#9 A tribute to the greatest striker of my generation!

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima better known as Ronaldo today retired from football at the age 34! In the modern game he may go down as a forgotten man over the last 15 years he was no doubt the greatest forward I've ever seen!



Beginning of his career:

I am too young to say I remember his PSV days but with a goal record of 42 goals in 46 games you can see why he caught the attention of European Giants Barcelona.
What is more impressive is 30 goals came in his first season in 95' with 12 coming in his second season which was cut short with a knee injury that kept him out for the rest of the season.




Barcelona:

With a goal record of nearly 1 in every game played it took a then record fee of $17 million from Bobby Robson's Barcelona to prize him away teaming him up with players such as Ivan del la Pena, Hristo Stoichkov and Guillermo Amor!

The season of 1996 - 97 saw Ronaldo better his goal record from PSV scoring 47 goals in 49 games leading Barcelona to the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) and UEFA Cup Winners Cup; scoring the winner.

At the age of twenty, Ronaldo became the youngest player to win the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and was runner up for the Ballon d'Or - an honour now held play Lionel Messi and in the past has produced winners such as Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo who are among the great players to win this award.

Here is a link for some of the best goals scored by Ronaldo for Barcelona! Goal three and goal four are prime examples of the attributes of Ronaldo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JKf78lVorg

Inter Milan:

Ronaldo's spell at Barcelona was brief and Inter Milan paid $19 million to bring him to the San Siro. It was at Inter Milan where he made the most development as a player, retaining his FIFA World Player of the Year status in 1997 and that year going one better and capturing the Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo helped Inter win the UEFA Cup in his first year, defeating Barcelona on the way and scoring the third goal in the Final. There was no doubt in his time at Inter Milan he was the best player on the planet.

On November 21, 1999, during a Serie A match against Lecce, Ronaldo felt his knee buckle and was forced to limp off the pitch. Medical exams confirmed that the striker had ruptured a tendon in his knee and would require surgery.


In April 2000 on his comeback he played only seven minutes against Lazio before injuring his knee for a second time. Ronaldo would require two further operations and months of rehabilitation and did not return until the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan where Brazil would win their fifth World Cup title.

Here are some of the goals Ronaldo scored for Inter Milan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5JxduLwOo&feature=related

The goal at 1 minute 15 seconds is my favourite Ronaldo goal where he dummies the keeper not once but twice sending him completely the wrong way before going to the keepers right and sliding the ball home into an empty net.

Three's a charm:

After winning the World Cup in 2002; Ronaldo became the World's Most Expensive Player for the third time in his career as Real Madrid paid $39 million to add him to a form an invisible team named as 'Los Galácticos' including Ronaldo, Figo, Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Madrid's own Raul! Later in 2002 he won the World Player of the Year award for the third time - something only Ronaldo and Zidane have done in their careers.

Real Madrid:

Ronaldo did not feature for Real Madrid until October 2002 but his transfer broke shirt sale records in his first day as a Real Madrid player due to the hype and obsession that surrounded such a high quality name and player. On his debut he scored twice and received a standing ovation at the Bernabeu. An ovation similar followed on the last day of the season when two goals (23 for the season) from Ronaldo against Athletico Bilbao secured Real Madrid the La Liga Championship - something Ronaldo did not win during his time at Barcelona.

Something that will always stay in my mind over the career of Ronaldo is the 2nd leg of the Champions League quarter final against Manchester United, which finished 4-3 on the night where Ronaldo scored a fantastic hat-trick - his third a 20 yard screamer flying past Fabien Barthez. Not only was Ronaldo fantastic but the game was one of the best football games I've ever witnessed and one that is sometimes forgotten as a classic! Interestingly this is also the game where David Beckham was left on the bench by Ferguson after the famous 'hairdryer' incident which led to Beckham being sold to Real Madrid where he did play alongside Ronaldo.

Here's the highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA8JjzYMQOA

Talking of David Beckham and his friendship with Ronaldo here is a Facebook post from David Beckham on Ronaldo's retirement.....

