- Mar 25, 2013
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Dazed and Confused said:
Ridiculous. He makes a few signings in January to put his stamp on things but now gets the boot. Mitrogolu scored for the U21 reserves and he's back now and will be a big plus. He's a great signing. Meulensteen deserved more time. Just wonder will Wilkins stay on as assistant.
Magath is an interesting one and he rules with an iron fist as you say. His football at Stuttgart was excellent to watch with Hleb, Szabolcs, Kuranyi along with Hinkel and Lahm as two attacking full backs. It was the opposite at Bayern where he was accused of being too dour. He done brilliantly at Wolfsburg to win the league but recently at Schalke and his second spell at Wolfsburg he failed to impress even though he had all the power to run things, including director of football powers.
Very interesting appointment. Mitrogolu settling in quickly will be key to their survival.
Christian said:
yea, not going to be many pub crawls for the lads moving forward.
I'm struggling to see this working long term, but lets see.
gooner said:
The rumour first surfaced in 2011 iirc and for some reason keeps cropping up, he's actually in net worth terms a lot less rich than Ashley, also most of his wealth is tied up in WWE stock so not much (by rich guys standards!) free cash.
WWE are about to undertake one the biggest financial risks in their history next week.
All of this means there is no chance (as I'm sure you know) of this happening as entertaining as it would actually be.
- Jul 12, 2012
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Cyivel said:
Yeah I just cant see it happening, although I really am looking forward to the WWE network launch. Will it be available over here at the same time?
Pricey_sky said:
Unfortunately not, it looks like it will be available late this year/early next year in the UK, although I'm not sure what price we will get or whether PPV's will be on it, WWE recently renewed their TV deal with SKY, including something about PPV's but I'm not sure how it impacts the network.
- Mar 25, 2013
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Cyivel said:
Yeah, it won't happen but if it did somehow go through, I think Vince would be an absentee owner just like the Glazers, Henry and Kroenke.
Pricey_sky said:
http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2014/2014_8_14.jsp
- Jul 12, 2012
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Cyivel said:
I did think about that when I heard the new contract with Sky Sports was renegotiated. If they are only charging $10 a month for all that content I really wouldn't mind paying £10 a month over here, even just for the thousands of hours worth of classic matches they are putting up. It also takes away having to fork out £14.99 for every PPV on box-office. As you said though I can see Sky being quite miffed having spent so much securing the rights only to be undercut.
gooner said:
Cheers for the link, I hope that actually does happen over here and not just in the US, good deal if that's the case.
I hope my nervousness about WWE giving us a worse deal is misplaced.
- Jul 12, 2012
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gooner said:
Thanks for that gooner, well if that's the case and every PPV will be on box office then I will have no worries about subscribing to the WWE network. It does look really good and I hope it's a success.
- Mar 25, 2013
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Sending off or not, Arsenal and Wenger were totally out of their depth tonight. It was blatantly obvious the right hand side in the first half where Lahm was pushing on, was causing Arsenal big problems. Wenger should have switched Chamberlain to the left to counter it as he's much better than Cazorla at tracking back. The threat wasn't coming from Alaba on the opposite side, but Wenger failed to act and I don't think he's up to it at this level nowadays. We see the big cash reserves Arsenal announced recently but Wenger still signs Sanogo and Flamini on frees and Kallstrom on loan. Sanogo worked hard and started the game well but these type of signings aren't going to work at the top end of the game.
Wenger's judgement in the transfer market in the last 3/4 years is mixed to say the least. Squillaci, Chamakh, Park, Santos, Benayoun, Kallstrom and Gervinho are classic example. The likes of Giroud, Podolski and Monreal aren't exactly resounding successes either. Plus, the ridiculous huge wages given to young and average players when they hadn't achieved a tap in their career was another huge error in Wenger's judgement. They couldn't get rid of guys like Denilson up until recently because of it. Almunia and Squillaci stayed still their end of the contract due to the money they were earning, even though they had many offers of regular football elsewhere while not kicking a ball in anger at Arsenal in the meantime. Bendtner is currently doing it at the moment. Point being, I think it's a myth that the Wenger of recent years is this great judge of market value be it in transfer fees or wages and I don't think he can be trusted with a large outlay even if he wants to spend it.
