By Julian Guyen
October 18th 2009 @ 6:36am
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United back on top as Liverpool and Chelsea flop
Manchester United regained top spot in the English Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Saturday as Liverpool’s title bid suffered a potentially fatal blow.
Reigning champions United are a point ahead of Chelsea, who started the weekend in first place, but were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in Saturday’s [...]
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![Nick Mallet is a sophisticated man: he speaks several languages. He is bright: he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has been a very good coach: his Springboks in 1998/199 won 17 straight Tests, a South African winning sequence record. He is, however, a very poor coach of Italy.
He has set his team a goal of [...] Spiro Zavos: Italy is guilty of a ‘losing ugly’ mentality](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/italy-ireland-bergamasco-odriscoll-th.jpg)
![Over the past few years it has become an all-too-familiar call. They need a key forward, those Western Bulldogs. They need a big-bodied warrior to spearhead their attack. They need their own Nick Riewoldt or Buddy Franklin.
And yet, when the Bulldogs finally went out and recruited that exact type of player – by acquiring Barry [...] Michael DiFabrizio: Barry Hall might be the saviour after all](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/barry-hall-bulldogs-th.jpg)
![Enjoy your betting this footy season, but don’t be expected to be allowed to win. I received the following message from the bookmaker Victor Chandler. Or to be more precise, from one of his drones, last year.
“Dear Mr Kaless,
We are contacting you today advise that a business decision has been taken by our Senior Traders [...] Steve Kaless: Fighting the battle with the bookies](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/jarryd-hayne-th.jpg)
![Tonight, UEFA Champions League football returns to the Emirates, 113 days since its last appearance at Arsenal’s home ground. On that occasion, Gunners fans held up giant placards that spelled “believe,” before seeing their team humbled by Manchester United.
This time round it will be the away fans clinging to hope with Arsenal expected to [...] Davidde Corran: As history repeats, there’s no way back for Scotland](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/a-league-celtic-scott-mcdonald-th.jpg)
![I thought I was persona non grata with Football Federation Australia but at least someone appears to be reading my work, judging from the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed late last week by the FFA and its Indonesian counterpart, the Football Association of Indonesia or PSSI.
While it stops short of a joint World Cup [...] Jesse Fink: FFA’s Indonesia deal a watershed for Australia](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/poisoned-chalice-allsopp-th.jpg)
![No doubt Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta were the stars of this wonderful Barcelona performance, but I want to pay a tribute to the unsung heroes and tactics that helped them claim their second European title in four seasons.
Leading in, I felt Manchester United held the aces. Not because they have the [...] Tony Tannous: Bow to Barcelona’s superb work off the ball](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bow-to-barcelona-yaya-toure-th.jpg)
![Lyndon Bray, a good and unobtrusive New Zealand referee in his day, has made a great start to his job as SANZAR’s referees manager. And as rugby union is a game where complex laws try to impose a pattern on what really is organised anarchy, Bray’s interventions have created an environment where the Super 14 [...] Spiro Zavos: SANZAR referees to promote attacking rugby](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/union-state-of-origin-beale-horwill-th.jpg)
![As the winter football codes launch into their seasons, Australia leaves behind what many are bemoaning as a forgettable summer of sport. A summer that Sport & Style labelled as the ‘Summer of dud’ .
Across all of the summer sports, off-field talking points overshadowed on-field performance – and what happened on the field wasn’t [...] Adrian Musolino: The end is nigh for our summer of discontent](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/jets-fury-daal-th.jpg)
![Saturday’s AFL Grand Final loss is a bitter pill to swallow for the St Kilda Footy Club after such a tight contest, but as reflected by Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt in his post-match captain’s speech, it’ll be the source of great motivation to go one better in 2010.
Speaking on Sunday, beyond the immediate emotion of [...] Ben Somerford: Can the Saints get their own redemption in 2010?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/can-saints-redemption-2010-Riewoldt-th.jpg)
![Oh what a fickle bunch we are! Three months ago the Sharks were everyone’s sneaky tip for the Grand Final now you are hard pressed to find anyone who reckons they deserve a place in the comp.
They become a punching bag for the press and if there is one thing that everyone seems to [...] Steve Kaless: The Sharks are worth fighting for](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sharks-out-of-depth-quinn-th.jpg)
![Of all the conjecture surrounding Robbie Fowler’s shock omission from the North Queensland Fury line-up, not much of it has focused on the reasoning behind coach Ian Ferguson’s decision to change his formation and play a lone striker up front.
“We went down the line of changing my formation to 4-1-4-1 and I just needed a [...] Mike Tuckerman: Is physical football ruining the A-League?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/fowler-smarts-th.jpg)
![At the launch of the NSW Waratahs’ 2010 Super 14 season, officials were happy to play down expectations about how their team will perform this year, with public utterances of confidence. But privately they are convinced that this is the Waratahs’ year.
The sales pitch for Waratahs tickets reflects this, with the punchline: It’s Our Time.
Last [...] Spiro Zavos: Is 2010 finally the year of the NSW Waratahs?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/super-14-5-horse-race-tuqiri-th.jpg)



