The 2011-2012 Football Thread

Thanks, let's just say I'm looking forward to the 'new season'

Congrats Fizzoid! Sounds like a wedding/honeymoon rolled into one!

on transfers:
- austrian national left full back Christian Fuchs signed with Schalke, leaving mainz behind (him being awared best left defender of the las BL season might have been an impact there)
-miroslav klose decided to join Lazio on a free transfer, which by all means is bizarre

Lazio aren't even in the Champions League - it must be about money.

Now Liverpool seems to be after Gaël Clichy for £5m. We need depth at left back, and Arsenal's defense was (on paper) good this season, though they gave up goals at absolutely the worst possible moments. What do you think XIII and daneoni? Do you care if he goes? Do you rate him? Arsenal supporters seem pretty divided on him.

Edit: Two doping scandals have emerged in the last couple days. Firstly, Columbus Crew () fringe player Josh Williams has been suspended for 10 games and fined 10% of his (meager) salary for testing positive for a banned supplement. I've never heard of the kid, he's been in the squad for a couple seasons but has never played a match.

Secondly, and more sensationally, five members of the Mexian national side have just been pulled from the Gold cup after testing positive for clenbuterol, though it is suspected that the substance may have come from contaminated beef or chicken eaten back in Mexico rather than deliberate cheating.

^
Keep your grubby fingers off him! On his day he is very good (played the pass that led to our first goal against Barca at the Emirates) but he also makes some horrendous mistakes at the worst possible times...too lax or overplays in dangerous situations instead of an old fashion clearance.

I don't think Gibbs is truly ready to replace him yet so i indeed want him to stay. Still a good player for us. Also unlike some others he (and Sagna) actually seems committed to the club. I would be very surprised if he left.

Speaking of defenders in the transfer news; i read that Arsene has his eyes on Samba (and Cahill too apparently)...not you're average Arsenal-type player but still gets the job done consistently and he is a leader. I'd welcome him with open arms.

Regarding all this couch hatred, I can only say... coaches can either be great, or mediocre. This means that they can lead a team to victory just with sensational strategy plays and so forth, but if he fails to correctly study a match the outcome will obviously be negative for the team.. what Im trying to say is that a good coach is much more significant than a bad coach to a team. And coaches are rated on how many victories/losses/draws they have and against what teams they were scored. Hating, say, Capello, for losing some games when he's known to be a magnificent coach makes no sense in my book, unless he leads England to terrible defeat. Lately, thanks to many attention hungry coaches, such as and mainly Mourinho, the press tends to talk more about the coach than the players. And people tend to forget that the players are the ones who play the game.

On the topic of transfers, I follow the Spanish league and mainly Real Madrid's movements... to inform you guys, apparently Real have a lot of interest on two players: Fabio Coentrao from Portugal Benfica, left quarterback (no idea why, considering the price tag of 30 million and having Marcelo who keeps becoming better and better with every match both defensively and offensively...) and Sergio "Kun" Aguero, striker from Atletico Madrid: 45 million. It is unknown if Atletico will include taxes which would increase the price to about 80m. As a follower, I see both potential signings completely unnecessary, seeing how Madrid has CR7, Di Maria, Benzema, Higuain, (Adebayor, back to M. City), Kaka, Ozil... (though the last two are offensive midfielders, rather) and Marcelo is in such great shape. But you know Mourinho's ideas: spend whatever I want on the club that signs me and just leave it after a few years. Mmmm.. Sure, we got farther than in many previous years with this gentleman, but I'm not sure his strategies are as good as people put them to be. By the way, ignore all other signing rumors from Real, this team is just like Man. City -- press thinks they will sign a new player every week!

Oh, and regarding Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal.. Every summer it's the same story concerning how he wants to depart from the Emirates Stadium.. I think this year will be it, the player hasn't won any significant titles in all these years and since he grew up playing for Barcelona I think said team will finally sacrifice their cash for their former midfielder. If you were in his boots... would you go to your former "heart" club (yeah, getting 7 million a year!) and have a chance at a much wider array of titles? Heck yeah!

