The Dutch: Too Nice, Not Ruud Enough

For the majority of his career, he has been a wanted man. 

When PSV Eindhoven paid 6.3 million euros for his services, it was a Dutch-league record for a transfer fee.  Then came his move to Manchester United in 2001, where he broke several records and was named the 2002 PFA Players’ Player of the Year.  In 2006, [...]

Set Piece Analysts Podcast: Chelsea-Manchester United, van Gaal

The Monday edition of Set Piece Analysts’ podcast featured myself playing presenter for Kartik Krishnaiyer and Johnathan Starling as the duo talked about Chelsea-Manchester United (I had my say here) and the turmoil surrounding Louis van Gaal and Bayern Munich (which I talked about, here).

This is the first edition of a podcast that should develop [...]

Chelsea-Manchester United Review on EPL Talk Podcast

The new EPL Talk Podcast logo. Tattoos available at designated Florida parlors.

Right after today’s Chelsea-Manchester United match, I was the guest of Kartik Krishnaiyer on the EPL Talk podcast. We spent about 12 minutes talking about a relatively uneventful match, which doesn’t mean there was a lack of talking points. Within the [...]

Knee-Jerk Predictions, UEFA Champions League Tuesday

In case you could not discern them from my preview articles (which you can find at World Soccer Reader [A/B, C/D] or San Diego Examiner [A, B, C, D]), here are some knee-jerk predictions for today’s UEFA Champions League matches. These are not like the knee-jerk fantasy analyses from my colleague Jordan Wise, who [...]

Inside the Six #36: A Derby Weekend, Spain Update, MLS’s Season Closes

A huge weekend of international football brings forth an edition of Inside the Six so big that it caused technical difficulties, meaning that you get your show three hours late and I get fewer listeners.  Still, the show is good, as we welcome

Ata Dizdar to talk about the derby in Turkey between Fenerbahce and Galatasary.
Lee [...]

Ferguson’s Media, Referees, and the Respect Campaign: Levels of Ridiculous

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has shared the spotlight with referee Alan Wiley – exactly as he intended.

Their row continues over Alex Ferguson’s comments in the wake of the Manchester United manager’s comments after a weekend draw with Sunderland. To briefly recap, Ferguson criticized referee Alan Wiley for poor decisions, bad game [...]

Knee-Jerk World Club Top Ten

Each week, I aggregate a World Club Top Ten lists from the view of the staff at World Soccer Reader. I always start the discussion with my knee-jerk list.

To get any conversation started, I throw a list together as quickly as possible, send it out, and let people yell at me for being dumb.

This [...]

Manchester United-Arsenal Thoughts (while I watch Madrid-Depor)

We’re going to test my typing and multi-tasking skills as I try to get my thoughts on the Manchester United-Arsenal match down while I watch the start of the second Galacticos era. I’m so distracted that I’m too lazy to properly spell Galacticos (there should be an accent in there).

The match’s drama started even [...]

When 5-0 is a Fail – On Manchester United’s Win at Wigan

Apparently, it’s Manchester United day on the RF Football. That’s OK. Yesterday was Russian football day.

Since Manchester United beat Wigan 5-0 this weekend, I’ve had some form of this conversation multiple times.

Him: “Good win for United.”
Me: “How so?”
Him: “A 5-0 win isn’t good?”
Me: “Did you watch the match?”
Him: [...]

United Miss Ronaldo, Instance Number Two?

I’d obvious Manchester United will and does miss Cristiano Ronaldo. Greatly. We all knew they would. They knew they would.

More interesting is documenting how they’ll miss him.

On the pitch, United’s a bit of a mess right now. They’ve built their club around Wayne Rooney, and it’s unclear that’s a good idea. [...]