Arsenal's Injury Woes Continue

       Arsenal will be without another key first team player for a couple of weeks, right-back Bacary Sagna will be out for for at least their next two games because of a thigh injury.   Sagna, 27, picked up the niggle against Chelsea in the 2-0 defeat at Stanford Bridge and was ruled out of France's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Romania and Luxembourg.  He is now also likely to miss club games against Birmingham on Saturday and Shakhtar Donetsk on 19 October.  Arsenal are missing five players who could easily be in the first team, the others are Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Nicklas Bendtner.  They are also missing a few squad players as well with defender Kieran Gibbs, midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Abou Diaby and goalkeeper Manuel Almunia all out injured.

 

The Race That Will Not Stop

      After concerns a plenty about the readiness of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, in general it has gone better than I would of thought.  The swimmers getting a stomach bug being called 'Delhi Belly', the lack of crowds and then crowds which don't know when to be silent.  The problems on the whole have been minor, it was very disappointing to watch the cycling road races happen without many spectators watching it due to over zealous road blockages.  The daft mistake was the 10m diving board which was found to be 70cm to high.  But for me there has been one race which has ultimately grabbed my attention, the women's 100m race.  Just when we though it was all over and it had had more than its fair share of the limelight, it decided it wanted some more.

The Suzuka Washout

       Last night I pondered if I should stay up for a couple more hours to watch the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying or go to sleep and watch the qualifying later.  I chose to go to sleep and it seems it was a good choice.  Heavy rain forced its postponement in the early hours of this Saturday Morning, the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying will take place on Sunday.  Qualifying will start at 0200 BST with the race start time unchanged at 0700 BST.  The other big news is that Lewis Hamilton has been penalised five places on the grid for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix for changing his gearbox.

The Home Nations Continue the Journey

Earlier on today, Friday, at 1600 BST the qualifying journey to Poland and Ukraine continued with Armenia hosting Slovakia, the current main opposition for the top spot in the Republic of Ireland's group.  Tonight Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have key home games against Italy and Russia respectively.  Scotland have a tough journey to Prague to face a Czech Republic side which need to bounce back from a poor home defeat to Lithuania.  England don't play during this set of games but will on Tuesday, the games from their group which are going on today are Wales v Bulgaria and Montenegro v Switzerland.  There aren't many other key games out their but Portugal desperately needing a win host Denmark and a interesting tie between Germany and Turkey which only contains one player, Nuri Sahin, in both squads that is playing for a club currently ranked in the Top 3 of the Bundesliga.

Team News and Predictions

Northern Ireland v Italy
After coming back from injury Manchester United defender Jonny Evans is likely to return to replace former United defender Craig Cathcart.  Other changes appear unlikely with Maribor goal hero Corry Evans again likely to start on the bench.  The captaincy will return to Aaron Hughes for the Windsor Park game.  Northern Ireland will be happy to get a draw front his match but I think Italy will be too much for them, 2-0 Italy.

Republic of Ireland v Russia
Richard Dunne has been passed fit and with Damien Duff ruled out by injury, manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named an unchanged team.  Aiden McGeady and Liam Lawrence stay in the wide midfield roles with Paul Green also retained in the side.  Russia are missing a few key players including Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.  I see Rep. of Ireland continuing their 100% record with a 2-1 win.

Czech Republic v Scotland
Scotland manager Craig Levein has already released the starting eleven for this match with him handing a debut to QPR striker Jamie Mackie. The untested 25-year-old is preferred to in-form Kenny Miller up front, while fit-again Gary Caldwell starts despite not having played for Wigan this term.  Scotland really need to pick up all three points today before they face World Cup winners Spain on Tuesday.  Czech Republic looked poorer than Scotland against but I can see this being a draw, 1-1.

Wales v Bulgaria
Ashley Williams will lead Wales in Brian Flynn's first game in temporary charge.  Strikers Rob Earnshaw and Ched Evans, along with Swansea City midfielder Joe Allen are among the other absentees.  Stoke City defender Danny Collins has been recalled after a three-year exile.  Wales need to win this or their hopes of going to Ukraine and Poland will be gone.  Bulgaria will win this 2-0.

