OTWT All Transfer team

With the transfer windowing now finally shutting around Europe. Here is the OTWT ALL Transfer Team. This team may have cost a ton, but I bet I can could coach them to a league title in any country.

Goalie: Hugo Lloris from Lyon to Tottenham Hotspurs
Defenders: Thiago Silva from AC Milan to PSG
Defender: Jordi Alba from Valencia to Barcelona
Defender:Javier Martineze from Athletic Club to Munich (I know he players in midfield but he has played 22 times in defense last year with Athletic Club)
Defender: Jan Vertonghen from Ajax to Tottenham Hotspur
Midfielder: Marco Reus from M'Gladbach to Dortmond.
Midfielder: Eden Hazard from Lillie to Chelsea
Midfielder: Luka Modric from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid
Midfielder: Alex Witsel from Benfica to Zenit St. Petersburg
Forward: Robin van Persie from Arsenal to Manchester United
Forward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic from AC Milan to PSG

Bench: Lucas Mora from Sao Paulo to PSG, Hulk from Porto to Zenit St. Petersburg, Oscar from Sao Paulo to Chelsea. Gregory van der Wiel from Ajax to PSG.

Start Spending Like Crazy

A list put together by BBC Sport on the top 50 players from around the world that could be on the move during the month ahead.

OTWT Champions League Predictions

The draw for the 2010/2011 Champions League has been made and there are some tastey groups including Group B, which includes: Spurs, Inter Werder Bremen, and FC Twente and Group G, which features three former winners of the event. Here are OTWT predictions on who is going advance to the knock out stages.

Group H: ARSENAL, Shakhtar Donetsk, SC Braga, FK Partisan: Arsenal and SC Braga
Group A: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, TOTTENHAM, FC Twente: Inter and Spurs
Group B: Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel Aviv: Lyon and Benfica
Group F: CHELSEA, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina: Chelsea and Spartak Moscow
Group D: FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan: Barcelona and Rubin Kazan.
Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre: Real Madrid and Ajax.
Group C: MANCHESTER UNITED, Valencia, RANGERS, Bursaspor: Manchester United and Rangers
Group E: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj: Bayern Munich and AS Roma

OTWT Champions League Predictions

The business end of the season is here and the Champions League last eight kicks off today. The slate is littered with good match ups including the rematch of the 1999 Final between United and Munich. Here is how the OTWT Scouting Department sees the ties breaking down.

Lyon (France) vs. Bordeaux (France): Lyon has the feeling of a team that is built better for Europe then the league. I know Bordeaux has taken over as the force in France, but for some reason I can not turn my back on Lyon. So Lyon it is.
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Manchester United (England): The '99 Final rematch. As a United fans, this is a tie that worries me. Robben and Ribery worry me to no end, but in the end United are the more complete team and therefor head to the semi-finals.
Arsenal (England) vs. Barcelona (Spain): Barca and it will not even be easy. Arsenal are doing what they do best implode at the end of the season.
Inter Milan (Italy) vs. CSKA Moscow (Russia): Inter Milan. CSKA has had a nice run and shown that Russian soccer is nothing to mess with in the coming years. Inter stay on course for the final.

Money can't buy you.....

A ton of money can not buy you happiness or win you the Champions League title. Real Madrid learned that yesterday as they were dumped up of the Big Ears Cup by Lyon and the Spanish newspapers are not happy.

Maybe better then before

Sometimes getting rid of your best player makes you better and other times it does not. But for Lyon getting rid of striker Karim Benzema might have been the best thing that they could have done. During the summer the super talented striker traded Lyon for Real Mardrid. The transfer fee was priced at €35 million with the fee rising to as much as €41 million based on incentives.

Instead of pocketing the money, the Lyon board decided to splash the cash in hopes of regaining the Ligue 1 title. They brought in forward Bafetimbi Gomis from Saint-Etienne for a fee of €13m; Defender Aly Cissokho from Porto for a fee of €15m; Brazilian defender Michel Bastos from Lille for a fee of €18m; Argentinean forward Lisandro Lopez from Porto for a fee of €24m. In all told they spend 70 millions euros on improving their squad. The talent added plus the continued development of play maker Miralem Pjanic has made Lyon a force.

So far the plan seems to be paying off. During the first four games of the season Lyon has scored 11 goals including a 5-1 win over Anderlecht in the first leg of their Champions League Playoff. During their first leg win, Bastos, Gomis, and Lopez scored and the team played with a flair that was not present in Europe over the last couple of years. The speed they showed during the game was amazing, they looked like the fasted team in Europe.

In the past, Lyon dominated the French League and then failed when it came to getting to the Champions League Final. With the moves that they have made and the continued development of Pjanic, Lyon might be closer to being in a Champions League Final then ever before.

The Champions League Playoffs are interesting

In some years the final round of Champions League Playoff can be almost a bore, but this year that could be different with one tie Arsenal vs. Celtic. The team that drops this tie could be in financial trouble. Both clubs count on the Champions League group stage money in order to fund their spending, so going out before that stage could be a mess for both. Rangers went out in an earlier playoff round last year and they are still trying to dig out from the lost revenue.

Here are some predictions for the playoff round:

• FC Sheriff v Olympiakos: Olympiakos
  
• SV Red Bull Salzburg v Maccabi Haifa: Red Bull Salzburg
  
• FK Ventspils v FC Zurich: FC Zurich
  
• FC Copenhagen v Apoel Nicosia: FC Copenhagen
  
• Levski Sofia v Debrecen: Leveski Sofia
  
• Lyon v Anderlecht: Lyon
  
• Celtic v Arsenal: This has PK written all over it, but I can not see Wenger going out at this point.
  
• FC Timisoara v VfB Stuttgart: VFB Stuttgart
  
• Sporting v Fiorentina: Fiorentina
  
• Panathinaikos v Atletico Madrid: Panahinaikos, the shocker of the round. Last years the Greeks booked a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
  

Some leagues are up and running, while others about to start. It feels like it has been a long time since we have all had club football.

A Return to Respect

For the last seven years Lyon has dominated the French League and PSG has been down at the bottom part of the table for the last couple of years. But that all appears to be change.

For the last couple of years PSG has been battling to stay out of League Two. But this year that appears not to be worry. The club that gave Europe their first look at Ronaldinho appears to have their house in order.

Last week PSG went to OM and won for the first time in a long time. So maybe Paul LeGuen has gotten Paris's only top flight team back to the top of the French standings right where they should be.

Maybe if it all continues PSG will be hosting a Champions League game which would be nice.