2012/13 Soccer Thread

Grantland[/url]]Say what you will about slick-passing La Liga imports bought by an Abu Dhabi billionaire. At least it's an ethos.

Dimmerswitch wrote:

Grantland[/url]]Say what you will about slick-passing La Liga imports bought by an Abu Dhabi billionaire. At least it's an ethos.

I agree for the most part

also

Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

koshnika wrote:
jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

Also haven't renewed. I have no reason.

koshnika wrote:
jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

All that Marquinhos money must be going to their heads. Still, means Arsenal will have even less cover when Napoli blast €37m on Higuain.

davet010 wrote:
koshnika wrote:
jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

All that Marquinhos money must be going to their heads. Still, means Arsenal will have even less cover when Napoli blast €37m on Higuain.

Have you seen him play? Were better off promoting a 16 year old prospect then paying whatever wages he makes.

"United are wasting their time," Pique is quoted as saying by The Sun.
"It took a long time for Cesc to get his dream move back home and he won’t give it up. This is home, it is where his family is and he is playing with his closest friends.

"He has told us he is happy and that he intends to stay with Barcelona."

United has made a third bid worth €41m....

jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:
koshnika wrote:
jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

All that Marquinhos money must be going to their heads. Still, means Arsenal will have even less cover when Napoli blast €37m on Higuain.

Have you seen him play? Were better off promoting a 16 year old prospect then paying whatever wages he makes.

Who, Gervinho or Higuain ?

davet010 wrote:
jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:
koshnika wrote:
jowner wrote:
Italian media claim Roma director Walter Sabatini has flown out to complete the €8m swoop for Arsenal’s Gervinho.

O please please please

I'll rebuy my red level if Arsenal agrees to that trade.

All that Marquinhos money must be going to their heads. Still, means Arsenal will have even less cover when Napoli blast €37m on Higuain.

Have you seen him play? Were better off promoting a 16 year old prospect then paying whatever wages he makes.

Who, Gervinho or Higuain ?

Gervinho obviously.

Well, someone must have rated him when Arsenal bought him. And someone must presumably rate him now, if there is a buyer for his services. I guess I'm just struggling with this whole Suarez idea (Liverpool have rejected the new £40,000,001 offer, apparently). It's the sort of thing that has me wondering what Arsene fears more...that Liverpool play hardball and the fans see another deal go nowhere, or that Liverpool accept the bid and Arsene has to decide whether they really are going to buy him.

BCWYWF.

davet010 wrote:

Well, someone must have rated him when Arsenal bought him. And someone must presumably rate him now, if there is a buyer for his services. I guess I'm just struggling with this whole Suarez idea (Liverpool have rejected the new £40,000,001 offer, apparently). It's the sort of thing that has me wondering what Arsene fears more...that Liverpool play hardball and the fans see another deal go nowhere, or that Liverpool accept the bid and Arsene has to decide whether they really are going to buy him.

BCWYWF.

Well, someone must have rated Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy etc when City bought them.

As for Suarez coming I'm not holding my breath.

1. Liverpool are too Stubborn.

John W. Henry @John_W_Henry

What do you think they're smoking over there at Emirates?
2:42 AM - 24 Jul 2013

also Real are going to get paid for Hiquain and could 're-evaluate' what they think hes worth suddenly. Kinda like they did with Hiquain.

Probably will go all the way until August 31st as for Arsenal hes banned those games and Real start their season later.

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

bigred wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

I'll be playing FireFall and watching!

jowner wrote:

Well, someone must have rated Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy etc when City bought them.

Mark f**king Hughes, that's who. And that's why he's now at Stoke.

I think Real Madrid is a bit more of a likely destination for Suarez. They have spent about €50m already this summer, but if they've got enough for a Bale bid (assuming that's not just Marca doing the usual RM propaganda), then they've enough for Suarez. I did wonder at one point whether Ancelotti was rethinking getting shut of Higuain...after all, it was Mourinho who didn't really use him as a full time player. They would view Suarez as an upgrade though, and he'd definitely go.