The other key game is Montenegro v Switzerland, this will determine which one of these sides will challenge England for qualification, Montenegro will win this one 2-0.

The Return of Something Nasty

      This morning I read an article on the BBC news website that Senior police are warning over the possible emergence of a new generation of football hooligans after incidents involving young people almost trebled.  This is not a good sign English football has had is bad patched in the past and football hooliganism was one of the worst.  In May 1985 the Heysel Stadium disaster occurred and England football teams where banned from European football.  After the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 96 fans died, football hooliganism slowly dissipated, the firms started to disappear.  But recently a new generation of hooligans has come to the fore front but even though overall levels of hooliganism remain low but the trend has sparked concern.

Greatest Footballing Movie Star

      Last night I watched a 2006 documentary called Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.  In it Carlos Alberto Torres, whoose goal against Italy in the final of World Cup 1970 is considered one of the greatest goals ever scored in the history of the tournament, appears advocating the party lifstyle of the modern football star saying "Every Monday night, they had a party at studio 54... this was part of the development of football in the United States."  Watching this documentary mad me ask the question which footballer has had the best cameos and key permorfances in film history.  Also who are the worst offender in this category.

Two Great Reds Coming Together

       There is currently a story that is making the front and back pages of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.  Liverpool, who are in trouble on and off the pitch, are to be sold to the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.  But the takeover by the New England Sports Ventures requires resolution of a legal dispute with the Reds' American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.  The majority of the board of directors at Anfield have agreed in principle to the sale of Liverpool Football Club but the owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are unhappy with the bid, they are adamant that they have added commercial value to the club.   In an attempt to block the bid Hicks and Gillett tried to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre in a last-ditch bid to keep control of the club.

Sporting Professionalism

       There have been a couple of moments recently in sport when sporting professionalism has been thrown out of the window.  On Sunday as most of you know Nigel de Jong made a tackle on Ben Afra and Ben Afra ended up with a broken tibia and fibula.  In the match the referee Martin Atkinsson saw the offence and did not punish it.  I have watched it a few times to get a good opinion on it and my opinion is that it was strong late tackle, it wasn't reckless, it was premeditated and Ben Arfa was very unlucky to get his leg caught between the legs of Nigel de Jong.  The thing that has actually annoyed me is the fact that Newcastle have wrote to the FA to ask for ". . the appropriate action to be taken against De Jong for the tackle which, in the club's, opinion was unnecessary and used excessive force."  This is a very unprofessional thing for Newcastle to do.

NFL Week Four Review

       Week 4 was another extremely interesting week in NFL.  Week 4 is the start of the bye period where teams get a week off at some point.  The Kansas City Chiefs thanks to their bye are the only team left with 100% record after the Steelers and Bears both lost in low scoring games.  No exciting overtime games this week but there was a 59 yard time expiring winning field goal for the Jaguars against the Colts.  Seattle and Chicago didn't manage touchdowns in their defensive matches against St Louis and New York Giants respectively.  On Monday Night Football special teams helped Tom Brady, on an off day, to his 100 win as he fastest quarterback ever to 100 wins in the Super Bowl era.  And even more amazingly my team the Browns won a game after losing the all first three games by less than 7 points.

Plenty to see in India

       There is plenty of sport to see in India at the moment the Commonwealth games got under way yesterday with the first gold going to a 17 year old Nigerian weight lifter.  But away from Delhi there was also a another sport trying to steal the limelight.  In Mohali, there was an absolutely thrilling game of cricket being played.  It came down to the 5th day of play with India requiring 216 to win on a pitch which was turning into a batters nightmare after it was kept perfectly by the ground staff so it just faded away on the final days of play.  VVS Laxman struck a superb unbeaten 73 as India fought back from the brink of defeat to beat Australia by one wicket in this thrilling first Test.

True Love of Sport

       Yesterday I was in the pub watching the Arsenal and Chelsea but the pub was also showing the Ryder Cup golf and the rugby union match between Saracens and Leicester.  There was three distinctive groups of people watch the three sports.  Watching the football was young adults and student, watching the rugby was the middle age men and watching the golf was the over 50's.  The final few holes of saturdays play in the golf came during the second half of the football and whenever a big put went in for Europe there was a large cheer.  What was interesting was the students infront of me looked very puzzled whenever they cheered, then one of them said 'I don't know how they can get that excited over golf.'  It made me think, can you truly love a sport if you haven't played it?