Trying to feed this thread a bit so it doesn't die during all this time of inactivity to come!

The thing is Barcelona have just said they'll only be spending around £45m this summer in order to curb their debt and i doubt Wenger would release Cesc for that but who knows. Also where is he gonna play? that midfield is packed and none of them are exactly old. Unless he's happy to go and sit on the bench and pick up medals at the end of the season. Then again he could just move next door to Chelsea if the rumors of Romanski's £60m bid have any substance to them.

Madrid still need a striker because the current three are either not prolific enough or lack pace. I can see Aguero fitting in well.

I think it all comes down to what Cesc wants to do - if he wants to go he should be sold as soon as is practical. As Jaffa says, letting him go on a free would be a big financial loss for Arsenal.

daneoni said:

I don't think Gibbs is truly ready to replace him yet so i indeed want him to stay. Still a good player for us. Also unlike some others he (and Sagna) actually seems committed to the club. I would be very surprised if he left.

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Arsenal supporters seem to think Gibbs needs another season at least before he's ready to step up. As far as I know the Clichy to Liverpool move is just a rumor. Seems a good player though, I wouldn't be against the move at £5m.

At this point i actually wouldn't mind if Cesc (or even Nasri) left...might even prefer it. Both are great players but Cesc has ultimately failed as a leader and his body language is increasingly becoming that of dejection and his fake brave faces/happy speeches are borderline unbearable to watch.

So he might as well pack his bags. Ditto for Nasri or Arshavin or anyone else who wants to leave. Allow only those who want to stay to stay and replace those who want to go.

Granted it is hard to replace players like Cesc but at the same time no player is truly irreplaceable...unless you're Messi of course

daneoni said:

Also where is he gonna play? that midfield is packed and none of them are exactly old. Unless he's happy to go and sit on the bench and pick up medals at the end of the season. Then again he could just move next door to Chelsea if the rumors of Romanski's £60m bid have any substance to them.

Madrid still need a striker because the current three are either not prolific enough or lack pace. I can see Aguero fitting in well.

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Xavi is 32 years old and missed a lot of important matches this year, Cesc is most likely to be his bench replacement, because we know no one can replace Xavi. In the Champions final he had about 96% pass accuracy, something crazy like 147 right passes out of 152.. jeez!

There are four strikers in Madrid (Di Maria, Higuain, Benzema and Cristiano). The first three are very very young (something like 22 years old) and they are already top notch, bringing Aguero to Real would just cut their progression.. and they not only have outstanding performance but also gigantic potential.

Regarding Chelsea's signings... well, it is known Abramovich is spending way more than the team can hold, at some point he will just have to stop spending or he'll lead Chelsea to bankrupt . On the topic of Chelsea, Fernando Torres has only scored one more goal than me with them

In other news, Javier Pastore from Argentinian Palermo says he's decided to leave his team. A great midfielder with excellent progression. What team do you guys think will sign him?

ratzzo said:

Snip

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Fair point about Xavi/Fabregas.

Lord Blackadder said:

Lazio aren't even in the Champions League - it must be about money.

Now Liverpool seems to be after Gaël Clichy for £5m. We need depth at left back, and Arsenal's defense was (on paper) good this season, though they gave up goals at absolutely the worst possible moments. What do you think XIII and daneoni? Do you care if he goes? Do you rate him? Arsenal supporters seem pretty divided on him.

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He's alright. Better than Gibbs, but if we replaced him instead of just letting Gibbs step up (and surely we'd have to, with Gibbs' injury problems) then I wouldn't be disappointed. He is very very frequently the one making the defensive errors, and he is exceptionally bad at crossing.

daneoni said:

^
Keep your grubby fingers off him! On his day he is very good (played the pass that led to our first goal against Barca at the Emirates) but he also makes some horrendous mistakes at the worst possible times...too lax or overplays in dangerous situations instead of an old fashion clearance.

