Footyball! II

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='koudoulis' post='1499514' date='Aug 29 2008, 15.24']Riera has had two tremendous seasons. he is indeed a left winger but that does not describe him fully. its the kind of spanish winger like Vicente (not so close to the line though) was , or Joaquin (both currently in Valencia) if you are familiar with any of them. He can run with the ball and he is quite large i believe. i am sure he will be very good for liverpool. excellent signing. he will work well with torres[/quote]

Thanks Koudalis, I'm more optimistic after your description.

[cteresa]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1501760' date='Sep 1 2008, 13.23']Thanks Koudalis, I'm more optimistic after your description.[/quote]

Since Koudolis remembers Riera, his opinion is far more trustworthy than mine, who only thinks she saw Riera for sure on a couple uefa games two seasons ago ( espanyol had/has a serb who has Lola written on his shirt. seriously. lost a bet? superstition? ) and maybe on a few other espanyol games. I did not particularly notice or remember him, so no toe curling material, IMO, at least from the few espanyol games I have seen. I rather liked Tamudo and Palop though, or better did not like them because I thought them quite good. BTW his price 10 million euros, seems a bit high. though that is the market I guess. But I would far far rather have Ryan Babel than Riera ( from what i remember).

BTW an opinion on Manchester United I saw that supercup game ( 2nd half) and Manchester United is not crap at all. They got a big big diamond encrusted hole in their attack for everybody knows who ( Rooney and Tevez are not quite the same thing) and they seemed a bit disconnected when they do not have possession. But particularly after they suffered the second goal and started to wake up they were pretty dangerous. And at least regarding the english league, i am not sure there are any teams there capable or willing to play the type of possession retaining game that Zenit was doing ( Arsenal? Tottenham maybe? any others? i don´t follow that closely). But that is for England, for Europe, maybe the situation will be different, - but current champions always find it almost impossible to go past the quarter finals in any case ( on the modern era at least). we will see - queirós is not bad at all at tactics, i would guess their semis against Barcelona last year had his fingerprints all over it, and to win the CL one needs that type of games...

Regarding Quaresma, hallelujah that soap opera is wrapped up, it has all been going on since Easter. I am depressed over a kid i like ending up at Porto, but whatever. The deal is reportedly 22 million + Pelé being evaluated at 8 million. I would say porto blinked first, considering how much they sold pepe and anderson for. and 8 million evaluation for pelé is pretty good, Mancini ( very good eye) got him for 1 or 2 millions just a year ago. BTW probably a coincidence, mourinho ties his first home game and the day after gets the player he has sighing for all summer. I am not sure I forgive Milan, roma, Fiorentina and Juve for being tossers and none of them actually winning their first match and put Mourinho under a smidgeon of pressure. It would be good for his character!

[Black Wizard]

Benzema is in Manchester today.

[Sir Thursday]

Manchester City make a strong bid for Berbatov! I would laugh so hard if they steal him from under Man Utd's nose.


Sir Thursday

[Paddy]

[quote name='Sir Thursday' post='1501945' date='Sep 1 2008, 16.50']Manchester City make a strong bid for Berbatov! I would laugh so hard if they steal him from under Man Utd's nose.


Sir Thursday[/quote]
heh, their bid's been accepted too!

Eh, I'm a United fan, but I'm not too bothered if he goes to City. Good luck to them if they want to pay more than the player is worth.

I prefer that the club don't get robbed by an outrageous evaluation, though I do wish they'd get [i]somebody[/i] in, striker-wise.

[cteresa]

Trying to do some work, and checking the transfer news is such a fun welcome distraction. btw
black wizard, did you meant Berbatov and not Benzema? Not that benzema is not perhaps even more their style, but nobody seems to talk of it

Robinho to Manchester CITY?!?! now that would be fun indeed, for sufficiently perversed levels of fun. I got to add as some context that in Portuguese usually Manchester United is referred to as "o Manchester" just by the town name. if they talked to him of just "Manchester" well. Just saying. because well, it´s not a promotion exactly to go from real Madrid to Manchester CITY specially when one has been whining about wanting to be the best player on the world and not being able to achieve that in Madrid.

