*Official* English Football Season 2008-2009

[Craig]

And they tried to get rid of their second coming, Dos Santos. Always made me laugh when he joined Spurs and their fans were going ape.

If he was any good, why would Barca sell and why would he join Spurs?

At least they got rid of Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Would be magical if they went down.

By that token, we know how good Francesc Fabregas is, why didn't Barca move heaven and earth to keep him?

 

[TT Boy]

By that token, we know how good Francesc Fabregas is, why didn't Barca move heaven and earth to keep him?

They couldn't, he was under age and Barca couldn't offer him the money Arsenal could. Bit different poaching a kid who is 15 (and could turn out to be anything) and a guy in Dos Santos who has already played international football, La Liga et cetera. Also Arsenal are on a different level to Spurs.

 

[NUFAN]

What on earth is Arry thinking?

I wonder if Defoe knew Keane would be coming back. They don't play well together and Keane > Defoe to Defoe is likely to be frustrated coming off the bench heaps again.

Was Ramos really that bad a manager? It looks that way, why else would they want to come back to a club who is struggling at the moment.

 

[TT Boy]

What on earth is Arry thinking?

I wonder if Defoe knew Keane would be coming back. They don't play well together and Keane > Defoe to Defoe is likely to be frustrated coming off the bench heaps again.

Was Ramos really that bad a manager? It looks that way, why else would they want to come back to a club who is struggling at the moment.

No. His career record speaks for itself. Not his fault what Damien Comolli gave him was ****e.

Although, I'm not sure who is to blame for Julien Faubert ending up at the Bernabeu? Predrag Mijatovic, the legend who signs off on the deals for Real apparently had nothing to do with it.

 

[duffer]

Zenit have pretty much said he's no longer their player and 12 million quid for Arshavin represents a cracking bit of business considering Spurs and Barca were offering loads more in the summer.

As far as attacking options go, having Cesc, Nasri, Rvp, Theo, Ade, Eduardo,Vela, Bender, Rosicky and Eboue(haha) is pretty nice.

Obviously getting a centre back and a ball winner would've been nice too but the priority seemed to be to sign a guy who would help sell tickets and boxes for next season as well as improving the team and he fits the bill. Hopefully he gets us over the line into the Champions League places as Villa surely have to run out of steam and Chelsea look vulnerable right now.

Can't believe they've seemingly wasted a whole window on one target and no backup plan but trying to be positive about the run in.

 

[Craig]

No. His career record speaks for itself. Not his fault what Damien Comolli gave him was ****e.

Although, I'm not sure who is to blame for Julien Faubert ending up at the Bernabeu? Predrag Mijatovic, the legend who signs off on the deals for Real apparently had nothing to do with it.

IIRC didn't he have the same role at Arsenal?

 

[duffer]

IIRC didn't he have the same role at Arsenal?

Nah he likes to think he did but from what I've read he'd recommend dozens of players a week to him only for the odd one to merit a look from Wenger. Loved the claims of "the man behind Wenger's signings" that were fed when he defected.

 

[The Sean]

Zenit have pretty much said he's no longer their player and 12 million quid for Arshavin represents a cracking bit of business considering Spurs and Barca were offering loads more in the summer.

The reports I've seen seem to indicate it's £12m plus add-ons, and the final fee will be £15m+. Still not wildly expensive in today's market, though it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the Premiership.

EDIT - £16.9m according to F365

http://www.football365.co.uk/story/0,17033,8652_4890679,00.html

 

[duffer]

Adrian Bevington, FA Director of Communications:

"Yes, it's true, the transfer is in doubt. There is a chance it will take us 2-3 days. The odds are 50/50. If the transfer is declared invalid, Arshavin will be returned to Zenit. We can't rule this out. I don't think that would be a severe ruling: both clubs had a lot of time to complete it during the window."

FFS, this is horrific. Glad we put all our eggs in one basket then.

