Official Essendon fans EPL Thread

[Matty Lloyd18]

Re: Flogg the Colliwobbles!

Reckon we'll beat em mate?

 

[aaronb]

Re: Flogg the Colliwobbles!

Reckon we'll beat em mate?

Beat who?

 

[Matty Lloyd18]

Re: Flogg the Colliwobbles!

Collingwood!

 

[The Dustbin]

How did the thread 'flog the colliwobbles' get into the EPL thread?

 

[EVERLAST]

I'm optimistic, but then again, I always am.

Barring Flamini, we've covered all of our losses this year, and strengthened with Vela coming in to play up front, or on the wing. Le Boss has also said that he will "certainly" make one more signing, and I genuinely think that it'll be one of Barry or Alonso. He hinted before the transfer market opened that he'd be looking to buy a player with Premier League experience. Neither Nasri nor Ramsey has that, so the next signing will probably be that player.

Hleb is not a worry - Theo, Vela, Ramsey, Nasri, whoever, will score more.

Flamini, for all of his work, is not an incredibly talented footballer. Replacing him with the likes of Barry or Alonso, who can pass a long ball very well, will allow us to utilise the speed of Theo, Adebayor (who I think will stay, unless Chelsea sign Kaka) and others (even Clichy and Sagna), and that could add maybe 10 goals a season. Both of those players are capable of knocking 5 or so in a season, from the holding midfield position.

The main reason I am optimistic, though, is looking at the other sides.

The loss of Ronaldo will bring United from the team they were last season back to the pack, so to speak. When you look at that side, you can't see enough players stepping up into the void to replace him. Minus Ronaldo, there's only really Ferdinand, Vidic and Rooney who are absolute guns. The rest, while being very good players, are not enough to cover 42 goals.

Chelsea will struggle to adapt to Scolari's system immediately (look at Essendon with Knights), so will take a little time to get their act together, like they did last season. Meanwhile, we have a dream draw, so we should be pulling away from them early.

Liverpool (sorry, Dustbin) I don't see filling enough gaps in their squad. Their full-backs are weak, their central defenders not world-beaters, and their wingers pretty poor as well. Beyond Torres, there's not much up front.

Combine that with our draw up until November, and the experience of the title race last year, and I think we can pinch it.

Yet - they're always in the top 2 teams for least amount of goals conceded. Go figure. They will gain Daniel Agger who I feel is a very good defender - Degen will slot in perfectly - Hyypia time and time again shows he's not ready to hand over his position.

I wouldn't write off Man Utd by any stretch of the imagination - Scholes and Giggs still pull in the big results when playing on the big stage - although Rooney needs to play much better than last season and Saha needs to stay injury free.

Liverpool have one of the most tightest defences across the globe. In any event - Liverpool & Portsmouth will be the most settled sides heading into the season. The Alonso deal with Juventus looks to have almost failed and he has strongly suggested he would prefer to remain at Anfield. He played an excellent Euro 2008 and will assist Gerrard perfectly if Stevie is required to play out on the wing as it has been touted in recent weeks.

Ronaldo won't be back until October at the earliest - Lampard yet to sign - Ronaldo yet to sign - Barry yet to sign - Adebeyor yet to sign - rumour has it Bentley could still end up at playing for one of the top 4 sides and Fabregas may be on the move also. Should be interesting to see what transpires in the next month as far as transfers are concerned. We could see one of the swiftest changing of the guards in EPL history.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Cesc will not leave this year. I will bet any amount of money you wish for that, and give you whatever odds you want.

Adebayor signed a new contract last summer. He'll stay unless Kaka moves.

Don't worry about us, mate. We'll be fine.

 

[The Dustbin]

 

[loopy_cam]

Couldn't of put it better myself.

 

[EVERLAST]

Chelsea fans will be breathing a sigh of relief with Lampard looking certain to remain at Stamford Bridge.

