Neophyte - Question for all the Arsenal supporters and for Bobby, why did Arsenal not keep Baptista? Do they think Adebayor is better than the "Beast"?
Bobby – Arsenal didn’t keep Baptista because apart from a couple of Carling Cup performances he didn’t play very well. Adebayor is quicker than Baptista, better in the air and is younger. Baptista is more versatile than Adebayor though.
Milanfan - Just wondering what you thought about Milan’s lack of acquisitions this summer. It’s strange that they are so complacent when they were pretty mediocre in Serie A last season, that is compared to the two seasons ago, last season they went down hill and I think that they will continue to decline a bit with their aging team. They have a great starting 11 but whole bench of players that don't really add anything.
Galliani came out and stated he will acquire one of 6 superstar players. Its seems that the names pretty much won't leave their clubs. Which one do you see coming or which one do you think would be the best addition to the Milan squad? Will they go down hill with the squad they have versus other teams in Serie A and Europe getting stronger?
Bobby – Is this the same Milan that won the Champions League last season as they went downhill? I’ll wait to see who they sign before dropping in my two cents worth. There is still a long way to go before the transfer window closes.
henry14 - q1. Martin O’Neill is highly rated and has an open cheque book from Lerner, what do you think will happen if Villa do not improve, because last year they were boos when they were awful and what do you make of a coach with that money signing Harewood? Q2 One pundit said that people are over hyping Man United signings, and he said so far the only signing that could improve them immediately is Hargreaves, Nana and Anderson will take two more years to be anywhere near very good Prem players. What is your take to such a quote? Q3 Drogba has had two or so years saying, he wants to quit Chelsea and he wants them to match his ambition, and it pops up here and then do you see Drogba at Chelsea in the next two years given his desire to play in another league? Q4 What do you make of Wigan signing of Sibierski and Bramble etc, should Wigan fans fear? Q5 Who is the best Prem player ever or rather since its inception? q6 Alan Curbishley came out to take a swipe at Fergie that he claimed Tevez had won West Ham relegation battle was that tongue in cheek and what do you make of the comments? q7 In one word will Tevez be a United player come August 31
Bobby – A1 – A loaded question and one that is largely unanswerable. What is the definition of not improve? Does that mean the same league position as last season? Does it anticipate a full squad all season or injury ravaged? I have a question back to you – what do you make of a coach who would sign Chris Sutton when he was virtually a laughing stock at Chelsea? O'Neill's strength is getting the best out of players and he likes big strong forwards. Harewood fits the mold. A2 – It sounds like a fairly good assessment to me. A3 – If he has been saying for two years then why is he still at Chelsea? Actions speak louder than words and I really think you have to be careful reading things into “interviews”. As for Chelsea matching his ambition I can only think he must have his eye on the position of All-Gallatic Emperor. Who in their right mind would claim that Chelsea is a team without ambition- give me a break. A4 – Relegation. A5 – Best in terms of what? Influence, scoring, defending, entertainment, success. Best is not an objective term. A6 – Managers say a lot of things when microphones are stuffed in front of them. In the bigger picture what they say almost always means very little. A7 – Maybe.
Henry14 - What is your opinion on Sven’s signing, l do not like the man very much but he has brought cheap and quality players.
Bobby – I wouldn’t underestimate Sven at the club level given his record in other leagues but I am not expecting Manchester City to be an entertaining side this season. Bianchi is a high risk signing.
Icemonkey - What's your take on Senderos and Walcott? I would be more than willing to give Walcott a chance, but I think that Senderos must Goooooooooooooo. Maybe we could loan him to an Italian side where he would get regular playing time, maybe that would help him. If not, he should have no future with a top-four club in any league.
Bobby – Two young players that we have yet to see the best of. I would be surprised if Wenger loaned Senderos out. If he thinks he has a future at Arsenal then he will keep him and work with him daily. If not, he will let him go.
Federico Federico Fazio the unsung hero of Argentina's u20? I've seen him live 3 times now and hes just an absolute rock in defense. Man marked Dos Santos out of the game to the point Dos Santos took a bad yellow for an ugly frustrated tackle on him. Also has Atletico Madrid actually improved as a team by letting Torres go? They turned Torres into Garcia and Forlan and now Aguero will see more play time. I don't know about you but i'll be going out of my way to watch some Atletico Madrid games next year.
Not only did they replace him with the signing of Forlan, they also improved, as Forlan will score 5-10 more goals than Torres will score. Garcia was also a plus, but i believe the real improvement comes via the Forlan signing.
I think Arsenal needs to get rid of almost all there defenders except for Clichy and Torre. Eboue just annoys me, Gallas is a tool, and the rest just round around then fall down.
