The Spoiler

Good times with Football Manager, eleven famous beards and Sven gets an acting role


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Sven stars in a Kleenex ad

Reminiscing on the Championship/Football Manager series
[Guardian]

Arsenal scouts hid in trees to get a look at Vermaelen
[Off The Post]

Football’s greatest bearded footballers
[Interestment]

Patrick Vieira (not even the best midfielder on Inter’s bench) demands to be recognised as the best midfielder in France
[Goal.com]

Arsenal weighing up an £18m punt on winger Milos Krasic
[Caught Offside]

1 in 20 British schoolkids think Adolf Hitler was a football manager
[The Sun]

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Posted: November 6th, 2009 by Richard Gilzene

Jose Mourinho back on the television tonight


For those not invited to celebrate the birthday of Robert Pires 

Na na na na na

The U17 World Cup continues at 3pm on Eurosport 2, as Italy’s nippers attempt to take revenge for 2002 and all that, by beating some South Korean children.

Three matches this evening covering a range of footballing competition. If you like your football young, catch Wales vs Scotland in the Victory Shield at 7:40pm on Sky Sports 1. If you like your football second-rate, Man United reserves try to take their own revenge against the Liverpool counterparts, MUTV from 7.

And finally, if you like your football preening, the Special One hosts Walter Zenga’s Palermo, looking to go four points clear at the top of Serie A. The game is on ESPN at 7:45.

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Posted: October 29th, 2009 by Eliot Pollak

Good news - Champions League Tuesday is back. And this time its quite interesting


Watch the end of the Rafalution in lovely HD

Moody enigmatic staring striker is coming for you Rafa

Eight games across Europe on the gogglebox this evening, but surely none as critical as Liverpool’s home match with Lyon. Having finished third in le Championnat last season, OL are certainly are not the force they once were back in the days of Juninho, Florent Malouda and Michael Essien. Nevertheless they should have more than enough to trouble Liverpool’s back-line, with Lisandro Lopez (pictured) a particular threat. In the other Group E match, Fiorentina should just about see off Debrecen.

Home wins at the ready for Barcelona (Rubin Kazan) and Inter Milan (Dinamo Kiev) in Group F tonight, whilst Rangers must beat Unirea Urziceni to sustain their interest, at least for a few more weeks. Stuttgart vs Sevilla in that same group, should be a comfortable away win, leaving the Reds coach Markus Babbel in even more toil and trouble.

If you like to watch your contests unbalanced, whilst all the time being patronisingly told what great football you’re watching, AZ Alkmaar  vs Arsenal is on Sky Sports Xtra. Olympiacos vs Standard Liege, the very definition of making up the numbers, is the final match of the night.

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Posted: October 20th, 2009 by Eliot Pollak

Goals of the weekend


The ones you haven’t seen yet.

Cagliari’s Daniele Dessena, on loan from Sampdoria, shows once more why he is one of the brightest young things in Italian football right now, with this overhead kick against Catania.

John Goosens started his professional career with Ajax, where the famous academy obviously taught him to do things like this.

We here at thespoiler can never get enough of goalkeepers scoring goals, so we loved this one from the Portugese Cup.

Inter’s splattering of Genoa on Saturday night was unquestionably the performance of the weekend in Europe, and Dejan Stankovic’s long-range effort, probably the goal of the weekend in Europe.

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Posted: October 19th, 2009 by Eliot Pollak

United and City fight over Maicon, Real join the race for Cesc and does Rafa read thespoiler?


The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies

Sign that one there

Maicon to Manchester United / City
Expect a lot of these over the summer. As soon as United make a move for anyone at all, City will come barging in flashing cash, purely to antagonise their neighbours.

Thespoiler truth-ometer: Both clubs need a right full-back, and Maicon is probably the best in the world right now (sorry Glen.) Another season of European failure for Inter could see one of these deals happen.

