Football (Soccer) 2007/2008 Season

Aurelien · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:54 am Post subject:

More transfer news with Bayern Munich finally confirmed that they have signed Miroslav Klose into the team to further bolster their attacking force. However, I'm not too convinced at all that Bayern would have much success. Ribery, Toni, and Klose are definitely good players, but I really wonder how they would all fit into the team. At the moment, Bayern pretty much only lost Pizzarro to Chelsea from the front part of the team. They bought Toni, Klose, and Altintop, and they already have Maakay, Podolski, and Santa Cruz. That is a total of SIX forwards. Of course Santa Cruz is somewhat crap, Maakay hasn't really been that great last season, and Podolski seemed to be lost in Munich after the World Cup. So ... total reformation up front, anyone?

Speaking of Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi, they both know it that they're just going to be constantly warming the bench if they stay at Manchester United anyways. It's not just a matter of whether they want to play football or just make good money. Excluding those two players, Manchester United only have Rooney, Saha, Solksjaer (?) up front. Very thin line considering that they all seem somewhat injury prone. I'm not sure if Anderson and Nani are forwards or not, but they're far from proven in EPL. So I'm not going to comment yet on whether they're going to be successful or not in filling up the hole if Smith and Rossi left the team. After all, even Cristiano Ronaldo was quite rubbish in his first season there.

Another transfer rumor is about how Tevez seemed to be keen to move to Inter Milan. I'm liking that rumor and I hope it happens. As much as I love Brazil more than Argentina, I really like the Argentina flavor in Inter. They already have Javier Zanetti, Santiago Solari, Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Samuel, Nicolas Burdisso, Hernan Crespo, and Julio Cruz. Adding Tevez onto the list would be nice nice.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

Fundertaker · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject:

Nani can play as a winger (pretty much like Ronaldo) or as an Attacking midfielder in the way that Scholes some years ago and Giggs for the last seasons have played. Anderson is a straight up no.10 attacking midfielder.
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Felipe · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:01 am Post subject:

America Cup.

Brazil lost to Mexico today... the way Brazil played makes me worry about the future of our soccer...
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Goldy · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:49 am Post subject:

I do not know about that Felipe, i heard the Brazil side was an understrength side, who played? Mexico are a strong enough team and seem to be getting better. I am sure Brazil will recover if they are hungry enough!

Also, good old Real Madrid eh.....they went along and sacked Fabio Capello today after he guided them to the title for the first time in four years. Cannot say i am too surprised by this considering that was the 6th sacking since 2003!

That Ramon Calderón seems like a crazy guy......

Aurelien · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:27 am Post subject:

Brazil didn't have Ronaldinho and Kaka on the squad (no Ronaldo and Adriano either, though I'm not sure whether that's exactly a bad thing for them or not), but they still have reasonably good squad going for Copa America. They have Robinho (Real Madrid), Daniel Alves (arguably the best right back in the world at the moment), Vagner Love, Elano, Maicon (Inter Milan), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Juan (I think he just joined Juventus?), Diego (one of the best in Bundesliga), Julio Baptista (Arsenal or not?), and Fred (maaan, this guy is underrated at times). So it's not a bad side, it's just not their full team.

As for Capello, well it wasn't really a surprise. But I think it's a really big mistake to sack him. It wasn't surprising because I think Madrid noted that Capello made a big mistake and a fool of himself along with the club with all the David Beckham saga happening earlier this year. So they might want a manager who wouldn't do that in the future. It would be quite interesting to see who will be the successor. As unlikely as this might sound, it would be very interesting if Arsene Wenger ended up in Real Madrid while Thierry Henry already picked Barcelona.

Also on the continuation of the news about Klose joining Bayern that I mentioned before, apparently Maakay opted to leave Bayern now to join Feyenoord instead. It's a good move, but I'm not convinced that Feyenoord is the best that he can get. He could've probably moved to PSV or Ajax instead and then play in Champions League. But yeah, at least Maakay will get some first team football in Feyenoord. Good for him then.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

Archy · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:00 am Post subject:

Feyenoord?

Holly crap, didn't Gio Van Bronckhorst or some other Dutch join that a couple days ago? Seems like the old generation of the Oranje are heading back, with the exception of RVN (who really shouldn't leave Real), and Seedorf who's having a very good career in Milan.

