Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread

[Gert-Jan]

Sounds like a pretty good tournament, Steve.

Alright Drew, you've got some explaining to do, lol. Fabian Delph. Manchester City. Have the Villa supporters threatened him already? Does he have to run for his life now? And how sad is it that Man City only buy someone with the English nationality just to meet the EPL's homegrown quota? A 5-year contract and €10m transfer fee. What an insanity.

Does the name Kiko Casilla ring a bell? It's the goalkeeper of Espanyol and Real Madrid have signed him to replace living legend Iker, who moved to Porto earlier this week. So, apparently both Kiko and Navas have to battle each other to figure out who's gonna be the numer one goalkeeper. Really? No high profile name? And does this automatically mean DeGea is staying in England? Friday's story on the BBC website ain't helping either. I'm so confused right now, lol.

Some clubs make a mistake and gotta learn it the hard way. Liverpool, however, make mistakes every year and they never seem to learn. Andy Carroll, Mario Balotelli. Smh. It is so frustrating to see them place an outrageous bid once again. Newsflash, collecting €60m (or more) for Sterling doesn't mean you gotta spend 2/3 of it all on one player. I agree, he doesn't match Liverpool's style of play. Plus, Benteke is simply not worth that much money! The idiots in charge at Liverpool are seemingly the only ones having no problem with such a crazy buy out clause. Sorry, I'll try to calm down, lol.

Two interesting games coming up in Europa League's 3rd qualifying round: Fenerbahce vs Shakhtar ... AND ... Southampton vs Vitesse.

[TheBoy]

My theory on Fabian Delph is that initially he genuinely was being level headed and realising that the chances of him being bench fodder for the next 2-3 years and pretty much turning his career to dust was very high, which is why he turned down the riches of City. However, with very coincidental timing, his U-turn seems to have come at a very similar time to that of Liverpool going public with their chase of Christian Benteke, Delph probably thought to himself "hang on, why am I really staying here if they are selling our best players around me?" And to be fair to Delph - and with all due respect to Villa - really, what sort of career is he going to have with them if he stayed? Last season they avoided relegation by 3 points. They haven't won anything for nearly 20 years and it would be a huge miracle were they to win anything any time soon. So yeah, he'll probably only play in 30-40 games over the next 2-3 seasons before moving to Swansea or somewhere like that, but he'll maybe get a few Champions League games and may get to feature in some domestic cup finals all the while earning more money than slugging his guts out for Villa.

It is of course a shame though that yet another English player has chosen to make up the numbers at a club like City, but I'm afraid with the home grown quotas in place, it's an inevitable situation. Rather ironically, if there wasn't the home grown quotas to adhere to, Delph would in all likelihood still be happily at Villa and City wouldn't have even considered him!

I totally agree on the Liverpool transfer policy Gert. It's like you say, for some reason they feel the need to buy someone expensive just to show that they can. But surely for £32m, there are an abundance of other options that Liverpool could have bid for who would much better suit their system and style of play? Still, it means Aston Villa are now flush with cash and two very big holes to fill. We know how much Sherwood like to take credit for bringing through players and reviving careers, so step forward Mr Emmanuel Adebayor, Mr Andros Townsend and Mr Tom Carroll and go join Aston Villa...

[AussieSteve]

The European invasion down under has been intriguing so far guys! Roma vs Real was a fizzer somewhat with an 80,000 crowd seeing a dull goalless draw (after 90 minutes) & booing both teams performance so there was a shoot-out to decide the winner (Roma won 7-6 on penalties). Last night Liverpool ended their tour here by beating the local A-League Reds team Adelaide United 2-0.

[Gert-Jan]

The transfer craziness has finally been put on hold for a couple days. Looks like it is gonna be a calm and peaceful end of July. That doesn't happen every year, but it sure feels good. The pre-season tournament in Australia had Sterling's debut in Man City's match against Roma. There's a Vine circulating on Twitter of him tripping over the ball, lol. Meanwhile, on the west coast of the States, there was another funny Van Gaal incident as he accidentally calls Chris Smalling "Mike" during a press conference, lol. You know it's relatively quiet on the market when stuff like this becomes trending....

