[figo_united]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I guess you can term Arteta's transfer as a shock move. The guy probably never knew he would be transferred to another club this season. Apparently, he took a pay cut to make the transfer possible.

It is a big loss for Liverpool to lose Meireles. I guess he was looking for more first team appearances. You can't do much when a player hands in a transfer request. I hope we will not miss him.

Indeed, Arteta taking a pay cut and signing for arsenal was a real surprise!
He apparently has taken a 20k per week pay cut and agreed to a 55k per week wage.
Wage was supposed to be a crucial factor since the initial demand was around 90k(Of course he would like a hike like all of us!), but then agreed to take a cut to fit in the arsenal wage policy.
I dont think anyone is making more than 100k at arsenal currently?(after departure of cesc and nasri), RVP may be?

btw, How much had liverpool payed for mereiles? I guess he was now sold for around the 12million mark?

[AdityaLN]

Originally Posted by figo_united

btw, How much had liverpool payed for mereiles? I guess he was now sold for around the 12million mark?

If I am not wrong Mereiles was bought for Eur 12 million. so not much of a profit..

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by figo_united

btw, How much had liverpool payed for mereiles? I guess he was now sold for around the 12million mark?

He came into Liverpool for 13mil. Not a good business. Anyway, if someone handed over a transfer request, I guess its best to let that player go.

[nfsfreak]

Meireles is a good buy for chelsea. 13M is not too much considering that its a 11th hour bid but Liverpool fans will not take this lightly.

City has signed Hargreaves for free - many doubt why city need him in their already stars-packed midfield. Its just a gamble city willing to take as anyways they dont need him to play all matches. They will use him for FA & League cup matches and even if he flops - no big deal as he comes for free (except wages which is like peanuts to them).
Interesting thing is he made only 5 starts in his last three years in United. So lets see if Mancio is able to get something out of him

[AdityaLN]

I don't think Liverpool lost money on Meireles. He came in for 13 mil Eur and was was sold for 12 Mill Pounds. Taking in the currency conversion, it should be about 2 mil profit. Either ways, they had plans to sell him, he was considered surplus by Danglish. too many mid-fielders in the current squad and were holding out for more money.
He did well for the team though. especially after Danglish took over in Jan. Sad to see him go.

[athul_S]

That is where the presence of a team like current Barca makes life hell for others

The non top 2 teams like Villareal,Atletico Madrid,Valencia etc have some excellent players who make a big name for themselves once they move to another league (Aguero,Silva,Mata etc to name a few recent ones).

They may be really as a team in Europa league etc good but winning titles in league/CL where you lock horns with the likes of Barca is another matter and hence one may not appreciate their true quality.

[nkapoor777]

^^^ athul_S: I guess you are forgetting that Barca and RM grab pretty much all the TV money generated by La Liga (>70% of total). This is absolutely selfish and pitiful considering most other teams (forget Malaga) are flirting with bankruptcy at the same time. And look what this unsatiable desire to buy all top players from all over has got Barca and Real. Barca is facing debt problems while the Spanish banks (especially Santander) can not go on helping RM forever given their own problems. Don't get me wrong - I love watching Barca but there simply isn't a level playing field in Spain between these two and the rest.

Contrast that with the Premier League where all 20 clubs share the TV pot. That's why you got teams who are much closer to each other and can afford to buy, hold off rivals for their top players and pay wages. Did you notice Bolton digging their heels on Gary Cahill and holding on even though his contract is up next year? I'm pretty sure no team in La Liga can do the same. And no team gets preference in terms of sharing this revenue and thus can not horde all good players between 1 or 2 teams (Of course, Shittey are an exception with their Sheikh at the helm). That's why Premier League is still tops in terms of popularity and viewers.

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by nkapoor777

^^^ athul_S: I guess you are forgetting that Barca and RM grab pretty much all the TV money generated by La Liga (>70% of total). This is absolutely selfish and pitiful considering most other teams (forget Malaga) are flirting with bankruptcy at the same time. And look what this unsatiable desire to buy all top players from all over has got Barca and Real. .

Thats a very valid point you make.
The EPL champions earn around double of what a team that gets relegated earns, but this doesn’t happen in Spain.
Real Madrid earns €150 million from television rights while a club like Levante get less than €10 million!
With such a glaring disparity, it just not possible for the other teams to compete on a level playing field, and the gap will just get bigger and bigger!

[Saanil]

I was dying to see today’s match for the sole reason of watching our new signings. But the match was not shown on TV as the Liverpool and the Chelsea match were being shown. I had to see the repeat telecast and could catch only the 2nd half. First of all Arsenal were lucky to win. Throughout the game Swansea looked dangerous and they had their chances.

First I would like to talk about Arteta. He was supposed to be Fabregas replacement. I think he had a good game. I did see some shades of Fabregas in him and probably with more games he might become better. His passes were crisp and rarely off target. Some of his long passes were good too. He did a decent job of tracking back to help the defenders too. Overall I am satisfied with his performance today.

Per Mertasacker – By god he his huge! He will be a great asset in defending free kicks. I did not see him coming forward to attack while we took a corner (that might also be because we did not have much corners in this game). Now he is a very cool kind of a defender. Vermalaen and Koscielny always have some kind of nervousness on their faces but Mertasacker looked very cool today. Infact I would say he was lazy and out of place many a times. His pace seemed too low – in fact he is the slowest defender I have seen in a long time. I think it is still very early to pass a judgement on him. I would probably let him play more games before judging him.

