[Freewheelin']

Liam didn't sound great.. but there is never, ever going to be a Radiohead song that will ever elicit a response like Wonderwall. Greatest song of the past three or four decades.

[Wilbury]

6.5 million left :lol

Go for Krul or Rob Green, I'd say they're better cheap choices, Krul especially.

[Spanish Wrath]

Seriously, the Radiohead vs Oasis madness needs to stop. There is not even fucking contest.

[Kyoufu]

LOL. So good.

Where will Anita be playing at Newcastle (should he join?). Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez and Tiote will surely form a four man midfield with Ba and Cisse up top.

Anita will play DM alongside Tiote so Cabaye can have freedom attacking. When Santon drives up the pitch, Anita will cover him so we're not totally exposed.

That's what I'm guessing will happen anyway.

[PaulLFC]

No idea how accurate this is to be honest:

Man Utd share value 'could plunge' August 13, 2012 By Richard Jolly Manchester United shares are worth less than a quarter of the amount the Glazers had hoped to raise, according a leading business company. • United lower share price PrivCo, an independent financial analyst, said that United's stock price could plummet further - and gave shares a value that would mean the club is worth less now than when the Glazers bought it in 2005. They floated 10% of shares in the club on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, looking for a maximum price of $20 a share. The club's current share price is $14 but millions of shares have been bought by the seven banks underwriting the IPO, and PrivCo calculated their true value is just $4.97 each - giving United a value of around $800 million, rather than the $3.3 billion that they wanted. The Glazers paid just under £800 million to complete their takeover in 2005. "Manchester United's valuation using several accurate valuation methodologies is a mere $4.97/share, only about one third of its $14/share offering price (which is also the price at which it closed its first trading day, but only because IPO underwriters placed large open-market bids at $14/share to prevent the stock from closing below the IPO price)," PrivCo said. The company compared United with other publicly-listed football clubs, including Juventus, Roma and Borussia Dortmund, and recent takeovers of other sports clubs or franchises, including Liverpool, LA Dodgers and Boston Celtics, before predicting United will emulate Facebook, whose share price also plunged quickly. "The objective, independent valuation indicates that MANU stock could plunge by nearly two-thirds of its IPO price before it reaches fair value," the company explained. "Furthermore, PrivCo data shows the implications of other recent IPOs where IPO underwriters were forced to make 'stabilising bids' on the first day's trading correlated with rapid plunge in stock prices as soon as the ephemeral artificial floor propping up price in initial days is removed, and how this augurs poorly for Manchester United's public shareholders."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1133216/man-utd-share-value-%27could-plunge-like-facebook%27]Link

[Jason Raize '75 - '04]

I'm surprised Wenger wants to rely on the unpredictable lunacy of Santos and the very injury prone Gibbs. We need a replacement for our RBs and LBs when they are injured or are playing badly.

[3Sixty]

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins is still weighing up potential signings and reports in L'Equipe claim the Premier League new boys are considering a move for Cesena defender Yohan Benalouane. The 25-year-old has also been linked with Everton and Parma following Cesena's relegation to Serie B.

This could be a goer.

[Ushojax]

Ben Arfa out of Spurs game? BAE vs Obertan then.

I'm surprised Wenger wants to rely on the unpredictable lunacy of Santos and the very injury prone Gibbs. We need a replacement for our RBs and LBs when they are injured or are playing badly.

It seems like he'd rather play Santos in midfield than in defence now. I guess he thinks Vermaelen can cover Gibbs. I still think Arsenal need a keeper to really compete with Chesney.

[Freewheelin']

Oxlade-Chamberlain out of England game with hamstring injury :(

[Wilbury]

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins is still weighing up potential signings and reports in L'Equipe claim the Premier League new boys are considering a move for Cesena defender Yohan Benalouane. The 25-year-old has also been linked with Everton and Parma following Cesena's relegation to Serie B. This could be a goer.

