VoTD : Funny moments of football

You would have seen many of these but some would be completely new to you. Many bloopers in this.

Enjoy!

Diaby scores on the wrong end,Arsenal lose

Before the season started we expected Manchester United v Arsenal could be a close game but as the weeks progressed we saw Arsenal rampaging through opponents. Everton 6-1 away on the first weekend, Celtic 2-0 away in Champions League play offs, 4-1 against Portsmouth. On the other hand, Manchester United were lucky to get past Birmingham on the first weekend, lost to Burnley away and then came back strongly against Wigan with a 5-0 drubbing.

Arsenal were expected to run through Manchester United or at least dominate but there was a big difference for Arsenal to deal with. No Cesc Fabregas in the team. The Spaniard was out because of an injury and had missed second leg v Celtic.

Arshavin put the Gunners ahead five minutes from the half with a fantastic strike after only a few minutes of having a penalty shout turned down. The penalty should have been awarded in my view. Fletcher slid in on Arshavin but Mike Dean turned the appeal down.

Rooney equalised for Manchester United after Almunia brought him down in the box in the 59th minute. However, there have been allegations that Rooney was going down even before Almunia made any contact with the Englishman. Nonetheless, Rooney stepped up to convert the penalty and square the contest.

Five minutes later, Diaby headed a rather easy ball to deal with onto his own goal.A big blunder by the Frenchman to put the Champions ahead.

In the dying minutes, Van Persie netted the ball but it was adjudged to be offside. Everyone in North London celebrated along with Arsenal players and Arsene Wenger but it was shortlived. Arsene Wenger's frustration led him to do this ..
(Picture : The Sun)
and fourth official in consultation with Mike Dean sent him off.



Bizaree end to the game with Manchester United fans calling him a "paedophile". Something uncalled for and totally ridiculous.

The Day After : Referee's would apologise to Wenger for sending him off. Fair enough.

Real Madrid : Champions League draw examined

UEFA came out with the draw for the group stages on Thursday in Monaco. This time around there was a different pattern of qualifications thus enabling many lesser known clubs to also get the opportunity to play in the most illustrious club competition in Europe.



Getting straight to the draw and specifically to Group C featuring Real Madrid (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), Marseille (France) and FC Zurich (Switzerland).



Without a shadow of a doubt the Real Madrid vs. AC Milan tie is the biggest game of the group and it looks tantalisingly delicious. It brings together two powerhouses of European football and not to forget two clubs that lead the number of Champions League titles won. Real Madrid leads with nine followed by AC Milan with seven.



It would also mark the debut of two managers who are new at the clubs. Manuel Pellegrini has taken charge of Real Madrid after the exit of Juande Ramos and Leonardo has taken over the reigns of the Rossoneri from Carlo Ancelotti.



On a personal level, it will mark the return to San Siro for Kaka who made a £56million transfer during the summer away from AC Milan. The Brazilian has publicly claimed he's a Milan supporter through and through and his reason for moving to Bernabeu was to help the financially troubled Italian giant. However, no one can question his professionalism be it for club or for country.



On the other side, it would be tables reversed as Dutchman Huntelaar would form the forward line against Real Madrid. Real have (at the time of writing) offloaded many of their attacking options possibly to pave way for a possible Ribery move.



The latest to join the list have been Sneijder (to Inter Milan) and Robben (to Bayern Munich) . Huntelaar was only purchased last season from Ajax, but was found to be surplus by the manager/board during the recent summer.



Real Madrid have enhanced their attacking options by acquiring the services of World Player of the Year (2008) Cristiano Ronaldo for whom they paid staggering £90million, Kaka, and Karim Benzema from French club, Lyon. Aside from these, Raul Albiol has been added into the defence from Valencia to bolster the weak side of Real's game. Alongside they have acquired Xabi Alonso from Liverpool to become a mixture of attacking option as well as defensive to protect the back four.



AC Milan, on the other side, have added Thiago Silva and American Oguchi Onyewu to their squad to fill up the void created by the retirement of Maldini and release of experienced players like Emerson.