Here's the highlights... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA8JjzYMQOA

David Beckham Tribute:

Talking of David Beckham and his friendship with Ronaldo here is a Facebook post from David Beckham on Ronaldo's retirement.....

"I just want to say to my friend Ronaldo what an honour it was playing with him and becoming his good friend... He was not just an amazing person but along with Zidane, one of the most talented and gifted players in football history and I was honoured to have been in the same team as him whilst at Real Madrid...Well done my friend..."

Friendship! Beckham celebrates with Ronaldo at Real Madrid

The Decline:

In 2006 was where Ronaldos career really began to decline; one of the reasons that is sometimes forgotten when you make comparisons to such players like Zidane, Figo and Raul for all-time greats to players now such as Messi, Ronaldo and Kaka! Ronaldo under Capello at Real Madrid was frozen out and complaints where Ronaldo refused to train after injuries and claims of him being over-weight shadowed what had been so far a fantastic career.

In January 2007, Ronaldo agreed to sign for AC Milan where he scored 7 goals in 14 appearances including goals against his former club Inter Milan and is one of the few players to have scored for both teams to have scored for both Milan teams in the derby!

In January 2007, Ronaldo agreed to sign for AC Milan where he scored 7 goals in 14 appearances including goals against his former club Inter Milan and is one of the few players to have scored for both teams to have scored for both Milan teams in the derby!

A year later in February 2008 Ronaldo's career at the top came to an end, suffering another ruptured ligament this time in his opposite knee, the third time he suffered this injury in his career. His career at AC Milan was over and was released at the end of the season after his contract was not expired.

Returning home to Brazil:

In 2009 in an attempt to regain fitness and resume his career at the age of 32, Ronaldo trained with Flamengo and was set to join before in a highly conversational move joined rivals Corinthians in a one year deal. Ronaldo helped Corinthians win the Brazil Cup and finished with 12 goals in 20 games; an impressive come back for a man who was thought would never play again. Just over a year later, today in February 2011 Ronaldo announced his retirement after Corinthians was eliminated in the 2011 Copa Libertadores and threats from Corinthians' supporters.

International Career:

At International level Ronaldo represented Brazil 96 times and scored 67 goals, 15 of those coming in World Cup's which is still a record. Ronaldo won two World Cups in 1994 and 2002 and lost in the World Cup final in 98 to France 3 - 0 in a game that was over-shadowed by the performance of Ronaldo who was not fit and should not have played.

At the 2006 World Cup Ronaldo was once again taking the headlines, jeered by his own fans for being over-weight and slow there were claims Ronaldo should of been replaced. Ronaldo became the 20th ever player to score in three World Cups and became the second player ever to score 3 goals in three World Cups after Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann.

In a career that span from 1993 for Cruzeiro and ended in 2011 back in Brazil at Corinthians, Ronaldo scored 420 goals in 620 appearances and ratio-ed a goal every 0.6 games. Ronaldo is one of two players ever to win the FIFA World Player of the Year three times along with Zinedine Zidane, winning two World Cup medals, La Liga and the UEFA Cup at Inter Milan. The only major honour Ronaldo did not win was the UEFA Champions League; an amazing fact considering he represented the four biggest European clubs outside of England!

A tribute to the greatest striker of my generation!

In my short life time of 21 and a half years I have never seen a striker better - Ronaldo was the complete package, the ideal 'number 9' and the king of the step-overs! His pace, power, skill, ball control and finishing qualities made him unstoppable at times and when the ball was at his feet there was simply no-stopping him! It is a great shame such a wonderfully gifted player and career was cut-short due to three serious injuries, you can only ever imagine what his goal record and honours list would of been like if it had not been for injuring his knee twice at Inter Milan keeping him out for nearly two years!

Ronaldo was my first football hero and to me he is the greatest striker to have ever played the game and the only player I can imagine ever going beyond his abilities is Lionel Messi; who already is the winner of the Champions League and two times FIFA Player of the Year winner at the age of 23! Ronaldo is the best player of the last twenty years and to me - the greatest striker of my generation.

Below shows the stats and figures of his career and surely prove my point.

