*Official* English Football Season 2010-11

[Jarquis]

Just when I thought we were bundling Almunia out the door in a brown paper bag, he captains us for the first half yesterday

Slightly better news is that Gazidis spent 2 days in Germany on "player business". Will happily take Mertesacker. Possibly better options out there, but I'm a fan.

 

[Nate]

Haha, love Almunia.

Despite all their splurging, City still need to buy some decent defenders imo.

 

[Jarquis]

Need to find room for them in their 25.

 

[Cevno]

Slightly better news is that Gazidis spent 2 days in Germany on "player business". Will happily take Mertesacker. Possibly better options out there, but I'm a fan.

Ozil if you sell Fabregas would be a great fit for Arsenal . And if you want a centreback then i think you should rather go for friedrich for germany rather than Mertesacker.
Though should have signed Kjaer when he was available.


Ozil is probably available for anything upto 20 million with one year left on his contract and breakdown of talks on a new contract.
He fits in so well at united ,that not going in for him is bewildering to say the least for a position we clearly lack in. Specially when Gill says this-

United happy to spend big - Manchester Evening News


“The money is there if we believe there is a player who can improve what we believe is a very good squad,” he said. “The team has been together for a number of years and done very well. In order to improve it a player has to be of a very high quality.”

“We are always looking at players,” he said. “We are looking 365 days a year – it doesn’t just start when the transfer window opens.

“We are looking at it. We studied a lot of players at the World Cup, but we knew about a lot of them before that.

“Over all I think Sir Alex is very comfortable with the squad composition. That’s not to say something won’t happen, but I think it is a ‘might’, not a ‘will’.

“We will see what happens over the next six weeks.”

 

[Cevno]

Haha, love Almunia.

Despite all their splurging, City still need to buy some decent defenders imo.

They signed Kolarov as left back and will end up signing David Luis from Benfica probably who is a great prospect for 25 to 28 million pounds.

They can also play Yaya Toure at the back if the need be.

 

[Nate]

They signed Kolarov as left back and will end up signing David Luis from Benfica probably who is a great prospect for 25 to 28 million pounds.

They can also play Yaya Toure at the back if the need be.

1.5 out of 4 then.

They're stupid if they play Yaya at the back imo.

 

[Ikki]

Ikki and friends, please get your garbage spamming out of this thread and in CC where it belongs.


You say it like it's a disaster. He's not the worst buy for us right now, and we didn't pay much for him. You're sounding more and more like a Liverpool follower rather than a Liverpool supporter.

So, so pleased with how Hodgson and co are operating in the off-season. Loving it.

Actually, no the transfer makes sense. This is probably the first transfer he's clearly responsible for. Riera, Benayoun and Insua going were out of his hands. Jovanovic had all but officially joined before, even Wilson was being tapped up with Rafa. Hard to believe Cole transfer had much to do with him since Roy had been at the club less than 3 weeks when it happened but this transfer might be the first that he's known from, from start to finish.

 

[Furball]

Hard to believe Cole transfer had much to do with him since Roy had been at the club less than 3 weeks when it happened but this transfer might be the first that he's known from, from start to finish.

Yeah, there's absolutely no way that Hodgson would have known about Joe Cole's ability or the fact that he was available on a Bosman before he took the job.

 

[Furball]

Ozil if you sell Fabregas would be a great fit for Arsenal . And if you want a centreback then i think you should rather go for friedrich for germany rather than Mertesacker.
Though should have signed Kjaer when he was available.


Ozil is probably available for anything upto 20 million with one year left on his contract and breakdown of talks on a new contract.
He fits in so well at united ,that not going in for him is bewildering to say the least for a position we clearly lack in. Specially when Gill says this-

United happy to spend big - Manchester Evening News


“The money is there if we believe there is a player who can improve what we believe is a very good squad,” he said. “The team has been together for a number of years and done very well. In order to improve it a player has to be of a very high quality.”

