Football 2011-2012

[ralph250]

He was pretty anonymous last season though I think the striker situation is more worrying. Vaughan, Beckford and Yak all gone this summer..

Left with Saha who plays about 1 in 3 and Anichebe who hasn't impressed. Maybe Vellios or Hope can step up? What are the odds on Everton going down currently?

Edited August 31, 2011 by ralph250

[minute5072]

Chelsea have announced Meireles signing!

[kaosmark2]

I think Arsenal have done well considering it's the last couple of days. ~£20mn outlay for Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta and Benayoun, filling in most of their problem positions. Their young players that are supposedly about to be breaking through will get a lot of gametime with the multiple competitions, while there's now a bit of squad depth and improved quality. Arguably only Benayoun wouldn't make their first 11, although Mertesacker may be left out in favour of pacier players against counter-attacking teams.

One big question though. Where the f**k is our £35mn worth of striking talent? All reinvested? Ashley is such a lying c**t and Pardew just his obedient little bitch.

[chappiepunk]

Well a very disappointing day for spurs... only Parker in. Will be interesting to see where we go from here.

[strummer77]

im sure the medical, personal terms have already been done. look at berba couple of years ago.

quality player, champions league football is such a pull isnt it and theres no guarantees liverpool will be there next year.

[Wooderson]

Got pissed off as he didn't se himself starting much. Ah well, I liked him but he's not the be all and end all. Was good on the ball with some great movement but he also used to shit out of tackles.

Onwards and upwards. We haven't increased our squad depth too much, but we have increased the quality a lot.

[pink_triangle]

My thoughts on the transfer deadline day

Liverpool/man city - Done well to ship out most of the deadweight. I don wonder if in Meireiles Liverpool might have moved 1 player too many. Wayne Bridge is becoming a mercenarie of Winston Broggarde levels. Arteta moves and takes a pay cut while bridge is happy just to rot in the reserves.

Arsenal - Good signings, but they still need a lot of work. Think they are now competitive with liverpool though for 4th place. Think Arteta will fit in well

Stoke - Im not expecting Crouch to have a huge impact as a player but his name value should attract others.

Spurs - I dont think anybody will be making the claim they have the strongest bench in the premeirship this year!

[Wooderson]

My thoughts on the transfer deadline day

Liverpool/man city - Done well to ship out most of the deadweight. I do wonder if in Meireiles Liverpool might have moved 1 player too many.

[The Nal]

Theyve a proven record of getting the best of their LFC buys though right?

Raul M wanted to leave. We made a profit. End of.

[pink_triangle]

double post

Edited September 1, 2011 by pink_triangle

[pink_triangle]

Theyve a proven record of getting the best of their LFC buys though right?

Raul M wanted to leave. We made a profit. End of.

[Wooderson]

Im not an expert with statistics but I suspect there havent been liverpool-chelsea transfers for any kind of significance. The Merieles situation always confused me, he seemed happy last season and then wanted to leave. I guess he is getting bigger wages at chelsea. Still think it wont take many injuries to see liverpool exposed in midfield, nobody really knows how many games gerrard will play. Out of interest does anyone know how much of coles wages lille are paying. Im no expert on french football but suspect they would struggle with even half, however could be wrong as heard villa were offering less.

I think Bellamy is an upgrade from Ngog as long as he stays fit. I would still say liverpool are more dependent on suarez then the other top teams are on their top player, so need a bit of luck with injuries. I do worry with the amount of games he has played in the last 2 years but he is a joy to watch so hope he keeps going.

[Wooderson]

Buying Carroll and selling Meireles are bad moves. Apart from that Pool have done very well since Jan.

[lost]

More confident going into the rest of the season that I have been in a decade.

[eFestivals]

Buying Carroll and selling Meireles are bad moves. Apart from that Pool have done very well since Jan.

I agree, but Meireles wanted out so there wasn't much LFC could do really.

And while Carroll was hugely over-priced on a straight transfer basis, I still reckon they've got great value out of buying him - I very much doubt they'd have got the players in that they have, and at those prices, had they sold Torres in Jan but showed no ambition by signing no one. It's saved them a season at lower levels I reckon.

Arsenal have done alright with their signings within the context of where they were a few days ago. Benyoun & Arteta aren't the best, but they're about the level of the next best, prem proven, and both hard working on the pitch. I'd guess that Arsenal would have struggled to do much better if they'd spunked £50M more on different players in place of these two.

QPR went a bit mental. It'll be interesting to see how their buys work out.

Stoke have made some solid signings that at worst will cement them around the level they were last season. But having bought oldies they might end up as being a bit expensive long-term.

