The Official Football Thread 2005/2006 (11 Viewers)

[Benny_]

Walcott would go to either Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea.

Arsenal because Henry is his idol, Liverpool because it's the team he supports and Chelsea because they have gigantic wads of cash. Chances are he won't go to Chelsea though, they're already struggling to give 4 wingers game time, so I don't think Walcott would be quite so stupid as to become the 5th.

 

[Jimmy_B]

apparently he's already made his decision. rupert lowe was stalling the deal to try and get chelsea involved but theo has already chosen highbury as he thinks younger players get blooded quicker there and they suit his style of play better

 

[nedzelic]

He won't do much though yet, he's not physically strong enough like Rooney was at his age to make much of an impact.

you've obviously never seen him play then. he has played in the championsip and made a big impact already. there is no difference with thr size and strength of the players in the epl compared to championship, if anything it's a little more physical. he carves defences up at will. in fact, he scarred one leeds united defender to the extent that this big centre-back has not played since he had to mark walcott about 12 matches ago. it was only when a less physical, smaller, quicker defender came on, that leeds got to grips with him. now, i think he would suite arsneal's non aarial style well.

 

[nedzelic]

Real Madrid want Barcelona's on loan at Villareal Juan Roman Riquelme.

no chance for me. plus the yellow submarines actually own the lad now from memory

 

[Benny_]

Yeah Riquelme signed for Villareal for some dirt cheap price.. £3 or something.

 

[RyddeckerSMP]

you've obviously never seen him play then. he has played in the championsip and made a big impact already. there is no difference with thr size and strength of the players in the epl compared to championship, if anything it's a little more physical. he carves defences up at will. in fact, he scarred one leeds united defender to the extent that this big centre-back has not played since he had to mark walcott about 12 matches ago. it was only when a less physical, smaller, quicker defender came on, that leeds got to grips with him. now, i think he would suite arsneal's non aarial style well.

I have seen Walcott play, and the main thing going for him is his blistering pace. He is not very strong at all whatsoever, and would struggle against the higher quality defences of the premiership. Just becuase he is playing well in the Championship doesn't mean he would be able to play well in the Premiership. Let's see how he goes against the likes of Terry and co. at Chelsea (arguably the best defence in the world) before you can really past judgement.

At Championship level he can get away with his lack of strength, but at Premiership level he is still too young to be able to make an impact.

And i don't think he'd suit Arsenal's passing game, whereby skill and technique are the main priorities of a player, as opposed to utilizing pace. He would be suited to teams that play over the top or through-balls often, things that Arsenal rarely use as they prefer to play around with the ball. It really would be the wrong decision for him to make (if indeed Arsenal do even bid for him in the first place).

 

[johnny_87]

Ryddecker - I was being realisitc. If I were Man Utd manager, I'd prefer Smith to Fletcher, but you know Fergie won't sell Fletcher - he's a fellow Scot!

It seems as though Real are favourites to sign Ballack (although I'm still hopeful!), so I hope Diarra isn't our only big midfield signing at the end of the season. We could still pick up De Rossi or someone.

 

[Benny_]

I think Walcott would fit very cozily into the Arsenal system.His skill, touch and trickery has drawn comparisons with Henry, so if he continues to develop at this rate, forget about Arsenal- any team would be very lucky to have him.

 

[johnny_87]

It's all well and good for Arsenal in 5 years when these players all develop and some become world-class, but they aren't addressing their current problems by signing Diaby, Adebayor and possbly Walcott. They need a midfield enforcer more than anyone, including Man Utd. The Arsenal midfield doesn't have a single player who can get stuck in and tackle hard.

 

[LMF^^]

So Arse haz signed Adebayor from Monaco, maybe they'll start to use the air mo often now.

Anyway whatz wit all these young dudez that they're signin, still no one worthy of replacin Vieira yet.

 

[Numero Uno]

Lol
man city 2 - 0 Man utd
they've done it again .. man utd are in terrible form, evra's made some costly mistakes

 

[Benny_]

Excellent stuff City, softening them up for the Reds next week.

