Summer 2011

[shaunstrudwick]

The Juan that Matas!

 

Liverpool make Juan Mata 'a £20million priority' in summer transfer market | Metro.co.uk

 

easily the best pun so far

 

would love Mata to come here

[Kurt]

just some of the players we have been linked to so far

 

Charlie Adam

Marc Albrighton

Jeffren Suarez

James McCarthy

Fernando Gago

Javier Pastore

Davide Santon

Christian Ansaldi

Philip Mexes

Ashley Young

Gary Cahill

Leighton Baines

Stuart Downing

Jose Enrique

Conor Wickham

Gael Clichy

Romelu Lukaku

Cameron Park

Oscar Wendt

Matt Jarvis

Diego Perotti

Nicolas Gaitan

Arda Turan

Andre Ayew

Sylvain Marveux

Aly Cissokho

Keisuke Honda

Aaron Lennon

Gareth Bale

Brad Freidel

Nicolas Douchez

Mamadou Sakho

Steven Defour

Dimitri Payet

Jeremy Menez.

Phil Jones.

Joey Barton

Axel Witsel

Nurin Sahin

Ezequiel Lavezzi

Hugo Lloris

 

plus the new names from todays papers

 

If we dont sign at least half of those players the owners can fuck right off!

[Xherdan]

A summer that includes two from Mata, Young, Hazard, Turan or Marin would see us right up there next season.

[StevieH]

Marin is a good player but is he a bit too similar to Suarez in the role that he plays? I think the likes of Mata, Young and Dzsudzsak are probably better suited to playing in attack with Carroll and Suarez and will give the side a better balance.

[Einch]

Mata and Young would be great business even if they cost £40M between them.

[Unrighteous]

Marin is an interesting prospect. He could come here and be an absolute bargain... or be a spectacular failure.

[king7]

Agreed. He might be a bit too lightweight for the Prem, but his runs with the ball are probably the best in the Bundesliga (with Robbens). Always rated him higher than Özil at Bremen.

 

Don't know much about Marin, but I do think we need a player that is good at running with the ball at his feet. Don't think we've had a player with great abilitiy in that department since McManaman.

[Xherdan]

The idea that a player is 'too lightweight' for this league is a total misnomer.

[Guest PurpleNose]

Are you trying to say that Xavi, Iniesta and Messi would be able to succeed in England?

[Xherdan]

How do you think they would play on a cold winters day in Stoke? The very sameway they do every other weekend; by playing the opposition off the park.

[Seemann]

When I saw a picture of Lovren on wiki nad his stats I instantly thought of Markus Babbel!

 

He can play left back too, right?

 

Only on that slim comparison I'd say go for him, go

[RedinSweden]

Marin is an interesting prospect. He could come here and be an absolute bargain... or be a spectacular failure.

 

You missed an option. He might come here and be ok.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Young, very talented, needs some guidance to bring the best of him out... sounds perfectly suited.

[aws]

I'm not at all confident that we're signing Mata Hari Redknapp has got his spies watching him.

[The Dude Abides]

The idea that a player is 'too lightweight' for this league is a total misnomer.

 

Really makes my shit itch when people bring up that excuse. Case in point, Modric or Julio Baptista, which of those was the one too lightweight for England?

 

Whatever 'winger' we do sign, I think it's important that he's not just one of those kick and rush, hit the byline types. Needs to be able to come inside and be able and find a pass and be able to play little one twos, be able to dribble past layers. That's my worry with Downing, he'd make us too predictable imo.

[Xherdan]

Not sure about the last point mate. Getting balls into the box may make you predictable but when you have Andy Carroll attacking them some teams will shit themselves. Add that ability with a speedy dribbler on the other flank and we are extremely versatile.

[The Dude Abides]

People keep saying that and I'm not convinced. I don;t think Downing's delivery is so good that he;s worth splashing the kind of money to would take to get him here. And he'd easily be marked out of the game at a club like Liverpool. Even Bale hasn't been anywhere near as effective now that teams are doubling up on him stopping him from hitting the byline, and he's a much better player than Downing. These days it's a job for the fullbacks to provide that kind of service.

 

What you want really is a player that can do a bit of both, but with Downing if you take away his delivery there's not much of a player there at all.

[Xherdan]

Bale's game is based off his speed, he tries to beat his man etc. Downing, while not being slow, is not a speedster, but he has the ability to get ball into the box. You dont need to beat a man to get a ball into the box, see David Beckhams entire career.

[silverlining]

People keep saying that and I'm not convinced. I don;t think Downing's delivery is so good that he;s worth splashing the kind of money to would take to get him here. And he'd easily be marked out of the game at a club like Liverpool. Even Bale hasn't been anywhere near as effective now that teams are doubling up on him stopping him from hitting the byline, and he's a much better player than Downing. These days it's a job for the fullbacks to provide that kind of service.

 

 

How many assists have United's full-backs got this season?

 

How many did Cole provide for Chelsea last season?

[jackofdk]

[YOUTUBE]ZflJfuzMsnU[/YOUTUBE]

 

Just did a bit of Youtube scouting on Marko Marin. I have no idea if he is good enough, but he is the kind of player I love to watch. Looks to be in the Aimar mould with regards to playing style.

[Guest TK-421]

What is the latest on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's future at Southampton?

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You expect us to tell you?

 

Here's how it works: you post an article from somewhere, we all read it and go "hmm...interesting. Thanks, NewsBot".

;)

[WaltonRed]

Ribery or Robben or i'll flip

 

Thanks John

[RoyHodgeGone]

On the basis of that youtube video of Marin (big assumption!) I'd say sign him immediately. Be interesting to know why he hasn't had a good season.

[Wor Horse]

Ribery or Robben or i'll flip

 

Thanks John

 

Both have said they won't play in the Europa League. I'm sure both of them even went as far as to say it was 'shit'

 

So be prepared to flip!

[Wor Horse]

These days it's a job for the fullbacks to provide that kind of service.

 

.

 

How many assists have United's full-backs got this season?

 

How many did Cole provide for Chelsea last season?

 

Assists

Man Utd

Nani - 18

Giggs - 8

 

O'Shea - 3

Fabio - 1

Rafael - 1

 

Evra... erm none I think.

 

Chelsea

Kalou - 5

Malouda - 5

 

Ivanovic - 5

Cole - 4

 

Arsenal

Arshavin - 11

Walcott - 7

 

Sagna - 3

Clichy - 1

 

Liverpool

Kuyt - 8

Meireles - 7

Suarez - 5

 

Johnson - 2

Aurelio - 1

 

 

In fact there's only 2 full backs - Baines and Ivanovic - in the top 50 assists so far this season.

 

Official Site of the Premier League | Statistics