Board 8 > Board 8 Football/Soccer Discussion Topic - Back to laughing at Arsenal

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I feel kinda depressed being the only guy stirring the pot here.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1075032/fernando-torres-considering-chelsea-exit?cc=4716

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eh

wait for the Euros I guess

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XIII_rocks, the cream of XIII fanboyism.

It's always quiet at season end. It's generally when we get topic purges.

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ShatteredElysium posted...
It's always quiet at season end. It's generally when we get topic purges.

good idea. we'll probably restart this at the euros.

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So, any predictions for the euros?

Germany looks a solid choice, as does Spain, but there must surely be some other candidates. I've never been entirely convinced by the Dutch team, even at the last WC but Italy and France are always a potential winner.
Given the lackluster reception of the picked squad, I take England isn't really considered a contender?

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My tier for the countries

Spain
Germany
France
Italy
Netherlands
England

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sticking with spain. think germany are going to finish second yet again.

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http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/05/22/3119760/in-pictures-a-new-and-daring-look-barcelonas-strips-for-next


Barcelona going for a new...oh wait it's the PSG jersey, nothing new about that.

Euros are always a pain to predict.


Turkey last one, Greece winning, Denmark winning on a week's notice plenty of fun to be found, but loads of upsets happen.

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I find it very hard to see beyond Spain. Someone needs to pull a miracle upset to get rid of them before the tournament opens up.

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Eeeeh, Germany, France, Italy and Holland all have a lot of quality and honestly could you have predicted Greece would beat France, the Czechs and Portugal?

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Germany will have been struck a bit of a blow I think by players like Schweini and Lahm missing out on CL.

France still lacking a real XI I think, they're still figuring out how they're gonna play and with whom.

Italy missing some spots, like for instance a true striker.

Holland is a bit of a wildcard, RvP for instance has never really performed too well with them, Robben will be sulking as well, their defence is pretty poor...

and yet upsets happen, or did Chelsea not just beat Bayern even though they clearly got outplayed.

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I don't know if real life Kenny Dalgish or FM Kenny Dalgish is worse



All of that and he got 5th.

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I like the away strip for Barca. Looks like a pillar of fire or the sun.

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I wonder if there are rules limiting what sort of strips you can have. Like, would it be within the rules to have a strip that was made up hundreds of patches of colour of random sizes in random locations?

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Palermo has the manliest attire.

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Lol Barton

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12 matches XD

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From: XIII_rocks | #156

ROFL


Anyway, I don't know where to start reacting to everything but LOL SP*RS MIND THE GAP ENJOY THURSDAYS ROFL. As for that other thing that happened who cares really.

If Arsenal let RVP go based on monetary reasons I will flip out. Give the man 300k a week and his own palace ffs.

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Hulk, Hazard and Lucas are being discussed.

Not quite as exciting as the days of being linked to Neymar but hey we're clearly overhauling the squad and I think next year we'll be back in the top 4.

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Ugh, tonight's match (2-2 against Montenegro) shows exactly why we (Belgium) aren't in the euros: every time there are several stupid lapses in concentration which costs us the match even though we usually dominate the opponent, barring teams like Germany of course. It's always been like this (well, all the matches I've seen in the last 20 years) and might as well be what characterizes us.

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It's because Kompany wasn't around, because Vertonghen just had to be strolling around putting pressure on the Montenegrin defenders while he should have just rushed back. Sure, he had cover but it's not the same. As a captain you're expected to take responsibility.

Also strikers(and wingbacks) remain our issue, I don't think Mirallas can lead the line and I really like de Camargo but best would be a full-form Lukaku.

What a diva, Eden Hazard. Fluffing your skirt at every passing big club, demanding automatic starting berth. Bleh.

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Yeah, kinda glad we're not gonna get Hazard after seeing the way he's behaved. Hopefully he flops where he goes.

Anyway, I gotta love this idea being pushed that what City did a few weeks ago was clearly the most dramatic end to an English season ever. It's like they don't remember Thomas's goal at Anfield to beat the reigning champions and best team in England in the final minute of stoppage time. Surely that tops barely scraping out a win against ten man relegation fodder?

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Lol germans and dutch got beat by swiss and bulgarians respectively.

As for the english, i suppose it's an encouraging sign with a 1 - 0 over the norwegians. Didn't see the match but i reckon it'll be a classic organization-based defensive roy side. Kinda like how the italians used to do things.

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USA 5 - 1 Scotland. We're so bad. 14 years and counting since we reached a major championship finals. It'll almost certainly be 18 when we do (2016 Euros seems like a makeable target since the finals are being expanded from 16 to 24 teams).

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16 to 24 is bull. Just a ploy to help big teams get into the knockout stages easier by using the seedings to avoid each other. (like netherlands/germany, england/france and spain/italy)

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Spanish squad:

GKs: Casillas, Valdes, Reina
DFs: Alba, Albiol, Arberloa, Ramos, Juanfran, Pique, Martinez
MFs: Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fabregas, Silva, Cazorla, Navas, Mata
FWs: Llorente, Torres, Negredo, Pedro

Spain's midfield is OP.

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And yet even now that Spanish midfield doesn't feel as hax as the 00 French midfield.

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Is that Fernando Torres, or some other Torres?
I'm surprised he made the cut after his season >_>

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It's Fernando.

