Sports The Football Discussion Thread!

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I hope everyone watched the Super Cup game, very entertaining, very dramatic. I feel sorry for Lukaku, but Bayern did deserve the win really. Schurrle and Hazard will be fun to watch this season.

 

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I saw the penalties. You knew before he kicked it that Lukaku had messed it up. Still, means Terry still hasn't won a European Trophy :D (I know he's got into full kit and collected two, but you know what that makes him xD). I wouldn't say he's a bad player, but I do dislike the man.

Interesting to see Jose's using strikers now - and the one that scored was Torres! But on the other hand, still no Mata. I'm still backing Spurs or United for a cheeky bid. As long as United don't try to swap him for Rooney. Sure he gets more goals and assists, but he's not as good as Rooney - Spanish Rooney would be in the Spain First XI, Mata isn't IMO.

 

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Ugh. Just....ugh. I don't know why Moyes was celebrating the fact that "we limited Liverpool's chances". We're Manchester (expletive) United! We should be dominating them!
To be fair Sturridge is class, and we missed Rooney. But it irritates me to no end when Ashley Young gets a game. Nani was threatening when he came on, Valencia is a superior winger (We could then put Giggs on the left where he belongs), and if we wanted a showboater we could have Zaha. At least he's got potential, Young's been in the PL for years now yet still tried to skin Liverpool players in his own half, no excuse for that. So although you could pick holes in Moyes' team selection, and I will be irritated if we keep approaching every game as if we're Everton, the plucky underdogs, I blame the loss more on Young tbh.
Rant over. Almost.
Also had it pointed out that Rafa Benitez was available this summer. I know Moyes is a great manager and deserved his chance, but on the other hand...Benitez won the CL, with Liverpool, and the Europa League with Chelsea last season.

 

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Liverpool vs Manchester United was a thoroughly boring game in my opinion. Funny thing is Manchester United won the same fixture last season with much worse performance.

On other news, Bale's 99 million euro (that's about 85 million pounds) move to Real Madrid is complete. Daniel Levy has done a masterful job with him.

 

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Indeed. Ronaldo was at a much higher level for much longer yet cost only a little more (I think inflation would mean £80mil in 2009 > £85mil in 2013?). Yet another Levy masterclass. Now here's hoping Bale's arrival means Ronaldo doesn't sign a new contract. That way when we make a formal offer to buy him back its ~£60mil to the pocket of Ronaldo rather than ~£60mil to Madrid and Perez the Moronic Spender xD.

Yeah, all these big fixtures early in the season are turning into damp squibs tbh. At least with United vs. City they shouldn't have already fixed their defence, so we can have a rout.

 

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We transfer deadline day now.

haha time for James Troisi on loan and nothing else.

 

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So, Kaka's gone back to Milan? I can see that being a glorious homecoming - it's not like he's got much to live up to after his time at Madrid, is it?
Scousers have signed Sakho, Moses and somebody else. They're looking more like potential Top 4 tbh. They've strengthened well in defence, aren't going to be quite as reliant on Suarez, and now don't even have to play Jordan Henderson on the wings!
Still nothing from United. Not too fussed tbh, we have a great squad - if Rooney's fit it doesn't matter if we haven't got a new CM, when he plays CF he covers every other position too on a good day. Nani looked dangerous against Liverpool again too. Plus, a huge marquee signing isn't really United's thing. Cantona for ~1m was a bargain even then, Ronaldo cost under 20. We've only broke £30mil three times: Ferdinand, Rooney and Berbatov. Not bad for one of the top clubs in the world, when you consider Madrid have spent £!billion since last winning the CL.

 

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Was surprised to see Sakho join Liverpool, looking very good for them right now.

Man Utd will probably just get Fellaini, better than nothing but I'd want more if I followed them

Kei Kamara might be on his way to Boro. SSN - "Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough, FC Copenhagen and Rayo Vallecano are all interested in the former Norwich loanee"
Championship is his level but if they did pull that off I think he'd have an impact.

 

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Yeah, rumours we might "hi-jack" the Özil deal. In which case, Rooney or Kagawa would be either going or staying and being unhappy. Like I said, I wouldn't mind if we didn't even get Fellaini tbh.

Also, this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO5nfQEqGOg

 

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Okay I have a lot to say here and it's all unrelated so here we go, I'll bold words so you can know whether to be bothered to read each paragraph. :P

I watched Madrid-Bilbao early yesterday morning and I must say Bale is so unnecessary in that team it's unbelieveable. The sort of attacking midfield line if you will of Ronaldo-Isco-Di Maria seemed to be functioning pretty well as it is and that was with Ronaldo putting in a subpar performance. Ronaldo will have to move up top or Di Maria/Isco will be unfairly kicked out.

Arsenal are spending money! It's amazing to think if they sign Ozil, they will have a higher transfer record than everytime in the PL except Chelsea I think.