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Paddy' post='1501959' date='Sep 1 2008, 16.59']I prefer that the club don't get robbed by an outrageous evaluation, though I do wish they'd get [i]somebody[/i] in, striker-wise.[/quote]

There were rumours that Huntelaar had been seen in Manchester earlier today, but given that there's only an hour to go now it would appear to be Berbatov or no-one.

[Paddy]

As Teresa mentioned, the news is full of Robinho to Manchester City.
And it seems that it's all but confirmed.

Crazy :)

There's footage of Berbatov, Ferguson and David Gill stepping out of an office inside Old Trafford, shaking hands and Ferguson looking pretty pleased, so it seems that so long as the teams can agree on it, he'll go to United.

United could well be in trouble for talking to the player without permission from Spurs.
Interesting to see how it goes.

[cteresa]

[quote name='Paddy' post='1502294' date='Sep 1 2008, 23.37']As Teresa mentioned, the news is full of Robinho to Manchester City.
And it seems that it's all but confirmed.
Interesting to see how it goes.[/quote]
Yep, and btw transfer season ended on central europe ( meaning anything east of hmm britain and portugal) like 52 minutes ago. But Robinho to manchester City, ouch, oh ouch. Not saying he will be bad, just saying that if he wants to win the Ballon d Or, usually playing in a team witbh Cl ambitions would help. It is quite evil to think so, but we are all sure he knows which Manchester team is going to? Plus mind boggles, he whines about being secondary to Cristiano Ronaldo, and ends up on the same city, on another club with less potential.

[Paddy]

[quote name='cteresa' post='1502314' date='Sep 1 2008, 23.54']Yep, and btw transfer season ended on central europe ( meaning anything east of hmm britain and portugal) like 52 minutes ago. But Robinho to manchester City, ouch, oh ouch. Not saying he will be bad, just saying that if he wants to win the Ballon d Or, usually playing in a team witbh Cl ambitions would help. It is quite evil to think so, but we are all sure he knows which Manchester team is going to? Plus mind boggles, he whines about being secondary to Cristiano Ronaldo, and ends up on the same city, on another club with less potential.[/quote]
Well, it's been a big day for Man City.
It's confirmed. Robinho is at Man City.

You see, this morning, Man City was bought by Abu Dhabi United Group, a bunch who, it's claimed have more money than Abramovic. And they outbid him for Robinho, a player he wanted.
Sky's already started on speculating that City will be big spenders from now on, competing with Chelsea, and Abramovic will be annoyed at being outbid.

No news yet on Berbatov.

[Paddy]

Berbatov is a Man Utd player.
30.75m
4 year deal.
Fraizer Campbell (20yo Striker) has gone in the other direction, on loan to Tottenham for the year.
And as part of the deal, Tottenham wont pursue their charges against United persueing the player.

It's a lot of money. I really hope he's worth it. Given his form in his first season at Spurs, I'd say he is, but my reservations are based on it feeling to me like he's not been up to that level since.

Tottenham agreeing not to chase up United for "tapping up" makes sense, in a "this is the way things work" sort of way, but it's pretty hypocritical.

[BLU-RAY]

That sucks, at least until Drogba comes back. Apparently he played some with the reserves squad today, had an assist vs. the Arsenal reserves. We could really use him, I have little-to-no faith in Anelka at all. Drogba can be an ass, but he tries much of the time. Anelka, not so much. And some firepower up front would be really useful.

[Mathis]

[quote name='DVD ROTS' post='1502429' date='Sep 2 2008, 02.25']...I have little-to-no faith in Anelka at all. Drogba can be an ass, but he tries much of the time. Anelka, not so much. And some firepower up front would be really useful.[/quote]

I disagree; Anelka, when used right i.e. given everything he demands (bigest prima donna, Mariah Carey or Nico Anelka?) is world class. His scoring record is excellent at every club he has played for, bar Chelsea. Thats because he doesn't fit into the 4-3-3 that Grant inherited from Mourinho. Luckily for Anelka Big Phil doesn't use wingers so 4-3-3 is out. That suits Anelka more then Drogba IMO.

Drogba is an odd player, he reminds me a little of Adebayor in that at times he can skin an opponent and at other times he plays like a donkey. Whether you think Drogba can play or not the common consenus seems to be that he is a battering ram there to take possesion and make space for Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Cole etal. Scolari seems keen on Deco (with good reason I suppose) and I'm not sure that it all fits. Its been mentioned before but Chelsea have too many world class central midfielders and no world class wingers.

