EPL Opening Weekend and Foreign Transfers

It's been awhile since I've blogged on this so let's play some catch up shall we?

Transfers
No matter who has transferred or who will transfer (there are still three weeks to go in the transfer period) this will always be known as the 'Thierry Henry' transfer summer. For me, a die hard Gooner, who wore '14' when I played footie in honor of "his greatness", I was incredibly sad to see him go. No matter who Arsenal picks up over the next fortnight (it could be noone), this will always seem as a sad summer for me.

On the US side I was thrilled the see 3 of the 5 best players of the U-20 WC US Side make the move to Europe, Adu to Benefica, Zizzo to Hanover 96, and Szetela to AS Roma (the other two who did not move being Sietz and Altidore). Adu made the best move for all the right reasons, I would have said a year ago that the best place to see him end up would be either Portugal or Spain, both of which have been noted for the technical play and pace of play that would suit Adu's playing style and allow him to grow in that role. I think the Premiership would've been a little to hard for him, unless he ended up on a team with a fluid playing style, ie Arsenal or Man U, or even 'Pool, but he would've never started....but I digress. Great move for Adu. As far as Zizzo and Szetela, great moves. Zizzo will play with Cherundalo, who could be the mid-defense combo for WC 2010. The most interesting is Szetela who brings his Hargreaves type defensive mid capabilities to the Italian A side. I will look forward to see how this progresses. Also, I cannot leave out the most underrated transfer of the offseason, Benny Fielhaber to Derby County. What an amazing move. He will be starting by mid September and be a fixture at Derby by the end of October. Instead of sitting on the bench in the Bundesliga he will be Derby's go to in the central midfield gaining invaluable experience against world class clubs.

EPL Opening Weekend
Great startup to the EPL season. Before I get into Arsenal, a few points around the league... I would not be surprised if at least 2 of the 3 promoted teams stay around for next year. Sunderland has a world class coach in Roy Keane and outshone Tottenham (some project them to be top 4 this year) with a 1-nil victory. Birmingham City was leading Chelsea for a decent period before Malouda went crazy and almost singlehandedly put the game up 3-2. But the second best game I saw all weekend (we will get to the first in a minute), Derby v. Portsmouth. What a fun game to watch. I had no preference on the outcome and slowly began pulling for Derby towards the end, which lucked out for me when Todd decided to go airborne and lauch a great diving (he had to be at least 4-5 feet off the ground...horizontally) header to seal a 2-2 draw.

Now the best game of the week... We're there better games played all weekend? Possibly, but it doesn't matter when it comes to the Gunners, who despite a play that will be included on every blooper real for the next hundred years, played an amazing game. My hat off to the backup Fulham keeper for a great game (his save on Toure was especially clutch). They dominated the play the entire game, especially for the last 20 where it always seemed like they had fresh legs (thank you very much Theo Walcott and Niklas Bendtner). van Persie's penalty was a thing of beauty after Bocangera nearly tackled Toure for the PK. The best part of that whole exchange was the sound of the Ashburton Grove crowd after van Persie netted top shelf. Even throughout all of last years matches, they weren't nearly as loud after a goal. Hleb's winner in injury time was almost a given. If you watch the replay you can see it was effectively 3 on 1 with van Persie and Bendtner out on the wings after the great pass from Fabregas. Hleb landed the tough angel shot and it was winner, winner, chicken dinner on the home front.

And the last note before hanging this one up... Caught the replay of the Barcelona/Hong Kong game on Telemundo... Two points... One, Henry looks real good, not four years ago good, but definitely still top 10 striker in the world... Two, Barcelona will be tough to beat in this year's Champions League. Just seeing a front four of Et'o, Henry, Ronaldinho and Messi on paper is scary... seeing them in person will just solidify that feeling.