Transfer Window: Winners

So, the transfer window closed a week ago. Where to start? It was fucking nuts. Torres, Carroll, Luiz, Suarez and a host of others in the window. So let's play a quick game of winners and losers.

WINNERS

Liverpool: Well, let's start with the busiest members. Liverpool made a splash in both directions, getting wildly overpaid for Torres and then wildly overpaying for Carroll. If you look at the fact that they basically didn't spend any money, flipping an injury-prone player who has been a shadow of his sublime self for 18 months for Carroll and Suarez is great business.


I'm not totally sold on Carroll and I think he will end up being a great target man, but watching his goal compilations, how many does he really score with his feet? He'll be lethal on set pieces and that's always useful but I'm still a touch skeptical about his technique. Suarez I think is the steal of the window. A player with great touch, tireless work rate and an absolutely predatory instinct around the goal is a great addition, and who can really argue that a strike force of Carroll and Suarez will almost surely end up better than the lone figure of Torres up top.

Blackpool

They held onto their inspirational captain, and were able to get James Beattie as he slowly tries to play in as many relegation battles as possible. Beattie isn't really that big a deal, the big thing here is holding onto Adam. If he ends up the difference between staying up and going down, he is worth as much as Torres, and who can blame Blackpool for scoffing at the 7mil offers they received. Adam is worth loads more than that for Blackpool and considering that's the case, who would ever expect to see them sell for really anything under 15? He will probably be gone in the summer, but they'll have all summer to retool and prepare for another season in the Premier League, and hey, maybe they'll use the money to buy some underground heating.

AMERICA

Michael Bradley on loan to Aston Villa

Jozy Altidore on loan to Bursaspor

Robbie Findley to Nottingham Forest

Eddie Johnson on loan to Preston North End

Freddy Adu on loan to Rizespor

Phew, OK that was a lot. But as you can see, Americans were pretty busy here. You had two players making clear steps forward, with three others trying to get some regular football at a lower level. Bradley is by far the biggest winner here, as he is a class player who can now show it provided he gets some playing time for Villa. With Ireland gone and the club mired in a relegation fight, Bradley should have plenty of opportunity to showcase his talents and secure a permanent move. Gladbach is almost assuredly going down and I think they are so confident in his abilities that they loaned him out so people could see how good he is. Otherwise, a relegation threatened team just simply gave up one of their best players. A great move for Findley as well, as he moves from a MLS side to a team that looks like it is in great shape to get promoted and even if not, the Championship is still a step up. He did pick up a knock in training but he should recover. The other three are really just in the situation of trying to get playing time. Eddie Johnson got a game almost immediately for Preston and who knows, maybe he can get some goals for them. They're the worst team in the Championship and if he can't make an impact there, he should either work on his Swedish or come on home. Altidore is going to the Turkish champions, and is still in a great situation with Villareal not looking keen to get rid of him. Altidore should probably leave the Yellow Submarine however, as he will never get in front of Nilmar or Rossi. If I were Jozy, I'd say a mid-level Spanish club would give him a better chance in the long run and he is also built for the Premier League. Finally, that brings us to the sad case of Freddy Adu. There are a lot of steps to take before the second division in Turkey, and this is where he is today. I hope he can make an impact and slowly start climbing his way up the ladder to success. He is far from past it age-wise, but he is dangerously close to falling completely off the map. He has to make an impact somewhere, anywhere and hope that things start to build. Hell, if he could raise through the ranks in Turkey that'd be a massive step up than being in the reserves at Benfica. You just gotta hope he gets it together.

Transfer League losers coming soon!

Bye-Bye Hodgson

Well, it's official. After a horrible half season, the 2010 Manager of the Year is now the first fired manager of the new year (well other than that other Roy but the Championship doesn't count). It really is a shame it had to come to this. You had a quality mid-table manager just simply way too far out of his depth. Hodgson can get you some decent results, but he is never winning a title. Even at his best, he lacks an ability to get any team to perform on the road. But, I will stop. Far too much ink has been wasted on his ineffectiveness as the manager of Liverpool. He just was not the right man for the job.

I think his career won't be soiled too horribly by this, and he surely will work again. There will probably be a few more openings this year in both the Premier League and the Championship, and he has never shown himself to be unwilling to go abroad. So, he will work again. He will be successful again, but his success is not that of a championship winning manager, it is that of stable mid-table success. An odd cup run, midtable finishes and no relegation. And that's what plenty of teams would kill for.

