Winter transfer window closes - the crazy season for Liverpool

Um okay, £50m for Torres...making it the 4th biggest transfer in history. Wow.

BIGGEST WORLD TRANSFERS

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m)
Man Utd-Real Madrid (July 2009)

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£56.5m)
Inter Milan-Barcelona (July 2009)

3. Kaka (£56m)
AC Milan-Real Madrid (June 2009)

4. Fernando Torres (£50m)
Liverpool-Chelsea (Jan 2011)

Not bad for a player that Liverpool spent £20m for - 81 goals over 142 matches while playing for the Reds - a good return. With the acquisition of Suarez and Carroll, for a combined £57.7m, Liverpool is still at a loss during this transfer window. I am also not sure that spending £35m for Carroll was a wise purchase. I realize that the former Newcastle striker earned a recent cap for England and has scored 31 goals over his 81 game career with Newcastle, but is he really worth such a large transfer sum? For another 10m pounds Liverpool could have pried away Aguero from Atletico Madrid...who would you rather have? I would opt for Maradona's son-in-law. The acquisition of Suarez appears like a wiser purchase for Liverpool, while the Uruguayan striker might not be as much of a "star" as Torres, he remains one of the games deadliest strikers - same number of goals as Torres, 81 but in 32 fewer games...that is efficient. Seems like the Liverpool moves were questionable at best...a deeper look at the numbers:

• Carroll 0.38 goals per game - £35m
• Torres 0.57 goals per game - £50m
• Aguero 0.38 goals per game - NA
• Suarez 0.73 goals per game - £22.7m

Looks like Liverpool made a smart purchase on Suarez and very questionable with Carroll. I am not sure the Reds needed another striker after acquiring Suarez.

Not overpaid -



Could they have been better served getting another midfielder to help shoulder the creative midfield load from Gerrard? Maybe another play making midfielder such as Honda. Rumor is CSKA was willing to shop him this transfer season. Or a defensive minded midfielder, something that Liverpool has been severely lacking since Mascherano and Alonso both left - I am sure that Rennes would have been willing to part with their starlet M'Vila, which was rumored to be in the works - and for far less much money (£15m +). This would have been a better move for Liverpool than acquiring two strikers, one of which was way overpaid for!

Coming to Stanford Bridge

What about the move from the Chelsea side? £50m for Torres was a lot of money to spend for the Spanish striker. Granted, when it comes to Chelsea there is no such thing as a "budget" or financial constraints. Taking the amount of money spent aside, add to this the £25.5m spent on defender Luiz from Benefica and the "old" drunken sailor Chelsea is back, however from a football stand point I think the moves were wise. Chelsea are an old team, the addition of two high level players who are 23 and 26 years old (Torres being the older of the two), will add some much need youth to a team desperate to infuse their talent base with younger talent. I think that Torres' time at Liverpool had run its course - I think the Spaniard's form dipped when his countryman (Rafa) was ousted as manager. The change of scenery will benefit Torres as well as being part of a solid strike force of Drogba, Anelka and Kalou. As well as having the likes of Lampard and Malouda feeding him up front. The addition of the young Brazilian center back, Luiz,  will infuse some youth in an aging central defensive pairing of Terry and Alex. These moves might thrust Chelsea back into the title race, especially since Arsenal and Manchester United did not do much during the transfer window.

Finally, not surprising that Wenger and Arsenal basically did nothing...other than loaning out a disappointing Vela. No center back, no keeper, no striker....oh well.

The transfer window closes, with some moving parts in the EPL it will be interesting to see how this impacts the race. Chelsea clearly realizes it had to do something but will it prove to be too little tool late? Liverpool splashed some serious cash, but not sure their purchases were 100% wise...Carroll...seriously? The other contenders - Tottenham (rebuffed in their advances for the aforementioned Aguero), Arsenal and Manchester United stayed pat.

Of course cannot overlook Manchester City who splashed out £27m for Dzeko - who has a 0.59 goals per game yet comes in cheaper than Carroll!!!!  Just makes you wonder what Liverpool is thinking!

