2008/09 Soccer Thread in Shock £50m Chelsea Switch! (And Other Ludicrousness)

Allow me to do my own keepy-uppy with the humour quotient....

Dateline, Old Trafford, 20 July

Purplenose....."Carlos Tevez is not worth £25m, and we were not prepared to deal at that price"

Dateline, Old Trafford, 20 June

Man Utd Chief Executive, David Gill......"The club agreed to pay the option price of £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract which would have made him one of its highest-paid players."

So, either Sir Alex (aka "The Greatest Football Manager this side of Proxima Centauri") does not talk to the guy who is effectively in charge of the club, or one or the other of them is (whispers it) - A GREAT BIG LYING GET !!

I do love this though.....every time he opens his mouth it's just like the kid in the playground sulking about how he's not bothered. Well, Sir Alex, if you ain't bothered, why talk about us at all ?

Made my day, that has

Samir Nasri has fractured his fibula. Out for 2-3 months. Arsenal are starting the injury parade very early this year.

The only positive thing I can spin this into is that Wenger said he was comfortable with the team and would only sign players if he wasn't happy with the pre-season. Losing a first XI player for 3months might encourage him to go get a player then especially the way Arsenal have been unlucky with injuries over the last 2 years.

Is that where Rosicky plays ? Maybe he can cover for Nasri in his absence.

davet010 wrote:

Is that where Rosicky plays ? Maybe he can cover for Nasri in his absence.

Thats it. Drive the stake in a little deeper.

davet010 wrote:

Is that where Rosicky plays ? Maybe he can cover for Nasri in his absence.

Yes and no. One of the perceived reasons of selling Ade besides getting a great price and his agent making him act like an ass is that his use would be limited by playing more 4-3-3 to accommodate Arshavin. A poor mans Barca lineup.

--------Almunia----------
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
----------Song-----------
------Cesc---Nasri--------
-Walcott-RVP-Arshavin---

Barca's lineup has better players or more experienced in almost every position besides maybe some of the defensive ones but still not a shabby lineup. Rosicky could come in that spot but its not exactly like for like. Also not sure how much you can trust a guy who's been out for over a year not to fall apart do to injuries again.

pop58 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Is that where Rosicky plays ? Maybe he can cover for Nasri in his absence.

Thats it. Drive the stake in a little deeper.

Rosicky is back... well kinda. He played in the first pre-season game and the accounts were that it wasn't a cheap run out but he was even getting stuck in on challenges.

It's something people forget about him because they only remember his highlight long shot goals. Very responsible defensive player who tackles very well for more of an attacking player. Between him and Nasri in a lineup we probably lose some passing and dribbling for a guy willing to have a shot from 30 yards if not closed down... and can score from that far even.

pop58 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Is that where Rosicky plays ? Maybe he can cover for Nasri in his absence.

Thats it. Drive the stake in a little deeper.

I was only arskin'....maybe City could interest you in a SWP plus Elano swap for Kolo Toure, perhaps ? They might even consider throwing in Benjani to give you some striking options, though City might have to throw in a couple of million to sweeten that deal.

In other footy news, it's being widely reported that the rich new owners of League 2 team Notts County are hoping that Sven-Goran Eriksson will accept the post as Director of Football, as part of their stated ambition to get NC into the Championship within 5 years.

Some cruel wits are pointing out that this might be connected with Nottingham's legendary surplus of women over men, as the Scandinavian lothario works his way through the available population.

davet010 wrote:

Some cruel wits are pointing out that this might be connected with Nottingham's legendary surplus of women over men, as the Scandinavian lothario works his way through the available population. :)

jowner wrote:

A poor mans Barca lineup.

I don't think that Wenger's is going to go for it. He will probably stick to some sort of 442 (or even 4-5-1).

UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Some cruel wits are pointing out that this might be connected with Nottingham's legendary surplus of women over men, as the Scandinavian lothario works his way through the available population. :)

jowner wrote:

A poor mans Barca lineup.

I don't think that Wenger's is going to go for it. He will probably stick to some sort of 442 (or even 4-5-1).

It will be situational. Not sure how much of 442 we will actually see. Friendly on now and it looks like a 4-5-1 that changes to a 4-3-3 on the fly. Wilshere and Arshavin being the guys moving up and down supporting Bendtner. Ramsey, Denilson and Diaby being the deeper 3.

