So start of the seasons looks like........

This:

Harper

Raylor Taylor Col Simpson

Jonas Tiote Gosling Cabaye Marveux

Ba

Replacement defenders- Perch, Kadar, Williamson, Tavernier, Dummett, Enrique will be away within a week
Replacement midfield- HBA starting when fit, Ferguson when fit, Guthrie when fit, Smith, Barton (unless he is transferred, cant see him starting because of politics), Abeid, Vuckic
Replacement strikers- Ameobi, Loven, Best, Ranger, Xisco, Sameobi

Stronger team than start of last season..... not in my eyes.

 

Oh and once more Ashley makes a profit in the transfer window, i know we dont see agent fees etc for the free transfers but if Enrique goes for £10m, (we wont see a jot of that), Add Routledge and Nolan into the mix and Cabaye being the only player we have paid for.... its £11m in Ashleys pocket..... do you think Cabaye, Abeid, Marveux and Ba cost more than £11m in fees????

Wheres the £35m? If it turns out that he has just cleared that sum from the club debt fine..... i suspect not. How much is underground heating for a training ground ffs?

 

If you say so mate. I still reckon Barton isn't going anywhere.

 

Not a chance, I'm not holding my breath on any new signings either.

 

i would say the team that starts tomorrow is most likely to be the team that starts at arsenal, other than injuries.

Jose will be here till the last week of the window, teams will try to force our hand and get a cheaper price by waiting, thinking we will be desperate to sell

 

I'd be tempted to play two strikers until Ben Arfas fit, but from what I've seen in pre season I wouldn't be overly against seeing Gosling or Abeid get some game time. Still reckon Barton will play against Arsenal though, he loves winding them up too much to miss it...

 

This is how i think we will line up;

--------Krul----------

Simo-Colo-Saylor-Jose

Marv-Cab-Tiote-Jonas

-------BA-Shola------

I personally would drop shola for Vuckic and drop him into the hole.

 

BORING!!!!! We know it hasn't been the best transfer window for us but Ashley cannot just take money out of the club and put it in his pocket without paying tax etc on it so it has to be published in the accounts and the accounts show no money has gone to Ashley.
And I suspect undersoil heating for the training ground is very expensive, it's not like you can get a couple of chavs to bury some radiators, job done, it's specialist equipment and trained guys to do the job.

 

If anything Arsenal could be weaker and we could be stronger.

 

Screwed.com and shafted.com

 

How do their prices compare to screwfixdirect?

 

doom.co.uk gloom.com not to be confused with rainman.org

 

www.penisland.net

 

If you compare it to the team that started our first game last year there's not much in it:

Harper - Harper
Perch < Simpson
Coloccini - Coloccini
Williamson < Taylor
Jose - Jose
Routledge < Marveaux
Smith < Tiote
Barton > Gosling
Nolan - Cabaye
Jonas - Jonas
Carroll > Ba

From what I've seen of Marveaux he seems a lot better than Routledge but we can't predict how he will perform. Not much in it between Nolan and Cabaye. Not much difference in terms of ability but we've lost our leaders which could prove to be the difference. We should be progressing after a year of stability in the PL and after raking in massive transfer fees but obviously thats not gonna happen.

 

last season's team looks a lot stronger to me like, ashley and co. should hang their heads in shame

 

you would say that apart from Barton possibly Carroll I think this team is stronger.I know who i'd rather have between Perch,Williamson,Routledge,Smith and Tiote,Simpson,Marveux,Saylor

 

But when everyone is fully fit, HBA is Nolan direct replacement and is a better player, and Cabaye is Bartons replacement and I feel there at similar levels, time will tell with Ba

 

Yeah I see what you mean, I was just comparing the teams that started/likely to start season openers. HBA will be a star if we can keep him fit.

 

Last years squad was slightly stronger for me. Mainly because Jose, Barton and Carroll are all better than their replacements (if any). Basically we're gonna have to consider either Marveaux or Jonas as the direct replacement for Joey at present. Joey is better than both of them on the right for me. Ba and Carroll are not comparable in any way so i won't even bother with that, its like Harrods or Tescos. (I was gonna say Harrods and Nettos but Netto have pulled out of the UK and it would be harsh on Ba who is half decent) Jose, well we don't know on that front but it will be a miracle if they find someone better than him or even on the same level. Other areas I think we're stronger across the midfield generally and we have a better pool of more ready youngsters to call on. But then we have lost a lot of our PL savvy too. All in all I think it comes down to goals, we had more of a goal threat last year and thats the most important thing which is why we're struggling to replace Carroll.

However its clear from Pardews comments yesterday he expects two signings and Joey to possibly stay. It'll depend who those replacements are whether we have improved. All in all I expect us to start weaker, but with less debt. Not exciting but important nonetheless.