Ben Haim: Loan boy  If it's Thursday that must mean another temporary signing from the bargain bin of English football. In their attempt to become the QPR of MLS (at least until June 30th) TFC has added Israeli International defender Tal Ben Haim... wait for it... on loan. 　 According to Kevin "The Loan Arranger" Payne "Tal Ben Haim has been one of the top defenders in the EPL for nearly a decade".
Toronto FC manager Ryan Nelsen has once again delved into his rolodex to strengthen his side as the club today announced the acquisition of defender Tal Ben Haim on loan from Queens Park Rangers. QPR being Nelsen's former team.
The 31-year-old Israeli international has made over 300 appearances during nine seasons in England, eight of which have been in the EPL.
Parke's injury not as bad as feared but Soumare looks set to start against Chicago on Saturday. On rotation and depth. Ansboro on stepping down as SoB prez. Moyes leaving Everton, expected to take over at Manchester United. More news.
Lewis Holtby/Photo via: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
With the first week of the January Transfer Window in the books, let's examine the biggest moves thus far and rate the recipient club's savvy on a four star scale.
Demba Ba Chelsea (£7.5M from Newcastle)
The signing of the window so far, Ba's power, pace and ability to finish from the most unlikely of situations make him one of the league's elite strikers.
It was only a few years ago when I had a conversation with my work colleague Jeremy that I
suddenly realized how your favorite position on the soccer field has a profound impact on how you
view the sport.
Let me explain.
Growing up, I played every position on the pitch at one time or other.
In my weekly column on SWOL, I take a look back at the weekend's English Premier League (and/or domestic cup) action and talking points, as well as any significant news related to English football. We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.
Frank Lampard of Chelsea (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
FA Cup Third Round Review: Brighton's Upset, Robin's Equalizer, Suarez's Handball
We cannot talk about the FA Cup without mentioning the "magic" that it brings, right?
The final club being examined in this series is the struggling West Ham United. This surely is
not one of the finest years in Avram Grant's managerial career. He experienced hard times at
Portsmouth last season and just when he thought he had a fresh start at Upton Park, he finds
himself dead last in the table with the guillotine dangling perilously above his head, ready to
drop at any given time.
Today sees the return of the EPL, how did we cope without it during the Summer. The World Cup of
course softened the blow, but I have been having withdrawls during this international break. It is
not fair to bring it back and then to make us all go cold turkey suddenly after a just a week or
two.
It has to be as sure a bet as you're ever likely to get, not quite impossible to lose but as near a
certainty as can be. Managing the same club for 700 consecutive Premier League matches is a
record...
Avram smiling back when he had a real bank account to work with... We took a look
at Martin Petrov and Bolton's fantasy chances this week as well as examining fantasy prospects from
the newly promoted clubs, and now let's preview West Ham.
The Hammers made quite a bit of news today as they announced three new signings within 24 hours.
Portsmouth were sitting at rock bottom after seven Premiership rounds and they
had always been expected to struggle after they could only reinforce the squad in the dying moments
of the transfer window due to the uncertainty surrounding the club. Nevertheless,
Paul Hart's team have shown a massive improvement in the last few weeks having taken no less than
seven points from last four games.
That's it. With Liam Lawrence finally skidaddling out of Fratton Park this morning after
agreeing to terminate his contract for a compensatory lump sum, Portsmouth now have no senior
players left on their books. The two chaps you see there?
Things seem to be getting crazier by the day at Fratton Park, lets hope the club can sort
themselves out and avoid folding completely, but the latest news is that they are down to four
players with the departure of Norwegian winger Erik Huseklepp.
Huseklepp originally arrived from Italian side Bari in 2011 and became an important first team
player, but he has now returned to Norway where he began his career at Brann.
Harry Redknapp has vowed to do his utmost to help save Portsmouth from liquidation after it was
announced yesterday that the stricken club have until August 10th to get their finances
straightened up or face the very real  possibility of being pulped.
I awake from a two-day coma, just in time for the magic of the FA Cup. Provided this magic
includes Romelu Lukaku and, of course, Josh McEachran I'm all in. Bring forth some elaborate
illusions at the expense of our third-round opponents, Portsmouth.
Chelsea's pre-season friendly against Pompey yesterday threw up a few points of interest, the
first being that both sides played in the same strip for some reason, the second being John Terry's
concerted effort to seperate Luke Varney's head from his shoulders during a goal-line scramble.
Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Eurocopa 2012, foi realizado no dia 04/06/2011, na cidade de
Riga-LAT, no Stadionas Skonto, onde jogaram as seleções da Letônia (77º no ranking da FIFA) e a
seleção do Israel (33º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram: Eliminatórias Copa do Mundo
2010Tel Aviv 05/09/2009 ISR0:1 (0:0)LVA First stage2010Riga 15/10/2008 LVA1:1 (0:0)ISR First
stage Eliminatórias Eurocopa
Tel Aviv 26/03/2011 ISR2:1 (1:0)LVA Amistosos
1999Jerusalem 24/02/1999 ISR2:0LVA 1998Riga 17/05/1998 LVA1:5 (0:3)ISR
News have filtered through that Guillermo Franco was hurt in a freak training ground injury. This
leaves West Ham and Gianfranco Zola short of striking options. So far goals have been hard to come
by since the loss of Carlton Cole and now with Franco also out for two games, the situation is now
extremely dire for the Hammers.
