Crucial game: Chelsea 1- 1 Arsenal

The premiership title is now looking to be a little more in reach of Manchester United as Chelsea failed to beat Arsenal. It was a good game and perhaps Chelsea deserved to win but at the end of the day they failed to win. Manchester United are now eight points ahead of Chelsea, although Chelsea have a game in hand. This means even if Chelsea win their game in hand they will still be 5 points behind Manchester United.

Arsenal took the lead late on in the game with a Flamini effort. However Chelsea came back six minutes later through a brilliant goal from Essien. This is possibly the sign of a great team; that is one that can come back straight away and don't drop their heads. The Essien goal is one that will remain in my memory for a long time as it was a well placed shot which Lehmann the Arsenal keeper didn't have much chance at all. Chelsea then almost won the game as they hit the woodwork on more than one occasion in stoppage time.

Is the premiership over now? Not by a long shot, I believe this because there is still many games to be played and a distance of 5 points could simply be a matter of 2 games. A team playing two games can gain a maximum of 6 points so if Manchester United were to suddenly have a dip in form, suffer multiple injuries, or another team get a little bit of luck against them then Chelsea could still overtake Manchester Utd. In the past Manchester United have come back from much further behind than Chelsea are currently such as when they caught up with Newcastle a number of years ago. This proves it is possible but I think it will be very hard for Chelsea even though they are a very efficient and consistent team.

It is possible to view an article from the game from the BBC website

Feeds: Access to football articles

A number of feeds have recently been put into this weblog. I suggest that these are used as they can be very helpful. I used rss feeds from the web sites shown on the left hand side of this weblog. These include the BBC website, the Guardian and the Independent. All of these provide articles on the brilliant sport that is football. So far I have found them very useful. This is because I can now be constantly up-to-date with the latest news and stories from the football world. All it takes is a simple click on the article I wish to view and the article appears.

I have read a number of interesting articles today including reviews of the premiership matches that happened such as Tottenham Hotspur Vs Charlton Athletic from the BBC feed. Tottenham won the game 5-1, so it is looking quite bad for Charlton at the moment. Whether they will get out of the relegation zone remains to be seen.

Ashley Cole in the Arsenal vs Chelsea game tomorrow (Sunday 10/12/2006) seems to be a popular topic in a number of articles, with the Guardian and Independent providing articles on this topic area. It will be interesting to see how Ashley Cole is treated tomorrow by the Arsenal fans, I personally think he will be booed for most of the match, but we will have to wait and see.

I hope any visitors to this weblog also find these feeds useful like I have. I believe having these feeds is a great idea. It saves a great deal of time as I don't have to visit those websites to see the information from typing in the URL or by searching for them using a search engine. They can simply been seen using this weblog. For other people who have weblogs on football or even other topics I suggest making use of the feed feature if possible.

The job of the referees in the premiership

It appears to me the referees have a hard job in the premiership. I believe this because many referees are given a hard time by a number of different people. Sometimes it appears that referees don't get the credit they deserve when they have a good game. This is probably because the game flows on and it is considered their job to make the right decisions.

When a referee makes a mistake the opposition is at the very least disappointed with with that decision, and this can result in an uproar. The referee is also likely to be in the firing line of managers, who especially when they have lost a game will make their point clear to the media. Jose Mourinho is a manager who especially likes to get his point across.

The atmosphere in a huge stadium with thousands of fans could be very intense. I believe this is true at places like Old Trafford and Celtic park. The fans can add to the intense atmosphere as their shouts bellow through the stadium.

The pressure on referees could be considered very significant due to all these reasons. I believe this is therefore a very hard job, but a referee needs to be able to take pressure. If they are unable to handle the pressure of a big game, then it could be that they shouldn't be the referee in that game.

The step over: useful trick?

The step over is a trick highly used in football and can be seen often in premiership matches. A number of players seem to have mastered this skill such as Ronaldo of portugal, giggs, Robinho, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo of Brazil. It is not suprising that many Brazilian football players have mastered this skill. In the premiership the player to most frequently use this skill is probably Ronaldo. Although players must realise he is going to use this trick they still seem to fool for it. This is a great advantage of this skill as if it is mastered it will be almost impossible for the defender to know whether you will change direction from using the step over.

