vs Liverpool attempted and completed more than any other player with 92/98 (94%)
vs Chelsea attempted and completed more passes than any other player with 66/76 (87%)
vs Stoke attempted and completed more passes than any other player with 129/139 (93%)
vs Arsenal completed more passes than any other player with 51/56 (91%).

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta remains confident coach Pep Guardiola will continue his successful spell at the helm.

However, he has confirmed the club have drawn up contingency plans should Guardiola decide to leave the Nou Camp.

Zubizarreta is optimistic it will not come to that despite the Catalans, who visit Osasuna on Saturday, trailing arch-rivals Real Madrid by seven points in the La Liga title race.

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- For months, people have awaited Brian Ching's first match against the Houston Dynamo.

After being left unprotected by Houston in the expansion draft, Ching threatened retirement before eventually being selected by the Montreal Impact.

English football in 'shambles' shocker. With a major tournament around the corner, the FA intervene and strip John Terry of the England captain without consulting the manager. The manager resigns. England have no captain, no manager and naff all chance of winning Euro 2012.
In many ways, I don't blame Fabio Capello for leaving.

In the first part of our FM scouting series, we looked at United's new DP forward Hamdi Salihi. Now it's time to turn our attention to central defender Emiliano Dudar...

click to enlarge

What jumps out immediately is Dudar's marking ability and aerial power, the later of which, given his size, was to be expected.

In an unexpected move, the Galaxy announced today that Brazilian midfielder Juninho, who became a fan favorite for his ferocious shot and high workrate, will return to the club after all for a second loan spell. In addition, the club announced that Brazilian central defender Leonardo will also return to

Portions of Italy have been belted with snow over the past two days, canceling a number of matches as they dismiss the delight of a winter wonderland. The Serie B match between Livorno and Varese made it til the very end, however, with Magnus Troest (big arsed central defender) scoring a brace.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United have signed Freddie Veseli from Manchester City.

The 19-year-old central defender joined the club in 2008 but has become frustrated by the lack of first team opportunities. He made his debut for the club in a pre-season friendly in the summer but when the dreadful Stefan Savic got the nod ahead of him during Vincent Kompany's absence, the Veseli clearly realised it was time to leave.

Hector Rueda Lookalike Wilman Conde is New York Bound - FinallyThe New York Red Bulls, having just wrapped up Tim Ream's long-awaited transfer to Bolton, didn't waste much time in finding his replacement, announcing today the signing of Colombian central defender Wilman Conde. Conde was most recently on the books of Mexican club Atlas, where injuries limited his playing time in 2011 to just 13 games.

When asked about possible transfers before tomorrow's deadline day, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was typically vague,

"I can't see an awful lot happening," Harry said.

"I will probably watch a game on Sunday but not with a real eye on anyone, although I'm not going to tell you which match.

Liverpool football club have taken several youngsters on trial over the last few weeks, including Swedish midfielder Gustav Engva; Ghana youth midfielder Mumuni Abubakar, and Swedish teenager Abdul Aziz, who had to cut short his trial due to illness. Now, the club is taking a look at another Scandinavian prospect, a central defender from Norway.

The boxes are being ticked, slowly but surely. With the addition of central defender Emiliano Dudar, the depth acquisition project seems all but complete. Still, the two biggest needs, left back and finisher the ones we've been pointing to all offseason, remain frustratingly unfilled. Stefan Jerome, recently arrived on trial, would be a nice project up top (can't believe he's only 19 my memories of him as a U 17 seem distant), but isn't the finished product.

Arsenal legend Alan Smith has criticised current manager Arsene Wenger's recruitment policy, which he believes could cost the Gunners a UEFA Champions League spot at the end of the season. The retired striker, who has now turned to commentating, also believes that Wenger should have pursued central defender Gary Cahill more aggressively before he was signed by their London rivals Chelsea earlier this month.

Queens Park Rangers apparently can't afford Alex. Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, certainly can. I guess that solves that then, in my skewed mind at least.

