Im just being realistic. The gap between us and them has widened in the last few years and we're not going to suddenly overtake them just because we bought Cazorla. They might have had striker problems with Rooney injured but we solved that for them
Forgot Chelsea Surprising actually at the lack of quality outside of Arsenal, City and maybe Liverpool.
He also thinks Liverpool are a 'top team' Actually with Sahin on loan, they're midfield isn't terrible. They just need some strikers and a keeper who can stop the ball.
There's a difference between having a good team and getting good results. Our midfield and defence are good. The forwards very average. Not many in the league are better than Lucas as a DM. Allen will continue to make a name for himself this season. Sahin is quality.
Joe Allen is decent, does the simple things really well Steven Gerrard cant play the sort of football that Rodgers wants, he plays at 100 mph all the times sahin is decent Lucas is good but is injured all the time so he doesnt count. Henderson is average. Shelvey is average some decent players there but no real quality apart from Lucas who I rate
Didn't mention Gerrard for a reason. Henderson is something like 5th choice now. Shelvey is above average, very promising in fact. Sahin is much more than decent; educate yourself. Allen is a revelation, seriously. EDIT: Our main issue is Gerrard. We got rid of the sub-standard players (Adam and Spearing). Midfield is one of the areas we actually look ok in (unlike goalkeeper, wings, striker).
Shelvey is def an average premiership midfielder, he certainly isnt quality. Sahin was good at Dortmund but has hardly played in the last year, so who knows if he is the same player as he was, you dont. Allen just does the simple things well, doesnt have much else in his locker.
'Good'? He was world class at Dortmund, and when he actually got a game at Madrid he played well. It's just not how Madrid works to ease players back into the side. Modric's arrival is already seeing Ozil benched, for example. If he plays 16 games this season he'll still be world class. Shelvey is still young and has progressed very quickly over the past 6 months or so. Lots more to come, especially if he can start turning good play into goals. He can be a great squad player for years. He won't be world class but he's going to be a very decent player in his own right. Allen's passing, movement and tackling are exceptional. For someone his size his ability to win the ball back is phenomenal. If England had a few players like him they'd do much better internationally.
He was whilst in Germany and can be again. He arrived injured at Madrid, and the injury persisted much longer than expected. He was intermittently expected to displace one of Alonso or Ozil in the starting XI, then? Rubbish. Madrid have too many attacking options to play everyone, world class or not.
Allen, Sahin and Gerrard, looked decidedly average against our midfield of Diaby, Arteta and Cazorla... ;-) Can't wait till Wilshere comes back in. Then our midfield will be superb. Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla, with Diaby, Rosicky, Ramsay, Arshavin and the youngsters all as cover.
I agree. He was and can be again. Whether he will in fact meet that very high standard whilst at Liverpool for a year remains to be seen. That's the problem though. If he does superbly, you won't be able to keep him. If he doesn't, you wouldn't want to keep him.
Gerrard certainly did. Sahin was playing his first game and was very tidy, if not expansive. Allen played very well, as he has been all season really. Our problem was a lack of patience along the front three, and the inability to keep the ball high up the pitch. We lost the ball in the final third far too often. Granted we won't play many sides with as good a midfield as Arsenal this season, or one so used to playing possession football. Here's hoping. Apparently (quite a solid apparently) there is something in the deal with Madrid about the first preference of a £15M deal in the summer, to supplement the loan fee (around £5M).
But if he does as well as he did in Germany, they probably won't want to sell for that price, so they'll take him back and sell him later. That was why Arsene dropped out of signing him. They wouldn't agree to definitely sell him at the end. I think that it's going to be a long hard season for you guys as you rebuild. You're absolutely stuffed if Suarez get's injured.
I'm not sure why people seem to be considering Chelsea nailed on in contention for the PL, when they finished sixth last year. Manchester United have looked far from convincing as well. I just don't see the gulf between the top 6 that every one else seems to think is "obvious". For me the race for the title this year is wide open.
Guess it all depends on what we have and haven't agreed with Madrid. They won't lose much sleep if he doesn't come back, even if he does play well. Yeh it's going to be difficult. It'll pick up when the system begins to become entrenched. I'm pretty certain we'll have a striker lined up in January given the reaction after deadline day. It seems that the money was there for Walcott and Sturridge on loan, but Walcott didn't decide to leave Arsenal and Sturridge wanted a permanent move from Chelsea. Interesting. We really should have paid the extra for Dempsey, rip off or not. Don't even mention the possibility of Suarez getting injured! Already worried enough about him biting someone or inciting a riot or something! I think they're looking like finishing third or above with that team. Their defence is questionable but that attack will rip teams apart.
The term World class is a used for too many players, for me a truly world class player would start for any team in the world. For me the term should be reserved for the truley top players. Sahin isnt one of them
He was when he was at Dortmund - best player in the league. Also, you'd say Benzema, Higuian, RVP, Aguero etc are world class, wouldn't you? But they wouldn't start for Barca because they have Messi. Carzorla could be called world class - wouldn't get a game for City, Madrid or Barca. It's much too simple a definition, but I see your point.
