Posts tagged Darron Gibson

Nikica Jelavic has more than just his position as a striker in common with Jordan Rhodes, Salomon Kalou, Nicky Maynard, Ricardo Vaz Te and even Carlos Tevez: he was linked with West Ham during the January Transfer Window. However, unlike Ricardo Vaz Te and Nicky Maynard, who signed for The Hammers on deadline day, Jelavic didn’t join the current Championship table toppers and headed to Premier League club Everton, for a fee of £5m. For Everton, it completed a successful transfer window, which saw Steven Pienaar re-join his former employers much like Landon Donovan – both on loan – and Darron Gibson sign a four-and-a-half-year deal, as well.

The signing marked the first over £1m for Everton since signing Jonny Heitinga for £6.2m in the 2009 summer transfer window, which was the last of many expensive signings Everton made since Wayne Rooney’s departure in 2004. His move made The Toffees £25m in and David Moyes went on to smash Everton’s transfer record 4 times in as many years, spending over £40m on James Beattie, Andrew Johnson, Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Marouane Fellaini. Moyes’ ability to spend led to Champions League qualification in 2005, and UEFA Cup runs in the 07/08 season and 08/09 season, as well as an F.A. Cup Final appearance in 2009, finishing runners up to Chelsea. Last year’s finish of 7^th didn’t look like it could be replicated this season, with many players hinting at a small playing team and no money to bolster it; however, an impressive January, on and off the pitch, has the ability to push Everton up the league and firing them in said direction will be Nikica Jelavic.

1. “I will do my best to score many goals”
   
   When you buy a striker the minimum you would expect from them is goals: it is their job; it is what they’re paid to do and it is what wins games. So, when Jelavic announced that he will “score many goals” Everton fans breathed a sigh of relief in unison; but, when he added further weight to the burden on his back to fire Everton to a respectable Premier League finish, by declaring that he will score “goals, goals and more goals,” in an extravagant exclamation of his finishing ability, Everton fans would be forgiven for taking his promise with a pinch of salt. 
   
   Presuming that goals – whilst also presuming Jelavic has a firm grasp on the English language – means at least two, we can expect that, by stating he will score, “goals, goals and more goals”, Everton will see their new Croatian striker score at least 6 goals. That’s excellent news considering their current top scorer this season is their left-back, Leighton Baines, with four. Seriously, however, Jelavic knows where the goal is, joining Everton on the back of a goals to game ratio of 0.65 goals per game throughout his entire Rangers career. Everton fans will be hoping Jelavic’s talk is symptomatic of his walk.
   
    
   
   
2. Another International Player
   
   Everton’s squad, a squad that club chief executive Robert Elstone had to defend, stating that “this is not an ageing, threadbare squad, portrayed by some as amongst the weakest in the Premier League” is indeed, not the weakest in the Premier League; in fact, if clubs were to be ranked by the number of active internationals in their first team, Everton would have the 20^th strongest side in Europe and the 8^th strongest in England’s top flight. However, there are the obvious arguments against this measure, as Celtic prove by ranking in as the 4^th strongest side in Europe. Yet, a quick glance at Everton’s side shows that the standard and quality at which their international players are amongst and up against, gives weight to the argument that Everton’s team – made up by 50% of active international players – is a strong one and the four signings made in January only boost this figure from 50% to 57%.
   
   Whilst Jelavic’s international goal-scoring record isn’t quite as prolific as his exploits in Britain – but still more fruitful than Emile Heskey’s, as well as every regular Everton striker so far this season – he’s part of a promising Croatian side that could cause an upset in Euro 2012, having beaten Turkey 3-0 over two legs in the play offs and joins countrymen Luka Modric, Nico Kranjcar and Ivan Klasnic in the Premier League. It’s something that pleases David Moyes too: “he will also want to play for Croatia in the European Championship so hopefully that will keep his form good, keep him hungry to score and play well.” 
   
    
   
   
3. “It is a big thing for me, a step forward”
   
   His ambition matches his stature; a height of 6’2 sees him befitting of the Everton striker of late, with Victor Anichebe, Apostolos Vellios and Denis Stracqualursi all coming in at six feet three inches. However, his ambition could keep him, one inch shorter than his contemporaries, head and shoulders above them: “the Premier League is something on a higher level and I hope it will be good for me. I don’t think I will need time to settle.” For many players making the move across the border, it is often one that comes with much scepticism; the standards of the SPL is a hot topic season after season and many football fans deem the Premier League far superior and the step up is sometimes too much, but Jelavic recognises this: “The Scottish Premier League is not as high a level as here in England but I think it will help a lot as it is not so much a big difference.”
   
