ARSENAL: Arsene Wenger talks of needing "one more body" and that body is almost certain to come in central midfield (after Gilberto Silva and Mathieu Flamini exits) with Miguel Veloso and Gokhan Inler two of the names being mentioned. Unfortunately for fans, the spending will probably stop there - with no big, bustling centre-half likely to be signed.
ASTON VILLA: They need bodies fast - particularly in both full-back positions and at right midfield. Nicky Shorey is one name being mentioned for the left-back spot but it looks like they have failed in moves for both Steve Finnan and David Bentley in their two other problem positions. Another move for James Milner may follow.
BLACKBURN: The "absolute priority at the moment is a holding midfield player" according to Blackburn chairman John Williams, with Paul Ince seemingly unimpressed with Tugay, Aaron Mokoena or Johann Vogel. Should David Bentley join Tottenham as expected, their "absolute priority" could very quickly become a right-sided midfielder. Repeat with Roque Santa Cruz and 'striker' if required.
BOLTON: Although significant money has been spent on Johann Elmander and Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson still wants a replacement for Nic Anelka, especially with El-Hadji Diouf also exiting the club. Defensively they're relatively sound after the January signings of Matt Taylor and Gary Cahill, and Mustapha Riga will fill a gap on the wing. So the emphasis has to be on a mobile striker - don't be surprised to see Milan Baros turn up at the Reebok.
CHELSEA: There seems to be a suggestion that with Real Madrid refusing to play ball over Robinho, Chelsea's spending for the summer (on Jose Bosingwa and Deco) is now over, with Shaun Wright-Phillips earning something of a reprieve as a by-product. This is assuming of course that Didier Drogba really is intent on staying put.
EVERTON: Never one to spend money lightly, David Moyes has been quiet even by his own standards this summer with a grand total of no incoming transfers. They have been chasing Joao Moutinho seemingly forever but other links with central midfielders - namely Michael Johnson and Tom Huddlestone - appear to have come to nothing. Don't ever expect much movement from Moyes but surely we should expect something (anything) soon? He needs striking cover for Yakubu, a creative midfielder to take the pressure off Mikel Arteta, a holding midfielder and a right-back. Two of the above would be welcomed by Toffees.
FULHAM: Roy Hodgson wanted numbers in at Fulham and he has certainly delivered that - seven players in so far with one (Andrew Johnson) soon to follow. There is more talk of another move for Mario Gomez, but surely the coffers don't stretch that far. With or without Gomez, Hodgson seems to have done enough to avoid a relegation battle.
HULL CITY: Seven names in (with George Boateng, Bernard Mendy and Geovanni the pick) but the big question is still 'where will the goals come from?' At this moment in time, Dean Windass could well partner Caleb Folan in a first-choice striker partnership, and that won't even scare the Stoke defence, never mind Chelsea. They're being linked with Marlon King and Colin Kazim-Kazim-Kazim though, so things are unlikely to get a great deal better any time soon.
LIVERPOOL: The Reds have shed half a team of fringe players but still haven't got enough money to buy Gareth Barry, who seems their only real transfer target after the arrivals of Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri and Robbie Keane. But unless they can find a buyer for Xabi Alonso, the revolving door may be held still until January.
MANCHESTER CITY: Jo has been Manchester City's only buy so far this summer and there must be striker-shaped alarm bells ringing with the Brazilian going for Olympic duty and Benjani currently sidelined through injury. Darius Vassell and Felipe Caicedo are two of very few options in that department. Tal Ben Haim is likely to arrive and shore up the defence but Mark Hughes has admitted that he still needs an experienced keeper (Antti Niemi) to give Joe Hart some competition. Otherwise, it's just a case of getting in numbers, preferably of Premier League-attuned players.
MANCHESTER UNITED: The big money was spent last summer - this year is all about getting one experienced striker. It could be Dimitar Berbatov, it could be Roque Santa Cruz, it could be Roman Pavlyuchenko. If none of those arrive, expect Wayne Rooney to be encouraged to play a more central role.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Gareth Southgate claims he would be happy to start the season with his current squad, but he would certainly be happier if he could bring in more central midfielders - having lost Fabio Rochemback, Lee Cattermole, George Boateng and Gaizka Mendieta this summer. Didier Digard has arrived but they certainly look short of at least one more player, with James Harper among those linked.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Once again it's all about defenders at Newcastle, with Fabricio Coloccini the principal target as they desperately need an experienced leader in central defence. They also need cover at right-back after the release of Stephen Carr and links with Luka Modric and Eidur Gudjohnsen suggest that they are also keen on a playmaker, having had to play Michael Owen in an unfamiliar withdrawn role last season. But all is quiet so far as the mental wages of the Shepherd era are a thing of the past.