I don't think Gibbs is truly ready to replace him yet so i indeed want him to stay. Still a good player for us. Also unlike some others he (and Sagna) actually seems committed to the club. I would be very surprised if he left.

Speaking of defenders in the transfer news; i read that Arsene has his eyes on Samba (and Cahill too apparently)...not you're average Arsenal-type player but still gets the job done consistently and he is a leader. I'd welcome him with open arms.

Click to expand...

Case in point for Clichy. Plays the ball for van Persie's goal against Barca: good. Wasn't in line with the rest of the defence to allow David Villa to score Barca's goal the same night: bad.

I have heard that we had a bid accepted for Phil Jones, as did Liverpool and obviously United; but he chose to go to United for footballing reasons and personal reasons (geographical proximity). Apparently we offered him more wages too. The rumours are now that for about the same money we can get Cahill.. would be quite happy with that. Samba I don't think is the solution to our problems.

Also have you seen the interviews with Carl Jenkinson, our first new signing? He's a pwopa cockney

daneoni said:

The thing is Barcelona have just said they'll only be spending around £45m this summer in order to curb their debt and i doubt Wenger would release Cesc for that but who knows. Also where is he gonna play? that midfield is packed and none of them are exactly old. Unless he's happy to go and sit on the bench and pick up medals at the end of the season. Then again he could just move next door to Chelsea if the rumors of Romanski's £60m bid have any substance to them.

Madrid still need a striker because the current three are either not prolific enough or lack pace. I can see Aguero fitting in well.

Click to expand...

Most Fabregas rumours going around seem to involve there being cash + players in order to deal with the fact that Barcelona won't have £50 cash. I really don't see Arsenal accepting much less than £50m, but I'm sure if a bid comes in of that amount, we will be happy to sell - it's reaching a point where we should let him join Barcelona if we get a fair price.

Lord Blackadder said:

I think it all comes down to what Cesc wants to do - if he wants to go he should be sold as soon as is practical. As Jaffa says, letting him go on a free would be a big financial loss for Arsenal.



Arsenal supporters seem to think Gibbs needs another season at least before he's ready to step up. As far as I know the Clichy to Liverpool move is just a rumor. Seems a good player though, I wouldn't be against the move at £5m.

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Fabregas won't be going on a free for quite some time. I think someone looked it up, but he signed a 6 year contract only a couple of years ago I think.

Apparently Gervinho is an imminent arrival at Arsenal too... greeted with huge indifference amongst Arsenal fans!

Jaffa Cake said:

Rumour in some of the papers is that Manchester City might be trying to gazump you on that deal...

In our transfer news, we've put in a bid for Jack Hobbs that Leicester are weighing up and we've been talking to playmaker Neil Danns who is available on a free after his Crystal Palace contract expired. Apparently though he's asking for too much as far as wages are concerned.

We really need to get a good 'keeper signed. The most senior custodian currently on our books has only played three full matches in his career so far, on loan at Grimsby.

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Would you like to have Green as a keeper? Oh, sorry, you said 'good'

What was the team who found itself without a keeper and bench keepers, and brought back an old goalkeeper who played in that same team ages ago? He was playing at age like 40 and was awful! Was it Arsenal?

USA 1-2 Panama.

Dreadful. Disgraceful. Shocking.

I've never seen USA so completely physically dominated. Panama was tactically unsophisticated but physically bossed us, got in our faces and successfully disrupted our game. It was scrappy, sloppy, ugly to watch and we lost to boot. The critical points were first of all the failure of our center backs. Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream were poorly positioned, physically dominated and anything but calm or organized. The second problem was our inability to possess the ball against a team who came out to press, get in our faces but also defend very deep. They gave us space; we didn't use it. Finally, we showed no hustle till the 60th minute, when we were down two goals.

