2012/13 Soccer Thread

Maybe City should submit a bid for Phil Dowd in the same way that United have for Webb - after all, Webb still plays for United even when he isn't involved in their games, as Saturday's display demonstrated.

Not sure if joking or serious.

Dimmerswitch wrote:
jowner wrote:
Everton have agreed a deal to sign the Dutch international midfielder Leroy Fer for a fee thought to be around €10m (£8.5m). He will now travel to Everton to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical.

Well now, that was unexpected.

Assuming the rumor is true, I wonder whether our chairman has decided to invest some to make a run at finishing high enough to get into the Champions League?

I'd still like to see another midfield signing - if we're set on keeping Fellaini as an AMC / inside forward, maybe a deep-lying playmaker. That or someone for Seamus Coleman to link up with on the right flank - Naismith has been a pretty huge disappointment out there, IMO.

Not so fast, sunshine..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/footbal...

A song for sweet, gentle Mario, to Sky Sports and the press...

jowner wrote:

I'm actually going to miss him. Hes the kind of Mourinho-esqu character that just adds more spice to following the Prem.

I'd happily have Mourinho back in Premier League, but Balotelli is different thing altogether. I don't like that kind of spice. Stupid, spoiled footballers don't surprise me anymore, but I don't find anything upbeat about them. Best I can do is to not give a sh*t, sometimes laugh in spite.

For first time what Wenger says about transfers sounds sensible... And surprisingly he seems to be having a dig at himself for signing Park:

I have to be strong enough to resist or you have a player for four or five years who will never play a game, just because you bring in an average player who you know at the start is average. If I do that, I don’t do my job.

If he doesn't like bringing in average players, how does he explain half of your current squad ?

That's why I said it sounded like he was taking a dig at himself

Supposedly Real are in for Wenger again to replace Mourinho when he burns out with the board/players this summer. (yea I know old recycled rumor as they are always 'after' him)

New dream scenario considering Pep is off the table.

Real want to bring Wenger in so bad that they offer an obscene fee just to sign Wenger. Using his own 'business reasons' logic the fee is so high that Wenger has to transfer himself to Real.

Leaves Arsenal managerless with a nice tidy sum and Mourinho clubless Pure fiction of course but I can dream.

edit:

"We have to make signings. We can't go the rest of the season with 17 or 18 players.

"We had two keepers on the bench because I didn't have any more senior players available."

Oh Harry

Wenger would be a good fit for RM - lot less drama for a start, plus he might actually use some of the players in their academy, which could be as good as Barca's, but at the moment the club rarely gives them a chance.

RM not such a good fit for him though - lots of egos and cliques within the current squad, interfering bosses, and a press who don't fawn over him.

It'd be an interesting season or so, that's for sure.

davet010 wrote:

Not so fast, sunshine..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/footbal...

From what I've read, sounds like Everton want to hedge against Fer being as injury-riddled as Mirallas seems to have been this season [edit to add: apparently the team medical uncovered some concerns with Fer's knee, which prompted the amended offer]. Not unreasonable. If we don't come to terms regarding Fer, I'd still like to see one or two signings (probably a midfielder, and maybe a fullback so we have someone to cover for Coleman who isn't Neville).

Dream signing for me (that we could potentially afford)? Probably Timothy Chandler - signed him in a couple of my FM games, and he's a solid performer all along the right side. Comparatively young, too - which would be especially nice, given that our current starters are getting fairly long in the tooth.

[Final edit to add: deal's off. Hopefully some other possibilities are already in the hopper.]

"We have to make signings. We can't go the rest of the season with 17 or 18 players.

"We had two keepers on the bench because I didn't have any more senior players available."

Oh Harry :D[/quote]

IMAGE(https://o.twimg.com/1/proxy.jpg?t=FQQVBBgpaHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0cGljLmNvbS9zaG93L2xhcmdlL2J6aGcyaS5qcGcUAhYAEgA&s=tnv1DCTdal5U3LTKKkEDIPHzGGgtmFYdV2xy9QRlWPs)

I think not signing 2-3 players in the next two days is an easy way for Arsene to submit his resignation.

Becchio on his way to Norwich according to some sources. I'm starting to think that they should just move transport the club to Leeds since they are buying all our players and the owners would have a bigger market

Again good attacking play hampered by ridiculous defending. Again Mertesacker in wrong position on number of opposition counter, Santos laughable and worst player on the pitch by mile, Sagna looking off pace and prone to mistakes.

What a joke. How Santos even sees the pitch just shows Wengers is clueless. That was our only substitution how.

Arf at Chelsea, 2-0 up at Reading with 3 mins to go and draw 2-2.

I better make sure I know where my phone is, Rafa is on thin ice after that.

Gibbs out for at least three weeks. Could be a good excuse to buy that defender.

UCRC wrote:

Gibbs out for at least three weeks. Could be a good excuse to buy that defender.

Would it even matter though?