Now all we need is for Van der Sar to go back... but hell, I'm not wanting that.
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Fundertaker · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:05 am Post subject:

No, instead of Van der Sar, what Feyenoord should get was a returning Fred Grim! Or Ruud Hesp! Or Ed De Goey!
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Goldy · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:16 am Post subject:

Aurelien, reports are linking Real Madrid with the Getafe manager Bernd Schuster, to be honest i have heard nothing about this guy but the media have already labled him inexperienced for the role and a 'yes man'.....which would suit Ramon Calderón!

Aurelien · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject:

Goldy · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:49 pm Post subject:

It is crazy money being paid for Darren Bent, the reason the price is so inflated.....he is English.....just look at the Manchester United purchases of Micheal Carrick and Owen Hargreaves......insane money!

The transfer of English players has just about always had a crazy fee attached!

Ujitsuna · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

I think transfer fees in general need to be halved at least, so much more for an average player nowadays...

Aurelien · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:22 am Post subject:

Goldy, I don't think it's because he's English, but because he's bought by an English club. English Premier League is arguably the richest league in the world with all those income from TV and stuff, not to mention the gazillion foreign owners with loads of cash. Therefore, they can afford more ridiculous price and potential buyers are all pretty much being held into a ransom situation where they must pay to the ridiculous demanded price if they want to buy. It's ridiculous and very silly. But English Premier League can only blame themselves for that.

In more Copa America news, Argentina beat USA 4-1 after trailing 0-1 first. Argentina is looking very solid. I must admit that they are impressive indeed. However, I'm not convinced that their older players would last to the next World Cup. If they don't, then it can be a big problem to fill up those positions.
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Archy · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:52 am Post subject:

Dammit, I can't believe he's worth that much.

I wonder why Tottenham, of all teams even got them. I mean, in a team containing Keane, Defoe, AND Berbatov, you get another goal-scorer? I think one of the old three are going to leave now. And by all means I hope it's Defoe. Seeing him with Aston Villa would be fun, imagine him playing with Milan Baros or Agbonlahor. XD

Then again, I'm confused. How the hell is he worth more over Henry? yes, I'm aware Henry's stock dropped after a poor season, but still, Darren Bent had a decent season (didn't score as much a couple seasons ago). But... he's worth that much? And Charlton was even pricing him at 17, if I'm not mistaken.
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Aurelien · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:22 am Post subject:

Darren Bent is definitely not worth that much. Darren Bent is definitely not worth than Thierry Henry. Charlton put up that ridiculous price to pretty much force everyone to play their way. If they want to buy him, then they must pay that much money. If no one wants to pay, then we keep our best player in the club. It's a win-win situation for Charlton. It has also been implemented by many other clubs with their ridiculous pricing (e.g.: Matthew Upson's move to West Ham, Ashley Young's move to Aston Villa, etc) and the other latest example is how West Ham valued Nigel Reo-Cocker for 12 million pounds and wouldn't budge with their demand despite not even really wanting to keep him anyways.

Every English Premier League club is now being put in that kind of position. If they want to buy from another English Premier League club, then they must either wait until the contract is about to end or pay ridiculous amount of money. It's just how they do business there. And since the league has gotten very rich, even the smaller clubs can now afford those ridiculous prices. If they have the money, then they ended up spending it because they don't have other alternatives (because they're friggin lazy to scout elsewhere).

That's why I like clubs like Bolton Wanderers. Their biggest buy was Anelka and that wasn't even at too ridiculous price for someone that good. They have a budget and then work their transfer according to the budget. Most other clubs would have a budget, but then change the budget to suit the price demand. They're all digging their own holes.

Tottenham is definitely one of the biggest culprit in this kind of mentality. They're rich and they spend very weirdly. I can guarantee you that if they do sell Defoe, they will end up selling at a lower price than they bought Bent. But is Bent really better than Defoe? I think it's very arguable at best. Neither Bent or Defoe would be better than Berbatov-Keane. They're both just "back up" to play in the UEFA Cup, and domestic Cups when Berbatov-Keane needed rest. To have replacements priced at 16.5 million pounds ... what were they thinking? This is especially flabbergasting when we relate to Owen/Martins get out clause which are priced lower than 16.5 million pounds. Martins did well last season, and Owen is a good player if not injured. Why not pursue them instead?

I've always considered Tottenham to be a good club, but their transfer policy is always very confusing to the commoners like me. Maybe I'm stupid, but yeah, we'll see how they do this season.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

Felipe · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 2:01 am Post subject:

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