BLACK

Just a reminder/admonishment as spring is blooming to stop and smell the roses.... the window of opportunity for ideas and refreshment will soon be closing for many high school staffs in the coming weeks.

What am I talking about? Spring football at your local college or university.

As discussed earlier ( Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics. ) visiting practice of a program, any program, outside of your own can do worlds of good for improving your process. Regardless of scheme or philosophy, taking a step back to see HOW others do what they do, may make more of dramatic impact than hearing about WHAT others are doing. Don't watch plays, watch players and how their coaches interact with them. Watch how practice is structured, observe how communication is handled, how coaches handle good and bad situations.... the devil is in the details. Don't just show up on the field, talk with the coaches and student assistants away from the game, sit in on their meetings, and take the time to build a relationship with the staff.

walk backwards.


There, you did it. Thats all there is to the "vertical set".
"Vertical Set" as it relates to Air Raid protection is just that, a replacement to the kick-slide. It is a vertical withdrawal from the line of scrimmage where you do not chase rushing defenders, but wait for them to engage you at your anchor point. This allows offensive linemen to remain square (preventing an easy loss by turning the shoulders and improper leverage in the pocket). When rushing the passer, the first step for a defender is to reach the blockers hips and gain leverage (by getting the blocker to open up a gap through turning, or by the defender getting at the same horizontal plane of the blocker). Because the blocker is moving away from the defender at relatively the same speed, he is prolonging the time it will take for the defender to execute an escape move (get past protection and get to the the quarterback/launch point).

Though, it does require a modicum of athleticism (moreso than a kick-slide), anyone can perform it and be better off for it (because of the increased speed of their retreat versus a kick).

Thanks for the comments to my previous post. I just want to clarify a couple of points that I did a poor job of explaining. The thrust of my initial post was that at the major college level AirRaid teams have cut to the chase; that is, they have reduced the number of fronts they practice against. My point was that this may be a luxary that HS programs cannot afford. The reason being that they are more likely to encounter the traditional set of base fronts that Franklin covers in his seminars. So, the upshot of this is that coaches cannot simply jettison these more "prosaic" fronts in order to get to the Nickel stuff that college programs attack right at the beginning of the teaching and installation program.

For what its worth, what LaTech is doing in this regard is really nothing new. Texas Tech started to treat everything as a some type of Nickel front about two years ago. They also stopped distinguishing between 90 and 60 vertical sets, which are different sets because they rely on different post and anchor legs.

My next post, which I hope to have up later this week, will build on some points that Chris Brown has talked about on his Blog regarding the place of spread offenses in the culture of college and high school football.

c/o Shreveporttimes.com

It's just Sonny Dykes' way of ensuring his players become members of the Good Hands Club.

On every stop in his coaching tenure, dating to his days at Kentucky with Hal Mumme, Dykes has used a tennis ball delivery machine to chunk balls at his receivers, defensive backs and quarterbacks. Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was happy to see one show up in Ruston.
"The places I've been we haven't been able to afford one," he said a little tongue in cheek. "Sonny has had them and they do make a difference."

The idea is simple. Shooting the small ball at a high rate of speed toward a student-athlete requires the ultimate in concentration. Look away or get lost in your thoughts and the ball will likely bounce off your nose.

Louisiana Tech is now using an electronic tennis ball machine to teach players how to better concentrate on the football. We asked three current Bulldogs how they would rate the machine's help, based on other assistance they've seen in their career.
They rated it 1-10 with 10 being the most helpful.
Terry Carter: 9; Phillip Livas: 10; Colby Cameron: 9

be sure to check out previous LA Tech postings here

Manchester United striker, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi are current leading goal scorers in Europe leagues with 26 and 25 league goals respectively. If they play all remaining league games, Wayne Rooney have 6 league games while Lionel Messi have 9 league matches and more favourite to lift the golden shooes. Last season Diego Forlan (Atlético Madrid) won the European Golden Shoe (Pichichi) after scoring 32 goals earning 64 points. Samuel Eto'o was second with 30 league goals (60 points).

I just want comment briefly on some points that Brophy made earlier regarding LaTech's protections. From my perspective, the greatest insight to be gleaned from what LaTech is doing is that the AirRaid (and I use the term simply as a type of critical shorthand here) has become exponentially simplified, perhaps even reductive as it has evolved at the college level.