Club Goal Record:

1993 Cruzeiro 14 (12)
1994–1996 PSV 46 (42)
1996–1997 Barcelona 37 (34)
1997–2002 Inter Milan 68 (49)
2002–2007 Real Madrid 127 (83)
2007–2008 AC Milan 20 (9)
2009–2011 Corinthians 31 (18)
Total 343 (247)

International Caps/Goal Record:
1994–2006 Brazil 97 (62)

Professional career totals:

Clubs: 515 (352) 0.683
National Team: 97 (62) 0.639
U-23 National Team: 8 (6) 0.750
Total: 620 (420) 0.677

#8 Premiership Preview Part Two

After focusing on West Ham's achievements and possible failures and at a Manchester derby which promises to thrill it's time to focus on Manchester United's biggest rivals for the title Arsenal and how a double game week of fixtures could well impact not only the title race but the Champions League and League Cup Final! As well in Part Two I will focus on my main priority Stoke City and how midland rivals Birmingham want to turn the heat on teams above them - starting with a weekend fixture against Stoke!

Firstly let's focus on Arsenal and there chances of finally breaking the four year wait for a trophy! Last week at Newcastle everything started better than even Wenger could have imagined! A Theo Walcott goal after 2 minutes which turned into a dream start being four goals up after just 26 minutes played! A start which lead to some Newcastle fans leaving and some people thinking records were going to be broken with ease! But some how it all went wrong after Abou Diaby reacted to a strong tackle by Joey Barton that led to the French international seeing red! After that, Arsenal hit the destruct button and the Newcastle fans and players seemed to start believing the impossible could happen and as everybody knows... it did & Arsenal lost out on a huge opportunity to close the gap.

This week they have another opportunity, Arsenal play there game in hand against Stoke at The Emirates where you would expect them to beat Stoke. Firstly this weekend Arsenal welcome Wolves to The Emirates who you will expect to put up a good fight after last weeks result against title favourites Manchester United! Just like United, this week is about reaction for Wenger, six points and an injury free week would be perfect for when Barcelona come into town just before Arsenal face Birmingham in seek of there first trophy in four years.

Nobody will no how important the month of February is more than Wenger, he has problems in defense with injuries and any slip ups during the next three weeks could see his team follow the path of the last few years - and would be a flashback of last season after being blown away by Lionel Messi and co at the Nou Camp. Wenger will hope to see his team learn from set backs and show the character and maturity he believes his team now has.

"McLeish looking no further than Stoke"

With a cup final looming at the end of the month of February you cannot blame Blues fans for getting a tiny bit distracted from Premiership survival and dreaming about following there team to Wembley! But one man who is remaining focused on one team and one team only is Alex McLeish! Birmingham who take on Midland rivals Stoke this weekend are looking for back-to-back league wins for the first time in over a year. McLeish may be focused on his team only but after admitting Tony Pulis has done a terrific job at Stoke is McLeish recognising Stoke as the bench mark for all teams fighting against relegation? Birmingham could go within 3 points of Stoke this weekend and has made the point that they are not safe yet, despite sitting 9th in the table only five points behind a top six place.

As a Stoke fan we look at the position as a comfortable one and as we look below we only see Aston Villa as a major threat for taking away the possibility of our first ever top 8 finish in the Premiership! The teams below however, as Birmingham are pointing out this weekend is Stoke City are now a target after finishing no lower than 12th in there first ever seasons in the top flight. People used to say if you finish above Manchester United you win the title, Stoke have now made such an impact on the Premiership teams below them are using them as a benchmark "If you finish above Stoke you stay up comfortably".

This may sound like a touch of complacency from a Stoke fan who goes by the motto of "The league table does not lie". I know Stoke City are not the best but we are certainly not the worst but in 9th place may be we are punching above our weight and as long as we are doing so, us fans are going to enjoy every moment of it! One man who knows this better than me and better than anyone in Stoke-on-Trent is the man who deserves all the credit! Manager Tony Pulis this week has vowed not to let complacency become an issue.