Bayern Munich have confirmed the signing of Arturo Vidal from Juventus. One of Europe's most wanted midfielders joins the Germans on a long-term deal and a transfer fee of €35m. Like Drew already commented, nice work from Bayern! Juve have now money to spend, although I haven't heard any targets yet. Their main title rivals, AS Roma, are in fact quite busy. Full back/midfielder Adriano (Barca), goalkeeper Szczesney (Arsenal) and striker Dzeko (Man City) are linked with Rudi Garcia's team. More on that if it all actually goes through....

West Ham got almost knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday! They had won the first leg, but lost 1-0 away at Malta's Birkirkara and were forced to take penalties in order to advance to the third qualifying round. An early elimination would have been an embarrassment for England.

Did everyone see what happend in the Gold Cup semi finals? USA lost to Jamaica. Yeah, you heard it right, JAMAICA!!

[AussieSteve]

Yeah Gert, Raheem Sterling debuted for Manchester City on Tuesday & scored in the 2-2 draw against AC Roma at the MCG. City won the ensuing penalty shootout 5-4. Then last night (Friday) over 99,000 people at the MCG saw Real Madrid thrash Manchester City 4-1. Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real whilst Sterling got booed whenever he touched the ball presumably by the Liverpool fans still here in Oz.

[TheBoy]

You get the feeling that this is a lull before the storm transfers wise, as teams are busy playing pre-season friendlies, whilst the money men beaver away on some of the harder to seal deals. This could also be in part to clubs like Liverpool who have already shot their bolt relatively early on with already too many summer signings, whilst the biggest transfer of the summer has already taken place with Sterling going to City with relatively little faffing around.

I think one other reason is that other potential big deals such as De Gea to Madrid, Lloris to Madrid or United and Kane to United all seem to have been nipped in the bud before the stories could get out of hand. Having said that, I expect some big deals to come in and out of United in the next couple of weeks. Di Maria to PSG is starting to gather some steam, whilst there is still the Ramos transfer seemingly still open.

Also worth mentioning on the Real Madrid v Man City game was the hamstring injury to Fabian Delph just 18 minutes into his first game for the club. Not that he probably would have featured much for City, but still!

Do you have any thoughts on the Aleksander Mitrovic transfer from Anderlecht to Newcastle Gert? He seems an interesting character, but with plenty of talent from what I've read. Newcastle struggled big time for goals last season and if he can land on the ground running, I get the feeling he could prove very useful for them.

Couldn't post without a Spurs related transfer story or three lol ;) One out will hopefully soon be Vlad Chriches to Fiorentina as the Italian club try to make a £6m deal for the clumsy Romanian defender. One other that all Spurs fans are crossing their fingers and toes to happen is that of Adebayor to join 'Uncle' Tim at Aston Villa. The deal seems to be hanging on it being a year long loan or an outright transfer. And one incoming that certainly excites me is the potential transfer of West Brom striker Saido Berahino, who has formed a prolific partnership with Kane in the England U21 team during qualifying and notched an impressive number of goals in a defensive minded Albion team last season. The sticking point will be the fee, with £20m being whispered...

[Gert-Jan]

According to French newspaper L'Equipe, Man United and PSG have reached an agreement. Angel Di Maria will move to Paris for a fee of €63m...

Mitrovic's statistics are pretty impressive with 36 goals in 69 league matches and 43 goals in 89 games in total. I'm just very sceptical about everything that's going on at Newcastle United, especially with McClaren being the manager. Mitrovic was a good player for Anderlecht, but it's a big step from the Belgian league to the English one. Remember Lukaku? Biggest Belgian talent in YEARS and look how that turned out. He even sucks at Everton....

2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Europe Draw
Group A: Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxembourg
Group B: Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra
Group C: Germany, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan, San Marino
Group D: Wales, Austria, Serbia, Republic Of Ireland, Moldavia, Georgia
Group E: Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kazakhstan
Group F: England, Slovakia, Scotland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Malta
Group G: Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia, Lichtenstein
Group H: Belgium, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus
Group I: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland

Why does England have such an easy draw and Netherlands are in the group of death again?!?!