That the AirRaid has become even more streamlined in recent years is no surprise. All systems, in particular languages, possess a teleological desire to simplify themselves for their users. The AirRaid is no exception to this rule, especially in regards to protection. Since most AirRaid teams have by now evolved into pure one-back figurations within some type of a detached four hot environment the protections now only deal with defensive reactions elicited by either 2x2 or 3x1 alignments. As Brophy has noted, this exponentially reduces the number of reactions a defense will most likely respond with; moreover, they are all known quantities.

Now, all of this is pretty simple and straightforward. What I would now like to spend the rest of this piece discussing is why LaTech and other programs can afford to be so reductive in their approach to protection and why High School programs that employ this offense should be leary of following their lead. At the college level, it is a given that any team that runs this offense can throw the ball and protect the passer. In other words, defensive coordinators do not doubt their counterparts' basic competency in this area. Consequently, depending on whether they are an odd or even front team, they are going to run some type of a nickel or stack scheme. By nickel here I am not just talking about 5 defensive backs. Texas last year played with three linebackers most of the game against TTech, but they were aligned in various nickel looks. As a result, when an AirRaid team goes into Spring Practice the first front they throw up on the white board is something in the nickel or odd-stack family. They no longer scheme against base 4-3s, 3-4s, 4-4s, 50s, etc because they will NEVER see them. They then can focus all their time on technique and sorting.

But can high school coaches afford to be so reductive in their approach to protection, at least schematically? My answer is no. Maybe in certain regions of the country, such as in Texas or in the South where Spring ball is permitted, teams that run the AirRaid will have the time to develop the mastery required to elicit such basic looks; however, my experiences suggest that the first thing a HS DC will do in most situations is present you with some type of a base look and pressure the living heck out of you until you prove that you can throw the ball with ease. As a result, HS teams still need to be prepared to protect base fronts, which makes the job of the HS line coach, ironically, more difficult than that of his college counterpart.

Is this quarter final the game where the gooners lay to rest the miserable champions league 2006? Playing against his former club Thierry Henry will no doubt know better than anyone how formidable a Wenger side can be in Europe, especially now that they have more physicality in their game this season.

On paper, Barcelona's first 11 is immense and made Manchester United look quite ordinary last season. However, when Arsenal's flowing football kicks in to some of these Champions League this team exhibits world class qualities that can lead to a quick succession of goals. Sol Campbell has helped their back line no end but they still have a bit of uncertainty between the sticks with Almunia. This was illustrated against Birmingham City this weekend with a bit of a howler, where we saw Kevin Philips bagging his 250th goal of his football career...but lets be fair a decent Prem 'keeper would have saved it.

Away at the Nou camp? I can see Barcelona getting an advantage in this 1st leg - maybe 1 goal.

Thank you, Brophy, for the warm and generous introduction. I look forward to engaging readers and sharing ideas with them so that we may all further our knowledge and appreciation of not only football, but also of other equally interesting topics as well.

If anybody cares to know a bit more about me, my interest, and my background - please take a look at my profile.

I promise not to swamp Brophy's excellent blog - one of the true jewels for people wishing to know more about football.

I will make my first post later tonight or tomorrow morning. This post will comment on some of things that Brophy has observed from his recent visits to LaTech's first spring practice under Sonny Dykes.

If you're reading this blog, your IQ should go up a full 50 points once you see the latest improvementto the blog - Hemlock.

http://smartfootball.com/dialogue/thoughts-on-the-spread-offense-hemlocks-comment

Long time contributor to CoachHuey and Smartfootball.com, Hemlock's diverse background, grounded perspective, and rich knowledge of the game will make for some insightful and educational reading.

Expounding on previous themes of dictating the course of a game on offense through varying tempo speeds, this time by way of Iowa State and their OC, Robert McFarland.

With similarities to the previous Blake Anderson post on multiple speeds, Iowa State attempts to keep a defense off balance with hard cadences at a no-huddle pace. This is predicated on three sideline signal callers (assistant coaches or graduate assistants).

• One signaller is designated to provide the personnel groupings, tempo, and formation.
• The next signal coach will be responsible for relaying the play call.
• The last signaller will be relaying a dummy call (that may or may not include actual signals used) to discourage signal-stealling from opponents.