Pulis told Sky Sports "there is no way we are letting up until we get there there's no way in a million years I'll be thinking of anything else. Have a look at the teams down there and the clubs who have been relegated in the last four or five years. Nobody in this city should take Premier League football for granted"

Exactly the words of a man who knows Stoke may have achieved great things in the past two seasons but so far Stoke City Football Club has achieved nothing yet this season! Teams may be using Stoke as a bench mark for survival but you can guarantee the man underneath the hat and the Stoke City Adidas tracksuit is doing everything possible to make that bench mark as high as it can possible be at the the end of May!

#7 Premiership Preview Part One

In the first part of the Premiership Preview I will focus on the letters of West Ham United that may spell "The New Stadium" but back in reality there current league position spells "relegation!" My second point focuses on Manchester! Apparently something big is about to go down and what ever it is... I hope it lives up to expectation!

In the second part of the Premiership Preview the focus will be on a Midlands derby where it's Birmingham's quest to make rival's Stoke sweat & Arsenal's double week which could prove vital to three trophies and not just six points.

Let's start with the biggest headline of the week, Friday 11th February saw 'The OPLC' confirm in a news conference that West Ham have won unanimous approval to move into the Stratford venue following the 2012 Games after they were judged to have fulfilled more of the criteria set by the organisation than Tottenham.

To me, it was not a real shock! It's pretty obvious the right decision was made! Not just because West Ham have vowed to keep the running track and the facilities to hold athletics but because of where the stadium is situated. How would it be possible to have Tottenham Hotspur in Stratford and not Tottenham? That would make a North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham situtated in the East of London! There is simply no logic!

Now I'm happy the decision is the correct one, Tottenham were simply using the Olympic Stadium as a way to further the development of there club! They were not thinking anything else other than a fantastic business opportunity. Spurs believe they need a world class stadium in order to compete for years to come! Arsenal and Manchester City are prime examples; both clubs have benefited a great deal financially due to the appeal a top stadium brings! Think about it, where would Manchester City be without the development of the Commonwealth Games stadium in Manchester and turning it into a much larger stadium capable of landing foreign investment like they did! This is exactly what Tottenham wanted and this proved to be Spurs downfall as they were beaten by a much better package offered by West Ham!

However despite the positives it brings to everybody involved with West Ham, with the exception of some proud loyal fans who believe Upton Park is there home, I can find some negative points of West Ham's fortunes! This new stadium is a long way away, football clubs are based on results not stadiums and West Ham United currently sit bottom of the Premiership! Defeat to West Brom this weekend could be a huge reality check for Karen Brady and owners David Sullivan and David Gold who have put so much time and effort into securing a world class home for the future maybe they now need to focus on the present day.

Karen Brady may have shrugged off questions about relegation and purely focused on the positives a new stadium brings but it's now time for the board to take a back seat and let the players and manager do the talking on the pitch! But to me, these board members are ones that like publicity and the spotlight, if West Ham are beaten tomorrow and continue to be in the relegation zone in March... don't expect this board to take a back seat, it's just not how they do things!

Now then, that is my rant over with, let's focus on a weekend of Premiership football! Apparently... something big is happening in Manchester tomorrow?! I looked up FC United's fixture and they play Whitley at home.. that isn't it. Maybe a sale in the Trafford Centre? But that can't be it, January is over, winter wardrobes are a thing of the past and the biggest brands are now introducing Spring and Summer outfits, so that can't be it. Maybe I was close with the word Trafford? Maybe it's something that's gone back many many years! An old rivalry now more fierce than it's ever been! That's right, tomorrow sees the blue of Manchester lock horns with the Red side of Manchester in a game where things could get tighter than ever, or it becomes a two horse race between two giants both in red and leaving the blues behind!

Last week we saw the red side of Manchester who top the table lose there unbeaten record to the team who were bottom of the table.. yeah you read that right - football is a funny old game sometimes!