Looks like Sven will be confirmed as Director of Football at Notts County. Bet he'll enjoy those Tuesday nights in Accrington (though I guess as DoF rather than manager he'll probably operate from his secret love pad HQ in one of Nottingham's hotels)

I nearly posted this in the football gaming thread, as after all it's what every lower league fan with access to a copy of Football Manager has done with the editor...perhaps without the Sven, but near enough

Dare I ask if any of you Soccer gurus have watched any of the Gold Cup games? For the most part, it's been "C" team players for the USA and not too exciting. There are a few standout players (Holden, Arnaud) that have potential but not much else. Ching looks washed up but he's close with BB and probably already has a spot on the WC roster. Most of the guys from the Confed Cup are back at their respective clubs. If we win tomorrow against Hondurus, it should be a good final on Sunday (Giants Stadium) against the winnder of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Looking ahead past that, we've got a crucial WCQ against Mexico in Estadio Azteca, which is the same time when Mexico's coach gets back from the suspension.

Eto'o has agreed to personal terms with Inter pretty much sealing the Zlatan to Barca deal.

This is going to be very interesting. I rate Zlatan very highly even though he still carries the big game bottler tag. Will be hard for him to not put away goals in the CL with the kind of service Barca can deliver.

jowner wrote:

Eto'o has agreed to personal terms with Inter pretty much sealing the Zlatan to Barca deal.

This is going to be very interesting. I rate Zlatan very highly even though he still carries the big game bottler tag. Will be hard for him to not put away goals in the CL with the kind of service Barca can deliver.

He'll find a way, that's just the sort of guy he is. There'll be search parties on standby to look for him after Barca's CL games as well.

In EPL news, Spurs have today signed 2 full backs from Sheff Utd for a combined £11m. Good job they already spent millions on Alan Hutton, Gareth Bale and the now departed Chris Gunter in the last couple of years, else they might be running short. Just seen Redknapp in a press conference talking about how they've got no CB's (what, not even Corluka after Spurs tapped him up last season ?) and they'd just love Peter Crouch 'but we'd have to see what finances are available' - I'm sure Harry knows his agent and that there might be a motorway service station rendezvous with brown paper bags on the menu.

Xabi Alonso definitely wants out of Liverpool, and now Mascherano's agent is giving it loads about his wife not being happy and he thinks it's time to leave England. Not sure which of the Spanish Big 2 he's thinking of, as both RM and Barca have def midfielders they seem to rate, although I do sympathise with his missus...Merseyside is a complete hole. Liverpool may also be short of another midfielder soon, as Gerrard is currently on charge for affray which can get a custodial sentence. The brave Mr Gerrard decided to take on a lone businessman with only 5 of his mates for support, kindly letting one of them get the first knock in before he let fly with 3 of his own. Unfortunately, CCTV does make rather a good witness, Stephen. More unfortunately, I suspect the gutless chump will get a suspended sentence and some community service.

Lots of rumours about Ashley Young leaving Villa now that they bought Downing. Part of me is wondering whether they thought that someone was going to make a concrete bid for Young and therefore bought Downing before anyone else could do so (not sure who, exactly - he's out for at least another 3 months). No such bid has materialised as yet.

John Terry bid looks like disappearing into the distance. Notwithstanding the money on offer, I think that Terry's had a bit of a jolt that not everyone round the club wanted him to stay at all costs, and Ancelotti will be wary of him as Terry is close to the Russian moneylaunderer/owner and was also viewed as key to Scolari getting the push. Time for City to move on....our work has been done with regard to Chelsea, and get a couple of CH's from elsewhere - joint £30m bid for Jagielka and Lescott, perhaps ?

I know that I should really post a warning before this, but the best I can do is tell you to shield your eyes....it's Everton's new away kit

IMAGE(http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/stories/everton-09-10-away-kit-le-coq-sportif-3.jpg)

davet010 wrote:

I know that I should really post a warning before this, but the best I can do is tell you to shield your eyes....it's Everton's new away kit

IMAGE(http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/stories/everton-09-10-away-kit-le-coq-sportif-3.jpg)

I think that colour is called "fuchsia"....so my daughter tells me. Very popular with certain Italian teams such as Palermo. Not sure how it will go over in England, though I could make an educated guess.

Tell me it's for breast cancer awareness or something. Palermo's works, but sweet lord, that ain't pretty (it's no Newcastle away shirt, but still).

