Rival Watch™ 2012/2013

I thought it was very telling that when the rest of us are applauding Olivier Giroud's spectacular effort, Wenger is ranting and flapping his arms. Kinda flies in the face of his positive post match comments....

 

I think Wenger is Pullis' bitch, you can see that the Frenchman hates playing Stoke, and his fear is clear for all to see.

 

All he had to do was roll the ball square and Ramsey had a 1v1 wit the keeper. Decent effort and if he was upfront on his own then fair enough but there were better options to pass the ball.

 

Difference was we were 2-0 up and it was the final 10 minutes. This game was 0-0 with 5 minutes to go.

 

And a massive player for one of the Manc sides next season.

 

Tottenham have had a £11.8m bid rejected for Willian by Shakhtar Donetsk. Maybe we should get our own back and try and get him

 

You're willing to pay £20mil+ for Willian?

 

Why not?

 

He'd certainly do a job for us

 

You guys made a bid for him last summer if I remember correctly.

 

He probably could. Can you afford him though?

 

He's not worth the reported fee.

 

BR has come out and said he looks to bring in a few more before the window closes, it may depend on whether we can get rid of a few players though, but if it meant getting rid of Adam then yes please!

 

Fair enough, I know nothing about him.

 

He could become good, but it's a huge risk.

Much like Oscar at Chelsea.

 

So what is the deal with Spurs and Madrid? Listening to BBC world service this morning sounds like they've become a feeder club for Real Madrid.

Spurs agreeing to let RM have first refusal and RM will send their youngsters on loan to Spurs.

I'm sure Spurs will get some good players that way... but a bit humiliating for a club in the top half of the premier league to become a feeder club for a foreign team... even if it is RM.

 

Thought I would bump this thread for tonight's League Cup action.

23 second round ties with 12 of those involving Premier League sides. Looking at the games tonight, some interesting ties in prospect with some potential shocks in store.

I like the look of Crawley vs Bolton (Possible upset there) Nottingham Forest vs Wigan (Another possible upset depending on the side Wigan put out) Sheffield Wednesday vs Fulham (Should have some good football in that game) & Stevenage vs Southampton. (Stevenage have form for knocking out Premier League sides in cup competitions so a potentially difficult game for Nigel Adkins & Southampton).

Anyone else going to be following tonight's League Cup action?

 

And we've got shocks brewing in tonight's League Cup action!

Sheffield Wednesday are currently winning 1-0 at home to Fulham. Gary Madine with the penalty there and that leaves Fulham with some work to do. But the big shock at the moment is at the King Power Stadium...

Leicester City, of the Championship, are losing 4-1 at home to League Two side Burton Albion. Looks like quite a strong side from Leicester so a massive surprise there.

And MK Dons are beating Blackburn 2-0. So much pressure on Steve Kean at the moment.

Nearly forgot Stoke vs Swindon as well! Swindon winning 2-1 at the moment.

 

Couple more scorelines of note.

Preston North End are 4-1 up at home to Crystal Palace. Bit of a surprise there.

Crawley have got back into the game at home to Bolton. Billy Clarke with the goal and it's 1-1 at the Broadfield stadium.

 

Great goal from Mcmanamanamanamanamanamanamanamanaman for Wigan. Young player and think I remember him playing against our youth/reserves last year and playing really well as well.

Maybe one to watch there.