Now this weekend it just so happens just when Sir Alex Ferguson will want a reaction from his players that the next game see's them face there now multi-million air rivals who are looking to feed on any scraps left behind by a pack of Wolves last week! A team full of talent and lead by a former Manchester United hero who was deemed not worthy enough of £25 million! After a hat-trick last week Carlos Tevez will be seeing red tomorrow and leading his team into battle against a team and manager who just love to rise to a big occasion! I am not going to predict the score, and I am not going to point out where it can be won and lost because as a Stoke City fan I'm struggling to care :D

However, tomorrow I will wake up a neutral and hope to watch this two teams tear each other apart in a full blooded Manchester Derby that really could live up to the hype after last seasons thrilling 4-3 encounter which saw Michael Owen score the winner in injury time!

#6 MY THOUGHTS ON.... Denmark 1 England 2

The first England friendly of the year produced a two one away win in Denmark after going behind early on and a goal either half from Aston Villa pair Darren Bent and Ashley Young. On paper it's a good result and I feel like I should be writing a real positive blog entry on the performance and how it shows hope and improvement... but I'm still far from convinced over the future of England under Capello.

I will start with a positive - how impressive is Jack Wilshire?! You would not believe that was his first England start! It really shows that he already has Champions League experience and has played in the biggest and most competitive matches in the Premiership against all the top clubs. To me that is vital for a young player and there are not enough young players in this country who have this experience! Joe Hart is perhaps the only other young International player to consider himself a regular starter in such high profile games.

For this Arsenal and Arsene Wenger deserve a lot of credit for the way Jack has developed and become such a quality player already at still only nineteen years of age! His first touch is fantastic, he gets his head up quickly and uses the ball in a confident fashion. One attribute that stands for me already is his ability to use both feet and not the outside of his foot like Gerrard and Lampard constantly have done for years! The ability to use both feet instantly opens up the pitch and his awareness of what is around him is first class! You can tell he plays in the same club side as Cesc Fabregas who I rate the best and most complete central midfielder in the Premiership! This can only be a positive for Jack and England in the future.

There were three more players who impressed me in this friendly and they were Darren Bent, Ashley Young and Scott Parker who finally got a chance to prove to Capello they are good enough when fans have been saying this for nearly 18 months! Ashley Young took his goal very well and Darren Bent got into the positions you expect him to get into as a number nine; as shown by his goal. Scott Parker stood out for me in midfield in the second half! His ball retention is second-to-none, he dictates the way the game is played and as usual when there was an opportunity to get forward he did and supported the front players well. In my opinion all three players should of gone to the World Cup.. End of!

The reason I'm not seeing more than a couple of positives from this performance from this performance is simple.. this is a friendly and when it comes to the next qualification game this game will be forgotten by everybody but the fans! Yes Capello will have been impressed with players who have not featured much under him and here comes that word... BUT! Capello will still go with the try and trusted players of his reign and every other manager England have had since Sven Goran Erikkson. Gareth Barry and captain Rio Ferdinand (if fit) will all return to the team for competitive matches alongside Terry, Lampard, Rooney and Ashley Cole and we probably won't see players such as the three previously mentioned and Stuart Downing who showed real signs of intent when he replaced Theo Walcott on the right hand side and may be disappointed he did not produce a better final ball to Ashley Young on the counter attack.

England's place in the Euro's in 2012 is already in the bag. England will qualify at a canter and Capello will be happy and seek improvement for the 2nd major tournament of his reign - and of course all the hype will come from the media mentioning England's chances. But fans have heard it all before - if Rooney fires we score goals, Gerrard is the main man and we have four of the best defenders in Europe... YAWN! After such disappointment in the World Cup they will be a lot less expectation from fans about us really being good enough to beat teams such as Spain, France and Germany. Because let's face it.. England fans will always remember the World Cup group stage and how embarrassingly easy Germany teared us to pieces with an absolute master class performance!

I hope I'm wrong about Capello! Jack Wilshire will continue to grow and impress, Darren Bent will continue to score goals from less than 6 yards and I hope players such as Young, Dawson, Parker, Wilshire, Bent, Baines and Downing continue to perform and ask questions of England players who have more than there fair share of opportunities to win competitions and have no performed when it matters!

#5 Update on 'The Bubble' Where it goes from here....

