Michael Somerville

Never afraid of expressing views that provoke debate and banter from passionate football fans; Michael is always interested in finding the alternative angle in a football story. Michael is a double- award winning writer and a third year journalism student in Leicester. He has written about the arts, sports, and current affairs for a variety of print and online publications.

Inter Milan go marching on in style

February 8, 2011

Inter Milan’s resounding 5-3 victory against Roma has led calls that manager Leonardo is starting to put forward his expressive Brazilian roots in his sides’ style of football. Inter was unmistakeably beautiful when going forward, combining precise passing, electrifying pace and incredible accuracy from outside the box (just ask Wesley Sneijder [...]

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Arsene Wenger needs to put up or shut up

December 15, 2010

There is only so much that one can take from another human being before one snaps. I have immense respect for the man from a footballing perspective; he has put so much into the British game as we know it, reforming the entire drinking and dietary culture around the game and contributing a new attacking [...]

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Can the Youngsters rescue English football? Probably not.

August 25, 2010

After scanning the under 21 squad list for the upcoming fixtures against Portugal and Lithuania, I realised that we have a fantastic group of young players. Look at them: Wiltshire! Smalling! Albrighton! Rodwell! Carroll! All these youngsters have shone in the Premier League for their respective clubs, so why can’t they make the step up [...]

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A Great Start for Hodgson at Anfield

August 5, 2010

Roy Hodgson arrived at Liverpool with an awful lot of work to be done at the club. White noise symbolised the confusion and unresolved plans hanging in the air. Nobody knew what would happen with the players, the new stadium and of course those American owners. No Champions League football meant much less money- a mini crisis at Anfield was unfoldi [...]

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Ibrahimovic To Fulham? The Martin Jol Era Begins…

July 19, 2010

It looks highly likely that the new manager of Fulham Football Club will be Martin Jol. Previously sacked by Tottenham after improving the clubs fortunes, Jol has another chance to manage in the Premier League at Craven Cottage. Ajax director Rik Van Den Boog has shown his support and admiration for Jol, pleading with him [...]

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Petition for grassroots overhaul for the FA

July 12, 2010

Let’s stop this England failure from happening again

As another World Cup comes and goes, it’s another disappointment for the ever passionate and loyal England fans.

We’ve heard the excuses from the FA and Fabio Capello. “The players were tired” the manager said. Funny that, because against Germany, England players ran further on av [...]

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Uruguay Break African Hearts

July 2, 2010

Ghana 1 Uruguay 1 Uruguay win 4-2 on penalties The African continent was cheering for Ghana tonight as they just fell short to become the first African team to reach the semi- finals of a World Cup. Uruguay started brightly with feared strike duo Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez linking up with pace, power and [...]

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Germany Vs England- The Big One

June 27, 2010

So here we are. The Big One. There’s no escaping it and there’s no point wishing we could’ve played an easier team, because we didn’t top our World Cup group. Simple. Our opponents are Germany; a team full of individual flair, with particular emphasis on discipline (of course) and creative midfield play. England? We get [...]

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Jermain Man! England Over The Line… Just.

June 23, 2010

England produced an much improved performance to qualify for the World Cup group stages. It could have only got better couldn’t it? England endured a predictably nervy start to their vital game against Slovenia but looked far more imposing in the first 10 minutes-more reminscent of their successfull qualifying campaign. Although England were [...]

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Thought for the Day

June 20, 2010

A friend of mine made an interesting observation about the World Cup. “If the World Cup was played on a five a side pitch then the Japanese or Koreans would win it. If it was played on a bigger pitch then an African team would win it” he said. The size of the pitch has [...]

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Poor England have it all to do

June 18, 2010

England 0 Algeria 0 England produced a highly disappointing and disjointed performance against Algeria that was lacking in ideas, movement and international class. After an early goalkeeping error from the Algeria keeper, Wayne Rooney found Gerrard, but instead of hitting it, the Liverpool man attempted to pass back to Rooney. It was agonising: but [...]

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Terrible France Crash to Loss

June 17, 2010

France 0 Mexico 2 Mexico deservedly beat France to greatly boost their chance of qualifying from their World Cup group. A highly lively first period brought about some good chances for former Barcelona man Gio De Santos but his chance hit the post. He was offside, but Mexico looked dangerous going forward. A great ball [...]

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