As the famous saying goes, football is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans and rugby is a hooligans game played by gentlemen, but whether or not you agree with such a sentiment, it is hard to argue that football is a sport now worthy of it's tag as the 'beautiful game', especially when compared to […]

Andre Villas-Boas’s arrival at Chelsea over the summer was a sensation. Young, confident, and possessing a pedigree of mentorship, transformation at Chelsea was expected. But instilling new and unfamiliar ways would be palliative before firmly rooted—this was Chelsea after all, part exclusive nightclub, and part outpost of the new Moscow, an engineered beast resistant to […]

Inter Milan have sacked manager Gian Piero Gasperini after just three months. The Internazionale manager got his side off to a very poor start to the 2011-12 Serie A season after losing to Palermo, drawing Roma at home but then losing 3-1 away against Novara. While the 0-0 result against Roma on Saturday may not […]

September 15 was the kick-off for the group stage of the Europa League. The Europa League isn’t the most popular competition for some in the Premier League. Harry Redknapp isn’t thrilled to be in the Europa League. I think it’s very fair to say he doesn’t like it since he thinks it will interfere with […]

The focus for a long time was on the “big four” of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. Tottenham and Manchester City made enough inroads to turn that into the “Sky Six” temporarily. To be honest, most of the noise generated by the media, which drives the fans is about a handful of clubs. If […]

As the inaugural season in Major League Soccer winds down for the Portland Timbers, the squad finds themselves in something one wouldn’t have expected a month ago: a playoff hunt. Granted, right now in the standings the Timbers are on the outside looking in, but if last Saturday’s dominating victory over the New England Revolution […]

Based on how this Premier League season is unfolding, we may as well mark two dates on the calendar to determine who will be the 2011-12 Premier League champions: October 23rd and April 28th. That's when Manchester United play Manchester City at Old Trafford and Etihad Stadium. I hope I'm wrong, but based on Chelsea's […]

Last week Arsenal was cautiously looking over its shoulder at the teams below them, a worry that has now been lifted from its shoulders – because there’s no one below them to look at. That’s right, the once mighty Gunners now find themselves propping up the APL as four of last week’s bottom five picked […]

Here’s a look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly from week five of the Premier League. Cheers Swansea City: They ended their 374-minute goalless drought to pick up a solid win. Tony Hibbert: His pinpoint cross gave Everton the lead late in the match against Wigan. QPR transfer signings: The veterans who were […]

With the Premier League season well underway, the time has come for critics to speak out and managers to face challenges. In today’s “Daily Ticker” Arsene Wenger takes a bit of stick from George Graham, Harry Redknapp tries to keep Modric at Spurs for the umpteenth time, and Brian Marwood explains why Garry Cook’s departure […]

Prior to kick off, there was a sizeable powercut in the city centre that threw the match itself into question. The essential source of energy went missing from the Molineux surrounding areas, and evidently from the team itself. One team were still brim full of confidence after a much more encouraging start to their third […]

So this is what the English Premier League is all about: fantastic goals, shocking tackles, even more shocking misses, incredible speed, electric atmosphere and pure headline drama. Even as a supporter of the losing team, this was the most excitement I’ve had watching a Manchester United-Chelsea match since Moscow 2008 (well, at least some of […]

Earlier this year, I was very critical of FOX's coverage of the Champions League Final where they seemingly ostracized soccer fans in favor of attracting a mainstream audience. During the broadcast, they dumbed down the coverage so much that neither soccer fans nor casual observers were satisfied with the coverage. So when FOX announced that […]

There's no question that emotion can play a big part in being a sports fan–it's why we support teams through thick and thin. Some fans happily support teams their entire lives without ever seeing an ounce of success, while others angrily curse their team for not repeating their glory days. The hero aspect of sports […]

Without a doubt, today's the biggest Premier League day of the season so far. Tottenham against Liverpool get things started early with an enticing match at White Hart Lane. That's followed by Fulham against the seemingly indestructible Manchester City. Poor Martin Jol couldn't have picked a worse time to play City. At the same […]