2010/11 Soccer Thread - Hitting The Home Stretch

Man, Altidore scored with an absolute bullet from a good ways out!

Maybe you could pass the agent's name on to Jerome Boateng, who seems to imagine that he has negotiated a move to Bayern Munich (with a 4 year contract, no less), without the all-important first step of the two clubs having agreed a fee. Look mate, I know that Germans often do things differently from the British (putting the verb at the end of a sentence, for a start), but it might be worth waiting to see whether the clubs can agree a deal first.

Nice to see Mr Complete-and-utter-probity Beckanbauer encouraging his own club to do things the right way, again - as I presume the use of the word 'negotiated' denotes a two-way discussion which a player currently under contract to another club is not allowed to enter into without the two clubs having done their work first.

Good news re: Fabregas and Nasri. Latter's agent said that for now they're talking with Arsenal and nobody else. Former did this:

speaking today at an event in Madrid for the launch of a new cologne by Angel Schlesser is quoted by Marca as saying:

“I’m very happy, I’m an Arsenal player now, and that’s it. Wenger knows what I want and he’s the boss, he decides.”

Paying lip service to the well publicised transfer speculation linking him with a return to Barcelona, Fabregas made clear that while he was full of admiration for the recent success achieved under Pep Guardiola he would not speak in public about a future move out of respect for the Gunners.

“It’s frustrating not to win trophies. Barcelona are a great club, the best in the world, and playing there is a guarantee to win.

“I won’t step forward and say I want to join Barça. After 8 years at Arsenal, I won’t harm the club. That’s not my way of being.”

Thanks for being pro, Cesc.

Do you want to hold onto him, though?

I think he wants to go for personal reasons - his missus has just had twins and they never sorted out settled accommodation here. He struggled at the start with injuries and relatively poor form, and even the absence of Kolo Toure didn't help him as both Lescott and Micah Richards decided that they should actually put some effort in. So at the moment he's a squad player in the best defence in the Premiership, but is unlikely to be a first team regular. He probably thinks that he'll have a better shot at BM (as their defence has some weaknesses) and that he's more likely to retain his spot in the German national team if he plays in the Bundesliga.

No cheap deals for BM though - they pay the asking price or he gets to while away his time in the reserves.

Or we chuck in €20m and they chuck us Franck Ribery.

UCRC wrote:

Good news re: Fabregas and Nasri. Latter's agent said that for now they're talking with Arsenal and nobody else. Former did this:

speaking today at an event in Madrid for the launch of a new cologne by Angel Schlesser is quoted by Marca as saying:

“I’m very happy, I’m an Arsenal player now, and that’s it. Wenger knows what I want and he’s the boss, he decides.”

Paying lip service to the well publicised transfer speculation linking him with a return to Barcelona, Fabregas made clear that while he was full of admiration for the recent success achieved under Pep Guardiola he would not speak in public about a future move out of respect for the Gunners.

“It’s frustrating not to win trophies. Barcelona are a great club, the best in the world, and playing there is a guarantee to win.

“I won’t step forward and say I want to join Barça. After 8 years at Arsenal, I won’t harm the club. That’s not my way of being.”

Thanks for being pro, Cesc.

Not even an Arsenal fan, but this was wonderful to see. Last thing I wanted to see this summer was Barcelona players all playing 'transfer agent' and babbling bullsh*t about how Fabregas 'deserves to play with Barcelona' and trying to bully Arsenal into losing one of its key players / captain in their fragile transitional phase.

I still look forward to pummeling you next season. ;p

I've been holding off questioning the Bebe move from last year cause well hes Portuguese and I want him to succeed just not in a United shirt.

So hes off to Besiktas on loan for a year... Seems like a potential good thing for him to get some play time and maybe meet his potential whatever that is. Still trying not the judge the move and then at the end of the article.

Turkish news agency Dogan Haber Ajansi (DHA) reported last week that the loan deal would be with a view to a £2 million permanent switch, which would represent a £5.4 million loss for United.

Uhhhh whoops?

Might not be true though as well they just make sh*t up. Like the Jermaine Defoe to Arsenal rumor. Yea.... Arsenal are going to do business with their rivals to get an aging striker that can hardly crack their lineup. Where do they get this stuff?

Same place they get the 'City offer Ronaldo £400k a week in £150m transfer swoop' - the patented Football Transfer Bollocks simulator. Draw random player out of one bag, random purchaser out of second bag (I'll think this might be weighted), random contract terms out of third bag. No need to check sources for accuracy, as you'll be reading another lot tomorrow.