“We are always looking at players,” he said. “We are looking 365 days a year – it doesn’t just start when the transfer window opens.

“We are looking at it. We studied a lot of players at the World Cup, but we knew about a lot of them before that.

“Over all I think Sir Alex is very comfortable with the squad composition. That’s not to say something won’t happen, but I think it is a ‘might’, not a ‘will’.

“We will see what happens over the next six weeks.”

I'm not convinced Ozil would be a particularly good fit for any Premiership club to be honest, given that the major weakness in his game is actually when he's on the ball.

His movement, awareness and vision are all incredible for someone so young, but his actual ability with the ball doesn't quite yet match up with his mental abilities - at times his touch and his passing can be quite poor, and at the moment he's extremely one-footed.

Given that the Premiership is played at 100mph and is notoriously more physical than other leagues, I'm not convinced that a move to the Premiership is in his best interests right now. For £12m or so, it's a reasonably priced gamble (particularly when James Milner might move for double that), but I think he'd fit into a Real Madrid or a Barcelona far easier than he would at Man Utd or Arsenal.

 

[cpr]

As much as it pains me to say...they're going to win it eventually and they are going to be a power. Getting in the top 4 these days is also riddled with problems for us. I think United have been set up much better even though IMO we have the better first XI (as it stands).

Nah, only take one more oil slick, this time in the middle east not the US, and thats them over and done with (OK, not gonna happen on that scale, as the drilling isnt undersea's like the BP one)

Either way, don't think city have the team to win the league, its going to take time to gel, skill to massage such ego's, and the maintain a squad within the limits now imposed.... Don't think they can do it, especially with the British quotant needed, as most of the fringe Brits are being linked with moves.

Also the financial limitations UEFA plan to impose on clubs competing in Europe, thats going to hit them hard, as most of their revenue is on player wages, and they make a loss each year (written off by the owners, but UEFA wont allow that..... only ones written off by the Spanish government


The usual top 4 for me, Liverpool back in. Thats my bold prediction!

 

[Jarquis]

Surely City can just use reserve/youth to satisfy their home grown quotient or whatever, seeing as if they're U21 they don't count to the size of the squad?

 

[cpr]

Yeah, but they don't count towards the quota IIRC, need 8 of their 25 registered i thought, otherwise clubs would not bother with british players, saying their youth team counts instead...... Not really been arsed to look into it too much.

 

[Jarquis]

Yeah, it's 8 of the registered 25.

City have 38 first team players, 5 of which are under 21. Meaning 33 players of which he can register 25. So 8 players are missing out as it stands.

 

[GIMH]

It's not actually British, though, is it, but rather 'homegrown', right? So clubs like Liverpool & Arsenal who develop a lot of foreign talent have these count towards their quota, e.g. Fabregas?

 

[Jarquis]

Yup, hadn't actually realised cpr said British. Home grown = trained at club for 3 seasons before the age of 21 iirc.

Also, where's GF?

 

[Furball]

Watching Braga tear Celtic apart on a dodgy stream.

edit: also sitting with my feet up, damaged my knee ligaments playing 5s last night

 

[Jarquis]

Thought you might be

 

[cpr]

yeah, homegrown, so City can count Ireland if he stays....

Though Given, he wouldn't count for them would he, as they didn't bring him through, despite playing his entire career in England?? Was debating it at work today.

Can see alot of keepers being out of work, as clubs will only really want 2 keepers in the 25, with the option of using a u21 for no 3.....

 

[Furball]

yeah, homegrown, so City can count Ireland if he stays....

Though Given, he wouldn't count for them would he, as they didn't bring him through, despite playing his entire career in England?? Was debating it at work today.

Can see alot of keepers being out of work, as clubs will only really want 2 keepers in the 25, with the option of using a u21 for no 3.....

Given counts. If anything the new ruling will push prices for half decent young English players to an even more insane level.

 

[Furball]

Thought you might be

Hopefully Sky Sports News will have some highlights of the game, the third was a great free kick from 35 yards.