*Official* English Football Season 2007-08

[sledger]

Hmm, Real sack Capello. Wenger going there, perhaps?

the sacking of capello is simple idiocy, the entire reason he was put in place was to bring some sort of rigidity to the managerial position at real, the fact that he wins the league and ends up sacked shows that despite the change of presedential regime nothing has changed, real will not repeat this seasons sucess next year, mark my words, absolutely ludicrous.

And as for Wenger going there I would have to say that even though i dont suppose he will stay at arsenal beyond the end of next season (although i'd be thrilled if he did) i somewhat expect he would have more sense to go to a club which posseses a joke of an administration.

 

[Tom Halsey]

the sacking of capello is simple idiocy, the entire reason he was put in place was to bring some sort of rigidity to the managerial position at real, the fact that he wins the league and ends up sacked shows that despite the change of presedential regime nothing has changed, real will not repeat this seasons sucess next year, mark my words, absolutely ludicrous.

And as for Wenger going there I would have to say that even though i dont suppose he will stay at arsenal beyond the end of next season (although i'd be thrilled if he did) i somewhat expect he would have more sense to go to a club which posseses a joke of an administration.

Yeah agree 100% with this post, sums up my feelings succinctly.

 

[Tom Halsey]

extremely fine?....no, hes decent to the point which i would say he is better than just good, but he is essentially a bits and pieces player, not a european heavyweight which teams like arsenal and man utd both so badly need.

The kind of player man utd missed in europe last year was an out and out centre forward, not a hurry scurry footballing equivalent of paul collingwood.

Disagree with both paragraphs. Hargreaves is an extremely good player his performances for Bayern in the CL last year convinced me. Basically the nation randomly had it in for Hargreaves despite the fact that he'd done nothing wrong, and then we realised that we'd made a mistake in the World Cup, and whenever I've watched him he's played very well. When Bayern won the CL in 2001 (?) it was largely due to a superb Hargreaves performance in the semi, and the Bayern crowd sang his name towards the end, which is possibly the first time they've ever done that for someone who plays for England.

As for United - we scored enough goals last season. We did need a striker yes, but while the midfield was contributing that many goals it was not an immediate concern. Whie we were screwed in defence, we do have adequae cover there - any team losing their 4 first choice defenders would struggle. What we did need was a ballwinner in midfield. Besides the defence probems in Milan, we would have made a far better job of it had we not been completely over run in midfield. Fletcher did an admirable job there against Roma, and I rate him in central midfield more than most (he's dire on the wing admittedly) but utimately he wasn't quite good enough. Hargreaves IMO is.

 

[grecian]

For all the older guys, Brumby, neil, marc. How much good defensive mid-fielders have England really produced over the years. I remember watching video's of our 1966 triumph and seeing Nobby Stiles or whatever having fair distinction in that position for marking Eusebio, but then again was he a one-tournament wonder & did he really excel in that position for United?.

Currently Hargreaves is around & once he keeps it up can become on the best England have ever had in that role i reckon. But really has anyone else ever played this role with any distinction for England?

Neil, older, he's about 12 isn't he.

Defensive midfielders, meh. Who cares. Peter Reid did a great job in '86, just goes to show how meaningless the position is really, in 1990 Platt was the closest to the role, but he scored nearly 30 goals for England. Top-class international teams tend to not have limited players in a key role.

Nowadays, people with strength and presence, like Makelele, Viera, Gattuso and Gilberto play the role. Hargreaves ain't one of them and ain't nowt special, imho.

 

[sledger]

Disagree with both paragraphs. Hargreaves is an extremely good player his performances for Bayern in the CL last year convinced me. Basically the nation randomly had it in for Hargreaves despite the fact that he'd done nothing wrong, and then we realised that we'd made a mistake in the World Cup, and whenever I've watched him he's played very well. When Bayern won the CL in 2001 (?) it was largely due to a superb Hargreaves performance in the semi, and the Bayern crowd sang his name towards the end, which is possibly the first time they've ever done that for someone who plays for England.

