Vernon Hall

Wayne Rooney did score a remarkable goal on Saturday, that overhead kick which in his own words, "usually goes over the bar". It made the score 2-1 and there were no more goals in this local derby. The win by Man United confirms them as most likely to win the English Premier League this season. […]

Is anyone else starting to get a little nervous for the Man City "project"? I was thrilled by the way the team were playing for the first two months of the season. They were incisive, dashing, and had a swagger about them that said "we can do this". As sure as one swallow doesn't make […]

For two weeks in a row now, glaring penalty calls have been missed in the early Saturday EPL game. Wolves' striker Kevin Doyle was fouled twice, by my count, when through on goal, and last week it was Villa's Agbonlahor who was being tripped in the act of shooting. (Here are the videos for the […]

I won't go into a great deal of prologue on the Gael Kakuta / Chelsea transfer ban situation – see here and here for related stories. Am I alone in thinking the solution proposed by Football (with a big F) stinks? They're talking about banning the movement of players under the age of 18. Presumably by […]

Stoke City this week completed the double-signing of Robert Huth and Tuncay Sanli from Middlesbrough. As a Boro fan, I thought I'd run the rule over what these additions will mean to the Potters. I can see ups and downs in both signings. First to Robert Huth. I have to admit, I love him as […]

TweetBeat takes the pulse of fan opinion and reaction – the emotional, the insightful and the trivial. But mostly trivial though. Let's start with a comment from the BBC Sport's chief football writer, Phil McNulty, which induced varying opinions from a couple of Everton fans: philmcnulty: Time for Manchester City to make that next Joleon […]

TweetBeat takes the pulse of fan opinion and reaction – the emotional, the insightful and the trivial. But mostly trivial though. Celtic v Arsenal – Before the game: digitalsnowtwit: Hoping for a good result for Arsenal tonight. Celtic at home is a mega tough task. A score draw would be a good result, away goal […]

Without a lot of herald or press coverage, UEFA announced at the start of the week that there will be five referees on the pitch for all Europa League matches next season. An additional pair of eyes will be stationed behind each goal, focusing on incidents in and around the penalty area. I'm 100% behind […]

This is not a post to moan about a referee getting a decision wrong. Rather, this particular incident got me wondering, "How is that supposed to work then?" Maybe you have the answer... It's been reasonably well accepted that Arsenal's opener against Middlesbrough should have been flagged offside (video link). Graham Poll on Setanta's Football […]

Did everyone spot Nemanja Vidic's contribution to Manchester United's third goal against Chelsea on Sunday? The tactic, reminiscent of basketball's pick-and-roll, has been creeping into Premier League play over the course of this season. Sunday's example was the most blatant to date – and it still wasn't picked up by the referee. As you can see from […]

Manchester City are, we're told, the world's richest football club. They harbor ambitions of winning...well...everything that Manchester United just won in the last 12 months. But where's the beef? The players that City are buying – or trying to buy – are more UEFA Cup qualifiers than Champions League winners. Exhibit 1: Craig Bellamy. A […]

Middlesbrough may not be achieving much these days in terms of league position, but one thing they can take pride in is the rate they are churning out local young Premier League players. Boro regularly feature at least four local youngsters in the starting line up. In their most recent game against Sunderland, a total […]

The Riverside will witness something interesting five minutes before the kick-off of this Tees-Wear derby. Indeed, it could be one of the pivotal moments in the Teessiders' up-but-mostly-down season. Will Stuart Downing be walking out in red along with his team mates, and if he does, how will the home crowd react? Depending on further transfer […]

I enjoyed the West Ham / Blackburn game today, as a neutral. There were goals, some red blooded tackling and a couple of contentious decisions to debate. The first was the own goal 'credited' to Samba that put Blackburn 2-0 down. That Dean Ashton was in an offside position is not up for debate. The […]

Another week, another punt at picking some winners from the Premier League deck. First though, a little look back at last week where I didn't get any of my three picks right. They were all long-ish odds and I think I can count myself unlucky with two of them. Everyone and their dog is […]