Transfer deadline day closes today at 11pm and with Modric, Sneijder, Cahill, Ribery, Berbatov, Benayoun, Parker, Hargreaves and Cole all looking for a late transfer deadline day moves to new clubs, we showcase the 5 best websites to get the latest live transfer rumours and transfer news.
talkSPORT - Follow transfer deadline day (live)
talkSPORT have a huge following and respect when it comes to delivering the latest transfer rumours. They have a designated live transfer news page updated throughout the day so you can see the latest transfers as they happen.
News Now - feeding in transfers news
The best place to check out transfer news from mulitple websites including talkSPORT, Sky News, BBC, The Sun is News Now.
Sky Sports - Deadline Day Clockwatch
The home of sport is always a great place to check out the latest transfer news and follow all the deals and speculation as the clock ticks down.
BBC - Transfer Deadline Day
BBC is always a great website to find out transfer rumours and today they are like so many of the national newspapers delivering a live feed.
I have noticed that in the last few day people seem have started playing football and tweeting and fighting and that funny stuff again - so I thought it might be prudent to start writing things about these things again.
Yes that is correct. They All Count is back. Back in supreme literary form.
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Let me first start by saying - "how much bloody fun is Fantasy Football?" The answer to that obviously is loads. Loads of bloody fun.
If there is a better way to waste time at work, amuse yourself while sitting on the toilet or actually enjoy the games towards the end of MOTD where nothing really happens - well, I frankly don't care to hear about it.
So with the first weekend of Premiership action complete, with plenty of predictable and some slightly less than predictable performances, goals and cards - how is your fantasy football team looking? Well if its anything like mine (Gervinho - y u hav no end product? y u slap Joey Barton? y?) it probably needs some wholesale changes.
And what better time to do it than this week, as www.fantasy.premierleague.com have announced that because of the websites troubles at the weekend which prevented many from signing up before the deadline, we can all have a week of unlimited free transfers. This is particularly useful as this weekends results and performances have allowed for a slightly more insightful selection process.
So assuming that you all use www.fantasy.premierleague.com I have put together a list of 5 players that I strongly reccomend you purchase. No big suprises to most of you I am sure, but hopefully selections that might help someone, somewhere, somehow.
1. Sergio Aguero - Man City - 11million
Lets start off with a no-brainer. Even before last nights display, Sergio 'Kun' Aguero should have been high up your wishlist of fantasy signings. Yes, against tougher opposition he is unlikely to be as rampant as he was against Swansea (check the video below), but there is no doubt this boy has goals in him. 20 goals in 32 appearances for Atletico last season is a good indication - and with Dzeko holding up the ball and playing him on, Silva slotting balls from midfield and (perhaps) his fellow countryman Blanka (sorry, Tevez) alongside him, I personally cannot wait to see him terrorise the Premiership. 11 million might seem steep now, but it will only increase, mark my words.
2. Phil Jones - Man Utd - 5.5million
With Ferdinand out, probably forever and Vidic also injured, it looks like Fergie may well be blooding Phil Jones at centre back sooner than he may have liked, or expected. There are questions as to whether he may start Smalling and Evans above Jones, but I think this is unlikely. Jones has looked assured when called upon for Utd so far this season and I beleive we can expect to see him start against Tottenham. At only 5.5 million Jones is certainly one to get in your squad now, even as a benchwarmer, as his price will only increase. I also have a sneaking suspicion he is going to get goals, so yeah - you heard it here first.
3. Luis Suarez - Liverpool - 9.5
Suarez will score lots of goals. That is pretty much all you need to know. Sure he will dive a bit, but he is one of those players who will terrorise a defence untill they simply turn around and kick the ball in their own net in the hope that he just bloody well leaves them alone. He will score at least two against Arsenal.