Everton and Spurs are looking a little light on up front - if they're hoping for Yakubu and Diouf respectively to score the majority of their goals and pick up the slack after Johnson and Keane's departure.

With Cahill still to recover from his surgery - might be a sharp decline for the first 8 weeks of the season for the Toffees.

Bentley (Blackburn) is undergoing a medical with Spurs which might help create more avenues of goal scoring.

Reds still looking at buying Barry - but are resigned to having to sell another first team player with speculation that Alonso will be the key to landing the England international.

Pennant and Voronin could be moved on also - although Voronin has been scoring quite consistently in warm up matches which for once - presents the Reds with a wealth of capable traditional strikers.

Interested to see former big names going to the newly promoted sides on free transfers - always fun to watch.

Transfer moves are hotting up for the fortnight ahead.

 

[dirtywhitepacker]

Reds still looking at buying Barry

Missed the deadline... Thank god. We need Barry to stay exactly where he is... Villians to go two better this season

 

[The Dustbin]

That deadline thing is a load of crap. Barry hasn't come out and confirmed his love and passion to play with Villa.

I reckon Barry will get to L'pool or Arsenal before the deadline.

 

[dirtywhitepacker]

Captain of the club, been there for 10 years. Only wanted to move to be guaranteed Europe action. Liverpool have been dogs this transfer window, no denying it. What they did with Carson was appalling. We gave them until 5pm on the 30th of July to meet our 17mil asking price, to be paid over two installments, they were 15 minutes late, so we aren't selling. Barry and MO'N have aired their feelings with each other and Barry is now in Aston Villa's plans for the 2008/2009 season. If Rafa wants to act like a dog to others, others will in turn dog him...

 

[The Dustbin]

Captain of the club, been there for 10 years. Only wanted to move to be guaranteed Europe action. Liverpool have been dogs this transfer window, no denying it. What they did with Carson was appalling. We gave them until 5pm on the 30th of July to meet our 17mil asking price, to be paid over two installments, they were 15 minutes late, so we aren't selling. Barry and MO'N have aired their feelings with each other and Barry is now in Aston Villa's plans for the 2008/2009 season. If Rafa wants to act like a dog to others, others will in turn dog him...

The only person that has aired their feelings is O'Neil.
Barry hasn't come out and said that he want's to play with Aston Villa in 08/09... The rest of the stuff you wrote is rubbish.

GARETH Barry will today demand that Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill backs down and resurrects his £18m move to Liverpool.

The England midfielder is furious that O’Neill pulled the plug on the deal after claiming the Reds missed a 5pm deadline yesterday.

Villa’s patience finally snapped after the Anfield outfit had found £20.3m to sign Robbie Keane from Tottenham earlier in the week, having refused to meet Villa’s asking price.

Although yesterday’s deadline was agreed by both sides and had been in place for days, news of Keane’s speedy switch and then yesterday’s further delay caused O’Neill to blow his top.

O’Neill was already upset at the way Liverpool had publicly courted and unsettled his star midfielder throughout the summer.

Reds chief executive Rick Parry spoke to Villa officials yesterday morning.

Villa were told that written confirmation would soon follow, even though Villa are believed to have altered the terms of payment in a letter delivered on Tuesday.

When the deadline finally arrived, though, Villa issued a terse pre-arranged statement saying that Barry would be staying put in the Midlands.

The statement read: “Aston Villa can announce that Gareth Barry will be staying with the club following the interest from Liverpool in recent months.

“During discussions in the past few days a final deadline to conclude this episode was set that all parties were aware of and agreed to. This deadline has now passed and so Gareth will remain with Villa.”

A Villa Park insider revealed that the feeling was “enough is enough” and O’Neill has owner Randy Lerner’s full backing for taking such a hardline stance. Barry has two years left on his contract and Villa are now prepared to see his value chopped in half by selling him in 12 months’ time.

