How to create an Olympic logo

International Cricketer of the Day

For those of you that don't know this fine athlete, he is in the world cup squad for Bermuda:

Full name: Russell Dwayne Mark Leverock
Born: 14th July 1971, Bermuda
Batting: Right-hand batsman
Bowling: Slow left-arm orthodox

The TV Times

Despite the riches it has brought the game, football's main men still has an ambivalent attitude to TV, embracing the medium only when it suits them. When it doesn't, the tables are turned and TV is cast as the cause of all the game's ills.

Almost ten years ago, West Ham's response to Sky Sports News broadcasting footage of John Hartson attempting to remove a chunk out of Eyal Berkovic's head was blame the whole thing on the station. Hartson was duly rewarded with an all-expenses-paid trip to the south of France; Sky Sports were barred from the training ground with Harry Redknapp accusing the station of a "stitch up".

And why are reminded of this instance? Because of the Premier League's response to Cristiano Ronaldo's dive at Spurs: namely, to ignore the player's offence, as any admission of cheating would damage the league's brand, and blame the furore on Spurs for committing the cardinal sin of showing a replay of the incident at half-time to the poor mugs in attendance at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Asking The Question

At least one man was impressed with Geoff Shreeves' cowardly interview on Sky Sports following ManYoo's dive-assisted win at Tottenham. Instead of requesting Ferguson's view on the match's pivotal moment, the ace interrogator preferred to focus on Fergie's bank balance.

It was all very jolly and certainly met with Ferguson's approval - as the 'interview' ended, the ManYoo manager made a point of patting Shreeves on the back for a job well done. No wonder he was happy. Once again, the tacit threat of a media boycott had got the ManYoo boss off the hook.

As Shreeves wasted no time in demanding Martin Jol's views on the penalty incident, perhaps it's time that his superiors at Sky told their reporter to ask questions of Ferguson regardless of the potential consequences.

Ipswich murders - police release first picture of suspect

Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 1 Middlesbrough

From tottenhamhotspur.com

Robbie Keane scored a dramatic winner with just six minutes remaining after it looked like Middlesbrough might have snatched a point at the Lane.

The team were looking good value for a win when Dimitar Berbatov netted his seventh goal of the season not long after the interval, but dominance was not converted into the currency of further goals and Boro capitalised with an equaliser from Robert Huth.

There thankfully followed some Keano intervention to secure the win and banish some of the hurt from the weekend's defeat.

There was a sprightly start to the game with Jermain Defoe looking his dynamic self linking up with lightening Aaron Lennon either side of Berbatov in attack. There was an early purpose and conviction that was so lacking on Saturday, but the first real high alert was at the wrong end when Yakubu spun and hooked a shot not that far wide of Paul Robinson's right hand upright.

Mark Schwarzer would have been a helpless bystander if a Defoe free-kick from 20 yards out had been a foot lower on 15 minutes, shortly before a Didier Zokora run led to the ball running loose in front of the little striker but Andrew Taylor executed a brave block. Defoe then really tested the Australian keeper with a rasping drive that was just about parried to safety.

The chances were coming thick and fast, but the breakthrough frustratingly elusive in the first 40 minutes, a Defoe dart and shot quickly followed by a rasper from Tom Huddlestone that Schwarzer just managed to tip over the bar.

Boro made a double change at half-time, with James Morrison and Julio Arca introduced for the second half in place of Malcolm Christie and Andrew Taylor. The changes did not turn out to be immediately inspired.

On 47 minutes a Huddlestone free-kick from the left was headed back across goal by Pascal Chimbonda and there followed a moment of class from Berbatov - the striker altering his stance in order to athletically hook the ball beyond Schwarzer and into the net. It was a well deserved breaking of the deadlock in our favour.

Defoe was in position to make it two after busting the Boro rearguard ten minutes into the second period before a last ditch lunge by the hugely impressive Jonathan Woodgate denied Berbatov's sidekick for the night. Defoe went on to pick out Chimbonda running from deep to the far post from a clever free-kick, but the full-back miscued his shot and the only net rattled was the side netting.

Robbo had his palms warmed by a thumping free-kick from Huth on the hour, a passage of play that resulted in Morrison stabbing a shot wide from point blank range.

Huddlestone was an impressive figure in the centre of the park, marshalling the midfield troops but also showing a real willingness to thrust forward in support of the more diminutive threat of messrs Defoe, Lennon and Malbranque.

