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[Lightning]

I heard Pearce picked Ramsey? Hope so! He could do with the experience and deserves it!

I really want RVP to sign that Arsenal contract so I can get me an RVP avatar. I hear the crunch talks are later this week. Come on Robin.

 

[wakajawaka]

Possible Spanish olympic football team:

PORTEROS
De Gea - M. United
Mariño - Villarreal

DEFENSAS
Montoya - Barcelona
Azpilicueta - O. Marsella
Botía - Sporting
Domínguez - Borussia M.
Victor - Valencia
Jordi Alba - Barcelona

MEDIOS
Javi Martínez - Athletic
Thiago - Barcelona
Ander Herrera - Athletic
Muniain - Athletic
Isco - Málaga
Mata - Chelsea

DELANTEROS
Adrián - Atlético
De Marcos - Athletic
Tello - Barcelona
Rodrigo - Benfica

~

 

[dc89]

I heard Pearce picked Ramsey? Hope so! He could do with the experience and deserves it!

I really want RVP to sign that Arsenal contract so I can get me an RVP avatar. I hear the crunch talks are later this week. Come on Robin.

It's reported they are this week, the last roll of the dice.

 

[Salazar]

The glamour...

Truly.

 

[dc89]

Truly.

if we weren't football fans we'd rightly accuse them of being something rather unpleasant.

 

[Ashes]

if we weren't football fans we'd rightly accuse them of being something rather unpleasant.

 

[neoanarch]

Possible Spanish olympic football team:



~

Who are the over 23 players besides Mata?

 

[Lightning]

It's reported they are this week, the last roll of the dice.

Yeah, it will be great to have it sorted one way or another at the start of the transfer window. I have read mixed views, some say he's keen to stay, others say he's keen to go. Do what he wants, just make a decision so we can get to finializing a squad.

 

[Ashes]

Who are the over 23 players besides Mata?

Thiago... and... is that Victor Ruiz?

 

[wakajawaka]

Who are the over 23 players besides Mata?

Adrián and Javi martinez, I think.

Edit: Thiago is 21, and yes, it is Victor Ruiz. He is around 23, could be one of them, though I still think it's the ones I said.

 

[Ashes]

Checks out... I'll go with your ones.

 

[Yurt]

Again with the Cavani and Suarez bullshit.

I liked this though> Prandelli sincere: “Thank you Conte…” About time they thanked him.

 

[GorillaJu]

Juve bid £8m for RvP, was it? He is 28, and in the last year of his contract, so I can see why they'd devalue him (but 8m is still really low).

"Yes I will continue at Liverpool," said Suárez. "It is obvious I will continue. I have four years left on my contract and I am very happy and content to be here and I hope good things continue."

So here's a player we signed for £23m, who has another 4 years left on his contract and isn't in any position to be asking for a move away, especially after the position he put us in with negritogate and the support and protection he got from the club during that time.

We'd demand at least £30m, and that would be in the case that he put in a transfer request, which isn't likely to happen. Where do the Italian papers go thinking that this transfer is anywhere close to happening?

 

[Salazar]

Where do the Italian papers go thinking that this transfer is anywhere close to happening?

I think the comedy typeface of Tuttosport actually tells you all you need to know.

 

[Mastadon]

I think the comedy typeface of Tuttosport actually tells you all you need to know.

May as well have used Comic Sans.

 

[GorillaJu]

That typography drives me absolutely mad.

On Suarez, just saw this on Twitter, showed up literally seconds after I posted a reply:

Brendan Rodgers: “I’ve had a brilliant chat with Luis and he’s really looking forward to being here. We’re obviously hoping we can get him (Luis) on a new contract and he’s really looking forward to the new season.”

Rodgers also stated that he’s looking to sign 3 or 4 players that will make a difference, that #LFC is an institution & praised Swansea too.

 

[Salazar]

#LFC is an institution

Hospital
Asylum
Kindergarten
Prison

The Times affirm that MUFC have asked Porto what they want for Moutinho.

And knobhead agent Nick Rubery says he has a meeting at MUFC today. Probably about Larnell Cole, Jack Rudge, Kenji Gorre, or Tom Lawrence. Nothing exciting.

I dunno if we'd want any of his other clients.

 

[GorillaJu]

Not football related but have you guys seen this?

https://twitter.com/#!/needadebitcard

Debit Card
@NeedADebitCard
Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people.

There are idiots who actually post pictures of their brand new debit cards, expiry date, name, and all. One lady even posted it on top of the letter that comes with it, with her city, state and zip code clearly visible in the background. Oh. My. God.

Football stuff:

According to Rory Smith of the Times, United has asked Porto for a price on Moutinho.

 

[Salazar]

There are idiots who actually post pictures of their brand new debit cards, expiry date, name, and all. One lady even posted it on top of the letter that comes with it, with her city, state and zip code clearly visible in the background. Oh. My. God.

I used to get muppets come up to my register when I was a checkout chap with details written down on a bit of paper, saying they didn't have their card with them but could I help them out.