As for United - we scored enough goals last season. We did need a striker yes, but while the midfield was contributing that many goals it was not an immediate concern. Whie we were screwed in defence, we do have adequae cover there - any team losing their 4 first choice defenders would struggle. What we did need was a ballwinner in midfield. Besides the defence probems in Milan, we would have made a far better job of it had we not been completely over run in midfield. Fletcher did an admirable job there against Roma, and I rate him in central midfield more than most (he's dire on the wing admittedly) but utimately he wasn't quite good enough. Hargreaves IMO is.

don't get me wrong, i am a huge fan of hargreaves, he is a decent player, but he isn't capable of playing in that position on a regular basis for a top notch side, he simply does not have the stature or maturity or indeed mentality to perform this role regularly in the premiership, he may well have done it for bayern all season.....but bayern have had perhaps their worst ever season in recent memory. The problem with Hargreaves is that there is not one single point to his game in which he truly excels, his tackling and passing is more than adequete, but like michael carrick...he holds nothing remarkable..

 

[Tom Halsey]

don't get me wrong, i am a huge fan of hargreaves, he is a decent player, but he isn't capable of playing in that position on a regular basis for a top notch side, he simply does not have the stature or maturity or indeed mentality to perform this role regularly in the premiership, he may well have done it for bayern all season.....but bayern have had perhaps their worst ever season in recent memory. The problem with Hargreaves is that there is not one single point to his game in which he truly excels, his tackling and passing is more than adequete, but like michael carrick...he holds nothing remarkable..

Yeah, but he's been doing it for Bayern for more than one season.

Easiest way to settle this is to wait and see how well he does in the Prem.

 

[sledger]

i don't doubt he will do a fine job and everyone will be happy, but man utd's position.....will be exactly the same as it is now unless they bring it a real heavyweight of a player.

 

[Tom Halsey]

i don't doubt he will do a fine job and everyone will be happy, but man utd's position.....will be exactly the same as it is now unless they bring it a real heavyweight of a player.

Okay, I will rephrase - we will see next season how the United side is affected by his purchase.

I still think that he is exactly the player that we lacked last season - especially in Europe.

 

[sledger]

I still think that he is exactly the player that we lacked last season - especially in Europe

what does hargreaves bring exactly that you believe to be lacking?

 

[Tom Halsey]

what does hargreaves bring exactly that you believe to be lacking?

Someone who is actually a decent ballwinner in midfield - Scholes and Carrick aren't the World's best tacklers it must be said. We were just completely murdered there in Milan.

 

[sledger]

Someone who is actually a decent ballwinner in midfield

If its as simple as that then Nicky Butt should never have been sold.

 

[Craig]

See Tottenham have agreed to pay Charlton £16.5million for Darren Bent, making a cool £14million approx profit on him which will be like gold in the Championship (and I think BB said Ipswich has a sell-on fee involved). But it has to be said that is a massive rip-off as Bent isn't worth that. How many better players could they have signed for amount? Luca Toni for one and Ronaldo was sold to Milan for £10.7million less and Ronaldo will be three times the player Bent will ever be.

For a club that finishes at best 5th and hasn't won anything in a while, I would love to know where they get all their cash from.

 

[irfan]

Gutted that Henry's gone but can't help thinking that at £16 million, Wenger has done another shrewd piece of business. He's a great player but I think that at the end of his career, people will look back and say that his best days were at Arsenal, and that Arsenal got the better of the deal with Barca. No hard feelings towards him though - he's one of the greatest players in the world and has always given his all for the club, except for perhaps this last season.

So who to buy now, if at all? I'd like to see Wenger buy a poacher to compliment Van Persie - someone a bit like Dirk Kuyt perhaps, only better. I certainly don't think that Henry's departure will prevent Arsenal from finishing in the top 4, as they coped without him for large parts of last season, and were also without players like Gallas, Rosicky and VP for long periods as well. Hopefully Wenger will manage to sign a big name to go along with VP and Adebayor, and the front line will be well-supported on the goals front by the likes of Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas and Walcott.

Share the same feelings here, Henry has been supreme in his 7-odd year tenure at Arsenal. Bit shocked he is leaving, considering he is our captain and you can't simply put a price tag on his genius and ability to contrive goals out of nothing. Am glad he went to Barcelona rather than Real who wud have treated him like dirt and probably off-load him a week after scoring a hat-trick in next years CL final.

