The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 52

[Iceman]

Just read that Arsenal apparently failed with a late bid for Jonny Evans. It wouldn’t be a transfer window without Wenger failing to land someone last minute.

 

[AverageMan]

Just read that Arsenal apparently failed with a late bid for Jonny Evans. It wouldn’t be a transfer window without Wenger failing to land someone last minute.

Wenger: "What time is it"?
Arsenal Employee: "10 to 11 Mr Wenger"
Wenger: Good, fax an offer to West Brom for Johnny Evans
Arsenal Employee: "What's a fax?" We need to get this bid in sharpish, shall I just text them"?
Wenger: "I SAID FAX IT, GOD DAMNIT!"

 

[AverageMan]

Oh congrats mate! Excellent stuff. It’s so tight at the bottom that anyone who starts playing well will eventually get out of trouble with so many other teams ready to drop into the bottom 3.

Are you happy with your window mate?
Kennedy, Slimani & a Keeper, wasn't it?

We seemed to be more active than other clubs around us.

 

[Iceman]

Are you happy with your window mate?
Kennedy, Slimani & a Keeper, wasn't it?

We seemed to be more active than other clubs around us.

I don’t know much about Slimani and Kennedy has potential. I would have loved Sturridge. Not sure it will be enough to improve us massively. Just going have to rely on luck and the fact there are 40 other teams in the relegation zone and hope that is enough to keep us up.

 

[Iceman]

Wenger: "What time is it"?
Arsenal Employee: "10 to 11 Mr Wenger"
Wenger: Good, fax an offer to West Brom for Johnny Evans
Arsenal Employee: "What's a fax?" We need to get this bid in sharpish, shall I just text them"?
Wenger: "I SAID FAX IT, GOD DAMNIT!"

I bet he spends the whole day chilling out and doing completely unnecessary things and then suddenly starts going for gold with an hour left. No fun without the drama right! t:

 

[Mandon Knight]

I bet he spends the whole day chilling out and doing completely unnecessary things and then suddenly starts going for gold with an hour left. No fun without the drama right! t:

He catches up on the Sudoku....

 

[Iceman]

He catches up on the Sudoku....

Yes. Big Sudoku day for Wenger against his bitter childhood nemesis. He devotes all of Jan prepping for this huge event and only clocks in for the transfer window at 10 to 11. He demands a player at random from Mandon’s FIFA 18 want list so he can then blame not getting top 4 on his butler mucking up on the fax sent at 10 to 12.

 

[Zantera]

Sometimes it feels like Wenger is trolling. Like the 5-mins-before-deadline bids or when they bid 1 pound over Liverpool's clause for Suarez. It's almost like he does it more so he can say "we tried" than anything else.

 

[B]

Any idea how long a deal Ozil signed? I guess they made the best of a very bad and unnecessary situation.

I think I read it was 3 years or so which by the time that's expired would put him at 32 so he's essentially committed to finishing his career with Arsenal. I knew there was a reason why I liked Ozil moreso than Sanchez.

He's showed loyalty by staying when I'm sure he's had offers to go elsewhere by now, whereas rat Sanchez looked to jump ship as soon as the going got tough.

Fair enough he's been well compensated for staying, I'm sure he's on £200k+, but he's indirectly said by signing a new deal that he is willing to dig his heals in & try to help Arsenal get back to where they want to be.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Yes. Big Sudoku day for Wenger against his bitter childhood nemesis. He devotes all of Jan prepping for this huge event and only clocks in for the transfer window at 10 to 11. He demands a player at random from Mandon’s FIFA 18 want list so he can then blame not getting top 4 on his butler mucking up on the fax sent at 10 to 12.

Oh, so that was the fax I got late last night, I'd read it as Ar**hole, now it makes sense....

 

[Iceman]

Sometimes it feels like Wenger is trolling. Like the 5-mins-before-deadline bids or when they bid 1 pound over Liverpool's clause for Suarez. It's almost like he does it more so he can say "we tried" than anything else.

It really does feel like that. Must be so annoying for Arsenal fans!

 

[Hunter Rider]

I decided to simmer down before commenting on last nights game, firstly full credit to Spurs, they totally outworked us and outplayed us, Kane was excellent and on the same pitch as Lukaku exposed our overpiced #9 for the limited player he is, and Eriksen was absolute class, he ran the show.

We had the chance to put Spurs in the rearview and with the Chelsea result put a 6 point gap between us and them, instead we produce the worst performance of the season.

Mourinho's selection and tactics were utterly inept, as were his subs and the players looked like a bunch of strangers running around like headless chickens. He started with the pointless 4-2-3-1 which nullified Pogba and left an already under par Matic stranded, and to top it off played Martial out of position for the entire first half. Then instead of just going for a simple 4-3-3 and taking one of the front 4 off, adding Herrera, moving Pogba further up and taking it from there, he brings the tree and the worlds slowest attacker on, takes our only source of creativity off and the one forward player that had even looked remotely dangerous in the first half, it was a complete clusterfeck from Mourinho.

He wasn't to blame for Jones and Young though, they were shambolic at the back, Jones was at his brainless worst, and after a purple patch of about 5 good games where he got a couple of goals and assists can people finally see Young is a mediocre player and not a damn LB, he's positionally clueless and was clearly targeted by Spurs for that very reason, both goals came from the acres of space he left unguarded. Oh and Smalling still treats the football like it's a grenade any time he's pressed.

