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Doyle tied up Stubbs so he couldn't clear it, and Hunt (coming in behind them) beat Hibbert to the ball. Disappointing but not shocking. Reading had the better of play in the half, and Hunt was the most active player on the pitch. They're marking very tight and haven't given our players any room to breathe in this game; Arteta's hardly been able to touch the ball.

Hear, hear! And welcome to the boards, Buffalo! Hope you're a Bills fan too (I am).

I'm officially getting excited now - I checked the TV listings for tomorrow here in Maryland and Fox Soccer Channel is showing our game live at 10 AM, so it'll be my first chance to see the lads in action this season! Hopefully it'll be another performance to celebrate.

Agreed on all points, except I would amend that to say we'll have to play closer to 50 games (including the three cup competitions), and that's another reason why we're not going to win the league. The "never say die" attitude can be learned - but the squad depth that those teams have (and can afford to have) is an almost insurmountable advantage over a nine-month season.

Here's our update on the race to lock down a spot on the seeded side of the first round draw after the first leg of UCL 3rd round qualifying: We're in excellent shape. To simplify a lot of mathematics, there are nine teams we are rooting against in the UCL qualifying: Red Star Belgrade, FC Copenhagen, Toulouse, Dinamo Zagreb, FK Sarajevo, Elfsborg, Zurich, Salzburg, and BATE Borisov. If six of those nine teams get into the UCL group stages (and consequently banish higher-ranked teams to the UEFA Cup), we'll lose our seed. The good news is that those nine teams combined for six losses, two draws, and only one win in the first leg. So basically it would take an awful lot of stunning reversals to deny us a seed at this point.

What he said (paraphrasing) was basically, "We can't get back to the Prem without King, and getting back to the Prem is worth 60 mil, so if anyone wants to just give us that 60 mil then they can have him!" In short, he was telling any would-be suitors that King is more valuable to them in the lineup than on the transfer market. I thought it was a lovely bit of snark, myself.

This is also a bit more complicated than your ordinary run-of-the-mill transfer since MSI owns half of Manny. Besides whatever dealings we have to make with them and with Benfica we'll also have to run the entire deal past the FA to make sure that the terms are acceptable and we're in compliance with all of the rules - the last thing anyone at the club wants is to get embroiled in another Tevez situation. None of that should be a problem, but it may take a while to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.

Saw this little toss-in at the very bottom of tonight's match report, where they were recapping the managers' post-match comments. "Meanwhile, Moyes confirmed that Benfica have accepted Everton's bid for midfielder Manuel Fernandes."

Been at work and then out all afternoon and evening, so didn't get a chance to check the match result until just now. I guess I only have one thing to say. HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!! 2-for-2, couldn't ask for a better start to the season...now on to Reading. We have a perfect won-loss record at their stadium, so let's keep that streak going!

Found the regulations in question. Regulations of the UEFA Cup 17.07 Excluding the three rounds of the UEFA Intertoto Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, and subject to paragraph 17.18 below, a player may not play UEFA club competition matches for more than one competing club in the course of the same season. A substitute player who is not fielded is entitled to play for another club competing in the same season’s UEFA club competitions, provided that he is registered with the UEFA administration in accordance with the present Regulations. 17.17 For all matches from the start of the round of 32, a club may register a maximum of three new eligible players for the remaining matches in the current competition. Such registration must be completed by 1 February 2008 at the latest. This deadline cannot be extended. 17.18 One player from the above quota of three who has played UEFA club competition matches for another competing club in the current season may exceptionally be registered provided that the player has not been fielded: − in the same competition for another club, − for another club that is currently in the same competition. Furthermore, if the player’s new club is playing in the UEFA Cup, his former club must not have played in the UEFA Cup at any point in the current season. In short: If Benfica dresses Manny tomorrow but doesn't play him, then there are no eligibility issues and we could use him in the UEFA Cup as soon as we get him with no problem. If Benfica actually puts Manny out on the field tomorrow, then we couldn't use him in the UEFA Cup for the first round or the group stages, but if we got to the knockout stages we could add him to our roster in January under the "exceptional registration" provision of 17.18, UNLESS Benfica got knocked out of the Champions' League early and ended up playing in the UEFA Cup themselves at some point. Then we wouldn't be able to use him at all because of the "same competition" restriction.

