xavier
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Posts posted by xavier
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Hey, thev've been spending lots more than us for years and their not that far ahead of us, its not what youve got, its how you spend it.
I disagree. When people pick teams to win cups and titles, Liverppol are one of the clubs whose name is chosen as the favorites along with the 'Other Three', not EFC.
Our boards has always backed us with something like 30 million to spend every season, including sales. Thats not really good enough for a title challenge, which our supporters aim for. Wenger did it with Arsenal, credit to him for that. But to spend less and win leagues, you need to have a good bunch of kids who can take the place of someone whose injured or can aim for a first team place in a couple of seasons. Under Houllier, we never had that. Rafa came in and has bought A LOT of youngsters, both from England, and elsewhere.
With the money we did spend, we won quite a lot, A European Cup, A UEFA Cup, A couple of F.A. cups, A carling cup etc...the league has looked out of our grasp due to our inability to spend our budget on big players.
So, although how you spend it, is important (Houllier wasted a lot on shit players) but you need to have big money nowadays to win the league with the Chelseas and the Man Uniteds spending a lot.
If we can pick up a few more Gems like ARTETA, LESCOTT. and CAHILL over the next couple of seasons we wont be doing too bad. These 3 would walk into the Redshites squad and are as good as any they've bought.But we got ours for a combined total of about £9 mil, all their buys have been about £9 mil EACH.
Sure they spend more money than us, but has it done them any good.
Those three might walk into our squad, sure but no ways will they be in my first eleven, week in week out.
You have a good team. You could do with a thicker squad though..and as much as ive blamed Moyes for poor transfer moves, Lescott and Johnson this season have had major impact. As you said, if you could get a couple of more players who can do the business, you're looking at a decent league position straight away.
And its not like all of our star players have cost a lot of money. Hyypia was bought for 3 mil, Riise 3.5 Finnan 3.5 and Carra is local. Agger and Reina cost about 6 mil each. So did Sisokko. Although it looks like we have payed over the odds for Crouch, we haven't. We've still only payed like 3-3.2 mil to Southampton. The rest depends on the number of England caps he gets, cup wins etc etc.
Rafa has spent a fair bit on kids..Palletta 2 mil, Anderson 2 mil, Roque, Hobbs, Antwi, El Zhar, Insua. So he's looking to fill a couple of positions in the future with these kids who we hope atleast one of them comes through.
You dont need big money to build a good squad. but you do, toaim for the league looking at the money Man U and Chelsea have spent in the past.
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Hello All, nice forum you've got here.
I'm an Arsenal supporter and moderator on The Gooner Forum
It's a bit boring talking all about Arsenal so I thought I'd see it from another persons POV and I needed some variation.
I've always had a soft spot for Liverpool and both the football teams there.
So I joined up here, don't worry I'll abide by all your rules.
Also I'm no the look out for new MSN contacts, my MSN is:-
dan_fabregas@hotmail.com
Are you the same Fabster from OnlineArsenal?
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I'm a southpaw myself.
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Nice to hear from you my red friend...hows things in your neck of the planet?
Bloody assignments and submissions never gave me the oppurtunity to spend quality time
on the internet. My Crimbo hols start on the 20th of next month. Hopefully, ill be able to spend some more time here once they start.Didnt know you'd been away, didnt miss you.Go away!
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Im back.
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Happy Birthday
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I dont drink.
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Aye. Its my mistake that i tried to spread my knowledge
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We dont have a 'Pauleta' in our squad.
Its Gabriel Palletta.
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Hahahahahaha.
Actually thats not Hindi. Its my mother tongue, tamil. But still, funny.
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Erm..hi?
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Superman
London or Manchester
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Watching Bellamy swear at opponents, refs etc always gets me laughing my arse off! I'm just 'hahahahaha' like a mad man for 10-15 secs.
A football manager win against a big club makes me happy.
Watching Seinfeld too.
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Tractor
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I disagree Xavier (makes a change
)The Arse is football is much better to watch (better than any team in England IMO) and they have better quality players as well.
Utd this season have looked sharp and look again, a better outfit then yourselfs.
I seen an interesting fact on SkySportsNews the other day, you've only picked up something like 4 points from the 'top 4' in the last 2 seasons (can't remember the exact fact, sorry
)You are not as good as the other 'big 3' in my opinion and have a long way to go before you compete for the title. Like you say your strikers arnt as good and goalkeeper isnt as good. Plus I think they both have a better manager
Thats just what I think though
[/quote
Change is always good.
