My Sporting Lowdown

by Chris Welcome to the nineteenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. Now people have their reasons for being bald. Some by medical disruption, and some by choice, but this clearly has no effect on their footballing ability. Here are three of the very best we've seen in the PL era. If you want me to do more of these slightly more bizarre pieces then do let me know, and if you have any more suggestions for the best bald players there is always a possibility for a part 4! 7: Jose Manuel 'Pepe' REINA His eight years in the Premier League with Liverpool were undoubtedly the best of his career. The Spaniard, son of former Atletico Madrid and Barcelona 'keeper Miguel Reina, made his first team debut in 2000, after becoming yet another product of the famed La Macia academy. He made h...

by Chris Welcome to the eighteenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. So after 69 matches of domestic domination, Celtic finally lost, and in style as Hearts smashed them 4-0 on Saturday. 16 year old Cochran slammed in from long range to put the Jambos ahead, swiftly followed by Northern Irishman Kyle Lafferty drilling in from distance also. David Milinkovic hit a double in the second half to secure Celtic's demise for the first time in Scotland since Ronny Deila was in charge. So who were the heroes who dominated Scottish football for so long? Here are two of the key men over the past two years, and this will culminate in more pieces in the near future. It's easy material guys, come on! ;) Mikael LUSTIG The 6 foot 2 inch right back was an essential piece in Brendan Rodgers's invincibles jigs...

by Chris Welcome to the seventeenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. Now people have their reasons for being bald. Some by medical disruption, and some by choice, but this clearly has no effect on their footballing ability. Here are three of the very best we've seen in the PL era. If you want me to do more of these slightly more bizarre pieces then do let me know, and if you have any more suggestions for the best bald players there is always a possibility for a part 4! 10: Aaron MOOY A very new addition to the league's list, Aaron Mooy has been an essential part of David Wagner's shock start for Huddersfield which sees them sit comfortably on 21 points, and scored twice recently in a very impressive 4-1 win away at Marco Silva's Watford. The Aussie began his career in New South Wales at the NSWIS, befor...

by Chris Welcome to the sixteenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. So after 69 matches of domestic domination, Celtic finally lost, and in style as Hearts smashed them 4-0 on Saturday. 16 year old Cochran slammed in from long range to put the Jambos ahead, swiftly followed by Northern Irishman Kyle Lafferty drilling in from distance also. David Milinkovic hit a double in the second half to secure Celtic's demise for the first time in Scotland since Ronny Deila was in charge. So who were the heroes who dominated Scottish football for so long? Here is one of the key men over the past two years, and this will culminate in more pieces in the near future. It's easy material guys, come on! ;) Craig GORDON Having actually began his career at Hearts, Gordon has certainly had an eventful career. He made 139 appearances for Hear...

by Chris Welcome to the fifteenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. I've been extremely lazy with this blog in the past 6 days, so I need to make up 6 blogs in the next 4 days which means either double or triple headers in the next few days. But in this edition I will be recounting 5 more of the best January transfers in Premier League history. Clint DEMPSEY New England Revolution to Fulham $4m in Jan 2006 At the time Fulham were a club on the up, only 4 years away from their only European final and export, but the American joined his compatriots McBride and Bocanegra at Craven Cottage whilst lingering at the bottom of the Premier League. In that 06-07 season he scored the goal against Liverpool in a 1-0 victory which secured their safety. He was an inconsistent figure in the next few seasons but he fully left his m...

by Chris Welcome to the fourteenth day of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. The January window, since its inception in 2004 has brought an opportunity for struggling clubs to sign players to help them maintain their PL status, or an opportunity for those at the top or in midtable to consolidate and improve their chances. In the Premier League, we've seen plenty of these be successful and here are a countdown of 5 of the best in the previous 14 years. Nemanja MATIC SL Benfica to Chelsea  £21m in Jan 2015 It would be fair to say that Chelsea have made some mistakes when signing and letting players go in recent years, and after an excellent start to the 2014/15 season under Jose Mourinho, the Blues announced that they would see the return of former young defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic, now a little more mature and adept to the Engl...

by Chris Welcome to the twelfth day of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. The Premier League is well documented to not have many English and British managers, with the highest finishing manager from the British Isles finishing 9th, which was Bournemouth's Eddie Howe. Here are some of the football league's most underrated managers who perhaps deserve a chance in the elite of the Premier League, or at least in a higher position than the position they are in. There will be 2 managers per League, containing the reasons why I think they deserve to be higher and why. Sky Bet League Two : Nathan Jones Luton Town manager and former player Jones was appointed manager at the beginning of last year, guiding Luton from a point away from relegation to 11th place in 2015/16. He made his mark on the squad in that particular summer, releasing 12 a...

by Chris Welcome to the eleventh piece and second edition of the day of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future. The Premier League so far has given us thrills to the nth degree. The runaway train of Manchester City, the clinical and destructive Man Utd, the resilience of Arsenal, the form of newly promoted sides Huddersfield and Brighton, and the managerial changes. These have all concocted what has been one of the most exciting to watch seasons in recent years. Here are the 11 players I would say combine to make the Team of the Season so far, but not all are ones that are expected, as I try to combine statistics with importance of the moment. These are the players that have had the biggest impact for me. Formation : 3-5-2 GK - David DE GEA - Manchester United Age: 27 Apps: 16 Clean Sheets: 9 Although De Gea couldn't prevent a Ma...