Chatter from the sidelines
- Southampton are now above every player/manager that left the club last summer oh when the Saints come marching in. I tell you don't sleep on Southampton
- Toronto FC to announce Sebastian Giovinco as its newest player early next week, Sportsnet has learned. Story to follow on Sportsnet.ca From Juventus to Toronto FC? What?!
- AFCON has its own youtube channel! Check it out here
- For AFCON news there's asubreddit
- Ian Ayre: Steven Gerrard Conceivably Could Return To Liverpool On Loan nah, mates, let him go. We have to get used to life without him, and you get the feeling that other players are now coming forward as leaders. Like Emre Can
- Liga - Pep Guardiola: Fernando Torres is perfect fit for Atletico Madrid We're a match made in heaven, if they wanna talk let 'em
- Does Louis van Gaal really not care for reputations? Manchester United's tactics don't show it... haven't been following Manchester United as I should do, but fans were mad yesterday
- Big guns ready to fire as La Liga reaches halfway mark it's do or die
- Bastian Schweinsteiger to shine, predicts Pep Guardiola
Pictures

Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool. Borini scored a goal. A bit of a glory hog, NGL and I have issues that are too long for this post, but a win is a win

Moreno really wants to be another Bale. You know what boo, that's okay. But I wish you'd position more. Can, I am in raptures over Can. Coutinho was doing the business, and Migs had his best game for a while. He's getting his swagger back

Seriously, Migs was bossing his line, giving people what for

Yellow cards for all of you, celebrating with fans! It was a good match, in that LFC looked as if they were playing as a team and that the players liked each other. Moving on!
Tottenham Spurs 2- Sunderland 1

To be a Spurs fan means that you have to invest in a defibrillator. No such thing as an easy three points. Nope, you agonise over the 90 mins, and then Erikson saves you with a win

Lloris is class, made important saves at the end of the match

Vertonghen scored twice- but the last goal was disallowed for being offside
They called this offside

The face of an aggrieved man
Swansea 0 -5 Chelsea

Oscar drew first blood in the first 80 seconds of the game
Diego Costa, henceforth known as Fred Flintstone, got in on the action
A proper mauling, even Schlurre got a look in

I really like Chelsea's kit this season!
Newcastle 1- Southampton 2

Ejero Elia is a new addition to the Saints. Off field his antics are similar to Balotelli's on field, his form is sublime. Notched two goals in

Elia and Koeman- Elia made his maiden debut in the PL yesterday and ohhh, what a debut. Clinical finishing, killer instinct. Crisp moves. I'm impressed

Impressed enough not to through shade at that ratty perm he's rocking on top of his head
Southampton is higher placed than the players who left them (Lovern, Lallana, Lambert) and the manager (Pochettino). They also make their own kit

This is their third kit. Their home kit - red and white stripes, second kit a deep blue with yellow highlights and this their third. All their kits are pretty handsome
Top four, champions league, here they come!
QPR 0 -2 Manchester United

Before I launch into the match, get a load of this

I didn't watch the match, but my timeline was livid.

They won, but people weren't convinced?
Heard that Falcao missed? He can do at times, but he tends to give ace assists
Falcao and Valdes. I wonder if Rooney is learning Spanish

Looking like one of those prompt pictures on tumblr. "Write 1000 words or more on this picture then submit link to X!"
Leciester City 0- 1 Stoke
Stoke won - Bojan scored the only goal in the match
The game seemed to be relatively even, I hear
Bojan has scored 4 goals for Stoke this season. Yeah yeah, but the real question is--- has he found a violin teacher as yet?
Burnley FC 2- 3 Crystal Palace
I follow Burnley, because they are a small Northern team, with solid English players and I appreciate their manager, Dyche
Ings has scored seven goal for Burnley FC this season. All right, now
Dwight Gale on it for Crystal Palace!
Other Leagues

The Bundesliga season doesn't start until the end of January. So the teams are having friendlies to get themselves back into the swing of things. Tin Tin's first sighting on the field was yesterday

Dortmund's yellow and black have grown on me, probably because I'm a Hufflepuff in nature, tbh

I don't know how the game went, forgive? I was trying to follow LFC and Spurs at the same time

Rues got stuck in, as they say

Someone on this comm is into Drum, so here

Bayern Munich was supposedly out and about yesterday. Pictures are at a premium. I laugh and side eye

The ones I find are all Gotze, and uhhh no
Atletico Madrid: Training Day

One of the upsides of Torres going back to Atletico Madrid, is the fact that you can get more pictures of the players on a whole now.

Mandz and Torres might play together tonight, pass it on!

Ah yes, where was I? The good thing about Torres coming back is that you're getting more pictures of everyone? Remember last year how I struggled to get pictures of Atletico Madrid, to the point of having to recycle the old ones?

Not anymore! Because Torres is a person of interest

I can wallpaper my room with them now- if I believed in wallpaper
OP: Thank you for reading! Although it's light on news and heavy on pictures. The usual applies- any broken links, corrections, interesting articles etc please leave at the end of the post and I will amend in due course! I'm going on a hike now, and I can't tarry. Oh, Spanish speakers, please explain the term remontada to me? I think I'm missing something. Sorry for the lack of tags. Can't see them from my laptop! Will do later! Or if someone can tag them for me, I'd be grateful!