This is not about tapping up. The kid is free to sign with whoever he wishes for since he couldn't sign for anyone until the age of 16 if I'm not mistaken, although he was in Le Havre's academy(?). They're just unhappy that it's us who Pogba signs the contract with, which is just natural. I don't know much about the Kakuta's case, but he sort of had a pre-contract agreement with his old club and somehow broke that by signing with Chelsea. Not sure if Pogba is on the same situation.

IF that kid Kakuta had a 'contract' with his old club and Chelsea know it, I'm sure they wouldn't go through with the deal to sign the kid. It's the same with us. We would have check with the relevant parties and make sure he is free to sign with us. Seems a bit unfair looking at it now if that was the case with Chelsea signing Kakuta and getting into trouble over that.

Fifa should step in really, ages ago regarding the young players signing for big clubs. We've seen it with the S.American/African players signing with European clubs since ages ago.. but they don't jump and shout at it as though it was a serious offence. But all of a sudden lately when the English clubs 'dominated' the European scene, every little things came up. Getting young players, having more money than their counterparts in other leagues, having a lot of teams in the CL etc.. they make it as though the English clubs have an unfair advantage compared to the others. But they didn't complain when it was the French/Italian/German league which was getting all these sort of advantages when the English clubs was trying to climb back the ladder after they were banned from Europe years back. Now they're on top, those fat guys at the top don't like it..

Ever since he became the top one at UEFA, he voiced out against the English sides. Same with that stupid Blatter. Whenever it was us, he would say something. But if it's about other clubs, he didn't say a word. Remember about the Ronaldo as slave thing? Unfortunately for them, the English dominance is about to stay for a while, since there's only two clubs in Spain, and maybe only one in Italy who could compete with/better the English clubs.

Our GK situation.. when VDS gets back, should we play him straight away and bench Foster? I hope Foster take his chances before that happens and make a strong case for himself to actually be our #1 this season. After a shaky start in the pre-season games and Chelsea in the CS, he's been pretty solid. We need to know this season if he has what it takes. If he doesn't, we have to get someone else next summer, unless SAF really trust him and already has him as our future #1 no matter what happens till then.

Rafael-Rio-O'Shea
Brown is in and out, same with Gary.
Evans need surgery, although he can still play for a while, but after the qualifiers..

Our luck just never change at the back. A few of them will surely be out injured at any given time.

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Added on September 8, 2009, 9:31 pmVDS is out till around October or something.

This post has been edited by Wan: Sep 8 2009, 09:31 PM

All action Rooney vs slightly more quiet Rooney(more efficient?).. SAF prefers the latter though.

“He wants to be everywhere all the time,” Phelan said. “But we have 10 other good players on the field and sometimes he has to realise the place where he does his best work is the best place to be. Wayne sometimes drifts around and there were instances of that against Birmingham. His overall performance was good but he needs to remember when we create chances he scores goals.”

He asked SAF to play him centrally(anywhere, as long as it's central). It's SAF who wants him to play as a CF(can see last two seasons). This season he has a bit more freedom, but still not as much as he had previously like in his first few seasons here. It's clear where the coaching staff thinks he's best used at right now reading that quote by Phelan and SAF previously. They turned Ronaldo into a deadly weapon.. guess they want Rooney to be the same too.

Beautiful football? 06/07 was great. Scholes was on song, and Ronaldo was actually a very good and effective winger that season. Since then, Scholes have slowed a lot, and Ronaldo became less and less effective as a winger, but instead turn himself into a very effective scoring machine. Nani and Anderson inject some excitement in their first season, but last season both were badly on form. And apart from Rooney, Giggsy, and Ronaldo(scoring wise), the others didn't show up consistently, that's why last season sucks attacking wise for us. We only scored 68 goals was it in the league?

Sure he can dictate the play and all that, but SAF wants him to be further active in the final third(striker-wise) rather than be everywhere freak that he was before. Signing Tevez.. and then Berba, who both seems pretty good playing behind a striker(Berba, wants to set up teammates more rather than scoring himself). It seems he wants Rooney to turn into a striker.

Think of it this way. Rooney is already really good playing in that withdrawn role, his vision and footballing brain, he will always have that. But as a striker for a top team, you would expect better returns of goals/finishing. He's still young of course, and his record is pretty good. But there's room for improvement in his finishing. He can score lots of goals in burst, but then he'll be quiet for a while.. until he wears back his finishing boots. His movement is great. His finishing is great too when he's in the mood.. if he can do it consistently, plus his other attacking abilities, just think what a player he would become.

