Money vs Talent

A lot gets made of some of the frankly jaw-dropping transfer fees that are paid for players during the transfer windows, particularly the usual mad-house January window.

Up to a point I used to justify the amounts being paid, professional footballers are a rare commodity so you pay top money for the more talented players, if you think about them as collectables Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be limited edition players, whereas your Dean Whitehead type player is ten-a-penny.  Players are also great sources of revenue for clubs generating shirt sales, ticket sales and allowing clubs to have more sway over television money (particularly in countries like Spain where clubs negotiate their own TV rights).  Having said this, when players are regularly changing hands for in excess of £20m, I find it a bit hard to believe my own reasoning especially when you're average lower league team probably hasn't spent £20m on players in their entire history!  It makes it even harder when you look at some of the hefty transfer fees paid for players who didn't deliver;

• Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £10,000,000 (1999).  Having been one half of the truly devastating S.A.S partnership that scored goals for fun at Blackburn, Sutton was transferred to Chelsea with high expectations...28 league games with only the solitary goal in his one and only season saw Sutton quietly ushered towards the exit door moving to Celtic for £6,000,000 in the summer of 2000.
• Robbie Keane, Coventry City to Inter Milan, £13,000,000 (2000).  Robbie was one of the hottest young talents in the Premier League whilst at Coventry having signed from Wolves for £6,000,000 and scoring 12 goals in his debut season.  This led to somewhat unique move from Coventry to his "boyhood club" Inter Milan for a fairly hefty fee to play under manager Marcello Lippi.  Unfortunately for Robbie, Lippi was sacked fairly soon after his arrival and his replacement Marco Tardelli froze Robbie out, so after a mere 6 league appearances and zero goals Robbie was on his way back to Blighty on loan to "boyhood club" Leeds United in December 2000, with the deal being made permanent for £12,000,000 in May 2001.
• Denilson, Sao Paulo to Real Betis, £21,500,000 (1998).  Undoubtedly a talented player, Denilson was transferred from Sao Paulo for a world record transfer fee to Spanish side Real Betis after the 1998 World Cup with some of Europe's top clubs chasing his signature.  An indifferent first season was followed by relegation in his second and after a loan spell back in Brazil, Denilson was no more than a bit part player until his transfer to Bordeaux in 2005.  No matter what you say about him, he was a one man highlight reel.
• Robinho, Real Madrid to Man City, £32,500,000 (2008).  Another hugely talented player who was maybe a victim of his own transfer fee, especially when you see some of the scintillating form he's shown at Milan.  Whilst a return of 14 goals in 41 league appearances doesn't seem too bad, it also doesn't tell the whole story of how disappointing Pele's god-son was in Manchester.
• Andrey Shevchenko, AC Milan to Chelsea, £30,800,000 (2006) and Fernando Torres, Liverpool to Chelsea, £50,000,000 (2011).  One of Europe's top strikers moves for big money to the big spending Chelsea with an owner who expects them to deliver...only to show a woeful lack of form, disinterest in anything round and white and look like they would rather be anywhere in the world other than West London...sound familiar?
• Gaizka Mendieta, Valencia to Lazio, £40,000,000 (2001).  I think if I was ever asked to describe Mendieta I would probably use the terms 'solid' and 'does a job', but in what world is he worth £40,000,000?  He could have moved mountains in Rome, scored 30 goals and I still think I'd struggle to believe he was worth that...beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so maybe his wiley agent just kept showing this video.
• Carlos Tevez, Man City to whoever is stupid enough to buy him for anything.  Cracking little player and for at least a season will play for the shirt...but a combination of ego and poor advisors mean that whoever signs Carlos up needs their head examined.  Any player who refuses to come on as a sub (sorry "allegedly") and then goes AWOL in a sulk doesn't deserve to be playing the beautiful game...I say let him rot in Argentina.