4. Victor Moses - Wigan - 5.5million
Being as Martinez seems to have taken a disliking to Rodallega, leaving with little in the way of goal scorers, we should see a Victor Moses who is not only playing regularly, adequately replacing Charles N'Zogbia, pushed further forward but also scoring goals. How could you not put him in your team when he only costs 5.5million and even at this early stage of the season has a youtube video of him titled 'Victor Moses Messi Run'
5. David Luiz - Chelsea - 6.5million
As the only player whose movement I correctly predicted in my 5 Transfers that will happen in the January transfer window David Luiz has unfortunately had to miss the beginning of the season due to a knee injury. This is a shame, and hopefully only a temporary blip, as Luiz is exactly the sort of interesting, marauding centre back that I love to watch and oh yes, he has that magical fantasy football factor, he is a defender that loves a goal.
Grab him now before he comes back from injury and get it him for the bargain price of 6.5million, in a defence that keeps a good amount of clean sheets.
Every Premier League club has to deal with injuries. As soon as the whistle is blown you are participating in a physical activity that could be potentially damaging to your body, a fact that managers know only too well. More than any manager in the Premier League, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger has unfortunately been witness to the most serious of footballing injuries – the broken leg – on 3 separate occasions in the last 5 years.
Obviously there are steps that can be taken to avoid these injuries, with supplements such as multivitamins or glucosamine that can be taken to improve bone strength, but unfortunately there is no way to prepare for that one bad tackle that can end your season in an instant. In the case of Arsenal’s horrific run of broken limbs, no amount of preparation or planning could have avoided these injuries to some of the Premier Leagues brightest young stars.
Abou Diaby – 2006
The series of unfortunate breaks began in May 2006, when Abou Diaby, having only signed for the North London club a matter of months prior, picked up a serious ankle fracture after a tackle from Sunderland midfielder Dan Smith. Sunderland’s manager at the time supported his player with the following quote "Dan went for the ball, unfortunately Diaby was quicker than him” a phrase that would prove to become a popular one in the defence of misjudged tackles on Arsenal players in years to come.
Eduardo Da Silva – 2008
The second of Arsenal’s unfortunate series of leg breaks happened way back in 2008 at St Andrews, in a Premier League match between Arsenal and Birmingham. The guilty party in this injury was Birmingham’s Martin Taylor, who Arsene Wenger went on to comment on by saying that Taylor should ‘never play football again’ – a statement he later retracted. Almost exactly a year after the injury Eduardo returned to play for Arsenal in the FA cup, scoring twice.
Aaron Ramsey – 2010
The most recent and perhaps saddest of the trio of breaks, was welsh starlet Aaron Ramsey’s sickening leg break at the hands of Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross. An injury that Aaron has only recently returned to first team action from, was especially difficult for manager, fans and players to accept as it happened to such a young player (Ramsey was 19 at the time of injury) who was starting to show real promise and beginning to break into the Gunner first team.
We love a good meme, here are some of our favourites that have arisen from what now seems to be the news story of decade.... (Disclaimer - They All Count is an equal opportunities blogger, we do not endorse any of these. And if we ever did titter at these, we did outside of office time)
Ha
Haha
Hmm....
And finally, the best football related meme EVER EVER....
Before I even had a chance to finish this blog it has been announced that Andy Gray has just been fired by SKY. Good news I am sure you will agree.....
So in case you haven't seen/heard it :-
So in summary, we have Sky Sport's A-team football punditry duo Richard Keys and Andy Gray, saying some rather naughty things about women officials, Karen Brady, Sian Massey and well, women in general. This meeting of great minds took place before the weekends Liverpool/Wolves game, which Liverpool went on to win comfortably 3-0.
"coming up on sky sports - women and why you should know your place"
Once again we are seeing the fall out from what is commonly known as a 'microphone gaffe' - the act of saying something inappropriate or offensive in an area where the general use of microphones, recording equipment and live television feeds are commonplace. Like, for instance, a television studio.
One example of where the true stupidity lies in this story is that this oversight in common sense is by no means an anomoly. Remember when Prince Charles called Nicholas Witchell an 'awful man'? Remember when Gordon Brown called that woman a bigot? Remember when Ron Atkinson called Marcus Desailly a 'lazy f--king n---er'? Well I certainly do - and if I am ever fortunate enough to be in a television studio I would certainly be sure to keep my controversial views to myself, regardless of whether I thought I was off-air or not.
