Constip8edSkunk
Joga Bonito
Well Sir Alex got Howard from last yr's tour didnt he?
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Soccer Thread 2004 (3 Viewers)
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eyebrowman
Member
haha radizinski out , cahill in! coolios!
T
timbk2
Guest
cant wait to see Kewell and Cahill battle it out in a Liverpool / Everton derby
great to see another aussie in the premier league. lets just hope this deal doesnt fall through
great to see another aussie in the premier league. lets just hope this deal doesnt fall through
reno2004
Retired Member - 1/12/04
Damn Arsenal and French people. It is like ranieri and italians
HeCtic
Dutchie
You can add Hatem Trabelsi to that. Most newspapers are saying he's signed already subject to a medical. People tell me he's a right-sided Ashley Cole. That'll be quite a tasty right-hand side now to match our left. Trabelsi-Freddie/Pennant-Reyes/Bergkamp.IP_freely said:
Lauren will be permanently bench, unless Hatem is injuried. But here what I think Wenger was thinking - he has only two central defenders Toure and Campbell. He can't afford Lauren to injuried and to play Toure there. So it's all good.
HeCtic
Dutchie
well he still has cygan 
. But Senderos seems to have gotten over his injury problems of last season and apparently looked awesome in our two pre-season games so far. Expect him to be ahead of the bald one this season.
One reason i've heard is that if Vieira goes, which still looks on the cards Lauren can move back into his preffered midfield position and take on the "Parlour role" ie act as right-mid and centre mid cover in case of injuries. I'd hope to not see too much of him at right-back. Most wingers with pace and decent aerial ability do seem to get the better of him at times so Hatem will be perfect there.
Also this Flamini guy sounds like pretty hot stuff too. Hope Wenger can turn him into a replica of his idol
. But Senderos seems to have gotten over his injury problems of last season and apparently looked awesome in our two pre-season games so far. Expect him to be ahead of the bald one this season. One reason i've heard is that if Vieira goes, which still looks on the cards Lauren can move back into his preffered midfield position and take on the "Parlour role" ie act as right-mid and centre mid cover in case of injuries. I'd hope to not see too much of him at right-back. Most wingers with pace and decent aerial ability do seem to get the better of him at times so Hatem will be perfect there.
Also this Flamini guy sounds like pretty hot stuff too. Hope Wenger can turn him into a replica of his idol
I thought Flam was the replacement for Parlour, and Pennant was cover for Ljungberg... and Cygan is too slow for the EPL, which was why he made only occasional appearances in the ECL when he lack of pace didn't matter as much. And there's also van Persie.
HeCtic
Dutchie
Flam is a defensive mid mate. Played there for Marseille during their UEFA Cup run apparently. Pennant should be the first choice backup for Freddie, but since he's injured about half the time if we get injuries/suspensions to Pennant Lauren can cover there. Same goes with any problems in midfield with Edu,Bert and Flamini. Lauren will be good cover there too. So he's basically doing what Ray has done for us for the past 3-4 seasons.
Speaking of Ray, he's now officially a Middlesborough player.
Parlour leaves
Van Persie got in a spat with the Feyenoord coach because he was being played on the wings and not as a striker. He said it affected his form and motivation, so Wenger won't be playing him there unless we have a real emergency. He's more likely to shift Reyes before Persie.
Speaking of Ray, he's now officially a Middlesborough player.
Parlour leaves
Van Persie got in a spat with the Feyenoord coach because he was being played on the wings and not as a striker. He said it affected his form and motivation, so Wenger won't be playing him there unless we have a real emergency. He's more likely to shift Reyes before Persie.
V
vanbasten
Guest
I watched Flamini play in the UEFA Cup. He is brilliant. Good Signing by Wenger.
HeCtic
Dutchie
WENGER'S NEW ERA WITHOUT VIEIRA
HIGHBURY RESHUFFLE: GUNNERS RAID EUROPE FOR LIFE AFTER PATRICK
By Martin Lipton, Chief Football Writer
ARSENE WENGER wanted to fine tune his championship winning side, not go through a wholesale summer makeover.
But if the title is to stay on proud display next summer as Highbury's Marble Halls go into their final year before the bulldozers move in, the Arsenal boss must prove he can renovate as well as he can build.
After an unbeaten league campaign this should have been the time when Wenger could leave well enough alone with the squad.
The French boss left for his brief summer break with that in mind, believing that the confidence and self-belief of his players would be the oxygen of more success in the campaign to come.
