Juande Ramos has really got his work cut out for him.  Martin Jol was sacked after only being able to take Spurs up to 5th (he did that twice) in the premiership table.  Ramos would love to be anywhere near 5th in the table. Tottenham are dead last in the the premiership at the moment with no real hope of improvement in sight and having racked up a dismal 2 points from a possible 18.  Over the summer Tottenham sold striking pair Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.  They were replaced by Frazier Campbell (18-year old on loan from Man United) and Roman Pavlyuchenko who is UEFA Cup-Tied.  Other additions like winger David Bentley haven't really had the impact hoped for.  So far in the league Spurs have scored a league low 4 goals and conceded 9 times.  Many fans will say that only 6 games have been played and that there is a lot of time to turn things around.  I'm not so confident as I just don't see where the goals will come from.  Though I don't see Spurs being relegated, I don't see them ever being more than a mid table team at best, at least this season. Maybe a splash of cash in the January transfer window will help bring in another striker, but by that time, it's hard to fully recover from a bad start. What is in store for Tottenham after having the worst league start in 53 years, I suppose only Juande Ramos knows, or at least I hope he does. 

According to Ryan Giggs, we now have a "Big 5" ever since Manchester City were bought out (pending) for the second time in 18 months by a group of Arab billionaires...  The move is an interesting one.  It has propelled Mark Hughes and Man City into the limelight.  If they had only had a few more days then who knows who City would have signed.  After stealing Robinho with a late 32 million pound bid and attempting to go after the likes of Berbatov, Villa & Van Nistelrooy the blue half of Manchester is making the rest of England and Europe begin to sweat.  After having reportedly offered Real Madrid a blank check for aging striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy I have to wonder who was making these decisions.  The january transfer window should be interesting as any disgruntled high profile player will surely be linked with the club.  Rafa Benitez is already complaining that the balance in the transfer market (lol) will be disrupted with Man City throwing around cash like it's going out of style.  I really hope that Hughes and company will be in charge of player transfers and that they will allow for a team to develop, rather than simply in list a team of mercenaries looking to cash in.  In his defense Mark Hughes did come out today and say that Man City will continue to develop the youth program that has produced the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Johnson and Micah Richard.  Well at least until January City will be forced to stick to the squad that they have...

Imagine this, the top three sides in the 2006 World Cup all getting knocked out of Euro 2008 at the group stages?  Highly unlikely, but at least one team will be flying home early.  Germany are set to face Austria and if they lose, they are out.  France and Italy sit at the bottom of group C with one point a piece and a goal difference of -3.  With the other members of there group Holland and Romania set to play each other we could see a 2-0 Holland win and any tie between France and Italy knock both of '06 World cup finalists out.  With Holland running rampant, I'm sure that we'll see a few goals in this one, even though they are already assured of a place in the quarterfinals.  My prediction is this, Germany will beat Austria and go through to the finals.  Holland and Italy will also go through to the quarters, leaving Romania and France wondering what happened...

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With just over a day left before the kick off of Euro 2008, predictions are already being tossed around.  Germany have been touted by many as odds on favorites, followed closely by Spain, Italy, Portugal & France.  The holders, Greece, are not being given much of a chance, but then again, four years ago not many picked them to win either and they walked away with the cup. Taking a look at the groups, group C will undoubtedly be called the group of death as it includes, France, Italy & Holland, all former winners.  There will be some twists and turns before this one ends, look for Russia to be the dark horse and Germany to end up in the finals playing someone from the group of death...

The silly season is here! Will Cristiano Ronaldo leave Man United for Real Madrid? I highly doubt it, even after reports say that he has confirmed that he would entertain a move to the Spanish giants if they matched United's price evaluation.  I highly doubt that he's going anywhere, especially after extending his contract last year, leaving him with at least four years remaining at Old Trafford.  Franck Ribery, the Bundesliga player of the year is also attracting many suitors.  Rumors have it that Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid & Barcelona are all interested in the 25 year old Bayern Munich star.  Considering that Ribery was only signed in august, I highly doubt that he is going anywhere.