Meanwhile, it seems Martin Jol has made the mistake of doing an interview after smoking a few too many joints on a visit back home to Amsterdam.

Martin Jol is confident his record at Tottenham can stand favourable comparison with Rafa Benitez's at Liverpool.

The two sides clash at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, with both clubs currently in the top four in The Premiership.

Both managers are in their second seasons in charge of their respective sides, but Jol feels he has performed a better job.

Though Benitez guided The Reds to UEFA Champions League glory last term, Jol believes more progress has been made by Tottenham.

"We've done better than Liverpool if you compare the progress at the two clubs," insisted Jol.

"Liverpool were still in the top four or five before Benitez arrived and we weren't, so it's a much different job.

"But we are already where we want to be, we needed a year and we are in the top four now."

Jol also noted the difference in transfer policy between himself and his Spanish counterpart on Merseyside.

The Dutchman added: "We work in different ways.

"They have signed older players, we have brought in a lot of young players and most of them have done well, along with two or three experienced players."

Spurs Signings under Martin Jol

31/08/05 Jermaine Jenas Newcastle £8m - 22 years
31/08/05 Young-Pyo Lee PSV Undisc. - 28 years
31/08/05 Grzegorz Rasiak Derby £2.25m - 26 years
03/08/05 Edgar Davids Inter Milan Free - 32 years
01/07/05 Wayne Routledge C Palace Undisc. - 20 years
01/07/05 Aaron Lennon Leeds Undisc. - 18 years
16/05/05 Paul Stalteri W Bremen Undisc. - 28 years
Ahmed Hossam Mido Roma Loan - 22 years

Average Age= 24.5

Liverpool Signings under Rafael Benitez

12/01/06 Daniel Agger Brondby Undisc. 21 years
12/01/06 David Martin MKD Undisc. 19 years
04/01/06 Paul Anderson Hull Swap - 17 years
04/01/06 Jan Kromkamp Villarreal Swap - 25 years
18/08/05 Jack Hobbs Lincoln Undisc. - 18 years
20/07/05 Peter Crouch Soton £7m - 25 years
14/07/05 Mohamed Sissoko Valencia £5.6m - 20 years
04/07/05 Jose Reina Villarreal Undisc. - 22 years
04/07/05 Boudewijn Zenden Middlesbro Free - 29 years
Xabi Alonso Real Sociedad Undisc. - 24 years

04/07/05 Mark Gonzalez Albacete Loan - 20 years
24/06/05 Antonio Barragan Seville Free - 18 years
Fernando Morientes Real Madrid £6.3m - 28 years
Scott Carson Leeds £500,000 -20 years
Luis Garcia Barcelona Undisc - 27 years

Average Age= 22.13

I didn't include people who are no longer at the club, or the vast majority of Rafa's junior signings who aren't likely to get a game in the first team for a good few years.

 

[LMF^^]

Fuck, now I know how Hectic feelz. Losin 3-1 to City, can't get worse than thiz.

 

[nedzelic]

suck shite, 3-1!!!!!!!!!

 

[Numero Uno]

Man, Tottenham better win this one or im getting the shits

 

[Numero Uno]

Geez guys its half time and
Arsenal are demolishing Boro 4-0
the aussie keeper Jones is being sent to school.
put Schwarzer back on !!!

 

[nedzelic]

harry scoring; that's wishful thinking

eat my words!!!!!!!!!!!
oh harry

gotta love reverse psychology

 

[nedzelic]

who wrote the gunners off?
fuck me that's a flogging, mark's getting out of a sinking ship

 

[Numero Uno]

Arsenal 7 - 0 Middlesbrough

oh oh !!
if only i had HENRY as my fanasy league captain !!!

wutta day its been

 

[Benny_]

Fuck me. I just sold Henry 2 weeks ago because he was putting my team out of balance. Chuffed for Harry though