I like his surname

[Ushojax]

Oxlade-Chamberlain out of England game with hamstring injury :(

IT HAS BEGUN

[Carbonox_Ratchet]

Ben Arfa is definitely out of the Spurs game. Tiote and Coloccini might miss out. Cabaye isn't match fit yet so I wouldn't be surprised if he only plays a certain amount of minutes in that game. Cisse and Ba are carrying knocks though they should be fine.

Still, we're fucked. I'd say throw Anita straight in as he'll have a few days to gel before Saturday, should he complete his move today.

The only formation I can see being of any use would be:

Krul
Simpson - S.Taylor - Williamson (unless Coloccini is fit) - Santon
R.Taylor - Anita - Gutierrez - Marveaux
Ba - Cisse

It's a very defensive formation, though Gutierrez and Marveaux can also offer forward play for us. I'd have Ba sit behind Cisse so he can function as a semi AM/CF so he can get involved with any playmaking.

Anything else would be far too risky and fuck Pardew if he thinks playing Obertan will be acceptable.

[Kyoufu]

Ben Arfa out of Spurs game? BAE vs Obertan then.

Where did you hear that? We should have most of our first team.

edit: oh god. We're so fucked.

edit 2: I doubt we'll sign Anita. He wants higher wages than our cap is.

[odd_morsel]

Should I aim for better strikers and low my defense?

I would advise cheapening your defense and changing goalkeepers (Norwich concede a lot and Szczesny is okay but not worth 6.5). Keep one of Evra (or change him for Vidic) or Kompany, then clear the rest out, fix your forward line, and then go back and fill in the defense.

Good midfield outside of Britton, who won't score any goals. De Guzman or Michu are both goal threats for Swansea.

Strikers need the most work. Cisse (9.5) Suarez (9.5) Jelavic (8.5) Bent (8.5) Ba (7.5) Petric (6) Graham (6) Lambert (6) Pogrebnyak (5) – those are the options you'd want to look at. Tevez at 9 is tempting but I wouldn't want both Tevez and Agüero.

[Ushojax]

Where did you hear that? We should have most of our first team.

Ici.

I expect Spurs to line up:

Friedel
Walker Dawson Kaboul BAE
Sandro Livermore
Lennon Sigurdsson Bale
Kane

Huddlestone, VDV or Defoe may get in there.

[Salazar]

and gave shares a value that would mean the club is worth less now than when the Glazers bought it in 2005.

Yeah no.

[ElyrionX]

No idea how accurate this is to be honest: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1133216/man-utd-share-value-%27could-plunge-like-facebook%27]Link

I think any financial analyst or firm who describes their valuation methodology as "accurate" is full of shit. All valuation methods ultimately boil down to the assumptions you make about a firm's future cash flows and these will more often than not involve a lot of guesswork. This is especially true for a business such as a football club where the annual earnings and cashflows are highly uncertain and a lot of which have fairly binary outcomes. To actually believe that your valuation methodologies are "accurate" and to state it so publicly is laughable.

[dc89]

Mancini does piss-take late substitutions quite a bit.

xD I remember when Aguero didn't finish a Premier League game for months because he kept bringing him off with minutes left :P

[Kyoufu]

Apparently our players are asking why the fuck we haven't signed players yet.

Ruh roh. This won't end well.

[Yenrot]

R.Taylor - Anita - Gutierrez - Marveaux

Christ.

[Linius]

Ah, new thread :D

[Kyoufu]

Christ.

Anita and Marv are quality. The other two... meh :(

[Wilbury]

Anita and Marv are quality. The other two... meh :(

Gutierrez is meh?

[dc89]

Been playing with my fantasy team this morning

[Ushojax]

Gutierrez is meh?

Playing down the middle? I'd agree.

[odd_morsel]

Been playing with my fantasy team this morning

Good team. Too much City, but you know that already :P Sinclair is a waste of 7m by the way, if he moves to City. Michu is 6.5m and De Guzman is 6m, if you actually want a Swansea player.

[Linius]

Some Ajax fans on the Dutch forums I visit are complaining how going to Newcastle is stupid. One said: Newcastle is in the part of England where you get depressed by just waking up. I don't think there many good words left for you guys :lol

But at least we get 8,5 million euros for him. Hopefully Ajax will spend the money well instead of keeping it in their pockets. I'd pretty much like to buy Adam Maher from AZ, promising player at the same position as Anita.

