Transfer Deadline Day: EPL

The January transfer window slammed shut at 11pm last night but not before we had seen some huge transfers. Liverpool were arguably the busiest of all Premier League clubs as they try to re-build their squad. Chelsea were also fairly busy and both the blues and the reds spent a record amount of cash. West Ham managed to strengthen their side, as did Sunderland.

Over 200 million pounds was spent in January, which dwarfed the paltry 29 million that was spent at this point last year. Some of the biggest signings included Bent (£24 Million) from Sunderland to Aston Villa, Dzeko (£27 Million) from Wolfsburg to Manchester City, Torres (£50 Million) from Liverpool to Chelsea, Luiz (£21.5 Million + Nemanja Matic) from Benfica to Chelsea, Carroll (£35 Million) from Newcastle to Liverpool and Suarez (£23.5 Million) from Ajax to Liverpool.

Statistics of note:

Andy Carroll's transfer fee is the most expensive between Premier League clubs in history (for a British player) after he was sold to Liverpool by Newcastle for a princely 35 Million.

Fernando Torres broke the Premier League transfer record after signing for Chelsea for 50 Million

Darren Bent is has cost more money than any other player in Premier League history if you count the costs of all of his transfers. If you think that is an odd one, bear in mind that no striker (other than Rooney and Drogba) has scored more goals in the last 5 seasons than Darren Bent.

Winners:

Liverpool – Potentially gone from bad to good overnight with the additions of Suarez and Carroll. Could be a devastating partnership. If they had managed to secure the services of Charlie Adam then it would have been the icing on the cake.

Chelsea – Managed to bag a fantastic young talent in David Luiz and finally got their man in Torres who we all know is an excellent player. Torres and Drogba up front? Terrifying.

Aston Villa – They have paid a lot for Bent, maybe too much, but they have a bona-fide goal scorer now and that is what they needed more than anything else. They should be OK.

Tottenham Hotspur – 3 Million for Pienaar? What. A. Steal.

West Ham United – Robbie Keane and Wayne Bridge bring plenty of talent and experience to a side that desperately needs it.

Losers:

Newcastle United – The 35 Million will help ease the pain but Newcastle have lost their best player and future talisman. With Ameobi as their best back-up striker, things might become very difficult for the Toon. Staying up is more important than ever now so that the 35 million can be put to use in the summer to bolster this team.

Everton - Losing Pienaar for such a small return is going to sting. They didn't pick anyone up to replace him either.

Stoke City – Stoke haven't really lost here, but fans of the Premier League have. John Carew's arrival at Stoke can only mean more of the same boring long ball, physical football that we have come to expect from Tony Pulis' side. Let the yawning commence.

Well that's all folks from an exciting transfer deadline day. It could be the biggest transfer period for a long time as well with those new rules coming in for the 2012-13 season so I hope you enjoyed it.

Did your team win or lose during the window? Let's hear some of your thoughts!

Dull Derby Day Draws

On Sunday, Premier League fans were treated to three big derby matches. The Tyne and Wear derby between Newcastle and Sunderland, the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton and the Second City derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa. As you have probably gathered from the aptly chosen title, all three games ended in draws. It is never surprising when these matches end in draws because of a few reasons.

1. Both sides know how much it means to win so, while the games are full of effort, emotion and energy, there is usually a loss of focus and judgement making the games physical, scrappy affairs.
2. I would say that both teams do not want to lose more than they want to win so, naturally, the players are a little more cautious.
3. Sometimes, when a game gets hyped up as much as these derby games do, they can be a little disappointing. Perhaps we expect too much.

In defence of the Merseyside derby, the game was pretty good. The second half in particular, after Everton's explosive comeback, set the game up for a fantastic last 30 minutes. Also, in the Tyne and Wear derby we were treated to a last gasp equalizer from Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan. So it is not as though the games were totally devoid of drama, it's just that they won't go down in history as memorable encounters.

Furthermore, in regard to League position, these games did nothing. None of the teams greatly benefited or are now disadvantaged because of the results. Along with that, none of the fans of any team go home from these particular games with bragging rights, which is arguably the point of a derby game.

I was hoping to write a fairly lengthy article discussing the red cards, penalties, hat-tricks, defensive mistakes, goalkeeping howlers or bad refereeing but there was only the Kuyt penalty in the Liverpool game that springs to mind and that was a penalty so there really are no talking points.

"But hold on!" I hear you cry, "Spurs played Man Utd today...there is still hope!" Fair enough, what about the Tottenham v Man Utd game? Surely that would have had some drama? Both teams would have benefited greatly from a win; Man Utd would have gone back to the top with games in hand over their rivals or Tottenham would have broken back into the top four. With that in mind let's check the sco...oh well, at least there was a sending off.

Maybe next week? 

My thoughts exactly.

Sundays games:

Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle United

Birmingham City 1-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool 2-2 Everton

Tottenham Hostpur 0-0 Manchester United