To do this trick you simply need to bring your foot over the ball without actually touching it. You could do this with either leg. Once done this may confuse your opponent and they may shift their balance in one direction. You could use this to your advantage and go round a player the other side.

If you practice this often you could get quicker at it, and this could make you more effective. It also seems to be the case that the more you exaggerate the step over the more you can confuse a defender and I would try not to be to predictable with the step over.

You can learn how to master the step over on the BBC website

Qualified teams in the Champions league

Some teams played yesterday the 5/12/2006 and some of the teams played today the 6/12/2006.

In terms of the British teams Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Celtic have now all qualified for the next round. They are know in the knockout stage. The knockout stage will start around mid February so there will be a short break from the champions league for now.

In their last game Chelsea eased to victory over Levski Sofia winning 2-0. For Arsenal to qualify they simply needed a draw and this is exactly what they got as the score at Porto away was 0-0. Celtic had already qualified but lost their game 3-1 to FC Copenhagen. This meant as Manchester United won 3-1 against Benfica they topped the group as a pose to Celtic.

The one concern of the British teams qualifying had to be Manchester United as they needed a point to qualify but went a goal down to Benfica, however unlike last year where they failed to win this game and didn't qualify for the knockout stage, they came fighting back and three headers from Vidic, Giggs and Saha finished the game off. Manchester United had their revenge. Unlucky Benfica, maybe next time.

You can view more information on current Champions league news by visiting the Uefa website

The La liga

To be honest I don't see too much of the La liga but I occasionally see some goals on sky sports news and keep myself well informed by looking up news on La Liga on the internet. I therefore can explain a bit about the season so far.

Currently it is quite a close race with 13 matches played. The top three are only two points apart from each other with Barcelona currently first with 30 points, Real Madrid are second with 29 points and Sevilla third with 28.

Barcelona dropped points against Lavante as they drew 1-1. This allowed Real Madrid to gain two points on the leaders when they won 2-1 against Athletic Bilbao. I have seen that it was a Roberto Carlos drilled shot which won the game for them. Who could of predicted that. Similarly to the premiership this is looking like it might be a very close title race. I think that Barcelona's focus to stay in the champions league as they have a match later today against Werder Bremen may have worked against them in their last game in the La Liga which they drew.

Beckham has not played that much for Real Madrid this year. It seems as if Fabio Capello prefers other players to playing Beckham. I think that Beckham may be given more chances in the future. The situation does seem to be improving for Beckham though as he got 45 minutes in the match against Athletic Bilbao recently. It is also good to see Riquelme is still creating quality goals as he did this in Villareal's last match against Gimnàstic who are currently bottom of the table.

Overall the La Liga is shaping up to be quite good this year and I think the eventual winners will be either Real Madrid or Barcelona. If you have additional interest in the La liga then visit Soccer-Spain for more information.

George Best: The Best

If you are looking with for a player with pace, skill, balance, shooting ability, tackling ability, heading ability, passing ability, strength and a number of other attributes then look no further than the player George Best was. I think he was and probably always will be the best player of his type to have ever existed.

The way he simply ghosted pass players so easily was incredible to watch. In addition to this his balance was so good he could make the oppositions players end up on the floor without even touching them. His skills optimized what the perfect footballer is. Unfortunately he had weaknesses off the pitch but I only want to talk about what he did on the pitch because ultimately it is his football which counts.

I remember seeing him in a clip for Manchester United against Chelsea and he got slide tackled from the side by a Chelsea defender, however he still managed to regain his balance and went on to round the keeper and score. It was truly brilliant to watch. He has scored many other top goals and you can view some of his amazing talent on You tube. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to see some of these clips as they will most definitely leave you in awe of the player.

George Best is my favourite player of all time as he probably is for many other people. In my opinion George Best is the best.