Befuddling stuff, making eye-contact with someone that thick.

 

[Clegg]

Hospital
Asylum
Kindergarten
Prison

The Times affirm that MUFC have asked Porto what they want for Moutinho.

And knobhead agent Nick Rubery says he has a meeting at MUFC today. Probably about Larnell Cole, Jack Rudge, Kenji Gorre, or Tom Lawrence. Nothing exciting.

I dunno if we'd want any of his other clients.

Moutinho eh?

Shall I prepare the youtube videos?

 

[Salazar]

Shall I prepare the youtube videos?

I couldn't find any that actually brought me to the point of ecstasy.

 

[feel]

Moutinho is shit, go away.

 

[Yurt]

PSG set to bid around €13m for Verratti. Good luck with that

Juve bid £8m for RvP, was it? He is 28, and in the last year of his contract, so I can see why they'd devalue him (but 8m is still really low).



So here's a player we signed for £23m, who has another 4 years left on his contract and isn't in any position to be asking for a move away, especially after the position he put us in with negritogate and the support and protection he got from the club during that time.

We'd demand at least £30m, and that would be in the case that he put in a transfer request, which isn't likely to happen. Where do the Italian papers go thinking that this transfer is anywhere close to happening?

It was either 8 or 10m! But Arsenal denied there were any bids from us. This is more like it though, I don't want to see us a crazy amount of money on RvP.

Suarez is not happening, we've got more chance with Cavani*.

*Which currently stands at %0.05

 

[dc89]

Not football related but have you guys seen this?

https://twitter.com/#!/needadebitcard

Debit Card
@NeedADebitCard
Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people.

There are idiots who actually post pictures of their brand new debit cards, expiry date, name, and all. One lady even posted it on top of the letter that comes with it, with her city, state and zip code clearly visible in the background. Oh. My. God.

Football stuff:

According to Rory Smith of the Times, United has asked Porto for a price on Moutinho.

They are brain dead.

 

[GorillaJu]

Think RVP will be heading to City, myself. An Aguero/RVP partnership would be stupidly good - two of the smartest strikers in the game, IMO.

 

[GorillaJu]

Speaking of strikers, here's a table of European goalscorers and their relevant statistics. It was made for subscribers to a paid Liverpool fan newspaper, but Paul Tomkins recently made the data available for free.

"Games remaining" is based on the (generous) ideal of 400 top-level games per player career. The "weighted" aspect is simply that goals from the PL are weighted at a full 1 pt per goal, while lower tier leagues, such as the Eredivisie or South American leagues, are weighted slightly less. I'm fairly certain Serie A and La Liga are full 1 pt.

http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/EuropeanGoalscorersv2/PlayerBandings?:embed=y

Here's a graph showing goals scored per games played - some obvious outliers there, such as Cristiano, Messi, and Suarez. You can see, at the very young end, Fabio Borini (Roma) and John Guidetti (City) are already well ahead of the average, but their potential is still unproven and they have long careers ahead of them - who knows what could happen.

http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/EuropeanGoalscorersv2/GoalsGames?:embed=y

When all the data is put together, you get this graph, which plots out strikers based on their quality up to this point, and their predicted quality going forward - the "Liverpool link" is just for fun, I guess.

http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/EuropeanGoalscorersv2/TopQuartileDashboard?:embed=y

On Liverpool:

What was Liverpool’s strategy in summer 2011?

If Liverpool’s strategy really was to burst back into the top four this year, where did Comolli/Dalglish think the goals were going to come from? There is little data to suggest that Andy Carroll was going to be an effective Premier League goal-scorer any time soon (that’s not to say he won’t be in a few years time), beyond the five months in the lead-up to the purchase.

Lacina Traore – who, unbelievably, towers over even Peter Crouch – offers a similar profile to Carroll in terms of the theoretical number of goals they both have left to score, goals to games ratio, goals scored and league games played. The only difference between them as goal-scoring prospects, based on this analysis, is the transfer fees that their respective clubs were prepared to pay for them. Traore was bought by Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League for approximately £5m in February 2011.

From the data, it looks to me like the management team expected Luis Suarez to be grabbing the majority of our goals this season (195 league games to play, 83 Premier League goals to score and a strike rate of 0.5 goals per game makes him, in theory, a top European goal-scorer). Perhaps the departure of Fernando Torres really did catch the new management team off guard?

Strangely, the Carroll deal makes less and less sense to me the more I think about it. If we needed a ‘quick-fix’ solution until our low-cost youth strategy started yielding a return, we could have looked at players like Mario Gomez, Papiss Cisse or Lukas Podolski? Wait a second … for £35m we could have had a good go at buying at least two of them! Sorry Andy…I know it’s not your fault.

Personally, I’d feel much more positive if were we cycling through cheap unknown players (filtering out the rough diamonds) rather than going in big. It’s seemingly not good for the player, the fans or the club to recruit in this way (unless the club is filled with players of a similar value and/or has cash to burn).