So what now ? I really hope we can snag Torres who is a world class talent and a forward line of Van Persie/Adebayor/Torres with Walcott off the bench would be exciting. I really don't want Wenger to get some obscure 15 year old wonderkid who's ripping it up in the Swedish League as I feel our squad is way too youngster-oriented.

Henry's departure will definitely leave a void and if we want to capture some major trophies this season then we must get a talented, reasonably experienced 20-25 yo striker.
What's with our captains leaving ?? First, Vieira then Henry. Hand the captaincy to Clichy, IMO.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

See Tottenham have agreed to pay Charlton £16.5million for Darren Bent, making a cool £14million approx profit on him which will be like gold in the Championship (and I think BB said Ipswich has a sell-on fee involved). But it has to be said that is a massive rip-off as Bent isn't worth that. How many better players could they have signed for amount? Luca Toni for one and Ronaldo was sold to Milan for £10.7million less and Ronaldo will be three times the player Bent will ever be.

For a club that finishes at best 5th and hasn't won anything in a while, I would love to know where they get all their cash from.

Haha, I bet Charlton can't believe their luck. Spurs have just spent £16.5m on a slightly better version of Jermaine Defoe. This makes him, what, among the top 20 most expensive strikers in the world (guesswork)? Not a chance...

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Genuine strikers involved in transfers worth over £16.5m:

Crespo, Vieri, Shevchenko, Ronaldo, Drogba, Anelka, Lopez, Batistuta, Anelka (again), Ronney, Cassano, van Nistelrooy, Vieri (again), Eto'o, Amoruso, Ronaldo (again), Owen, Inzaghi, Crespo (again), Ibrahimovic, Robinho.

 

[aussie]

Marc's left, aussie.

Oh didn't know..

Neil, older, he's about 12 isn't he.

Defensive midfielders, meh. Who cares. Peter Reid did a great job in '86, just goes to show how meaningless the position is really, in 1990 Platt was the closest to the role, but he scored nearly 30 goals for England. Top-class international teams tend to not have limited players in a key role.

Bit harsh i think although i agree its not a needed position, a good defensive mid-fielder certainly can make the greatest of attacking teams stronger especially in modern day football given that it would give them that it would give them that stability in mid-field, look a real madrid for example since they sold Makelele to Chelsea.

Nowadays, people with strength and presence, like Makelele, Viera, Gattuso and Gilberto play the role. Hargreaves ain't one of them and ain't nowt special, imho.

Nah Hargreaves is pretty physical for a little man, admittedly like a lot a people in england i have not seen alot of him but the two times i saw him in the matches vs Madrid in AC Milan it was pretty obvious he was given orders to look after RVN & Kaka & he handled himself pretty well.

 

[Agent TBY]

Exactly, he's pretty physical for a little man, but he'll get nowhere near what is required of an enforcer.

And the fact that Bent is going for more than what Henry did is ludicrous.

 

[Tom Halsey]

If its as simple as that then Nicky Butt should never have been sold.

I would have to agree.

 

[Tom Halsey]

And the fact that Bent is going for more than what Henry did is ludicrous.

Indeed, this transfer is utterly unbelievable.

Firstly I have no idea why Spurs are spending that on a striker - they're not exactly weak there whether Defoe goes or not, however they could definitely improve in other areas.

 

[gio]

don't get me wrong, i am a huge fan of hargreaves, he is a decent player, but he isn't capable of playing in that position on a regular basis for a top notch side, he simply does not have the stature or maturity or indeed mentality to perform this role regularly in the premiership, he may well have done it for bayern all season.....but bayern have had perhaps their worst ever season in recent memory. The problem with Hargreaves is that there is not one single point to his game in which he truly excels, his tackling and passing is more than adequete, but like michael carrick...he holds nothing remarkable..

Can't agree with that. Michael Carrick excels in many areas. His passing, vision and reading of the game was vital to Man U's success last season. You only have to look at the second half against Milan at Old Trafford. He got the ball moving and circulating at pace and really took hold of the game... United proceeded to dominate the second half.