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It seems like just yesterday we had three English teams making it through to the UEFA Champions League... Wait, it was yesterday.  Two years running, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have made it through to the semi finals.  Chelsea and Liverpool will be playing each other for the 3rd time in 4 years.  The blues will be hoping to make it third time lucky against Liverpool.  Arsenal were the only English team not to make it this far as Liverpool came back from 2-1 down to win 4-2 on aggregate and knock the Gunners out at the quarter-final stage yet again. 
The only difference between this year and last was that Barcelona (it was AC Milan last year) are semi-finalists after knocking Schalke04 out of the competition.  One other notable point is that Avram Grant and not Jose Mourinho is at the helm at Stamford Bridge.
People must be asking how Rafa Benitez's Liverpool perform so well in Europe, but underachieve in the Premier League.  They will have to win the Champions League if they hope of securing any silverware this season. 

Franck Ribery's first half penalty shot past David James was enough to consign England to a 1-0 defeat in Paris on Wednesday and with it brought about Fabio Capello's first defeat as England coach. The night was supposed to be about David Beckham getting his 100th cap for England, but few will want to remember tonights performance.  There were very few highlights in this near bore draw.  England should have done better with France missing several key members including Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Karim Benzema. Nicolas Anelka played well and England had a hard time containing him.  It was a fould on Anelka in the box that lead to Ribery's penalty kick. Beckham did play well, and when he was subsituted half way through the second half he received a standing ovation from the crowd. In the end though, it was Les Bleu's night as they nearly scored a 2nd and 3rd goal.  I wonder what the papers will be saying tomorrow about Fabio Capello's first loss.

 

 

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Well the day has finally arrived.  David Beckham was unveiled today as the LA Galaxy's latest player.  Now I can't remember the last time any player was ever unveiled in MLS before.  Maybe Freddie Adu or Beckham's teammate Landon Donovan, but those were nothing like this.  American soccer hasn't seen anything like this since the days of the NASL when the likes of Pele, Bobby Moore and Georgie Best played stateside.  Will David Beckham's signing open the floodgates for other well known talents from around the world?  There were rumors about Zidane and Ronaldo signing for Major League Soccer clubs, but Ronaldo seems happy at AC Milan and Zidane seems happy to be retired.  (I think he's retired, he is right?). 

Anyway, Beckham has apparently already made the LA Galaxy millions of dollars and all this without even kicking a ball.  Value for money, its hard to argue that old Becks is.  But will this last?  In a year or two years from now, will we be talking about the growing talents in MLS and American football in general, or will be talking about that big waste of money that was the "Beckham deal".  I have a feeling that it will be somewhere in the middle.  I'm sure that Beckham will draw crowds around the country for a year or two, but at 32, he hasn't got long to shine.  He will need support and a lot of it.  This will have to come from the youth of America if the beautiful game is to grow to try and compete with the likes of American football, baseball, basektball, etc...

For now, we can all enjoy the arrival of football (soccer's) latest American (English) hope...

SoccerGossip.comShow#12 on April 5th, 2006. Yes, we are finally back, again!!!  You didn't think we were gone for good did you???  Waaaay too much to talk about.Champions league quarter finals, the EPL, SPL.  Added to that, who will be England next manager???  How good are Wengers young guns??? What has happened to Juan Sebastian Veron?   Well don't miss this one, lots of good music from some independent artists also. Today the it's from The Spies, two tracks, Domino and Ruby. 

SoccerGossip.comShow#11 on December 19th, 2005. Yes, we are finally back!!! Tons to talk about. Paulo Di Canio in the papers again, Ronaldinho winning everything AGAIN and Chelsea pushing Arsenal further down the table. Is Jose Mourinho arrogant or just plain good at his job and confident? Well don't miss this one, lots of good music from some independent artists also. (Samuel Eto'o, Frank Lampard and Ronaldinho pictured above)