PORTSMOUTH: 'Arry Redknapp is playing the 'bare bones' card already, despite having a bigger squad than last season after the arrivals of Peter Crouch, Ben Sahar and Glen Little, with only Sulley Muntari out of the door. He says he needs three players and those are likely to be at centre-half (Younes Kaboul looks favourite), left-back and right midfield. But fringe players like Noe Pamarot, Sean Davis and David Nugent will have to be moved on first.
STOKE CITY: They need quality and fast. Dave Kitson is a decent signing but promoted teams survive in the Premier League when they have got pace (as individuals and as a collective) - the Potters are hardly blessed in that department. They're hardly blessed in any department apart from height, and unless they make a lot of decent signings (very difficult for a promoted team) they are looking eerily like Watford - difficult to beat but ultimately short on quality.
SUNDERLAND: Roy Keane has made five signings (three of them proven Premier League players) and Steed Malbranque is on his way. Having learned a lesson from buying Championship players and seeing them come up short, Keane is shopping from the top flight and he's unlikely to have finished yet - expect another central midfielder, a winger and a striker to make the move to the Stadium of Light.
TOTTENHAM: The signings of Giovani Dos Santos and Luka Modric (and the imminent arrival of David Bentley and interest in Andrei Arshavin) suggest a change of formation to a 4-2-3-1 and Spurs need more players to fill the '2' part of that equation as well as centre-half cover for the oft-broken duo of Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King and probably another striker, whether Dimitar Berbatov goes or not. It's been a busy summer already but there is certainly more to come.
WEST BROM: There's still a lot of work to be done this summer for the Baggies. Centre-halves are obviously the priority - with Madjid Bougherra and Abdoulaye Meite the current favourites - but Tony Mowbray is also thought to be interested in at least one central midfielder and two strikers, having lost Kevin Phillips and Zoltan Gera this summer. Just like Stoke and Hull, the Baggies are discovering that finding goalscorers is a nigh-impossible task for Premier League newcomers.
WEST HAM: Whether there's actually any money to spend at West Ham is questionable - with an unproven Icelandic defender and a Swiss utility man the only signings thus far - and they may have to go for the 'returning players like Craig Bellamy, Julian Faubert and Scott Parker are like new signings' tack. They could certainly do with a striker after the exit of Bobby Zamora and cover in both full-back positions. But will Alan Curbishley get the money?
WIGAN: Steve Bruce says he's finished spending - which is nice for him - having bought a fair few midfielders and a new striker in Amr Zaki to play alongside Emile Heskey. As long as Paul Scharner stays, the chequebook is closed.
Sarah Winterburn
Monday, 4 August 2008
Football365.com: Response to Mini Competition
'England's elite clubs are determined to exploit their international popularity by staging mini-competitions in places like Asia, Australia, Africa and North America, during a 12-day winter break,' it says in Monday's Daily Telegraph.
If you were doing an 11-plus comprehension exam, you might be asked to spot the flaw in that extract and you'd expect to get a tick for pointing out that the final word - the word 'break' - makes no sense at all at the end of that sentence.
So the Premier League's latest absolutely flawless plan is to use a winter break designed to give the players a rest in the middle of a long season to fly said players half-way around the world to play games in Sydney or Singapore - giving them the usual two games to play in a 12-day period but adding in two flights with a combined total of up to 50 hours' travelling. Brilliant, isn't it?
There was quite rightly an outcry over the 39th game idea - where a competitive 39th round of fixtures would be played around the world - but we cynical types realised that this was just an opening gambit, a ridiculous idea that would make subsequent ideas look that little more sane. And if this latest plan falls on rocky ground, a slightly less ridiculous idea will soon be along to take its place, until some way of crowbarring money from 'EPL' fans across the world is agreed.
