Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Marc Overmars]

Well finally, some truth in the papers...

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/footb...-moves-heat-up

So much truth.

Defenders are for cowards, by the way.

Amazing how articles like that are given the green light to print!

[I am invisible]

Amazing how articles like that are given the green light to print!

There's enough idiots out there who will respond to it, even if it's rival fans taking the piss.

And then there's the secondary set of articles it will generate in a week's time when we somehow don't manage to sign Cavani, Reus and Khedira in one hit - "Arsenal FAIL in Cavani bid", "Chelsea to BEAT Arsenal to top target", and so forth. I'm just looking forward to the inevitable backlash from our own fans when nothing comes of it...

[Dein-machine]

I'm still not sure what to make of Sanogo really? I can't see him ever being a brilliant finisher, but then again, if he can keep doing what he did against Benfica (i.e. make the right runs, and be in the right place to bundle the ball over the line, however he can) then he could still be effective for us? It may not be particularly pleasing on the eye, but I could probably make my peace with that if he was getting a respectable number of scrappy goals and tap-ins (and, with the players we have, he'll probably be spoon-fed cut-backs and tap-ins all game long). I'd maybe get him working on his hold-up / link-up play more than his finishing at the moment - as I said, I can't see him ever mastering any great technique in that department, so I'd rather he just stick to trying to pass the ball into the net, and not get himself in a mess trying to arrow it into the corners at 100mph (incidentally, this is where I thought Adebayeeyore used to go wrong - when was fine when he stuck to simple side-foot finishes, but the second his ego took over, and started to believe he was a proper finisher, the ball usually ended up in the stands somewhere)...

Sonogo needs to go out on loan to see if he has what it takes. This year we will be competing in the PL with the likes of Sturrigdge, Costa, Aguero, RVP, Rooney, in the CL it could be Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Suarez, Lewandowski, Neymar etc. We cannot compete using Wumger's philosophy of buying raw talent & making it better - not any more. I'm hoping signings like Ozil & Sanchez show that Wumger now realizes this. Chelsea bought a number of highly rated youngsters & sent them abroad on loan whilst allowing their tried & tested to get the required results every week. They have experienced good football & training and if you look at Courtois, they have saved themselves £20 mill+ trying to buy a replacement for Cech. Joel Campbell shows that we can do it also, playing for us at the moment with the expectations levels where they are could ruin him.

[I am invisible]

Save £51 mill & just go for Reus & Khedira

Hey, I thought you wanted a proper CF?

I agree though - I don't think Cavani is a £50m+ player. A very good striker, yes, but not in that super-elite level (although it would almost be worth doing it and paying the extra money just to f--k Man U over with their move for Di Maria. Man U )...

[Dein-machine]

Hey, I thought you wanted a proper CF?

I agree though - I don't think Cavani is a £50m+ player. A very good striker, yes, but not in that super-elite level (although it would almost be worth doing it and paying the extra money just to f--k Man U over with their move for Di Maria. Man U )...

Your right, I do but I'm also realistic about how much money we actually have & there's no way I'd pay £50+ mill for Cavani. If we could start the season with Sanchez up top with Reus & Walcott playing as attacking midfielders backed up by Khedira, Rambo & Ozil I don't think that would be too shabby.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Your right, I do but I'm also realistic about how much money we actually have & there's no way I'd pay £50+ mill for Cavani. If we could start the season with Sanchez up top with Reus & Walcott playing as attacking midfielders backed up by Khedira, Rambo & Ozil I don't think that would be too shabby.

and have the exact same problem as we did last season with no defensive midfielder? Interesting

[Dein-machine]

and have the exact same problem as we did last season with no defensive midfielder? Interesting

khedira is the defensive midfielder

[Ollie the Optimist]

khedira is the defensive midfielder

apart from he isn't a defensive midfielder. He's like Ramsey, box to box. He won't sit back and protect the back four.

[I am invisible]

Sonogo needs to go out on loan to see if he has what it takes. This year we will be competing in the PL with the likes of Sturrigdge, Costa, Aguero, RVP, Rooney, in the CL it could be Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Suarez, Lewandowski, Neymar etc. We cannot compete using Wumger's philosophy of buying raw talent & making it better - not any more. I'm hoping signings like Ozil & Sanchez show that Wumger now realizes this. Chelsea bought a number of highly rated youngsters & sent them abroad on loan whilst allowing their tried & tested to get the required results every week. They have experienced good football & training and if you look at Courtois, they have saved themselves £20 mill+ trying to buy a replacement for Cech. Joel Campbell shows that we can do it also, playing for us at the moment with the expectations levels where they are could ruin him.

I'm not opposed to that either [sending Sanogo out on loan], if we can bring someone else in - not much point in shedding numbers if we can't find another CF, but I certainly hope we don't use Sanogo as a reason not to even look.

I do agree that we could improve on Giroud (and certainly Sanogo), and it's something we should absolutely try to do if we can find someone good enough, but I don't think it's quite as simple as just comparing our CF options to those of our rivals and saying we're miles behind - as others have said, the attack is made up of more than one position, and we don't all use the same formations and systems, so direct comparisons aren't actually that helpful. Man U, for example, have a lot of more traditional wide players and midfielders who don't really do too much more than supply the CFs, so they kind of need a 30-goal-a-season man in middle to shoulder most of the goal-scoring burden; we, on the other hand, have a bunch of players like Sanchez, Walcott and Ramsey in the areas around the CF who all have the potential to get 20 goals each, so a less prolific target man like Giroud, who is a little bit more about the hold-up and link-up play, is actually more use to us then it would be to them. Sure, it would be great if we had someone who could do that AND be capable of smashing in 30 goals, but I don't think we're as far away from our rivals in an attacking sense as it looks if you only go by the CFs...

[Dein-machine]

apart from he isn't a defensive midfielder. He's like Ramsey, box to box. He won't sit back and protect the back four.

Erm - evey player profile for him shows him as defensive midfielder, every newspaper & web site that has inked him with us has been with regards to him being a defensive midfielder - where have you been - if he was an attacking midfielder everyone would have been slagging us off for going for another similar player.
Defensive midfielders can get forward you know, you'll often find Flamini in & around the box when he's playing but when we don't have the ball their job is to protect the back 4.
Also, you haven't responded on your comments on how Liverpool have spent £230 mill since 2010 & how that is relevant when I told you we have spent £228 mill in the same time.