Making the Stadium of Light a Fortress

       This season Sunderland have had a brilliant start against the top sides of the Premiership.  With winning against Man City and drawing with Arsenal and Manchester, Sunderland have picked up 5 points against sides in the top 4 at the Stadium of Light this season.  Sunderland are one of the side that are stuck in the middle of the table, they are not going to get relegated and they can't compete with the top sides for money so won't get to Europe at the moment.  But despite saying all this Sunderland are a side moving in the right directions by doing what you need to do, turn you home stadium into a fortress where teams find it hard to pick up points.

USA learn to swim better than Europe

United States took a 2½-1½ lead against Europe in the Ryder Cup after the first fourballs were concluded on Saturday.  It looked like a good start for the European side with Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer winning the first point with a 3&2 win over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy then salvaged a half against Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar having been two down.  But Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson beat Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington 3&2 and Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker won 2up against Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher.  I am going to give my player rankings for 16 players in these fourballs matches.

History of Sporting Postponement

       After all the hype and build up about this Ryder Cup we get just over two hours before the weather unleashed itself onto the Celtic Manor.  The Welsh Tourist board got very upset with Nick Faldo after he told the Americans to bring their waterproofs.  But it seems like the waterproofs they brought weren't good enough as the whole American squad went to the Celtic Manor shop to purchase new waterproof trousers.  But this whole episode gave me the idea at looking at sporting postponements throughout history.  As you probably could guessed there have been many over the years and for many separate reasons.  I am just going highlight the few that caught my attentions.

Russell v Lawro : Week 4

Well it continues with a similar performance to last week, would of been better if Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all surprisingly lose, from me last week predicting 4 results right and 2 correct score compared to Lawro's 1 result right and no correct scores.  Lawro didn't have a very good week and with my steady improvement I took my first win the score is now 2-1 to Lawro.  Here are last weeks results.

A Great Man Honoured and A Great Man Shamed

       Firstly I would like to apologise for no post last night, technical problems on my end for most of yesterday.  But now lets get to the point.  This morning probably the greatest time trialist of all time Fabian Cancellara won his fourth time trial title at the Road World Championships.  He has now won the time trial title more than anyone else, the records will now state that he is the greatest of all time, for now.  But Fabian's moment of glory was ruined by the news that Alberto Contador, winner of the 2010 Tour de France, has said he has tested positive for a banned substance.  He said he had tested positive for clenbuterol during a rest on the Tour in July but added he was a victim of "food contamination".  He is holding a press conference later on Thursday.

Sporting Volunteers

 

     Just a quick one today.  A few weeks ago the London Olympics opened up the registration for volunteers at the games.  They are looking for some where in the region of 10,000 people over the whole games, thats before, during and after both the main Olympics and the Paralympics.  It's campaign is supposedly aiming to have the largest number of volunteers at a single event ever, surpassing previous Olymipc Games and other major events such as the Live 8 concerts.  The London Olympic Comitee have given volunteers a new name for this olympics 'Game Makers' in an attempt to get more people involved.  But when I woke up this morning I found that the Delhi Commonwealth Games have decided to rope in something different to deal with one of it's problems, monkeys.

NFL Week Three Review

       Another smashing weekend display of American football in the NFL this weekend.  This week of football saw again just one game go to overtime with a thrilling overtime quarter between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons.  A thrilling encounter between Buffalo and New England as they both score over 30 points. The two sides with the most history meet on Monday Night Football. The Chicago Bears have the Most Wins, Most Hall of Famers and the Second Most Championships played the Green Bay Packers who have the Second Most Wins, Second Most Hall of Famers and the Most Championships.  And after this round of games only the Steelers and the Chiefs in the AFC and the Bears in the NFC have 3-0 records.

European Football - Friend or Foe

       Over the next three days six from the top seven teams last will compete in European football be it either Champions League or Europa League.  I am sure most people are aware of the term 'Continental Hangover' meaning teams play worse than normal after a mid week European game.  But watching this weekends performances by this years teams in Europe I was wondering if there is some form of 'Continental Jitters' teams not performing the game before the trip into Europe.  I decided to go and have a look at the results of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Fulham before, after and between their European adventures.

