A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

The issue is, what Spurs need is a good lone striker to operate alone ahead of a 4-2-3-1, supported by Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela (assuming all are fit). Kane flourishes in that role, but it would be reckless to keep playing him as Tottenham do now without planning for injuries or fatigue or whatever. If Spurs do play a 4-4-2, they'll have to dump one defensive midfielder, and god knows Spurs need all the help they can get defensively. Keeping Soldado might be an answer - from all accounts, the man is starting to function somewhat better as a striker, and he's agreeable enough among his teammates, unlike Adebayor, who is both out of form and rather prickly. Spurs still urgently need a striker, though - anyone you know who's capable of playing as a lone striker, Best Of?

Saint-Étienne accepting offers from Arsenal for Loïc Perrin. If true and it happens, that's one thing off the checklist for the Gunners - Perrin is a first-team (if Ligue 1) player for ASSE, playing as CB as well as potential (very deep) CDM. I guess you still need that strong CDM, and Morgan Schneiderlin could work.

Van Gaal, if the Internet is to be believed, has gone slightly nuts when it comes to transfers. After saying before the transfer period that he wasn't interested in bringing any new players, he's showing interest in a number of them. Names circulating are the former Manchester United youngster Frenchman Paul Pogba from Juventus, Dortmund's Turkish-German Ilkay Gündogan (there are two other special characters in that name I have no idea how to produce even on an Android keyboard) who is waffling on his contract and who Dortmund do not want to see go on a free transfer when his contract expires in June, Roma's Kevin Strootman, Raphaël Varane (gods alive, it's as if he's playing FIFA's Career Mode) and, unbelievably, Schneiderlin.

edited 6th Jan '15 7:59:16 PM by arcanephoenix

Schneiderlin isn't moving this January - he's said as much. It'll take much more than a rumour to persuade me that the person spreading it knows better than the player.

Sissoko is apparently on the way to PSG, possibly in exchange for Cabaye. If that is so I could see Cabaye coming to England and ending up in Newcastle. If he's on the open market, though, he'll be poached by bigger clubs.

Pogba shouldn't be thinking of moving now that he's doing so well at Juventus but if he does move I'm almost certain it won't be to Manchester United. He's spoken before about how upset he was about not getting a chance there so I'd say it's more likely that he'll go to Manchester City or Liverpool.

There's been some talk about Gündogan being available this window, and if his contract is running out it's quite likely that he'll be sold now. Maybe Arsenal? I'd love that.

Strootman is getting some success now in Roma and it's only his second season there. It wouldn't make much sense for the club or player to do that transfer now.

Varane is a star at Real Madrid and he looks set to be their first-choice centre-back for the next 5 years at least. Pepe should be more likely to be sold.

Perrin is a relatively recent name in the Arsenal rumour circuit, but apparently he was one of Europe's most consistently reliable centre-backs last season so I'm sure he'd do well. Perhaps it's time for Mertesacker to get less playing time...

If you want to go the full fantasy route with the next Tottenham centre-forward, why not dream about bidding for Cavani. Sure, he'd cost at least £40 million (probably closer to 60) but he'd be a huge star and chances are he'd perform from the first game onwards. He's versatile, as well, but he does prefer to start alone up front.

More realistically, if I was managing Spurs (there's some realism right there) I'd contact Schalke about Huntelaar. Sure, he'd only play 2 or 3 seasons at the top level but that'd buy Spurs some time to develop other parts of the squad and train/buy a long-term centre-forward with no hurry to jump at the first name that becomes available.

I said earlier that Bony is doing OK at Swansea and should stay put but now it seems Manchester City have made an offer for him - apparently that rumour is strong enough for the BBC to have picked it up, and they don't tend to report just anything. (They're still quite often wrong, though.) If Swansea agree to sell to city maybe Spurs should try, too. He'll cost a lot - currently the rumours have it at £30 million, which looks too much - but Spurs could offer him more playing time than City, albeit with a lower wage. As Podolski proves, though, top players don't want to sit on the bench even if they're getting loads of money for it.

