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***The Official World Soccer Thread***

Discussion in 'Other Sports Forum' started by first&goal, Apr 12, 2008.

  1. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    I dunno if I would believe that Toure was in decline. Toure is one of the best centre backs in the league for the past 3-4 years. Aresnal already had a need for a central defender and now they have sold there best one. Seems very strange to me and to have two big name players move to Man City is even more worrying.

    On the plus side for Aresnal they ontinue to make huge profits on players they bought for relatively cheap. Toure only cost Aresnal £150,000 and Adebayor cost them around £3m. Aresnal recovered from huge sales of players like of Viera and Henry, but they were not sold to their rivals.
     
  2. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    I agree about Toure. I was merely passing along what I've read on the web. Like I said earlier, I watched him yesterday and he looked good. Last year he struggled a bit but that was because he suffered from malaria one point I believe.

    Yeah, they are making huge profits. I was thinking about that yesterday and its impressive. However, those profits need to be injected into new acquisitions in my opinion and so far, we haven't seen anything. The only rumour I've seen is the one about Hangeland on Sky Sports but I don't even know how true that is. Maybe they like what they have in Djourou and the newly acquired Vermealen? I caught about fifteen minutes of Vermealen in the trial against Hungarian club Symbothalyei (sp?) but I didn't see him get tested.

    I don't know though, I'm not sure what to make of this. I trust Wenger and he knows what he's doing but this deal doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially since we're selling him to a rival. Not only that, but I figure if Terry's price tag was set at 40M then why not Toure at 20m?
     
  3. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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    check out this miss alen :lol:

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Fch5XLkPU"]YouTube - sompenmissfun[/ame]
     
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  4. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Thats a good point Alen, I really dont see how Terry is worth twice as much as Toure. But English players are always vastly over-priced and usually over-rated.

    Was just having a luck at the Man City squad and its looking pretty deep at this point and there still chasing after Lescott from Everton. Heres what their team will be looking like come the start of the season with Lescott.

    ------------Given--------------

    Richards--Toure--Lescott--Bridge

    --------De Jong--Barry----------

    -----------Ireland---------------

    --------Tevez--Adebayor--------

    Their bench would have players like Dunne, Santa Cruz, Petrov, Wright-Phillips, Elano, Ben-Haim, Zabaleta and Kompany.

    If Hughes can get them all playing to-gether on the same wave-lenght, City could challenge for the title.
     
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  5. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Rumour going around at the moment is that Aresnal could be in for Huntelaar and Lee Cattermole of Wigan.

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/116569/Wenger-ready-to-splash-out-on-Huntelaar-and-Cattermole

    I know its only a rumour, but thought you Aresnal fans could do with some news about possible players coming in, instead of them leaving :lol:
     
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  6. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Word is that they are going to sell Elano and a couple others from the bench squad. Petrov maybe? I can't remember right now. But yeah, if they can get that to work, they could definitely compete. I just hope that they don't. ;)

    :lol:

    These rumours are actually legit, as they have been around for a few days now. Klaas Jan-Huntelaar was going to go to VB Stuttgart but backed out of the move because he wants to play in the Premier League and its said that at the top of his wishlist is Arsenal. I personally don't have any issues with him coming. The Cattermole rumour started about two days ago and I know that Arsene has been keeping up with Cattermole.
     
  7. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    According to some of the media channels over here, the only thing that may scupper the Huntelaar deal is what type of asking price Real slap on him. They definetly want to sell him, but may be asking for somewhere in the region of £18m.
     
  8. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    According to Wenger, he may not be buying anymore players during the transfer window

    http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5461621,00.html

    Also it is looking like Real may finally get Xabi Alonso from Liverpool, as he has handed in a transfer request,
     
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  9. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    So many rumours swirling right now. Danielle De Rosi has been rumoured to Arsenal but that was shot down as was the rumour of AC Milan ready to sell Pirlo to Chelsea. I also saw a rumour from way out of left field that stated AC Milan was ready to sell Pato, which I found completely odd since he's their only attacking option it seems. Borriello isn't impressive. There's talk that City is ready to add Joleon Lescott while Everton would be purchasing Phillipe Senderos, who Arsene has stated could be on the outs this transfer window.

