Barclays Premier League Season 2009/2010

[Kralik]

Arsenal is unlucky,first Liverpool and now City.

Unlucky? We'll see abt that.. time to settle the score with Man S*ity..

[Subject Delta]

Lets check the year Rappy. Oh it's 2009. At least the Blues deal with their **** ass managers.

The problem is not the manager, it is with the lack of resources. And the year may be 2009, but tell me how many Eurpoean cups are in Chelsea's cabinet? oh yeah that's right there aren't any.

Oh, lol, whoopsy, I stand corrected for assuming you were hiding because of the loss. :blush:

Childish.

[nothuman]

Anywho, anybody catch Obertan against Rovers yesterday? I'm thinking he should more games playing wide-left instead of Nani after the Chelsea game. He lacked composure sure, but he's very skilful, and is absolutely lightning.

With all this talk of United lacking 'spark' after the Ronaldo era (despite the fact we could have one 5-1 yesterday) I think he definitely looks a great prospect.

I did, just a couple of messages up. ;)

He is very talented, he can improve himself at United and hopefully stays injury free. He sure is a threat/competition for Nani, and it's going to be very interresting for the squad. Don't forget Tosic too, he may be slower in his progression but I hope he can play more matches in EPL this season.

[HilariousNinja]

Actually I really like Tosic too, though I think a loan deal in January should help him out alot more so he can get more first team football. He really needs to bulk himself up to be playing in the Premier League.

[Kostaz]

Unlucky? We'll see abt that.. time to settle the score with Man S*ity..

In any case, Chelsea's drawing was far more easy.Still I don't think Manchester City will be able to beat Arsenal.

[nothuman]

Actually I really like Tosic too, though I think a loan deal in January should help him out alot more so he can get more first team football. He really needs to bulk himself up to be playing in the Premier League.

Agree, a loane will be great for him.

[Rappy Veteran]

NOTW reporting buy out at West Ham soon but I'll believe that as much as I believe the moon landing happened last week.

[idioot]

Oh, Studs Up :D

[Rappy Veteran]

Studs Up is such an awesome webcomic!

[HilariousNinja]

One of my favourites so far was the one with Rafa and the balloon in 'Castaway'. I laughed so hard, I nearly started crying!

[Rappy Veteran]

[nothuman]

Ahahah

[Rappy Veteran]

HOLD THE PRESS!

West Ham win!

[Rappy Veteran]

Igor Akinfeev is understood to have opened talks over a move to Manchester United after impressing for CSKA Moscow against the Barclays Premier League champions.

The Russia goalkeeper's representatives met officials from the Old Trafford club this week with a January move on the agenda.

United have scouted a number of keepers amid concerns that Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak are not ready to step into Edwin van der Sar's shoes.

The Dutch veteran is expected to announce soon that this season will be his last.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson praised Akinfeev after both Champions League matches against CSKA - a 1-0 United win Moscow and a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford. But the Scot has refused to confirm United's pursuit of the 23-year-old.

Akinfeev also says he is paying little attention to reports linking him to United, but that does not stop him speaking in glowing terms about his potential employers.

Despite holding a two-goal lead in Manchester on Tuesday, he was still happy with the draw.

'We are satisfied,' he said. 'Not every team scores three goals at Old Trafford. At 3-1, of course you need to think about winning, but we have to be realistic. We played one of the best clubs in world football.

'Moreover, they had the crazy support of 74,000 fans who drove the team forward

Source

[Dance.]

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez still fears that both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres will need to go under the knife to finally cure their groin problems.

Skipper Gerrard has played just 25 minutes in the last month while Torres is being nursed through games as Liverpool attempt to rescue their season.

Benitez has been hopeful that he would be able to get through to the international break without having to send two players who are central to the club's hopes of success to a surgeon, but Torres continues to be playing through the pain barrier.

Torres played almost all of Liverpool's 1-1 draw in Lyon on Wednesday night, a result which left their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

Benitez said: ''Fernando played with pain, and after the game he still had the same problems that have troubled him for a few weeks.

''He wants to wait, rather than have an operation. He wants to work with the physios to try to solve his problems, but still he has pain.

''He told me he needed to keep stopping during the game because of the pain. Whether there is the need for him or Steven to have an operation is a decision we will probably not take straight away.

''We must see how they can improve, and by how much. Then we will decide about any possible operation.''

Benitez was criticial of his side for continuing to attack towards the end of the game at the Stade de Gerland rather than take the ball into the corner. Liverpool led until Lisandro levelled the scores 10 seconds from the end of regulation time.

''We have to improve when we are leading near the end of the game. We must start showing more experience in such situations,'' the Spanish boss said. ''But nobody let the club down, that was the positive outcome from the draw in Lyon.

''We had so many problems with injured players. But you cannot complain about the performance because the team did everything they could to secure the victory.

''The performance was good and the fans who were in the stadium with us could see that. They were singing at the end and after the whistle because they knew they had seen everyone give everything.''

