The 2015-2016 Football Thread

[Lord Blackadder]

Big money for Martial - is the market really that crazy?

daneoni - not sure how your friends could think Swansea City away would be an easy game?

Swansea: Nobody should be underestimating them at this point.

For some reason I feel like Man Utd's fourth place spot is safe, but if they fail to make the cut everyone will be pointing to the De Gea situation as the main factor - though, scoring goals is a problem at the moment as well.

Who will the supposed big clubs bring in before the deadline? Important for all except maybe Manchester City.

Cheers,
OW

Liverpool's defense is problematic - Rogers clearly wants the wing backs pushing up the field but that is pointless unless Benteke is getting the ball in the right place at the right time, preferably with meaningful support - and that isn't happening. Lovren and Skrtel are not inspiring confidence - time is running out for Lovren, but I don't see any indication that Rogers is going to beef up the back line any further.. we need him to step up. Sturridge can't be relied on yet (ever?) for another big season like he had two back.

No Coutinho for the Man Utd match. I don't have much confidence in Liverpool getting a result at Old Trafford unless they score two or three goals (and without Coutinho...). The back line is too leaky at the moment.

EDIT: Liverpool have finally offloaded Borini. I'd like to see a replacement brought in to give Liverpool another option up top, but time is running out.

 

[daneoni]

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daneoni - not sure how your friends could think Swansea City away would be an easy game?

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Cheers,
OW

They're the type who think United still have a right to everything football. Post SAF era. Good guys but...rose tinted glasses. Extra tinted.

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On another note, poor Tottenham. Berahino move blocked, Wanyama move blocked.

This is the trouble with trying to buy from EPL if you're not United, City or Chelsea with 50m to burn

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Wolfsburg have used their new £55m payday to get Draxler

 

[twietee]

And Januzaj to Dortmund. Really useful as a player, but the (supposed) loan-only deal looks a bit on the less attractive side. Ultimately he's most likely not good enough for the starting team so he's more of a luxury back-up. So nothing really changed for him. Wonder why Utd didn't ship him out for one season to a club where he is more likely to start games regularily? Hope he stays motivated when not playing that much more than he did before.

 

[oscillatewildly]

So United's big deadline day signing is going to be... that kid Martial from Monaco? Huh? And for how much?

Next Henry, eh? We'll see. Really need someone more developed right now, though. Rooney does not look up for it.

Will United get a new keeper before the window closes? Seems like Navas could come over from Real with De Gea finally going the other way. That would soften the blow a bit.

Now talk of James Wilson loan to WBA, so you'd think at least one more attacker is on the way.

De Gea out, Navas in seems to be close; Real get DDG, United the value they wanted, Real wait long enough United need Navas, United get a keeper better than Romero - but like DDG when he joined, not looking forward to teams chucking in the crosses.

Lord Blackadder,

I thought Liverpool would bring in a CB - still time. Lovren was poor in the second half of his last season at Southampton - he was praised for clearing up his own mistakes, bit like Ashley Cole. Maybe he is being given to January to prove himself? Will probably score next game.

That's two of us not confident for the next match - crosses to Benteke and Skrtel.

daneoni,

My glasses tend to be a pessimistic tint.

Spurs, like Manchester United, have cleared a lot of so called deadwood. Maybe Wilson to WBA allows Berahino to move? On the TV money, it also helps WBA, Everton etc. to say no/hold out for their price.

Any news of a striker for Arsenal? Not that there are many about.

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Some nice away kits on show at the weekend - Crystal Palace and West Ham United.

Edit - twietee - Reus is moving the other way. :Big Laugh:

Cheers,
OW

 

[daneoni]

daneoni,

My glasses tend to be a pessimistic tint.

Spurs, like Manchester United, have cleared a lot of so called deadwood. Maybe Wilson to WBA allows Berahino to move? On the TV money, it also helps WBA, Everton etc. to say no/hold out for their price.

Any news of a striker for Arsenal? Not that there are many about.

I don't see from where personally. Big talk of Cavani but don't see that happening...even more so after the weekend he's had. Plus current Cavani is not worth £50m to me. Higuain even less so. And makes you wonder why that £50m wasn't given to Liverpool for Suarez in the first place. But PSG may need the money to fund their Di Maria purchase.

Overall a dearth of available top class strikers in general.

