EPL Dealings: Down to the Wire!

Forget throwball and politics, it's officially transfer deadline day!  Different leagues across Europe wrap up proceedings at different times, but if the business is to be done, it has to be done today!  For the Barclay's Premier League, the window officially closes a little more than 15 hours from the writing of this entry.  Some big moves have already gone down in the last couple of days with promise of more in the next few hours!

                                                       

In one of the big high profile moves of the day, Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has joined West Ham on a season long loan deal.  Reports are also saying that the Irons will have an option to buy at the end of the loan.

Carroll cited the fact that he had worked with West Ham boss Sam Allardyce at Newcastle as a big reason why he wanted to make the switch.  Last year Liverpool paid 35 million pounds for the big striker's services, but it appears the Hammers finally met the loan conditions.  Carroll told West Ham's website that he's just looking forward to playing games and hopefully scoring some big goals for the side.

Elsewhere in London, QPR have confirmed the signing of Inter Milan goalkeeper Julio Cesar.  The deal is still pending international clearance and the visa process, but the Brazilian looks set to begin a four year stint at Loftus Road.  In 7 years between the pipes for Inter, Cesar won the Serie A title five times as well as the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup.  This is a big addition for Mark Hughes' side.

Elsewhere in England, Swansea City have finally agreed to a fee to sell Scott Sinclair to Manchester City.  The Swans rejected a 6.2 million pound offer on Tuesday, but the new City offer supposedly has possible bonuses taking the price up to around 8 million for the former Chelsea man.  Sinclair is holding talks with City on personal terms.  If this goes through, the Swans are likely to continue in their pursuit to sign Spanish veteran Pablo Hernandez from Valencia

Finally, back in London. Fulham look set to sign up Manchester United man Dimitar Berbatov.  At last reports Berbatov was at Fulham taking a medical.  Fulham had previously sold Moussa Dembele to Spurs earlier this week, and they're still fielding options for Clint Dempsey.

That brings us back to Liverpool, who are trying to land two rather large fish.  As mentioned earlier, rumors have persisted that Anfield is keen to move for US International Dempsey, who has sat out Fulham's opening matches.  However there has been little concrete evidence of the process going forward, so it remains to be seen.  The other rumor for the Reds has to do with Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.  However, this deal was seen as contingent upon being able to SELL Andy Carroll, so it remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, by the time my American readers get this in the morning, the landscape will have shifted even more.  Look for a full round-up tonight on the Puddle.

EPL: Manchester United vs. QPR

United's Danny Welbeck tries a shot (AP Images)

This match featured two teams at opposite ends of the Premier League table, but each needing the points as bad as the other.  For Manchester United, a win would move them eight points clear of City at the top.  QPR is in a bit of a different position.  Despite bringing in Mark Hughes and going on a bit of a spending spree during the January transfer window.  They sit at the bottom of the table, just outside the bottom three.

Well if you're a QPR fan, there really wasn't much to be excited about.  They barely got a chance to get their feet underneath them.  United came out with some searing pressure in the opening minutes that resulted in a couple of good free kick looks for Wayne Rooney.  In the fourth minute his effort went into the QPR wall, but in the seventh he got it on frame and forced a big save out of Paddy Kenny to keep the score level at zero.

Then in the 14th minute it went awry for QPR, though not totally of their own making.  Ashley Young seemed to dance in behind the defense and QPR's Shaun Derry brought him down for a penalty.  Derry was also shown the red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity.  There were a couple of problem with this.  First, replays showed that Young was clearly offside, the linesman totally missed it, though it really should have been quite obvious.  Second, Derry barely laid a hand on Young, and it was a clearly a dive by the United player.  At any rate, Wayne Rooney nailed the spot kick to make it 1-0 to United.

As for QPR, they finally settled in a little bit, but they couldn't create any chances on the ball.  The best they got was two shots from Adel Taarabt, both of which were blocked.  As the halftime whistle blew, United still held the 1-0 lead and Mark Hughes sought out the referee for a chat.

QPR did come out solid in the second half, and managed to make things a bit nervy for United as they grabbed a bigger share of possession.  Still, they managed no shots on goal and would not record one for the entire match.