On Ozil, he shouldn't be in the team on current form and his work rate of the ball is non-existent where he's then a total liability when you are defending. For Sunderland on Saturday, if Wenger has the courage to do it, he should be dropped and move Cazorla back into the middle with Rosicky on the left and Chamberlain on the right(how he got taken off tonight instead of Ozil is beyond me).
Very frustrating as I feel the club has everything set up to push on for the major honours where it's Wenger's policy that he uses Arsenal as some sort of playground to exercise it, is currently holding the club back from further progress.
Another 3 year contract and on we go with the status quo continuing.
Wenger's judgement in the transfer market in the last 3/4 years is mixed to say the least. Squillaci, Chamakh, Park, Santos, Benayoun, Kallstrom and Gervinho are classic example. The likes of Giroud, Podolski and Monreal aren't exactly resounding successes either. Plus, the ridiculous huge wages given to young and average players when they hadn't achieved a tap in their career was another huge error in Wenger's judgement. They couldn't get rid of guys like Denilson up until recently because of it. Almunia and Squillaci stayed still their end of the contract due to the money they were earning, even though they had many offers of regular football elsewhere while not kicking a ball in anger at Arsenal in the meantime. Bendtner is currently doing it at the moment. Point being, I think it's a myth that the Wenger of recent years is this great judge of market value be it in transfer fees or wages and I don't think he can be trusted with a large outlay even if he wants to spend it.
On Ozil, he shouldn't be in the team on current form and his work rate of the ball is non-existent where he's then a total liability when you are defending. For Sunderland on Saturday, if Wenger has the courage to do it, he should be dropped and move Cazorla back into the middle with Rosicky on the left and Chamberlain on the right(how he got taken off tonight instead of Ozil is beyond me).
Very frustrating as I feel the club has everything set up to push on for the major honours where it's Wenger's policy that he uses Arsenal as some sort of playground to exercise it, is currently holding the club back from further progress.
Another 3 year contract and on we go with the status quo continuing.
- Mar 13, 2009
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I thought Gibbs was playing pretty well and had some good scenes until he had to leave the pitch. That was too bad. Özil was pretty terrible.
Arsenal played well for half an hour (with Sanogo as you pointed out), but then they lost their momentum and things took their inevitable turn. In Germany there is a saying, "a match lasts 90 minutes and in the end Bayern always wins." Today felt like one of those days, with the missed penalty, Gibbs' injury and then the red card for Szczesny.
Still I can't see them win it this year. Once they get under a bit of pressure, they start to stagger. In Germany they have no adversary so it seems like there' invincible, but we already saw it a couple of times in the Champion's league. Once they face a team of their own calibre, Guardiola's "advanced bullsh*t" (Ibrahimovic) will really be put to the test.
Arsenal played well for half an hour (with Sanogo as you pointed out), but then they lost their momentum and things took their inevitable turn. In Germany there is a saying, "a match lasts 90 minutes and in the end Bayern always wins." Today felt like one of those days, with the missed penalty, Gibbs' injury and then the red card for Szczesny.
Still I can't see them win it this year. Once they get under a bit of pressure, they start to stagger. In Germany they have no adversary so it seems like there' invincible, but we already saw it a couple of times in the Champion's league. Once they face a team of their own calibre, Guardiola's "advanced bullsh*t" (Ibrahimovic) will really be put to the test.
- Mar 25, 2013
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Christian said:
Gibbs was a big loss going off as Monreal isn't up to it. A dearth of left backs for Spain is the only reason why he is an international for them.
They can talk all the like about Pep's so called revolutionary methods but I see no difference from the Heynckes team of last season. The team is playing at the same level and is just continuing on.
I recorded their game last week against Hamburg in the cup as well as the one with Freiberg at the weekend and the league outside of themselves and Dortmund is pretty poor.
BTW Mkhitaryan has been outstanding lately for Dortmund.
- Mar 25, 2013
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Zam_Olyas said:
Just one surprise really with Daryl Murphy recalled. He hasn't been called up in a long while. Richard Keogh is back as well and that was to be expected as I was watching the Derby v QPR game a couple of weeks back where he got the man of the match award. O'Neill has been at a few Derby games watching him and Hendricks who by the way didn't get a call up. Andy Reid and Stokes are back since Trap is now gone where they had a fallen out with him which resulted in them not getting selected at the time.