Shin pads

It is considered very important to wear shin pads in football matches. If you don't wear them you could face getting badly injured. In the heat of a game I have found that ridiculous challenges can be made. I won't say I have never fouled a player, because there have been a few occasions I have given away free kicks. However I have never gone into a challenge hoping to injure or badly hurt a player. I think those who do are cowards and shouldn't be playing football.

My shin pads have probably saved me a couple of times because I don't like to back out of challenges so in my opinion if you play like this you need shin pads. Even if you are more of a reserved player who doesn't like to get stuck in shin pads should still be worn as some ridiculous challenges can still come flying in. As I have been on the receiving end of some challenges like this I have found shin pads to block the impact.

If shin pads were not worn if you get injured you may be out for a long time and this means no football until you have recovered. Would it be worth risking this? Surely not so I wear shin pads whenever I am playing football. Of course if you are just having a kick around then shin pads may not be essential.

My advice is that anyone who plays the game should wear shin pads, these can stop you from getting injured or badly hurt. Always Remember safety comes first.

Teddy Sheringham: 40 and still going strong

It is incredible to see a 40 year old still playing at the highest level in football. That is Teddy Sheringham of West Ham who has played for a number of good teams in the past such as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Sheringham has won a number of medals in his career including the 1998/99 treble triumph with Manchester united. He was a very important player for Manchester United at this time and from coming on in the champions league final of 1999 scored the equaliser against Bayern Munich and then created the winner.

There are players half his age in the premiership such as Wayne Rooney who is 20. It is quite extraordinary to think Teddy Sheringham was playing professional football when Rooney was just born.

Teddy Sheringham has never really relied on his pace and I see this as one of the reasons he has been able to go on playing for so long. Instead he has seemed to use his football intelligence to get himself in the right positions and pass at the right time in the right place. The thing is he is still having a great impact in the premiership and scored a great header a short time ago. He has had a great career and is continuing to have one even though he is an old man in a football age perspective.

West Ham are struggling a bit at the moment but if anyone can get them out of trouble it is Teddy.

Ideas for football presents

Today is the 1st of December, meaning only 24 days to Christmas. This is only a bit more than 3 weeks! Therefore it is good to know what you want for Christmas in terms of footy gifts. There are a number of football gifts which can be bought this year. Under a broad range of gifts these could include new football boots, a new football, football shirts, football computer games, football DVDs and so on. The list is endless.

Of course the present you want will probably depend on what you've already got, for example I have already got a decent pair of football boots and so don't need any this Christmas. The pair I have are diadora, the same pair players like Roy Keane and Gary Neville have worn in the past which is good to know. They have been very reliable so far so I would recommend these as a Christmas present. Different players will want different types of boots though, I personally only like boots where the laces are at the top and not somewhere where I consider to be silly, for example on the side of the boot. We all have our preferences though.

In terms of footballs, one football I think is good is the Finale Sportivo which you can see on the Argos website This is a replica football of the one used in the champions league. It is a decent football which moves quickly along the ground, this means it may be good for fast players but no so good for the not so speed orientated players. The style of the football is also a nice touch.

A number of other football gifts can be seen on the 4football website Interestingly this site also allows you to buy a share in your supported team if this is possible. I think it would be a good feeling to know you own part of the football club, even though it might be very small. You could hang it on your wall and look at it every day!

Pro Evolution Soccer or Fifa?

A number of people like the games Pro evolution soccer and fifa on consoles such as the PS2 and Xbox. I ask which is better? In my opinion it is Pro evolution soccer. However I can see why some may disagree with me.

Fifa has licences for all players, teams and so on. Pro evo does not have all these licences although over time it has gained more and more. Pro evo used to have very few licences and this meant many players had fake names which had a little bit of likeness to their real names. A made up example could be Braters for a player called Waters. There was very many of these in older versions of pro evo. The situation has improved though and now pro evo has a huge amount of real player names.

I think that the gameplay is better in pro evo. I think that it is more realistic as you can score a huge range of different goals. When I used to play Fifa I found that I was scoring the same goals every time even though I deliberately tried to make them a bit different. It was just too easy to score the same type of goals each time. In pro evo I did not have this problem. This is the main reason I preferred pro evo. In addition to this I found Fifa too predictable as the opposition did the same thing each time. Due to these main reasons associated with gameplay I prefer Pro evo.

