Spurs About to Make a Terrible Mistake

Tottenham Hotspur is about about to make a bold loan signing by bringing in LA Galaxy's David Beckham on loan. This story has already been beaten to death, and if you watch Sky News or Sky Sports you're probably extremely tired of it. But what isn't being spoken about by most pundits is the ridiculousness of this signing.

Spurs have been a fantastic team this season and are one team most people want to watch due to their exciting football. They have a solid team that needs re-enforcement to allow them to push on to the end of the season in both the Premier League and the Champions League; not to mention they begin FA Cup play this weekend.

Spurs' glaring holes are at the back where they have had a difficult time keeping centre backs healthy since Harry Redknapp took over the North London club. After that, Spurs could use more help up top with the likely move of Robbie Keane and Rafael Van Der Vaart can't keep scoring all the goals.

There are plenty of quality players at Spurs already who cannot get a game. The signing of Beckham is baffling as he will be, possibly, the eight best midfielder at the club. Spurs currently have the likes of David Bentley (the supposed "next" Beckham), Jermaine Jenas, Nico Kranjcar, Jamie O'Hara, Giovani Dos Santos and Sandro all unable to get suitable playing time. Though, several may see FA Cup action this weekend and rumors are Bentley could be on his way out on loan. However, Newcastle who was attempting to sign Bentley has gone a different direction and added Birmingham's Sebastion Larsson.

The clear advantage of signing Beckham will be marketing. There won't be enough Beckham Spurs shirts to go around. This move also allows Spurs to finally market themselves to the farthest reaches of the world as it did with Manchester United and Real Madrid, and most recently LA Galaxy (at least people know who they are now). There are rumors that this move could also help Spurs with their new stadium plans or help them move to the London Olympic stadium that is currently being built.

There's no doubt Beckham's legs are gone. He can still play at MLS level, but there's not a chance he can play 90 minutes at the Premier League level. A lot of people talk about Beckham going on loan and never seeming to play a full season for LA Galaxy. But what they don't say or speculate on is that Beckham is unhappy in LA and realized after signing with LA that he'd made a mistake.

If you cast your mind back to January 2007, Beckham was on the outside of the Real Madrid first team. He'd been told his Madrid career was over. He then signed with LA Galaxy only a few weeks later to make a surprise return to the Madrid first team. Beckham would then play a vital part in Madrid overhauling Barcelona to win La Liga and have Madrid beg him to stay. That is when Beckham realized he'd made a terrible mistake.

Since then Beckham has tried his best to help LA Galaxy in MLS while not truly having his heart in it. He gets a third loan spell now, though, at the moment shorter than the last two. Come March if Spus continue to soar in league and Europe will he be back to MLS before the summer begins.

Scottish Football League Change(s) Could Send Talent to MLS

The SFL has announce they will put changes to vote in an attempt to raise the the profile of Scottish football. The SFL which governs all professional Scottish football is looking to change the topflight, Scottish Premier League, to a 10 team league. The league currently contains 12 teams, and the league officials believe a 10 team league will help restructure TV money allocations to team as well as make the league more competitive. The second division would also be re-configured to 10 teams with the bottom teams in division 1 playing the top teams of division 2 in a playoff to determine promotion and relegation.

Many Scottish clubs and fans have spoken against these league changes. They feel this will make the league rather monotonous with each team playing an uneven schedule in a 38 match season. Many already feel the season becomes boring when teams can play each other 2, 3, 4 or 5 times in a season. Similar to MLS, Don Garber has stated the league may have an uneven schedule to promote rivalry and make the playoffs mean more. However, look at attendance and fan satisfaction in Scotland he should understand why so many are against this idea.

Many of the clubs and fans alike have called for a 16 team top flight with a total of 32 matches. They've also called for a playoff to determine the league champion, which has been denounced by both Celtic and Rangers. The two teams have won the Scottish top flight every season since 1984-85 when Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen broke up the Celtic/Rangers stranglehold. Rangers have amassed 53 Scottish titles to Celtic's 42 in the history of Scottish football. All non-Ranger and Celtic supporters can sympathize with the desire for change.

