Zinedine Zidane has made no secret of his admiration for Steven Gerrard (”Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he might be”), so it is fitting that an animated likeness of the Frenchman goes off in search of the Liverpool captain in a new advertising campaign for a stripey German sportswear company.
We really like this clip but have noticed one obvious error - shouldn’t the backpack on young Stevie G’s back have an Everton crest on it?
Liverpool star touts himself for reality TV cooking show
As a man with wife and child, Fernando Torres can’t use his fabulous wealth to indulge in some of the salacious extracurricular activities that his Premier League counterparts get up to. Hence, the Spaniard dedicates large portions of his time away from the pitch to the art of food preparation.
In February, he told us he was enjoying Japanese cooking lessons, and last month we learned of the cook-off that is taking place between Nando, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher at the latter’s restaurant. Today, the Liverpool striker has told The Sun that he wants his skills to be appraised by a reality television audience:
“I could do a celebrity Masterchef or a celebrity Come Dine With Me.
“I would only do it if my team-mates Jamie Carragher and Stevie Gerrard were to do it with me though.
“We have been doing some cooking for a competition going on at Jamie’s restaurant.
The boyhood teams of some the game’s biggest names
Generally speaking, Premier League footballers are well advised to be discreet about the team they truly support. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of David Bentley, a supposed lifelong Arsenal fan who suddenly professed to be a boyhood Spurs fan upon switching to the north London side. With this imprudent declaration in mind, Spoiler correspondent Ben Baker has rounded up ten footballers whose loyalties don’t necessarily lay with their employers…
Andrei Arshavin
Despite only recently joining the Gunners, fan favourite Arshavin has never hidden the fact that Barcelona are and always have been his team of choice. He has said he was devastated when a move to the Catalan giants never fully materialised when he was at Zenit and has even stated that he would love to play for Barca since he has been at Arsenal. Now if that isn’t a ploy to gain a bigger contract…
John Terry
Mr. Chelsea didn’t make it to Manchester City in the end this summer. Many Chelsea fans will like to think that it is because he is Blue through and through. However, Terry was actually a Manchester Utd fan growing up. Could this be why he couldn’t bring himself to join the Citizens?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The baby faced assassin made a name for himself at Manchester Utd,
Liverpool 1/ Aston Villa 3
It’s far too early to write a team off, but The Spoiler’s decision to back Liverpool for the title is looking about as regrettable as the decision to give Kerry Katona two Mum of the Year awards. Fan favourite Lucas Leiva got things off to a cracking start for the visitors with his pin-point header, and a disappointingly ineffective Steven Gerrard’s greatest contribution to the match was the concession of a penalty that killed off any chance of a comeback.
Looks like someone isn’t very happy with Carlton Cole…
[101GG]
At Eastlands, laryngitis-ridden Liam Gallagher looks like he’s in the kind of mood that would cause a Spoiler editor to waste £75 on a V Festival ticket
[Pies]
Spurs put in huge dent in The Red’s league campaign
Yesterday’s bout between Tottenham and Liverpool was certainly a spectacle: Rafa waved his glasses around like a mentalist, a rousing chant of “You’re supposed to be in jail” rang around White Hart Lane as Steven Gerrard took his penalty and Tottenham fans were left with an extremely familiar feeling of over-confidence concerning the season ahead.
While most of us are delighted to welcome the drama of the Premier League back into our lives, there are some pangs of discomfort on Merseyside right now. Last season, Liverpool lost out on the title by four points, having lost just two games. Thanks to Tottenham’s impressive performance, they now go into the remainder of the season on the back foot.
On Friday, Fernando Torres told us that “it is games like Sunday’s at Tottenham where we need to show our real title intentions”. Did they do exactly that? Or is there still league winning potential in the Spaniard’s side?
As we sit on the cusp of another Premier League season, the folks at Google have released figures of all their football related searches from the past month. The team above represents the most-searched for Premier League stars on the web based on their positions.
As you can see, most of them have been involved in transfer deals or speculation. David James’ relatively-surprising spot in the side is probably helped by his occasional newspaper columns, and Steven Gerrard can attribute his first team place to his impossibly persuasive legal team.
The most searched team was Liverpool with 16 million hits, then followed Chelsea (13m), Arsenal (9.1m) and Manchester Utd (9m). Bolton were the least searched for side with 250,000 hits.
Understandably, the most popular WAG was Cheryl Cole, and Howard Webb was the referee who earned the most online enquires.