deciphersoccer.com

Deadline Day Deals – The Facts!

Ian John — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:37:23 PDT

IMAGE : Asamoah Gyan’s reaction after hearing Sunderland were keen on his services… After a look at the rumours yesterday, here are the facts from yesterday’s transfer deadline day in the EPL and beyond… Marc Wilson (Portsmouth – Undisclosed fee), Jermaine Pennant (Real Zaragoza – loan), Eidur Gudjohnssen (Monaco – Undisclosed fee) – all to [...]

Deadline Day Deals – The rumours

Ian John — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:34:31 PDT

It is transfer deadline day and a lot of people generally get very excited. It is the day when spotting a famous footballer at an airport gets relayed around the world as “news”, rumours get feverish analysis and you have to cut through an awful lot of misinformation to actually get down to the truth. [...]

Mascherano exit start of a manic few days of Transfer Dealings?

Ian John — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:59:02 PDT

Javier Mascherano’s long expected move to Barcelona from Liverpool looks set to be completed this weekend and could signal the start of a frantic few days of buying, selling and loaning amongst several of the top and not quite so top, Premier League sides. Mascherano’s sale is hardly a surprise. The Argentinean has been unhappy, [...]

Crouch shines as Spurs claim Champions League spot

Ian John — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:05:43 PDT

A hat-trick from England striker Peter Crouch and a single strike from Jermain Defoe, albeit with the aid of a sneaky arm in the build up, was more than enough for Tottenham Hotspur to complete their revival from 3-0 down against Swiss side Young Boys and register a 6-3 aggregate victory; a victory which will [...]

Worrying times for Liverpool as City are a class apart.

Ian John — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:47:08 PDT

Last night’s big game at Eastlands showed the contrasting fortunes of two of North-West England’s premiere teams in stark and at times cruel detail. Manchester City, blessed with the limitless spending power bestowed upon the club by the new owner, displayed a squad that saw them have the likes of David Silva and Emmanuel Adebayor [...]

Things that puzzle me…

Ian John — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:54:18 PDT

Football, Jimmy Greaves often remarked, is a funny old game. Though sometimes it isn’t a laughing matter. Just ask Harry Redknapp’s opinion on plastic pitches, Roy Hodgson on the merits of the football league computer ‘randomly’ selecting games for clubs each season, Sir Alex Ferguson on last minute equalisers and Roberto Martinez on the longevity [...]

O’Neill, Milner and Lerner : Just what happened at Aston Villa?

Ian John — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:24:34 PDT

It was one of the strangest stories of the Premier League pre-season and it continues to rumble on into this week. Martin O’Neill’s shock resignation as Aston Villa manager, just five days before the start of the new campaign, shocked many football fans who felt that the Irishman was on target to turn Villa into [...]

First Night Nerves?

Ian John — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:48:00 PDT

So the EPL season is back under way and already there have been a few notable performances, the usual claptrap from a manager moaning about referees (in this case, utterly incorrectly), dreadful mistakes, fantastic goals, shock results and we’ve still got Manchester United v Newcastle United to come later on today. Lets start first with [...]

EPL Preview : Part Five

Ian John — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:01:16 PDT

West Bromwich Albion Manager: Roberto Di Matteo Players In: Gabriel Tamas (Auxerre), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Steven Reid (Blackburn Rovers) Players Out: Robert Koren (Released), Jonathan Greening (Fulham), Borja Valero (Villarreal on loan), Luke Daniels (Bristol Rovers-loan) There’s nothing inherently to dislike about West Bromwich Albion as a football fan, though for their fans, the [...]

EPL Season Preview : Part Four

Ian John — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:32:30 PDT

Newcastle United Manager : Chris Hughton Players In: Dan Gosling (Everton), James Perch (Nottingham Forest), Sol Campbell (Arsenal) Players Out: None Oddly enough, this current crop of battle-hardened young Magpies may well be in better shape to preserve the clubs premier league status long-term than the crop of exorbitantly paid superstars who failed so dismally [...]

