The Football Thread - Season 2012/2013

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Jjm said:
I'd rather we had Mike Dean tbh I can hear the 12th man shouts already:)
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Arsenals recent premier league record with Dean - played 16, won 1, drawn 7, lost 8. He also officiated Bradford and Birmingham league cup. By all means, take him off our hands please!
 
joescrivens said:
oh no we're dooooooooooooomed!!!!!!

howard-webb-man-utd.jpg
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See:D
 
Messi

Probably decided before the season began LOL
 
Messi's jacket LOL

I'm waiting for him to do a magic trick !
 
Just got back to computer and the internet and have been catching up since yesterday.

I found this interesting article about Suarez and other cheats, and the reactions of the players, their teams, and the media.

Suarez will get more abuse for the (negative) things he has done in the past. And for the reputation he has he pays during games, make no mistake about that. There have been many instances of him being fouled both in and out the box, and not receiving the decision in his favour. Karma you may say, but it doesn't negate the fact that there have been blatant wrong decisions that have gone against him that should have been seen by the officials, but apparently they didn't. :shrug: Swings and roundabouts hopefully, and on Sunday one went his way.

Should he have done it? Not in my opinion. Was it a conscious thing? Probably not. It was a fraction of a second to decide what to do. Would he make the same decision if he had more time? I don't know. :shrug: I would hope not.
 
I'm pretty sure that he did it and immediately assumed it would be disallowed.
 
Ballon four
 
fabs said:
Just to take things away from Suarez and back to proper football for a minute if we can.

[YOUTUBE]acvq7rT594M[/YOUTUBE]
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Which team was this, and have you sent the video to Harry?
 
So we arranged for all the family to come around on Saturday to celebrate my little boy's birthday (which is actually Wednesday). QPR v Spurs, Monday night, no chance of any overlap, excellent. AND then Kieron Dyer goes and scores his first goal in 5 years meaning a cup replay we will lose as normal away, and the Spurs game is now 12.45 on Saturday. Ballons alright! Cue abuse from beloved wife re moving everything to Sunday. I hate 12.45 KO more than any other time, no atmosphere.

And then news escapes the our player of the season is heading off to manage a team in the US or Canada - double ballons!

But thank you for your service Ryan Nelsen - a short stay (feel free to make it longer!) but a valiant one.
 
akr said:
Which team was this, and have you sent the video to Harry?
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They're a Greek youth tea, I believe already part of Harry's European tour. :D

akr said:
So we arranged for all the family to come around on Saturday to celebrate my little boy's birthday (which is actually Wednesday). QPR v Spurs, Monday night, no chance of any overlap, excellent. AND then Kieron Dyer goes and scores his first goal in 5 years meaning a cup replay we will lose as normal away, and the Spurs game is now 12.45 on Saturday. Ballons alright! Cue abuse from beloved wife re moving everything to Sunday. I hate 12.45 KO more than any other time, no atmosphere.

And then news escapes the our player of the season is heading off to manage a team in the US or Canada - double ballons!

But thank you for your service Ryan Nelsen - a short stay (feel free to make it longer!) but a valiant one.
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Bit of a bummer about Nelsen although I'm not sure how much longer his legs will last anyway.
 
fabs said:
Just to take things away from Suarez and back to proper football for a minute if we can.

[YOUTUBE]acvq7rT594M[/YOUTUBE]
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Clear Handball on 22 seconds. Disgusting.
 
fabs said:
They're a Greek youth tea, I believe already part of Harry's European tour. :D



Bit of a bummer about Nelsen although I'm not sure how much longer his legs will last anyway.
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Let's see who we bring in - really hoped we'd keep him to the end of the season. Onuoha has played well in the last few games (at last) so maybe we'll play him in his natural position - I hope so as the thought of Ferdinand coming back in terrifies me.
 
akr said:
Let's see who we bring in - really hoped we'd keep him to the end of the season. Onuoha has played well in the last few games (at last) so maybe we'll play him in his natural position - I hope so as the thought of Ferdinand coming back in terrifies me.
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I believe Ben Haim's normal position is CB but he did well at LB on Saturday. We really do need a couple of defenders and at least one striker in this window.
 
Here's the FIFA goal of the season as announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.

And the FIFA XI dream team are;
Iker Casillas in goal;
Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Daniel Alves and Marcelo in defence;
Xabi Alonso, Xavi and Andres Iniesta in midfield,
and the deadly trio of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao up front.
 
redhed17 said:
Here's the FIFA goal of the season as announced at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.

And the FIFA XI dream team are;
Iker Casillas in goal;
Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Daniel Alves and Marcelo in defence;
Xabi Alonso, Xavi and Andres Iniesta in midfield,
and the deadly trio of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao up front.
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That's a very Liga biased set of results........
 
Arsenal are ready to stretch their rigid pay structure to push through a new deal for Theo Walcott, which could be signed ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash with Manchester City.