A reunion?

The protracted transfer of Alex away from Chelsea drags on.

News today arrives in two parts.

Liverpool target Dejan Lovren is not interested in a move to Anfield and has extended his contract at Lyon.
The central defender was on Kenny Dalglish's radar in the summer and the Scot, whose side was trounced by Bolton at the weekend, is keeping his eye on him.
But Croatia international Lovren does not fancy moving to Anfield and is eager to remain at a club playing in the Champions League.

So Long Timmy!The long-running transfer saga involving New York Red Bulls central defender Tim Ream appears to have finally come to an end this afternoon, with the BBC reporting that Bolton Wanderers have secured a UK work permit. There had been considerable doubt about Ream's qualifications for a visa, as he had only played in a total of two competitive fixtures for the US Men's National Team.

It was an awful display in the final 45 minutes of the game at Craven Cottage on Saturday, but Alan Pardew will not be changing his plans in the transfer market. Alan Pardew smiling before the game started on Saturday It seems that Newcastle will still try to bring in a central defender in the next 8 [.

The Sunday Sun is reporting today that Newcastle will be signing a defender from the Championship within the next week. Adrian Mariappa Newcastel will pay £3M for this player It seems that Newcastle are after 25-year-old Watford central defender Adrian Mariappa, and the club are willing to pay £3M for him.

Michael Parkhurst hopes to do enough in the January U.S. Men's National Team camp to earn more looks with the full national team. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

Former New England Revolution central defender Michael Parkhurst has excelled in both MLS and in Europe, but hasn't been a regular contributor to the U.

The Rapids made a trade late today, sending an international roster spot and our 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft to Vancouver for allocation money. I'm guessing the signing of Castrillon is imminent. The Rapids now have 3 open international spots and 3 filled ones.
Colorado also invited two players from their open tryouts earlier this week into training camp with the team.

We watched Wednesday's Clásico in its entirety with spirited company at WoodworkBK. We had the sense then that Barcelona slowly took control after the early goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, and that Pepe was terrible. Watch this extended highlight clip, which should reinforce the conclusions that (a) Barcelona completely dominated after about the 25′ mark, and (b) Pepe was a complete embarrassment and not only for the already-infamous Messi hand stamp:

Real Madrid v Barcelona by vynylr

Acting!

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that midfielder Jack Wilshere's rehabilitation process has finally reached the phase where he can take part in outdoor training sessions.

Wilshere's last competitive football match remains the Euro 2012 qualifier that he played for England against Switzerland in June last year.

Newcastle are still after a central defender, and as we reported yesterday, Newcastle are busy working hard to bring a young center-back into the club in the next 11 days. Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa Montpellier captain could be Newcastle target? West Ham's 22 year-old James Tomkins is still a player Newcastle would like to get, but whether West Ham will sell him in January, when they are on [.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Jack McInerney scored in the US U-23 team's 1–1 draw with the USMNT. McInerney, Amobi Okugo, and Freddy Adu started the first half. Zac MacMath and Sheanon Williams started the second half.

John Hackworth says of Tom Brandt, the Union's first pick in the Supplemental Draft, "We wanted to get a quality player in the back and we feel like we did that with Tom Brandt.

Today has been an exciting day to be a Portland Timbers fan. First, earlier this morning, we received confirmation that Colombian central defender Hanyer Mosquera has joined the squad. As a big center back with experience he'll be invaluable in helping the Timbers shore up some of those defensive gaffes that were far too prevalent last season.

Ahead of the Supplimental Draft this morning, the Timbers announced the signing of Colombian defender Hanyer Mosquera. The signing has long been rumored and is likely one of the "significant (international) defensive signings" that Merritt Paulson hinted at before the Superdraft.

A central defender, Mosquera's highlight reel shows a player who is good at breaking up plays in the air or on the ground and one who is able to get forward and contribute a goal on occasion.