   Undoubtedly, fans will be hoping his ability on the pitch is as prominent as his ambition and David Moyes’, a former SPL player, was well-placed to make the decision. Ultimately though, the value of Jelavic to Everton and the astuteness of the signing will become prevalent as Jelavic advances through the years he is contracted to: “In the four and a half years of my contract, I have time to learn.” Hopefully, he’ll adjust as quickly as he feels he will; score as regularly as he’s promised and satisfy the ambition he declares so strongly. For Everton’s sake he knows he has to, “I know [David Moyes] expects a lot from me and I can promise to do my best and score lots of goals.”

Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/
For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit 

Harry Redknapp was hot, adjusting his tie and easing the collar that choked his rather saggy neck as it overhung onto his lapel that was trying to present a man as dignifying, despite the fact any dignity he had left was wiped out when his defence of tax evasion was practically illiteracy. Whilst this was all very believable – and becomes more logical when one notices how infrequent Roman Pavlyuchenko is in Spurs’ match day squads having heard Harry tell the courts he can’t “write [and] couldn’t even fill a team sheet in” – it is somewhat disputable considering he writes a column for The Sun. That’s another thing that was hot in the January Transfer Window: the sun.

Not as hot as Harry Redknapp was Roberto Mancini: up until January – ignoring their failure to qualify from the group stages of the Champions League – Manchester City were as hot as Harry Redknapp writing his column for The Sun on the sun; however, since then, they’ve slumped back into a metaphorical armchair from their once proud straight back posture and have begun to go stale. Ivory Coast’s illustrious AFCON campaign so far, which has resulted in three victories, five goals and three clean sheets, isn’t helping matters.

But, which club was hot and which club was not, when it came to the main attraction of the January Transfer Window 2012: signings?

Hot

Everton

When club chief executive Robert Elstone released a blog detailing the club’s finance to a depth in which he felt “no other Premier League club has done before,” the prospect of January transfers any more exciting than £600k Darron Gibson quickly evaporated like beads of sweat on Sir Alex Ferguson’s red forehead when he sees his side score another winning goal in the 567^th minute of injury time.

Yet, when Diniyar Bilyaletdinov left Everton for Spartak Moscow, for what the BBC reported as £5m on January 29^th, it looked as if Everton might be able to buy having sold. With two days left until the Transfer Window slammed shut, consequentially leaving glass shards all over the floor for Wayne Bridge to come along and sweep up as part of his new role as housemaid at The Stadium of Light, The Toffees had to move fast. With the pace of Louis Saha, oh what? He went to Tottenham on a free transfer? Okay, with the pace of Royston Drenthe, Everton sweetened up Tottenham with aforementioned French goal machine – if 2000/01 was yesterday – making financial space on their wage budget for ex-Everton winger Steven Pienaar, leaving White Lane through the door still swinging from Saha’s arrival and entering through the equally moving entrance at Goodison Park. Then, Everton robbed Rangers and the SPL of their top scorer Nikica Jelavic for a fee of £5.5m. Suddenly, further compounded by their 1-0 victory of Roberto Mancini’s Toure-less Manchester City, Everton look better positioned to equal last year’s finish of 7^th.

Not

Tottenham Hotspurs

Not content with picking on Manchester United as the side that didn’t even reach lukewarm in January – it would be unfair, Fergie isn’t keen on the window of rash decisions – and deciding that Manchester City’s lack of spending is counterbalanced by their superfluous spending of previous windows, I have settled with Tottenham Hotspurs as my team of 0 degrees for transfer activity.

Whilst it would be unfair to simply categorise Spurs as the men with the chilly willies purely because they spent not a single penny on transfer fees – neither of the top three did – the nature of their signings, further highlighted by the transfer activity out of the club, are rather lacklustre.

In Louis Saha, a man who has scored a grand total of 8 goals in 18 months of football, and Ryan Nelsen, the only New Zealander to kick a ball in the Premier League this season and then only in the one appearance he’s been subject to, Harry Redknapp has fully lived up to expectations of being a top quality wheeler-dealer and provider of excitement in the Window, has he not?

No, he hasn’t.

His January activity has seen Spurs sign two players on free transfers with an average age of 33.5-years old: it sounds a bit like the January window you’d expect of a spotty teenager with poor financial control of his Football Manager career. Further mystifying, is the related transfer activity elsewhere at White Hart Lane: in Ryan Nelsen, they’ve signed a defender who is 34 and has only made one appearance this season in a team in the relegation zone. Meanwhile, Vedran Corluka and Sebastien Bassong, also defenders, leave on loan to the Bundesliga and Wolves respectively. Louis Saha is expected to become the cover for the dead on certain departure of Roman Pavlychenko and that could be seen as a justification; however, when Spurs can already boast Emmanuel Adebayor Jermaine Defoe, Cameron Lancaster and have chosen to loan out Harry Kane, it’s hard to find justification for the signing of a striker that spends the majority of the time injured and has only scored one goal this season. As his arrival will undoubtedly stunt Lancaster’s playing time in the first team, a counterintuitive practice as Lancaster will need as much of it as he can get as a young blossoming striker, I can only presume Harry’s signed Saha for the ease of spelling: three letters.

Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit

Among anguished, and most likely Red Devil written, comments in reply to a wholly antagonistic article, was an intriguing point: “[Ferguson] can be extremely benign, accommodating and tolerant of players who regularly call round to drive Cathy [Lady Ferguson] to Tescos, and then help her carry her bags to the car and back into the house: plus doing the gardening during the close season of course. Volunteering to do the windows can put five years on your career: O’Shea, Brown, Gibson and Fletcher spring to mind.” Clearly the comment was just as jocular as Pearson’s; however, behind the whimsical flippancy and facetious mockery was a point worth considering.

As we’ve been reminded by those who strike a profile of pseudo-knowledge, those that predict 10 future talents and become Arsene Wenger when one makes a sub appearance in the second round of the Carling Cup – take a bow Luke Freeman, I hear you secured your dream move to Stevenage – Manchester United have been rebuilt “time and time again under Ferguson and are undergoing another rebuilding process. I accept that they are, but hearing it from the same pundit that informed me that, at 3-0, Manchester United will, “go on to really hurt [City] they’ve been the best at it over the past 10-15 years,” just for City to all but stage a season-ending comeback, was rather patronising. For a second I felt like I had been completely let down, like realising Father Christmas wasn’t real after all, but then I remembered the same pundit said Vincent Kompany’s challenge wasn’t a red card and any perceived expertise he may have held in my view had evaporated quicker than Rooney could wave two fingers in front of Chris Hoy.

In Manchester United’s current first team, there are 9 players that have been there for five or more years and they started the season with just eight of those ever-presents. At the beginning of the season, in his interview with Gordon Burns, Ferguson stressed the importance of, “building a team to last five or six years,” further emphasizing that, “they have a better understanding and become friends together,” by doing so. However, a portion of these 9 players, notably part of a transition, have missed varying sized segments of the season through injury and the players coming through, who will form, what Ferguson calls, “the nucleus of the modern Manchester United,” have equally been hindered with injury. “We knew Welbeck and Tom Cleverley were going to be fantastic players,” Said Ferguson, unaware that one would suffer from a length injury that he is yet to return from, “Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were in the Under-21s together. They have learned together and that has been a really big part of the modern Manchester United.” Yet the modern Manchester United find themselves up against a challenge that the Old United didn’t: Manchester City.

With the modern Manchester United struggling, but don’t suggest they are to a Devil, Paul Scholes was finally bullied back into playing again by Fergie and most likely Ravel Morrison, who last year pleaded guilty to two charges of witness intimidation. Suddenly, the “Giggs-Scholes-Beckham era” became the present; an anchor was chucked before oncoming waves, such as the triple header of an in-form Arsenal, a determined Chelsea and a galvanised Liverpool, which makes up 3 of their next 5 fixtures, crashed into the fast porous ship. For once, those “volunteers” may well have been the exact remedy Sir Alex Ferguson needed for Manchester’s winter blues.

Irrespective of Manchester United’s form – at the time of writing – which averages out as 2.25 points per game, enough to win 8 of the last 10 Premier League titles, they are facing a challenge previously never on offer, in the form of Manchester City and a new presence of Tottenham, which threatens to red-face Ferguson more than he already is naturally. In previous struggles for the Premier League title with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, Fergie has had a reliable contingent to depend on when faced with adversity; players such as: Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre. These are the players that when Manchester United have had to dig deep, Sir Alex Ferguson can rely on, be it: John O’Shea easing the pressure on other players slotting in across the defence and midfield or captaining the F.A Cup side, or Darren Fletcher going from a bit part player to one sorely missed now he is indefinitely unavailable. However, over the past 4 years all of the above have either left, retired or out until further notice. Players that were as capable as playing as they were providing a physical embodiment of Ferguson on the pitch, creating a resounding presence and link between manager and squad are gone. With Vidic out for the rest of the season, along with Fletcher, and Ferdinand, by Ferguson’s own admission, not up to standards this season, it is a presence sorely missed.

John O’Shea, Wes Brown and the like, may not have been the best performers ever to grace Old Trafford, but their service was invaluable and, in unpredicted hardship for Manchester United in the shape of injuries and misfortune, players of their ilk are needed more than ever. The sentiment expressed by the poster on the original article of Pearson’s may have excessively assessed and depicted the scenarios of the said players’ careers; however, right now Sir Alex Ferguson could do with some “volunteers.”

Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/

For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit