Before you tell me to scrub my mouth out with soapy water read on, there is much method in my madness.
So coming off the back of a complete no news week we have in theory one week left of the non football bit and then we begin pre season, so I guess we have a week to sign the defensive midfielder we need or go with what we have.
Last season we had Denilson and Song as our defensive midfielders, this season we have a few options but one of them isn’t Alex Song, Wenger has said he we be competing for the centre back role.
So who have we got to choose from? Well Diaby is bulking up so there’s him, Ramsey could be another and Nasri has said he could do it and of course there’s Denilson.
Denilson may have bulked up a bit and Ramsey will be a bit older but who will the boss put in there. My guess is Nasri or Diaby with Denilson and Ramsey as back up.
How will the team shape up then? These are some possible line ups.
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Walcott Cesc Diaby Rosicky
Arshavin Robin
Or perhaps
Almunia
Sagna Senderos Kolo Vermaelen
Walcott Cesc Nasri Vela
Adebayor Robin
Or maybe even
Almunia
Eboue Song Vermaelen Clichy
Nasri Cesc Arshavin Rosicky
Bendtner Eduardo
I have included Vermaelen in all the line ups not knowing what he’s like, but as the boss has just spent £10 million on him, I have to figure he will start, we do seem to have a few options in the team especially up front and strangely enough in the middle, I know that a few of the centre back pairings are both left footed but so what, many pairings in football are all right footed, and although we have a lot of midfielders we don’t have too many options in the defensive role, but when did we ever? Petit wasn’t really a defensive midfielder and nor was Edu, not in the strictest sense anyway, so maybe he’s going for the exciting attacking midfield and banking on a solid back four to …well, defend.
I know that’s a little novel, defenders defending, but what we’ll lack defending we’ll make up for winning the midfield battle and going forward, who knows maybe he has Cesc earmarked for that role as well.
What I would like to see Wenger do this season is what Maureen did so successfully in his time with the chavs, make a substitution when we need it and not on 67 minutes, when the opposition are expecting it.
I would also like to see see the boss switching the forwards at half time if it isn’t working, that way the other team will be confused and we will be resting our front line, we will also be rotating and therefore not getting players moaning about lack of playing opportunities.
It may just work and with such a long season, it could save on injuries too. We could also rotate the back four now we have a plethora of centre backs and two spare full backs.
What do you think, have we enough? I believe that with the players we have, another year on and the criticism they received last term, we may just come of age, we’ll know soon enough, I would buy that DM and I would get shot of Ade but if we don’t then at least the team will know each other, realise it’s their last chance and maybe, just maybe they’ll push on and repay the faith our manager has put in them, so today Le Grove is backing the squad to deliver.
We will soon be past the point of signings, and the time for supporting what we have will be upon us, so one last week of speculating, then that’s it.
A word of deep joy aimed at our much loved antipodean chums and how they must have felt like the mancs did after we stuffed them in the 2005 FA Cup final, and it makes up for that cheating Red Bull driver that punctured Theo’s rear tyre when he overtook the field at the first corner in the German Grand Prix, shit happens boys and so does Karma!
Have a great day Grovers, the sun is shining!
Night A
Oh and Ethan—How many points did Man u take from the big four last year and werent they champions or something like that?
A
You do realise the purpose of the dossier??
Usmanov compiled a dossier to make the financial situation look AS BAD as is humanly possible in an attempt to persuade the board that they needed his money. He made estimations based on worst case scenarios.
————————————
DID YOU EVER THINK HE MIGHT BE TELLING THE TRUTH ?
because , i know what building costs are, i know the real estate industry .. i can see we have only sold our best assets over the past 5 years , we can see the club rarely spends money on transfers ..
we know arsene has no funds as he has already stated this season .
i think its you A who is manipulating the truth ..
have you no faith whatsoever? What is the purpose of being a gunner if you have no faith in the gunners? I dont understand you Ethan
oh luke didnt man U start the season poorly and still win the league !?
they were like mid – table about 8- 10 games in .
and still won the league …
whats your point ????
other than they can step on the accelerator and get results ?!
how big of an impact do you think Arshavin is going to make then?