I have noticed that on the PS2 the controls for both football games are basically the same only a couple buttons different. Therefore I found it easy to switch playing from one to the other. Other people who wish to try out the other game can do this also.

Some people will probably prefer Fifa while others prefer pro evo. Both Fifa and pro evo have new versions coming out each year which could show they both make a good enough amount of sales for them to be profitable.

There are also a number of other football games on a number of different formats which you can view by clicking here

Alan Shearer: Tribute to a football legend

Alan Shearer retired at the end of the 2005/2006 season and in my opinion had shown the world that he was a world class player.

He scored many goals in that period including many very spectacular goals. He was a very strong and fast player who you would always expect to get on the end of through balls. He was also what I would call an old fashioned English centre forward who could hold the ball up and used his head a lot. In terms of his heading he reminds me of Geoff Hurst who was also a great header of the ball. In additonal to this Shearer had much more in his locker such as volleying which he could get much power and accuracy on. Shearer is the highest ever goal scorer in the premiership over time at the current time. This to me shows what a great goalscorer he was.

I believe he supports Newcastle and decided to play for them as a pose to Manchester United. Many have probably criticized his decision due to the amount of medals he would have probably won at Man Utd but he truly cared for Newcastle United. His heart was with Newcastle United so he was only ever going to play for them. He had many great years at Newcastle and did some great things for England such as in Euro 96 where he scored a number of great goals and showed he can play on the international stage.

Quite simply Alan Shearer is a footballing legend.

The Newcastle website has more information on Alan Shearer. You can also view video clips of him playing on this website.

MOTD

Match of the day has been running for many years now and has seen the likes of players like George Best up to Kevin Keegan and nowadays players like Rooney.
As it has been running for so many years I would say it has become integrated with football; that is it is part of the football spirit.

Gary Lineker has been presenting the show for a number of years now and I believe he has been a very good presenter. He has good humour as well which is a refreshing quality and probably needed when your team has lost. I remember when Greece won Euro 2006 and he said something like Portugal couldn't wipe away Greece. To some this may seem like a poor joke but I think these comments add a wittiness to his presenting which is a refreshing quality.

It is also good to see Alan Shearer on a frequent basis since his retirement, he was a great player and has a lot of experience of the game. In addition there is Alan Hansen who as with Lineker has also been presenting the show for quite a while. He was a great defender who also has a great experience of the game.

Nowadays they also do MOTD 2, which is shown for sunday games or sometimes week day matches. Adrian Chiles presents this. The only thing I personally ever saw him in before was "Working lunch" so when it was first announced I was suprised. However he has been a good presenter and sometimes makes jokes just like Gary lineker.

Match of the day continues to run and will run for some time hopefully. To be honest though I can never see Match of the day ending, although I was worried when ITV began to show the matches on their show "The premiership". The ITV show had loads of adverts and went on for ages because of this. Thankfully it came back to the BBC and may MOTD live long and prosper.

You can view more information of MOTD from Wikipedia

The dragback

The dragback is a very useful skill in my opinion. This is because it can be used to cause other players to lose balance. If used properly it can be used to take players out of the game as they travel with the ball one way and when the dragback is used their balance has already shifted one way so it is hard for them to recover.

I have seen many players pull this off successfully such as Ferenc Puskás whose technique was faultless at this skill. His managed to totally lose players from using his dragback. Once he used the dragback to lose one player and then took a shot into the top of the net. If perfected this skill is therefore very useful.

I suggest people who play football practice this skill frequently as it could become useful. In addition to this it may also improve your own balance, as it takes a lot of balance to perfect this technique.

To do the dragback you will need to place your foot on top of the ball when a player on the opposition is moving towards the ball then pull it back with your foot in the opposite direction. I have found that the quicker this is done the more successful it can be.

I have found using this skill very useful and in football sometimes you need to use skills such as this to lose players, which has been shown by professionals time and time again.

Manchester Utd 1 Chelsea 1

Man Utd came quite close to opening their gap to six points at the top of the premiership today(26/11/2006).