The sideline will provide the information in this sequence:

1. Huddle / no huddle
2. Tempo: Able/Baker/Charlie
3. Motion & Formation
4. Play Call

The following will detail the process in which they operate this tempo. Once the ball has been whistled dead, the offensive line rushes to get set at the new ball spot. The specialists, particularly the tight end / fullback, will look to the sideline to see what personnel grouping will be included in the upcoming play. This will determine if they remain in the game, or if their particular personnel grouping dictates that they come off the field on this play.

With the appropriate players in the game, the formation and motion will be signalled in. Players keep their eyes on the first signal caller (and disregard the others) until the given formation is set.

Once set, the specialists will look to get the play call. Only the specialists know the play signals, the linemen only know the tempo calls (and rely on the audible call of the quarterback for the play call).

The Cyclones operate at three different speeds; able, baker, and charlie.
Intuitively, these simply note what sound the play will be run on (on 1, on 2, on 3rd count).

ABLE

Able is ISU's simple, no-huddle, first-sound tempo. No plays will be checked and all plays will be snapped on the first sound in the cadence.

The players will race to the ball spot, see the "Able" tempo in use, get set and receive the play call. The quarterback gives the play call twice "44.....44" (inside zone to the right) and the line will put their hand in the ground ready to play ball. The quarterback initiates the cadence, "Set.....Hit!", the ball is snapped, and the players race to the next ball spot and repeat the (sideline signal) procedure.

Video examples of first sound cadence being run by ISU.

ALPHA CHECK @ Yahoo! Video

BAKER

Rather simply, everything is the same as "ABLE" speed with the exception that the offense will review with the sideline/Offensive Coordinator before continuing the snap cadence (this is Blake Anderson's "OC" tempo). The coordinator now has the option to change the original play call or 'green light' the first call (and execute the original call).

As an example, the pre-snap to snap audible would sound like;
"Right – right – baker –baker" [ formation + tempo] called by quarterback
"8 man 8 man" [front ID] called by center
"indy girl – indy girl " [play call (iso lead to the right) ] called by quarterback
"set..... hit!" [cadence]

The specialists would then look to the sideline (tight end would stand up out of stance and look to sideline). From here, the play can be checked (based on alignment, pre-snap look presented by the defense) or the original play ("indy girl") can be continued. If the former, the play would be called out and repeated by the quarterback and he would go through the cadence. If the latter, he would declare a "green" call ("green, green") and go through the cadence (running the original play called).
Video examples of "Baker".

BRAVO CHECK @ Yahoo! Video


CHARLIE

Obviously, not a call used much (I couldn't find any clips where this was utilized, and McFarland admits he rarely uses it), but the practice is in their repetoire. When Charlie tempo is declared, the first call will always be a dummy play call signal, followed by a "green" call. The key here is to lull the defense into jumping the second count and or getting them to show their hand (with two previous attempts at baiting them) of what their post-snap intentions (coverage/blitz) are.

An example would sound like:
"left – left – charlie –charlie" [ formation + tempo] called by quarterback
"8 man 8 man" [front ID] called by center
"Hawkeye boy – Hawkeye boy " [play call ("hawkeye" is a dummy call, go figure) ] called by quarterback
"set..... hit!" [cadence]

Players stand up and look to sideline and receive a different call.

"Oakland boy – Oakland boy " [play call (option left) ] called by quarterback
"set..... hit!" [cadence]

Players freeze, look up again to the sideline and receive the confirmation (of the previous play called) or a check (in this example, a check).

"Indy girl – Indy girl" [play call (iso lead right) ] called by quarterback
"set..... hit!" [cadence]

Chelsea's Goal scorers
Didier Drogba (32)
Florent Malouda (50)
Florent Malouda (60)
Didier Drogba (77)
Frank Lampard (90)

FA Cup Result 24th March 2010 Latest Tottenham 3 Fulham 1

A game of two halves this evening in the sixth round FA Cup replay London Derby at White Hart Lane. An incredible bounce back by home team Tottenham Hotspur as they turned a 1 nil half time deficit in to a 3-1.

This was a great FA Cup night for Spurs. 4 goals, plenty of stress and drama but ultimately bags of talent on show from the home team. And yes, I am a lily white!

