The importance of Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic to AC Milan goes beyond the simple statistics – 6 total matches for AC Milan, five goals. On a team full of high-profile talent and scoring ability, Ibra has stood out early in the season as the player who has carried Milan offensively and helped them remain in […]

In our ever evolving online community, where any Joe, Tim or Reba can start a blog, post, pontificate or reminisce, the lost art of responsibility can evade even the most keenly trained eye. As budding young bloggers dressed all in their khakis attempt the fine art of emulation, a shout to their messianic journo idols, a plethora […]

Bayern Munich have represented the Bundesliga with another good Champions League result, and this time away to Swiss champions FC Basel. The Bavarian side reached the Champions League final last season, which they lost to Inter, but little Champions League threat has come from anywhere else in the Bundesliga. Werder Bremen and Schalke have their […]

Something great happened to me this week, my latest book We Ate All The Pies: How Football Swallowed Britain Whole was listed for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year 2010 prize; the most prestigious sports book award in the UK. Naturally, I’m super chuffed by this as are my publishers and literary agent […]

Cesare Prandelli has revitalized the Azzurri. He won the first two qualifiers of the European Championships of 2012, and he looks ready to win even more. While Italy only faced Estonia and the Faroe Islands, the two wins were important nonetheless. And now, as Prandelli looks to call up another set of Italians to face […]

Louis van Gaal's side took on Swiss champions FC Basel at St. Jakob Park in Basel tonight, with the hopes of kickstarting their season. Bayern Munich have not been on great form domestically, and have only managed two wins in their first six Bundesliga matches. They find themselves ten points off of first place, and […]

When Bolton paid a club record fee of £8.2 million for the Swedish striker Johan Elmander, a few eyebrows were raised. Yet, the former Toulouse striker had been one of the most consistent players in the French league during his time for the Téfécé and had built a reputation as a creative deep lying centre […]

Manchester City fans will have today been hurt by the news that big summer signing Mario Balotelli is weeks rather than days away from a return to action. The £24 million summer singing from Inter Milan has only made a brief substitute appearance since his arrival at Eastlands, and City fans will now have to […]

As important to a side's balance – attacking and defending – as the right back is, so too is his not so distant cousin, the marauding (at times) left back. If you missed Football Formations 101 in school, just keep in mind that what the right back does in regards to his footballing duties, the left back mirrors on […]

A massive apology for a lack of articles lately, I have recently started a master’s degree at University and I have also fractured my ankle (playing 5-a-side) as well as a number of other things that have been happening. But, I am back now and an article from Josh Ashdown of the Guardian recently appeared […]

Tonight, Ken Burns debuts his new documentary on PBS stations around the United States on the topic of baseball. The new documentary, "The Tenth Inning," examines the tumultuous story of the national pastime from the 1990s to the present day. But my question is, where is soccer version's of Ken Burns? As far as I […]

UEFA Champions League Real Madrid's offensive woes will not be aided when they travel to the Stade de l'Abbé Deschamps on Tuesday and face an Auxerre squad who gave up the fewest goals in Ligue 1 last season with a meager 29. While Auxerre's form has not carried over to this current season, where they […]

Who are the league's best teams, and does it matter? Given downturns in form from Columbus and Los Angeles, it's difficult to tell contenders from pretenders. Even if we could, will the playoffs change everything, one season after the eighth seed took home the hardware? On this edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast, […]

Mainz have opened this new season in fantastic form, and have won all six of their first six Bundesliga matches. Manager Thomas Tuchel has absolutely no previous experience at the top level, and is one of the youngest managers in Europe, nevermind just Germany. Despite that, his enthusiasm has lifted Mainz to the top of […]

Chelsea may have dropped their first points of the Premier League season at the weekend, but the result will have taken little away from a supremely impressive start to their defence of the Premier League. One man who has been crucial to Carlo Ancelotti’s sides start has been Florent Malouda whose individual performances have very […]