The Olympique Marseille Transfer Thread

[prvev]

Gerets mentioned that we may add a right back during an interview today.

[SportBoy333]

Lots of good attacking options now. This team on paper is better than last year's. Dont screw it up now by doing something stupid. I was pissed that Gerets said that Cisse could leave if he wants. I wanted him to say that they need him and are counting on him this season.

[Bonizzoni]

Seems that Cissé will leave and/or we'll count with this guy now :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Suazo

He has impressive numbers...but we never know if he'll make a place in Europe.

[SportBoy333]

Cisse isnt leaving. They havent received any sufficient offers for him and he seems to want to stay. He leaves if upper management demand that costs must be cut.

[prvev]

The Suazo thing was make believe, apparently. All the sites have retracted/taken down the statements that he's coming.

He is pretty good, I watched him play with Monterrey quite a bit because all of their games are on here. He was the leading scorer in the Clausura by some distance, and 4M seems like a good price. But it seems like it is either him or Cissé, and I'd rather have Djibril.

[SportBoy333]

Gudjonsson as a replacement for Cisse is a bad joke. He had like 2 goals last year. That would be a terrible swap.

[prvev]

Yea, I agree. I guess people like that he can create chances for others better than Cissé, but we have enough guys who can do that. When Cissé is on form he scores (a lot), that's what we need him to do, and it's what he does better than Gudjohnsen.

[Bonizzoni]

Mandanda

Bonnart
Givet
Hilton
Taiwo

Cana
Cheyrou
Koné/Valbuena
Ben Arfa

Cissé
Suazo

---

That could be the end of our long way without title.

[SportBoy333]

^You forgot Niang and Suazo isnt coming.

[prvev]

It turned out that Suazo would theoretically cost around 18M..I guess that's why he hasn't moved to Europe yet (there are a few other clubs interested, apparently).

[SportBoy333]

I hope Givet isnt sold(unless its to my team :) I read that Panathinakos offer was 3 m and I doubt that would be enough. I'm thinking they'd have pay 5-6 m for OM to sell him.

[prvev]

La Provence said that they're hoping to get about 4M for him. I'd like for him to stay, but I guess he's not content with being a sub.

[SportBoy333]

BONNART--------- HILTON --- RODRIG ---- ---- TAIWO---------

----------------------------- CANA-------------------------------------

----- VALBUENA ------------ B.ARFA ------------- NIANG ------------------


------------------KONE----------------- CISSE ---------------


This is the lineup that I would prefer right now. Offensively it cant be beat and can score goals from just about every where and is certainly better than what Bordeaux has and maybe even Lyon. You even have the luxury of keeping a guy like Ziani on the bench who we all know is capable of being a monster. Cana and Cheyrou are solid and steady and wont hurt you and we all know what to expect from them. So the back 4 would be the main concern. Taiwo is the only guy I'd trust. A Hilton-Rodriguez cb pairing has to make you nervous. It looks more likely Givet will be sold which is a mistake because you'll need him in case a cb goes down or fails.

[prvev]

I'd be surprised if Cheyrou got dropped, he was one of the players who was very good in the second half of last season. That does make for a scary attack, though.

The way the injuries have worked out has actuallly made things easier for Gerets, as far as setting the lineup for the beginning of the season. Valbuena is out so the attack is pretty much set, and with Rodriguez out he just has to choose between Erbate and Givet for the first few games.

Leaving us with probably..

-------------------------MANDANDA------------------------------

BONNART------------ HILTON ----- ERBATE ------------ TAIWO

-------------------- CANA ------ CHEYROU ----------------

-----KONE ---------------- B.ARFA ------------- NIANG -------------


---------------------------- CISSE ------------------------------------

.....until Valbuena and Rodriguez come back. Then I'd guess Gerets will assess the performances and decide who to take out for Valbuena (or to leave Valbuena on the bench, I guess), as well as what to do with the central defense.

I know they're just friendlies, but I've been impressed by Hilton and Erbate so far, enough where I'm fairly confident with them. I'm not sure if Givet will end up leaving or not; he apparently rejected offers from Panathinaikos. Bonnart is best when I don't even notice that he's playing, because when I do it's usually because of a mistake. Hopefully with this powerful attack he won't have to go forward often and can avoid getting burned by fast wingers. In my opinion, Taiwo is one of the better left backs around when he's on his game. His problem in the past has been that he's often off his game, but in the second half of last season he was pretty consistently very good. Hopefully he can keep that up.

[SportBoy333]

Assuming everyone is healthy I just dont think Valbuena should be sacraficed. You need to play to your strengths. Well it doesnt matter because last year he had so many different lineups and formations so I guess I'd expect the same again. I'd sacrifice Kone if you have 2 DMs out there. One thing we can agree on is Taiwo not having to go forward that much.

[prvev]

Oh, I agree, and I don't think Gerets would really consider sacrificing Valbuena. I think he's probably Gerets' favorite player. I'm sure there will be a lot of rotation this season, and playing guys based on form. The depth is a very nice thing to have.

[Bonizzoni]

Leaving us with probably..

-------------------------MANDANDA------------------------------

BONNART------------ HILTON ----- ERBATE ------------ TAIWO

-------------------- CANA ------ CHEYROU ----------------

-----KONE ---------------- B.ARFA ------------- NIANG -------------


---------------------------- CISSE ------------------------------------


Perfect.I like Valbuena but I would choose this line-up.What make me pissed (and already told of that) is Bonnart.I like him,but we need a better Right Defender.Jemmali and Yohan Demont were linked to a move,but doesn't seems that Diouf will try out...oh,Erbate could be right-footed. :mad:

[SportBoy333]

Assuming they win their qualifying round and assuming there arent any more major departures(i.e. Cisse), I really think this team will go farther and will perform better in the Champions League than Bordeaux and Lyon. I'm not a supporter of any of these 3 teams here so there's no bias when I say that. Yes I realize the main goal is to win the French championship and of course they can do that as well.

[Epirotian]

Is it Gjergji Kone the player from AEK Athens? NVM its a different Kone. I got confused because they are both strikers.

[prvev]

Apparently Zenit made an 18M offer for Valbuena, but he's decided that he wants to stay.