Cesc Fabregas to Real Madrid
Seething from the defeat against Seville, Madrid supremo Florentino Perez has swiftly identified the problem, and the solution - another lightweight creative midfielder. The Daily Mail no less, reports that Madrid may even make a move in January, so as to get in ahead of Barca who are unlikely to do any business before the summer.

Thespoiler truth-ometer: Cesc is a proud Catalan, and unlikely to want to join their fiercest rivals. It is also questionable whether Madrid can find the room to squeeze him in, with Diarra and Alonso having started brightly in the centre of their midfield.

Nilton to Liverpool
Having yesterday highlighted the brilliance of the young Vasco striker (see here), thespoiler is proud that Rafa Benitez has picked up the hint, and according to the Daily Mirror, is keen to bring him to Anfield in January.

Thespoiler truth-ometer: Rafa’s transfer policy is never the easiest to predict. One week its Nilton, the next Peter Shilton, the next Paris Hilton. We’re staying non-committal on this one.

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Posted: October 15th, 2009 by Eliot Pollak

Carlo Ancelotti backs Milan, Peter Taylor loses his job and Arsenal have a gun fight


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Arsenal stars attempt to look macho while playing with Nerf guns

Some superb journalism from Africa
[Popbitch]

Fabio Cannavaro inspires the Five Worst Doping Excuses list
[Off The Post]

Sulley Muntari dismisses rumours of a Tottenham switch
[Goal.com]

As always, Sergio Ramos looks ri-god-damn-diculous
[Kickette]

Cheryl Cole is hot, confusing
[Dirty Tackle]

West Ham target Luca Toni wants a move to Napoli
[Daily Mail]

Bye bye Peter Taylor
[LMA]

Carlo Ancelotti backs his former employer Milan to improve, probably with a huge grin on his face
[The Mirror]

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Posted: October 9th, 2009 by Ryan Bailey

FIFA are killing football, Man Utd want an Inter defender, Cheryl Cole is attractive


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Cedric Carrasso and Bafetemi Gomis

Picture of the Day: Raymond Domenech’s squad are now dying with frustration
[Dirty Tackle]

You’ll never guess what DC Utd are doing in ESPN’s naked issue
[Off The Post]

Cheryl Cole’s Elle photoshoot
[Kickette]

FIFA are killing football, says Giovanni Trapattoni
[Goal.com]

Arsenal track a pair of Bari defenders
[Daily Mail]

There is plenty more to life if I’m not picked in the England squad,” says Michael Owen, who is desperately trying to get into the England squad
[The Mirror]

Are Manchester Utd looking to sign Inter’s Maicon?
[Betfair Football]

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Posted: October 8th, 2009 by Ryan Bailey

The year of the Foster hasn’t quite gone to plan


This was meant to be the season where Ben Foster established himself as Man United and England number one. The way things are going he won’t even be at Old Trafford for much longer…

Ben Foster gets schooled by Carlos Tevez

Last March, Ben Foster had only ever started one league game for Manchester United and yet somehow, on the strength of one penalty save in the Carling Cup Final, developed a reputation as a superstar.

Fabio Capello was wowed by the display and breached his own guidelines later that month to cap Foster in a friendly against Slovakia, despite the fact he wasn’t playing regular club football.

Being talked up so much in the press without actually achieving much was always going to prove problematic, especially when an Edwin van der Sar injury in pre-season provoked articles about how Foster would prove so successful that the Dutchman would never get the shirt back.

When Capello was asked what had impressed him about the 26-year-old, he said: “He plays without fear and with confidence.” His assuredness has since been eroded though by a series of horrendous blunders.

First there was the embarrassing pre-season mistake against a Malaysia XI where he failed to control a backpass, then disaster in the Community Shield, later followed by humiliation against Manchester City and most recently the screw-up for Sunderland’s second last weekend. Rumours in the press suggest the latter was the catalyst for a “furious dressing room bust-up” between the keeper and Sir Alex Ferguson.

His absence

Read more

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Posted: October 8th, 2009 by Ryan Bailey