Soccer Thread

[Rob S]

2 great goals.

[Todd Bertuzzi]

3 goals, a bar and a post now for Falcao at the conclusion of the first half.

[JRTPlaya21]

Whoever lands Falcao in a couple summers will be deadly.

[SuperMcGee]

I back Stoke getting Adam and Edu.

[Todd Bertuzzi]

So Spurs give up Modric for 30M and pick up Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris for around that same price combined? Well done.

[SuperMcGee]

Not a bad intake. Players that I like.

And yeah, Falcao is totally Sir.

[Jughead10]

Originally Posted by Todd Bertuzzi

So Spurs give up Modric for 30M and pick up Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris for around that same price combined? Well done.

Are they any better? They also lost Van Der Vaart.

[UKfan]

If Suarez gets injured now we are completely ******, this is ridiculous

[thefalconer]

Originally Posted by UKfan

If Suarez gets injured now we are completely ******, this is ridiculous

heskey and owen reunion baby. you know you want it

[SuperPacker]

Originally Posted by Todd Bertuzzi

So Spurs give up Modric for 30M and pick up Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris for around that same price combined? Well done.

Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris are all good players, but none of them are in the same class as Modric. Give me one great player over 3 very good players all day. Especially if you want to be getting top 4.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by Jughead10

Are they any better? They also lost Van Der Vaart.

I think they are, especially if they bring in Moutinho as well.

[SuperPacker]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

I think they are, especially if they bring in Moutinho as well.

They missed out on him.

[Rob S]

Moutinho would have been an awful deal for Spurs imo....he was far overpriced. I think they did very well in terms of their incoming and bought good values. I hated that they let VDV go though.

[Rob S]

Also, M'bia is quite the coup for QPR. He's class.

[Todd Bertuzzi]

Originally Posted by Jughead10

Are they any better? They also lost Van Der Vaart.

I wouldn't say they're better but it's hard to ignore the great deals they got on Lloris, Vertonghen, Adebayor and Dempsey. Sounds like VDV wasn't in AVB's plans but I think he was really hoping to seal the deal on Moutinho.

10M for Vertonghen
10-15M for Lloris
6M for Adebayor
10M for Dempsey

30M for Modric
10M for VDV

Quality for quantity; we'll see how it works out for them.

[Rob S]

Dempsey was 6M I think

[Rosebud]

Even without him they're really strong. Dembele will be a good replacement for Modric, Sygi a nice upgrade on VdV, Lloris and Vertonghen make them one of the EPL's best defensive teams, even after Kaboul's injury. And Dempsey will score a lot of goals in the Hulk role for AVB.

Bale-Adebayor-Dempsey
Sygi
Sandro-Dembele
Assou-Ekotto - Vertonghen - Dawson - Walker
Lloris

With a strong bench:
Defoe
Lennon

Livermore
Parker
Huddlestone

Naughton
Gallas
Kaboul
Caulker

Which has been their undoing the past couple of seasons.

[Todd Bertuzzi]

Only thing I don't like is selling VDV. He's exactly what might be keeping them from being a top 4 club. They're putting all their hopes on Gyfli and behind him there's really no depth at CAM.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

Even without him they're really strong. Dembele will be a good replacement for Modric, Sygi a nice upgrade on VdV, Lloris and Vertonghen make them one of the EPL's best defensive teams, even after Kaboul's injury. And Dempsey will score a lot of goals in the Hulk role for AVB.

Bale-Adebayor-Dempsey
Sygi
Sandro-Dembele
Assou-Ekotto - Vertonghen - Dawson - Walker
Lloris

With a strong bench:
Defoe
Lennon

Livermore
Parker
Huddlestone

Naughton
Gallas
Kaboul
Caulker

Which has been their undoing the past couple of seasons.

I completely disagree with the bold. Also, I think you're maybe a bit high on Vertonghen.

[Rosebud]

VdV's slow. He's still a wonderful passer and can shoot from deep, but he's slow. AVB wants a fast heavy pressing team and Sygi's a much better fit for that although VdV maybe the better passer. He's an upgrade in this scheme and with Dembele that midfield will cover more ground than any in the EPL. With Sandro behind those two the middle of hte pitch will be Tottenham's. Add to that their front line and excellent defense they're probably favorites to take the 4th and final CL spot right now.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

VdV's slow. He's still a wonderful passer and can shoot from deep, but he's slow. AVB wants a fast heavy pressing team and Sygi's a much better fit for that although VdV maybe the better passer. He's an upgrade in this scheme and with Dembele that midfield will cover more ground than any in the EPL. With Sandro behind those two the middle of hte pitch will be Tottenham's. Add to that their front line and excellent defense they're probably favorites to take the 4th and final CL spot right now.

Agree to disagree I suppose, but Newcastle midfield will cover more ground than any other. Cabaye, Tiote, and Jonas is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure Cabaye and Tiote were actually 1/2 last season. Our MF works insanely hard, even HBA now.

[Rosebud]

You guys and Yaya Toure were the other two teams I was thinking of, but Sygi's going to fit great into the fast pace style of play AVB wants to establish and VdV wouldn't have. And if he's just going to be an occassional sub when they're playing a team parking the bus, I can understand why they thought he was worth cashing in, especially since they got a good price for a player fast approaching his 30th birthday.

Apparently they've gotten an extension to finish the Moutinho deal. Dembele and Moutinho with Sandro or Sygi would be great together even if I do think the price on Moutinho is a little high, but that's football. Bayern spent 40 million euro on Javi Martinez and it wasn't a terrible over payment. Prices keep rising with inflation and the direction the game is going places more value on excellent midfielders. Moutinho would still be a good move for them if he's in their budget, even though I'll agree that he's not "worth" the money that'll be spent on him whenever he does move.

[Rob S]

Yaya is just amazing. He doesn't get his due imo.

[Rosebud]

Yeah, Yaya's incredible. He reminds me so much of the great german midfielders, like Matthaus, Sammer, Effenberg, etc., who I used to watch as a kid. The guys who'd boss the midfield all game and then push forward to decide the match. Really hope Khedira keeps growing in that vein of midfielder.

[Cigaro]

Originally Posted by SuperPacker

Dembele, Dempsey and Lloris are all good players, but none of them are in the same class as Modric. Give me one great player over 3 very good players all day. Especially if you want to be getting top 4.

Give me three very good players over one great player all day. I would not want my team to be dependent on the success of one player rather than three. Players can easily get hurt, players can easily go through downstreaks in form. It is also much easier to neutralize one player than it is do the same for three. Just look at Messi at Barcelona. Messi is the best player in the world, yet even he can be neutralized as Chelsea did last season, and when that happens, Barca has been left neutered.

Originally Posted by Rob S

Moutinho would have been an awful deal for Spurs imo....he was far overpriced. I think they did very well in terms of their incoming and bought good values. I hated that they let VDV go though.

I disagree. Perhaps slightly overpriced, but Moutinho would be a more than capable replacement for Modric, and someone that AVB knows would flourish in his system.