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

105 points this week, but attack was abysmal just like the week before. If it wasn't for defenders (well, Lescott and goalscoring Laursen) I guess I would be stuck behind you, Prederick.

Nasri has scored so the Arsenal tie is pretty much done and dusted on to the group stage.

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/6099

Liverpool vs Standard! COME ON YOU BELGIANS!!!*$#!$#

Dirk Kuyt, FTW. Barely.

Shaun Wright-Philips has got bored of sitting on the bench at Chelsea, and returned to Man City. So, that'll be SWP on the right, Petrov on the left, Elano and Jo in the middle (and maybe more).

Good job City are in crisis, else heaven knows what we'd be doing.

davet010 wrote:

Shaun Wright-Philips has got bored of sitting on the bench at Chelsea, and returned to Man City. So, that'll be SWP on the right, Petrov on the left, Elano and Jo in the middle (and maybe more).

Good job City are in crisis, else heaven knows what we'd be doing.

Signing SWP for 9m is crisis to me ;P I love how hes actually 26 but looks 12.

Prederick wrote:

Dirk Kuyt, FTW. Barely.

That sucked. Wanted to see a shootout atleast to really make the scouse sweat it.

anyways the group draw is today....

The draw takes place on Thursday, August 28. The ceremony begins at 17.00 BST.

Pot 1: Chelsea, Liverpool, Barca, Arsenal, Man U, Lyon, Inter, Real.

Pot 2: Bayern, PSV, Villareal, Roma, Porto, Werder, Sporting, Juve.

Pot 3: Marseille, Zenit, Steaua, Panathinaikos, Bordeaux, Celtic, Basel, Fener.

Pot 4: Shakhtar, Fiorentina, Atletico, Dinamo Kiev, CFR Cluj?, AaB Aalborg!?, Anothosis Famagusta?!??!, Bate Borisov!?

And City in the draw for the UEFA Cup groups tomorrow.

davet010 wrote:

And City in the draw for the UEFA Cup groups tomorrow.

Plus two Polish sides, Lech Poznan and Wisla Krakow. Wisla beat Barcelona 1-0 at home in second leg, even though Barca played it's first XI and Lech won 6-0 against Grasshoppers Zurich.

I may have made a teeny error - I think that there is another round before the groups.

Rumours are circulating in Manchester about another big name about to pull on the sky blue shirt...no names yet, but sources are confident that it will be very well received.

davet010 wrote:

I may have made a teeny error - I think that there is another round before the groups.

Rumours are circulating in Manchester about another big name about to pull on the sky blue shirt...no names yet, but sources are confident that it will be very well received.

29.08.2008
13.00CET Monaco UEFA Cup
First round
07.10.2008
12.00CET Nyon UEFA Cup
Group stage

dates for the draws. so yea there's still 1 more round before the group stage draw.

Do teams eliminated in 3rd qualification round of CL go straight seeded into UEFA groups or do they have to fight their way through in that another round?

No, they are eliminated from any European competition. Teams eliminated from the Group Stages of the Champions/Runners-Up/Anyone Else Who Came Close League drop into the Mickey Mouse Cup.

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)

Prederick wrote:

No, they are eliminated from any European competition. Teams eliminated from the Group Stages of the Champions/Runners-Up/Anyone Else Who Came Close League drop into the Mickey Mouse Cup.

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)

apparently not they are in the next round.

Twente plays Rennes for example.

CL draw is done. Arsenal got a fairly tough one but the Dynamo game is nice and early Sept 17th. Should advance unless they really poopy their pants or Cesc gets injured.

and Wenger on the Economics of the game.

"I would prefer transfers fees paid straight away," he said, "but when you look at the numbers involved right now, nobody can do that anymore.

"Who is a club in Europe who can pay £30million cash? I know one, but only one."

touche. Now sign someone Scrooge!

Wisła go Tottenham in UEFA draw. That's might be really interesting. If they won't get outclassed in the first game (which is in London, I believe) they might stand a chance at home, but of course it's all very thin.

jowner wrote:
Prederick wrote:

No, they are eliminated from any European competition. Teams eliminated from the Group Stages of the Champions/Runners-Up/Anyone Else Who Came Close League drop into the Mickey Mouse Cup.

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)

apparently not they are in the next round.

Twente plays Rennes for example.

CL draw is done. Arsenal got a fairly tough one but the Dynamo game is nice and early Sept 17th. Should advance unless they really poopy their pants or Cesc gets injured.

and Wenger on the Economics of the game.

"I would prefer transfers fees paid straight away," he said, "but when you look at the numbers involved right now, nobody can do that anymore.

