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World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

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Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Seems unrealistic to me for the reasons Bob mentioned, plus it would alienate Giroud and Podolski who he only JUST signed by bringing in someone else to be above them in the pecking order, and I think Wenger is too smart to openly court player discontent like that.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum: QPR are signing Julio Cesar? Two matches into Robert Green's tenure? I know Green is terrible, but you JUST SIGNED HIM. At least give him half a season to see what happens. Gosh I hope they crash and burn.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Reports are that Walcott has now indicated he doesn't want to sign a new contract with Arsenal, so he could be shipped in the next days, with Liverpool and City apparently interested. He's had flashes of production at Arsenal, but has never been a consistent performer and has been injured a fair amount, so it's not the end of the world to see him go if they can get a good price.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Kepler said:
Also supposedly closing on Kieran Richardson.

So assuming 2 out, 2 in, how much weaker are they than a week ago? Still mid-table, right?
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Well... "2 out 2 in" sort of oversimplifies the transfer window as a whole. There's been a pretty significant amount of turnover if you add Murphy and Etuhu and Pogrebnyak and Johnson and Sa and Gecov and B-H Riise out, and Petric and Rodallega and Riether in. In an interview on the FFC website earlier today, Jol acknowledged that even if/when the Berbatov and Richardson deals are finalized, with Murphy and Etuhu and Dembele and Gecov gone, the squad is pretty thin on guys who can play in the withdrawn midfield spots in the 4-2-3-1 he's been using; after Diarra and Sidwell, the best options are Baird or Riether or Davies or Kasami played out of position. Certainly does look a lot more promising in the attacking four though.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Berbatov could be at Fulham by Saturday.
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That's a high risk/high reward proposition for Fulham. If he's at his best, this makes Fulham a better team immediately. If he's his languid mopey self, the team could be worse than without him. I'd guess it'll be a mix of both.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Bob Gray said:
That's a high risk/high reward proposition for Fulham. If he's at his best, this makes Fulham a better team immediately. If he's his languid mopey self, the team could be worse than without him. I'd guess it'll be a mix of both.
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At the very worst, he's better than Bobby Zamora, who had the same wide swings between best and mopey worst. If reports are to be believed, he's actually happy to be working with Martin Jol again, so that's probably a good sign.

I think Fulham's current management team, led by CEO Alistair Mackintosh (who was one of the early casualties of the Sinawatra era at Man City), have done a fantastic job of smart growth without spending crazy money, and the Berbatov signing (hey, Bobby Zamora was prone to moping too, but not nearly as good as Berbatov at their respective bests) is indicative of how far things have come in the past 4-5 years. It wasn't all THAT long ago that we were getting excited about the signing of crappy-*** David Healy.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Checking out the Champions League draw and Man City did not get a good group. They are in there with Dortmund, Real Madrid and Ajax in the group of death. The other English clubs got favorable draws. Here are my group predictions. Team that advance are bolded

Group A
PSG
Porto
Dynamo Kiev
Dinamo Zagreb

Group B
Arsenal
Schalke 04
Olimpiacos
Montpellier

Group C
AC Milan
Zenit
Malaga
Anderlecht

Group D
Real Madrid
Dortmund
Man City
Ajax

Group E
Chelsea
Juventus
Shaktar Donestk
Nordsjælland

Group F
Bayern
Valencia
BATE
Lille

Group G
Barcelona
Celtic- Surprise team
Benfica
Spartak

Group H
Man United
Braga
Galatasaraay
CFR Cluj
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

MountieBoyOz said:
Group D
Real Madrid
Dortmund
Man City
Ajax
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Sheesh... that group has the reigning champions of three of the four strongest leagues in Europe. (And the Eredivisie is no slouch either.)
 
jmh said:
Sheesh... that group has the reigning champions of three of the four strongest leagues in Europe. (And the Eredivisie is no slouch either.)
Click to expand...

I hope Ajax can pull the upset, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Bob Gray said:
That's a high risk/high reward proposition for Fulham. If he's at his best, this makes Fulham a better team immediately. If he's his languid mopey self, the team could be worse than without him. I'd guess it'll be a mix of both.
Click to expand...

For a Mets fan, this description SCREAMS Carlos Baerga, and that did not go well.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

The Berbatov signing is now official, as is Kieran Richardson (who I think is a nice under-the-radar depth pickup for a low fee, can play in a few different roles and probably understands that he isn't going to be starting every match). There are rumors about a bunch of other guys including Ashkan Dejagah, Michel Bastos, Derek Boateng, and Ryan Babel (why?).
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

VP had a nice goal against Fulham the other day, although I gotta say that if he and Rooney are on the field at the same time I prefer to see Rooney taking set pieces.
 
Re: World Soccer XXIII - "Pay" Up Pompey?

Nice win for Arsenal after two marginal performances last week, as summer signings put in two at Anfield.
 
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