Soccer Thread 2004 (6 Viewers)

[Constip8edSkunk]

well considering how duff was injured all the time in the last season, you might see robben there more often than not... maybe even on the right if they continue to have crossing troubles

on a related note, heres a summary i found of the cheski's roman revolution

Wayne Bridge (£7m), Glen Johnson (£6m), Damien Duff (£17m), Marco Ambrosio (free) and Geremi (£7m) all join within a week of each other in July 2003

Claudio Ranieri is the man entrusted with Roman Abramovich's millions and West Ham's Joe Cole (£6.6m) and Manchester United's Juan Sebastian Veron (£15m) soon follow

Adrian Mutu (£15.8m) and Hernan Crespo (£16.8m) also hop aboard the Chelsea bandwagon in August as Ranieri looks to bolster his strike force with two European heavyweights

Russian captain and midfield general Alexei Smertin joins for a piffling £3.5m just after the start of last season - and is swiftly loaned out to Portsmouth

Abramovich ends last summer's spending spree with the signing of Real Madrid dynamo Claude Makelele for £16m - a player expected to be the final piece in the Chelsea jigsaw

But another midfielder, Scott Parker (£10m), is poached from Charlton in the January transfer window as Abramovich's Russian revolution continues apace

Rennes and Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech (£7m) was signed back in February but is effectively this summer's first arrival and will challenge Italian stopper Carlo Cudicini

Having himself been lured from Manchester United at the end of 2003, Peter Kenyon pulls off perhaps Chelsea's biggest coup by landing Porto coach Jose Mourinho in June

Mourinho immediately gets stuck in to Roman's fortune and persuades his right-back at Porto, Paulo Ferreira, to join him at Chelsea for £13.2m

Serbian striker Mateja Kezman (£5m) follows Dutch winger Arjen Robben out of PSV Eindhoven and into Stamford Bridge as Mourinho goes into overdrive

And Marseille's prolific striker Didier Drogba is finally landed for £24m after weeks of fishing and will be Chelsea's new spearhead for the coming season

Finally, Benfica midfielder Tiago (£10m) will become Mourinho's latest buy if the final few hiccups can be overcome.



any1 want to add up the millions? lol

 

[HeCtic]

Well, according to some Arsenal had beaten Newcastle to signing Hatem Trabelsi for 4mill about a week or so ago, but when they were about to announce the signing Benitez and Liverpool came in and offered him a substantially larger basic wage.

He is still undecided on where he'll end up but it seems London is a strong preference for him and his family.

Damn scousers, with him we can push Lauren back as midfield cover and then let Ray off to Boro. I hope he makes the right choice

 

[vanbasten]

Di Vaio to Valencia. Excellent signing by Ranieri.

 

[flyin']

On a different topic, where do u guys think Robben will fit in at Chelsea? I was thinking he could play left mid as he did at PSV, but then i thought about Duff - what do you guys think?
(Personally I'd like to see Robben play attacking mid - just behind the strikers)

Robben will definitely play on the left (especially when Duff is injuried, that's about half a season). If he plays behind the strikers, you're taking away a Lampard from midfield. (I doubt, he'll play 3-4-1-2.) Personally, they don't have the firepower on the right flank, especially without Glen Johnson being first choice and Melchiot off to B'ham.

 

[DoN ToRRES]

Mourinho is gonna find it really hard to fit in both Robben and Duff into the same line-up. One will complain when the other is chosen ahead of him, as both players expect to be starters.

 

[flowin']

I don't see how it'll be hard. Duff is injured half a season. And Robben is injuried the other half. Simple.

Duff was out during the middle of the season with Chelsea.
Robben was out towards the end of the season for PSV.

Left wingers tend to get injuried alot.

 

[DoN ToRRES]

lol. That might happen, but what if it doesnt. Then I reckon it will be hard. Maybe Mourinho will just have to get Roman to pay for someone to injure one of them.

 

[flowin']

Don't worry, Duff is usually out half a season all by himself. And Robben will probably be moved up front when injuries hit the strikers.

 

[reynaldo]

ie Cavenaghi, Robinho, Tevez, Luis Fabiano...... A Cavenghi type would be excellent to replace Owen, who shits me on a regular basis.

ja.. Cavenaghi & Tevez.. Argentina's top two youngsters.. i don't know what Robinho has been up to lately in the Copa do Brasil but his m8 Diego hasn't been going so gr8..

btw, Cavenaghi is off to Spartak Mockba.. which is even more puzzling than Matuzalem going to Shakhtar Donestk


Chelsea make a good move with Drogba.. Shabani Nonda is good too, maybe he would be at Chelsea if he wasn't always getting injured..


btw, you have a legendary username, vanbasten

 

[vanbasten]

Um....Shabaani Nonda got injured only once but it was early in the season and really bad.

Cavenaghi to Spartak? When did this happen?

 

[reynaldo]

Um....Shabaani Nonda got injured only once but it was early in the season and really bad.

Cavenaghi to Spartak? When did this happen?

Nonda is out for about a month with a new injury

Cavenaghi --> Spartakskaya.. hmm.. im not entirely sure its gone through yet.. heres an article about it

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/07/12/soccer.shtml

there was stuff about it on goal.com too..

 

[IP_freely]

looks like Kluiverts off to Newcastle hopefully he can do sumfin there, an wats all this speculaiton bout Viera goin to Real Madrid???

 

[flyin']

I would if Kluivert will actually make an impact, with so many other strikers around who will most likely do much more.. Van Nistelrooy, Saha, Henry, Drogba, Kezman, Cisse, Shearer, Rooney, etc.

 

[reno2004]

When does the transfer window close?

Also, what is with all the major teams going to United States for their pre-season games. Man Utd, Chelsea, AC Milan, Bayern Munich. I think Arsenal too. Soccer or Football, isnt even a very popular sport in USA, so ideally wouldnt it be better financially, for them to play in Asia or keep it in Europe. They must be trying to gain supporters, but i would think that Asia would be a better place to target.

 

[vanbasten]

Kluivert to NEwcastle confirmed
Rivaldo to Olympiakos

Mourinho wants another defender (next to Ferreira). Who will it be?

 

[eyebrowman]

When does the transfer window close?

Also, what is with all the major teams going to United States for their pre-season games. Man Utd, Chelsea, AC Milan, Bayern Munich. I think Arsenal too. Soccer or Football, isnt even a very popular sport in USA, so ideally wouldnt it be better financially, for them to play in Asia or keep it in Europe. They must be trying to gain supporters, but i would think that Asia would be a better place to target.

yeh i think thats the exact reason the teams are going to the US, try to market the game to the states. Dont think arsenal is going tho..only chelsea, man utd, roma and milan? They did the same thing last yr as well

and well with the thing in asia, real madrid did an asia tour last yr and newcastle played a few friendlys in thailand and hk just a few days ago and yeh, they'll be better sticking to the asian market..much more bigger than the US.


and yeh, rivaldo..guess he'll be playing some champ league football nxt season eh?

 

[LMF^^]

Damn I thought Kluivert was only going on loan but it seems Newcastle has put a lot of money into signing him for 3 years. Just hope he won't be a flop.

 

[SipSip]

Sigh...guess Man Utd won't have Ronaldo to start the season with...
I thought earlier that Kluviert was good teamates with Van Nes' until the Euro... We'll have to see what he could do when he's at Newcastle.

 

[flyin']

They're off to the US because soccer is a more untapped market there, and perhaps they think there is more potential in terms of young players to poach..

 

[vanbasten]

By young players you mean Freddy Adu.