In other news, Villa's totally mystifying pursuit of McLeish continues. I can't quite understand how someone who took the team with the 3rd highest net spend down is considered suitable, but that's life. Best get some security for the Brum derby Alex, them Zulus don't take any prisoners.

jowner wrote:

I've been holding off questioning the Bebe move from last year cause well hes Portuguese and I want him to succeed just not in a United shirt.

So hes off to Besiktas on loan for a year... Seems like a potential good thing for him to get some play time and maybe meet his potential whatever that is. Still trying not the judge the move and then at the end of the article.

Turkish news agency Dogan Haber Ajansi (DHA) reported last week that the loan deal would be with a view to a £2 million permanent switch, which would represent a £5.4 million loss for United.

Uhhhh whoops?

Might not be true though as well they just make sh*t up. Like the Jermaine Defoe to Arsenal rumor. Yea.... Arsenal are going to do business with their rivals to get an aging striker that can hardly crack their lineup. Where do they get this stuff?

Queiroz did Man Utd no favors 'finding' this gem for us.

Ferguson made one of his greatest mistakes breaking by one of his golden rules, not seeing a player for himself.

At this moment, any money for Bebe is worth taking up imo.

Here's hoping some exposure to first-team football brings out the gem, but after seeing what he brought to the table last season, I highly doubt it.

Demba Ba--> Newcastle according to Sky. Get your bets in on the number of games he plays before his knee blows up.

Dave, I agree with Villa being well, crazy. O'neill leaves last summer for whatever reason (I recall it was over lack of funds though I could be wrong), they don't play well, bring in Houillier, don't play all that well, spend massive money on Bent to ensure that they aren't in danger of going down. I know I'm looking back with hindsight but they would have been better off just backing O'Neill if it was about the money. Randy Lerner is acting like Mike Ashley without the fiscal tight-fistedness.

The silly season's actually been quite boring so far, all things considered. Anyone want to make a wager on the odds Modric twinkle-toes his way out of White Hart Lane without a painfully protracted saga that makes us all want to blow up everything?

As long as City aren't involved, I'd look forward to a painfully protracted (and public) saga where Mr Three-Assists-Last-Season becomes the object of a tug of war between the Twitchy One and Abramovich.

Open day fixtures for 2011/12.

Ooo, and Manchester United vs Swans....wait, Manchester City at home first thing to the newly promoted cannon-fodder ? And at home last game of the season as well to another newly promoted team ??

I can just hear them now at Premier League HQ, running round trying to find the idiots who mis-programmed the fixture computer.

Spose I better hot drop the fixtures in - Opening Day, Boxing Day and Closing Day.

Blackburn v Wolverhampton

Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Sunderland
Man City v Swansea
Newcastle v Arsenal
QPR v Bolton
Stoke v Chelsea
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Man Utd
Wigan v Norwich

BOXING DAY FIXTURES

Arsenal v Wolverhampton
Bolton v Newcastle
Chelsea v Fulham
Liverpool v Blackburn
Man Utd v Wigan
Norwich v Tottenham
Stoke v Aston Villa
Sunderland v Everton
Swansea v QPR
West Brom v Man City

FINAL DAY FIXTURES

Chelsea v Blackburn
Everton v Newcastle
Man City v QPR
Norwich v Aston Villa
Stoke v Bolton
Sunderland v Man Utd
Swansea v Liverpool
Tottenham v Fulham
West Brom v Arsenal
Wigan v Wolverhampton

Sigh.... Arsenal open the season away to Newcastle, home to Liverpool, away to United. Better get the transfers rolling and hope the squad is ready to go come August 13th not September 1st.

edit: after looking at the whole thing its pretty balanced for Arsenal so I'm happy. No killer stretch where if the team is playing badly/injured and they end up with 3-4 games in a row vs top teams.

Sanchez to Barca for 30m? seems like silly money is still in effect.

Well, Barca's recent transfers have been, quite frankly, appalling.

Ibrahimovic - buy for €69m, sell for €23m ?

Cheny....whatever that bobbins Russian CH was called - €22m ?

Hleb - €13m. Spent last season at Birmingham and looked out of his depth even there.

Kerrison/Henrique - €22m between them and only slightly more likely to get a game for the first team then I am

Caceres - €14m in 2008, out on loan for 3 seasons, sold for €3m.

Chygrynsky

Other than that, you're totally right, I think I wrote about that in length when they were selling Ibrahimovic.

You getting yerself ready for Joey Barton then ?

davet010 wrote:

You getting yerself ready for Joey Barton then ?

;)

I don't see what Barton would offer Arsenal. I don't believe he's better than Song or Wilshere deeper in the midfield, Fabregas and Nasri are better than him higher up the pitch, and surely Arsenal have players better than him at set pieces. You could shunt him off the right-side I guess, but he wouldn't have Andy Carroll's head to aim his long balls at. Barton's the type of player Arsenal should be looking at near the end of the transfer window if they come up empty with their primary targets.

