Premier League Transfer Madness: Going Out on a Limb

photo by turtlemom4bacon	via PhotoRee

In which we go out on a limb to analyze the latest transfers -- both fact and gossip:

Dimitar Berbatov to Fulham: We've spoken early and often of our admiration for the languid Bulgarian, so it will come as no surprise that we think this will be a great pick up for Fulham.  As one Twitter wag stated yesterday, Martin Jol must be an absolute transfer genius to have picked up Mladen Petric and Dimitar Berbatov solely with the funds he received from offloading Bobby Zamora.  We can't wait to see Dimi receive the regular football he deserves, and believe he will once again be near the top of the League in goals by the end of the season.  If Berbatov does what we think he can, Manchester United may be glad they've already played Fulham once this season.

Andy Carroll to West Ham United (on loan): Could this be a marriage made in heaven?  Sure sounds like it to us.  Big Sam loves kick and run football -- and whose head is better to aim at than the ponytailed Geordie?  We don't see Carroll ever being worth anything close to £35 million in this lifetime, but if his form revives in a system that suits him, this could be a rather shrewd loan move by the scousers.

Clint Dempsey to Aston Villa: Seriously?  If this move comes off, Clint Dempsey's agent ought to have his hearing checked: Dempsey expressed a desire to play in the Champions League -- not the Championship next season.

Moussa Dembele to Spurs: A nice acquisition by Spurs, who may be shedding themselves of a midfielder or two in the next couple of  hours (see below for more).  We've always liked Dembele, and his fine form from last season has continued into the current campaign.  Spurs need more directness in their attack, and Dembele could be just the man to supply it.

Fernando Llorente to Liverpool: Sorry Liverpool fans, as much as you'd love it, it's just not happening.

Scott Sinclair to Manchester City: [Yawn.]  Someone had to replace Adam Johnson on the bench at Eastlands.

Julio Cesar to QPR: Someone check this man's age.  The calendar may show 32, but he's already showing signs of severe dementia, claiming that he believes QPR will win the League.  Mark Hughes' strategy seems to involve buying anything that's not nailed down at the current moment, and we believe this is a move that the club will soon regret.  Isn't Robert Green good enough for the Championship next season?

Edin Dzeko to Arsenal: If this one is true, Arsene Wenger should step down for the good of the club and its fans.  If he were to acquire Dzeko, Wenger will have officially jumped the shark.  To clarify, when we were saying Arsenal should be a bit more physical, we were talking about the defense and midfield, Arsene.

Beauty or the Beast? Thoughts on England vs. France, and Euro 2012

Photo by Loren Javier on Flickr

More thoughts, as the Euros roll ever onward:

o Beauty or the Beast?  Or, in other words: What to make of the English Team's performance in their first round game against France yesterday?  Michael Ballack and Alexi Lalas got into a rather fierce debate on ESPN about how to interpret the Three Lions' effort: while Lalas thought it was just what the doctor ordered, and even pronounced it a thing of "beauty," Ballack disagreed as vehemently as can someone who has had their personality surgically removed.  For the record, I agree with the unemotional German. Is parking the bus and looking for the rare counter against the French really the best the founding nation of football has to offer....? 

o Although the 1-1 draw did neither team any harm, it also didn't do much to help their cause with the host nation still for both to play.  England fans had better hope there is more in the tank than the team showed on Monday.  England under Uncle Woy retreated into a defensive shell early and often -- pulling off the rather amazing feat of showing the French how to retreat -- and were only very reluctantly coaxed into attacking. 

o With Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlaid-Chamberlain on the pitch, England should have displayed some deadly speed and ambition in attack.  Instead, they consistently ceded possession to their rivals from across the Channel, and seemed more than happy to defend their lead and then satisifed to play for a draw once Samir Nasri drew the French level.

o Yesterday's early match was Exhibit A in why I don't love first round games.  There's too much at stake as both teams know they can't afford an early slip up.  The first round of this year's tournament has produced several uninspired games in which both sides played cagily, preferring the type of defensive postures that commonly produce nil-nil or 1-1 draw to looking for an outright win.

