“I would never give driving lessons to women,” said Arshavin last year.

“We need to build new roads for them. Why? Because you never know what to expect from a woman on the road.

“If you see a car behaving weirdly, swerving and doing strange things, before you see the driver you know it is a woman. It is always a woman.

“I struggle with the parking. I can’t park where I want, I’m not used to this,” complained Arshavin.

“Then there’s the congestion charge. It’s not the money I object to but all the things you have to do – codes to enter, SMS messages you have to send, etc.”

Now, after his latest car accident, Arshavin remained positive and said: “It was a sunny day here in London and even a small traffic accident that has happened to Yulia and me, wasn’t able to spoil our spring mood.

“The second car involved got slightly scratched and my car’s bumper got damaged.

“It took us five minutes to solve this problem, we exchanged our data and left.

“Good luck on the roads!”

Of similar interest to Revs fans is the news that eleven-year MLS veteran and nine-year Revolution defensive stalwart Jay Heaps will provide the color commentary on CSN, alongside play-by-play man Brad Feldman.  Heaps fills the position that had been occupied by Greg Lalas last season when WSBK TV-38 broadcasted the games in New England.

Revolution Chief Operating Officer Brian Bilello said on the deal: “We are very excited to partner with Comcast SportsNet to bring the Revolution in high definition to our fans across New England.  Having high-definition television telecasts was one of our priorities this year, and Comcast SportsNet has been a market leader in sports programming for many years.”

CSN also reaches more households than last season’s TV-38 did.  Bilello touts this point, saying, “Comcast SportsNet is a true regional player, reaching four million homes throughout New England, which allows us to expand the geographic distribution of our matches to more fans.

“Comcast SportsNet also has an impressive lineup of ancillary sports content. Taken together, this is a tremendous partnership for both the Revolution and Comcast SportsNet.”

Amongst said “ancillary sports content” are a couple other soccer ventures; CSN has similar deals with DC United and San Jose Earthquakes in 2010.  It also has shown a handful of live UEFA Champions League games this European season.

The deal is important for the Revolution, who play in a league whose television revenues are dwarfed by many top leagues around the world.  It was only 2007 when every MLS game was televised for the first time in the league’s history.

Yet, MLS has been building a respectable resume in this arena since then.  A recent milestone was the record-breaking TV audience for the MLS Cup this past November.  The Revolution have provided the latest brick by completing this deal.

Now all we need is an adept commentator partnership to make us feel even better about it.  Hopefully Jay Heaps is as reliable a commentator as he was a defender.

Brown fell to the ground immediately and a foul was called, but no card was given to Gerrard. After viewing the play, the lack of a card for Gerrard likely meant that both the referee and the referee’s assistants didn’t fully see the play.

Gerrard was quickly subbed out by Liverpool before further reviews or action could be taken by the referees.

However, the FA has the ability to go back and review malicious plays such as this one, and it is entirely possible that within the next few days we learn that Steven Gerrard has been suspended for this incident.

What do you think? While watching this game on television I didn’t notice anything between Gerrard and Brown leading up to the elbow, so it is hard to say that Gerrard’s elbow was retaliatory.

Should Gerrard be punished and suspended by the FA? Watch the video below and make up your own mind, and give us your thoughts in the comments section below!

“So take him anyway. If the greatest worth David Beckham had to England was as mentor, ambassador, old head, voice of experience and arm round the shoulder of the younger players, then put him on the plane as just that,” wrote Samuel.

“He can no longer lead by example on the field but his most useful role for England had evolved beyond the diameters of the pitch,” continued Samuel. “Capello selected Beckham because he judged his influence to last longer than 90 minutes. He rated him the best professional in his squad, in the way he trained, the way he worked on his conditioning, his influence on the rest of the group.”

While the plan makes sense on paper, Beckham’s mere presence around Major League Soccer is also a consideration. Like Martin Samuel’s suggestion, the Los Angeles Galaxy signed Beckham for more than his on-pitch performances. The former England captain is a commercial asset for the team and the league, and as long as he finds himself sitting on benches across the country then fans will flock to see him in the flesh.

Bolton’s Stuart Holden, formerly of the Houston Dynamo, recently stressed Beckham’s importance to the league. “He brought a buzz to the game. When you think of the world’s most famous players, he’s probably right at the top of that list.

“His influence at the Galaxy was immense. He sold season tickets, merchandise and shirts when he first arrived, but didn’t really inspire many results on the field,” said Holden.