It was Lennon who was next to produce a moment of magic, brilliantly wrong footing the visiting defence and rolling the ball into the path of Defoe who, unfortunately once again, saw the imposing Schwarzer looming in front of him to make a block.

With the clock ticking down slowly there was always going to be a danger with such a narrow advantage and, with the ball bobbling around in the area following a set piece, Boro levelled with ten minutes remaining when Huth slammed the ball home to give his side an unlikely share of the spoils.

Martin responded by bringing on Robbie Keane for Malbranque and was about to be swiftly followed by Teemu Tainio before Keane took matters into his own hands - or right foot on 84 minutes.

Huddlestone took a short free-kick which took the visitors by surprise and the substitute looked up and smashed the ball from 20-odd yards past Schwarzer and into the net. The goalkeeper will not want to see too many replays.

There was late drama when Zokora and Boateng were dismissed after a melee resulting from a hefty challenge on Lennon and Emanuel Pogatetz was fortunate not to go the same way after a nasty lunge on Huddlestone.

It ended up with a feisty finish and a welcome three points in our account.

Making Your Mind Up

Top story on the official Liverpool website:

'Stevie: We Can't Live Off Memories'

'Steven Gerrard insists he won't be thinking about the 2005 Champions League final when he watches his teammates step out into the Ataturk Stadium tonight.

Next-to-top story on the official Liverpool website:

'Heroes Of Istanbul Reminisce'

'Steven Gerrard doesn't need any help recalling the greatest night of his footballing life.'

A Knight's Tale

Writes the enjoyably-smug Charles Sale in the Daily Mail:

'It doesn't say much for Chelsea's plans for world domination that the Christmas lights in the Fulham Broadway shopping centre, situated just a four-minute walk from Stamford Bridge, are due to be turned on tomorrow by three Fulham players, Claus Jensen, Zak Knight and Luis Boa Morte.'

It doesn't say much for Charles Sale's claim to be Sports Diarist Of The Year that he can't spell 'Zat'.

The Question No-One Is Asking

Are Liverpool absolutely sure this isn't just Mazher Mahmood causing trouble again?

The Premiership Weekend Winners And Losers

The English top flight is in decline. And that's a fact...

Winners

Lovers Of Nil-Nils
The Premiership isn't scoring.

Both The Observer and The Sunday Times carried features this weekend detailing the decline of the Sky-hyped 'Best League in the World'. If goals are an accurate measuring gauge of entertainment, then the Premiership has become the least rewarding major league in Europe.

With an average of 2.14 goals per game this season, the Premiership offers a goal a game less than the Dutch league and half a goal less than the Bundesliga. Whereas 130 Serie A games have produced 328 goals, and 120 La Liga matches have witnessed 295 goals, the Premiership has served up a league record low of 279.

If the current trend is maintained until May then 'the Premiership would register a mere 822 goals, the lowest total by any 20-team league in the past decade and lower than three seasons in Italy when the league contained only 18 teams'.

So why the regression?

Theories abound, although it is undeniable that the Premiership has partly become a victim of its own financial sense. The fear of missing out on the annual £20m TV windfall is acute and corrosive. "There are a number of factors behind this reduction, most notably the fear associated with the loss of league status which permeates the Premiership and leads to negative play," is the much-quoted lament of Charlton chairman Richard Murray.

Tactically, the once blood-and-thunder league has become refined and increasingly negative. 'It is no coincidence that Chelsea's recent ascendancy under Jose Mourinho has marked a new era of caution in the Premiership,' suggests the Sunday Times. Partly because of the Champions League's prioritisation, and partly in an attempt to ape Chelski, both ManYoo and Arsenal have added defensive ballast in recent years. Liverpool, meanwhile, were attracted to Rafa Benitez after his Valencia side won La Liga with just 51 goals in 2001-02.

Approximately half of the Premiership combatants now operate with an auxiliary defender operating in the Claude Makelele role. The 4-5-1 is as familiar as it is restrictive.

The Big Four are also victims of their own success. Teams no longer strive to beat them, instead settling for soporific constraint. Draws at home against a member of the perceived elite are thus celebrated as wins. Real victories spawn inadvertently self-mocking commemorative DVDs.

The decline has also coincided with a sudden shortfall of outstanding goalscorers. Of the Premiership's top ten all-time top scorers, three - Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright - have retired. A fourth, Dwight Yorke, is in the Championship. Robbie Fowler, Teddy Sheringham, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Andy Cole are in the twilight of their career. Thierry Henry is in a slump, Michael Owen a crock.