Garth Crooks - for some obscure reason the public face of the ManYoo-Pompey game in Nigeria last week - is citing the success of that game as an argument for taking the Premier League worldwide, but the fact that only 28,000 people turned up in a 60,000-seater stadium to see the champions take on the FA Cup winners highlighted one of the many problems with the plan.
In order to make it financially viable, tickets for the game were priced at Stamford Bridge style prices of £40-100 - that's like charging English fans roughly £1300 for a glorified friendly. So ignore the bollocks about speading the word of the EPL, these games are about making money.
And that's making money at the expense of the host nations' own leagues, at the expense of the quality of the Premier League, at the expense of the England players who will have played extra games and flown extra miles ahead of international tournaments and at the expense of Championship clubs who see even more money going into top-flight coffers to further increase that gap.
Premier League clubs already play lucrative games in far-flung places but that is their own business. They choose to sit their players on planes and parade them in the Far East or Africa for huge wads of cash. It's a very different matter when you're talking about sending 20 clubs around the world on official Premier League business in the middle of a season that most experts already consider too long and too physical.
The flaws in the plan are many (including the prospective ticket sales in a country that gets lumbered with fifth-placed Everton and a trio of Middlesbrough, Fulham and Stoke City) but the argument in favour - as far as the Premier League concerns - is written in numbers, not words. Some people find that all too compelling.
Sarah Winterburn
If you were doing an 11-plus comprehension exam, you might be asked to spot the flaw in that extract and you'd expect to get a tick for pointing out that the final word - the word 'break' - makes no sense at all at the end of that sentence.
So the Premier League's latest absolutely flawless plan is to use a winter break designed to give the players a rest in the middle of a long season to fly said players half-way around the world to play games in Sydney or Singapore - giving them the usual two games to play in a 12-day period but adding in two flights with a combined total of up to 50 hours' travelling. Brilliant, isn't it?
There was quite rightly an outcry over the 39th game idea - where a competitive 39th round of fixtures would be played around the world - but we cynical types realised that this was just an opening gambit, a ridiculous idea that would make subsequent ideas look that little more sane. And if this latest plan falls on rocky ground, a slightly less ridiculous idea will soon be along to take its place, until some way of crowbarring money from 'EPL' fans across the world is agreed.
Garth Crooks - for some obscure reason the public face of the ManYoo-Pompey game in Nigeria last week - is citing the success of that game as an argument for taking the Premier League worldwide, but the fact that only 28,000 people turned up in a 60,000-seater stadium to see the champions take on the FA Cup winners highlighted one of the many problems with the plan.
In order to make it financially viable, tickets for the game were priced at Stamford Bridge style prices of £40-100 - that's like charging English fans roughly £1300 for a glorified friendly. So ignore the bollocks about speading the word of the EPL, these games are about making money.
And that's making money at the expense of the host nations' own leagues, at the expense of the quality of the Premier League, at the expense of the England players who will have played extra games and flown extra miles ahead of international tournaments and at the expense of Championship clubs who see even more money going into top-flight coffers to further increase that gap.
Premier League clubs already play lucrative games in far-flung places but that is their own business. They choose to sit their players on planes and parade them in the Far East or Africa for huge wads of cash. It's a very different matter when you're talking about sending 20 clubs around the world on official Premier League business in the middle of a season that most experts already consider too long and too physical.
The flaws in the plan are many (including the prospective ticket sales in a country that gets lumbered with fifth-placed Everton and a trio of Middlesbrough, Fulham and Stoke City) but the argument in favour - as far as the Premier League concerns - is written in numbers, not words. Some people find that all too compelling.
Sarah Winterburn
Football365.com: Spurs for Fourth?
I'm a Huddersfield Town fan who spends the majority of the season watching Championship football (for work), but if you offered me a free season ticket, I would ask for a seat in the stands at White Hart Lane.
Top four? Unlikely. The 7/1 odds on that happening are probably - if anything - a little short. You can't overhaul half a team and expect to get instant results. I remember predicting ahead of Roman Abramovich's first season at Chelsea that the title would not come that campaign but the following one. In the same manner, Spurs will come a great deal closer in Juande Ramos' second full season.
Most realistic Spurs fans would tell you that they don't expect to crash the Champions League places this season, but what they can expect is to be entertained. Like a 21st Century (and better) version of Ossie's five-man attack, Juande Ramos is putting together a team that could feature Giovanni Dos Santos, Luka Modric, Andrei Arshavin and David Bentley - probably behind a single out-and-out striker.