There are a number of players who are missing off this list such as the like of Sabre Veron and Kaka who made somewhat ill-fated moves to Man United and Real Madrid respectively, but I genuinely couldn't bring myself to put them on the list because I do like them just too much.  Its not that either player was/is particularly bad for their new club, its just they've been somewhat overshadowed by they teammates in the case of Kaka and was unfortunate enough to be blamed for Fergie's decision to play Paul Scholes wide left in the case of Veron....oh, and no Andy Carroll purely on the basis of his flick on to put Dirk in against United earlier today...subjectivity is a bitch isn't it!

Carlos' £9.3 million

Whilst Tevez's "advisors" claim that his leaving Manchester City is not about money, losing out on a reported £9,300,000 through loss of wages, bonus' etc must hurt a little.  What also doesn't quite make sense is that if the reasons for leaving are either a) Footballing or b) For family reasons, why is he leaving the club currently top of one of the best leagues in the world to, and isn't Milan further from Argentina than Manchester, and don't they not speak Spanish in Italy do they?

Anyway, all this analysis of the Tevez transfer sage is for another day, what I am more interested in bringing you good people is a list of our top 10 things that wee Carlos could have got for his £9,300,000;

• Chris Sutton circa 1999.
• 6 Bugatti Veyrons
• 54,705,882 Freddo chocolate bars (or Fudge bars if he preferred)
• Dinner for him and 54,704 friends at the best restaurant in the world Noma
• 9,393,939 McDonalds Cheeseburgers.
• 1 Stuart Hughes iPhone 4 Diamond Rose edition (its not even a 4s!!!)
• 845 bottles of personalised Sperion Lambda Olive Oil
• 3 of the worlds most expensive stamp, the Treskilling Yellow dating from 1855 Sweden.
• 990 Tigers from www.buytigers.com (and I'm being serious...you even get 3 Tiger toys with your purchase of a REAL Tiger...)

or...

• 186,000 Inter Milan replica shirts.

So there we have it, for Carlos it may not all be about the money...but look at all the cool stuff he could have got had he not been such a....

Goal of the week

Before we get into the nitty gritty of goal of the week we're going to take a slight detour down the route of Assist of the week purely for this magnificent assist from the African Cup of Nations game between Libya and Zambia earlier today...unfortunately since it only happened an hour or so ago its not up on youtube yet, but if you get a chance it is a majestic bicycle kick onto the head of a teammate...if I get a chance (and remember) I will post it.

Onto the more regular goal of the week, and this week it is a chance for a true legend to take home the award.  Anyone who tuned into the Coppa Italia game between Juventus and Roma was treated to something a little special from Mr.Juventus, Alex Del Piero...you never lose it!!

"A gentleman never leaves his lady" - A. Del Piero

Only 187 days to go...time to start the arguments

As anyone who lives in London will know, you can't get away from the countdown to the 2012 Olympics, selection for the majority of the events is a fairly straightforward (if brutal) selection based on tournaments, trials an qualifying times, but for Stuart Pearce and the Team GB football team the selections they make will be open to huge media scrutiny.  This will be the first time Team GB has gone to the Olympics since 1960 tournament which took place around Italy, despite this, the team will have to live up to being previous winners in both 1908 and 1912 in London and Sweden respectively.

There has already been so much media coverage of the team and as to whether it should even exist, it is understandable that the Welsh and Scottish FA are worried about FIFA revoking their member status and making Great Britain form a permanent team...but what they failed to realise is that FIFA hate the English, and wouldn't want to strengthen the team by allowing the addition of the likes of Gareth Bale, Jordan Rhodes or Aaron Ramsey...either way, we have a coach, we have a kit, all we need now is the squad.

The selection rules are fairly straight forward;

• The selection will cover players being drawn from Great Britain (Scotland, Wales and England) and Northern Ireland.
• The selection is limited to players under the age of 23 with the exception of three players within the squad who are allowed to exceed this limit.
• Players who have played in the Euro 2012 championships will not be considered for selection (this one has been stipulated by the FA, not the IOC).

