General Football/Soccer Talk

[shadowgrin]

Balotelli looks serious about playing serious so far with pics of him doing practice in light rain.



Dat FIFA generated player...

[Phil89]

[shadowgrin]

Ryan Giggs, psychic.

[Phil89]

Ryan Giggs, psychic.

"because of the successful foundations laid by Sir Alex Ferguson". Such as Johnny Evans and Tom Cleverly...


Meanwhile, Balotelli still hasn't figured out how training bibs work.

[Phil89]

Champions League groups are official now.

I think Liverpool should comfortably finish second in that group. Wouldn't mind seeing a repeat of the 4-0 thrashing we gave Real Madrid at Anfield a few years ago either.

Group A
Atletico Madrid
Juventus
Olympiakos
Malmo

Group B
Real Madrid
FC Basel
Liverpool
Ludogorets Razgrad

Group C
Benfica
Zenit St Petersburg
Bayer Leverkusen
Monaco

Group D
Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund
Galatasaray
Anderlecht

Group E
Bayern Munich
Manchester City
CSKA Moscow
Roma

Group F
Barcelona
Paris St-Germain
Ajax
Apoel Nicosia

Group G
Chelsea
Schalke
Sporting Lisbon
Maribor

Group H
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Athletic Bilbao
BATE Borisov

[shadowgrin]

Rosicky tagging a friend.


http://instagram.com/p/sP5TR6hL6W/

[shadowgrin]

BREAKING:
Fernando Torres to AC Milan.
Reports that it's a free transfer despite having 2 years still left on his contract.
Chelsea really wants to get rid of him same way Man Utd was desperate to be rid of Nani by paying all of Nani's £120,000/week wages just to loan him to Sporting Portugal.
EDIT: It's a 2 year loan and not a permanent transfer apparently.

Free agent Samuel Eto'o signs with Everton.

Alex Song (Barcelona) loan to West Ham.

Tom Cleverly (Manchester United) - £8 million - Aston Villa, Everton, Hull, Valencia
In demand!

In other less important news:

Shinji Kagawa from Manchester United back to Borussia Dortmund for £8 million.

Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid sold to Bayern Munich for £8 million.

Manchester United also signed some guy from Real Madrid named Angel Di Maria for £60 million transfer fee.

[stereoxide]

Glad to see Torres out of his Chelsea misery. I hope he scores some goals at Milan though even though they are bound to suck this season. After 2 years I can see Torres going back to Atletico on a free transfer though.

[Phil89]

AC Milan and Fernando Torres; the perfect match. Both are shadows of their former selves and slowly becoming irrelevant.

I remember how excited I was back in 2007 when the news came out the he was signing for Liverpool. He had three great seasons before the injuries caught up with him. In hindsight the £50 million from Chelsea was an amazing deal for Liverpool.

phpBB [video]

Tom Cleverly (Manchester United) - £8 million - Aston Villa, Everton, Hull, Valencia
In demand!

Hahahahaha..... Do those teams not have any scouts? I wouldn't take him if they paid me £8 million.

Shinji Kagawa from Manchester United back to Borussia Dortmund for £8 million.

I just hope it isn't too late for him. Hopefully Klopp can get him back to where he was before he join United.

Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid sold to Bayern Munich for £8 million.

Good move for Xabi. Him and Benatia will really sort Bayern out defensively. I think they should be favourites for the champions league alongside Madrid and Barca again.

Apparently he turned down so English teams out of respect for Liverpool.

Manchester United also signed some guy from Real Madrid named Angel Di Maria for £60 million transfer fee.

Is he any good at CB?

[stereoxide]

Manchester United also signed some guy from Real Madrid named Angel Di Maria for £60 million transfer fee.

Is he any good at CB?

Well, they just signed Blind from Ajax which is a CB. Their transfer revenue this window is a whopping -150M+ Euros and if they continue to suck I don't know what will they do to their pre-season God, Van Gaal. Definitely the -150M+ Euros will be reduced by Cleverly and maybe Chicharito. I forgot Kagawa also. It will be fun seeing them not qualifying for the CL though.
EDIT: My bad I thought Blind was a CB apparently he is a LB and a CDM no chance for Vidal though.

[shadowgrin]

Watching that Torres video makes me feel the same way when watching T-Mac vids, sad.
Both were beasting it before the constant injuries.

Aston Villa are the favorites to land Cleverly because of personal recruitment from a former Red Devil and now Villa asst. coach Roy Keane. Man Utd fans loving Keane for taking one for his (former) team.

Kagawa is apparently in good shape, that's why van Gaal allowed him to stay in Man Utd before Di Maria arrived.