Dempsey had a solid match, our fullbacks Bocanegra and Cherundolo played well. Donovan was invisible until we switched to a 3-4-3, after that he came into the match and made some chances. Nobody else looked good. Altidore and Agudelo (and later Wolondowski) were all wasteful up top.

The most maddening part is that we missed at least three good chances to tie and then win the game in the last ten minutes. Substitute striker Chris Wolondowski in particular missed an absolute sitter, it was harder to miss than score. We didn't deserve a result from the match but we absolutely should have stolen it anyway. I can't congratulate Panama overall, I think they played ugly and dirty, though I can admire their hustle.

This loss (our first ever in Gold Cup group stage history) will almost certainly mean we finish second in the group behind Panama, which could have all sorts of complications later on (Arsenal fans in particular will understand this). Mexico will absolutely cruise to victory in this competition.

Day = ruined.

Lord Blackadder said:

USA 1-2 Panama.

Dreadful. Disgraceful. Shocking.

I've never seen USA so completely physically dominated. Panama was tactically unsophisticated but physically bossed us, got in our faces and successfully disrupted our game. It was scrappy, sloppy, ugly to watch and we lost to boot. The critical points were first of all the failure of our center backs. Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream were poorly positioned, physically dominated and anything but calm or organized. The second problem was our inability to possess the ball against a team who came out to press, get in our faces but also defend very deep. They gave us space; we didn't use it. Finally, we showed no hustle till the 60th minute, when we were down two goals.

Dempsey had a solid match, our fullbacks Bocanegra and Cherundolo played well. Donovan was invisible until we switched to a 3-4-3, after that he came into the match and made some chances. Nobody else looked good. Altidore and Agudelo (and later Wolondowski) were all wasteful up top.

The most maddening part is that we missed at least three good chances to tie and then win the game in the last ten minutes. Substitute striker Chris Wolondowski in particular missed an absolute sitter, it was harder to miss than score. We didn't deserve a result from the match but we absolutely should have stolen it anyway. I can't congratulate Panama overall, I think they played ugly and dirty, though I can admire their hustle.

This loss (our first ever in Gold Cup group stage history) will almost certainly mean we finish second in the group behind Panama, which could have all sorts of complications later on (Arsenal fans in particular will understand this). Mexico will absolutely cruise to victory in this competition.

Day = ruined.

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Found some highlights if anyone else is interested too...

I like the diving header for your goal, well taken. And see what you mean about the sitter at the end, although it was on the volley and came at him fast... still expect him to get it on target from there though.

XIII said:

Found some highlights if anyone else is interested too...

I like the diving header for your goal, well taken. And see what you mean about the sitter at the end, although it was on the volley and came at him fast... still expect him to get it on target from there though.

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Thanks for posting the link. Goodson did well to score, and really that's the reason he's in the squad: dangerous on set pieces. Unfortunately, he's shaky in his primary job in defense.

Our worst performance in quite some time. We missed Oguchi Onyewu at the back. If we make it to the final the Mexicans will humiliate us.

Jaffa Cake said:

Forest have sacked Billy Davies – and are apparently in talks with Steve McClaren to be his replacement...

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Out of a job since February, one wonders if McClaren's days in top-flight management are over, since he's now following Sven down the rungs of the football pyramid. If he'd shown more loyalty to Twente he'd probably have won more silverware and still be in the Champion's league with them.

My word I hate McLaren. Complete overrated. I will never quite know what led to the FA appointing such an mediocre manager in charge of England. We're supposed to competing with the best. Surely logic would've dictated the appointment of a world class manager. Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk. Hopefully the FA and those who thought McLaren was the messiah learnt their lesson.

Feel a bit sorry for Billy Davies. He's a good guy and did well when he was at Derby. He's just never been able to recreate his success there anywhere else which is a shame. Perhaps he'll be heading to St. Andrews.