With many ex-Spurs players in the visiting team, there was irony in Bobby Zamora's cool, left-footed stroke past Tottenham goalkeeper Gomes. The way that Zamora found the space and executed the through ball speaks volumes about his form and the development that Roy Hodgson has orchestrated at the Cottage.

This evening, I thought Danny Murphy demonstrated the reason why he has the captaincy for Fulham. Industrious but attacking, Murphy helped win the midfield battle in the first half and overall Fulham managed to mute Tottenham Hotspur who have displayed great form this season.

Harry Redknapp put David Bentley and Tommy Huddlestone to begin the second half to galvanise the midfield effort of the home team. The impact was instant, as David Bentley swung in a Beckham like free kick that all defenders, forwards and most importantly the Fulham 'keeper Richard Schwarzer all missed watching it bounce directly into the net.

Spurs grabbed hold of the game, with pure aggressive attacking football. Between Bentley, Modric, Gudjonhson and Pavlyuchenko Tottenham had too much fire power for Fulham in the second half.

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the second, enjoying such a maginificent run of form and proving to absolutely everyone that he is a major asset to Tottenham Hotspur. On loan forward Eidur Gudjonhson then finished off a superb passing move, scoring his second goal for Tottenham...Harry wants Gudjonhson permanently and he has proven what he can deliver. Sheringham like link up play and classic striker goals.

Pompey next for Tottenham - as Spurs great Jimmy Greaves would say 'its a funny old game'.

After installing stretch (flame/fire give), speed option, draw, and power, the QB run "power Q - G" was thrown at the defense out of trips.

"Trips Right - Power Q Right - G"

Source Youtube

Real Madrid smashed their own player transfer fee record after signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. The Club have broke player transfer fee records for the four consecutive times in the past ten years. AC Milan is the only other club to have smashed transfer fees records four times by signing Juan Schiaffino from Peñarol, (1954), Ruud Gullit from PSV Eindhoven (1987), Jean-Pierre Papin from Marseille (1992) and Gianluigi Lentini from Torino,(1992).


The four galacticos who smashed records are Luís Figo from Barcelona (2000) at £ 37,000,000, Zinedine Zidane from Juventus (2001)at £ 46,000,000, Kaká from AC Milan at £ 56,000,000 and Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United (2009)at £ 80,000,000


Real Madrid was knocked out of champion league last week by Olympic Lyon after loosing 2-1 on aggregate. The Club have won 9 champion league trophies (1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1966,1998,2000,2002), last one was in 2002 under Vicente Del Bosque, the current Spain coach.

With all the substantial climbing over there was only one stage left... 67km in length and mostly descending with a fair bit of 'Uptulating' terrain to take us from Muktinath to Tatapani... and the promise of a relaxing hot spring.

The day started not so well as not long into the first jeep track descent i noticed my forks were sitting almost at the bottom of their travel and with no shock pump there was nothing i could do to try and remedy this... maybe an issue with altitude.

So now riding what was essentially a fully rigid bike (i suppose i should be used to this) i made my way down the first descent to the first flatter section of the day... a ride along the dry river bed to Jomson... at this point i past the Swedish guys.. Andreas and Martin.. who had suffered a flat on one of the many cobble we were riding over, Andreas had gone off super fast making the most of his very well trained bike handling skills but had slowed mid downhill so himself and Martin could ride out the last stage together.

Passing through Jomson the trail maintained to be super dry and dusty Jeep track.. not particularly nice to ride with the constant dust drying out your throat... the track was very uptulating with short climbs and short descents and the odd diversion across braided channels of incoming streams to this very wide and flat valley.

As the trail continued the valley began to narrow and we etered the deepest valley in the world being flanked either side by 7000m plus peaks... as the valley barrowed the trail steepened and became now very fast and rocky... fear of dropping the handlebars increased as my arms and upper body took on the job of my non functioning suspension.

The target time for the locals for this stage was 3 hours and i was pretty glad when the 3 hour mark came and past meaning i must be getting close to the end.

Quickly the finish came through a narrow street and the sight of Phil Evans, Race Organiser, sat under the finishing banner was a welcome one.

A cold Everest beer was ordered and i could now truly relax.

The evening was spent enjoying the hot springs and more beer... a fitting reward for completing the highest race in the world using the least amount of gears.

