Summer is the time when transfer speculation and analysis dominate the news. Almost all of the transfer speculation focus on the players going to new clubs. However, for managers, selling and releasing players is also important during off-season.

Like other sports, managers sell or release players based on different obvious reasons. Some players were sold because they became too old, the money was too good to turn down or they didn’t fit the tactics anymore.

But there is another reason why certain players were shown the door: they need to go to improve or maintain team chemistry.

Whenever I read stories about Cesc Fabregas or Carlos Tevez, I always think: “It’s time to sell both of them”. Both are captains for their clubs yet they provide a lot of distractions for their team mates. Does anyone (especially Arsenal fans) wonder why Fabregas went to see the Spanish Grand Prix while his teammates were playing against Fulham? Do the Citizens fans feel disgusted every time Carlos Tevez says he’s not happy playing football and wants to quit soon? If the fans start to feel disgusted, you can imagine the feeling of the other players in the dressing room.

There are different “problem players’ in the dressing room and managers don’t need a lot of them to cause distractions to team and in some cases, could cost your job.

When a player’s heart is not with the team anymore, the player becomes useless for the team, regardless of their role. Granted, Fabregas and Tevez have performed quite admirably this season (especially Tevez) but their actions implied a “me first” attitude which could be detrimental to their teams. In this era, you can blame media for creating stories that certain players want to quit or are unhappy with their lives but when the same players frequently appear with the same story, then there must be something wrong with them. If you watched Eric Cantona’s performance in his last season, I bet that no one ever predicted that he was going to retire at the end of that year: there were no Tevez-like statements of “I’m disillusioned with football” although that was the real reason behind Cantona’s sudden and premature retirement.

When a manager decides that a player has started to challenge his authority, it’s always a good reason to sell him. Paul Ince was sold to Inter Milan when he started calling himself “The Guv’nor of Old Trafford”,  Bayern Munich’s captain Mark van Bommel’s contract was terminated in January by Louis van Gaal because he challenged LVG’s authority. Fernando Morientes also was loaned out of Real Madrid after lashing out at Vicente del Bosque because he didn’t like playing in the “garbage minutes” and there’s another reason besides tactical why Craig Bellamy was sent to Cardiff on-loan instead of staying in Manchester to name just a few. Interestingly, Bellamy also managed to rile Graeme Souness when playing for Newcastle and Rafa Benitez while at Liverpool.

When a player creates frictions with his teammate, it could also be a good case for the manager to show him the door. Theoretically, you don’t need to be friends to work together (just ask Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham) but if the player attacked his teammate with a golf club (Craig Bellamy) or reportedly sent harassing text messages to a very powerful teammate (Bellamy again), then the exit door would be shown by the manager. Ruud van Nistelrooy was let go not long after he reportedly mocked Cristiano Ronaldo by saying “Go to your daddy” (referring to assistant manager Carlos Queiroz) while Ronaldo’s dad just passed away several weeks earlier. But no famous player learned this lesson the hard way more than Roy Keane: the Manchester United then-captain was shown the door in two weeks after giving an interview with MUTV criticizing United’s younger players, Darren Fletcher and John O’Shea.

Despite the importance of selling these “trouble makers”, the process is not as easy as it looks because of the nature of this decision.

First, there is an importance of a particular player to a team. Take Fabregas and Tevez: will the manager be criticized for selling that particular player if the team fails next season? Can he find an adequate replacement? Alex Ferguson still regrets selling Jaap Stam to Lazio after Stam’s book mentioned the Neville brothers as “not world class defenders” and implied Fergie of illegally tapping him. The same consideration was probably behind Arsene Wenger ‘s decision not to show William Gallas the door, but merely stripped his captaincy after Gallas criticized his teammates in 2008 during an interview with AFP (Gallas was even offered a contract extension before ended up joining Tottenham in 2010).

