(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

[HappyDayRiot]

Oh and I can't help myself to laugh at AC Milan buying Senderos

He'll do better in Italy. It's the pace of the English game that kills him and leads to his mistakes. He usually holds his own in Europe.

^They're only borrowing him for now. As far as I am concerned he can take the rest of his lazy, useless, soulless, passionless teammates with him.

I'll drive Eboue myself.

As glad as I am to see your lot getting rid of their rubbish like Traore, Hoyte and Senderos, surely you need some of these players in terms of numbers if nothing else? Cos I'm not kidding you're looking really light now, and the expectation on Fabregas is going to be massive. How on earth are you going to mount a sustained trophy/title hunt with the current squad?

Then again, every single Arsenal player who was wandering around the pitch on Saturday should be made to take a good kick in the shins. Your strikers are awful, your midfield was non-existent and your subs were... I can't even find a word for them. Not QUITE as bad as Everton's, but still pretty atrocious. All credit to Fulham for taking advantage of your flimsiness.

It was a great weekend to be an underdog mind. Boro, Hull, Stoke and Wigan put in some cracking work against superior oppostion.

 

[Hermiod]

^I've been picking through this on another forum since it happened on Saturday evening. Suffice to say my fellow Arsenal supporters and I are not in a good mood right now.

 

[TheArsenal]

For the first time since he came on board, I am seeing a large number of Arsenal fans question Wenger's judgment. Maybe he knows, but he's not letting on. But his judgment aside, only the players can be blamed for that dispirited, pedestrian, disjointed, leaderless, toothless mess this weekend.

Abysmal.

 

[Hermiod]

For the first time since he came on board, I am seeing a large number of Arsenal fans question Wenger's judgment. Maybe he knows, but he's not letting on. But his judgment aside, only the players can be blamed for that dispirited, pedestrian, disjointed, leaderless, toothless mess this weekend.

Abysmal.

It's not him I blame, it's the board. They've tied his hands.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Of course, on the bright side, you've got shot of Senderos AND Hoyte AND Traore! With this run of good fortune, maybe Eboue will go out on loan to some Championship club?

 

[Daedalus12]

Oh and I can't help myself to laugh at AC Milan buying Senderos

I also can't believe the English student (Sheva) is back at San Siro. Man somebody hit me so I could wake up from this nightmare.

 

[Jax]

Wenger was given some money but he can't shake off his old habits of wanting to buy cheap but I feel you need some impact players and not the ones who will come good but not for several years.

I would love to see Van Persie team up with Huntelaar up front and I do think Barry would strike a good partnership with Fabregas with Walcott & Nasri on either wing. IMO you need another centre back because I don't rate Gallas anymore though your fine for full backs.

At the end of the day, its really your cover which is a major issue.

 

[Hermiod]

^Wenger does not have money to spend.

 

[Jax]

According to Wenger earlier this month...

After another parsimonious summer Arsène Wenger yesterday insisted he could spend £30m on a striker if he wanted to, but he did not need to.

I have the money available to buy the players but we go into the competition with the target of balancing the budget, which I think every manager should do.

He has more than Liverpool I would guess but less than Spurs, Chelsea & Man Utd.

Speaking of Spurs some great news for them being reported by virtually everyone and confirmed by the striker himself...

Roman Pavlyuchenko is set to join Spurs for anywhere between £12-£15 million

If I was Spurs I would sell Berbatov for the £25 million being offered and also buy Owen who could go as little as £8 million due to being in the final 12 months of his contract.

 

[Hermiod]

He has more than Liverpool I would guess but less than Spurs, Chelsea & Man Utd.

Ah, there's your mistake. You're going by Arsene's press conferences.

I'm looking around for this new midfielder we were supposed to have signed by today, but he doesn't exist.

Arsene, Sir Peter Hill-Wood and the rest of the board don't typically tell anything vaguely resembling the truth in press conferences and interviews.

"Rosicky will be out for two weeks" - 9 months ago.

"Eduardo will be back for pre-season" - Pre-season is in October now.

"No-one is for sale" - Except Hleb, Flamini, Senderos, Gilberto...

I love Arsene, but I don't believe a word he says in these press conferences.

 

[Tomalak]

So all that bluster about him turning down £70 million last summer, and taking is cheque book to the Euros was a load of rubbish?

Why would you try to make out you have more money than you do? Surely clubs would only demand more from Arsenal?

Whatever the truth is, you've gone from a position of great strength to one of uncertainty. At the end of last season, most people thought you'd need a midfielder, a defender, and perhaps a couple of wingers and you could really challenge on all fronts.

Now your summer business has just about replaced the players that have left, but there's not been much else. And crucially the Flamini replacement appears to be Eboue.

My Gooner mates are seriously pissed off at the moment, mostly at Wenger. If it is the board tying his hands, he's perhaps not doing himself any favours by making out that he's delighted with his squad strength, and chooses not to spend the money.

 

[Hermiod]

Ultimately he's having to make do with what he's got because the board have decided that their promise to keep the transfer and wages budget and the stadium repayments budget separate was not worth keeping.

We have not adequately replaced the entire team's worth of players we have lost. It's going to be a very long, very difficult season for us.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

And crucially the Flamini replacement appears to be Eboue.

I love how you use 'crucially' as an alternative means of saying 'tragically'

I'm watching the Euro game now, and I'm wondering what this tie would be like if Twente's top scorer weren't suspended for both legs...

 

[Angel4576]

I'm watching the Euro game now, and I'm wondering what this tie would be like if Twente's top scorer weren't suspended for both legs...

Most likely exactly the same. It's McClown, he'd probably play him in goal or something equally inept...

 

[HappyDayRiot]

^ 60 minutes later, I think you're totally right. Almunia could be up front and it'd still be 3-0.

 

[TheArsenal]

Looks like renowned Dutch coach Staaf VanClaren's team is out. Didn't see it, but from the audio feed from the Arsenal site sounded like easy work.

Pool still struggling.

Edit: and at the very second I type that ...

 

[HappyDayRiot]

I've seen teams win undeservedly before, but tonight takes the ****ing cake. Poor Belgiums. Played Liverpool off the field for nearly 210 minutes and lost. Sickening.

And Arsenal sounded like easy work? I assure you, if RVP remembered how to shoot and Walcott and Bendtner were any good, it would have been 12, not 4. Twente didn't have a credible attack all game, and the left back was as useful, as said by Lawrenson, as Nickelback.

 

[Jax]

ENG are in more trouble...

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is set to miss England's upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers after being booked in for groin surgery.

With Hargreaves a doubt, we could be left with Barry/Lampard starting but those two struggle together. We might as well forefit the Croatia game at this rate

 

[Hermiod]

And Arsenal sounded like easy work? I assure you, if RVP remembered how to shoot and Walcott and Bendtner were any good, it would have been 12, not 4. Twente didn't have a credible attack all game, and the left back was as useful, as said by Lawrenson, as Nickelback.

Bendtner was superb as the big man striker. They kept trying to use him as a playmaker which he can't do. I like the guy a lot. He just needs to work on his close control but he's young and he'll learn.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

ENG are in more trouble...

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is set to miss England's upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers after being booked in for groin surgery.

With Hargreaves a doubt, we could be left with Barry/Lampard starting but those two struggle together. We might as well forefit the Croatia game at this rate

Naturally, the op is timed to ensure he misses as little league as possible. Hopefully by the time he gets back they'll have lost to Villa and United and Benitez will be gone.