Barton, Samba and Adel Tarrabt, that's our midfield next season. Add Paul Konchesky, Robbie Keane and David Bentley. Because you need players with Premier League experience!

Also, swap deal of van Persie for John Carew. You heard it here first.

(I'd say that with players currently available in PL it might be silly to go buy domestically.)

Couple of interesting managerial appointments just come about.

Roma have appointed one of my all time favourite overseas players - Luis Enrique (ex RM and Barca, was Barca's B team manager and got them to third in the Segunda, but of course they can't be promoted). Lost count of the number of times I tried to sign this guy in FM back in the day...

And Brentford have appointed City legend Uwe Rosler as boss. Had a number of managerial appointments in Norway and is still stratospherically popular at City, so expect some youngsters to head out there for loans.

For those of you that thought we'd managed to quash this "Cesc to Barca" bullsh*t for a summer, you are sadly mistaken.

Meanwhile, Andre Vilas-Boas to Chelsea (should've kept Ancelotti... really, should've kept Mourinho), and Clint says he'd leave Fulham for a Champions League team, which shouldn't be a surprise to any Fulham fan as if we make the Champions League, "HOLY F*KING SH*T" would be a gross understatement.

In other, other, other news...

I am conflicted by the news that Jack Warner has resigned from FIFA. On one hand, I am happy that this slimy, corrupt individual has removed himself from the stage. However, there are some issues..

- CONCACAF has been shown to be riddled with crooks (as are most of the other federations, to be fair, but none of them seem to have loose cannons like Chuck Blazer in them). This will not alter with Warner going, and his behind-the-scenes influence remains.

- FIFA have now discontinued all investigations into Warner, and his 'presumption of innocence' remains. So does Josef Stalin's, using that logic.

- The rest of the rotting edifice remains, and presumptions aside, the spotlight has now been turned off.

New York Times on Jack Warner

Good read. The best (worst) part:

Kevin Rudd, then Australia’s prime minister, was also dispatched to visit Warner in Trinidad during the bid, Mersiades said. Rudd was prepared to bring Warner an expensive bottle of wine, she said, but was warned by an Australian bid official with close ties to Warner that this was considered a disgrace and that a case of wine would be a more sufficient gift.

I'm still slightly bemused as to why Warner seems to have been throwing his lot in with Bin-Hammam , as there was never any realistic chance of him winning, or of Blatter being forced to resign. Still, every time I hear Blatter talk about FIFA not being corrupt, I am minded to recall the theory that if you are going to lie, make it as big as possible.

City's newest youth signing, see if you can guess who's son he is - looks very like his father.

IMAGE(http://content.mcfc.co.uk/~/media/Images/Home/News/Club%20news/2011/June/Devante%20cole.ashx)

Hey, I'm going to tonight's Gold Cup match with TheWalt - any fan etiquette, traditions, etc I need to know? I know a lot of clubs and countries sing songs and stuff, but I assume the USA does not.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Hey, I'm going to tonight's Gold Cup match with TheWalt - any fan etiquette, traditions, etc I need to know? I know a lot of clubs and countries sing songs and stuff, but I assume the USA does not.

The USA does have a supporters group called Sam's Army that do the traditional singing and chanting. I heard them singing during the Canada-Guadeloupe match (US-Panama was the 2nd match on the ticket so some fans were there "early" for the US game).

If you do want to chant/sing along and you're within earshot of the US fans the songs shouldn't be too difficult to pick up since there is a fair amount of repetition. If you're near some Panama fans who you think might be mean-spirited I would either move or not do much cheering though... I've heard too many stories from Canadian "home" matches in Toronto.

It shouldn't be all that different than your typical sport fan experience unless you're right near the hardcore supporters of either side.

Enjoy the match.

Roke - thanks for the reply! I am now changing from planning to to wear blue to planning to wear the proper red, so the help was immediate and tangible. Looks like Sam's Army sits behind one of the goals - hopefully the one we're closer to.

Fedaykin, I hope you and TheWalt enjoyed the game.

I wish I had watched the Canada-England U-17 match. 2-2 draw with a late equalizer from Canada's goalkeeper scoring in the run of play. I believe the goal was a long kick up field but when a Voyageur uploads it to Youtube.

It's also the first time a Canadian Men's team has earned a point in a FIFA tournament.

Edit: not Youtube highlights, but here's the FIFA video of the goals http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/high...

Keeper goal is at 90 seconds... bad bounce for the England keeper there.