Another reason involves cost and benefit of keeping against selling/releasing the players. Sometimes, things become a waiting game: the selling club wants to get rid of the troublemaker as soon as possible and the prospective buyer wants to wait until the seller budges. Sometimes, not many clubs can afford the players and selling the player could result in the player haunt his old club. Take Bellamy as example: Mancini refused to let him go to a certain Premiership club while none of the “permitted” clubs could afford to pay his salary that he eventually loaned to Cardiff with City paying certain portion of his wages. Another example is Samuel Eto’o: Barca was so anxious to offload him to Inter and he came back to haunt Barcelona.

So, Man City and Arsenal fans, should Tevez and Fabregas be let go this summer? Also for other club’s fans: are there any players you think should be shown the door because of the factors above? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

However, this tie is far more important than ever because of the results of Saturday.  Chelsea drew and Manchester United lost at home; Manchester City drew yet again and Tottenham lost at White Hart Lane to Wolves.  Aside from Villa’s win, which neither the Merseysiders nor the North Londoners will complain about, every contending team has dropped points.

For Arsenal, the loss to Chelsea put them 11 points off the pace–but that is with a game in hand.  Since, the Pensioners have dropped five league points and Arsenal find themselves nine points back with two fewer games played.  The run of games for all United, Chelsea, and Arsenal over the Christmas season offers many beatable (albeit tricky) matches and what happens at Anfield will go a long way toward determining which teams have momentum for the brutal next few weeks.

Liverpool will be boosted by the return of Fernando Torres and will be thrilled to field a full strength team; Arsenal will be, in all likelihood, positioning Andrey Arshavin as a last-resort striker once again.  He impressed against Stoke and spurned two or three excellent chances before scoring the game winner.  If he can give as much, or more, on Sunday, Arsenal have a great chance at winning.

Remember last season that Liverpool did the double over both Chelsea and United, and yet drew both matches with Arsene Wenger’s side.  Now is the moment for them to break that duck if they want to re-enter the race for Champions League spots.  A win for either side will be monumental, and truly neither can afford to drop any points.

It will be fun to watch.

Ade’s comments speak to his confidence that his own Manchester City have what it takes to break in to the oligarchy at the top.  Robbie Keane’s midweek comments, in which he claimed that Tottenham’s bench was stronger than Arsenal’s, show that he believes Spurs can challenge as well.  But as Aston Villa can attest from last season, and Tottenham can attest from 2006: breaking into the top four is no mean feat, and it requires practically perfect concentration for a season that spans 10 months.  In the day’s early kickoff, Arsenal hosted their most bitter foes in a match where the visitors were looking to prove their credentials for Europe’s top club competition.

Instead, what was on display yet again was Cesc Fabregas’s commitment to the Arsenal cause.  Earlier in the season, he celebrated a goal by kissing his badge and pointing to the stands, as if to say once more that he is indeed an Arsenal player for the long term.  Today, Fabregas collected a loose ball at the halfway line, beat two players, nutmegged Ledley King, and then coolly drilled the ball into the low near corner–in a manner that was reminiscent of Thierry Henry’s famous Bernabeu solo effort (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuCL2wvjOtU) –before jubilantly sprinting toward the stands in celebration.  While Robin van Persie’s breakthrough goal gave Arsenal a slightly fortunate lead, the captain’s strike was both a literal goal that put the game beyond Spurs, and a figurative statement to fans and foes alike: that this team will go as far as Cesc Fabregas will take them.

Earlier in the season, Pat Dolan of Setanta Sports criticized Fabregas for not celebrating enthusiastically enough when he scored a late goal.  While Dolan’s commentary is often prescient, in that case it seemed to be a bit of a reach.  Fabregas is in the unfortunate position of having to constantly deny that he has designs on returning to Spain.  He has said whenever asked that he would like to go back someday, but not in the near future.  This is the sort of game that clearly demonstrates that his heart is with the Gunners–and he showed his fans exactly that with a spectacular effort against their fiercest rivals.