For now Beckham’s future remains uncertain, but you can be rest assured that we haven’t heard the last of David Beckham.

“If you give up after 80 minutes then you cannot be a player,” said Bendtner.

“We showed great character as we did against Stoke City and we are going to keep on doing this.

“I always believe until the last minute that we can do it because I have seen it so many times.

“We pass the ball around and you think it’s over but then we score a goal out of nothing. I always had that belief and I think the rest of the team had it and that showed again.

“We said to each other before the game that we were going to have to be patient because they were going to put a lot of men behind the ball when they don’t have it.

“Even when they got the red card, they defended really well.

“It was important for us to keep going and even in the 90th minute of the game you can still score.”

Bendtner started off his great week with his first professional hat trick, which came in a crucial Champions League encounter against Porto. The Gunners now find themselves fighting on two fronts, with both the Premiership and Champions League within their reach. Arsenal has eight games remaining in their domestic campaign as they await Friday’s Champions League quarterfinal draw.

“This is the greatest opportunity in the world and it is my favorite competition,” said Ancelotti.

“I want my players to go on the pitch and show their quality. I don’t need ­anything else from them. They should show their quality, play football, play together, stay compact. Nothing else.

“I would like to play in a game like this. I would like to play the game tomorrow. I want my players to go on the pitch and be confident. To do everything they can to seize the ­moment.

“The worst ­scenario is when one team lose this game they go out of the Champions League. This is the worst scenario because I want to stay in the Champions League until the final. This is the worst draw for us but it was also the worst draw for Inter,” continued the Italian.

“The most ­important thing is not to score too early. We will start the game to score, for sure that is the most important thing.

“We must defend well, to prevent counter-attack, to keep the team in balance for 90 minutes.”

Ancelotti also cited his anticipation of facing former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who will be managing at Stamford Bridge for the first time since his controversial departure. The Blues manager is confident the self-proclaimed Special One will receive a warm welcome.

“There will be good ­emotions to meet Mourinho again – but they are focused on the game and will not let it get in the way.

“I’m sure they’re not d­istracted by his return. For Mourinho, it will be a special evening.

“I do think the fans will give him a very good reception – one he deserves.”

The likes of Xabi Alonso, Raul Albiol, Karim Benzema, and former FIFA World Player of the Year Kaka were not sufficient additions to Real’s collection. Hence, the Madristas went to the Northwest of England to snap up Manchester United superstar and then reigning FIFA Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.

As we all know, the amount spent on Ronaldo created a world record for the acquisition of a single player in the history of football. But let’s get back to talking about Manchester, because that is the other location where player after player was being unveiled. And no, we’re not talking about Manchester United.

Instead, we are talking about their city rivals – Manchester City – who have had enough of staying in the shadows of England’s most celebrated outfit. As they prepared for the 2009-10 Premier League season by welcoming a host of household names at the Eastlands, the Sky Blues announced their intentions to somehow overhaul United to become the leading team in Manchester.

Unfortunately, all they could take away from United was Carlos Tevez. The same can be said about Real Madrid as they could only take away Cristiano Ronaldo from the Old Trafford outfit, which continued to thrive. Considering Manchester City’s inconsistent showing in the league throughout the season as well as Real Madrid’s embarrassing elimination in both the Copa Del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, both the teams are far from where they should be following huge investments. In hindsight, critics have enough of a reason to make the duo of cash kings the subject of many a banter in the coming days.

But here’s my rebuttal: give them some time. Believe it or not, the investment will pay off in both cases – and we are already seeing glimpses of brilliance. Those who believe that cash alone can’t cut it are jumping to naive conclusions. If you think about it long and hard, the amount of cash that has been splashed this time around in such a drastic economic downturn is not just a result of poor financial management.

Instead, the reason why the spending of this magnitude has taken place is because finally, Real Madrid are ready to pose a serious challenge to the dominance of their treble-winning rivals in Barcelona. Also, it is finally Manchester City’s time to at least make their presence felt in the Northwest.

Following their overhyped spending period, Manchester City flirted with the Premier League title for quite some time. As soon as they saw that the club was heading in the wrong direction under Mark Hughes, they replaced him with Roberto Mancini. While Mancini hasn’t succeeded in sparking the plug on a persistent challenge for the Premier League title, he has nevertheless made City a legitimate contender for Champions League qualification. That shows that the upper management at the club is well in control of the team’s affairs, and to be fair to them, when they took Carlitos away from United, they made it a point to ensure that he became one of the league’s most entertaining players during his stint at the City of Manchester Stadium.

