Moyes could have brought in Kroos, Fabregas and Ronaldo and he'd still have us sitting in 7th place.
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Oh deary me, we can't be serious about getting back onto our perch when we let lads like him float past us for 26 mil quid. I'm almost starting to think that our midfield issues are a myth. We should've been aggressive with this one, but apparently he doesn't suit our new managers plans or something like that.
I'd like to address a few things. Someone said something about cesc not shining in a possession system hence he wouldn't under van or something like that. That's nonsense because arsenal before he left were a possession based team and he was the star of the show. Barca take possession to the sort of level that even the cescs of this world can't adjust too. Their CM's are the most technically gifted central mids in the world and thus they expect that sort of play from whoever will take over. Cesc didn't fit that mould because although he's good on the ball, he isn't magic, and it doesn't stick to his laces. This meant he was prone to losing the ball more than the rest and this was hated by barca because they have a believe that only one team should have the ball through games.
As for people obsessed with calling him a no10 well, while true he can play that position and has done so numerous time for arsenal, he's actually a midfielder. The centerpiece of a team. His best time at Arsenal was when he played as a 8 with Flamini in a midfield 2 or even previously with G.Silva. He's very energetic, gets stuck in, passes the ball extremely well and also advances play through the middle by linking with teammates which sometimes leads to him scoring.
I'm sure Mou has realised that he's gonna need goals to compete with the best around and is now signing a player that can knit it all together and perhaps sacrificing some defensive solidarity to an extent. I'm sure he wouldn't mind conceding 5 more goals but scoring 20 more. Cesc will make every one in the chelsea attack more dangerous with better quality service from deep. All they gonna really need to do is find space. Judging by costa's ability to run into the right spaces on the break, and cesc's ability to find his man from deep, I'd say we're in for a very long season.
All in all, another feck up by us if this is true.
I'd like to address a few things. Someone said something about cesc not shining in a possession system hence he wouldn't under van or something like that. That's nonsense because arsenal before he left were a possession based team and he was the star of the show. Barca take possession to the sort of level that even the cescs of this world can't adjust too. Their CM's are the most technically gifted central mids in the world and thus they expect that sort of play from whoever will take over. Cesc didn't fit that mould because although he's good on the ball, he isn't magic, and it doesn't stick to his laces. This meant he was prone to losing the ball more than the rest and this was hated by barca because they have a believe that only one team should have the ball through games.
As for people obsessed with calling him a no10 well, while true he can play that position and has done so numerous time for arsenal, he's actually a midfielder. The centerpiece of a team. His best time at Arsenal was when he played as a 8 with Flamini in a midfield 2 or even previously with G.Silva. He's very energetic, gets stuck in, passes the ball extremely well and also advances play through the middle by linking with teammates which sometimes leads to him scoring.
I'm sure Mou has realised that he's gonna need goals to compete with the best around and is now signing a player that can knit it all together and perhaps sacrificing some defensive solidarity to an extent. I'm sure he wouldn't mind conceding 5 more goals but scoring 20 more. Cesc will make every one in the chelsea attack more dangerous with better quality service from deep. All they gonna really need to do is find space. Judging by costa's ability to run into the right spaces on the break, and cesc's ability to find his man from deep, I'd say we're in for a very long season.
All in all, another feck up by us if this is true.
So you're saying we should have bid for a player that our new manager doesn't want?
I'd have them as one of the favourites for the CL as well, should they get all those players. Scary prospect that. Given that Jose's second seasons are usually better as well, they are looking well-placed for either competition.
Mind you, they have done excellent business lately. Both with selling and adding players.
This is the point I've been making this morning. It looks to contrived to be real. And they're giggling. They know the microphones are right in front of them if they had something private to discuss surely Piqué didn't think that was the correct time to do so. I'm not at all convinced it was real. (Maybe I'm just clinging to the sliver of hope that he might still come her!)
Chelsea loosing Lampard makes Cesc moving to Chelsea very likely.. They need goals from midfield and Cesc could deliver..
Why we arent intetested makes me wonder if we will ever sign a midfielder..
Why we arent intetested makes me wonder if we will ever sign a midfielder..
Nope, am saying our manager should want him. He's now officially part of the 'we'.
Yet the rumours persist that Mourinho doesnt rate him. Lampard wasnt a nailed on regular and Mourinho likes work horses in his midfield. He may end up at Chelsea - just doesnt seem like a Mourinho kind of player.