It was a very exciting game to watch which and I think it would have had a few on the edge of their seats. I saw the highlights of the game on MOTD and from what I saw Man Utd had most of the ball and took a deserved lead through Saha.

Saha nicely placed a shot into the goal from about 20 yards out and left Cudicini with a very hard task who scrambled across the goal but could not make it in time. It seemed as if Terry and Calvalho took too much time to close him down as they stood motionless as Saha placed to ball past them and the keeper.

After this to me it looked like the 3 points were going Manchester uniteds way which would of opened the premiership gap to six points and left Chelsea with a very hard task to catch up. However from a poorly defended corner Calvalho managed to head in the equaliser and the game ended 1-1.

This game could have been a very significant outcome to who wins the premiership this year, but as they shared points in this game no team was able to gain points over the other.

I personally believe that Man Utd will go on to claim the title and at the moment to me they look the better team, but Chelsea have shown that they can be consistant over very long periods so it could be very close.

You can view an article on the game from the BBC website.

Rooney signs new deal at Manchester Utd

Apparently Wayne Rooney has just signed a new deal at Man united. This could keep him at the club until 2012 which means the next six years could see Rooney in a Man Utd shirt.

I believe that Wayne Rooney will finish his career at Man utd. This is because he is unlikely to want to leave as he seems to be enjoying his football and if he was to leave Man Utd there wouldn't be many bigger clubs in the world to join. The likes are Scholes, Giggs, Gary Neville and Ronaldo have all committed their futures to Man Utd in the past and Rooney joins them on this list.

This will be beneficial to Manchester United as they have a great player who will continue to develop over the next few years. He has shown he is committed to the club, so I think this wiil show this in his future performances for the club.

I can imagine that in the next six years Wayne Rooney could get a number of medals at Manchester United. He has yet to win the premiership, FA cup and champions league with Manchester united so you could guess these are high on his agenda. We may also see many more great goals and great play from Wayne Rooney which may be very exciting. Rooney has already scored some brilliant goals in a number of competitions and I guess we can expect more of the same and perhaps even better.

I found an interesting article on this on the BBC website

Great players of the England team of 1966

There were a number of great players in the 1966 world cup winning team. To begin with in goal was Gordon Banks who was without a doubt one of the best goalkeepers the planet has seen. We also had brilliant centre backs in Jackie Charlton and the captain Bobby Moore. Bobby Moore was an unbelievable centre back and many people may not remember but he also created a number of the goals in the 1966 world cup final. In my opinion he is the best central defender of all time.

Nobby Stiles was perhaps an unsung hero, but he was brilliant at what he did. This could be seen in the 1966 game against Portugal where he simply shut down Eusébio, who was a very dangerous player to put it bluntly. One thing is for sure without Stiles England would have found it much harder to win the 1966 world cup.

Also in midfield who can forget the likes of Bobby Charlton; a massive player for England. Passing, shooting, tackling he had all the attributes of a great all round midfielder. He main strength was possibly his shooting as the power and accuracy of his shots were incredible and great to watch. In his career he rifled in a huge number of long range attempts which looking back at them were great to watch.

The strikers were also on form in this world cup with Peters and Hurst netting a good number of goals together. The heading skills of Hurst were shown to be of a great quality and his positioning when the ball came in the box was second to none.

Overall due to these players it is not a surprise to me we won the world cup in 1966. However not only were there great players in the side at this time they also had a great understanding of each other and the team worked as a unit. I personally don’t believe there has ever been a better England team than the one in 1966.

40 years since England won a world cup

Earlier this year it was the 40th anniversary of when England last one the world cup in 1966. It was a special moment remembering the only world cup winning team.

It has been a long time since England last won the world cup last, as 40 years is a very long time. However if you think of it in world cup terms it is not that many, only 10 world cups. This means that although the perception is that it has been a huge time gap only 10 world cups have occurred during that period as there is only one world cup every four years.

It is true that England have had to watch the likes of Germany and Brazil reach the final time and time again but not that many other different teams have won the world cup since 1966, in fact only a hand full have.