But Patrick Vieira's determination to move to Madrid has forced Wenger's hand.
Instead of modifying, the Highbury boss has had to think far harder and deeper, finding ways to evolve the entire set-up of his squad.
And with the likely captures of Maniche and Hatem Trabelsi following on from the arrival of Dutch winger Robin van Persie and French prodigy Mathieu Flamini, it is evident that Wenger believes there is life after Vieira, and trophy-winning life at that.
But perhaps the biggest reason for optimism is already at the club.
When Wenger signed Jose Antonio Reyes in January, he admitted it would take "six months" for the young Spaniard to find his feet.
Five goals, beginning with that FA Cup screamer against Cuntski, suggested that the striker was ahead of schedule even at the end of last term.
Having become accustomed to the physical side of the English game, Reyes can provide Arsenal's attacking options with an extra dimension. Wenger is already drooling over the potential of Reyes' partnership with Thierry Henry, as Dennis Bergkamp reverts to a more subsidiary role. Yet the question, as always when you have such a potent attacking armoury, is whether you will be able to load the bullets.
That is where Vieira's imminent departure will leave a hole and a huge question mark. For eight years he has been the dynamic heart of the midfield engine room.
Vieira's absence for the title run-in in 2003 is a huge reason why the Gunners are not still celebrating their first hat-trick of championship successes since the 30s.
Yet last season, while he was still a valuable member of Wenger's team, he was no longer irreplaceable in the manner he had previously seemed.
Vieira was absent for 11 Premiership, Champions League or FA Cup games, though suspension and injury.
But where in other campaigns, that absence would have been crucial, Arsenal managed to win seven of the matches - including their stunning 5-1 thumping of Inter Milan in the San Siro - and drew the other four.
It proved that the other members of the Arsenal squad were willing to put in the extra effort. With the new arrivals we will see a different Arsenal. Maniche proved in Euro 2004, as he had in Porto's Champions League-winning campaign, that he has an eye for goal, from short-range or long distance.
But compared to Vieira, he is all scurry and hurry, pitter-patter strides to cover the ground rather than the Frenchman's loping gait.
What is clear by the manner in which Arsenal have moved for the Portuguese midfielder is that Wenger has been accepting the inevitability of Vieira's exit for at least a fortnight.
Flamini, with less than 20 first team starts to his name for Marseille, is a player Wenger is convinced he can bring on and nurture, much as he did so successfully with Kolo Toure.
Maniche, however, will be given far more authority and command, even if the captain's armband will slip seamlessly on to the biceps of Sol Campbell. Of course, there will be games where the absence of Vieira's forceful drive will be missed. When push comes to shove in the big games, that might prove pivotal, even decisive.
Wenger, though, does not get many big calls wrong and by changing the style of his midfield, rather than seeking to replace somebody who has no equal, he might be able to prove to Vieira that he could have realised those Champions League dreams at Highbury after all.
Quietly, closeted inside the oak-panelled walls of the Highbury boardroom, they talk about Wenger as "a magician", almost in awe of his ability to pull so many rabbits out of the hat.
If he has got this trick worked out, then he deserves to be elected to the Magic Circle
Good article here, especially on Reyes, and how we do well enough without Vieira.
He seems very sure about Maniche though, whom no matter how much i like him, I doubt Arsenal will stump up the cash for him.
HIGHBURY RESHUFFLE: GUNNERS RAID EUROPE FOR LIFE AFTER PATRICK
By Martin Lipton, Chief Football Writer
ARSENE WENGER wanted to fine tune his championship winning side, not go through a wholesale summer makeover.
But if the title is to stay on proud display next summer as Highbury's Marble Halls go into their final year before the bulldozers move in, the Arsenal boss must prove he can renovate as well as he can build.
After an unbeaten league campaign this should have been the time when Wenger could leave well enough alone with the squad.
The French boss left for his brief summer break with that in mind, believing that the confidence and self-belief of his players would be the oxygen of more success in the campaign to come.
But Patrick Vieira's determination to move to Madrid has forced Wenger's hand.
Instead of modifying, the Highbury boss has had to think far harder and deeper, finding ways to evolve the entire set-up of his squad.
And with the likely captures of Maniche and Hatem Trabelsi following on from the arrival of Dutch winger Robin van Persie and French prodigy Mathieu Flamini, it is evident that Wenger believes there is life after Vieira, and trophy-winning life at that.
