Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:27 pm  

Anelka's got an 18 match ban from the French national team. If only Terry, Lampard and Cole would get bans like that. Evra's got a 5 match ban.

Ozil's signed for Real Madrid.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:32 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

Ozil's signed for Real Madrid.

Silly move, very silly move.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:48 pm  

Robbie Rotten wrote:

Silly move, very silly move.

Career suicide(Unless they sell Kaka)

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:52 pm  

ash4hullfc wrote:

I was there in person too, plenty from us.

Signed from Pompey in January. Did well considering it was his PL debut, needs to cut out the errors though. Generally a solid player and did well last night but should only be on the bench when everybody is fit. The midfield is the big problem, as it was when we went down. Barton will come good with more game time. Smith won't be in the team when Guthrie is fit and rightly so, he's terrible. Nolan now suddenly plays as a striker, nevermind in the hole. If we manage to sign Ben Arfa, Nolan simply has to be dropped for him which would improve us massively. We've been linked with Leroy Fer too and whilst I don't think that one will come off, if we managed to sign them both I believe it would be enough to see us stay up with a little in hand.

Darron Gibson would be a good move on loan? I was impressed with Nani and Fletch last night. Fletch get's better each year and is one of the best midfielders in europe for me.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:54 pm  

Mark wrote:

Darron Gibson would be a good move on loan? I was impressed with Nani and Fletch last night. Fletch get's better each year and is one of the best midfielders in europe for me.

Would take Gibson in an instant, rate him very highly and would be a huge upgrade on what we have. Would Fergie let him out on loan though? Would also have liked Cleverley but there'd be no point signing him if we manage to get Ben Arfa in.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:05 pm  

These scousers never stop. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... senal.html

These scousers never stop. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... senal.html

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:39 pm  

Can't see where Jose will fit Ozil in TBH. Have they just signed him to stop someone else getting there?

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:47 pm  

andym1988 wrote:

Can't see where Jose will fit Ozil in TBH. Have they just signed him to stop someone else getting there?

Kaka to Citeh for £100m. Real Madrid win La Liga. Kaka and Citeh fail to break into the top 4. Real Madrid win the CL final at Wembley. Jose stops off at Stamford Bridge to show Abramovich what the CL trophy would've looked like at Stamford Bridge.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:00 pm  

Robbie Rotten wrote:

Honestly, carl, how can you sit there and write that? Especially the all-round stuff. Reina's strongest attribute isn't even his shot stopping, but he's easily one of the best shot stoppers in the world. His best attributes are his athleticism and his distribution: he's so quick off of his line, he's rarely beat in 1v1 situations 'cause he comes out so quickly and makes himself big, he's easily the fastest goalkeeper in the league and it shows with his outstanding pace from his line, I mean, we've been able to play a 'pushed up' defence for years, but we've never had any genuine pace at the back, but that has rarely been exposed, largely due to Reina's terrific pace, he's like a sweeper; add to that, his distribution, again, is by far and out the best in the league, he is excellent at starting counter-attacks, he's solid at passing and he never has to 'punt it' down field, as he's a natural footballer, he can pass it about, something van der Sar and Friedel can't do, at least to the effect and level that Reina can.

Reina's weakest attribute is his cross-handling, whether he's a bad handler or not, I don't know, but he really struggled to 'command' the box with zonal marking, as it simply blocked him from getting to the ball with 10 of his own defenders in the box. Other than that, I'd say he's world class at every single thing, whilst I think his handling in general (ignore that fumble on the weekend, he regularly makes great saves catching the ball and so on) is top class, whilst his positioning, closing down, 1v1's and all-round ability makes him by far the most 'complete' goalkeeper in the league, if not the world.

It's the command of the box which I thought about with the all-round comment, in the same way I'd apply it to Given as his achilles heel. And the ironic thing about it is, they're probably in the league that most demands that attribute. The reason I think Friedel and Van Der Sar are better all-round keepers is because they don't have such a glaring weakness IMO. They are a little behind Reina in some things, like the athleticism and speed off the line, but none to the extent that he is behind them in commanding his area. The distribution point I can agree with whilst not particularly valuing it in a keeper. It's an added bonus if a goalkeeper can pick out long passes, but so long as they are comfortable putting their laces through the ball with either foot and can throw with decent accuracy within their own half, that's enough.

Re: Close Season Football Chat : Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:05 pm  

ash4hullfc wrote:

Like I've said, he isn't fit. He looked very quiet last night but I think a lot of that was down to Hughton not allowing him to push forward and that doesn't suit his game. He's not a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination but once he gets back into the swing of things, he'll cause plenty of right-backs in this league problems. Same goes for Routledge too, he tried hard but couldn't get anything out of Evra. Saying that though, he won't come up against many better left-backs.

Because he has done at all his previous top-flight clubs? He'll do a job and have the odd good day, but I think it's more likely that 'plenty of left-backs in this league' will have one of their more comfortable afternoons when faced with him.