Goalkeeper Jose Reina has called on his team-mates to show ''heart, passion and belief''.

''If anyone can do this, Liverpool can,'' he insisted. ''But now it (qualification) is not in our own hands, it does not only depend on what we do. We were unlucky, but we must keep fighting until we have more options with players getting fit again.

''I felt we had done enough to have won, and deserved it too. Maybe not beforehand in the previous matches when we did not play well. But this was different, this was a much better performance. When we play like we did in Lyon, we know we are good enough.

''Now it is very, very difficult for us. But we must show strong character and fight right to the end. We know we have enough good players to sort this out. The players will take heart from this, at least we know we are getting back to the form we know we should be producing every week.

''I do not accept that not going through will be a disaster for the club. We have been in the Champions League now for several years, one failure is not a disaster.

''Not many teams have reached the semi-final twice and two finals - including a title victory - in the last few seasons. It can happen again, we get closer to our real form with every game.

''Any team would miss the quality of the players who are injured at the moment, but we have others who can play and who can produce the right performances to get us out of this mess.''

Jamie Carragher is also not giving up hope.

He said: ''We still believe we will get through. We know it is going to be difficult but we are not out of it yet. All we can do is win our next two games and see what happens.

''We have been in difficult positions before and come through like in 2005 when we had to win in Marseille to qualify. A draw in Lyon does not mean we're totally out of it.''

Carragher was also quick to defend the under-fire Benitez, adding: ''If you look at the manager's record in Europe; we've won it and been to the final, semi-final and quarter-finals. So our Champions League record under the manager has been superb.''

source

[Subject Delta]

The injuries are causing a lot of issues at the moment, something that needs looking at

[Dance.]

Same with Man U. we're missing a chunk of the team due to injuries :no:. also, anyone knows if hargreaves will be fit for the chelsea match? i could've sworn i read it somewhere :/!

[Dance.]

Chelsea intend to sell naming rights for Bridge

Chelsea are preparing to follow Newcastle's lead by selling the naming rights for Stamford Bridge, new chief executive Ron Gourlay revealed on Thursday. Although insisting that Chelsea need the millions such a lucrative sponsorship deal would secure, Gourlay promised that the words 'Stamford' and 'Bridge' will remain.

"We understand that this is a sensitive issue for our fans and that is why we would keep the name Stamford Bridge in any deal".

Although some may disagree, Gouray feels that the financial advantage of selling the rights is essential.

"What we are not prepared to happen, and I am sure our fans will appreciate this, is allow our rival clubs in England and Europe to gain a competitive advantage over us in terms of the revenue they can generate through either expanding the capacity of their existing stadia or moving to a new stadium and then invest that upside in their team or the club. Those possibilities are not open to Chelsea for the foreseeable future because of the restrictions in expanding our stadium and the issues around finding a new site, so that means we have to be creative and look at our sponsorship architecture and see if we can create new value and new opportunities that keeps us competitive".

In 2004, Emirates paid Arsenal ?50million to acquire naming rights on their new Ashburton Grove stadium for 15 years, and Allianz is charged ?4m every twelve months for Bayern Munich's ground to bear its name. In the USA, Citigroup pay ?10m so for the new New York Mets baseball arena, now called Citi Field.

[Rappy Veteran]

this stadium name thing is getting a bit crazy really who's next Anfield? although the money that could bring would be useful to Rafa

talking about missing players Trance where's West Hams Dean Ashton :rofl: I think we lost him somewhere in the summer over the Bermuda Triangle :D

[Kralik]

The injuries are causing a lot of issues at the moment, something that needs looking at

Same with Man U. we're missing a chunk of the team due to injuries :no:. also, anyone knows if hargreaves will be fit for the chelsea match? i could've sworn i read it somewhere :/!

Now you know what it felt like to be an Arsenal supporter last season..

[Rappy Veteran]

Now you know what it felt like to be an Arsenal supporter last season..

thoughts on a maybe new owner? :p

[Subject Delta]

Same with Man U. we're missing a chunk of the team due to injuries :no:. also, anyone knows if hargreaves will be fit for the chelsea match? i could've sworn i read it somewhere :/!

Not often I say this, but my fingers are crossed for United, I hope they beat the blue scum!

Now you know what it felt like to be an Arsenal supporter last season..

You have the same problem as us, no investment but sadly our youth squad isn't as strong

[Dance.]

actually arsenal have a lot of monies! its just that arsene wenger doesnt believe in blowing it off all at once, he prefers to invest in the youth.

[Kralik]

You have the same problem as us, no investment but sadly our youth squad isn't as strong

We have enf money to buy almost anyone.. we need some players for the bench and possibly a DM.. although Song is really coming through this year.. offensively we are set for atleast next 5 years (if the squad remains as it is).. I hope we don't have to sell the club to Kroenke.. especially as I see him as someone who is not a club fan and for them it will just be business.. which can be disastrous

[Subject Delta]

They don't seem to do much investment though :/