Ugly but thats not even the worst.

forgot to post this here but sent to all my friends in a email and they don't even follow soccer.

http://www.dirtytackle.net/2009/07/b...

pop58 wrote:

I think that colour is called "fuchsia"....so my daughter tells me. Very popular with certain Italian teams such as Palermo. Not sure how it will go over in England, though I could make an educated guess.

Dunno about that, Pop - I think Palermo's a bit of a tough place, as any book about the Cosa Nostra would tell you.

I think that hoops aren't a good idea though....not flattering to the 'fuller' figure.

The Premiership seems to have a lot of awful kits this year. I won't past them all, but Man U's has a massive black chevron around the neck, Bolton's looks like a child has been drawing black lines at random, and the Spurs one has odd wavy yellow lines and the words "'ees a triffic player, but we are looking to do a deal for him' imprinted all the way through.

NB - some parts of the above statement might not be entirely accurate.

davet010 wrote:

Xabi Alonso definitely wants out of Liverpool, and now Mascherano's agent is giving it loads about his wife not being happy and he thinks it's time to leave England. Not sure which of the Spanish Big 2 he's thinking of, as both RM and Barca have def midfielders they seem to rate

...But they would swap them for Mascherano without blinking.
For me, next to Essien Mascherano is the best DM in the game right now. Well, not that he's some giant talent, there are simply no more old-fashioned DMs to compete with him for that title. Gatusso is getting old and injured, same with Marcos Senna, Inter play... Vieira in that role, Juventus have certain Mr. Melo (about whom we first heard two or three months ago), Barca - Yaya Toure, Real - Diarra, Arsenal - Song, United - Carrick/Fletcher, City - Kompany/de Jong. All of them are very solid DMs, but nothing more than that.

John Terry bid looks like disappearing into the distance. Notwithstanding the money on offer, I think that Terry's had a bit of a jolt that not everyone round the club wanted him to stay at all costs, and Ancelotti will be wary of him as Terry is close to the Russian moneylaunderer/owner and was also viewed as key to Scolari getting the push. Time for City to move on....our work has been done with regard to Chelsea, and get a couple of CH's from elsewhere - joint £30m bid for Jagielka and Lescott, perhaps ?

Well, if you were rating Terry at 40m, then you should rate Lescott at at least the same price ;]

IMAGE(http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/stories/everton-09-10-away-kit-le-coq-sportif-3.jpg)

MAROUANE FELLAINI -> THIS SHIRT.
Sweet heaven.

UC, some good points, well made.

As for Terry and Lescott, although Terry is quite an unpleasant character (reminds me quite a lot of Raul in that respect), he does bring the sort of leadership that appreared to be lacking, as well as defensive organisation. Lescott is a good defender, but that's it, and it isn't £20m worth of 'it', if you see what I mean.

Without Terry, I'd sign Lescott and Marchena or Jagielka, and give the captain's armband to Barry.

Eee, Gattuso old and injured...I remember seeing him play for Rangers when he was a mere pup. It's a shame that Serie A isn't shown on British TV any more, I miss looking at some of the stadia and hoping that the authorities had at least allowed the Health and Safety inspector to bring his guide dog in.

City are apparently 'dismantling their academy' according to the local rag. What this means in reality is selling Daniel Sturridge (£60k/week for someone with 10 appearences...err, no) to Chelsea and Ched Evans to Sheff Utd for £3m (will never be good enough) while letting other players go out on loan to gain experience and toughen them up Looks a pretty sound policy to me - Sturridge and Evans' fees will pay for the academy for years, and getting the others plenty of experience down the divisions is a win-win situation.

Liverpool apparently joining the Peter Crouch race according to the papers. Not sure how he'd fit in, but now that Portsmouth are apparently in better financial straights, they can afford to turn a deaf ear to Redknapp's tapping up ('triffic player, but we are looking for a better deal' etc.).

davet010 wrote:

What this means in reality is selling Daniel Sturridge (£60k/week for someone with 10 appearences...err, no) to Chelsea

Wasn't that a free transfer?

UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

What this means in reality is selling Daniel Sturridge (£60k/week for someone with 10 appearences...err, no) to Chelsea

Wasn't that a free transfer?