    If there's one thing that I wish would happen is a rumour starting of Wenger looking to buy PSG's centre back star Sakho. I wish that rumour would also come true as I think Sakho is very impressive. About 190 cm I'd say, he's very strong, is good in the air, threat on set pieces and doesn't make a lot of mistakes despite at a young age. Speaking of young age, he's the youngest captain ever in French Ligue 1. I'd say he's probably around 17M. I watched Sakho today against Rangers and he looked really good. I remember a play today where his centre back partner got beat by Boyd, the Rangers striker, and Sakho caught up to him, fought him off with his upper body build, won teh ball in the box and cleared it. It was impressive.

    Clement Chantome, the midfielder from PSG, also looked really good and he's been linked to Arsenal in the past. I know Arsene wanted a holding midfielder and while Chantome isn't as strong as Felipe Melo, he can still win the ball, drop back or attack up field. He didn't do anything special today but I liked what I saw. I assume he'd have a pretty hefty price tag.

    Also, that report about Wenger not buying seems to be false. Bordeaux is fielding calls from Wenger about Marouame Chamakh.

    EDIT: Just got done watching Arsenal v Rangers. Jack Wilshere man of the match for the second straight day. He's so impressive; great touch, small build but has great dribbling skills, great timing and knows how to find the net. He netted two goals today while Eduardo netted one. Eduardo looked good today; aggressive, showed off some of his dribbling skills and had the great finish. Fabregas was very aggressive today, taking on players, making nice passes and made some ball-winning tackles. The back four was shaky again however. Arsene had Silvestre and Alexandre Song playing centre back with Armand Traore playing right back. Nearly every ball was lobbed over the top of the defense and was successful but Almunia had some great saves. I think Traore is going to be making the same transition that Eboue made eventually, from defender to winger. Traore is fast, has good footwork but can't stay in his zone because he keeps attacking the wings.
     
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  10. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Darren Bent headed to Newcastle? Apparently on his Twitter, he had a picture of airline tickets that had him headed in Newcastle's direction.

    Also, very interesting article at the link below on the incredible number Man City will pay yearly because of weekly wages.

    http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/spo...astlands-wage-bill-tops-pound100m-a-year.html
     
  11. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    What a muppet! I'm glad he's gone! theres going to be tears with such a big squad!

    Quality!
     
  12. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Last edited: Aug 3, 2009
  13. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Jack's build is reminiscent of Leo Messi's in my opinion, except Messi is probably stronger and he doesn't play up front. I certainly think he'll have to gain more power but what I wonder is just how much more can he put on his small frame? One thing's for sure though, he's not limited when it comes to his potential. He has looked outstanding and it makes me re-think the situation up front.

    Arshavin is phenomenal. I loved watching him play for Russia in the Euro and he hasn't let up it seems, as he's been great for Arsenal. He's got a full training session now as well and I look forward as to what he can do for us.

    In regards to Toure, I wasn't aware of that but it does make it more interesting. Apparently he said the reason he handed in his transfer papers in January was because Arsenal "lost their leaders". Instead of making a comment like that, why didn't he step up and become the leader? He was good for us but I don't recall him having the captain's band much, if at all. In the end though, I agree it was great to get money for him, considering Arsene invested something like 350k for him and the fact that City could have simply signed him next off-season.

    Btw, did you catch Eduardo yesterday? He looked great. Rosicky looked pretty good too and Fabregas was all over the place. I'm optimistic for this season.
     
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  14. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Seeing Arshavin has eased my doubts about no further signings, he and Van Persie looked good.

