The Soccer Thread

[Prodigal Son]

Seattle Sounders continue to rip through the US Open Cup. Beat The Kansas City Wizards today 1-0 to get a semi-final match-up against Houston Dynamo.

[davie]

As a Milan fan, I like the "Gooch" signing. The center defense will most likely be Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva, so it's unlikely that Onyewu will actually start. However, he will be a very important backup, particularly due to Nesta's injury problems the past few years. I'm really interested to see how he adapts to the highly-tactical Italian game. I look forward to seeing him in red and black. Forza Milan!

Hopefully Nesta's injuries won't be a problem anymore, since he missed from January until the end of the season after having back surgery.

[calgaryballer]

Huntelaar is quality. I think he will be fine once he gets a real run out

[Archer]

Huntelaar is quality. I think he will be fine once he gets a real run out

Lets wait for him to score on a consistent basis in a non Amateur like League (Yes i know 6 clubs in Holland are actually proffesional)

[1ke]

Huntelaar is quality. I think he will be fine once he gets a real run out

I also think along with Owen, Berba, and Wazza he should be better.

Lets wait for him to score on a consistent basis in a non Amateur like League (Yes i know 6 clubs in Holland are actually proffesional)

But I also agree with this. I didnt think he was overly impressive during his time there. And Madrid are reportedly asking to get the full 20 mil they paid for him. Thats what I dont like the most. I dont think he is worth it.

I'm sick as hell of Man U.

Obertan
Valencia
and now possibly Huntelaar

Obertan - 4 mil
Valencia - 15 mil
and now possibly Huntelaar - -better be less than 20 mil.

You cant honestly tell me youre sick of them when there is a little team from MADRID doing just a little bit of biz in the transfer market. Kaka Ronny, and Benzema, and the spanish defender forgot his name.

[calgaryballer]

Obertan - 4 mil
Valencia - 15 mil
and now possibly Huntelaar - -better be less than 20 mil.

You cant honestly tell me youre sick of them when there is a little team from MADRID doing just a little bit of biz in the transfer market. Kaka Ronny, and Benzema, and the spanish defender forgot his name.

Albiol.

I have to say, reading the websites is terribly annoying right now. Everyone thinks this is Football Manager and as long as Fergie gets his bid accepted, he should be able to buy this or that player. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. And when Barca and Madrid are tossing around money like they can, there is no sane continental player who would not choose playing for them over playing in rainy Manchester. Sure, United are defending PL champs and a threat for the Champions League, but so are Barca and Madrid

Also, when replacing a player like Ronaldo, there aren't exactly a lot of guys out there that would be available for a reasonable price. Sure, had he not been sold and had Citeh not gone crazy, guys like Ribery might be a bit cheaper, but Bayern was never going to sell easy, nor was Lyon with Benzema.

I hate Owen, but its a low risk high reward move. Obertan is cheap and still has potential, and Valencia has some skill. It's easy to throw out 'why didn't we get ASHLEY YOUNG! Give MON 20 mil!!!!!!' Fact is, O'Neil is backed up by a great owner in Randy Lerner, and they don't need to sell to keep Man U in the position they are in. If I was a PL club anywhere near the Top 6, I would be doing anything I could to not let people go to Man United

[1ke]

I cant disagree, but whats he supposed to do. Sit there? CB, you must have known I was clamoring for Ashley Young. then again, he could bank the 130 mil, sure, but he is extremely pissed at the CL loss. He should be, he picked a shit squad, and Barca killed them.

But wehn you lose your best player, something has to be done to try to replace him. That sometihng, is try and replace. As of now with the signings it looks like this. Giggs, Nani, Park, Tosic, Valencia, Obertan. None wow on that list. I love me some Park, but he is still a rotational player. Giggs = old, Nani = trash, Tosic might be loaned out.

Amd as far as obertan, his development cant be any hurt more any Utd. It might even help.

[Senser81]

Yeah, I don't think Man U is overloaded with talent. They have some holdover players from the late-90's like Giggs, Scholes, and Neville who have become part-timers. They have a good backline when healthy, Van der Sar is good enough, they have a capable midfield with guys like Park and Anderson and Carrick. Ronaldo was their true superstar player. Rooney is the best Scottie Pippen role player in soccer. I thought Berbetov and Tevez were world-class players, but Ferguson didn't seem all that excited about playing either of those two. If I were a good, young player, I wouldn't be worried about not getting playing time at ManU.

[calgaryballer]

I cant disagree, but whats he supposed to do. Sit there? CB, you must have known I was clamoring for Ashley Young. then again, he could bank the 130 mil, sure, but he is extremely pissed at the CL loss. He should be, he picked a shit squad, and Barca killed them.

But wehn you lose your best player, something has to be done to try to replace him. That sometihng, is try and replace. As of now with the signings it looks like this. Giggs, Nani, Park, Tosic, Valencia, Obertan. None wow on that list. I love me some Park, but he is still a rotational player. Giggs = old, Nani = trash, Tosic might be loaned out.

Amd as far as obertan, his development cant be any hurt more any Utd. It might even help.

He certainly should be trying. My point was more in regards to Man U fans who seem to think that they have a god given right to the best players in the world. If Ronaldo had developed into the player he is at Porto, there is no fucking way he joins United at any point. English teams have to get the best continental players when they are young because they don't want to come to England once they have been established.

