2011/2012 English Premier League thread

[d_phaneuf]

tape delay though, so it's still in the stone ages

most people who would be interested in the game will have all ready seen it or know the score

[valo403]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

tape delay though, so it's still in the stone ages

most people who would be interested in the game will have all ready seen it or know the score

Sure, but those aren't the people that this is about. This puts the EPL in front of they eyes of people who don't particularly care, at elast not enough to dish out for Fox Soccer. This is a massive development.

Heck, I do care and I might hold off watching the United-Chelsea game until the rebraoadcast just to allow the hangover to shift into drunk again before the game starts.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Addick

It might not be a fun question to answer but here's one: Who's a bigger twat, Nasri or Modric?

Modric, he just signed a long term contract not even a year ago and committed to Spurs for the long term. Yet once the first big money offer came in he wanted out.

At least with Nasri he was heading into the final year of his contract, he wanted to renew a longer term contract and Arsenal didn't want to give him the money. City came in offering big money and you couldn't really blame him for wanting to leave when Arsenal wasn't willing to offer him anything close.

[Coys1882]

The agents are ruining the game imo. They get such a huge cut of the transfer fees that having a player move every couple years in more in their best interest than the players.

[d_phaneuf]

I really don't see a problem with what Nasri did

He didn't drag the team along, he basically told the team what he wanted to be paid (because he had been tapped up) and they wouldn't match it, so he told them he was leaving

he could have dragged them along and left for free, but he told them he was going to leave

his situation is more of an issue with the state of the game than with him personally

[Locke]

Nasri just wanted an abscene amount of money for his level of play. He wanted to get paid like the big boys in the £150k+ club and Arsenal have a wage structure and wouldnt deviate. City will pay water fowl over £150k a week, just because they can.

Modric is under contract and wanted to leave for the money after committing long term.

Some news and notes from the transfer window:

Craig Bellamy:

Bellamy played for hometown club Cardiff City in the Championship last season and after being frozen out by City boss Roberto Mancini, the pacy Wales forward is desperate to play regular, top-flight football again.

"I get this opportunity again for Liverpool fans to hopefully see a real good side of me on a playing level," Bellamy said. "I know what I have to do to play in this team, so this should be a good time. I can play on either wing as well, like I did at Manchester City.

Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli was delighted to welcome Bellamy back to the club, saying: "What we really liked is the fact he is so versatile. He can play wide, he can play up front, he can play off the target man, so he is an ideal complement to the squad we have built during the summer.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...lglish?cc=5901

Hes a versatile player, so he might get more minutes than we might think but 'regular' playing time might be a bit of a stretch.


Joey Barton telling us all things we already know.

"Nice to see MA [Ashley] and DL [Llambias] come through with their promise to reinvest AC [Andy] money, 59m net profit from transfers in last 5 seasons.....ambition???" Barton wrote.

"... feel sorry for Geordie nation, them 2 nuggets don't deserve that club or it's following. Am sure they think people r stupid."

He later went on to predict that former team-mates Chieck Tiote, Tim Krul, Jonas Gutierrez and Fabricio Coloccinii are all at risk of being sold.

Barton originally got himself in hot water last month when he slammed the Magpies' hierarchy on Twitter.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...nsfers?cc=5901

The promise to spend the Andy Carroll money was hollow before it ever even left Ashley's lips.


'Arry Redknapp inexplicably frustrated....

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has expressed his frustration at missing out on signing Gary Cahill, highlighting Bolton's valuation of the defender as the key stumbling block.

"The bottom line is, we don't have to be taking poor offers," Coyle said on Tuesday. "I would probably want more for Gary than would be accepted but it still has to be a good offer. I think Gary could play for anybody, so my valuation would be higher than anybody's."

Asked whether the Cahill transfer fell through because of the valuation, Redknapp said: "Yes, more or less. That was the problem and in the end the deal was just a bit too difficult to do. We would have liked him.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ntment?cc=5901

Spurs sold Crouch (£10M), Palacios (£8M) and Hutton, loaned out Jenas and Bentley and brought in Parker. How much could Bolton have been demanding for Cahill that they couldnt pay? Or, rather, wouldnt pay?

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

tape delay though, so it's still in the stone ages

most people who would be interested in the game will have all ready seen it or know the score

true, but it's still better than Matlock or informercials or whatever they show when they don't have an NFL doubleheader

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

'Arry Redknapp inexplicably frustrated....

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ntment?cc=5901

Spurs sold Crouch (£10M), Palacios (£8M) and Hutton, loaned out Jenas and Bentley and brought in Parker. How much could Bolton have been demanding for Cahill that they couldnt pay? Or, rather, wouldnt pay?

They offered 12m

which for a player who they could sign for free in 6 months isn't bad

I wouldn't have paid much more than that, when the team is fit he isn't an upgrade over a partnership of Gallas/King, King/Dawson, or Gallas/Dawson

Dawson struggles without those two because playing with Kaboul neither have pace so Cahill would help there, but in reality he still would have been 3rd/4th choice.

Would rather wait a year and sign someone like Shawcross or Kjaar

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

They offered 12m

which for a player who they could sign for free in 6 months isn't bad

I wouldn't have paid much more than that, when the team is fit he isn't an upgrade over a partnership of Gallas/King, King/Dawson, or Gallas/Dawson

Dawson struggles without those two because playing with Kaboul neither have pace so Cahill would help there, but in reality he still would have been 3rd/4th choice.

