Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Friday – Time to say goodbye

Blackburn Rovers. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wigan Athletic. Blackpool. Birmingham City. Five teams, two must go. Who will it be?

Nervy times ahead then for these five Premier League strugglers. Sunday will be traumatic and full of twists.

Blackpool striker DJ Campbell has been relegated before, and is apparently scaring the living daylights out of his teammates with his tales of the dreaded drop.

More Blackpool now, and manager Ian Holloway’s take on things. They are a colourful bunch the Tangerines, and they’ve given all the top teams a run for their money this season. Do you want to see them relegated?

Over to the FIFA scandal latest, and do you agree with this blog? Are you in favour of the FA’s abstaining from the voting on the FIFA presidency?

Sensationally, read on for news that Qatar could be stripped of the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Now that would shake the game up.

Finally, remember Paolo Di Canio, he of the ultimate bit of sportsmanship but who also pushed a referee? Well, he could be back in the English game.

Soccer Break Thursday

As the weekend approaches we can all start getting excited about domestic football again and the increase in stories and transfer speculation.

Read here for Arsenal and Real Madrid transfer news, and Tottenham Hotspur fans beware, Niko Kranjcar appears unsettled. It would be a shame to lose such a talent.

We have a Premier League and a Ligue 1 preview for you, and an analysis of the mountain of statistics that come with football reporting. Do you have any amazing stats up your sleeve?

A very topical issue at this time of the year is player burnout. With all to play for managers must exercise caution when choosing their teams but also risk the wrath of the fans if they do not pick their ‘best’ side. Do you pick your strongest 11 regardless?

A player who may well burn himself out without even setting foot on the pitch is Mario Balotelli. The gifted yet volatile Italian is yet again in trouble, this time apparently for throwing darts out of a window at Manchester City’s youth team.

A word on Euro 2012, where England manager Fabio Capello believes his team’s young players will flourish just like Germany did at the 2010 World Cup. Excited at the prospect? Then buy your tickets now.

Staying with the international game, and click here for a good read on the switching allegiances debate.

Are clubs to blame for naming Adams and Ince in the first place?

For the second time in less than two months a young Englishman who had a great playing career has been sacked as the manager of a struggling Premier League club.

Tony Adams was dismissed from Portsmouth on Monday after being in charge at Fratton Park for just 16 league matches, one league match less than his old England team mate Paul Ince lasted at Blackburn Rovers.

Ince, the self-styled “Guv’nor” of his playing days became the ex-guv’nor of Blackburn Rovers in December.

The two played almost 120 matches for England between them and more than 1,200 club games during their respective playing careers at Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham United and Inter Milan among others — yet together lasted just 33 games as Premier League bosses.

In a statement, the Portsmouth board said they had taken a “difficult decision”, adding “the priority for the club is to remain in the top flight and we feel the appointment of a new manager will give us the best opportunity to enable us to do this”.

But surely they must have felt the same way when they appointed Adams, otherwise they would not have given him the job. Blackburn too, were impressed enough by Ince last summer, after he did well coaching in the lower leagues, to put their faith in him.