Nice R7, very nice.

Leeds sign Ronaldinho: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11715_2496815,00.html

Fernando Torres just scored the first goal in Liverpool.
Against Shanghai. Benayoun amazing assist, and a class finish by El Nino. ( http://www.alexgodden.com/rawk/torresgoal1.mov.zip )

The match is for the Port of Rotterdam Tourney.

Not very big news or anything but..

Birmingham City have signed defender Liam Ridgewell from arch rivals Aston Villa for £2m.

Sounds about right, somebody that doesn't get in the Villa team is going to be starting for City.

FT 2-0. Torres and Gerrard (what a goal).

Leiva and Leto played nice. But Benayoun showed some class today.

Community Shield tomorrow: Chelsea vs. Manchester United at 15:00 (GMT)

So... another trophy for the Blues or for Ronaldo and co?

I just hope to god it's not like last seasons FA Cup final...

9' 0-0

Where the hell is Drogba? Chelsea playing with no striker...

Yeah, that is odd, i dont remeber seeing him on the bench, but i know Pizzaro is there

No Drogba, no Terry, no Shevchenko, no Kalou, no Makelele, no Robben, no Ballack.

I guess Mourinho dosent rate this highly, or wants to rest the others guys

1-0 MU. The wales cunto. No surprise.

Seems like Mourinho is making it clear that he don't give a sh*t about the Community shield by playing with no strikers...oh wait Pizarro's on the bench...

Malouda 1-1.

Rio Ferdinand.

Pretty sub-standard game, being talked about like it's amazing, that shows how downhill this league has gone

Rooney looks sharper this season or at least quicker but is still way too overhyped. Malouda looks good, but so did Sheva last season in this and we all know what happened there. Ronaldo's been average, no one can come near to him when he runs on the ball but hasn't done it enough!

Malouda's goal was good, but he only got that far due to substandard defending, something which is becoming the norm at manchester. All those attack minded signings for an already good attack, but no defenders? why not improve the weakest area of a team rather than strengthening an area which didnt really need it

Vidic is quality in my opinion, as for Rio, well...

Rooney seems in great shape. He looks like a bull.
He'll have a great season I believe. Just think he looks bad with the #10 shirt. The #8 was the one.

Malouda injuried. Pizarro in.

Penalties.

1st: Pizarro missed. Rio scored.

Fat Frank missed. Fcking overrated ****.

LOL. This Chelsea players don't know how to score a penalty.

Not even SWP. Earn millions and play sh!t. Not even a penalty.

Trophy to United.

3 English scorers for United 2 Misses for Chelsea back to reality...

That was a pretty crap shoot out

Chelsea are quite poor in penalties

No deflection on Lampard's shot. No goal.

Nah, it's a pointless trophy, nobody actually cares about it.

The winner of the Community Shield has only ever gone on to win the league once, good news for Chelsea.

Ferdinands & Rooneys PK, brilliant.

VDS, THE MAN!

My previews/prediction for the 1st day of EPL:

Aston Villa - Liverpool
Benitez wants to get a good start in the league, not like last year or the year before.
Villa Park is always hard but with Gerrard in good shape plus Torres, Benayoun, Mascherano, Alonso and all the others... I think Liverpool will get the 3 points. 0-1.

Arsenal - Fulham
I dunno how's Fulham. But it's a derby. Playing at home... Arsenal will win but not by a large margin. 1-0.

Chelsea - Birmingham
Lot of injuries but I can't see Mourinho's team giving any points away at home, specially vs. Birmingham. 2-0.

Manchester United - Reading
Playing at home, the c*nts will have a good start. A large margin I predict. 3-0.

Ah, gotta love predictions!

Villa vs Liverpool
Villa have first team keeper Sorensen injured, and have no right back. With Agbonlahor, Young and Moore have the quickest attack in the league. Liverpools only problem was scoring goals. Torres is the main summer transfer, but I expect Voronin to shock a few people. Tight game, Liverpools extra class to show.
Villa 1-2 Liverpool

Arsenal vs Fulham
Arsenal haven't made a true effort to replace Henry, their squad is getting younger by the year. Lawrie Sanchez has made alot of decent signing this summer. Only the home advantage will give Arsenal the win
Arsenal 2-0 Fulham

Chelsea vs Birmingham
Chelsea have been fairly quite this summer and have a couple of early injuries to contend with. Birmingham have made a few nice signings, nothing Chelsea can't handle.
Chelsea 2-0 Birmingham

Man United vs Reading
Readings best player left on a free, they'll suffer from second season syndrome. Uniteds team is solid from front to back, comfortable win at home.
United 3-0 Reading

Sunderland vs Spurs
Spurs made a big signing in Darrent Bent, which they didn't need. Ledley King is injured yet again, shakey defense. Roy Keane hasn't done much for Sunderland in the transfer window. Spurs will outscore them.
Sunderland 1-3 Spurs

As for the rest:
Bolton 1-0 Newcastle - Bad return for Big Sam.
Derby 0-4 Portsmouth - Derby are just that bad.
Everton 2-0 Wigan - Everton are good, Wigan are not.
Middlesboro 1-1 Blackburn - I can't see either winning.
West Ham 1-0 Man City - This will be a cracker in my opinion.

