Frank Lampard hands Manchester City's first league defeat of the season.

Frank Lampard came off the Chelsea bench to score the winning goal in Manchester City's first league defeat of the season.

Pirates on a ROLL

All of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) trophies are now in the Orlando Pirates cabinet after the Buccaneers lifted the 2011 Telkom Knockout, beating BIDVest Wits 3-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday night.

Mata: I don't fear City, I don't even fear Barca.

Chelsea winger Juan Mata has insisted he will feel no fear when he faces Premier League leaders Manchester City, because not even Barcelona frighten the former Valencia star.

Balotelli could be fined for breaking a curfew before Monday's game against Chelsea

Anelka's move to China confirmed by Chelsea

Chelsea striker to join Shanghai Shenhua in January with Didier Drogba their next target as rise of Chinese League continues.

Rooney's Euro ban reduced to two matches

Wayne Rooney sees Euro 2012 ban cut and both Manchester clubs crash out of Champions League.

City follow ManUtd in the dig out.

A night of too little, too late as City dazzle to defeat Bayern Munich.

Basle knock Utd out of CL...

Sir Alex Ferguson's side knocked out of the Champions League after goals from Marco Streller and Alex Frei in Switzerland.

Mourinho's Madrid are real deal

Despite his glittering array of achievements at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan it would be the second campaign at Real Madrid which would tell us just how special the ‘Special One’ is – with indications that he would quit the Bernabéu come what may.

That has changed. Now the signs are that Mourinho will stay in Madrid — he has two more years on his contract after this season — and that he is happier than ever. It’s clear he’s happy because he’s not saying anything. There have been no outbursts, no controversies, no grand statements. Nothing.

With all three of his former clubs in varying degrees of crisis, he has resisted the temptation to gloat. There has been no war of words, no provocation while the incident in August when he shoved his finger in the eye of Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova, after a tempestuous Super Cup tie, seems like an awful long time ago.

Instead, Mourinho has let his team do the talking and there is a quiet confidence that he has assembled a squad formidable enough to not only wrestle the Spanish title away from Barcelona, but also to take theChampions League trophy from Pep Guardiola.

Hernández's freak injury adds to Sir Alex Ferguson's problems up front

Sir Alex Ferguson said United were enduring a “torrid time” through injuries with the latest inflicted as the Mexican striker crumpled to the ground early on in Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa with no defender close to him. He has damaged ligaments in his left ankle.

We've no fear of Real Madrid, says Fabregas

Barcelona star Cesc Fabregas insisted on Sunday that his team will not fear Real Madrid when the first El Clasico meeting of the season takes place at the Bernabeu next weekend. Spanish and European champions Barcelona trail their bitter rivals by three points at the top of La Liga and have played a game more. But ex-Arsenal skipper Fabregas believes a victory will be the perfect send-off before they head to Japan for the Club World Cup.

Leal: We were brilliant

Orlando Pirates coach Julio Leal has praised his players following their 3-0 victory over log leaders SuperSport United last night. Goals from Benni McCarthy, Isaac Chansa and Ndumiso Mabena were enough to give the Buccaneers all three points and to hand United their first defeat of the season. This was also the first time that the Buccaneers had scored three goals in a League match, but what pleased Leal more was the fact that his side has now cut the gap between them and United to seven points.

Vladimir Vermezovic backs Bernard Parker to deliver

Kaizer Chiefs coach Vladimir Vermezovic continues to back Bernard Parker, despite the striker struggling with his form. Parker, who was touted as the ideal replacement after Knowledge Musona left for Germany this season, has only managed to score one goal in the League.

Vlad V clashes with the media… again

Kaizer Chiefs coach Vladimir Vermezovic has clashed with the media after a discussion over football tactics got out of hand.  

Vermezovic was speaking at a press conference ahead of the Chiefs versus Mamelodi Sundowns match on Sunday.
 
The media posed a question, asking whether Chiefs’ failure to win a match in the last three League matches could be perhaps that his players are not responding well to his tactics or he doesn’t have a quality team at his disposal to challenge for the League title.
 
His response infuriated the media…
 
Here is how it went down.
 
Bareng-Batho Korjaas (better known as ‘BBK’) of the Sunday Times: Earlier on, did I hear you correctly saying that you can only discuss tactics with people who understand tactics?
 
Vermezovic: Yes!
 
BBK: Am I correct in saying that you think that we (the media) do not understand tactics?
 
Vermezovic: No. I did not say you don’t understand tactics, but I said I discuss (tactics) with people who understand.
 
BBK: But you are discussing with us right now…
 
Vermezovic: It is not a discussion. It is a press conference and I will answer you or not.
 
BBK: It is for clarity’s sake, coach, because I don’t think a driving instructor can say he cannot discuss driving with people who cannot drive, because his job is also to teach those people to drive. So I’m just looking for clarity…
 
Vermezovic: What is your question?
 
BBK: I don’t have a question. I was looking for clarity, thank you.
 
Vermezovic: Okay.
 
In October last year, Vermezovic apologised to the media for claiming he had been misquoted, specifically by the Daily Sun over comments he made that he had better strikers than Kaizer Motaung Junior, which he later denied.

Hunt: ‘We respect Pirates’

SuperSport United remain the only team unbeaten in the Absa Premiership team this season, but in Orlando Pirates they face a team with an unblemished home record. It is all to play for on Saturday night! ‘Ezimnyama Ngenkani’, in sixth place, host ‘Matsatsantsa a Pitoli’, who are top of the log, at the Orlando Stadium with both teams looking to protect their records.

Vladimir Vermezovic says he will not resign from Kaizer Chiefs

Despite having lost three League matches this season, Kaizer Chiefs coach Vladimir Vermezovic says has not lost hope of winning the title, and has no intention of resigning. 

Vermezovic is in the last year of his contract at Amakhosi, but is yet to deliver the championship trophy to Naturena.

'VV' and his team have not been enjoying the best of form in recent times, and their 2-0 loss to SuperSport United in Polokwane yesterday put a dent in their chances of winning the League.

But the Serbian warns people not to write off his team.

"We are still in the middle of the season and can't give up now," Vermezovic says. "We can't surrender now and we will fight until the end of the season."

VV also refutes reports going around that he will resign if Chiefs lose to Sundowns in Pretoria on Sunday.

"I am not going to resign," he says, emphatically. 

Nengomasha blames off-the-field problems

Nengomasha says that playing the Brazilians will be a big test at the Loftus Stadium this weekend.
 
"This will be a good stage for us to bounce back to our winning ways especially after losing to SuperSport," he says.
 
"It is not going to be easy though as Sundowns are also a big team and the character of both teams will be tested. We will go there to compete and hopefully get maximum points."
 
Amakhosi have gone three games without a win and without scoring a goal, but Nengomasha blames the off-the-field problems that engulfed at Naturena in the past few months.
 
"We started the season well but other factors crept in that contributed to us losing focus. The argument between the supporters and management didn't do things any good as we lost concentration of what we wanted to achieve as a team at the end of the season," he adds, without expanding on his comments.
 
"I believe we have players with the experience to bounce back and I am confident that we will soon take Chiefs back to the level where they belong," he adds.