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Added on September 10, 2009, 3:27 amEvra last time against Lennon..

This post has been edited by Wan: Sep 10 2009, 03:27 AM

Agree with Wenger a bit. You can make a case if the club is irresponsible. But if the clubs genuinely took care of them, whats the problem? It's just a case of what sort of compensation the old club should get.. they need to work on that, since if their best young players get to leave for free, whats the point in having academy and stuff.

As long as they do it the right way, there's nothing wrong with what they did. It's unfair to the 'feeder clubs' of course since they would lose the player(s) almost for nothing and they can do nothing about it, but that's up to the governing bodies to rectify. Make it so they can get compensation for the players they lose, or make it the young players between the age of xx-xx(xx-18 till they can sign a proper pro contract) under their books so that any other clubs wishing to get that player, have to go through the club. That way, it's up to the club whether to accept a bid or not.. they get money, the player(s) get a chance to further their career, and the buying club will have the player they wanted to develop further.. everyones happy.

As for Arsenal not having any English players.. look at them. They don't spend that much over the years. The stadium and their financial state, and even now they don't spend much on any players. Benitez should look at him before complaining he doesn't have money to spend, because Wenger hardly spend any, whether he has them or not is another matter. And English players cost A LOT. Even the young players cost a lot. And looking at the English players, only a select few are special. Rooney, Walcott.. who else? That's why he looks outside for his sources. It's not right, but he has to think whats right for his club. He looks for specific attributes in his players, and all his players are comfortable with the ball at their feet. The English players lack them.. and I would say, right now they have a few Englishmen starting to come out from their academy.

Again it goes back to the rules. In England they have this stupid rule of signing youth players only within 90mins of the club or something. They wanted to protect the small clubs, but in doing so, they somewhat stunted the development stage. The cream always rises to the top of course, but if you read about Scholes' story and the English mentality regarding how they play and develop players, you would know why that rule is stupid. If Scholes wasn't spotted by us, god knows what he might be doing right now.. still work at McD? who knows.

He's small.. back then too. He struggled with asthma, don't have much pace, short, small. If at other clubs, probably wouldn't have made it. Can't find the article, but there's a lot about him on that stuff. How they stuck with him, even with some of them thinking of releasing him. Thank god that didn't happen.

Macheda, Evans, Rafael, Welbeck, Fabio.. SAF is not afraid to play them in games, depending on the occasion and the availability of other players. If Tosic impresses in training/reserve games, ad truly deserve his chances with the first team, he would get games. He just doesn't show enough yet.

Even Obertan even got ahead of him in the CL squad. Look fairly 'average' in the pre-season games. He still has a chance, but he need to show it. He looks like someone who can't beat defenders, can't cross and does nothing apart from that. His first game for us against Spurs I think was impressive I thought. Really look like a 'finer' but less busy version of Park. Need to show that part more rather try and play like A. Valencia does. He does better cutting inside.. his game for Serbia, against S. Africa I think where he scored 2 goals came when he played on the right.

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Added on September 11, 2009, 8:51 pmNani's first season. 25(+14 subs) games, 4 goals, 11 assists(2nd behind Rooney that season for us). Last season of course he didn't really have a good season.. 6 goals, 2 assists in 23(+7 subs) games, but even Anderson didn't shine compared to the previous season. And last season as a team, we struggled a bit going forward. This season so far in 4 games, 2 goals and 1 assists. Not bad. He's our best option there on form right now.. and apart from the unknown(Obertan/Ljajic), potentially our best winger if he fulfill his potential.

This post has been edited by Wan: Sep 11 2009, 08:51 PM

Saturday night, Sunday morning.
Means tomorrow night.

Shock horror! A young player who doesn't play to his full capabilities consistently.

His pass to Owen.. His cross to Berba in the Arsenal game. That should have been a goal. I remember he did something similar to assist Rooney against Blackburn. His first season here he was the 2nd highest assist in our team. Last season of course he sort of had a 2nd season syndrome. As for unpredictable, that's a good thing The opposition wouldn't know what he'll do although that would be the same for our players. But he'll improve his delivery.

