quote:Originally posted by Paul H
Is that Graham Le Saux in the white coat advertising Harpic toilet cleaner?
I think you need to go to Specsavers.[;)]
8 days to go.....
Not sure what to expect from this season.
For my boys I am worried about the sale of Alonso- he was a great player for us last season. Do love the way how Fergie has started the mind games with Rafa already.
I can't see Man City breaking into the top four at all. Hughes still has to get them playing as a team rather than a group of individuals.
Not sure what to expect from this season.
For my boys I am worried about the sale of Alonso- he was a great player for us last season. Do love the way how Fergie has started the mind games with Rafa already.
I can't see Man City breaking into the top four at all. Hughes still has to get them playing as a team rather than a group of individuals.
quote:Originally posted by MarkedMan
Losing Alonso was not a thrilling way to kick things off, but Aquilani is not a shabby replacement. Still, it's a sign of shaky finances for sure. There may be be trouble ahead ....
I rather thought that Aquilani WAS a Xabi(sp) replacement[:w]
Losing Alonso was not a thrilling way to kick things off, but Aquilani is not a shabby replacement. Still, it's a sign of shaky finances for sure. There may be be trouble ahead ....
I rather thought that Aquilani WAS a Xabi(sp) replacement[:w]
Thanks,
John.
John.
He sure is - though the main thing seems to be they bagged 10mil in the process. He's not a bad replacement, like I said, the point being though that the deal rather has the flavor of 'we'll buy someone if we can also sell someone, and make a profit out of the deal'.
quote:Originally posted by MarkedMan
He sure is - though the main thing seems to be they bagged 10mil in the process. He's not a bad replacement, like I said, the point being though that the deal rather has the flavor of 'we'll buy someone if we can also sell someone, and make a profit out of the deal'.
With the exception of Manchester City and Chelsea, is that not how most clubs work.
United for example only decided to come into the market once they knew they had the money from Ronaldo leaving and even then they were clearly interested in keeping most of the 80 million hence why they did not outbid Madrid for Benzima etc.
I do see what you are getting at that though- you don't want LFC to adopt an Arsenal approach to transfers. I agree too but I think during these times (with the exceptions of Madrid, Chelsea and Man City) most clubs are selling players to buy in new ones, using freebies well (Owen to United), using 'clever' financing arrangements (e.g. Johnson only really costing Liverpool 3m once you take into account Arberlloas departure and the money owed for Crouch) or agreeing 'swap' deals like the Eto/Ibrahimovic deal between Barca and Inter.
The other problem a lot of clubs have to contend with is that Madrid and City have lifted transfers to a whole new level. You have clubs like Atletico Madrid quoting 30m for a 31 year old player who was kicked out by Man United! 15m now gets you a South American striker from an average premier league side (I was meaning Santa Cruz not Tevez btw). Certainly 23m for Torres looks a bargain!
He sure is - though the main thing seems to be they bagged 10mil in the process. He's not a bad replacement, like I said, the point being though that the deal rather has the flavor of 'we'll buy someone if we can also sell someone, and make a profit out of the deal'.
With the exception of Manchester City and Chelsea, is that not how most clubs work.
United for example only decided to come into the market once they knew they had the money from Ronaldo leaving and even then they were clearly interested in keeping most of the 80 million hence why they did not outbid Madrid for Benzima etc.
I do see what you are getting at that though- you don't want LFC to adopt an Arsenal approach to transfers. I agree too but I think during these times (with the exceptions of Madrid, Chelsea and Man City) most clubs are selling players to buy in new ones, using freebies well (Owen to United), using 'clever' financing arrangements (e.g. Johnson only really costing Liverpool 3m once you take into account Arberlloas departure and the money owed for Crouch) or agreeing 'swap' deals like the Eto/Ibrahimovic deal between Barca and Inter.
The other problem a lot of clubs have to contend with is that Madrid and City have lifted transfers to a whole new level. You have clubs like Atletico Madrid quoting 30m for a 31 year old player who was kicked out by Man United! 15m now gets you a South American striker from an average premier league side (I was meaning Santa Cruz not Tevez btw). Certainly 23m for Torres looks a bargain!
There's no dount what City & Real have done is absolutely mental. I just hope it doesn't damage the transfer market permanently. I don't know how the hell Real have come up with the money, all I can assume is surely they can't do this again next season? City are a different matter as they do have money to burn but if they fail to qualify for champions league football I still can't see them getting world class players in.
