Football’s Latest Pointless Rule: The 25-Man Squad List
Arsene Wenger is today being quoted as stating that the new Premier League rule reducing squad sizes to 25, as being “a disastrous decision for football and for the players”....
Diagnosis: Merthyr
One of the perceived anomalies in European club football is the presence of the six Welsh clubs in the English league system. What a lot of people don’t realise, however,...
FA Cup Replays and the Winter Break
Earlier this week, Owen Gibson of the Guardian reported that the FA were considering making a change to the FA Cup (under a banner of revitalisation for the competition) in...
World Cup 2010: Germany 0-1 Spain
Two years is not a long time in football, especially when you consider that national sides evolve, certainly more than club sides. In that respect, you would have expected quite...
World Cup 2010: Argentina 0-4 Germany
Some games need no introduction, and they fall into two camps. One camp is the poor games that are best left forgotten (which can only be known after the event)....
The England Obituary, Part Four: Where Do We Go From Here?
In the fourth part of our look at England’s elimination, Rob Freeman suggests that perhaps we don’t need a post mortem of this team’s so-called failure, and suggests that England...
World Cup 2010: Paraguay 0-0 Japan (Paraguay win 5-3 on penalties)
They say that consistency helps in football. Especially in terms of number of players you use. This seems to be one of Japan’s tactics, as they enter this game with...
World Cup 2010: Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia
FIFA have changed the stage at which they will discount previous bookings, from the final group game, to the end of the quarter final. On the face of it, it’s...
World Cup 2010: North Korea 0-3 Ivory Coast
I wonder if I’m the only one in the UK, without a vested interest in either side, who is watching this. To access this on the red button you have...
World Cup 2010: Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Some games just don’t need much of an introduction. And this is one. On paper, Group F looked fairly predictable. Holders Italy were expected to win the group, with Paraguay...
World Cup 2010: Slovenia 0-1 England
I think it’s fair to say that the introduction’s already on site, so I’ll just go straight into the game. England line up as a 4-4-2, with Gerrard on the...
England v Slovenia Preview: Was it Capello’s Fault Against Algeria?
Many words have been written in many places concerning the England performance against Algeria on Friday. So many were written in the heat of the moment, without reflection and analysis....
World Cup 2010: Nigeria 2-2 South Korea
It’s the fault of Germany, Austria, Argentina and Peru, although it was bound to happen one day, although as Mexico and Uruguay proved earlier, some teams can enter a game...
World Cup 2010: Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast
There is a lot of hyperbole spoken about the Brazilian football team. Probably more than is spoken about any club or national side on the planet. It’s almost a mythology....
World Cup 2010: Ghana 1-1 Australia
This game sees us pass the halfway point of the group stages. By the end of Friday, we’ll have lost half of the teams, and we’ll know the shape of...
World Cup 2010: Slovenia 2-2 United States of America
I’ve seen both of these nations in major competitions. As you may have noticed from the Slovenia-Algeria report, I saw the Slovenians at Euro 2000. The USA however, were one...
World Cup 2010: New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia
Having given the television coverage a review/kicking over the weekend, it’s time to take a look at the radio coverage of this World Cup. Ian Dennis is our host, and...
World Cup 2010: Algeria 0-1 Slovenia
I volunteered for this game. On paper it seemed a good idea to do. I’d seen Slovenia play Spain at Euro 2000, and Slovenia are some of the loudests fans...
World Cup 2010: Argentina 1-0 Nigeria
Diego Armando Maradona’s last World Cup game as a player, was in 1994. Against Nigeria. So, it was fitting that his first World Cup game as a manager was against...
World Cup 2010: South Korea 2-0 Greece
Statistics are often as misleading as they are informative. On one hand this game is between the 2004 European Championship winners and the 2002 World Cup Semi-Finalists. Another way of...