Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Early Doors remembers some slow news days but yesterday was one of the worst since the great news drought of 1864. Not since the time Moses Ashikodi's loan move to Watford adorned the top of this website have ED and its saggy-faced colleagues scratched around so hopelessly in search of something...More

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Yesterday, Early Doors mentioned Justin Hoyte as one of those people whose presence on or near the pitch increases his team's chances of failure by about 300 percent. We can probably add to the list the names of Alex, Wayne Bridge, John Obi Mikel, Florent Malouda and Chelsea's dead man walking...More

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Eyebrows were raised when David James's name appeared on the six-man shortlist for PFA player of the year. However, nobody works harder at their game than James, who has spent his career test driving different hairstyles and has now, at the age of 37, found the perfect model to keep...More

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'Teamgeist' is a German word meaning 'team spirit', and goes a long way to explaining why our Teutonic cousins are so infuriatingly good at football. It conjures images of hard work, self-sacrifice and putting the needs of the team above the individual. If Teamgeist were a person it would be...More

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Early Doors finds it hard to believe that, in 13 months out of action, Manchester United skipper Gary Neville couldn't find time to have a shave or visit the barber's. During his injury-enforced absence, Red Nev had plenty of time to ditch, or improve on, the budget Bobby Pires musketeer...More

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Like Bonnie Tyler, Mariah Carey and (gulp) Nickelback, Early Doors has a thing for heroes.So imagine its delight five minutes from time in last night's game at Anfield, when Arsenal's mandatory late goal came courtesy of a man who was so overhyped, so early in his career, that at the age...More

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Quite often, football managers let their side's football do the talking. Not so today, ahead of part three of the not-so-epic Liverpool-Arsenal trilogy.Both Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger have been out in force to extol the virtues of their respective teams in the build-up to Terrific Tuesday, and with the...More

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If you believe any of the baloney Early Doors comes out with, Nicklas Bendtner's calamitous cock-up in last week's showing of 'Arsenal-Liverpool - The Original' was the worst 'miss' of all time. But pit two Championship sides against each other in a pressure-laden FA Cup semi-final at Wembley and a...More

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If the Godfather Part II was the greatest sequel of all-time, then tomorrow's second part of the Arsenal-Liverpool trilogy should be a cracker. However be aware that would mean next Tuesday's concluding part is likely to be a stinker especially if Rafa Ford Benitez Coppola opts to give his untalented...More

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Arsenal's penalty that never was against Liverpool drew a predictably furious reaction from Arsene Wenger last night. Referee Pieter Vink somehow missed an obvious foul on Alexander Hleb by Dirk Kuyt, thereby denying the Gunners a possibly match-winning spot-kick."There was a blatant penalty right under the eyes of the referee....More

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