[Archived] Premier League Happenings

[Husky]

He peaked at 18, been going downhill every year since !

Maybe something to do with him having a man's body at 15, who knows ?

There's something about the Irish. Norman Whiteside was the same.

[thenodrog]

Simple point is that if MU had decided to sell Rooney I can't think of any top team hoping for Semi Final or better in the Champions League would be the slightest bit interested in him and would certainly not offer a contract like that.

[Stuart]

City might do it, Gordon. Just for the psychological edge a la Tevez.

[DE.]

City and Chelsea would have been interested, but I don't think any team abroad would have taken any notice.

[Guest Norbert]

Some Cardiff fan on 606 has said he is sure that Rafa Benitez is in the frame for replacing OGS if things continue this badly. I'm guessing that there is a problem with crystal Meth and funny mushrooms in his town.

Loads of Burnley fans on too, which made me feel a bit dirty.

[Gav]

Cardiff - Malky must be having a bit of chuckle right now...

Absolute gobshite of an owner, very much mirrors our siuation and I fear for the fans.

When will the authorities put a stop to clueless owners that have pots of money but no brain cells.

[The Rover of Finland]

Cardiff situation reminds a lot of our situation. The owner is a clown and they have brought in a lot of useless players. Zaha looks like waste of money for United.

[davulsukur]

With regards to the Rooney contract, looks like panic on several levels at Utd. Moyes needed to retain a high profile player after such a poor start as Utd manager, fans are on his back and rumours are aplenty about players wanting out. I would imagine that Rooney would have jumped ship to Chelsea in the summer had Utd not waved obscene amounts of money in his face.

A decision, Rooney might live to regret (for footballing reasons only of course) should Utd fail to clear out the deadwood and bring in some quality over the summer.

[yoda]

Then again it ensures they get a fee for him if he leaves

[Guest Norbert]

Surely he'd get a pay cut if he leaves, even by a relatively small amount. And Rooney and his agent are greedy gits who know how to play the 'I'm fed up and want to leave...........oh look a massive pay rise. I love this club' line. He has done it twice at Man Utd. He may want to win things, but money is the biggest motivation for Rooney.

[M-K]

He may want to win things, but money is the biggest motivation for Rooney.

According to wikipedia he's won five Premier Leagues, one Champions League and a couple of League Cups. Plus there were a couple of other CL finals and he'll probably end up as Man Utd's all-time leading scorer.

I'm not sure what else he's supposed to do. If a club is stupid enough to pay a footballer that much money, at least he's done more than a lot of players to justify it. Take Cristiano Ronaldo, for example - he's the highest paid player in the world (apparently 21m euros per year *after tax* which equates to about £335k per week *after tax*) but all he's won for Real is one league title and a domestic cup.

[Guest Norbert]

He's won a lot, but you have to look at his and his agent's conduct. Every time his contract has had 18 months-2 years to run, the leaks start, he gets linked with a move away from Old Trafford, stories about Rooney falling out with the manager abound and so on. Then all of a sudden he gets a huge pay rise with a long contract. His latest contract has been signed at a time when Man Utd have been falling from their high position, not likely to get in the Champions League, and has a manager he has previously had issues with. It's the cynicism that annoys me. Soon, he'll trot out the iies about wanting to play at Man Utd forever, if he has not already. Fair play to his agent, who can really turn the screws for the benefit of his client though.

Christiano Ronaldo moved because of the following factors: Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world, he is an Iberian and they seem to have a thing for Real Madrid, and his ego compelled him to want to be the biggest signing for the biggest club. He may have thought that they'd win more as well, despite the magic roundabout of managers and the failed Galatico method at Madrid.

[speeeeeeedie]

Why did Solskjaer take the Cardiff job? Money? He has been talked about for a few years as the 2nd coming so why did he choose a team on the way down with a crackpot owner? This experience will hardy make him attractive to better teams.

I watched a bit of the Liverpool game and saw that Skrtel finally got pulled up for his usual defensive grappling antics. They must be in a bad spot defensively if Rodgers has to bing on Kolo Toure for some stability. Contrary to that though is that they look like scoring 6 every time they play. Bony also looks 20 year younger after shaving his beard.

[Guest Norbert]

You make it sound like Bony could play for Lazio reserves.

[Audax]

Ozil is being seen as being a bit of a bust as well. I'm unsure if there is wide dissatisfaction with him.