Utd could because they won so many 1-0 games, due to a ronaldo free kick or something rooted in Ronaldo. He’s gone… THey have no impact player in Tevez either anymore.
what the fuck are you on about ?
‘What is the purpose of being a gunner if you have no faith in the gunners?’
because there my team from birth to death ..
its a flag that will always fly in my yard even if the fans are currently getting fucked over by the owners on ticket prices and lack of quality players , or if people aren’t strong enough like you to say ive had enough of being 2nd best for 5 years now !..
but clearly you haven’t had enough of this , but i doubt you’ll be blogging here next season for me to tell you I TOLD YOU SO !
your method of faith is madness ! both you and A’s
it looks foolish to me ! because blind faith and facts are 2 differing things ! TOTALLY !
and the facts are we have won nothing for 4/5 years … so we can hardly call ourselves the best of the best …
I didnt say blind faith man, but at the end of the day you have to have some sort of love for the team or else what is the point
we may be against the odds, but you have to admit there IS a possibility for sivlerware next year
One point i would agree on, is that the other top four sides, still have a lot of strength and depth. It’s very simplistic to say that just because Ronaldo leaves that they will lose all them goals. It doesn’t quite work that way. And while he was their best player, they still have a lot of good players who can do a good job for them.
as for Chelski, people seem to think that because they have a new manager they will be shit, but having a new manager can have the totally opposite effect, he can invigourate a side. Sure they may all be getting older, but in stark contrast to us they are all experienced. Don’t discount them too quickly.
Scousers, well they have only strengthened so far, it is not a wild stretch of the imagination to suggest that they might recreate their excellent performance from last season.
We are a stronger side at the moment than we were going in to last season, but it would be incredibly hasty to assume that we will somehow walk the league while these other clubs all sink.
And that’s all without even talking about City
if I implied it’d be a walk, i by no means meant that. Im saying that we are in a position where winning is not unrealistic anymore
Ofcourse Man u still has an incredable squad. I think their core left them and they have not replaced them adaquetly. How many times did they win 1-0 from a Ronaldo free kick. Depth isnt everything if you dont have a starting 11 that produces, and I think w/o Ronaldo and Tevez, Man utd will not be producing nearly as much.
Wasn’t necessarily directed at you luke. I’m just saying i’ve seen many people saying that the other three teams are completely fucked. I’m just saying that is wishful thinking. If we are going to win it we are going to have to excel rather than rely on others being shit
luke. I agree but then we don’t have anybody particularly prolific either. We are hoping a lot of youngsters will step up. It would not be incredible for United’s to do the same
True, true.
Although, Id argue Arshavin will be our mr. prolific
Hopefully luke. he certainly has the ability. I think he would be wasted on the wing though
I just hope eduardo and tomas come back as who they were and vermy comes through. If that happens…boy oh boy, we got a team
We definitely have a team. My biggest concern is, do we have a deep enough squad?
We aren’t exactly lucky with injuries. A couple of unfortunate one’s and we could very well struggle.
Always a concern especially with the Africans leaving. I think a CDM and we do have the depth though. We just cant afford to lose someone like Cesc or Andrey
lots of “ifs” but im confident
Yeah. and then you have to rely on the DM staying fit all season. And imagine if Gallas is injured to coincide with the ACN.. We would be in trouble i reckon.
These are all concerns. But with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, there’s no reason we can’t challenge
ethangunner iam afraid your data isnt accurate
we are 1 in (vermaelen) and only 1 (bischoff) out so far
ManYoo 3 in, 2 out (1 of whome ronaldo BTW)
Pool 2 in, 2 out
Chavs 3 in (turnbull & sturridge incl.), no one out
MC yeah, countless but so far only 2 in (santa cruz & barry) and 3 out/ + tevez?
