Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Manchester United Balls: Radamel Falcao And The Arsenal Issue
MANCHESTER United Balls: How fit is Radamel Falcao?
The Sun: “RADAMEL FALCAO’S hopes of returning to action after the international break have been dashed by Louis van Gaal.”
The Star: “Radamel Falcao set to make Man Utd RETURN at Arsenal”
Such are the facts…
Posted: 12th, November 2014 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United Balls: You’ll Never Guess Who Van Gaal’s ‘Sworn Enemy’ Is
MANCHESTER United manager Louis van Gaal is trading on former glories. His tenure at United has been one of big-spending confusion. The buzzword is ‘transition’, but Southampton are proving that to be a load of balls.
A new book on the Manchester United boss, O, Louis: In Search of Louis van Gaal, contains a few gems. Author Hugo Bors, describes it as a “journey into the sinister recesses”.
(Incidentally, we are told that Van Gaal’s “sworn enemy” is Ronald Koeman.)
On Truus, life with Mrs Van Gaal:
‘The way he treats Truus in company is ungentlemanly and sometimes downright disgraceful. In the company of friends and acquaintances, Louis has made comments that in nine out of 10 marriages would have been grounds for divorce.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, November 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester City Balls: The Alan Shearer Pundit Masterclass
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, November 2014 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Mats Hummels Wants Arsenal But Only Manchester United Can Afford Him
TRANSFER Balls: With Arsenal’s defence in a mess, the papers speculate on which stars could join the Gunners.
The Mirror: “Mats Hummels ‘wants Arsenal move’ in January as Dortmund fear centre-back will leave”
The defender is valued at £30m and is also a target for Manchester United but sources in Germany believe the player would prefer a move to the Emirates
Arsenal will pay £30m for Hummels.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, November 2014 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Balls: Mourinho Is Thrashing His Hapless Rivals At Arsenal And Manchester United
THE Premier League is good fun this season. Only Chelsea, of the so-called top clubs, play with any cohesion. Arsenal only go backwards to pull the bal from their net; Manchester United spray money at problems; Spurs are always building; Manchester City can’t defend; and Liverpool got lucky with Luis Saurez, whose departure exposed a batch of medicore, expensive individuals.
Paul Hayward is right:
No Premier League behemoth can say they have bought major defensive ballast, or supplemented individual world-class talent to the back line. City signed Eliaquim Mangala but after a bright start he developed culture shock. The less glamorous clubs can now see that Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal and United are no longer hard to score against. Swansea (who are fifth), the so-called mini-Arsenal, made a policy decision to be tougher in their own third of the field, because they saw how much they could gain with a better balance between defence and attack…
The pressure to spray-spend £100m each summer is not yielding good results. It brings problems of balance and integration. It turns the heat on managers if the first 10 results are underwhelming.
And it plays to a delusion English football is increasingly falling prey to. The paranoia is that unless games are emotionally exhausting and aesthetically thrilling, rotten tomatoes will be lobbed by fans and pundits.
At the summit, Mourinho is showing Premier League clubs how to advance and retreat as a single fighting force. Chelsea are in another galaxy to the rest. Premier League campaigns are not meant to be over by Christmas, but this one threatens to be…
Looking at high-flying Southampton, what it adds up to is that the manager earns his corn. Would fans of Arsenal swap Wenger for Klopp, Liverpool fans exchange Rodgers for Koeman, Manchester United’s legions swap Van Gaal for Guardiola and Pelligrini for Everton’s Martinez?
Yes.
Manchester City Fan Noel Gallagher Signs Manchester United Irritant Gary Neville’s Guitar
FORMER Manchester United player Gary Neville asked celebrity Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher to sign his guitar.
Noel’s message to Red Nev reads:
Dear Gary,
How many caps have you got for England?
How many do you think you deserved?
I’ll tell you…
F*CKIN’ NONE!!!
Lots of love, Noel Gallagher x
M.C.F.C
Posted: 10th, November 2014 | In: Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Balls: Fan Stages Greatest Remembrance Day Silence
ARSENAL fan’s remembrance day special:
One Junior Gunner marked Remembrance Day by lining up his Corinthian figures before kick-off. The Arsenal team and manager maintained a minute’s silence in the face of interruptions, for which his father should be ashamed:
Spotter: Pies
Ched Evans Is Looking For Work
WHAT’S Ched Evans been up to now that’s no longer a cause celebre? The former Sheffield United footballer and convicted rapist is free.
The Sun reports:
CONVICTED rapist Ched Evans has been told to get his football career back on track or find another job.