Twit or Tweet

      Sport stars and managers have always been getting into trouble for what they have said to the press.  I remember clearly remember  watching Kevin Keegan losing it in an interview when asked a question about Alex Ferguson.  His outburst of "I'd love it if we beat them! Love it!" was one of many times that the heat of the moment has got the better of an individual who is generally a good professional.  Back in the day only a few people got interviewed so you only heard the odd outburst but nowadays there are more methods of communicating with the press and the public.  The one with the highest usu age at the moment is twitter and it has caused quite a few controversies.

Stuart Attwell - The Controversy King

       Eminem may claim that he is the king of controversy but in this country that crown surely belongs to the youngest Premiership referee Stuart Attwell.  Stuart Attwell has incurred the ire of many teams fans and managers who deem his decisions detrimental to their teams' cause.  Just over two years ago he gave goal to Reading against Watford, the goal is known as the 'ghost goal' when it had actually gone four yards wide of the post and out for a corner and on Saturday he was allowed a controversial Liverpool goal.  His wikipedia page has 12 separate controversies although most of them wouldn't be on a normal refs page but poor Stuart has drawn the wrath of a lot of people when he hasn't done much wrong.

Sunday Sport Round-Up

       Plenty of sport kept me excited this busy weekend with important games going on in many sports.  Only one of the top five of the Premiership going into this weekend won, three of them lost.  Light shone down on Fernando as he was imperious at the Marina Bay.  The World Open sees four previous Cucible winners in the semi finals.  The only unbeaten team in Aviva and Barclays Premiership's lose but both leagues one team is still win.  But again the weekend has a tragedy as former Great Britain rugby league player Terry Newton has been found dead.

The Night Time Race

      After a fascinating Grand Prix at Monza with the top 5 of the drivers championship finishing in the reverse of that order, Aloson 1st, Button 2nd, Vetterl 4th, Webber 6th and Hamilton DNF.  The top 5 are now separated by 24 points which means that anyone of them could be top after this weekends race.  This weekend the formula one convoy has made its way to Singapore for the third time and the dynamic of this day/night race is very different to all others.  Lets see how the Red Bull's, McLaren's and Ferrari's do in the often variable weather conditions. Lewis Hamilton got on pole and won last year he'll be hoping for a repeat of that.

Arsenal - A Different Football System

      Arsenal are one the top sides in the history of the Premiership and they still are a contender.  The problem is Arsenal are a side which has now gone for 5 years without a trophy and have been renowned for not spending much money in the transfer market.  Their manager Arsene Wenger has always bought young players coached them into superstars but when the egos get big Wenger tells them to move on, Pires, Henry, Viera, Toure and Adebayor all left when they still had good years in them.  But today Arsenal Football Club has announced record pre-tax profits of £56m.  The men in the boardrooms at Arsenal are doing things very differently to most of the other top clubs.  But the question is by keeping the club on a sound financial grounding stopping Arsenal from challenging for major trophies?

Russell v Lawro : Week 3

Well the challenge continues with a better performance, would of been even better if Sunderland and Tottenham didn't score in injury time, from me last week predicting 4 results right and 1 correct score compared to Lawro's 4 results right and 2 correct scores.  Not beaten him yet but lets see if this weekends action from the Premiership can set a new trend of me beating Lawro. Here are last weeks results.

Onwards and Downwards?

      The farce is over.  Now time to move on to one the greatest sporting rivalries, forget Liverpool versus Manchester United and England versus Germany in Football, forget any other sporting rivals.  England are getting ready to travel to Australia to compete for 'The Ashes',  Played since 1882 the series is named after a satirical obituary published in 1882 after a match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.  The trophy urn is reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump.  Today England annouced their squad and the lucky players who have won much-coveted places in the Ashes squad to tour Australia this winter.

The Carling Cup - Part 2

      I have already wrote on this blog about how teams will fail in this competition and how daft it is here.  But last nights performances from Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City has made me want to talk about it again but hopefully in a different way as not to repeat myself.  Liverpool fielded a side which contained no of the starting eleven that played against Manchester United, City also fielded no players from the starting eleven that beat Wigan 2-0 at the weekend and Chelsea played two, Ferrira and Ramires, but they also played Terry for the first half.
     What I want to talk about is how Newcastle and West Brom beat the second teams from Chelsea and Man City.