Press Association Sport understands the Gunners are ready to make Walcott among the highest-paid players at the club with a five-year contract worth around £90,000-a-week, which would be boosted by lucrative add-ons.
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source bbc
 
joescrivens said:
source bbc
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Yup, it's sounding increasingly promising but I'm not holding my breath.

The general coverage of it by the media has been horrendously inconsistent with meetings reported to be happening today, which actually took place last week and all sorts of variations of the wage he's been offered. Really, they have a sniff of a story and fill in the blanks with speculation.

This was perfectly demonstrated by the way two transfer rumours deliberately started as a joke made it into the mainstream media (QPR for Sneijder, Vargas to Arsenal).

Lazy journalism that rehashes other stories as their own 'inside scoop' really gets me going, so I was particularly happy when these two stories were brought to light.
 
Blimey. Wasn't expecting that result tonight, just seen it now. The bookies will be having a field day on the carling cup this week! Bradford v Swansea final? I know it's definitely not over and done with yet, but well done to both so far :thumbs:
 
leftcurl said:
Blimey. Wasn't expecting that result tonight, just seen it now. The bookies will be having a field day on the carling cup this week! Bradford v Swansea final? I know it's definitely not over and done with yet, but well done to both so far :thumbs:
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If Chelsea get through and qualify via the league would Bradford qualify for the Europa, did Milwall do that a few years ago? Wonder what Bradford would prefer - theoretical better chance against Swansea or guaranteed Euro qualification.

I thought Swansea might go down this season, but they are getting excellent results. Then again, I thought QPR might be mid-table - shows how much I know! :eek:
 
TriggerHappy said:
Yup, it's sounding increasingly promising but I'm not holding my breath.

The general coverage of it by the media has been horrendously inconsistent with meetings reported to be happening today, which actually took place last week and all sorts of variations of the wage he's been offered. Really, they have a sniff of a story and fill in the blanks with speculation.
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There was an interesting article recently backed up by some financial boffins on the radio.

It seems Arsenal struggle to match the massive wages for 'special players' because they pay far more than other clubs do for the 'average' players who are therefore happy to stay.
 
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dinners said:
There was an interesting article recently backed up by some financial boffins on the radio.

It seems Arsenal struggle to match the massive wages for 'special players' because they pay far more than other clubs do for the 'average' players who are therefore happy to stay.
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Yup. Wenger has always been quite open that he promotes a more socialist pay structure within the club. Although as a principle it is something I quite agree with, as the sole club (that I know of) to operate on that bases it does leave us quite exposed. The problem is two-fold; firstly a higher proportion of the wage budget goes towards the squad, which in turn caps the top end that can be offered to any individual stars either to retain or to transfer in, and secondly those squad players are comparatively overpaid (Squillaci, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner and more are all examples) which then means that if they are to move on to another club before their contract is up they will almost certainly have to accept a pay cut or Arsenal will subsidise that pay with contributions until the existing contract would have expired.

There were quotes where he addressed it just last week if I remember correctly. One moment whilst I dig them out. Here we are:

"We pay well. We pay very well,"

"I've spent all my life making sure people who work for us are paid well and I believe if you can do it, you do it."

Wenger said that his principle was "to pay something that makes sense and is defendable in front of every single player" adding: "We make exceptions sometimes but they are not maybe so high. If you want to keep making profit you have to respect that."

"We have no players on £200,000 a week and I think other clubs will come down to us with financial fair play," he said. "We have a more socialist model."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...e-Wenger-defends-his-socialist-wage-plan.html

As I say, it's a principle I agree with, but to be the lone team operating in that manner does leave us very exposed to being stuck with the mediocre, and the very best being unobtainable. 8-9 years ago that didn't matter because our corporate strength meant that we could still compete at the top end of player wages. Now the super rich owners have come along and completely blown the roof off the top end of the market and we're left stranded waiting - hoping - for FFP to reign things in to a more moderate and fair level.

In general though, I have to admit it makes me proud that we are run by someone who's moral and principled, as opposed to some people in football who would sell their soul and throw in their mother too for a sniff of success. Sure, his stubbornness is frustrating and at times I'd like things to be different, but never - and I can say this truthfully - would I want to be owned by someone like Abramovic. Indeed, if I did I'd be waving the flag for Usmanov to take over from Kroenke. He's even richer than Abramovic and QPR's Mittal, though not as wealthy as Mansour.
 
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I think you may mean that of the top teams Arsenal pay in that manner. I can't imagine there is a huge discrepancy between the Swansea, (though Michu may be getting an improved deal ;)) West Brom or Reading players wages, and as for the rest of the leagues I'm pretty sure that the players wages throughout many teams are pretty similar, especially if there are no 'star' players.

Arsenal's plan may be a good idea in principal, but players need to be paid what they are worth, 'He gets paid more than you because he is better, and more important to the team. If you want to get paid more, get better'. :shrug:
 
Reports are that Sahin is set to leave Liverpool for a permanent return to Borussia Dortmund, which could be formerly announced as early as this evening.

I'm not quite sure what Liverpool were thinking to have blown quite so much money on bringing him to Anfield for just 7 games, none of which he even completed the 90 minutes. Madness!
 
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