[TheBoy]

What will LVG do with all the Di Maria money!!? There's rumours of Pedro coming from Barcelona, which I don't think is beyond the realms of possibility. They have made one more confirmed signing though, with the capture of Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero on a free transfer from Sampdoria. Romero will replace the former Barcelona 'keeper Victor Valdes who has been told to leave after his apparent refusal to play for the reserves.

My feeling with Newcastle and McClaren is that they will do ok for the short term - anything up to 12 months - but then will drop off sharply for one reason or another. Newcastle created chances for their hapless strikers last season, so if Mitrovic is more efficient in front of goal, he could snag a decent tally. Lukaku us an interesting one to me as I think this season will be make or break for him in England. He notched 10 goals last season in an inconsistent Everton side but this season will be expected to get closer to double that. I still think there's a talent inside that giant frame the question is can it find it's way out? I've plumped for him in my Fantasy Football team as captain so I'm certainly hoping he can do the business v Watford in the first game at least lol.

The reason England get an easy draw and Netherlands a tough one... it has to be because they know England would struggle with anything harder and we are probably at least good for marketing if we are in the tournament!

[rokkerr]

.... what happened to Norway? Oh the pics of Vicky we could have posted.... :(

[WalterB]

We now pause for this sports related commercial.

http://i.imgur.com/55YEbqU.webm

[TheBoy]

I don't know what she's selling Walt, but I'll buy it!

I suppose the problem for Norway at this point in time is that they have no real stand out star players. In fact, off the top of my head, I'm struggling to name any Norwegian players... These things tend to come in cycles though and it only takes a couple of players to rise to prominence to help elevate the national team. Having said that, according to their Wiki page, Norway are the only team to have played Brazil and have an undefeated record - so that's reason enough to post some patriotic pictures of Vicky

Some extra transfer news starting with one that I'm sure Gert will have a much better insight into: Ibrahim Affelay has joined Stoke City on a free transfer from Barcelona. You have to give Hughes credit at Stoke for trying to change the style of play at Stoke and if the more technical signings click, they could be a brilliant team to watch (Bojan in particular I'm looking forward to seeing after his injury hit season). Injuries seem to be the problem for Affelay though and as we harp on about, the physical nature of the Premier League shows no mercy.

Didier Drogba becomes the latest Champions League winner to join an MLS side signing for Montreal. Slightly less exciting news for the MLS is that of former Chelsea and Manchester City play Shaun Wright-Phillips joining his brother at NY Red Bulls.

And finally another Dutch related transfer for Gert to tell us more about sees Watford sign Steven Berghuis from AZ Alkmaar.

[corrrrVette]

This thread is such a 'Premiership/topline' football exclusion zone I fail to recognize my Football interest would be ignored completely,
I'm actually not a person who is a fan of the English Premier League even though I've been a football fan for over 44 years,
I attend the more tranquil and down-to-earth Non League level of football where at my club I know the Chairmen, The Manager and his Assistant, and 90% of the players, some of whom play for other teams who I go and watch, It's a family ( bit like the VNA here ), We win Promotions which actually mean something to the guys on the park,
I'd feel that my contributions to this Football Thread would be wasted, yet my contributions would be 'more real' and be about 'proper Football'.

[Gert-Jan]

Norway's current generation ain't good enough and Odegaard is not the diamond Real Madrid thinks he is, so things aren't looking too bright, lol. Norway have only been present at 3 World Cup tournaments....

There's a remarkable exodus going on right now. Steven Berghuis (AZ Alkmaar - Watford), Maikel Kieftenbeld (Groningen - Birmingham City), Tjaronn Chery (Groningen - Queens Park Rangers). All three play for local clubs and get transfered to the promised land to persue their English dream. I get why the last two decided to go. Berghuis, however, is a different story as he's still young and one of Holland's most talented players, even part of the national team early June. His club AZ Alkmaar and PSV were negotiating when all of a sudden Watford picked him up. Hasn't he learned anything from Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (Norwich) or Leroy Fer (QPR)?! These transfers don't make any sense, I really don't see them do well in England, although I obviously hope they will prove me wrong.