Despite a disappointing summer for the club in terms of inward transfers they have managed to maintain their other strong men, Alexando Pato and Andrea Pirlo who were heavily linked to Chelsea.



If one goes by the statistics, it would be very hard to pick between the two as they have faced each other on eleven occasions and both clubs have won five teams and one game ended in a draw.



An interesting and notable stat is that Milan have won all their home games against Los Blancos. The last meeting came in 2002/03 which Real Madrid won 3-1 in the second group stage. AC Milan won the title that year.



It would be highly interesting to see if AC Milan's defensive wall will be able to withstand the might and force of Real Madrid's attack.



Real Madrid v Marseille would also see former Madrid players representing the other side in the form of Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Morientes. Heinze was offloaded during the summer for an undisclosed fee whereas Morientes reconciled with his former Monaco manager, Didier Deschamps from Valencia. French youngster Hatem Ben Arfa is also highly rated and has the ability to trouble Casillas' goal.



The last tie (Real Madrid v FC Zurich) does not seem likely to bring out a surprise for the 31-time La Liga Champions. However, Swiss sides are known for their resilience and never say die attitude which might make it an interesting battle. You know what they say, Football is unpredictable.



Matchday 1: 15th/16th September
Matchday 2: 29th/30th September
Matchday 3: 20th/21st October
Matchday 4: 3rd/4th November
Matchday 5: 24th/25th November
Matchday 6: 8th/9th December

What are your predictions for the group? Are Marseille capable of bothering Milan or Madrid? Can FC Zurich pull out a surprise somewhere?

VoTD : Bergkamp Compilation

For today's VoTD we go classic football featuring Dutch midfielder, Dennis Bergkamp. One of the best players with the ball and the first bit of video would certainly leave you spellbound.

Enjoy!

West Ham - Millwall marred by violence

Last night's Carling Cup game between East London rivals West Ham and Millwall was marred with crowd trouble. The tube to the ground was filled with fans who were blocking passage to the stadium. There was trouble outside the stadium as well with authorities claiming many fans without tickets tried to enter the stadium thus
causing confusion and commotion.


Scenes inside the stadium were even more awful with fans parading down the pitch whenever a goal was scored. Getting to the game, West Ham won the 3-1 with a brace from Stanislas and Hines after extra time. In a game which should have been more to do with the strength and admiration of Jack Collison who played despite his father passing away was rather upset by such insane bit of hooliganism. Not only was there violence and pitch invasion but there are reports that monkey chants were directed towards Carlton Cole by traveling fans.

In an account by a West Ham season ticket holder which can be read here (great read) , he mentions how it was a pre planned event rather than a sequence of events.

In the footage below you can see how fans invade the pitch right after Stanislas converts the penalty. Horrible would be an understatement to describe the whole situation.

VoTD : Fussball skills!

After we had football skills displayed by cars to get out of the conventional videos of football trickery, we move to Fussball. Don't confuse it with football in German but its the football played on the table. Some fancy moves in the video. Watch out for the overhead kick! (Yep its possible!)

Enjoy!

VoTD : Freestyling beauty!

Professional freestyler Dominik Kaiser shows off his great skills and balance. Watch out for the jump and the control thereafter.

Enjoy!

10 conclusions from Saturday games

1. Rooney scored his 100th (and 101st) goal for the club and its unlikely that he'd stop.

2. Altidore made his debut for Hull with a great assist and two glorious chances to get a goal as well.

3. Gary Givet scored his first for the season and new club, Blackburn Rovers.

4. Cesc Fabregas is injured (again!)

5. Adebayor has bought some very expensive shoes with his inflated salary, scoring two goals in as many games of the season.

6. Arsenal have now scored 10 goals in two games of the season. They mauled Portsmouth 4-1 at the Emirates.

7. With Birmingham's scoreless (and boring!) draw at home versus Stoke City we have the first drawn game of the season.

8. Manchester United put five goals past Kirkland at the JJB with two from Rooney and a well taken free kick from Nani. It would be relieving to see for Sir Alex Ferguson and the fans to see Berbatov and Owen score.