'Natural goalscorers' are no longer the Premiership's first among equals - this summer, ManYoo swapped the league's number one predator for a superior footballer. A remarkable upshot is the feasibility of this season's Golden Boot winner scoring less than 20 goals.

The losers of this miserable regression are football's most under-appreciated communities.

The first, obviously, is the fans. What hope of achieving value for money when ticket prices and the number of goals hurtle in diametrically-opposed directions?

The second, less obviously, is the league's unfairly-maligned officials.

This season's perceived 'refereeing crisis' is directly linked to the declining number of goals. One of the reasons I am an advocate of the size of goals being made bigger is because it would reduce the significance and critical nature of officialdom's decision-making. In games of four or more goals, their rulings are merely talking points. Managers can hardly bemoan a dodgy penalty when their side have been beaten 4-1. Yet in games averaging 2.14 goals, the decisions of referees and linesmen become match-turners and match-deciders. The situation is as unhealthy as it is fallible.

Too often managers are blaming defeats on officialdom when the real question to be demanded is whether teams are doing enough to win matches.

The depressing answer this season, more often than not, is that they aren't.


Martin Jol
The competition wasn't fierce but Jol was by a considerable margin Tottenham's best performer on Saturday at the Emirates. Eschewing the traditional manager's cop-out, the Tottenham boss refused to bemoan the dubious award of two penalties by Graham Poll and instead bemoaned his side's own failings.

"If we had created four or five good chances ourselves I might be saying the decisions cost us the game, but I would be embarrassed to talk that way when we were so casual," he admitted. 'Casual' was generous; Tottenham were shockingly poor, devoid of ambition or application. In a north London derby, the lack of fight was inexcusable, as criminal as going to the pub without any money.

Jol was equally frank and honest in his admission that Tottenham have taken two steps backwards this season.


Arsenal
Crisis averted, but perhaps only temporarily. Trips to Anfield await in both the FA Cup and Carling Cup, while a defeat in Porto on Wednesday night could result in the Gunners being eliminated from the Champions League. Arsene Wenger's 'moment of truth' has only just begun.


ManYoo
The ends may not justify the means, but, courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo's 'stumble' ManYoo passed another test of their title credentials at Middlesbrough to lead the table by six points. Victory in next Saturday's Manchester derby will result in Chelski trailing by nine points when they face Arsenal a day later.


Reading
A fifth successive victory at Newcastle on Wednesday night could see the Royals climb to third.


Sheffield United
The league table is finally beginning to take credible shape at both ends. The Blades are faring better than expected and, while Charlton and Watford appear doomed, Neil Warnock's side are threatening to relegate one of Newcastle, West Ham or Middlesbrough.


Losers

Bolton Wanderers
The Premiership must in a moribund state when Bolton are a point off third in the table despite scoring less than a goal a game.


West Ham
Ten hours of play have elapsed since the Hammers last scored a goal on their travels.


Charlton Athletic
Having earned a paltry nine points from their first 15 matches, a seven-point deficit to Sheffield United appears unassailable. And that spells relegation.


Thierry Henry
Is it a coincidence that two of the Gunners' best three performances this season have occurred in their skipper's absence? Whether by his presence or by his negative body language, Henry appears to undermine Robin Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor, both of whom excelled against Spurs. Henry's cheerleader routine on Saturday was his first discernable positive contribution as an inspiring captain and, judging by Arsene Wenger's subdued response, still failed to offset the hassle he caused by sulkily storming out of the training ground on Friday.

The irony of Henry claiming he is fit to play is that he has repeatedly complained of requiring a rest following his summer exertions in Germany. The Frenchman has been ordinary this season and appalling against Fulham last week.

Henry's spell on the sidelines may be just what both the player and team require.

Jol on derby defeat

MARTIN JOL was disappointed with his players' effort following Tottenham's 3-0 north London derby defeat against Arsenal on Saturday.

Although all three of Arsenal's goals were controversial after being awarded two penalties and another goal which was offside, the Spurs players did not look like they were up for the challenge of playing their local rivals.

"The two penalty decisions, I think, were wrong," Jol told Sky Sports News.

"The first one wasn't a penalty and the second was maybe handball from Van Persie.

"But I can't complain about that because normally you have some pride if you play well or create four or five chances like we did against the other big teams.

"We didn't do that today, so what can I say? I can't complain about that."

He added: "We have to grow up and develop a good team. We have to get results with this team, that's what we said to the boys as well.

"If you can't compete and don't have a lot of determination in the English league, you can't play here."