Top 10 impossible goals

Arsenal v Middlesbrough

Arsenal could be without Theo Walcott (thigh) again after he missed the draw at Wigan but Emmanuel Eboue is back after a three-match suspension.

Kolo Toure and Robin van Persie are fit again and pressing for starts but Tomas Rosicky and Abou Diaby are out.

Afonso Alves (illness) and Jeremie Aliadiere (ban) return to the Boro squad for the trip to the Emirates.

Andrew Taylor played an hour for the reserves in midweek after a foot injury, but the game has come too soon.

Team From

Arsenal

Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, van Persie, Adebayor, Lehmann, Song, J Hoyte, Senderos, Gilberto, Denilson, Bendtner.

Middlesbrough

Schwarzer, Young, Wheater, Pogatetz, Huth, O'Neil, Boateng, Shawky, Downing, Tuncay, Mido, Alves, Turnbull, Rochemback, Johnson, Grounds, Cattermole, Taylor, Aliadiere.

About the Match

Champions League and Premier League chasing Arsenal are highly likely to have been knocked off the top of the table by the time this teatime kicks off gets underway. Manchester United play away to rock bottom Derby two hours earlier and victory for the visitors will mean the Gunners will have to improve on three successive draws to recapture top spot.

Middlesbrough are the only club to have beaten Arsenal in a league clash this season, and will have to notch a first away victory in 2008 is they are to pull off a first double over the Gunners in 70 years.

No club has scored a higher proportion of their Premier League goals in the first 15 minutes than Middlesbrough (seven of 26, 27%), and no club has scored more goals in stoppage time than Arsenal (seven).

Arsenal beat Middlesbrough 7-0 at Highbury on 14 January 2006. By comparison, the three subsequent home and away meetings have produced seven goals in total.

Head to Head Details

Middlesbrough last beat Arsenal home and away in the same season in 1937-38, with two 2-1 victories.

'Boro have recorded only one victory on Arsenal turf since the Second World War. Their only maximum in 29 league visits was 0-3 on 14 April 2001 when they were assisted by two own goals.

Home and away
League (inc PL): Arsenal 57 wins, Middlesbrough 29, Draws 29
Prem: Arsenal 15 wins, Middlesbrough 5, Draws 5

at Arsenal only
League (inc PL): Arsenal 36 wins, Middlesbrough 6, Draws 15
Prem: Arsenal 7 wins, Middlesbrough 1, Draws 4

UEFA Champions League

FC BARCELONA ALREADY PLANNING FOR 2008 -2009

The Barcelona based Sports daily "Sport" has published an articlewere they give a glimpse into the new look FC BARCELONA projectfor 2008 - 2009. According to them, Barça is well advanced in its planswith many players on their agenda & with pre-agreements. Here is therun down of who will go & who will replace in each blocks. Remember these are the media speculations however attractive they wish to sell them.According to "Sport" , Barça directives have the following names uptheir sleeves:Defense: Zambrotta will leave at the end of the season for AC Milan:players on list to replace him - Dani Alves (30-35M€), Willy Sagnol& Phillip Lahm ( both these last two have pre-agreements with Barça)Thuram will leave at the end of the season; replacement in mind EzequielGaray ( Santander) or Martin Caceres (Recreativo).Midfield: In case Deco leaves, very likely, Barça have in mind Diego(Werder Bremen, although Atletico & Real Madrid are in there as well),Luka Modric (Dynamo Zagreb), Xavi Alonso (Liverpool FC) & FrankLampard (Chelsea FC).Forward: Barça has a few players here in mind Frank Ribery (BayernMunich, will be difficult), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla, but player talking withReal Madrid), Benzema (Lyon, very though & unlikely) & Drogba (Chelsea,although Real Madrid & AC Milan in there as well)

English Premier League and UEFA champions league

Javier Mascherano has been named in Liverpool's squad for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash against Inter Milan at the San Siro.

The Argentine midfielder limped out of last week's 4-0 win over West Ham with a groin injury but he has recovered.

However, Steve Finnan will miss the game because of a hamstring problem.

Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is fit after a knee injury, but Marco Materazzi is suspended and Christian Chivu (shoulder) is a minor doubt.

Liverpool vice-captain Jamie Carragher will play his 100th European game - as the Reds seek to join Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

Liverpool (from):

Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Hyypia, Skrtel, Carragher, Riise, Pennant, Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel, Benayoun, Lucas, Crouch, Kuyt, Torres, Itandje.

