Central midfield of Mata and Fer anyone? Thought Mata had a knock rather than was out of favour. Personally I reckon he's one of the most complete central midfielders in the league who would walk into pretty much any other team.
When Mourinho was first appointed, but before he had taken up the job, there were press reports that he didn't rate Mata. It was then reported that they had held "clear the air" talks, and the matter (sorry!) was resolved. However, on the principle that there is no smoke without fire, you might conclude that if anyone leaves Chelsea this window, it is likely to be Mata.
I think this stems from United's cheeky leak that Chelsea offered either Mata or Luiz plus cash for Rooney, which was denied by chelsea. It was clearly an attempt to unsettle the chelsea side a little.
wouldn't mind any of their 'rejects' to be honest, victor moses will probably move you'd have thought
So, having been done over by Man Utd over Rooney, Chelski have decided to vent their spleen on Spurs and show them who is boss! No wonder Wenger stays out of the nursery.
No worries Fenland. Funny how nobody has said how abyssmal Spurs's (and Swansea's) Europa League opponents were last night, only how bad Fenerbahce were when Arsenal played them in the CL qualifier! From what I saw, Fenerbahce would have trounced Tblisi and Ploesti combined if they'd played them simultaneously!
Tbh I haven't even really see anyone mention the Europa games last night which I think says a lot about what people think about spurs and swansea opponents. No one found both teams scoring 5 to be a taking point.
I suppose we will see the real test of the Spurs squad when they face Swansea, Robbie is right in that the side Spurs played was pants so we can't take much from those games. I do think we can speculate a top 4 finish though based on their signings.
If I were United I would propose a straight swap of Rooney for Mata. They're desperate for a midfielder of that quality and bizarrely Mata seems to be out of favour. I would much rather have Juan Mata in my squad than Wayne Rooney personally. @RobbieBB, I completely agree with what you say about the wingers setup this season, they will be used as inverted wingers and will probably try and create space for the fullbacks to bomb forward by tucking in quite a lot. When you look at Olsson's pace I think that it will be really effective down the left channel, and hopefully the right with Whittaker. Seen that Victor Moses is available for loan following comments from Mourinho's press conference. Could he be an option to boost up the wings. He would probably be first choice winger if we were to sign him but personally I don't think we need him. Thoughts?
you still venting your spleen at every chance about flippin' arsenal? how boring. i watched both europa league games last night and yes, both opponents were poor but it was qualifying for the europa league, not the champions league, and if you think fenerbahce were any better on the night then you are deluded.
@YellowLittle Is Chris Hughton Roberto Martinez with defensive nous? (Maybe need a new thread for the answers to that! )
Me venting my spleen? Pardon me; I'm on the receiving end of most of the spleen being vented on this issue!
you speak more about arsenal on here than you do us! i've never known anyone so protective of a club, especially when that club isn't their first here's another classic wenger: Arsenal have become a laughing stock in Valencia after they bid €4m for Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita - the Spanish club 'didn't even consider it an offer' (Marca) what is he doing?!
@Superman First sentence untrue. Re. the second, I just get fed up with the mindless, let's-not-miss-another-opportunity-to-do-some-Arsenal-bashing. People moan on about the Abramoviches and the Sheikh this-and-thats, and the rich Americans saddling clubs with debts, and when a club actually refuses to go down that route they are pilloried for being uncompetitive, not splashing money on inflated transfer fees and trying to do exactly what our club does, namely pay their way and secure a viable future for themselves. I'm quite happy to leave it at that, if the rest of you do as well; otherwise I will go on fighting the Arsenal corner as best I can.
Back to Norwich, Becchio to Middlesbrough for £1.8m ? I guess losing our 4th choice striker isn't too great a loss, although I still feel we could do with the cover. I guess it opens a squad spot up for a better signing though, and potentially helps fund it.