The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano will be able to use his four-match suspension over the
festive period to recover from a knee problem. The Argentina captain sustained an injury in the
tackle on Tal Ben Haim which earned him a red card in the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday.
As he has already served a ban this season, Mascherano will be forced to sit out four matches,
meaning he will miss fixtures against Wolves, Aston Villa, the FA Cup third-round tie at Reading
and the league meeting with Tottenham on 10 January.
Tal Ben Haim has accused Fernando Torres of leading with his elbow when challenging him in
Portsmouth's win over Liverpool on Saturday.
The Israeli centre-half enjoyed a fine game in helping his side keep a clean sheet but was in the
wars, as first Javier Mascherano was red carded for a crunching tackle on him, before Torres
appeared to catch him with an elbow.
There's no doubt that the Premier League season is heating up. The last few weeks have been
extremely entertaining. And, for the casual observer, it's wonderful to see the Big Four teams
getting beat. But there were two incidents on Saturday that I found deplorable. The first was
Javier Mascherano's horror tackle on Portsmouth's Tal Ben Haim.
When Sulaiman Al Fahim announced his plans regarding the takeover of the club
this summer, Pompey fans started hoping Portsmouth would soon be able to challenge European places
in the least. However, completely the opposite happened as Paul Hart's side achieved the record of
worst start in the history of the Premier League, having lost no less than 7
opening games.
There's no nice way of saying this: Portsmouth are a terrible team. The first team to lose their
first six games since Leicester City in the early 1980s, and they've scored three and conceded 12
goals in those games. We're looking at a potentially record-breaking season of awfulness here.
The worst part of it (for Pompey fans) is that while some very good players left in the summer --
Sol Campbell and Niko Kranjcar to name two -- they still have quality in their squad: David James,
Younes Kaboul, Tal Ben-Haim, Jamie O'Hara and Tommy Smith, for instance.
Hello my dears, I hope you had a lovely weekend. Obviously you could have nothing but as Bolton had
their first win in 10 league matches (since April, v. Boro for those of you counting). If you
missed the game here are the highlights. Now onto actual analysis instead of me just blabbering
on.
If you are Paul Hart - by far the bookies' favorite to become the first sacked manager in the
Premier League this season - you would need a miracle to save Portsmouth from relegation at this
point. Four games into the new season, Pompey are yet to scrap up a single point, which is a clear
indicator of how the team roster was in desperate need of major bolstering on the final day of
transfers.
Usually if you are stuck at work on deadline day it can be an immensely frustrating time without
Sky Sports News to keep you upto speed on the latest news, rumours and deals. Today however, if you
missed the deadline coverage, consider yourself fortunate indeed.
Today, especially with the deadline being 5pm, transfer deadline day was as damp a squib as the
Twenty20 games at Old Trafford.
Tal Ben Haim has joined Portsmouth on a free transfer.
The experienced 27-year-old Israeli international defender who made his name in this country at
Bolton Wanderers, managed just nine starts for City following his switch from Chelsea last
year.
-
Did you know men now spend a longer amount of time than women getting ready to go out? Yoann
needn't worry as his beauty secrets are safe with us.
-
This video of great Cesc moments just reminded us to add him to our miss list.
-
The Redknapps and their stellar cheese have boosted Thomas Cooke sales.
-
Did you know men now spend a longer amount of time than women getting ready to go out? Yoann
needn't worry as his beauty secrets are safe with us.
-
This video of great Cesc moments just reminded us to add him to our miss list.
-
The Redknapps and their stellar cheese have boosted Thomas Cooke sales.
Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Euro 2012, foi realizado no dia 29/03/2011, na cidade de
Jaffa-ISR, no Bloomfield Stadium, onde jogaram as seleções de Israel (58º no ranking da FIFA) e
a seleção da Geórgia (72º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram: Eliminatórias Continentais
Tbilisi 07/09/2010 GEO0:0ISR Amistosos
2004Tbilisi 27/05/2004 GEO0:1 (0:1)ISR 2001Tbilisi 24/04/2001 GEO3:2 (2:1)ISR 2000Tel Aviv
29/03/2000 ISR1:1 (0:1)GEO 1994Ashdod 23/02/1994 ISR2:0 (1:0)GEO
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Fredy Frautel-FRA
If you're anything like me you lay awake at night sleepless, attempting to name all of the
players with double barrelled surnames who played in the Premier League or Football League last
season (2009/2010). Well, you can rest easily now with this "cut out and keep" list of all players
with double barrelled names who played last season:
After the win against Wigan, Rafa Benitez declared that Liverpool's season will start then. However
all that took place after Wigan was an embarassing defeat to Portsmouth. Embarassing because
Liverpool hardly showed any attacking threat and were completely shackled by Pompey.
The poor showing by Liverpool has drawn much criticisms about the manager's handling of the club
and questionable tactics.
No surprise with this one despite the apparant weekend hitch regarding a 'golden handshake', but if
Tal Ben-Haim also departs today it will leave us a little light in cover at centre-back -
particularly during the African Cup of Nations.
