THE FINAL COUNTDOWN--Arrested Transfer Development Thread

Further duplicity, I'm glad we're all on the same page?

 

Except that he DID lend out a player to someone who could be a threat to his club. However he deemed that risk not significant enough to worry about.

He isn't talking out of both sides of his mouth. He's saying that he won't strengthen a rival but he has now problem getting stronger from obtaining a player from a rival.

 

Umm...



I also feel like I'm talking to Rick James...

How is that not kind of the definition of talking out of both sides of his mouth?

Guy has said he can't understand why ManU won't sell to him and then won't LOAN Ba?

I guess I can 'sort of' see the point you're going at. But it's an admission of duplicity, not 'not talking out of both sides of his mouth'.

You can't have something one way and then want others to react in another and expect anyone to take what you say seriously.

 

Of course you can have something one way and want others to react a different way. Every manager and every club want all the advantages to go their way, not their competitors.

City poaching our players didn't stop us from poaching Cazorla from Malaga. Wenger's moaning about inflated transfer fees didn't prevent him from spending 50 million Euros to bring in Ozil.

Mourinho's has one responsibility, win titles. Fairness and consistency are irrelevant to that objective.

 

I didn't say he COULDN'T, I said he 'couldn't and expect anyone to take what you say seriously'.

And in what way did City 'poach' our players? They showed intent for titles and went and overpaid for some of our guys? I don't know why that's poaching - that's kind of the definition of the transfer market, right?

And when it comes to Wenger and expenses? I don't take anything he says seriously, particularly after Ozil so I guess we agree that when you say one thing and do another...ignore the rest.

And I couldn't agree more Mourinho is doing what is best for his team, and that's his only obligation. I'm one who has laughed at the idea of (stuffy high brow voice) 'Here at Arsenal we do things with the utmost standard of high moral order and decency to our fellow club'. (/stuffy high brow voice). I'm about winning, so long as you aren't cheating...'Just win baby'.

My WHOLE POINT FROM THE OUTSET is how does a reporter not follow up his comment with the question of 'then how can you explain your pursuit of Rooney and outspoken nature about ManU's unwillingness to sell him 'to a rival'. Even if we know the answer it's a question any journo would ask without taking a second to think about. This is a drum I beat because...it's my profession, I can't fathom how that Q&A didn't come about.

 

In a league where you're blocked by bastards with money, be the bigger bastard.

 

maybe they can be reunited next summer

 

I still can't quite believe this transfer actually happened.

I think RM are at serious risk of disrupting their entire squad. I'm not sure that Ronaldo and Bale will be able to function together. Nevermind that I don't think Ronaldo's ego will be fond of the new boy. Maybe they are looking ahead a couple years to when Ronaldo will be hitting his 30s and they'll need a new name to carry the team. I just don't see things meshing well in the interim.

 

What they'll probably do is have Bale and Di Maria on the wings, Ronaldo play striker, and have Isco pull the strings in the middle, with Alonso, Illaramendi, and Khedira rotating. If Morata has a good season backing up Ronaldo, Benzema might be available next summer when Real decides to pursue Gundogan.

Add Benzema, Lars Bender to replace at then 33-year old Arteta, a replacement for a then 31-year old Sagna (if Jenks isn't ready), and a fourth CB for depth, and this is a title winning squad.

Though I'd love to see Benzema and Fabregas next summer, which COULD happen. Though we'd probably need the reincarnation of Edgar Davids as a DM to provide proper cover

 

Well he ain't built like Aguero, unless he's gonna go live under the squat rack for the foreseeable future and Defoe, while not a world-beater has been a Prem striker for over a decade and scored over 140 goals so he's not a terrible example to follow. Would I rather he learn from Pele or Maradona? Sure, but I was just making a point that we need him to learn a thing or two about being a CF since we couldn't get Ba.

 

Liverpool aren't a serious contender (we also loaned Lukaku to Everton, who finished ahead of Liverpool in the table last season), whereas you've always been more of one. Mourinho's (obviously self-serving comment) would be hypocritical if Ba wasn't a loan; there's really no benefit to Chelsea in that situation, while Untied would get piles of money for Rooney. After all, Mourinho has sold players to rivals - Gallas for Cole.

 

I agree. I was disagreeing with OKgunner's point that Mourinho would consider ANY top of the table team a potential threat for the title. IMO, there remains 4 teams that have a legitimate shot at the title. How legitimate that shot is can be argued but they remain the 4 most viable, by far.

1. ManU
2. Chelsea
3. Citeh
4. Arsenal

Spurs made far too many changes to their team to be a threat this year and Pool are too thin a squad.

 

Man U aren't that good.

 

Of course he's talking out of both sides of his mouth. does it really surprise you. if confronted, I'm sure he'd just shrug it off with a smirk.

 

Would we have an use for the newly released Mohamad Sissokho?

 

Well they are the defending defending champs so until proven otherwise they still have to be considered a contender.

 

City and Man United might struggle because of manager changes. Spurs have too many new and unproven players to be a threat. Chelsea looks solid on all ends.

 

I was a big fan of Benzema but but lately it has cooled off. He has been rather underwhelming the last couple of years at RM and largely mediocre for the French NT (He has not score for something like 11 games for them).
In addition, I am getting more and more comfortable with Giroud. While he may not have Benzema pure talent, he is largely compensating that with hard work and determination. I think we should stick with Olivier and add a versatile forward who may be able to play across the front line (a David Villa / Dimitri Payet type).

 

I don't think you have much of a shot at the title to be honest, but you're a threat for a top 4 place, whereas I don't think Liverpool are one, and it looks like Mourinho agrees. You were just a point off us last year, after all.

 

Just curious but who do you think DOES have a shot? If you think Chelsea does, why do they have a good shot this year while Arsenal does not despite Chelsea only being a point ahead of us last year and Arsenal arguably doing more to improve their team?

 

He thinks the improvement in coaching more than offsets the addition of Ozil. Fair point too. Watching grass grow is more exciting than watching a Mourinho team though.

 

I think City, Chelsea and Utd have shots at the title. The argument that you did more to improve your side is quite odd (and I'm being really generous here) - Willian, DeBruyne, Schurrle, van Ginkel and Eto'o are all players you'd gladly take, and they're depth for us. And if you want to argue that squad continuity is a help for you, last season was nothing but upheaval for us (Drogba, Kalou, Malouda and others gone, Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Ba brought in, two managers), so we're likely to have the same benefit this year, even more than you. I'm not going to argue we should win because of Mourinho - that's impossible to quantify.
I think Ozil's a great player, but I also think this is the wrong league for him. He has stamina issues (had trouble going more than 60 minutes for Real), and that's despite Mourinho not requiring him to have any defensive duties. He also plays the most similar position to your best player, which means you're going to have two create #10s congesting the same area. And that's beside from your issues with depth - if Giroud gets a red card in his next match, you'll be starting Sanogo (or Bendtner), your backup CB right now is Sagna and you're counting on Diaby for minutes at some point this season. Once fixtures start piling up, you might have some real depth issues.

I expect the United game won't be repeated - that was a feature of both managers being conservative. There's no question Mourinho's not Guardiola, but the SuperCup between Chelsea and Bayern was quite far from boring.

 

LOL. I can't argue with finding it boring, that's a visceral reaction (though I'm not sure you'd have labeled Mourinho's Real side boring, but whatever). But soulless is a really odd term, considering you support a club that proudly chants "One nil to the Arsenal".