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

RIP Sir Bobby Robson

A proper gentleman of the game, managed England as well as managing a small town club (Ipswich) to domestic and European honours, winning the title in Holland and Portugal and trophies in Spain with Barcelona. Just a shame his last port of call was Newcastle, where he was treated abysmally.

Came in to say just the same, Dave. Just saw it on the BBC site.

I work with an Ipswich fan who will be in mourning for days.

Sad. RIP indeed.

Great video jowner, thanks.

On more mundane matters, I've seen Arsenal today and all of sudden I'm full of hope for next season. Young players like Walcott, Wilshere and Ramsey are developing beautifully, even Bendtner is making progress. Comparing it to the start of last season, we've lost two players (Adebayor, Toure) and gained five: Vermaelen, Senderos, Rosicky, Eduardo and Arshavin. Four of them real quality. Other first-team players like Song, Vela, Gibbs, Fabianski made big leaps and will be valuable for the first team, whereas at the start of the last season they all were expected to be bench-warmers.

UCRC wrote:

On more mundane matters, I've seen Arsenal today

The friendly against Atletico Madrid?

pop58 wrote:
UCRC wrote:

On more mundane matters, I've seen Arsenal today

The friendly against Atletico Madrid?

Aye. (Not that we were particulary good in this game, I was talking in more general sense in my previous post.)

This might ease Stuttgart's loss of Mario Gomez just a little. Tough for Zenit, though. There's hardly anything left of their UEFA Cup winning team of 2 years ago.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/15/germany/2009/08/01/1414329/stuttgart-sign-pavel-pogrebnyak-from-zenit

pop58 wrote:

This might ease Stuttgart's loss of Mario Gomez just a little. Tough for Zenit, though. There's hardly anything left of their UEFA Cup winning team of 2 years ago.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/15/germany/2009/08/01/1414329/stuttgart-sign-pavel-pogrebnyak-from-zenit

Stuttgart was the most unfortunate team in this transfer window. First everyone gave them inflated prices because Bayern decided to do a little show-off and reveal that they've paid 35m for Gomez. When they've finally agreed price, this happened:
- Huntelaar got greedy and decided that Real should pay him 5m bonus (!)
- Pizarro turned out to be just toying with them in order to attract interest and get pay-rise at Chelsea.
- Rolfes (from Leverkusern) who was their first target and was very keen on move but he got injured... playing with his friends during his
- Demba Ba was ready to leave Hoffenheim but... well, I don't even remember that story, but apparently he had some problems with his foot and 'forget' to mention it to medical staff, hoping that they will sign him.

UCRC wrote:

Great video jowner, thanks.

On more mundane matters, I've seen Arsenal today and all of sudden I'm full of hope for next season. Young players like Walcott, Wilshere and Ramsey are developing beautifully, even Bendtner is making progress. Comparing it to the start of last season, we've lost two players (Adebayor, Toure) and gained five: Vermaelen, Senderos, Rosicky, Eduardo and Arshavin. Four of them real quality. Other first-team players like Song, Vela, Gibbs, Fabianski made big leaps and will be valuable for the first team, whereas at the start of the last season they all were expected to be bench-warmers.

Senderos is supposedly off to Everton according to arseblog.... which means Lescott must be off to City?

Anyways I agree but only for the short term and long term in attack and midfield ahead of a DM player.

Its the defense and cataclysmic injury pileups that have cost us in recent years and I'm not confident we have solved either. For defense Vermaelen is still a huge question mark considering his age and the league he came from. Injury cover? were busy selling our depth off. Window is far from closed but I almost wish we were signing people after each sale not 1 guy in 3 guys out and limbo about whats coming in.

Supposedly Eboue is staying which is good.... only if we see him on the bench as direct cover for Sagna. Was completely woeful today playing very far up as a winger. Just has no idea to do once he gets within 10 yards of the box. Which is funny because when he played strictly RB he was great going forward because he would stay very wide and deep and just whip crosses in. Move him 10 yards more central and it all goes to crap.

jowner wrote:

Its the defense and cataclysmic injury pileups that have cost us in recent years and I'm not confident we have solved either.

True. I very much hope that we sign new DC. What's really worrying is that we don't have any real prospects on that position, unlike in every other formation.

UCRC wrote:
jowner wrote:

Its the defense and cataclysmic injury pileups that have cost us in recent years and I'm not confident we have solved either.

True. I very much hope that we sign new DC. What's really worrying is that we don't have any real prospects on that position, unlike in every other formation.