Van Gaal doesn't want him. No point clinging on to hope - if it isn't Chelsea, it won't be us either.
We signed one last summer - looks like a bog brush, plays like one, cost more than Fabregas will.
David fecking Moyes. What a ruinous influence.
I watched Snjeider yesterday should we get him? He was great..
Is there an actual quote or is this another press report? I see this "he is not on LVG's list" everywhere and I really don’t think it tells the whole story.
He isnt a midfielder.. He isnt even a footballer. But i get your point.. How the hell could i forget..
I wouldn't be surprised if LvG has told United to keep our transfer dealings on a down-low, especially after what happened last summer. If it is the case, we could still be in for Cesc.
No but it's the same band of journos that always have the info. They're fed it by the club, and in situations like this you're never going to get a quote so hearing it from one of those lads is as close as you're going to get.
Well the Kroos denial seemed to be spot on as it was dead in the water since it was revealed. By the sounds of it he isn't after a deep lying playmaker, let alone one that would have to be shoehorned into the role.
Pretty sure that was just the club covering their tracks by leaking that after he rejected us.
Really not arsed about signing Cesc, the only reason I slightly want us to is to stop Chelsea getting even stronger. Whoever he signs for (assuming it's not Arsenal), it will be fecking hilarious to watch the gooners have a collective meltdown 
There's no way you can be 'pretty sure' of that, we're all just pissing into the wind.
There's no way you can be 'pretty sure' of that, we're all just pissing into the wind.
Mabe I should have phrased it better. Cesc hasn't played as a cm for 5 years. Arsenal however do have a no. 10 position. Wenger made the transition from 4 4 2 to 4 3 3 in 2009 where cesc played as the no. 10 in the same year RvP was also converted into a no. 9. Cesc had played there till he left Arsenal. During that period he had his best ever season in 09\10.
Tell me genius where would you play cesc? In 3 man midfield consisting of Carrick, and Mata? Lol good luck not being butt raped in midfield week in week out because 2 in that 3 do not have a defensive bone in their bodies. Playing cesc as a cm with another 10 is moronic even if you have Vidal there. You're expecting one midfielder to take on the entire defensive burden.
Now let's assess cescs main strengths and weaknesses.
Main Strengths
Final ball
Goal scoring
Main Weaknesses
Lack of positional decipline
Poor defensively
Physically weak
Impatience ( not a weakness in the no.10 role)
Cesc is an assist machine with an eye for a goal. His potential to perform at his best and benefit the team at its most is if he is played in his best position and that's behind the forward. If you want cesc in your team you have to relief him of his defensive duties because he refuses to remain deciplined in his position and physically he just isn't up to it. He's actually more slower than he was at Arsenal. Tell any barca fan how badly he has declined physically.
All in all we don't need Fabregas when we have Mata who plays in the same position and provides the exact same benefits as cesc. We paid 35 million for mata so why pay more for another 10?
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I think it's just as likely that we dropped our interest in him at which point he realised he wasn't going anywhere (or at least could no longer use our interest to negotiate, something that wasn't working anyway) and built some bridges with Bayern fans by declaring that he wasn't going anywhere. Journalists at that point still thought he was a target who had now rejected us and asked Woodward who then confirmed we had already dropped out interest in him.
Due to Kroos coming out publically himself, something Woodward was never going to do, it looks like Kroos rejected us rather than the other way round.
I still don't buy this "because the club say it, it's true". There is no reason to think that because the club says we aren't interested that we actually aren't, just that we aren't going to get dragged into a long running saga on the back pages about it.
Yeah. Soccernet, while reporting about the Pique-Del Bosque conversation about Fabregas, mention that Pique is known as a prankster.
I think that's largely optimistic. Most signs point to him having no intentions of leaving, it was always in his best interests to stay another year.
Not a single news media in Spain, at least not the big ones, is taking it as a joke. Not sure where he gets this impression.
Like I said though, even if he was just using us for a negotiation tactic, it would make sense that once we drop our interest in him he has no option but to build the bridges that had been slowly burning.
The timeline makes sense, he was Moyes main target that we had been working on for months. It goes a bit quieter after Moyes has been sacked, then LVG is confirmed and transfers had been discussed between Woodward and LVG and Kroos comes out and declares he is staying.
Good post.