9. Hull's victory ends their woeful home run in the premier league. They hadn't won a game at the KC Stadium since December 6 against Middlesbrough.

10. After 3 games played, Paul Hart's Portsmouth are bottom of the table with three losses. He looks likely to be the first to get the sack this season.

Owen earns his first pound!

Michael Owen made a shock move to Manchester United after Newcastle United were relegated and Ronaldo moved to his dream club Real Madrid. The terms of the contract required him to earn as per his contribution and he sure did today in United's 5-0 mauling of Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium.

Owen came on as a substitute in the 71st minute and scored a vintage "Owen style" goal in the 85th minute to get his name on the scorers chart of the Premier League. After being put through by a Nani through ball Owen chipped it over the charging goal keeper to make it 4-0 for United. Owen had plenty of chances in the midweek against Burnley but failed to convert them.

Owen was highly delighted to earn his first pound of the season and said :

It was certainly a great feeling to score. I'd got a few in pre-season but there's nothing quite like doing it in a competitive game.

I'd be disappointed if people didn't think I could go on from here.I obviously believe I can as I have done throughout my career and I certainly expect to score more goals in the red shirt.

The RED shirt of Liverpool is now the RED shirt of Manchester.

VoTD : Football with CARS!

We have seen the normal football played with football and the bad tackles on the field. But how about some "foot"ball with cars?

In the following video which aired on Top Gear bunch of cars in Red and Blue went against each other in a display of amazing maneuverability.

Look out for a bad "tackle" on 1:40, deserved a yellow. Also there are some pretty good skills for driving enthusiasts.



P.S. Just imagine if there was a headbutt (Zizou style) possible here!!

Goal of the day?

In an action packed night with Premier League action along with Champions League qualifiers and international friendlies featuring Real Madrid away to Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp. But we have three amazing goals to pick from as the goal of the day. Yep! Goal of the DAY!. The contenders are :

Robbie Blake's thunderous volley against Manchester United to get Burnley a shocking 1-0 win at Turf Moor?



Michel Bastos' gloriously hit shot with the left foot against Anderlecht which was part of Lyon's 5-1 drubbing of the Belgian club.



Bodnar's right foot unstoppable against Levski Sofia.

Which is your pic for the goal of the day?

Video of the day : Kaka juggles two balls, AT ONCE!

From today onwards I would have a feature called "Video of The Day" for you here on 90 Minutes on The Pitch! displaying some great videos. It could be an advert or skills or a bad tackle or a spectacular goal. So check back everyday for VIDEO OF THE DAY!

Many of us are not able to juggle a single ball standing upright for a few seconds. But this genius can do more than that. He can juggle two balls at the same and stay still. Only he then wrecks the whole photo shoot by smashing the light. Enjoy!

Everton 1-6 Arsenal : Match Report

Everton v Arsenal
Venue : Goodison Park
Lineups:

Everton - Howard,Hibbert,Yobo,Lescott,Banes,Osman,Neville,Cahill,Pienaar,Fellaini,Jo.

Arsenal - Almunia,Sagna,Gallas,Vermaelen,Clichy,Fabregas,Song,Denilson,Bendtner,Van Persie,Arshavin.


This was the most interesting game of the day. Arsenal without Adebayor and Toure travel to Everton’s Goodison Park who have been in the news due to Manchester City’s advances towards Lescott.

There were very few chances for either sides as ball was lost on a constant basis in the midfield and Everton looked the side with an upper hand as Jo and Fellaini were adjudged narrowly offside on several occasions.

Arsenal’s biggest strength, their passing ability brought about their first goal of the season. In the 26th minute Bendtner shifted the ball brilliantly on his feet to get past his marker and pass the ball on to Fabregas who in turn shifted it in the path of Denilson whose curling shot beat Tim Howard in goal.

Everton 0 – 1 Arsenal (Denilson 26’)

Everton had a great opportunity to equalise in the 33rd minute after a corner kick was headed by Fellaini but were to be denied by Denilson on the line.

