What a great player Micky was!!!!

After a summer of discontent it seems the Arsenal rumourmill has gone into overdrive. And once again the rumour wheel of fortune has landed on the name of Eden Hazard. As soon as Samir Nasri’s deal to Manchester City was done and dusted the “Hazard to Arsenal” rumours quickly snowballed to somewhat of a frenzy, even the BBC got in on the act.

Arsene Wenger and the club have been very quiet. Wenger dismissed reports of a £6m bid for Bolton’s Gary Cahill and nothing else was reported. On Thursday night French website Mercato 365 released a “story” that Hazard had agreed terms with Arsenal and a deal would be done for around €35m. Now let’s get a few things straight, Mercato365 is not a respected media outlet, to be honest it’s actually worse than talkSPORT.

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The new season is underway in the Czech Republic, and Sparta Prague have set the early pace with four wins out of four in the Gambrinus Liga. Arch rivals Slavia, having narrowly survived severe financial problems over the summer, have fared less well in losing two games so far.

But it’s the performance of champions Viktoria Plzeň in Europe which is the big story. Having won their first title last season Plzeň have made the most of the opportunity by sealing a place in the group stages in highly impressive fashion.

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Although the amount of work I put on this site seems to have gone down considerably what I’ll do is link you to anything external that I’ve done that might be worth a wee look

First up is my piece on Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila for WhoScored.com – It is a stats based piece but gives you a pretty good idea about the player and what you can expect from him.

YANN M’VILA – Mr DEPENDABLE

Next is my weekly Ligue 1 column for MirrorFootball – This week is a bit of a round-up, a doffed cap towards Montpellier for being the only team to win all three games. And a little bit on Javier Pastore’s debut.

MirrorFootball – Ligue 1 Blog

And lastly this week we have my preview for all ten Ligue 1 games this weekend. Highlights include Toulouse v PSG and Lille v Marseille. All written for the wonderful WhoScored.com

LIGUE 1 PREVIEWS – WEEK 4

More coming next week…. Toulouse, more on M’Vila, maybe something on a Europa League team of my choosing.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Over the past 12 months I have wrote quite a few articles about Eden Hazard and as the links to Arsenal have reared their ugly head again I suppose it is only right to share those pieces again.

I don’t personally believe he will leave the Stade Lille Metropole this summer, with only eight days left in the window it doesn’t make sense for Lille to part with the Belgian forward regardless of the price offered. However as I’ve always said…..you never know.

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Yorkshire Football Weekends got back on the road this weekend. A trip to Derbyshire to watch the oldest football club in the World that used to play in Sheffield, not a bad way to kick the series off. Sheffield FC faced Sutton Coldfield in what was the opening game of the Non-League season.

In 2001 the club left Yorkshire and moved to Dronfield and purchased the Coach and Horses pub, and of course the adjoining land that has become their BT Local Business Stadium. Throughout their history this is the first ground the club have actually owned. A football club attached to a pub, it’ll never catch on.

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Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of activity on this blog. Time is a wonderful thing, but it seems like I just don’t have enough of it to go around. Most days I am writing something, just not for GFS. If you would still like to read my work please go on over to French Football Weekly and read what I am saying over there.

The 2011/12 seasons are kicking off all round Europe. The Premier League in England starts today and the leagues in Germany and Scotland are already underway. I called together the talents of some of the best writers around to give you a glimpse into their predictions for the season ahead.

Terry Duffelen is one half of the excellent “Bundesliga Show” podcast and the fantastic new website “Bundesliga Lounge” be sure to check it out. Here are Terry’s predictions for new Bundesliga season.

Who do you think is the favourite for the title in your respective league and why?

I’m placing my fiver on FC Bayern Munich for the title. Mainly because they rarely go two seasons without winning it but also because I think they have finally addressed their defensive problems with the recruitment of Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Rafinha to their ranks. I think Bayern could win the league by ten points or more.

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“So many people have said by now that I’m competent and that I play as if I’ve been to many World Cup championships. But that’s simply what I consider my responsibility; it’s what a goalkeeper has to be like”

–Manuel Neuer

Manuel Neuer, previously of Schalke 04 and currently Bayern Munich’s number 1 goalkeeper, has certainly enjoyed his spotlight since last year’s brilliant performances for his club and country. Much is expected of this young German shot stopper since taking up the number 1 role in the 2010 World Cup. Dubbed as the “German Casillas”, Neuer was a contender for the Golden Glove award along with Netherland’s Stekelenburg and the eventual winner, Casillas of Spain. He played for only 540 minutes yet made 22 impressive saves, more than the other two goalkeepers and conceded just 2 goals.

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