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I understand Torres making the team, he can still be extremely good, its a gamble though.

what I don't understand is Soldado not being included..what the ***** with that..I mean Negredo over Soldado? .....

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Del Bosque's won one or two trophies so I think we can give him a pass for now :D

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Spain's midfield is great but I feel they're lacking forwards and their defence isn't that great either.

Actually Spain's defence isn't as bare as people make it out to be. Javi Martinez has been playing in central defence for Bilbao for the season and Sergio Busquets has been used as a backup central defender in Barca.

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Spain's defense doesn't really matter because you'll rarely hold the ball long enough to create chances anyway.

I miss football =(

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We can't stop here. This is bat country.
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They're still missing fullbacks in my opinion.


Hazard going to Chelsea according to goal.com. I've been really disappointed in Eden these last few months, I remember him when he was still saying he would only play for his favourite clubs RM and Arsenal, and now it's just money here, money there. Also wth Chelsea, who's next? Witsel? Defour? Fellaini? Mirallas? Chadli? Lombaerts? Aren't you going to destroy enough Belgian football careers?

Speaking of belgians, is it me or has defour fallen from the face of this earth since joining porto? And why is vertonghen downgrading to spurs? I think romelu still has lots of time. Drog's departure is good news to him. Now he's only got nino and sturridge to contend with.

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Defour plays from time to time for Porto. He's not a starter like Witsel but he's not a complete fringe player like Lukaku.


Vertonghen is going to Spurs because he wouldn't be playing central defense at Arsenal for instance, which he has a better chance of with Spurs.

We wanted to loan Lukaku but lol paperwork.

And more and more Chelsea fans I know seem to like me, rate Sturridge lower than we did back a few months ago. With Drogba and Anelka gone this could be bad. Torres also can get injured here and there so I'd feel more comfortable buying another striker since we don't have much in the youth ranks there. Though Betrand could be ok at the back.

Hulk, man he looks impressive. But I've only seen him play a handful of games. Looks the part but meh, still a mystery in the end.

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Hulk should be an easy sell to the bean counters - he'll sell a crazy number of shirts.

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I like predicting how player will do for other teams, but when it comes to mine, urgh I get it wrong so many times.

I mean I thought Sheva was going to be a success and thought Crespo should have been kept!

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Ryo8889 posted...

Defour plays from time to time for Porto. He's not a starter like Witsel but he's not a complete fringe player like Lukaku.


Vertonghen is going to Spurs because he wouldn't be playing central defense at Arsenal for instance, which he has a better chance of with Spurs.

I think otherwise. I mean, sure, it's gonna be hard to displace Kos and compatriot Verm but given that Gibbs gets injured all the time (meaning verm gets shifted to left) and Mert isn't exactly what Ars had in mind when he bought him and probably won't trust too much, I don't think it's a tall order to get a satisfactory amount of playing time.

While we're still on the topic of Belgians, I think Simon Mignolet is awesome.

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Name 2-3 guys per teams you'll be interested in looking out for at the Euros.

Good euros usually end up with moves to bigger clubs!

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Dr voltchball - best in the world.

Hazard chooses Chelsea. It's a good fit for him. He can develop his burgeoning c***-hood under the wing of the biggest c*** of all, John Terry.

Not good enough to play for a top four club like Arsenal anyway.

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We go from Mata/Malouda/Kalou to Mata/Hazard/Marin and maybe

Ramires is always going to start, dunno what happens with Essien or Meireles since Lampard starting should still be a given, no idea what we're doing with Malouda, prolly keep him as depth for one year then release him.

Bosingwa's contract isn't being renewed, 16million for a guy who coulda been quite a bit more. Wonder if this means we'll look at Van Der Wiel since Ivanovic is the only guy we can stick there and be ok with.

Cech locked up for 4 more years and he's really been a key piece for us in any given season. Courtois though will have to be loaned out again and he's been impressing from what I hear from my mates.

Feels like the squad's getting a far bigger revamp now than under AVB's supposed "project" which basically reinforced our trust in the old guard....and it worked!

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they're also probably getting willian from shakhtar who oddly enough was a backup to eden hazard on my FM game

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From: do_ob_tpkillr | #245
Ryo8889 posted...

Defour plays from time to time for Porto. He's not a starter like Witsel but he's not a complete fringe player like Lukaku.


Vertonghen is going to Spurs because he wouldn't be playing central defense at Arsenal for instance, which he has a better chance of with Spurs.

I think otherwise. I mean, sure, it's gonna be hard to displace Kos and compatriot Verm but given that Gibbs gets injured all the time (meaning verm gets shifted to left) and Mert isn't exactly what Ars had in mind when he bought him and probably won't trust too much, I don't think it's a tall order to get a satisfactory amount of playing time.

While we're still on the topic of Belgians, I think Simon Mignolet is awesome.
Vertonghen plays LB for us sometimes while Vermaelen and Kompany stick central. I think Wenger would do the same in that case, he would be quicker to put Vertonghen on LB than his vice-captain.

Mignolet is awesome yes, it's amazing how far he's come. In Belgium he played for Sint-Truiden, a team that's gone down the second division two seasons after he left. And he's just playing well for Sunderland. It's too bad a lot of the Belgian fans are "against" him. They don't hate him but everyone would rather see Courtois between the sticks, but as long as Mignolet does nothing wrong I say let him keep his spot.