Barcelona bought Afellay after witnessing him outshine everyone in his last season at PSV and during an international friendly game with the Netherlands team. PSV refused to let him walk out of contract in the summer of 2011 and sold Afellay six months earlier to Barcelona, which signed the midfielder on a 4.5-year deal. The only clouds people in Spain ever get to see were constantly floating right above Afellay as several injuries prevented him from shining in Catalunya. In addition, he's not the easiest person. Manager Huub Stevens gave him a chance at Schalke (2012/2013) and was eventually removed from the squad due to a mentality issue. Last year he went to Olympiacos in Greece, which ended up being another major failure. Barca are happy that he's finally gone and his agent came up with Stoke City. To hell with crap like "It's such an adventure to play in the EPL". It's just a money thing. PSV actually tried to persuade him to return to Eindhoven, cause his foreign experiences could be of value to the youngsters, but Mr Ego prefers playing for the Potters. By all means, go right ahead. Stoke-On-Trent. #SMH

[TheBoy]

One week to go until the Premier League season kicks off! This weekend sees the traditional Community Shield curtain raiser at Wembley as Chelsea take on Arsenal to see who can care less (although it's also seen as a vaguely bad omen to win the match as the loser often goes on to have a better season!).

Arsenal have been boosted going into the new season with contract extensions for both Walcott and Cazorla. Walcott is an interesting one to watch this season. He's barely got a look in over the past few seasons - to the point it's been speculated he should leave - but towards the end of last season and in some pre-season games he has been playing up front and getting goals. Arsenal blatantly need options up front with Giroud not quite the 20+ goals a season striker they need and Welbeck, well, being Welbeck ;) So Walcott, with his pace, could finally get a decent run in the side.

There have been a few signings worth mentioning. Steven Caulker has joined Southampton on a season loan from QPR (let's hope they don't screw up signing him on a permanent like they did Alderweireld lol). Southampton's defense is going to be intriguing to see this season due to two key members of the league's best back line no longer at the club (Clyne, Alderweireld) and also Bertrand suffering with an injury likely to keep him out for a few weeks. Crystal Palace have agreed a deal to sign Sunderland's Connor Wickham for £8m. Palace have already signed Patrick Bamford on loan from Chelsea, which makes the Wickham deal a little curious, especially as Bamford could be a real star this season if he gets a chance. And finally, West Brom have signed James Chester from relegated Hull City, also for £8m. It just goes to show the money floating around the league, not to mention the equally inflated values!

We will have to make our season predictions this week Gert! Although maybe we can have a little tweak once the transfer window closes ;)

[rokkerr]

I am going to be at Exxxotica next weekend. A conundrum... Exxxotica or Premier League football..... damn...

[Gert-Jan]

The new Premier League season has yet to start and history has already been written. Arsene Wenger beat Jose Mourinho for the first time ever! That little statistic doesn't mean much though. Drew is right when saying the Community Shield, just like the Super Cup in other countries, is something everyone could care less about. Both managers were even given the privilege of bringing on more than 3 substitutes. How can the FA expect fans to take this match seriously when they are basically considering it a pre-season friendly themselves? A packed Wembley Stadium witnessed Oxlade-Chamberlain hammer the ball into the top corner. He was the best man on the pitch, so Roy Hodgson has got to be a happy camper. Walcott didn't impress me, nor did Giroud.

Chelsea have a great team with one weakness, namely the striker position. Remy and Falcao are bench players, who will most likely not score more than 5 goals throughout the season. I don't even recognize Falcao anymore. He looks heavier and seems to be slower than before his injuries. Diego Costa is fantastic, but isn't fit enough to play all games. The Blues lack someone who can finish chances as effectively as Costa. I think they're still solid as a rock defensively. Belgian top keeper Courtois made two incredible saves to keep them in the game until the final whistle, but they lost 1-0.

