No matter what league you are in, being on the end of an 8-2 defeat is a rather humiliating score line and serious questions would be asked of the team. Some teams would just accept that they were outclassed by superior opposition but some teams really need to question the manner of the defeat. There is no doubt that Arsenal Football Club should be examining this defeat very closely as there is no way should they be losing a top flight league match by this score line. It doesn’t matter that Arsenal were depleted or that United have started the season in great form, it was an abysmal result.

Has the midas touch gone?

Many Arsenal fans are now starting to wake up to the fact that Arsene Wenger may have lost his Midas touch and this squad needs overhauled badly. Yes Arsenal have played fantastic football in recent years and the club have worked hard on ensuring that the financial side of the club has been in good shape but the on field results have badly dipped. The 8-2 score line was horrendous in its own right but the fact that Arsenal have only won two league matches since the end of February has to be of huge concern. A manager at the bottom of the league would be fearful for their future with that sort of run so surely it is only right that Arsene Wenger needs to answer criticism about his team’s form.

It’s hard to lose big players

He has certainly been hindered by the loss of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, two players who wanted to leave Arsenal. However, that is the issue, both of these players were clear in their intention to leave the club so they should have been shipped out earlier to allow replacements to be brought in. There was no need to leave the finding of replacements for these two key players to the final days of the transfer window. Arsene Wenger has also been let down by inconsistency from big signings like Arshavin, Rosicky and van Persie, who missed a penalty in the 8-2 drubbing at Old Trafford.

Defenders needed

However, the biggest problems that Arsenal have comes with the lack of solid defenders and midfield ball winners in their squad. Injury to Vermaelen has robbed Arsenal of a commanding centre back but there have been opportunities to bring other players in but the club haven’t taken these chances. A £6m bid for Gary Cahill from Bolton was labelled derisory and most observers would agree with that opinion.

Arsene will still be given time, the Arsenal board don’t seem too keen to act in any way but it may be that darker times are around the corner for the club who will certainly struggle to be a top 4 team this season.

False start rule is a tough one

The rules of ‘false starts’ in athletics have changed recently, implementing a harsher penalty on the first person to break before the starting gun goes off. The only thing is, Usain Bolt welcomed these changes and indicated that he didn’t think they would be an issue for him. Usain Bolt clearly has earned the right to have confidence and arrogance in himself but the comments he made at the time of the rule change have clearly turned around to bite him on the backside.

“For me, I have no problem, I never false-started yet. It will be better for the sport.”

“It will be a problem for some people but not for me.”

A big loss for Bolt

That seems big words and no doubt Bolt will be kicking himself for losing out on his 100m World Championship title in such a silly manner. Everyone can make mistakes and the nerves associated with such a major event can have an impact on an athlete’s ability to break quickly but making comments of this nature have definitely been the undoing of many athletes, with Usain Bolt being the latest athlete to wish their feet could run as quickly as their mouth can.

In the grand scheme of things, it is not as if Bolt will lose out too much. It is not as though he has become embroiled in some form of drug or sex scandal that will scare the sponsors away but he has definitely lost an air of invincibility that he carried with him. Bolt will be hoping to bounce back quickly in the 200m event at the World Championship but if he doesn’t, you can bet that some people in the sport will be raising questions over whether Bolt’s grip on the sport is slipping away. Only time will tell if the false start was just a blip or the beginning of a number of slips.

League of Ireland better than the SPL?

The fact that Irish team Shamrock Rovers have progressed to the Group Stages of the Europa League while no Scottish representative has says it all. Scottish champions Rangers have been bundled out of two European competitions this season and funnily enough, before both ties their management team, players and fans expressed great confidence that they would progress. Attempting to build confidence or unbelievable arrogance in the face of the truth is hard to say but it is fair to say that Ally McCoist has a job on his hands.

With no European money, new owner Craig Whyte will surely be getting an itchy trigger finger and he knows that Billy Davies is waiting in the wings. This could see McCoist out of a job sooner than he thinks; perhaps Sue Barker will give him his old job back at A Question of Sport.

No fun in Glasgow

It is no laughing matter on the other side of Glasgow either but at least Celtic fans knew what was coming. Celtic don’t travel well in Europe and it doesn’t matter who is in the jersey, you can usually rely on a few stupid mistakes and a penalty for the opposition. Amazingly enough, Celtic got the first one over and done with inside a minute in Switzeland with Desperate Dan Majstorovic giving away a penalty and picking up a red card inside 50 seconds. Don’t ask…he is a bomb scare of a defender and someone of his experience really should know better. The game then followed the similar pattern for Celtic away in Europe, get lucky defensively a few times, start to fight back, do something silly again, give yourself real hope of progressing and then just when you think the tie is right back in the mix, they do something stupid and kill the tie stone dead.

