polishgenius Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 You do remember that Fulham were in the UEFA cup final two years ago and are in the competition again this year, right? For a club on their finances they're doing fantastic. Stoke are as well, But Fulham finished above them last year. The only team that finished above them that is on anything like a similar financial footing is Everton. They hang on to their best players and strengthen with new ones every year, and they attracted a respected manager in Martin Jol this season. I'm not really sure what more you want from a club of their stature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 It's been a good window for Liverpool in general. Arsenal, on the other hand, have dropped in quality. Mertersacker looks to be their only piece of good business in this window. The rest are more than likely hit or miss. Oxade is too young, Jenkinson looks questionable, Gervinho is poor, Arteta hasn't played well in ages, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horus Ex Machina Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 You do remember that Fulham were in the UEFA cup final two years ago and are in the competition again this year, right? For a club on their finances they're doing fantastic. Stoke are as well, But Fulham finished above them last year. The only team that finished above them that is on anything like a similar financial footing is Everton. They hang on to their best players and strengthen with new ones every year, and they attracted a respected manager in Martin Jol this season. I'm not really sure what more you want from a club of their stature.I was going to adjust my statement to that effect when I remembered that but my internet access decided to go to hell for 20 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So1ar Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 They have 8 senior midfielders in the squad, and Coady seems to be progressing very well too - how many does a team need? :stunned: We got Lucas(Spearing for backup) Adam and Henderson. Gerrard is still injured. If Adam or Henderson pick up a knock who do we have to replace them? Shelvey? Child please.I'm not sure I blame Meireles for this. By all accounts, the club decided against fulfilling a clause in his contract whereby his salary would increase upon completion of a successful season. It seems like Liverpool wanted him to leave.Aquilani, well, he just wanted to return to Italy, so not much the club could do there.I'm sure once all the dust has settled we can find a legit reason why Meireles left. But at the moment it sucks and he has followed El Judas. Is Liverpool Chelsea's academy or something? They buy(or at last attempt to buy) all of our best players. When January rolls around expect Abramovitch to offer 60 million for Suarez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Nicklas Bendtner gets all the criticism he deserves but he has the ability to be a prolific goalscorer. Look at the positions he gets into, it's just that for some reason he misses 99% of the time. I think that a change of scenery and management will benefit him greatly, although I think that a move away from the Premier League would have been better for him. I'll wait and see before making further judgement on him.(And on that moment from the Champions League last season: it was a fantastic tackle from Javier Mascherano that stopped Bendtner from scoring, not just Bendtner being crap.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So1ar Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Maxi? Downing? Both can play centrally well enough. Gerrard is due back in a couple of weeks, so I wouldn't discount him. Given the upcoming financial fair play rules, bloated squads really don't make any sense.When it comes down to it, we've replaced Meireles with Adam and Henderson. In terms of players whom Dalglish is prepared to use, we've increased our depth.really? you think maxi or downing can play in adam's position? sure we could just stick one of those guys in that position but that takes us back to the "square peg round hole" argument. lucas probably has defensive mid on lock-down. and when we get our captain back we'll be much stronger. however, adam/gerrard/henderson will be competing for 2 midfield spots. gerrard is not getting any younger and what if this injury acts up again(or gets a completely new injury)? the fact is gerrard is out and adam/henderson are the only midfielders we have who can represent their respective positions. and what are we going to do if say two happen to be out at the same time? our depth in midfield just got kicked in the face. Torres left against the club's wishes, yes, but it has been rumoured that we were prepared to sell Meireles for 2 months now. Really not the same at all.And the last thing Chelsea needs at the moment is more strikers.I was being sarcastic about chelsea buying suarez. and i never said the meireles/torres transfer saga were the same. i just said he left at the last minute and followed torres to chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Three midfielders for one spot, who all expect first team football, would be too many. Meireles is a good player who you already knew could fit in for you and in that sense you've lost out, but in terms of depth, you're fine, especially since the long-term plan is almost certainly 442. Neither Maxi nor Downing would be expected to be long-term solutions, but for a game or two I'd see no worry. If I were you I'd be more concerned by the fact that if Lucas is out, your only viable alternative is trying to get Gerrard to play the disciplined more defensive role ( :laugh: ), or one of the youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 "Nice to see Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias come through with their promise to reinvest Andy Carroll money, £59m net profit from transfers in last 5 seasons... ambition???" QPR's former Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton on Twitter.:laugh: Ashley has to be one of the worst owners in football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So1ar Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Three midfielders for one spot, who all expect first team football, would be too many. Meireles is a good player who you already knew could fit in for you and in that sense you've lost out, but in terms of depth, you're fine, especially since the long-term plan is almost certainly 442. Neither Maxi nor Downing would be expected to be long-term solutions, but for a game or two I'd see no worry. If I were you I'd be more concerned by the fact that if Lucas is out, your only viable alternative is trying to get Gerrard to play the disciplined