Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Lampard still out for Blues
Chelsea have confirmed midfielder Frank Lampard is still at least a fortnight away from returning to first-team action.
Lampard
has been sidelined since undergoing hernia surgery at the end of last month which saw him miss England's opening Euro 2012 qualifiers.
He has subsequently sat out Chelsea's past three Premier League matches, their openingUEFA Champions League tie at MSK Zilina and the Carling Cup defeat by NewcastleUnited.
Football transfer rumours: Fernando Torres to Manchester City?
Over the past few weeks the Mill has been ruminating on the tabloids' attempts to coin a nickname for Liverpool's manager Roy Hodgson. "Uncle Roy" has done the rounds as have "Hodgy" and "Hodgo" but none have stuck. But today's Mirror backpage splash of Steven Gerrard under the headline "Don't panic" has opened up a whole Dad's Army world to explore and makes Hodgson perfect casting as ARP Warden Hodges, the officious bane of Captain Mainwaring's life who has a tendency to undermine his authority by falling into rivers. And the drenched pictures of Hodgson from Wednesday night which get another airing alongside scores of handwringing analyses of Liverpool's decline do have a certain slapstick appeal. It also allows the Mill to think of Sammy Lee as Hodges' pettifogging sidekick, the Verger, and Alan Hansen as Private Frazer forever uttering "we're doomed", which is always a bonus.
Most papers are so busy sticking the boot into Liverpool that they've forgotten to print any transfer tittle-tattle at all. But the Star has done its duty with a story that does both. Fernando Torres, "Britain's most successful newspaper" says, "is ready to quit Liverpool in dismay at the club's progress under new boss Roy Hodgson". His representatives are already trying to engineer a move away from Anfield, apparently, alertingManchester City who are preparing a £50m bid. Stop us if you think that you've heard this one before.
Derby v Middlesbrough
Bueno's first two goals in English football ended a seven-match winless streak for Derby; the on-loan Real Valladolid forward showed why he was recommended by Spain coach Vicente del Bosque as Nigel Clough's side won for the first time since the opening day of the season.
It took only 17 seconds on Saturday for Middlesbrough to demonstrate their defensive frailty, when David Wheater's poor back-pass allowed Watford to open the scoring in a 3-1 win.
Boro have only managed one point from their last six away matches since April, and currently look a long way short of the side tipped for promotion at the start of the season."
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Newcastle deny Given return rumours
Newcastle boss Chris Hughton has dismissed speculation that keeper Shay Given could make an emotional return to St James' Park as cover for the injured Steve Harper.
Republic of Ireland international Given, 34, has lost his Manchester City place to Joe Hart this season and is desperate for regular football.
However, despite seeing 35-year-old Harper, the man who for so long acted as back-up to the Irishman during his 11-and-a-half-year stay on Tyneside, suffer a nasty shoulder injury at Everton on Saturday, Hughton will not be contacting City counterpart Roberto Mancini.
Asked about the speculation, he said: "I can understand that one and it is a very emotional one as well, but no, I can categorically say that won't be happening."
Newcastle's position on Given is perhaps equally understandable with the keeper having finally lost patience with life at St James' in the wake of a humiliating 5-1 home defeat by Liverpool in December 2008.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
THE PREMIER LEAGUE MYTHS DEBUNKED
"Is Tottenham striker Peter Crouch’s first-touch really that great? I mean it’s not bad for a big man, but not thatexceptional to keep harping on about it. On my Football Manager game it’s rated as 15 and I even think Sega were being a bit generous to the England international with that score. You hear so many commentators raving about Crouch having a ‘good touch for a big man’ that you start actually believing it is true.
I highlight this as a reference to the common myths and misconceptions that I believe are rife throughout the Premier League. This article attempts to deflate such fallacies, although I’ll let you to decide about Crouchie’s first touch.
The Premier League is the best in the world
This summer’s World Cup exposed the myth that the English Premiership is the best league in world football. While England were clinically dispatched in round two, Germany marched to the semi-finals alongside the delectable trio of Holland, Spain and Uruguay. So do the majority of players from the top four sides in world football come from the English league? In short, they most certainly do not.
Before the summer the entire Germany squad were playing their football in the Bundesliga, while Uruguay did not have a single player in their squad playing Premier League football. Meanwhile Spain had just three England-based players. Holland are the slight exception to this, but the majority of their squad were still playing away from the Premier League." More here at http://www.footballfancast.com/2010/09/football-blogs/the-premier-league-myths-debunked
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Champions League: Arsenal hit six, Chelsea stroll
"Fabregas' ninth-minute penalty set the tone of a thoroughly one-sided affair on a big night for English clubs, with the Gunners' Premier League rivals Chelsea also routing Zilina in Slovakia.
