*Official* English Football Season 2012-13

[sledger]

The irony is, that most of the Bayern team will speak English, some of them better than he can, I suspect. Besides, German is one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to learn. Does seem like a bit of a cop out, but fair dos.

 

[GIMH]

At one of, if not the, top club in Europe, wants to go home because wah wah wah I can't settle.

Pleb.

I believe the truth is that he didnt have much choice in the matter

Hopefully he comes home anyway. Cracking player. Imagine he'd get a Championship deal at least though.

 

[Uppercut]

Hopefully he washes up somewhere that plays good football, Brighton or Wigan maybe. It'd be painful to go from the type of training at Bayern to training under Mick McCarthy or Alex McLeish.

 

[Pothas]

Brentford obviously.

 

[Ikki]

Benteke to Arsenal?

 

[GIMH]

Hopefully he washes up somewhere that plays good football, Brighton or Wigan maybe. It'd be painful to go from the type of training at Bayern to training under Mick McCarthy or Alex McLeish.

Yeah if he doesn't come back to us I'd like to see him get a club that would use his talent well. Tbh with him being a free agent he's worth a punt for anyone; there were Prem clubs sniffing around him pre-Bayern and he should surely be a better player now.

 

[sledger]

Benteke to Arsenal?

Would be well up for that.

 

[sledger]

Reports emerging that Arsenal have agreed terms with Ashley Williams....Not sure how I feel about that...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Reports emerging that Arsenal have agreed terms with Ashley Williams....Not sure how I feel about that...

I'm going with "mildly surprised but quite underwhelmed", myself. Odd kind of signing; journeyman player nudging 30 who's not a massive improvement on what we have.

Probably means at least one of Squillashyte or Djourou is getting the arse tho.

 

[sledger]

I think they'd be cleared out anyway, Squillaci at least is out of contract iirc.

But yeah, seems an odd signing really. Suggests perhaps that Vermaelen is on his way.

 

[Pothas]

Let us not forget that he tried to murder Van Persie.

I think he is a very decent player though, not a bad buy at all.

Vermaelen going to Barcelona, now that I do find strange.

 

[sledger]

It's surprising how quickly Vermaelen has fallen from favour, I think. Wenger is usually very loyal with his players, even when they go through a slump. Vermaelen hasn't had a good season, but in his previous years he's been very reasonable at worst, and extremely good at his best. You'd have thought he'd have been worth keeping around a bit longer, as this slump is surely only temporary.

No denying that the defence has been massively better since he's been dropped though. Williams would be a decent signing really I suppose, but I'm not convinced he's better than Vermaelen at his best.

 

[Uppercut]

It's surprising how quickly Vermaelen has fallen from favour, I think. Wenger is usually very loyal with his players, even when they go through a slump. Vermaelen hasn't had a good season, but in his previous years he's been very reasonable at worst, and extremely good at his best. You'd have thought he'd have been worth keeping around a bit longer, as this slump is surely only temporary.

No denying that the defence has been massively better since he's been dropped though. Williams would be a decent signing really I suppose, but I'm not convinced he's better than Vermaelen at his best.

There's been some really interesting stuff written about Vermaelen's tendency to leave gaps in behind, even when he's playing well. Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal cheap goals | Zonal Marking is from towards the end of his best season, and Mark Hughes's leaked chalkboard from when he beat Arsenal with Citeh: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wkv2gUmL1r2br9vo1_500.jpg.

It makes sense that he'd go to Barca because they like their defenders to press high up the pitch but this past season he's just been far too **** for them. More errors leading to goals than any other player I heard. Arsenal coming good towards the end of the season when they sat a bit deeper and stayed compact could have convinced Wenger he wants a less pro-active defender and Williams is really quite good.

 

[Pothas]

Arsenal linked to Benat as well. Not a player they need but he might just be my favourite footballer.

 

[Cabinet96]

Can't remember if it was Sledger here, or Marcuss on Cricsim, but someone said Vermaelen is going for a cheap fee as well, something like 4-5 Million. Bit disappointed. I remember seeing him get two goals at the Emirates during his first season.

 

[Jarquis]

Would be happier with Ashley Williams as fourth choice but I imagine he'll be third choice with some young center half as 4th. Apparently we'll listen to offers as low as £5m for TV5.

 

[sledger]

I think he was Arsenal's top scorer for the first 6 weeks of that season actually, haha. But yeah, apparently he'll be sold for £5m, which does seem particularly cheap. It's a shame, because I've always liked him, and he was missed horribly in the season he spent injured. But, as Uppercut alluded to above, perhaps he's just been worked out a bit at this level, and they feel it's time for him to move on.

 

[Cabinet96]

I remember Paul Merson always saying he and Kompany absolutely bossed games for Belgium, yet he looked some timid for Arsenal. Maybe as you say he just lost effectiveness in the Premier League.

 

[Furball]

I've never rated Vermaelen that highly, he was atrocious in the 2-2 game against Barcelona. Made basic schoolboy errors that night (that might actually be what the ZM article Uppercut's linked to is about).

 

[The Sean]

Ha ha, great quote from Sebastian Kehl:

"Road to Wembley is a good title. It took us over an hour and a half to get here. We were a bit surprised about the area it's in."

Diplomatic way of pointing out that Wembley is a ****hole.