That's four new, young-ish attack-minded players (and possibly five if Roman Pavlyuchenko joins the revolution) and that is a concept that must appeal to neutrals who have got bored with the Premier League and the thou-shalt-not-pass tactics of even the supposed chasing pack.
Even the first-choice full-backs - Alan Hutton and Gareth Bale - are in the foraging almost-winger mode rather than the converted centre-back style of Joleon Lescott, Hermann Hreidarsson or Wilfred Bouma. It is a line-up designed to score goals. Of course that means that goals will inevitably be conceded in numbers too - especially if Ramos failed to sign back-up for fragile pairing Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King. But that's half the fun.
They've even signed a comedy keeper who spent much of their last friendly swinging off his own crossbar to entertain the crowds. He might end up infuriating half the Spurs faithful but for those of us who just want a little fun in our football, it's a boon.
There's a fair chance that this will all backfire and that Ramos will go the way of Martin Jol after seven too many 4-4 draws, but there's an equally good chance that Spurs at least scare the Big Four and walk off with a trophy to boot.
They may not have the discipline to get near Everton, Pompey or Villa or they could develop the momentum to roll over everything in their path.
Will they actually play any defensive midfielders? Will Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Jenas be restricted to the bench? Will Darren Bent have a resurgence with the formation he revelled in at Charlton? Who knows? And the fact that nobody does know is the reason why they're a draw for anyone without Big Four allegiances.
If you're a neutral, would you take a ticket for Goodison Park or even Anfield over White Hart Lane?
Sarah Winterburn
Top four? Unlikely. The 7/1 odds on that happening are probably - if anything - a little short. You can't overhaul half a team and expect to get instant results. I remember predicting ahead of Roman Abramovich's first season at Chelsea that the title would not come that campaign but the following one. In the same manner, Spurs will come a great deal closer in Juande Ramos' second full season.
Most realistic Spurs fans would tell you that they don't expect to crash the Champions League places this season, but what they can expect is to be entertained. Like a 21st Century (and better) version of Ossie's five-man attack, Juande Ramos is putting together a team that could feature Giovanni Dos Santos, Luka Modric, Andrei Arshavin and David Bentley - probably behind a single out-and-out striker.
That's four new, young-ish attack-minded players (and possibly five if Roman Pavlyuchenko joins the revolution) and that is a concept that must appeal to neutrals who have got bored with the Premier League and the thou-shalt-not-pass tactics of even the supposed chasing pack.
Even the first-choice full-backs - Alan Hutton and Gareth Bale - are in the foraging almost-winger mode rather than the converted centre-back style of Joleon Lescott, Hermann Hreidarsson or Wilfred Bouma. It is a line-up designed to score goals. Of course that means that goals will inevitably be conceded in numbers too - especially if Ramos failed to sign back-up for fragile pairing Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King. But that's half the fun.
They've even signed a comedy keeper who spent much of their last friendly swinging off his own crossbar to entertain the crowds. He might end up infuriating half the Spurs faithful but for those of us who just want a little fun in our football, it's a boon.
There's a fair chance that this will all backfire and that Ramos will go the way of Martin Jol after seven too many 4-4 draws, but there's an equally good chance that Spurs at least scare the Big Four and walk off with a trophy to boot.
They may not have the discipline to get near Everton, Pompey or Villa or they could develop the momentum to roll over everything in their path.
Will they actually play any defensive midfielders? Will Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Jenas be restricted to the bench? Will Darren Bent have a resurgence with the formation he revelled in at Charlton? Who knows? And the fact that nobody does know is the reason why they're a draw for anyone without Big Four allegiances.
If you're a neutral, would you take a ticket for Goodison Park or even Anfield over White Hart Lane?
Sarah Winterburn
Football365.com: Wenger's Moral Crusade
Arsene Wenger seems to be on something of a moral crusade at the moment, and his issue of choice is the ubiquitous 'tap-up'.
A couple of weeks ago Wenger said: "If you don't show respect to other clubs I think that football is moving in the wrong way.
"You cannot come out like [president Ramon] Calderon has done at Real Madrid with Manchester United and tell them you cannot stop a player from leaving.