Blackburn 3 in, 2 out
thats what as of today.
sorry jj but your wrong …
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/
that will tell you everything
——————————————
luke/hb a and who ever from before ..
as an HB said .
just because we are counting on our youth stepping up dont mean other teams arent either ..
but what they are doing is adding to the depth of there squad and quality .
and as we didnt replace 5 players out last season we we got nasri and AA ..
so we are still 3 down on the previous season ..
and hleb is missed more than nasri is gained .
flamini is just missed!!! and so is his experience , and like diarra or not he would have been far more solid than denilsong for the season ..
not only that but jens left with no firm experience other than fab 2 , who screwed the pooch by coming off his line to often , if almunia gets injured for long periods next season we would be throwing caution to the wind ..
and whilst i think man U will definitely miss ronaldo , tevez was a bit part player for them and with berba – tevez – Fletcher macedea on the bench , and with Valencia who is fucking class and owen as back up , and new guy Obertan
who is also class
they haven’t lost that much ..
and that macedea or what ever his name is will step up …
he is fucking class !
us on the other hand have been missing class players all over the park for years ..
there are no players of any quality lost from the top 4 other than maybe , MAYBE sahar and ronaldo , Frazier also , but he was on loan and gone last term for the man’cs technically anyhow ..
and the chev’s never used sahar anyhow , and i think ive covered the manc’s setup
im not going to subscript to the delusional rants for another season that this is the one ..
that our youth are another year older ..
wank on , heard that all before ..
there are at least rumors coming out of the club
about fiances and soon the truth will be known ..
as for usmanov being a cretin , dont you think has he owns 25% of the club he might actually be worried for his investment with all these idiots running the club !!!
fuck i would be ..
because for the last 4 years we’ve really been showing progress haven’t we …
yes a new stadium and our eyeballs up to the hilt in debt to accompany it !
On Man Utd. YOu cant be serious. If you are going to be so pessimistic with arsenal, why arn’t you with man utd. For example…
1. “Valencia who is fucking class”. He might be on wigan but on Man Utd? No. Ronaldo out Valencia in…uhhhh, not even fucking close bud. Not even fucking close to even.
2. “and that macedea or what ever his name is will step up …he is fucking class !” So a fucking 17 year old who scored 1 key goal WHO DIDNT MAKE ENOUGH APPEARENCES LAST YEAR TO EVEN GET A MEDAL will step up, but ofcourse the arsenal boys wont. Ofcourse that’s realistic isnt it. Yeah, the 17 year old will step up. Uhhhh are you fucking kidding me?
3. “new guy Obertan who is also class”—So let me get this straight, you argue above that any European players need 6 months to get used to the EPL, but Obertan coming from the French league which is not even close to the premier league will fit fight in and “he’s class”. YOURE FUCKING HAVING A LAUGH ETHAN!
I agree with you we have failed to replace flamini, lehman, hleb etc. though. We need a couple more signings or some young ones to really kick it into high gear. Youre having a laugh with that man utd argument though bud.
I forgot to talk about Michael Owen but really must I? Tevez out Owen in. Really Ethan? Really?
fit right* in
With all due respect, the loss of Ronaldo from manure will be as devestating in the short term as the Munich plane disaster was for them. They won’t admit it, but they start further back on the grid than The Arsenal IMO
agreed
Surely Fergie cant be done spending though…
With a debt of around £800 million, SAF must just love to spend, money his club haven’t got.
Looks like Man u’s domination may be over for now boys
i really dont see who manu are going to buy..ribery seems unlikely given the stubborn bayern bosses..i also saw trezeguet was linked with them which is one of the bst news i’ve heard in a long time..he will be shit in england….
and ethan, ( i’ve been reading the earlier posts ) how can you have confidence in macheda’s ability to step up but slate our youth’s chances off so vehemently..the likes of vela and ramsey are on a level above macheda imo..
he scored 2 goals the second of which was pure luck ( just deflected of him )..the frist one was a beauty i admit but ethan, did you even watch the earleir part of the game where he ahrdly ever got a touch on the ball…
…i hope
g’morning people…optimism is the name of the game….