I think Fergie was right not to compete with Real Madrid for Benzema at the end of the day the lad wanted to go to them over United anyway so it was for the best. Valencia looks more than capable of doing a job for us, in a side like ours he'll get more chance to attack than he did with Wigan and I'm looking forward to seeing more from him. My concern is out goal keepers, VDS is out for two months leaving Foster and Kuschak, I've never been impressed with either of them, god only knows where all the hype for Foster comes from? This is one area I really hope Fergie sorts out, VDS must be in his last season, the other two are not good enough for us.
Hopefully it'll be an interesting season, I'm not concenred about United losing Ronaldo, it's gone, Rooney will get to play where he wants to now and I honestly think this is going to be a great season for him, I think we'll see more from Berbatov and I'm sure Owen will get goals too. I still think we'll be challenging for the league.
City - I'm honestly not worried about them winning the league, I don't think the balance is right, look at all the strikers! I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league but they had a good balance to the side.
Chelsea - They will still be there in the mix, always a tough side to beat but I really think Roman wants them to lift the champions league over anything else.
Liverpool - I really don't know how big a loss Alonso is for them? Torres & Gerrard are obviously massive for them but I heard someone saying on football writers (SKY one) that Torres will struggle to play two games a week cos of dodgy hamstrings? I know nothing about this, is there any substance to it? I can't believe it myself if I'm being honest, would be handy for the rest of us if it were true!
I think Fergie was right not to compete with Real Madrid for Benzema at the end of the day the lad wanted to go to them over United anyway so it was for the best. Valencia looks more than capable of doing a job for us, in a side like ours he'll get more chance to attack than he did with Wigan and I'm looking forward to seeing more from him. My concern is out goal keepers, VDS is out for two months leaving Foster and Kuschak, I've never been impressed with either of them, god only knows where all the hype for Foster comes from? This is one area I really hope Fergie sorts out, VDS must be in his last season, the other two are not good enough for us.
Hopefully it'll be an interesting season, I'm not concenred about United losing Ronaldo, it's gone, Rooney will get to play where he wants to now and I honestly think this is going to be a great season for him, I think we'll see more from Berbatov and I'm sure Owen will get goals too. I still think we'll be challenging for the league.
City - I'm honestly not worried about them winning the league, I don't think the balance is right, look at all the strikers! I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league but they had a good balance to the side.
Chelsea - They will still be there in the mix, always a tough side to beat but I really think Roman wants them to lift the champions league over anything else.
Liverpool - I really don't know how big a loss Alonso is for them? Torres & Gerrard are obviously massive for them but I heard someone saying on football writers (SKY one) that Torres will struggle to play two games a week cos of dodgy hamstrings? I know nothing about this, is there any substance to it? I can't believe it myself if I'm being honest, would be handy for the rest of us if it were true!
quote:Originally posted by daywalker
My concern is out goal keepers, VDS is out for two months leaving Foster and Kuschak, I've never been impressed with either of them, god only knows where all the hype for Foster comes from? This is one area I really hope Fergie sorts out, VDS must be in his last season, the other two are not good enough for us.
Interesting, I seem to recall the mainstream press and Sky wanting VDS' head at the start of last season. It was all 'VDS is error prone' 'He is letting the side down' and then of course at Anfield he let in a 'soft goal'. Then he went on his clean sheet run and now the press are saying he is invincible, a big loss etc! Funny how quickly they change their minds. However I do agree that VDS does give United an extra something.
quote:
City - I'm honestly not worried about them winning the league, I don't think the balance is right, look at all the strikers! I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league but they had a good balance to the side.
Yep agree- defence needs to be sorted ASAP.
quote:
Chelsea - They will still be there in the mix, always a tough side to beat but I really think Roman wants them to lift the champions league over anything else.
Agree but feel they will be up there. I wonder how close JT was to heading north? Maybe that will affect squad harmony? Will be intrigued to see how good Ancelotti is in England.
quote:
Liverpool - I really don't know how big a loss Alonso is for them? Torres & Gerrard are obviously massive for them but I heard someone saying on football writers (SKY one) that Torres will struggle to play two games a week cos of dodgy hamstrings? I know nothing about this, is there any substance to it? I can't believe it myself if I'm being honest, would be handy for the rest of us if it were true!
Alonso= huge loss. Though his replacement looks pretty tasty, when fit. As for Torres comment- no idea, he did limp off at the weekend. To be fair, he was out for well over two months last season (along with Gerrard) and we did just fine, again media do like to hype things!