We scored 18 more points than Arsenal last season. How can you say that we have a long way to go to catch them? I think Pepe is top class and is one of the main reasons our off side trap is actually working. His presence in the box is commanding and he's always talking to the defence. Some Spanish pundits and a couple of Sociedad supporters we've got in our forums rate him higher than Casillas. He does make the odd gaffe but they're only few and far between. Ive got no problems with them as long as he gets them out of his mind for the next game (Dudek couldnt do that) and that their frequency doesnt increase. When talking our of defense, we talk of it as a back 5 (4 defenders and Reina) rather than a back 4 as he's a major part of these clean sheets we kept last season.
I never said that our strikers arent good. I said that Arsenal and ManU have better strikers. But Kuyt looks top quality and im only too excited to see him and Bellamy do their stuff.
I think that the Mancs might struggle post Jan as their squad strength isnt upto the mark, IMO. But they've always been a second half of the season side, i might well be wrong.
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Well, i believe that we're better and we'll see who is at the end of the season.
They might have better strikers, but we have the best midfield amongst the three. Our defense broke all kinds of records last season. Once we gel together up top, i can see a lot of goals coming from our team.
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Think we're going to be contenders for the second place, myself.
In fact, the only Arsenal players i'd have in my squad are Toure, Gallas and Henry and Fabregas (who wouldnt start ahead of Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko). Would have Ronaldo and Rooney from Man U. Our squad has tremendous depth and quality in all positions except for maybe right fullback.
Cant see how our squad is being considered weaker than those.
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Who would you say Mark? If it's on past glory yea but what about now. You look at the team theres only one world class player who would walk into the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea and Juventus squads. Gerrard, and he only stays out of blind loyalty. He would have gone years ago if he wasn't a Liverpool fan.
Xavier wants to live on past glories and refuse to accept they haven't dominated their domestic league since the 80s. That is not the sign of one of the biggest clubs in the world. Ask any neutral fan who they think is going to win the Premiership or even be runners up - none will say Liverpool. It's only Hansen and Lawrenson who bang that drum...every single year. Arsenal get Baptista and Gallas , Chelsea get Shevchenko and Ballack, Liverpool get Pennant and Bellamy. I'm sure the football world is shaking in its boots.
As Rafa has said, 'You dont need the biggest leg to fit your table, you need the perfect one'.
We might not be the best team in the world now, but to say we're not one of the biggest is ignorant.
You're right, we havent won the league since 1990 but have certainly won trophies. we had a dry spell in the 90's but have won quite a few trophies in the 2000's. Rafa got us to 3rd place last season (1 pt behind 2nd), with a lot of poorer players in it and many holes to fill. He has filled these holes this time out. We're very confident this time out in the league, which we werent for the past 2-3 seasons.
I dont think we'll win it, but we have a fantastic chance of getting to 2nd place. We have a balanced squad this time out, which IS stronger than Arsenals or Man U's.
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Mario brothers
Grim Reaper or Roy Keane?
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Nah. He hasnt had a problem with Rafa. You're quite mistaken.
Neither would I. But they are definately one of the biggest teams in the world.
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Love the "Biggest clubs in the world" comment
You should. We are.
despite having not won a domestic league title since 1990, who are you trying to convice? Excuse the paste job but I just wanted a summary of Bellamy's history.He makes trouble where ever he goes, invariably blaming anyone but himself. He couldnt get away from Coventry fast enough and his Newcastle career was one disgrace after another.
* He joined Coventry for £6.5m in 2000 from Norwich only to leave for Newcastle after Coventry were relegated in the same season he joined them - Bellamy's six goals failing to keep the Sky Blues in the Premiership.
* Bellamy was sent home in disgrace from a club trip to Spain in November 2001 after going out drinking with Kieron Dyer, Carl Cort and Andy Griffin when he was supposed to be at a club dinner honouring chairman Sir John Hall.
* The 22-year-old Bellamy assaulted a female student outside a nightclub in Newcastle - hitting her in the face when she tried to get in Kieron Dyer's car - and was cautioned after admitting the offence. He was fined a massive £750.
* On the pitch Bellamy was given a three-match ban after headbutting Dynamo Kiev defender Tiberiu Ghioane in the face.