Would rather wait a year and sign someone like Shawcross or Kjaar

I'll disagree with you on one point, Cahill is a huge upgrade over Gallas and in many ways an upgrade even on King.

I wouldnt say that Cahill is better than King, but Cahill plays every week. King is very good, but hes also injured more often than Joe Cole. Hes verging on Owen Hargreaves territory.

And Gallas isnt good. At all. Hes old, often injured, and doesnt even pretend to be interested in anything in the air.

In my opinion Cahill would have become your second go-to CB.

And, while I'll agree that £12M seems a fair offer, or even a decent starting point, they couldnt have been that far apart in the negotiations. I cant see anything more than £15M personally.

I guess its just part and parcel of being one of the big English clubs, the precedent has been set that the smaller clubs have to develop players and then sell them for a fortune in order to maintain their status as a going concern.

You gotta pay to play.

[mac_82]

Nice team by team breakdown here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14746094.stm

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'll disagree with you on one point, Cahill is a huge upgrade over Gallas and in many ways an upgrade even on King.

I wouldnt say that Cahill is better than King, but Cahill plays every week. King is very good, but hes also injured more often than Joe Cole. Hes verging on Owen Hargreaves territory.

And Gallas isnt good. At all. Hes old, often injured, and doesnt even pretend to be interested in anything in the air.

In my opinion Cahill would have become your second go-to CB.

And, while I'll agree that £12M seems a fair offer, or even a decent starting point, they couldnt have been that far apart in the negotiations. I cant see anything more than £15M personally.

I guess its just part and parcel of being one of the big English clubs, the precedent has been set that the smaller clubs have to develop players and then sell them for a fortune in order to maintain their status as a going concern.

You gotta pay to play.

you didn't watch Gallas much last year then

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

you didn't watch Gallas much last year then

Ah, the always useless and irrelevent 'you dont watch' argument. I love this one.

When should I have been watching him exactly?

I do know that so far he hasnt featured at all, whats his injury this time?

[d_phaneuf]

I wasn't trying to show you up or anything

But Gallas was excellent last season, most of the end of the year stuff in places like the bbc and guardian had him as their best CB by far and one of the signings of the season and said that Arsenal would have been a much better team if someone of his quality had been at the club

he has been injured this year should be back soon, he played I think 30 games last year in the league

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ah, the always useless and irrelevent 'you dont watch' argument. I love this one.

When should I have been watching him exactly?

I do know that so far he hasnt featured at all, whats his injury this time?

I thought Gallas was our best defender last year. He's hurt right now, but I think we'll be fine once he gets back into shape.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

I wasn't trying to show you up or anything

But Gallas was excellent last season, most of the end of the year stuff in places like the bbc and guardian had him as their best CB by far and one of the signings of the season and said that Arsenal would have been a much better team if someone of his quality had been at the club

he has been injured this year should be back soon, he played I think 30 games last year in the league

Fair enough.

I'd just think that landing a guy like Cahill, young but experienced England international could be the guy moving forward. You could realitically be looking at a Dawson/Cahill CB pairing.

The games where I watched Gallas I noticed that his weakness tended to be in the air.

Heres an interesting rumour that might upset the Arsenal fans:

French champions Lille have denied reports that Liverpool received first option on highly-rated forward Eden Hazard as part of Joe Cole's loan move to the French club.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...hazard?cc=5901

I dont believe they'd have given Liverpool that option, but its interesting that its out there somewhere.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I thought Gallas was our best defender last year. He's hurt right now, but I think we'll be fine once he gets back into shape.

What happened to him? When did he get injured?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Locke

Fair enough.

I'd just think that landing a guy like Cahill, young but experienced England international could be the guy moving forward. You could realitically be looking at a Dawson/Cahill CB pairing.

True, but I'm glad they didn't overpay. I think if Spurs can get and stay healthy at the back (a big if) they have a really good shot at finishing top 4.

[d_phaneuf]

they have Steven Caulker to come in next year as well, who is very highly touted as a Future England CB and is playing well on loan at Swansea this year

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Locke

What happened to him? When did he get injured?

Not sure when exactly, but it's some kind of calf problem. He should be back within a couple weeks.

[Locke]

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Blackburn Rovers defender Michel Salgado has lifted the lid on the infamous Venky's chicken TV ad by admitting he had to pretend to like his paymasters' product.

He told Four Four Two: "When we found out that Blackburn's owners wanted ten of us to do an advert for Venky's, we didn't really know what to think. I had to pretend to love it but the truth is, one bite and my stomach was in knots!

"Over the years I've done lots of endorsements and adverts. If it's on behalf of the club you can't say no - contracts usually stipulate that you have to be available. And although it might look a bizarre advert from an English or Spanish point of view, it was for the Indian market, which means taking a different approach.

"We had to wait ages for them to prepare the food while the acting skills were bad and the jokes even worse. You try to put each other off and ruin takes and you're rolling about. I think I came off worst. I'm not a big fan of spices and sauces. Curry is not something that the Spanish are used to."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...orment?cc=5901

Evidently their vile 'chicken' swill made him sick. I think its hilarious.