For a while now I've been thinking about how I can take this blog and my ambitions to the next level! I have always want to design my own template but I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty clueless where to start! I have now come to the conclusion I need someone to know what they are doing & my search for a willing graphic designer has begun!

I was linked to href="http://www.rugbydump.blogspot.com" earlier by a friend and was really impressed with just what you can do with this website! Especially the "home" "subscribe to posts" & "the follow on twitter" tabs! This is something I would really like to bring in in the future and use this blog as an official website rather than actually making my own website which can be tedious and frustrating!

I also want to look into making a 'Facebook' page for 'The Bubble' where instead of using my own Facebook I can post the blog entries from this site and can also link my Twitter towards it. That would give people the opportunity to people to write feedback and it would give me somewhere to post 1st draft, 2nd drafts and the final design! That would leave my Facebook as my own Facebook where I can post my own comments and opinions and allows me to use it for what a Facebook page should be - stalking peoples lives and finding out things you wouldn't know other wise :D

The features so I have I have thought of are as followed....

The life of a Stoke City fan - In an interview style asking friends and fellow Stoke City fans questions such as "First hero" and "Very first memory". This would be a different Stoke City fan each issue.

The life of a Cystic Fibrosis patient - Which would be written as a day-by-day experience in a blog format by my sister who lives her life everyday with the disease. This could be written as a day blog or a week-by-week experience.

The Real World: Life after university: This would be in an interview with a student who has graduated and is now finding their feet in the 'Real World' talking about subjects such as finanical difficulties, finding a job, moving home and there ambitions for the future.

More to be added.....

#4 CAPTAIN AMERICA TRAILER! **** YEAAAHHH!!! :D

So this blog maybe be about what goes on in my head, but jeeezzz Captain America trailer has got me excited! The first avenger! Heelll yeaaah :D

Oh. There was a Thor trailer too. Which was no where near as cool!

#3 King Kenny, Chelsea and Wilshire as a Defensive Midfielder?

I'll start with my growing respect for King Kenny who ever since he has returned to manage Liverpool he has handled the club the way a club like Liverpool should be handled! Something I never ever liked about the way Rafa Benitez handled his press conferences, interviews and how he never acknowledged a mistake by him or his players. Kenny ever since he has returned has made his return about one thing, Liverpool Football Club!

The way he has handled the Fernando Torres saga is a classic example about how you handle a transfer when a player leaves, he's left and if you bring in one, or in this case two players to replace him you concentrate on them and what they bring to the club! Jamie Carragher mentioned this as well, Torres is not the first player to leave Liverpool he won't be the last, star players such as Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen have all left and returned with other clubs but the club and the fans will never leave - which proves the meaning of YNWA!

Next point is Chelsea, they were poor against Liverpool, Essien and Lampard were no where to be seen and I don't think John Obi Mikel is in the category of World Class when it comes to defensive midfielder players! That is one area I think they need to improve in the summer, the pressure needs to be taken off Lampard and I believe Essien is better suited to being a defensive midfielder where he can break up the play rather than dictate the tempo of the game.

In The Observer I read something quoted by Fabio Capello regarding Jack Wilshire and playing him as a defensive midfielder.... and I won't lie, it horrifies me! Because this too me, means Jack Wilshire is going to be playing a 4-4-2 formation alongside with Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, neither who are playing well at the moment! Personally, this shows me Fabio Capello does not have a clue how to move this England team forward, but knows Jack Wilshire needs to be a central figure in his preparation for the European Championships.

What Wilshire will give England is the ability to unlock a defense, but the old expression 'you're only as good as the players you play with' comes to mind with this England team, where good players often disappoint after so much expectation! Jack Wilshire plays along side technically brilliant footballers such as Cesc Fabregas and Samri Nasri in his Arsenal team where keeping the ball and short passes in compact areas are what they do in there sleep. This is not how England play but it is how they need to play if they are ever to compete with the European giants and if they are do that, Jack Wilshire cannot be employed as a defensive midfielder!