I wouldn't say there is a top class keeper available for selection now even though Forde has done well recently. There's talk of Given coming out of retirement and O'Neill said he has spoken to him and hasn't ruled it out. Likewise he said he has spoken to Stephen Ireland also but I wouldn't want him a near the squad now. He had more than enough opportunities to make himself available during the Trap era and refused to do so.
Overall, I don't think we have a great group of players available and I would only say Coleman is anywhere near top quality. I like McCarthy also and Long getting a move to Hull should rejuvenate him once again. There's too much expectation over here for the standard of player we have and look at Trap qualifying for Euro 2012, our first Euros since 1988 and major tournament since WC 2002 which wasn't deemed successful. There was no way they were getting out of a group containing Spain, Italy and Croatia. I don't know where some of the players over here have got their reputations from. Guys like Doyle when he was at Reading and Wolves were hyped up by the media where they thought he was good enough for the top 4 in England. The same with Richard Dunne who has to be said, has been a very good player for Ireland. I remember one high profile pundit over here in Eamon Dunphy saying he was as good as Vidic in the past. This was when Vidic was at the peak of his powers. I'm not even sure they will get a full campaign out of Dunne now considering his previous injury problems and the fact he will be nearly 37 at the next Euros if they get there. Robbie Keane isn't in this squad now but how much longer are they going to rely on him to get the goals. Long needs to start stepping up to the plate now. Never mind Doyle, his goal record over recent seasons is pathetic. Stokes could contribute here also and he has played well for Celtic in Europe in the past. I don't see much beyond the players that are selected now, the U-21s aren't exactly blessed with huge talent. The only top talent I see now coming through is Jack Grealish with Aston Villa who's now on loan at Notts County. England are fighting tooth and nail to try and get him to declare for them but he has refused call ups to their youth teams in the past.
The extra 8 teams qualifying for Euro 2016 will help their chances of qualification and probably means they will get there as a result. I'm sure this played a part in O'Neill's decision to take the job. UEFA's decision to introduce this will only bring down the standard of the tournament and make the group stages of 24 teams more tedious. 36 games in the group stage to just elimnate 8 teams is ridiculous.
- Oct 21, 2012
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gooner said:
Don't really think you have been that fair on Wenger's transfers - you seem to have only concentrated on the negatives. I don't Giroud has been that bad - he's not Henry or Wright or Smith but... They do obviously need someone else up there of class. I'd still be worried about the spine of the team, something I've said since Vierra left... There isn't one, in fact best signing is one of those you mentioned above .. flammini, he came into his own the season before he left once he was moved up to midfield from ðefence.
Ozil - agreed has found recent weeks difficult. However he is class's and Arsenal fans should not be knocking him they should be getting behind him - if he fails it's a lot of money/talent down the drAin - he hasn't suddenly become a ****e player. If he leaves Arsenal he will be a success the aim should be that he is a success at Arsenal. Back him !
Still not sure about schezney???
WTR - Wenger - who are you going to replace him with. I've heard a lot of this dissatisfaction from Arsenal supporters but don't get Any great feedback on this question, yes I'd agree that there have been some shortcomings especially within defence,midfield (backbone/spine) of club especially since. vierra left. Fabregas as good as he was, was no spine and no captain!
I still don't see any obvious candidates for Arsenal manager's job in place of Wenger.
Adams should be brought back into club to help Boulde. Bergkamp too for different reasons but know this won't be possible at the moment.
- Mar 25, 2013
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Tom375 said:
I said his transfer policy is mixed which means he has some good buys also. Mixed isn't good enough while paying a manager 8m over 3 years in his next contract.
