Gomis had a signing on fee of 8 million so he wasn't free as such, but even with the 8 million has proven to be a superb purchase.
I forgot about journos being afraid that Moron would unfriend them on Facebook. Sometimes it feels like football journalists are the nerdy kids doing homework for the cool kids so they don't get bullied.
The other Flightless Birds, Pittsburgh's ice hockey team, womped somebody Sunday afternoon, then lost by four or five in a game with the usual 7:05 starting time on Monday. Asked to explain, the coach said, "It was night and day." I was just thinking how Gomis shows scouting is a by-guess-and-by-God field. It’s not that he’s scored so much, it’s that he looks like an excellent athlete with excellent technique. I didn’t know we were linked with Gomis, but I really had my hopes up that we’d buy Ayew when we were linked with him. He scored a brilliant header today, then created another goal with a perfect cross, all in five minutes. Shelvey, Ayew, Gylfi, Gomis look like as dangerous a quartet of attacking players as anyone besides Man City has. He’s moved on to be chief of PL officials. That’s the only way I can explain what happened today. A Swanse player (Ayew? I don’t remember) got a yellow for dissent. After failing to get an undeserved pen, Rooney slammed the floor and screamed bloody murder. He summoned Atkinson, gave him a good talking to, then screamed at him again a minute later. Why, exactly, is it that Rooney did not also get a card for dissent? 1. He’s the chief of PL officials. 2. He’s getting the benefit of a double standard. 3. ?
Right. But why stop there? Players should be graded, with Rooney at the top and the newest black dope dealer in town at the bottom, so everyone knows which way the decisions are going to go.
I really can't see what a Van Gaal is trying to do. There doesn't seem to be any coherent or consistent style. They don't score enough and concede too many. Starting to sound familiar!..
Looking back to the world cup, I adopted Ghana as my team.That great game against Germany, with Ayew scoring that header. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25285228 I can't say I ever considered him as being a future spurs player so fair play to anyone that noticed his overall quality as he wasn't a player I knew a great deal about, but Gomis is a player that has a real passion to perform, either for the fans or his signing on fee! He plays with no fear of failing, which is important in football, players that play with no fear, but I doubt we ever considered him (although I may be wrong) as the press tend to link free transfer players with any club in England that need a striker. He is the type of player Redknapp would have been keen on, but with our current strategy, I would expect us to look for the "new gomis", it always has to be players that can be the "new this" as we seem to think we can be clever and buy players that can develop to the same/higher level, but still mostly potential.
Unfortunately for Swansea, United, £ity, and Real will conspire, next season, to rip their team apart. Levy will try, but he'll put his bid(s) in right at the end of the wiindow, and with an opening gambit at the "you can **** right off" end of the price-range.
It's a symptom of having too many new players at once. All the Utd players are happy to receive the ball and are comfortable in possession. But they do so in static positions, they always need to look up, see where teammates are, wait for someone to move into space or make themselves available and then play a pass. The tempo is painfully slow and the passes are telegraphed. The players are unfamiliar with each other's strengths and weaknesses and are tentative about moving out of position and being selfish with the ball. Only Shaw seems to be playing with the freedom he did at Southampton, having the confidence to make advanced runs down the left. I hate to use the word, but it takes time for players to "gel". There have been signs against Bruges that when players play without fear of failure (because they know they are comfortably better than the opposition), the shackles come off and they play with more risk - which means making runs, taking on shots, trying one touch passes etc. There was a lot of expansive play v Bruges, but none against Swansea. The PL is a tough league. Play a risky forward pass against a team who attack with pace and you can give away a goal very easily. Until today, Utd had been picking up results by dominating possession and defending solidly when the opposition had the ball. So van Gaal was happy to keep playing in this no risk style. He also lacks a centre forward who can hold the ball up and occupy defenders. Rooney is best as a #10 or switching positions between #9 and #10 as he did with RvP. He is not suited to playing a lone striker's role where he constantly has to move left to right and vice versa along the front line. What he wants to do is either run between the centre backs and be picked out with a quick pass (as Carrick has often done) or drop deeper to receive the ball and play either a quick pass wide, allowing him to sprint forward awaiting a return pass, or through the middle as he used to do to find RvP who had run beyond him. Rooney is best when attacks are launched at a high tempo with quick passes which spread the opposition defence and enable him to find space in and around the box. At present, he's getting no space at all and no pace on the ball.
I'm sure Shaw ( no joke intended) will develop into a fine defender. However, the rest of your defence is far from convincing. It's true you have some new players, but it's a manager's job to organize them and tell them what their respective roles are - that doesn't seem to be happening. Scweinsteiger, I assume at Van Gaal's instigation, seems to hang around in midfield making very safe passes and barking orders at those around him. I agree with you about Rooney - a lone striker he ain't. Which beggars the question, why sell RVP? I can only assume it was personal between him and LVG? I have to confess that I've been far from impressed by Van Gaal so far. He seems to have spent one hell of a lot of money for very little advancement.
Just replace LVG with Moyes at this point - exactly the same points playing exactly the same way etc - wouldn't he be slaughtered by the fans and media for underperforming? Indeed I wonder what team wouldn't be top 4 contenders if they had spent £300 m?
Some faces fit, others don't. That's the way it is with most jobs. If your face fits, you'll be given more chance than someone whose face doesn't fit. It's unfair, sure, but that's life. The same could be said of Rodgers, at 'Pool. Would Hodgson have lasted this long, if he'd been Rodgers?
Alan Shearer says "everything" about the way Chelsea are playing is wrong, claiming they are "a million miles away" from where they were last season. (The Sun) Including the manager, eh, Alan!
Chelsea's players need to "give themselves a slap around the face" after their poor start to the season, says ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville. (Sky Sports) Ouch! Another one having a pop!
Meanwhile, De Bruyne spent Saturday evening in Louis van Gaal's favourite Manchester city centre restaurant. (Manchester Evening News) Talk about taking the piss! Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to seeing if De Bruyne can replicate his form in the Prem; because if he can, I really cannot see any side stopping £ity, this season.
“I’ve done my hamstring. I never did it as a player. I have now done it as a manager. I was going to kick the bottles forward but there were too many people so I thought I’d be polite and backheel them and snapped my hamstring." - Tim Sherwood Why does this never happen to Wenger?
'No panic signings' said Van Gaal yesterday evening. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34107092 The Dutch prankster... Again a huge amount of money on a player who really won't help them where they need it. Martial is a fantastic talent but far too similar in style to Depay. They need a world class CB and an out and out striker with guile and craft to get the best out of Rooney. And he is neither of those.
So based on the rest of Van Galling's transfer activity this summer, we'll be signing Martial for about £6.5m a year from now...
Well for £37m I wouldn't have gone anywhere near him. He's had one exceptionally good season for a very strong team in a pretty weak league. The definition of a panic deal, but more worrying for Utd is that LVG continues to spend millions on players that won't really strengthen the team. I hope this means curtains for Little Pea and that we get ourselves all over that deal.
