A Tale of Two Cities: Hull and Manchester

10/22/09 5:26 PM

 Boxing day of 2008 (December 26th) brought one of the most remarkable scenes I have ever seen in football. Manchester City played host to recently promoted and high-flying Hull City. After a horrid first half, Hull saw themselves down 4 – 0 and out of ideas. That was, until, their manager Phil Brown decided to keep them on the pitch at halftime instead of going to the locker room. He led his players near the visitors’ section and went nuts. He screamed like a madman at his team in front of their shocked travelling supporters and a confused Manchester City crowd. The Tigers went on to predictably lose that match, but the talking point was Brown’s odd choice of halftime team talk.    This can be seen as the turning point of their season as Hull’s...

Regulating "English" Squads: Overpricing and Stealing...Chaos or Golden Age?

9/30/09 1:30 AM

  Let’s name the top players of the top teams in the Barclays Premier League from last year, shall we?   Manchester United – Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand   Liverpool – Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano   Chelsea – Didier Drogba, Nikolas Anelka, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Essien   Arsenal – Francesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Andrei Arshavin, William Gallas   These are the top four English teams. However, looking at their top five players, there are a grand total of six English players listed out of a possible 20. Arsenal have zero, unless you consider Theo Walcott to be one of their top players....

2009-2010 Football Predictions

9/15/09 10:17 PM

  It’s been around a month into the new football season and I may be a bit late with my predictions, but I’ll give it a go anyway. I primarily watch the Barclays Premier League but I follow Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and the Holland leagues as well. I will go in-depth with my English predictions, and I’ll briefly explain my other predictions.   England:   Top 4: 1. Chelsea 2. Manchester United 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal   I think it will be the usual suspects in the Barclays Premier League even though the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City have been off to flying starts. I think experience will come into play in a tightly contested race for Champions League spots between Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, and Manchester City. City will probably...

Will the Lion be crowned king of the world? England qualifies for the World Cup

9/15/09 10:15 PM

  Home to arguably the best professional league in the world, the nation of England has only won the FIFA World Cup once. Count it, once. Uruguay has won it twice. Although Spain’s grand total of zero may be a bit more embarrassing, England didn’t even qualify for the European Championships (that Spain won) in 2008.   The Three Lions of England have gained a reputation for becoming notorious underachievers in international play. Though they boast some of the greatest players in the world, they also have a problem with big egos running around the team. Nobody since Sir Alf Ramsey has been able to find a winning formula for England. Many great managers such as Sir Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan, and more recently, Sven-Goran Eriksson and...

£80 Million of Meat, Please!

9/15/09 10:14 PM

  The 2009 summer transfer season closed recently, and as many transfer seasons go, this was no less exciting. The monetary amounts being thrown around were staggering with Spanish giants Real Madrid and newly rich Manchester City leading the way.   Los Blancos’ newly elected chairman Florentino Perez wants to bring back the Galacticos era and he was not shy about spending the cash. Perez shocked the world by signing A.C. Milan and Brazil superstar midfielder Kaka for around £50 million. Long-time target and FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo was next on the luxury car to the Estadio Bernabeu after Manchester United finally agreed to a fee of around £80 million. The long line of superstars continued when Olympique Lyonnais starlet Karim Benzema...