It looks like 'Arry got told to f**k off by Levy, and that balancing the books was the first objective. 6th at best for them I reckon (and I wouldn't be surprised to see Stoke finish above them).

Surprised that Bolton held onto Cahill. It sounds like he's less wanted by the top clubs than it's been suggested, tho maybe something might have happened if he'd forced things with a transfer request (stuff I've heard is that he's been waiting for a top club the last 2 summers - bet he's gutted).

[eFestivals]

Im not an expert with statistics but I suspect there havent been liverpool-chelsea transfers for any kind of significance. The Merieles situation always confused me, he seemed happy last season and then wanted to leave. I guess he is getting bigger wages at chelsea. Still think it wont take many injuries to see liverpool exposed in midfield, nobody really knows how many games gerrard will play. Out of interest does anyone know how much of coles wages lille are paying. Im no expert on french football but suspect they would struggle with even half, however could be wrong as heard villa were offering less.

I think Bellamy is an upgrade from Ngog as long as he stays fit. I would still say liverpool are more dependent on suarez then the other top teams are on their top player, so need a bit of luck with injuries. I do worry with the amount of games he has played in the last 2 years but he is a joy to watch so hope he keeps going.

Rumour is that Meirlese was told when he signed last summer that he'd get a new contract this summer, but LFC wouldn't give him one, so he wanted out as he felt stitched up. Just hope him going doesn't unsettle Suarez as it appears they'd become good mates.

Bellamy will be used as an impact player i reckon, coming off the bench. He's alright, but Sturridge would have been hugely better, and I'm quite surprised he's still at Chelsea.

[ralph250]

I think Arsenal have done well considering it's the last couple of days. ~£20mn outlay for Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta and Benayoun, filling in most of their problem positions. Their young players that are supposedly about to be breaking through will get a lot of gametime with the multiple competitions, while there's now a bit of squad depth and improved quality. Arguably only Benayoun wouldn't make their first 11, although Mertesacker may be left out in favour of pacier players against counter-attacking teams.

One big question though. Where the f**k is our £35mn worth of striking talent? All reinvested? Ashley is such a lying c**t and Pardew just his obedient little bitch.

[Wooderson]

You think you have a better team than when you had Mascherano, Alonso and a fully fit Gerrard in the middle with Torres firing on all cylinders upfront?

[ralph250]

One big question though. Where the f**k is our £35mn worth of striking talent? All reinvested? Ashley is such a lying c**t and Pardew just his obedient little bitch.

[pink_triangle]

Reds are paying 60% of Coles wages.

Rumours all over the web that Gerrard's long term fitness is in doubt. We have a lot of options though. More confident going into the rest of the season that I have been in a decade.

[ralph250]

Surprised Cahill stayed aswell Neil.

Can understand Bolton rejecting £6m, as Cahill would help ensure survival and each league placing if worth close to a £1m, but then equally read (Duncan Castle's I think (Sunday Times)) Arsenal's bid was actually £8m with £1m after 50 appearances and an additional £2m performance rated. I would've thought £10-12m would do it, and would be surprised if Spurs didn't match that either, so be interesting if again brinksmanship gone wrong. Whether Bolton this morning are thinking great we've held onto him or crap, we've just lost £12m.

Can sell him I guess in January but will very cut-price by that stage.

[ralph250]

Think 60% is fine for Cole aswell if true that get first option on Hazard. Pay £3m, save £2m in wages on what they'd do otherwise (and doesn't look like he'd offer a lot now), and get first option on Hazard doesn't seem too bad business at all to me.

Be interesting to get a breakdown on how loans are generally structured. Generally carry a fee, but be interesting what kind of wage contribution parent clubs are making (eg. Aquilani, Bendtner, Denilson etc).

[ralph250]

Rumour is that Meirlese was told when he signed last summer that he'd get a new contract this summer, but LFC wouldn't give him one, so he wanted out as he felt stitched up. Just hope him going doesn't unsettle Suarez as it appears they'd become good mates.

Bellamy will be used as an impact player i reckon, coming off the bench. He's alright, but Sturridge would have been hugely better, and I'm quite surprised he's still at Chelsea.

[pink_triangle]

Surprised that Bolton held onto Cahill. It sounds like he's less wanted by the top clubs than it's been suggested, tho maybe something might have happened if he'd forced things with a transfer request (stuff I've heard is that he's been waiting for a top club the last 2 summers - bet he's gutted).

[Wooderson]

I think people need to be wary of reading too much into liverpools early form, in my opinion they have been the favourite in every match. As said previously the next few games are a lot more challenging and offer different tests.