a long time since i last posted in here.

meireles to chelsea, for me, wasn't really the transfer shock of this window. towards the end of last season, there were already rumours of meireles being surplus of requirements in the team, and now with KD bringing in his own players meireles is clearly dropping down the pecking order.

as good as he is, there tend to be games where he became anonymous and disinterested, perhaps this is one good reason why KD seeks other options in the likes of adam and hendo. meireles is deadlier occupying the hole behind the strikers and is prone to making unsuccessful tricky passes that occasionally put the team in danger of counterattacks, and isn't as good as the new signings in terms of tackling and reclaiming possession. as good as he is, meireles is weaker in keeping possession of the ball compared to lucas, adam and hendo.

i have no complains with meireles submitting a transfer request, in fact i believe that there could've been some arrangements made unknown to the public prior to the deadline. how can a player possibly submit a transfer less than 2 hours before the deadline and the transfer still go through? rather than being used as a pawn in other transfer dealings, meireles probably grew tired and wanted to leave when an offer was put on the table.

bellamy back is a little unexpected for me. wasn't really spectacular, although i do like his battling style, i have a feeling that he was brought in to merely provide a good backup in our striking department only. i'm sure he's aware that he cannot possibly break into the first 11 with carroll and suarez ahead of him and both almost a decade younger too. instead of throwing in ngog late into games hoping that he produces something brilliant to win it, i believe most people here would prefer throwing in bellamy to hound the defenders, and with his experience, can do more critical damage with minimal time on the clock.

no comments on coates, have never ever seen him play, we've seen a fair few young defenders come in and failed to shine, let's hope he's not one of those.

credit to the owners and KD for having the guts to release all the deadwoods in the squad, ie degen, poulsen, el zhar, etc. most clubs will probably keep their fringe players, hoping some other clubs would come in and buy, but our owners are quick to stop the damage. if these few players remain in the squad and are not loaned out, we'll be wasting millions in wages on players who won't be even playing in the reserves league. sometimes it's just not good holding on and hoping that these players will one day improve so dramatically to earn a place in the first 11.

FSG means business, and KD isn't all that friendly chap too. i have a soft spot for joe cole, always thought he'll be a core player in the team, but i think KD and FSG made the right decision to send him out on loan.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Sep 1 2011, 05:07 PM

the 25-man squad list is out and unsurprisingly, we're the second smallest squad in the premier league with 19 registered players, 1 ahead of everton who are officially the tiniest squad this season with 18. credit to the owners and KD to remove all players out on loan or released, who're previously sitting on proper wages and not playing (degen, aquilani, cole, el zhar). poulsen, ngog, konchesky and jovanovic would've took up the slot unnecessarily too if they weren't shipped out.

according to soccernet, our players are:-

Jones, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Aurelio, Suarez, Gerrard, Carroll, Rodriguez, Kuyt, Downing, Spearing, Carragher, Reina, Adam, Doni, Skrtel, Lucas, Bellamy.

of course, the list above does not include players under 21, so henderson, coates, wilson, kelly, flanagan, robinson and shelvey are eligible and unlisted to make space in the list. coady, suso, sterling and wisdom are the other youngsters with squad numbers as well, but eccleston and amoo (21 & 20 years old respectively) has no number assigned, hmm.

good to see there's 3-4 names not is the final list who're capable of making the first 11, and a decent number of british players (8) in the squad. arsenal has the least with 2 in gibbs and walcott. but i don't know if soccernet's really that reliable, according to them sunderland has 26 players in their 25-man squad, baffling.

am hoping to see another 1 or 2 youngsters breaking into the team this season and feature by bits here and there. wisdom and sterling looking like good prospects to be slowly usurped into the first team squad.

added:

it'll be interesting to know that arsenal and chelsea both listed only 22 and 23 respectively because they've reached the quota of 17 non-home grown players. tottenham named parker as the 9th home grown player in their squad of 25, if he didn't sign tottenham will have to be content with 24 max in their squad.

as for liverpool, we've just about achieved the quota with 8, so the remaining 6 slots can go to either home grown players or not. only those who spent 36 months in english or welsh leagues prior to turning 21 can be considered home grown so jones is considered one, as is bellamy (welsh) but adam is not.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Sep 3 2011, 11:50 AM