Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Cripps_orig]

Ben Smith, BBC Sport
MAN UTD MISS OUT ON COENTRAO
"Just had confirmation that Manchester United's attempts to pull off an 11th hour loan move for Real Madrid's Fabio Coentrao did indeed fail.

"The first part of the paperwork was submitted to the Premier League before the 2300 BST deadline. That one page document contained a rough outline of the deal, the signature of the player and was signed off by both clubs.

"That then gave all parties an extra hour to complete the finer points of the deal. But no further attempt was made to push on with the deal and it is understood that Real Madrid backed away from the process when their attempt to recruit a replacement left back, Guilherme Siqueira from Granada, fell through because he in turn had been loaned out to Benfica."

Moyes

[AKBapologist]

There's nothing wrong with Giroud.

Unfortunately, expecting him to play every game of the season is retarded. Even at the end of the NLD he was holding his hamstrings and looked like he was about to roll over. Unless we prioritise cups (which is something we should never do imo) we're fucked.

[Cripps_orig]

H has looked better this season than last.

Even Wenger admitted his movement was better compared to last season where he hardly moved.

Jury still out but he's moving in the right direction.

Just hope the cunt isn't injured anytime soon

[Özim]

Great goal on Sunday by him, but we're definitely over reliant on him until Podolski is fit.

[Power n Glory]

Wenger will give Sanogo games and it's within Bendy's interest to play for this club. With good service, it's not beyond any of these strikers to score goals for us. We also have Theo as well.

[Syn]

Wenger will give Sanogo games and it's within Bendy's interest to play for this club. With good service, it's not beyond any of these strikers to score goals for us. We also have Theo as well.

I don't really see goals as a problem individually. Giroud - or anyone - could score 25 goals, but it still might not impress me. What's important is the overall number of goals the team scores. Already we're looking to move the ball a bit quicker now. A bit more energy in midfield with Flamini back and Ramsey playing well. And Ozil is pretty much the ultimate player to have for a counter-attacking team. But when you move the ball forward quickly from midfield to attack, you don't want it to halt to a stop with Giroud. You need players who can quickly make a pass and move. He did well not only with his goal but in his general creativity against Tottenham.

Remains to be seen whether he can keep that up. Doubts also remain about whether Walcott would consistently control the ball well enough and pick the right options. But I'd go for pace up front right now. I'd take 20 goals from the striker if it allows for good build-ups and Cazorla getting 10 more, rather than a limited selfish striker who will get 25 for himself by the work of Cazorla/Ozil but limit chances for others.

[AKBapologist]

Worried about Walcott making the right decisions?
HO HO HO HO

I'm worried about when we have to rest Walcott or when he gets injured. People are expecting him to play two positions without the expectation he won't be out for a month or too... Think about how our game plan works without Walcott or AOC...

Take him off and the opposition full backs practically sit on the edge of our box and we don't even get out of our half to be in the position for us to worry about theo walcott's decision making. It's like we've become blind to how much we've relied on him.

[Syn]

Worried about Walcott making the right decisions?
HO HO HO HO

I'm worried about when we have to rest Walcott or when he gets injured. People are expecting him to play two positions without the expectation he won't be out for a month or too... Think about how our game plan works without Walcott or AOC...

Take him off and the opposition full backs practically sit on the edge of our box and we don't even get out of our half to be in the position for us to worry about theo walcott's decision making. It's like we've become blind to how much we've relied on him.

You get far too touchy when anything remotely negative is said about Walcott. I think he's a crucial player and one of the first names on the team sheet. This is not about whether to play Walcott at all - of course he plays. But it's whether he plays up front or on the right. Doing what he's doing now is different to playing more with his back towards goal and having more decisions to make when when you have 2 sets of runners both left and right. As I said, I would still try him up front but doubts obviously remain.

[AKBapologist]

You get far too touchy when anything remotely negative is said about Walcott. I think he's a crucial player and one of the first names on the team sheet. This is not about whether to play Walcott at all - of course he plays. But it's whether he plays up front or on the right. Doing what he's doing now is different to playing more with his back towards goal and having more decisions to make when when you have 2 sets of runners both left and right. As I said, I would still try him up front but doubts obviously remain.

I have doubts about whether walcott can play as CF, but the point of the post wasn't to defend walcott, it was to describe just how ridiculous our current situation is. By the time Giroud needs resting or gets injured, Walcott will probably need resting or will get injured, there's no real way we can rotate and tactically adjust in the way you describe, it'll happen out of crisis instead of choice because we've got fuck all options.

[Penguin]

The problem with playing Theo upfront is that we have nobody to replace him on the wing. It's such bad luck to lose both Podolski and the Ox to long term injuries at the same time. We'll have to wait and see if Sanogo, Gnabry and Miyaichi can make the step up this season.