There is a chance that Celtic will progress to the group stages due to the fact that Sion have allegedly been using illegible players in the two legs but that will be decided on Tuesday. Some will say that Celtic shouldn’t take their place but if Sion have been found to have broken the rules, Celtic will have every right to line up against Athletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes. Rangers fans will show their usual level of rage if Celtic progress but they may comfort themselves with the thought of the defeats that will likely come Celtic’s way in the group stages.

Hearts managed a credible 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane against Tottenham’s reserves but the 5-0 Spurs win in the first leg rendered the second leg null and void.

Half time worry for the Gunners

Trailing 1-0 at half-time, which meant the tie stood at 1-1 on aggregate, it would have been a nervous dressing room but even then, Arsenal knew that one goal would see them firmly in the driving seat. The nature of the away goal in European football is crucial and keeping a clean sheet at home in the first leg will always give a team a chance in the second leg. When Arsenal made it 1-1 on the night on 55 minutes when new captain Robin van Persie stroked home, things got a little bit easier for the London club. This meant that Udinese would have to win 3-1 on the night to progress, which meant they would have to open up. The playing style of Arsenal lends itself brilliantly to playing counter-attacking football and Arsene Wenger at this point would have fancied his team to go and win the match.

Missed penalty turned the tie

However, the biggest twist of the night came when Udinese squandered a golden chance to retake the lead with a missed penalty. This let-off was all that Arsenal needed and Theo Walcott killed the tie with the second Arsenal goal, leaving Udinese needing to grab another three goals in the final twenty minutes to progress. The Arsenal defence has been shaky at times but that was never on the cards and Wenger can now look forward to re-entering the Champions League.

Arsenal really need to focus on getting some signings in before the window shuts though, that would be the better use of their immediate time.

High demand to run a casino

Nikolas Shaw Ltd already have a presence in the local area as they own the Opera House Casino, a popular spot in the region. They were considered by many to be the obvious choice for the new venture and they applied for the licence for Scarborough when the Government handed out the increased number of licences back in 2007. Yes, four years on and this is still rumbling on, showing how slowly some things can move in the world of grants and licences.

Competition is often healthy

However, Apollo Leisure also owned property and ventures in the area including the Scarborough Open Air Theatre, and they saw this licence as an ideal opportunity to add a casino to a new development that was being planned at North Bay. Both parties felt they had a strong case to the licence and debated as such at the local council meeting and with local residents.

At the time, the local council decided that both of the applications would be allowed to proceed to the second stage of the process but Nikolas Shaw Ltd launched an appeal against this ruling. Even though they had been granted progress to the 2^nd round, they were not impressed with the fact that Apollo Leisure had also been rewarded with this access and they launched an appeal on procedural grounds. The appeal was dismissed but this was not taking in good faith and acceptance by Nikolas Shaw Ltd. The company are now taking their appeal to the High Court and even though an early decision would have been of benefit for all parties, this case looks set to drag on for a lengthy amount of time.

Opportunity to make money

The people behind the poker refugee service will state that they are doing nothing wrong and are in fact providing a valuable service to the people who need it. There can be difficulties in moving to a new country and settling all the immigration and paperwork required to be considered a legal entity in the new country. The thing is though; $1,000 seems like an awful lot of money for information that is mainly found on the internet. It is not as if everyone moving country needs to have this level of expertise and guidance leading them through the application processes.

Time is at a premium

Some poker players will say that this service allows them more time to focus on playing online poker but if that is something that they are not able to do at this moment in time, it is not as they lack the time. In all reality, the poker players looking to move abroad to be able to continue their career will have more time at their disposal, which should allow them to carry out their own work in looking to move abroad.

There is no doubt that the full realisation of the actions of the FBI is now dawning on people within the industry and as usual, the people affected most are the ones at the bottom end of it. Players are rarely considered in the grand shake-up of these things but it is the average poker players who are suffering. Many players who just play for fun have found that their main source of entertainment and leisure activity has been stripped from them. However, it is the fact that many people’s livelihoods have been compromised that is the real issue for many within the poker community.

Newly promoted teams don’t care

This attitude can be shown in the teams selected by newly promoted EPL teams Norwich City and QPR. Norwich City made a whole raft of changes to their line-up for the home game against MK Dons and the attitude of the team was clearly not on progressing in the tournament. A 4-0 home defeat is not something that is good for any team but you can imagine that Canaries boss Paul Lambert is probably secretly satisfied at what unfolded at Carrow Road. This now frees his club from any other midweek cup fixtures, allowing them to place all of their focus on staying up. The FA Cup will roll around in January but from now until then, it is all about the league for Norwich City.