On top of the performance of Fabregas, it should be noted that Arsenal finally managed to keep a clean sheet and by all rights should have had more goals.  Eduardo, a first half substitute for the injured Nicklas Bendtner (whose groin pull will be one of the few low points of the match), spurned three legitimate chances to score.  Two of those chances were efforts that he ordinarily would make short work of, and the third was a header that he could easily have put to either side of Heurelho Gomes.  Abou Diaby made a great run late on a corner, only to have the ball hit his shoulder instead of his head, and Ramsey and Fabregas had a fantastic opportunity right at the death to pile more misery on Spurs, but one would suspect that the injury to Sebastien Bassong and the three goal lead led to their weak concession of the ball.

All of this came on the heels of the late collapses at West Ham and AZ Alkmaar (excepting Liverpool in the Carling Cup because of the vastly different sides).  What Arsene Wenger must do is use this victory, and all its positives, to push Arsenal onward and upward.  If they can learn to keep a clean sheet and keep scoring three goals even when spurning five other clear chances, then the title race will surely have to include a North London team–and no, Robbie Keane, not Tottenham.

There is reason to be concerned.

If AZ Alkmaar was a foreshadowing, the Gunners did their best to not heed the warning.  Anyone who has watched this team over the past five years knew what was coming, both in the Netherlands and at Upton Park.  It’s just too predictable.  If you expect to lift the Premier League trophy at the end of the season, you simply must be able to keep a clean sheet.

In what must be Vito Mannone’s last two Premiership games as first choice goalkeeper, he has gifted the opposition a goal each–and this week, it cost his team two absolutely vital points.  With both Manchester United and Tottenham losing this week, Arsenal had a chance to pass them both in the table and be only three points off top with a game in hand and a far superior goal difference.

But the familiar Arsenal foes, namely an inability to finish teams off, poor defending/goalkeeping at set plays, and overall lack of confidence in late-game situations with slender leads, have come once again to collect.  This season, there is less margin for error, and these are problems that will keep the trophy case empty for yet another year if Arsene Wenger does not rectify them.

All credit to West Ham, and particularly Carlton Cole and Diamanti, the latter of whom singlehandedly changed the game.  Robert Green made up for an early error with an exceptional reaction save late in the game from Robin van Persie, which certainly saved a point for the Hammers.  West Ham certainly came back to earn their point.

But why does Wenger persist with a complacent team for 80 minutes?  Why are Bendtner, Eduardo, and Nasri on the bench on a day where Emmanuel Eboue was typically wasteful with the final ball and Andrey Arshavin was less than his usual brilliant self?  The nature of Arsenal’s two goals, the first of which was gifted to them, give credence to the notion that they still lack sufficient intensity on the road and, particularly, in London derbies.  Arsenal still enjoy a great position in the league table but these mistakes not only hurt them in points, but they cause further strain on an already fragile team psyche.  It is this fragility of mind that must be corrected, and soon, because while the title cannot be won in December, in the Premiership, it most certainly can be lost.

The Premier League has long been a test of consistency more than quality.  A feature of the last season-plus has been Liverpool’s success against Manchester United, Chelsea, and, to a lesser extent, Arsenal.  Sunday’s 2-0 Anfield win was the third consecutive against the champions in the league.

It was a game with admittedly favorable officiating for the Merseysiders, and yet a game in which they had to make do without their captain, Steven Gerrard.  The availability of Fernando Torres, however, was a bonus over last year’s corresponding fixture.  And in a week where Rafa Benitez’s job was anything but secure, he sounded a challenge to both his detractors and his team.

Fitting, then, that it would be Rafa’s compatriot that would strike brilliantly to reopen Liverpool’s title race, if only for now.  Reminiscent of Thierry Henry in his prime, El Niño received an inch-perfect pass from Yossi Benayoun and controlled while fending off England’s first-choice center-half.  With strength and balance only surpassed by his clinical finishing, he slammed the ball into the roof of the net to send the Kop into ecstasy.

