The Official Football Thread 2007/08 (3 Viewers)

[Benny_]

i just heard on the bbc that west ham are in talks with inter's adriano. even though hes not in great form and has been sspending a lot of time on the bench he would be a major coup for the club

Adriano has rejected the move already I think. The guy's a prima donna, there's no way he'd go to a club the size of West Ham unfortunately. Watch his career die a very premature death

No room for sentiments, we need points. Sorry Keano.

What a sad time it is in football, first was the retirement of a United legend, Ole Solskjaer, then is the news of the death of Antonio Puerta. Something must be done about this now. Vivian-Foe, Feher, and now Puerta, all died from heart-related illnesses while playing. This is tragic.

Watching some of the old Ole stuffs, makes me wanna cry even more.

Yeah.. Puerta's death was made that much more tragic by the fact that he had a daughter on the way :/

 

[mat2154]

its been a pretty sad time for football in general but i've been really impressed with how the city of liverpool have dealt with the murder of rhys jones. everton let his parents stand on the touch line and they had a minutes applause and they played with black armbands. the everton squad visited the scene of the murder. and anyone who says that footballers are heartless are wrong: it was the everton squad that organised all of this themselves. also, liverpool allowed the everton theme song to be played anfield, this has never ever happened before. it has united the city as much as hillsborough

 

[LMF^^]

Another player died today while playing in the Israeli second division. WTF is going on? Third player to have collapsed while training this week, and the second death. This is an unbelievably tragic time in football.

Link

 

[Raginsheep]

Arsenal sign Diarra. Not sure why though, central midfield is the one position that I argue that we're fine in...

 

[mat2154]

i reckon that diarra is a pretty good signing, he can play almost anywhere in defence or midfield, now that they have loaned out djorou they need a bit of back up. disappointed that fergie didn't sign another striker, i was hoping that he would bring in someone young we've never heard of for a small fee (like ole for 1.5mil) hopefully he'll let dong at least sit on the bench

 

[Benny_]

Liverpool beat Derby 6-0. Derby are seriously shite though. Hard to see them getting any more than around 20 points this season.

 

[Raiks]

Newcastle 1-0 over Wigan. Very good to see since I'd hate to be giving Bramble anything to smile about. Newcastle look quite good this year, especially with the late minute signings of Faye and Beye. And I'm also really impressed with the fact that NUFC are keeping clean sheets, about time the team had a solid defence.

 

[Benny_]

Newcastle 1-0 over Wigan. Very good to see since I'd hate to be giving Bramble anything to smile about. Newcastle look quite good this year, especially with the late minute signings of Faye and Beye. And I'm also really impressed with the fact that NUFC are keeping clean sheets, about time the team had a solid defence.

Well, you were always going to get some defensive steel with Big Sam as the gaffa. Question is, with more resources and better players, will he also become a tad more adventurous at Newcastle, as Rafa has this season at Liverpool.

 

[Raiks]

Give it a few seasons. I don't think we'll end up like Spurs spending stupid money on unproven players. Big Sam has done well bringing in the likes of Beye, Rozenhal, Geremi, Barton and Smith, along with some quality youth in Enrique. You can't expect to bring in 'next big things' this season because we need a quality team now and that's whats been done.

And I really like what's coming from Chris Mort, that there will be a big investment on the academy etc, because it means we'll be around long term and instead of having to spend $20mill on 10 players, we can spend the $15-20mill on 1 quality signing because our local homegrown talent allows us to save on the transfer fees.

 

[mat2154]

i still think that liverpool won't win the title, even though they have a pretty strong squad, i still see them behind manu and chelsea. on derby, they look like they have been relegated already, but when your biggest signing is earnshaw, who has never done anything on the premier league you know you're in trouble.

i also question keanos signings, 6 mil for kenwyne jones and 3 mil for higginbotham seems really inflated. but i still reckon the biggest flop this season will prove to be darren bent, 17 million for a player they never needed, robbie keane is a better striker.

On the subject of flops, newcastle seemed to have a few ie boumsong, luque, bramble, but now newcastle seem to be a lot tighter at the back now with a completely new defence. wondering how they will manage their wealth of strikers ameobi, owen, viduka, martins and smith.

 

[Benny_]

i still think that liverpool won't win the title, even though they have a pretty strong squad, i still see them behind manu and chelsea. on derby, they look like they have been relegated already, but when your biggest signing is earnshaw, who has never done anything on the premier league you know you're in trouble.

i also question keanos signings, 6 mil for kenwyne jones and 3 mil for higginbotham seems really inflated. but i still reckon the biggest flop this season will prove to be darren bent, 17 million for a player they never needed, robbie keane is a better striker.

On the subject of flops, newcastle seemed to have a few ie boumsong, luque, bramble, but now newcastle seem to be a lot tighter at the back now with a completely new defence. wondering how they will manage their wealth of strikers ameobi, owen, viduka, martins and smith.

On current form we're far from behind you or Chelsea. Particularly you. But for a goalkeeping error yesterday you would've dropped 2 more points. But as they say, it's a marathon and no one's saying Liverpool will win the title yet. Early signs are positive though.

