Things we never thought we’d see: a man on the moon, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, a vice presidential candidate spending $150K on clothes…..

However, Hull City sitting at No. 1 on the Premier League table has to be pretty high up there. Take a nice, hard, long look, and if you’re a fan, you oughta cut out today’s table and frame it. With 20 points in their first nine games, Hull sits at the top with Liverpool and Chelsea.

Yes, they have played one more game than those other two mega clubs, and yes, tomorrow’s meeting between the two makes it impossible for Hull to stay atop with an even number of games, but come on. Soak it in, because in this day and age of big money, stories like this don’t come around very often.

Hull has won its past four games in the Premier League, including away at Arsenal and Tottenham. And after returning back home this weekend, they cleaned up West Brom today with a three-nil performance to keep the magic carpet ride flying high for the time being. With a ticket in hand to next Saturday’s Hull/Man United game, I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with at Old Trafford after silencing the Emirates.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Hull-City-is-first-in-the-EPL-and-no-thats-not-a-joke

I would have paid a significant sum for a glance in the Manchester United locker room after Saturday’s draw at Everton, since Sir Alex must have said something to the extent of “what in the world happened?” –that being the edited version, of course.

After grabbing a Darren Fletcher goal in the first half to sit on top one-nil at the half (when it could have been more, as the announcers pointed out), it was a different United team on the field for the second 45. As the crowd got into it and the home club responded, you could visibly see the Reds shrink from the atmosphere. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen in a while.

There was former Everton player Wayne Rooney, who was not as active and came out soon after the questionable decision to kiss the United patch on his jersey while holding it out from his body. With the crowd already at a fever pitch, you have to think that’s not really the time for such a move.

But it was there on the field, too. Wes Brown simply overran a ball that led to a good Everton chance, and Rio Ferdinand tried his best to gift the go-ahead goal by nearly whiffing a back-pass to Edwin van der Sar, leaving the keeper on his own from point-blank range where he managed to parry the shot just far enough wide to bounce off the post.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-A-different-Manchester-United-in-the-second-half

Manchester United and Arsenal had the statement games last night for those of you who tuned in, with 3-nil and 5-2 victories (the latter being away), respectively. United certainly controlled their game against Celtic, but the visitors surely had reason to gripe that both of Dimitar Berbatov’s goals came from the offside position (although the first was a deft little touch for the score).

But the real story is Wayne Rooney, who looks more dangerous every night and now has an absurd nine goals in his past seven games for United and England. This time it was a sweet little shake near the top of the box to get himself space and then a clinical finish just inside the left post. Hope people caught his expression after that one – the impish grin that says, “Hey guys, I’m feeling it right now in case anyone hasn’t noticed.”

Sir Alex said after the game that Rooney is capable of reaching Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42-goal level of 2007-8 (that level, not that number), but that might be a little much. Still, he’s on fire right now for sure....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Champions-League-discussion

The question is where Carlos Tevez will be fitting into this lineup with Dimitar Berbatov up front now. Tevez played some beautiful football during the first month of the season while Rooney seemed to struggle at times, but he has now started only one of United’s past five games. There was talk earlier in the season about signing the Argentinean to a long-term deal, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be excited about such a move now. ......read the rest at: 

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d8-EPL-discussion-and-the-Tevez-issue

We’ve mentioned the state of English football and their money-crazy ways before, as well as given you some links to writers who believe it has gotten out of control. Most recently, there was this post about the opinions of culture secretary Andy Burnham on the state of today’s game.

So we certainly have some interesting news today, as FA chairman David Triesman has attacked the 3 billion pounds of debt in the football industry (mainly among the top Premier League clubs), and talked of potential salary caps, as well as harsher ownership regulations. This has (as the article shows) and no doubt will continue to tick off the Premier League and their clubs.

On top of that, UEFA general secretary David Taylor talked about the potential for excluding teams with debt from European competitions (hello Champions League).

