The Zarate Kid

A big welcome to Mauro Zarate, Birmingham’s loan signing who arrived at St Andrews this week and had this to say:

I am very excited to be here. I wasn’t happy in Qatar so when this chance appeared, I was willing to take it.
The Premier League is the best league in the world and this team (Birmingham) is good and I think it can move forward.
I know Birmingham have been down towards the bottom of the table but in a way it is nice to be playing with something at stake and not being in the middle of the league where nothing matters.
That appeals to me. Every game is going to be important. It is not a case of playing for nothing. My message to the supporters is that Birmingham will stay in the Premier League – and I will do everything I can to help.
I am determined to do well for the next few months, then seek a permanent transfer and stay here for many years.

That was a breath of fresh air. Intelligent – having something to play/fight for, committed – I want to stay here for the next few years and smart – the fans will love him straight away.

In a week where Mr Diarra revealed he would someday like to leave Portsmouth when a ‘big’ club comes in for him, Anelka turned his back on adoring fans for yet another ‘big team’ and Robbie Savage admitted that his new team had no hope of staying in the Premiership, thefc100 salutes a man who comes in as though he’s straight off the school team and is desperate to play and to win….

Bruce to Wigan?

Wigan have confirmed tonight that they are in talks to bring Steve Bruce to the club to replace manager Chris Hutchings who was sacked earlier this month.
Afer offering the job to former manager Paul Jewell, Wigan chairman Dave Whelan is hoping to take advantage of Steve Bruce’s uncertainty with regard to his future at Birmingham following the takeover by Carson Yeung.
Bruce recently admitted that he was unhappy at Yeung’s apparent reluctance to offer him a new deal and Bruce admitted he didn’t know where he stood as manager after the takeover.
However, Blues chairman David Gold says the club would be devestated to lose Bruce and says they will be doing all they can to hang on to their manager.
Bruce briefly managed Wigan for just seven weeks back in 2001 before Paul Jewell took over, and he is no stranger to controversy, having infuriated Crystal Palace and chairman Simon Jordan when he left them after just four months to take over at St. Andrews.
Now, with a lack of backing from the new Blues owner, Bruce may well be tempted to walk away from St. Andrews to a club which will welcome him with open arms, albeit depending on whether he can get results on the pitch.

Results from and reaction to Saturday’s Premiership Games: 15/09/07

• Tottenham 1 (Bale) Arsenal 3 (Adebayor x2, Fabregas)
• Chelsea 0 Blackburn Rovers 0
• Birmingham 1 (Kapo) Bolton 0
• Wigan 1 (Koumas, pen) Fulham 1 (Dempsey)
• Portsmouth 0 Liverpool 0
• Everton 0 Manchester Utd 1 (Vidic)
• West Ham 3 (Bowyer, Young o.g., Ashton)  Middlesbrough 0
• Sunderland 2 (Jones, Wallace) Reading 1 (Kitson)
• Playing Sunday, 18th: Man City Vs Aston Villa
• Playing Monday, 19th: Derby Vs Newcastle

So, new leaders (Arsenal), same old problems (Spurs) and winning games like potential champions (Man Utd). Throw in a poor performance from Liverpool, the goal that got away for Chelsea, Sunderland doing it for the old boy, West Ham playing like Brazil, Fulham and Wigan getting a draw as predicted by anyone who’s ever watched football and Birmingham taking another valuable three points, and it looks like the Premiership is back.

Unfortunately, Saturday kicked off with three entertaining games being played at overlapping times. Utd’s trip to Everton is rarely easy, sometimes comical (last season’s 4-2 win) and occasionally dull as a politician’s wife (see yesterday’s game). Utd toiled, Everton toiled and 0-0 looked about right until the game’s outstanding performer Nemanja Vidic powered what is fact becoming a signature bullet header into Everton’s rarely tested net. While the goal was seemingly harsh on Everton, Vidic has established himself as an absolutely vital part of Utd’s team. Everton may wish they had shown greater attacking threat and they could have been the happier of the teams, however Ferdinand and Vidic were in no mood to be bullied by Yakubu and Johnson.

