Steven Howard in today’s Sun no less, has piled onto the bandwagon marked ‘Arsenal goalkeeping crisis’ and let rip. Howard writes:
“They have four goalkeepers on the books - Vito Mannone, Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski and teen Wojciech Szczesny - and none, for one reason or other, look up to the job.”
before making the stunning claim
“In fact, you would be hard pushed to find a Premier League club WITHOUT a better keeper than the four at Arsenal.”
Well thespoiler has been scratching itself having a good think this morning, and we reckon maybe Chelsea and Birmingham City are the only clubs without a better keeper than Arsenal - your thoughts below please…
Burnley 1/ Manchester Utd 0 (mit Deutsch Kommentar, ja!)
When The Spoiler went to bed last night, Burnley had beaten reigning champions Manchester Utd for the first time in 41 years, Tottenham were top of the league and all three promoted sides had won their midweek games. We woke up this morning and discovered we hadn’t transported to some sort of football parallel universe, but that the Premier League is already shaping up as one of the most exciting in years.
Muchos congrats to Burnley, who thoroughly deserved three points in their first Premier League match. Will this result cause Sir Alex to dip into the transfer market?
Spoiler bonus: Highlights of all the other Premiership games after the jump, including Jermain Defoe’s hat-trick at the KC and Birmingham’s win over doomed Pompey…
The players who won’t make the grade at their new clubs
In the spirit of writing people off at an unreasonably early stage of the season, we asked Spoiler correspondent Joe Thompson to list the top ten newbies who are likely to struggle in 2009/10. Thankfully, he obliged…
Alberto Aquilani (Roma to Liverpool, £20m)
‘What?! I’ve seen him on YouTube, he’s a maestro! Great vision, long range shooting! Like Gerrard with nice hair!’ True, but he’s also crocked enough to make Darren Anderton look like The Terminator. In all competitions, he’s made 90 starts in five seasons. Look at the YouTube compilations again, he’s got a different haircut in every clip. OK, he’s Italian - it proves nothing- but he doesn’t play much. At £20m, Benitez has taken a massive gamble. By the time he plays it’ll be nearly Christmas, and a crunching (or even soft) tackle away at Stoke or Bolton might mean he’s glad to get back to the comfort of the treatment room.
Ronald Zubar (Marseille to Wolves, undisclosed)
Very few players are immortalised in a football expression– The ‘Cruyff’ Turn, The ‘Blanco’ Bounce and ‘Zubrelances’. The latter is a term the Marseille faithful coined to describe Zubar’s regular defensive howlers. He’s played for France U-21’s, but then Titus Bramble also played U-21 football when he was clowning around at Newcastle. Mick McCarthy is already ‘pleading for patience’ with his new signing - Wolves fans are going to need it.
Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers to Man City, £17m)
Initially, this looked like a great match. Hughes had long been giving him the eye after re-launching his career
A team of fresh faces who represent excellent value for money
Although the transfer window isn’t locked shut until the end of the month, the brand new Premier League season is but a few hours away. With this in mind, Spoiler correspondent Ben Baker has considered the best buys of the summer so far, compiling a team of his favourites…
Joe Hart (Manchester City to Birmingham, Season Long Loan)
A transfer that suits both parties. Joe wants to win more senior England caps, and since he has been edged out of the number one spot at Manchester City by a certain Mr. Given, first team opportunities have been lacking. His search for regular football has led him to the Midlands and Birmingham are surely delighted that this promising young English goalkeeper will be between the sticks for the season. Also, you just have to love him for his mental attitude and abrasive shouting when facing a penalty - he’s like a loopier version of Bruce Grobbelaar.
Glen Johnson (Portsmouth to Liverpool, £17.5m)
Beating off Chelsea and Manchester City and getting one over his rivals would have made this deal extra sweet for the ever-irritated Rafa. Johnson had a superb season last year, both with club and country, epitomised by his man of the match performance against an (albeit woeful) Andorra side that saw him notch up four assists from full back, and will add a whole new dimension to Liverpool’s right side. A high price to pay, but as Rafa said, “Sometimes you have to spend a little bit more.”A sentiment that is particularly true for English players.
Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow to Chelsea, £18m)
A Russian at Chelsea? How did that happen? This versatile
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Ashley Young not going to Tottenham The Guardian say Martin O’Neill will definitely not sell his prized asset, particularly to a club “on a similar level”. He utterly refuses and will not be persuaded. Unless they stump up £30m, that is.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: As much as ‘Arry admires the left-sided forward, £30m is a little steep.
Barry Ferguson to Birmingham Despite his infamous naughty drinking problems, Alex McLeish is keen to reacquaint himself with the former Scotland captain. The 31-year-old midfielder would cost around £1.5m.
As his place in the Inter Milan first team becomes increasingly uncertain, Patrick Vieira has been linked with a move back to the Premier League. After dismissing the advances of Birmingham, the 33-year-old Frenchman is said to be entertaining the prospect of joining Tottenham on a one year pay-as-you-play contract.
The Daily Mail believe he is so keen to work with ‘Arry that he is willing to accept around £35,000-a-week, a huge drop from his Internazionale wages. The Mail also took a leaf out of the Sun’s book by completely fabricating a source reporting the words of a trusted friend:
‘This is not about money, this is about a chance to play.
‘He has great memories of his time in London at Arsenal but that is in the past. The deal is not completed but he has an open mind. He is not afraid of the challenge from Spurs.’
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: In a disappointing week for transfer news, we would normally take this rumour as a speculative attempt to fill column inches. However, The Spoiler’s mole at Tottenham told us this transfer would happen two days ago, so we are fairly confident that the White Hart Lane faithful will be welcoming a Gunners hero at the start of the new season.
Franck Ribery to Liverpool
Shortly before Michael Owen’s meal ticket came in, the folks at Skybet dramatically slashed his odds of joining the Red Devils. Exactly the same thing has happened in the case of Franck Ribery and Liverpool - the Frenchman is currently 8/13 on to end up at Anfield next season, suggesting a transfer is imminent. Skybet’s Dale Tempest said:
“Every price we have put up has been taken on Ribéry moving to Liverpool, which has left us stumped as in recent weeks he has been liked with every other club but the Reds! After seeing money for him to join Man United and Real Madrid at the same time that Bayern Munich say he’s going nowhere, we’ve now seen a flood of bets on him to join Liverpool. 8/13 may seem a very short price but after the losses we made last week on Michael Owen, who was gambled down from 20/1 to move to Manchester United, we are taking no chances.”
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Much like the animals before inclement weather, the bookies are always the first to know…
Darren Bent to Sunderland The Mirror believe the Black Cats have made a £12m bid for the unwanted striker, but the north Londoners are said to be holding out to recoup a little bit more of his £16.5m transfer fee.
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Stewart Downing to Aston Villa The Spoiler assumed that replacing Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry would be Aston Villa’s priority right now but apparently not. The Daily Mail claim that Martin O’Neill is looking to thwart Spurs (and they sure will be heartbroken!) by signing Downing on a loan deal with an option to make the move permanent.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: This has to be nonsense. Villa have a lot of work to do this summer and bringing in someone who plays in the same position as their star player Ashley Young is surely not top of the agenda.
Joleon Lescott staying with Everton
The Daily Star report that Manchester City have been priced out of a move for
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