My concern is out goal keepers, VDS is out for two months leaving Foster and Kuschak, I've never been impressed with either of them, god only knows where all the hype for Foster comes from? This is one area I really hope Fergie sorts out, VDS must be in his last season, the other two are not good enough for us.
Interesting, I seem to recall the mainstream press and Sky wanting VDS' head at the start of last season. It was all 'VDS is error prone' 'He is letting the side down' and then of course at Anfield he let in a 'soft goal'. Then he went on his clean sheet run and now the press are saying he is invincible, a big loss etc! Funny how quickly they change their minds. However I do agree that VDS does give United an extra something.
quote:
City - I'm honestly not worried about them winning the league, I don't think the balance is right, look at all the strikers! I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league but they had a good balance to the side.
Yep agree- defence needs to be sorted ASAP.
quote:
Chelsea - They will still be there in the mix, always a tough side to beat but I really think Roman wants them to lift the champions league over anything else.
Agree but feel they will be up there. I wonder how close JT was to heading north? Maybe that will affect squad harmony? Will be intrigued to see how good Ancelotti is in England.
quote:
Liverpool - I really don't know how big a loss Alonso is for them? Torres & Gerrard are obviously massive for them but I heard someone saying on football writers (SKY one) that Torres will struggle to play two games a week cos of dodgy hamstrings? I know nothing about this, is there any substance to it? I can't believe it myself if I'm being honest, would be handy for the rest of us if it were true!
Alonso= huge loss. Though his replacement looks pretty tasty, when fit. As for Torres comment- no idea, he did limp off at the weekend. To be fair, he was out for well over two months last season (along with Gerrard) and we did just fine, again media do like to hype things!
I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league
I agree, I have often admired Arsenal,Chelsea and Man.Utd. for the way they all won their titles on shoestring budgets.As for Liverpool, my admiration is greater. All home grown players or no player that cost more then 100k. I really do hope they win it this year to show everyone that you don`t have to spend a fortune on players to win/buy the title (plus that cup does look boring with only 4 teams names engraved into it).
I agree, I have often admired Arsenal,Chelsea and Man.Utd. for the way they all won their titles on shoestring budgets.As for Liverpool, my admiration is greater. All home grown players or no player that cost more then 100k. I really do hope they win it this year to show everyone that you don`t have to spend a fortune on players to win/buy the title (plus that cup does look boring with only 4 teams names engraved into it).
quote:Originally posted by Paul H
I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league
I agree, I have often admired Arsenal,Chelsea and Man.Utd. for the way they all won their titles on shoestring budgets.As for Liverpool, my admiration is greater. All home grown players or no player that cost more then 100k. I really do hope they win it this year to show everyone that you don`t have to spend a fortune on players to win/buy the title (plus that cup does look boring with only 4 teams names engraved into it).
I think someone has totally missed the point yet again [ii][|)]
I know Blackburn have come from nowhere and 'bought' the league
I agree, I have often admired Arsenal,Chelsea and Man.Utd. for the way they all won their titles on shoestring budgets.As for Liverpool, my admiration is greater. All home grown players or no player that cost more then 100k. I really do hope they win it this year to show everyone that you don`t have to spend a fortune on players to win/buy the title (plus that cup does look boring with only 4 teams names engraved into it).
I think someone has totally missed the point yet again [ii][|)]
quote:Originally posted by Paul H
What a fine debater you are.
Now now, calm down, instead of trying to continually take a pop at me, something which has been dragging on with you for a few months now (and I'm bored of it). Why not take the time to look at this again. Rather than just pick out a short quote from the full paragrapgh that started 'City', try reading that paragrapgh again, if you still don't get it, I'll help you out as you may not know as much about this subject as others, I thought it was obvious but I keep forgetting not everyone was around or interested back in the early 90s:-
The point I was making about Blackburn was they came from nowhere with Jack Walkers millions but had a good enough manager who selected the right players to give the side balance, I don't believe Mark Hughes has done the same. I put City & Blackburn in the same bracket as neither team has/had won a trophy for a long time nor had come close in any of the few seasons before the money came.