Boro are close to signing Norwich's last season loanee Kei Kamara, what did you think of him in his time at Norwich -Lapras-? We were also linked with Jelle Vossen earlier on, but it seems like another failed bid to make fans happy.

United - Liverpool was disappointing to watch, but not nearly as bad as United - Chelsea last week. Moyes will have taken an early hit with that one and he's going to need to bag Herrera I think in these last hours or he'll struggle.

Arsenal - Spurs was even worse than that entertainment wise. Lamela had a few nice touches when he came on though, looking forward to seeing more of him. Kyle Walker should never see the England squad again, he was terrible.

Finally, Boro showed some promise against Sheff Wed at the weekend, it was a similar draw to what we get a lot at the Riverside, but with a lot more attacking intent than usual. Some good loan moves could help us though.

There we go, finished.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Athleticism, energy and a good work ethic. He lacked the speed of thought that a striker in the Premier League needs but I think he'll adapt to the Championship well.

 

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Apparently Fellaini has handed in a transfer request at Everton.

Edit: Ozil to Arsenal confirmed, 42 milllion pound bid accepted from Real.

 

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Athleticism, energy and a good work ethic. He lacked the speed of thought that a striker in the Premier League needs but I think he'll adapt to the Championship well.

Sounds good to me. Thanks for your opinions. Hopefully I'll need some more from you in the loan window. :D

A very exciting close to the deadline day there. Moyes might just have done the right business if Fellaini and Coentrao are confirmed.

Looks like Boro will settle with just Kamara though.

 

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Really? Haha, but it doesn't mean that we'll get him. He hasn't made anything formal but apparently Baines has been pushing for a transfer since day 1.
Gotta agree with Nuke on Bale, but as Pellegrini (And I'm sure most of Madrid's other managers) said after he was fired, the "Galacticos" policy means you get the most expensive players, not the ones you need. I mean c'mon, did they really need Isco? Özil's absolutely class - good for Arsenal getting him, even if it means that Santi Cazorla's going to get pushed out of position (although let's be honest, Wilshere's only going to be challenging for a spot in the midfield trio for about half their games, isn't he?).

Also loving that Arsenal have attempted to solve their goalkeeper problem by spending exactly £0 on Viviano xD. Personally I think a cheeky bid for Casillas was in order - he's been frozen out for over 6 months now, and there'd be great irony if in order to finance Bale's move Madrid became a selling club - to Arsenal of all people.

Lukaku's been loaned to Everton. Kinda saw that coming, particularly after he missed his penalty in the Supercup on the same day Eto'o was signed.

OH MY GOD WE GOT COENTRAO! Just seen that, missed all this action at work. I'm really glad, he's a great signing even if it is just a loan (and probably stop-gap for Baines, despite the fact that Coentrao's younger and therefore a better signing). He'll either force Evra out or make him step up his game another level. Plus hopefully having another portuguese-speaker will somehow have a positive effect on Nani and Anderson.
Fellaini or Herrera? Both great players, depends whether we want to pass through teams (Herrera) or break bones (Fellaini) xD.

 

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I heard that United messed up completely with Herrera and signed Fellaini for 4mil more than the release clause he had previously. Apparently United also signed Coentrao on loan, possibly option to buy though I'm not sure about latter, though some reports say the fax was in too late or something.

Either way shocking business from Woodward. It's like procrastinating on a project and doing it all on the last minute and messing up.

 

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Apparently some false representation claiming to be speaking for Manchester United turned up at Bilbao for Herrera earlier in the night, very weird. They could have done better business earlier on, but in the end Moyes should be happy.

Seattle, do you perhaps watch any MLS? I'm interested to know more about Kamara. :P

 

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I don't watch MLS, unfortunately, as it doesn't provide much entertainment for me. Same with K-League.

 

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Ah well it's not too important.

We've made a second transfer now after the deadline. Jacob Butterfield from Norwich. Looks like he never played a game for Norwich so I guess you can't give me anything there -Lapras-.

 

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Yeah, does seem stupid that we paid an extra £4million for Fellaini...unless Woodward knew something we don't and it was going to turn out to be like Suarez's release clause. The whole Herrera thing was screwed from the beginning tbh - partially because by having almost exclusively local players there's too much loyalty there.

EDIT: Turns out we don't have Coentrao. Apparently Ed Woodward, the invisible man, didn't get the paperwork done in time or something. Oh well, here's hoping Fabio or Büttner steps it up again and makes sure Evra stays at the top of his game. But seriously, Coentrao would be a great signing. We should try again in January - none of this loan crap either, just go for it.

Also, on a scale of 1 to 10 how pissed will Sergio Ramos be that Özil's gone?

 

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Well after all the craziness of deadline day lets look at the fantasy league table for this weekend...

A massive week for Banz propels him into the lead, he was pretty lucky for it to coincide with a poor for Shadow Excadrill. It's still pretty close at the top, you can expect position changes every week. You might want to make some team changes now that there has been a great deal of transfers.