Will.I.An

[Dahuge]

Chelsea are buying Willian why don't we put a bid in for Mata as he would appear to be surplus to requirements.

 

[mark1975]

I don't rate Moses, and don't really understand why Chelsea bought him.

Me neither, he's gash.

 

[mark1975]

Are you one of the 10% Mark? 😉

Probably not, I'm edging towards the "£30m for a keepy up merchant who doesn't score, is ridiculous", but then I've never really watched him, so.. 😉

 

[Mors]

Chelsea are buying Willian why don't we put a bid in for Mata as he would appear to be surplus to requirements.

They'll have hazard, mata and Willian for that spot. Surely something has got to give.

 

[tony]

Chelsea are buying Willian why don't we put a bid in for Mata as he would appear to be surplus to requirements.

Surely this is logical but doubt he would come to us

 

[red_maradona]

The lack of firepower?? Mediodre?

Ok lets address this. We currently have the following attacking options:

Suarez - 2nd best player in the prem last season, scored 30 goals.
Sturridge - young, hungry and has a good scoring record for us, even if it is early days
Coutinho - slotted in to our style of play like he's been here for ages
Gerrard - one of the best midfielders of a generation going forward

Those 4 alone strike fear into the heart of the opposition.

We then have younger and more raw talent in Ibe and Sterling, plus Suso - yes I know he's out on loan.

Now you were advocating signing a Brazilian for £35m plus with wages in addition who's scoring record and general record is average in an average league. Where exactly was he going to make our "firepower" less "mediocre"? He's a winger. The problem we struggle with is our conversion to chances ratio. That's why we don't put some games to bed and that leaves us open to the potential of the sucker punch. The Stoke game showed that again. Loads of clear cut chances, one half chance taken. Then we gave away a penalty which should have been academic to the result.

If we were to overspend / actually spend £35m on one player then it I'd suggest a proven goalscorer would be the way forward, not an exotic stepover luxury who's good on FIFA and Brazilian.

In terms of the £35m we could have spent, if were to spend it, I'd much rather we bought a steely midfielder (Cabaye) and a proven goalscorer at this level. Hell we could probably have some change and that represents a less risky investment and a better chance of getting a return on that investment.

"the midfield steel is a red herring. the best team last few years doesn't have midfield steel. let's get over "

Lets get over it? No steel in the Utd midfield? Carrick? Anderson (when he played)? No steel in City's midfield? What apart from Kompany and Yaya?

Lucas is not a steely midfielder. He's a snapper and a terrier. He gives away too many free kicks in dangerous areas and his impact elsewhere is not what it could be or needs to be.

Gerrard - the greatest midfielder of a generation. Playing the anchor for a trio? A waste of his talent and strengths.

Teams ran through our midfield of Allen, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Downing last year. We need someone who can impose himself on the opposition midfield when we don't have the ball, in my opinion.

We shouldn't be signing any overpriced, exotic, good on fifa, shit record, wingers period. In your own words "Get over it"

Right, where do I start?

You'll note that I talked about the totality of our attack. The front 3 is good, but what is behind that? 2 teenagers who have have proved nothing. Gerrard, who doesn't have 5 goals in him now let alone 10. Aspas, who is unproven. Borini who instills no confidence. Assman, nuff said.

Compare that to this:
Manure: RVP, Rooney, welbck, hernandez, kagawa, young, nani, valencia
Man City - Aguero, Djeko, two new spanish internationals, nasri, jovetic
Chelsea - the list is endless
Tottenhem - defoe, soldado, adebayor,
Arsenal - walcott, girou, oxlade, podolski

It's clear that compared to the top three we are significantly behind. Suspensions, injuries, poor form and we are going to struggle major.

THIS IS WHY WE ARE CONSTANTLY LINKED WITH ATTACKERS. We need to have much more depth in the totality of our attack.

by steel in midfield, you seem to be thinking of someone who can impose himself, for want of a better expression a tough guy. Manure didn't have that and don't. Chelsea don't either. City have toure.

Steel in midfield is about the whole midfield working in a unit, together, to hunt the ball down and win. This british obession with tough guy midfielders needs to be overcome. Sure our midfield can be improved, but in comparison to the different in our midfield compared to the midfield of others is not as great as the different in our attack.

Finally, Willian is someone who frankly put is quality. Is he overpriced, sure, but in this transfer age, who isn't? Do I know about him as well as a epl player no? But he is a name I have heard of, more importantly, since being linked with him, I have learnt a lot more, especially thanks to much of the knowledgeable posters on this site. My conclusion: the guy would improve our squad a lot, he would add depth and he make our attack much stronger.

 

[RolandG]

So we lost out on Willian due to financial reasons. F....that! "Liverpool FC manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed financial rather than football reasons were behind Liverpool missing out on the signing of Willian."

He would have been great for us and a certain starter. Willian to the Chavs is much better than him going to Spurs. As for people calling for Moses, I've never seen a forward who contributes even less than Downing until now. He is rubbish. We need much better players than that.