...but choosing the right players and keeping all the nations happy may be a little more difficult.  In order to help Stuart Pearce pick his squad, here is my provisional 23-man squad (assuming that a couple of players don't get called up for the senior team for the Euro's and that Jack Rodwell will make the plane to the Ukraine);

GK - Jason Steele (Middlesbrough, English)

GK - Ben Amos (Manchester United, English)

DEF - Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace, English)

DEF - Danny Wilson (Liverpool, Scottish)

DEF - Kyle Walker (Tottenham, English)

DEF - Grant Hanley (Blackburn, Scottish)

DEF - Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest, Welsh)

DEF - Craig Cathcart (Blackpool, N.Irish)

MID - Gareth Bale (Tottenham, Welsh)

MID - Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal, Welsh)

MID - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal, English)

MID - Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, English)

MID - Joe Allen (Swansea, Welsh)

MID - Jordan Henderson (Liverpool, English)

MID - Tom Cleverley (Manchester United, English)

FWD - Connor Wickham (Sunderland, English)

FWD - Victor Moses (Wigan, English)

FWD - Scott Sinclair (Swansea, English)

FWD - Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield, Scottish)

FWD - Sam Baldock (West Ham, English)

Over-age Players;

GK - Paul Robinson (Blackburn, English)

DEF - Ledley King (Tottenham, English)

MID - Danny Murphy (Fulham, English)

Reserves (if players get England call ups);

DEF - Martin Kelly (Liverpool, English)

MID - Josh McEachran (Chelsea, English)

FWD - Conor McAleny (Everton, English)

Unfortunately, being English I feel I may have somewhat weighted the squad more towards and England U21 team (15 English, 3 Scottish, 4 Welsh and 1 Northern Irish if you're interested) than anything else, but I have tried to be fair.  Obviously there are a couple of players on the list (Scott Sinclair, Kyle Walker and Tom Cleverley who may yet get a call-up for England, but at the moment I'd consider them to be on the fringes and not going) and hence the three reserve players.

In terms of the over-age players, I think it will be key to have a strong spine in the team.  Paul Robinson is a commanding figure in goal, and will be able to command the respect of his back four whilst still having the ability to pull off world class saves.  Ledley King is no longer built for tournament football, however with the current fixtures for the group stage, Ledley would be able to play the first and third games...and I defy you to find a better British defender who won't be going to the Euro's.  Danny Murphy never got enough of a chance for England, but as a calm head in the middle of the park with immaculate delivery of a set-piece and an eye for a pass, he could be just the man to be sat in the middle pulling the strings and driving the team forward.

Whilst you may not agree with the squad above and without wanting to sound like I'm writing for The Sun, I think there is definitely enough quality between the four countries to mount a fairly serious challenge on the gold medal...lets just hope Spain send their U12 team by accident...

G.Nev - Player, Pundit...hotelier

Before we cue the music, I know that as a player G.Nev wasn't everyones cup of tea...especially if you happen to be from anywhere that wasn't the red half of Manchester, but it is undeniable that at his peak he was the ultimate Mr. Consistency.

Poor Gary was never blessed with pace, finesse, skill, power, height etc etc, but what he did do well was defend.  In this modern era where we have been blessed with the kind of cavalier styled full-backs of Roberto Carlos and Cafu and others who had poise, time on the ball and oozed class like Maldini the right back from Bury more than held his own and would have walked into any team in the Premier League if not the world.  What he lacked in pace, he made up with impeccable timing, and what he lacked in power he more than made up for with aggression...on an attacking front he was never going to be as good as Cafu, but when he played behind Beckham for club and country he didn't need to be.  He was even good enough that when a young, raw, tracking-back-shy Cristiano Ronaldo joined the club, Fergie had no problem sitting him in front of G.Nev...and unusually for a modern day pro, G.Nev knew when enough was enough, but then everyone who saw his last game against West Brom knew...

Moving away from his playing career he has now become a firm favourite in the Sky Sports studio, even Arsenal fans have been heard complimenting his views and analysis and he makes a welcome break from the usual p*ss poor punditry we are subjected to in this country...how hard can it be to say something interesting and insightful without making a fool of yourself!?

