Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!

[yoyoyo1]

Olimpia fans are already in the city and they've been trolling Atletico Mineiro hard. The final is tonight mates and Galo being down 2-0 will have a mountain to climb. Lady luck have been on their side after group phase though with two miracle wins against Tijuana and Newell's. They'll play tonight but not at their Indepedencia Stadium because of under-capacity seat ruling by Conmebol, but at our Minierão.

Sunday's the derby as well, and it'll be at the Mineirao, what could add to their misery

They've done it twice, they're not gonna do it again

 

[gho3st]

Damiao off to Zenit

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

Obviously...

 

[Liu Kang]

So close...

 

[ThaPrez]

C/S. I want someone who can deadlift a hummer, like the lads who play for Utd, Barca, Real, PSG and Juve.

We can play like Barca when we have players that good.

Powerful might be slightly the wrong word, because a degree of athleticism combined with defensive acumen is fine. Gilberto style.

But Arteta playing that role is not the answer.

One top class creative player, one guy to do what Song was supposed to but never did and we're all good.

 

[ThaPrez]

to do what? that midfield wasnt physically pushed around by anyone from February onward.

Look at our fixtures after February:

Stoke
Sunderland
Blackburn (loss)
Bayern (loss)
Spurs (loss)
Bayern (won but eliminated)
Swansea
Reading
WBA
Norwich
Everton (drew)
Fulham
Utd (drew, after they had already won the title)
QPR
Wigan
Newcastle


If we have ambitions to do anything we need to compete with City/Chelsea/Utd all season and I don’t have confidence that Arteta and Ramsey anchoring the midfield is good enough to do that.

Which actual top teams did we play apart from Spurs who beat us? Bayern was a great away performance but they were playing like a team with a 3-0 lead.

 

[mastermind]

Which actual top teams did we play apart from Spurs who beat us? Bayern was a great away performance but they were playing like a team with a 3-0 lead.

I actually meant from that Bayern match onward. For some reason I thought it was February.

I dont think defending is the problem, I think its the attack.

 

[ThaPrez]

We’re almost certainly going to buy a striker from the looks of things. So what’s the next area of the team that can be improved? With Cazorla as a very viable option in the middle, I’d be looking at the dudes behind him. If you’re gonna play Cazorla and Wilshere together at least make the third man defensively minded.

edit - defence was very very good at the end, but again, look who we played...

 

[FaygoMI]

Well either way we just got played if Gonzalo is at Napoli....... this shyt is getting old. Just go spend the money on every Brazillian still in Brazil. GO BUY SOMEONE... I wanna punch the wall, don't say you have money publicly then p*ssyfoot on using it!

 

[mastermind]

the defense was good when Vermaelen was tossed into the bushes and Ramsey was inserted.

And I dont think Santi's real position is in the center. He is better out left, imo.

 

[Roaden Polynice]

Just go spend the money on every Brazillian still in Brazil.

Wage bill would be astronomical then m8

 

[Clapsteel O'Neal]

mess of a midfield? We need a creative type, and thats it.

and dont mention that clown Fellaini.

Yes a mess, are you serious breh?

Arteta
Ramsey
Wilshere
Rosicky
Diaby ()
Etc etc

Fack off mate. None of those players are gonna win you anything or lead anything...let alone when they're all playing in one team (as reality has proven)

Wenger should've brought an above decent midfielder to ease himself into the transfer window and at least give the impression to other clubs we mean business. All these mickey mouse bids that people know aren't serious bids just makes us look like more of a joke than we are

 

[Montez]

We’re almost certainly going to buy a striker from the looks of things. So what’s the next area of the team that can be improved? With Cazorla as a very viable option in the middle, I’d be looking at the dudes behind him. If you’re gonna play Cazorla and Wilshere together at least make the third man defensively minded.

edit - defence was very very good at the end, but again, look who we played...

the defense was good whenever Vermaelen didn't play,

Fack off mate. None of those players are gonna win you anything or lead anything...let alone when they're all playing in one team (as reality has proven)

Wenger should've brought an above decent midfielder to ease himself into the transfer window and at least give the impression to other clubs we mean business. All these mickey mouse bids that people know aren't serious bids just makes us look like more of a joke than we are

So who are you going to buy for midfield?

I don't think any of our bids were Mickey Mouse just strange because we have never done this but this isn't like 2011 where we ere bidding for Gotze, M'Vila, Hazard, and Schweinsteiger in August.

 

[Yayo Toure]

how much?

 

[TTT]

If Arsenal bid for Lars Bender it shows that the midfield is clearly not adequate.They were solid at the back end of the season but the attack was blunt, i just dont see the defence holding up in the same way for a 38 game season.At the start of the season the defence had a few clean sheets and people were talking the Bould effect but that dissipated as the season wore on. This is not the 98/99 team that was built from the back that could sustain such a strategy.