Oh no, Sturridge is under 24 and was developed by City's academy, therefore his fee will be settled by a tribunal. City are asking for £10m, Chelsea offered £3m, probably end up at £5m or so. Problem with Sturridge is that he's gutless....anything less than 100% fit and he'll declare himself unfit. Once he started asking for £60k a week, there was never any way he'd be contracted again by City. Two years sitting on his arse with the occasional League Cup runout, and he'll end up at Watford for £1m.

davet010 wrote:
UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

What this means in reality is selling Daniel Sturridge (£60k/week for someone with 10 appearences...err, no) to Chelsea

Wasn't that a free transfer?

Oh no, Sturridge is under 24 and was developed by City's academy, therefore his fee will be settled by a tribunal.

Oh, right. So they didn't actually sell him, but it wasn't free transfer either.

He was out of contract, but under 24 so City get a fee for his development. Was mainly brought in to safeguard clubs in poorer countries, rather than the filthy rich

I really do wonder what happened between Eto'o and Barca, because I can't imagine a club in their right mind swapping a proven goal-scorer like Eto'o for a flat-track bully like Ibrahimovic. Eto'o must have forced his way out.

Prederick wrote:

I really do wonder what happened between Eto'o and Barca, because I can't imagine a club in their right mind swapping a proven goal-scorer like Eto'o for a flat-track bully like Ibrahimovic. Eto'o must have forced his way out.

Its pretty mind boggling. The only conclusion people can come to is that Eto'o is such a royal pain the ass they were willing to trade him for Zlatan and pay 45m Euros to do it. Funny part is I thought they were at least getting a couple of years in return but the age difference is like 4-5 months.

other news Ade just doesn't get it. He blames the Arsenal fans for forcing him out. The best part is he compares his situation to Cesc and wonders why the knives don't come out for Cesc. ITS BECAUSE EVERY TIME CESC IS LINKED WITH REAL AND BARCA HE FLAT OUT DENIES WANTING TO LEAVE!)(@(*!#($!)*)$@*()$.

theres allot of air between those ears. Honestly a journos dream come true. Ask for a interview and you get one full of quotes. If I hunted down his mobile # and told him I was a reporter I bet I could get 10 minutes of his time answering questions.

Eto'o has been angling his way out of Barca for a couple of years...there was one season where he almost went on strike after Xmas. Don't really know why, I'd assumed it was a bust up with Frank Rijkaard. I can see why he might have considered City because of the wages he was supposedly offered, but Inter aren't going to pay that sort of dollar. Maybe he just fancied a change.

davet010 wrote:

Eto'o has been angling his way out of Barca for a couple of years...there was one season where he almost went on strike after Xmas. Don't really know why, I'd assumed it was a bust up with Frank Rijkaard. I can see why he might have considered City because of the wages he was supposedly offered, but Inter aren't going to pay that sort of dollar. Maybe he just fancied a change.

I'm sure he did but the question is why did Barca feel that for that change they needed to throw in 45m Euros also to make it happen.

I rate Zlatan higher.... 45m Euro higher? sure if you have money thats on fire already. A straight swap with maybe 5-15m changing hands seems more logical but this is silly season.

93_confirmed wrote:

Dare I ask if any of you Soccer gurus have watched any of the Gold Cup games? For the most part, it's been "C" team players for the USA and not too exciting. There are a few standout players (Holden, Arnaud) that have potential but not much else. Ching looks washed up but he's close with BB and probably already has a spot on the WC roster. Most of the guys from the Confed Cup are back at their respective clubs. If we win tomorrow against Hondurus, it should be a good final on Sunday (Giants Stadium) against the winnder of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Looking ahead past that, we've got a crucial WCQ against Mexico in Estadio Azteca, which is the same time when Mexico's coach gets back from the suspension.

Ok, I'll GTFO. Bye.

93_confirmed wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:

Dare I ask if any of you Soccer gurus have watched any of the Gold Cup games? For the most part, it's been "C" team players for the USA and not too exciting. There are a few standout players (Holden, Arnaud) that have potential but not much else. Ching looks washed up but he's close with BB and probably already has a spot on the WC roster. Most of the guys from the Confed Cup are back at their respective clubs. If we win tomorrow against Hondurus, it should be a good final on Sunday (Giants Stadium) against the winnder of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Looking ahead past that, we've got a crucial WCQ against Mexico in Estadio Azteca, which is the same time when Mexico's coach gets back from the suspension.

Ok, I'll GTFO. Bye. :-)

Well, when you consider how hard the Gold Cup games are to watch sometimes, you'll understand why many of us have missed games.