Bendtner continued to bother Everton’s defence as he won a foul for his side. Van Persie’s left footed free kick fell to an unmarked new man Thomas Vermaelen who headed in to give Arsenal a two goal cushion in the 37th minute.

Everton 0 – 2 Arsenal (Vermaelen 37’)

Everton’s problems worsened in the 41st minute with another set piece goal conceded. This time Gallas was on the end of the free kick. Another defensive lapse by Everton gave the Londoners a very surprising 3-0 lead.

Everton 0 – 3 Arsenal (Gallas 41’)

This is how it remained until half time. Arsenal with a shocking 3-0 lead away from home and Everton looking out of ideas.

Everton 0 – 3 Arsenal (Denilson 26’, Vermaelen 37’, Gallas 41’) (HT)

It would have been a very hard half time talk by David Moyes as Everton came out in a positive mood with decent crosses coming into Arsenal’s half.

Although Everton paid to commit many men forward as they were caught out on the break. Van Persie slid the ball in towards an approaching Fabregas in the box who slotted the ball in the back of the net in the 47th minute.

Everton 0 – 4 Arsenal (Fabregas 47’)

Arsenal made it a five star performance in the 70th minute with a long run by Fabregas. It all started with a throw from Almunia towards the Spaniard who ran all the way without drawing a challenge towards him. His powerful shot beat Howard for the fifth time in the day.

Everton 0 – 5 Arsenal (Fabregas 70’)

As a mark of respect Fabregas and co. displayed an Arsenal jersey in memory of the Espanyol captain, Jarque who passed away last week.

Everton tried their best to grab a goal. Saha came close in the 75th minute with his snap shot but it flew wide of the goal.

A quick passage of play in the 89th minute into the Everton box saw the ball on to the feet of Arshavin whose deflected shot on target hit the post and Eduardo tapped into an open goal from two yards.

Everton 0 – 6 Arsenal (Eduardo 89’)

Everton did grab a consolation goal through Saha’s shot into the back of an open goal after Almunia made a decent save.

Everton (Saha 92’) 1 – 6 Arsenal

Everton 1 – 6 Arsenal (Denilson 27’, Vermaelen 37’, Gallas 41’, Fabregas 47’, Fabregas 70’, Eduardo 89’, Saha 92’) (FT)

Gunners with an astoundingly fabulous performance. Six goals in the very first game sending out a very strong message to the rest of the Premiership who questioned their ability to withstand losing out two key players of their squad.

Everton had a miserable day. Nothing went right for them either going forward or in the back. David Moyes would have a hard time motivating his players for the next game. It would also raise rumours about Lescott’s future at the club and the money that could otherwise benefit Everton.

Chelsea 2-1 Hull City : Match Report

Chelsea v Hull City
Venue : Stamford Bridge
Lineups :

Chelsea -
Cech,Boswinga,Carvalho,Terry,Cole,Obi Mikel,Essien,Lampard,Malouda,Drogba,Anelka

Hull City - Myhill,Mendy,Turner,Gardner,Dawson,Marney,Olofinjana,Mouyokolo,Boateng,Hunt,Folan


The day millions of fans all over the globe were eagerly waiting for finally arrived. The first match of the season between Chelsea and Hull City at Stamford Bridge.

Things started to heat up as early as the first minute with a high foot challenge by Steven Hunt on Frank Lampard left the England midfielder unimpressed.

Chelsea could have gone up as early as the 2nd minute after a cross from the right flank by Michael Essien fell to Ivorian Didier Drogba who had all the space and time in the world to put it in the back of the net but his shot blazed high and wide.

Hull City get a chance of their own with a cross from Hunt which is a little too high for him. Chelsea's defence went to sleep!

First corner of the season goes to Hull and its a good one. A half cleared ball falls to Boateng whose shot from outside the box also becomes the first shot on target of the season. Denied by an outstretched leg of Peter Cech.

27th minute becomes the time for the first goal of the season and surprisingly it comes from the Tigers. Former Reading man, Steven Hunt taps into an open net with his left foot after a Boateng shot ricocheteds off Mikel's knee.