more defensive role ( :laugh: ), or one of the youngsters.I'm concerned about alot of things :laugh:. I would have liked for us to pick up another defensive midfielder to give lucas some competition as you said. overall thought, i'm pretty happy with this transfer window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horza Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 :laugh: Ashley has to be one of the worst owners in football.Sure, laugh at the1. sell all your decent players2. ???3. EUROPE!strategy now, but stage 2 has only just begun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 It's funny to see Liverpool fans going on about a lack of midfielders, when Liverpool has just had the most productive transfer window in a decade. I'd be much more worried if I were an Arsenal fan, these signings are not the great ones the fans have been expecting. Heck even yesterday Liverpool still signed two more players in Coates and Bellamy. Not midfielders I know, but you guys are well provided for.So Arsenal bought:ChoSantosMertesackerArtetaBenayounTo replace Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy.Seems to me that outside of Mertesacker, those are all ok but bot great buys. This transfer window has once again been a total mess for Wenger and co.Meanwhile, I'm disappointed not to see Sneijder move to Man U after a whole summer full of that seeming to be the case. Would have been a great signing, but I guess with the team doing as well now it was to be expected that a major signing simply wasn't going to be done. I hope that as the season progresses, this does not come to bite us in the ass.Also, Chelsea were apparently aiming for Modric and Ribery, and ended up with neither. Especially Modric not moving seems plain weird now, after havingh heard Redknapp say for weeks that Modric wanted nothing better in life than to move to Stamford Bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 :laugh: Ashley has to be one of the worst owners in football.He seems to be quite sensible as a businessman but not as a football man. There needs to be a balance between the two for it to work.So Arsenal bought:ChoSantosMertesackerArtetaBenayounTo replace Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy.Seems to me that outside of Mertesacker, those are all ok but bot great buys. This transfer window has once again been a total mess for Wenger and co.Clichy wasn't particularly popular with Arsenal's fans from what I've been reading so I imagine that Santos can't do any worse than Clichy has for the past three seasons. Nasri and Fabregas are irreplacable so Wenger just had to do the best he could to bolster the squad. Arsenal still need a few players to be a Premier League/Champions League winning side but I don't see their challenge for Champions League football looking as futile as before. Liverpool are still clearly in much better shape though.You're right in saying that this transfer window has been a total mess. Arsene should have bought players three months ago or even three years ago when it was clear that they weren't up to the challenge of winning the league. I also think that Eduardo should not have been sold, at least not permanently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoë Sumra Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 You do remember that Fulham were in the UEFA cup final two years ago and are in the competition again this year, right? For a club on their finances they're doing fantastic. Stoke are as well, But Fulham finished above them last year. The only team that finished above them that is on anything like a similar financial footing is Everton. They hang on to their best players and strengthen with new ones every year, and they attracted a respected manager in Martin Jol this season. I'm not really sure what more you want from a club of their stature.Some points. Please. Three would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Wednesday 17th August: "Mikel Arteta urges Everton to keep hold of stars."Interveiwer: How do you see your future?Arteta: I am happy at Everton.Wednesday 31st August: Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal for £10 million.Arsenal have signed Everton's Mikel Arteta for £10m after the Spanish midfielder submitted a transfer request to force through the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I wonder how Everton's bank balance will look by the end of this season. It may well cost them their Premier League existence, but keeping things tight might serve them well in the long-run. Hell, even the banks wouldn't loan money to them. No way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Wizard Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 They'll be fine. Their youth system, loan players and Tim Cahill always see them safely into mid-table at least. Everton deserve a chance at something more though. It doesn't make sense that people want to invest in Notts County and Leicester City over Everton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 If I were you I'd be more concerned by the fact that if Lucas is out, your only viable alternative is trying to get Gerrard to play the disciplined more defensive role ( :laugh: ), or one of the youngsters.Spearing or maybe Henderson would be ok on a short term basis.On selling Meireles I'd rather he'd stayed but selling him's not the end of the world. On the other hand I'm not particularly happy about selling him to Chelsea, there's still a reasonable chance we could be directly competing with Chelsea this season so we don't need to be helping them strengthen their squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Worth a read.ETA: Also, good breakdown of the club-to-club transfer dealings and reactions. Everton have definitely faired very badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I am disappointed to lose both Meireles and Aquilani. They can both play as a creative midfielder and as a #10. If anything happens to Suarez, we need a back-up creative outlet in the attacking third.I understand the issues around Meireles, and it probably was a good fit in the John Henry business model to let him go rather than increase his salary, but it was not a good idea to strengthen Chelsea (who we are going head-to-head against), and it makes the Aquilani deal look terrible.Any chance we can recall Aquaman from loan? I'm not that confident of Gerrard's fitness (hopefully I'll be proven wrong).But Coates and Bellamy were good acquisitions. Bellamy gives us a stronger back-up than Ngog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 This made me laugh. Lawell just went up a notch. :lmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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