I came across this while clearing up all the junk on my server today. I had forgotten i'd done it, and I suppose this means that I didn't take the loss TOO seriously then. ;)

Hello readers,

As you may have noticed (or may not have, obviously), we've now got a little User Contributed News section going on the site, and i'd like to encourage you to play around with it, and obviously send us the football news that you think people should know about.

We've also added a handy little login feature on the right hand side, and we hope that our live scores, fixtures and tables will be ready for you quite soon as well.

So keep checking in, and if you have a minute, then register.

We're busy here at OleOle, but we're going to enjoy a few days off for the festive period, and we'd like to give our best wishes to all our readers and contributers as well.

After I stupidly drank the water I was supposed to rinse my mouth and wash my hands with at the Meiji shrine in Harajuku yesterday, oddness ensued sometime later. This is the same water that everyone else washes their hands with, and in my ongoingly poor attempts at sign language in Tokyo, this was just the latest in a series of interesting misunderstandings.

So then, a few hours later as my stomach rumbled and my paranoia rumbled even more, I began contemplating a bit of death, and thought... "You know... it's OK as long as it happens after Sunday, because I really don't want to miss the football". And so now that brings us to today. My stomach feels fine (last night's drinks and thus-induced visit to McDonald's excepted). The sun unfortunately is not shining as it should be, but that's alright because they have lights in stadiums these days.

So the schedule goes a little something like this:

4.20 PM - Al-Ahly vs Club America
7.20 PM - Barcelona vs Internacional

Obviously, I have probably got the home and away teams mixed up there, but really since it's an Egyptian, a Mexican, a Spanish and a Brazilian team playing in Yokohama, Japan, I don't think it matters too much.

Well stay tuned for our coverage as always, blogging on the spot (this would be a nice time for a "blogspot" pun, but then... would we be sued?).

Al-Ahly will be the more motivated of the two teams in their contest, and there should be some good football on show. Claudio Lopez and Blanco will probably be rested, but Ahly's 3 centrebacks shouldn't breathe too easily because Nelson Cuevas can kill any defence when he's up for it. Islam Al-Shater will continue to bomb down the right flank for the Egyptians, and we have to see what frame of mind Flavio will be in today before making any kind of prediction or judgment. Still, there will be some attractive football on show.

As for Barca and Inter, it will be a tough contest. The Brazilians will be fighting hard in this game, taking a more Argentine or Uruguayan approach some might say. But they will try to play their football whenever they can. This might be a cracking match, maybe not as free-flowing and attacking as the Barca-America or Inter-Ahly games, but definitely an intense, exciting contest.

So stay tuned, and find a TV to watch the games if you can, because you'll miss out on some good football otherwise. Don't believe the people who say "It's a joke cup", and "no one really cares", they're full of shit.

As Emmanuel Eboue stood there looking like the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, Kieron Dyer took a neat touch and curled the ball past Lehmann. Once again, the Arsenal were 1-0 down at Ashburton Grove (Aston Villa, Middlesborough, Everton and now Newcastle), and once again the game followed a similar pattern. Although Newcastle were more ambitious than the previous incumbents (Everton), Arsenal still peppered forward and took control of the game, but to no avail. Just like against Everton, we were rescued by a brilliant free-kick from Thierry Henry (it was Van Persie the last time); and it needed to be brilliant. Shay Given, just like in the Highbury days, turned in an terrific performance, and he was inches away from the free-kick, which was so precise that it went in off the underside of the bar. Given is one of the shorter keepers around, so one wonders what an extra inch or two might add to his game (ladies, please control yourselves... that's not what I meant).

It's easy to throw around blame and look for excuses. Yes, Eboue's defending was not great, and he looked completely flatfooted, but it was a 2 vs. 2 situation, and those are very rarely easy to negotiate, especially when the last men back are both (slightly dodgy) fullbacks. Perhaps the team missed Gilberto as well, because so often in these situations he mysteriously materialises with his defensive instincts and helps out struggling defenders, or perhaps he would have dealt better with the ball that Obafemi Martins flicked on.

Let's also not forget that Kieron Dyer is a good player. Over the last two years he's basically shown himself to be inconsistent, horrible injury prone (is he worse than Aliadiere?) and a bit of a silly/chav type, but he is talented. Under Robson in his first 2 or 3 seasons at Newcastle he was easily one of the most promising young players in England with great pace and skill, and had it not been for Beckham, we would probably have made a fair few appearances on the right side for England. Point being that although the defending was sub-par, it still took a great finish to beat Jens. Perhaps Eboue, being a recent arrival in the Premiership, is not fully aware of his opponents' capabilities, or respectful of them, to afford them that kind of space. He'll learn.