And now another string to the bow...step forward G.Nev, hotelier.  As part of a consortium this week, G.Nev submitted a request for planning permission to erect a Man.Utd themed hotel in the shadows of Old Trafford...is there no end to his talent?

Don't get me wrong though...I'm not totally convinced about the idea of a Man.Utd themed hotel, hairdryers in the room that scream Scottish obscenities at the user whilst, somewhat ironically, drenching them in spit...the Eric Cantona restaurant only serving sardines...David Beckham bell-boys to provide immaculate service...special rates for Thursday nights...and be wary of the young gentleman checking into the Ryan Giggs suite...

...cue the music!

Indian football set for the IPL treatment

If you were asked to name to most popular sports in India you'd probably be right if you answered cricket and hockey.  In the last few years cricket has benefitted from the economic boom in India and money has been ploughed into the IPL bringing in top players from around the world to play in the tournament...and now the super powers in India have turned their attention to football (and no, I don't mean the Venky revolution).

It has been announced today that the Celebrity Management Group have gained the rights for a tournament to be held in India for the next thirty years.  The initial tournament will feature six teams and will run from February 25th until April 8th and is rumoured to have already signed up a number of "world class" stars.  Big names already signed up are Robert Pires, Fabio Cannavaro, Robbie Fowler, Hernan Crespo, Jay Jay Okocha, Fernando Morientes and Maniche...now one thing that immediately jumps out from this list, with the exception of Maniche and Fowler, is "I thought they'd retired".

Every team will be allowed to spend $2.5m in their first season and will be allowed a maximum of four foreign players and must have at least six Indian players under the age of 21.  The domestic league in India isn't particularly well followed, however it is estimated that 60million fans in India watched the English Premier League.  What the hope of the tournament will be is that the young players will learn from the old pros and boost the profile of the team in India and also boost the standard of the national team...maybe they'll even qualify for the World Cup before too long.

My fear is that rather than being a festival of football, this tournament is in danger of being a few old boys going through the motions to pick up one last big pay day.  The main evidence for this (apart from the average age being about 83) is that none of the players have actually signed for a team, they've signed up for the league with 30 players and 6 managers being auctioned off in the city of Kolkata closer to the start of the league.  Each team will be given a salary cap of $600,000 and be allowed to sign one 'iconic' player each...now the numerically astute of you will have noticed that there are in fact 7 'iconic' players listed, i wonder who will be the proverbial 'last kid picked in the playground'...I really hope its not Robbie.

Goal of the week...

After a few weeks without a goal of the week offering we're back with a cracker from Portugal and a goal with perhaps the second most swerve I've ever seen, only Roberto Carlos and that free-kick against France bends more!

So here we are, Artur for Beira Mar vs Braga.

Also a special mention to Arnaud Mendy for his effort the weekend before in the FA Cup against Bolton...proof that there is life below the Premiership.

Less than a week to go...

In less than one week, the best tournament of the year will kick-off...

Many a Premier League manager bemoans the exodus of their African stars to the African Cup of Nations, but for me personally I can't get enough of it and, without using the term "defensive naivety" and without swooning over the "athleticism" of the players, and whilst it may be argued that more global superstars will grace the European Championships later in the year I think that for the neutral, the African Cup of Nations will be a far more entertaining competition.

The main problem with the Euro's is that the players are far too used to playing with/against each other.  With the majority of the players in each squad playing regularly in the Champions League and in the top four or five domestic leagues and there are hardly any players who will represent their countries that ply their trade outside of Europe.  Compare this to the African Cup of Nations where you have players being drawn from Europe, Africa and the Middle East from the top clubs and from lesser clubs in the lower echelons some leagues.  Obviously the scouting networks do something to fill in the gaps, but there is still a large element of the unknown for all teams lining up against each other.  Whilst in European football culture this would lead to a cagey opening with the teams feeling each other out, in the African Cup of Nations the opposite mind-set is taken and an open, more attacking tile is more often than not employed.  This open style of football also aids the performances of some of the world class strikers on show at the tournament and gives the world a festival of football to enjoy with some top goals flying in along the way.

