January Transfer Window

You may have heard that the January transfer window is open for English football.  You may have also asked, exactly what does that mean.  In short, and in general, players can only move between teams during limited transfer window periods.  For the EPL, there are two transfer windows - one that runs from the last day of the season to August 31 and one that goes from January 1 to January 31.  Unlike in American sports, most of the transactions involve the exchange of the "rights" to sign a player and money as opposed to the exchange of players for other players.  So when you heard that Real Madrid paid $123 million to obtain Gareth Bale, that was the amount that the Spanish club paid Tottenham, not Gareth Bale.  Real Madrid pays Bale an annual salary of just under $26 million.

I admit it sounds weird but if you think about it, this may create a more liquid market for player movement.  For example, if one baseball team has a left fielder they're looking to move and hope to find a shortstop in return, discussions are pretty much limited to teams that are marketing their shortstop and who need a left fielder.  With the transfer fee approach, any team that could meet the club's asking price for the left fielder, regardless of whether they had a shortstop of interest, would be in the running.  The team would then take the proceeds of the transfer and make a bid with a team that has an available shortstop.

On the other hand, this approach may put the "poorer" teams at even more of a disadvantage than the American approach.  For those financially-challenged teams, even though they may have players of considerable value, trying to obtain players in the transfer windows may be impossible without access to cash.  I speak from cyber experience on this point.  For the first two years at Chester, the board gave me a transfer budget of $0; the only way I could get players was through free transfers (basically players without a team) or loans (a subject for another day).  I would try to swing deals by offering some of my players but I think it worked just once.  Even this year, my transfer budget was just over $100,000, which put me at a big disadvantage in acquiring talent.

The January window is typically a chance to make adjustments for things that haven't worked out in the first 4+ months of the season or to deal with injuries that have left you short in certain areas.  I will be surprised if we don't see something from Arsenal to replace Theo Walcott, who will miss the rest of the season (and the World Cup) because of a torn ACL.  Alan Pardew says Newcastle is in the market for a striker.  Again.  [Newcastle humor:  What's the difference between Cardiff City and Newcastle?  Last transfer window, Cardiff signed Noone, Newcastle signed no one.]  Things have been pretty quiet so far but there's still plenty of time.


Favorites, haircuts and offsides

Good weekend to be in the top seven as they all walked away with three points.  Which of course means that nothing changes in the standings at the top.  Chelsea didn't dominate Hull but looked in control in a 2-0 win.  Hazard's goal was a nominee for the Youtubeable Moment, as he faked to get the defender sliding on the ground, took one more touch to his right to get a clear shot, and calmly fired the ball into the net.  The match was also my first look at the newly shorn Tom Huddlestone.  Two and a half years ago he vowed not to cut his hair until he scored; that drought ended on 12/28 versus Fulham.  He had a partial cut right on the field but did it properly, and for charity, later.  The women in our house think he's much more attractive without the unruly locks.

Tottenham was thoroughly outplayed by Crystal Palace in the first half but thanks to Jason Puncheon's missed PK (winner of the Tin Boot Award for the weekend based on how far over the bar he sent his attempt), they went into the locker room 0-0.  A different side emerged for the second half and the Spurs put up two second half goals for a reasonably comfortable 2-0 win.  Manchester United, without Van Persie or Rooney, still managed a 2-0 home win over Swansea.  And Everton didn't seem pressed too hard in beating Norwich 2-0.

Liverpool and Stoke City put on an entertaining show at Britannia Stadium.  Liverpool went up 2-0 on an own goal and another Cool Hand Luke moment ("what we have here is a failure to communicate") by the Stoke defense.  But two quality goals from Stoke tied it before half. Liverpool went back up with a PK goal (a soft call in the box after what appeared to my eye to be handling by Sterling to create the run that ended with the soft call in the box); they added another on a nice play from Sturridge to Suarez.  But Stoke got one back to keep the pressure on, but only until a nice play from  Suarez to Sturridge ended the scoring and sealed the 5-3 win.

Aston Villa Manager Paul Lambert had hoped to slow Arsenal by employing three center backs in his formation but that plan went awry when Nathan Baker took a shot in the face from point blank range and left with a concussion.  That forced the Villans to change their formation and may have unsettled them a bit.  Twenty minutes after the injury, Wilshire and Giroud each scored in less than a minute, Aston Villa was down 2-0 and was generating precious little offense of their own.  The second half was much more contested and Aston Villa broke through at 75 minutes on a picture perfect cross-header combination from Westwood to Benteke (his first goal since September).  Can't say that there were great chances to equalize but the rest of the match was exciting enough.  Arsenal gets the three points to go top of the table but Aston Villa may have found their mojo.