I read somewhere that something like 95% of the Ballon D'or winners were either at one of the big continental clubs (Milan, Barca, Madrid, Juve, Inter) or moved there within a year of their winning the award. Just looking at the list now backs that up

[Archer]

I'm sick of Man U because it seems as though they're simply buying up every talent they find. I'm also reading that they're targeting Douglas Costa as a replacement, for the future, for Ronaldo.

As Calgaryballer says, it's like Fergie is playing Football Manager. I'm wondering how he's going to be able to rotate all these players. Furthermore, I'm surprised many of these players are even willing to move to Man U at this point. I mean how much time on the pitch is Obertan going to get? Sure the money has got to be nice, but at the price of your footballing development?

Eh I hate Man Utd as much as the next guy but they are spending the money that the gained from selling a player

Thats the "proper" way of doing things .Sell to make money then spend that money on players , I cant hate on a team for spending the money that they earned

What I dislike is the Real way of doing things , get a Rich President , Sell nobody or only a few players (who arent worth 160million btw lol) and then go fucking crazy buying everybody

Not saying Man Utd didnt do the Real way of thigns in the past but right now they arent . They lost argubly the best player in the world ( I have him a bit behind Messi tho) so they have to try and replace him with quanitity seeing as the only quality for quality replacement would cost about 140million and then he would probably never leave

Also seems like Bayern are asking for crazy money for Ribery

[Bigpapa42]

Eh I hate Man Utd as much as the next guy but they are spending the money that the gained from selling a player

Thats the "proper" way of doing things .Sell to make money then spend that money on players , I cant hate on a team for spending the money that they earned

What I dislike is the Real way of doing things , get a Rich President , Sell nobody or only a few players (who arent worth 160million btw lol) and then go fucking crazy buying everybody

Not saying Man Utd didnt do the Real way of thigns in the past but right now they arent . They lost argubly the best player in the world ( I have him a bit behind Messi tho) so they have to try and replace him with quanitity seeing as the only quality for quality replacement would cost about 140million and then he would probably never leave

Also seems like Bayern are asking for crazy money for Ribery

Pretty sure that quite a few Prem clubs are far worse at spending what they don't have than Madrid. Look at the amount of debt that any number of Prem clubs have.

Madrid might be building debt right now, but they are the richest club in the world in terms of revenue (366m last year, I believe). Which is only likely to go up with the additions this summer. They are owned by the sporting club, so they do not operate for profit like a privately run club does. They are able to put what they earn back into the club. The club president doesn't have too much to do with it. The president cannot "own" the club.

[Archer]

Pretty sure that quite a few Prem clubs are far worse at spending what they don't have than Madrid. Look at the amount of debt that any number of Prem clubs have.

Madrid might be building debt right now, but they are the richest club in the world in terms of revenue (366m last year, I believe). Which is only likely to go up with the additions this summer. They are owned by the sporting club, so they do not operate for profit like a privately run club does. They are able to put what they earn back into the club. The club president doesn't have too much to do with it. The president cannot "own" the club.

Didnt say other clubs dont , Real was just an example

Im sure they will make all this back on shirt sales on tours and such

Im pretty sure i never said ... "Real are the only club who does this"

I disliked it when Chelsea did it , I dislike it when Real do and I do when any clubs does

I know its a buisness and its how it is but it doesnt mean I will enjoy seeing clubs spend 100million+ on 3-5 players

[Archer]

My point is this, Obertan was loaned out to Lorient in Ligue 2 because he wasn't going to get any time on the pitch at Bordeaux. The appearances he made were largely as a sub, and when moved to Lorient he made 15 appearances finding the net just once.

I think he's a talent, but I just think he'd be better served staying in France as Benzema has and develop his game further. I've never been a big fan of clubs poaching young talent. It's just my opinion and I'm not here to say I'm right in that respect.

I'm not saying Man U shouldn't spend the money they have. But do they really have that money to spend? Consider that Man U's debt back in April approached 700 million pounds, to me it just doesn't seem like a good idea. I just keep waiting for the bottom to fall out in soccer at some point. Hell the entire Bundesliga is up to their ears in debt.

Sorry, I just dislike Man U seemingly snatching up any all talents they can while the rest of the EPL twiddles their thumbs and counts their debt. It's just my opinion though.

Lol I hate Man Utd as much as the next guy (mainly for beating us to the title 2times in the 90s) . I was just throwing my spin on things

I know what your saying though

[1ke]

Lost of good shit since i left...

CB, I gotcha now, and youre right, who would want to stay in rainy Northern England. Good thing im not one of those fans.

Archer, cant disagree with much said there.

Papi, I only thought we were talking about this season. And, I just dont like how Madrid specifically took out a 200 mil loan for player transfers.

Gob, i understand the hate, its cool, its normal. My stance would be though, nobody is stopping anybody other team from doing their own scouting. They dont have to sit back and twiddle their thumbs. Obertan was 4 mil. Hell, Championship teams could afford that. Say, Obertan, is a mild success, Utd sell his ass for 10 mil, thats easy porfit and very good business.

[1ke]

It looks like Stuttgart met Madrid's asking price of 20 Mil for Huntlaar. Off to Germany he goes. Good for them, they needed to replace Mario Gomez.