The next day was jaded by the haze of the previous nights drinking but still with only 22km of riding to complete the challenge was not a big one.
With no racing today i rode in baggies and Jonny Cash t shirt and spent most of the ride trying to out 'pump' Andreas through the undulations to gain as much free ground as possible and taking any opportunity to pop off a lip or small rock... in less than a few hours we reached Beni and enjoyed a motorised transfer to Pokara.


Its impossible to convey the awe and amazement i have encountered riding this event... with my year so focussed on completing the challenge i have set myself i lost sight of the individuality of each event i would ride but each and every pedal stroke or metre carried in this event wass done so in the most amazing place i have ever been in my life... the people, the culture, the scenery all contributed to a fantastic event... its not easy but it is more than achievable for most people and a worthy challenge to add to anybodes wish list of events.

I would like to thank Phil Evans who with the help of Chhime Gurang makes this event possible, i wanna thank volunteers such as Snow Monkey and Rattaman who gave endless support throughout this event and i now consider great friends.... i would like also to praise the local competitors Ajay, Mangel, Kaji and Chandra, 4 of the best riders i have ever raced against in my life and i pray they never leave Nepal as life racing these guys would be just too hard:) Not only did the local competitors race but at the end of everyday made sure the international competitors were looked after eventhough they had just also ridden the same arduous stages that we had.

I have to say i love this country and the people... i can't wait to race here again.

Huge thanks goes to all my sponsors as always.. Genesis Bikes, Montane Clothing and Alpkit.

A special thanks goes to Col Stocker who has to be credited not only for all the images of this trip and eduring long days walking on the trail but also for leaving a new daughter and family at less than a weeks notice to help support me.. thanks Col it was hugely appreciated.

As more follow-up to the previous posts, here is a basic outline of 2-platoon outline of Air Raid implementation (with defense).

DEFENSE



OFFENSE

This may help provide some perspective of the included videos (vis versa).

Here are install/drill examples we used when we installed it last spring:

If any of the Louisiana Tech / Air Raid / Tony Franklin method interests you, I would strongly recommend checking out "the system", at:
http://www.thesystemclinics.com/

Examples of NASCAR (attack tempo) and FREEZE in a 2 minute NASCAR drill. Note the intensity and frantic pace. One Freeze, receivers are to run "GO"s down the field once the ball is snapped. Best case scenario is you get a touchdown, worst case you take the 5-yard penalty.


Prepractice with Receivers and Quarterbacks (notice settle and noose)


1 on 1s, great review for both offense and defense. Offense works one concept throughout.




In pass skelly, working the same concepts over and over:


Inside Run Game


Individuals, coaching up QB and Receiver fade drop out in the red zone (working for space) in man press.


A neat little DB backpedal ladder exercise I spied.....



** If I have time later in the week, I will review some of the more interesting and effective concepts (both run and pass) that were implemented last week.

The last two practices were enlightening.

On a personal level, I think it is just what I needed to see to reignite the passion for the game. I am not a guy that believes in pigeon-holing yourself to 'systems' or there being one way to do things in football, but Air Raid, to me (and what it represents) is what I love about the game. It isn't the passing (though I do appreciate it), it is the aggressiveness and organization that I enjoy so much. There aren't any taboo areas to explore - moving the ball and breaking defenses is the only thing that matters.

To best articulate what I'm going to be explaining, the best analogy I could preface this with is the witnessing the difference between the invading force of Normandy and the hard-driving Iraqi Freedom force. Everything is pared down to the smallest, most essential, common-denominator and it is executed at a 100-mph. There is no relenting and there is no settling in a comfort zone, it is always advancing.

The adaptation of Air Raid with the merging of Sonny Dykes and Tony Franklin at Louisiana Tech this year is something to behold. I will provide a basic overview of the recent changes regarding the evolution (what is different) from the recent years as evidenced from Troy-to-Auburn-to-Middle Tennessee-to-now-Louisiana Tech.

Protection
I'll start this first post by out lying the simplicity of protection as utilized OL coach Pete Perot and GA Zach Yenser. The protection on ALL passes is 90s. No differentiating between 5-step and 3-step, it is all vertical set for 4-5 steps. There are no adjustments (except for the obvious lasso/rodeo). Because the linemen are retreating up to a 5-step pocket (5 yards), the QB is expected on 3 step to catch the ball and immediately fire it out to the short receiver.