Read the rest of this entry »
Liverpool Balls: Anfield Gives Rodgers A Boo-Who
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 9th, November 2014 | In: Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Liverpool Cheated By Chelsea Hands (But Not In London)
WERE Liverpool cheated as they went down 2-1 to Chelsea in the Premier League? Let’s see what the local papers say:
The London Evening Standard: nothing. Not one word on the penalty not given.
They should have had a penalty in the 88 minute when Cahill stopped a Gerrard shot with his arm.
Such are the facts in the papers of record..
Posted: 8th, November 2014 | In: Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Liverpool Balls: How Pressure Made Rodgers Beat Chelsea
LIVERPOOL have been beaten by high-flying Chelsea 1-2 in the Premier League. Matt Law says Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will never manage Chelsea. Well, that much should be obvious: back-to-back home league defeats against his former club have hardly made Rodgers look like Mourinho’s successor.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 8th, November 2014 | In: Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Did Di Maria Make A Mistake Signing for Man United?
WHEN you’re a footballer who can command a price tag of £59.7 million, chances are, you can walk into just about any team in the world. With that, you can have your pick of the trophies you’d like to be winning. When you’re at that level of the game, trophies is what it is all about, so you can text your other insanely successful pals and boast.
When Angel Di Maria signed for Manchester United, he was joining one of the most famous clubs in the world and playing for one of the most respected managers in the game, in Louis Van Gaal.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, November 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Balls: Young Henry And The Bankers Have Killed The Atmosphere At Stamford Bridge
CHELSEA manager Jose Mouinho says the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge is like”Playing here is like playing in an empty stadium”.
He’s right. The modern Chelsea fan is a rugby-loving, glory-hunter for whom the match is a theatrical distraction between courses and ski trips. Young Henry and his banker dad are not alone. It’s like this at Arsenal, Manchester United, Spurs and more. The teenage fans who used to sing and go nuts can no longer afford to get in. Rocking up the match with a group of your mates is no longer an option. You arrived early to get your pitch. The atmosphere built as kick-off approached. Lost in the crowd, you sang. You all sang. Now the seats are empty as the middle-aged knobs queue for buns and souvenirs. Only the weathy or those die-hard adults who spend all they’ve got on the tickets can get in.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, November 2014 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comment (1)
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Arsenal And More Were All ‘Bribed’ To Support The Qatar 2022 World Cup
THE Qatar World Cup 2022 is a sick joke, of course. A World Cup steeped in corruption, the deaths of hundreds of migrant labourers, the Qatari’s states links to jihadists and institutionalised bigotry are an affront to sporting ideals.
In the Times, Matt Dickenson looks at Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s reaction to the horror show. The fomer West Germany captain is now chairman of the European Club Association. The latest talk of 2022 is for the bunfight to be moved from the emirate’s sscorching hot sumemr to the merely hot winter.
Says Rummenigge:
“We are ready to discuss changing the date under one condition — that there is no damage for club football — because if we change from summer to November or January it will affect our business.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Chelsea Balls: John Terry ‘Takes A Pay Cut’ To Reduce Ticket Prices And Hell Freezes Over
TO Chelsea, where, as the Sun reprots, “JOHN TERRY vows this week to speak to Chelsea’s board of directors about the sky-high ticket prices at his club.”
Good old JT, sticking up for the fans.
But the Chelsea players are hoovering up all that cash – “69 per cent of it [income] went on wages.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 6th, November 2014 | In: Chelsea, Money, Sports | Comment
Spurs Balls: Useless Adebayor And Weak Pochettino Make One Man Dream Of ‘Man’s Man’ Tim Sherwood
SPURS Balls: The Daily Mail’s Neil Ashton has been talking about Adebayor:
At White Hart Lane on Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino has to make the biggest decision of his short career as head coach of Tottenham: Emmanuel Adebayor cannot play. The striker’s lack of commitment at Villa Park last Sunday, when he was dragged off after 58 minutes, was not just an affront to his team-mates, it was an insult to the sport itself. For Pochettino to make his mark at Spurs, to show the players that he really is the boss, Adebayor cannot be in that team to face Stoke City.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 5th, November 2014 | In: Sports, Spurs | Comment (1)
Liverpool Balls: Yaya Toure Moves To Anfield And Van Persie Is At Real Madrid
DID you find Liverpool’s Champions’ League match in Real Madrid a tad predictable? Liverpool lost 1-0, which suggests the match was closely fought. It wasn’t. Liverpool would have been more of a threat to the Madrid goal if they run up to it and shouted ‘BOO!’
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 5th, November 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Manchester United and QPR Sket Balls: Rio Ferdinand is a role model, say FA
BANS in football are often arbitrary and baffling. Teams with racist fans have been charged less amounts than fans carrying flares and one player can spit in an opponent’s face and get a lesser ban than someone throwing a punch.