Paul Scholes came to the rescue of United in the 68th minute and killed the game off.  He sent a screamer in from distance that Paddy Kenny had no shot to save at all, and the score became 2-0 to United.  Michael Carrick would hit the post in the 77th minute, but the match ended 2-0.  Coupling this result with the later loss at Arsenal for Manchester City, and the Red Devils stood 8 points clear at the summit by the end of Easter Sunday.

Note:  QPR did appeal Derry's sending off to the FA.  On Tuesday, they denied that appeal, basically saying the denial of the goal scoring chance still occurred as Young was not flagged offside.  Derry will serve a one game ban.  The red card was QPR's seventh sending off of the season.

EPL: QPR vs. Wolves

Coming into this weekend's match with fellow relegation threatened Wolves, spirits were generally high at Loftus Road. The club had made their ambition plain after hiring Mark Hughes as manager and making a big splash in the January transfer window, including the big signings of Bobby Zamora from Fulham and Djibril Cisse from Lazio. Both of those players would create highlights in this match, one good, and one bad.

QPR took charge of the match right from the first kick. They were keeping about 60% of the possession, and when Wolves did manage to get a hold of the ball, they couldn't do a thing with it. Cisse announced his presence in the 4th minute with a shot right at Wayne Hennessey in goal for Wolves. Zamora had the better chance just seconds later but saw the 'keeper knock it wide.

That was not all we'd hear from Bobby Zamora though. Earlier in the week, Cisse had scored on his debut for the club, and Zamora equaled the achievement against Wolves. In the 16th minute he took a back pass from Shaun Wright-Phillips at the top of the area and smacked the ball past Hennessey to make it 1-0 to QPR.

Wolves continued to struggle, to look like they couldn't do anything going forward, but then QPR gave them a get out of jail free card. In the 33rd minute Roger Johnson of Wolves went in on Cisse from behind on a nasty tackle. He was to receive a yellow for the play. However, as the referee rushed to the scene, Cisse inexplicably channeled Joey Barton and grabbed Johnson around the neck. He received the red card for the play. The QPR folks weren't happy, but it was the correct call. Still, despite being a man down QPR held their lead into the half time interval.

Wolves stormed out of the gate in the second half. They added Kevin Doyle as a 4th attacker, and the sub paid immediate dividends. In the 46th minute Doyle sent a cross to Matthew Jarvis, who slid the ball at an angle into the net at the far post to make it 1-1.

Doyle continued to be a dominant force for Wolves even after that. He got on the board himself in 71st minute to give Wolves the lead. He also took a short shot to the back post to make it 1-2 to the visitors.

QPR did formulate a response, but it came from one man. Adel Taarabt took Rangers on his shoulders in the closing minutes of the contest, putting several shots on target. The greatest chance came from distance in the 82nd minute. He sent in a blast that looked to certain to be headed for the roof of the net, but Hennessey got up and just barely put it over the bar. In the end it was too little, too late, and Wolves held on for the much needed three points.

CISSE SEES RED (EPL OFFICIAL)

Puddle's Goal of the Midweek: Djibril Cisse's Debut Goal for QPR

Check out this great Fox Sports video: Djibril Cisse's debut goal

Couldn't get a good Youtube grab of this one, but check it out. Djibril Cisse's debut goal for QPR after arriving from Italy. His celebration is pretty sweet too!

Puddle's Deadline Day Roundup: January 2012

THE BRITISH TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSED AT 11 pm (gmt)


This time last year the football blogs and shows were buzzing with the likes of transfers from Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, and Andy Carroll. We really didn't see a lot of movement from superstar names today, but some good snatches of guys who are probably right under that top tier. Here's my take on just a few of the moves, and non-moves.

QPR sign Cisse and Zamora--
Nobody would question the fact that QPR intended to load up once they hired the ambitious Mark Hughes as manager. That turns out to be exactly what they did. In total they brought in 6 players during the window, making them the most active EPL team. On deadline day they brought in Djibril Cisse from Lazio, where he had just landed over the summer. They completed their new strike force by signing Bobby Zamora away from Fulham about 20 minutes before the deadline expired. I like the Zamora move, Cisse is a bit of a gamble I think. He was not having a good year at Lazio. Of course, it's a lot harder to score goals in Italy. Will these moves keep QPR up? Signs point to yes.

