teignman

3 years. 3 agonizing, bitterly disappointing years.

Fixed.

Of course they don't, they love the cock.

My thoughts: Ugly game where we lacked a coherent attack for the most part. Villa clogged the middle, especially around their 18, yet our attacking band were seemingly stacked on top of each other in this area far too much. Spacing fellas, spacing. Terry and Cahill look appreciably better than last season, though JT seemed culpable for Villa's goal. I think much of the praise for Rom's performance I've seen on here is rooted in the fact that he looked much better today than Ba, which wasn't very difficult see as Demba spent large chunks of his time on the pitch offside. Buy a damn good striker. Ya basta! Rom isn't ready yet, Nando is done, and Ba might be. Rami was my MOTM though. I don't want to put the malocchio on this facet of his game, but his passing appears to be vastly improved. He may have finally done away with won of his biggest weaknesses. Additionally, he constantly harried the opponent, won back possession, and broke up attacks. His work rate, as per usual, was exceptional. He's the type of player we need for these type of matches where we are trying grind out a result.

The games will be on NBC and some of its subsidiaries, mainly NBC Sports. We won't be able to get every game, but most of them. Here's a rough schedule: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/29/premier-league-tv-schedule-for-nbc-sports-group-released/related/

Good heavens man, how do ever expect us to challenge for a title if you can't get these things right!?

Agree to an extent. I do take some comfort in the fact that this was a preseason match against one of the top sides in the world, but this "exhibition" brought up some painful reminders of our frailties last season, primarily in midfield and defense.

I pretty much agree with what you're saying, but I think we are both underestimating Bale's importance to Spuds in his role as a match winner. Last season, he saved their bacon with his performances countless times. Additionally, I think they'll struggle to lure true top talent with their wage structure and reputation. However, I would love to see other teams put the screws to Levy and Co. in transfer negotiations because they know they are flush with cash. Bottom line though, Bale ain't worth the quoted price and the shit from the lane are probably better off selling him for this ridiculous price.

He's ill. I think Jose said he'll be back for the next match.

Generally, when one refers to running the channels, they are speaking of the vertical area between the fullback and center half. Lukaku was coming wide rather often and working in these areas.

You're right. My comment was based in the vain hopes that the club would not hold fast to their absurd "Rooney or bust" policy and actually attempt upgrade other areas of the squad that are in need.

I wouldn't have had any issues with keeping Ross as 3rd choice keeper.

I agree to an extent, but my main gripe is that he will take up a valuable international slot.

He called Lucas Moura a werewolf the other day during a PSG friendly. True story.

Damn it. That part of the video with the banner and YNWA really got the waterworks going. Powerful stuff. Walk of life, fucking hell.

Because he did it for much of last season.

I think people underrate Rami due to the fact his greatest qualities are not flashy. He has boundless energy, works hard, and loves to get stuck in.

Wait, I thought you were talking about a TV show, not a match at the Emirates.

I never thought I would be so happy about us signing a backup keeper. I wish all of our transfer business was like this. We have a need, then suddenly one day, boom! The player we've signed to fill said need is at Cobham, and it's a done deal. No quibbling, speculation or other bullshit.

First, Cavani is not currently making £140k/week. As for the numbers I mentioned, they are from various news sources to whom I would not give much credence, a point about which I was fairly clear. They are, however, the only thing remotely resembling figures that we have to go on for the purposes of this exercise in conjecture.

Not sure where you learnt to read but.... My math is correct. I rounded to 2.4m. To be precise, the annual difference using these calculations would be £2.48m. I appreciate your snarky pedantry though, however incorrect it may be.

First let's look at the financial side of things: Rooney is on 200k a week would probably expect at least the same if he came here. Over the life of a 5 year contract that would come out to £52m. Add in his transfer fee of £25m, and he would have a total cost of £77m. If various "news" sources are to be believed, and that's a big "if", Cavani would be paid 140k a week if we signed him. Over the span of 5 years he would be paid £36.4m in wages. Add in his £53m price from Napoli and he would come out to a total expenditure of £89.4m. The annual cost to the club for Cavani over Rooney would come to £2.4m. I use the annual cost because we would no doubt amortize the cost of the players for FFP purposes. So Rooney is not really the budget alternative that he may appear to be even with his significantly lower purported transfer fee. Fit and Present/Future Value Cavani can play as a wide forward, but is undoubtedly at his best as a line-leading CF. He would be an excellent fit in either of Jose's favored formations of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 . Rooney, however, is best suited being paired with another striker in a 4-4-2 or as a SS in a 4-4-1-1. Unless JM wants to start channeling his inner Sir Alex, Rooney is a poor fit for the formations we will most likely use and our current personnel. Though only a year and a half older than Cavani, Rooney has made nearly 200 more senior appearances for his club. This is result of Rooney starting his professional life at the highest level a young age. Many footballing prodigies break down at an earlier age due to this. Rooney is certainly no exception. He has developed chronic injury/fitness problems over the past several seasons, and his skill set also does not tend to age well. The Man Utd star is already showing marked signs of decline. He is rather reliant on pace, whereas Cavani has a powerful side to his game. He has also been healthier than Rooney in recent seasons and played far less matches in his career. The Uruguayan is also firmly in his prime with no signs of slowing down. So even after all this stumping for Edinson, I'll confess that I'd be fine with not getting either of them. I'm not in the "Lukaku is the future, the future is NOW!" camp, though I think Rom will come good. I just don't think we should thrust so much responsibility on his shoulders this season. I do think we need to upgrade our striking corps, but not for Cavani's cost and under pretty much no circumstances do I want Rooney, but for the sake of our delightful Devonian Tomo's exercise, I would absolutely go for Cavani for the aforementioned reasons.

Even if he regains some semblance of form in Spain, I still don't see him really getting much time for us. Hopefully, he does well for Sevilla so we can eventually get a good transfer fee for him.

This is the type of deal we should shy away from. We should buy players that have a chance of exceeding the value of their transfer fee. Cavani has little or no chance of doing this. He's a fantastic player, but he's quite overpriced. I'd rather get a striker that significantly improves our first 11 and is better value for money.

When I was younger, the school used to call my parents a lot, but for entirely different reasons.....