Another change that many are calling for is a schedule change that would mirror MLS and the Scandinavian countries. Winter weather tends to cause fixture cancellation in Scotland, as well as pitches becoming so torn apart they should be deemed unplayable for topflight football. However, SFA officials seem to think a spring to fall schedule is ludicrous.

If the SFA changes the league to 10 teams it could send Scottish talent to MLS. We've already seen Colorado's Jamie Smith, amongst others, who rather than take a step down in clubs( from Aberdeen) leave Scottish football for MLS. With two less teams in the topflight we could see many Scottish players migrate to MLS. Many Scottish players salary is on par with the mid to higher earning MLS players and last season Robbie Keane became the highest paid player in Scottish football history during his loan spell at Celtic.

Scottish football is in a shambles these days, and if these league changes take affect I think we will see Scottish football all but extinct. However, the good news for Celtic and Rangers is it could finally open up the English Premier League and English Football League to the idea of adding Scotland's two biggest teams.

Impact player

According to DC United, they're looking for an impact player in this year's Superdraft. It rare, however, that find such a player coming out of college. I argue that the true impact players are either players who have gained a few years professional experience outside of college, or they are signed from other parts of the world. The biggest impact player from last season, Andy Najar, was signed from the team's youth academy. It can be argued Tim Ream and Danny Mwanaga were impact players for their respective teams. However, it truly depends on how one defines impact player. To me these players have filled in holes that each team had and were valuable pieces to the team's puzzle. I classify impact as David Ferreria in Dallas or Omar Cummings in Colorado. Neither of these teams could have made the MLS Cup final with out the contribution of these players. Therefore, impact to me is dictated by the final results at the end of the season.

I don't think DC can find an impact player in the draft, until he is atleast developed in the league for a few seasons. However, they can find a valuable piece to plug into a terrible team.

Will Omar Bravo Help SKC?

The 30-year old Mexican veteran became SKC's second DP in their history this past Autumn. Many Sporting KC fans are ecstatic about this signing, though I don't see why. I've read and heard many who are expecting 10-15 goals from Bravo in '11. However, since Bravo's ill-timed move to Spain's Deportivo La Coruna in 2008 he hasn't scored more than five goals a season. The upside to that is he has only played 51 matches in that time for Coruna, UANL and Guadalajara. That's one goal every 10 matches. MLS will play a 36 match regular season schedule. If you go by the stats he will score about 3-4 goals, and not the 10-15 people are predicting. His highest goal total was in '06-'07 with him scoring 22 goals in all competitions (which was 43 matches, one goal in two).

What Bravo can bring to SKC is the ability to take players away from the play and other attackers who can then flourish; if he can stay healthy. The cons of bringing in a "big named" DP is the conflicts that can build in the dressing room and on the training pitch. We also continue to see MLS teams succeeding without DPs. Only one MLS teams has won MLS Cup with a DP (Schelotto and Columbus) and only New York and LA Galaxy have made the Final while employing a DP.

We've seen Bravo's career stutter when he left Mexico the first time and I expect the same to happen again. Though it looked like his career in Spain would catapult him to success in Europe, he ended the season only playing nine matches for Coruna. With the change in training, defense and tactics in the Mexican League to Spain Bravo couldn't recreate the form of his earlier years. Upon return to Mexico Bravo could still not recreate his former magic. He did not make the Mexican National squad for the World Cup.

I expect the same to happen in MLS with SKC that has already occurred in Spain. Being the cynic I am I believe Bravo's signing is more of a marketing move by the SKC front office. I also expect the same to occur with Bravo as did with Claudio Lopez. Signed to a DP contract his first season and then reduced to non-DP for the second. However, I can't imagine Bravo hanging around Kansas City for a second year on a non-DP salary. Sporting KC is becoming a team similar to Blackburn and Wigan in England. A team in a location that isn't the most attractive, thus making it more difficult to sign players. If Bravo does workout I will be surprised, but Sporting's needs are in the back four and not the attack. Hopefully, they can address this before the season begins.

American Youth

MLS's website has an article regarding Preston Zimmerman resurrecting his career in Germany with Mainz's reserve team. It got me to think about many of the US born players who forgo MLS following high school or college to play in Europe. Zimmerman has been able to play for some well respected clubs in Germany and Austria, but he has never played first team football in Germany; though he played 21 games in Austria for Kapfenberger SV's first team. At 22-years old it seems he is one player who should return to the US and have a go in MLS. However, would he be successful in MLS or is MLS's cutthroat management style a hinderance to players like Zimmerman.