The Diving Pool

       Last night Tottenham showed a spirited performance against Arsenal only to be defeated by a couple of easy penalties, one of which Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp accused Samir Nasri of diving.  But Redknapp fumed: "I thought the first penalty was harsh. He fell over. Really, I think he dived for it."  Nasri is a very good player and on this occasion he could stayed on his feet and made an attempt on goal but he chose to go over easily.  Now if it was my team and we where drawing or losing I would shouting at them to get into the penalty box and fall over, but the only reason I would do so is soft penalties are being given more often now.  Is British football getting soft?

The Final ODI

      Today is the date of the final ODI match between England and Pakistan and after this match what will be known as an infamous tour will come to and end.  Pakistan arrived in England on the 5 July and in just 80 days this tour has possible damaged the sport of cricket irreversibly.  With the allegations, of the Pakistani players, of Spot fixing, deliberately bowling no-balls to set up betting coups, in the fourth Test match and the irregular scoring patterns in the thrid ODI.  It would be hard to say that Pakistani cricket, as we know it, will survive and they may have shot themselves in the a foot after Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Butt said he had heard from bookmakers that England had been paid to lose Friday's third one-day game at The Oval. 

For me I am amazed at the England players continues to play the series and here is why.

NFL Week Two Review

       After a awesome Week One of NFL, we were once again treated to another awesome weekend of football but it was one that ended in tragedy.  The Sunday evening match between the Colts and the Giants gave us a Manning brother showdown didn't disappoint with big brother Payton showing Eli how it is done.  A brilliant comeback by the Texans against the Redskins, recovering from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter going on to win in overtime.  The Jets showed what they were made of, offensively and defensively, against the Patriots only allow them to score in second quarter whilst scoring 28 points in return.  Monday Night Football picked another gem of a game with the New Orleans Saints score a 37-yard field goal that barely fluttered through as time expired.  But Week Two was ended in tragedy as Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley has been found dead in his home in an apparent suicide according to the police in the US state of Colorado.

The Commonwealth Games Problem

      Last night England and Scotland's Commonwealth Games teams stated that they are concerned the poor quality of the athletes village in Delhi may put the whole event in doubt.  Scottish officials found their original accommodation to be "unsafe and unfit for human habitation" and England are "optimistic" they will compete, but say urgent work is needed before the Games begin on 3 October.   But this is not first time that the go ahead of the Delhi Commonwealth Games have been questioned.  There have been multiple reports on the sub-standard infrastructure, athletes village and and questions about the security and safety of the participants and their teams has also been thrown into the mixer.  Even the organisers have said "have got two days to do what's probably going to take about two weeks".   My questions are should of this edition of the Commonwealth Games been moved from Delhi?  If so when should it have be switched and where would it go?

The O'Sullivan Enigma

Last night Ronnie O'Sullivan fired a remarkable 10th 147 break at the World Open in Glasgow after halting play when on nine points to check the prize for a maximum.  He was told there was no separate purse but cleared up to beat Mark King 3-0.  The 34-year-old appeared content to end on the pink in the final frame and had to be persuaded to pot the black Before you read what I am going to say I would like you to watch this interview done by the BBC.  From this there are two questions to be asked.  Has Ronnie O'Sullivan finally lost all interest in the sport of Snooker?  And does he have the right to ask for a performance related bonus that used to be standard?

Blackpool - The Side Out of It's Place

       Last Wednesday I talked to you about the defensive approach which weaker sides can take when they play tough opponents.  Well today I want to talk to you about a side that have decided to play attacking football no matter who they face.  Of course I mean Blackpool, they are a side that openly admit that they shouldn't be in this league.  As most people know by now Blackpool were relegation candidates in the Championship last year but a good run of form got them into the play-offs and everyone knows the side on form usually wins the play-offs.  Blackpool didn't disappoint the won in Wembley to earn their place in the Premiership.  Manager Ian Holloway is the first to admit that they don't have a side ready for the Premiership but after their 4-0 loss to Chelsea insists he will stick to his team's attacking approach in future after a more defensive system backfired at Chelsea.