Chelsea obviously had the Roman factor but to give them credit, at least they were in champions league positions/ regular FA Cup runs before hand although I accept, it was still a 50 year wait for them to finally win the league [:)]
Liverpool & Man Utd, totally different to those three sides, they have not been taken over by a person(or persons) who want to sink all their money into the club to buy success with seemingly unlimited funds. These two clubs have well publicised debts to service and are run to make money for their owners primarily, success brings them this so some investment obviously needs to be made. I can't be sure about Liverpool when they started their dominace but I can tell you that when United started their dominance in the 90's, homegrown players were the backbone of that success (Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt and the Nevilles). I am not for one second saying money hasn't been spent but the majority of it has been spent on the back of success rather than before success.
For your continued pleasure might I suggest a look at the site below, the nett figures make for interesting reading, ignore the date on the front page, the figures are up to date. You can tell from looking at the latest figures under each team :-
http://www.transferleague.co.uk/
What a fine debater you are.
Now now, calm down, instead of trying to continually take a pop at me, something which has been dragging on with you for a few months now (and I'm bored of it). Why not take the time to look at this again. Rather than just pick out a short quote from the full paragrapgh that started 'City', try reading that paragrapgh again, if you still don't get it, I'll help you out as you may not know as much about this subject as others, I thought it was obvious but I keep forgetting not everyone was around or interested back in the early 90s:-
The point I was making about Blackburn was they came from nowhere with Jack Walkers millions but had a good enough manager who selected the right players to give the side balance, I don't believe Mark Hughes has done the same. I put City & Blackburn in the same bracket as neither team has/had won a trophy for a long time nor had come close in any of the few seasons before the money came.
Chelsea obviously had the Roman factor but to give them credit, at least they were in champions league positions/ regular FA Cup runs before hand although I accept, it was still a 50 year wait for them to finally win the league [:)]
Liverpool & Man Utd, totally different to those three sides, they have not been taken over by a person(or persons) who want to sink all their money into the club to buy success with seemingly unlimited funds. These two clubs have well publicised debts to service and are run to make money for their owners primarily, success brings them this so some investment obviously needs to be made. I can't be sure about Liverpool when they started their dominace but I can tell you that when United started their dominance in the 90's, homegrown players were the backbone of that success (Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt and the Nevilles). I am not for one second saying money hasn't been spent but the majority of it has been spent on the back of success rather than before success.
For your continued pleasure might I suggest a look at the site below, the nett figures make for interesting reading, ignore the date on the front page, the figures are up to date. You can tell from looking at the latest figures under each team :-
http://www.transferleague.co.uk/
With a possible ban from a certain bar chat hanging over my head, i feel I need to say a few words.
I watched the match last night and I felt the winning team were the better team, they defended better and had more upfront.
So, well done Burnley!!![}:)][}:)]
Oh, great to see Jermain Defoe at his clinical best![}:)] However, I thought Palacios's goal was the best of the lot.
I watched the match last night and I felt the winning team were the better team, they defended better and had more upfront.
So, well done Burnley!!![}:)][}:)]
Oh, great to see Jermain Defoe at his clinical best![}:)] However, I thought Palacios's goal was the best of the lot.
quote:Originally posted by DarkAuror
With a possible ban from a certain bar chat hanging over my head, i feel I need to say a few words.
I watched the match last night and I felt the winning team were the better team, they defended better and had more upfront.
So, well done Burnley!!![}:)][}:)]
Oh, great to see Jermain Defoe at his clinical best![}:)] However, I thought Palacios's goal was the best of the lot.
Obviously they defended better because they let in fewer goals. The Rocket Science Award goes to DA.
As for 'the better team,' on several metrics I would disagree: we had 18 SOG, they had 8, we had possession 63% of the game, we had about 10 more corners, etc. All that said, WE COULD DO NOTHING WITH THIS OBVIOUS SUPERIORITY!!! They did not win on overall skill...they won on goals...because we can't get it into the damn net!!!!
We suck.
GJ
With a possible ban from a certain bar chat hanging over my head, i feel I need to say a few words.
I watched the match last night and I felt the winning team were the better team, they defended better and had more upfront.
So, well done Burnley!!![}:)][}:)]
Oh, great to see Jermain Defoe at his clinical best![}:)] However, I thought Palacios's goal was the best of the lot.
Obviously they defended better because they let in fewer goals. The Rocket Science Award goes to DA.
As for 'the better team,' on several metrics I would disagree: we had 18 SOG, they had 8, we had possession 63% of the game, we had about 10 more corners, etc. All that said, WE COULD DO NOTHING WITH THIS OBVIOUS SUPERIORITY!!! They did not win on overall skill...they won on goals...because we can't get it into the damn net!!!!
We suck.
GJ
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