    Toure could/should have stepped up - it's a young team with lots of injuries and there he is pouring salt on an open wound?

    It was good to see Eduardo, I think he rushed back last year but you can see he has confidence in front of goal and his runs certainly pulled the defensive players away from their positions so if he can keep that up we shouldn't have the problem we had last year where we had a dozen short passes instead of one shot at goal!

    Rosicky did well, tired a little which isn't suprising but certainly his touch and vision was a welcome sight.
     
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  15. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Me too but apparently not Arsene. He offered 6M for Chamakh, which was rejected, and now he's expected to up his offer. I know Bordeaux wanted 9M for Chamakh so I would think that Arsene would probably go up to 7.5-8.

    He's also closing on on PSV Eindhoven midfielder Affellay for 7M I believe.

    Agreed.

    Yeah, the thing is I see him pulling wide often and it doesn't bother me because I know he has the quickness and dribbling to get past defenders to create something.

    Btw, how bad was Denilson? Him and Silvestre are terrible. They got beat on the touch passes quite a few times yesterday against the Rangers. Song didn't look that bad at centre back, although he had some boneheaded decisions.

    Definitely. I think 18 months since he last played?

    EDIT: Reports are saying that Vieira is expected to sign with Arsenal for a transfer fee of £750,000 and Chamakh is expected to sign as well.
     
  16. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    I had to think for a while as I couldn't even remember seeing Denilson or Silvestre - then remembered the awful offside traps that Arsenal kept getting caught out on!

    It's on the back pages today about Kalou signing for Arsenal and Senderos going to Everton!
     
  17. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Lol. Denilson was terrible. He didn't do anything good on the pitch and Silvestre saved one goal but gave so many other opportunities.

    Re: Kalou & Senderos - I knew about Senderos leaving but I didn't think Kalou would sign. Its in The Sun and its said to be a £8million deal. I'm not sure what to make of this. Another striker/winger. I would bet that Arsene could polish his game more and make him a helluva player. What are your thoughts on Kalou?

    Also, did you hear about AC Milan throwing €35 million at Cesc Fabregas in the coming weeks? Its expected.

    http://goal.com/en-us/news/85/engla...milan-ready-to-offer-arsenal-35m-for-fabregas

    :no:
     
  18. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Kalou could be good for us - reminds me of the Diarra signing - huge potential hopefully. I think he's preferred position is more central?

    I've not heard anything about Cesc but don't see him going this year...next year could be different though, it really depends on how we do this year and if we pick up a few signings - if we get say 2 or 3 maybe 4 onboard up to and including the January transfer window and things look bright theres a huge chance he'll stay. If we stick as we are finish 4th and don't win a trophy I'm guessing he's gone.
     
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  19. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Central sounds about right to me but Arsene has said he's going to move to a 4-3-3 formation so maybe we could see him up front with Eduardo and Van Persie, if they don't put Arshavin or Walcott there. Damn, we've got a lot of options up front. I wish I could say the same for the back four.

    Yeah, agreed but that report states that a deal is in the process of being done. However, I don't recall Goal.com being too reliable and they're the only ones that have said a deal has been agreed on. Other ones I've read is just that AC Milan will launch a bid for Cesc at that price. I know Arsene put the price tag at 40M earlier this summer so can he turn down a price near that? Especially since they're lacking funds?
     
  20. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    If he leaves Arsenal I see him going to Barcelona more than anyone - but then Henry urged him to stay last week and he's always admired him and listened to him so I quite confident that we wont lose him this year....
     
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  21. Boomer

    Boomer Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Huntelaar is off to AC Milan. I think Wenger will bring in Chamakh closer to the transfer deadline as Bordeux have to realise that they sell him now for as much as they can get or lose him in a year for free.
     
  22. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Agreed. I've got mixed feelings on Chamakh because I still think he needs quite a bit of polishing. He needs to learn to finish better in front of the net. What do you think about him?
     