The Sunday Sport Round-Up

Another fantastic weekend of sport for our viewing.   A very entertaining derby will let Ferguson forget about Liverpool and look towards Man City and Chelsea, more controversy in cricket as coach and captain speak out, a Brit wins a sprinting jersey in the Vuelta, the Great North provides plenty of shocks and performances and snooker unleashes one of it new speed formats. But on a slightly more disappointing note another shooting in Delhi puts more doubts and questions about the Commonwealth Game.

Always the Bridesmaid Never the Bride

      That proverb is used to describe someone who is good but not the best, but who is sporting greatest runner-up? 

      When asked this question it really does test the sporting knowledge of a person.  By looking at a persons answer you can also see what they claim as greatness.

      When I said the greatest runner-up I do not mean the best performance in a single sporting event that ended up coming second.  What I am looking for is the over all time what person or team over time has finished 2nd so many times it doesn't even matter if they won on the odd occasion?

Tabloids - The Downfall of Cricket

       Today the International Cricket Council annouced the launching of an investigation into Friday's third one-day international between England and Pakistan at The Oval.  The game's world governing body says the probe is based on information passed on by The Sun newspaper.  ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat says the match, won by Pakistan by 23 runs, featured "a certain scoring pattern" that warranted further investigation.  The ECB has been told that no England player is involved in the allegations. 

      The big question for me is how on enough do these tabloids continue to get these stories.  After the stories in football, snooker and cricket recently I just can't believe people are still having this conversations with people they don't know about their sport and making arrangements wiht them.

I Could Manage Real

       Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce believes he is good enough to manage any of Europe's top clubs.  Allardyce, once a candidate for the England manager's job, arrived at Ewood Park in 2008 having survived at Newcastle for less than half a season. This statement may have been taken out of context but I think it is an interesting idea. 

 

       Most top clubs are full of talented players with large wages and even larger egos, the main thing a manager of a top European club needs to do is get them to gel on the pitch.  A manager like 'Big Sam' would probably bruise alot of egos, he wouldn't let the stars have it all their own way but could he really manage Real Madrid.  Lets have look.

 

Russell v Lawro : Week 2

Last week I challenged myself to see if i could compete with Mark Lawrenson in predicting the results of the weekend games of the Premiership.  After a poor performance in week one, with myself only getting 4 results right and no correct scores compared to Lawro's 5 results right and 2 correct scores,  I need do much better this week.

Also here are the scores from last week.

The Flat Back Eight

       On Tuesday evening the Rangers coach, Walter Smith, employed his usual tatics for an away match in the Champions League.  Whenever Rangers didn't have the ball there was at least eigth men behind the ball and at some points they had every single man behind the ball.  Rangers are not the only side to employ this as there go to tactic when they are away from home.  Walter Smith believes it has become almost impossible for teams from smaller nations to compete in the Champions League.  But this tactic also has been used by top sides as well.  It has also been used in most european leagues for a long time and it used to appear in the Premiership.  The problem is that fans of the Premiership, in all likelyhood, will see it again very soon. 

The Curse of a Season Long Injury

       As Manchester United fan last nights performance was something I could rant about for probably the rest of my life.  But I want to talk about poor Antonio Valencia, the winger was carried off after going down under an innocuous-looking tackle from Kirk Broadfoot in the 62nd minute of the Champions League match, he went into hospital and will undergo surgery on Wednesday.  "It looks like a dislocation and a fracture," said boss Sir Alex Ferguson. "We're talking the rest of the season."      I want to talk you about a number of players who have had a season long injury and have never played the same since.

The iCC Move One Step Closer to Madness

       I came home drunk in the early hours of this morning after a night out, I had quick look at the BBC Sport home page then went to sleep.  I awoke thinking that I had read something in cricket about a new ICC Test League, I then thought to myself that is daft, told myself I must of misread something due to my drunken state.  But I was correct the ICC are looking to introduce a Test League and play-off system. Results will determine an official table, with the top four teams going head-to-head to decide a Test champion.  Are the ICC trying to destroy the last pure form of cricket?