Everton sign Jelavic, get Pienaar on loan--
Toffees fans were heartened at the end of the transfer window as Everton put the finishing touches on two deadline day deals. First they signed away striker Nikica Jelavic from Glasgow Rangers, who was leading the SPL in scoring. Right at the death of the deadline, they also got Steven Pienaar back from Spurs on a loan deal to the end of the year. Put these with the arrival of Gibson earlier in the window, and you've got some real solid moves. Too bad they have to send Landon Donovan back.

Spurs acquire Saha, dump Pavlyuchenko--
Probably the surprise move of the day was Tottenham acquiring Louis Saha from Everton. This is rumored to be part of the deal that sent Pienaar back to Everton on loan. They also got rid of want-away Roman Pavlyuchenko, who made his way to Lokomotiv Moscow. Saha's body and confidence are about as fragile as a Fabrege egg, as Everton supportes will attest to, so we'll see what happens on this. Could be a shrewd pick up.

Chelsea sign Belgian international De Bruyne--
In the earliest of the deadline day deals, Chelsea announced that they had finally succeeded in signing Belgian International winger Kevin De Bruyne from Genk. This appears to be a deal more for the future, as Chelsea immediately loaned him right back to Genk for the rest of the season.

No big EPL names to MLS--
I had to throw this in here because the MLS rumor mill has bugged the living crap out of me all month, probably because I'm a Chelsea fan. The biggest rumors concerned folks like Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard coming to play for the Galaxy. Now of course that got a lot less likely once Beckham re-signed, but still. Our league seems to delight in connecting every aging Euro star to MLS, and it annoys me. We need to be less of a retirement home and develop more of our own talent. that being said, Portland did acquire former Rangers man Kris Boyd, but as I pointed out on the twitter feed yesterday, Boyd had only 12 goals since leaving Glasgow, where he had better people around him than he will in Portland, so I'm not keen on handing any trophies the Timbers' way just yet.

Carlos Tevez stays put, still playing golf--
The biggest name actually up for grabs this month was City malcontent Carlos Tevez, who hasn't played hardly at all for the Citizens. A deal was almost reached with AC Milan earlier this month, then Inter Milan joined the fray as well. However, the window closed in Italy at 7 PM Italian time and no move had been made. Later on there was a twitter hoax as someone tweeting as Aston Villa's official twitter confirmed that Villa had signed him and Florent Malouda from Chelsea. Malouda is still with Chelsea, Tevez is still playing golf, and Villa fans are bent out of shape.

Of course many more moves were made on deadline day, and there were about 89 million dollars spent (USA) in England. However, the window has now slammed shut, and teams will have to play their hands for the rest of the season.

QPR Hires Hughes, Gives Him Resources.

Queens Park Rangers didn't wait long to fill their manager vacancy after firing Neil Warnock over the weekend. Former Wales, Man City, and Fulham manager Mark Hughes has been hired as his replacement. Hughes took over training on Tuesday and will manage at Newcastle on Sunday.

More than just a new hire, Hughes confirmed at his presser that he had been given funds to strengthen the club. However, he would elaborate on how much he had been given or who his targets are. He did say the club's ambitions matched his.

That's odd. He left Fulham because he wanted to be involved with Champion's League. Even under the best case scenario, QPR is a long way from that position. The most imporant thing this year will be staying up.

QPR Sacks Neil Warnock

A bit of managerial news during this busy football weekend. Tonight Queens Park Rangers have announced that they have sacked Neil Warnock. They have yet to name a replacement.

While acknowledging the accomplishments Warnock made in returning the club to England's top flight, the club said in a statement that preserving their Premier League status was first in their mind at this time. A recent poor run of form has seen them slip to 17th in the table, 1 point above the drop zone and just 3 above last place Blackburn.

Current heavy speculation is that former Fulham boss Mark Hughes might be in line for the job. Then again, Hughes has supposedly been in line for every Premier League opening this season. With the transfer window open though, one would think they'll have to move fast.

