Your whistle-stop guide to the latest Premier League arrivals Name: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa Age: 23 Position: Defender Signed from: Montpellier Fee: Undisclosed (reported £6.7million) Did you know? Yanga-Mbiwa was Montpellier's captain as they won the French title last season. He's clocked up more than 200 appearances for the club despite being just 23 years old.
Any new coach coming into a club will, sooner or later, make his mind up about the existing
squad but some of the transfer rumours coming out of White Hart Lane will have surprised Spurs
supporters.
While the club continues to offload the deadwood with the sale of Sebastien Bassong to Norwich,
there are claims that AVB is looking to clear out five more players but those names include Tom
Huddlestone and Michael Dawson.
Ingenious. Got a keeper who's a bit dubious underneath the high ball? Simply place a sign saying 'CLAIMS SPECIALISTS' behind his goal facing the opposition strikers for the entire match. They won't even bother crossing the ball anymore knowing that the goalie would only claim it from the air like a specialist in any case.
Liverpool Boss Brendan Rodgers admits he will need to make some moves in the January transfer window in order to bolster his ‘thin' squad.
Liverpool are short of attacking options, with just Luis Suarez the only recognized striker available following the injury to Fabio Borini.
The Reds currently sit 14th in the Premier League standings after earning just six points from opening seven matches and the Boss today confirmed he has spoken to club's owners about adding reinforcements in January
"There are still areas we want to reinforce – and we have to reinforce as soon as we can," Rodgers said.
It's a few hours before midnight on Deadline Day, and for all the "will he, won't he" drama of
Clint Dempsey's move to North London, most everything seems right in the world. Clint got his
long-relished move to a competitive side, Spurs added a versatile player likely to shore up a few
problem areas, Fulham added a surprising number of quality reinforcements, and Liverpool.
Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes is hoping that he will be reunited with striker Craig
Bellamy after deciding to approach Liverpool about a potential permanent deal.
The west London club has reportedly lost on signing Junior Hoilett and Hughes has now turned his
attention to trying to sign Bellamy who has just one-year left on his contract at Anfield.
Liverpool Need to Act Swiftly in the Transfer Market - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
With the announcement of Premier League fixtures, it seems that no other team faces a tougher
start to the campaign than Liverpool Football Club. The reds will have to play Top 3 teams in the
league i.
Liverpool are reportedly considering a move for CSKA Moscow striker Seydou Doumbia, after the
appointment of Kenny Dalglish's successor.
The 24-year-old Ivorian scored 33 goals in 41 appearances for his current employers last season,
and has also been linked with a transfer window move to Chelsea.
Our own Jake Livermore continues to build on the best 12 months of his career and following on
from his full England debut last month, Jake has been called into Roy Hodgson's squad to face
Ukraine tomorrow night.
With Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson returning to their clubs after injury, there was a need for
reinforcements in midfield and although the best that he can hope for is a subs place, it's further
recognition of Livermore's progress.
Milan's quest to repeat as champions of Serie A fell short due to a number of reasons, in
particular the injuries which affected the squad and the demands of European football which drained
the players.
The Rossoneri must address the following key concerns in order to be successful next season in
Italy and Europe:
a) Ibrahimovic Factor: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been in fine form since his move from Barcelona
prior to the beginning of last season.
What are our attacking options? by AH Well after yesterday's disappointment in the lack of transfer
movement, we now know our final squad. The first XI looks reasonably strong however we lack in
squad depth which could be a problem. I mentioned in my earlier squad analysis article that we had
reasonably good reinforcements in [.
I have posted on here before of my amusement at the intensity of fans during the summer break, I
know I am in the minority but I simply cannot be bothered to get wound up by the rumour mill and
media circus. Thank god this superb Olympics has pulled so many of the scribes away from their
dubious fabrications within the football silly season and directed them to a more worthwhile and
fulfilling portrayal of fact rather than fiction.
It's ghostly quiet. A few leaves rustle here and there, but not indecently; well within the
bounds of social decorum. Apart from that, proper Webster's definition of silence. Two crickets
chirp, but Silence wrests control again with a smug slap of superiority. Of course, the crickets
are having none of it.
Guess it's about time to do a review of the season. Having thought about it, numerous ways to do
it. Luckily, Arsenal's official website came up with the numbers which is exactly what I'm basing
the review on. All statistics used will be denoted by number in brackets.
Third in the Premier League, last 16 of the Champions League, 6th round of the FA Cup and
quarter finals of the Carling Cup.
The curious case of Sebastian Grazzini and the Chicago Fire has come to a resolution.
The Fire loaned Grazzini to Argentine club Atletico de Rafaela on Friday. The terms of the deal
were not disclosed. The Fire had exercised their option on the Argentine playmaker for a second
year at the end of June after a bit of a contract dispute, which, according to the Chicago Sun
Times, was started over Grazzini misunderstanding the original terms of his deal with the club.
The Chicago Fire and the LA Galaxy released their lineups yesterday and the confidence among
some Fire fans grew larger. Everyone already knew that David Beckham was 4,000 miles away at
Wimbledon and suspended for this match. Edson Buddle was ruled out with an injury. Omar Gonzalez is
still on the injury comeback route himself.
Tottenham Need To Strengthen - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Spurs 2-0 pre-season loss to Valencia on Thursday night is not a sign that Spurs should panic,
but it did show the weaknesses currently prevalent in the Spurs squad and showed the need to bring
in reinforcements.
Jermaine ‘JJ' Jenas and Jake Livermore in midfield struggled to both keep possession and press
the opposition while the defensive high line loved like a childhood teddy bear by Andre Villas-Boas
was at fault for the second of the Valencia goals.
