Free Kicks - 5 September 2006

Transfer Deadline Winners and Losers
With the passing of last Thursday's transfer deadline, we now know who will be playing where for at least the next four months. First, Bryce takes a look at the last-minute shopping success stories.

1. West Ham United
How do you begin this conversation anywhere else? The signings are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. First, questions immediately surfaced about the exact nature of the financial picture involved in both the signings of Tevez and Mascherano from Corinthians. Second, the deals have also been tied to the suspected take-over bid coming from a mysterious front-company or Russian or Georgian (the other one) tycoon. The fact remains that these two 22 year-old Argentinians have world-class talent and immediately make the Irons one of the most interesting sides in the Premiership. What happens next is anyone's guess.

2. Tottenham Hotspur
While starting very slowly out of the gate, Spurs went out and took care of business before the Thursday night deadline. They started by bringing back the talented Egyptian striker Mido on a permanent move from Roma. They then finally took Steed Malbranque off Fulham's books to add more bite to their midfield after the departure of Michael Carrick for Old Trafford earlier in the summer. And, they not only kept Korean full-back Lee Young-Pyo after his flirtations with Roma, but also pried Pascal Chimbonda away from Paul Jewel at Wigan. All in all, they added incredible depth and talent to an already impressive roster.

Other teams with successful dealings included Arsenal, who managed to ship out two want-aways and brought in more talented replacements in the form of William Gallas and Julio Baptista. Too bad about that Theo Walcott signing last season and the return of Justin Hoyte from his loan spell, or Wenger would finally have cleaned the London club's roster of all of its pesky English players with Ashley Cole finally being moved to Chelsea.

And who were the biggest losers you ask?

1. Newcastle United
As much as it pains me, the Magpies head this list. In need of a dependable, healthy striker and a proven, reliable (and prefereably central) defender, Glen Roeder only managed to bring in Rossi on loan, Sibierski from City, and an old favorite, Olivier Bernard who was without a team. While their earlier signings of Martins and Duff were top class and their list of targets was impressive, the Toon didn't do nearly enough on the last day of the transfer window.

Rossi is a great talent, but giving important minutes to the traitor (imagine Rossi partnering McBride in Germany last summer...) will only come back to haunt them when he returns to Old Trafford a more complete player in January. Sibierski should not see the pitch for this team barring anymore injury concerns, while Bernard does little to solve the problems in central defense these days. Maybe newly out of contract Diego Tristan and Lionel Scaloni in Spain would make for good priorities now.

2. Manchester United
Most Red Devil supporters are deservedly pleased with their start to the new campaign, but I think they let themselves down in the transfer market. Their last minute flirtations with Owen Hargreaves cost them Marcos Senna, who would have been a bargain and great addition to their central midfield. Shipping Rossi out for four months makes sense, except he could have played valuable minutes for ManU just as easily with only Saha, Rooney, and Solskjaer available for striker duties. Alan Smith might, repeat, might return to duty soon, but will he and Soskjaer hold up? Sir Alex Furgeson has compiled a terrific squad, but he should have been shopping for an additional striker and midfielder, and he came up short this time.

Now let's all go feel sorry for him.

Euro Qualifiers

After the first major weekend of qualifiers for the 2008 tournament being cohosted by Austria and Switzerland, there have already been some major surprises.

Group A
Poland continued their recent run of bad form from the World Cup and lost to Finland in front of 17,000 home fans. With Portugal widely considered the favorites to win the group, Serbia now appears to be in good shape in its fight for the second tournament berth, especially if they get a favorable result against the Poles on Wednesday. The day's other matchups include Portugal against Finland and Belgium looking to add to its single point with a trip to Armenia.

Group B
Italy somehow managed to be held by Lithuania to a draw in Naples in its first competitive match since winning the World Cup in Berlin in July. If it were a basketball game and ties were suddenly allowed, this story might make sense. But if Italy are to find their form, they best do it fast as they next head to Paris to play France on Wednesday. Other Group B hopefuls, Scotland and Ukraine will be watching that game very closely.