This has been helped by the failure to qualify of some of the traditional 'big hitters' of the continent, Cameroon, Nigeria and holders Egypt.  This means that there are a few newer teams in the competition like Libya who are riding on the crest of the Arab Spring wave (they only conceded one goal in qualification).  The qualification tournament was for the most part very tight, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana qualified fairly comfortably, but the rest of the qualification was decided on the last couple of match days with South Africa being eliminated on the last match day due to head-to-head record.  What this shows is that anyone could win it.  Traditionally the favourites Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana do not always have it their own way, particularly against North African teams, and the tournament always throws up a couple of surprises.  Senegal have faltered slightly since the 2002 World Cup but with the scintillating form of Demba Ba they must be considered to be amongst the favourites too, although they have been drawn in potentially trickiest of all the groups.

Group A:
Equatorial Guinea
Libya
Senegal
Zambia

Group B:
Cote d'Ivoire
Sudan
Burkina Faso
Angola

Group C:
Gabon
Niger
Morocco
Tunisia

Group D:
Ghana
Botswana
Mali
Guinea

The fans also add massively to enjoyment of the game providing a party atmosphere in the stadia, and unlike the Euro's where only the Dutch bring colour and noise or South America where Brazil bring samba into the stadia, every team will be followed by legions of fans all in party mood.  Expect face paint, headdresses and music to accompany every game and the kind of national pride and passion that many a European team could only dream of.

Whilst there won't be as many household names without Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt there will still be a number of English based players hoping to lift the trophy along with a few old boys like Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboue, John Mensah and Max Gradel.  This will provide a platform for new players to shine and grab the limelight for themselves and maybe even seal a big money move with a good showing.

Whoever wins will be largely irrelevant for me, I just want to watch football how it should be played and have a good time doing it.

Sunday League Psyche

Player A is a Premier League player, they play for one of the top clubs in the country, their weekly wage would make Bill Gates look twice and they are finely tuned athletes, thoroughbreds and in peak physical condition.  Their natural habitat is a carpet like surface in front of 40,000 plus fans and their brothers in arms are all similarly equipped to play the beautiful game.

Player B is a Sunday League player, he knows someone who knew someone who went to school with someone who looked a little bit like someone who once had trials with someone who had a trial with Frank Lampard.  Their weekly wage is known by its colloquial name 'beer money' and the only sport they are finely tuned for is darts (not that I'm bad mouthing darts, I love a bit of arrows).  The natural grazing pastures of this player is the divot ridden swamp of a park in front of someones long suffering partner and the occasional man and his dog, his brothers in arms are probably called Kev, Dave, John or the ever ironically named 'Tiny'.

Now obviously there is an epic gulf in class between the standards the two players play at, inevitable there will be an equally large gulf between talent, fitness and nutrition...but in the mind of Player B when he turns up for a game or, heaven forbid, training there is absolutely no difference, just because he may be lacking in the attributes of professionalism and talent, doesn't mean that his game means anything less than that of Player A.  This is a key concept of the Sunday League Player Psyche (SLPP) that people who have never played football never seem to quite understand.

I have regularly been mocked by 'non-players' when I am painting a vivid picture of the highs and lows of my amateur career, and so I think it is about time that these people understood just what it means to we the players!

There are a few base principles that make up the SLPP;

1. Its not the taking part that counts, its the winning.
2. Anything -*insert player name*- can do, I can do.
3. Winning.
4. God loves a trier.
5. Whats the point of being second best.
6. Lack of ability need not hinder you.
7. The analysis is just as important as the game.
8. Every aspect of every game will be committed to long term memory for future use.
9. Every game is like a cup final...especially if it is a cup final.
10. Injuries are all in the mind.

Now, within each individual player the importance of each of these will vary and thus change the style of play, emphasis on 1, 3, 5 and 9 will inevitable breed a loud aggressive type of player, whereas a inflated 2 and 6 will probably lead you to a player with bright yellow boots.  In addition to these 10 principles different players will have their own thoughts and feelings about how the game should be played and how they want to play it...some players love a tackle, some can't resist playing that Hollywood pass and others who just have to try to beat one more player before passing the ball.