"Who is a club in Europe who can pay £30million cash? I know one, but only one."

touche. Now sign someone Scrooge!

If I was Wenger, I'd be straight off to Barcelona and asking for Samuel Eto'o...yes, not Henry back. They need to get away from the 'pass the ball into the net' mentality, and Eto'o can strike from anywhere.

UC, I can see Wisla giving Spurs a doing if they lose only 1-0 in London. Tottenham haven't addressed their defensive frailties (and Corluka won't help either, as I can't see where he fits into a team that's already spent £9m on a RB), and any midfield where Huddlestone and Jenas actually get a game isn't up to much. The Russian striker won't do much earlier on either, though it seems as tho Berbatov will be off to The Swamp if this guy is having a medical already.

davet010 wrote:

If I was Wenger, I'd be straight off to Barcelona and asking for Samuel Eto'o...yes, not Henry back. They need to get away from the 'pass the ball into the net' mentality, and Eto'o can strike from anywhere.

Not Eto'o maybe, cause he seems a bit fragile and not quite consistent, but you're right, they would profit from player like him, instead of Bendtner, who is talented, but not quite Premiership class player. Shame that Villa isn't going anywhere

davet010 wrote:

UC, I can see Wisla giving Spurs a doing if they lose only 1-0 in London. Tottenham haven't addressed their defensive frailties (and Corluka won't help either, as I can't see where he fits into a team that's already spent £9m on a RB), and any midfield where Huddlestone and Jenas actually get a game isn't up to much. The Russian striker won't do much earlier on either, though it seems as tho Berbatov will be off to The Swamp if this guy is having a medical already.

Well, this simply isn't that level, Wisła doesn't have strong side even by Polish standards and any depth to the squad (when they were playing against Barcelona bench consisted mostly of reserves players and youngsters...), I guess they would have problems playing against most of Championship teams, but on the other hand they looked really ambitious and determined. If they will play like against Barca they might have slight chance of coming home with something.

I'm surprised Valencia haven't gone bust yet - their debt is currently something in the order of €400m, and they've had two abortive takeovers in 12 months. Unlike Real Madrid, they haven't got a dodgy city council to bail them out with a corrupt land transaction either (Real Madrid were rescued about 5 years ago when the local authority bought their training ground at an astronomically inflated €500m for 'development purposes'...last I heard, the construction had only managed 2 floors, and there was some problem with building over a certain height due to potential interference with flight paths to Madrid airport.)

davet010 wrote:

I'm surprised Valencia haven't gone bust yet - their debt is currently something in the order of €400m, and they've had two abortive takeovers in 12 months. Unlike Real Madrid, they haven't got a dodgy city council to bail them out with a corrupt land transaction either

I listened to Football Weekly yesterday where they brought up 'Villa and debt' case, and it seems that club president, just like Laportas and Calderons of this world, promised fans to keep Villa no matter what, and as long as he does it they will be content. 400 million doesn't seem to bother him at all, cause he won't be there in few years time anyway. Hm... Poland was governed in similar fashion for past twenty years.

Three interesting games this evening: Everton - Portsmouth, Bolton - WBA (maybe Ebi Smolarek will make his first appearance) and West Ham - Blackburn.

Like I said - some interesting games today. I saw most of Everton - Portsmouth (0-3), real flair by Defoe and Johnson. Both Portsmouth and West Ham (4-1 against Blackburn) proven that they could deliver with their balls to the wall and I could be pretty happy that I swapped Friedel with Carson this week, as latter managed to keep clean sheet in Bolton - WBA game, which ended as a draw.
Even more interesting games tommorow, including underperforming Spurs (this might be really crucial) who will try their luck against Chelsea, and surprisingly good Newcastle taking on Arsenal, it might be a really tight game.

UC - Newcastle were on yesterday (Sat), and believe me, they were not 'surprisingly good' - even the owner walked out with 10 mins to go.

Yep. I've missed that unfortunately, I was sure that it takes place on Sunday. Here are replays, really magnificent passing and movement off the ball, just as you'd expect from Arsenal. Adebayor showed some flair, Van Persie had confidence and Eboue played football, things that each of them lacked in previous games.
I'm surprised to see Newcastle give ball away so easily, I expected something completely different after that draw with Manchester.

Manchester UNITED, if you please - there are 2 teams in Manchester (well, technically only one, as MU play outside the boundary of the City of Manchester..).

Oh, and signing SWP was definitely a crisis....and the crisis club with no money has signed another 2 players today and is now in the top 4

Now maybe just a cut-price Michael Owen to round it all off...

