*Official* English Football Season 2007-08

[Agent TBY]

However, God knows how many central midfielders Benitez wants, currently has about five good to excellent CM's Xabi, Mascherano, Gerrard, Sissoko and now boy Lucas.

Lucas from Gremio? That guy's gun.

 

[Craig]

Lucas from Gremio? That guy's gun.

That's the player. Interesting out of the four (obviously Gerrard is God there so he is untouchable) CM's will get sold first.

 

[Matteh]

Didn't Mark Gonzalez get sold and I know Bolo Zenden has left.

To Real Betis iirc.

 

[roseboy64]

I'd rather not see Tevez at OT TBH.

Since it seems to be a loan deal first I'd have no problem then.

 

[roseboy64]

Is it just me or does any one else think there may be a treble or quadruple plus the Community Shield this season? For Man Utd of course. Looking at the first team and reserves it looks mighty possible. More so than with Chelsea because I think the united youngsters like Arsenal's last season are good enough to mount a serious League Cup campaign.

Goalkeepers
Van der Sar - Quality keeper. Experienced.
Foster - Very good. Talented. Could push for a starting spot on most teams.
Kuszczak - Talented keeper who could start for most teams. BIt iffy in some departments though.

Defenders
Neville - One of the best rightbacks around. Lost a bit of pace but experienced enough.
Ferdinand - Outstanding centreback. Cool under pressure. Makes it look easy. Part of one of the best central defence partnerships around.
Vidic - Brilliant centreback. Part of the outstanding defensive partnership. Tough as nails and good in the air.
Heinze - Quality defender. Not bad in the air despite his height and pretty tough in the tackle. Crosses need a bit of work though and has a habit of falling a bit too easy.
Evra - Very good wingback. Defensive qualities could be improved though.
Brown - Good defender. Could push for a starting spot on most teams.
O' Shea - Versatile, also plays in midfield. Could be tougher in the tackle but solid nevertheless.
Silvestre - Good defender. Makes mistakes sometimes but solid. Quality crosser.
Bardsley - Promising rightback. Looked good-decent for Villa on loan.
Pique - Did well on loan at Zaragoza and has definite promise. Could make the step up to the first team. May need to toughen up a bit.
Evans - Solid on loan at Sunderland and may break into the first team. Not seen much of him though so can't say how good he actually is.

Midfielders
Scholes - Absolutely brilliant. England need him IMO.
Carrick - Started off iffy but improved. Looks quality and performed well. Could do with a bit of improvement though.
Ronaldo - Outstanding. Breathtaking form most of last season. Possibly one of the best in the world.
Giggs - Absolutely brilliant. Wales will miss him.
Fletcher - Improved leaps and bounds. Needs more consistency and some bulking up. Could be a very good midfielder in the future as he possesses good attacking and defensive qualities.
Park - Good winger.Committed for sure. Improved his finishing as the season went on but still doubtful. Can play on both wings and offers good options.
Richardson - Definite potential but unrealised. May need a move to tap into it though as his consistency needs improvement. Slated but he's got all the attributes of a quality player.
Eagles - Looked good in his few appearances last season. May command more of a place in the first team.
Hargreaves - Definite quality. Tough in the tackle and versatile. Passing seems good as well. Shouldn't have too much problems adapting and should push for a regular place.
Nani - Promising winger. Shouldn't play too much of a part for this season.
Anderson - Promising player but shouldn't expect to play an important role.

Forwards
Rooney - Definite quality. Improvement needed but still awesome.
Saha - Very good when he plays. Thing is how much will he play. Injury problems are a hindrance.
Smith - May be leaving but a good player. Not a great goal scoring record but his other qualities make up for that.
Solskjaer - Swansong but performs mostly when called upon. Brilliant servant and should play a decent amount of games in his final season.
Rossi - Unproven in England but has promise. Should break into the first team. Small but skillful and a very good finisher.
Dong - Unproven and should be loaned out.

Add Tevez to that and that's a quality sqaud capable of honours on all fronts. Plus there's some good youth in Cathcart, Gibson, Barnes, Martin and Lee combined with some of the fringe players to have a good run in the Carling Cup.

 

[Agent TBY]

Is it just me or does any one else think there may be a treble or quadruple plus the Community Shield this season? For Man Utd of course. Looking at the first team and reserves it looks mighty possible. More so than with Chelsea because I think the united youngsters like Arsenal's last season are good enough to mount a serious League Cup campaign.

It's just you.

Nani - Promising winger. Shouldn't play too much of a part for this season.
Anderson - Promising player but shouldn't expect to play an important role.

Why? Do you think they've been signed off the youth teams of Sporting and Porto? Hell no, they've had first team action for quite a while now, including European ties. How that doesn't equate getting more starts than a very poor Fletcher is beyond me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Nani started more games than Giggs this season. Anderson was injured for much of last season, so he'll start playing once he gets into form.

Dong - Unproven and should be loaned out.

Thank God for that. I thought you were gonna go through the entire team praising everyone. Which you did, essentially, but meh.

 

[Matteh]

Chelsea will still be my favourite to win the EPL, can't really see that changing for a few years either given their ability to buy in a load of people if they want.

 

[Agent TBY]

And they just did.

Agreed a fee for Malouda, I see.

 

[Matteh]

And they just did.

Agreed a fee for Malouda, I see.

They decide they need another striker, they go out and acquire one. The fact they got Pizarro for nothing and Liverpool paid 26Mil or something for Torres shows better business acumen by Chelsea surely.

 

[pinchy81]

Sven at City thoughts anyone? I think he'll do well and hopefully get us into Europe...thats if he gets some good signings in.

 

[roseboy64]

It's just you.



