EPL Talk » Roque Santa Cruz

Is Mark Hughes Building a Barcelona Clone at Eastlands?

Dave Warner — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:56:12 +0000

Say what you will about the obscene amount of money being spent by Manchester City this summer, but you have to admit that there’s a certain perverse pleasure in watching someone build a real-life club lineup in much the same way that most regular joes would create their starting XI in a video game.

Okay, let’s take West Brom out and put Sealand FC into the Premier League. I’ll build a giant floating stadium in the North Sea for them. Awesome. Let’s drop Kaká in the middle here, and David Villa up front with Jozy Altidore… ooh, gotta bump his numbers up a bit… Cool. Hey, let’s make a Kevin Garnett character and put him in goal. He seems like he could have been good at that…

Man City manager Mark Hughes hasn’t gone quite that crazy, of course, but at first glance, he appears to be making the same mistake most novice video gamers might make when building a team: loading up on strikers. At some point, a gamer realizes that Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Kun Aguero and an injury-free Michael Owen — who seems to exist only in computers and preseasons — can’t all play together at once. Someone has to win the ball and control it in the midfield.

Of course, Hughes hasn’t forgotten this. That’s why he spent £17M on Nigel de Jong in January and another £12M on Gareth Barry this summer. Still, Manchester City has thrown a whopping £129M at forwards since being taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan last August, and the projected front line of Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez alone cost more than £82M.

Throw Stephen Ireland in with Barry, de Jong and that forward trio, however, and Hughes’ plan begins to come into focus. Man City is attempting to emulate FC Barcelona.

And why not? Barcelona used their 4-1-2-3 formation to shatter opponents and win a convincing triple last year, so it’s practically destined to become imitated widely. It’s entirely possible that Sheikh Mansour, like the rest of us, watched Barca break down Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League Final and asked Hughes to build a side exactly like that. He’s also put Hughes in the unique position to do that with just about any players he wants.

The parallels are obvious. Adebayor is the big striker in the middle, a la Samuel Eto’o, while Robinho and Tevez are set wide like Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi. Barry and Ireland are there to control the midfield like Xavi and Iniesta and feed the forwards, while de Jong sits back and provides cover like Yaya Toure. Sort out the central defense, and Sparky could find himself managing a contender.

Plenty of questions remain, though. For starters, can Hughes rotate his strikers enough to keep everyone happy? Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz, Benjani, Valeri Bojinov, Felipe Caicedo and Ched Evans are all fighting for spots, too, and some of them won’t be satisfied playing just cup ties. Does Elano see any playing time in this midfield, which would suit his skills well, or is safe to assume he’ll be gone come August? And what happens to pure wingers like Shaun Wright-Phillips and Martin Petrov? Do they become square pegs in this triangular front six?

Ah, but that’s the fun thing about building a video game roster. When you’ve got the right players, you can experiment with just about any formation you want. Perhaps Hughes can revert back to the familiar 4-4-2 when the situation calls for it. It would be far more interesting, though, to see if that Barca-style 4-1-2-3 could succeed at Eastlands over a full season. In fact, I might just recreate that lineup myself in Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 this weekend and see how well it works.

Eto’o and Tevez Potentially Agree To Join Manchester City

Paul Bestall — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:54:34 +0000

Well, two days are left until the transfer window opens again and Manchester City look like they’ve signed two strikers to help Mark Hughes drag them up the table. I suppose they need some good news down at Eastlands after the ground flooded on Saturday due to flash floods. With both signings, City could have an incredible 12 strikers on their books at the last count, but that number will fall by one on July 1st as young prospect Daniel Sturridge has agreed to join Chelsea.

With the roster of talent up front that Hughes has now, it’s safe to say that City will be looking to probably offload at least another 4 strikers apart from Sturridge. Vassell and Benjani, Ched Evans and the unloved Jo would be favourites to be heading for the door and all 4 will easily find new clubs before the season starts. Bojinov may get another chance to show his potential, after a couple of injury ravaged seasons at Eastlands, Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz will still be settling in.