[Freewheelin']

Some Ajax fans on the Dutch forums I visit are complaining how going to Newcastle is stupid. One said: Newcastle is in the part of England where you get depressed by just waking up. I don't think there many good words left for you guys :lol But at least we get 8,5 million euros for him. Hopefully Ajax will spend the money well instead of keeping it in their pockets. I'd pretty much like to buy Adam Maher from AZ, promising player at the same position as Anita.

:lol :lol

Newcastle is a great city, don't diss the Geordies :P

[Kyoufu]

Some Ajax fans on the Dutch forums I visit are complaining how going to Newcastle is stupid. One said: Newcastle is in the part of England where you get depressed by just waking up. I don't think there many good words left for you guys :lol But at least we get 8,5 million euros for him. Hopefully Ajax will spend the money well instead of keeping it in their pockets. I'd pretty much like to buy Adam Maher from AZ, promising player at the same position as Anita.

Haha, well he hasn't signed yet. If we don't sign him he'll go back to Ajax.

[3Sixty]

Newcastle is a nice city.

Better than Manchester.

[ElyrionX]

Ok, I just looked through the site of PrivCo where they posted exactly how they valued United. Apparently, I gave them too much credit earlier. They did not even bother forecasting United's future cash flows. Instead, they used an extremely rudimentary method to derive a "fair value" for United.

Just another one of those useless financial websites hoping to gain some free publicity by making an outlandish prediction and attracting the many idiots out there to subscribe to their services.

[Splatt]

Been playing with my fantasy team this morning

Nice team. Wish I had money left for Kompany instead of Zabaleta :/

[Linius]

The thing that bugs the most is that Newcastle isn't the club where you win prizes. They might be good, but the competition in England is too tough. Plus that Ajax plays CL and Newcastle isn't, which leaves the conclusion that Anita only does it for the money at this point in his career. Cause obviously you guys pay him something like the double of his current salary.

I'd rather had Anita one more year at Ajax playing the best of his game to see him leave to an even bigger club that actually can win something (no offence Magpies :P).

But at least if he comes to Newcastle he'll play. That is the most important thing after all. That he's not going to end up like Babel at Liverpool for example.

[bjaelke]

Anyone had problems with the fantasy league login? Can't receive emails from them (password reset).

[odd_morsel]

Nice team. Wish I had money left for Kompany instead of Zabaleta :/

Some rather risky picks in there but you did so well last season that I can't possibly criticize.

[Carbonox_Ratchet]

Playing down the middle? I'd agree.

We played some of our best football last season when Gutierrez was part of a central 3. The moment we went back to 4-4-2, we started losing again. Pardew wants to keep Ba happy so he'll sacrifice good football and results, so it doesn't matter.

[Arjen]

Hate to see Anita go, but i can't hate on Newcastle, had a great time there.
I remember i went there for work, i checked in at the gate, and the doorman said, "one word of advice mate, you can insult the mother of everyone in here, that's ok, but for the love of god, don't ask how Newcastle is doing at the moment."

[Kyoufu]

The thing that bugs the most is that Newcastle isn't the club where you win prizes. They might be good, but the competition in England is too tough. Plus that Ajax plays CL and Newcastle isn't, which leaves the conclusion that Anita only does it for the money at this point in his career. Cause obviously you guys pay him something like the double of his current salary. I'd rather had Anita one more year at Ajax playing the best of his game to see him leave to an even bigger club that actually can win something (no offence Magpies :P). But at least if he comes to Newcastle he'll play. That is the most important thing after all. That he's not going to end up like Babel at Liverpool for example.

He says he's using us as a stepping stone. So he'll play for us, prove himself in the PL then we'll sell him for more should he become a success.

Hate to see Anita go, but i can't hate on Newcastle, had a great time there. I remember i went there for work, i checked in at the gate, and the doorman said, "one word of advice mate, you can insult the mother of everyone in here, that's ok, but for the love of god, don't ask how Newcastle is doing at the moment."

lol that's great.

