Have you actually seen them play? I ask because when you type their names into Google the next word 2 come up with is "FM 12" and 1 has "FIFA 12". Plus it says that Giroud is a striker on Wiki.
Newcastle are looking very good, Full stop. Fantastic players right the way through the team. Mr wonderful, you seem to know quite a bit about foreign players. After your comment about Matt Jarvis made in jest, I genuinely thought you'd made up Marvin Martin as a piss take! (I actually rate Matt Jarvis, just needs a better club) could you please elaborate a bit more? you can't come on this board and tell us in a heartbeat that he's the replacement for Modders, without going into a bit more detail!!! B&W, you say that all players are replaceable, but seriously.. who can replace bale? he's got to be in the top 3 left sided players in the world right now. - therefore, even if he's at number 3... we aint getting numbers 1 and 2... or 3,4, or 5 for that matter with out budgets!
said this to a mate the other day. - think we need to see another season out of him though. by that point he could be worth a hell of a lot. massive catch 22.
Marvin Martin came on for 10 minutes when I was watching Cabaye with France and he scored 2 goals and his France team mates seemed to love him, The second time I watched Martin was with France and he would run through the middle and the France attack just darted into the box in full confidence Martin was going to pick out an incredible pass. I like the player. I won't lie and say I watch all foreign football though.
Dembele does not have an eye for goal, his shooting is on par wiith Modric, maybe worse , and they don't let him anywhere free-kicks. So apart from gliding past players nicely, I see little else, no for me. as for the debate on Mod/Bale...interesting. Modric's never going to give you goals, and this is my opinion why, he completely loses his bodyshape. When he passes the ball its stylish with good balance, when he takes a shot I just don't know what happens, he just thrashes at it. As soon as he goes for power his shape goes to pot...watch him. This is one problem that has eluded the latest 2 DM formation brigade. For example if you've got Parker, Sandro, Modric, Bale, VdV and Ade, where's the goals coming from?, 3 players, sorry, thats not good enough. Every single equivalent player for our rivals is a 10 goal a season MFer, to rely on 3 front men will not work every week....as we've seen lately strangely enough. Now Bale, he needs to develop his wide game, and have it removed from his head by Harry that he's worth a free role, he's not. Right now Antonio Valencia is the better player, and Bale would do well to concentrate on trying to be like him. He fails to get his head up enough to look BOTH ways when he's running through the middle I've noticed, it works to his favour sometimes, but start having a look at how often he loses it running up a blind alley now. These are some of the little differences between us and those above us atm imo.
Cheers , if someone could get Mod to 'pass' it into the net, he may do better, he always tries to give it laces for some reason, might just be an automatic trigger in his head, dunno! On the other hand, I could name many more good players that couldn't score if they were out there all day. Many players who score around the 18yd box do so with a firm pass, Thierry Henry being the most notable expert at that. The reliance on 3 front men for goals is ridiculous to me, cannot understand Harry at all there. One of 3 is always going to be on a lean run, cutting your options to two, one goes off injured then what?, see the problem? When do you get 3 goalscorers all on a run?
Lampard is another example and the list goes on. And our problem with not scoring from set pieces adds to the lack of goals from outside of those three up front.
If Ade is one of the 3 ie. the 'hold up' man, he's then got 2 recognised goalscorers to link up with, lets say Bale's wide, VdV's marked, but Modric's on to tee up a shot, what do you do? I wouldn't pass to Modric straight away either, I'd look for another option first, but in that moment of no confidence the initiative can be lost. Has no-one noticed Modric is often found in space after someone else has missed throwing his arms in disbelief he's not been passed too, if he watched back all his efforts he'd see it was going for a goalkick anyway!
I think you'd miss Modric if he was gone. We at Liverpool for instance still have a huge Xabi Alonso shaped hole in our side. I think with Wolves going down you guys should snap up Hennessy (sp) - he's a quality keeper who deserves better. With Friedel's age and Gomes' Gomes-ness he'd be fighting for a starting place. He'd be cheaper than Al-Habsi too, knowing Wigan. Jarvis also could find himself in either of our squads, certainly at a premier league side. Hoillett at Blackburn could go to either of us too.
Modric is probably our best and most influential player AFD, he just rarely hits the target. He scored a fantastic goal for Croatia just before his great opener against your lot at the start of the season, but he's not continued down that road, unfortunately. [video=youtube;GAyr0_BfP0E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAyr0_BfP0E[/video] Where did this go?
The thing about having a fairly average squad means we don't have to worry about these sort of things. Phew.
People are obsessed with stats way too much. Xavi doesn't score many for Barcelona but he is still better than Fabregas and Iniesta. Modric is our best player, as someone said before he usually makes the pass before the assist which means stat wise he gets no credit for goals.
Cabaye might make quite a good replacement for Modric... Funnily enough, they were the other English club that wanted to sign the Croatian in the first place.
Replacing Modric and Bale is a nightmare I hope never comes to fruition. BUT the whole point of this article was to see what we'd do with the money and so, seeing as we've rejected a £40m bid for Luka, I'd say that Levy won't accept anything less than £45m and with Bale, his age and already immense reputation means I doubt Levy would settle for anything less than £45m/ £50m. So looking roughly at £90m (give or take) PLUS default transfer kitty. I'd go for (IF they were willing to join): Hazard - £35m (think I've read that's his release fee) - Amazing talent, completely different style of winger to Bale, would light up the Prem in my eyes Cheeky bid for Thiago Alcantara - £20m? - In my opinion, potentially the best CM/CAM in the making. Llorente - £25m/£30m - BEAST, wanted him at Spurs for the past 18 months. If Barca rejects the Thiago bid, then Cabaye would be a really good addition.