I hope one day England can win the world cup again and I can just imagine the celebrations. The celebrations when England won the ashes were very good. The celebrations when England won the Rugby world cup were also very good but in my opinion if England were to win the world cup in football the whole country would be on fire.

This won’t happen for atleast another 4 years though as the next world cup is in 2010. In this time many England players may have passed their peak such as Gerrard, Lampard, and Gary Neville. Overall I believe England has a young team but players of that calibre passing their peak in time for the next world cup will be very disappointing. These players are currently irreplaceable but maybe some players will come through or others will prove their worth.

I guess England can at least say they have won a world cup, which many countries cannot say but there has been a number of disappointing performances by England in recent world cups. Hopefully 2010 will be different. Roll on world cup 2010!

Celtic beat Manchester united

The two teams Manchester united and Celtic met in the champions league yesterday (21/11/2006)and suprisingly Celtic claimed the victory 1-0.

This means that Celtic has qualified for the next round of the champions league whilst Manchester United need a point from their final game against Benfica in order to qualify.

Manchester United's side was very strong as well with players such as Rooney, Scholes, Ronaldo, and Giggs starting the game. From the starting line-ups of both teams you would have to say Manchester United had the edge.

It was an enjoyable game to watch, with the intense atmosphere and flow of play. I highly recommend watching highlights of the game if possible.

Man united were beaten by a Shunsuke Nakamura special; a 30 yard curling free kick, which is becoming quite a familar goal as he has scored freekicks from the same position a number of times.Saha missed a penalty moments before the end of the game, denied by a good save from the Celtic goalkeeper Boruc. Earlier in the game Saha had also missed a one on one with Boruc which he should of scored. Saha was left with plenty of time and space yet stood motionless in front of goal for some time, which allowed Boruc to come out and stop Saha's eventual chipped effort.

In reflection Manchester United definately didn't deserve to lose the game, but they missed crucial chances and if you do that you can throw away games. You can view information on the game from visiting the BBC website

Sticking with managers

We have recently seen the departure of Iain Dowie from Charlton. He was only in the job for a very short period. You can understand the sacking of Dowie after poor results which have left Charlton at the bottom of the table.

One question remains important. Should teams stick with their managers through the hard times? Sometimes results are so poor that it must be very hard to keep managers. A team could being facing relegation in the face and have very few other options.

However we have seen that sometimes when a team sticks with a manager through the hard times the team can turnaround and become very successful. This happened in the case with Sir Alex Ferguson, who after a poor start at man united turned it around and has won countless medals with Man united and in doing so become one of the most successful managers in the world.

Glen roeder, the Newcastle manager is currently under fire as Newcastle continue to struggle, but we shall see if he manages to turn the situation around as Newcastle. Freedy Shephard has important decisions to make over the next couple of weeks and these decisions could affect the future of the club.

We may see that sticking with Roeder may have a positive outcome, as sometimes sticking with a manager has been an ingredient for eventual success as we saw with Sir Alex Ferguson.

The pressure on some managers must be excessive as the expectation of some teams is very high. Everyone associated with the clubs expects certain outcomes for a season, and if performance is below expectation the manager can face the chop. I believe that sometimes sticking with a manager is a good idea and in my opinion this is the case with Roeder. I guess different teams have different ways of dealing with poor performance and some simply put it down to the manager. Visit the Newcastle FC website to find out the latest news relating to this team.

Wall ball

Does anyone remember that football game where you had to kick a ball and successfully hit a wall? To me it was known as wall ball and it was good when there was obstacles all around the place such as chairs, trees, uneven ground, other walls and so on.

This game used to be played alot when I was younger; a kid. It is probably true that other people played this game as a kid too. It is an enjoyable game and worth trying if you've never done it before. There is probably variants of its name but the concept still remains the same. To kick a ball and hit a wall, each person playing taking a turn in order. When a player fails they then would have to sit out. Until the game is over and there is a winner.

This is what you will need:

1. A ball


2. A wall

It really is as simple as that. Just make sure you use a wall which you are permitted to kick a ball against such as one in a park or your own house. I wouldn't go playing this game on the wall of a police station, or anywhere it is not allowed so be careful.