[3Sixty]

The thing that bugs the most is that Newcastle isn't the club where you win prizes. They might be good, but the competition in England is too tough. Plus that Ajax plays CL and Newcastle isn't, which leaves the conclusion that Anita only does it for the money at this point in his career. Cause obviously you guys pay him something like the double of his current salary. I'd rather had Anita one more year at Ajax playing the best of his game to see him leave to an even bigger club that actually can win something (no offence Magpies :P). But at least if he comes to Newcastle he'll play. That is the most important thing after all. That he's not going to end up like Babel at Liverpool for example.

The question is, is getting knocked out in CL qualifying or getting dumbed in the group stages more prestigious than playing Man Untied, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal in front of 50k people week in week out.

[Yenrot]

The thing that bugs the most is that Newcastle isn't the club where you win prizes. They might be good, but the competition in England is too tough. Plus that Ajax plays CL and Newcastle isn't, which leaves the conclusion that Anita only does it for the money at this point in his career. Cause obviously you guys pay him something like the double of his current salary. I'd rather had Anita one more year at Ajax playing the best of his game to see him leave to an even bigger club that actually can win something (no offence Magpies :P). But at least if he comes to Newcastle he'll play. That is the most important thing after all. That he's not going to end up like Babel at Liverpool for example.

Babel was always shit though. He managed to regress while at the club and that wasn't due lack of games.

[Linius]

Hate to see Anita go, but i can't hate on Newcastle, had a great time there. I remember i went there for work, i checked in at the gate, and the doorman said, "one word of advice mate, you can insult the mother of everyone in here, that's ok, but for the love of god, don't ask how Newcastle is doing at the moment."

You were there during the Football League Championship period? :p

[confuziz]

I've seen Douglas (he's my neighbour) drive off with around 3-4 german cars that came from Dortmund (you can see it on the license plate).

Dortmund confirmed, lol!

[Ushojax]

The question is, is getting knocked out in CL qualifying or getting dumbed in the group stages more prestigious than playing Man Untied, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal in front of 50k people week in week out.

One of these is not like the others (besides the typo).

[Linius]

The question is, is getting knocked out in CL qualifying or getting dumbed in the group stages more prestigious than playing Man Untied, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal in front of 50k people week in week out.

I perfectly understand it. Newcastle is a big club with great history and indeed, you can play big clubs every week.

Babel was always shit though. He managed to regress while at the club and that wasn't due lack of games.

Haven't been following him that much in his Liverpool period, but I know he became a complete failure. Too bad, he played quite good at Ajax.

[Carbonox_Ratchet]

I've seen Douglas (he's my neighbour) drive off with around 3-4 german cars that came from Dortmund (you can see it on the license plate). Dortmund confirmed, lol!

Fucker!

Ask him what's going on with Newcastle. :P

[Salazar]

One of these is not like the others (besides the typo).

Two of those, arguably.

[odd_morsel]

One of these is not like the others (besides the typo).

Bitter much? It will take more than two good years for people from other countries to think of Tottenham as anything of a prestigious or big club.

[Kyoufu]

We played some of our best football last season when Gutierrez was part of a central 3. The moment we went back to 4-4-2, we started losing again. Pardew wants to keep Ba happy so he'll sacrifice good football and results, so it doesn't matter.

He shouldn't be a first team player tbh. He's a hard worker but he has gotten slow over the years. He'll be great in cup games and backup for injuries but honestly we can bring in better players, we just haven't for dodgy reasons.

The same goes for Raylor. Not a first team player either.

[Yenrot]

Haven't been following him that much in his Liverpool period, but I know he became a complete failure. Too bad, he played quite good at Ajax.

His first season was good, 07/08, we must have scored 120 goals that year and all our attacking players were great. But then he went off to the Olympics and came back terribley unfit (maybe injured) and it was all downhill from there. It seemed that for the next 3 years, he was always unfit and lazy.

[Ushojax]

Bitter much? It will take more than two good years for people from other countries to think of Tottenham as anything of a prestigious or big club.

lol

I'm talking about City. They've played in one CL season for fuck's sake.