January Tranfer Window

This season's January Transfer Window is not as busy compared two previous seasons, most of the signings are free transfers. What has happened to all to lavished spending that we saw last year? Andrey Arshavin to Arsenal. Robbie Keane, Wilson Palacios and Jermain Defoe to Tottenham Hotspur. Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Nigel De Jong and Shay Given to Manchester City. And of course, the "infamous" 100 million bid for Kaka from Manchester City.The richest club in the world, Manchester City, has been especially quiet, snapping up the Patrick Viera on a free transfer from Inter Milan. To me, the ex-Arsenal captain is a good buy for Manchester City. They need a general in their midfield, someone to lead the team if they are to break into the the top four, to get that elusive Champions League spot. Maybe, just maybe, at the end of the season,Patrick Viera was the reason why Manchester City will be playing Champions League football next season. Their neighbours next door, and the club I support, Manchester United has been quiet in the January Transfer Window as usual. But, they snatched the promising England Under-21 defender, Chris Smalling from Arsenal. He would be a "Red" next season but, will he be the new Vidic or Ferdinand, we will only know next season. Sol Campbell to Arsenal? What is Arsene Wenger thinking? Is he out of his mind? Sol Campbell is no longer the player he used to be at Arsenal. But Arsenal got nothing to lose, he was brought to the Emirates on a free transfer, if he is a flop, Arsenal can just offload him or sell him, but if he is a success, it may affect Arsenal's title winning hopes this season. Its a win-win situation for Arsenal. To me, the biggest signing is Maxi Rodriguez to Liverpool on a free deal. Maxi Rodriguez is a world class player, not a average player, let alone a player who worths "nothing", to me he worths at least 7 million, not free. Maxi Rodriguez may be instrumental to Liverpool's hope of staying in the top four. Maybe, just maybe, Liverpool is able to squeeze back into the top four.

Other notable signings: Eidur Gudjohnsen from Monaco to Tottenham on loan. Jack Wilshere from Arsenal to Bolton on loan. Younes Kaboul from Portsmouth to Tottenham for 8million pounds.

Things I am posting this year.

First post of the year 2010,
I would still be talking about soccer, but i would occasionally talk about interesting happenings in the sporting world. Compared to last year, I would be constantly posting ad updating you about the EPL matches, soccer transfers and my opinions on the teams etc. I wish everyone a good year ahead and ALL THE WAY MANCHESTER UNITED!

Soccer transfers

Sorry for not posting for such a long while. :)

Now, the transfer window is open, many soccer clubs will be spending loads of money to bring in new talent to their clubs. Manchester United so far have signed three new players, Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen and Obertan. Three talented players, they will most probably have a fruitful career with Manchester United. But, the signing that shocked me most was Owen. He is already twenty nine, his prime of his career, but will he succeed at Old Trafford? The answer is no one will know. Owen is definitely a extremely talented player, a goal poacher which all defenders will fear. But unfortunately, his career has been plague with injuries, but i think this will not stop him from competing with the rest of the squad to play in the strating eleven. He may become a United legend! But one thing is for sure, Man United have nothing to lose, he was brought to Old Trafford on a free transfer. I wish Owen luck for his years at Old Trafford!!

Poets - Billy Collins continued

Fishing on the Susquehanna in July

I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna 

or on any river for that matter 

to be perfectly honest.  

Not in July or any month 

have I had the pleasure--if it is a pleasure-- 

of fishing on the Susquehanna.  

I am more likely to be found

in a quiet room like this one-- 

a painting of a woman on the wall,  

a bowl of tangerines on the table-- 

trying to manufacture the sensation 

of fishing on the Susquehanna.  

There is little doubt

 that others have been fishing

 on the Susquehanna,  

rowing upstream in a wooden boat, 

sliding the oars under the water 

then raising them to drip in the light.  

But the nearest I have ever come to 

fishing on the Susquehanna

was one afternoon in a museum in Philadelphia  

when I balanced a little egg of time in front time

in front of a painting

in which that river curled around a bend  

under a blue cloud-ruffled sky, 

dense trees along the banks,

 and a fellow with a red bandanna  

sitting in a small, green 

flat-bottom boat 

holding the thin whip of a pole.  

That is something I am unlikely

ever to do, I remember 

saying to myself and the person next to me.  

Then I blinked and moved on 

to other American scenes 

of haystacks, water whitening over rocks,  

even one of a brown hare 

who seemed so wired with alertness 

I imagined him springing right out of the frame.

Poets - Billy Collins continued

Some Days
by Billy Collins
Some days I put the people in their places at the table, bend their legs at the knees, if they come with that feature, and fix them into the tiny wooden chairs. All afternoon they face one another, the man in the brown suit, the woman in the blue dress, perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved. But other days, I am the one who is lifted up by the ribs, then lowered into the dining room of a dollhouse to sit with the others at the long table. Very funny, but how would you like it if you never knew from one day to the next if you were going to spend it striding around like a vivid god, your shoulders in the clouds, or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper, staring straight ahead with your little plastic face?

Poets - Billy Collins continued

The Golden Years

All I do these drawn-out days

 is sit in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge

 where there are no pheasants to be seen

 and last time I looked, no ridge.

  I could drive over to Quail Falls

 and spend the day there playing bridge,

 but the lack of a falls and the absence of quail

 would only remind me of Pheasant Ridge. 

 I know a widow at Fox Run

 and another with a condo at Smokey Ledge.

 One of them smokes, and neither can run,

 so I’ll stick to the pledge I made to Midge.

 Who frightened the fox and bulldozed the ledge?

 I ask in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge.

Poets - Billy Collins

Why do I like choose this poet? Well I found his name in the Most Popular Contemporary Poets column rank first! It immediately came to my mind," This must be a extremely good poet." I clicked on his name, and saw what he has written so far. 11 books and 33 poems! I started reading on one of his poems, fishing on the Susquehanna in July. It was a stunning piece of poetry. I can picture vividly what he is trying to convey to me in my mind. I can picture how the Susquehanna looked like. I can picture how he feels while fishing on the Susquehanna. This piece of work is amazing. Because of this work, i knew that this is not his best poem and hence i went to google to search on him in order to know more about this fantastic poet. Born in 22ND March, 1941, in the capital of the United States. His parents are William and Katherine Collins. Collins notable book was The Apple that Astonished Paris. I then continued to search on more of his poems. One of them was - Some Days. I could not really understand what he was trying to say, but his style of writing is almost the same as Fishing on the Susquehanna in July. he likes to describe the person or place very vividly that you can picture what it looks like in your mind. He does not really use very flamboyant words or phrases, but after you read his poem, you would be scratching your head, trying to understand what he is trying to say. At the end, he does not really conclude everything, he keeps a little bit of information to himself, making you think after reading his poem. I then read another of his poems, The Golden Years. In this poem, he is talking about a phesant bridge. He describes what he can do and see there at the Phesant bridge. Again, he describes what he can see vividly. This may not be a very long poem, but it is fantastic.

Billy Collins' work is fantastic, but most of the time, i cannot really understand what he is trying to say. But after reading a few times i finally got what he was trying to convey to me.

My three favourite poems written by him are, Fishing on Susquahanna in July, Some Days and the Golden Years.