Tottenham Need To Strengthen - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Spurs 2-0 pre-season loss to Valencia on Thursday night is not a sign that Spurs should panic,
but it did show the weaknesses currently prevalent in the Spurs squad and showed the need to bring
in reinforcements.
Jermaine ‘JJ' Jenas and Jake Livermore in midfield struggled to both keep possession and press
the opposition while the defensive high line loved like a childhood teddy bear by Andre Villas-Boas
was at fault for the second of the Valencia goals.
With Bayer Leverkusen set for a pre-season friendly at Anfield could striker Andrea Schurrle find
himself lining up for the home side as opposed to the visitors?
Well that's the feeling of Yahoo Sports at least who believe the Reds are interested in signing the
striker for around £12m.
The 21-year-old has previously been linked with a move to Chelsea and boasts an impressive
international record of 7 goals in 16 appearances (featuring twice for the German's at Euro 2012).
Ok everyone, first I want to apologize for the quiet period here on HTIOT lately. With the extra
off week things have been pretty slow for the Fire and MLS in general. For us international soccer
fans, we have had USMNT WCQ games and Euro 2012 to keep us busy. The good news is that there is
finally Fire action again this weekend vs.
There are a fair few players who are surplus to requirements at the club. And there are a few
positions we could murder some reinforcements in. I think that both these things are fair to say.
Incoming, we already a thoroughbred German with a trillion national caps and a very decent scoring
record indeed.
It seemed that everybody was ready to point out how physical Sporting Kansas City was on
Saturday night against the Revs. And, yeah, they're right-KC really took it to us. But let's not
forget that this was the third time we played them this year. So, shouldn't that physical
element have been part of the game plan coming into this one?
With two roster slots still wide open and at least one (possibly two) open international spots,
the New England Revolution have a lot of options to play around with in their search for mid-season
reinforcements. It can be agreed all around that defensive help and striker depth are the areas of
greatest concern for the Revs, and if rumors on twitter and in the Italian media are to be
believed, they may be about to address the former.
The MLS summer transfer window is a fickle thing. It's the best time for most clubs to bring in
high-priced and/or high-caliber foreign talent because most other leagues are in their offseason,
leaving clubs free to shop around talent without disrupting a squad in mid-season. MLS clubs,
obviously, tend not to be so finicky about such concepts as "team chemistry" and "being prepared at
the start of the season so you don't need to bring in emergency reinforcements in July.
The New England Revolution are traveling over the border to take on Toronto FC Saturday night in
an Eastern Conference battle that should, by conventional wisdom, be an easy road three points for
the Revs. New England just ground out a 0-0 home draw with the Columbus Crew, while the Reds are
working on their third match in seven days after drawing Houston 3-3 on Wednesday night.
I couldn't help but think to myself watching the Brighton v Chelsea disaster at the weekend,
that Eden Hazard doesn't want to be playing out on the left wing does he?. How many times did we
see him come inside and even at one stage, pop up on the right wing!.
I just wonder if our left hand side is going to be the real problem this season?
Two first half goals from Giovani Dos Santos and Javier Hernandez were enough to see Mexico stun
Brazil 2-0 in front of almost 85,000 fans in Dallas today.
Dos Santos opened the scoring in the 21st minute when he picked up a pass from Pablo Barrera,
beat Brazilian defender Danilo and cleverly lobbed his shot over Santos goalkeeper Rafael.
The Dynamo return home pinking their wounds from a 4-2 thrashing at the hands of the Montreal
Impact last weekend. It was a bad end to a rough week that saw Houston nearly suffer their first
defeat at BBVA Compass Stadium to one of the worst teams in the league (though to be fair, Toronto
FC is clearly improving).
Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra looks set to join Spartak Moscow this summer according to
his agent.
The holding midfielder has one year left on his contract with the current La Liga champions but
Jose Mourinho seems disinclined to offer Diarra a new deal. Rather than let him leave for free in
12 months, Madrid are looking to recoup some of their investment in the player by selling him this
summer.
Napoli's players lifted the Coppa Italia while Juventus players and fans were left to wonder
what would have happened had coach Antonio Conte started Gianluigi Buffon, Simone Pepe and Mirko
Vucinic.
The Bianconeri were aiming to finish the season without a defeat in official matches but they
failed in the last hurdle.
Life has not been easy for Real Salt Lake without centerback Jamison Olave, but after a spell of
struggles the club's back line appears to be hitting its stride.
After dropping three straight league matches after Olave's latest injury, RSL won their CONCACAF
Champions League match 2-0 over Tauro FC and played to an ugly, but effective, 0-0 draw with the
Philadelphia Union Friday at PPL Park.
It was another busy, crazy week in Major League Soccer. Loads of games that saw the home teams
go unbeaten. So with that there was plenty of movement in the rankings here. We have two new clubs
in the bottom tier and above that saw teams swapping places left and right.
In the first chapter of Genesis, God tells mankind (yes, I know) to go out and conquer the
world, and ever since (yes, I know), we've been gripped by a paranoid, neurotic desire to
understand everything. But however hard we try, it's simply not possible: whether its spontaneous
combustion, kicks in snooker, or red trousers, cardigans and fascinators, some things will forever
lie beyond human comprehension.
Their Words "Alain gave me a great ball, and in practice yesterday I killed some birds, but tonight
it was a good goal." Vancouver's Eric Hassli. Other Sources Berhalter's American revolution - from
MLSsoccer.com's Greg Seltzer: "we're focusing on the next game." Seeing red sparks Crew on offense
- from The Columbus Dispatch's Adam Jardy: Reinforcements are on the way, however.