Chelsea 0 - 1 Hull City (Hunt 27')

Their lead however lasts for only 10minutes as Chelsea win a free kick which is expertly taken by Drogba. Commentators begin to compare his free kick with how Ronaldo used to bring the ball up and down leaving the keeper helpless.

Chelsea 1 - 1 Hull City (Drogba 37', Hunt 27')

As the half went on Drogba grew in confidence and got the most out of Hull's defence and stung Myhill's gloves on a couple of occasions.

Mendy becomes the first player to get yellow card of the season as his clumsy tackle on Malouda leaves the Frenchman clutching his ankle and into the advertising boards.

Chelsea pile on the pressure on Hull but can't find a gap with Hull's defence holding strong.

Chelsea 1 - 1 Hull City (HT)

Chelsea enter the second half brimming with confidence and better passing. Ballack comes on to replace John Obi Michel. Hull however seem to have switched off a little as they try to get out of their own half.

56th minute – A huge melee in the Hull half sees many misses by Chelsea players and finally a Lampard head on towards Drogba finds him in space but is denied fabulously by Myhill.

76th minute – Boswinga fights hard to keep possession of the ball and forces a great save from the Hull keeper.

79th minute – Kalou comes on for Chelsea and could have scored with his first touch in the game but his header is a tad high and its still one goal apiece at Stamford Bridge.

89th minute – Great block by Dawson denies Drogba and Chelsea the winner.

92nd minute – Pass by Deco into the path of Drogba whose run and accurate chip shot over Myhill gets Chelsea the goal and ends the agony for Ancelotti and fans. With this he also becomes Chelsea’s first booking of the season for taking off his shirt.

94th minute – Kalou’s curling shot is only inches wide to put this game to rest.

96th minute – Shot from Hull to equalise and salvage a point from Stamford Bridge proves useless as Cech seemed to have it covered.

Chelsea 2 – 1 Hull City (Hunt 27’, Drogba 37’, Drogba 92’) (FT)

Chelsea survive a scare on the first day of the season and continue their record of 8 wins in 8 seasons on the first day. Drogba could surpass Ronaldo's record of 26 last season if he continues this form and does not get temperamental as usual. Chelsea survive a scare on the first day of the season. There would be plenty for Ancelotti to analyse and address.

Hull City did their best to get a point from Chelsea and would have deserved it as well with their impressive defending but couldn't do the same with their attacking options.

Blackburn Rovers are the league champions!

Sorry for the misleading title but isn't it shocking to read? Blackburn Rovers are actually the champions of Extra Excitement League in a study done by chewing gum brand, Wrigley's Extra.

In a study done by the brand based upon the excitement levels of fans of 20 clubs in the top division Blackburn Rovers fans are revealed to be running a high heart beat rate and cortisol levels in four seperate games in the season.

The clubs were awarded a maximum of 50points based on their fans' heart beat and cortisol levels before, during and after the break. Rovers finished on top with 189 points and surpassed third place Manchester United (who won the league in real!) who ended up with 187 points.

The adrenalin of a league game and the excitement that comes along is higher than that of driving a high speed car on a racing track and minutely lesser than a white knuckle ride.

Also its not just the goals that get the excitement soaring, firing wide, open goal and even referee blowing the whistle to show a red card get the blood to gush through the veins.

Sadly, Newcastle United finished on the bottom of the list despite their huge fanbase and the sound they make. Maybe it has more to do with their lack of excitement at the end as the results rarely went in their favour.

I find it funny that the gum is described as "fans' favourite". :D

The Extra Excited League Table 2008/09

1 Blackburn Rovers 189
2 Arsenal 188
3 Manchester United 187
4 Wigan Athletic 186
5 Bolton Wanderers 185
6 Liverpool 185
7 West Bromwich Albion 183
8 Chelsea 180
9 Manchester City 178
10 Stoke City 177
11 Aston Villa 176
12 Portsmouth 174
13 Tottenham Hotspur 174
14 West Ham United 173
15 Middlesbrough 171
16 Hull City 168
17 Fulham 168
18 Everton 167
19 Sunderland 161
20 Newcastle United 157

Burnley : Welcome To EPL

2008/09 season ended with farewell to Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and West Brom from the Premier League and into the Championship. Up came Birmingham City, Wolves and Burnley. With the league due to start tomorrow (15th August) lets start off with introduction to the team that has taken a long time to get up to the top of the English football leagues.