I will gladly 2nd that rohan
where are you, luke coz you were up all night blogging??…australia?
I got a good feelin’ today. Im thinking, bi bi adebayor, hello matuidi. Hello whoever else we can get with 25 million
Im in the USA, moved here 2 years ago. California
are these dailymail bastard in there senses when they say veira to sp*rs
aaaaaaah…i’m planning to go the US for university next year..
where in the US you thinkin?
either they’re having a laugh or harry redknapp is high
Viera to spurs…one word…no
chamakh is bordeaux player mmmmmm there can be a swap for silvester..monetary wise in wont effect as much caz fish head will be valuedat <=0
or it can be viera havin bit of FUN with sp*ds
Chamakh really isnt arsenal good id have to say. He doesnt move well around the box. Pretty lethargic in the final third
even if i say so myself, my grades are excellent and i darsay i ahve a pretty good chance of getting into a top university ( planning on electrical engineering )..berkeley right now would be my number 1 choice but i wouldnt mind cornell, columbia, illinois, michigan or CalTech either….i know it probably sounds like im pulling your leg but there you go….
although, itd be nice if they take silvestre for a couple million
best of luckwth your education planing Rohan
eyyy, I live 15 minutes from Berkeley!
luke…it was wenger saying if ade leaves he’ll be buying chamakh… i don’t care caz even if these two leave – ae and fish head- with no replacement we are quite heavy on sheet on defenders and strikers
yea chamakh isnt really a top level player..doesnt ahve that soemthing that makes you a wordclass striker…
his build up play is awful and his finishing is atrocious..he is a good header of the ball and he does score a few good goals but his goal to chance ratio is even smaller than adebayor’s and that’s saying something
theo, vela, nikki b, rvp, dudu, arshavin
and vela nikki b playign in carling as well..
okay boys- Ditch silvestre, ditch ade, buy matuidi, buy another striker but who?? Wenger wont bring in more than three cuz he says that will offset the team and I have to agree. But, Id think that we are going to buy another CB soon cuz Gallas is gone next year, Toure and Song are gone for Africa, Toure cant have more than 2 years left, big Phil aint that good. Hows JD doin?
haha luke, so i guess it would be good saturday’s all round the season if i come around…
i dont necessarily want another striker,..i’d rather we moved theo up top and bought hazard as a right winger because imo he will be world class in a few years and i would hate for us to miss out on him
hahaha you said it rohan.
teh concern is another injury season for rvp and dudu where we might see hamstring or little injuries popping up every other day
I dont know mich about Hazard? you got a good take on him?
I think Wenger might go for the Russian Pogrebaynk or something like that in January cuz he well be free in november. Arshavin will help him settle and the two would do well together.
yep, imo he is a cert to become a big star..he has everything it takes to become a huge player and to add to it he said that arsenal are his dream club which is always a good thing..
i would describe him as a messi-robben hybrid..he has the quick feet and deft touch of messi but also the directness of robben that will make him succeed in the premier league
g-pak – i wouldn’t use that rag to wipe my fucking arse with fella, wankers to a man, the lot of ‘em.
yea if wenger is oging to buy a striker it will be in january and pogrbenyak seems the best bet…
YES! I like the sound of that. Is he a right winger or left? or both? Age? Fee?
did some research, we better sign hazard. THen they want us to loan him out for a year or something like that? That’d be fine if we put him on a 5 year deal with us
Any word on matuidi or adeBYEor over there lads?