Andrei Arshavin and Jack Wilshere put Arsene Wenger's men out of sight by half-time and after Fabregas' second it was left to the man who replaced him, Vela, to round off the victory.
The other game in Group H saw Shakhtar Donetsk beat Partizan Belgrade 1-0 thanks to a goal from Darijo Srna.
Chelsea enjoyed a resounding success against MSK Zilina in Slovakia with Nicolas Anelka's double steering Carlo Ancelotti's men home to a 4-1 win."
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=823627&sec=uefachampionsleague&cc=5739
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
2010-11 Inter Milan Home Nike Football Shirt
Official 2010-11 Inter Milan Home Shirt, available to buy online. The new Inter Milan football shirt is manufactured by Nike and is available to order in adult sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL.
The Inter home jersey is the traditional blue and black stripes with the Pirelli sponsor. Made of Nike’s advanced Dri-FIT® fabric, which keeps you drier, cooler and lighter by drawing sweat from the body to the fabric’s surface, while its three-dimensional construction gives more air space around the skin to reduce clinging, and keeping you cheering on your team comfortably.
The jersey can be customised with the name and number of your favourite Inter stars including Javier Zanetti, Davide Santon, Samuel Eto'o, Goran Pandev, Wesley Sneijder or Diego Milito or even your own custom shirt printing.
We stock only official Inter Milan football kits and Inter Milan soccer jerseys.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
How the 2010/2011 Premiership Season Will Affect Online Football Shirt Sales
The recent South African World Cup misery is not too far behind us but it couldn’t be soon enough for the hordes of England followers that suffered the pain of watching their beloved team get knocked out of the competition with a shameful defeat at the hands of the German side. But with the 2010/2011 Premier League season already underway this year’s campaign could be one of the finest in recent history and could be more than enough to lift the spirits of English football fans at home and throughout the globe. Chelsea and Man united are still this seasons teams and it looks like there are more teams capable of doing so.
Arsenal and Liverpool have had a consistent history of finishing in the top four but now it looks it seems that Tottenham and now Manchester City are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Around 130 million quid was spent by City throughout the off season and so the manager Roberto Mancini strongly recons his team are able to overcome the competition and become Premier League winners. These favourable Premier League squads will certainly have massive shirt sales throughout the 2010/2011 Premier League period with their developing reputation.
Premiership football shirts sales will certainly be affected over the course of this season’s competition due to the amount of changes. Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres Liverpool football kits were the best selling Premier League shirts last season followed by Wayne Rooney's Manchester United football shirts and Cesc Fabregas’ Arsenal shirt in that order. Football shirt retailer’s sales will also be see changes due to some of the prominent teams’ kits being altered.
Manchester United and Liverpool kits have both altered now they have brand new sponsors. The familiar Carlsberg logo on the Liverpool kit has now been changed for Standard Chartered and the main sponsor for Manchester United shirts which used to be AIG has been replaced with a new sponsor AON. Manchester United's home football kit hasn't changed and still displays their original red colours but when their playing away from Old Trafford the team will be wearing white coloured shirts with black and red detail on the sleeves. Chelsea's black away kit is now sporting some orange stripes and Arsenal will carry on wearing their famous white and red kit this time when playing at their home ground the Emirates stadium but will be sporting the canary yellow strip when they play away from home.
Cesc Fabregas forthcoming exit to Barcelona has frequently made the news headlines and his football top is expected to be the best selling shirt of the 2010/2011 season. And bearing in mind his pop popularity at his London club, Cesc Fabregas Arsenal shirt could also be the best selling shirt for the end of this season. But one thing is for sure, with all these changes in place this year looks to be one of the most successful years up to now for online football shirts sales for old and new football kits.
Liverpool tried to loan Cole from Hammers
Unable to sell Babel, they offered West Ham the alternative of a loan fee of £1 million plus Babel on loan for the same period. However, Babel wasn't keen on a move to Upton Park, and the Hammers were not interested in the unusual swap loan idea.
The approach to sign Cole took place at 3pm on the final day of the transfer window, just three hours before it closed, with Liverpool only prepared to offer the Hammers £9 million for Cole if they could sell Babel to Tottenham Hotspur for £10 million, but that deal eventually collapsed.