Last season, we saw Sal Zizzo return to the US when he signed with MLS and was allocated to Chivas USA. Zizzo did not have much success in Europe, most notably playing eight matches for Hannover '96 in Germany. He played 10 matches for Chivas USA last season scoring no goals for an extremely awful team.

I'm not sure these US players who leave early can be successful if they move to MLS following stints in Europe. We've seen Danny Szetela move to Europe before returning to MLS two years later. Upon return he played four matches for DC United before being released. According to Wikipedia he is a free agent still. At one time Charlie Davies could have been considered the most successful US player to skip MLS and go to Europe following college. However, after his car accident I don't think the same can be said.

I find it interesting we see every year MLS teams unable to sign high school and college players who move abroad. As in Zimmerman and Zizzo, perhaps moving too early has hurt their careers when they should be getting pro experience in their home country's domestic league. These players also flatten out talent-wise and are no longer the best player on their teams which also needs to be considered; and they stop developing.

Liverpool, so woeful

Lucas Leiva gets lambasted every week for his play for Liverpool. Yet, Glen Johnson a $35 million purchase of Rafa Benitez continually shows he isn't a Premier League defender. Johnson has just give Kevin Davies of Bolton a free header at the backpost.

TFC Stand Your Ground

Since Dwayne De Rosario has gone to Celtic to train there has been a massive backlash amongst the soccer blogger, fan, expert and Johny-come-lately in North America. It has been nice to see so many people coming around to the fact that DeRo is a selfish player who lacks tactical awareness, too. I have to wonder, if he is signed by Celtic, which I think is unlikely but it could happen, will he be played in a position in which he can have open range to cover the pitch. Will the strong minds of Celtic players and management keep DeRo in his position on the pitch. If he is played in the hole behind a striker and in front of the midfield he will have that opportunity to roam the pitch; similar to Wayne Rooney's role with Manchester United. But, isn't that where Ljundberg will play?

It's believed by many DeRo plays out of position often, because the talent level around him is lacking. But it is common in MLS for one player's talent level to be much higher than those of teammates. But what looks like DeRo constantly contributing by roaming the pitch to get the ball and trying to create is more what you get in short sided games, ala 5-a side, and not what you want in 11- a side when the team's tactics don't reflect that style. Barcelona is a team with complex tactics that fit the roaming marauding style with players that are always moving into open spaces to stop oppositions from taking the space. For TFC this style has left massive gaps on the pitch and has left TFC already vulnerable defense exposed.

In Houston DeRo seemed to have a more defined role and position, however, since moving to TFC it appears he has played for himself. Almost to create a Mr. Toronto tag for himself. In Houston, DeRo did have better players around him. But, more importantly he had a strong manager in Dominic Kinnear whom had a blueprint and plan for the club. Perhaps that is what DeRo is missing.

Houston dealt DeRo to TFC for Julius James and allocation money in 2008. Houston has been up and down since making the trade. During the time of the trade DeRo had been rumored to sign a new higher salary contract and possible DP contract with Houston. Houston made the move though feeling DeRo wasn't worth the price and hassle it seems, and may have actually made the move due to DeRo's growing power or diva attitude within the locker room. Since the trade in '08 we can't say either DeRo or Houston has truly benefited from the move. DeRo has won the Voyageur Cup on two occasions reaching the COCACAF Champions League, however.

This story between De Rosario, TFC and Celtic will probably be a non-event in the end. If DeRo doesn't sign and returns to TFC most fans will look past this. Outside of the Toronto area do many care about it in the first place. I hope TFC stands their ground on this situation and either sell or trade De Rosario. I know they need talented players, but there's no reason to keep a player who isn't happy and doesn't want to play for you; though he did agree the $300,000 a year contract in the first place. In the end Celtic has already added a player of the similar ilk as DeRo by signing Freddie Ljundberg. Ljundberg will play that attacking role DeRo likes to play and he came on a free transfer. With the financial situations we currently have and Celtic not playing in Europe I see this move as possible at best.