With Robinho on his way to Man City instead of Chelsea (reminiscent of Tevez and Mascherano at West Ham, and we all know how that turned out) the chavs don't have what it takes to win the PL IMO. Good.

I hope Arsenal win it, does anyone know if they manages to sign a central midfielder? Goal.com are reporting that Miguel Veloso is a last minute target but they report every rumour regardless of the source. So who knows.

[The Iceman of the North]

[quote name='Paddy' post='1502324' date='Sep 2 2008, 01.09']You see, this morning, Man City was bought by Abu Dhabi [b]United [/b]Group, a bunch who, it's claimed have more money than Abramovic.[/quote]
Did they buy the wrong Manchester team? ;)

A bit ambivalent about the Spurs acquisitions, both Corluka and Pavlyuchenko may turn out as valuable players in the long run, but I believe both are cup-tied in the UEFA Cup, meaning that we only have one forward in the UEFA Cup. We sold several players for good money, but we should really have spent some of that to buy quality players.

[Calibandar]

So, rounding up last major signings


Robinho to Man [b]City[/b] ( 40 million euro)
Berbatov to Man United ( 38 million)
Quaresma to Inter ( 19 million + Pele)
Pavlyuchenko to Spurs
Fellaini ( Belgian playmaker from Standard Luik) to Everton ( 18,5 million)
Riera and a player called Vitor Flora from Botafogo to Liverpool
Voronin and Steve Finnan leave Liverpool

I'm baffled by the Robinho transfer. The rich Arabs taking over Man City explains why he want there of course, but I wonder if it is a case of outbidding Abramovic or if the Russian simply wasn't that keen on Robinho anyway. 40 million seems like an amount that he can cough up, and has done, in the past. And Chelsea haven't had any other really major transfers this year have they?

So Robinho can now play with Jo, another fine looking player. Man City might go somewhere.

Berbatov to Man United, glad to see the deal is closed. I think he'll be a real reinforcement, one of the few strikers left who I think would be an improvement over what Man U currently has. I'm surprised Lyon managed to keep Benzema, I figured Arsenal would be very keen on him.

[Paddy]

[quote name='Paddy' post='1502364' date='Sep 2 2008, 00.44']Tottenham agreeing not to chase up United for "tapping up" makes sense, in a "this is the way things work" sort of way, but it's pretty hypocritical.[/quote]
I want to clarify. I don't mean that Tottenham are hypocrites. More that the footballing world is hypocritical on this issue.

Tapping up is against the rules of football, but it appears goes on all the time and while you always hear about it from big clubs, I'm not so sure that there is a club which doesn't do it. There seems to be a sort of unofficial acceptance by clubs that this is the way that business is done. So I'm wondering if the rules shouldn't be revised. Maybe less restrictive, but somehow protecting clubs from an unsettling influence from clubs that are their rivals?

As a fan, I'm well aware (and was at the time) of how hypocritical United's complaint against Real Madrid over the Ronaldo thing was. It's stupid.

It probably doesn't help that what constitutes tapping up is probably a pretty gray area.

[cteresa]

We are all totally sure Robinho knows, and did know, which Manchester team he was going to?


BTW Matthis about Chelsea and wingers, there are precious few world class wingers and none which are achievable ( well Quaresma was available and is potentially world class, but Quaresma and Scolari we know that does not work) - and Robinho is pretty much not a winger either. Malouda and Joe Cole might not be world class butt here are no guarantees Robinho will be any better in England. Just checked numbers and Robinho is 1.72 m tall. He has always been skinny, though improving. The partying rumors are incredible. and really not sure how he would adapt to English referees and defenders medium to long term.

[quote name='Paddy' post='1502324' date='Sep 2 2008, 00.09']You see, this morning, Man City was bought by Abu Dhabi United Group, a bunch who, it's claimed have more money than Abramovic. And they outbid him for Robinho, a player he wanted.
Sky's already started on speculating that City will be big spenders from now on, competing with Chelsea, and Abramovic will be annoyed at being outbid.[/quote]


- just hope the new owners plan to allow women to watch football games.
- not sure if Abramovich really really wanted Robinho personally. Shevchenko I could see. kaká yep, Robinho, might be one risk which would be worth it for a certain price, but not past a certain levels. deco 10 million euros, Robinho 42, lol... even counting age difference, lol
- Real Madrid, what goes around cames around. Deadline day transfers are awful because you receive the big pile money but have no time to spend it. They received a big pile of money for Robinho, apparently did a last minute bid for Villa, but did not work.