Well the problem with that position its hard to stand out and look exceptional at 18 when players really only start hitting their stride at the position in their mid 20's. Thats why allot of people still reserved some hope for Senderos as it seems like hes been around forever and yet is still 24... fairly young for a CB but at the same time to late to be not showing us real improvement. I think the loan to AC was the deal breaker that he went over there and stagnated and never really got many games in.

So who knows Vermaelen (23) and Djourou (22) might still be an amazing pairing for us down the road but its hard to be confident about Gallas + those two going into the season when you look at the other top 4's CB pairings.

Anyways it looks like we will be playing a variation of 4-3-3 this year and besides the DM/Holding midfield player and the 2 CB's I'm very confident with the players we have and especially the depth.

edit: Arseblog is still reporting that Senderos is gone to Everton with 0 news of it in the papers. He usually doesn't start trying to break transfer rumors and detests how silly the journos get with the speculation so I'll go out on a limb to say he would never post that without thinking its 100% done.

jowner wrote:

Anyways it looks like we will be playing a variation of 4-3-3 this year and besides the DM/Holding midfield player and the 2 CB's I'm very confident with the players we have and especially the depth.

I'm very interested in tactical nuances of that. Right now it looks just like Barcelona model: full-backs are the widest players making runs (which is good because I feel we have great quality and depth in there with Clichy/Gibbs and Sagna/Eboue, who all are quick and atheltic), we play one holding player in the middle, who distributes ball to two midfielders moving freely in center (Rosicky, Fabregas) controlling the tempo. Two wingers/strikers operate between opposition's midfield and defence and look to make runs by cutting inside with the ball or going to the wing.

I guess he could read the writing on the wall: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=664720&sec=europe&cc=5901

The first of the Dutch brigade to to leave RM. Probably won't be the last.

Photo that I've just stumbled upon:
IMAGE(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45769000/jpg/_45769092_fellaini466c.jpg)
Lovely.

I'm not going to ask what you were looking for - 'startled badger' perhaps.

Senderos to Everton rumours still abound.

Verdict on the City forums - "let's tell Everton to get stuffed and buy Hangeland instead, then they can explain to the Bank Manager what this £6m withdrawal relates to...."

For a change of pace, here's the inimitable Marcela Mora y Araujo on the current Trainwreck in Argentina.

davet010 wrote:

I'm not going to ask what you were looking for - 'startled badger' perhaps.

Senderos to Everton rumours still abound.

Verdict on the City forums - "let's tell Everton to get stuffed and buy Hangeland instead, then they can explain to the Bank Manager what this £6m withdrawal relates to...."

Lescott is now asking for the move so there finally seems to be a hole in Evertons attempts to keep him.

Its always interesting to hear how much players are supposedly making. For Lescott the move would supposedly double his 40k to 80k. In Arsenals case were supposedly in for Kalou instead now as the Chamakh deal is on the rocks and we would double Kalous wage from 30k to 60k which seems somewhat strange that Kalou only managed to get 30k out of Chelsea.

I've only seen one figure regarding the Senderos deal and its a very affordable 2.5m supposedly which seems like a steal by Everton. Sure Arsenal clear his wage off the books and most likely attached a sell on fee in case he finally blossoms into anything. Leaves us with over 40m raised, 3 salaries cut and the transfer rumors are one of two attacking options where we are already deepest and a 33 year old Veiria. :/ Not much defensive reinforcements in that but it might be a long week.

Wouldn't mind Kalou at all actually. We will be playing some variation of 4-3-3 and he seems perfect for the role of outside forward. Would put our depth at direct strikers at RVP, Bendtner, Eduardo and for the guys playing off them Arshavin, Walcott, Kalou, Vela. Obviously some players are interchangeable. Also somewhat surprising is hes only turning 24 tomorrow. Thought he was at least 26-27.

Figure quoted here for Senderos (or Ponderous, as I like to think of him) was £6m. Of course it's not necessarily linked to Lescott, as Everton also need a replacement for the injured Jagielka.

In other unsurprising news, the UEFA General Secretary David Taylor (aka Platini's Gimp) has again singled out City and English football for destabilising football.

A few points for Mr Taylor....

City's finances are not loan-based, nor is this summer's transfer spending.

City's 'spending spree' this summer is in the order of a net £80m....ie what Real Madrid spent on one player. All of this was spent on existing premiership players who are all current internationals.

He also makes points about the 'financial instability' of English clubs, presumable Newcastle and Leeds.

Oddly enough, he makes no mention of a league where 7 of the 18 clubs have debts of greater than €150m, where 5 of the 18 defaulted on player salaries during the year and where there are more allegations of financial impropriety that heaven knows what...

