Stephen Ireland continues to fall from great heights

Stephen Ireland enjoying his Christmas with his girlfriend a little too much. (Courtesy twitter)

 By Kevin Koczwara

Trouble and controversy follow Stephen Ireland. The Aston Villa midfielder stirred more controversy after his girlfriend posted a picture on twitter of him lounging, smoking and drinking shirtless on Christmas day. The once promising midfielder no longer seems to find himself in the headlines for the right reasons. Instead of making headlines with his play on the field, he makes the back pages for his inconsistency and poor choices.

What The Soccer Guys Are Reading

ESPN Soccernet – Serbia hits rock bottom

Serbian hooligans force Italy, Serbia Euro 2012 Qualifier to be cancelled. The disturbances and violence lasted throughout the day.

ESPN Soccernet Blogs - Do Sparsely Supported Teams Deserve Their Place in the Premier League ?

Interesting question, but a really simple answer – yes.

The Guardian – Which clubs’ fans have unlikely friendships with their rivals?

A list you won’t find Celtic and Rangers on.

The Herald (Scotland) – The absence of Scott Brown raises some big questions for Celtic

With Celtic midfielder and captain, Scott Brown, out for around 10 weeks, questions are aroused about the club’s talent.

Zonal Marking – Ireland 2-3 Russia: Irish outpassed & outclassed

The Boys in Green dropped their Euro 2012 Qualifier to a Russia team that outplayed them for more than 90 minutes.

Zonal Marking – The tall tale of Peter Crouch’s aerial abilities

Pundits and coaches alike say that Crouch is a better player with his feet than his head, but the stats tell a different story.

Sky Sports – Henry – We’re here to win

New England Sports Venture and its chief owner, John Henry, finally completed the takeover of Liverpool, and he has already stated his intentions to win.

The Independent - Robinho: ‘I would never protest against being on the bench’

But do I believe the talented Brazilian forward? No. He knows he is too good of a player to be watching from the sidelines.

The Independent – Mourinho rules out January spending

This can’t be true. Mourinho will be looking to wheel and deal some underachieving players (Karim Benzema for sure) for players that fit his team’s style and mold.

What Should Be Done? Ireland Still Shocked

Henry has now stated he belives a replay of the World Cup aulifier between France and Ireland would be fair. But is it too little too late?

By Ryan Fleming

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see it live, but thankfully I wasn’t at a pub, like The Banshee, which columnist Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe describes in his article. I did, though, watch the second leg of the Ireland, France World Cup Qualifier match in it’s entirety on the internet earlier this week.

So, yes, I’ve seen the handball that French great Thierry Henry so undoubtedly committed, which in turn lead to William Gallas’ header, putting the France side even on the scoreboard, but ahead 2-1 on aggregate. Watching it over and over again, not cause I’m a fan of France, but an Irish supporter, one has to wonder if Henry is really to blame.

Darren Bent Deserves A Call-Up

By Kevin Koczwara

Darren Bent added another goal to his Premier League tally– he has 8 goals in 9 matches. and 1 assist. Bent’s goal in the fifth minute at The Stadium of Light gave Sunderland a 1-0 lead against Liverpool. The goal would be the only one in the game and also of much controversy.

Bent’s shot appeared to bounce off a beach ball that had made its way on the field. According to the rules the goal should have disallowed and play stopped until the ball was removed from play. A drop-ball would start play again. But the goal was allowed, giving Sunderland a much needed win against a top opponent, and hurts Liverpool in their hunt for the EPL championship. Now Liverpool’s chances of their first title in 20 years is slim to none. For Sunderland, they look to be in a good spot right now, they have a chance to qualify for European play next year.