I'm honestly dumbfounded how:

1. Santos even sees the pitch.
2. Chamberlain doesn't come on for Podolski eventually.
3. Diaby doesn't come on for Ramsey.

The game was tiring enough you would figure at least one of the 2 or 3 happen to keep the pace up and the mistakes down but no.

I spent the 70-90th yelling for them to move the ball back to the right. The ball just got stuck on the left side of the pitch and it was a nightmare.

Tactically I think Wenger is just shot now. The defense is an organizational mess and he cant even handle subs in game.

Just waiting for Spurs to snag a striker at the last minute and Arsenal to stand pat like everything is peachy.

Nowt much happening in the window. 'Arry has got Christophe Samba for £12m, but oddly enough seems keen to deflect all of the credit onto the chairman...no doubt that 'credit' will be 'blame' if they go down and QPR are saddled with a 100k a week defender in the Championship with their 18000 capacity ground.

Daft question of the day - Swansea City. City sell Balotelli, press starts going on about City only having 3 forwards (wonder what ever happened to the 10 that PurpleNose accused City of having). Swansea ring up - "Want to lend us John Guidetti til the end of the season ?"

Err, no.

Sounds like we're after a left-back, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacho_M...
So, as always my knowledge is limited to how good he is in FM... he's usually pretty good

Also:

19.41 - It's estimated that QPR's total outlay on Chris Samba will be in the region of 36M

edit: rumours are pretty substantial, and I've got to say, it sounds like a good signing - established left-back at good club in Spain, Spanish international, €8-10M, good. Cup-tied, though.

I must say, whenever I've seen Malaga on the telly, only one of their players has impressed me - and that's Isco.

And is Arsenal's only area of need left-back ? Is that a need at all ?

City have signed a Ghanaian striker, 18 years old, sent on loan to our Swedish chums at Djuurgarden. That should toughen him up.

PSG supporter welcomes Beckham to the club (so very NSFW)

dejanzie wrote:

PSG supporter welcomes Beckham to the club (so very NSFW)

I was almost sure it was going to be a guy who painted his balls. Positive surprise, I guess.

davet010 wrote:

I must say, whenever I've seen Malaga on the telly, only one of their players has impressed me - and that's Isco.

Yeah, he's good.

And is Arsenal's only area of need left-back ? Is that a need at all ?

That is clearly one area where we have absolutely no cover and clearly defence was where Arsenal has been found lacking recently.
If I had to sign two players for Arsenal it would be a good left-back and a very promising central defender.

A young right back is a good signing for the future (don't know anything about Stones but what I'm seeing is fairly promising), but it looks like we had no real backup plan for the Fer deal not coming through.

May be a long spring.

Wonder if anyone has told Peter Odemwingie that (a) any transfer would have to be signed off by his current club, who by all accounts will not do so, and (b), QPR are sh*te and are going down.

EDIT - oh lord, Harpurhey (it's in E Manchester) Police have tweeted "we've just escorted a very special Spanish guest into the Etihad'.

It'd better be Lionel Messi, or my local councillor will be getting an earful tomorrow - GMP's conviction rates are some of the worst in the country as it is, let alone time for f**king tweeting.

2300 - must have been a takeaway paella.

EDIT2 - I know Sky Sports are hard up for 'pundits' - they still employ Merson, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas for one thing, but how on earth have they stooped so low as having ex-Palace chairman Simon Jordan on all day. What the hell does he know about anything...and after 5 minutes listening to him, the answer 'absolutely nothing' is patently obvious.

I don't care what they say.

Even if he was coming in the summer its a panic buy to bump it up this early realizing Santos was apparently our starting LB without Gibbs.

I think Spurs lack of business inspires me more.

dejanzie wrote:

PSG supporter welcomes Beckham to the club (so very NSFW)

Approve. Over/Under of how many minutes he actually plays? Like, can anyone imagine a more obvious "The owners did this for marketing reasons" move in recent memory? Outside of Qatar/China/MLS, mind you.

You hear about Sneijder and Drogba, you start thinking Galatasaray are maybe a serious power now, then you're reminded that they have Eboue and Milan Baros in their team.

Anyhow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/footbal...

With that squad, you gotta be kiddng.

Johan Elmander - couldn't hit a barn door while at Bolton Wanderers.
Sneijder - Is about as interested in being there as I would be in reading Bryan Robson's autobiography.
Albert Reira - Was on loan at City during his time at Espanyol in 2006. Wasn't one of the better players at either. Nuff said.
Tomas Ujfalusi - Been consistent wherever he's been. Consistently mediocre.
Drogba - past-it, looking for a final fat payday.

They're playing in a league that rivals Serie A for corruption and the Dutch league for violence, and the report trumpets the fact that Gala are 30th on the money list with a turnover of £80-odd million, a figure which every PL team will dwarf when the next Sky contract starts - and that's all the money they can make in a city of 20m in a stadium they don't own.

Oh yeah, European giants. Like Rangers.