*Official* English Football Season 2009-2010

[sledger]

The reports today are that Milan are asking £15m and Chelsea will pay it. Big money for a 30 year old but if he makes the difference for Chelsea, particularly in the CL, then probably worth it.

Imo for a club that has vast financial resources that would be well worth a punt, the guy is a class act, massively underated.

 

[Redbacks]

Aquilani probably won't be as good as Alonso in doing his job, but he adds more going forward and is more versatile, so I would be happy if he came. I just hope he stays fit because he has a history of injury.

has a history of being a bit soft to go with it. Although Roma in general seem a fairweather team at times.

 

[Redbacks]

Imo for a club that has vast financial resources that would be well worth a punt, the guy is a class act, massively underated.

Will want to walk in and be the deep lying playmaker though, might not work given the pace teams want to attack with in general. His passing range/timing is as good as any player in the world, plus he is good on both sides of the body, it's just a problem of whether he can fit into the system the team needs to play, haivng his old coach there will obviously help.

Put him down for taking corners and finding J Terry , Drogba, Ballack and others also.

 

[Agent TBY]

Put him down for taking corners and finding J Terry , Drogba, Ballack and others also.

Also a much better option at taking free-kicks than Lampard. If Chelsea sign him, there's no stopping them this season, imo.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Where the **** are the going to play him though? They're way too heavy in inflated ego midfielders.

 

[sledger]

Could make room for him I imagine, Essien and Mikel are rotated often enough, not that they should be imo, but there we go, Mikel will be suspended for a fair bit as well. Ballack probably won't remain fit for the enitre season either. Same can be said for Deco, so i'm sure he would get in the team for the majority of the season.

 

[Craig]

Edwin van der Sar is out for 8 weeks with a broken finger.

There are reports that Milan want to spend £31m on Cesc Fabregas. Considering they won't spend £18m on Luis Fabiano, I say no.

 

[sledger]

Edwin van der Sar is out for 8 weeks with a broken finger.

Man Utd fans rejoice. Bad news for everyone playing Man Utd in the next 8 weeks.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Meh, I could keep for United. Vidic and Ferdinand get passed once a season.

 

[Jarquis]

African cup of Nations in January isn't it?
So that's Mikel, Kaloue, Essien, Drogba et all gone for Chelsea, imagine being able to have someone like Pirlo come into the team in that situation. Obviously he'll play before hand as well, it just shows the strength and depth of their squad. It's untrue.

 

[sledger]

Hope Togo haven't qualified tbh.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Hope Togo haven't qualified tbh.

So do I.

 

[sledger]

Albeit for different reasons than mine I imagine.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hope Togo haven't qualified tbh.

Qualification not finished yet itbt.

Fair chance they'll miss out though. In a group with Cameroon and Morocco.

 

[Uppercut]

Not in England true, but there are plenty of cases of that happening with Belgian clubs. Would you have responded if it wasn't your club that signed that young French player?

I only responded to laugh at the phrase "third world countries like Africa" tbh.

 

[Pothas]

Could make room for him I imagine, Essien and Mikel are rotated often enough, not that they should be imo, but there we go, Mikel will be suspended for a fair bit as well. Ballack probably won't remain fit for the enitre season either. Same can be said for Deco, so i'm sure he would get in the team for the majority of the season.

Sure they could fit him in nicely. Essien and Pirlo would be an excellent combination, would be comfortably the best in the division.

 

[sledger]

Sure they could fit him in nicely. Essien and Pirlo would be an excellent combination, would be comfortably the best in the division.

Yeah, a midfield of Essien and Pirlo, with Lampard, Ballack or Deco in front of them with a winger or two and Drogba up front would be an absolutely amazing combination.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

That's all well and good except that Ancellotti (and numerous Chelsea players) have stated that they will be playing a midfield diamond with 2 up front (ie. Anelka and Drogba). Where do you play them? Assuming Essien plays the bottom of the diamond and Lampard at the head, do you play Pirlo left or right? Doesn't really fit there at all. I suppose you could shove Essien onto one of the wings and play Pirlo deep, but that leaves an increasingly slow Terry and Carvahlo pretty exposed as Pirlo is rubbish defensively.

 

[sledger]

That's all well and good except that Ancellotti (and numerous Chelsea players) have stated that they will be playing a midfield diamond with 2 up front (ie. Anelka and Drogba). Where do you play them? Assuming Essien plays the bottom of the diamond and Lampard at the head, do you play Pirlo left or right? Doesn't really fit there at all. I suppose you could shove Essien onto one of the wings and play Pirlo deep, but that leaves an increasingly slow Terry and Carvahlo pretty exposed as Pirlo is rubbish defensively.

Pirlo playing from the right would not be awful, but would obviously not be the best way to ultilise him, would make for a very unbalanced midfield to say the least. Tbf I wasn't aware of them stating their desire to play this sort of formation, kind of makes their apparent pursuit of Pirlo illogical to say the least, but I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[Pothas]

Playing a diamond would just bring Chelsea the same old problems they had under Scolari, would once again rely on the full backs for width while having a packed midfield.