Mourinho was dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a training t-shirt. The Portuguese manager refused once again to shake hands with Wenger and threw his runners-up medal into the crowd! And to top it all, did you see the post match interview? Jose said that the better team had lost and that Arsenal made it very difficult for them, cause the Gunners were parking the bus, lol. Sounds a little hypocritical coming out of his mouth.....

One more thing, when did Chelsea sign a deal with Yokohama Tyres as new shirt sponsor?

[TheBoy]

Great summary of the game Gert, agree with pretty much everything I made a comment on Twitter during the game that Chelsea played as though they thought they could still win the game 1-0, despite them being 1-0 down. It was like they got so used to playing that way for the second half of last season, they have forgotten how to play attacking football. Hazard was very poor, Fabregas was playing too defensively and with Remy and Falcao in attack, they may as well have had no-one. In fact no-one would probably be better considering the number of times Remy was caught offside to instantly halt any Chelsea attacks!

Mourinho in a tracksuit may have also sent a message to the players that this game doesn't really matter - if the coach can't really be bothered, then why would the players? One thing I should point out though, is that the handshake wasn't refused by Mourinho, but rather it was Wenger who sneaked away whilst Jose was shaking the Arsenal player's hands.

I believe that the Yokohama Tyres sponsorship deal has come into effect this summer as they replace long term sponsors Samsung. Apparently the deal is worth £40m per season for the next 5 years making it the second biggest shirt sponsorship deal behind Manchester United with Chevrolet.

Just one final comment related to the Community Shield game and also touched on by Gert: Chelsea and Arsenal are two of the biggest clubs in the league and yet both teams are struggling for a world class striker (Costa being perpetually injured or suspended of course). Manchester United also only have Rooney who, whilst very good cannot be considered world class. In fact, you can only really count Aguero at Manchester City in the league who have a genuine top 10 in the world striker. It just goes to show the general lack of top quality strikers available. And the fact that Barcelona and Real Madrid have snapped up half of the other top ten lol.

[Gert-Jan]

My predictions 2015/2016:
1) Chelsea. 2) Man United. 3) Arsenal. 4) Man City. 5) Tottenham. 6) Liverpool. 18) Newcastle. 19) Watford. 20) Bournemouth.

No significant changes in Chelsea's starting line-up and seeing as Mourinho is an exceptional motivator, I am predicting the Blues to win the title. Man United have spent so much that they need to finish in the top 2. Anything less will not be accepted by fans and media. Arsenal have a fantastic team! Despite the surplus of qualitative players and an excellent goalkeeper, I still fear third is as far as they can reach. Just look at their track record of the last 10 years! Man City are almost unbeatable at home. It's a whole different story once they have to travel to clubs like Stoke or West Ham. Aguero is world class, but just like Costa, not fit enough to play everything. Jovetic and Dzeko are gone and there's a huge weight on Sterling's shoulders.

Tottenham Hotspur are the best of the rest. Liverpool suck, but I would hate to see such a beautiful club not qualify for European football. Plus, I just don't have the guts to predict Everton, Southampton or Swansea to finish sixth, lol. As for the relegation spots, I think Mike Ashley made one of the worst decisions ever to appoint McClaren, so Newcastle on #18 followed by two recently promoted teams Watford and Bournemouth. If you're planning on visiting a bookmaker, I'd put money on Pellegrini and Rodgers getting fired somewhere in the season.

What's the latest on John Stones?

AS Roma have signed another player. Last week Polish goalkeeper Szczesny went to Rome and they announced yesterday that striker Edin Dzeko is joining them as well. The Italians pay a transfer fee of €20m. It's gonna be interesting to see whether they can now really challenge Juventus and bring some excitement back in the Serie A. I haven't heard any Strootman related news for a long time. Hopefully he's able to fully cover from his injury, cause he's potentially one of the best midfielders in Europe in my opinion.