At the moment Spurs should be looking at older forwards with lots of experience and hopefully not too high wage demands. They'd be more likely to be available and they'd do what's asked of them. Ideally it should be someone who isn't the only established striker at their current club, as an only option is harder to buy. Going for an established, young striker like Lacazette would be unrealistic, as clubs don't tend to want to sell such players and especially not in January. Even if there was a deal the price would probably be inflated. Buy a 30-something and a very promising teen and plan for the next 2 or 3 years with the older player and the next decade with the youngster.

edited 6th Jan '15 8:36:23 PM by BestOf

I think Spurs are looking to Harry Kane for the future - he's 21, which is pretty young by any standard, and he is scoring pretty freely right now, to the point that he's become a sorta-talisman for the team. Of course, he needs a backup player to play to prevent injuries and fatigue, so Huntelaar sounds like a pretty decent option if Schalke are willing to be reasonable. Cavani? That'd be absolutely fantastic, and he'd get to play a lot in England (and hey, Gonzalo Higuaìn is at Napoli, so stranger things have happened).

Now that I think of it, Gündogan wouldn't be a good fit into Arsenal - he's not particularly strong, and he's at his strongest in a sort of Jack Wilshere role (IIRC) for which you have, well, Jack Wilshere. Honestly, I dunno why United are interested in him, either - the idea is that they need a easing out between Michael Carrick and the next United Academy product, and I dunno if I've seen Gündogan ever get into that role at the BVB.

I think that for all the bluster, Bony will stay at Swansea. City are having enough trouble playing Agüero, Dzeko and Jovetic - I doubt he'd be interested to add to that. Spurs... I dunno, but you're right about the kind of striker they need and Bony doesn't fit. Gunning for Europa League places aside, I don't think Swansea would mind too much if they ended upper-mid-table, and Bony is pretty important to them for that, so I don't think that he'll leave in January at least.

That's a thought - what about Dzeko or Jovetic? They'd get more playing time, certainly.

Actually, there seem to be a lot of top players sitting on the benches of their respective clubs (Michel Vorm is one, and I've heard a few rumours about him, though the Lloris rumours are far more troubling) and I think a lot of people are trying for them - anyone who needs a goalkeeper is rushing to Chelsea to ask for Cech, given the fact that Courtois has made that position his own and it's rather insulting to keep Petr Cech as a backup option - and certainly Spurs could offer more playing time in exchange for Champions League certainty.

Also, Mark Schwarzer has finally left Chelsea and is en route to Leicester City as a free transfer. He's 42, so I don't think he'll have more than a season anyway.

edited 6th Jan '15 10:11:50 PM by arcanephoenix

Steven Gerrard is off to L.A. Galaxy at the end of the season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30703964

He said he would have stayed had Liverpool offered him a contract during the summer.

Dzeko might actually be a good idea - he'll surely be sold in the next couple of seasons anyway, and he hasn't had the playing time he deserves so far and it's not likely that it'll increase any time soon, except if Aguero's injury worries continue and City doesn't buy a new striker. (Note that they've already loaned out Negredo to comply with FFP, and he'll probably return during the summer.) At Spurs he'd be first-choice for sure.

Jovetic is a relatively recent arrival at City and I doubt that they're willing to declare him a failure just yet. He's able to play in a variety of positions and roles and I don't think City have figured out what they want to do with him yet. He will probably be a rotation option there for at least a couple more seasons before either developing into a first-choice something (#10 or inside forward, if Aguero remains their main striker). Spurs have recently had similar players fail to stablish themselves in the first-team and I honestly don't see Jovetic as an imptovement over the likes of Lamela and Aaron Lennon. Maybe if they sold Chadli and/or Dembele - they'd cerainly have to shuffle their midfielder around to fit a roaming attacking midfielder into it. Of course Jovetic can also play as a centre-forward but I don't think that's ever been his strongest position and he'd have to improve his hold-up play to be able to carry that role at Spurs.

Steven Gerrard signed on a pre-contract by LA Galaxy, following countryman David Beckham.

I guess it's done, then. Manly Tears.

for fun, after the Messi thing

Other news:

• Victor Valdes set to join, of all clubs, Manchester United. What.
• Moyes' Real Sociedad interested in Joel Campbell and Adnan Januzaj (not sure if as loans or as permanent signings)
• Gündoğan almost 80% en route to Manchester United for £16 million, in order that he doesn't go for free in June.
• Shaqiri most likely en route to Liverpool. Personally, I think a move to Inter or even Milan would've been a better idea for him, and Liverpool seem to have signed him less because they need him, and more because they need a marquee signing after Stevie G is going to America.
• Apparently Gareth Bale to Manchester United is a thing now. I think it's probably rubbish, and United would be insane to spend the kind of price Real might want, but again, stranger things have happened.
• Moussa Sissoko to PSG seems to be a thing.
• A major rumour seems to be Isco to Arsenal for £64 million. It makes no sense, and just sounds wonky, given that Isco is not exactly the most defensive player in the world.

