Liverpool & Everton to ground share?

Ground sharing in the English leagues is something that the majority of football fans would not accept, I know I wouldn’t be happy as a Spurs fan to share a stadium with Arsenal or West Ham, it would feel like you don’t have your own home and your own identity. There are county’s around the world that do share stadiums with their neighbours, Bayern Munich & 1860 Munich share the Allianz Arena, Inter & AC Milan share The San Siro and in Brazil, Flamengo & Fluminense have shared the Maracána in Rio.

Although it makes financial sense to share the cost of a ground with another team, especially for two smaller teams that don’t have a big support like Blackburn and Bolton, but for two of England’s traditional big club’s in Liverpool and Everton to co-own a Hugh stadium, that would be a massive first for English football and the traditions that come with it. What would they do, one week have blue covers on the seats and display the Everton logo around the ground for their home game, then in the mid week change all to red and Liverpool’s logo for their game?

It obviously works well in other country’s and in the USA where different sports teams share a ground or arena, but English football is a bit different, each team has their own identity and tradition, to share your home ground with another team would take away some of the home atmosphere you get when supporting your club.

Wigan thrashed by Spurs

What a day to be a Spurs fan! When you create loads of chances but are only 1-0 up at half time, you begin to wonder if you will go on and regret it, luckily for Spurs, that was not the case. Good old Harry, must of told them that Wigan are there for the taking at half time and go make the most of your chances and that is certainly what they did, scoring 8, yes 8, goals in the second half. Jermain Defoe will grab the headlines with 5 well taken goals, but Aaron Lennon deserves a big mention for not only his goal, but for setting up 3 of the others to.

It looks like the International break did Spurs the world of good, playing free flowing football, creating loads of chances and looking pretty hungry. Let’s take that in to the next couple of away games and it’s happy days!

Unless your French, pretty much everyone feels for the Republic of Ireland after they lost 2-1 on aggregate to France and failed to reach the World Cup finals. It’s not as if it was a shock result but it’s the circumstances in which they went out that will be the bitter pill to swallow.

To go in to extra time thinking you have every chance to win the game only to then get a decision against you like that must be sickening. OK, if the ref is to far away and his view is obstructed by other players that he can’t see how blatant it is, surely one of the two linesman can or even the fourth official, otherwise what are they doing there if they are not helping the ref?

The Irish can feel really hard done by not going to South Africa after that, I’m sure the UEFA President doesn’t see any problem with it though? The saying What Goes Around, Comes Around would be quite apt if the French went out of the World Cup on a dodgy refereeing decision, be it a hand ball goal or an offside decision not given, I guess that is the best scenario for people that believe in fair play and justice can hope for?

Tottenham Hotspur’s No.1

[pro-player width='410' height='253' type='video' image='Gomes']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk6urFOmLHQ[/pro-player]

Foster linked with Spurs

The Sun have reported that Spurs are lining up a bid of £6m for Ben Foster in January. Spurs will probably need another goalkeeper after Carlo Cudicini’s motorbike accident will likely keep him out for the rest of the season, but I thought Ben Foster wanted to play regularly to try and get in to the England World Cup squad?

In my eyes, Gomes is Spurs number one and spending £6m on a goalkeeper to keep him on his toes is a bit excessive, getting someone who is young and hungry to succeed would surly be better. I think Gomes is the best keeper Tottenham have had for years, yes he is prone to doing stupid thing’s every now and then, but I’d rather that than a keeper who doesn’t come for anything and stays rooted to his line.

Ben Foster is a good goalkeeper but is no way better than Gomes and even though he is a Spurs fan, he wouldn’t get what he needs at this stage of his career, a starting place.

New Zealand qualify for the finals

A big shout out to the New Zealand National Football team for qualifying for next summers World Cup Finals, the first time since Spain 1982! They beat Bahrain 1-0 in the second leg of their Asia/Oceania intercontinental playoff after a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Bahrain. With Australia being by far the strongest in their qualifying group, it’s great to see New Zealand get the opportunity to play on the world’s biggest stage, even though it will probably be short-lived. It’s a great country with great people so good luck to them.

Another shout has to go to Honduras, qualifying for the finals for the first time in 28 years. It will be great to see Wilson Palacios charging into players next summer, go on Wilson!

Friendly in Doha

When it comes to International Football and qualifying games against country’s like Andorra, I can really take it or leave it, I won’t go out of my way to watch it especially if it’s on a pay to view channel. But, when there is a game against a country like Brazil, friendly or not, that’s a lot more interesting. It’s not really about watching  England play, it’s more about watching the Brazilian’s, a team full of skillful players who just want to express themselves.

When it comes to England, I think they have come along way in the last few years since Capello has been in charge, there seems to be a lot more emphasis on keeping the ball and playing a possession game, a real contrast to previous England teams. As a country though, we still don’t seem to produce the skillful ball players other country’s have, the likes of Ronaldo of Portugal, Messi of Argentina and Ronaldinho of Brazil, the closest England have would probably be Joe Cole. What England are now is very organised, have a strong centre to the team and have some pace on the wings with players like Arron Lennon, Theo Walcott and Shaun Wright Phillips.

This game will be a good test for England, a top team from South America and playing outside of Europe will be good preparation for next summers world cup. I don’t really expect either team to really go for it, but it should be a useful exercise and see how some of the fringe players can fit in.

My Prediction: 1-1

Newcastle rename their stadium

When Mike Ashley bought Newcastle United, a lot of the fans would have thought, great, we have a millionaire fan in charge of our club, we are going to go from strength to strength. How wrong could they be?!

The latest from the bar codes is to rename their stadium to, let’s face it, something that resembles an email address. Sportsdirect @ St James Park, I mean, I understand the whole naming rights thing, a sponsor to generate more income but that is just ridiculous.

Now that Mike Ashley seemingly can’t give the club away, he has appointed a through and through Spurs man, Chris Hughton (good luck Chris) to take the club forward. Well, what happened to the Geordie god, Alan Shearer? I bet the club rue the day they got rid of Bobby Robson, RIP Sir Bob, they never had it so good and in truth, probably never will.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Newcastle United?

Chelsea beat United to go top

After a 1-0 win over Man Utd, courtesy of a John Terry header, Chelsea go 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League. Chelsea will be the team to beat this year I think, they have a strong, powerful squad and seem to be unbeatable at home. It will be interesting come January when they lose about 4 players to the African Cup of Nations though, Drogba being the key one.

Although Man Utd had slightly more possession, they only tested Cech about twice and seem to have lost the ability to grind out results against the other top clubs, but you can never write them off totally. Rooney had a decent game, always lively and looking for the ball, but Man Utd seem way to reliant on him now, if he isn’t totally on his game, neither are the whole team. For me, if he is fit, Berbatov should start all the time, he is a class act. I know there are a lot of United fans that think he is lazy, but he is a match winner and can make thing’s happen out of nothing, you just need to accept that’s how he plays and have other players around him to compliment him. If he is not wanted at United, I’d have him back at Spurs in a heart beat!

So, my tip for the title is Chelsea, they are very strong at the back and seem to be able to grind out results, January and February will be key months though.

Who do you think will win the league?