Head To Head Details

Three weeks ago, on 19 February, Liverpool beat Inter Milan 2-0 at Anfield in the first leg.

The only previous European encounters between Internazionale and Liverpool came in the semi-finals 43 seasons years ago. The home side won 3-1 at Anfield on 4 May 1965, only to lose 3-0 in the return leg eight days later.

Player and Disciplinary Info

Marco Materazzi (Inter) is suspended for this match, following his two yellow cards in the first leg at Anfield. It was the first time Materazzi had been sent off in a Champions League match.

Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) will be suspended on receiving another yellow card.

Julio Cesar has started and completed all of Internazionale's CL matches this season.

If selected, Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia will be making their 50th Champions League appearances in the main tournament - all in Liverpool shirts.

Jose Manuel Reina and Jamie Carragher have started and completed all of Liverpool's CL matches this season.

Other Miscellaneous Facts

Internazionale are one goal short of scoring 500 in European competition. They also need to net five to reach 100 in the Champions League main tournament.

On Saturday, Inter beat Reggina 2-0 to collect their 19th Serie A victory of the season and stay top of the table, six points ahead of AS Roma. The Italians have lost only four matches this season in all competitions: 0-1 to AS Roma for the Italian Super Cup in August 2007, 1-0 against Fenerbahce in their first CL match of the season in September, 2-0 in the first leg against Liverpool on 19 February and 1-0 at Napoli on 2 March.

Monday morning aticles

Dave Coulson of Sporting News has an article about coaching changes in FCS/I-AA this year.

Speaking of coaching changes, a number of former UMass coaches lost assistant coaching jobs this year.

Former UMass coach and player Bill Durkin, was replaced after new Richmond Coach Mike London brought in his own staff.

Former UMass assistant coaches John Strollo and Brian Sherrod were replaced when former UMass coach Ted Roof was fired as head coach at Duke. Roof was hired as defensive coordinator at Minnesota.

In other news, Ricky Santos had his number retired at the UNH football banquet(with some bonus coverage of UMass hockey).

The football king >>>P<<<

Finishing the season with Southampton

Unfortunately the finish of the season was not successful as I had expected. My Southampton took only 12th place and I got again under fire of fans and board. But that was a great luck not being sacked this time! Board decided to give me one more chance with the club.

Poor 12th place (8 points away from promotion playoff zone) was caused by two factors:

• Weak players, especially forwards
• Ineffective tactical approach with standard 4-4-2 scheme

Therefore we get the following results in the last matches of the season:

I decided to forgot these experience with standard 4-4-2 and try to create totally new attacking tactics with 3 forwards. Another my task for the new season is creating of the team buying a lot of new players and selling many old ones. So its human resources revolution is coming to Southampton! :)

And, for sure, I could not set season expectations lower than promotion to Premier League. Any other result will be considered as total failure!

Chelsea to miss Cech once again

Poor old Petr Cech, he seems to be picking up injuries just as you would pick up girls in a nightclub! Chelsea manager Avram Grant has admitted that the Czech international goalkeeper will be out of action for at least a week.

Cech sprained his ankle in training and missed Chelsea’s midweel win over Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League and would also miss Chelsea’s next two game which are against Barnsley and Derby County.

Although Grant is confident that Cech will be back for next weekend’s match against Sunderland, his words cannot be taken at face value. One wonders what’s the problem with Cech with all these frequently occurring injuries.

Comedies in Football

Watch it,,, a cool collection...

Arsenal outclassed AC Milan with a style that suggested they can reach a second CL Finals

Arsenal outclassed AC Milan with a style that suggested they can reach a second Champions League final in three seasons
Can they get to the Final again. Ancelloti agreed that his team was Outclassed by Arsenal. Does this mean that this Arsenal this is unbeatable especially when they are complete. You can actually count the number of games they have lost this season on your finger tips.
In all these games, they team lost , they was always an injury crisis, or resting of players for a different championship. Ofcourse by the time the big players are deployed it was usually over.
Yesterday we saw an Arsenal team without Kolo Toure and Van Persie make history in San Siro. Doing what no English tem has ever done and in Style. Though it is too early to say, but Is this another run to the final for Arsenal?