To continue from the hypothesis I suggested earlier - that Wenger is somehow secretly following my Football Manager career - perhaps he'll buy Isco because I did that, too. Granted, I never had Özil (my FM is from a couple years back) and I had just sold Cazorla. If that's the case, I hope Wenger noticed that before I bought Isco I already had Sven Bender and Ilkay Gündogan, and on top of that I had 4 centre-backs that I could rotage freely.

More seriously, Isco would not be what Arsenal need.

Valdes to Manchester United sounds a bit off because he'll surely expect to start ahead of De Gea. I did hear stuff about him having trained at their training facility but that sort of thing happens all the time with players without a contract.

Joel Campbell has been complaining about playing time and it's not clear whether he'll get it at Arsenal any time soon. When Özil returns he'll be in the squad, and Cazorla won't be dropped at his current form. Sure, Podolski is gone but there's just no room at the moment. Walcott, Welbeck, and Alexis can't all play at the same time as it is. A loan or even a permanent transfer might be good for him.

Has Januzaj been playing recently? If not he might want a loan move, too. His rapid rise to the first-team squad at United was one of the few poaitives of Moyes' time as manager there.

That Bale thing is BS.

Shaqiri would probably be a great long-term utility player at Liverpool. Not the next Gerrard but still a very good addition to the Liverpool squad. Again, though, it's not real until managers and the player are talking.

I actually don't know exactly what Nasri did at Arsenal that he has such a bad reputation among the fans.

Didn't live up to expectations and then called Arsenal fans "stupid" after he moved to City.

It's not just that. He's been snarking at Arsenal ever since he left, about how he didn't get paid enough (at least he thought so) and how Arsenal were forced to sell their best players and thus lose their ability to win trophies. The club was in decline and players that pushed hard for a transfer (such as Nasri and and Cole and Van Persie) were among the main causes of it. They were complaining about how the others pushed to be sold while asking to be sold themselves (and complaining to the media about their pay or lack of success following other departures). It seems they didn't realise how they were making things worse.

Nasri's exit was particularly annoying, as he had previously relied on Wenger to keep playing him through bad form before he'd return to the form that caused Wenger to buy him in the first place. Rather than rewarding that faith by staying to form part of the club's core, as was expected of him, he demanded to be sold to Manchester City because they could pay him higher wages. Thus Arsenal, having had such a large role in making him a Premier League star, were denied the reward of that effort and had to look for new youngsters to develop.

Another reasons why he's disliked is that he has a reputation as a terrible team-mate. He's selfish and prone to complaining, and he doesn't adjust to changes in squad role and playing style as well as most footballers. This was cited as the main reason he wasn't included in France's squad for the 2014 World Cup, so it's not just Arsenal fans who think he's problematic.

When Robin Van Persie left it was a similar situation. He had been at the top for more than one season, but basically just as he was finally reaching his peak he asked to be sold. For several seasons before that Wenger had been criticised for sticking with Van Persie when he wasn't playing well or was injured for long spells.

Van Persie had only one year left in his contract and he ruled out signing a new one (even though he was offered the highest wages in the club, though that probably still would've been barely over the £100 000-a-week limit imposed on player wages by the stadium debt). Thus Wenger had to either sell him to at least get something or keep him for the final year and release him on a free; and there's no guarantee he would've made any effort in Arsenal's games in his final year if Wenger had kept him, as he was clearly pushing for a move. He said he left because the club was selling stars and not winning trophies but it was rumoured his wage was doubled by Manchester United and this was widely perceived as the real reason he left. That's why Arsenal fans sometimes call him "Robin van Purse Strings" - not particularly creative, if you ask me.

Recently when players have been sold there hasn't been so much bad blood between the fans and the departing player. Sagna had been loyal to the club even though he only won one trophy during so many years at Arsenal, and when he left he didn't complain. Most Arsenal fans understand why he wanted to try another club with a higher chance of success. He probably did get a raise from Manchester City and unfortunately he hasn't had as much playing time as he deserves but it's generally accepted that he didn't go after money.