Now at They All Count, we love a bit of irony as much as the next two-bit football blog, and this particular microphone gaffe fiasco has it in spades. Lets examine Gray and Key's pre-pre-match comments in some more detail :-
Keys : "somebody better get down there and explain offside to her"
Gray : "women don't know the offside rule"
Keys : "of course they dont"
Keys : "I can guarantee you there'll be a big one today. Kenny will go potty."
Wow. I mean - WOW. Now we are all im sure used to brain dead football pundits reeling out the same tired cliches week in week out. Modern classics such as "He has got a good touch for a big man," inexplicable assaults on the English language "Drogba has literally murdered the Arsenal defence today" or Andy Gray specials such as "he had no right to score from that distance" where he actually questions the players 'right' to score, from the distance that he quite clearly just scored from.
What makes the above discourse between Keys and Gray so amusing is that, 36 minutes into the first half, Raul Merieles makes a piercing run through the Wolves defence latching onto a ball through the middle - cue from the crowd, commentators and yes, even me, shouts of "offside." Play although continues without interruption, Merieles slides the ball to the edge of the six yard box where Torres tapped in a simple finish for the first goal of the game. Upon examination of the instant replay, it turns out that the crowd, commentators and yes, even me, where quite quite wrong, as Merieles was played onside by a wayward Wolves defender. So which eagle eyed official spotted this? I think you know...
Keys : "See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love"
"The irony in that statment? I think you know..."
So what have we learnt from all of this?
What we can certainly learn from this, but more importantly we can learn from watching almost ALL televised football is that ex-footballer football pundits are generally of a very poor quality. I think it should be looked at in the same way as becoming a football manager, it doesn't matter how good a player you once were, if you aren't a good manager of a football club then you shouldn't bother, same goes for television.
Just because you were a football player does qualify you to be on television, for any reason. I studied history at school for a large part of my life, but this does not qualify me to appear on tv to comment on its nuances.
Footballers are hardly well known for their eloquence, some struggling with even the most basic parts of the English language. Alongside this they are often renowned for both bias and prejudice (especially against referees) which Mssrs Gray and Keys have certainly demonstrated. Leave the punditry to people who have based their entire careers around intelligent football analysis. Thanks!
Edit : 5 Transfer that will may or may not happen in the January transfer window
Ahhh, the January transfer window, drink it in...it always goes down smooth. On that Anchorman inspired note - another thing that also tends to go down in January is the amount of...
...that any clubs who actually NEED to buy players will have left by the end of the month. There is no doubting that, compared to its more glamarous and exciting twin sister, the January transfer window is certainly a sellers market. Regardless of this universally accepted truth, clubs will be targeting players in the remaining two weeks of the window with a view to either, dragging their bloodied carcasses out of relegation contention (Aston Villa) or giving themselves that extra boost of quality to help them challenge for the title (Man City.)
With this in mind, They All Count are going to go out on a limb (more than likely the left leg, its always been our weakest), grab our crystal balls and take a punt on the upcoming transfers that we are almost nearly quite certain will probably happen...
1. Shaun Wright Phillips ----> Newcastle
We featured little Shaun (btw, how cute does he look on that bike. He looks like 'teddys first motorbike' in real life) in last years list of 'The top 5 man city players who will be on their way out in the January transfer window' and we stand by this prediction. After losing Hatem Ben Arfa to injury, the geordies are now left with Wayne Routledge as their first choice right sided midfielder. Now we have been quite rude about SWPs footballing abilities in the past and will not cease to do this untill his name is as far away as possible from an England team sheet, but one thing we can say is that he is at least as good as, if not slightly better than, Wayne Routledge.
2. Robbie Keane ----> Sunderland
After getting rid of TAC's favourite twat tweeter Darren Bent, reportedly for a cool £24million, the Black cats now have a little bit of spending money and an opening for a 'fox in the box.' Well who else could it possibly be than confirmed 'fox in the box' and also 'journeyman striker' Robbie Keane, whos potential Birmingham deal has reportedly fallen through, leaving him free to do the inevitable - join his 4th team in 3 years. I have always been a big Robbie Keane fan and if he can regain even a smidge of this former glory then Sunderland will have a ready made goal machine replacement for Bent - unfortunately what will probably happen is he will be signed, probably for about 5million more than he is worth, not score, get injured and retire.