Nickname : The Clarets

• Stadium : Turf Moor


• Address : Burnley Football Club,
  Harry Potts Way,
  Burnley,
  Lancashire,
  BB10 4BX


• Capacity : 22,619


• Manager : Owen Coyle


• Local Derby : Blackburn Rovers


• Official Web site : http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com

• Burnley finished 5th last season in the championship. They beat Reading and Sheffield United in the playoff semi finals and finals to get to the Premiership.



• Burnley gained promotion to the top flight in English football after a span of 33 years.



• Burnley were the founding members of the Football League in 1888.



• They are one of the three teams to have won all top four divisions of English football.



• Burnley have been playing at Turf Moor since 1883. Only Preston North End have played at the same venue more than Burnley.



• They paid record transfer fees of £3million for Steven Fletcher from Scottish side, Hibernian.



• Man to watch : Robbie Blake. He has the maximum number of appearances(214) for The Clarets and the maximum number of goals scored too(58).



• First game : v Stoke City (away) : It would be an interesting game for Burnley and they could have all the chances to win their first game of the season.

Aware of some out of the box fact about Burnley? Why don't you share it with us!

5 conclusions from Community Shield

1. Manchester United don't have the firepower and speed without Ronaldo. Or its too early to say.

2. Luckily Berbatov was off and couldn't take a penalty. Evra made up for him.

3. First game to make the season and bad refereeing has started already.

4. Drogba and Anelka are a lethal duo. It would be hard for Sturridge to make a start. Also, make Anelka part of your Fantasy football team.

5.Manchester United are still the undisputed champions in late goals.

Alonso joins Madrid..finally!

Liverpool have finally sold Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid for a fee of nearly £30million. Real Madrid had earlier claimed they would pull out of the deal if Liverpool asked for more than £25million, however that seems to have not been the case in the end.

Real get their long term target and second Liverpool player after Arbeloa joined Los Blancos a few days ago. This also continues the revolution to setup a formidable attacking lineup with world record deals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka from Manchester United and AC Milan respectively.

This concludes Alonso's Liverpool tenure which started in 2004 when he moved from Real Sociedad which saw him make 143 Premier league appearances for the Merseysiders.

From a formation point of view, it would be very difficult for Madrid manager, Pellegerini to pick his side now and then to choose the formation to play. Richard Farley, a fellow football blogger, suggests many options which Madrid could opt for. One of them being following the same approach as Liverpool does with two deep midfielders, 1 attacking midfielder who can play as an additional striker in some situations, an out and out striker and then eventually two wingers. Or Higuain could partner Benzema upfront with Kaka and Ronaldo playing behind them and Marcelo,Robben,Sergio Ramos providing the width. Alonso and Lass to be the defensive midfielders or the holding midfielders.

As for Liverpool, they would be pretty happy with the money they've received and if the reports are to be believed then they've found a replacement already in the form of Roma's Alberto Aquilani in a £20million move. Another player who is linked with a move to Spain is Mascherano, who is wanted by champions Barcelona. Although Barcelona haven't made any public comments in their approach for the Argentine but it could all change in a few days. Liverpool are also linked with Standard Liege's Steven Defour but that seems to be a false rumour.

Leave comments if you have any idea for Real's formation or how Liverpool should approach this major change with only days to go for the season to start.

Darren Bent on Twitter - Required?

According to Telegraph's Mike Norrish, he doesn't. In a candid blog he says all sports person's (except Lance Armstrong) have no reason to be on Twitter and be thumbing away their daily whereabouts and in Bent's case their outburst towards the team that they are still under contract with!

The most enjoyable part of the post is his description of Bent's biography in the form a tweet :

Get Ipswich deal, do ok, join Charlton, do ok, join Spurs, get rich, miss lots of chances

Darren Bent can now get a new Twitter account and blast Nail Quinn in a few years after being thrown out of an airplane!