* The much more mature 23-year-old Craig Bellamy was accused of racially abusing an Asian bouncer in Jongleurs club, Cardiff in March 2003. He was thrown out of the club, down the stairs, and was given a severe warning by Toon chairman Freddy Shepherd. Newspaper reports suggested he had called the bouncer a "f***ing Paki" and a "Paki c***", but he was never charged.
* Bellamy threw a chair at Newcastle coach John Carver at an airport in March 2004 during a furious row about car parking.
* In October 2004 Bellamy was substituted by Graeme Souness and responded with a four-letter foulmouthed tirade. It was caught on camera. Later the same month, Souness and Bellamy squared up during a training-ground bust-up which ended with the Scot dragging the little Welshman into the gymnasium.
* Then in January 2005 came the big bust-up, Souness accusing Bellamy of feigning injury to get out of playing out of position. Bellamy went on TV and accused his boss of 'lying', prompting Souness to claim he would never play for Toon again.
* In January 2005 Bellamy went on loan to Celtic for half a season, scoring seven goals in 12 league matches.
* Sent a text message saying 'I am Craig Bellamy and I don’t sign for s*** football clubs' to Shepherd when he tried to sell him to Birmingham for £6m.
* Bellamy was accused of sending Alan Shearer nasty text messages - including one saying 'You couldn’t even kiss my a**e' after Newcastle’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final.
* In the summer of 2005 Bellamy surprisingly teamed up with former Welsh international coach, Mark Hughes, at Blackburn Rovers, dismissing Champions League qualifiers Everton, who showed a keen interest in the striker.
* Bellamy had to cut short his honeymoon this summer as he had to attend a police station in connection with an assault on a girl at a Cardiff nightclub.
Everyone in the world knows that he's had a horrid past. I wont even try to defend him. I'd be deluded if i try to defend his previous antics off the pitch.
As ive said innumerable times, i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Two reasons:-
(1) He's our player, now.
(2) His attitude towards us has been examplary.
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Rocky, defo.
Chocolates or Ice Creams?
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History backs it up?
How?
He left Newcastle because he had a major, major fight with the staff.
He left Blackburn because his favorite club (coz Rush and Toshakc are Welshmen, probably?) and one of the BIGGEST clubs in the world came in for him.
Two different things altogether.
on the internet. My Crimbo hols start on the 20th of next month. Hopefully, ill be able to spend some more time here once they start.
The Rs
in General Football and Sport Discussion
Posted · Edited by xavier
But we did beat Wigan
Those bastards calling for Rafa's head were fickle idiots. They probably even thought that rotation was the main reason we were losing points. That said, it wasnt only the fact that we werent winning away from home that irritated them, but that we had a very good transfer window and thought that we were well in with a shout for number 19 and still out of the race for the league by early December that did. Anyways, thats a discussion irrelevant to this thread.
We might have spent 70-80 million in the last three seasons but its quite a way less than what Chelsea and Man U have spent. That was the point i was trying to make.
Another point people underestimate is the fact that we had a very poor squad when Benitez took over. He not only did have to build a good first team but also a good squad. So quite a bit of our kitty went into getting a pool of 20 players in. Houllier wasted a lot of money on shit players. Rafa spent the money he got in replacing those players with better ones.
Erm..Where am i going?
Ok. To win a couple of cups, and a regular European spot finish one needs to have a good side. But to win the title one needs to have a brilliant side for which money needs to be spent. And it needs to be there for it to be spent.
Hence, im happy with the investment. Although it has its drawbacks, its a move in the right direction.
Is the difference so black and white? Do you honestly think that there's nothing more to it than that?
And the 'ego messages' arent really ego messages. Everton fans are looking for a European spot. Liverpool fans are looking for us to win the title. We're building a new stadium. We could do without investment but it would mean taht our tranfer kitty would be affected for an n-number of years. Benitez is the best manager we've had for a long while now and it makes sense that he had money to play with (When compared to Chelsea and Man U). Its easier to make a 4 place jump from 9th to 5th place but a LOT tougher to make the same 4 place jump from 4th to 1st. Hence, although it might seem that we've spent quite a lot in the last few years, its only meagre when compared to Chelsea and Utd.
And i can make my appearance whenever i want, thank you. Ive been busy-still am.