Hazard would be a wicked signing, a real real talent, i work in Brussels and all the local boys rave about him….
good to hear
can play on both wings..he is also the ligue 1 french player of the year..18 years of age and i reckon he would cost around 8 million…
i know it is youtube but here you go…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrnZV0G16Y
belgium really is the new hotbed of talent isnt it with the likes of
vermaelen
kompany
fellaini
eden ahzard
steven defour
axel witsel
vertonghen kevin mirallas and a few other blokes from standard liege the team that gave liverpool a scare earlier last season…
Rohan I often think that, I then think so why don’t Belgium win something then.
wow. I know it is just youtube but wow…at 18. Now I really want Adebayor to go because if he doesnt, im not sure hazard comes. A CDM has to be a higher priority doesnt it? Leave Ade Leave!
theyre still young…
all of these players have come up in the last couple of players and they’re all in and around the age of 20..
so i guess euro 2012 would be a realistic target for them, does anyone know how thet’re doing in WCQ ??…
then again for such a tiny country, they must be oding something right…
The Arsenal have enough wingers, The Club needs a CDM more, like a traffic hazard
we’ve not been directly linked with him as far as i know…but he did say that we are his dream club and that is good enough for me…come on wenger…
are we in for this belgian guy
….& not a traffic hazard like hobbit Hamilton who gets in the way of traffic
he would make excellent headlines like :
Opposition finds arsenal Hazardous etc….
Belguim is in Spains group for qualifiying, unfortunately theyre also with turkey and bosnia-herzegovina. Theyre 4th
lol gnarley..
i nver oculd really appreciate F1 because of the fact that it is not the best driver that wins but the driver with the best car…not taking anything away form webber though..
We could use a young winder. Theo is not a natural and I think Arsh is being wasted on the wing. I like him floating around the edge of the box terrifying defences
hmmmm..luke
bosnia have dzeko dont they and turkey are pretty good..i guess 4th is expected then..
it would be hilarious if portugal didnt qualify…
winger*
the thing is wenger has enver been a big fan of out and out wingers..he prefers CAM’s/playmakers on the flanks like rosicky, nasri, pires who like to drift inside leaving the fulbacks to bomb forward..
overmars is the exception that comes to mind..
Belguim could still pull of 2nd and get into the playoffs if they win some big games
Morning all, whats occuring?
i doubt they are good enough to get past turkey….i’ll be backing them anyway.
gg9 – I gotta disagree with you there fella about wingers, we have no one who is a true winger, and all this bollox about “he’s good enough to play wide” is just that, bollox. We’ve been crying out for a proper wide man for the past two seasons!
Diaby – Ha bloody Ha!
Rosicky – Central Midfield Playmaker, both for his previous club and country.
Vela – CF for Mexico, played wide on load to Osasuna though.
Theo – Don’t make me laugh, CF for Southampton and England U21′s before AW go hold of him.
Bentner – Do me a fecking favour, CF end of!
Hleb – Another Central Midfield playmaker for both his previous club and country.
AW doing his normal square peg in a round hole symdrome. Our squad is not balanced because we have no true wide man, and that’s why we are so feking narrow all the time, aprticularly at home!
i still think hazard could fit the bill. and hell, its not like wenger cant mould him into a more CAM
DDM, I take your point there.
So lets get HAzard! Problem solved! We gotta ditch Adebayor to buy him though…not unless we wont denilsong at CDM again
My computer is doing a hobbit Hamilton on me. Its going real slow. Must be something wrong with wordpress or something.
DDM – 1000000000% agree with you on the wingers thing! I have said soooo many times that we were one of the only clubs that started last season without a an actual RW! Eboue is a full back and Theo is a striker-to-be! We really need a RW and I htink that Hazard could do that job although I know relatively little about him.
Good article from the beeb about our finances.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2009/07/ive_obtained_a_copy_of.html
The interesting point about this is Rothschild predicts the rights issue would only save the club 5 mill a year.
Forget what Lazards predict, I doubt if wages will grow from 110 mill to 180 mill in a couple of years.
we dont even have a left winger either.
but i think wengerball requires that more than one central playmaker is rquired hence te left and right midfielders drift inward leaving the fullbacks to bomb forward and provide support on the wings..imo that is the main concept upon which wengerball hinges upon…..it odesnt hurt ahving options though if we shifht to a 451 or a 433 where a true winger is needed…
but imo if wenger continues to play a 442, he will be inclined to play playmakers on the flanks of the midfield
usmanov was just trying to pass his EMG. I have a feeling that is pretty outstretched and exagerated.
luke, apparently thre are quite a few left wingers running Britain though
gg9 – I do agree with you about an all action CDM though, we desperately need one of those, but in an ideal world we’d get one of those AND this Hazard character. It will only be a matter of time before another big outfit snaps him up, and we’ll hear AW come out with his tired old “i almost signed Hazard for thruppance blah fucking blah”, coz that’s what all fans wanna hear, their manager’s continual missed opportunities, maybe he should just shut the feck up.