The most important thing to remember when addressing any amateur player though is that a little piece of them still thinks that they could make it as a pro.  No matter how much they deny it, there is a small part of every player that thinks a scout for a professional team will just so happen to be wandering through a park in the ar*e end of no-where on a Sunday morning and decide to take in a p*ss poor game of football only to be amazed to discover in the midst of all the over hit passes, industrial defending and bone-crunching tackles there is a player who brings something a little different...a star in the making.  Many a player has been picked up from the amateur ranks...so why not them...Geoff Horsefield, Ian Wright, Charlie Austin...errr, the list is endless??

These are the fundamental principles of the British game at grass roots level, no-one should be mocked for having dreams...did people mock Neil Armstrong when he said he wanted to be the first man to walk on the moon?  Did they mock Beethoven when he continued to compose music even after he went deaf?  Did they mock Mohammed Ali when he said he was going to knock George Foreman out?  No...so who has the right to mock me? 

Terry and Eric

We're all used to being inundated on a daily basis by football news via TV, websites, twitter and smartphones but the last twenty-four hours has thrown up a couple of biggies.

Firstly, obviously, the return of a man called Terry Henry to a north London based mid-table side.  People who know me will also know I'm not the biggest fan of the frenchman (and not just for the hand incident against Ireland), its not that I don't appreciate how good a player he is since he is undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever to grace the Premier League, theres just something about his particular brand of arrogance that doesn't sit well with me and to a certain extent the hype that surrounds him.  It was without doubt a great moment when he stepped onto the pitch as a replacement for Chamakh, and to then score put every Arsenal fan into dream land but I think that the bigger news broke this morning...the original King is back...and this time, he's running for President!

King Eric, having tried his hand at acting, being director of football for a non-existent team, being the face of Nike advertising campaigns and incase you didn't know, he used to play a bit too, but now Eric Cantona has declared his intention to run for the french presidency...well actually, he's attempting to lobby to get the signatures of 500 French mayors which would qualify him to stand for election to raise the profile of a homeless charity, but this seems to have been widely missed by the press who have instead been musing on his potential policies to tackle the social injustices that the great man sees in France today.  Then again, this is the same man who called for a social revolution in December 2010 by calling on the world to withdraw all of their money from the worlds banks to induce another global financial crisis...needless to say, popular as he may be, I don't think he'd be getting into Sarkozy's office anytime soon.

But in a perfect world, what would Eric's policies be? Mandatory viewing of the Ken Loach film 'Looking for Eric' for all school children (if only for this scene alone...god bless Dennis Irwin), obscure philosophy 101 on the national curriculum, legalise the burkha but only if you have your collar turned up and of course, what president would be without his trusty WMD's...the drop kick,the deft chip and of course the backing of a few old friends.  "Hello? Ah, Mr.Obama, so nice to hear from you...whats that? You're having problems with Iran?...leave it with me, I know a guy called Roy, you could say he's a bit of an acquired taste, but he scared the sh*t out of most people...Brian Clough isn't Iranian is he...no...then we should be just fine".

In the words of the great man..."when seagulls follow the trawlers, its because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea".

Paul Scholes, he scores goals...

A few things sprang to mind when news filtered through of Paul Scholes' shock return to Man. United, how on earth did they keep the deal under wraps until around an hour before kick off, does he still have the legs to get around the park, is his match fitness up to scratch, will he ruin his legacy and will G.Nev follow him back into Old Trafford?

The final one of these questions was answered fairly swiftly via the medium of Twitter when Red Nev himself tweeted that he was considering a return....so his missus put on the DVD of the West Brom game...needless to say, thats enough to send anyone into retirement.

