The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - Part 16

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Yes Chelsea, let Lampard go...

Originally Posted by Iceman

Yep, pathetic.

Ok, I'd love for them to keep Lampard on, but what the press don't print when they slam us for being 'disloyal' is that Lampard has apparently been offered a lucrative 4 year deal to play in America.

Now Chelsea's current policy, one that Fergie has been using at UTD for years and never gets any stick at all for it, is they offer the over 30's that are worth it a one year extension when their current contract is running out.

Drogba was offered this last year but turned it down as he wanted a longer contract and a pay rise to boot. Drogba stuck to his guns so the club had 2 choices: Let him go for nothing, or basically tear up a policy they brought in for very good reasons.

Now with Lampard they know he has the big bucks long term contact offer from the states. Lampard knows this too, making the offer of a one year extension an unrealistic bargaining position for the club.

The best Chelsea could do is match the salary and incentives the US are offering, but only for one more year, certainly not the 4 the Americans are offering. Now if Lampard did accept that from Chelsea (and the one year thing is what put Drogba off) anything could happen in that year: Lampards age could catch up with him, he could get another long term injury, and his appeal for the US could disappear. If he takes the US offer now he has his future secured for 4 more years.

So the club, knowing they can't realisticly keep him, and it would be more sensible for Lampard to take the US offer sooner rather than later, have left his future in his own hands. In January he can join LA Galaxy for a lucrative extension to his career (and Chelsea would still get a transfer fee then), or he can wait out the remainder of his contract and join them in the summer for free.

Like I said, I'd love for them to keep him on, and I don't think they want to to let him go, but they have to be realistic. He is 34 years old, and like Beckham, Henri etc, he knows himself that his best possible future as a player will not be at Chelsea, but lies across the pond.

[Van Petrol]

Originally Posted by wobbly

Now Chelsea's current policy, one that Fergie has been using at UTD for years and never gets any stick at all for it, is they offer the over 30's that are worth it a one year extension when their current contract is running out.

I think we were the one's who first introduced that policy and made it famous..

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by Van Petrol

I think we were the one's who first introduced that policy and made it famous..

I genuinely did not know that. It's a sensible policy though whoever came up with it first.

[Iceman]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/...192800023.html


No wonder Wenger misses all these controversial incidents. He has far more important things to worry about during matches!

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by Iceman

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/...192800023.html


No wonder Wenger misses all these controversial incidents. He has far more important things to worry about during matches!

"This damn zipper, I can never figure these things out. Wait, why are we down to 10 men?"

[aNarcHy2day]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

"This damn zipper, I can never figure these things out. Wait, why are we down to 10 men?"

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Sepp Blatter's obvious hate/bias against the US is disgusting.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...e-hold?cc=5901

When will this corrupt anti-football character finally be retired and stop damaging football. Oh yes I forget the corruption behind the voting system that is responsible for him still being here.

Originally Posted by Van Petrol

Heard from some trusty Arsenal ITK's that Zaha is likely to sign for us and also that we are seriously interested in David Villa and he wants to join us, but Barca aren't too keen as they want him as back up to Messi.

Have to see how things pan out, but it is imperative that we do some good business in this window if we are to push on well for the rest of the season.

Well that's good & surprising.

Originally Posted by wobbly

Ok, I'd love for them to keep Lampard on, but what the press don't print when they slam us for being 'disloyal' is that Lampard has apparently been offered a lucrative 4 year deal to play in America.

Now Chelsea's current policy, one that Fergie has been using at UTD for years and never gets any stick at all for it, is they offer the over 30's that are worth it a one year extension when their current contract is running out.

Drogba was offered this last year but turned it down as he wanted a longer contract and a pay rise to boot. Drogba stuck to his guns so the club had 2 choices: Let him go for nothing, or basically tear up a policy they brought in for very good reasons.

Now with Lampard they know he has the big bucks long term contact offer from the states. Lampard knows this too, making the offer of a one year extension an unrealistic bargaining position for the club.

The best Chelsea could do is match the salary and incentives the US are offering, but only for one more year, certainly not the 4 the Americans are offering. Now if Lampard did accept that from Chelsea (and the one year thing is what put Drogba off) anything could happen in that year: Lampards age could catch up with him, he could get another long term injury, and his appeal for the US could disappear. If he takes the US offer now he has his future secured for 4 more years.

So the club, knowing they can't realisticly keep him, and it would be more sensible for Lampard to take the US offer sooner rather than later, have left his future in his own hands. In January he can join LA Galaxy for a lucrative extension to his career (and Chelsea would still get a transfer fee then), or he can wait out the remainder of his contract and join them in the summer for free.

Like I said, I'd love for them to keep him on, and I don't think they want to to let him go, but they have to be realistic. He is 34 years old, and like Beckham, Henri etc, he knows himself that his best possible future as a player will not be at Chelsea, but lies across the pond.

Arsenal have had this system in place for years and it has kicked them in the ass nearly every time! Fergie probably gets less stick as he uses it in a way that keeps his veteran players at the club (actually now too long!) while Arsenal lose them as soon as they hit 30 and are thus permanently a transition club with the young up & coming players losing their role models & usually the backbone of the team every few years.

