Southampton

The top five free kick goals

With the disappointment that David Beckham had yesterday by not getting into the England side for the friendly against Switzerland, he would be very pleased that he is still top of pack.

When it comes to brilliant free kick goals, his have always stood out well above the rest and so when Fabio Capello is looking at the team sheet and thinking who the hell can I put on now, he should had had a look at these top free kick goals and see where the real talent lies in England.

The top goals from free kicks:

1. David Beckham - Everton Vs Manchester United 11/05/2003

2. Cristano Ronaldo - Manchester United Vs Portsmouth 30/01/2008

3. John Arne Riise - Liverpool Vs Manchester United 04/11/2001

4. Cristiano Ronaldo - Sunderland Vs Manchester United 26/12/2007

5. Matt Le Tissier - Southampton Vs Wimbledon 26/02/1994

Well maybe there is only one left out of this lot who could possibly ever play for England again, and so does everyone else in the country.

Source [SL]

FA Cup fifth round draw

It promised to be a great round for some of the lower league clubs that had made it through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but as usual it seemed the balls were not going their way as the top two teams in the country Arsenal and Manchester United have once again been drawn against each other preventing those lower league teams of a decent pay day.

This means that one of the top teams will not be making it any further in the competition, which is probably a sad thing, although it will give a couple of those teams the opportunity to progress through and maybe then have the opportunity to face up to the premierships finest.

FA Cup fifth-round draws in full:

Bristol Rovers v Southampton

Cardiff v Wolves

Sheffield United v Middlesbrough

Liverpool v Barnsley

Manchester United v Arsenal

Preston v Portsmouth

Coventry v West Brom

Chelsea v Huddersfield

Ties to be played 16/17 February.

January Transfers Mount in England

Although January 1st saw the greatest number of transfers on a single day since the January window opened in English football, the moves are still predictably full steam ahead. In the past ten days 39 moves have been made in and out of the EPL alone.

Perhaps not surprisingly, struggling Derby County have been most active in transfers. Including those conducted on January 1st, Derby has seen 10 transfers to and from their club. With a new manager and more financial support, the club had promised to take full advantage of the transfer window.

The least active EPL teams thus far, with 1 transfer each since the 2nd, are Arsenal, Aston Villa, West Ham, Wigan, Everton, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, and Portsmouth. (For a list of January 1st transfer see this Corner Kick article.)

A list of EPL transfers between January 2nd and January 11th, 2008:

Steve Howard from Derby County to Leicester City for an undisclosed amount

Hogan Ephraim from West Ham United to Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed amount

Matthew Connolly from Arsenal to Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed amount

Leslie Thompson from Bolton Wanderers to Torquay United on loan

Michael Barnes from Manchester United to Chesterfield on loan

Stanislav Varga from Sunderland to Burnley on loan

Danny Mills from Manchester City to Derby County on loan

Neil Kilkenny from Birmingham City to Leeds United on loan

Jonny Evans from Manchester United to Sunderland on loan

Ryan Bertrand from Chelsea to Norwich City on loan

Mo Camara from Derby County to Norwich City on loan

Matthew Pattison from Newcastle United to Norwich City for an undisclosed amount

Fitz Hall from Wigan Athletic to Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed amount

Scott Spencer from Everton to Yeovil Town on loan

Ben Alnwick from Tottenham Hotspur to Leicester City on loan

Ben Tozer from Swindon Town to Newcastle United for an undisclosed amount

Danijel Subotic from FC Basle to Portsmouth for an undisclosed amount

Neil Kilkenny from Birmingham City to Leeds United for £150,000

Sam Oji from Birmingham City to Leyton Orient (free)

Laurent Robert as free agent to Derby County

Marek Matejovsky from Mlada Boleslav to Reading for an undisclosed amount

Rowan Vine from Birmingham City to Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed amount

Emanuel Villa from UAG Tecos to Derby County for £2,000,000

John Halls from Reading to Crystal Palace on loan

Chris Herd from Aston Villa to Port Vale on loan

Marc Laird from Manchester City to Millwall (free)

Robbie Savage from Blackburn Rovers to Derby County for £1,500,000

Lee Martin from Manchester United to Sheffield United on loan

Peter Enckelman from Blackburn Rovers to Cardiff City on loan

Ched Evans from Manchester City to Norwich City on loan

David Button from Tottenham Hotspur to Grays Athletic on loan

Andrew Davies from Middlesbrough to Southampton for an undisclosed amount

Phil Ifil from Tottenham Hotspur to Colchester United for an undisclosed amount

Lee Holmes from Derby County to Walsall on loan

Hossam Ghaly from Tottenham Hotspur to Derby County on loan

Mark King from Blackburn Rovers to Accrington Stanley (free)

Martin Skrtel from Zenit St Petersberg to Liverpool for an undisclosed amount

Andy Griffin from Derby County to Stoke City for £300,000

Nicolas Anelka from Bolton Wanderers to Chelsea for £15,000,000

Source:
ESPN