Hiatus to Focus on Pitch Rivals

Hello! It's time to close SSN Headquarters for a spell to focus on Pitch Rivals. A few of us are working hard to get that fun site flying and that means SSN will have to take a back seat while we refocus our energy. Not to fear, SSN will be back, but for now, please follow Pitch Rivals on The Socials.

The Facebooks.  The Twits.

What's In Your Wallet?, Sid in Spain, Paolo in Italy, Tim in Brazil, Bournemouth

Hey now! Good Day to you! We're going to jump right into today's fray with our Scribes. Lovely.

Where? South America. Who? Tim Vickery. What? Higuain back for Argentina but will Martino pass his Brazil test?

Where? Spain. Who? Sid Lowe. What? Keylor Navas has not stopped stopping shots since Real/United fax mess

Where? Germany. Who? Raphael Honigstein. What? Aubameyang rockets into the hearts of Borussia Dortmund fans

Where? Italy. Who? Paolo Bandini. What? Mohamed Salah returns to haunt Fiorentina and send Roma top of Serie A

Wow! ESPN The Magazine has an article about Bournemouth's rise to the top division. We should have a look, no?

Backheel Breakfast

Barney Ronay is taking a look at the Premier League situation. He says this: A settled-looking team and strong form give Arsenal reasons for cheer but Manchester City and United are better than the derby suggested and should soon hit their stride as players bed in. Mike Goodman is also taking a closer look. But, he's interested in the race for fourth.

Tuesday! Time for Marcotti's Musings. This week, Gab is gabbing that the Manchester derby lacked star quality, Mourinho woe, Madrid and Barca win.

OK. Matches today. We've got a bunch of tasty League Cup matches in England and one match in Serie A in Italy. And this from Alan Smith: Carvalhal makes Wednesday feel special after José Mourinho’s help. Oh, and Charlie Nicholas has some Carling Cup Predictions, too.

Right! That'll do.

Onward!!

-SSN

nbcsoccer.com

No Goals in Manchester, Chelsea Crisis, Villa Sack Sherwood, Fiorentina Beat Roma, Súarez Hat Trick, Grant Wahl on Thiago, MLS Decision Day

"Go up there."

He's up there.

Hello there! Welcome to another week. It was a fairly decent couple of days of footie, all things considered. Sadly, no goals in the BORING Manchester Derby, but there were plenty of other interesting results. Like West Ham's defeat of Chelsea. And Roma's win in Florence. Let's hit it.

Premier League Review

Heroes & Villains

Premier League Notes

10 Talking Points From The Weekend’s Action

Premier League in 90 Seconds

West Ham 2 - 1 Chelsea: Paul Doyle at Upton Park

West Ham 2 - 1 Chelsea:

Iain MacIntosh: Chelsea in Crisis

Manchester United 0 - 0 Manchester City: Jamie Jackson at Old Trafford

Manchester United 0 - 0 Manchester City: Barney Ronay at Old Trafford

Manchester United 0 - 0 Manchester City: Five Talking Points

Manchester United 0 - 0 Manchester City: Three Thoughts

Liverpool 1 - 1 Southampton: Paul Wilson at Anfield

Liverpool 1 - 1 Southampton: Three Thoughts

Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton: David Hytner at the Emirates Stadium

Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton: Three Thoughts

Sunderland 3 - 0 Newcastle: Louise Taylor at the Stadium of Light

Bournemouth 1 - 5 Tottenham: Dominic Fifield at the Vitality Stadium

Team of the Week

Garth Crooks's Team of the Week

Ref Watch: Dermot Gallagher analyses the weekend action

Table

Hungover today? Double your fun with a La Liga Hangover. Maybe the two will cancel each other out. Oh, and here are Five Things You Need To Know from La Liga's weekend fun. Review? Here. Really!? You want more from Spain? Geez. Fine. Here.

Backheel Breakfast

So. Villa sacked Tim Sherwood. No surprise, really. They sit bottom, they're not winning, they're far from convincing. Stuart James is on the case in Birmingham, where Sherwood's successor simply needs to keep the club up. Also taking a gander at the situation at Villa Park? Phil McNulty, that's who!

La Liga & Serie A Weekend Round-Up

As mentioned above, the big match in Serie A was a big win for Roma at Fiorentina. Here's a Report of that encounter. And here's your Weekend Review.

Grant Wahl interviewed Bayern Munich's Thiago. Read it. Enjoy. Do it.

MLS Round-Up

MLS Cup Playoffs Matchups, Schedule and Final Standings

Right. So if you click on any of those MLS links just above, you'll note that MLS did something called Decision Day. It's the first time they've done it. Bird is on the case and says it went pretty well. Ok, then.

That'll do just fine. See youz tomorrow!

Onward!!

-SSN

pitchrivals.com