I don't see the need for a strict 1 year policy anyway. Just treat it case by case. Ryan Giggs would have been fine on a longer than 1 year contract for eg. Also some players are suited to playing in old age, especially those whose game isn't completely built on speed, acceleration, agility, sharpness & reactions. (Michael Owen )

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by Iceman

When will this corrupt anti-football character finally be retired and stop damaging football. Oh yes I forget the corruption behind the voting system that is responsible for him still being here.

Yeah. I would have loved to have been there and asked how his comments were going to help the situation. I mean, the sport is growing. Maybe not at the speed Sepp would like (frankly I would agree with him) but it's not like you can build a sports league overnight. Look at how long it took the NBA to really become the force it was. I'd say 20 years isn't enough time to let a league form.

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

"This damn zipper, I can never figure these things out. Wait, why are we down to 10 men?"

I was wondering why Wenger said going out of the Cup to Bradford wasn't 'that bad'. Maybe he had some kind of victory against the zipper during that match.

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Yeah. I would have loved to have been there and asked how his comments were going to help the situation. I mean, the sport is growing. Maybe not at the speed Sepp would like (frankly I would agree with him) but it's not like you can build a sports league overnight. Look at how long it took the NBA to really become the force it was. I'd say 20 years isn't enough time to let a league form.

How exactly does he want the US to react? Almost sounds as if he wants them to give up. Maybe football can get a constructive guy in next time. Although I'd settle for someone who isn't involved in widespread fraud & backhanders over many decades at this time.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by Iceman

How exactly does he want the US to react? Almost sounds as if he wants them to give up. Maybe football can get a constructive guy in next time. Although I'd settle for someone who isn't involved in widespread fraud & backhanders over many decades at this time.

Well getting the World Cup in 2022 would have helped but we know how that went...

[ttotheusher]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Sepp Blatter's obvious hate/bias against the US is disgusting.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...e-hold?cc=5901

It sounds like from those comments, that Blatter won't ever be happy until the change the MLS schedule to a August-May timescale.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by ttotheusher

It sounds like from those comments, that Blatter won't ever be happy until the change the MLS schedule to a August-May timescale.

Which would destroy the league. As it stands, MLS only goes up against baseball more of the year. Put it against college football, NFL and NBA? Forget it.

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Which would destroy the league. As it stands, MLS only goes up against baseball more of the year. Put it against college football, NFL and NBA? Forget it.

Blatter seems to think its possible to change the culture of a nation to suit his own somewhat implausible unified world vision for football.

But American Football, Baseball, Basketball and I think even Ice Hockey, are considered bigger sports by the average American than 'Soccer' is.

For the US their own sports have a long history and tradition, whereas Soccer...doesn't. In time this might change, and I understand Football has slowly gained in popularity over the last decade or so there, but Blatter's evident ignorance to the obvious competition the game faces in the US won't help.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by wobbly

Blatter seems to think its possible to change the culture of a nation to suit his own somewhat implausible unified world vision for football.

But American Football, Baseball, Basketball and I think even Ice Hockey, are considered bigger sports by the average American than 'Soccer' is.

For the US their own sports have a long history and tradition, whereas Soccer...doesn't. In time this might change, and I understand Football has slowly gained in popularity over the last decade or so there, but Blatter's evident ignorance to the obvious competition the game faces in the US won't help.

The thing is, MLS has for a while talked about changing the schedule but right now, MLS has hit a nice little groove. We have new, soccer specific stadiums being built around the country, participation amongst the youth ranks is at an all time high. Why try to go up against the big four sports when it comes to TV? The one thing I do agree with Sepp is, the organizational set up needs to be better. As in we also have the NASL and USL which are smaller leagues. I'd like to see them rolled up into one league with 3 divisions and start adding relegation and promotion.

[Darthphere]

In other news, according to The Sun all it would take to bring back CR7 to Old Trafford is £60 million....


But that also includes De Gea and Nani heading the other way.

[RKO]

[B]

Originally Posted by spidey-dude

on a side note hope to **** we do not get Sneider

I don't want to talk a Liverpool fan into pulling for Liverpool to sign Sneijder, but if Liverpool signed him he could completely change Liverpool's midfield.. and for the better I feel. He'd certainly fit the sort of system/style that Rodgers has indicated he wants Liverpool to play more than some of the current central midfielders Liverpool have in my opinion.

For £9.5m as well he'd be an absolute steal if that figure is accurate given his immense talent, his one weakness, if any, is that before his move to Inter he was somewhat injury prone, however he seems to have shaken that while he has been at Inter.

It actually does seem like a legitimate story that he will leave Inter in January, for £11m I can see a whole host of clubs looking to land him if the wages are right.

[ttotheusher]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Which would destroy the league. As it stands, MLS only goes up against baseball more of the year. Put it against college football, NFL and NBA? Forget it.

Absolutely. As you know, I'm a huge fan of the MLS, what people (Blatter) need to remember is that fooball has being going in this country and others for pushing 150 years, compared to America's 30-40. It'll take time. Plus, I'd hate it to move time schedules, it's the only thing that keeps me going over the Summer when there's nothing on!