NFL Week One Review

       After the season opener between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints on Thursday.  The NFL saw 13 games on spread across Sunday, including the first overtime game of the season between the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Then 2 games back to back on Monday Night Football which included the New York Jets, who played in the first network broadcast of MNF 40 years ago, hosting the Baltimore Ravens.   Followed by the San Diego Chargers travelling to the Kansas City Chiefs' brand new Stadium, "The Red Sea".
       This season I will be giving reviews to the games I managed to see at the weekend as well as reporting on the talking points and key plays of the other games. Today I will also throw in my picks for the end of season awards and who I think will make the Super Bowl

Week Two US Open

       In the earlier hours of Tuesday morning Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his set of Grand Slam titles.  Rafael Nadal became the seventh man to complete the Grand Slam, 4th in the open era.  Late on Saturday Kim Clijsters beat Vera Zvonareva to defend the title she also won at Flushing Meadows in 2005 and 2009.

The Beginnigs of a European Adventure

      This week three premiership teams, Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea, will start the European journeys joining Tottenham, Man City and Liverpool who have already started theirs.  With Tottenham, Chelsea and Man City all travelling to the continent to Bremen, Zilina and Salzburg and Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool hosting Rangers, Braga and Steaua Bucharest. Here are my thoughts on this week's matches and a quick look at the outcomes of the groups.

Technology in Sport

       I was already to finish up my review of the US Open when the rain came down and force Nadal versus Djokovic till this Monday evening at 2100 BST.  So I have a gap in my schedule to write about something else, something I was waiting for the next major controversy so I could share my opinion with you.  Of course by the title of this post you know I am talking about technology in sport.  I am going to talk about technology in sport history, this current use of instant replays in sports and finally, in my opinion, what the future holds in some sports.

The Sunday Sport Round-up

       Wow!  Where do I start?  This weekend was jam packed full of sporting events full of potential excitement and boy did they deliver, the Ferguson's had a weekend they would like to forget, Monza had a fascinating qualifying and race, the Pakistan team have shown some genuine performances, the US Open has blown me and some of the players away, Sky showed the way in Stoke, the second week of Aviva Premiership was close everywhere, another English side lost on penalties and the always confusing Super League Play-offs began.  If you have no idea about what just said then

David Beckham Returns But Why?

       David Beckham made his first competitive appearance in six months as Los Angeles Galaxy beat Columbus Crew 3-1 at the Home Depot Center.  Beckham had not played since rupturing his Achilles playing on loan for AC Milan in March, which ruled him out of the World Cup, but came on as a replacement after 70 minutes of Galaxy's Major League Soccer clash.

The Invicible All Blacks?

       A few of you may know this but most won't, this morning New Zealand secured a historic Tri-Nations (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) clean sweep with victory over Australia with a 22-23 win in the final Test in Sydney, a second half come back from 14-6 down earned the All Blacks a record 10th striaght win over the Wallibies.  New Zealand had alrady won the Tri-Nations title and beaten their fiercest rivals to secure the Bledisloe Cup, the New Zealand and Australia version of the Calcutta Cup between England and Scotland.

Formula 1 Goes to Monza

       The F1 convoy has rolled onto the home of Ferrari, Monza and with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa languishing 5th and 6th respectively in the drivers' world championship these is a important weekend for them.  Ferrari need a victory this weekend to return some recently lost pride and for Alonso to keep him in the championship, I assume they won't be letting Alonso pass Massa this time, so due to the fact they are out of the constructors championship they would almost be wanting Massa to be slower than Alonso.  But Ferrari and Alonso aren't the only ones who really need a win this weekend.

Russell v Lawro

This will be the first of many Friday afternoon posts I will be going one on one against the BBC legend Mark Lawrenson. As most of you know Lawro does predictions for every Barclay's Premier League each weekend, for his thoughts click here.  So I thought why not put my ideas into the fishing pot and see if I am can best the pro.

NFL is Back Baby

       Last night the NFL started with a repeat of the NFC Championship Game last night with Drew Brees and the Saints extended their post-Super Bowl euphoria for at least another week and handed Brett Favre and the Vikings a second consecutive loss in the Louisiana Superdome.  The New Orleans Saints survived a hard-fought season opener for a 14-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings,  this is the lowest points total for the Saints under coach Sean Payton but the Saints will take it, considering their defence limited Favre to 171 passing yards and one score, he didn't even complete a pass in the third quarter.
       So lets take a quick preview of the season to come by asking some big questions.  Can the Saints repeat in 2010? Can Tom Brady lead his Patriots back to the playoffs and maybe more? Are the Jets for real? Will Brett Favre stay with the Vikings? And can my team the Browns amount to anything?

