Awesome Animals
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It's alright, we have a Dash 2.0 here
Who?
It's alright, we have a Dash 2.0 here
The Blackburn pre-match Venkys chicken is still the most embarrassing football video of recent times.
Who?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybo3UosI8Do
"You are playing for Chelsea now" sounds a bit sinister.
The whole commercial seems like a bad dream.
Well the video itself was embarrassing. But this is the biggest club in the world. Pretty funny to have Marcelo telling their fans "to be his skill" *looks up* ahead of such a massive game.
Cristiano Ronaldo: "Berlusconi says he dreams about me, but I'm happy here. I dream as well, but not about football, about other things..."
Brilliant!
Petrucci has been looking very sharp lately. It's a shame about all the terrible injuries he's had which will have definitely stunted his development. I hear he's out of contract in the summer as the club didn't renew whilst he had so many injury issues. Hopefully his promising form recently sees his contract extended because I think he could actually make the step up to the fringes of the first team next season if he gets a good pre-season in.From watching a stack of reserves stuff, it will hopefully be time for Petrucci's loan period/Carling Cup games next season.
well berlusconi is pretty sexy, hard to resistCristiano Ronaldo: "Berlusconi says he dreams about me, but I'm happy here. I dream as well, but not about football, about other things..."
Plz Fergie. Plz. Don't want Hazard, do want M'Vila.
Hazard's obviously talented but I'm not interested in him at all for United. We don't need him Generally our attacking options are very good and scoring goals or even creating goals isn't a problem for us. Need to invest in that CM and defence. No need to bust anything above £20m on Hazard when our budget is tight as it is. Ditto Gotze.Hazard will go for mind-numbingly silly money. If he goes at all. Probably sit and take the piss for another season.
Cristiano Ronaldo: "Berlusconi says he dreams about me, but I'm happy here. I dream as well, but not about football, about other things..."
Boy am I sick of hearing that.I have a lot of dreams but not about football. If Berlusconi has a dream, I respect that, but I'm happy here. The Italian league is not the way I like to play, although there are great clubs and great players. Nobody knows what will happen in the future."
Edit- Also gutted to hear Anderson is out for the season. He desperately needs a run of games and fitness, it seems every few weeks he's out for another couple of months. Feel for him.
The other issue is whether this money was wisely spent or wasted. Although some solid purchases were undoubtedly made (James Milner, Ashley Young), far too many of ONeills recruits were of the journeyman variety. It is difficult to argue that players like Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell, Curtis Davies, Zat Knight, Luke Young, Habib Beye and Emile Heskey made any sort of meaningful contribution. The high wages paid to this dross not only hurt the club directly, but also caused problems when the club tried to offload them: either they were sold at much reduced prices or they have proved impossible to shift.
Starting from 2008, when ONeill spent an astonishing £45 million, only three clubs have spent more: Manchester City and Chelsea (obviously) plus Stoke City. In other words, over this period Villa have significantly outspent clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham with precious little to show for it.
Lets consider what that means: United earn £240 million more revenue than Aston Villa every season. That is a major competitive disadvantage. Although Villas revenue may be fairly described as being best of the rest, they will always struggle to break through footballs version of the glass ceiling. As McLeish admitted, We cant compete with the super clubs, there is no doubt about it.
On the other hand, these figures do suggest that they should be doing an awful lot better than languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League.
No, what has really damaged the English games competitive balance (at the top end) is the money available to clubs that regularly play in the lucrative Champions League, as can be seen by the graph above. Last season the four English clubs in Europes flagship competition (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham) received an average of £35 million, which makes a considerable difference to their budgets, but has hurt the like of Villa and Everton.
The Europa League provides scant consolation with Liverpool and Manchester City only earning £5 million apiece in return for their strenuous efforts.
Although the revenue growth has been more than acceptable, the problem is that it pales into insignificance compared to the explosion in the wage bill from £23 million in 2007 to £83 million in 2011, leading to a rise (deterioration) in the wages to turnover ratio from 60% to a worrying 91%. That is significantly higher than the 70% upper limit recommended by UEFA and is the third highest in the Premier League, only beaten by big-spending Manchester City 114% and Bolton Wanderers 92%.
However, Villa fans will have noted that their wage bill is only £8 million less than Tottenham, who have enjoyed far more success recently, including qualification for the Champions League. As if that were not bad enough, Everton and Fulham both managed to finish ahead of Villa in last seasons Premier League, despite the fact that their wage bill is £25 million smaller.
This would back up Lerners assertion that he does not really consider the money that Villa owe him as debt at all, but as a form of capital investment. Indeed, most years Lerner matches the increase in loans with a similar amount injected as capital, so his total funding since he acquired the club had climbed to £230 million by May 2011 (loans £109.5 million plus £120.5 million capital), including £25 million last season alone, split evenly between debt and capital.
Where does Hazard even play? Do we really need another winger?
We didn't even need Young. We need steel and craft in the middle. Modric/M'Vila/Martinez/Diaby.
We didn't even need Young. We need steel and craft in the middle. Modric/M'Vila/Martinez/Diaby.
Nah, we needed a winger and hindsight bears that out. Whether Young was the right winger remains to be seen.
I didn't want Young, a winger would have been fine but for the price we paid and his quality and age, it was a stupid signing.
I didn't want Young, a winger would have been fine but for the price we paid and his quality and age, it was astupidEnglish signing.
He's not amazing, but £15 mill. for a versatile winger who has managed 6 goals and 9 assists in 27 games in their first season isn't appalling business.
Two goals and three assists against Arsenal in an 8-2 win though makes it 4 goals and 6 assists in 26 games; he's not as bad as I've made out so far but I'm really not a fan. Suppose there's worse options.
We need at least one, maybe two centre midfielders next season though; if Scholes goes and Anderson stays eternally crocked, Carrick, Cleverley and Pogba are nowhere near enough. We need a decent back up and a fantastic marquee signing.
Fabio needs to step up as well.
I don't know if that is a fair statement. You shouldn't take out a player's goal and assist tally just because it wasn't as impactful to the game.
I'm not disputing his influence on that game, it's just skewed a bit. Like Berba last season, played 30 odd games and scores 20 goals, but 8 of them came in two games. I'll love him for it but it doesn't necessarily reflect his full contribution
rather have valencia, nani playing over him anyday. even park can run around closing people down against teams like arsenalHe's not amazing, but £15 mill. for a versatile winger who has managed 6 goals and 9 assists in 27 games in their first season isn't appalling business.
So what's the rivalry like between Liverpool and Everton? I know Everton hasn't won at Anfield in awhle but are these guys kind of neutral towards each other or is it gonna be tense?
I'm pretty sure they did something similar last season too.
The Rennes manager has said Yann M'Vila will be leaving Rennes this summer. Plz Fergie. Plz. Don't want Hazard, do want M'Vila.
Petrucci has been looking very sharp lately. It's a shame about all the terrible injuries he's had which will have definitely stunted his development. I hear he's out of contract in the summer as the club didn't renew whilst he had so many injury issues. Hopefully his promising form recently sees his contract extended because I think he could actually make the step up to the fringes of the first team next season if he gets a good pre-season in.
So what's the rivalry like between Liverpool and Everton? I know Everton hasn't won at Anfield in awhle but are these guys kind of neutral towards each other or is it gonna be tense?
So what's the rivalry like between Liverpool and Everton? I know Everton hasn't won at Anfield in awhle but are these guys kind of neutral towards each other or is it gonna be tense?
So what's the rivalry like between Liverpool and Everton? I know Everton hasn't won at Anfield in awhle but are these guys kind of neutral towards each other or is it gonna be tense?