He was badly ruined by being in and out of the team too much last season. See how Ronaldo was earlier. Damn frustrating although he does have his good bits too. Same with what Nani is going through. And who would have thought Fletcher would become the player that he is today, a very important piece in our team currently as it stands if we just judge him on his first few seasons in the first team. It takes time with young players and we can't expect them to be special from day one and play consistently at a high level in almost each game. That's just not possible. He started the season brightly so far. More to come.

Hey may never be as good as Ronaldo/Rooney, but he'll be a damn fine winger for us if he fulfill his potential. Heck, just him getting consistency in his game would make him one of the best wingers around. That will come as he grow older.

Nani's crossing is good. It's the unpredictable nature of his which make him not so efficient right now. Valencia's crossing is great too IMO. He delivers them early so our attackers know what to expect compared to Nani who like to fool around a bit. Valencia just need a plan B in his game, while Nani need to keep his options to a minimum. He has plan A to Z. Turn here, turn there, turn again and again.. but when he gets them right, it's funny to watch the defenders struggling to stay on their feet.

Lennon is a tricky and pacy winger. He can beat defenders for fun with just his pace alone. Add his trickery, he's very hard to stop one on one. Tosic doesn't have the pace to beat defenders as easily. If he had that, SAF would have used him more last season seeing how Nani struggled last season, and we needed a bit more options down the wings. Tosic struggled to beat Asian defenders, no disrespect. He couldn't beat the defenders on the outside and deliver crosses which I thought was one of his strong point(good delivery). Dare I say, Richardson like on the left. Maybe he's not suited to play the 'winger down the touchline crossing' role but better cutting in, exchanging short passes, pass and move type, and beat defenders now and then.

Fabio, Rafael, Macheda, Gibson, Welbeck.. they all proved SAF is not afraid to use youth and give them a chance in the first team if they have the ability+mentality to handle the first team games. Tosic need to earn his chance and when he does, he need to grab it, which may happen in the early rounds of the CC/FA Cup. He's still young and can improve further.. may take over from Park someday. But things will not get easier if Obertan gets back and impresses straight away. Then Ljajic will come over in January + Valencia, Park and Nani would make it 6 wingers fighting for two spots. The latter 3 is confirmed as the 'first' choice, and only left one spot to be won. Hargreaves is gonna be back around Nov-December too. But as the defence showed last few seasons, our luck with injuries would meant that they would all get plenty of games shared around themselves.

Our team is so underrated, even by our own fans. 3-4 seasons they performed really well on all fronts, and just because one star player left, our team is turn into a 'vulnerable' side.. and Rooney, not on the same level.. he's on the same level, and when he's on song, he's probably one of the best players in the league.

I thought Scholes was a bit unlucky. They were both already on the ground when they rammed into each other.

Great performance from the team. Evra godlike mode, Foster looking steady again, Rooney can't stop scoring, Fletcher being Fletcher, Giggsy and Ando seem to be in form, and of course Scholes this season have played really well I thought. Shame he's suspended next. I'll have Carrick next to Fletcher for City.

It would be a very good return, or great in Ando's case if he can get 5 goals this season. If Giggsy and Carrick can contribute the same amount, along with hopefully Valencia and Park, and Scholes, Fletcher and Gibson get a few less, and Nani 10+ goals, it would help us greatly. Rooney is looking great as our goal getter so far.. and if the other two+the two youngsters get a good amount, we'll be one of the top scorers as a team.

Two freekicks, goals, Ando scoring(+ his freekick in that friendly), thigns are looking good.

+ Fletcher getting more and more confident, we should see that creative side in him flowing through more consistently hopefully..

He will be a monster.

You're running for the presidency of the Fletcher Fan Club or something?

Monster, predator.. still, he will be one awesome CM if he continue to improve. Just have to be patient with him because he will have a few bad spells now and then.

Foster is doing quite well too huh, although he wasn't tested that much.. but he seems calm and made great saves when call upon.

It was 442 lah.
Fletcher-Scholes-Ando-Giggs

Almost as bad as Berba's. Guess he didn't expect to score, so didn't think of the celebration bit. Let's hope he gets to practice more of that this season. Scored in pre-season, reserve game in the international break, and now the real thing.. more please.

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Added on September 14, 2009, 2:31 amManucho scored for his team against Valencia.. lost 2-4

This post has been edited by Wan: Sep 14 2009, 02:31 AM