Footblog

Tic-Tacky?

As if they haven't got enough free publicity from their advert running in place of Everton's extra-time winner in the Cup, Tic-Tac have sent us the following video:

These people are truly the Ashley Cole of the confectionary world.

Everton vs Liverpool: We interrupt this goal for an ad break

You wait 119 mins for a goal, and what happens? The match gets interrupted by a BT ad starring the twunt from My Family, resuming just in time to see Everton celebrating the winner.

And you thought it was only the F1 ITV could fuck up with mistimed ad breaks...

Redknapp transfer targets revealed

Guardian Chalkboards

The Guardian website has introduced a stonkingly brilliant new Chalkboards feature. In a nutshell, it plots a graph of individual player performance from any Premiership match over the past couple of seasons.

You can use it to plot shots, tackles, passes, interceptions and all manner of other stats. You can also compare the performance of two different players in the same match or the same player in different matches - it's the kind of statistical breakdown that would give Sam Allardyce a flutter in the trouser department.

I've used it to prove, once and for all, that West Ham stiff cum Real Madrid Galactico, Julien Faubert, is about as dangerous as a Fisher Price set of novelty sponges when he crosses the ball from down the right wing. 
   by Guardian Chalkboards

West Ham's world-class reserves

No-one's going to be holding the back page with the suggestion that there's been something decidedly iffy about West Ham's transfers over the past couple of seasons, but the events of this week are truly gob-smacking.

Whilst we await the 18th independent inquiry into the Tevez shenanigans, many seem to have forgotten about his partner in crime, Javier Mascherano.

This was an Argentinian World Cup star who couldn't dislodge Hayden Mullins from the West Ham side under two successive managers (Pardew and Curbishley), but who quickly became a first-team regular at Liverpool, who ended up paying over £16 million for him.

Now, Julien Faubert, who's spent the best part of the past month warming the bench alongside the mighty Luis Boa Morte, has go on loan to no less than Real Madrid. For a fee of £1.5 million. With a view to a permanent move in the summer that will reportedly net West Ham a tidy profit on the £6 million they lavished on a winger who couldn't cross a road, let alone a ball.

How did West Ham's stiffs become the new Galacticos? Am I missing something?