Wenger gambled too much on KB9 and lost. I don't see us shifting in any new bodies by Tues, but then again Wenger has been known to pull off crazy deals last minute. (Ozil, Arshavin etc). We shall see but i'm personally not holding my breath.

 

[twietee]

evil laughter by OW? how dearly i have missed MR the last couple of weeks!

anyway, you quite possibly are right and it's a shame that Dortmund can't face top opponents in the CL the very year they actually could keep all their top players while also expanding the squad quite well. I fancy that next season we'll most like see the loss of more than just Reus. Rince repeat.

 

[oscillatewildly]

twietee,

It wasn't an evil laugh, I was laughing at the idea of Reus going to Manchester United instead of FC Barcelona.

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On laughter, the De Gea transfer takes it to the last minute and possibly beyond. Real Madrid will call in a favour.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Centaurr]

looks like Juventus wants to win this season, Juventus is making moves like crazy...

 

[Ironduke]

792 million sterlings spent in the epl this window

MORE!

I WANT MORE!

 

[twietee]

twietee,

It wasn't an evil laugh, I was laughing at the idea of Reus going to Manchester United instead of FC Barcelona.

I was joking. Although it makes little to no difference for Dortmund supporters whether he goes to United or Barca. As long as it isn't Bayern...could become a bloody - yet extremely lucrative - summer next season: Reus, Hummels, Gündogan (looks classy again) and probably Aubameyang who was linked to Arsenal already. Miki plays like I always expected..with all the new money flooding the market making players really itchy I hope it doesn't destroy the whole eco-system carefully build this season.

Haven't seen too much of Januzaj the last year but quite glad he came - even if for one season only.

DeGae/Navas: in the sports or the funny pages?

 

[pachyderm]

Big money for Martial - is the market really that crazy?



Swansea: Nobody should be underestimating them at this point.

For some reason I feel like Man Utd's fourth place spot is safe, but if they fail to make the cut everyone will be pointing to the De Gea situation as the main factor - though, scoring goals is a problem at the moment as well.



...

leicester either imho... still very early and they(leicester) will most likely fade soon.

Swansea though... they could be in for a top 6 finish... again imho.


bundsliga:

BPL:

 

[oscillatewildly]

I was joking. Although it makes little to no difference for Dortmund supporters whether he goes to United or Barca. As long as it isn't Bayern...could become a bloody - yet extremely lucrative - summer next season: Reus, Hummels, Gündogan (looks classy again) and probably Aubameyang who was linked to Arsenal already. Miki plays like I always expected..with all the new money flooding the market making players really itchy I hope it doesn't destroy the whole eco-system carefully build this season.

Haven't seen too much of Januzaj the last year but quite glad he came - even if for one season only.

DeGae/Navas: in the sports or the funny pages?

Good to hear about Gündogan.

Januzaj needs to bulk up - easily knocked off the ball - and he needs to improve his decision making - shooting when he should pass. When he gets it right, it is great to watch.

De Gea/Navas - it was hard to stop laughing last night; one thing, then another. The document format, operating system, password protection, and Wingdings were my favourite.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Ironduke]

its over!

the madness has ended until january!

 

[Silencio]

This whole De Gea thing is one of the more spectacular transfer deadline meltdowns I've ever seen. Unbelievable.

I guess LvG has to play him now, doesn't he?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I still don't fully understand what happened...if LVG keeps him benched it will be ludicrous. If he doesn't, it's essentially a climbdown from LVG, which his ego won't be able to handle well. Although I'm sure he'll say everything is sorted.

Real are essentially admitting that they filed the paperwork late, but at the same time are blaming Man Utd for engineering the situation with last minute changes. Is it a Man Utd plot to keep hold of their best player? Is Real just sloppy?

 

[JamesMike]

This whole De Gea thing is one of the more spectacular transfer deadline meltdowns I've ever seen. Unbelievable.

I guess LvG has to play him now, doesn't he?

It is one big mess!

 

[maxwelltech]

I still don't fully understand what happened...if LVG keeps him benched it will be ludicrous. If he doesn't, it's essentially a climbdown from LVG, which his ego won't be able to handle well. Although I'm sure he'll say everything is sorted.

Real are essentially admitting that they filed the paperwork late, but at the same time are blaming Man Utd for engineering the situation with last minute changes. Is it a Man Utd plot to keep hold of their best player? Is Real just sloppy?

