Any games on today?
Good grief, more cup games. France, Italy, Spain. See for yourself!
What’s the big story?
Worst penalties ever? Perhaps, as Man United missed four against Sunderland last night in the Capital One Cup. But maybe we should avoid the temptation in ascribing Moyes’ incompetence to the unfortunate but equally unlikely feat of four different players missing on one evening, and more to the fact Man United needed penalties to defeat the team over two legs to begin with (although even that really isn’t necessarily evidence of anything in isolation, oh I’m popular).
This will only underline the necessity of Mata’s arrival at United, which everyone is kind of waiting for with baited breath.
Any other news?
Manchester City buy another club, in Australia.
Chelsea looking to acquire Ross Barkley to replace Mata (as if they needed to replace a player who never played, basically?)
Nicolas Anelka asks the FA to drop charges over the quenelle gesture, which the West Brom striker says is not anti-semetic. He also lost a PR coup.
A Spanish judge agrees to hear a lawsuit into Neymar’s transfer to Barca, which involve some handing over of contracts.
Any fun stuff?
Oh Yeovil:
Any good reads?
Ted Knutson looks at some options to replace Steven Gerrard at Liverpool:
Finding a player in the Gerrard mould is not going to be easy for Liverpool. Mikel Arteta and Luka Modric are unavailable for transfer and Andrea Pirlo is too old. But as Brendan Rodgers looks to continue the rejuvination at Liverpool, who should he try to sign to take over from his captain? First, some ground rules.
We are searching for players aged 28 or under. You can get away with having a slightly older limit here because this role takes a bit less of a physical beating than forwards, wingers and full-backs, and the age curve for midfielders runs longer. This role is a mix of thoughtful as well as physical.