So with that, we come to the sticky problem that is Manchester United legend and QPR makeweight Rio Ferdinand.
If you missed it, Rio used the word ‘sket’ in a tweet. If you don’t know what sket means, it is either ‘a woman who is considered to be of loose morals’ or, more accurately, a lady who only wants to have sex with black men. Okay? All clear.
Read the rest of this entry »
Arsenal Balls: Danny Welbeck’s Goal That Wasn’t And A Clueless Referee
ARSENAL Balls: the Gunners tossed away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with a spirited Anderlecht in the Champions’ League, and the Daily Mirror reports:
Paul Merson slams ”clueless” Arsene Wenger after Arsenal capitulate against Anderlecht
Well, the first Andrelecht goal was offside, the second was a penalty softer given for a ‘foul’ softer than a baby’s bum but the third was down to weak Arsenal defending and a smart finish.
The refereeing was pretty clueless.
Read the rest of this entry »
Former Chelsea Footballer Frank Leboeuf On Acting And Dining With John Malkovich
THE Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything features a face familiar to fans of Chelsea FC.
The doctor is played by none other than Frank Leboeuf, star of such hits as Taking Sides (2001) and Le foot fait son cinéma (2003).
He tells the Radio Times:
In France I can’t audition because they still think I’m a footballer and don’t take me seriously. But in England they’ve given me the opportunity. I shot two movies here last year, Allies and The Theory of Everything. They give me a chance to show my new skill, and I’m thankful for that. People said very stupid things: they say, “Oh, every football player wants to act.” But there are only three really: Vinnie Jones, Eric Cantona and myself.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 5th, November 2014 | In: Celebrities, Chelsea, Film, Sports | Comment
Manchester United: Now Offering Money to Players To Go Away
BEFORE this season, Manchester United have signed a host of players that haven’t exactly lived up to the hype. While Alex Ferguson has signed some incredible players like Cantona, Ronaldo and Denis Irwin, he’s also the man who threw money at David Bellion, Bebe, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Jordi Cruyff, Karel Poborsky, William Prunier and Kléberson.
Another one of Fergie’s Flops is Anderson, who has given Manchester United the kind of performances that suggest he’d struggle to walk into a Championship team, let alone another one of Europe’s giants.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 4th, November 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Liverpool Balls: Brendan Rodgers And The Laughable Anfield Transfer Policy
LIVERPOOL Balls: Can Brendan Rodgers be absolved of blame for signings that haven’t been top-notch?
Dave Kidd writes in the Mirror that Liverpool’s trasnfer policy could have been organised by ‘The Muppets Show’. We loved that TV show, but Kidd means it not to be praise.
So Liverpool are rightly proud of their history and yet owner John W Henry and his Fenway Sports Group are less keen to remember what made the club great – strong managers. Brendan Rodgers does not enjoy the same power as his great bootroom forebears, Shankly, Paisley and Fagan, even though his achievement in challenging for last season’s title ought to have earned him the right to autonomy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 4th, November 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (4)
Transfer Balls: Alexis Sanchez Would Only Pick Liverpool Over Arsenal If They Moved To London
LIVERPOOL Balls: The Daily Express says the Reds offered Barcelona £3million more than Arsenal for Alexis Sanchez.
James Dickenson notes:
Arsenal paid £33m to bring Sanchez to England – where he has flourished with 10 goals in his first 16 games. However, according to Spanish newspaper Sport, Liverpool’s offer to Barcelona for the Chile international was greater than Arsenal’s.
But the Metro said Arsenal paid £32m for Sanchez.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 4th, November 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Sad Liverpool Fans Will Flay This Banner Over Chelsea Calling For Brendan Rodgers’ Head
WHOn is the Liverpool fan behind the “[Brendan] Rodgers Out” campaign?
All we know is that they tweet as @RodgersOutClub on Twitter. They plan to decorate the air over Liverpool’s upcoming game against Chelsea this weekend by flying a banner behind a plane.
It was declare:
Bit weak. Bit Manchester United (United fans flew a Moyes Out banner last season.)
Why not let Mario Balotelli handle it with fireworks? If you’re going to accuse your manager of loving other clubs, it’s a good idea not to copy your most desperate rival…
Posted: 3rd, November 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Liverpool Balls: Brendan Rodgers Says Suarez And Sturridge Are 4 Times Better Than Balotelli And Sterling
LIVERPOOL Balls: Brendan Rodgers loves to talk. He’s always so heartflet and earnest. Last season, when on course of the Premier League title and three goals up at Crystal Palace, Liverpool self-combusted.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 3rd, November 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