Robbie Savage sleepwalks!

One of most hated players in England, Robbie Savage has a serious problem of sleepwalking.(Daily Star)

The player known for his cheating and his "ability" to get opposition players booked has made him widely hated as he featured in our Top 5 Dirtiest Players list too.

His situation of sleep walking is so extremely bizarre that he has taken a nap in the fridge once and on another occasion got a team mate out of bed because he thought the hotel was going to be hit by the train!

I wonder even in the fridge did he try to cheat and steal something? Considering the guy can go down even by the referee's hand! I really feel sorry for team mate though. 1.He's sharing his room with an idiot. and 2.the idiot calling Leicester City v Liverpool as a BIG match?!

That probably explains why he's such an idiot on the pitch as well.

Ronaldo's home goes to Adebayor

Ronaldo left Manchester United for safer and expensive pastures at Real Madrid leaving behind his Alderley Edge, Cheshire mansion up for grabs.

The seven bed room house with an indoor pool, jacuzzi, gym and cinema room has been snapped up by City's money whore, Emanuel Adebayor.(The Sun)

Interestingly, he beat off competition from three of his team mates Kolo Toure, Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez. Another interested party was rather underpaid Antonio Valencia who joined United from Wigan.

Ronaldo made a profit £1.65million from the sale as Adebayor paid £5.5million for the house.

I wonder if this would cause a disturbing situation in City's locker room as the kids would be seen fighting with each other over who got the house as they're all a bunch of overpriced and money hungry whores!

Tuesday's Transfer Gossip

Not everything in the paper can be believed,right? So why not try to distinguish the "Oh yeah that might be true!" from "What crap!".


Lescott himself asks for a transfer to Manchester City (Daily Star)

What we Think? : With Swiss FA agreeing that Philippe Senderos looks likely to join Everton this could pave way for his move to Eastlands after all. Everton have turned down bids for £15million and £18million but can they hold up a player who wants to leave and with City's next offer likely to be around £25million. City on the other hand can look for their backup options of Bassong (Newcastle) and Alex (Chelsea) if they fail to get the Englishman.

Liverpool deal with Roma's Alberto Aquilani almost done (The Sun)

What we think? : This deal wouldn't happen until and unless Alonso moves to Madrid. The holdup there being on the Spaniards valuation which as per Liverpool is £30million but Real Madrid wouldn't want to pay more than £25million. Liverpool would most likely budge and get something rather than nothing and still be in a profit.

Arsenal offer £6million for Kalou (The Sun)

What we think? : AC Milan's Pirlo looks likely to follow the Italian to Chelsea which would put Kalou's place in a place of bother but Arsenal offering that much money along with raise in salary is highly unlikely. Its also difficult to see two London rivals trading players.

Bent deal expected to be finalised soon, Huntelaar for Spurs? (Daily Express)

What we think? : After Bent's outburst on Twitter and his imminent transfer to Sunderland where he passed the medical yesterday this has made way for Spurs now to use that money to buy Real Madrid want away Klaas Huntelaar. Huntelaar has already turned down the option of going to Stuttgart and a number of Premier league clubs have shown interest in him but none more than Harry Redknapp.

Number of clubs after Standard Liege's Steven Defour (Daily Mirror , Daily Mail)

What we think? : Real Madrid, Everton and Liverpool all are reported to be interested in bringing the Belgian to their sides. Real Madrid would most definitely pull out of the running if they get Xabi Alonso from Liverpool. Liverpool are in the running for Roma's Alberto and that's where their spending is diverted. That leaves Everton in the frame and they don't seem that interested in spending that much cash. Overall, too much hype , no real substance.

Chimbonda to be Hull's backup for Beye (The Sun)

What we think? : Hull and Newcastle haven't been able to decide on Habib Beye's valuation which has held up the move. However, if Hull does turn to Chimbonda then its expected that Spurs would be happy to let go of Chimbonda who has had very little playing time with the Londoners.

Do you disagree with us on any of the transfers or did we miss out any? Comment away!