Ladies and gentleman, I give you....La Liga. It does have one saving grace, though, in UEFA's eyes.

It's not English.

It's now being reported on the BBC that Xabi Alonso is finally off to Real Madrid, for an estimated £30m. I don't think he'll leave that much of a hole in the Liverpool midfield, if I'm honest - he's always struck me as quite weak.

No, I'm not going to say anything else....

davet010 wrote:

It's now being reported on the BBC that Xabi Alonso is finally off to Real Madrid, for an estimated £30m. I don't think he'll leave that much of a hole in the Liverpool midfield, if I'm honest - he's always struck me as quite weak.

No, I'm not going to say anything else....

don't tell Liverpool fans that.

His job is to collect balls from one of the best DM's in the world then outlet it to one of the best attacking mids in the world. Pads his stats with allot of easy passes and plays negligible defense. Liverpool could be better off without him but the problems are 1. Rafa is hit and miss in the transfer market 2. They left themselves less time to find a player and for him to gel into the squad. 3. Hicks and Gillette might try and eat as much of that money as they can.

Oddly, when I read the headline, I figured they had to be talking about Bonaventure Kalou or someone else. Salomon was a surprise.

Would be a surprise that, particularly as there is no chance of Chelsea getting Pirlo.

Aquilani being linked as a replacement, as is Christian Poulsen, who is currently at Juventus but didn't make much of an impression after his move from Sevilla, and would probably be allowed to go for about £8m.

Kalou is a bit surprising but I guess it makes more sense than Chamakh if we want to play 433, because we've already got van Persie, Bendtner and Eduardo in center. Kalou can play at both sides so he would be quality sub for Arshavin and Walcott.

davet010 wrote:

Would be a surprise that, particularly as there is no chance of Chelsea getting Pirlo.

Why do you say that? Chelsea are apparently offering fairly stupid kind of money to land him and from the AC fan I've read people are very aware hes 30 and well past it. Its pretty much the Deco transfer all over again. Skilled player but past his best before date and if anything would be going to the wrong league for a old player to making that kind of adjustment.

jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Would be a surprise that, particularly as there is no chance of Chelsea getting Pirlo.

Why do you say that? Chelsea are apparently offering fairly stupid kind of money to land him and from the AC fan I've read people are very aware hes 30 and well past it. Its pretty much the Deco transfer all over again. Skilled player but past his best before date and if anything would be going to the wrong league for a old player to making that kind of adjustment.

Mainly because the club president keeps saying it (although that is Berlusconi, granted), plus it would be difficult to see why Leonardo would want to be offloading one of his better players. As for his age, well, in that Milan squad he's a comparative youth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...
Good news. Not that I like Celtic, but I'm happy for Tony Mowbray and Artur Boruc. CL football means he will get a chance to get his career back on track.

Alonso gone Aquilani in. Blow to Liverpool in the short run for sure unless this kid sheds all his previous history. One Italian fan described him as injury prone, slight, but a great talent. Yea thats a recipe thats going to work in the Prem. Just have to think why Ronaldo excelled in England. Not injury prone, strong, great talent and awesome dresser. ;P

and now for the comedy break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LIWP...

Toures Man City press conference. 1:25 in he refers to them as Money City. At least its now exactly clear what his motivations were. Class guy and will be missed but still funny.

He actually says "Money City". My god.

MONEY. CITY.

Oh, what a great way to start my day.

jowner wrote:

Alonso gone Aquilani in. Blow to Liverpool in the short run for sure unless this kid sheds all his previous history. One Italian fan described him as injury prone, slight, but a great talent.

From what I've seen of him, he's not a *huge* talent. He looked like every other midfielder you can find in top sides. Good technique and passing, but he isn't some sort of gem on Iniesta's scale.
(edit: FM also tells me he's deadly from distance with long shots at 19)

Now, 20m for might be too much, but then again, if they were to sell Alonso for 18m and buy him for 8, that would be steal. Plus he's probably giving them more options offensively. They've got Lucas* if they really need to play two DMs, but when they had to push for results, Alonso-Mascherano setup might have seemed too defensive.

*Don't even try to accuse me of saying that this kid can play football. I'm just saying that Benitez THINKS he can and will use him.

btw, Since I've mentioned Iniesta: vision that's been tormenting me for few days. I wondered whom would I choose if Arsenal were to spend hige money on two players. My choice were Iniesta and Mascherano.
Mascherano, Iniesta, Fabregas. Probably the most complete and best midfield in the world. Well, unless they have to head a ball.