Of the others, Robinho will surely stay regardless of the rumours of Barcelona weighing up a bid for him and Caicedo may be off after comments in the press last week stating he’d had contact from 4 or 5 clubs looking to take him next season. Even footballers can work out that 12 strikers into 3 positions does not work out too well if you aren’t called Robinho, Santa Cruz, Eto’o, Tevez or Bellamy.

The signing of Carlos Tevez is no surprise as it’s been mooted since he announced that he was leaving Manchester United last week and throwing his dummy out of the pram as he went. The potential signing of Samuel Eto’o is a different level for me, easily one of the most consistent strikers in world football today, two footed, great in the air, pacey and a thunderous shot on him. He is one of the best strikers in the world to put it simply. I’m surprised but not shocked by Barcelona accepting a bid for him; he’s 28 and only has one year left on his contract at the Camp Nou. £28 million pounds is a lot for a guy with only 12 months left on his contract, but City need to show real ambition and the Eto’o signing is key to that ambition becoming reality.

Eto’o’s signing could be the beginning for Hughes’ side and satisfying the long term aims of the Abu Dhabi Group. By now signing a genuine world class player for Manchester City, it’s a major development. Before anyone goes on about Robinho and Carlos Tevez being world class, no they’re not. They’re both damn good players, but the best players in their positions? Not a chance. Eto’o is certainly a name that would easily be mentioned when discussing the best striker in the world and if he decides to come then City have a top quality player.

The other aspect to this signing is the fact that other players will sit up and take notice that Eto’o has agreed to join Manchester City. It’s a major signing by any stretch of the imagination and will send a message out to other players out there. Now all Mark Hughes has to do is get this squad of players working as a team.

The Relegation Rumble: Will Blackburn Rovers Go Down?

tyduffy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Buoyed by Mark Hughes’ overachievement and shrewd signings, Blackburn had been living in a fantasyland of consistent contention for Europe. Paul Ince transported them rudely back to small city reality. Blackburn took an admirable risk, hiring the Premier League’s first black manager, but, in this instance, it clearly backfired. You know things are dreary when Sam Allardyce becomes Midas.

Form: Sam Allardyce has revolutionized Blackburn. Since he took over Dec. 17, the club has won or drawn ten of their thirteen matches, a noticeable improvement from Ince’s brief reign. Of the three losses, two came in no shame affairs away to a resurgent Arsenal and Manchester United. Aston Villa gave them their only home defeat. Characteristic of an Allardyce team, they will battle in every match.

Schedule: Blackburn have a reasonable run of games to get points. Their home ties against Tottenham, Wigan, Portsmouth and West Brom are all winnable. Their away fixtures are a bit tougher, traveling to Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Stoke City. Though, given the Allardyce style, it’s not inconceivable they trip up a similarly physical Liverpool or Chelsea side.

Injuries: Injuries could play a role for Blackburn, where they need help, scoring goals. Benny McCarthy is probably questionable with his hamstring injury. Roque Santa Cruz seems keen to return against Tottenham, with just four goals in 17 appearances leaves much to be desired when he is fit. Diouf could help out, so could Morten Gamst-Pedersen, if he rouses from his season-long doze.

Prognosis: Blackburn will not go down. They are a comfortably mid-table team placed in a whole because of Ince. Cynical Sam’s style evokes neither beauty nor romanticism, but it’s effective. For Blackburn this season, it will also be lucrative, keeping them in the league. Newcastle may climb out, but not at Blackburn’s expense.

Man City Finish Transfer Window Back Where They Started

Matthew Semisch — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:41:25 +0000

When the financial and managerial reins to Manchester City Football Club changed hands early on this season for the second time in fairly quick succession on both fronts, this time with the Blues having instantly catapulted to the top of the world football rich list, everyone’s attention immediately turned to the January transfer window. What already looked a fairly competent side on paper, it was thought, was mere months away from becoming a sure-fire threat to retain its UEFA Cup spot – and not via the Fair Play rule this time.

Fast-forward to the past 30-odd days, and the verdict? Yeah, not so much.

While City did make a handful of sensible moves – Nigel de Jong in from Hamburg and only putting Jo out on loan to Everton being probably the best among them – it appeared at times that the Blues, a club with suddenly more money than they’d know what do with…well, didn’t.