Yossi benayon – Well he did not get much time on the ball. Benayon was very energetic on the field. He was majorly seen tracking back to help Gibbs on the left flank. He definitely has pace and skill but I think he needs some more games to get in the groove.

Walcott still bumps into defenders and cannot dribble around them comfortably. Gibbs is very good going forward but I am still sceptical about his defending qualities. I think we should wait to see our new Brazilian in action. All in all – a good weekend results wise. Manchester clubs currently are running the show!

I think players like Rosicky, Diaby, Arshavin should be made to play in Carling cup/FA cup. I think these people need some more games. Though Arsavin scored the only goal I am still not impressed by his overall game. It will be interesting to see what team Arsene chooses this Tuesday. One thing good is we first play the away game. I think a draw would be a good result for us (a 1-1 draw would be great).

[figo_united]

I had the pleasure of watching Man United play, and how
Yet another demolition job!
Rooney Hernandez partnership was lethal, nani, anderson, young were fantastic in midfield, defence was solid too.
What a player Jones is proving to be! He can play anywhere.
A beast of a defender, makes super runs-with the ball, crosses well. A goal is the only thing missing till now, He almost had that also today.

Very sad for cleverly who apparently has a broken bone after yet another kevin davies challenge!
18 goals in 4 matches till now
Some of the stats :
United have now scored just 1 goal less than Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool combined this season!
Rooney has scored more goals than any other team in the league, except city.
Just 1 fowl committed by United in the whole match.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by Saanil

I was dying to see today’s match for the sole reason of watching our new signings. But the match was not shown on TV as the Liverpool and the Chelsea match were being shown. I had to see the repeat telecast and could catch only the 2nd half. First of all Arsenal were lucky to win. Throughout the game Swansea looked dangerous and they had their chances.

Hate it when we are forced to miss Arsenal live matches because some other teams are playing at the same time. Thanks for the nice reviews of the players. Hoping that we get to watch Arsenal play some good football soon.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by figo_united

I had the pleasure of watching Man United play, and how
Yet another demolition job!
Rooney Hernandez partnership was lethal, nani, anderson, young were fantastic in midfield, defence was solid too.
What a player Jones is proving to be! He can play anywhere.
A beast of a defender, makes super runs-with the ball, crosses well. A goal is the only thing missing till now, He almost had that also today.

Very sad for cleverly who apparently has a broken bone after yet another kevin davies challenge!
18 goals in 4 matches till now
Some of the stats :
United have now scored just 1 goal less than Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool combined this season!
Rooney has scored more goals than any other team in the league, except city.
Just 1 fowl committed by United in the whole match.

Yes its been awesone for us united fans so far. But I think the opposition has been non-existing/minimalistic so far, no disrespect to l'Arse, Spurs and the Wanderers. Real tests are to follow now, with an away game in Europe (we should be fine for this one at least) and then Chelsea (home) and Stoke (away) and then man city.

nonetheless, its good to see our players play without any fear and playing like world beaters. And it was good to see Liverpool lose , for it was to be their season (or is it next year now?) And it was good to see l'Arse win finally, thanks to a comedy goal. I thought only Nani could score like that. Arshavin you copycat

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by joslicx

nonetheless, its good to see our players play without any fear and playing like world beaters. And it was good to see Liverpool lose , for it was to be their season (or is it next year now?)

Well, both the Manchester teams are playing like world-beaters. Britannia stadium was never an easy place for Liverpool, and I am sure we will bounce back next week against Spurs.

Looking how Man U go in next two weeks (against Chelsea and Stoke). Hope they shed the world-beaters tag with those games

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Hate it when we are forced to miss Arsenal live matches because some other teams are playing at the same time. Thanks for the nice reviews of the players. Hoping that we get to watch Arsenal play some good football soon.

It was not the usual Arsenal yesterday. They were not taking too many risks and were very cautious. There was some miscommunication between mid fielders and strikers which is understandable as they were playing with each other for the first time. Ofcourse things should improve with more games. I think our realistic target this season should be to come 4th and atleast have a chance to play in Champions league.

I also saw the highlights of other games mainly to see how other Arsenal players were doing. Bendtner was absolute waste for Sunderland. He played the same way he used to play for Arsenal - no improvement. I think we should seriously assess him in January and make a decision on him. City too registered a comfortable win. Nasri came on as sub and impacted the game right away assissting Aguero for his 2nd goal. Clichy too came attacking a lot from the left flank. Defensively I do not think he was much troubled by Wigan. But what is interesting is Mancity's play. I think Arsenal's flair has been transferrred to City. Nasri, Silva, Johnson, Dzeko and Aguero are simply menacing on the field.

[deetjohn]

One Nil to the Arsenal!

What an apt scoreline to restart the season. Sure, the usual flair wasn't there and the defense was not exactly solid. But I could do very well with a bit of luck and the 3 points here.

And Arshavin did well to score from that tight angle and well played, our new Spaniard. The Manchester clubs are indeed on fire. Exciting season awaits.

And, for all Gooners who couldn't get enough of the transfer window, here is an article to munch till the Borussia Dortmund game. http://www.gingers4limpar.com/2011/0...rmarket-sweep/

Come on Gunners!