West Ham were left waiting for Liverpool to try to offload Babel, and as the deadline drew closer, the Hammers ran out of time to find a replacement for Cole. More...
Wigan Athletic 2010/11 away kit
Premier League club Wigan Athletic have revealed their new away kit that they will wear throughout the 2010/11 domestic campaign.
The team had a nervy 09/10 season which eventually saw them comfortably avoid the Premier League relegation zone. Roberto Martinez replaced the outgoing Steve Bruce at the beginning of the campaign and was tasked with keeping the club out of the bottom three. With an emphasis on neat passing football, Wigan suffered several heavy defeats early on from more experienced and physical outlets. Nevertheless, the team were never in major trouble due to their ability to prevent barren runs of form. Eventually they finished in 16th place with 36 points. more....
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wayne Rooney now on his knees: Scandal threatens England's new dawn
Diverted off the road to redemption after just one game, the England football team found itself back in familiar territory yesterday. With concerns, once again, over the welfare of Wayne Rooney.
Because of his importance to the team it is always a major issue. At the World Cup in 2006 because of that fractured metatarsal. In South Africa four years later because of the injury he suffered while representing Manchester United against Bayern Munich.
And now, just when Fabio Capello thought the recovery process had started in the wake of the last World Cup with that fine display against Bulgaria, thanks to the salacious front-page headlines that have thrown Rooney's life into turmoil.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Fake football shirt crackdown
Fake football shirt crackdown | Home Office
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Wednesday, 09 Jun 2010
In the run up to the World Cup, UK Border Agency officers work with replica kit manufacturers to target counterfeits.
Criminal gangs trading in counterfeit football shirts face seeing their profits slashed after the UK Border Agency and replica kit manufacturers launched a major crackdown.
A week of action is being led at Coventry's international postal hub which includes anti-counterfeit experts from Adidas, Nike, Puma and Umbro working alongside immigration officials.
Already 3,200 fake shirts for countries such as England, France and Germany have been seized after officers identified them in parcels.
'Cheating' football fans
Immigration minister Damian Green, said: ‘Smugglers are cheating unsuspecting football fans and undercutting honest businesses. It is estimated that businesses lose £11bn a year from counterfeits.
‘People often don't realise that the profits made by these smugglers are ploughed straight back into other criminal activities such as drug smuggling and human trafficking.’
Thousands of fake shirts seized last year
In 2009 more than 50,000 counterfeit replica shirts, worth approximately £1.2m, were seized by the UK Border Agency, police and trading standards.
In addition, 21,000 auctions websites, which operate like eBay, were removed last year. The sites offered more than 150,000 replica shirts for sale, worth £1.4m.
The Premier League runs its own anti-counterfeiting programme in partnership with the IP Crime Unit and, working with the shirt manufacturers, has helped coordinate this operation.
If you suspect smuggling
Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling should call 0800 595 000.
Buy official football shirts, football kits, soccer jerseys, socks and retro soccer shirts online, cheap soccer jerseys and authentic soccer shirt printing from My Football Tops UK
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Is Capello’s selection at odds with his bold promises?
Embarrassment. Disaster. Catastrophe. Call the World Cup what you will but once the horror show was over, England fans were desperate for the rejuvenation of their national side.
The team had gone rotten and the time was ripe for Fabio Capello to plant the seeds of the new England in the friendly against Hungary. He could drop whoever he liked, even the untouchables, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, and nobody would have any grounds to complain.
But what kind of a statement did he make with his squad for the Hungary match? Nothing. Changes were rung but who suffered in the aftermath of a dreadful World Cup? Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Matthew Upson, Aaron Lennon, Stephen Warnock, Joe Cole. more....
The New Fabric Of England – an anthemic accompaniment
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Premier League Kits Weekly – Round 3
"Arsenal won a tricky game with Blackburn Rovers, 2-1 at Ewood Park. Rovers wore their standard kits which forced the Gunners to wear alternate red socks for the first time this season.
Blackpool and Fulham drew 2-2 in the first game at Bloomfield Road in the Premier League. TheTangerines were adorned appropriately while the Cottagers were able to choose their standard variety kits with contrasts all around.
White Hart Lane was the site of a stunning result with Wigan defeating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0. Spurs wore their regular home kits and the Latics opted for their all-black change kits for the first time since their unveiling. While the new change look is certainly not the best, it’s infinitely better than their Halloween-inspired abominations worn all last season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers drew Newcastle United 1-1 at Molineux on Saturday. Wolves were in their traditional orange and black home kits while Toon chose their all-white third kits for the occasion." More.....