Swap Meet

Funny thing about this transfer window is that teams have seemingly stocked up on redundant players rather than addressing clearer needs.  Also, we've seen a further concentration of players at the top as the biggest clubs fill out their 25-man rosters with full internationals while clubs below them are looking to academy and youth players to play a larger first-team role.  How do we address this?  Not being shy of an opinion, we offer our solution:

Based on the rumoured "Nasri for Tevez" swap, here are some ideas for player swaps that would help both sides.

Drogba for Modric
Chelsea want Modric, but Spurs are playing hardball and demanding an exorbitant fee.  Spurs are desperate for a striker, any striker, to help keep them in the hunt for Champions League football.  So, let's swap players!

Meireles for Shawcross
Stoke are desperate for some source of creativity in their central midfield and we're all well aware of Liverpool's glut of players in that department.  Also, Liverpool are looking to shore up their central defence as Carragher continues to age and neither Skrtel or Agger can put together a consistent run of matches.   So, let's swap players!

Adebayor for Aquilani
Back to Liverpool's bloated squad.  This swap makes sense for both teams in terms of shoring up their squads where they lack depth.  Adebayor would be an excellent "understudy" for Carroll as he would bring many of the same attributes to the team - good in the air, headcase, etc.  In return, Manchester City get another creative player who could be cover for Silva or be an alternative to Milner in the middle of the park. So, let's swap players!

Cahill, Reo-Coker for Vela, Bendtner, and Oxlade-Chamberlain
Bolton are reasonably well represented in central midfield with Muamba, Holden, Pratley, M Davies, S Davis as "specialists" while Ricardo Gardner can also play there.  They also have a ready-made replacement for Cahill in David Wheater.  In return for sending their commanding center-back to Arsenal they would get the attacking tools that they desperately need.  Bendtner could play though the middle with, or in place of, Davies while Vela can play across the front line.  In Oxlade-Chamberlain, Owen Coyle would get another youngster to mould and would provide cover on the wings with Chyong-Lee out with his broken leg.  So, let's swap players!

What swaps would you propose?

Notes on Valerenga v. Liverpool

After the first ten minutes....

• Nice to see Agger back to fitness and back in favor.
• All the early play down Liverpool's right with Downing and Johnson. I think the idea is that Downing will tend to cut inside on to his left foot and Johnson can overlap and exploit that space.  Might be something to watch when the season starts. Johnson is very expensive for a defender (13.37) but he will look to get forward. For the money I'll go with Zabaleta in week one and then Arsenal host Liverpool in week two, but your mileage may vary.
• Downing taking corners from the right, not Adam, but not taking them very well at all.
• Henderson is the midfielder breaking forward to try to support Carroll and Kuyt.
• Nice to see Kuyt getting a game at forward, but it's hard to see him playing there when Suarez returns.  Indeed it's hard to see him getting the wide-right berth back either, which is a bit of a shame.
• No Meireles today because of injury. I wonder if he would have played had he been fit, and who would make way -- the question we'll likely be asking all season about any number of Liverpool midfielders.

Valerenga 1 - 0 Liverpool

About Face (and other transfer bits)

Football365 | All The News | Football News | BEYE MAKES VILLA SWITCH

The news over the last days made it seem that Beye was a done deal at Hull which seemed like a great signing to us here at the blog. The news that Villa have swooped in and made him theirs comes as a bit of a shock but has to be considered an excellent move none-the-less. With Nigel Reo-Coker having been leaned upon heavily at right back last season, bringing in an actual right back who played well last season is a strong move for Villa in their mini-league with Spurs, Everton, and Citeh to be the best team outside the Big Four (sorry Citeh fans/Johnny-come-lately's - they aren't going to break the Top Four this season).

Assuming that Villa are going to be pretty good, Beye will be very good between clean sheets and his attacking stats.

In other transfer news - BFMV (that's Big Fat Mark Viduka for the uninitiated) has signed for Pompey. Sounds like he must weigh 300 lbs right about now but come early November he should be rounding into form and getting ready to put on his famous Transfer Window run of good form. Between he and Kanu Pompey have a really nice strikeforce...if the year were 2003. This year, not so much.

Aquilani is also official at Liverpool and about the same time Viduka is, err, rounding into form, Alberto will be back from the injury he is currently carrying. I guess if he's your guy, he's your guy and a few weeks out with an ankle knock isn't a big deal.