Yeah Xabi said that in an interview during his signing for Bayern, with Manchester United giving him the most dosh only to turn them down. Maybe that's why the English media are making a big deal of his 'shock transfer' because he turned down Man Utd.

[Phil89]

Since Fergie retired Man Utd have spent a crazy amount:

Fellaini - £28m
Mata - £37m
Shaw - £30m
Herrera - £29m
Rojo - £16m
Di Maria - £60m
Blind - £14m

£214m and they don't seem to be following any sort of plan. Fellaini was a panic buy. Shaw, Rojo and Blind can all play LB. Di Maria wasn't needed and cost a fortune.



In other news, Daniel Agger has left Liverpool to return to Brondby in Denmark. Genuinely great guy. He loved Liverpool and the fans loved him. Gonna miss him.

"Liverpool have been such a big part of my life and my family's lives for so long, that leaving is extremely difficult," Agger told Liverpoolfc.com.

"The opportunity arose for me to return home to Brondby and at this stage of my career it felt like the right decision for me.

"I wouldn't leave here to go anywhere else and that has been proven by my actions in recent seasons - I have turned down many offers to move to other Premier League and European clubs.

He is only 29 and could have easily gone to another big club for a few seasons, but good luck to him in his home country.

[zz21]

Didnt know Costa was such an asshole...
https://vine.co/v/OBOZeFFdVUM

[Phil89]

phpBB [video]

He can be a pretty dirty player when he feels like it.

[SoF'nAwesome]

He has a bit of Spain in him...no, he has a bit of Brazil in him. Wait...

[shadowgrin]

Words of wisdom from Super Mario.

True.

True.

[Phil89]

He has looked pretty good so far. Could have had 3 goals in the first half against Spurs and is actually working well defensively.

Could have gotten his leg broken by Eric Dier as well. Somehow Dier didn't even get a yellow card for the tackle though

[zz21]

He literally got none of the ball. I would have sent him off.

[Phil89]

Karma caught up with him though with the penalty later in the game. Yes, Joe Allen didn't need to fall over, but Dier was stupid enough to grab his arm and that's just what happens in modern football.

That Moreno goal was Bale-esque. Really impressed by him so far

[shadowgrin]

Monaco's Falcao to Manchester United. (Sky Sports)
Costs them £50 million, 4 year loan deal.
van Persie getting surgery now I guess.

[Phil89]

To be honest, I'd be more worried if they signed Mats Hummels or Arturo Vidal. This is just another big money transfer for a position they already have covered.

Even if Rooney, Van Persie, Falcao, Mata and Di Maria are on the team sheet, it won't really matter because Johnny Evans and Phil Jones will also on it. They are crap defensively.

I suppose for neutral fans there will be lots of goals (at both ends) in Utd's matches this season at least.


Why wasn't Wenger all over that Falcao deal? He would make you guys legit title contenders. Surely he has to spend that Emirates cash pile on someone to replace Giroud.


Meanwhile..




Hopefully by the time his ban finishes Liverpool are doing well so that I can enjoy watching him play.

[shadowgrin]

Why wasn't Wenger all over that Falcao deal? He would make you guys legit title contenders. Surely he has to spend that Emirates cash pile on someone to replace Giroud.

Too expensive apparently for a loan deal, not a surpise with Wenger.
It's an understatement that Arsenal fans on Twitter are having a meltdown.
Especially that Wenger is spotted in Rome refereeing a charity match today, deadline day.


So far the (desperate) rumors for Arsenal are Cavani, if Pogba moves to PSG since he's spotted watching a PSG match yesterday. Destro and El Sharaawy (that's why Wenger is in Rome), and Reus.

[shadowgrin]

Media even covering the flight path of Falcao's plane waiting for it to enter England airspace.
Falcao's wages in Man Utd are reported to be £346,000/week or £18 million/year.

Meanwhile, reports of Arsenal failing to get Reus or Carvalho. Now settling for Welbeck instead.
Hopefully this goes through than Welbeck...

Schalke have accepted an offer from Arsenal for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, after activating his £12.75 million release clause.

Best buds back together: https://vine.co/v/OBtDWP7h3pY



Alvaro Negredo (Manchester City) loan talks to Valencia.

Tom Cleverly to Aston Villa cancelled, reports saying he wants higher wages and waiting for an offer from Everton.
Man Utd teammate Anderson loan talks to Burnley.

[zz21]

If Falcao doesnt pass medical

[Phil89]

Van Persie, Di Maria, Rooney and Falcao weekly wages combined are over £1m. Oh dear.

Will Rooney put in another transfer request now that he isn't the highest paid player?


Welbeck cost the same as Balotelli