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2011-12 Football/Soccer Thread

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phalanx said:
arsenal? 4th place contenders? since when? that performance would not get then 4th place in league 2 :P
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Most people (in this thread especially) were expecting Arsenal to finish in the top 4. Not going to say that they won't because there are still 35 games to play but usually (as Liverpool and even Roma and Juventus showed last season), big clubs that start this badly find it hard to recover. The pressure is going to mount and I don't think Arsenal can take it. Liverpool last season had a very strong spine in Reina, Carragher, Gerrard and Torres and that's what Arsenal don't have, so I don't see them finishing higher than 6th.

With Adebayor in their squad, I see Spurs as a much bigger threat than Arsenal. As a 'Pool fan, I'd prefer to see an unhappy Modric stay at Tottenham because 1) I don't want Chelsea to strengthen and 2) Modric (and possibly Adebayor) is going to ruin the atmosphere in the dressing room and isn't going to perform.
 
i would 8-2 hear more 8-2 jokes :P

and arsenal fans singing we love arsenal we do.. i changed the words
we love arsenal
8-2
we love arsenal
8-2
we love arsenal
8-2
o'h arsenal we love you :P
 
united bought replacements for retirees and backups for injurys.... united dipped the past couple of seasons through injuries to key players, fergie addressed that, and the players he hasn't brought in have been replaced by youngsters who are performing fantastic.
the differance between united and arsenl is put down to 2 simple things.
fergie buys well in the transfer market - arsene buys hardly anyone
fergie loans out the youngsters (cleverly, welbeck are good examples) to other teams to get them experiance. - arsenal don't

and there is still a chance of Wesley Sneijder :P
 
was reading up on him
he is fringe brazilian national team... FRINGE so yea he is :P
but if he turns arsenals 8 conseded to 7 its worth it lol
 
I am not really a fan of defenders who can't defend.

He is very decent going forward and got a really good shot but his positioning is crap.

Anyone is a step up from Traore at least.
 
Arsenal are eying Alex........well I guess it'll be a good transition for both the player and the club.He doesn't get to play a lot here anyway thanks to Terry and Ivanovic and we do need some cash after all the signings we've made(and the ones we're gonna make)
 
phalanx said:
united bought replacements for retirees and backups for injurys.... united dipped the past couple of seasons through injuries to key players, fergie addressed that, and the players he hasn't brought in have been replaced by youngsters who are performing fantastic.
the differance between united and arsenl is put down to 2 simple things.
fergie buys well in the transfer market - arsene buys hardly anyone
fergie loans out the youngsters (cleverly, welbeck are good examples) to other teams to get them experiance. - arsenal don't

and there is still a chance of Wesley Sneijder :P
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arsenal dont loan out youngsters? what the fuck? wilshere, ramsey, hes sent others on loan this season, shea and bartley - not everyone hes loaned out is deadwood. but seriously, do you know ANYTHING about football? because i know next to nothing and even im aware that arsenal loaned aaron ramsey to cardiff after he had his leg broken and that wilshere went to bolton for a while. seriously, how can you be so basically wrong?
 
Get your head outta your ass he's gonna go to city,come here or stay at inter.There's no way he's going to old trafford.
 
No Luck Involved said:
Now let's get some decent CBs!!! And midfield. I still don't understand why Wenger won't consider Scott Parker.
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Scott Parker is 30 and doesn't have any resale value, that's why Arsene won't get him. For some reason he thinks he's Arsenal's accountant. (there's a possibility of a loan deal though, but if I were him I would get Parker for 8m and make him vice-captain with RVP, this guy is a leader).

latinoheat said:
I am not really a fan of defenders who can't defend.

He is very decent going forward and got a really good shot but his positioning is crap.

Anyone is a step up from Traore at least.
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He's solid if unspectacular from what I've seen at the Copa. Decent going forward and a good defender. Good replacement for Clichy :P Brazil were conceding goals from the other flank where Dani Alves was playing :/
 
i don't think it's fair to paint Arsene Wenger as some incompetent archaic fool - it is his rival clubs that have set the bar impossibly high by throwing caution to the wind. Manchester United and Chelsea are the two most indebted clubs in world football (with Liverpool in fourth source) and Man City's wage bill is something like 115% of their combined annual income so they're reliant on the continuted co-operation of their owners to stay afloat.