In the end, both Nemanja Vidic (for the third consecutive time against ‘Pool in the league) and Javier Mascherano (the Argentine Robbie Savage) were sent off for two bookable offenses, and David N’Gog had scored in injury time to seal a deserved victory.  But surely those devout fans who have been waiting for a league title for 19 years now would prefer to drop points against United and carry the trophy, rather than last season’s double which accompanied an empty trophy case.  So again, it bears mentioning that Liverpool have consistently shown up for the marquee games, but have disappointed all too frequently against lesser competition.

Liverpool’s title challenge wasn’t ended by their fourth loss of the season.  It was ended in the summer transfer window when fan favorite Xabi Alonso was sold to Madrid.  Perhaps Alberto Aquilani will be the answer, ultimately, but for now, solid performances by Lucas are too hard to come by.  And in a league where the big four looks more like a big eight, every dropped point is crucial.

Three points dropped.

Life is tough at the top.  Last year at this stage of the season, Tottenham were propping up the Premier League table.  Coming into this game they actually had a chance to go top with a big win, or at least draw level on points.  Instead, Stoke gave them a lesson in defensive tenacity and profligacy in should-win games.

Manchester United won the title last season by taking 70 of 72 points from the bottom 12 teams in the league.  Wastefulness against lesser teams cost Liverpool the trophy and Arsenal the trophy the year prior.  Simple math dictates that you can waste points against the big four, or even the contenders, provided you don’t drop points against the rest of the league.

Tottenham’s misery had all the remnants of a typical outing of their North London neighbors–plenty of chances, some great goaltending saves, and even a ridiculous off-the-line clearance by James Beattie that saved Stoke City at least two points, and probably three.  And as any Arsenal fan would tell you, the longer the game remains within a goal, points can be dropped at any second, against any opposition (a lesson that was learned by the Gunners again against AZ in midweek).  What Tottenham (and Manchester City, Everton, and Aston Villa) must learn is that in order to have designs on Champions League football, you must not squander points against “lesser” sides.

One other thing was interesting in the game.  Roman Pavlyuchenko was criticized by the commentator for not going to ground when he was fouled, since there were no teammates around him for support.  Later, Vedran Corluka was tripped in the box–which should have been a penalty–and the same commentator said that he went down too theatrically and this was why he was not awarded a penalty.  After all the criticism of Eduardo earlier in the season for his dive against Celtic, and much less pointed at Wayne Rooney for his going down too easily to draw a penalty against Arsenal, it can only be concluded that commentators, or press, or fans, have no standards on whether it is acceptable to dive or not.  Judging by the commentator’s difference of opinion on two plays that occurred in the same half, it is clear that only the acting ability of the player is what matters, not whether he was actually fouled.  There is too much attention paid to the matter of diving.  If FIFA or UEFA really wanted to remove diving from the sport, they would institute a review panel that handed out retroactive bans of three games for any player that dove.  You can be sure that the problem would solve itself rather quickly.

Roy Hodgson has not taken long to turn Craven Cottage into a difficult place to play.  Far from the day when Lawrie Sanchez was dragging Fulham close to the drop zone, an extremely resolute back four anchored by Brede Hangeland have turned the Cottagers into a difficult proposition.

For Arsenal, such travels have proven tricky over the last four years.  Whereas Chelsea and Manchester United have learned to make the most of lesser opposition, the Gunners have often been stymied by sides that play ten men behind the ball, dropping pairs of points all too frequently in cases when all three should easily have been secured.

So Arsenal’s critics are quick to say that trophies will once again return to North London once this problem can be remedied.  Manchester United have given up relying on anything but drab 1-0 results in such contests, and Chelsea have long since been the masters of eking out results in relentlessly boring ways.  Both sides’ propensities to win when at anything less than their best is commonly held up as evidence that they have what it takes to win; Liverpool last season and Arsenal for many seasons have been unable to master such a skill.

But if the Fulham game is to be any evidence, Arsenal are starting to learn what it takes.  From the start, Fulham looked enterprising and tested Vito Mannone time and time again.  Mannone responded with what he called the “best game of his career,” and it was an example of how the Gunners have been missing a goalkeeper that can genuinely steal a game.