EPL Season Preview : Part Three

Ian John — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:24:44 PDT

Fulham Manager : Mark Hughes Players In: Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Jonathan Greening (West Bromwich Albion) Players Out: Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Andranik Teymourian (Released), Elliot Omozusi (Leyton Orient), Stefan Payne (Gillingham) While the players that have left Craven Cottage won’t be greatly missed, even £10m Manchester United man Chris Smalling was only really a squad [...]

EPL Season Preview : Part Two

Ian John — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:43:46 PDT

Blackpool Manager: Ian Holloway Players In: None Players Out: Stephen McPhee (Retired), Ben Burgess (Notts County) After the miraculous promotion to the top flight last season, achieved via the play off final at Wembley, it is fantastic to see Blackpool back in the top tier of English football once again. Ian Holloway has achieved one [...]

EPL Season Preview : Part One

Ian John — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:47:19 PDT

Arsenal Manager: Arsene Wenger Players In: Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux), Laurent Koscielny (Lorient) Players Out: Fran Merida (Atletico Madrid), Philippe Senderos (Fulham), Francis Coquelin (Lorient-loan),Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk), Luke Ayling (Yeovil), Sol Campbell (Newcastle United) Chamakh and Koscielny promise much and with the only major departures being Eduardo, who was never the same after his horror injury [...]

New EPL Squad Rules Mean a Lot of Talented Reserve Squads

Ian John — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:06:10 PDT

With only a few weeks left to the new season and the final touches being applied to most teams in the transfer market over the next few weeks, it looks like being a very busy time for teams as they seek to finalise their squads ahead of the start of the 2010-2011 season and there [...]

Are Hodgson, Cole, Wilson and Jovanovic enough to reverse the Liverpool decline?

Ian John — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:30:58 PDT

Its been a tumultuous off season at Anfield, one of frantic activity that has both delighted and occasionally irritated fans and paradoxically a lack of activity at boardroom level that continues to bedevil the club as regards bringing in a new owner. Chairman Martin Broughton has said that talks are progressing with several interested parties [...]

Some tough decisions remain for Capello

Ian John — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:50:26 PDT

England’s shambolic World Cup performance has created more questions than it answered and leaves manager Fabio Capello with much to ponder ahead of England’s qualifying campaign for the 2012 European Championship. So if you were the Italian what would you do? Here are some steps I would be taking: 1. Facing the Axe I’m afraid [...]

The Weekend’s Transfer Talk

Ian John — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:59:18 PDT

With the first couple of pre-season friendlies being played, mainly by reserve players for the top EPL sides who had plenty of players at the World Cup Finals, its something of a quiet time for relevant soccer news in the EPL at the moment, so most of the back pages tend to be taken up [...]

Remy in but Masch out? EPL Transfer rumours…

Ian John — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:26:28 PDT

It’s been a busy week on the transfer rumour front in the EPL, so let me bring you up to date with the latest transfer gossip and speculation. Liverpool seem to be at the heart of most of the speculation, first up it is whether Fernando Torres will make a move to Chelsea (for £30, [...]

World Cup 2010…final thoughts

Ian John — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:32:52 PDT

In the end Spain won it and deservedly so, the Dutch in their cheerfully oblivious way, have chosen to blame referee Howard Webb, rather than blaming abandoning their soccer principles and surrendering meekly to a form of inescapably bullish tactics and aggressive play, for their defeat. I had sympathy for them until I remember Ronald [...]

It’s Holland versus Spain for World Cup glory!

Ian John — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:28:20 PDT

It’ll be the biggest clash between the nations since the thirty years war when on Sunday, in Soccer City Johannesburg, Holland take on Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. As I write this penultimate article about the World Cup, before we turn our attention back to the EPL, transfer gossip and the strange [...]