Mido's time at Barnsley seems to be all but over as the club recently said that they are trying to find a deal with the player's representatives to terminate his contract after seeing the Egyptian star struggle with form and injuries during his time at the club. Mido himself claimed that he's set to leave England to play in one of the Gulf countries. However, Barnsley's coach was axed from his job after that and time will tell if the new manager will have a different opinion about Mido. Barnsley lost to Peterborough United 2-1 away from home to stay at the bottom of the league table. Still in England, for the first time since his move to Hull City, Ahmed Al-Mohamadi missed a game as he struggled to shake off a hamstring injury in time to face Blackpool away from home. The game ended in a 0-0 draw which meant Hull stayed in second place behind leaders Cardiff. Adam Al-Abd and Brighton played a game to remember as they thrashed Ipswich town 3-0 away to record their second consecutive win. Al-Abd played a brilliant game in defence as he managed to shackle the opponents' strikers well. The win takes Brighton to ninth place. In Belgium, it was a mixed night for our Egyptian stars at Lierse as they lost to Anderlecht 4-1. At the back Ahmed Said Okka had a very difficult night alongside the backline as Anderlecht managed to put four goals in their net. Okka did not commit any direct mistakes but didn't have a good day at the office either. On the other hand, Mohamed Al-Gabbas managed to score his side's only goal in the 60th minute but it was merely a consolation goal. The defeat meant Lierse stayed in 15th place out of 16 teams. In Italy, Ahmed Hegazi was still absent as he recovers from his horrific knee injury as his side Fiorentina suffered a shocking defeat at home at the hands of Pescara 2-0. Fiorentina were expected to record their fourth league victory in a row, however, they suffered the extremely surprising defeat at home which meant they stayed third in the league table. In the UAE, Shikabala was missing as Al Wasl suffered a home defeat in the cup, losing 1-0 at the hands of Ittihad Kalba. Shika missed the game as a result of the injury suffered in the Banni Yas game one month ago. Al Wasl's coach G. Lacombe said after the game that Shikabala's absence really affected his team's performance as they lacked creativity and class in the final third. On the other hand, Mohamed Zidan once again missed his team's game as well because of injury suffered in the same game against Al Wasl. However, this time Banni Yas managed to make Zidan's absence go unnoticed as they recorded a 4-2 win over Al Dhafra. In Turkey and Switzerland, Amr Zaki and Mohamed Salah did not see action this week as most of the European leagues including their leagues were out celebrating the Christmas holidays. Arab and Africans: This week an African star comes under the microscope as his rise in the English Football league cannot go unnoticed. Demba Ba is the star of this week as the Senegalese left Newcastle a few days ago to join Chelsea after starring and scoring for fun for the Magpies for the past two seasons. The more interesting part is that Demba Ba scored two goals for his new club only two days after joining them to help them beat Southampton 5-1 away from home in the FA cup as the Nigerian sensation Victor Moses notched one goal in the game as well. Many Chelsea fans have already labeled Ba the new Drogba after the game as his physical presence, all round contribution and approach to the game looks similar to that of the Ivorian superstar. Senegal did not qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations which means that Ba will be available for team selection the coming month unlike his teammates Moses and Mikel. Still in England, Pappis Cisse managed to score the only goal of his team as Newcastle lost 2-1 at home to Everton. In the same game, Nigerian star Victor Anichebe came off the bench to score the winner for Everton. Togolese star Emanuel Adebayor scored one goal as Tottenham beat Reading 3-1 at home.