Cadence
The quarterback does not call the cadence, it is controlled entirely by the center.

The center is at the ready over the ball at all times, calls the front ID, and then waits for a hand-flash from the quarterback to begin the cadence. The center waits in a relaxed position, looking between his legs at the quarterback.

Once signalled, it is just a loud, "ready........ready,hit!". This helps the center get the snap off more effectively (he is controlling it, rather than waiting on another player), as well as put the source of the audible cadence near the rest of the linemen. Also, because he's controlling the cadence, it makes hard-counts (freeze) more effective.

Front Identification
What is also simplified is protection. Rather than making a "nickel" declaration, it has been truncated to just (one-syllable) "nic" making it simpler and faster to deliver the same information. Because everything is either 2x2 or 3x1, so there is no need to get overly complicated, as discussed previously, you really limit just what a defense can do to you.

They treat everything with a zero technique (or simply any front with 3 down linemen) as a "5-0". With any stacked LB look out of a 3-man front, the back will be responsible for the mike and the stacked outside backers are handled by the linemen.

If the 3-man front is in a base front, with both inside linebackers over the guards and overhang players on the edge (ala a 3-4 look), the back is responsible for both and the line will be responsible for the 3 linemen and 2 outside rushers. The general rule is that the OL is responsible for all outside rushers.

Anything with a 4 man front can be handled simply by a nickel call. From here it all can be sorted out with all four linemen picked up plus one backer (opposite of the side the back declares).

That's IT! Nothing else that the line really needs to be aware of.


Here is a little something extra.....prepractice for Oline:


Tempo
The next part I'll touch on is the tempo they operate at.
The most characteristic element to TFS is the balls-to-the-wall nature of it and what that demands from the coaches. They can get so much accomplished because of the tempo they keep and the momentum that it creates.

Here is an example of a inside drill. Notice everything is being signalled in and the pace at which everything is run. There are no 'breaks' between plays; they just line up, signal and go.


Another 'new' characteristic is that there are no wristbands. Everything is communicated through signals. These signals are created by the players and they eventually come up with multiple signals to convey the same message (3 different ways to signal '90' protection). From Day 1, all concepts are signalled in, whether it is team, group, skelly, pup, inside-drill, or individuals. Each group (receivers, line, quarterback) have their own coach/GA to look to, so there will be multiple signal callers giving a variety of gestures at once. They begin signalling once the play has ended and DO NOT STOP (signalling) until the ball is snapped.

I've included video of these periods (there are no lulls) to illustrate just what I'm talking about. You can say, "they are always moving" or "they practice fast" but still never come away with understanding what that is supposed to look like. Even in this clip below (during PUP), notice the time from the play ends to the start of the very next play (both resulted in INTs, however).


Think about how something as meticulous as PUP can be (to get everything set up right) and what would happen after a bad throw, how long it would be to set up the next play. Now watch this, and see them setting up as quickly as possible, signalling in the next one, and flying through it.

Verbiage
Everything is stripped down to essentials. The terminology may have more to do with Dykes, but their terms are extremely simple, and they don't use but 2 formations (3x1 and 2x2). So, you end up with "trips left" / "trips right" or "ace" ('dart'). They have special sets, but everything is based off these two formation groupings. During these practices they would hammer home a concept from the start of practice until the end. So you would have quarterbacks and receivers doing prepractice based on "trips left - mesh" and they would condition their warmups with that concept in mind. Moving on to individuals and skelly, they would continue that same theme, "trips left - mesh", and couple it with a tag, "trips left - mesh left - X hook". This was extremely effective, as they would go 3 to 4 groupings deep working the same concept and focusing in on the very critical details of reads and stems of the concept. They were able to get a lot done in very little time because of the pace and amount of coaching/competition involved.

Some additional content can be found here, and I'll see if I can't review some of the effective concepts installed.

Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti hope of winning premier league cup has suffered a blow following Chelsea 1-1 draw against Blackburn rover yesterday.
He said "It will be more difficult now to win the title but it's not impossible. "We are disappointed because I think we lost two points here, and important points. We had prepared well for the game, we had tried to win to cancel out the game against Inter and for one hour we did well.