 

[Oncy]

Look man. If we think hes worth 20m and they want 35m its financial reasons

And good ones too.

 

[Rafiagra]

How the hell is a 25/25 year old with only a handful of caps worth £30m? He's the Brazilian Andy Carroll.

 

[Whirly]

Future News: Arsene Wenger to buy FIFA 09

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has announced that he will purchase EA Sports' FIFA 09 instead of the upcoming FIFA 14 release, citing the five-year-old video game's "better value." The highly anticipated FIFA 14, which is set to be released next month, has a number of new and improved features, but Wenger believes the out of date, yet more familiar game is the one for him.

"Quality-wise, the games I have now are perfect," Wenger told reporters, who were somehow interested for reasons they cannot fully explain. "But my Sensible Soccer 2006 has scratches on it and my Virtua Striker 2 doesn't work right now, so I must buy another game. And instead of buying FIFA 14, which is much more expensive for essentially the same thing, I have decided to buy FIFA 09 for £3. It's simply a better value. Plus, I know like the soundtrack and I would rather play with Arsenal's 2009 squad anyway."

Wenger's decision has prompted further outrage from Arsenal fans already upset with the manager for not spending in the summer transfer window despite having funds available to him and going eight years without a trophy.

"It's unbelievable!" said Arsenal supporter Archie Hush. "How are we supposed to compete with the likes of Man City and Chelsea with a manager who won't even pay 35 quid for a new video game? The man has millions in the bank. I bet even Spurs will go out and buy the Ultimate Edition now that they have the money. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone."

As usual, Wenger has made it clear that he will not give in to his critics, though.

"FIFA 09 is a very good game. The trophies in it are definitely within reach. I just hope there is a way to quickly skip through the transfer window in Manager Mode or else it could get boring."

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Mourinho on Willan transfer. As unsavoury as he can be a lot of times, his mischief-making ways eludes a certain charm sometimes:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/23/tottenham-chelsea-willian

Mourinho, who still wants to sign Wayne Rooney from Manchester United, said that the episode highlighted the danger of clubs conducting medicals before a contract has been signed, adding that this is why he prefers transfers to be done in secret. "That's the danger of medicals before contracts but, at the same time, if the contract and the medical after sometimes you can have a problem before signing a player so you have to do the medical before," Mourinho said. "The best thing you can do is do the medical in secret. The player is fine, you can sign him. The player is not fine, you don't destroy his career by saying the player has problems, so you do it in secret and after that sign the contract with the club and the player. Sometimes you don't make it. Sometimes you guys have great sources, find everything, but that's the risk."

The former Real Madrid manager was unable to resist one last dig at Tottenham. Asked whether he expected the deal to be completed without any complications, a mischievous grin spread across his face. "We have to do a medical," he said.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

How the hell is a 25/25 year old with only a handful of caps worth £30m? He's the Brazilian Andy Carroll.

Don't know if he'll be the Brazilian Carroll, but there are enough unknowns to make people wonder if he's really worth that. If you'd asked "Who would you want us to buy if we had 30m?" a month ago, I'm not sure his name would've popped up in the top 10 list.

For 30m, I'd want something extremely close to a certainty, rather than a somewhat unsure stab in the dark.

 

[Whirly]

The end is amazing

 

[Ossi]

From Soccernet:
"...Liverpool thought they had Willian in the bag this week, but the player's dubious antics in constantly playing interested parties off against each other eventually persuaded the Reds' owners to refuse to remain involved.

That now seems like a wise decision, given the Brazilian's apparent last minute to switch to Chelsea - which came after undergoing a Spurs medical."

 

[iseered]

Hahaha, Spurs got spursed.

 

[mark1975]

From Soccernet:
"...Liverpool thought they had Willian in the bag this week, but the player's dubious antics in constantly playing interested parties off against each other eventually persuaded the Reds' owners to refuse to remain involved.

That now seems like a wise decision, given the Brazilian's apparent last minute to switch to Chelsea - which came after undergoing a Spurs medical."

This just wouldn't fit with the "we're dickheads for not blowing a wad" theory.

 

[red_maradona]

From Soccernet:
"...Liverpool thought they had Willian in the bag this week, but the player's dubious antics in constantly playing interested parties off against each other eventually persuaded the Reds' owners to refuse to remain involved.

That now seems like a wise decision, given the Brazilian's apparent last minute to switch to Chelsea - which came after undergoing a Spurs medical."

If true, then maybe we did ok to dodge, although plenty of amazing players have shite attitude.

what's more disconcerting is that as a Brazilian, in world cup year in Brazil, you opt for the club which you are least likely to be a consistent starter for.

 

[red_maradona]

This just wouldn't fit with the "we're dickheads for not blowing a wad" theory.

doesn't really support the theory of exotic stepover lad who no one's heard of anyway so he can't be any good.