USA: Hooray!

Meanwhile: EL-OH-F*CKING-EXICO.

Oh dear, QPR were in 'final negotiations' with Celtic's Gary Hooper...and now he's having a medical. At Norwich.

Twitcher is already looking for the ejector seat. Nice little earner payoff from QPR ('club don't match my ambition, chairman done nothing to strengthen squad by signing people whose agents I know' etc), then hanging round like a dirty old man around the school gates for the first Premiership club to bottle it and bin their manager, and decide that 'Arry and his voluminous Filofax is the answer.

Hope it's not before the end of the transfer deadline, else Sky's Jim White will probably self-combust.

Dimmerswitch wrote:
bigred wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

I'll be playing FireFall and watching!

I totally missed it. But at least we won. Finals Sun!

davet010 wrote:

Well, someone must have rated him when Arsenal bought him. And someone must presumably rate him now, if there is a buyer for his services.

The move, if it goes ahead, would see the 26-year-old reunited with his former Lille manager Rudi Garcia, after he became Roma manager in June.

Well that mystery solved. ;P

Liverpool seem less adamant about Suarez staying than United about Rooney. I think Liverpools only sticking point is hes worth 50m, so if its just about money a deal can be haggled. Whereas United don't want to look like a selling club and honestly have no targets or transfers to appease their fans if Rooney walks.

Hopefully the around 7m + wages shed from Gervinho will help Arsenal pry Suarez away instead of both sides getting stubborn and butt hurt over it.

Be worth it just to see how Wenger spins this one as being evidence of them 'doing things properly' while other clubs just buy up the trophies. I'm thinking that Alvin will play roughly the same number of games that RvP did when he was there, what with his suspensions and all, so it will be interesting to see just what difference it makes.

And I really don't think that many United fans will be that arsed if Shrek goes...I think the more intelligent of them can see that he's not going to get any better at OT, and that it's time to get rid while they can still get a decent fee for him. He's not essential to their current formation, and it's probably only Blues like me who hope that he sits there on the bench sulking at a million quid a month and stinking up the dressing room.

Stele wrote:
Dimmerswitch wrote:
bigred wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

I'll be playing FireFall and watching!

I totally missed it. But at least we won. Finals Sun!

I hope the referee from last night never calls another game. He gave Honduras free reign to literally punch and kick our players with no fouls given, and then gives a yellow card to one of our players and throws our coach out of the game. Screw that guy.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Stele wrote:
Dimmerswitch wrote:
bigred wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

I'll be playing FireFall and watching!

I totally missed it. But at least we won. Finals Sun!

I hope the referee from last night never calls another game. He gave Honduras free reign to literally punch and kick our players with no fouls given, and then gives a yellow card to one of our players and throws our coach out of the game. Screw that guy.

Yeah. He was absolutely atrocious and should be embarrassed.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Stele wrote:
Dimmerswitch wrote:
bigred wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Team USA v Honduras tonight!

I'll be watching!

I'll be playing FireFall and watching!

I totally missed it. But at least we won. Finals Sun!

I hope the referee from last night never calls another game. He gave Honduras free reign to literally punch and kick our players with no fouls given, and then gives a yellow card to one of our players and throws our coach out of the game. Screw that guy.

That's CONCACAF for you. Thankfully for the US Honduras didn't have the lead or you would probably see some legendary time-wasting and the officials doing nothing about it.

Because sometimes clubs and their fans aren't dicks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...

davet010 wrote:

Because sometimes clubs and their fans aren't dicks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...

That's awesome. I got really, really choked up.

Thankfully, I was greatly cheered by the oogaba at the bottom of the page.