The Return of the Golden Goal

        I awoke this morning to read an article saying that the FIFA president Sepp Blatter has asked two of the governing body’s committees to examine scrapping extra-time at the 2014 World Cup. Blatter also stated that FIFA will be looking into the feasibility of having a penalty shoot-out after 90 minutes or the re-introduction of the wonderful golden goal rule, which brought us the delightful scenes after Oliver Bierhoff's goal against Czech Republic in Euro 96 and Laurent Blanc's goal against Paraguay at France 98.

A Small Amount of Cricket History

       Cricket is going through a rough patch at the moment, the current situation with spot betting is indeed a terrible situation but compared to past events the threat of life bans seems without precedent especially due to the fact that match fixers Saleem Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman both had there life bans over turned in 2008 and 2006 respectivly.  Cricket has gone throught many different controversies including bodyline bowling, ball tampering, throwing, match fixing, spot fixing and even underarm bowling. But the controversy I would like to talk about today is the 1982 England South Afican Rebel Tour and the English cricketers that played for South African cricket clubs .

Ryder Cup Selections

       After the Simon Cowell like performance from Colin Montgomereie after the enthraling finish of the Johnnie Walker Championship, now Corey Pavin, the US Captain, has announced his Ryder cup wildcard picks it is perfect to take a look and compare the two sides that will competing this year at Celtic Manor Resort in the city of Newport, South Wales.
      The US and the European sides look remarkably similar, US having 5 rookies this year, 4 Top 10 players in the World Rankings including one who required a captain's pick, Tiger Woods.  Now compare this with a European side having 6 rookies this year, 4 Top 10 players in the World Rankings also with one who required a captain's pick, Luke Donald. They both also contain a recent Major champions requiring captain's picks with Pavin picking Stuart Cink and Monty picking Padraig Harrington.

The Modern Sport of Cycling

       Many people if asked to name five professional cyclist would struggle they would name Lance Armstrong, Sir Chris Hoy and possibly Mark Cavendish they may very well name the rest of the Olympic track racing team. But if you where to ask them what is the sports major event most people would be able to tell you that it is the Tour de France. This to me seems to show that people know about the sport but don't care for watching it and i think that is a real shame.

Week One US Open

       Well it firstly this is a couple of days late but i didn't get round to watching the highlights of most a week one till yesterday. It has been an interest week of tennis starting with Novak Djokovic nearly losing to a fellow Serb who is over a 100 places worse in the world rankings and ending with the utter capitulation of Andy Murray's form. And that was just the men's draw there was lots of going on in the women's side as well.

New Intenational Schedule

         As many of you may have noticed this time the the qualifying for the Euro's has changed.  This year the dates for the double headed qualifying matches have been moved to Friday and Tuesday instead of the usual Saturday and Wednesday schedule.  I understand the main reason behind this, it looks to me like club pressure has forced the international schedule to accommodate there players more time to get back home and over jet lag or just have another days rest. 

The Carling Cup

For me the 'Carling Cup' is a very bizarre tournament, in my opinion the way some teams, mainly premiership sides, pick a reserve line up is a very bad decision.  I can see some of the reasoning behind it though, it is still very early in the season some sides are trying to let the fringe players get some game time, some sides, Arsenal and Manchester United for example, give the youth players a chance to prove themselves which for the top end clubs is probably a good decision.

Hello World

I have always had many opinions on sport and now I would to share them with you all. 
Now some of you may not agree with what I say in them, I am always open to other opinions on the matter, feel free to comment and share my opinion with others just if you do please source me.
I will talk about a variety of sports including major ones and a few some of you might not now much about, i hope what i right will get you to check out these sports because i truly believe that sporting competitions is one of the greatest aspects of life.
Also check the link on the side  for the latest stat tweet.
Well that is what i hope to accomplish with this blog hope you enjoy, if so follow and pass the blog on.