There have to be some capable defenders you can get cheap. They should just go kidnap Puyol and Alves. Do a Clockwork Orange type deal with them and then send them out as Arsenal players.
also in a fantasy type deal Arsenal need to sell the stadium to a big sponsor like Wal Mart or Taco bell and get Messi in the team.
I could agree with you on the Gallas part. Would also agree that Senderos and Justin Hoyte need to go. And whilst i also agree that Toure and Clichy are capable defenders and assets to any team, i must disagree with you on Eboue and Djorou, as Eboue is a fantastic right back and Djorou reads the games well and is not prone to silly mistakes. Additionally, Djorou has a pretty decent body for a CB and he is young, so there is time for him to improve.
With regard to Puyol and Alves, We do not need Puyol, i for one do not care to see him in my team and he would cost too much money. As for Alves, he is a great talent but will cost too much money and will more than likely end up at Chelsea. So what i am saying is, those aren't realistic options, sounds more like an Arsenal from some fantasy league. LOL.
Last edited by Icemonkey on July 18th at 10:53 AM.
Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about starting the season. As much as Atletico supporters complain about the management, they truly got it right this summer. It's all very promising.
l think the problem with milan is that they are looking for a centre forward and its a case of that they arent too many quality strikers around.you look at the top strikers drogba, eto henry they are not going to move ,,sheva looks drained but the other thing that is funny is no one has gone for hunterlaar thus far , one l think he would be expensive and second while he scores tonnes of goals he has no pace hence will struggle.l think we have quality defenders it is just a caase of putting the ball into the net
What about Woodgate for arsenal (not now-when he was available) Solid tactically. Tougher so gives Arsenal some of the backbone they lack. Who provides the crunching tackles and keep 'em honest physical play for the Gunners? A Gatusso-although not a back-would do wonders for arsenal. Aside from maybe silva is there anyone you would consider hard-nosed?
Someone mentioned a striker not having enough pace which is something they would need against quality defenders....I tend to believe that pace is overrated when it comes to strikers. I will take a goal scorer any day over someone with "pace" as their strength. I actually heard some pundits say that they believed the US had a chance against Argentina in the Copa because Crespo was starting at striker who, lacked pace. How many goals did he get? Then there is Van Nistelroy. I wouldn't say he is the fastest striker out there but look at what he does...scores goals! If you have someone who has proven to have technical speed and a head for the game and can score, who cares if he can set the land speed record.
What I do not understand is what is the reason behind this Malouda - Roben change. Roben is younger and has a tremendous potential.
Is it just high salary that he is demnading?
If he is to leave, I would miss his goal from nowhere...
Is this the same Milan that has won 1 scudetto in the last 8 years? Or the Milan that was outplayed by Inter, Livorno, Fiorentina, and Roma last season? Compare that to two seasons ago. They lost Scheva and have an aging team that is going down.
There two Milans you can point to one in league and the other in Europe. The Milan is Europe wasn't that great it was Kaka who was great-- they had the easiest schedule of any club as well. The Milan in Italy was outplayed by Inter, Fiorentina, Roma, and Livorno last season. Without Scheva they had no offense. Most people don't watch Scudetto though, what they see is the Champions League. The previous season they had the highest goal differential of any team and were a couple points away from teh scudetto.
Look at the facts in the scudetto they have clearly went downhill. Being objective, they had some fortunate things go their way in the CL, easiest group stage, unexperienced Celtic, and a disarrayed Bayern. And some major injury problems for Chelsea, Barcelona, and Man U that paved the way to their victory.
Regardless it brings up an interesting question of how they can improve. Maybe you follow English football more?
How come liverpool are not trying to sign somebody like Requelme who is a gifted play maker.If you noticed these past years one of the reason we struggled against teams that tightened their midfield is the lack of a descent midfielder since McMANEMANleft(another gifted play maker).How would their expensive strikers get the ball? By the way Requelme isnt going to be that expensive.Requelme or Benayoun whose better?
What are you thoughts on Spurs chances of cracking top 4 maybe top 3? I think they have a great chance is they sign another quality midfielder who can be a defensive midfileder in the mould of Hargreaves/Carrick.
What are you thoughts on MLS Expansion? Philadelphis is in the mix for future expansion. I feel the best chance of MLS expansion success is to expand to cities that MLS would be the only major game in town (Columbus, Salt Lake) or one of and or those cities who have a history of soccer roots. Examples of potential future teams that I would support.... Rochester, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, Milwaukee, Tampa, Portland, Buffalo etc. Stay away from just major cities because of population or TV. viewership potential it has not worked in the NHL such as Atlanta or Nashville.
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