The Offside

Celebrating Arsenal's Sexy Football

Rob — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 06:30:08 -0600

While Chelsea and Man United played out yet another pretty boring 1-0 (to recap, Chelsea beat Man United thanks to a 1-0 win, Man United defended through most, goal came from a dubious Set piece, which John Terry headed in. Main talking point was Drogba being booked for getting in the way of John Evans kung ...

Introducing Italian International Davide Biondini

Jeremy — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 06:06:22 -0600

I always thought Lippi knew what he was doing for the most part, but now I am more sure after this weekends announcement that Cagliari midfielder Davide Biondini was named to the Azzurri for the November 14th game against the Dutch and November 18th against Sweden. Now I am no judge of talent having never made it past bench warmer on ...

Union Kit Release Imminent

Andrew — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 05:34:44 -0600

Emails have been sent to Founding Members regarding the upcoming Union uniform release. Rumors of them arriving before Black Friday and the holiday shopping season have proven to be true, and consumers are already able to pre-order many items (including the unreleased, not yet seen jerseys). The products will ship on November 19th for the November 20th launch! There ...

The Five Stages of Grief, Sounders Style

Laurie — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 04:46:42 -0600

Many years ago, grief specialist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross posited that grief has five stages. I believe this is relevant to most Sounders fans this morning, so let's take a run-through, shall we? Five Stages Of Grief 1. Denial and Isolation. At first, we tend to deny the loss has taken place, and may withdraw from our usual social ...

Six Possible Reasons Why Didier Drogba Was Booked After Jonny Evans Kicked Him in the Chest

Daryl — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 04:08:06 -0600

First thing's first, I'm not sure Jonny Evans did this intentionally. So I don't want this post to be all about him. But there's no doubt that his studs connected with Didier Drogba's chest during Man Utd's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea yesterday, and there's no doubt that said connection caused a great deal of pain. Leg-jiggling pain. It's possible (but by ...

As Close As It Gets

Jeremy — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 03:17:27 -0600

In my opinion, the two best teams in MLS already faced eachother during these playoffs. Forget the finals, the best matchup is/was Houston vs. Seattle. What more can you say about Seattle and their fans? They are the pinnacle example of what every team strives for. Sure, there might be some exceptions, like a few over-zealous Sounders fans that chose to ...

Marky Mark saves Fulham

timmyg — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 03:12:39 -0600

A fair 1-1 result considering Fulham were without any striker on the bench and haven’t won at the JJB, or DW, or HSBC or CIA or whatever the hell acronym-named stadium Wigan calls home since 1992. Roy "October Manager of the Month" sure caused many to scratch their heads by excluding Seol, EJ, Elm, or any other fit striker on the ...

Hackworth to be Announced as Union Assistant [UPDATE]

Andrew — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 02:52:28 -0600

I recently asked the Union FO if the rumors about Hackworth becoming the assistant coach were true. Their response was a vague "stay tuned", obviously not a blatant "yes", nor was it an outright "no". These were the same rumors I posted back in early September, as reported by Ives Galarcep on his blog (SBI). Well, Ives is reporting ...

Hooligans on Film - Typical Ranger Behavior

Cham — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 02:31:08 -0600

In college, my Greek professor would often tell a story about about how, during the American Civil War, Union troops came on to our (Hampden-Sydney) College campus in rural south-central Virginia. They searched (for who knows what)throughout the grounds, harassing students and faculty alike, and even busted down the college's Presbyterian church door, what my professor deemed, "typical yankee behavior." An ...

Cagliari 2-0 Sampdoria

Stephen — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 02:30:39 -0600

I didn't get to see this game, so can't offer anything much more than the highlights that were my Samp fix for the week. Stankevicius' sending-off seems more and more unjust with each viewing, especially since Jeda's blatant dive was much more of a dive than Cassano's, shall we say, loss of equilibrium due to the force exerted on him by ...

DIF 3-0 Assyriska. Football sucks sometimes.

Luka — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 02:24:44 -0600

24 hours later and I am still hating football. Unbelievably devastated. Words seem pointless at this moment. And some DIF supporters are scum. ...

Did Nawaf Al-Abid Score the Fastest Goal in Football?

Daryl — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 01:59:12 -0600

The above strike from Al-Hilal midfielder Nawaf Al-Abid (or Alabed, you choose) is said to be the fastest goal in world football. It came just two seconds into Al-Hilal's Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cup (a U-23 tournament) game vs Al- Shoulain in Saudi Arabia this weekend. No doubting the fact that this goal was quick. Very quick, as Al-Abid receives the ...

Inter 1 - Roma 1

MAD — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 01:43:18 -0600

Well, we didn’t beat an opponent in the bottom half of the table. This would mark the first time this season that this has happened. A quick look at MAD’s Guide to the Scudetto shows that beating teams the show themselves to be in the second column of the league table home and away is one of the secrets to ...

VOTE: Who are Red Bulls fans backing this Playoff Season?

Dave Martinez — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:37:04 -0600

Who are you backing for the MLS Playoffs?(survey) ...

Exclusive Arsenal Offside Interview with Darren Fletcher

Martin — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:24:11 -0600

On the heels of third-place Manchester United’s loss to Chelsea yesterday, Darren Fletcher made the claim that he had only been called for a foul on Ashley Cole because of comments Arsene Wenger had made in the media two months ago (comments which did not even mention Darren Fletcher’s name). We here at the Arsenal Offside found these comments curious, ...

You want to live with common people...Some Very Early Thoughts on the Champions League Drop-Ins

Dan — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:05:32 -0600

Even though many of the Champions League groups are closely contested, and won’t be decided before match day 6, I think we’re far enough along to make some wild speculations on the clubs that would join the Europa League cast. The major problem with this endeavor is the lack of any established match ups that are going to take ...

Preso Nel Culo In Bologna

Steven — Sun, 8 Nov 2009 23:24:37 -0600

The image says it all. The two smiling idiots were victorious. Not one player did what he had to do, so once again we did not succeed in taking home three points from Spaghettiville. We're still only four points away from Europe, but since our 9/9 series, we managed to take only one point in three games, being outscored 8:4. ...

Lazio 1 Milan 2

Gianfranco — Sun, 8 Nov 2009 21:00:45 -0600

Following the draw against Napoli I have to admit that it is hard to feel a rush of optimism with a two goal lead. The most unnerving part of the game is the patches of sloppy play that follow segments of dominance in passing and possession. It is almost like a sudden case of footballing amnesia afflicts the ...

Who To Manage, part II

Tom B — Sun, 8 Nov 2009 18:31:17 -0600

I've narrowed it down to 6 teams. Chronomenets and the French teams have been discarded on grounds that they are too big. Scafatese - tiny Italian low division club. Hyeres - just look how small their stadium is. They operate in Provence, in the south of France Chengdu Blades - Chinese team, where I would try to win 2 leagues in 1 ...

Two points and four matches from glory

André — Sun, 8 Nov 2009 18:00:27 -0600

And we are back (Flamengo and I)! Last time I wrote here was our day, but St. Jude Thaddeus seemed to be in a bad mood and Flamengo lost the match that night. But after 11 unbeaten matches, you will have to agree with me that it was very possible that Flamengo would be defeated. But that was in a long ...