Several bids for Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz, one of first-year City manager Mark Hughes’ former charges, were turned down by the Ewood Park club, and who could forget the audacious (and ultimately fruitless) bid in excess of £100 million for AC Milan midfielder Kaká, which Hughes seemed particularly gung-ho about until the very end and which club executive chairman Garry Cook had the gall to accuse the Italian giants of “bottling it” on a deal that would have paid Kaká the obscene sum of £500,000 a week at Eastlands and in turn set a potentially dangerous precedence where footballers’ pay, especially in a global recession, is concerned.

The Kaká narrative is what the January window should (and will) be most remembered by in the blue half of Manchester, especially as, much like with City’s successful bid for Newcastle and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given, it was one that would have sent the wrong message to those players in the Blues’ current lineup. Throwing the two transfer targets together for the sake of argument, bringing in both Kaká and Given would have been seen as replacements for Stephen Ireland and Joe Hart, arguably City’s two best players so far this season.

The transfer window has left Hart especially unlucky. The 21-year-old keeper has been a rock for City since coming back from loan spells in 2007 at Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool, rarely if ever putting a foot wrong since taking over the starting job at Eastlands. What’s more, Hart is arguably the reason City are still alive in Europe, having made two saves in a penalty shoot-out at the end of the club’s UEFA Cup qualifier at FC Midtjylland back in August, a shoot-out that City really only made it into by accident after a late own-goal from the Danish side gifted City what at the time was a largely undeserved shot at reaching the competition’s first round proper.

Bearing that in mind, while City are bringing in another reliable goalkeeper for what is believed to be in the vicinity of £8 million, something will invariably have to give there. Hart will likely not remain a candidate for a regular spot in the full England squad any time soon if he’s playing the understudy at his club team, and it therefore seems inevitable that either he or third-stringer Kasper Schmeichel – who at one stage looked a solid prospect for an international call-up for Denmark or possibly even England as the Danes haven’t yet capped him – will be on their way out in the summer.

With what we know about what has transpired over the last month and change, then, it’s hard to look at City’s dealings in the transfer window as anything much better than one step forward and one step back. The Blues did manage to shore up a couple of their shortcomings so far this season, but at what cost? City stand to lose one if not two solid goalkeepers come the end of the season on account of lack of first-team playing time, and they’ve loaned out for more or less the same reason a player they had spent a reportedly estimated £19 million on to another Premiership side that’s still in with a shout to be back in the fold for European football again next season.

Then again, if the new signings fail to help steady the ship, how other clubs in the Premier League’s top half are getting on will be the least of City’s worries.

Can The Arshavin Talk Finally Stop And Sky Clean up on UK Rights

Johnathan Starling — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:40:55 +0000

Well we know the Andrei Arshavin deal according to the Premier League is complete, but how much trouble was there in completing this deal?

It seems that lawyers had to be called in to make sure everything was in order as this deal was finally competed almost twenty-four hours after the deadline. What’s making this deal even more questionable is that reports are coming out that paperwork submitted to the FA post the five pm deadline had ‘small issues‘.

Now I’m pretty sure the FA and Premier League are going to continue to say this deal is valid, but I have just a few questions that I think need answering by the FA.

1) Since Arshavin was already in London on Monday, why was this deal green lighted for a post five pm completion other than the fact the fee wasn’t agreed upon?

2) So the FA are saying it’s okay to ratify a deal when forms aren’t completely filled out?

3) If this deal was for a club like Hull City, West Bromwich Albion, ect, would the FA had been so kind to green light the move?

While I will be so happy once this is all said and done, some serious questions need answering. Sadly, I don’t think we will get any of those answers. Again, we aren’t talking about this had the deadline simply been midnight.

So Sky Sports have won four of the six TV Rights packages for the 2010-2013 seasons. What is good news for the Premier League is their fears of having to take a pay cut on the rights in the UK are for naught. The deal Sky made for the four packages they have won will guarantee that with the other two packages, the sum of the packages will at least match what the current deal is. The only question about the last two packages is…will Setanta and ESPN partner on getting those last two packages?

