Sports The Football Discussion Thread! Page 38

Started by Nihilego March 27th, 2013 6:28 AM
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Eruption

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It's nice to see some north east representation in the final even if they're Boro's rivals technically.

As for United, they better pray that Mata will help them out big time. If it stays like this I can't see Moyes being given time even if they do have some sort of 'long term project' with him. The project sounds like bs to me anyway, if they were planning for a future with Moyes surely some young players would've been bought in the summer instead of just throwing away money on Fellaini.

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I'm a Manchester City fan myself and was happy to hear Sunderland won on penalties although I must admit I'm a little sad not to be having a Manchester derby for the Capital One Cup final!
I've heard enough of this 'Mata to United' and I'm beyond caring :P
What's this I've heard of Salah joining Chelsea, looks like Liverpool are set to miss out..
Bluemoon

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Aeroblast

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If United signs Mata and RVP/Rooney recover from injury it'd be interesting to see where they kick on from there, will they fight up to top 4 or fall off like AC Milan?

Anyways I can't wait for 2nd period of Bundesliga to kick off, for some reason I thought it was last week but it wasn't. I'm more interested in who gets the second place instead, as you don't need a fortune teller to predict Bayern winning the league outright.

Aeroblast

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There's a difference between Mata and Kagawa - One has PL experience, other doesn't. For that reason it'd be strange if Mata all the sudden flops against teams he used to play well against, though if he doesn't adjust to the team it could possibly happen.
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There is a difference between being a flop and being wasted. Kagawa has been forced out to an unfavored position the wing during his time at United thus far. If Moyes continues to use the 442 the same will happen to Mata, although I suppose Mata would do a better job on the left than Kagawa.

That being said this move might indicate that they will switch to a 4231 which could utilize both Mata and Kagawa.

Aeroblast

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There is a difference between being a flop and being wasted. Kagawa has been forced out to an unfavored position the wing during his time at United thus far. If Moyes continues to use the 442 the same will happen to Mata, although I suppose Mata would do a better job on the left than Kagawa.
You're right, stupid tabloids overusing that term has rot my brains.

But again, Mata is less of a "gamble" per se, than Kagawa, because Mata has Premier League experience while Kagawa didn't. Every time I watch United, one big issue that they have is that they lack imagination going forward, their Plan A is mostly hoping for Valencia to cross which he fails at most of the time, and Plan B... well... they don't have much up their sleeves, don't they. Here's hoping Mata fixes that problem.

Speaking of which, I hope deadweights like Young and Valencia leave United as well. As much as I care less for United than I used to, I still watch them from time to time but watching them has been painful because they're so boring.
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The only real gamble is one that Mata is taking. If he isn't the number 10 and given that freedom he obviously isn't going to perform as well as he can

If they do switch to a 4231 it will probably be the end of the out and out wingers like Young and Valencia. Or it would be if it was me playing football manager anyway.

Eruption

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Biggest news regarding a Spaniard transferring clubs is obviously Ayala from Norwich to Boro. Twitter seems to think this is a done deal now and considering he isn't one of the 14 players Hughton uses he was always going to go.
Indeed, who cares about small time clubs like Man United and Chelsea?

Seriously though, that will probably be good business for both clubs, although Ayala didn't show it yesterday when he was at fault for a Leicester goal.

As for Mata, I think the only real option to accommodate him is to go 4-2-3-1. Plus the United wingers are awful so it makes no difference if they cut them out I suppose.
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Looking forward for tonight's game, especially considering Newcastle are in the process of selling their best player. Hopefully it gives our lot a lift

inb4 3 - 1 loss as this probably isn't a must win for Hughton.

Hoolahan not even in the squad tonight. He's off then. ;___;

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Great result for Manchester City tonight, unlucky for Spurs though.. that's 11 we've put past them this season.
I was unfortunate not to have watched it as I was busy but I kept myself up to date via SkySports.

I'm patiently waiting to see if the Citizens do any spending before deadline day is over, we really need someone new in the heart of our defence..

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4-0. Could easily have been 6-0 had Sturridge been a little less greedy.
That was a great win for us. But I felt for Everton. Their best defenders were missing (Distin and Coleman) and Suarez and Sturridge are simply unplayable at the moment, and the fact Lukaku got injured early did not help at all. We had our own absentees but not as extensive as Everton. I wanted an exciting derby, not a one-sided drubbing.

City lead the table now. Honestly, they have the best squad. I'm still betting on Arsenal lifting the title.

Banz

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Arsenal aren't signing a striker so nope, not a chance in hell of them winning the league.

Not expecting any exciting transfers here in Norwich today. Could really do with an attacking midfielder but at least we have 33 year old Joseph Yobo.
Chelsea aren't going to win either, so does that mean Man City have won the title already?