World Cup looming - injury concerns

As we draw closer to the World Cup - less than 50 days until kick off. The injuries are mounting up and taking its toll on some stars of the upcoming tournament. Players such as Gallas, Torres, Essien, Cesc, Davies, Beckham, Adler to name a few are all at risk of missing their respected flights to South Africa. None will carry as much of an impact as Michael Essien.

The Ghana captain is the catalyst for the Black Stars - he is the engine, the leader and the glue that holds the midfield together and makes the team a legitimate threat to advance in the tournament. With a nagging knee injury curtailing his Chelsea season, it is now feared that it might also keep him out for the summer tournament.  Ghana has some real belief that it can make some noise this summer, after a run to the African Cup of Nations finals, with a young team, it was thought that add the veteran metal to this side and you have a great combination of youth and veteran talent. Being in group D, with Germany, Serbia and Australia, Ghana will need its dynamic midfielder to carry the Black Stars through what should be a very physical group. Without the Chelsea man, the mountain will get much steeper to climb.

What about Espana? Del Bosque is continuing to watch nervously as his star players deal with injuries - Cesc, Senna, Torres to name a few. While there remains a tremendous amount of talent available, these are players expected to shine at the World Cup. What about Iniesta? Will he be fit in time to partner with his Barcelona teammate, Xavi, to work the midfield? Torres is going to be operated on, Cesc has a broken leg...even if they are fit in time, will they have enough time to get into game shape? Who will hold down the defensive role if Senna is not available? Alonso could slot into the role, but Senna remains the player most capable of holding that slot and allowing Xavi, Iniesta et al to work their offensive magic without concern of defensive responsibilities. Cesc was expected to be a 3rd creative midfielder or a super sub off the bench - without him del Bosque losses one of his key midfield options, one that would have allowed for a rotation keeping  his players fresh during the tournament. Finally if Torres does not make it back 100% what will that do for the offense? Granted with Villa in form he can carry a team on his own, but if Spain is looking to reach what many see as a finals appearance if not better they will need the Liverpool striker to be in his usual form. The one good note for Spain is that they should get out of their group with relative ease so may not need to lean on their injured players until later in the tournament.

What about other injuries? Gallas might be out which will only exasperate the problems France have at central defense. If Gallas is out I think the France might not make it out of the group stages...

Germany is without, who many thought, would be their #1 keeper Alder. The US has a gaping hole up front with Davies on the shelf after a horrific car wreck - he is back on his feet but not ready to resume training let alone playing.

There are still some games to go for the top players, so unfortunately more injuries might strike some of the key players and nations. Let us hope that those on the shelf return to good health and no other big names see their World Cup dreams go by way of the trainers' room.

Benitez and his wisdom

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7875621.stm

So I was looking at the transfers and got to thinking, Robbie Keane is back at Tottenham after what can only be called a poor stint at Liverpool. I think this will be a good move for the Irish international, he was not a fit at Liverpool....then again lots of players Benitez purchases do not seem to fit. However, even if he was not a great fit he is a veteran who has a track record to score goals. Um, with the heavy dependence on Torres and now with Gerrard out for a few weeks, is Benitez not concerned about where the goals for the Reds will come from? According to the BBC story, between Torres and Gerrard, Liverpool has enjoyed 77 goals in the past 19 months. That is not something you replace with Babel, NGog, and Kuyt as your primary offensive options.

After moves such as this, I start to understand why the team does not want to completely hand over total player control to the Spaniard. I have always questioned his ability to manage a club over a season, he appears to be much more attune to managing for a knock out competition when he can strategize for one team. But when it comes to the long and grueling odyssey that is the Premiership his skills and ability to manage a roster leave much to be desired. Maybe letting Pennant and Voronin out on loan was not the wisest idea.

Thankfully I am not a Liverpool fan (yes I do have a Liverpool kit...care to guess the player?) and I am even less a fan of Benitez so overall I find this humorous. Unfortunately this means that Manchester United have another cake walk to another title, and that might make me even angrier than seeing the Spanish manager find success.