o Fortunatelty, that wasn't the case when Spain met Italy, a match that paired the winners of the last two World Cups.  Unsurprisingly, this game also produced the best match of the tournament's first round, and although the action ended at 1-1, the game was played with anything other than a cantenaccio mindset, and both sides should really have scored more.  The end result was just about fair.

o Spain look bored to me, as if they need a new challenge after winning the last European Championship and World Cup.  For the record, no team has ever repeated as European Champion, and although there's always a first time, I don't think 2012 will be it.  None other than Cesc Fabregas admitted that the team had never practiced the 4-6-0 that they sent out against Italy, and it looked almost as if Coach Vincente Del Bosque was daring his team to take their game to the next level.  Unfortunately for the Spanish, the Italians gave almost as good as they got.

o Without the focal point of a striker, Spain to me looked like Barcelona without Messi: all tiki and no taka.

o Why Del Bosque kept his formation intact until late in the game is a mystery to me, and why he chose to insert Fernando Torres rather than Fernando Llorente is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, inside of a riddle.  The diminutive Spanish midfield looked as if they were tilting at windmills as cross after cross flew over their heads -- exactly the kind of situation that would have been tailor made for Llorente, one of the few Spanish strikers who can be counted on to score with his head. 

House of Horrors: Manchester United 2 - Athletic Bilbao 3

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Manchester United's European House of Horrors continued last night, with the not-so-mighty Reds conceding three road goals while losing to a younger, faster, and dare I say better Athletic Bilbao squad, a side that currently sits fourth in La Liga.  If Bilbao is world famous for its modern art museum, many of United's players looked old enough to be exhibited in a similar environment on Thursday night. Losing a second straight home contest -- let me repeat that: Losing a second straight home contest -- in a cut-rate European competition can't feel very good for Sir Alex, and perhaps the only silver lining Red fans will come up with is that the team's focus must now be on Title number Twenty.

United will be fully up against it in the second leg of this tie, to be played in the Basque region of Spain in a week's time, needing at least a two goal win to advance. Based on last night's evidence, United has two shots at getting that result: slim and none. Herewith some brutal thoughts on an ugly evening in Manchester.

o Thank God for David De Gea, who was easily Man of the Match for the Reds -- and having surrendered three goals, that's saying quite a bit.  DDG is the man for all those doubters. Let me remind you of what we said on this site before.  Oh, and by the way: the guy is class.

o I hate to say this, because I love him, but Chicharito has been largely useless this season when not directly in front of goal. He's not big enough to play hold up man, a la Berbatov, and his touch is not good enough to dribble 20-30 yards with the ball, a la Rooney. When he's on his game, he's a definite fox in the box, one of the deadliest strikers in the world from six yards in or less, but if United don't get the ball in there he's basically just taking up space. On a positive note, the Mexican's timing seems to have returned, as he's not being flagged offside nearly as much as he was earlier in the season.

o We're grasping at straws here, but on the plus side of the strikers' ledger, Roo is hot right now, very hot, with seven goals in his last four games.  Despite his generally abject performance yesterday, he still managed to find the net twice.  He was at the right place at the right time last night for the first goal, but a betting man would have backed him to score regardless. His movement and instincts on the play were excellent, as he both started and finished the move, hanging just off the shoulder of the defense until they lost track of him, and onrushing the net like a bull in Pamplona to get to a spot where he could side foot it in.

o Against the run of play seems to be United's new motto. For the second straight game the Reds allowed the opposition to completely outplay them. United's new tactic appears to involve letting the other team play brilliantly for as long as they can, riding their luck the entire time, and then hit back just when the opposition is least expecting it. It worked for the first 44 minutes yesterday, but then we all witnessed what happens when your luck runs out.

o Give full credit to the visitors: Bilbao moved exactly like you would expect a youthful club to move. They showed tremendous fluency on the ball, were quicker to it in so many instances I lost count, displayed a nice variety of short, quick hitting passes and tons of pace -- oh, the pace. Those boys were fun to watch, and they completely and utterly outplayed our guys. There's no way to sugar coat it.