 

[Led-Zep]

i have to say that even tho it was derby, i did admire the way pool played even against chelsea they actually played well and limited the long ball style they usually have. torres (why didnt united get him!) will do real well i guarantee it, he is very quick, strong, has excellent touches and holds up the ball and he wouldve fit in perfect at united. i think that pool are another winger or 2 away from realistically winnin the league and torres will fit in very well give him a season or 2 and he will be a 20plus striker, and babel looks decent too.

united, what are we doing? it seems we have taken a huge step back, i mean cant we play against teams like sunderland,reading and pompey anymore? seriously it seems as if we are just lacking alot of creativity, even when ronaldo and rooney where there vs reading. saha is key really, and u could tell when he came on. y we didnt sign another striker ala anelka to help out for a season or so is beyond me. unless we get ronnie and rooney firing soon, we will struggle to unlock stubborn teams that play us. i know we can beat the top teams, but its the ones that put all their men behind the ball that we really seem to be struggling with. tevez looks of the pace a bit but i feel he will start playing well soon, hargreaves ive been real impressed with, he has quite a shot on him! top passer, good at taclking and very quick too. nani has done ok, just needs to use his speed more, he seems to dribble then stop when he could just sprint past players..

its gonna be a close title race this season i can tell, united,pool,chelsea and gunners all there, and i rekon newcastle, man city and spurs can also take points of the top 4.

 

[Benny_]

Spurs are barely taking points off the bottom 4 at the moment.. but I think given the backing of the board, Jol can turn things around.

 

[Raginsheep]

The whole reason they drew yesterday was because of Jol...

 

[Led-Zep]

its still early days for the season tho, i mean 5 games into it, not to mention spurs are missing most of their defence, not that im making excuses for them, i still think they will be in the top 6 at the end of the season. it will be interesting tonight, chelsea and villa, villa do give them a hard time, however chelski will roll em easily. lookin fwd to arsenals game, i still havnt seen eduarda play yet? wonder if he gets a game, i want to see how he looks.

for united, thought anderson looked ok, he played average, but considering its his first, he had some nice passes, and looks like he will fit into the epl well, is a strong player. am not seeing the ronaldhino comparisions so far however? but im sure once he gets confidence and some games he will turn it on, same with nani who needs to beef up a fair bit, he gets pushed off too easily, and doesnt use his speed ala ronaldo to burst past players. evra was umbeleivable, we should use him on the left wing and get another left back.

 

[LMF^^]

Evra is an all attacking full-back. Once Gary gets back, as well as Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs, our attacks down the flanks will be amazing.

Yes, we were quite rubbish again yesterday, but I really don't care at this moment. I knew that Tevez couldn't play up front all alone. Saha came on and made the difference, we really need him to stay fit for a majority of the season, he will determine whether we can win trophies or not.

Not too worried about anyone in particular, but I feel Eagles isn't ready yet for the big stage. It's good that he's getting some game time, but starting over Fletcher is a bit too much for me. Sure we want a winger, but Fletch can do a much better job from the start.

Anyway, not worried at the moment, as long as we keep winning we're in with a chance. Ronaldo comes back next game, so that'll be the time we start firing.

 

[Led-Zep]

eagles was woeful in the 2nd half, he is no understudy to ronaldo let alone park!, i thought we shouldve had nani on the right and anderson on the left, with tevez and saha uipfront, when i heard he was fit. its amazing that with rooney and ronaldo out the man we really missed is saha, surely fergie shouldve realised this and went for a short term attacker eg saha, macarthy, hell even bent when he was available wouldve done the job (not for that amount tho). i have a feeling that next summer we will see the arrival of a striker, ala alves from hereenveen who has been linked, berbatov or huuntelaar. torres wouldve been perfect and ive said it all along he was my choice.

still the prospect of ronaldo, rooney, neville, anderson (when fit and after a few games) and saha back is quite scary, let alone park when he returns too.

 

[rhcpfox1]

Anyone watchin the Arse game?
Playing some REALLY nice football.
Hope Eduardo gets some decent time, be good if he could even grab a goal.
We keep playing like this we'll win 5-1 (because Senderos ALWAYS makes one bad mistake)

 

[rhcpfox1]

Feck what did i just say, Red card for Sender-off.

 

[Benny_]

eagles was woeful in the 2nd half, he is no understudy to ronaldo let alone park!, i thought we shouldve had nani on the right and anderson on the left, with tevez and saha uipfront, when i heard he was fit. its amazing that with rooney and ronaldo out the man we really missed is saha, surely fergie shouldve realised this and went for a short term attacker eg saha, macarthy, hell even bent when he was available wouldve done the job (not for that amount tho). i have a feeling that next summer we will see the arrival of a striker, ala alves from hereenveen who has been linked, berbatov or huuntelaar. torres wouldve been perfect and ive said it all along he was my choice.

I'd be pretty worried if United got Huntelaar. If you had him you'd be top of the table right now, because he would have finished every chance you missed. I wouldn't mind if he came in for Crouch next season. Liverpool will be a 3 country team then. Spanish/English/Dutch.. plus the occasional Argie.