Now, doubtless to say, the media will be full of various talking heads and experts discussing the rest of these questions...and to be honest, I have neither the time, nor the patience to go through each and every minute point.  At the end of the day Fergie isn't in the business of taking risks, and after all didn't Henrik do a job for half a season?  What I am much more interested in is the fact that one of the greatest midfielders of his generation is back.  When Zizou himself says that one of his major regrets in his illustrious career was never playing with Paul Scholes, likewise, Xavi rates Scholes as the best central midfielder in the last two decades you know the boy is a bit special.  There are also stats to back up the opinion though...of all the players in the Premier League to attempt over 1000 passes, the top completion rate in the division was 90.2% by Paul Scholes...oh and obviously, there is always this...and at the end of the day, you don't have to an athlete to spank the ball in from 30yrds...or do this.

Pardon the delay...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of, err, well pretty much anything over the last few days, but unfortunately I have been otherwise engaged in keeping my head down and my nose in the books...alas this is still the case, but to show I haven't forgotten about you all here are a few small thoughts on a number of things that I've been keeping warm in the hope of one day being able to release on the world.

• Fresh from last night...Tim Howard, discuss - Now I know in some countries this has been billed as a wondergoal, a strike from 100yrds, but as he said himself you have to feel for poor Adam Bogdan down at the other end.  That ball takes an un-godly bounce and dips in at such an angle that if he'd been on his line he might have struggled to get to it.  In any case, fair play to Tim Howard for a) having a right foot like Thor's Hammer b) for scoring a goal and c) for being grounded enough not to celebrate the misfortune of someone else like it was through his own skill.
• Luis Suarez - I'm pretty sure it will be a long long time (if ever) before anyone finds out what actually happened in the FA Inquiry into the Luis Suarez - Patrice Evra race row, and so I don't think it is right for the mass media to have either hounded or defended Suarez.  The facts, as we have been led to believe, are that Suarez has admitted to using the terms he was accused of, and that in this country those terms are unacceptable and racist.  What we have also been told (although I'm a bit wobbly on the validity of this one) is that in Uruguay its fine to use that term (which would imply that either this was the first time he's done it, or that using racist language is acceptable in Holland too).  Either way, what this all means is that he did direct racist language at Patrice Evra but he allegedly didn't mean it to be offensive because he thought he was just using an everyday Uruguayan term to wind him up.  Liverpool have now accepted the ban, he himself has apologised and has vowed now he is aware of the connotations of the word he will not use it again.
• Liverpool and those T-Shirts - There is nothing wrong with showing solidarity with a member of your team and I'm a big believer in innocent until proven guilty...but Luis Suarez had been found guilty, so to wear T-Shirts supporting him seems a little off...I bet you don't see Sunderland players warming up in Titus Bramble T-Shirts after his third arrest on suspicion of sexual assault today.
• John Terry - if he called Anton a "blind c***" and not what he has been accused of I will literally go down to the Chelsea training complex and be JT's b*tch for the day...and no-one in their right mind would want to do that.
• Demba Ba - what a player and what a season.  I don't want to go getting all misty eyed over here, but with the power, pace, movement and finishing ability is he not starting to remind anyone else of Didier Drogba?  Newcastle will definately miss him when he goes off to the African Cup of Nations.
• The African Cup of Nations - its nearly here! I'm so excited I'm like a five year old on Christmas Eve.  What the European Championships lacks, the African Cup of Nations provide and it all kicks off on the 21st January.
• Asia, the new Qatar or the new, new NASL. - There was a time when instead of retiring gracefully, old pro's would ship out to the US for a few years to pasture and fill their pockets in the sunshine.  After the collapse of the NASL they were a little stuck for places to go, until Qatar and the UAE turned up to take players like Leboeuf and Cannavaro for a season or two to once again fill their pockets.  Now it seems like the place to go is Asia, already in the summer Robbie 'God' Fowler signed for Thai Premier League side Muangthong United, now Nicolas Anelka has signed for Shanghai Shenhua with Didier Drogba tempted to follow suit...could the football world now be following the business world to China?  Anelka will be pleased to know he is following in the footballing footsteps of such greats as Carsten Jancker, Jorg Albertz and Englands own Howard Wilkinson.