Other Stories.
Frank Lampard’s red was rescinded. There’s a shock…not.

Here’s another one of Rafa’s crazy rants. This time about Robbie Keane. Hey Rafa, have you for one second stopped to ask yourself this question…did you properly know how to use Keane? It seems to me you were trying to jam the square peg into the round hole…it never works.

But Rory Smith of the Telegraph comes out in response of Rafa’s comments with a statement about the lack of options up front for Rafa should there be a single injury.

Could this be why Fulham got rid of Jimmy Bullard? Bullard’s only played one game for Hull City, and has already needed a knee scan.

So Sam Allardyce has made a promise to Roque Santa Cruz…keep Blackburn in the Premier League and you can go. I wonder if that’ll be motivation enough to start scoring the goals again.

Looks like Criag Gordon will have to be content until the summer with being Sunderland’s number two.

Nicky Butt will be staying at Newcastle United until the end of next season. I wonder if he’ll call it a day after that?

Rafa’s Ranting Is Doing Liverpool No Favors

Johnathan Starling — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:19:32 +0000

The sooner Rafa Benitez keeps his mouth shut about how teams are playing against Liverpool, even in off handed ways, and focuses on getting your team back on the winning path; the better off you will be. The comments made after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at the JJB against Wigan in my mind read like a manager who has lost grip with what is important…winning.

The comments, where he calls the game crazy, says his players were okay, and takes a back handed swipe at how his team played with this comment “We’ve been giving away too many points. This has happened in the last three games and it’s something I don’t like. “I know why but I cannot say anything…” tells me that Rafa doesn’t get it.

I notice a pattern here. Ever since Rafa’s swipe at Sir Alex Ferguson, nothing has been Rafa’s fault. Maybe it’s time for Rafa to look at himself in the mirror and realize maybe it’s what he’s doing with the squad that has Liverpool playing in this manner. With Chelsea coming up on Sunday, Rafa doesn’t have long to turn things around. It’s going to be very interesting to see how he deals with Scolari’s men, considering the chances they have created lately.

Other Stories
Gotta love the red tops. I don’t think Roque Santa Cruz is gonna want to leave one team struggling for relegation to head off to another (that would be to Tottenham).

These type of gentleman’s agreements better be dealt with quickly by FIFA. No wonder why Zenit St. Petersburg has been so smug about this whole Andrei Arshavin situation. It looks like if Arsenal want him, it’ll be fifteen million to secure him.

In a subject I talked about yesterday, West Brom are going to appeal Paul Robinson’s red card picked up against Manchester United. I hope the suspension is overturned.

The BBC wins the UK Premier League highlight rights. The only added bonus is MOTD will be available for UK Users on iPlayer on delay.

I don’t think anyone associated with Manchester City will be getting a Christmas card from Steve Bruce. Saying that Palacios was used as a pawn in the Craig Bellamy deal is a strong accusation.

Could Marco Storari be the next backup to Petr Cech at Chelsea?

As mentioned earlier on the site today, Michael Owen looks to be out for six weeks while Joey Barton looks to be out six weeks thanks to ankle injuries sustained against Manchester City. This on the say night where Joe Kinnear confirmed that Shay Given will more than likely leave the club in January.

Friday will be the day when FIFA will decide Nemanja Vidic’s fate from the red card he picked up at the World Club Cup.

Tony Adams wants three more players before the transfer window closes. It’ll be interesting to see if he can secure them. Meanwhile Sol Campbell is coming out and lamenting that talks haven’t started on a new contract for him.

Manchester City is pledging their full support behind Robinho.

Emile Heskey feels Aston Villa are top four worthy. We’ll find out soon enough.

Here is an interview I did for Football Corner.

And finally Vinnie Jones will be our next guest for the EPL Talk Podcast. Now I shouldn’t have to be doing this but I will. Please keep your questions reasonable or else don’t expect them to be asked on air.

Should Manchester City Refocus Their Mega-Spending Efforts Domestically?

tyduffy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:11:09 +0000

Manchester City’s new ownership sent chairman Garry Cook, brimming with billions, to build a super-club capable of Champions League qualification. The club’s £91m bid for Kaka was a noted fiasco, but, as details have emerged, that’s hardly been their only activity.