Villa vs. Liverpool
Liverpool should be superior, but both Babel and Torres needs to adapt.
Benitez will probably play Crouch and/or Bellamy in attack, so I predict...
Villa 1-1 Liverpool.

Arsenal vs. Fulham
With Toure and Adebayor out, it doesn't look too good for Arsenal.
But we have Van Persie, we have Fabregas and I'm biased like hell so I say
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham.

Chelsea vs. Birmingham
Chelsea have lost some key players to injuries, but seriously...Birmingham...
Chelsea 1-0 Birmingham.

Man U vs. Reading
What can I say?
Man U 3-0 Reading.

The rest...
Bolton 1-1 Newcastle. Pretty even, this one.
Derby 0-2 Portsmouth. Portsmouth should win this without too much trouble.
Everton 3-1 Wigan. Everton are just too good.
Boro 0-1 Blackburn. Blackburn IS the better team...just.
West Ham 0-0 Man City. I haven't got the sligthest idea on this one.

it's amazing how much arsenal has changed since "the invincibles" from 3-4 years ago. no more bergkamp, henry, wiltord, kanu, pires, freddie, vieira, lauren, cole...

Iv'e noticed.

But we have Van Persie, Fabregas, Gallas, Walcott and Rosicky and Fabianski may come good.

ya i'm a big fan of van persie, i ordered the dutch jersey with him on the back. and fabregas is the only spaniard i like.

GK: Lehmann
RB: Eboue
CB: Toure
CB: Gallas
LB: Cliche
RM: Hleb
CM: Fabregas
CM: Gilberto
LM: Rosicky
SS: van Persie
ST: Adebayour

SUBS:
GK: Almunia
DF: Hoyte
DF: Senderos
MF: Flamini
ST: Eduardo

That sound about right? It's certainly not the most fierce lineup in the league, you should still be up there though.

The first season I can really see them struggle to get in the top 4...

Especially with Dein off the board.

They don't deserve it to be honest, I think it's disgraceful that they call themself an English team. Look at who took the penalties in the Community Shield. 5 of the 6 were English, and that's the to big teams at the moment, so it shows you can be English AND succesful. The sonner Wenger gets out the country, the better.

P.S. Robben's agent and dad have both denied any link with Madrid.

Are you disillusional, wait for all the reasons from people why it can't be now

Arsenal play by far the most attractive football in England so I wouldn't like Wenger to leave. Not any time soon... if you want more English players then you should create a rule about it! I don't think the EPL officials are really concerned though...

Noticed how the english Chelsea players missed their penalties?
English players have as much chance as everyone else, its a matter of quality.

Any comment kurt?

Anyway. It's just 1 day away from the start of the EPL.

Well, Villa gave Itandje a trial, but wasn't good enough apparently. So I don't see how he's good enough for Liverpool. Carson spent a year on loan at Charlton last season, he was okay, but Charlton's defense couuld make Cech look bad. He won't play much for Villa, Sorensen is only missing the opening game (Which Carson isn't allowed to play with it being against Liverpool). So he's just backup, we'll have former Gooner Stuart Taylor between the posts tomorrow.

Anyways, news from the EPL today:
Liverpool sign French keeper Charles Itandje from Lens.

Aston Villa sign Scott Carson on year long loan from Liverpool, but is inillegible to play opening day.

Chelsea confirm signing of Alex after spending seasons on loan with PSV.

Arsenal's Gilberto will miss the opening game. Adebayour and Eduardo will be given late fitness tests.

Carlitos Tevez finally makes his move from West Ham to United.

Frank Lampard confirms that he wants to remain at Chelsea for the rest of his career, will negotiate contract at the end of the season.

SAF says Heinze will NOT be moving to Anfield. Rumours about him leaving are getting stronger though as Hargreaves has been given Heinze's number 4 shirt, while Heinze now wears number 14.

Gallas has been named Arsenal captain.

I can't believe you lot have given it to that moaning, whining little girl... Gilberto, Toure or even Fabregas should be way above him in captaincy...

Definitely. If it was to keep him in the team then it'd be better if he had left... Toure and Silva have offered much more to the team... this is a stupid move in my view!

I really agree with you on this one.
There's one positive side though, Gilberto and Kolo are a bit...too nice.
Gallas have this "don't fu*king fu*k with me" attitidude, and he's cut the whining.

Still wished for Gilberto, though.

Gallas has what? I'd say it's more like "don't fu*cking fu..." BANG!... and he's on the ground! He's one of those dogs that only bark...

The captain is not about that anyway! A true captain is a leader and he breathes respect to his opponents, not fake threats... meet Maldini, Terry,...

Maldini, Terry, Gerrard... nowadays. But I believe there's never going to be a captain like this one:



Franco.

Baresi was one crazy dude... I mean the guy never f@cking gave up... He had strikers by the balls before they knew what to do with the ball...

His words cut like a blade... his commands were never disobeyed! He was a unique captain!!