 

[Scaly piscine]

FA making a decision that goes against the CDMs? That would be a first.

 

[Uppercut]

Another fine signing from Massimo Moratti's cheque book. I'm not sure why he couldn't settle in Italy, there as there is 6 players and plus the manager who have Portugese as their first language.

Or maybe it is the player, couldn't hack it at Barcelona, but goes alright in Portugal, but moves to a stronger league and goes MIA.

Yeah that's true but i remember him completely owning everyone when he played in the CL.

 

[aussie]

LOL @ the potential striker madness at spurs in the future. Defoe will be pissed...

Arsenal potentially getting Arshavin seems more short term than long term. Will be interesting to see if sold, what happens with him @ the start of next season. When the likes of Rosicky, Eduardo, Fabregas etc are fit.

Quaresman to Chelsea, based on what ive seen of, i reckon he has the physical attributes to handle the league. But like with Arshavin, this looks short-term.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

But like with Arshavin, this looks short-term.

Probably because it's a 6-month loan deal.

 

[aussie]

Its is. Oh well thats smart from Wenger..

 

[The Sean]

No, Quaresma is on loan. The Arshavin deal - if it ever actually officially goes through - will be permanent.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Its is. Oh well thats smart from Wenger..

Quaresma, not Arsharvin. How could I possibly know that the Arsharvin deal was a loan? It's not even a done deal yet...

 

[duffer]

Drei's first interview since joining Arsenal

Some gems in here:

"I am goonar"

Did you speak to Roman Pavlyuchenko?

"No, he is not a friend of mine."

Why did you sing for Arsenal

"I like Arsene Wenger and some players."

What can we expect from you?

"Goals"

Real happy with that interview, by the looks of things he won't have any issues with the language or the weather so he can put his entire focus on adjusting on the pitch. He looks chuffed too.

 

[grecian]

Drei's first interview since joining Arsenal

Some gems in here:

"I am goonar"

Did you speak to Roman Pavlyuchenko?

"No, he is not a friend of mine."

Why did you sing for Arsenal

"I like Arsene Wenger and some players."

What can we expect from you?

"Goals"

Real happy with that interview, by the looks of things he won't have any issues with the language or the weather so he can put his entire focus on adjusting on the pitch. He looks chuffed too.

Good stuff, particularly saying he's not friends with the Spurs player

Still don't think he's what Arsenal need mind, but I guess he's a close-ish replacement for Hleb, who I think they've missed more then Flamini this season....

 

[duffer]

Good stuff, particularly saying he's not friends with the Spurs player

Still don't think he's what Arsenal need mind, but I guess he's a close-ish replacement for Hleb, who I think they've missed more then Flamini this season....

Holy crap might have linked to the wrong interview. Here's the one with Arsenaltv I was talking about. Another gem was him saying that the weather reminded him of St Petersburg so it wouldn't be hard to adjust.

I think he'll lessen the need for a ball winner as simply putting him back in the lineup in place of Eboue means that we'll be giving the ball away a lot less off the bat and will thus have less need to try and win it from the opposition, plus I'd wager he'd contribute more than the 1 goal and 0 assists that Eboue contributed last season in midfield.

We could definitely do with a DM especially after letting Bert, Flamini and Diarra all go last season but the board and Arsene spend most of their days thinking the transfer market will collapse any minute now so we probably didn't have as much of a budget as the fans would expect and thus the opportunity to sign a big name player who will sell tickets and corporate boxes was too good to turn down.

Really delighted with Djourou's progress this season and think he is the future so we probably can do without a big centre back for now. One of the main issues is that we never seem to have a settled centre back pairing. Arsene is obviously trying to keep Kolo, Gallas, Djourou and Silvestre all happy but I think the constant rotation is hurting the team as there have been so many goals conceded because of a lack of communication or confusion at the back. Pick Djourou and another and let them develop a partnership for mine.

 

[Craig]

Smitteh is the rumours that Citeh might go again for Ronaldinho valid?