EPL: QPR vs. Norwich

So today in this battle of promoted squads we got to see both the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities of QPR Captain Joey Barton. The Dr. Jekyll side put them on the front foot after Norwich had controlled the first ten minutes. Unfortunately, Mr. Hyde showed up before half time and helped send QPR to their 8th loss in 11 matches.

Neil Warnock's side was hoping things were looking up coming into their first match of the 2012 calendar year. The transfer window was officially open and they had already added Manchester United striker Federico Macheda on loan. Macheda was in uniform and on the bench to start.

However the Canaries had other ideas right from the opening whistle. Of the three promoted teams, Swansea has gotten the most praise for playing possession football, or if you're one of their opponents, you might call it ball hogging. Norwich did their best to emulate that in the opening stages of today's match. Midfielder Simon Lappin made his EPL debut was quite active early on as was Anthony Pilkington.

However it was QPR that managed to strike first, against the run of play. On 11 minutes Clint Hill put a seeing eye centering pass down that somehow found it's way through the Norwich defenders. Barton came dashing into the area and blazed the ball into the back of the net from 12 yards out to make it 1-0 to the West Londoners.

Unfortunately the day didn't end up being all roses for Barton and QPR. In the 36th minute of play, Barton appeared to get into one of his trademark "situations" away from the ball with Norwich's Bradley Johnson. It was hard to see on replay, but Barton appeared to headbutt the Canary midfielder. Referee Neil Swarbrick consulted with his assistants and then proceeded to show the QPR Captain a red card, putting them down to ten men less than ten minutes before the half.

Rangers were hoping to ride the storm out until half time, but it didn't turn out that way. In the 43rd minute Pilkington found himself with space in the area and drilled the shot into the bottom of the goal to make it 1-1 at the half.

HERE COMES THE RED CARD (GETTY IMAGES)

You have to give credit to QPR though. They came out with both barrels blazing in the second half, determined not to just sit back and defend against the Canaries. Shaun Wright-Phillips checked in and got into the action right away, forcing a save out of John Ruddy.

However, eventually the extra man took it's toll and Norwich put the match away. Their coach had made a rare triple substitution in the 65th minute, and it paid off in the 82nd. Wes Hoolahan headed down a cross from Pilkingtion into the path of Steve Morison. Morison calmly stroked the ball into the back of the net to give the Canaries the 1-2 win.

All in all it was a match in which QPR's temper undid them, and Norwich showed a lot of heart to secure a vital 3 points on the road. At the end of the match QPR was sitting just above the drop zone on 17 points. Norwich is currently sitting in 9th at this writing, on 25 points. One would think that puts the Canaries more than half way to safety.

Macheda Joins QPR On Loan.

So here we have it, the January transfer window is now officially open, and we get to see which of these rumors had any truth and which ones were just wishful thinking supporter's fodder.

It's only January 2nd and some of the wheels, albeit not the big ones, are already turning. Queens Park Rangers announced today the Manchester United striker Federico Macheda will be joining them at Loftus Road for the remainder of the campaign. He even saw action as a substitute in today's 1-2 loss to Norwich.

QPR manager Neil Warnock admitted that Macheda is obviously still a part of future plans at Old Trafford, however he feels that giving him the opportunity to place first team football with QPR will benefit both clubs.

Macheda is a former Lazio player who has four goals with Manchester United. He went on a similar loan spell last year to Sampdoria.

EPL: Swansea City vs. QPR

This is going to be short. I've been trying to come up with at least one interesting nugget about the match, but it's not really happening.

Swans have been more than formidable at home all season long. This has helped them out quite a bit because they've been total junk on the road. Will home form be enough to keep them up in the EPL? I guess we shall see.

They pretty much dominated the first half, playing their particular brand of possession football. They were working QPR pretty hard, but nothing was really coming of it. Not even a half chance for either side.

However Swansea got the first half's only goal in the 14th minute. Danny Graham took a ball near the top of the area, put two defenders between himself and the 'keeper, and squirted it into the net to give the Swans a 1-0 lead. This was not without controversy though, as the ball pretty clearly struck Graham's arm as he brought it down. The referee deemed it unintentional and let the goal stand. Swansea took the 1-0 lead into half time.

