Premier League 2011/12 general thread

[prinnysquad]

Meireles to Chelsea!

[Adrock]

Good signing for Chelsea. He is a very good player, wonder where he'll fit in within the Chelsea starting line up.

So that is pretty much all traces of Hodgson removed from Liverpool. The current midfield still have the ability to challenge for Champions League places. Bellamy, whilst he is a twat of the highest order, is a good signing. He has lots of ability.

[toythatkills]

You happy with Bendtner, prinny? ARE YOU?

[prinnysquad]

He's a forward, so yes! He'll come down to earth at our ****hole.

Though I'm still furious with Tubbo.

[Adrock]

I think, given a run in the side, Bendtner might well improve and actually become a half decent striker. Arsenal is a certain kind of football and it didn't suit Bendtner. So I'm looking forward to seeing how he copes with Sunderland.

[prinnysquad]

I think, given a run in the side, Bendtner might well improve and actually become a half decent striker. Arsenal is a certain kind of football and it didn't suit Bendtner. So I'm looking forward to seeing how he copes with Sunderland.

Providing Bruce doesn't play him on the left wing, which I wouldn't put past him, he'll be up front with Gyan. He'll have a huge responsibility on his shoulders to convert our meagre number of chances. We don't create as many as Arsenal so, like you say, this might actually improve him.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Good signing for Chelsea. He is a very good player, wonder where he'll fit in within the Chelsea starting line up.

So that is pretty much all traces of Hodgson removed from Liverpool. The current midfield still have the ability to challenge for Champions League places. Bellamy, whilst he is a twat of the highest order, is a good signing. He has lots of ability.

Would still have preferred Raul in the squad, obviously. There's a little less midfield creativity in there now - one or two injuries at the wrong time could leave us short in that area.

[EJG1980]

Reasonable window for Spurs I think. Could have been better, could have been worse. Gomes form was poor last season, we've added Friedel. Our strikers under performed, we've added Adebayor. Parker is a really good addition to our midfield. Shame we didn't get in Cahill but fair play to Bolton for wanting to keep their best players. Looks like we've got decent money for the players we've shipped out too. Glad Levy stuck to his guns and kept Modric at the club as well.

[toythatkills]

You'd best hope Modric can get behind that decision, because otherwise he'll just be useless until January and leave for peanuts.

[EJG1980]

Hopefully he will. Don't see him leaving for peanuts though, he's still got five years of his contract left to go so it's not like we have to worry about him running it down to leave for free or anything like that. If he wants the Champions League regulars to stay interested in signing him he's going to have to at least show decent form too.

[Prototype]

Apparently Chelsea offered ?30m and Alex for Modric. Spurs don't need to sell him in January either. If Croatia qualify for Euro 2012, Spurs easily can say to him if you want to start in the euros then you going to need to play well, or you can sit on the bench and lose your place.

Surprised at Bolton though. With Cahil having one year left on his contract, you'd think they'd need to sell.

[toythatkills]

They'll try and offload him in January if their league position's okay. They won't get more than ?3-4m for him though, since he'll be able to negotiate with clubs to go on a free anyway.

[abigsmurf]

Apparently Chelsea offered ?30m and Alex for Modric. Spurs don't need to sell him in January either. If Croatia qualify for Euro 2012, Spurs easily can say to him if you want to start in the euros then you going to need to play well, or you can sit on the bench and lose your place.

FIFA and UEFA come down pretty hard on that kind of thing and an unhappy player isn't likely to keep quiet about it.

[Adrock]

They don't have to say it explicitly though, smurf. It stands to reason that if he plays poorly he wont play for Spurs, which in turn affects his international chances.

[abigsmurf]

Ultimately, all Modric would have to do is make a statement saying "I'm fit and I'm willing to play let me see the Croation medical staff" and it puts Spurs in an impossible position (a few players have done this sort of thing in the past). You'd think it would take pretty extreme circumstances for him not to get selected as part of the national squad so threatening to put him on the bench/reserves would only waste money.

I'm pretty pleased with Chelsea's transfers, Modric would've been better than Meireles as he'd be a longer term player but it gives some of our youth players a chance to step into the role when Meireles' stops being fit enough for regular first team. We're taking a gamble that our defence will hold up for another season but elsewhere we've a great range of signings and now have some real options in key areas.

I find Benayoun only going on a loan bizzarre, unless there's some sort of weird deal going on I find it strange that Arsenal couldn't have stumped up ?6-8mill. He's pretty unlikely to come back to Chelsea after all.