#2 Drogba Anelka Torres = Creamfest

"If you can't stop him... sign him"

So the Sky Sports creamfest over Torres has begun, a video package highlighting Torres being the key to 'rebuilding the new Roman era' which was built many years ago when Roman arrived!

This now leaves Drogba, Anelka and Torres as a front three or a diamond with Anelka playing in the lines between the forwards and the midfield! This may suit Anelka who is more suited to playing with his front to goal rather than his back! This front three is basically what me and a close friend would call... a creamfest! It ticks all the boxes, it makes opposition fans and defenders shiver! It also makes Chelsea the ultimate team on 'paper' and you can bet there are a lot of wagon jumpers already on Football Manager 2011 and FIFA 2011!

There may just be one defender in this country who isn't shivering and is going to love the challenge of stopping El Nino and his Chelsea team mates and that is scouse legend and has hard as they come... Jamie Carragher who returns for Liverpool today. If you could bet on specials such as Fernando Torres being dumped on the floor in the first couple of minutes... there would be one name at the top of the list with very short odds... Jamie Carragher!

#1 Getting started and tomorrow! (well when I wake up it will be offically tomorrow)

So I have decided that each post will have an issue number. That way every post has an identity and is easy to refer to, for me as the poster and for like the four people that will read this lol! :)

This issue of The Bubble is called 'Getting started and tomorrow (well when I wake up it will be officially tomorrow)'. Getting started basically refers to how I'm going to use this blog which I've kind of posted already but the main use of this blog is so I can have almost like a template of a magazine, but in a blog format! & by the summer I want my own template designed to perfection for a magazine that I will be publishing once a month in a digital capacity and one print out for myself to keep.

& the second part of this issue is about tomorrow! Just your standard Sunday in the life of Andrew (referring to myself in the third person is weird :s). Basically - move out of bed around 1 o'clock and watch football until it's time for a Sunday dinner! #I<3Sundays! :D

Now tomorrow is the first Ford Super Sunday without Andy Gray and Richard Keys on Sky Sports! which I won't lie, I'm amazingly happy about because Richard Keys is basically a puppet to make Andy Gray look good! Which don't work because everyone has an opinion - normally the opposite of Andy Gray because he's a douche!! So I'm firstly interested to see how it works and if Jeff 'The Legend' Stelling takes over Richard Key's role as the broadcaster and who is going to take over the role as 'there number 1 analyst' with the arrows and the 'talking points'.

Secondly... it's going to be all about one man tomorrow - Fernando Torres. Who is probably going to be the biggest TT (Trending Topic) on Twitter all afternoon, because that is how much the nation is going to talk about him and this match between his new club Chelsea and his old club Liverpool. The thing that tickles my pickle is... Sky Sports cream all over Torres and Liverpool at the best of times, maybe more than any other player or club in the Prem since Ronaldo left Manchester United. So now that he has joined Chelsea - will Sky Sports remain the same or will they change there view point? Because let's face it, Chelsea are not all that popular in this country (IMO) and very rarely have televised games on Sky unless there big games against United, Arsenal or Liverpool!

Personally, there is going to be one other player who may star tomorrow and that is Luis Suarez - Liverpool's new number 7! (yeah! it's a big deal) Personally I think he's a star and we will see how he goes on against Terry and Chelsea's other new signing David Luis - who is also a big deal - apparently! My bet is Suarez might just out stage everyone and King Kenny may have himself a little gem!

That is all!

Change of profile & approach!

Just a few changes for this blog, which I have kind of disowned slightly! This blog is now my homepage, it's no longer Google or Facebook! This blog is where everything that goes through my head - which once upon a time got called 'The Bubble' lol. Because I do kind of live in one!

So now all my posts will be posted to facebook or twitter, well the ones i want posted! :)

This allows me to rant, rant and rant :D without character limits! & all things put on here will be my own personal opinion - as I my own person :D This blog used to be kind of structured and was based on essays which were well written and justified opinions, but, in the recent times I have decided to go away from writing articles with 'structure' and to just put down thoughts... a bit like answering the question of 'whats on your mind' from facebook when you update a status! That way, I can just post blog posts .. of thoughts and not have to cover all the angles etc etc!