The upper management at Real Madrid has been a victim of political disagreements in recent years, which means that it is a lot more difficult for those in control to lead the club solely from a football perspective. Every time a presidential election is around the corner, all it comes down to is the players that a certain candidate can sign.

Once the elected president succeeds in putting together his desired roster, the team’s playing style usually gives out a feeling that a bunch of big names are playing together just for the sake of it. This year, when the Galacticos era was brought back, the detractors held on to the notion that nothing significant would be different at the club.

The fact that Los Blancos are already out of both the domestic cup and the Champions League has once again brought about apprehensions that this will be yet another trophyless season at the Santiago Bernabeu. But it is important to remember that Real Madrid are still very much alive in the race for the La Liga title as they share the summit of the table with Barca.

All they need is to snatch the title away from the Catalans, and since it’s highly improbable that Barca will retain the Champions League title, Real could still go on to become the top team in Spain as soon as this summer. Not too shabby, right?

In a nutshell, I acknowledge neither Manchester City nor Real Madrid have claimed a return on their gargantuan investments just yet. However, my point is that those who accuse them of failure so early in the day are not realizing that such large sums of money don’t often return home overnight.

No doubt, it will take time for both teams to fully achieve their objectives, but at the end of the day, considering how much talent is present within their ranks, the arrival of glory is only a matter of time.

Ribery was formally approached by the ownership of Bayern Munich regarding a contract extension as they hope to sign the winger to a long term deal. However, Ribery told the club to wait until the end of the season to discuss a future deal. Ribery has been linked to Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Chelsea this season, and it is assumed that at least all three clubs will make an offer for Ribery once the transfer window opens.

Ribery’s decision to wait until the end of the season to discuss a new contract  is curious. For starters, Ribery cannot claim to be waiting until the end of the season because he doesn’t want it to become a distraction for the team. His proposed move to Madrid have already become headline news and a distraction for Bayern, and putting off definitive career deciding talks for another few months will only increase speculation.

While I can understand that it is important for Ribery to be focusing on football at the moment and not contract negotiations, rebuffing Bayern Munich does nothing to ease their worries over whether or not he will leave this summer.

Franz Beckenbauer said of Franck Ribery “We should definitely lean a long way out of the window to keep hold of him.”

Ribery has scored three goals for Bayern Munich this season.

“Gabby has obviously improved since he was a kid and first came into the Villa side. He has got stronger for a start and his technique is improving,” said the Villa boss.

“When you get to the 22-23 age bracket, you would think that players would maybe not be able to improve their technique anymore.

“But I think you only have to look at Wayne Rooney. He has said he has started practising heading goals to make himself the complete player and I think there are lessons to be learnt.

“I think he is capable of getting 20 goals a season. I wouldn’t put it past him. Sometimes, you can learn the knack of scoring what you would consider tap-in goals.

“Little rebounds off keepers, once you have added two or three of those a season to your list of goals, gives you the confidence from being in the six yard box and being comfortable inside the six-yard box.”

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“It’s too soon to talk, I honestly think that we’re going to be fourth, but for me Champions League qualification isn’t so important.

“The really important thing is that the club makes a big effort and brings in important players, who will improve the quality of the squad. We need four or five top-class players to compete, better than we have here, who will make us grit our teeth and do everything we can to try and keep our places.

“Without reinforcements next year we will once again be fighting to be fourth. I want to fight next year to win the Premier League, to win the Champions League or the Europa League, but for this there have to be signings.”

Torres went on to warn Liverpool fans and management that without new signings he could be on the way out.

“There are so many circumstances and so many things that you have to take into account that it is too soon to talk about that. But I have this and three more years of my contract.

“I’ve left my home and it’s clear that I owe Liverpool many things, and I’m very happy here. The fans have treated me like one of their own, but I’m going to think about my future and hopefully it will be here. I think these fans deserve to win.

“Beyond thinking about me, I think the club deserve to get back to winning (trophies), but they know themselves that right now that it’s far off.

“The fans are worried about players going, it’s a problem when you start to fear that your players are going because you know it’s because the club is not moving forward, but I don’t think that is going to be the situation here.

“Since the arrival of (managing director) Christian Purslow Liverpool have had an important boost, we signed with a big-money sponsor to match Real Madrid, then things are going to go forward.”

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