IIRC, Willian was getting ready to have a medical at Tottenham when Chelsea swooped in and brought him to Stamford Bridge.

I would have to see Mourinho send Mata overseas and not to a league rival. The same argument that ManYoo used to not sell Wayne Rooney to Chrlsea.

All these midfielders are nice, I guess. I wish Chelsea would buy a striker since Torres, Eto'o and Ba have been bad this season. Too bad Romelu Lukaku is getting first team chances at Everton.

I wonder what the future holds for Thibaut Courtais. I'm sure when he comes back from his loan at Athletico, he isn't going to sit the bench.

"Swooped in" is putting it lightly. Russian shenanigans between Anzhi and Roman Abramovich.

Falcao has an ACL. Out for the WC. Sucks. This guy is an enjoyable watch.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Why couldn't it have been someone from the US's group, like Altidore.

I'm reporting you to Homeland Security.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

It's ok. I'm pretty sure Sunderland is a made up place.

Michael Essien leaves Chelsa FC on a free transfer and is going to play for new AC Milan manager Clarence Seedorf at the San Siro.

Essien signed an 18-month contract with the Milan outfit. Not really a surprise that Essien is gone since he only made 2 league starts for Chelsea this season.

Essien also is not cup-tied. So he can play for AC Milan in the Chamions League.

It's official: Mata to Man United, conveniently right after Chelsea played them for the last time in the league. Wenger bitched but hey that's Wenger.

Liverpool keep getting injured. Lucas and Johnson out. I think they are playing Assclown United in the FA Cup tomorrow but there's a big match against Everton next week. I was hoping for a defensive buy or two in the window but I guess Rodgers enjoys giving up 2 goals every match.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

some ppl are saying that draxler to arsenal is happening, and now the en vogue thing is to say that he's basically RvP v2.0 (an AM who could be turned into a proper CF) and i guess he really wants it to go through now, but arsenal's trying to get them down from the purported ~37mil buyout (that 20mil + podolski thing wasn't gonna work, plus ideally i'd wanna keep poldi cuz his "get teh ball and shoot" mentality is a refreshing change of pace for arsenal's usual "too cutesy in the box" crap. see his inconsistent !!!! like yesterday's brace)

and uhhhh, wow guys, watford up 2-0 on city @ halftime..... they might be able to deal a crushing blow to city's cakewalk to a domestic treble, which would give me !!!!! hope as an arsenal fan that they could nick an FA cup, which would be a great consolation prize for not holding on to the prem this year (they won't. it's city's to lose, chelsea notwithstanding)

of course, the city game is audio only (cuz we need sunderland/kidderminster, which i thought was a british slang for a pedophile?) so you can check that @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiomanchester/on-air

oh and was anyone watching the real madrid game? they're playing granada @ bernabeu and right b4 the half gareth bale made a shit/high cross into the box and ronaldo went HAM to execute a perfectly-lined-up bicycle kick to get maximum contact on the ball way up in the air.... but the goalie wisely followed ronaldo and not the ball so he was able to make what many prisoners-of-the-moment are calling the save of the year.

here's the best stationary screencap i could get from the highlights:


c'est la fucking vie. welcome back 2teamesliga, aka 1. bundesliga btw! it's been too long (~5weeks? shit)

_________________

Altidore stifled by Skrill Premier powerhouse Kidderminster in the FA Cup. Yet he somehow scored against Germany.

Which is worse, Fergie picking Moyes as his successor or letting Paul Pogba go on a free to Juventus so he could play Tom Cleverly?

Charlie Adam, you were a complete muppet at LFC. But today, son, you made up for it.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

2 goals and I think he literally kicked every United player that came close to him and he never saw a yellow, solid game.

welp since last we exhibitionismed, good ol michael laudrup has been sacked by swansea (to michu or to not michu? that is the question here) and uhhhh have i got something for you guys..... if you're not watching this barca/real-sociedad la copa del ray game, you missed one of the most !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! own goals you'll ever see: https://vine.co/v/Ma6PTedEvXl

seriously, that thing repeats in a loop by default and if you leave it there you're good for at least a minute or two of laughing while trying to figure out just wtf dude was thinking. that's special, although in an antithetical way to the way zlatan's first goal was yesterday (you know, the one where the goalie tried to hoof it out of the box, ibra caught it like ~10-15 feet behind the box, and matter of factly kicked it right back into the goal. suitably hilarious.... i'll see if i can find a gif/vine of that)