Mannone’s double save in the first half and confident command of the area throughout were welcome against the backdrop of what traditionally has killed them repeatedly.  One could be forgiven for feeling like with Manuel Almunia in net, the game would have, at best, been a draw.  And yet there was Mannone, keeping a clean sheet long enough for Cesc Fabregas to pick one brilliant pass and for Robin van Persie to sublimely control and then finish with two deft touches.  The goal led to better football from Arsenal but the game will hardly be remembered by any but the staunchest supporter.

One other thing that Mannone’s man-of-the-match performance allowed Arsenal to witness is how they must walk a tightrope between criticisms.  When they play beautiful football and can only compete for Champions League spots or cup semifinals, they are derided for trying too hard to walk the ball into the net and lacking a spine.  They are constantly told that they need to learn to win ugly in order to win consistently.

But when they do exactly that–which can be excused against a very respectable opponent in a London derby, then they are “less than convincing” and not to be feared by the real contenders for the title.  This is surely only one example of a game in which they used grit and determination, rather than flair and panache, in order to grind out a result.  It hardly indicates a new ethos for the team.  But if it does end up being a sign of a different, more tenacious side, then those that are typically collecting the silverware may find that they have to share the spoils come May.

It’s a feature of human nature that we are quick, in the heat of the moment, to see our point of view over another’s.  However, the mature person is able to see, after some introspection, the extent to which he is culpable.

Professional athletes often lack this maturity.

The lore of Emmanuel Adebayor includes tales of playing football barefoot on dirt fields as a youth in his homeland of Togo.  When he first donned an Arsenal kit, he was quick with a smile, and, though gangly and awkward, soon found his way into the first team.  An away goal at Old Trafford in a 1-0 victory put him in the hearts of many Gooners, and  after his mentor and goal-celebration dance partner, Thierry Henry, left for the Blaugrana, it was Ade who was to strike fear into opposing defenses in Henry’s stead.

But 30 goals in a season that saw Arsenal come agonizingly close to reclaiming the Premiership planted a sour seed in Adebayor’s agent’s mind.  As Arsene Wenger would say in Ade’s defense, it was his agent who put Milan or Barca in his mind.  It was the influence of others that turned a fan favorite into Greedybayor.

And while Wenger had no choice but to defend his star striker, he also doubled his wages in order to stave off continental suitors.  And while this was certainly a sacrifice–at least financially–on the Togolese’s part, he never allowed himself to admit that supporters would need time and incentive to love him again.  Because when rumors were coming thick and fast, Adebayor was conspicuously silent.  It wasn’t until very late in the transfer window that he finally claimed undying loyalty to the Gunners’ cause.

But despite the fact that his goal celebration would newly include badge kissing in front of the home fans, he was still booed, and this led to his lack of effort on a weekly basis.  Which, in turn, led to a lack of production, and subsequently a lack of camaraderie with his team.  Because one thing that was evident at Eastlands on Saturday was that when Adebayor wants to play, he is the complete package.  Whereas last season, his number of offsides was staggering, against Arsenal and with a newfound dedication, it was his work rate that impressed.  Alongside Craig Bellamy, the City strikers gave a clinic in defending from the front.  Fortuitous at times, and certainly on the back foot for a chunk of the game, City was lifted first by the Welshman and then by Adebayor, who must have loved the opportunity to score against his old team.

His celebration, however, involved sprinting to the opposite side of the pitch to taunt the Arsenal fans, by whom he was made to feel so aggrieved.  And it was that marathon across the field that showed everyone that Adebayor is unwilling, and quite possibly unable, to acknowledge his part in all of this.  No one at Arsenal, fans or otherwise, would ever argue that Adebayor is an exceptional talent with the ability to score practically at will.  All Gunners fans would have wanted from Adebayor is for him to win back their affection with hard work and goals.  In the opinion of a greedy, self-deceiving Togolese who forgot those barefoot days of his youth, that was simply too much to ask.

He can only hope that early form is a reliable indicator of the table come May.