This is a game which I enjoyed playing and it seems to develop your awareness of your surroundings, and on a real football pitch this is very important!!!

Kicky uppys

This is a valuable skill in football in my personal opinion. Although somtimes I heard it described simply as a party trick, to me it is much more than that. I think this because it develops your touch and your touch can be very important in a match. For example how many times have players given away the ball because they can't trap it properly or control it when it is in the air. I've seen this often in games I have personally played in and ofcourse in football leagues across the world as well as in internationals.

For those who cannot do many kicky uppys they should be practiced on a regular basis, and for those who can the same should apply. Of course it is up to a player whether they want to practice these but I personally find it useful as much touch seems to improve after regular sessions.

The world record for kicky uppys could be found on the Guinness world records website. You can also find many other world records on this site.

Ferenc Puskás: Tribute to a legend

Ferenc Puskás passed away yesterday: November 17, 2006. This player was a footballing legend and will always be remembered for how he changed football.

Although I was not born when he was playing I have seen clips of him on the television and from what I have seen he made football look easy and any player that does that can be considered a great.

Some of the tricks he used such as the dragback I don't believe this country had not seen much of before and he mastered techniques and skills such as this.

His goalscoring record wasn't bad either, or to put it bluntly his goalscoring record was incredible. I believe he was a player you would expect to score every game, and unfortunately these days you don't get too many of these.

In one game I recall he and Hungry mauled England, and England wasn't a bad team at this time either!!!After watching some of his goals I have been left amazed. One of my favourites was where he moved one way and a defender went that way but then he dragged back the ball in a way I have never seen before and left the defender helpless, and finally he blasted it past the keeper. This was absoloutely incredible and a goal which will stick in my mind and probably many others who have seen it.

This footballing legend is written into history and that cannot be undone.

Thank you Ferenc Puskás

Here is some more information on Ferenc Puskás. This has information on his goal per game ratios, playing career, and honours.

Goal line technology

I personally believe there should be goal line technology after relatively recent events. Some may argue this may take a bit of excitement out of the game due to the "uncertainty factor" but many goals having been given unfairly.

Perhaps one of the most humorous mistakes was when the former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll dropped the ball behind his line from the former Tottenham Hotspur player Pedro Mendes. I must admit this has to be one of the funniest goalkeeping errors in the history of the premiership.

Other goals that never happened include the goal Liverpool scored to knock Chelsea out of the champions league a couple seasons back. It could be argued that Liverpool deserved the goal in that match but nevertheless the ball never crossed the line.

There has been a number of discussions of the possibility of goal line technology coming into play and at one stage I think there was the possibility of a football that had a chip in it which could tell whether or not it crossed the line.

I think goal line technology would also ease the pressure on the linesman and referee and the results will be conclusive rather than "possibly" and "maybe".

I would be disappointed to see another team deprived of a goal which was perfectly reasonable or given a goal that wasn't. However if it's a team I support such as England thats given an unreasonable goal, I won't be complaining.

Kingston University football match

I played in a football match recently. It was a good game especially from a team viewpoint, as the team played well together even though we haven't played together much.

My team won the game 3-2. This game may be what you would call a thriller as my team went behind twice but still managed to come back and eventually win the game.

I played on the left wing and as a far as my own performance is concerned I was disappointed. My fitness was poor and I couldn't produce the kind of performance I used to be able to do easily when my fitness and sharpness was high. That said I had one shot from 20 yards which was a half volley and left the keeper grounded. Unfortunately it just scraped the post.

I hope in the future I can raise my game to the level I now I am capable of, although I happy with my team mates for producing I need to raise my game. I shall do this by working on my fitness and sharpness in particular.

For anyone else wishing increase their fitness I suggest Cardiovascular activities in particular. The BBC has good information on getting fit which you can go to by clicking here. I hope this is useful.

England 1 Holland 1

I dont think many people were expecting England to draw this game, but in fact actually lose it. With the recent performances lacking many people thought Holland would pulverise England. However Englands performance was very good, not quite excellent but we saw a totally different team to the one that played against Macedonia and Croatia.