[M-K]

Ozil is being seen as being a bit of a bust as well. I'm unsure if there is wide dissatisfaction with him.

It seems to happen a lot at Arsenal. They buy a player for moderately big money, he's good for a while but then you kind of forget he's even there - Cazorla, Arteta, Reyes, Podolski, the half-bald Rick James-looking one, the fat Russian who scored most of his Arsenal goals in one game... Now it looks like the same thing happens when they spend huge money on a player (even if he does have eyes like a chameleon).

[thenodrog]

Maybe why Wenger appears to be more comfortable signing less high profile players who have the attributes necessary to be an Arsenal player, developing them, binning off the ones who don't step up to the mark, playing the best and then flogging them for big money. I think Arsene was told to spend big to appease certain unrest within the fans. They pay the most money so taking into account the myopic North London football giant mindset it's understandable that they think they should sign the big players.

[M-K]

I suppose the problem with that approach is that unless Wenger gets lucky and manages to sign another Henry, Anelka or Vieira, the best they can hope for is Walcot, Hleb and Rosicky (and fourth place).

Wenger is good at getting value out of lesser signings but he's also signed some right old dross instead of the players he needed to win him a trophy. There are some expensive stinkers in this list:

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/premiership-transfers/arsenal-transfers.html

(I didn't know they got a £7.5m cut of the Bentley to Tottenham fee though)

[Guest Norbert]

I noticed Tom Cruise was released last season. Perhaps Wenger was annoyed about all that scientology nonsense he was into.

[speeeeeeedie]

I noticed Tom Cruise was released last season. Perhaps Wenger was annoyed about all that scientology nonsense he was into.

Michael Jordan a few seasons before that too. He must not have suited Arsenal's passing style. Allardyce would have loved him.

As for Ozil. He is a good player. He ran rings round everyone at the World Cup, then played every game for Real Madrid. He started well enough but has stalled. His house may have flooded.

No matter what though he'll be in top form for Germany in this upcoming World Cup.

[Guest Norbert]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26332019

Errr, has he seen the league table or the current Man Utd squad recently?

[Audax]

Mertesacker, Podolski and Ozil, 3 Germans I believe are on the National Team. That would really be a big part of the NationalMannschaft. Looks like Podolski has been out due to injury a bit.

http://int.soccerway.com/teams/england/arsenal-fc/660/

http://int.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/20132014/regular-season/r21322/

And despite the lacklustre performances at times, there Arsenal are in 2nd and Liverpool even with City with a game-in-hand is only a point behind 3rd place.

----------------------

When West Ham appealed Carrol's red card, though the actions looked fruitless in obtaining that objective, psychologically or due to whatever factor, looks like they have been on the upswing since.

[Guest Norbert]

David Moyes is odds on pretty much across the board to be the next manager binned. That's even with the stories surrounding Pepe Mel at West Brom. Speaking of Mel, I do feel sorry for him if he did go as he has only had 6 games. Two of which were draws against Liverpool and Chelsea.

Looks like us and Forest were trend setters in the last couple of years.

[DE.]

I don't think Moyes will be sacked before the summer. United have really painted themselves into a corner with all their talk of "we're Man United, we don't sack managers" - which is actually only true if you take into account the Ferguson era and no other time in their history.

Moyes should have been sacked before Christmas, imo. It's been obvious almost from the word go that he was the wrong choice. Fact is he should never have been selected in the first place, and the only person who thought it was a good idea was the same bloke who thought the likes of Taibi, Djemba-Djemba, Liam Miller, Bebe (£7.5M!), David Bellion and a chinese fella called Dong were good enough to play for United. Fergie also wasted £18M on Ashley Young and £25M on Anderson... so whilst there is no doubting his quality as a manager, his judgement leaves a lot to be desired and his choice of Moyes seemed to be based on a checklist of Scottish - Ginger - Dour. It certainly wasn't based on any kind of success or style of play because Moyes has barely won a thing in his career and is reknowned for playing excessively negative football which makes United in Fergie's final years look like Brazil in comparison.

I think and hope it's going to be a very long few years for the Man Utd supporters...

[Guest Norbert]

Yeah, I believe it's probably down to loads of people sticking a £10 on Moyes when the final whistle went last night. I'm not too sure whether he'll be there next season, but I do hope he is, paying over the odds for players he can't use properly etc. Good time to bet on Mel then. Or Hughton.