"It's not an easy moment for us and we have to maintain our confidence and our composure. Manchester United are now top of the league and we have to run more and do better and leave this behind us as soon as possible.''

He added "It's important to win on Wednesday,'' added Ancelotti. "Our difficulties started against Manchester City in an unbelievable game and the only situation is go forward and win. We have less probability to win this title but we want to give it our best”

Ancelotti his currently hoping to revive his hope in the next match against portsmouth "We need to work together, stay compact and the next game against Portsmouth is very important, we can stay close to Manchester United. I don't know how many points we need to win the title but I know we have to win on Wednesday and then prepare game by game.''

Arsenal 2 West Ham 0 20th March 2010 Premier League

Arsenal looked to set this latest Premier League weekend's pace with a 2-0 win over London rivals West Ham United, putting them top for at least the next 20 hours or so.

For the first 30 minutes, the Gunners showed us their dominance up front. It took less than 5 minutes for the home team to take the lead with Denilson strike from just outside the area. The was not a great deal more excitement for the majority of the first half except for perhaps Diamanti and Campbell going in the book, but in the 44th minute the visitors had plenty to shout about when Vermaelen was controversially sent off for a challenge on Guillermo Franco in the box. However despite scoring in the previous 2 encounters between the London rivals, Almunia denied Diamanti his third time lucky. Gooners would say it was a great save, Hammers would point to the fact Almunia was a long way off his line. 1:0 to the home team at half time.

In the second half the Hammers tried their best to make their extra man work for them, but to no avail. Just after 80 minutes a hand ball by ex gunner Matthew Upson handed a penalty to the Arsenal, which Fabregas converted with ease. This galvanised the Wenger boys, who threatened a third for the remainder of the match. However going after 90 minutes top of the premiership is surely result enough for the Gooners. But will they able to play this convincingly against Barcelona??

Premier League 20th March 2010 latest fixtures and lunchtime result

Lunchtime match 20th March 2010 (12:45pm)
Aston Villa 2 Wolverhampton 2 PREMIER LEAGUE RESULT

3 o'clockers
Everton v Bolton, Goodison Park 3pm
Portsmouth v Hull, Fratton Park 3pm
Stoke v Tottenham, Brittania Stadium 3pm
Sunderland v Birmingham, Stadium of Light 2pm
Wigan v Burnley, JJB Stadium 15:00

Evening match
Arsenal v West Ham, Emirates Stadium 5.30pm

American International Clint Dempsey come on from beach to score killer goal which fire the Cottagers to the quarter final of Europa League.

Following Juventus 3-1 win in the first leg, Fulham needed to register three goal difference win to go through and they did just that. Dempsey chip the ball from the edge of penalty box on 82nd minute to score a fantastic goal and give Fulham 4-1 win (Aggregate 5-4). Juventus opened the scoreline on second minute through David Trezeguet but Bobby Zamora levelled the score on ninth minute. Zoltan Gera score the second and third Fulham goals on 39th and 49th minute. Juventus played with nine-man after sending off of Fabio Cannavaro and Jonathan Zebina in 10th minute and injury time respectively.

It was as any TFS/AR first practice goes - like a Chinese firedrill. With the emphasis on tempo and execution, the periods flew by with lots of expected drops (on missle and fast screens) and it may take a few more practices until the receivers understand the "finish" aspect of Air Raid (unceasing admonishment to get into the end zone on every throw). Completely systematic, Franklin was on fire before he even stepped on the field, it was something to watch.

It was also interesting to note that as the very first practice, he would spend the skelly and team periods on the sideline with the receivers coach signalling plays in (no wristbands), just as they would on game day. I really intended to spend the majority of the time with the offensive line, but the the initial intense details being hammered in pre-practice in settle & noose and flare/fire QB reads were too much (plus got to catch up with Shreveport coaches Clint Hortman and John Bachman).

The OL segments were minute-for-minute just like any other TFS install (here in front recognition/BPU). First day, it was all 42-Nickel, 41-Nickel, and 5-0 fronts exclusively. This seemed to really help the players pick up the methodology of line + back coordination. The paring down of install (nothing but stretch (+boss), missile, 41/51, mesh/mesh-return, lasso/rodeo, stick).