We saw the return of Joe Cole who played well and created Rooney's goal. A wonderful cross from the right side of the pitch where Rooney intelligently knocked it passed the keeper 1-0.

England controlled alot of the game and I believe we deserved victory, however it wasn't to be when a failed attempt to clear a throw-in resulting in a Van der vaart equaliser. I truly believe England need to sort out their weaknesses in set-plays. We saw frailties in defending corners during the world cup and it looks like they continue to be troubled by set-plays. If you wish to see more information on the England team I suggest visiting The FAs website

Overall I believe it was a good performance and I guess it reduces the pressure on the players as well as Steve McClaren who has been under alot of fire recently.

Shevchenko: World class or past it?

So far this season Shevchenkos been average. Average is not a word I would normally consider applying to such a player but he really hasn't done anything world class like I would see week in week out for AC Milan in Serie A and the champions league.

It could be that he is finding it hard to adjust to the premiership and this may take time. Another reason could be that he doesn't suit Chelsea's style of football but then again they do play quite defensively like AC Milan.

Another possibility is that he is getting on a bit. He is now 30 years old, but some players have hit there peak at this age.

Shevchenko may turn out to be one of the foreign flops of the premiership and join a long list of foreign players such as Veron, Forlan, Mutu, Kleberson, Luque, Kezman, and Kluivert. All these players were supposedly some of the worlds best but failed to produce in the premiership.

Only time will tell whether Shevchenko is still the player he was, it could just be the style of play in the premiership all a huge amount of other factors. I hope that for shevchenko's sake he can show the premiership the player deep down we know he is.

Heading

I recently was in a training session in the heading of a football and learnt some valiable lessons.

1. You should use your back and neck muscles to generate power.
2. Make sure you watch the ball closely.
3. If you need some height remember to bend your legs properly when you jump.
4. Make sure you move at the right time to go for the ball.

These are four crucial tips I wish to remember and for anyone reading this who also plays football should remember this also.

I can understand its hard for smaller people to head the ball when up against opponents much taller, and as average height myself I can understand this when up against opponents 6 ft and taller but if you don't think you can get the ball you should make it as hard as possible for your opponent. Atleast this way if they get the ball you might do enough to make the direction of their header poor.

Whatever position you play heading is important. Primarily heading for defenders is to clear the ball, midfielders to keep possession of the ball for your team, and strikers to score. Ofcourse all players in all positions will have do different types of headers in different situations, so even though a certain type of header may be more common in certain positions it is essential players practice all the different types of header.

The Premiership

This is my first ever entry in this weblog, as this is so I have decided to make this post on the premiership. Surely there can't be a better way to start this weblog. Some of the best players in the world playing in the best league in the world. That is my opinion atleast, I think many spanish, italien, french and even the scottish would disagree though.

With players like Rooney, Henry, Scholes, Giggs, Shevchenko, Terry, Gerrard and Owen playing in this league there is no doubt the premier league is filled with talent. Other leagues such as the spanish La liga do have quality though with the likes of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Ronaldo, Marquez, and Torres to name a few. As for the Serie A, well although its had its troubles recently, a bulk of the Italien team that won the world cup are in that league, so enough said.

The premiership has been exciting this season. Some players have come into serious form such as Giggs who even though is getting old in footballing terms can still go past very young players like they are not even there. Rooney is just returning to form also after being not quite himself, which is probably due to a number of reasons such as his experiences from the world cup, match fitness and confidence. Still he is getting better every game. There is a saying "form is temporary, class is permanent."

One player who has been disappointing so far is Lampard. His form has not been very good for some time now and he is not the player the premiership saw last season. I personally believe the the winners of the premiership this season will come down to whether Lampard reaches top form or not as I believe Chelsea rely on him for creating and scoring the majority of their goals. That said Drogbas finally decided to play well.

Overall this season is shaping up to be a good one. I personally tip Manchester United for the title this year but I do believe Chelsea's breath will be on the back of Man Utd's neck until the very end.