Football Thread No. 9

[del62]

And Man U gets an easy group again.

Didn't do them a lot of good a year ago though.

 

[Takhisis]

Liverpool get through just by the skin of their teeth after wasting a lorry--load of chances, and if it hadn't been for an own goal in Edinburgh… Hearts might have got in on away goals!

 

[holy king]

mister woodwork hits the goal!

 

[Truronian]

Arsenal have a nice group. Not tricky, but also not complacency-inducingly easy. A German team and a French team leave us with only a Greek away game by way of far away matches. Short of not having said game in Greece, I can't see how we could be in a better position to not let our European campaign affect our league performance.

Cue a series of continental lag 1-0 defeats to PL minnows.

 

[BirraImperial]

Iniesta won UEFA player of the year award. About time.

 

[Quackers]

I don't understand how they can put the winner of La Liga, the EPL, the Bundesliga and, uhh, the Dutch league in the same group.

I agree dude. The footballing elite can never ever surprise me with their incompetence...at home and abroad.

 

[holy king]

from the guardian's deadline day blog:

. "How do you think poor old 'Arry Redknapp will be coping today, not being able to make cryptic and non-committal platitudes to waiting hacks out of his car window?" wonders James Mair. Aye, the poor chap will probably be really struggling today. There's probably quite a queue developing outside his local McDonalds drive-thru, as he gives a lengthy seven-hour interview to the intercom about the Big Mac meal he's probably going to buy, before eventually making off with a Filet-o-Fish at 12.27am. Come on, Harry, we know it's tough, but people are waiting to order their Happy Meals back here!

 

[Quackers]

Maicon has joined Man City. Brilliant cannot wait to see those beautiful long range shots hes known for + Bale is gonna eat him alive

 

[Quackers]

Falcao is literally taking apart Chelsea here. I knew he was a quality, quality player but I can't believe what i'm seeing right now. Best all out forward in the world at the moment?
Another bit of my wealth sucked up by the bettting industry

 

[Takhisis]

From that poorest of leagues, Spanish teams have won the last 4 European Super-cups in a row.

The two times that Barcelona got eliminated by a crappy ultra-defensive non-football playing team, said team went on to beat Bayern Munich and then lose the Supercup.

btw 13 victories in a row in Europe for Simeone's boys.

 

[BirraImperial]

Today, football has won...thank God for that.

 

[Quackers]

Today, football has won...thank God for that.

Explain?

 

[Takhisis]

I guess he means Chelsea haven't bothered to play football for quite some time now.

 

[Quackers]

They do play football though....

 

[Takhisis]

Not in the metaphorical sense.

 

[Quackers]

..and that is?

 

[Truronian]

The transfer windows closed. I think it's now safe to say that Arsenal have a marginally weaker squad than last season. If we'd got the decent DM to replace Song that we were expecting we probably would have been slightly better off... but alas, that would not have led to another year of profiting from player sales. It's going to be a tough season. If Spurs gel and RDM proves to be a decent manager then I expect us to miss out on a CL place.

 

[Mise]

Well, I don't know if we need a DM - Song wasn't really a proper DM by the end of his Arsenal career. I think Arteta can quite happily play deeper, and in any case, our CBs are back to full strength and Bould has tightened them up so we don't have such a massive weakness at the back anymore. I don't know if we need a real DM.

Personally I'm optimistic about our chances. We have some quality new players, who under Wenger's miraculous tutelage might end up performing miracles of their own. Whereas other top teams are making management changes, we've got a man who's consistently brought out the best in players. In Wenger we trust...

We should have sold Walcott though.

 

[Quackers]

I don't get the Theodore Walcott hate, in the last season in 35 apperances (many of them coming on as a substitute) he managed 8 goals and 11 assists! Goals win games and he is full of scoring them and creating them! His whole game relies on his pace so when he gets to about 26-27 thats when I would sell

You have to admit Arsenal are still struggling and Wenger rightfully or wrongfully doesn't want to blow his entire transfer kitty to destroy his considerate, profit making transfer policy - he needs to buy Falcao or something I don't know where the goals are going to come from this year (and thats something i would never think i would say about an AW Arsenal side). His strikers on paper look decent but i'm not convinced...yet...that they can perform in the English PL, our tackles are harder here

 

[Mise]

Well I'm a huge fan of Walcott, but if he doesn't want to play for Arsenal we should at least get some cash for him while we still can. Get loads of cash from players, pay off the stadium debt, then we can start paying top salaries for the top talent Wenger develops.

But yeah I agree - I can't see where goals are going to come from either, but it's early days yet...