Roy Keane, on the other hand, has to be close to finished in football management. He is quite far removed from his only success (Sunderland's promotion and their subsequent staying up) and has followed that with his acrimonious exit from Sunderland and his horror show with Ipswich. Simply put, I don't think he has the temperament for management. Unless he got a big club (very fat chance), he will almost assuredly never manage a player as good as he was. Regardless of where he coaches, he will never coach a guy as tough as he was. And he will forever remain infuriated by his players by not reaching his own lofty standard. They will burn out by the military atmosphere, and eventually tune him out. He was hated as a player, and that's fine. In this day and age, you simply cannot be hated as a coach. The players have too much power.

Young Player Watch: Dani Pacheco

Dani Pacheco Liverpool


Dani Pacheco Lobato is just another in the long line of talent streaming out of la cantera of Barcelona. Though, like many, he isn't not actually Catalan, but instead Andalusian. He was poach--err signed from Malaga to Barcelona, and in turn was poached by the scousers. As a player, the Liverpool first-teamer he has most in common with would be...Joe Cole. He's a short, quick player who likes to use trickery to make space and likes to operate behind the striker. These players are a dime-a-dozen in La Liga, but not to the same degree in the Premiership. To be honest, I was a bit surprised he didn't have more playing time this past year, considering the injury woes and the fact that he really should have been ready to make the leap up to the first team, especially considering the alternatives in the team and his performances in reserves, friendlies and with the Spanish U-19 side. Benitez, while I do not want to detract from all the good he did at Liverpool, had a horror show final season, and not developing Pacheco last year was probably a mistake from both a short and long term perspective. No matter, as he is just 19 and will hopefully feature this coming year.

YouTube Evidence


Haiku
Dani Pacheco
Fernando Torres except
Has working hamstrings

Season Expectations
Hodgson has never been afraid to take risks on players, and Pacheco has shown himself to be of the top quality. He is still very young, and plays behind a very talented (but historically very crocked) attacking group, which could lead him into competition against David Ngog. Not the world's most daunting task. If Liverpool stay healthy all year, probably only some cup action but if the injury bug plagues Anfield, expect a call for Pacheco.

Torres Makes Me Very Very Very Happy

Look, it was a hard year to be a Fernando Torres fan. He was showing a dangerous propensity for being crocked, and struggled (to put it lightly) in this World Cup. I've always been a big Torres fan, back from when he was the Flag of Atleti, and needless to say I was over the moon when he was signed by Liverpool. He has clearly not disappointed, when healthy, and it is hard to remember that after such a miserable last campaign. When I was bombarded by thousands of transfers rumors involving El Nino, I began to accept them. When I heard 80 million pounds to City, all I could think about was rebuilding the team and what if he stays crocked? I had my doubts, because the tabloids had convinced me he was leaving. In the end though, it's great to have him back. I'm already talking myself into a front four of Cole, Gerrard, Aquilani and Torres that will lift Liverpool to overdue glory! So, in short, welcome back Fernando and YNWA.


If he signs for Chelsea or City before September, I will shoot someone.

Just another day of history at Anfield

I know no one likes to label a win as comfortable, especially against top rate competition like PSV, but that is about as close as it comes. The fourth minute goal by Kuyt obviously helped that cause, but the first-half in this match was nothing more than shooting practice for the Reds. It's great that Keane finally got on the scoresheet, as the first goal is always the hardest for a player to overcome. And Gerrard's free-kick was just an absolute monster, I don't think Isaksson would have wanted to get his hands on that if he could have. There isn't much to be said for this match; Liverpool has been the receiving ends of dominations like this before in years that they would go deep (or even win) the tournament, so I don't think there was too much said about Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven in this match. Any team that scores early and is able to keep the pressure up in an electric home environment is obviously going to cruise to an easy victory most of the time. The real test will come in our next two games against Atletico Madrid and the absolutely unbelieveable Sergio Aguero.

If you haven't checked out his goal from their match against Olympique Marseille, here you go, it's filthy: http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1618835/

That control is just nuts, and I hope he doesn't make Carragher and Skrtel look as foolish as he made the OM defenders. If we can get out of those two encounters with at least 4 points, (or honestly even just 3), I'll be more than pleased. That sort of result would really all but guarantee placement into the knockout stages, as I can't see us dropping 6 points between a home match against OM and an away match with PSV. This is a brief post, maybe I'll do like a live diary for the next game so it isn't a much "In case you missed it"