Football is a team game, but it’s amazing how much of an effect one individual can have on his ten team-mates. Witness Jimmy Bullard’s match-winning performance for Fulham against Aston Villa at Craven Cottage yesterday afternoon. His return from a long-term injury has lifted everyone at the club; it’s no coincidence that Fulham struggled in Bullard’s absence.

West Ham 1-0 Liverpool An injury-time penalty by Mark Noble denied Liverpool a point that they didn’t deserve anyway. West Ham had the best chances, whereas Liverpool looked flat, as if their players were painfully aware that any chance of winning the league had disappeared several weeks ago. Rafa Benitez’s team are now 17 points behind both Man Utd and Arsenal. Fourth place is the best they can hope for now, and even that is no certainty.
Man of the match Mark Noble. On this form, the England U21 star must be close to a full England call-up.
Photo Getty Images

This morning’s top five football stories, condensed into one juicy post… 1. Derby County have new owners – the American-based General Sports and Entertainment group (fact of the day: their chairman, Andy Appleby, comes from a real-life Springfield). Rams’ fans will be relieved to know that the club and GSE have mutually agreed an investment [...]

Man Utd have announced that they will not change their plans to observe a minute’s silence in honour of those who died in the Munich air crash (the 50th anniversary of the disaster is on Feb 6th 2008), before next month’s Manchester derby. United had been asked by Man City’s supporters club to opt for [...]

This morning’s five hottest soccer scoops & rumours… 1. Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to bring Bayern Munich starlet Lukas Podolski (pictured) to Man City. Not gonna happen, Sven. F365 2. Tom Hicks has no intention of selling his stake in his beloved Liverpool. BBC 3. Alex Ferguson in hot water with FA over ‘gestures’ to Reading [...]

This video is not just funny because it shows a Premier League football star embarrassing himself by dancing. It is also funny because said Premier League star obviously knows he is being filmed and is performing for the camera. And perhaps the thing that tops it all in the hilarity stakes is the fact that the dance routine has obviously been choreographed and a lot of time and effort has gone into the preparation. Take it away, Micah Richards.

The rumours have already started about which players Kevin Keegan will splash Mike Ashley’s millions on. Here are 11 reminders of why Mr Ashley might like to keep an eye on the purse strings.

I meant to put this team up when we were 19 games (i.e. exactly halfway through the season) into the Prem campaign. Still, better slightly late than never… here, for you to peruse/violently disagree with, is Pies’ Premier League team of the season, at the halfway stage (it will be interesting to see how much [...]

Sam Allardyce is probably one more home defeat away from losing his job as Newcastle manager. After his side’s 2-0 defeat to Man City at St James’ Park last night, a beleaguered Allardyce said: ‘A team like Newcastle should not lose three on a trot and it is a low moment.’
(No team is immune from three straight defeats, particularly not a Newcastle team that is blatantly low on confidence.)

The January transfer window is open for business, and so football’s rumour mill has gone into overdrive. Will Berbatov stay at Spurs? Has Joey Barton taken a shower yet? So many questions, so few answers. Here are the top 5 transfer window rumours of the day, neatly summarised in one cut-out-and-keep package:
1 Avram Grant wants to splash out £35m to sign both Nicolas Anelka and ‘want-away’ Dimitar Berbatov. Via Daily Star

Sky Sports News might get its fair share of stick for its 24/7 coverage of the most mundane vaguely football-related activities, but here is evidence that the BBC were doing it 38 years ago. David Coleman presents live coverage of the celebratory dinner held by Manchester City following their FA Cup win.

According to reporst in Holland, Sven’s Man Citeh have agreed a near £14m deal to sign Brazilian goal machine Alfonso Alves from Dutch side, Heerenveen.

It’s not rocket science, putting together a football blog – not when videos like this are freely available on the internet. Via The Offside and Doktor Fussball

“Sven spots Nancy and Ulrika sitting together in the crowd!”

With Chelsea struggling to keep their stars happy while they supposedly attempt to change their style of play with an unproven manager, there’s a chance that another club could make it into the Big Four.

When we gave Stephen Ireland our usual Horror Hair treatment last week we thought we were just indulging in a little harmless mickey-taking at the expense of a guy who had clearly had some sort of baldness treatment/hair transplant. When we linked the mystery of his reappearing hair to the mystery of his reappearing grandmothers it was purely in jest. However, it now seems that Ireland’s hair could be the real reason for his departure from the Republic of Ireland squad.

The Neviller and Schmeichs played together at Old Trafford for years, so you’d think young Gary would at least shake Peter’s hand when it’s generously offered in the tunnel. Are you f**king kidding me?! This is the Manc derby and there’s no way Citizen Neville, the most ardent Red in the union, would ever forego [...]

Congratulations to Stephen Ireland’s hairdresser who seems to have found a cure for baldness. Last season the Manchester City midfielder sported a hairline not to dissimilar to that of Monty Burns. And yet this season the occasional Republic of Ireland international has a fringe The Beatles would be proud of.

Who predicted that the most successful transfer of the summer would involve Shakhtar Donetsk and Man City? Not me, for one. But this Sven chap clearly knows his stuff – signing playmaker Elano Blumer has been a masterstroke. The Brazilian put in yet another man-of-the-match performance, in City’s 3-1 stroll against Middlesbrough yesterday. Elano is [...]

Aston Villa 1-0 West Ham
Craig Gardner won the match for Villa, but Dean Ashton is now a doubt for England after picking up a knee injury.

Here’s a clip of the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Floyd ‘Pretty Boy’ Mayweather, wearing a Man Utd shirt during his visit to the north-west to promote his mega fight with Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton. Of course, Mayweather, who has to be the most annoying sportsman on the planet, is not really a United [...]

Birmingham 0-1 Manchester United
Crissy Ronaldo (© Pies) pounced early in the second-half to give United victory and keep up with Arsenal.

Does anyone else think that it’s funny that the British press seemingly wants Sven Goran Eriksson as the new Chelsea boss? It seems a little more than ironic that the same press who dragged the Swede over the coals for his drab tactics and dour approach whilst at the helm of the England side, seemingly feel that he’s the man to keep Roman Abramovich happy with beautiful free flowing football in the demise of Jose Mourinho’s tenure….

Arsenal 5-0 Derby
Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick and Cesc Fabregas stole the show as the Gunners hit top gear.

Who is the best striker in the Premier League at the moment? Well, according to the league’s in-form defender it is none other than Aston Villa rent-a-tree John Carew. Manchester City and England starlet Micah Richards reckons the 6ft 5in Norwegian – worth exactly one Milan Baros – has been his toughest opponent so far this season.