To run harder, or Arda Turan; That is the question: The (ahem) Winter Transfer Thread

Mou doesn't get sacked. He leaves by "mutual consent". (same thing)

 

lol if they put that "(same thing)" in the press release eventually

 

Jose can go to HELL. .

It's been a great season start for me .

Jose struggling with his team doctor , results , the press and referees etc .. 8 points behind Man City after 4 games

Chelsea's nasty Ivanovic struggling and showing signs of sudden onset ageing ( ala Gary Neville ) .

Madrid's nasty player Pepe also struggling with form / age and still benched .

 

There's a job in Madrid when Rafa is sacked at the end of the season.

 

Anthony Martial to united for 80m€? Wth? LOL!! LVG has really screwed up uniteds account. He´s not even worth half that money

 

interesting question. i could see him ending up at PSG at some point. I could see Pep getting the Arsenal job, leaving the two Manchester clubs as possibilities, united more likely. maybe Juve, but there might be some animosity back from his Inter days? or a return to Inter? maybe Milan. maybe a national team

 

I can see Mourinho taking over Portugal once C.Ronaldo retires from international duty.
He's stated that Portugal is his dream job but that he sees himself in the post late in his coaching career. He's only 52 at the moment but Portugal appears to have a good crop of youth talent coming up, perfect criteria and circumstances for The Special One to begin calling the shots.
Strong performances in both the U20 World Cup (quarterfinals) and U21 UEFA Championships (final) where they were only knocked out via penalties the past few months have some believing they can achieve what the Golden Generation of Vítor Baía, Fernando Couto, Paulo Sousa, Rui Costa and Luis Figo couldn't, namely a major international trophy.

 

Rafa ain't going anywhere if they carry on playing like last night ..... Sadly .

 

I've never even heard of the guy !

 

Let's see if they can play like that the whole season, though...

So far there has been two rounds played, and they've started worse than their main rivals.

 

Worse ?

We haven't played well at all and could easily have dropped points in both our games

. .... They won 5:0 last night and played great footie .. plus their squad is far better than ours , I'd say .

 

Yep, worse. They have 4 points. We (and Atletico) have 6. Results matter. In the long season, there will be times when our performance will be spectacular and times when we will scrape past opponents, same for them, but what is decisive is whether you actually win.

Their squad is far better than ours? Hm okay believe what you want.

 

Who do we have after the first 12 or 13 ... Theirs goes on and on ...

 

lol (literally)

 

Yeah, I don't know about that. I mean you can pick positions - like ST and LB, for example - in which LPB lacks depth, just like you can pick positions in which we are not that deep. But at the end of the day, both teams have squads so high quality that they are able to challenge in all competitions. And, of course, as for us, there's the January boost package coming up which includes Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal and likely an attacker.

 

This is just speculation, but given the two names that have been so far most circulated in the press about the January attacker, what do you think are the pros and cons of Nolito and Yarmolenko, and which one you'd sign, or would you sign someone else (or nobody)?

 

Well .. For what's is worth ... I'd go all out and get Liverpool's Coutino for midfield creativity and his ability to shoot ( and score ) from long distance and this won't go down well BUT I'd love to get Ramos in to shore the defence up for the next few years - we've never got close to replacing Puyol .

 

Well we will probably see Munir and Sandro get more minutes there in the next 4 months (so far 14 minutes for Sandro and none for Munir in 2 Liga matches). We'll also see more Rafinha play a ton, both up front and as a third attacking mid given that Lucho will want to rotate and rest Iniesta and Rakitic a good deal (something he did last season even after our chosen ten plus goalie was set, and something we often see at ends of games too).

When Arda Turan is available he, like Rafinha, can also play up front. If we had Pedro as 4th forward, then Arda would be the ideal 3rd attacking mid, and Rafinha could back both. Without Pedro, Rafinha, Sandro and Munir all have 4 months to prove we don't need another (4th) forward.

Can SNM stay injury free is another question? And well rested for the business end of the season?

If it looks like we are not signing one I would expect Lucho to have Turan and/or Vidal practice more and more as a forward. Particularly, if Sergi Roberto can continue to play an intelligent and convincing RB then we can play Vidal almost entirely as a forward which is where he always played till last season. He can play either wing, is fast, plays good D, but is not known for crossing well. With Alves re-signed, Sergi Roberto impressing as a stand in RB, and Adriano and Douglas still on the team, it strikes me that Vidal should play forward for us this year, where he may be able to replace Pedro pretty well.

That said I don't mind signing a player who improves our depth up front, Yarmolenko seems to be more valuable with height and ability to play all 3 positions, whereas Nolito may fit in more seamlessly but is limited to wing play.

 

Calderon was speaking on the radio last night and confirmed that Real Madrid had tried to get Jose back in the Summer so it looks as though he'll be back to torment us sooner rather than later .....

 

Excellent post ... my heart sank when you mentioned Douglas though ...I'd forgotten all about him ..

 

Yarmolenko seems like a big gamble to me. i've only seen youtube clips of him, so i don't know much about him. he seems to favour cutting in from the right wing to shoot/pass with his left, but he won't play there often with Messi usually needing less rest than most. he wants to join barca desperately, but will he be happy sitting on the bench? he would add hight to the front line.

Nolito is a LaMasia product, knows the club, the coach, the language, the city and many of the players. he would also likely be cheaper than Yarmolenko. he wouldn't need much time to adjust and fit in. he's not the fastest of wingers but he is a very tricky dribbler and a good finisher.

 

Good summary of the first Tourmalet (taken from Tour de France lingo, a series of mountain tops in succession) in this case 7 games in 23 days including at Atletico, at Roma, at Celta Vigo, hosting Bayer, and at Sevilla (a couple other home Liga games interject and will require some skillful rotating).
http://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/barcelonas-tourmalet-seven-games-await-just-days-4475678

 

Oops, just realized my post above is in the wrong place, meant it for the Season thread. Oh well. This one does belong here, transfer grades for many big clubs outside the EPL. I think we were dinged a bit for something out of our control but the analysis is pretty good overall: http://www.espnfc.us/blog/espn-fc-u...id-bayern-munich-win-european-transfer-window