Ducky's Note: Ratna Prashanth analyzes Cahill's signing and what it means for Chelsea

Finally, after a loooooong discussion of personal terms, Chelsea announced the signing of Bolton Wanderers' English-born central defender Gary Cahill. This is a much needed signing at a low price in January market, considering the fact that Chelsea have been having a torrid time with their defence the whole season.

Angry, frustrated, disappointed. Once again Arsenal fans are left let-down, once again we are promised things will change and once again it is groundhog season for Arsenal, and we haven't even entered the annual departures of the close season.

Where do we start? It is obvious that things went wrong in the summer with Wenger anticipating that both Nasri and Fabregas will not leave these were the hopes of a man living in a dream land.

With New Year's come and gone, all Bundesliga teams have ended their brief winter vacation and have traveled to training camps in much warmer climates than Germany. Many teams have already played warm-up test matches and have begun running out their newest winter signings. The second half of the season begins with match day 18 on January 20.

The Quakes had 3 picks in the 2012 SuperDraft. In their first pick they selected a Generation Adidas forward from UC Santa Barbara, Sam Garza (seen above), with the No. 6 overall pick. The team picked up Jacob Hustedt, midfielder, from the University of Washington with the 25th pick (6th in round 2) and Chris Blais, goalkeeper, from the University of South Florida with the 33rd pick (14th in round 2).

Today it was announced that FC Dallas George John will join West Ham United on loan but the English Championship club will have an option to buy the US national team central defender.

The Chicago Fire went into the 2012 SuperDraft looking for the best available talent over filling a specific need. It looks like they got both.

With the 9th overall selection, the club selected Austin Berry, a 6'2" central defender from Louisville. A former Chicago Fire PDL member, Berry is one of the oldest players in the draft at 23 years old and his maturity showed throughout the day.

It's safe to say Alex has not enjoyed the new year thus far. After Andre Villas-Boas kicked the bold, bald Brazilian to the Cobham curb earlier in the winter, he was left to fend for himself on just £50k per week. Just really, really terrible.

Thankfully for Alex, the nightmare looks to be coming to an end.

As per usual the standard crazy transfer talk is in full swing in line with the opening of the January transfer window.

Demba Ba has been linked with Man United, with his agent claiming that this is complete rubbish. Interestingly, there is a release fee in his contract and so if a club bids this amount then Ba is allowed to begin talks regarding a move.

Guardian: Newcastle deny £10m approach to Liverpool for striker Andy Carroll

• Reports linked Alan Pardew with cut-price bid for Carroll • Newcastle sources deny making contact with Liverpool Newcastle United have dismissed speculation that their former striker Andy Carroll could make a cut-price return to Tyneside.

Guardian: Martin Skrtel thrives after finally being accepted at Anfield

The Slovakian centre-back says the input of Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke has helped him win over the Liverpool fans The demands of a young family have reduced Martin Skrtel's interaction with the Liverpool public yet he remains acutely aware of how they perceive him.

Getting close in securing Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea apparently will still continue their surge in the winter transfer market and capture at least another quality player.

This confirmation was revealed by the club's tactician, Andre Villas-Boas, who unfortunately still can't confirm, whose the other player they're trying to grab this January aside from Cahill.

Mere hours after Mike Burns indicated that the New England Revolution would be finalizing the transfer of two South American players today, the team announced this morning that they have signed Colombians John Lozano and Fernando Cardenas. Both will count as international players and will be added to the roster when their P-1 Visas and International Transfer Certificates have been processed.

The New England Revolution could have filled two of needs with the signing of central defender John Lozano and midfielder/forward Fernando Cárdenas.

"Both John and Fernando have experience playing in Colombia's top division, both with and against some of CONCACAF's top club teams," Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said.

With a week to go before the start of its preseason, the Revolution announced that it had signed midfielder/forward Fernando Cardenas and central defender John Lozano to deals for the upcoming season. Both players last featured with Colombian side America de Cali, which was relegated to the second division last month.