Group C
There were not any surprising results in this group yet, but it looks likely to be one of the most hotly contested of them all. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Norway, Greece, and Turkey will be battling to the final whistle before anything is decided in this group. They will continue to feast on the smaller sides in the table on Wednesday. The first major showdown in this group doesn't come until October when Norway and Greece face off.

As a side note, the Norway vs Hungary match provided perhaps the best and worst goals of the weekend. Morten Gamst Pedersen's volley was a thing of beauty, while the team's fourth goal from Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer was absolutely bungled by the Hungarian 'keeper.

Group D
The first clash of big name teams happened this Saturday when Germany beat Ireland on a deflected shot in Stuttgart. After their World Cup disappearing act, the Czech Republic went back to work and handled Wales before their midweek reunion with Slovakia. The other game this week pits San Marino against the Germans. Good luck, lads.

Group E
A few people might have heard that England played against Andorra this weekend. Despite not being properly covered by the news media, the Three Lions put on the show most supporters expected - OK, all supporters. The two teams likely to be fighting to join England in Austria and Switzerland are Croatia and Russia, and they face off this Wednesday. Croatia will be decidedly underhanded however, after three squad members were dismissed for breaking camp to go clubbing over the weekend.

Group F
Spain, Iceland, and Sweden all started their Group F campaigns with important victories in their opening matches. Fellow finals hopefuls Denmark head to the land of Bjork on Wednesday to take on Eidur Gudjohnsen and company. Latvia, who famously qualified for Euro 2004 (I even met a Latvian - it was awesome), will be attempting to get away from the minnows of Northern Ireland and Liechtenstein at the bottom of the table, but will have to wait until the October fixture dates.

Group G
Nobody is playing like they have an interest in winning this group. Heavy favorites Holland defeated Luxembourg just 1-0 this weekend to move to the top of the table after a lackluster performance. Romania collapsed in the final ten minutes to concede two goals and a draw to Bulgaria, while Belarus and Albania finished at the same 2-2 scoreline. Slovenia begins its campaign on Wednesday against Bulgaria, who will be forced to play without new Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov due to injury.

Kiss of Death
Finally, it is now quite evident that appearing on this site has dissastrous effects for some teams and players. Call it the Sports Illustrated or Madden Football jinx of blogs. To be certain, if you appear on these pages, you do so at your own risk.

For example, over the past few weeks:

Last weekend, when asked about a potential spoiler for the annual Bayern Munich coronation next May, I put in a plug for the red hot Werder Bremen, who promptly went out and lost to Schalke after a dismal display. Sorry about that.

In the same posting, another reader asked about the future of the US Men's National Team. I took the opportunity to single out Ricardo Clark for praise. The next day he was sent off with a straight red card in the Houston loss (it wouldn't have happened if they had stayed in San Jose).

Before the start of the EPL season, I predicted among other things a Champions League finish for Spurs, who promptly went out and lost two of three. I take full responsibility for that one. I now assume that after praising their efforts in the transfer market that Malbranque will not recover from his surgery and that Mido and Chimbonda will immediately revert to their selfish, distruptive ways and spoil the team's season even further.

I also predicted a first-place finish for Liverpool in the same article, only to see them held in the first week to a draw by Sheffield United. Ouch. I'm still not ready to take full responsibility for that one.

Worst still was my shout out to Hearts in Scotland, which not only got me taunted in a follow-up mailbag, but also quickly saw them dropped from the Champions League and into the UEFA Cup. The good news is, they are still at least sharing a piece of first place in the early goings of the SPL.

But, at least Brian has proven the bigger spoiler so far, having touted Arsenal so heavily (as always) only to see them occupying the 17th spot in the table. Oh, to have that last beyond the next round of matches. A boy can dream, can't he?

Pics courtesy whufc.com, yahoo.com, and the Bookable Offense archives. Cooler heads remind our readers that Arsenal will be just fine now that The Beast is loose! Send us mail at bookableoffense@gmail.com.