Yes, Arsenal's debt is also quite high but that's mostly due to the fact they just built a new stadium and are still in a financial transition period (long time Gooners will know that they were warned about this when they began work on Ashburton Grove). It seems as though Wenger has set himself the impossible task of competing for honours whilst also establishing long-term financial stability rather than the other big club's mentality of 'fuck this, all that matters is that i win something this season, i don't care what happens in the future' and, to be fair to him, he has done incredibly well with it till this season.

i don't know how this is going to play out but i don't think he should be so harshly criticised for not gambling with the future of the club - lets face it, it's inevitable that a time is going to come very soon when big clubs start imploding and Arsenal fans can sleep at night in the knowledge that they're probably safe from that.
 
Brilliant post tbh Lee.
What might be interesting though is what Samir Nasri had to say:

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/08/30/2642751/manchester-citys-samir-nasri-slams-arsenal-transfer-policy
Manchester City’s Samir Nasri slams Arsenal transfer policy & concedes Arsene Wenger is unable to keep key players

The newest addition to Roberto Mancini’s side has praised his former Gunners boss for his role in his development, and believes he is not to blame for the club’s ambitions

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri says Arsenal's current policy in the transfer market had pushed him towards the exit door and believes his former manager Arsene Wenger is not able to keep hold of his key players.

The 24-year-old moved to the Etihad Stadium from north London last week for an estimated £25 million, following club captain Cesc Fabregas' switch to Barcelona.

The midfielder believes Wenger is not to blame for the club’s transfers this window and points his finger at the financial side of the Gunners.

“Arsenal are a great club,” Nasri told France Football.

“But [after] building the Emirates Stadium its financing has changed quite a bit. It has changed the ambitions for the moment.

“But it is not Arsene Wenger. It is the policy of the club leaders. Arsenal no longer have the same resources.

“He cannot make the same moves as before the transfer market. Rather, he is obliged to sell its best players and bet on the young.”

This policy of buying young has brought about increasing criticism from Gunners fans as they become impatient over the club's lack of silverware.

“There are signals that do not lie,” Nasri added. “The departure of Fabregas to Barcelona is one.

“Our end to last season was another challenge. The defeat against Birmingham in the final of the League Cup was also very hard in the head.

“Coming to Manchester City, I chose a club in an upward spiral.

“I do not regret going through Arsenal. I learned a lot there, tasted the highest level, with a very high level of expectation.

“When I arrived, there was also a great competition and I managed to impose myself. It was a fantastic life experience. I learned about myself.

“I am more [of a] scorer than in the past. I progressed defensively. I owe a lot to Arsenal and especially Arsene Wenger. Both have given me recognition in England and a new exhibit at the international level.”

Nasri made an excellent debut performance on Sunday against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, recording three assists in the 5-1 win.

The midfielder added that he felt wanted by everyone at the club upon his arrival at City.



He said: “From the beginning there was unanimity on my arrival.

“Coach Roberto Mancini, the executive director, Garry Cook, to the president, Khaldoun al-Mubarak, I felt that everyone wanted me.

“The other players said, ‘You've been slow to arrive. It's been over a month and a half we waited for you!’”

Nasri will be hopeful that his move to the ambitious club can boost his credentials in the national side.

The Frenchman was omitted from the squad for the World Cup in 2010 and will be desperate to be at the forefront of coach Laurent Blanc’s mind when it comes to selection should the team qualify for Euro 2012.

The midfielder is in the most recent squad for the European qualifiers and revealed he has a positive relationship with the current France manager and coaching staff.

“I have a good relationship with him [Blanc] and especially Jean-Louis Gasset,” the Frenchman admitted.

“I know they grant me their trust. But I would rather [the] coach tell me some things between me and him.”
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Everybody blames Wenger for being too stubborn but could it be that he's not the one that actually decides stuff like that? He's just an employee at the club in the end...
I know that the new stadium is a long term investment but can Arsenal risk not being in the CL for a year (still early but it doesn't look nailed on like the previous seasons)?

Arsenal are in advanced talks with giant german CB Mertesacker. For me he is definitely not the answer to their CB problems. His lack of pace and mobility is extremely worrying especially in a league like the EPL. My friend even calls him: Sack de merde... not good enough
 
YES YES YES MERTESACKER SCREW CAHILL

and what Lee said. I dont see anyone blaming the board for this shit, yet they have as much to do with this as wenger does.
 
Yea he will help out a lot on set pieces, but unless Arsenal change the way they defend with the high line he is going to get torn apart. If Vermalean learns to stay back as opposed to rush forward it might work.
 
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