Yesterday's events were all the more ironic given William Gallas' quotes about how we had to tighten up and make sure that we scored first, because of how we had struggled when conceding sloppy goals to the opposition. I think Newcastle can come away with their heads held high, because they showed a little bit of enterprise and didn't just stick 10 men behind the ball, but we could and should have made life more difficult from the start.

Adebayor is a good member of the squad, and at 21 will be a very, very good player as he gets better and more experienced. But yesterday we was more or less useless. He never seems to look confident when finishing, and could do with trying to wind up and whack it with his left sometimes rather than trying to "Thierry" the ball past the keeper. People compare him to Kanu (or rather, he compares himself to Kanu and people get taken in by this), but he is much quicker and more powerful than Kanu. Kanu however was much more skillful and clever than Ade. The problem with our Togolese striker, is that he doesn't maximise his best attributes (pace and power), and tries instead to focus on being a Kanu mimic (the fancy stuff), where he clearly has a long way to go.

The point of this is that we were playing against weaker opposition and needed to start positively and score a goal, but we just didn't have the personnel to do this. I'm a big fan of the way Arsene has gone about constructing his 4-5-1, and Robin Van Persie is gradually looking more and more effective in his role in it, but against a Newcastle defence featuring Peter Ramage, Craig Moore, Steven Taylor and the narcoleptic Titus Bramble, 4-4-2 was the way to go.

Henry was (rightly) rested, because Raymond Domenech had acted like the ridiculous cunt that he is and played him and Gallas for a full 90 minutes in a midweek friendly when Chelsea and Manchester United's players were allowed to play 45 each. So Baptista was given a start to provide a goal threat, but really he just ended up doing a bit of running around and then was subbed off for Theo Walcott. He hasn't played in over a month, and hasn't even had a reserve game to give him some sharpness, so thoughts of him popping up with a goal or two were more hopeful than anything else. We then lost the skill and guile of Robin to an injury, and Thierry came on for the second half, and once Baptista was replaced by Walcott, we attacked fervently with what looked like a 4-4-2, and could have gotten a winner if we were sharper.

Anyhow, I think there is still hope for the league. The problem is that after our unbeaten season and and Chelsea's highly consistent first title season, the bar has been raised. 3 or 4 years ago, we would not be written off with the points and results that we have, but it seems that the standards have increased to the point where people think you have to virtually go unbeaten to win the league. I think that this was more the exception to the rule - two freak seasons, rather than a raising of the bar - and that the league will be a lot more even this year. Last year, Arsenal and Manchester United failed to show up until January, and Chelsea had it easy (after sabotaging the transfer plans of both of those - Wright-Phillips and Essien). This year I think things will be a lot more interesting.

"Unbelievable" for two reasons:

1. For playing the best football they've played in the last two seasons, and perhaps the best they've produced in the Champions League, especially against a team as solid and canny as CSKA Moscow.

2. For squandering chance, after chance, after chance. 29 shots on goal, only 5 on target, and Rosicky missing a wide open goal from about 3 feet away. Criminal.

Arsenal started this game on the back of some criticism and tension. They were unable to break down a dogged, unambitious Everton side over the weekend (who should have received far more criticism for the way they played [or declined to] for a team purporting to have ambitions of Europe on a regular basis). In Moscow, CSKA played better, probably the first team to outplay them this season, but Arsenal were denied a draw by an absurd refereeing decision to disallow Thierry Henry's late goal. And although they gave Reading a masterclass in football the weekend after, last Saturday's game against Everton was throwback to what people have come to identify the Arsenal with over the last couple of years - all foreplay without any real hanky panky. Arsenal passed the ball beautifully, every which way posssible, had about 90% of the second half posession (a record maybe?) but eventually were unable to create any real clear cut chances despite having 23 shots to Everton's 2. It didn't help that Tim Howard was in good form as well, but with Everton playing a 1-9-1 formation, good chances were few and far between.

The post-match criticism of that performance echoed a common consensus amongst Arsenal fans - that Arsenal lack a Plan B (not that Arsene Wenger seems to care). The awkward presence of the injured Emmanuel Adebayor challenging for high balls was missed, and would probably have lent some more legitimacy to the crosses that Robin Van Persie was swinging into the box with no one there. Arsenal weren't outfought, and they definitely weren't outplayed. Everton just decided to be football's version of a chastity belt, and Arsenal for all their effort, were unable to penetrate their defence (WOEFUL pun, yes I know). To further the discomfort after the match, a hack from the News of the World, Antony Kastrinakis, decided to concoct a story about Thierry Henry and the team being booed, and then all the broadsheets and "proper" papers and everyone else decided to be clever and relay the story. So suddenly a 1-1 draw turns into a mini-crisis.