Some comments and observations from the team correspondents on Soccernet as the new season gets underway. Quotes all taken from http://soccernet.espn.go.com/et/corr/corre...g.1&cc=5901 "Well call about cutting it fine, Rovers excelled themselves again with the delivery of my season ticket yesterday, even though it was paid for back in May. And now with less than 24 hours before the season kicks off, the new home and away replica shirts are not on sale, however I'm told that they should be available for next weeks first game of the season at Ewood." --Blackburn, Aug. 10 "As the new season begins, there is a different aura swirling around Stamford Bridge. The spending has drastically decreased, but they have still managed to sure up the weak points in the squad while only spending money on highly coveted French international Malouda. Expect to see a different Chelsea side from last season, the players they brought in are not as aesthetically pleasing as Abramovich may have wanted, but being pretty doesn't garner success." --Chelsea, Aug. 11 "I've avoided comment, still enjoying looking at the table, where we're perched between Chelsea and Everton... pre-season." --Derby, Aug. 11 "For the first time since the Jean Tigana era, Fulham has spent like a Premiership team rather than a Coca-Cola Championship team. While there was talk before last season of a top ten finish from Chris Coleman, it was very unrealistic to think that it would actually happen. I was one who was drinking the champagne before last season and I learned my lesson." --Fulham, Aug. 9 "In a nutshell this is a team that is being built for the long term. Players such as Elano and Petrov will of course play a huge part this year but next season will be the one that we use to judge the strength of the eight signings so far....I've seen various comments from some folks in the press that teams needing to gel is just an excuse. I can only presume that such individuals have never played a team sport in their life." --Manchester City, Aug. 9 "This summer, the top-level game has indulged in demented economics. It's getting harder and harder to relate to a game where, say, a club can pay five million pounds for a very average player with a professed dislike of them (see Sunderland and Chopra, Michael). In many cases, it seems like managers are desperate to replace their cash with fixed assets as if we're in hyperinflation-era Weimar Germany, only instead of clamouring after loaves of bread people are offering wheelbarrows of cash for Diomansy Kamara." --Middleborough, Aug. 10 "Expectations need to be kept in check by the masses who flock to Gallowgate if Allardyce's 'revolution' is to be successful. The changes to the playing staff so far appear to be very positive - on paper we have the strongest squad that we have seen for quite a while. Hopefully the new fitness regime at SJP might actually manage to keep most of them fit too. That would be very refreshing." --Newcastle, Aug. 9 "Off the pitch the old ground is having quite a bit of work done to it....New hospitality and match day bars, better facilities for the media hacks (maybe we'll get more generous write ups now) and a new club shop have really turned Pompey into a proper football club. If the toilets are clean, I'll know Pompey have really arrived!" --Portsmouth, Aug. 10 "I still don't believe in Second Season Syndrome. I actually see it as more of an excuse for failure than a reason why we should struggle. If we do go down next season it will be because we are not good enough or maybe didn't increase player numbers enough, not because of SSS." --Reading, Aug. 11 "Curbishley was put in charge by the new Chairman. A man who, in a few short months, has swept away the old order at Upton Park and ushered in real hope and belief. I'd be lying if I said I wanted Curbishley last year, or indeed, ever - I've got a book that states it quite clearly so I can't deny it - but what I won't deny is that I have started to trust Eggert Magnusson implicitly." --West Ham, Aug. 9 "Like most teams in the division there has been a pre-season shake-up with some major changes to personnel and the focus of most attention is by and large the appointment of the man to fill Paul Jewell's considerably large shoes. One Irish bookmaker is giving odds of 9/4 on Chris Hutchings being the first Premiership manager to receive his P45. Talk about a friendly welcome into life as the new boss!" --Wigan, Aug. 11

On the topic of MLS but not Beckham, I found it interesting (and rather cool) that at least four of the fourteen current head coaches in the league have Merseyside connections: Mo Johnston (Toronto), Preki (Chivas USA), and Steve Nicol (New England) as former players, and ex-Man City assistant Juan Carlos Osorio (Chicago) as a graduate of LJM University.

Gudjohnsen has been encouraged to seek a transfer: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...018&cc=5901

You mean like West Ham when it seemed like they were ready to sign half the Premier League earlier this summer? If you recall how ticked off everyone was getting with them after a while - and not just fans but other managers and executives too - it explains why most teams are more judicious and/or discreet about how many inquiries they make, at least publicly. It's entirely possible that we've privately asked about every striker you mentioned and been politely told that none except Yak are for sale, only the rest of those conversations never made the papers. How do we know how often these managers hide behind closed doors to discuss potential deals that never go anywhere?