AVB is back!

Greg Stobart ‏@gstobart

Andre Villas-Boas is officially the new Tottenham manager. Lunchtime announcement #THFC

 

[mocolostrocolos]

I'm a bit late to the Arcade Fire discussion, but Funeral > The Suburbs.

 

[Freewheelin']

Lloris would be a great signing for Arsenal; still pretty young. And quick too! Would be a good tutor for Chesney

 

[mocolostrocolos]

I read yesterday that Lloris was going to Liverpool.

 

[Gambit]

I thought I was done with football. Nothing would get me to invest emotionally anymore. Even the German EURO exit left me cold.

Then Bayern hires Sammer and, bam, I am back. So hyped.


Sammer lovin' had me a blast
Sammer lovin', happened so fast...

 

[Salazar]

Lloris oughta be a purchase for a club looking for a straight up replacement/transition.

 

[bjaelke]

Rodgers also stated that he’s looking to sign 3 or 4 players that will make a difference

Better get the ball rolling then. Unless he's talking Michael Owen Twitter-difference. In that case, pass.

I read yesterday that Lloris was going to Liverpool.

Arsenal and Liverpool have been linked with him.

 

[GorillaJu]

I read yesterday that Lloris was going to Liverpool.

Don't think this is likely to happen. Pepe has made noises before about wanting to move on and I wouldn't begrudge him if he wanted to, but I don't think there are any clubs better than Liverpool that need a GK and are willing to pay the amount it would cost to take him off our hands.

 

[Ushojax]

Lloris oughta be a purchase for a club looking for a straight up replacement/transition.

Spurs should really go for him. Friedel is amazing but this will be his last year, more than any of the other top sides we need a young keeper. If he's available it would be crazy not to try.

 

[Salazar]

Fabio going on loan: so who is going to play on the sides now? What on Earth is that? Fergie is mad

Rafael new contract: Hope the other twin will do the same and they will become mean twins

red devil.! Plis change your keeper with craig gordon! Plis!

Excellent.

 

[Clegg]

Rene Adler might have been a good option but he's just moved to Hamburg.

 

[Salazar]

Justified is hilarious.

 

[GorillaJu]

Check out Salazar's latest tattoo - it's all over his Facebook and Twitter. Even his mom "likes" it!

 

[Vivalaraza]

Clever Tom bites back.

Popular United blogger tweeted him this;

ROM: "Why does @tomclevz23 have to spoil himself with all this brand/website/commersialised shite? Imagine if he shared dressing room with Keane.."

Tom wasn't happy..

Cleverley: "@R_o_M i did the website when i was injured and had nothing to do. since then nothing iv done has taken my focus away from football!!!!!!"

Cleverley: "@R_o_M and the 'brand' u won't see that for years just a foundation for something later on in my career I did whilst injured. #shortcareer"

Cleverley: "Not gunna lie that touched a nerve!"

 

[Salazar]

Physique is all wrong.

Imagine if he shared dressing room with Keane.."

Something tiring about superfan wankers taking a highly idealistic view of Keane's character.

 

[GorillaJu]

Physique is all wrong.

Yeah, Kenny does look a tad stocky there, doesn't he.

 

[bjaelke]

Check out Salazar's latest tattoo - it's all over his Facebook and Twitter. Even his mom "likes" it!

I'm totally getting a B-Rod tattoo.

 

[Vivalaraza]

First day back at the office for Fergie today and by all accounts it seems he hasn't said the sort of things that can get our transfer muppet juices flowing.

Disappointment incoming.

Edit - interview is out at 6.30pm

 

[Salazar]

Ryan Giggs can play well into his forties, according to his former Manchester United team-mate Bryan Robson.

He's perfectly welcome to do so, but he should find another club.

 

[kharma45]

Hospital
Asylum
Kindergarten
Prison

The Times affirm that MUFC have asked Porto what they want for Moutinho.

And knobhead agent Nick Rubery says he has a meeting at MUFC today. Probably about Larnell Cole, Jack Rudge, Kenji Gorre, or Tom Lawrence. Nothing exciting.

I dunno if we'd want any of his other clients.

Moutinho would be a better signing for us that Modric imo.

 

[MarshMellow96]

He's perfectly welcome to do so, but he should find another club.

He's a dead cert for the 2016 games, he'll be happy to hear.

 

[Salazar]

Moutinho would be a better signing for us that Modric imo.

.

 

[Kurtofan]

Wenger doesn't want to coach the French team as well

 

[TheLucifer]

Reading how much Thiago will earn in the next five years I keep thinking that he's just a mercenary. He has to play flawlessly until 2017 if he wants to be remembered as a Legend like Maldini and Baresi (two players that never caused any trouble when it came down to contracts and wages).

I support AC Milan since '01. Glad to meet you Footy-GAF.

Oh hai! Finally a new Milan fan, I was alone in this thread. Welcome to everybody else, btw.

 

[GorillaJu]

Marsh who is that in your avatar? Been wondering for awhile.