Why? Do you think they've been signed off the youth teams of Sporting and Porto? Hell no, they've had first team action for quite a while now, including European ties. How that doesn't equate getting more starts than a very poor Fletcher is beyond me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Nani started more games than Giggs this season. Anderson was injured for much of last season, so he'll start playing once he gets into form.



Thank God for that. I thought you were gonna go through the entire team praising everyone. Which you did, essentially, but meh.

1) Nope not just me. I don't really expect to win everything TBH but some others do.

2)Well maybe the fact that they're completely alien to English style football I'd say it'd be a fair idea to say they wouldn't have a huge impact. Also, maybe you should watch more of the games because no way was Fletcher's form poor last season. Brilliant? No. But he was good and performed well against the big sides. It's not just the fact that they've huge price tags and have first team experience, it'd be completely idiotic to assume they'd immediately adapt to England and thus start a lot of games. The logical thing would be to gradually ease them in.

3)No I didn't. I did say for some that they were good but had to improve on certain areas. They obviously wouldn't be playing for Man Utd if they weren't good now would they?

 

[roseboy64]

They decide they need another striker, they go out and acquire one. The fact they got Pizarro for nothing and Liverpool paid 26Mil or something for Torres shows better business acumen by Chelsea surely.

Liverpool have hardly spent the amount of cash Chelsea has over the last few seasons really. Oh and the same Chelsea who are running at a loss and will have to wait a few more years to be self-sufficient. I'm pretty sure Liverpool manages a profit.

 

[roseboy64]

Sven at City thoughts anyone? I think he'll do well and hopefully get us into Europe...thats if he gets some good signings in.

Midtable to UEFA Cup place is a definite possibility with the right signings.

 

[Craig]

Sven at City thoughts anyone? I think he'll do well and hopefully get us into Europe...thats if he gets some good signings in.

Good club manager. Won the Serie A with Nazio in 2000 with the likes of Veron, Nedved, Stankovic, Nesta etc.

 

[Matteh]

Liverpool have hardly spent the amount of cash Chelsea has over the last few seasons really. Oh and the same Chelsea who are running at a loss and will have to wait a few more years to be self-sufficient. I'm pretty sure Liverpool manages a profit.

Didn't they get Ballack on a free as well though? Bayern Munich getting shafted by the Bosman rule one feels.

 

[roseboy64]

Yeah Ballack. Yeah they got shafted with Ballack but Pizarro wasn't really needed AFAIK with the squad overhaul.

 

[TT Boy]

1) Nope not just me. I don't really expect to win everything TBH but some others do.

2)Well maybe the fact that they're completely alien to English style football I'd say it'd be a fair idea to say they wouldn't have a huge impact. Also, maybe you should watch more of the games because no way was Fletcher's form poor last season. Brilliant? No. But he was good and performed well against the big sides. It's not just the fact that they've huge price tags and have first team experience, it'd be completely idiotic to assume they'd immediately adapt to England and thus start a lot of games. The logical thing would be to gradually ease them in.

3)No I didn't. I did say for some that they were good but had to improve on certain areas. They obviously wouldn't be playing for Man Utd if they weren't good now would they?

LOL, err Luke Chadwick, David May, Darren Ferguson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Nikola Jovanovic, William Prunier, Chris Casper, John Curtis et cetera…all played for Man U, none of them had any particular talent. Although, doubtlessly you and the other Man U fans will dispute that.

And the ‘people’ you speak of who expect the quadruple, Man Untied 'fans' (loosely) by any chance?

 

[TT Boy]

It's just you.



Why? Do you think they've been signed off the youth teams of Sporting and Porto? Hell no, they've had first team action for quite a while now, including European ties. How that doesn't equate getting more starts than a very poor Fletcher is beyond me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Nani started more games than Giggs this season. Anderson was injured for much of last season, so he'll start playing once he gets into form.



Thank God for that. I thought you were gonna go through the entire team praising everyone. Which you did, essentially, but meh.

As in the case of Chris Eagles, a footballer who couldn’t even make NEC’s first team last year. Yet, somehow Chris has a better chance of playing first team football than Nani, a Portuguese international with Champions League experience. The only thing Eagles will be doing next year is playing in the Championship or playing reserve team football with Solskjaer, Bardsley and Kuszczak.

And Roseboy, you somehow hope Owen Hargreaves will be playing first team football next year. Not many clubs spend £17 million on a player who should be pushing for a regular place.

Surely such ‘unbiased’ and well considered critiques of the footballing qualities of Chris Eagles and Dong Fangzhuo should be confined to the Man Untied thread or some Man Untied forum? Where 10,000 pages are devoted to the genius of some guy called Evans, who was solid at Sunderland but you haven’t seen him play enough to know such a thing.

 

[TT Boy]

Good club manager. Won the Serie A with Nazio in 2000 with the likes of Veron, Nedved, Stankovic, Nesta etc.

Had a fair bit of money to spend though (Wik 'reports' £274million in over 4 seasons) and it took Sven well over 15 years in Italy to win Serie A. His record at AS Roma, Samp or at AC Fiorentina doesn't read as well to the success he experienced in Portugal (a three team league, literally) or with Sergio Cragnotti's 'money' (again loosely).

 

[roseboy64]

LOL, err Luke Chadwick, David May, Darren Ferguson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Nikola Jovanovic, William Prunier, Chris Casper, John Curtis et cetera…all played for Man U, none of them had any particular talent. Although, doubtlessly you and the other Man U fans will dispute that.

And the ‘people’ you speak of who expect the quadruple, Man Untied 'fans' (loosely) by any chance?

Hmm ok. Bad statement by me. No I wouldn't dispute that. really was trying to say that they weren't bad players. Man United fans actually but yes. As I said though I think it's possible but not likely without everything going right.