The old rumour is circulating again. It seems insiders are convinced Real Madrid and Man United will soon reach an agreement regarding De Gea, which could possibly lead to the Mancunians knocking on the door in Amsterdam to sign Dutch goalkeeper Cillessen as his replacement. Drew, what do the English papers say and what's your opinion about all this? Is he gonna stay in England or is he gonna go to Spain?

[TheBoy]

I guess I can't avoid making some predictions of my own any longer lol.

1 Chelsea
2 Man City
3 Man United
4 Arsenal
5 Spurs
6 Liverpool

18 Norwich
19 Bournemouth
20 Watford

We've pretty much gone identical, which possibly goes to show that the league could potentially be a pretty dull one this year...

Chelsea need to shake off the dull displays fairly quickly and get Costa's hamstrings sorted ASAP, but the defence and midfield is by a distance the very best in the league. I think they could be toppled this year, but I don't see any of the other teams improved or consistent enough to do so. I'm going with City second because I think Aguero and Sterling could prove a rather lethal combination. Sterling perhaps wont score so many, but his pace and directness will scare defences to death allowing the likes of Aguero and Silva more space to do the damage. Man United have improved in midfield which was a key area of problems last season. But defensively... you have to ask big, big questions. And if De Gea does go, then they look even weaker no matter who comes in. Finally Arsenal, who have improved with Cech in goal, but they still are crying out for a top striker and a much better defensively minded midfielder. In modern top league football, there's a saying that if you don't buy, you aren't standing still but actually moving backwards due to other teams around you strengthening. This could well be the case for the Gooners.

Even my heart can't predict Spurs to be top 4 this season, let alone my head lol. I believe there is a chance, but it will rely heavily on these last few weeks of the transfer window getting in at least 3 top quality first team players - namely a defensive ball playing midfielder, a wide forward to compliment Kane and either an out and out winger or a like-for like backup for Kane. Easier said than done and with Levy in control it could go either way. Liverpool for me are a bit of a coin toss. They have once again brought an overly excessive number of players with none of them being standout or an obvious improvement over what they have (or had in the case of Gerrard or Sterling). However, if someone like Firmino starts flying and either Benteke starts banging them in or Sturridge can get fit, then you never know.

Relegation, I've copped out a little by picking the three promoted teams, but this year I'm finding it hard to see any other teams who look likely to struggle. Last year, teams like West Brom, Sunderland and Villa all looked to be in a mess, but more astute managerial changes mid season sorted them out. West Ham could be worth keeping an eye on as Bilic is already causing quite a stir and discipline looks gone to hell lol. Everton too will need to drastically improve if they are not to find themselves in a sticky patch. But I'm sticking with the three promoted teams. Watford seem like a club waiting to explode - getting rid of the man who won them promotion along with some questionable signings for instance so I'm picking them to prop up the others. Bournemouth will need goals to survive and in Wilson and Ritchie they have two players who could well do that for them, but I don't see it being enough (similar to Ings at Burnley last season). And finally Norwich, who look quite settled but haven't set the world alight with signings and will probably struggle for most of the season.

Stones - I think he will stay at Everton unless Mourinho really thinks he could make a telling contribution this season. But he probably thinks another season at Everton playing every week will not alter his value much so be happy to wait 12 months. But it's Chelsea and as we know, before I finish typing this they could have bid £35m for him lol.

The De Gea rumours have sparked to life again over the past few days, especially as Benitez hasn't really quashed them despite saying he already has two good keepers. I think this could really get moving in the next week or so and Cillessen is also the one being mentioned as his potential replacement. The thing with those sorts of rumours is you never know if they are putting 2+2 together and making 5 due to his links to Van Gaal in the national team.

[rokkerr]

Do they have Fantasy Football for the EPL? Might be cool to have our own VNA League... just a thought...

My complete guess...

I want to say Chelsea but I think they lack a true striker
I want to say MUFC but I think they lack one more superstar... a true striker
I want to say MCFC but I think they got the wrong striker... Sterling
Call me crazy but I think Liverpool might crack the top 4

I pick...
... dark horse Arsenal IF... they get one more decent striker...

I am buying Vicky a Bournmouth FC shirt because we want them to stay up...