But perhaps the biggest reason for optimism is already at the club.
When Wenger signed Jose Antonio Reyes in January, he admitted it would take "six months" for the young Spaniard to find his feet.
Five goals, beginning with that FA Cup screamer against Cuntski, suggested that the striker was ahead of schedule even at the end of last term.
Having become accustomed to the physical side of the English game, Reyes can provide Arsenal's attacking options with an extra dimension. Wenger is already drooling over the potential of Reyes' partnership with Thierry Henry, as Dennis Bergkamp reverts to a more subsidiary role. Yet the question, as always when you have such a potent attacking armoury, is whether you will be able to load the bullets.
That is where Vieira's imminent departure will leave a hole and a huge question mark. For eight years he has been the dynamic heart of the midfield engine room.
Vieira's absence for the title run-in in 2003 is a huge reason why the Gunners are not still celebrating their first hat-trick of championship successes since the 30s.
Yet last season, while he was still a valuable member of Wenger's team, he was no longer irreplaceable in the manner he had previously seemed.
Vieira was absent for 11 Premiership, Champions League or FA Cup games, though suspension and injury.
But where in other campaigns, that absence would have been crucial, Arsenal managed to win seven of the matches - including their stunning 5-1 thumping of Inter Milan in the San Siro - and drew the other four.
It proved that the other members of the Arsenal squad were willing to put in the extra effort. With the new arrivals we will see a different Arsenal. Maniche proved in Euro 2004, as he had in Porto's Champions League-winning campaign, that he has an eye for goal, from short-range or long distance.
But compared to Vieira, he is all scurry and hurry, pitter-patter strides to cover the ground rather than the Frenchman's loping gait.
What is clear by the manner in which Arsenal have moved for the Portuguese midfielder is that Wenger has been accepting the inevitability of Vieira's exit for at least a fortnight.
Flamini, with less than 20 first team starts to his name for Marseille, is a player Wenger is convinced he can bring on and nurture, much as he did so successfully with Kolo Toure.
Maniche, however, will be given far more authority and command, even if the captain's armband will slip seamlessly on to the biceps of Sol Campbell. Of course, there will be games where the absence of Vieira's forceful drive will be missed. When push comes to shove in the big games, that might prove pivotal, even decisive.
Wenger, though, does not get many big calls wrong and by changing the style of his midfield, rather than seeking to replace somebody who has no equal, he might be able to prove to Vieira that he could have realised those Champions League dreams at Highbury after all.
Quietly, closeted inside the oak-panelled walls of the Highbury boardroom, they talk about Wenger as "a magician", almost in awe of his ability to pull so many rabbits out of the hat.
If he has got this trick worked out, then he deserves to be elected to the Magic Circle
Good article here, especially on Reyes, and how we do well enough without Vieira.
He seems very sure about Maniche though, whom no matter how much i like him, I doubt Arsenal will stump up the cash for him.
V
vanbasten
Guest
Five goals, beginning with that FA Cup screamer against Cuntski, suggested that the striker was ahead of schedule even at the end of last term.
May emphasise the team name CUNTski. Sounds like a name you would make for a created player on Pro Ev Soccer 3.
May emphasise the team name CUNTski. Sounds like a name you would make for a created player on Pro Ev Soccer 3.
HeCtic
Dutchie
vanbasten said:
Errrm, thats just the word filter on another forum. You type in Chelsea and it becomes Cuntski etc. It's quite funny seeing it in action when reading newspaper articles. I'll post from the source instead of from the other forum next time, in case the sensitive types on here object
Btw vanbasten, how much have you seen of Flamini. I only saw the UEFA Cup Final, and he looked no great shakes there against Baraja and Albelda admittedly, but then again for them to have enough faith to put a guy without a proffesional contract into a European Final is pretty encouraging.
V
vanbasten
Guest
I saw him in action flicking throught the ethnic channels. There was actually a 15 minute profile on him on the russian channel as a rising star. Mind you, I didnt understand a word, but his stature in terms of the defensive role of midfield was clearly established.
Cuntski, I could have believed that such a team existed. Perhaps in the Bulgarian Second Division.
Cuntski, I could have believed that such a team existed. Perhaps in the Bulgarian Second Division.
Constip8edSkunk
Joga Bonito
Wenger now claims that Real has assured him that they had not approached Viera.... just player agents wanting lotsa $$$ ... so viera may not go afterall? .... hmmm
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