Yeah - I could see that. Pjanic is a solid option, and I highly doubt Kovacic will be allowed to leave by Madrid, unfortunately.

Mata I could see being moved on, and hopefully someone around the 23-26 range brought in as a replacement.

I'm quite jealous of Spurs' acquisition of Moura for that price, because a guy like him is pretty much an ideal replacement for Mata. Other than someone like him I could see a move for Griezmann still being on the cards, as I doubt Barcelona will try and fork out another £100m for him after getting both Dembele and Coutinho with the Neymar money. Having some combination of Martial, Griezmann, Sanchez, Lukaku, Rashford, and Lingard as our attacking options really should sate Mourinho's requirements.

It's hard to tell with Kovacic, I think Real will look to offload a couple of assets as they look to rebuild their attack, and with his lack of game time word is he's keen to be off. If Real come in for De Gea again in the summer I could see him being part of the deal.

Agreed on that age range, and they need to be a left footer, the attacking options are too lopsided in this regarded.

I think the Griezmann ship has sailed to be honest, our Lukaku problem and the acquisition of Sanchez means any attacker we bring in is likely to be less high profile and more of a versatile wide player IMO.

Thought you might object to that part!

How good is he? A striker at least but I also read that he's injured at the moment. Plus Mitrovic leaving (which I don't really mind).

Lol.

He's not bad, had a good season for Sporting Lisbon a couple of years ago, at the very least he should provide an experienced target man for Aoyze to play off.

Yep, that's the level of our scouting system. Has he played for us before? Yes? Good, go get him!!

Buy back Llorente from Spurs in the summer? Jokes aside you seem to be turning your fortunes around in the league.

 

[DeadPresident]

It's hard to tell with Kovacic, I think Real will look to offload a couple of assets as they look to rebuild their attack, and with his lack of game time word is he's keen to be off. If Real come in for De Gea again in the summer I could see him being part of the deal.

Agreed on that age range, and they need to be a left footer, the attacking options are too lopsided in this regarded.

I think the Griezmann ship has sailed to be honest, our Lukaku problem and the acquisition of Sanchez means any attacker we bring in is likely to be less high profile and more of a versatile wide player IMO.

Yeah Kovacic will definitely be looking for more game time, and he seems like a Mourinho type player, so it’ll be interesting to see what develops in the summer. There still aren’t a huge amount of quality CMs around to choose from, he’s probably the best of the potentially available options.

The Griezmann thing might have run its course, but I think he’s looking for a move and outside of Real I think United/City is the only logical destination, Barcelona was mentioned but I think they’ve made their choices with Dembele/Coutinho. Griezmann would probably also be a huge commercial success so I could see the money men liking his addition, and he’s learned to work hard with Simeone so he’ll likely adapt to Mourinho’s demands well.

Considering Sanchez’s age I don’t think Griezmann is outside the realm of possibility, and Mourinho needs more natural talent at his disposal to compensate for his inability to coach an attack.

 

[AverageMan]

Buy back Llorente from Spurs in the summer? Jokes aside you seem to be turning your fortunes around in the league.

I wouldn't be surprised!! haha. I was expecting to see that we'd re-signed Marvin Emnes too!!!

Good few wins at home, badly needed as our home form has been awful. See how we get on away. Leicester will be hard.

 

[Iceman]

Lol.

He's not bad, had a good season for Sporting Lisbon a couple of years ago, at the very least he should provide an experienced target man for Aoyze to play off.

Oh right, good to know. Hopefully he can do a job.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Plate of sour grapes for Mr Wenger to table 5 please...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42916936

(If Arsenal where in the same boat as City would we hear of a complaint then, no, didn't think so).....

 

[Lilbaz]

Can't wait for ffp 2.0 to come in.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Can't wait for ffp 2.0 to come in.

ffp 2.0 ?

 

[Zantera]

financial fair play

the first go failed hard but surely they have to try something again at some point?

 

[DeadPresident]

financial fair play

the first go failed hard but surely they have to try something again at some point?

I'm a bit skeptical to be honest, not when the money men from PSG are likely paying backhanders to UEFA and FIFA officials to keep things from rocking the boat. Both organizations have been incredibly soft on all the big clubs spending cartloads, specifically PSG.

If FFP had any relevance or the officials had any balls the whole Mbappe loan to explicitly get around FFP wouldn't have been allowed to happen IMO.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Financial Fair Play should be easy. Clubs should only be allowed to spend what they make. Any obvious funneling of money into the club by rich owners through businesses with ties to the ownership should be illegal. Easy. Will never happen, but easy.

 

[Iceman]

Would be nice if there really was a proper financial fair play system but it's totally wishful thinking at this point.

 

[Iceman]

Financial Fair Play should be easy. Clubs should only be allowed to spend what they make. Any obvious funneling of money into the club by rich owners through businesses with ties to the ownership should be illegal. Easy. Will never happen, but easy.

Yeah, should be straightforward. And only consist of earnings that can't be manipulated unlike sudden $500B sponsorship deals out of the blue by a country's government who are linked to the club.

 

[DeadPresident]

PSG is effectively a state sponsored football club, one could argue City is as well. If UEFA and FIFA were actually interested in regulating their sport they'd have huge issues with it.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Short video on the differing views in Manchester on the title race....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42920159