  23. Boomer

    Boomer Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Not seen enough of him. He looks like he has potential, but that doesn't score you goals in the best league in the world.
     
  24. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Edin Dzeko is on a tear right now. After scoring 26 total goals in the Bundesliga, he has scored sixteen in only 19 caps for Bosnia. I just watched him net two against Iran. Also, Miralem Pjanic is godsend. He's going to be a helluva attacking wing and he's already on the first team for Bosnia despite being only 19.
     
  25. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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    1st day of the Premier League season today!!

    Here are the scores so far:
    FT Chelsea 2 - 1 Hull C.
    FT Aston Villa 0 - 2 Wigan Athletic
    FT Blackburn R. 0 - 2 Manchester C.
    FT Bolton W. 0 - 1 Sunderland
    FT Portsmouth 0 - 1 Fulham
    FT Stoke C. 2 - 0 Burnley
    FT Wolverhampton W. 0 - 2 West Ham U.
     
  26. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Yeah, I saw Adebayor scored in the 3rd (?) minute.

    Arsenal game starts in about eight or so minutes.
     
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  27. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  28. wpgfishfan

    wpgfishfan Member

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    ?????

    Last 10 years, Champions league winners have come from

    Spain-4
    Italy and England-2
    Germany and Portugal-1
     
  29. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  30. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  31. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Great goals man. Thank you HBF for the replays. Ever since the pre-season, I've had this strange feeling that despite the criticism and crap that Arsene's gotten this off-season, we will win the league this year. Its just a gut feeling I've had since the first pre-season game. I hope it comes true though, haha!
     
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  32. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Out of all people, who would have thought Denilson would score? Not me, that's for sure. He looked terrible against the Rangers in the pre-season trial but so far, so well.
     
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  33. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  34. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  35. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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  36. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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    Saha and his stupid coloured hair make it 6-1
     
  37. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    I didn't catch that Saha goal, thankfully. I turned it off about a minute after Eduardo's goal. :)

    Great match today though. Just about everything went right. The only issues that I have was that we gave them quite a bit of chances in the second half in front of the goal because of the fouls. Van Persie and Fabregas both had fouls in front of the box - thankfully Almunia negated that. The other issue that I have was Bacary Sagna. He was the only one that stood out to me as not doing his job; he was out of position a few times and he has zero ball control. The ball needs to stay away from his feet at all times. Other then that, great match by the rest of the guys. Alexandre Song was a rock in the mid field and I really like him. He stood out to me in the pre-season when he played centre back pretty well. Denilson played well to my surprise. I loved Fabregas' aggressiveness. He seems more aggressive than ever and I don't recall him ever being so strong in front of the goal. His touch was great. Van Persie pulled out to the wing a few times and I really liked his passing skills from there once again. I remember when Adebayor used to do that and I felt that it was a mess. Vermaelen played very well I felt. Not just the goal, which was a beauty by the way, but he was a rock in the middle and really was never out of position. I was surprised to not see Wilshere out there at all today but Ramsey was. Ramsey has an inconsistent touch where ever he seems to be on the field. Whether he's passing it or shooting it, its all up and down.
     
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  38. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Nice win for Aresnal on Saturday. Everton are a good side and to go to Goodison and totally out-play and out-class them was very impressive. But thats the way Aresnal always have been under Wenger. On a good day, Aresnal can beat any team in the league easily. Celtic will now know also what they will be coming up against during the week and I really do think Aresnal can do the same against them.

    I think Aresnal fans should be very pleased with the response the team gave to the criticism they have received recently. But I still believe the criticism is warrented and I wont change my opinons on Aresnal just yet.
     
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  39. hammerbillsfan

    hammerbillsfan Suffering Bills Fan

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    Gallas scores! :up:
     
  40. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    That was a lucky goal haha. Looked offside to me but I'll take it. We dont necessarily need this first leg but if we win, I'll happily take it as I don't see Celtic winning in our home.
     
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