Well the CSKA Moscow tie at Ashburton Grove was supposed to be the next step in series of difficult games, and everyone was doing their best to rally the troops. Thierry Henry said he didn't believe the story and wanted the fans to get behind the team, Wenger said he wasn't concerned, and that negative football was terrible, and that Arsenal wanted to punish teams that played negatively, and meanwhile CSKA were talking up their chances and warning Arsenal not to underestimate them.

As it so happened, CSKA were torn apart. If Everton were a chastity belt, then CSKA were something along the lines of a complete bimbo on a drinking binge. Except, the irony in the midst of all these awful sexual metaphors, was that Arsenal just could not finish.

From the moment the game kicked off, Arsenal took control, and repeatedly ran rings around CSKA with their passing, pace and movement. The shooting prowess however was non-existent. Robin Van Persie had 3 quite clear chances, ones that we've seen him bury before. Henry had two decent chances, ones that we've seen him nonchalantly stroke home on previous occassions. Fabregas rounded the keeper and rushed a shot wide of an open goal when he had time to take a touch and compose himself. Rosicky had one of the most incredible misfires ever, missing an absolutely open goal from right in front of the penalty spot, sidefooting the ball to the keeper who was lying at the left far post having tried to cut out Henry's cross. Words can't do justice to it.

Yes, the CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeev did well, but he was not really tested enough. He made one great save from a late Gilberto header, and came off his line bravely to put off Henry and Van Persie, but he wasn't tested enough. Akinfeev, as well as the CSKA's defenstroika won plaudits from the commentator, but the truth is that on 9 out of 10 occassions they should and would have been 3 or 4 goals down at half-time. The Arsenal finishing was embarassingly bad, and there can't really be any explanation for it other than just having an "off day", because Van Persie and Henry have scored those and tougher ones before.

For Arsenal, well... everyone was quite good except for Henry, and Van Persie (who was quite involved in the play, but rubbish in front of goal), but the midfield trio of Fabregas, Rosicky and Hleb were oustanding - their movement tore CSKA to shreds, and Hleb in particular was very, very good for most of the game except one occassion where he should have probably shot instead of squaring a slightly poor ball to Henry.

For CSKA, well their Vicente Del Bosque lookalike coach can be proud about Ignashevich's outstanding commitment at the back, and Akinfeev's great shot-stopping and agility. He might not make it in the Premiership because of his smallish frame and lack of presence (although Shay Given has always done well), but he will be a top class keeper, and could do well in someplace like La Liga where shot-stoppers like Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes thrive. I was also very impressed by Vagner Love. After playing well and giving the defence a hard time in Moscow, he led the line very well in London. He's a quick, skilfull striker, like many Brazilians, but he was also outstanding as a target man, playing with his back to goal. Time and time again long clearances or goal kicks would be sent up field, and more often than not, he would materialise exactly where they were landing, controlling them with one touch, or dribbling to the wings to make time and space, or providing clever little lay-offs and flick-ons to his teammates. He was unlucky not to get a goal, when he easily bamboozled Gallas but then shot weakly at Lehmann, who made a good save and then gathered the ball at the second attempt after it had rolled behind him. That was a lucky escape for a very unlucky Arsenal.

It was probably the most one-sided 0-0 i've ever seen, especially in the Champions League, between two good teams. But I won't talk about it anymore. YouTube highlights are below. Enjoy!

Well the version 1.0 of OleOle is finally up and running, and is the start of what should be some very exciting times!

Give us a buzz if you're interested in writing for or representing your favourite club or league on the website.

Yesterday in the champions league... well, some very dodgy refereeing in the Arsenal vs CSKA Moscow game. Granted, Arsenal didn't show up to well in terms of overall play, but they were denied a brilliant (and perfectly legitimate) equaliser near the end for an alleged "handball" by Thierry Henry. I'm not sure why the referee called it, he wasn't in a good position at all to see it, and his response (the whistle and yellow card) was so quick that it seemed almost predetermined.



I've heard conflicting reports, but one said that the linesman flagged to show that it was a goal, and the referee ignored this. If anyone was in a position to see whether it was a goal, it was the linesman. Another strange factor was the lack of any replays. They showed umpteen slow motion shots of the CSKA attacker Dudu having his shots and headers blocked, but in this one defining incident of the match, the broadcasters failed to show anything other than a single slow motion of the original camera angle, when in fact there were angles available from the other side where the replays would have been far more telling. On Setanta Sports, in the post game show, the pundits were in the midst of discussing how bad of a refereeing decision it was, when the replay began. Then the host suddenly cut in, said goodbye, and they switched over to the Manchester United v FC Copenhagen game. FIFA trying to save face? Or Roman Abramovich's dodgy billions? Well either way, Thierry Henry was clearly unhappy...