This Riquelme rumour was probably never terribly serious to begin with, but... http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=Arh3...t&type=lgns

According to this, we had a keeper in on trial not too long ago and decided he wasn't good enough to play for us. It's the same guy who just signed with Liverpool. http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=51466

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...353&cc=5901

Ranieri says Juventus aren't looking to buy anyone else right now. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...982&cc=5901

Intertoto Cup play is now finished, with 11 teams advancing to the second Qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. The advancing teams are: Lens Blackburn Hamburg Sampdoria Atletico Madrid Uniao de Leiria (Portugal) Otelul Galati (Romania) Rapid Vienna Aalborg (Denmark) Hammarby (Sweden) Tobol Kustanai (Kazakhstan) The first five of those have more European qualifying points than we do - while we're still in excellent shape for getting a seeded spot in the first round (and avoiding an unwelcome early meeting with Bayern or Villareal), it would help if one or two of those five teams would lose in this next qualifying round. Atletico Madrid almost did us that favor in the Intertoto - they needed the away goals rule to knock out some Romanian team that I'd never heard of before. ETA: Oh, and Partizan Belgrade (who also had more European points than us) just got thrown out of this year's UEFA Cup and banned from Europe for the next two years because of crowd trouble in their Qualifying Round 1 match. Apparently they've had fan incidents in something like 25 of their last 31 European matches, and UEFA had finally had enough - it's gotten so bad, in fact, that the club isn't even planning to appeal the decision.

Corinthians, Tevez's old club, just announced that they are ending the "partnership" arrangement with Kia J. and MSI that they've had since 2004. Doesn't sound like they're too thrilled with him right now either. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...986&cc=5901

RSL would be in the relegation spot if MLS had relegation...they have 9 points (1 win and 6 draws) in 15 matches this season, last in the league. That said... 1. It's preseason, and getting into form is the primary goal. Winning these meaningless games is secondary. 2. Don't underestimate the difference regular season form makes vs. preseason form. Do you really think that if Chelsea were in form that their game against Los Angeles would've been that close? Highly doubtful - LA is second-to-last on the MLS table this year, and Chelsea is of course one of the world's best. 3. The highest elevation of any EPL/League stadium in England is the Hawthorns and that's only about 550 feet above sea level. Salt Lake City is about 4,300 feet above sea level. Don't underestimate the effect that has on a player's legs and their lungs, especially when they aren't used to playing in those conditions (AND they're seven hours removed from their normal time zone, AND they aren't in game shape yet). 4. Remember, we played a pretty poor preseason game last year against Columbus when they were at or near the bottom of the MLS standings, and our regular season turned out just fine.

Actually it's a top 70 world ranking, not top 50, and the home office looks at the country's average ranking over the previous two years, not their exact ranking at the moment of the application. Click here to see the full permit requirements

The guy from PNE only said that he didn't think anyone else had contacted the club. There's always the possibility that someone from EFC could have contacted Nugent's agent and put a bug in his ear to let him know that they'd come calling as soon as PNE lowered their price.

Actually, Benfica only rates Manny at 6 mil - the other 6 mil is because he's part-owned by one of those third-party agencies, and the price to buy out their ownership stake is another 6 mil - which we or anyone else in the Premiership who wanted him would have to pay since the FA - unlike Spain and Portugal - doesn't allow its teams to sign or purchase a player if he is owned by a third party (hence the whole Tevez flap).

Which only underscores the importance of continental & international scouting. However, I also think that the Championship clubs are benefiting from the current work permit rules, because it gives them more leverage in their valuation demands. They know that the top flight clubs can't simply say, "The hell with you and your 6 million pound price tag! I'm going to sign this fellow who plays in New Zealand instead - he's just as good as your guy and his team will sell him for 1.5 million." That guy in New Zealand is going to have to qualify for a work permit first, and unless he's a regular on a decent national team somewhere, he probably won't because the permit rules are so strict. Understand I'm not criticizing the permit rules - I know why they tightened them up and it's understandable - I'm just pointing out what seems to be one of the side effects of restricting the amount of available talent on the market; it raises the price tags of the remaining players that much more, because the teams who want them don't have as many other options.