Liverpool were desperately dissapointing in their stalemate at Fratton Park. Portsmouth occasionally played some outstanding football, creating excellent chances and having a penalty saved, Jose Reina diving to his right to keep out what Harry Redknapp later described as Kanu’s “crap” penalty. While the decision to award the spot-kick caused controversy, thefc100 stands by the decision. Arbeloa clearly uses his grip on Kanu to gain an advantage in getting to the cross, the fact that Kanu barely thought it was a penalty shows how far wrestling in the box goes unpunished these days. Liverpool didn’t conjure up enough, James had a quiet day in goal for the home side, and the midfield of Benayoun, Alonso, Sissoko and Pennant never sparkled.

Arsenal racked up another impressive win to keep confounding the critics, this time winning at Spurs, who continue to struggle against the top 4 sides. Spurs took the lead through Gareth Bale’s free-kick that will have had Lehman giggling at his deputy’s attempt to keep it out. Does Lehman giggle though? Or even laugh? Probably not. Probably goes hunting to express his amusement. Local sheep beware. Spurs had several excellent chances against a makeshift Arsenal back four. Berbatov’s one-on-one the pick of the bunch, rounding Almunia before attempting to round Kolo Toure. One too many attempts to round methinks. The kind of situation, according to RTE pundit Graeme Souness, that will have Martin Jol “tearing his hair out”. Really Graeme. Which hair is that then?     

Goals from Adebayor (why Robinson went charging out to swipe at thin air we’ll never know), Fabregas (why Robinson went for it with his left paw we’ll never know) and an absolute beauty for Adebayor’s second (why Robinson bothered diving we’ll never know) ensured Arsenal fans went home absolutely delirious. Top of the league. Oh and Spurs are kicking their heels down by the relegation area.

Elsewhere, West Ham put on a great show for their fans. Lee Bowyer got to perform his ‘i’m the world’s biggest scumbag’ celebration for the second time in three weeks. Nice. Dean Ashton in silly blonde hair and shiny red boots prodded in the third. His first goal in nearly a year and a half. And it showed; celebration was a bit rusty. Birmingham beat Bolton 1-0 to leave the Trotters in the relegation area and looking in big trouble. Failure to pick up points is one thing, but against potential relegation rivals…..uh-oh. The only team Bolton have beaten this year is Reading who lost again, this time to Resevoir Dog wannabe Roy Keane’s Sunderland. Kenwyne Jones apparantly played a blinder on his debut. Gotta wonder how impressed Keane is by the man’s ‘cirque du soleil’ impression for a celebration. Man wasn’t built to do ridiculous flips through the air. Just ask Lua-Lua. So Sunderland are back on track. Fulham are not. Kinda. Despite dominating for periods against Wigan, a ridiculous challenge by Bouazza on Melchiot (ooh if I just knee him from behind chances are there won’t be a goalscoring opportunity. What? Penalty? Ah so that’s the downside…..) meant Wigan continue their decent start to the season.

European Previews will be up shortly. Peace.

Top 5 Summer Signings (0-3 million!)

(5): Gary O’Connor, Birmingham, £2.65 million.

Little bit controversial? The Scotland forward makes it into the top five to kick off the list. Newly promoted teams often have trouble securing a potent goalscorer and their lack of goals generally see them go straight back down to life in the Championship. However, Steve Bruce has been vocal in his desire to play attacking football to try and score more goals this time around. O’Connor may just be the man to get him the goals. Having brought in some excellent midfield options such as Kapo, de Ridder and Muamba, Bruce has offered a target man like O’Connor the opportunity to excel with the right service, and the Scot scored against Sunderland on his debut on Wednesday to get the season off to the right start having come on as a substitute. Clearly relieved to be back in Britain after a bizarre stay in Russia, O’Connor could prove to be the man to keep Birmingham afloat this season.

(4): Antoine Sibierski, Wigan, free.

Another unusual choice perhaps, but Antoine Sibierski has been an underrated player for quite some time now. A canny midfielder with the knack of scoring important goals, the former Newcastle and Man City man, like O’Connor, could be influential in Wigan’s season, depending on whether he can weigh in with a good goals-to-game ratio. Having scored some vital goals last season for Newcastle it was a surprise to see the player leave after just one season, but Wigan pipped Premiership rivals Everton and Fulham to the signing of the versatile French forward, and he has repaid their faith already with two goals in two games, the second being the winner in the 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Wednesday. Wigan, many peoples favourites for the drop, will probably struggle this season, but we believe they have made some excellent signings, giving the likes of Bramble, Brown and importantly, Jason Koumas, a chance to show they can hack it in the Premiership. Manager Chris Hutchings has gone about his business quietly since taking over from Paul Jewell this summer, but in Antoine Sibierski has a potential star for the season. With plenty of experience and a couple of years left in those legs, Sibierski is a true free-transfer bargain.