Last season’s Villa captain has found himself in the centre of a growing transfer storm in which he was recently suspended and fined £84,000 – two weeks’ wages – for publicly criticising O’Neill. He sounded off in an interview stating that O’Neill had been too busy working as a television pundit at Euro 2008 to have talks with him over his future.

Barry’s current frustration will now be matched by that of Benitez, who had convinced Liverpool’s American co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to underwrite the move. Gillett and Hicks agreed to put down guarantees that would have seen the fee eventually reach £18m, despite previously being reluctant to match Villa’s valuation.

It will now require a massive climbdown by O’Neill to resurrect the deal, although Anfield sources say Benitez is prepared to wait him out.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/45791/Villa-war-over-Barry

 

[dirtywhitepacker]

Do you know what happened with Carson? He was settled at Villa, wanted to stay full-time after his loan expired, Liverpool put an unrealistic price on his head, we offered Liverpool half of what they were asking (about 4mil if I recall correctly) which Liverpool denied. A couple of weeks later Carson is sold to WBA for 4.4mil... The biggest loser out of all that was the player, Carson, who had the chance to be the first keeper in a decent young team, instead now he is playing for a bottom team coming out of the Championship.

What did I say that was rubbish? Barry being captain of Villa and being with us at the Midlands for 10 years? Rafa being a dog this transfer window? Villa aren't the only one's he's come under fire from, Spurs reported Liverpool to the league for their pursuit of Keane... Think you're being a little harsh there mate saying I'm being rubbish without explaining anything...

The Midlands club yesterday formally announced that, after a few days of intense negotiation, the Reds failed to meet the pre-agreed deadline of 5pm on Wednesday, July 30, effectively ending their chase for the England midfielder.

"Naturally we're all absolutely delighted that Gareth will be staying at Villa Park and relieved that there is resolution and closure to the transfer saga," trumpeted O'Neill told the club's official website.

"At a very positive meeting on Monday it was agreed between Gareth, his agent, Mr Lerner and myself that a deadline should be communicated to Liverpool to finally resolve the situation.

"Liverpool were informed and that deadline came and passed.

"Now we can all look forward to the season ahead with relief, anticipation and ambition."

O'Neill made no mention of the rumours that Liverpool had in fact made a late bid for Barry – too late, as they supposedly missed their cut-off by a mere 15 minutes, according to The Sun.

Derek Wanner, Goal.com

I think you're right, Barry hasn't come out and openly said he has sorted things out with MON, I did read something about Barry meeting with MON recently and sorting things out, but I cannot find this now. So I will revoke my statement about Barry airing his feelings. But how was the rest of what I said garbage?

 

[The Dustbin]

How is Carson the biggest loser? He obviously agreed the personal terms with WBA and if O'Neill wanted him that badly he would've forked out the extra 500k, that probably would've secured his services.

Barry has made his intentions quite clear through the media that he wants to join Liverpool and you had your chance to take Carson permanently, but failed to match Liverpool's valuation. That makes Liverpool and Rafa dogs.

The deadline crap that MON is going on about is a joke, he's just biding time...
Like I said Barry will be a Red or a Gunner before August 31, 1200.

 

[Pie Legend]

Chelsea fans will be breathing a sigh of relief with Lampard looking certain to remain at Stamford Bridge.

Everton and Spurs are looking a little light on up front - if they're hoping for Yakubu and Diouf respectively to score the majority of their goals and pick up the slack after Johnson and Keane's departure.

With Cahill still to recover from his surgery - might be a sharp decline for the first 8 weeks of the season for the Toffees.

Bentley (Blackburn) is undergoing a medical with Spurs which might help create more avenues of goal scoring.

Reds still looking at buying Barry - but are resigned to having to sell another first team player with speculation that Alonso will be the key to landing the England international.

Pennant and Voronin could be moved on also - although Voronin has been scoring quite consistently in warm up matches which for once - presents the Reds with a wealth of capable traditional strikers.

Interested to see former big names going to the newly promoted sides on free transfers - always fun to watch.

Transfer moves are hotting up for the fortnight ahead.

Ease up mate, we arent going that great

Hope the ponytail leaves, useless as they come. Anything over a few million looks good.

 

[windyhill]

Wow, who is going to win it ? It`s such a big field to choose from.

 

[EVERLAST]

Ease up mate, we arent going that great

Hope the ponytail leaves, useless as they come. Anything over a few million looks good.

Fail to see what you're basing that on - he's been injured for most of the season and as I mentioned - he's figuring prominently in the warm up games - pretty handy form going into the season.

In any event - I'm tipping he'll be moved on. Voronin aside - we have a strong squad.

Latest news - Adebeyor has re-signed with the Gunners.

To weigh into the Carson debate - it wasn't an unrealistic price tag on his head - he's relatively young and close to becoming an permanent international. Villa just let go of Sorensen - common sense would suggest they would've jumped on Carson and agreed to him as part payment for Barry.

Regardless - Villa are disadvantaging themselves now - they have a high profile player who no longer wants to play for them whilst a very capable bargaining chip in Carson has gone elsewhere.

 

[dirtywhitepacker]

Liverpool put an unrealistic value on Carson's head... 10 million pounds... We offered 4 million pounds. He was eventually signed to WBA for 4.4 million pounds. I would've loved to have signed him over to AV, but 10 million was a bit rich. Carson loses out because he has to now go and play for WBA, who are likely to be relegated again this season, leaving him in the wilderness. I assure you he would've loved to have stayed at Villa permanently.

As for Barry, he might just stay...

 

[The Dustbin]

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has hit back at claims the club's asking price for keeper Scott Carson is too high.

Carson, 22, has been on a season-long loan at Aston Villa this season, but any permanent move is being held up by his believed £10m-price tag.

"It is a matter between the clubs," Benitez told the Liverpool Echo.

"We agreed the fee with Aston Villa last year. The fee has been there for one season so to talk about the fee now is not correct."

Benitez added that his Villa counterpart Martin O'Neill was aware of the situation.

"We agreed with Martin O'Neill and that was the situation," said the Spaniard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7402828.stm

As for Barry, he might just stay...

GARETH BARRY will try to break Aston Villa's resolve and resurrect a €23-million move to Liverpool despite Martin O'Neill's insistence his captain will be staying at Villa Park next season.

Villa said the England international's proposed departure to Anfield was off shortly after 5pm on Wednesday when, according to the club, Liverpool failed to meet an agreed deadline after months of haggling and several failed bids ranging from €13 million to €20 million. Liverpool, however, insist they never agreed to Wednesday's cut-off point and, having met Villa's valuation before the deadline, remain determined to grant Barry his wish for Champions League football. The midfielder is also believed to be unwavering in his desire to leave and will repeat his request to O'Neill and to Villa's owner, Randy Lerner, now that Liverpool have the money to secure his transfer.

Barry and his agent, Alex Black, may have agreed to Villa's deadline but the player is dismayed the club blocked the move when it was the structure of payments, and not the fee itself, that resulted in Liverpool missing the 5pm target.

Rafael Benitez had urged Liverpool's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, to guarantee the €23-million deal earlier this week, having been told to sell before he could add Barry to the €25.8-million purchase of Robbie Keane, but Villa are understood to have changed the structure of the deal 24 hours before the deadline.

Liverpool had expected to pay the fee in more installments than Lerner demanded and missed the cut-off by minutes as a result of seeking approval from their bank.

Despite Villa's stance, neither Barry nor Liverpool are prepared to concede defeat and O'Neill now has to persuade the midfielder to stay. Should the manager fail, Villa may accept Anfield's offer.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0801/1217368811810.html

 

[loopy_cam]

Liverpool going great guns at the moment in the friendly v Glasgow.

4-0 with Torres, N'Gog, Alonso and Benayoun scoring.

They have over 50,000 there for a pre-season friendly.