Spurs coach Andre Villas-Boas was no doubt overstating things when he recently condemned soccer statistics as "useless." But his opinion is refreshing, to say the least.

Jurgen Klinsmann's coaching methods have always struck me as having a rather weird fringe to them. Remember the fitness gurus and the team chants with the German national team? Then the curious case of the Buddha statues at Bayern?

Sadness -- though the rather lovelier French word tristesse seems more fitting -- haunts me when I consider what is happening to Arsene Wenger.

The GLT -- goal line technology -- saga has been going on for well over a decade now, with FIFA adopting a ludicrous chameleon mode, dithering between a flat-out no, a coy maybe, and a reluctant yes -- with many a backtrack along the way.

An intriguing game, the Celtic-Juventus Champions League clash. Intriguing and revealing. Because it did reveal some oft-obscured truths about the modern game: Truths About ...

Europol forced itself into the news last week -- the soccer news, that is -- with a quasi-apocalyptic announcement that was not actually news at all.