Neil Warnock must have fired up his troops in the locker room, because they really took the fight to Swansea in the second half, and they needed to. Coming into this match, QPR had only taken 1 point out of the last possible 15. They got the equalizer in the 58th minute as Jamie Mackie chested down a ball and volleyed it past the Swansea keeper to make it 1-1.

The controversy didn't end in the first half though. Late in the match Graham was brought down in the area by QPR's Armand Traore. However the referee was not interested and waved play on, Perhaps it was a bit of a make up call for the hand ball, because it appeared, to me anyway, to be a pretty clear penalty.

EPL: Queens Park Rangers vs. Chelsea

This match just drove me nuts as a Chelsea fan. A stupid penalty, two idiotic red cards, and a whole bunch of yellows. Oh, and a loss on a day where we could have picked up points and moved to second.

While the sides were even on men, Chelsea were definitely the better side. They were zeroing in on the goal, meanwhile QPR was hardly seeing anything of the ball.

However the house started to come down at Loftus Road in the 8th minute. David Luiz pushed Heidar Helguson in the box, with his back to the goal. In a somewhat delayed reaction, the QPR man fell on the floor and the ref awarded a PK, which Helguson himself barely managed to get out of reach of Petr Cech to make it 1-0 to QPR. Yes, Luiz gave him a little shove. Certainly not enough to knock him over. If it was, he's a wimp. Not to mention seconds before he was pushing on Luiz. A soft penalty if there ever was such a thing.

It would be the game's only goal.

Chelsea made their situation steadily worse. In the 32nd minute Bosingwa brought down Shaun Wright-Phillips. He was judged to be the last man. Bosingwa saw red and was sent off. Personally, I thought John Terry was also in the play, but the ref disagreed.

Then Didier Drogba got himself sent off a few minutes before half time with a stupid two footed tackle. Not blaming the ref for this one at all, just a dumb move by Drogba.

Chelsea played the entire second half down to NINE men. Despite this, they had the best chances and were still clearly the better side. Anelka had a couple of really good looks and both Lampard and Luiz had penalty appeals turned down, each of which I thought were at least as legit as the softer than soft one QPR got.

QPR went on to win 1-0. I'm not going to blame the ref. He doesn't kick the ball, and Chelsea had plenty of chances. Still, Foy was obviously card happy and seemed bound and determined to play a lead role in today's match. Unfortunately in the end it was the lack of discipline that undid the Blues.

EPL: Everton vs. QPR

Well, my best friend Rick is an Everton supporter, so I usually kind of pull for them, unless they're playing Chelsea. This one had to hurt. QPR got beat up pretty bad by Bolton, and Everton's first match was postponed due to the London riots. The Toffees really looked like it was their first time on the pitch this season. Just poor.

There really isn't a lot to say from a match synopsis point of view. Everton started off well enough with some decent possession, but didn't manage to capitalize on any of the chances they managed to carve out. The usually reliable Tim Cahill just flat out missed on more than one chance, including a wide open header in the six.

QPR got all they needed in the 31st minute. They managed to find Tommy Smith standing virtually all alone in the Everton 18. Smith easily slotted the goal past a stunned Tim Howard to make it 0-1.

Unfortunately for the Everton supporters, it only got more frustrating in the second half, as the play got worse. It honestly looked as if the players weren't trying to connect on passes, just kick the ball around. At another point, Ron Arteta had a disagreement with Baines on who would take a free kick. Baines had rattled the cross bar with a free kick in the first half, but Arteta won the argument, and missed quite badly. Later the fans took exception with David Moyes inserting Fellaini for Beckford, which left Cahill alone up top as a CF. Saha eventually checked in, but it was all to no avail, as QPR walked away from Goodison park with all three points.

It looks like it might be a long season for Everton, though Moyes is usually adept at getting the most out of what he's got. One wonders what he might be able to do if he had some money to bring in players.

Congrats to Queens Park Rangers!

Congratulations are in order for QPR, who clinched a promotion spot to the Premier League with a 0-2 win away at Watford. Now we wait to see what 2 other teams from the nPower Championship will join them.