Football (Soccer)

[MPS]

i don't underestimate arsenal, i just think chelsea's reinforcements will prove better than arsenal's.

shame wenger didnt take that screwed up job as german coach that would make one frenchman less in p-ship

[admin]

I think Chelsea will do even worse this season because Mourinho is the wrong type of manager for them. Porto was sucessful because they work as a team, whereas at Chelsea, it's just a collection of individuals. Star individuals can be game winners, but none of Chelsea's "stars" are in the class of players like Henry or RvN. There is also tremendous pressure from Abramovic, who expects the league title and anything else will have been a failure. And there is already signs that Abramovic and Mourinho disagree on the style Chelsea should play (Mourinho prefers the more negative way of playing). All this means that Chelsea are still in the middle of massive changes, and this is probably why many good players have turned then down (Ronaldinho, for example). I will even go as far as saying that Liverpool might end up higher in the table than Chelsea.

As for Arsenal, if we play as well as we did last season, then we don't need any reinforcements (most of the players that have left did not really contribute much to last season). We now have quite a few "new" players that we didn't have at the start of last season, including Reyes, Pennant, van Persie, and if the media speculation is correct (highly doubtful though), Trabelsi. We even have Jeffers back, although I don't know whether that's a plus or a minus

I think United need to buy more players: a defender, a creative midfielder to play on the opposite side of Ronaldo, and a top class striker. Considering how poor the other teams were last season (which made Arsenal going unbeaten possible), Chelsea/United losing 7/9 times is way too much.

[Oriphus]

You've hit the nail on the head with a creative left side player for United. Im hoping that we will buy one. Im annoyed that we didnt end up with Arjen Robben, he wouldve been an ideal choice, but i still think there will be a few more players making their way to Old Trafford. Don't forget that we have already signed Argentinian international Heinze who is very good as a defender and had a good game against Mexico, even though they lost 1-0. I think that we have a good defense set up, especially with Rio coming back in after 6 weeks i think. We have got Liam Miller, Gerard Pique, Guiseppe Rossi, the possibility of Alberto Gilardino, and Alan Smith. There are surely more to come, still needing a big name lol

I agree with Admin on Arsenal. People always say at teh start of every season, oh...Arsenal wont do it. I think they are our biggest threat. The first game against Chelsea will set us off. If we win that, then i definitely think it will be a battle between Arsenal and Man Utd to get 1st spot, and Chelsea and Liverpool to get 3rd.

I disagree that we need a top class striekr though, even though we may get one. I think that RvN and Saha will make a great partnership and hopefully Alan Smith and Soksjaer will do well together. If we do sign lberto Gilardino, who is a very talented under 21 Italian side striker for Parma, then i think we should be fine in that department.

[MPS]

totally agree on the striker issue. rvn & saha + smith & solskjaer and the new one are more than enough

[admin]

My feeling is that United's problem last season was due to defensive problems, as well as attacking ones, even after Saha arrived. It may be that the problem with the defense caused the attackers to lose confidence, or perhaps it was the lack of an effective attack that meant too much pressure on defense. Perhaps the problem can be solved with more creativity in the midfield, instead of a new striker.

Anyway, I can't wait for the new season to begin. The community shield should be fun to watch, I hope United win again (seemed to work well for Arsenal last season)

[MPS]

One Shield. One United.

[Oriphus]

Yeah, creativity was something we seemed to falter on slightly. You are forgetting though that Saha and RvN only actually played 3 games together in the Premiership and each time two goals were scored, one by atleast one fo them. If they play every game next season then i can see a lot mroe goals going in. I think the french tend to have a lot of flair when attacking. French strikers look a lot different to English ones in their style of football. they tend to be more direct than the English, of course Wayne Rooney being an exception to that lol.

Yeah, its now less than a month to the start of the season. Im so excited. My new United shirt arrived today. I was told it would arrive between 7-9am so i got up to wait for it before work. Had to go to work at 8.45am and it didnt arrive until 12.40pm. What a pain in the ass. It is fantastic though, with FAPL badges (though not the Champions ones ) and Solskjaer 20 on the back.

[MPS]

so, should we call u OLE-PHUS from now on?
or do you prefer just Gunnar

[Oriphus]

lol Ole-phus will do just fine mate

Im excited about the matches coming up soon. Really looking forward to them.

[admin]

A reliable source says that Vieira will leave Arsenal by the end of the week. It may even be announced tomorrow at a press conference after our friendly with Barnet. 32m cash deal, or so I've heard.

Can't say I'm pleased at the news, and I hope it's all just rumours, but losing Vieira would be better than losing Henry, and I hope we do get a good replacement if Vieira goes. I guess what I said about Vieira a couple of posts before (and before the interest from Madrid this time round) still holds true:

Vieira, as always, was out of the team for quite a bit of the season. He has been average to good this season, but better than the poor performance last season. Sometimes, he goes missing a bit, which is not good if you're the captain. But when he's playing well, there's no other player that can match him, even if he is hindered by the frequently inept Gilberto. The team is less reliant on him, then say Pires or Henry.

[Oriphus]

Yeah, im hearing a lot of things about Vieira going to Real Madrid. To be honest, I dont even think he is the answer to all their problems. Real Madrid is a strange team, full of big-headed super stars no doubt, whereas Arsenal is more of a team. i dont think its a good move for him. If he goes, im sure Arsenal will probably do quite well, since Vieira didnt play that much last season as you say and was a cracker performer.

Who's better in your opinion (does mroe for the team) - Vieira or Roy Keane?

[admin]

I think United need Keane more than Arsenal needs Vieira, but at current performance levels, Vieira is a better player than Roy Keane (which was probably not true a couple of years ago).

I am still hoping Vieira stays, as I don't think it's a good move for him or for Real. It's a big loss for Arsenal as well, but we can recover if we buy intelligently, and we might even come out ahead. But if he has to go (and the only reason Arsenal are letting him go would be because he wants to go badly), then I wouldn't mind 20m + Morientes. I think Morientes and Henry together would be quite lethal, and it's not bad to have Bergkamp, Reyes, van Persie and Aliadiere as backup strikers/wingers. We'll have to get someone in the midfield to replace Vieira - Michael Ballack wouldn't be bad, although everyone thinks we would be going after Steven Gerrard, which I am not too sure about (his frequent two footed tackles worry me). It's ironic that Vieira may leave because we haven't bought in enough players, and that him leaving allows us to do just that.

[Oriphus]

That is ironic lol. I saw on Skysports toda that the new Real Madrid manager has said that Morientes will not be leavin Madrid this year and is a first team player. Vieira will generat a lot of money for Arsenal, but they need to make sure that they buy in a good strong holding and controling midfielder. I think that in his day, Roy Keane was easily one of the best, but he is getting on a bit and plays a slightly different role than he used to. However, he is still our most influential player and a great asset to our side.

Oh...did i tell you i am booked on the trip to Old Trafford in October to see United beating Arsenal

[MPS]

lucky U
Vierira to madirid... welll it doesn't matter really cause this season barca will win all there is to win in la liga

[Oriphus]

Barca certainly do look likely to do very well, especially with Larsson at them now. They will be a strong side this season no doubt.