City reportedly made an equally irresponsible bid for Spain and Valencia star David Villa, in the range of £100m. The club then cancelled the deal “on principle,” after Valencia countered with £135m.

Gigi Buffon was probably the target of another record bid, although Manchester City again withdrew when Juventus started asking for nearly £100m for Buffon. They will hold firm for £6m for Shay Given, yet be willing to part with ten times that for Buffon?

Man City also tried to raid Barcelona’s bench, offering a combined £49m for Thierry Henry , who may be a possibility next summer, and midfielder Yaya Toure. They had a £10m offer to Arsenal for Yaya’s brother Kolo as well.

The club also have offered £18m for Roque Santa Cruz. They are so eager they’re willing to throw Tal Ben Haim into the deal, which surely has nothing to do with him being Israeli.

This excludes the £40m already spent on players in January, bringing in a competent left-back (Wayne Bridge), a diminutive striker who doesn’t score much (Craig Bellamy) and a midfielder good enough to be rumored but never to be bought by a big club (Nigel de Jong).

Tallying things up, City have put forth a ludicrous amount of money, with ludicrous ambition. So, it seems only fitting they get ludicrous responses.

City have been content scouring the continent for spectacular Brazilians, but, if they want their spending to be effective, sound they consider throwing their money around closer to home?

Manchester City’s transfer budget dwarfs that of England’s big four combined. There are reasons for that.

Manchester United sit on a mountain of debt. They bought their two Serbians and they’re out. Roman Abramovich, after losing a few billion wants Chelsea to run a tight ship, allowing only £12m in January. Liverpool face an uncertain financial future, should the Americans not be able to find a buyer. Even profitable Arsenal must repay their debt. And these are the well off clubs…

If Garry Cook is willing to offer nearly £100m to continental giants, why not test the resolve of the domestic ones?

Would the Liverpool board allow Rafa Benitez to turn his nose at such a mega-offer for Mascherano or Fernando Torres?

If City offered £50m for Adebayor or Van Persie could Arsenal afford not to listen?

With players at Chelsea paying for their own lunches, could they entice one of Chelsea’s stars up north?

Even moving down the table, Villa may be able to reject a great transfer bid. But, could cash-short Everton reject a gobsmacking offer for Arteta?

Perhaps, these transfers may be inconceivable for January. But, if the economy begins to effect the boffo Premier League revenues – and that probably should be a when not an if– these speculations may be a crude reality.

Football Transfer Twaddle: Defoe, Arteta, Toure and Pennant

tyduffy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:42:16 +0000

After accepting a sordid envelope with £20m for “Lass” Diarra, Portsmouth rejected shrewd dealer Harry Redknapp’s £30m overture for Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch. Pompey then lessened Defoe’s value markedly, by announcing they would sell him for a fair price.

“It looks like Jermain wants to go,” Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie said. “If Jermain goes it will be at our price and if there is an offer which appeals.”

Spurs remain favorites to sign the striker.

West Ham, contrary to previous statements, confirmed the club’s inevitable fire sale this winter. Icelandic chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson was severely crunched by the collapse of an Icelandic bank. Manager Gianfranco Zola will “not be compelled” to sell anyone, but the club will listen to any offer for any player, probably ones he’d want to keep such as Craig Bellamy and Matthew Upson.

Arsenal may flout tradition by making a £12m bid for ready-made Everton man Mikel Arteta. The Spanish midfielder would be Arsenal’s ideal signing. He’s an experienced 26, plying his trade in the Premier League the past few seasons. Arteta can provide a credible Fabregas facsimile in the middle for the next few months. He can also fill in on the wings when Fabregas returns.

Arteta would be a perfect fit for Arsenal, so expect Arsene to balk at an extra £2m for him and sign a 19-year-old raw French African.