Originally Posted by Darthphere

In other news, according to The Sun all it would take to bring back CR7 to Old Trafford is £60 million....

But that also includes De Gea and Nani heading the other way.

Not that I believe it's true in the slightest, but knock the price down to £50 million and I'd take it quite frankly.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by Iceman

What's your rating of Kagawa so far this season?

What do we need to do to win a game? How about not concede 10 goals in 2 games! Anyway these matches aren't going to matter as much as the later ones where we are supposed to pick up points. If we don't then we're in real trouble. Is the real Alan Pardew emerging?

Yeah, the Bale diver tag needs to get a lot more coverage if he keeps doing it.

Hunter Fergie has probably earned a lifetime of touchline bans

His injury has really made it hard to form a full opinion, he's shown some quality but has also looked to struggle with the pace and power at times, I think it may be next season before he fully adapts.

I think the problem Pardew is finding is that the first 11 is very good but the squad lacks depth.

They are too busy writing stories about Real Madrid having to pay £60M for him.

Originally Posted by Van Petrol

Heard from some trusty Arsenal ITK's that Zaha is likely to sign for us and also that we are seriously interested in David Villa and he wants to join us, but Barca aren't too keen as they want him as back up to Messi.

Have to see how things pan out, but it is imperative that we do some good business in this window if we are to push on well for the rest of the season.

Villa would be a hell of a buy for you but I'm not sold on Zaha, I think he could do with going the Moses route into the PL before jumping to a big club.

Originally Posted by wobbly

The 'Dark Arts' refers more to teams that do anything to win. Deliberate fouls, diving, cheating in general etc. What Fergie and Jose do is 'Mind Games', and both know how to press the right buttons with the media to get a desired response. Jose actually loved winding up the British press while he was here (and did indeed make sure that most of the negative press stayed on him rather than affecting the players), but I think he has found it a bit harder in Italy and Spain to provoke them the same way (I think they are a bit wiser than our bunch, especially the tabloid mob, many of whom I consider to be extremely ignorant biased cretins)

I always thought of mind games as being part of the dark arts but at any rate I think our media and game embraced Mourinho's eccentric outbursts, he's a character and we love that here, in Spain and Italy everything is much more straight laced which is why he's endured a rocky relationship with the press in those countries.

Originally Posted by Darthphere

In other news, according to The Sun all it would take to bring back CR7 to Old Trafford is £60 million....


But that also includes De Gea and Nani heading the other way.

In a heartbeat!

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by ttotheusher

So, Demba Ba to Chelsea is...odd. Seems like another Abramovich impulse glamour buy.

At £7M I think it's a smart buy, he's clearly motivated by money and wont kick up a fuss about being Torres back-up, plus he's proven PL quality.

[Darthphere]

Originally Posted by Hunter Rider

In a heartbeat!

I think so too. Though, I'm not one of De Gea's biggest fans, he has potential but if it meant getting CR7 back, hell yes.

Though, it really does make me think of Casillas. With Mou's recent benching of him, could this be spelling the end of Casillas at Real Madrid?

[Darthphere]

Speaking of keepers, Cudicin signs with the LA Galaxy. He doesn't take a DP slot so I like the signing. Saunders was everywhere last season.

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Well getting the World Cup in 2022 would have helped but we know how that went...

Yep.

Originally Posted by Darthphere

In other news, according to The Sun all it would take to bring back CR7 to Old Trafford is £60 million....


But that also includes De Gea and Nani heading the other way.

After Messi, Ronaldo is so far ahead of every other player in the world at the moment that this shouldn't even be up for discussion. He was a great player when he left Utd and he's now a hell of a lot better! And this guy has already fully proven that he can cope with the Premiership's pace unlike the majority of other potential big budget exotic buys (even including Messi). Ronaldo, Rooney & Van Persie stay fit all season and you have an almost guaranteed Premier League trophy and a good shot at doing something in Europe.

[B]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

In other news, according to The Sun all it would take to bring back CR7 to Old Trafford is £60 million....

But that also includes De Gea and Nani heading the other way.

I could actually somewhat believe that sort of deal. Nani I think would be more suited to Spain, in my opinion it's a little slower a league & not as many rough defenders looking to chop you down if you try a flick or trick.

De Gea, I wouldn't believe as much. I don't think United would allow him to leave for pretty much anything less than what they signed him for given that he has shown signs of being the sort of keeper Manchester United want ie good shot stopper, good distribution & comfortable with the ball at his feet. If he can bulk himself up a little & be a little more of an authority figure in the penalty area I think he'll be fine. Not to mention I'm pretty sure he is an Atletico Madrid boy so I'm not too sure if he'd be all that keen on a move to Real Madrid given the intense rivalry between the 2 clubs.

Valencia + Nani + £50m for Ronaldo, I'd take it. Valencia has developed Nani syndrome in that he is slowing us down going forward at the moment with the ridiculous amount of time he delays passes/crosses.

I have seen stranger deals, but the chances of this happening are virtually zero seeing as the club doesn't even seem competent enough to go after a talent like Sneijder for a bargain price..