Yeah, surprising turn of events with good Man City performances this week, congrats.

davet010 wrote:

Manchester UNITED, if you please - there are 2 teams in Manchester (well, technically only one, as MU play outside the boundary of the City of Manchester..).

Oh, and signing SWP was definitely a crisis....and the crisis club with no money has signed another 2 players today and is now in the top 4

Now maybe just a cut-price Michael Owen to round it all off...

Your really asking for a disaster to add Owens wages to your already borrowed money.

Just finished watching the replays of the Man City and Portsmouth wins and they were very misleading IMO. Both teams deserved to win but the 3-0 scorelines were flattering. Sunderland and Everton will bounce back and its going to be a very close Prem this year.

Tomorrow will be fun as all the rumors finally end.

Borrowed money ?? City have just been taken over by a consortium with some serious (and I mean 'billions in the bank') cash in pocket, so Owen's wages would be pocket change.

Oh, and if you think that Everton didn't deserve a good hiding, I suggest you take another look at their squad. The scope of their ambition can be measured that they are apparently looking to bolster their strike force with Alan Smith from Newcastle...Bottom half this season, and the same for Keane's collection of cast-offs.

Here's my estimated finishing places this season, by grouping not exact order ( I reserve the right to amend this as transfers go through today)

Top two - Chelsea/MU

Next Four - Liverpool/Arsenal/City/Villa

Next Four - West Ham/Spurs/Portsmouth/Blackburn

Next Four - Everton/M'Boro/Newcastle/Wigan

Next Three - Bolton/Sunderland/Fulham

Bottom Three - WBA/Hull/Stoke

jowner wrote:

Just finished watching the replays of the Man City and Portsmouth wins and they were very misleading IMO.

I saw 40 minutes of Everton - Portsmouth and you're right. They had overall advantage and dominated possession. Portsmouth was great in closing channels and played very effective football, and that's exactly what they needed after two losses.

davet010 wrote:

Borrowed money ?? City have just been taken over by a consortium with some serious (and I mean 'billions in the bank') cash in pocket, so Owen's wages would be pocket change.

And why would they do that? What would they need underperforming (or not too consistent, to say at least), injury prone striker with high wages when you have all those... eeer, billions to spend.

Nah, forget Owen - it's now reported that City are attempting to hijack the Berbatov deal. Not as unlikely as you might think, as wages won't be a problem, and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy clearly hates Alex Ferguson...now that would be a great big two fingers up to the Drunken Scot, Daniel, so go ahead and do it.

It was borrowed money before the new owners just stepped in as City had taken a loan out against their TV deal money. Happy that Shinatwat has been pushed out as he was going to be a disaster for the league if he stayed in as owner. Will be interesting to see if City become the new Chelski!

jowner wrote:

It was borrowed money before the new owners just stepped in as City had taken a loan out against their TV deal money. Happy that Shinatwat has been pushed out as he was going to be a disaster for the league if he stayed in as owner. Will be interesting to see if City become the new Chelski!

Really - you'll be telling me that no other club has loans securitised on future TV or season ticket income next.

davet010 wrote:
jowner wrote:

It was borrowed money before the new owners just stepped in as City had taken a loan out against their TV deal money. Happy that Shinatwat has been pushed out as he was going to be a disaster for the league if he stayed in as owner. Will be interesting to see if City become the new Chelski!

Really - you'll be telling me that no other club has loans securitised on future TV or season ticket income next.

Arsenal doesn't Also I don't remember seeing it hit the press this off season about any other Prem club doing this.

Its still not good business though to be skimming money off the top to be able to spend your future revenues immediately. Anyways it doesn't matter now as Shinatwat who was broke and wouldn't have been able to keep city going the same way as before sold out to a bigger purse. Even better this isn't an American takeover where the guys actually don't have money and borrow against the club.

Funny part is though when the rumors were the worst you played it off that the youth team was good enough to step up if the team sold some players. Fast forward to now you hinted at a guy like Owen (expensive injury bag on the wrong side of his career) and after the takeover Berbs (not garbage but whiny) might be coming in. I'm actually interested to know who you rather see play for the club. 30m Mercs for instant success or the youth to be given a chance (within reason) and the academy to be invested in even more. Personally as an Arsenal fan the badge kissers can all go F'off as winning with players who actually want to be at the club or have been trained through the club is much more satisfying to see them succeed.

jowner wrote:

Personally as an Arsenal fan the badge kissers can all go F'off as winning with players who actually want to be at the club or have been trained through the club is much more satisfying to see them succeed.

Adebayor was kissing the badge after his move to Barca failed (btw: what a great game he had this Saturday, it's always interesting to see some nice passing and smart dribbling from a 'tower' like him)