Flamini had one great season in 07/08 which was his only one in 4 years. He had a decent spell at left back in 06 when Cole and Clichy but when he came up against one decent winger with pace against Lennon in April of that year he got torn to shreds. Flamini did nothing at Milan for 5 years and wasn't even a regular. Arsenal could have easily got better now and there wasn't exactly a queue of top class clubs queueing up to sign him, were there? One and a bit good seasons in 9 years doesn't mean you're a great player. Even in some of the big games this season, he has been found wanting, United away, Napoli away and City away. He was terrible against Southampton away this season where he got sent off also. His technique in tackling leaves a lot to be desired like in that Southampton game. He did similar for Milan against Spurs in the CL a few years back but got away with it at the time. You have to be disciplined in your role there which is what Gilberto did. I don't mind the signing as cover in the defensive midfield area but I do have a problem when he is supposed the be the main man holding the ship together in the midfield as some insurance to the attacking midfielders in front of him. I like Arteta and he has been very good the previous 2 seasons but he is beginning to struggle with high paced games this season where he's finding it hard to fill the gaps. Alan Smith said this the other day as well and I happen to agree.
Giroud hasn't been bad is still not good enough. This isn't some short term view, Wenger hasn't addressed this area for the last 3 windows. There is a required level for a club like Arsenal and Giroud doesn't fit it. He costed 12m pounds and got an increase on his wages from 15 grand to 50 grand a week. Would he have been an international for France in the days of Henry, Trezeguet, Anelka, and even guys like Saha. There's a dearth of top strikers outside of Benzema. Never mind even Henry, he wouldn't have even made the bench back in those days ahead of Bergkamp, Wiltord and Kanu. I will give Sanogo time but for the moment he's one with potential more than anything near the finished article. I just don't see why he didn't close the Higuain deal when he had the chance.
I think Ozil is a great player but he needs runners ahead of him to utilise his creativity. With the exception of Walcott and sometimes Chamberlain, too many in the midfield come to the ball which means the play is too much in front of defences. A more mobile striker with better movement down the sides of defenders will help here. Giroud plays right up on defenders and defences squeeze up on Arsenal's midfield, knowing full well he is no threat in behind.
He is having a good season but there does always seem to be a rash decision in him.
I answered this up thread.
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=1396664&postcount=1904
- Mar 25, 2013
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Tom375 said:
Flamini played midfield in 04/05 and for the first half of 05/06 season until Cole and Clichy got injured. I travelled over for the Arsenal v Man City game(you might remember the Henry/Pires penalty scenario) that season in October 05 and he played midfield alongside Gilberto with Cesc on the right. Arsenal had many injuries at the time. In 06/07 he went back to midfield and it was his worst season and didn't play much due to poor form which coincided with Gilberto and Cesc in great form. 07/08 was the only season he could be considered as a regular in his first spell and even then it was obvious to everyone he was running down his contract to get a move to Italy. He wanted to leave for Italy in 07 and asked Vieira for advice but no Italian clubs came in for him due to the poor season he was coming off. That all changed the following season when he hit a purple patch in form but Wenger was constantly saying all season he felt he would sign a new deal which was a big mistake in believing Flamini considering he did the same thing to Marseille when he left them to come to Arsenal. In the end they lost him, Gilberto and Diarra as a result.
The Fabregas and Nasri exits were handled abysmally by the club. The had Mata wrapped up if they paid his buyout clause of around 22m pounds which was only valid until Aug 1 on that summer. Wenger only went to 18.5m which Valencia weren't going to accept and tried to play poker on it which wasn't going to work. Chelsea weren't even in for him then as they were focussed on the Modric deal. Mata's father spoke about Arsenal's interest and journalists like Guillem Balague and Graham Hunter said he was going to Arsenal if they upped their bid a bit more. Wenger and his dithering costed us this signing and Aug 1 went and the buyout clause was no more which Valencia put up the price once again. Chelsea came in when they couldn't get Modric. The same happened with Gary Cahill and the worst one was Schwarzer when he bidded 2m for him before the World Cup in 2010 which was rejected and went back in with the same bid a couple of months later a few days before the transfer window ended. Fulham were livid they came back with a bid that was already rejected. They only wanted 4m. That same summer they put in a huge bid for Reina which meant they had the money. That was coming off the worst season ever in terms of keepers in 09/10 with Almunia, Fabianski and Mannone. In the end he stuck with them going into the 10/11 season and we had another season of disastrous goalkeeping.
This is classic Wenger and how people think this is great management is beyond me.
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