Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Tue May 18, 2010 5:13 pm  

El Pac Carnegie wrote:

Will Fabregas get into the Barca team? Is he any better than Iniesta or Xavi? I've only seen Barca play in the CL this season so I can't comment about their team too much but the impression I've been given is the Iniesta and Xavi are a class above.

They are a class above, maybe not a class above Fabregas but a class above everyone else. If anything though it would mean they can rotate the three. They may even choose to play them all together in the midfield 3.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Tue May 18, 2010 5:29 pm  

I thought they play 3 in midfield Xavi Toure Busquets with Iniesta Zlatan Messi upfront. I may be wrong but i think they play that team. So id guess he'd come in for Toure.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Tue May 18, 2010 8:29 pm  

Villa has a four-year contract with Barça and will be unveiled on Friday afternoon. The transfer fee is thought to be around €50 million.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Tue May 18, 2010 8:35 pm  

Superbowl Scott wrote:

I thought they play 3 in midfield Xavi Toure Busquets with Iniesta Zlatan Messi upfront. I may be wrong but i think they play that team. So id guess he'd come in for Toure.

Valdes
Alves-Puyol-Pique-Maxwell
Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets/Keita
Pedro-Messi-Ibrahmiovic

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Tue May 18, 2010 11:28 pm  

Iniesta will go on the left I think, with Fabregas moving into midfield with just the one anchor man there. I think in the long term Fabregas is seen as Xavi's sucessor. I don't quite see how they'll work in the same team unless he moves Cesc further forward, which is what I think will happen. Cesc will fill in Iniesta's role, with Iniesta filling the left. But with Pep's rotation, that will just be a 'big game' formation.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Wed May 19, 2010 7:53 am  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 691007.stm Unbelievable!!! We will be battling to finish in the top four next season I fear.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 691007.stm Unbelievable!!! We will be battling to finish in the top four next season I fear.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Wed May 19, 2010 8:39 am  

If the rumours are true about Villa and Fabregas going to Barca, then I would have thought that Barca would be selling a few players too. I sincerely hope we don't end up with that overrated, prancing tart who plays upfront for them.

I have a feeling that Barca's alleged transfer activity, followed by Real appointing a new manager next week, could see the start of some big, big moves.

We could well see the likes of Yaya Toure, Thierry Henry, Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema and Zlatan I.

Add these to the rumoured moves of Hamsik, Klasnic, Vucinic, Balotelli, Courcoff, Robinho, Ozil, Torress and Gerrard, it is going to be an interesting summer.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Wed May 19, 2010 10:03 am  

PAUL M wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8691007.stm Unbelievable!!! We will be battling to finish in the top four next season I fear. Even though we "have the Ronaldo money and £50m from the bond issue" and we all had a slight bit of hope that we might strengthen the squad, there was always the fear that we'd end up with a few new kids, and the rest of the squad the same. City and Chelsea will both strengthen this summer, if we want to have any chance of battling with them we need to lose the $hite and bring some new faces in. EDIT: This probably explains why he won't be strengthening. The following quote by Gill makes interesting reading: "Our season ticket sales, renewals, for this upcoming season are on track with previous years. Our executive ticket renewals are on track." Now, I know it isn't impossible to believe that Gill is lying, but I had heard a rumour that United were planning on extending the renewal deadline until after the WC due to a lack of sales. It'll be interesting to see if/how MUST/RKs boycott campaign is working.

PAUL M wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8691007.stm Unbelievable!!! We will be battling to finish in the top four next season I fear. Even though we "have the Ronaldo money and £50m from the bond issue" and we all had a slight bit of hope that we might strengthen the squad, there was always the fear that we'd end up with a few new kids, and the rest of the squad the same. City and Chelsea will both strengthen this summer, if we want to have any chance of battling with them we need to lose the $hite and bring some new faces in. EDIT: This probably explains why he won't be strengthening. The following quote by Gill makes interesting reading: "Our season ticket sales, renewals, for this upcoming season are on track with previous years. Our executive ticket renewals are on track." Now, I know it isn't impossible to believe that Gill is lying, but I had heard a rumour that United were planning on extending the renewal deadline until after the WC due to a lack of sales. It'll be interesting to see if/how MUST/RKs boycott campaign is working.

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Wed May 19, 2010 11:07 am  

Not a bad piece of business by Arsenal on Fabregas. Let Barca develop him, nick him for free then sell him back for £30mil+ profit!

Re: Season Ending Football Chat : Wed May 19, 2010 11:08 am  

If Arsenal sell Fabregas, then Gourcuff could be the one to replace him. They might have to change formation a little bit, but he's a Zidane-esque playmaker with serious skill, he'd be immense at Arsenal.