Nobody at Arsenal has a grudge against Podolski for leaving, either; he wasn't getting the playing time he should've had and tactically he wasn't a great match at Arsenal. He would still go out of his way to praise the club and the fans and there was no indication that he resented the manager for the way the club had changed, even though it meant that he had become redundant.

Vermaelen also had a legitimate reason to want to leave, as Wenger didn't rotate the back-4 enough to allow him to play even though he was Arsenal's captain. Everybody accepts that top players don't want to sit on the bench for extended periods so after about one and a half seasons as third-choice centre-back in a squad with little to no rotation anyone at his level would deserve to be sold to a club that would play him. (Unfortunately he hasn't had that at Barcelona so far, mostly because of injuries. I hope he'll have better luck next season.)

I'm a bit annoyed at Gervinho for lashing out at Wenger and Arsenal after he went to Roma. I think Wenger gave him loads of chances to prove himself and he simply failed to perform, and thus it was entirely reasonable to sell him. I'm not particularly surprised that he's doing well at Roma - anyone could see that he had the potential. He's probably right that he needed someone to keep relying on him even when he didn't perform but I don't think it's true that Wenger didn't do that. There has to be a point where you start missing games because others are performing better than you, though.

Wenger has a deserved reputation for sticking with players even when everybody's shouting at him to bench or sell underperforming players (notable examples include Van Persie, Ramsey, Gervinho, Nasri, and more recently Wilshere). Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. With Gervinho I don't think you can honestly claim that he didn't give him a chance. He did and it didn't work and that's it.

Van Persie is on the wrong side of thirty, though, so perhaps, to be fair to him, perhaps he was afraid that he wouldn't win a Premier League title, and Arsenal weren't likely to do so meant that he'd leave his prime without at least one big trophy. I'm not defending him, but it is a reason for him doing so. He's Dutch, too, so, to make a bad joke, it isn't likely that he'd win a major trophy at the national level either .

Gervinho has been quite phenomenal at Roma, though, so perhaps he just didn't fit into Wenger's scheme of things. It is rather difficult to not jest that Arsenal are the Premier League youth academy, but it is rather touching that Wenger still gives so much trust to his youngsters like Coquelin and Bellerin and people like Maitland-Niles.

I was actually thinking for about ten minutes if Gervinho would be a fit at Spurs, though this would require selling or not using Chadli, one of Spurs' four or five key players.

edited 8th Jan '15 7:03:35 AM by arcanephoenix

Gervinho in a Spurs kit would get so much hate from Arsenal fans... But he'd enjoy that, much like Adebayor. The same Arsenal fans would probably shame themselves by ridiculing Gervinho if he gets another spell of poor form (or, worse, an injury). Football fans can be total dicks and Arsenal fans are no exception.

I do get the point that Van Persie might've been afraid that he wouldn't win the league at Arsenal but he if anyone should've known that the main reason Arsenal weren't winning was that top players had to be sold every season and his sale was right at the end of that trend.

There were already stories about how Wenger was going to be able to start spending and all he had to do was retain his key players and build on that. It's almost certain that Giroud, Cazorla, and Podolski would've been signed even if Van Persie had decided to stay, so there's a fairly good chance that he could've won the league with Arsenal if he had been a bit more patient.

I think it's a bit much for a key player who has just left to criticise the club for letting key players leave. They're causing a downward spiral that keeps sucking out new people until circumstances change somehow, which actually seems to have happened at Arsenal basically right after Van Persie left. If he signed for a few more years he would probably be playing with Özil and Alexis now - but perhaps not with Welbeck (as Arsenal wouldn't have needed an additional striker).

While I think Gervinho would be an excellent buy for Spurs given their need for additional strikers in this transfer window, I think he's pretty happy at Roma. Not only does he seem to fit in better with the general tempo and tactics in the Serie A, I'll reiterate Arcane's statement that buying Gervinho might be expensive enough for us to give away another important player thanks to Financial Fairplay. I do like to see more results like our 5-3 triumph over Chelsea (soooo much better than our FA Cup game against Burnley), but any transfer that might require us selling Eriksen, Chadli, Lloris, or Kane is not worth it given our squad's current state.

Also, Yaya Sanogo's confirmed by Sky Sports to join Crystal Palace on loan until the end of the season. Thoughts on that move?

By the way, TV Tropes' new layout is really sweet.

edited 9th Jan '15 1:24:07 AM by sanfranman91

Sanogo wasn't getting enough playing time and when he did play he wasn't producing results - well, except in one or two games where he shined.