_________________

aha, here's a behind-the-goal angle on zlatan's first goal yesterday >> https://vine.co/v/MabEhEj3BH3

yeap. suitably hilarious.... and now back to my little mid-week/mid-day oasis b4 reality has a chance to come crashing down this saturday morn at 6:45am when the mighty arsenal heads to the home of those kopsuckers affectionately referred to as "the scousers."

believe it or not, they're in a position to really help arsenal have any chance at the league down the stretch as they've still got games left vs city and chelsea down the stretch, whereas arsenal's going to have their hellish run in march (@everton/city/chelsea with @buyern sprinkled in there somewhere) b4 the schedule lightens up a bit down the stretch; so here's to hoping that arsenal can close out these last ~13-14 games or whatever with the same kind of form they had down the stretch last year where they celebrated st. totteringham's day a little late, but hey they still celebrated it.

_________________

LFC needs the 3 points more than the Arse. It won't happen, though. We've been shit against Arsenal for years now. Goes back to that Arshavin grand salami at Anfield in 2009. Hoping for a draw.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

PSG has some decent strikers.

welp you certainly got the 3 points this morning/afternoon. holy shit. i think you deserved 5 or 6 for that.

while it's easy to slag off mertesacker (who had the worst game i've ever seen him play. his lack of speed was highlighted/spotlighted/given-its-own-magazine today, still, i think the midfield hung him koscielny and szczesny out to dry... and hung out to dry they were.

well played scousers..... good luck keeping united/spurs out of the CL, unless the mental midgets @ arsenal pick a fine time to plummet like a rock in which case..... * sips coffee *

i'm reminded of an old quote by my friend's dad: "i need a shot and a shot of heroin" --- indeed.

_________________

Chelsea beat the Barcodes (Newcastle United) 3-0 and move top of the table by 1 over Man City and two over Arsenal. Eden Hazard had all three goals for Chelsea. It's his first Chelsea hat-trick.

With the FA Cup next weekend. The Premier League will be playing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chelsea travels to the Hawthorns to face West Bromich Albion on Tuesday while Aresenal get ManYoo at home and City face Sunderland at the Eithad Stadium on Wednesday.

Chelsea returns to the Eithad on Saturday for an FA Cup match with City.

I'm actually starting to believe LFC can make the Champions League. It will be a shitty seed since they've been out of the competition so long but who cares. It's just nice to be back with the big dogs.

I feel bad for Moyes. The guy seems totally out of his element and is resorting to Everton-style donkey soccer. But I am enjoying the descent of Man U. My only wish is that it would have occurred under that prick SAF.

Big'n this afternoon. Arsenal and United.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

That Cavani goal is truly exceptional.

_________________
1923-1927-1928-1932-1936-1937-1938-1939
1941-1943-1947-1949-1950-1951-1952-1953
1956-1958-1961-1962-1977-1978-1996-1998
1999-2000-2009
----------
XXI - XXV - XLII - XLVI

Figures Chelsea would shite the bed against West Brom. With Arsenal's draw against ManYoo and City's match with Sunderland postponed. Chelsea leads the Gunners by 1 and City by 2.

What a suckfest that Arsenal-United match was. I caught the tail end when I got home. Dull, unimaginative dross. Like an Ostrowski and McKnight show.

_________________
Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

arsenal/manutd wasn't a dull match for me as much as it was a nervewracking match, but then again i am an arsenal supporter. one of the united guys from #soccer started trying to troll the arsenal faithful (we have #s on efnet =) by saying that arsenal blew the season by "blowing it" against united.... which had me up in ???s cuz how can you blow a game in which you never had victory taken from you at any point?

it was a taffy pull like the manutd/arsenal game @ OT, except this time there wasn't that world-class RvP header to put united up 1-0 right b4 the half (indeed, he had a mighty header that szcz deflected up into the post in the 2nd half, but that was right after the clouds parted and arsenal had the divine light of providence shine down upon their best scoring opportunity where giroud was just a split second tardy from tapping in a wonderful ball) i mean yeah arsenal did lay siege to united for about 6mins from 60-66', but at no point did i feel like the game was anything but out there for arsenal to lose (which they could have easily done in the first half.... but they didn't; allah be praised!) so yeah right after the bed-shitting exhibition with the scousers both city and chelsea dropped 2pts in those respective 2 rounds and arsenal missed a chance to go 1pt clear atop the table.... but looking ahead, now you've got that hellafied march run with another vs everton tacked on for the FA cup, which was (suffice to say) a PLEASANT FUCKING SURPRISE on my sunday morning.