I thought we were goin more of a 4-2-3-1 these days
Make you right there Dennis, the last wingers we had were Overmars and Limpar.
gnarley–Zing!
wengerball requires 3 playmakers to drift around the edge of the are interchanging positions namely our CM( fabregas ) and our LM and RM…with a second striker ( bergkamp/rvp ) linking up the play with a fast striker like henry up front latching upon everything..
Dennis- if we ditch Adebayor, I think Hazard is coming. If not, were shit out of luck because MAtuidi comes first.
Football365.com
Manchester City are reputedly determined to push through the transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor by offering the Arsenal striker a double-your-money deal at Eastlands.
Just over forty-eight hours after City announced they were no longer pursuing Samuel Eto’o, it is understood that talks between Arsenal and City over Adebayor opened on Monday afternoon. Neither club has yet to comment on the speculation but it’s believed that City have offered £20m for the Togo striker.
Determined to hold out for £25m, Arsenal are mindful of AC Milan’s interest in Adebayor and one complication in the proposed deal may be the player’s reputed preference for moving to Italy. Whether that would remain the case in view of the wages apparently on offer in Manchester remains to be seen. According to The Daily Mail, ‘The Togo forward is expected to open talks on a five-year deal worth £170,000 a week’ and ‘the deal could even be completed today.’
If those figures are correct then the total cost of the deal would be in excess of £70m – a staggering outlay given that the club have already spent over £100m in transfer fees alone this year after completing the purchase of Carlos Tevez on Monday.
The newspaper goes on to speculate that Arsene Wenger is willing to sell because ‘has grown tired of what he perceives to be Adebayor’s poor attitude’. It is more likely that Wenger is willing to cash in on Adebayor in order to fund further redevelopment of the Gunners’ rearguard while pursuing Bordeaux’s Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh.
TAIG – If we go for him now, he’d be relatively cheap, maybe £5 – £8m. Jesus that’s gotta be worth a punt when you consider how much AFC spends on youth development, this fella’s half way there already.
Guys lets be realistic. If we do sell Adebayor for upwards of £20m Wenger will buy Matuidi and Chamakh. If we dont sell Adebayor Wenger will buy Matuidi only.
While all other clubs strengthen Wenger will stick to his guns and run us into the ground for yet another year all in the name of project youth. I believe we will not get in the top 4 but I dont think it will be City that do.
This is the very reason why from the end of last season I said that I would give Wenger until the end of the transfer window to fix things. It looks like that wont happen and it really will signal the point of no return for me and Wenger and will completely ruin next season as there is no way we can expect to compete for honours with fucking rubbish kids in the midfield!
ADEBYEOR ADEBYEOR! LEAVE!!!
ADEBAYOR IS GONE FOR THE MONEY!!!!!
HE IS SHOPPING FOR A HOUSE IN MANCHESTER CITY
DDM – Yeah, exactly! But who are we kidding! There is no way he would buy a kid that already looks good because he wont be able to take full credit for the player he becomes!
re his preference for italy,..adebayor’s not going to care where he’s going if it means he is getting paid 170k a week which is outrageous
Taig
I’ve gotta disagree there. I’m tipping the boys to come flying outta the blocks & be top by xmas. Then AW can spend/top up again.
Geoff – And history will tell us, that when we’ve had wingers we’ve been pretty successful……
lets hope youre wrong tony, but i do agree somewhat. I want the lad
GG9 – Good for you mate, wont happen but good for you!
i’m pretty happy with the squad as of now and am quietly confident of our chances..while the cl may be beyond us, the league is a pretty realistic possibility
Cheers Taig.
were not buying chamakh? That rumour has to be bogus…doesnt it. I need some reassurance because that is not an upgrade
i think we could challenge for the champions league. Surely madrid and barca will be tough. Probably Juve too with diego and melo. But we tend to come through in Europe.
