Brazilian pastor livens up the Barclays Asia Trophy
While West Ham’s Barcalays Asia Trophy tie with Tottenham was more boring than watching paint dry on the side of Al Gore’s house, Geovanni brought some much-needed excitement to Hull’s clash with Beijing Guoan.
After the Brazilian capitalised on a woeful error from the Chinese centre-back, Beijing brought the score back to 1-1. Hull prevailed in the end, winning 5-4 on penalties.
Spoiler bonus: Hull have brought plenty of fans over to China, many of whom delighted locals with some wonderfully offensive chants…
What if Michael Owen followed up his glossy brochure with an appearance on Dragon’s Den…
[talkSPORT Magazine]
Chelsea have rejected a £30 million bid from Manchester City for John Terry
[The Guardian]
The Italian press expect Manchester United to bid for Zlatan Ibrahimovic
[Football Italia]
A contentious list of the top ten Bosman buys of all time - was Hull’s Geovanni really a more inspired signing than Champions League winner Henrik Larsson?
[Daily Mail]
Man United fans aren’t too excited about the prospect of signing Michael Owen
[Republik of Mancunia]
Arsene Wenger thinks Emmanuel Adebayor will stay this summer
[Sky Sports]
With the 2008/09 campaign finally over, The Spoiler continues to take a look back (part 1 is over here in case you missed it) at the season’s finest goals and our nominations for the ten greatest efforts. Surprisingly, only two strikers make the list…
#10: Fernando Torres - Liverpool 4-0 Blackburn, 11/04/09
Would Liverpool’s season have ended in league glory had Fernando Torres managed to avoid injury? We’ll never know - but surely fans would’ve been treated to more gems like this. Nonchalantly foregoing the traditional practice of actually checking where the net is before hitting the ball, the number 9 scores a spectacular striker’s goal.
As The Spoiler’s end of season festivities get into full swing, today we look at the best signings of the 2008/09 Premier League campaign. Sorry Wisey, Xisco and Coloccini didn’t make the cut…
Jose Bosingwa (Porto to Chelsea, £16.3m)
Whether Jose Bosingwa (or ‘Boswinga’ if you’re Jamie Redknapp) was officially a Big Phil Scolari signing is a point of contention, but considering the four other members of his inspirational clutch of signings have only racked up 22 starts and three goals between them, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. However, what can’t be argued against is how seamlessly the full back has slotted into Chelsea’s defence this season, in a role the Blues have previously struggled to fill.
James Beattie (Sheffield Utd to Stoke, £2.5m)
It was fair to assume Beattie’s Premier League days were numbered after a pretty woeful spell at Everton earned him a move down to the Championship with Sheffield United last season. Yet after answering Stoke’s SOS call in the January transfer window, Beatts has signaled his return to the top flight by averaging nearly a goal every other game and contributing to 13 of the 24 points Stoke have picked up since his arrival. Such season-saving form might just be the best £2.5m Tony Pulis has ever spent.
Marouane Fellaini (Standard Liege to Everton, £15m)
Fellaini’s Premier League success isn’t too surprising considering the fact that 32 foreign scouts were in the crowd to watch him play in Liege’s title-winning league match last season. Still, the lanky afro cultivator was pretty much unknown to fans over here until making his mark as the driving force behind a Liege team that by all rights should’ve beaten Liverpool to Champions League qualification at the start of the season. Clocking in with an impressive nine goals and firmly establishing himself as a midfield battler, that £15m price tag everyone laughed at now looks a bit less ridiculous.
Wilson Palacios (Wigan to Tottenham, £12m)
Harry Redknapp’s transfer market dial
The two bosses have now shown a similar taste in enemies
Those who have noted similarities between Alan Pardew and Phil Brown were provided with even more ammunition last night when the Hull boss followed in Pardew’s footsteps by falling out with Arsene Wenger.
Obvious comparisons between the two include that both enjoyed an initial period of fantastic overachievement after winning promotion to the Premier League and went on strong FA Cup runs. Both managers made their clubs’ record signing in their first January in the top-flight (Dean Ashton and Jimmy Bullard) and both men suffered long-term injuries at a crucial time.
Negatively, both managers have received criticism for some of their methods: Pardew for his sloganed T-shirts and training complex revamps and Brown for
There were boos ringing out all over the country this weekend as fans of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Wolves took turns to vent their frustration at disappointing results.
The most surprising incident on the booing circuit though, besides Bolton fans neglecting to jeer Gary Megson’s choice of tie or something of an equally trivial nature as he lead them to a third win in four, was that Hull supporters turned on Phil Brown for subbing Geovanni.
The Tigers have taken just two points from eight games since Brown decided it was a good idea to publicly humiliate his players as they trailed 4-0 away to Manchester City on Boxing Day, making them comfortably the worst Premier League team this side of Christmas.
Have the players lost respect for Brown or was the bubble always going to burst? Are the fans fickle for booing the manager who took them up or are they right to be worried by a run of one win in 18? Let us know what you think with a comment below.
Obliging the interweb’s unrelenting appetite for “Best of 2008″ lists at this time of year, The Spoiler has considered the eleven players who have impressed us the most so far this season. There’s no room for well-played Brazilians or anyone who plays at Anfield or Old Trafford, and a surprise choice between the sticks…
GK Robert Green (West Ham)
Pepe Reina and Petr Cech may keep more clean sheets but they are rarely tested as much as Green, who (aside from one bad game against Bolton) has had a fantastic season. Of all the players West Ham could lose next month, it is Green’s departure that would prove the most fatal.
DL Luke Young (Aston Villa) The Spoiler wasn’t the only one to raise eyebrows when Aston Villa paid a fee rising to £6 million to sign Young in the summer but he has delivered not just at right-back, but out of position on the left too, where he has recently been preferred to the underperforming Nicky Shorey.
DC Michael Turner (Hull)
If someone told you at the start of the season that one of Hull’s
The scenario: You’re the manager of a Premier League team, and you’re allowed to strengthen your squad by signing just one player in the January transfer window. But you can only choose someone from Phil Brown’s bunch of overachievers - so who do you pick?
Your options: Brazilian Geovanni leaps to mind, but don’t forget the likes of Daniel Cousin, Boaz Myhill and George Boateng. And no, you can’t choose Phil Brown, even if you’d like to.
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