Miguel Veloso to Arsenal or anywhere, no longer possible but there are have not been particularly convincing rumors this side. Moutinho yeah, with Barcelona having offered not a lot of money and Tottenham having offered some more which was not accepted. Either MVeloso or Moutinho will be Cl cup tied in January btw. Moutinho is very mature, and IMO maybe a good fit for Barcelona, he is not Deco not quiet yet, but might come closer than what they have ( must check their summer transfers). Veloso might be a bit imature yet.. and neither of them will come cheap at all.

[Calibandar]

Inter have an incredible side this year as well. They've kept all their stars and bought Mancini from Roma, excellent Brazilian winger, and now Quaresma as well, another superb winger.

As for Robinho, a friend of mine noted that he expects him to fail utterly at Man City. For one, it's quite cold in Manchester, and he's a short, skinny Brazilian. That does not sound like a good combo. Secondly he's a frail player, tremendously talented, but the EPL is known for hard defending, tough tackling etc. This might be very displeasing to him.

Then there's motivation. Apparantly he wanted to leave Madrid, I can see that. But to go from Madrid to Man City, well that is quite a downfall in my opinion. Possibly Man City may become a really big club in the next few years, but at the moment, no. I'm sure this was not what Robinho expected.

[The Inquisitor]

[quote name='cteresa' post='1502774' date='Sep 2 2008, 12.05']- not sure if Abramovich really really wanted Robinho personally. Shevchenko I could see. kaká yep, Robinho, might be one risk which would be worth it for a certain price, but not past a certain levels. deco 10 million euros, Robinho 42, lol... even counting age difference, lol
- Real Madrid, what goes around cames around. Deadline day transfers are awful because you receive the big pile money but have no time to spend it. They received a big pile of money for Robinho, apparently did a last minute bid for Villa, but did not work.[/quote]

I disagree on both accounts:

-I like Deco both and Robinho, but the market values more the latter. Considering how Barça were keen on putting him elsewhere and that he is an old player. But still, ceteris paribus, Robinho in monetary terms >>>> Deco.

-Money is not a problem for us. Yes it sounds horrible, but we have around a 100M€ budget for transfers only. The bloody asshole of Calderon was more than willing to splash 70-80M€ for CR.


Which brings me to the bloody asshole we have for a president. Little piece of shit that he is, he failed on all his prospective signings, not only this year but also the last one. He had CR and Villa in his pocket and fucked up. Amazing thing is that we were offered Villa for less than 30M€ 2 months ago, and only 5 million separated the deal. Fucking idiot, waiting until the last bloody minute to place desperate bid for Villa. :tantrum: Why the fuck didn't he do it last week after Valencia said no to a 32M€ bid and said they were willing to sit down at around 40M€ + with a whole week to sign Milito who was in talks with Valencia to replace Villa? So the fucking son of a bitch in a desperate attempt is willing to pay over 50M€ last night, just 7 days after and with Valencia not having time to replace him! :bang:

Not only he fails making a single signing this summer (VdV not withstanding, we already had a precontact signed with him and Hamburg worth 1M€, but had to spend 11M more after he fucked up the CR thing) but decapitalises the team alarmingly, forcing out a perfectly able and valid Robinho because he listened to offers when he had CR at hand. I tell you, I back Robinho 100% on this. "So now that you fucked up on CR I am no longer expendable? Fuck off!"; and rightly so.

I'm dreading the next bloody ridicule this son of a bitch will be doing next summer. :mad:

Bloody laughingstock of Europe he's made us become.

[The Iceman of the North]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1502808' date='Sep 2 2008, 13.39']As for Robinho, a friend of mine noted that he expects him to fail utterly at Man City. [b]For one, it's quite cold in Manchester, and he's a short, skinny Brazilian. [/b]That does not sound like a good combo. Secondly he's a frail player, tremendously talented, but the EPL is known for hard defending, tough tackling etc. This might be very displeasing to him.[/quote]
Has there ever been a player where this has been an issue? He's hardly the first "short, skinny southerner" to play in England.

The playing style in the EPL might be an adjustment though.