Constraint Theory of Offense

A common question is: what kind of offense do you run? Often someone – both fans and coaches – respond and say: I run a system with bubble screens, play action passes, screens, and draws. This person – coach or not – would be completely wrong. These kinds of plays are not your offense; your offense consists of the zone-read, the dropback passes, or your base runs and passes. Those other plays are sort-of conditions precedent to your offense; they work as constraints on the defense. What do I mean by this?

At least in the most abstract sense, your “offense” is that bread and butter stuff you can draw on the whiteboard that should always work in a perfect world. It is the pass play that always works against Cover 3, it is the run that will always burst free against a “Bear” front. Yes, it is what works on paper. But we don’t live in a perfect world, right? Well the “constraint” plays are designed to make sure you live in one that is as close as possible.

For example, the safety might get tired of watching you break big gains up the middle, so he begins to cheat up. Now you go play action and make him pay for his impatience. The outside linebackers may cheat in for the same reason. You throw the bubble screen and the bootlegs to make them pay for their impatience. The defensive ends begin rushing hard upfield; you trap, draw, and screen them to make them pay for getting out of position. If that defensive end played honest your tackle could block him; if he flies upfield he cannot. So you have to do these “constraint plays” to keep them in check. Once they get back to playing honest football, you, in essence, go back to the whiteboard and beat them with your bread and butter.

Now, in a given game your offense might look like it is all “constraint” plays: all gimmicks, screens, traps, draws, fakes and the like. Maybe so. If the defense plays too aggressively, so what. But a coach must not lose sight of how his offense is truly structured. A great offense is structured around a core idea or a few core ideas that puts the players in position to succeed every time. The triple option can be this for some teams, a well designed dropback pass game for another. The constraints are alternatively given too much and not enough weight. But they nevertheless are what make an offense go.

So the better you are at dropback passing, the more you need these constraint plays because teams will go out of their way to prevent you from chucking it all over them. Similarly if you’re a great run team. Safeties and linebackers will all cheat by formation and post-snap effort to stop your run game. You must have the counters, the screens, the bootlegs, and the quick passes (because quick 3-step passes, at core, are most effective when used to simply take advantage of a loose defensive structure). All this comports well with a game theory approach to football. Similarly, these constraint plays will be even more important against the best teams because they will put the biggest premium on stopping your primary threat.

The upshot of all this is that when you are designing an offense you must (a) find those one or two things which you can hang your hat on and beat just about anything doing when the defense is playing honest, and (b) get good at all those little “constraint” plays which keep the defense playing honest. You won’t win championships simply throwing the bubble screen, but the bubble will help keep you from losing games when the defense wants to crash your run game. Same with draws and screens if you’re a passing team. You find ways to do what you want and put your players in position to win and score.

ADDENDUM: Fair question from the comments: Does the theory work in the other direction? What if your offense is based only on bubble screens and then you just run the ball or throw the ball as a counter to your bubble screen offense?

Response: The difference is that the bubble screen is a play that really only works when the defense has made a structural choice or is out of position. Most commonly, you'll run when the bubble only when the defense has but two defenders to cover three receivers. You thus block the two defenders and the receiver has free yards. If the defense puts a third defender there they can take the play away, intercept it, or make the tackle.

Conversely, a well designed dropback pass play, a triple option play, or certain base runs will work every time you face a normal defense. The only time the play stops working is when certain defenders cheat on their assignments, either by alignment or aggressiveness.

Here's how they fit together: You're an option team. You come out running the option, you read the defensive end and the linebacker, and you tear them up. Now the safety or outside linebacker cheats in. He blows up your play. But, voila, now they are not covering your outside receivers, so you bubble screen them.

Similarly with a play action pass. You send a receiver deep down the middle or the seam. If the safety plays honest he should drop back and take it away. But if he comes up for your run play you use his aggressiveness against him.

The distinction is subtle, but important. It relates to the idea of base plays and counter plays. The bubble is simply not a base play. It will not work against a simple and sound defense, but works great against defenses that aren't structurally sound or balanced. On the other hand, "base plays" defeat balanced "whiteboard" like defenses, but can get blown up by defenses that cheat or play games. Thus the relationship between "base plays" and "constraint" plays (or "keep-em-honest plays). The bubble, while limited in use, will have a profound influence when the defense gets out of position.

Magic of Maradona...

Maradona...