The Gunners may also sell defender Kolo Toure in January, after he handed in a subsequently rejected transfer request. The defender, not surprisingly, has struggled to regain fitness after a bout of malaria in the summer. He and William Gallas also hate each other, though why you would choose Toure over Gallas is unclear. Out of the squad for much of the season, Toure’s potential £10m fee from Manchester City could give Arsenal funds to strengthen the midfield.

Manchester City have a £60m transfer budget for six players to help them avoid relegation. Hughes has made a £10m offer to Chelsea for left-back Wayne Bridge. They may bid over £20m for Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker from West Ham and throw in £17m to Blackburn for Roque Santa Cruz, just for shits and giggles.

Finally, Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant may join Hull City after rejecting an overture from Real Madrid, in what would undoubtedly the first time that statement could be made. The Tigers would like Pennant “at the right price,” but will face off with Wigan, who view Pennant as a replacement for Luis Antonio Valencia, possibly on his way to Real Madrid.

Who Will Move Premiership Clubs In January?

Paul Bestall — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:23:18 +0000

A little under 32 hours remain until the transfer window finally opens once again in World Football and the merry go round of mad money begins once again. I’ve seen several people claim that due to the economic climate, it’s probably going to be a quiet window with little money changing hands, but don’t bet on it. Back at the beginning of the Premiership, the world had seen a similar economic downturn and yet over the course of the first four seasons, the British transfer record was increased from the £3. 2 million that Blackburn Rovers paid Southampton in July 1992 to prise a young lad named Alan Shearer to Ewood Park to the whopping £15 million Kevin Keegan paid to take the same player back to his North East roots from Rovers in July 1996. I’m not stating that the British transfer record will be broken again but I doubt it will be overly quieter than usual. During the same period, the average players price moved upward, (£4.5 million for Chris Armstrong anyone??) , with Blackburn especially throwing money about like confetti which enabled other teams to spend and that leads us to the key two words of the transfer window, Manchester City.

There is no doubt that City will be looking to spend, spend and spend to get the players they need in and I read earlier today that since September 1st, in the British press alone, they’ve been linked with 103 different players but I don’t expect anything more than 5 or 6 big money arrivals coming to Eastlands. The advantage they have is that with the exception of the Big Four, Villa and Spurs, most clubs will be happy to listen to offers for most of their players, despite what they may say in press. The boards of football clubs will always come out, as Everton’s have today regarding Joleon Lescott and Mikael Arteta, saying players are not for sale, but we all know that virtually every player at every club has a price. If City came in on Thursday and offered Everton £40 million for those two, do we think Everton wouldn’t sell them? A board making a statement of intent not to sell usually is simply wanting to up the price of the player and courting the press in this manner simply keeps the fans sweet whilst allowing them to then save face by saying they were offered silly money, the players now want to leave and it’s in the clubs best interests to accept it.

Ironically, it’s probably going to be Blackburn who find themselves involved with the first big money move of the window, with the open secret that Roque Santa Cruz seems to be moving down the M66 to arrive at Eastlands. Whilst Blackburn would definitely like to keep him, they’re not in a position to fight off a major bid from City. Allardyce will want some funds in and moving on a player who simply hasn’t delivered so far this season for a large sum will enable Big Sam to bring in a few new faces to mix it up and try and pull Rovers up the table.

Portsmouth are another club who, despite the crazy amount they’ve received for Diarra, still need to balance the books and know that Defoe, Crouch and Johnson are all coveted by other clubs, once again pushing up the sale price. Harry Redknapp will certainly be casting his eyes over his former charges and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a couple rejoin him at White Hart Lane with Spurs needing at least 4 or 5 new faces to strengthen the side whilst trying to move on players like Boateng, Rocha, Gilberto and Ghaly. Adams will hope he can hang on to as many of his first choice side but with only 2 wins in their last 13 league games, Pompey are sliding fast and maybe he needs to ship out two or three to enable him to get some fresh impetus into the team before they find themselves sucked into the bottom three.

West Ham are also under pressure to sell, with a £30 million pound compensation deal hanging over them, several players on high wages and an owner desperate to sell, they may be the one to suffer the most in January. Bellamy, Ashton, Neill, Green, Upson, Bowyer and Boa Morte have all been touted around the rumour mill recently and it could be a perilous month for the Hammers. I really feel for the fans at West Ham, they’ve been through the mill in the last two seasons and now have to hope that the transfer speculation surrounding the majority of the first team squad is simply that, the fans deserve better than they way the club has been run over the last couple of seasons.