QPR happy with defeat

The exact same can be said for Queens Park Rangers, another team who don’t seem too upset about exiting the cup at such an early stage. QPR boss Neil Warnock seemed almost elated to be out of the cup although that may be a bit of a bluff to make up for a poor showing. Regardless of the state of affairs, being able to fully concentrate on staying up will definitely be the aspect that these teams are focusing on.

Arsenal are not involved in this round of League Cup games as they have a game against Udinese this week but even then, Arsenal wouldn’t take it too seriously. They should do because they haven’t won a trophy since almost forever but there is a sense that it is better for Arsenal to avoid getting to finals and embarrassing themselves once again like they did last season when they faced Birmingham.

With very few teams having genuine love and ambition for the League Cup, is it time for the rule-makers of the English game to bring in some sweeping changes?

Spurs were in second gear… at best!

Spurs were without many of their top players for a variety of different reasons but even without hitting anywhere close to top gear, Hearts were demolished. Let’s not forget that this was Tottenham’s first competitive match of the season after their opening day Premier League game against Everton was cancelled due to the rioting. Then again, there will be many people who say that the match at Tynecastle wasn’t competitive either. Hearts fans celebrated back in May when they got over the line in third place to book their spot in the Europa League play-off round but with such a drubbing they may have found that it wasn’t worth it.

Will the Jambos travel to London?

The second leg is likely to be a pointless affair with Spurs rotating their squad even further. There are allegedly over 3,000 Hearts fans taking the trip to see the game but you have to wonder if that figure will bother now. Hearts fan have never been the most loyal in the game, disappearing quickly when the team is doing badly only to return in their droves when they think they are on the up or when there is a great chance of booing and possibly even attacking the opposition manager. It has been a bad year for Hearts fans but to be honest, very few outside of Gorgie will shed a tear for their plight.

There is still a lot of bad will towards Hearts over their handling of Craig Thomson, the footballer now placed on the sex offenders register. Hearts were quite content to have the player retained at the club before public pressure and sponsor threats forced him out, where he went to Kaunas on loan. Kaunas are another club owned by Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov and many football fans are outraged at this act, which is almost as if the Hearts owner condones the actions of Thomson. In that respect, a sound thrashing for Hearts was very much what football needed.

Just a temporary measure

Bet365 has been involved in the Australian market for a considerable time now but it seems that the company is preparing itself to move out of the poker market, although perhaps just on a short term basis. The company has taken the steps this week of closing down its Australian poker site but this has been done in advance of the company aiming to obtain a sports book licence for Australia. Members of the existing Bet365 Poker site will have received this email outlining what the closure means to them.

“We’re in the process of applying for a sports betting licence in Australia. As part of our preparations for this, we regret to inform you that our Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo sites will no longer be available from week commencing 22nd August.

“Any funds currently in your Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo balances will be transferred to your Sports balance. Our Sports site will continue to work as normal. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Big trouble ahead for Bet365?

The fact that the sports site is continuing has raised a few eyebrows as some observers and analysts are indicating that this is against the law, which could cause further problems for the Bet365 group. This is due to the act that the company are providing a prohibited service within the terms of their agreement and the company could be liable of a fine up to $1.1m (AUSD) a day. This is a remarkable sum and you would like to think that the Australian team behind Bet365 would have weighed ip the potential risks before making their decision. If not, some board room meetings at the company could be rather interesting in the near future!

Sponsorship is always welcomed

As one of the top teams in Scotland and a regular feature in European football, you would expect that Celtic do not have to work too hard to bring sponsors in. The only problem is that the club finds their income is completely dwarfed by their neighbours from down south in England and every avenue must be explored. This is why the club has not only signed a deal with Betdaq as the official sportsbook partner of the club but also with 888 Poker, who are now the official online poker partner of the club.

A captive audience every week

Having two online gaming partners is perhaps a bit much but it indicates the ways that clubs can bring in funds and also the ways that online firms will try and get new customers. With Celtic advertising the firms on their website, in their matchday programmes and no doubt on the big screens at Celtic Park, there is the chance for these firms to get their message across to tens of thousands of people in the stadium on matchdays and much more through the club’s website. It is not as if every fan at Celtic Park will automatically choose to use these sites but it is a way of spreading the word and having new members sign up.

There is a brand loyalty attached to football clubs that very few businesses or institutions could ever hope to achieve which is why this sort of deal is so attractive for an online gaming firm. Being able to tap into a football club’s fanbase and be associated strongly with a team will see the firm be viewed more positively by a great number of that club’s support. Not everyone will automatically head to these sites but you can bet that this sort of partnership will provide many new fans to a site.