3. Ashley Young ----> Liverpool
The Wire reference for those in the know
Liverpool, liverpool, liverpool. What the hell did you do? 13th place, 10 points of a champions league place, all this with a managerial appointment that for me has the faint whiffs of Newcastles panic signing of 'the messiah' Shearer as manager (and we all know how that ended.) With a team full of players who 'should' be good, but are resolutely refusing to play as such, they need some attacking input. Joe Cole seems content to be a shadow of his former self and Maxi being just mainly awful, Ashley Young would seem like the sensible option. There have been links between the two before, on top of which Aston Villa have spent 30m on transfers so far in this window, so it is likely that the bank might need to be balanced with a few player sales.
4. David Luiz ----> Chelsea
You know how people say 'I hate to say I told you so' - well we do not subscribe to this theory. Remember last year when we said "Chelsea have sold to many players and they will be hit by the lack of back up in defence and as a result of this will be pretty much out of title contention by christmas" or something to that effect. Well - "told you so!" So lets hope, for Chelseas sake, that they splash out the 20million+ pounds that will be nessecary to prize the highly rated 23 year old Brazillian centre back, so they can limp into the 4th spot that seemingly has their name written all over it.
5. Christopher Samba ----> Arsenal
Now this just makes sense. With Vermaelen and Squillaci injured, Koscielny struggling to adapt to the Premier League, Arsenal need to bolster their central defensive options by the end of the window if they really fancy a go at the title. Regardless of the 'Arsene needs to sign a central defender but almost certainly wont' cliche that is (rightly) rolled out at about this time for the last 4 years, common sense would say that Samba would be the intelligent choice. Firstly he is a unit - secondly he is proven (to be 'quite' good) in the Premier League - thirdly he has expressed an interest in leaving Blackburn - and finally, he is a unit of the most vast proportions. If he can be bought for a reasonable price, this deal could certainly go down.
As much as it pains me to admit, lest I lose any crumbs of credibility I may have once had, I had not untill today heard of the Home International Tournament. The biggest shame about this oversight in my grasp of British football history is that had I known about it sooner, I would be a lot further into my campaign to make sure it definitely happens.
There are a number of reasons why I think that a (possibly) annual tournament between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a great idea. The first of which I will illustrate with the following visual aid...
For my non-English readers (readers not from England that is - not non-English speaking readers, which if they are any, congratulations to you - its suprising enough to me that people will read my rantings in their native tounge) you may not be aware of the emotions that the above picture can raise in the heart of an English football fan. Put simply, there is nothing quite like sticking it to your neighbours.
Unfortunately, the chance to play the old rivals happens only on the rarest of occasions and has not taken place now for over a decade. So why should we be deprived of this historic match up? Why should we be deprived of taking the piss out of your English workmates when Scotland thump England at Wembley (for example) ? Why should we be deprived of the perfect outlet for patriotism in football? Why should we be deprived when the rugby supporters get this every year? The awnser - we SHOULD NOT.
Above image used to represent a 'friendly' football orgy match
The second, and most important reason for why the Home International Tournament (HIT) should be reinstated, is that it can be used, in part, to get rid of the friendly game. The pointless, dull and constantly dissapointing friendly games - when the established squad members trot around for 80 minutes trying not to get injured or make a mistake. Followed closely by the introduction of numerous youngsters and championship club call ups, who have a whole 10 minutes to show that they are not yet up to standard.
With the possible resurrection of the HIT being touted for 2013, would it not be so much more beneficial, the year before a world cup, for the England team to have at least 3 intense games against bitter rivals. The players will have an incentive to show the passion and will to win that is so often completely missing from our friendly games, allowing the manager a better view as to who is really willing to put themselves on the line for the cause. After last years dissapointing show at the World Cup, with many players labelled as 'not really trying' - I truly believe that playing in a HIT will only help to reinvigorate a stale and lacklustre England squad (that is assuming that this is still the case in two years, which I can only assume it will be.)
Is it just a coincidence that the last time England won the Six Nations tournament, they went on to win the Rugby World Cup in the same year?