So my ten players who I’ll be amazed don’t move in January are below:

Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn)
Craig Bellamy (West Ham)
Emile Heskey but depends how bad his hamstring injury is (Wigan)
Jermaine Pennant (Liverpool)
Matthew Upson (West Ham)
Jermaine Defoe (Portsmouth)
Gilberto (Tottenham)
Peter Crouch (Portsmouth)
Elano (Manchester City)
Michael Owen (Newcastle)

So who do you think will be on the move and more importantly, who do you want your club to sign??

Middlesbrough Dazzles With Opening Day Premier League Performance

The Gaffer — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:15:36 +0000

The most impressive side I watched, by far, on Saturday was Middlesbrough. The link-up play between Tuncay, Alves, Downing, Aliadiere and, later, Mido was sensational. Wheater was also impressive. At times, it was like watching Brazil with all of the backheels and blistering attacks. Seriously.

While Spurs controlled a lot of the possession in this match and were doing a better job at passing the ball around, they were sloppy in front of goal and failed to create those pinpoint passes that could have led to goals.

The 2-1 win for Middlesbrough was deceiving. Wheater had a goal in the first half that was incorrectly disallowed, but even ignoring that, Boro was much more impressive than Spurs than the scoreline suggests. For Tottenham, it’s back to the drawing board.

Middlesbrough fans will probably be worrying that Boro will continue to do well against big opposition teams but poorly against weaker sides. Let’s hope Gareth Southgate can fix that because the initial signs from Boro this season are very encouraging. They look like a team reborn.

One more impressive thing about Middlesbrough: For the first time in ages, the Riverside sounded like a real football stadium with a cup final atmosphere and noise compared to the empty red seats and stone cold silence we’re accustomed to from Boro.

Here are my thoughts from the other matches:

The deafening sound of boos that erupted around Goodison Park at the end of the 90 minutes against Blackburn should worry the club and its fans. They aren’t too many things to be happy with at Everton lately with the move to Kirkby on hold, no transfer signings, injury problems, boardroom problems and a dissatisfied David Moyes.
At times, Everton’s defending was schoolboy as they let Blackburn run right through the middle of the park unopposed. The perfect example of that was David Dunn who had a lot of space to twist and turn past Phil Jagielka and slot his curving shot into the corner of the net. Joleon Lescott made a crucial mistake to let Roque Santa Cruz pass him to slot the ball into the goal. Even Jason Roberts, yes Jason Roberts, made Everton’s back four look weak by dribbling past three players and getting a shot on goal.
New Blackburn manager Paul Ince should be impressed by the spirit shown by his side. If they can keep Santa Cruz in his side, they should do well this season up front.
Sunderland’s performance at their Stadium of Light against Liverpool was impressive. The team put in every morsel of energy into this match, winning many 50/50 balls and tormenting Rafa Benitez’s side. I wasn’t impressed by Liverpool’s performance at all. Too many sloppy mistakes. Hyypia looked awful. Plessis looked very unsure of himself in central midfield and his replacement Alonso played much better.This is going to be an awfully long season for Liverpool unless they can start making immediate improvement. They created more chances in the second half mostly thanks to Steven Gerrard, but what happens when Gerrard has a weak performance?
Arsenal looked extremely comfortable and confident in their 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion, but it was classic Arsenal who failed to find a second goal to put West Brom out of reach. Tony Mowbray’s side gave Arsenal a couple of scary moments with the very impressive Ishmael Miller coming close for West Brom. Samir Nasri did well on his first Premier League debut. Chris Brunt also played well for the Baggies, whose side became more comfortable toward the end of the first half. For the first 30 minutes, they couldn’t thread more than a few passes together.Meanwhile, Emmanuel Adebayor continued his frustrating streak of missing some clear-cut chances in front of goal. When he’s off form, the Gunners will be in jeopardy in crunch games.