Here's the thing with Sanogo: Wenger signed him on a free after the French under-20 team won the under-20 World Cup. Sanogo had probably decided not to sign an extension to his contract with Auxerre precisely because he thought if he'd do well with the national team he'd get better offers from elsewhere. (That's not rocket science.)

At the youth level, and in Ligue 1 at Auxerre, he had been one of the best players on the pitch in every game. The transition from that to the Premier League and the Champions League is huge, though. If he was playing every week he probably would've made it much sooner but instead he was mostly used as a late substitute or as a starter when there were simply no other options. I think he'll become a very good Premier League striker at some point but he needs to play regularly for that to happen, and Arsenal at the moment can't afford to give him that. If there were fewer injuries and if Arsenal were doing OK in the league they could afford to experiment, but currently they're struggling to stay afloat and that limits Wenger's options.

At Crystal Palace he'll probably start most games and he'll be playing in the Premier League so all the experience he gets will be relevant for his career at Arsenal. Crystal Palace play a different style from Arsenal but I don't think that should be much of a problem. I think he'll probably do well at Palace. Working with Pardew will be a huge bonus for Sanogo, as Pardew has a good record when it comes to introducing young players to the Premier League. (Probably not as good as Wenger but you know.)

Valdez has been confirmed at Manchester United. I'm guessing van Gaal has resigned himself to the fact that Real Madrid is probably going to pay United a lot of money for David de Gea, for a transfer in June, once Casillas starts dropping (probably this season) and he has to leave, so a backup will be necessary.

Shaqiri has left Bayern Munich... for Internazionale. Good for him, I think - Inter are a good club, decent players and can challenge for CL places and even the title.

Also, nice new shiny interface. No real major changes when viewed in Chrome for Android, but that isn't too bad. I couldn't log in this morning though, what happened?

edited 9th Jan '15 6:51:39 AM by arcanephoenix

The transition is causing all sorts of problems for everyone, including to the staff. We're made probably more changes that you'll never (need to) know than what you'd guess from the visuals, and that sort of transition tends to come with a host of problems. The admins have a long list of fixes that they're working through and of course they'll prioritise stuff that makes logging in or out harder. We know that there are people who can't log in at all at the moment, and we acknowledge that that's a huge problem. We're working on it. Apologies for the inconvenience.

No worries. I've had to see the kind of work required to overhaul and restructure and (somewhat) recode a smaller website - I can only imagine the amounts of effort you guys have to put in for a site as large as TV Tropes.

Is there a place where I can report the bugs? I don't want to sound like a complainant, especially when you guys do such a good job with overhauling, but some issues are still there (auto-logout, for example) and I think you guys should know.

Of course we want your feedback. This thread was established to collect bug reports from the community.

Hearts sign Genero Zeefuik on loan from FC Groningen. A new striker is what we need to keep our pep during this crucial phase of the title campaign.

The lad's a former U21 international and a graduate of the Ajax academy. Could be good.

Ajax academy = at the very least, pretty decent.

Another Saturday afternoon of football and Aberdeen are leading 2-0 against St Mirren - the bottom of the table looms for the Buddies since a two goal defeat puts them below Ross County on goal difference. Aberdeen will extend their unbeaten run and clean sheet run each to 8 games in the Premier League as things stand - that's as good as any current top flight league on the face of the earth, according to the BBC.

Hearts 2-0 up against Dunbarton at half time. Hibs leading Falkirk 3-1 and Rangers leading Alloa by a goal.

Doesn't look like there'll be much churn at the top this week then.

You're now 5-0 up. Every goal helps with the goal difference, even though the leage is virtually yours by now anyway.

Two goals from Zeefuik in his first appearance with the club. Well done that man. Dumbarton score, but we ain't mad, 'cause that'll give us our favourite scoreline.

If you can beat Rangers next week, you're assured of going up, I think. Shame the Queens match was called off, I'd love it if my local side denied Rangers promotion on the first go.

Sounds like it was an amazing match between Hibs and Falkirk, end to end action that finished 3-3. BBC commentator saying everyone in the ground is gutted the match is over and its days like that that explain why he loves his job.

The Dons did indeed hold on 2-0 - I'm not dreaming of the title yet as all good things come to an end and Celtic have two games to make up that they won't lose, but still, we're moving ever-closer to a top 6 position, and then we can look at guaranteeing European football.

edited 10th Jan '15 8:58:47 AM by CaissasDeathAngel