(3): Sylvain Distin, Portsmouth, free.

What a capture from Harry Redknapp. Distin, another Frenchman, angered the Man City faithful last season by refusing to sign a new deal and choosing instead to cash in on a lucrative free-transfer move to Premiership rivals Portsmouth. Perhaps Man City fans have had the last laugh, as huge money, a renowned manager and renewed optimism have been brought into the club this summer, just weeks after Distin chose to end his stay in Manchester. Still, Portsmouth fans aren’t complaining. Distin is a hugely impressive centre back, and was subject to late, late interest from Liverpool before completing his move to Pompey. Harry Redknapp pulled off one of the coups of pre-season by tying the defender to a three-year deal at Fratton Park and offering him the chance to become a top class centre-back pairing with Sol Campbell. This season, aged 29, Distin should be in his prime and raring to go given the new challenge that awaits him. It is slightly ironic that the player left Man City due to a ‘lack of ambition within the club’ only to find now that Man City, under Eriksson, are riding high with a talented and expensively assembled squad having won both games so far this season. Man City’s loss here though, is Portsmouth’s gain, and Man City may realise their major flaw this season is in not replacing their best defender in Distin.

(2): David Healy, Fulham, £1.5 million

Lawrie Sanchez took over the reigns from Chris Coleman last season on the back of an entirely successful campaign with Northern Ireland in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Northern Ireland’s 3-2 win over Spain saw a stunning hat-trick from David Healy, and pundits were stunned to see the prolific forward return from International goalscoring exploits to find himself on the bench at Leeds at the weekend. Leeds ended up relegated, Sanchez became Fulham’s permanent manager and promptly earmarked Healy as his main man for Fulham. Of Healy’s 29 International goals, 18 came under Lawrie Sanchez, and this trend shows no sign of stopping this season as Healy has scored in both of Fulham’s Premiership games so far this season, including a goal within a minute of his debut against Arsenal. The former Manchester United youngster will be relishing the chance to finally prove himself at Premiership level, and in Sanchez has the perfect working relationship with his manager to fulfill his ambitions. The fact that most of Northern Ireland’s squad has joined Fulham alongside Healy will also not do any harm. At £1.5 million, Healy could well prove to be the star of the show for Fulham this season in place of the far more expensive Diomansy Kamara who cost Fulham the equivalent of four David Healys but has yet to make a Premiership start for the club.

(1): Carlos Tevez, Manchester United, loan.

Hey, signings include loans you know? Plus the fee involved is reportedly less than the 3million bracket we’ve imposed on this top 5 so we’re well within our rights to name the man who has been in the papers every day for the past year, mostly for the wrong reasons, but is now ready to kick off with the Premiership Champions and show us all why he’s such a great player. Tevez took a while to get going at West Ham, true, but when he did he ended up keeping them in the Premiership, crucially with the winner over Manchester United on the last day of the season. This signing is the equivalent of a Torres for Liverpool, an Edouardo for Arsenal or a Bent for Spurs. Except Ferguson has spent a huge amount less. Very little in fact. It must be pointed out that the player is not yet a Man Utd player as he is on loan, however a two year loan is the same length of time as many players spend at a club anyway. Throw in Rooney, Saha and Solskjaer’s injury problems, and Tevez is beginning to look like Ferguson’s most important bit of business this summer so far. Pundits have suggested that Tevez is too similar in style to Rooney, many argued he couldn’t cut it up front on his own against Portsmouth. However, Rooney’s injury allows Tevez to flourish in his own capacity as an attacking midfielder, come forward. He also won’t play on his own up front very often, and even if he does, he set up Scholes’ goal and came close on a couple of occasions himself,not bad for a debut on his own up front at a tricky venue. The fact that Tevez has proven himself at a Premiership level at West Ham is another factor in his advantage. While everyone awaits Fernando Torres’ first goal at Liverpool to show he can adapt to the Premiership, Tevez has the Premiership goals to prove he can, and he will score more this season in the red and white of Utd, make no mistake about it. You just can’t ignore this guy, Carlos Tevez at number one.