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We expected a rousing Liverpool vs. Manchester City game. We got a boring Jurgen Klopp vs. Pep Guardiola stalemate
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Tuesday, October 9, 2018
It was a busy Sunday for me, so I limited my soccer ...
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Thoughts on the Englishness of the English Premier League
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Tuesday, October 2, 2018
The English Premier League certainly displayed its diversity credentials this past week ...
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England: 'We talk about diving all the time ...'
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Reading the English press, listening to the British commentators, it's quite impossible ...
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The lectures that referees give to players: Meaningless? Embarrassing? Childish? Farcical? Probably all of the above
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, September 5, 2018
I have been trying for quite a few years now to persuade ...
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Today's coaches could learn a lot from Ron Newman (1934-2018)
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, September 3, 2018
Ron Newman, without any doubt, was the Bill Veeck, or maybe it ...
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D.C. United vs. Orlando -- and a glaring VAR failure that MLS needs to explain
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, August 13, 2018
If referees are reluctant to penalize goalkeepers (obviously, they are), now we ...
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A splendid All-Star evening in Atlanta -- only the ending was off-key
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, August 3, 2018
From Atlanta, there was -- almost -- nothing but good news. A ...
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Soccer's way with words -- and the 'performing' of the national anthem
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, July 30, 2018
So George Orwell was right? Words, it seems, are losing their mean ...
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World Cup 2018 Part 2: The VAR Revolution
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Saturday, July 21, 2018
How about VAR -- a revolutionary development in refereeing -- how did ...
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World Cup 2018 Part 1: The French Revolution
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Thursday, July 19, 2018
The signs that the 2018 World Cup was not going to be ...
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The set-piece mindset: not a good idea for soccer
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, July 13, 2018
Yikes! Here they come again! The set-piece merchants, the soccer commentators who ...
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VAR totally fails to seize its chance for glory
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, July 2, 2018
If ever there was a tricky soccer situation that was waiting to ...
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Colombia's miracle escape from soccer's red-card ejection rule
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, June 29, 2018
A good deal of attention has been focused on the functioning of ...
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Another team to be taken seriously: England
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Last week I made a point: that it was time for the ...
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Time for world soccer -- especially the USA -- to start taking Mexico seriously
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, June 18, 2018
The Mexicans have been very, very patient. Far too patient, I think, ...
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VAR and the insidious spread of technology
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, June 13, 2018
There are problems with the VAR system that FIFA has decided to ...
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Should referee calls be swayed by player reputations?
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Thursday, June 7, 2018
For some decades now, I have been asking referees -- at all ...
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From Liverpool to Calvary, via Kiev
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, May 30, 2018
It was not to be, was it? Too many surreally bad things ...
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The Drawbacks of the Jesse Marsch Approach
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Some assumptions are necessary here, before I get to my main point. ...
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More Problems with VAR and Goalkeepers
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, May 11, 2018
The oddities that surround VAR decisions continue to baffle. Last Wednesday's decision ...
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Referees and communication: a long history of non-compliance
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Tuesday, April 17, 2018
We can thank VAR for the almost vaudeville images we now see ...
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Ronaldo's golazo: The best ever? Maybe, along with quite a few others
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, April 11, 2018
The gasps of astonishment and the avalanche of praise that greeted Ronaldo's ...
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Mourinho: 'I won't change.' Nor, it seems, will goalkeepers
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, March 26, 2018
Two things: 1) trying not to be irritated by Jose Mourinho, and ...
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Making a case for soccer nonsense
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Trapped in my New York apartment. An exaggeration. But it is snowing ...
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The Phantom Foul that injured Harry Kane exposes rulebook flaw
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, March 12, 2018
Harry Kane is seen by English fans as a major reason for ...
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Referees' pro-defense bias: an unfounded, damaging tradition that must be abandoned
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, March 9, 2018
Decidedly interesting comments from former England striker Michael Owen. He came clean ...
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MLS refs, and VAR, follow English lead by going easy on physical fouls
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Monday, March 5, 2018
Both in the English Premier League and in MLS there were some ...
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The four-letter word that threatens to sabotage MLS moves against goalkeeper violence
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, March 2, 2018
The news from Howard Webb and his PRO group of referees is ...
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Finding a way to make a meaningful vote
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Friday, February 9, 2018
I have been pondering how I shall vote in the U.S. Soccer ...
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J'accuse!!
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Paul Gardner - Wednesday, January 31, 2018
I have an accusation to level at the sport of soccer. Against ...