I think he will return to the starting line up. Valdes is not registered with the squad and Romero is not good enough, plus De Gea also needs to play well and frequently to make the Spain team for Euro 2016. They both need each other right now and they will put aside their differences, hopefully resulting in De Gea signing a new contract and (inevitably) leave for Madrid for a much higher fee that can be reinvested in a top goalkeeper.

Regarding the entire transfer window for Man Utd, it is not as good as it could have been, but it is not nearly as bad as some people portray it to be. We have Depay and Martial, two very good young talents, strengthened our midfield significantly both in terms of depth and quality, and we have solved the long-running RB problem. Pedro and Otamendi would have been good additions to the squad, but I trust LVG's decision to not bring them in. I would argue Martial is overpriced, but money is no object for United, and looking at the player alone, he does have all the attributes necessary to grow and become a world class player.

 

[takao]

well the PL spent more than 1.1 billion euros this transfer window ... quite the
the italian serie A was number 2 with around 600 million
the spanish la liga with around 500 million
the bundesliga around 370 million (considering that Draxler, Costa and Vidal amount to 100 million there isn't quite that much left for the rest.)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I think he will return to the starting line up.

I can't see any other outcome myself. De Gea is too important to leave on the bench. LVG can't afford it.

 

[oscillatewildly]

I still don't fully understand what happened...if LVG keeps him benched it will be ludicrous. If he doesn't, it's essentially a climbdown from LVG, which his ego won't be able to handle well. Although I'm sure he'll say everything is sorted.

Real are essentially admitting that they filed the paperwork late, but at the same time are blaming Man Utd for engineering the situation with last minute changes. Is it a Man Utd plot to keep hold of their best player? Is Real just sloppy?

If he wants to play for Spain, he needs to play for Manchester United; bench him unless he signs a contract extension - if he signs, he starts and the Club secure a transfer fee.

Token effort by Real Madrid; didn't want him for the money. They are a circus with a clown as president.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Silencio]

United issued a statement claiming it was last minute changes and delays on Real's side that essentially doomed the deal, not to mention their waiting to even table a bid for De Gea until the last day of the transfer window. I was ready to move on with Navas as the keeper, but I have to laugh about it more and more now. United will lose out on the transfer fee, but they also don't have to pay Navas' wages, which are quadruple De Gea's. However, there is a clause in the agreement De Gea signed with Real that they have to pay him a few million if the deal failed to go through, so even he gets a nice financial consolation prize.

United can take the time to line up a better long-term keeper. Should really be Lloris at this point.

 

[pachyderm]

I still don't fully understand what happened...if LVG keeps him benched it will be ludicrous. If he doesn't, it's essentially a climbdown from LVG, which his ego won't be able to handle well. Although I'm sure he'll say everything is sorted.

Real are essentially admitting that they filed the paperwork late, but at the same time are blaming Man Utd for engineering the situation with last minute changes. Is it a Man Utd plot to keep hold of their best player? Is Real just sloppy?

romero, is that his name(?), isn't as good. maybe LVG wanted this to happen?

 

[JamesMike]

I can't see any other outcome myself. De Gea is too important to leave on the bench. LVG can't afford it.

It would be madness not to let him play.

 

[Fizzoid]

At this rate, how long will it be before we see the first £100m player?

Depends when the big clubs agree to sell a Ronaldo, Messi, Pogba, Bale, Neymar, because the money's waiting...

Wenger gambled too much on KB9 and lost. I don't see us shifting in any new bodies by Tues, but then again Wenger has been known to pull off crazy deals last minute. (Ozil, Arshavin etc). We shall see but i'm personally not holding my breath.

Arsenal weren't going to sign anyone. Heck, they can't even get anyone to turn up to protest about the lack of signings

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...transfer-activitynoone-turns-up-10482397.html

 

[daneoni]

People can't be 'assed anymore. Also people can't complain too much, because overall, the squad is strong and stronger than last season on paper. We just haven't got going yet.
Even if we're not at full strength, and still missing 2 pieces to reach the next level.

Plus the fact is, there is a shortage of top CFs, CBs/DMs and even GKs globally.

Many are still developing and therefore ridiculously overpriced (Martial, De Bruyne, Sterling, Draxler). The finished articles are settled/locked into lengthy contracts (Cavani, Lewy, KB9). Either that or you go for those on the wrong side of 30 and still pay a premium.

Wenger is still annoyingly lackadaisical but its also clear he's a lot more picky nowadays. For better or worse.