Tancredi Palmeri @tancredipalmeri

Starting to be a mystery the non-unveiling of Higuain.Napoli have still issues with Real Madrid about add-ons,so another presser cancelled

So... Lesson? Don't deal with Real in the transfer market if possible.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Because sometimes clubs and their fans aren't dicks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...

That's awesome. I got really, really choked up.

Thankfully, I was greatly cheered by the oogaba at the bottom of the page.

Pretty amazing... as for the oogaba don't look at the face. Surprise.

Also Cesc update... Hes still not available even after there was a slight glimmer of hope if under the new manager Cesc's role was diminished.

Going back to Rooney your right Dave. You as a City fan and me as an Arsenal the best outcome is probably him staying at United and stewing. Mourinho excels at making players fall in love with him and then loathe him. In the short term Rooney would probably be back to his best which neither of us want to see.

jowner wrote:

Also Cesc update... Hes still not available even after there was a slight glimmer of hope if under the new manager Cesc's role was diminished.

Going back to Rooney your right Dave. You as a City fan and me as an Arsenal the best outcome is probably him staying at United and stewing. Mourinho excels at making players fall in love with him and then loathe him. In the short term Rooney would probably be back to his best which neither of us want to see.

I think that the January window might be a better indicator of whether Cesc is available. If he gets little playing time (and they've gained a Naymar this summer already), then he might decide to angle for a move then. As I understand it, there is a release clause in his contract for €40m, but only Arsenal can trigger it.

I think you're right, jowner, about Rooney regaining some of his form at Chelsea - he'd probably be a better fit for Mourinho's preferred counterattack game than Torres is, and we can't be having that.

Of course, the Red press is now beginning to move away from the Cesc story - the Manchester United Evening News are now spinning it as a smokescreen to deflect attention from their real target...the return of the Show Pony. Quite who it's a smokescreen from is not stated, because there are obviously bazillions of teams with £80m and £15m a year in wages to splurge. Aye, right.

Amusing fact #1 to tide you over til the start of the season. AS Monaco, who have spent over €120m this summer, apparently had a lower average attendance last year than Chesterfield FC. Who finished 8th - in League Two.

davet010 wrote:
jowner wrote:

Also Cesc update... Hes still not available even after there was a slight glimmer of hope if under the new manager Cesc's role was diminished.

Going back to Rooney your right Dave. You as a City fan and me as an Arsenal the best outcome is probably him staying at United and stewing. Mourinho excels at making players fall in love with him and then loathe him. In the short term Rooney would probably be back to his best which neither of us want to see.

I think that the January window might be a better indicator of whether Cesc is available. If he gets little playing time (and they've gained a Naymar this summer already), then he might decide to angle for a move then. As I understand it, there is a release clause in his contract for €40m, but only Arsenal can trigger it.

If Cesc is ever ready to leave Barca, Arsenal have to be highest bidders. Especially considering we're ready to offer 40M for someone as despicable as Suarez. He's the one former player that I really miss. Van Persie's transfer was perhaps a bigger hit to the club from sporting viewpoint, but for me personally it didn't come close to pain of seeing Cesc leave.
Still have the shirt.

Also, when I think about Cesc, I can't help but remember those two wonderful minutes:

Ah, memories. Nowadays mere 5-2 is the best we can do.

Yeah, but Arsenal have got a cat in hell's chance of getting Alvin for £40m. The key, it appears to me, with Fabregas is his state of mind. He's won things at Barca, but I think he knows in his heart of hearts that he was 'on La Liga winning squads' rather than being a key component - perhaps moreso last season than his first one. So if he goes back to Arsenal, then why is he going back ? Is he going back because he wasn't good enough to make himself a key component, even with Xavi showing the first signs of being on the downslope ? Is he going back to win things with Arsenal (is their squad really better now without RvP...is Cesc the end of the spending if he comes, because if he is, I still think Arsenal will finish 3rd or 4th), and does he really believe that ?

I think Cesc will stay with Barca for the full season. And then I think he'll go back to Arsenal next summer.