Pick of the month: December

Following last month's pick of the month from The Hard Tackle on Borussia Dortmund, there was the realisation that one day, one month there may have to be a joint award from different websites. The Anfield Wrap ensured that 13 December 2012 would be an excellent day for football fans who visited the site with two fantastic articles.

Falling Out Of Love? [MODERN FOOTBALL IS SHITE] is a timely appraisal of modern football in England and where it's heading. Football is littered with denizens from the working classes but with the behemoth known English Premier League growing larger with each TV deal and billionaire owner, is falling out of love inevitable? Kudos to Ben McCausland.

Lucas the Lazarus is a brilliant overview of Lucas Leiva's journey at Liverpool from unwanted man in the middle to essential cog in the Liverpool machine. Not every underwhelming young player will make supporters feel like finding their words and grinding them into oblivion but perhaps it would be wise to temper our criticism of young players. Kudos to Andy Gargett.

There can only be one

January is a funny time in modern football. It's an opportunity for football managers, directors of flying footballs and the chiefiest of executives to scour the globe for bargains. Some will wait until the last day of the window to sign a couple of players much in the same way Daniel Levy has successfully done. Others will overlook the sense used by Levy and others to sanction the signing of the next Andy Carroll. It was truly "a hell of a deal" indeed. January is also a time where losing key players is to be avoided. At all costs? Last January, one Demba arrived to support another and this January one Demba leaves another.