Transfer Deadline Roundtable

In which we talk at length, briefly, about Torres, Carroll, Liverpool, Chelsea, and... West Ham?

Neal Thurman: Carroll for 35M? Really?
Jeremy Spitzberg: seems a bit desperate, doesn't it?
Neal Thurman: really does
Jeremy Spitzberg: how did it get to the point where LIV have no strikers other than Torres
Jeremy Spitzberg: when they've been without Torres for such long stretches?
Neal Thurman: exactly
Neal Thurman: shouldn't Suarez be filling in that gap?
Jeremy Spitzberg: when was the last time someone came from the Dutch league and prospered?
Jeremy Spitzberg: who wasn't Dutch (RVN, RVP)
Neal Thurman: Ruud? RvP
Jeremy Spitzberg: jinx
Neal Thurman: um
Neal Thurman: um
Jeremy Spitzberg: kezman? maccarone? alves?
Jeremy Spitzberg: kuyt? ;-)
Neal Thurman: agreed across the board

Season Preview: West Ham United

Overall Outlook - It's been quite some time since I felt like I had any idea what the people assembling the Hammers roster are thinking.  It seems that every year they go out of their way to overstock one or two positions where they really didn't need any more support in the first place.  This year the overstocking seems to be coming at strikers who aren't target players.  With Franco [ed note. Franco was released at the end of last season], Diamanti, and Sears already on the books to vie for time opposite Carlton Cole they have now added Frederic Piquionne and Miralem Sulejmani and are rumored to be after Yakubu as well.  Hard to know why they'd be doing that when there are other positions that are in need of more help perhaps anywhere and everywhere across the back line which is adequate but hardly rock solid.

End of the World for Bent?

The closest he'll come to an England shirt this summer?

End of the World for Bent?

Darren Bent's World Cup dreams could be in tatters after a hamstring injury ruled him out of tonight's penultimate warm-up game against Mexico at Wembley.

The Sunderland striker has been unable to train fully with England in Austria and now faces a race against time to convince Fabio Capello he can be fit for the finals in South Africa.

Shame. It would have been interesting to see if Bent could make "the leap" this summer.

Carlton Cole, a nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.

Zola Looks To Carlton Cole And Scott Parker

I just can't help thinking of this:

Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!

When reading this:

West Ham United manager Gianfranco Zola has called upon his star names Carlton Cole and Scott Parker to help his relegation threatened side to safety when they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Upton Park on Tuesday night.

Both English players were left out of West Ham's 2-0 loss to Arsenal at the weekend due to reported fitness reasons, and Zola will be left hoping for a reverse in fortunes for the pair.

"Cole has not been training much recently," Zola said, according to the Guardian.

"We had a game on Saturday and now another one on Tuesday so I couldn't think of playing him 90 minutes and 90 minutes.

It's silly, and probably a bit petty. I knew in picking CCole that the meat of the week was today's game at home to Wolves and that the Arsenal match was gravy. Still, I'm horribly bitter than he didn't start at the weekend and that he lost a point having hit the post with a shot. But today is another chance to set things right.

And yes, I know how it works out in the end for the Empire.

Scout appointment pleases McLeish

Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish says the arrival of new chief scout Paul Montgomery will improve their chances of recruiting top players.

Montgomery originally spotted Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda when he was with West Ham.

HA! How well did that work out for West Ham? At best you can argue that Drogba's arrival led to Carlton Cole being expendable and therefore available to West Ham. But even that's a stretch, at best. And Cole... he's a fantasy nightmare. Cheap enough to be tempting when West Ham have a good matchup, but as likely to get a yellow card (7) as an assist (6).