TAIG – Well it’s about time the prick did something for the good of Arsenal Football Club, rather than his beloved project and his pride!
i wonder what the odds are like on the winner of la liga….
The biggest difference between our side now and the invincibles is the midfield players! Every single midfielder in our invincible team was strong, hungry, creative and constantly, constantly supported our strikers. They followed every ball into the box! Pires and Ljungberg were 3rd strikers ALL of the time! This is because they had intelligence as well! How many goals did Freddie get by arriving late in the box?? Fucking loads!
Now what do we have? Denilson/Song just tinkering about in the middle of the park not really running any where, Cesc who seems to be about as motivated as Amy Winehouse, Nasri who wants to be a holding midfielder and Theo who is just hitting the corner flags! Arshavin is the only saving grace in our midfield! Why? Because he is intelligent, hungry and motivated. He knows that not only does he need to support our strikers and how to do it but also that sometimes he needs to become the striker himself – a la 4 goals at Anfield!
Wenger seems to completely forgotten the style of football that he was so good at, the style of football that won us numerous accolades and respect accross the globe and the style of football that the fans all loved to watch!
I still think Barca are gonna win it. Madrid are going to need 11 balls on the pitch for their “team” to function.
matuidi is a box to box tony…
We always struggle against english oppositions.With some luck we will do well in UCL.Juve are really strong this year
yeah, it is going to be a huge clash of egos in the dressing room….same with city
Rohan – Barca are 10/11 and Madrid are 11/10 so pretty close right now.
villa going to barca might tip the odds in their favour but if alonso leaves to RM, who knows….
I think madrid are capable of challenging barcelona this year.This ego theory has always been used.Madrid struggled earlier because they didn’t have a single proper defender or a DM.Don’t think it had anything to with the players ego or anything.Think they will provide barca a tough challege this year
Juve will be fun to watch. But fuck melo.
Spot on rohan.Alonso would be the key signing for RM
i dont think alonso is going to go though.
hey, whats going on with van der vaart, huntelaar, sneijder, nistlerooy, and robben. Surely most of em are gone eh?
if he does go though, liverpool are fecked big time….imagine lucas leiva coming in to replace him…alonso imo was their most important player last season after gerrard…
Lets snipe Alonso! I’d much rather have a DM instead but seeing as that looks unlikely I’d take a very intelligent and creative footballer with the right attitude instead to play next to Cesc!
I am sure fergie will buy one of those RM rejects.If liverpool get some 40 million for alonso it won’t be that bad a deal.
yeah i heard huntelaar and vdv will leave for sure while sneijder will stay along with robben….
RvN ..i have no idea..will probably go back to netherlands or something or will play for a lower level team like spuds etc..or maybe even everton who do need a striker
how are cesc and alonso as pals after xabi injured him for the 1000000th time in training foe the confed cup?
If we had crazy money to spend i would have gone for essien.Surprised nobody is interested in him
no chance he’s leavin chelski
Real Madrid may face competition for the Basque from the only club in Europe with similar finances…
Manchester City are being linked with a shock move for Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso.
Alonso is widely expected to join Real Madrid in the near future, but, according to The Daily Mail, City have been encouraged into a move by the fact that the midfielder reportedly wants to leave Anfield.
However, Mark Hughes acknowledges that Alonso is unlikely to want to move to Eastlands, especially after holding out for a move to the Bernabeu for so long.
However, the one advantage City have is that they could potentially trump any Real Madrid offer for the player, both in terms of fee and wages.
Liverpool are thought to want around £35 million for Alonso, but that is a reduced figure arrived at after weeks of negotiations.
I’d say one of the biggest difference between this side and the invincibles is the league they play in, the amount of money and the many teams that are now able to benfit from it is completely different from even a few years ago.
wow.