever they were - have been ironed out. We’ll wait to hear a confirmation of Faye’s signing on the Official Newcastle United web-site.
Big Sam is also looking for a new right-back after losing both Stephen Carr (hamstring strain) and Peter Ramage (knee ligaments) to injuries against Middlesbrough. Carr will be out anywhere from 2-6 weeks depending on the severity of the strain, but Peter may be sidelined for months - the knee is too sore to assess the damage at the moment.
We really have no idea who Sam will be after for right-back in the next three days - so we’ll just have to wait and see on that one.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
A look at the latest transfer rumours involving the Premiership.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today in no particular order of priority.
Well the injury jinx has hit us again as Joey Barton yesterday broke a metatarsel in his foot and will be out for up to 7 weeks. That’s a bad blow for Newcastle - especially when we were looking forward so much to having a reduction in injuries this year. We still think that will happen but this is not a good omen.
We are linked today with Brede Hangeland - the 6′4″ center-back from FC Copenhagen for around £2.3M - and also strangely with Brazilian Julio Baptista (£6M), who was at Arsenal last season on loan from Real Madrid. Not sure why we would want him unless Martins is on his way.
However, we think Hangeland is good value for money.
James Milner- with his Elvis impersonation
Joey Barton- out for 6-7 weeks
David Rozehnal - great guy
Brede Hangeland- £2.3M bid?
Julio Baptista - celebrating his goal in Copa Final against Argentina
“Young Gareth Barry, you know, he’s young.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona.”
“I’d love to be a mole on the wall in the Liverpool dressing room at half-time.” ”
“Luis Figo is totally different to David Beckham, and vice versa.”
Kevin Keegan - pondering the difference between a mole and a fly
Ed writes at the Newcastle United blog.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Comments Off
Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today in no particular order of priority.
In reality it’s been a very slow week for news and not a good one in terms of signing the defenders we need.
We expect Sam to step up his activity to get into the club the 3 defenders we need. Once we have them we will have a very good squad that can do battle until January - when additional transfer targets will likely be pursued.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