i didn't see that FA cup win coming.... esp when arsenal started ~33-40% of a b-team and the scouse were at full strength... and they looked the better side for a good chunk of the match, but i'll be damned if the ox didn't have a masterful game knocking in a goal and beautifully setting up poldi to go up 2-0 right as the 2H started, which of course was partially offset by that gerrard penalty conversion and then bitey mcfuckyourrace probably-getting-fouled but not getting the pen (see? being a diving Caller Bob CAN hurt you unless you're drogba evidently) and led to some hilarious postgame on the RAWK with the thread ArsenalWebb 2 - 1 Liverpool FT ---- yeap, there was even pledges from the kop faithful to never watch another game that howard webb refereees. stay classy out there on the merseyside y'all!

anyways, for the other ~3 footy faithful here and anyone else clever enough to be a VIP on their BOX working for their COmpanies DOTted across the USa who just happens to be tired of bernstein yelling at them, manchester city is hosting barcelona at roughly 1:45pm today.... and this promises to be a heavyweight fight because city's in pretty solid form at the moment (tho no aguero today, but i think fernandinho's back) and barca..... welp they're not quite the evil empire (arsenal hosts them tomorrow, buyern munich of course) but they're barca and they've got the world's best scorer in messi and yeah.... it's on. i'll be very interested to see this game because while city has been the only team to beat buyern @ home since arsenal was the only team to beat buyern @ home in the 2013 calendar year, still, i wouldn't exactly look for them to 3-1 barca @ camp nou..... so it's important that they come out ahead today.... or at least a tie that doesn't allow barca, say, more than 1 away goal.... otherwise they've got a monumental task @ hand next month when they head out to barcelona)

this should be fun.... and of course you can have zlatan and PSG on in another window if you wanna try and catch his inevitable nice goal of the day..... and yeah then tomorrow the reckoning comes as arsenal likely gets slightly less humbled than they did a couple'a saturdays ago @anfield. unlike bart scott.... i can wait.

_________________

I don't think anyone kicks a ball harder than Zlatan. From his weak foot.

yeah i was hanging out in #soccer b4 the CL kickoffs and one of the resident german homers (good guy, but hey it is what it is / gotta call it like i see it) told me that i was wrong in saying that zlatan was gonna score in a PSG victory, and he told me "no way zlatan scores; 2-0 bayer"

welp, i wasnt around for the immediate postgame but suffice to say it's bedtime in the fatherland right about now =D

and hey, go figure barca plays a team that gets a red card in the round-of-16-or-later of the CL. didn't they win a recent/ish CL (10-11 i wanna say?) where all of their opponents from the round of 16 onwards to the final had someone go out with a red? * twilight zone theme *

city did a pretty OK job of getting all NKOTB and "hangin tough" with the 10 men, but then circa 88' or 89' they let in that 2nd goal which is gonna be a killer.... 2 away goals for barca means that city has to win by 3 @ camp nou next month, and while i don't underestimate city and wouldn't say it's technically impossible.... yeah, i'm pretty sure barca and PSG rubberstamped their passes to the quarterfinals today.

and now we're on the horizon of what promises to be another humbling for the mighty arsenal in the spirit of the @city/@liverpool beatdowns this season: home vs buyern. don't forget that arsenal was the only team to beat buyern @home in the entire 2013 calendar year (and maybe even the season that started aug-2012 as well) and despite that they still got got by the eventual 2012-13 CL winners. so yeah, i'm not exactly chock full of confidence that arsenal can go and win @buyern once again, so suffice to say tomorrow's about as close to a "must-win" game as a cup final..... but hey then again they DID lose 1-2 to dortmund @home in the group stages only go to out to dortmund and win a pretty masterful 1-0 game some weeks later, so never say never..... but definitely have your finger on the never button.

c'est la vie, as the french would say in france. and here's to hoping that arsenal don't go out like bitches tomorrow.

_________________

oh, and i'd be remiss to point out that if arsenal were playing dortmund in the round-of-16 to the semis 2-leg-format, losing 1-2 @home to dortmund then going out and winning 1-0 @dortmund = dortmund advances thanks to scoring the 2 away goals to arsenal's one..... so yeah, put that in your pipe and smoke it if you're an arsenal fan.

tho you might need opium in your pipes after the likely-humbling tomorrow. yeargh.

_________________

Not to change the subject but it looks like Mike Ashley may have a buyer for Newcastle United. His name is Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Yes...WWE's Vince McMahon is interested in buying Newcastle United

http://blog.foxsoccer.com/post/77086448 ... :foxsoccer

Jozy didn't even make the bench for the League Cup final. USA! USA!