*Official* English Football Season 2012-13

[The Sean]

Trying not to get too excited about this:

United open talks to sign Fabregas - ESPN FC

I'd usually write it off completely, but I rate Delaney as a journo and he rarely goes in for tabloid-style fodder.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I like Wilshere, simply because a Facebook friend is knocking off his sister.

 

[Uppercut]

Trying not to get too excited about this:

United open talks to sign Fabregas - ESPN FC

I'd usually write it off completely, but I rate Delaney as a journo and he rarely goes in for tabloid-style fodder.

He has bad news for Spurs too: Bale yet to open Spurs talks as Real lurk - ESPN FC

 

[sledger]

I really hope that one of these stories turns out to be true.

 

[grecian]

Barnett not exactly being subtle here is he

 

[Cevno]

Stoke close to appointing Mark Hughes ?

Well, that's one weird appointment. Giving Hughes a job with a decent budget again after the horrendous job he did at QPR.

 

[Cevno]

Too good for Wigan, tbh.

Interesting to see what kinda fist he'll make of the Toffees. Mate of mine reckons he's Wenger in waiting.

Personally think that is overrating him a fair bit tbh.

If you look at their league performance, under him vs even Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce then in relation to their wage rank they overachieved a more under those 2 than the hot property i.e Martinez. He's basically done par for the course there.

The cup triumph counts for him, but he's really only been decent upto now. Nothing more even though he gets rated more than he should be in terms of achievments for playing a different tactical system to other managers in the PL etc..

Will be interesting how he does at Everton, if he ends up there. My prediction would be them dropping down to more Fulham sort of level possibly.

 

[Pothas]

He has bad news for Spurs too: Bale yet to open Spurs talks as Real lurk - ESPN FC

Big change from just a week ago when it looked certain that he would stay.

Levy needs to learn not to draw it out until the very last minute, if he is going to go take the 80 million or whatever it is, then do it and spend it now.

 

[Uppercut]

Will be interesting how he does at Everton, if he ends up there. My prediction would be them dropping down to more Fulham sort of level possibly.

I think that's quite likely whoever they appoint. Moyes wasn't a miracle worker but he definitely overperformed in the league given his resources and his team is likely to lose some key players and need some rebuilding. Whoever takes the job now might just end up being the fall guy for Everton's almost inevitable drift into mid-table.

Martinez probably is a little overrated because of aesthetics and the fact that he's such a lovely guy. You're definitely understating the cup success, though. Winning the FA cup means the world to the fans of a team like Wigan.

 

[Pothas]

If he gets them to 7th then he has done a decent job and really they should be able to do that unless they lose a whole load of players.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, now that I think about it there's actually a huge split after Liverpool in 7th. All of the teams below that are realistic relegation candidates.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah, unless Swansea manage fantastic investment yet again then cannot see any of those clubs getting beyond 8th. Newcaslte I suppose but don't really know what is going to gon there this summer.

 

[MW1304]

We are a complete unknown at the moment. If we keep everyone fit, don't have any games in Europe, and bring in some non-French players to strengthen, then I don't see why we couldn't challenge for the top 7. Yet we seem to be losing Coloccini and who knows how much leeway the board will give Pardew? Could be sacked at any point. I'm not holding out much hope tbh, reckon something will go wrong somewhere down the line and we'll be just outside of a relegation scrap.

 

[Uppercut]

Newcastle should have the most long-term potential but based on performances towards the end of the season they're also by far the worst of the teams that survived. The only other candidates are Sunderland and they lost 3-0 at home to them. Might be a tiredness thing because they had a good Europa League run, but they could also lose a few key players this summer with Coloccini homesick and Cabaye and Ben Arfa regularly linked with better clubs.

I think they're serious relegation candidates. It's really common for teams on a bad run at the end of one season to carry that form into the next. They're stuck with the same manager and they already signed a lot of players in January so it's hard to see what they can change. They can't attack, defend or pass and the team doesn't give the impression of any kind of cohesion. They're in a properly bad state.

 

[sledger]

I've often wondered if a lot of their problems stem from the fact that Papiss Cisse just isn't a good fit for the style of football they play (or at least try to play). They seemed a lot more fluent and effective when they just had Demba Ba up front on his own.

 

[MW1304]

The above are all fair points but with this same team, and probably a worse squad, we were challenging for the Champions League. It is such a drastic turnaround in such a short space of time. Really the hope is that something will click, players like Tiote and Ben Arfa get back to somewhere near top form, and we learn how to play as a team again. Sledger makes a good point about Demba - ultimately it was his goals that got us the points. We don't seem as confident or as slick without him.

 

[Jarquis]

Don't see how Arsenal's option of first refusal on Fabregas wouldn't be a stumbling block. Also the matter of a 50% sell on clause so we'd only need to match half of United's bid.

10 goals and 11 assists this season. His problems for Barca are so overstated.

 

[The Sean]

Don't see how Arsenal's option of first refusal on Fabregas wouldn't be a stumbling block. Also the matter of a 50% sell on clause so we'd only need to match half of United's bid.

10 goals and 11 assists this season. His problems for Barca are so overstated.

Agree - he's still absolute class. I also can't believe Arsenal won't exercise the first refusal option. I've read though that the 50% sell-on clause is a myth, and has never been confirmed.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't really understand the details of Arsenal's first refusal option. If Fabregas wants to go to United, United want to buy him and Barca want to sell him, does it give Arsenal any right to stop it from happening?

The above are all fair points but with this same team, and probably a worse squad, we were challenging for the Champions League. It is such a drastic turnaround in such a short space of time. Really the hope is that something will click, players like Tiote and Ben Arfa get back to somewhere near top form, and we learn how to play as a team again. Sledger makes a good point about Demba - ultimately it was his goals that got us the points. We don't seem as confident or as slick without him.

Yeah, it's really odd how badly the team has declined from the side that almost made the top four. Demba's obviously a huge loss but he hardly explains the entire collapse. I suppose Tiote and Cisse were always going to decline a lot after last season, but even so.

Regardless of what caused it, the sheer level of dire they've sunk to has to be a major cause for concern. 0-3 at home to Sunderland, 0-6 at home to Liverpool- these aren't normal performances that you get from a team without major problems. It reminds me of Bolton towards the end of 2011, when a team that had been in the top seven fell apart completely and lost 5-0 to Stoke in that cup semi. They went down the year after and I can honestly see the same happening to you guys.

 

[sledger]

I don't really understand the details of Arsenal's first refusal option. If Fabregas wants to go to United, United want to buy him and Barca want to sell him, does it give Arsenal any right to stop it from happening?

None whatsoever. Would just mean that Barcelona couldn't stop him from joining Arsenal if Arsenal offered whatever the agreed price is.