I'm fed up of everyone calling him a number 10 also, he is a goal scoring, assisting midfielder that would be comfortable in a 3 man midfield with two more defensively minded midfielders although he never shirks a challenge. In our current state of midfield which is pretty crap he could easily play just in front of Carrick and Fletcher. Yes that would be one slow ass midfield but if we got Schweinsteiger and Carvalho for instance there is enough pace there or be it not blistering. Personally I would then like to see Mata and Januzaj play behind RvP as opposed to 'we can never drop' Rooney.
Also I really hope we do not continue to base our play on quick useless wingers under LVG.
Anyway all speculative nonsense no doubt but if we have turned him down it must be because we are close to signing someone very good in midfield because Van Gaal is surely not blind to the fact that Cleverley at his best is average, Fletcher bless him, is past it and was never actually that good.
Anderson is way too inconsistent and Fellaini was god awful last season. Carrick is our best but at 33 and the fact he hardly ever scores or assists really just points out how bad our midfield actually is.
For me without two midfield additions that are clearly better than the players we already have, we will not be winning anything next season.
What Rooney or Giggs did was morally reprehensible. Still it was their personal life and they are answerable to their wife and brother respectively. No one else.
What Jose did or does, by poking other managers eyes or calling another respected manager a 'specialist in failure' isn't expected behavior from the manager of the biggest club in world football. He repeatedly crosses the line and thinks of himself as some kind of a hero.
Comparing the acts of Rooney/Giggs to Jose to make a case for him is asinine at the best. It's apples and oranges.
He will have some excuse ready for this nowAnd then what, sell Mata? Schweinsteiger, Carvalho and Fabregas would cost upwards of 100m altogether. There'd be no place for Mata in that side, nor Kagawa or even Rooney if RVP starts. I really struggle with this baseless theory that Van Gaal will force us into playing a midfield three when we are full to the brim with top number 10s. It's absolutely barmy to suggest we should sign Fabregas just because he's good, when playing him would force out some of our best players from the side. He isn't remotely what we need. By the looks of things Van Gaal is after CMs comfortable in a deep midfield role that can contribute defensively and be equally comfortable in a 2 man midfield behind a number 10. Fabregas isn't that player.
Exactly what I think. As if that was the only time they could have spoken, I'm convinced it was a wum everyone has fallen for.
I'm glad we steered clear tbh. If he does move to us it'll be a reluctant move since no one else would want him, and also he's Fabregas. Those two reasons alone make it hard to warm to him.
Yes, you can also argue we're not in a position to turn down great midfielders who would undeniably improve us, but I'm going to trust the manager on this one. The knives only ought to be sharpened if its September 1st and we've barely signed anyone.
Yes, you can also argue we're not in a position to turn down great midfielders who would undeniably improve us, but I'm going to trust the manager on this one. The knives only ought to be sharpened if its September 1st and we've barely signed anyone.
Courtois
Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Azpilicueta
Matic - Fabregas
Willian - Oscar - Hazard
Costa
Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Azpilicueta
Matic - Fabregas
Willian - Oscar - Hazard
Costa
Not too shabby.
That's a tasty starting 11. Would be even better if they manage to sign Luis. Him on the left with Azpilicueta at RB would make a really stable defence. Probably one of the Top 5 strongest XIs in Europe.
He's coming 'ome, he's coming 'ome. Cesc is coming home...
Why would we sell Mata? Mata is a number 10 so is Kagawa, Rooney thinks he is a number 10. Fabregas is not.
Also I was using two midfield examples not people who we must buy.
There wasn't a place for Kagawa in our current side last season and I touched on dropping Rooney which is my opinion.
So nothing is barmy and no one is suggesting that LVG will 100% play a 3 man midfield. He might, he might not.
If he is going to stick with wingers and a two man midfield we will need to buy at least one of them as like our midfield our current wingers are pretty poor.
I was elaborating on the other post where everyone seems to think Cesc is a number 10, he is not like Mata, Mata is very similar to David Silva not Fabregas and anyone who watches La Liga regularly can see this.
Yes Fabregas is comfortable scoring and playing intricate through balls or long range passes. Scholes was like this and he couldn't tackle for shit and had very little pace, you would not say Scholes needs to play behind the CF. (Also I'm not suggesting he is as good as Scholsey either)
So who is the player our midfield needs? - I think it needs two personally.
So Chelsea seem very close to Costa and Fabregas while we are.....what exactly are we doing at the moment?
What a silly question! We are obviously preparing bids!!!!!
Working on our own targets?
It isn't a race, first person to make a signing doesn't win the transfer market
Offering Bayern £3.50 and a half eaten box of Jaffa Cakes for Kroos.
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