Which brings us to Manchester City and Newcastle.  Forget the 2-0 scoreline.  The takeaway for me was how well the Magpies played - after the first 15 minutes.  Up until the point, already down 1-0 (nice cross from Kolarov, nice finish by Dzeko) and being thoroughly outplayed, I was in my usual funk wondering how could this team be so good at times and so bad at others.  Then they started to play well, really well in fact.  And the pressure paid off with a Tiote goal on a lightning strike from 20 yards out.  Except it was disallowed for offsides; more on that below.  The second half was also Newcastle's; they seemed to me to clearly have the run of play .  Man City's second goal came in stoppage time on a breakaway opportunity, the result of Newcastle pushing up to get the equalizing goal.  It's a loss but hopefully they've learned something from it.

Now the call.  Hopefully won't get too wonky here.  I don't mean to go on a rant (especially as I don't think it was an egregiously bad call) but instead want to walk you through subtler aspects of the offsides rule.  I hope that readers will factor in my reffing experience as well as my Newcastle bias in this matter.  The assistant referee did not initially raise his flag on the play.  However, neither did he start running up the touch line toward the center line, which is what you are supposed to do to indicate you have no issue with the goal; he raised his flag only after referee Mike Jones came over and they discussed the play.    That Gouffran was in an offsides position when Tiote took the shot is not in dispute.  But for offsides to be called, you have to decide that Gouffran either interfered with play, interfered with an opponent, or gained an advantage by being in that offsides position.  Gaining an advantage references playing a ball that rebounds off the goal or the keeper and does not apply in this situation.  Interfering with play does not require that you actually touch the ball; making an active play for the ball is considered sufficient.  Goufrran did not make a play for the ball; in fact he tried to move away.

Which leaves us with interfering with an opponent.  The rules speak of preventing an opponent from being able to play by the ball by obstructing line of vision or the movement of the player; verbal distraction is also cited as possibly interfering with an opponent.  However, Advice to Referees (Section 11.5) specifically says "The mere presence in the general proximity of an opponent should not be considered a distraction for that opponent."  It's in italics in the book!  Gouffran clearly did not obstruct Hart's vision; his own teammates, three of them in fact, took care of that.   Did he prevent Hart from attempting a diving save? That's highly debatable. Personally I don't think Hart had any intention of diving for that ball because he saw he had no chance. But I guess the referee felt Gouffran was close enough to the goal line to be a factor; I don't think Gouffran was standing in the path of the angle Hart would have taken if he dove. Very much open to interpretation but ultimately, in my view, an incorrect call, and this week's YouTubeable Moment.  Not a great day for Jones as he should have shown Newcastle's Yanga-Mbiwa a straight red for a complete hack job on Nasri late in the match.  I note that Mike Jones has been demoted to fourth official duties this weekend, which is generally perceived as punishment although we're told we're not supposed to read too much into the assignments.

I should go back to my original point; the key was that Newcastle played well and if they build off that, the day was a net positive.

A few notes from the bottom of the table.  I caught the end of West Ham's big win over Cardiff; the relief in their manager's face, his jubilance in the victory over another relegation candidate showed how much the relegation threat plays on a team. And I'm still amazed at how low Sunderland must have been; with the 4-1 thrashing of Fulham they now have nine points in their last six matches, have lost just once in that time and with this streak have moved into, wait for it, a tie for last place.


Chester Blues

We had a good 10 days, notching three wins, concluding with a 3-1 upset of second place Blackburn on the road.  Injuries reared their ugly head as four starters went down with various ailments, including our leading scorer.  Our number three striker responded with three goals in two games, none more critical than the two versus Blackburn.  With 11 matches to go, we sit at the top of the table with a 7-point cushion over 2nd and 16 ahead of 3rd.  A tough away match versus Bristol awaits but then we have three straight against lower table teams; we're also a week away from getting all the injured players back.  Will try not to get complacent.



Coming Attractions


A few EPL sides have Tuesday/Wednesday FA Cup Third Round replays (Man City hosts Blackburn while Norwich and Fulham square off again).  Recall that in the FA Cup, if these matches are tied after 90 minutes, they'll play extra time and go to PKs if necessary to get a winner.  Don't forget about our 5th division favs Kidderminster and Macclesfield in their replays versus Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday. We'll also give a shout to new blog favorite, Ipswich (2nd division), also known as the Tractor Boys, in their replay against Preston.

Then, all EPL squads have league matches this weekend. The marquee contest looks to be Chelsea hosting Man Utd; I've lost track of Mourinho's consecutive match streak without a loss at Stamford Bridge (70?) but you've got to figure the Blues get at least one point here. Tottenham travels to Swansea City, a side which hasn't been winning much lately but shouldn't be taken lightly. Aston Villa has another tough match on the road vs Liverpool. Man City and Arsenal face relegation candidates Cardiff City and Fulham at home - smells like three points to me. Newcastle has an interesting match at West Ham - should be able to get a result. Likewise for Everton, which travels to West Brom.