It will be interesting to see how the FA/EPL clash plays out, as the FA has not been the strongest force while English football has financially skyrocketed. Its assertion of these potential changes should make for some dicey exchanges in the near future......read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d8-Salary-caps-for-the-EPL 

Fine, I admit it. I’ve laughed at scarves, made fun of people who wear them, and generally think they look really dumb/preppy. And yet on Tuesday night I found myself as one of probably 30,000 people strolling into the Emirates Stadium sporting that particular clothing article with an Arsenal/FC Porto half-and-half pattern, thinking I was pretty much The Man. When you see all these people doing it, it somehow becomes extremely cool (yea, OK, I was kind of a follower in high school).

The purchase of that scarf came following a stroll around the area (which I thought had a really nice, low-key vibe to it) and some fish and chips to tide my appetite. My buddy Andy and I then had the necessary pre-game pint with Arsenal supporters in a pub before heading into the stadium.

The Emirates is the anti-White Hart Lane, as I quickly found out. While Tottenham’s stadium employs the ragged, ordinary warehouse-looking style on the outside, the Gunners’ home is new-age, flashy and just flat-out cool. Nothing wrong with it, just completely different, more modern and a huge money-maker thanks to the 60,000-plus people it can fit.....Check out the rest at:

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d1-Taking-in-ArsenalFC-Porto-at-the-Emirates

Also, I feel it must be mentioned that the brightest star in Carling Cup competition last night had to be Arsenal, and among that group 19-year-old talent Carlos Vela from Mexico was spectacular with a hat trick as the Gunners absolutely throttled Sheffield United by a score of 6-0 at The Emirates.

Check out all the goals right here. My favorites are Vela’s first one – a smartly curled ball with the left foot into the left corner of the net while running into the box from the right of the goal, and the youngster’s second – a sublimely controlled pass followed by a perfectly executed chip over the keeper that showed not even the slightest hint of nerves......

Read the rest at:  

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d24-A-youthful-display-from-the-Gunners

Any other night, Cristiano Ronaldo’s first start and goal of the season would have stolen the headlines. But in United’s 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough in the third round of the Carling Cup. But it was a downright ugly play (middle of the clip) that stole the show in this one, as Emmanuel Pogatetz went down in a hideous, studs-up challenge on Rodrigo Possebon that earned Pogatetz a red card and sent Possebon to the hospital. Thankfully the news today is that he is OK, but Pogatetz deserves much criticism for such a reckless action. Initially it was believed that the young Brazilian player might have broken his leg, and thoughts had to turn back to Eduardo da Silva’s horrific injury last season on a tackle..... Check out the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d24-A-scary-moment-at-Old-Trafford 

There was an interesting article in The Guardian a day or two ago. For any of you who saw the Manchester United/Chelsea game on Sunday, referee Mike Riley got an earful all game long and dealt out a sea of yellow cards against the Reds, including several for dissent.

Some might argue that the plethora of cards in part came from the extremely tight game that Riley called right from the start, but the issue at hand here is whether the campaign started this season to respect referees (which was backed by each Premier League team) is already struggling.

Whether it was a cocky wave of the finger from Cristiano Ronaldo or Rio Ferdinand ending the match by berating Riley, there was certainly little respect in this game. And to be honest, perhaps it will take several games like this one for players to finally shut up and realize that accumulating a yellow card simply isn’t worth their time. To draw a comparison to the U.S., a couple years ago the NBA started the season with extremely strict rules about talking to officials. The result was an early-season wave of technical fouls, but perhaps it did help a little bit in the long run.......

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d24-The-wave-of-yellow-cards 

In a way, this one ended as it should.

Manchester United needed at least a point following last week’s loss at Anfield, and they got it with the 1-1 draw. Chelsea, on the other hand, controlled the game from midway through the first half to the end and certainly deserved their point to keep the incredible 85-game unbeaten home record.

In a game with two heavyweights and plenty of pace and space throughout, the final score was in a way disappointing because of the neutral result and at the same time not all that surprising.

For United, it still leaves them with questions as they try to battle out of this early season funk that engulfed them last year, as well......

Check out the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d21-Chelsea-and-Man-United-battle-to-a-11-draw