"You can destabilise any player in the world - that is irresponsible."
And he followed that up this Saturday with as clear an accusation as you're likely to get that there has been some perceived skullduggery afoot with regards to Barcelona's chase for Emmanuel Adebayor.
"There is a game going on in Europe where the big clubs tap up our players.
"They let us do the work and develop the players and then they think they can just come in and offer them big wages, but after they cannot come up with the transfer fee. It should be the other way round."
To an extent, you can see his point. The likes of Adebayor, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka were moulded into world-class players by Wenger, only for their heads to be turned by the riches of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
Of course, you could equally argue that this is how Wenger has carved out a good part of his reputation. Despite giving off the the image of a footballing professor, only concerned with the purest aspects of the game, Wenger is possibly the finest businessman in the game. The £22million profit on Anelka proves that.
However, that's not really the point. Putting aside the idea that Wenger or Arsenal have never, ever spoken to a player before contacting their club, the point is that Wenger seems to be getting very hot under the collar about his own products being nicked from under his nose with the prospect of bigger and better things, when this is a tactic he in fact consistently uses to build his own stable of youngsters.
To pick two recent examples, Cesc Fabregas and Matthieu Flamini were plucked from Barcelona and Marseille respectively. Both clubs received compensation from tribunals, but both are still sore at having two talents taken from them. The differences between Arsenal's conduct at that of Barcelona and Milan are more or less semantical.
Wenger may argue that technically and legally Fabregas and Flamini were not under tight contracts and he has therefore done nothing wrong, but what he is complaining about this summer is a moral issue.
So what is the moral difference between the sort of 'tapping-up' Wenger is complaining about, and the tactics he uses to tempt young players to north London?
The difference is negliable, and Wenger should think carefully before making any further comments in the future.
And you can expect more of this. Should Cristiano Ronaldo move to Real Madrid this summer, next year Ramon Calderon will probably alternate between constantly 'not talking about' Fabregas and Kaka. We can anticipate more complaints from Wenger in 2009.
Nick Miller
A couple of weeks ago Wenger said: "If you don't show respect to other clubs I think that football is moving in the wrong way.
"You cannot come out like [president Ramon] Calderon has done at Real Madrid with Manchester United and tell them you cannot stop a player from leaving.
"You can destabilise any player in the world - that is irresponsible."
And he followed that up this Saturday with as clear an accusation as you're likely to get that there has been some perceived skullduggery afoot with regards to Barcelona's chase for Emmanuel Adebayor.
"There is a game going on in Europe where the big clubs tap up our players.
"They let us do the work and develop the players and then they think they can just come in and offer them big wages, but after they cannot come up with the transfer fee. It should be the other way round."
To an extent, you can see his point. The likes of Adebayor, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka were moulded into world-class players by Wenger, only for their heads to be turned by the riches of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
Of course, you could equally argue that this is how Wenger has carved out a good part of his reputation. Despite giving off the the image of a footballing professor, only concerned with the purest aspects of the game, Wenger is possibly the finest businessman in the game. The £22million profit on Anelka proves that.
However, that's not really the point. Putting aside the idea that Wenger or Arsenal have never, ever spoken to a player before contacting their club, the point is that Wenger seems to be getting very hot under the collar about his own products being nicked from under his nose with the prospect of bigger and better things, when this is a tactic he in fact consistently uses to build his own stable of youngsters.
To pick two recent examples, Cesc Fabregas and Matthieu Flamini were plucked from Barcelona and Marseille respectively. Both clubs received compensation from tribunals, but both are still sore at having two talents taken from them. The differences between Arsenal's conduct at that of Barcelona and Milan are more or less semantical.
Wenger may argue that technically and legally Fabregas and Flamini were not under tight contracts and he has therefore done nothing wrong, but what he is complaining about this summer is a moral issue.
So what is the moral difference between the sort of 'tapping-up' Wenger is complaining about, and the tactics he uses to tempt young players to north London?
The difference is negliable, and Wenger should think carefully before making any further comments in the future.
And you can expect more of this. Should Cristiano Ronaldo move to Real Madrid this summer, next year Ramon Calderon will probably alternate between constantly 'not talking about' Fabregas and Kaka. We can anticipate more complaints from Wenger in 2009.
Nick Miller
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