Marseille Turns To Faux Seal Skin For Ghastly Third Kit

What a god awful piece of kit. It looks like something a mobbed-up roller hockey team from New Jersey would wear. Its not inventive, or boundary pushing, its just tacky and wrong. Marseille should consider enlisting Umbro next year for a classy redesign.

Why haven't we been watching Diego Milito?

The amount of time we (the football community) spend discussing mediocre players is criminal. There is a never ending fascination with good players who are supposed to become magnificent, constantly injured players who are supposed to heal, and of course the favorite topic of conversation, strikers who are supposed to score more goals and never do. Well, Diego Milito is not one of those players we talk about. Instead he is a player who scores beautiful, well constructed goals with the regularity of a dog that has devoured a box of prunes. As another Argentine striker maybe he has spent most his career overshadowed by the likes of Batistuta, Crespo, Saviola and now Messi? Or maybe its because he has spent most of his career at respectable mid table clubs in Argentina, Italy and Spain (Racing, Genoa, Real Zaragoza) where he racked up an impressive goals per game average of nearly one goal every game, but failed to play a big part in the Champions League? Whatever the case there is still time to develop an appreciation for one of Argentina's most prolific yet underrated strikers who has been lighting up preseason fixtures this summer as one of Inter Milan's new strikers. With Inter already looking like the best club in Italy and a definite contender for this years Champions League trophy this might be the year for Diego Milito to step into the spotlight. Take a look at some of his most recent strikes they are downright impressive, and wholly unique.

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Simple question to anyone reading this blog. Why has Barcelona been so eager to sell their 30-goals-in-36-La-Liga-games striker Samule Eto'o? Please explain, I don't understand.

MCFC.co.uk is one bad mutha of a website

Manchester City has set the bar for transfer market spending, designing classy kits and now developing a highly intuitive team website. I could ramble on four days about its functionality but instead I recommend checking it out for yourself. The design is very clean and uncluttered and the video piece is a great example of how all clubs, with the money to do so, should be offering up their highlights, interviews and even live matches.

In France he's known by his acronym, APG

Andre-Pierre Gignac (APG) plowed through Ligue One last season, scoring 24 goals in 38 games with a brute force similar to that of a young Christian Vieri. He is an exciting player to watch that scores goals because he wants to, not because the opportunity presents itself. He does not wait for openings to appear, he simply machete chops his way to the goal like a purple clad Amazon jungle explorer, then jackhammers the ball past trembling goalkeepers. His ability is immense and to say he has out grown Toulouse is an understatement. Much of his Ligue One success was overshadowed by former Lyon striker Karim Benzema and the theatrics surrounding his eventual transfer to Real Madrid and in reality he is ready for a move outside of France. At the beginning of the transfer window it looked as though Toulouse would be keeping him for at least another year, but in the wake of Emmanuel Adebayor's exit from Arsenal to Manchester City, Arsene Wenger is said to be window shopping for a replacement and Gignac is rumored to be top of the list.

While technically he does not seem like a natural fit at Arsenal, he would add some much needed strength, power and toughness to their current finesse drenched lineup. He would also serve as a great Hesky-esque counterpoint to Arsenal's pacey flank men, Walcott, Arshavin and Rosicky. He might not be the best compliment to similarly styled forwards Bendtner or Van Persie, but he would pair nicely with a healthy Eduardo, or, he could play up top by himself as the centerpiece of a 4-3-3. If anything his ability to shrug off defenders and collect the ball in deep positions would frustrate Premier League opposition and work to open a wider variety of attacking channels. Getting Wenger to pay the sure to be hefty valuation set by Toulouse could be difficult, but if he wants to compete on all four fronts this year he needs to spend money to do so as the talent won't materialize from the reserves.

There's only one Ronaldo...

The man is more opportunistic than a necrophiliac in a morgue. Put him near the target and he always finds the way in. In this case, twice, with his head. Best striker in the world. An old striker always has new tricks. So for those of you that have doubts about Michael Owen's ability you need only look at what Ronaldo is doing at Corinthians. Sure it is a different league, but you can see that once a goal scorer always a goal scorer. How he gets the ball in the back of the net may have changed but his compulsion to score has only grown stronger.

Pellegrini, it means pilgrim in Italian...

Florentino Perez is not the manager of Real Madrid. The manager of Real Madrid is Manuel Pellegrini, the humble Chilean who spun La Liga mediocrity into La Liga and Champions League contending gold. He is a clever fellow the likes of Arsene Wenger whose success has been built on an ability to construct strong unified teams that rely more on collective style and heart than on super star magic. So much so, that on occasion he has been known to cast out super stars with a flick of the wrist (Juan Roman Riquelme) to protect that strength and unity of the squad. In short, Pellegrini and his Villareal sides were self made contenders. Not wealthy or traditional but practical, well organized and dangerously confident. Of course none of this explains his recent move to Real Madrid but it certainly does call into question his intentions.

Over the years it has seemed that if Pellegrini ever had intentions to leave Villareal he would probably go to another club where he could offer his expertise in how to succeed with less, where he could build another Goliath killer. But alas he did not. It makes you wonder. Is he the glory seeking type. One way to look at the situation is to examine his name, Pellegrini, which in Italian means pilgrim. It is silly to assume that his name has anything to do with his character but coincidentally it might.

The dictionary definitions of Pilgrim are:

pil·grim

(pĭl'grəm) n. A religious devotee who journeys to a shrine or sacred place. One who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred. A traveler. Pilgrim One of the English Separatists who founded the colony of Plymouth in New England in 1620.

I find the first two definitions particularly relevant in this scenario. Pellegrini is a devout believer in football and he is on a journey driven by his passion for the game. The football gods move in mysterious ways and maybe he has been beckoned to the sacred Santiago Bernabeu to fulfill his role as a true believer in the beautiful game. He worked miracles at Villareal and it was only a matter of time before he would be called upon to offer up his talents on the biggest stage.

Being a canny, strategical tactician is great, but working with some of the most talented players in the world is something else entirely. Its misery and glory. Heavan and hell. You are blessed with talent but cursed with a multitude of forks in the road and if you eat off the wrong tine you might not get the chance to taste whats on the end of the others. Pellegrini is on a journey towards something sacred and if he can find it, the trophies in Spain and Europe are his for the taking, but if he cannot, he will be thrown out of the Santiago Bernabeu and forced to take a job with some mid table club where he may not be as lucky as he was at Villareal. All the best Manuel.