What was as exciting as anything was the amount of intensity throughout the 3 hours of practice from every coach. You couldn't miss a moment where there was some coach encouraging and instructing a player. The defense matched the offense in intensity and though I hate to make comparisons, defensive coordinator, Tommy Spangler, sure reminds you an awful lot of Bo Pelini (mannerisms, phrases, and passion).

I plan on heading over Friday and spending the first part of practice with DBs and then the rest of the time with offensive specialists on Saturday.

here is a photostream if you're interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38732802@N06/

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
here are some quick video snipets of practice/drills:

After a rest day in Manang the following stage saw us head to the foot of the Thorong La Pass, Thorong Phedi.

After resting in Manang and having a good walk up a nearby hill my altitude related sickness had cleared and i felt pretty good... after a few pedal strokes into the Manang to Thorong Phedi stage the lack of oxygen kicked in and my legs instantly started to burn and my breathing was hard.

The stage started through the streets of Manang heading out the older parts of the town and straight into a hike a bike upto a village higher up on the hillside... for the walking part i could still stay with the Nepalese but soon as the trail became vaguely rideable i was again treat to a lesson in hill climbing... the slopes were so steep i couldn't even imagine riding them.

The days finish lay 972m of ascent higher up the valley and the trail was amazing to ride... very flowing and it was great to spin the pedals rather than grinding them.

The skies were filled with Ravens and Vultures and the peaks bounding the trail were spectatcular.



With all the non Nepalese riders behind me on the trail and the Nepalese guys far ahead i was left alone to enjoy the the scenery and the trail.



The stage itself was pretty short at 17km but the altitude and climbing made sure i got my moneys worth finishing 2hrs 41mins later.

Thorong Phedi was busy with trekkers, everyone getting ready to up and over early the following morning across the highest pass in the world, Thorog La at 5416m above sea level.

Arriving at Phedi i could feel the altitiude again so started on a few painkillers to cure the dull headache.. later that evening i took a diamox, diamox masks the symptoms of altitude mountain sickness, as i wanted to make sure i could get over the pass as quickly and painlessly as possible.



The next days stage was the one that most riders had dreaded... 17km in length but including the 5km climb up to the Thorong La pass.

This stage started at 5am to make sure conditions were at best for crossing the pass... the 5km would be entirely unrideable due to a combination of altitude and steepness of trail.



At the start i paced myself with the last Nepalese rider, Ajay, race leader but walking isn't his strongest discipline so he was just out to minimise his losses to Kaji Sherpa, a high altiude specialist and a man that will be travelling to summit Everest for the 4th time 3 days after this race finishes... believe i'm in good company here.

As i paced Ajay up the slopes in the dark, headtorches above us highlighting how far we had to climb.. and this was only the portion of the climb we could see.

All was going well as we walked together until we reached an off camber snow covered section and as Ajay strided away i slipped and slid at every step and eventually had to slow my pace right down to try and stay on my feet.

Dawn broke and headtorches were extinguished.. the trail still stretched further and higher with no sign of the end... luckily my pace remained consistent and i felt no ill affect to the accumulating altitude. The trail turned from rock to mixed ice and rock to then snow in its entirety.

After 2hrs 16mins i reached the high point of the pass and after a photo opportunity with the signpost i swapped from big mittens to lighter gloves and donned my helmet, this may have been a little optimistic as the descent was initially snow and ice and too steep to ride... my hands in the thinner gloves quickly froze and i was forced to stop to try and drive some warmth into them but after the exertion of the climb i could hardly muster any energy and i had to sit down and had a little moment to myself as i embraced the pain of freezing hands and still a long descent to negotiate.



With the feeling coming slowly back into my hands i stumbled slowly down through the snow until i past the snowline and the rocky trail was now underneath my tyres.. after a few attempts at riding the trail it just wasn't happening.. the trail was very loose and very steep so any attempt to bring my speed under control was futile so i was forced to walk downhill.



This section seemed to stretch on forever but i was happy to be able to feel my hands again and as i reached a few small buildings on the trail the slope slackend off and i got to ride an awesome piece of singletrack.. nice and rocky with well placed rocks to aid railing corners.. this flowed into a wider smoother trail around the back of the finishing town, Muktinath, and eventually the stage finish.

Only one stage left.. 70km mainly downhill to Tatapani and a well deserved dip in some hot springs.