[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Yeah Liverpool made some good money there. Would like to see them play well.

Cech for Arsenal. Honestly, I am not excited about it. Don't see the big deal about it.

RvP could have become a legend. Now, he will fade into obscurity. Small minds.

Cech in my opinion is a good fit. He clearly got atleast 4-5 years to be on the top-level, and Arsenal had issues in that position, especially with the erratic Szczesny. That said, I thought Ospina was doing well, and I doubt if he will stay in as a back-up keeper (move to Everton beckons).

On RVP, he is good when he feels like; always felt that he got a bit of an attitude issue and too much of mood swings. Even with his ex-national team manager at Man U, he couldn't really turn it around. And constant injuries also did not help.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Cech for Arsenal. Honestly, I am not excited about it. Don't see the big deal about it.

RvP could have become a legend. Now, he will fade into obscurity. Small minds.

With Cech Arsenal have a proper world class keeper now. Tons of premier league experience at the very top level. I just cant believe Chelsea let him go.

And I cant understand why Arsenal fans are so piqued with RVP. The guy gave Arsenal a long service, he had every right to move on to another team to win a championship when it was apparent that Arsenal were never gonna win it (esp with Wenger being so Arsene about it!) Arsenal are still no closer to winning the league even today. Players move on, they are ambitious and if they see the clubs ambitions are not at same level they do move on. Ronaldo did that with united. I hardly find any united fan resentful towards Ronaldo. We still adore him and sing songs for him! I wish all fans were like that. Hating other clubs is OK, it makes matches that more interesting but why hate players!

[saildrive]

I agree.. there is no point in hating a player so much, but most AFC fans believe that another year or two and the Gunners would have blossomed!

2012/13 the difference between the winner and the remaining teams was 11 - 16 odd points and BELIEVE me, it was RvP who made that difference scoring all important goals as even Rooney could'nt match him that year.

Anyways, we stayed in CL and some would say, that most of AFC is now just keen to stay up in top 4.

Cech is a good add on...and remember watching them them play when they first lifted the EPL title - Drogba and Cech; stood out. I personally like Ospina and really dont want him to go away.

We need a - Striker (Killer ala Costa), Defensive midfield (Schneiderline, whom some say has moved to ManU) and a solid backie!

As of now its a wait and watch game

[varunanb]

Hey guys, I used to follow football thru a site - bleacherreport. However the site is blocked by our Govt. Is there any other comprehensive site other than goal.com

[satan's_valet]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Cech for Arsenal. Honestly, I am not excited about it. Don't see the big deal about it.

RvP could have become a legend. Now, he will fade into obscurity. Small minds.

+1 to that. We need to wait and see how good Cech is. My brother, an Arsenal fan is very excited though.

ManU have finally got a good midfield after so many years. But we still need a striker like how RVP was in the 2012-13 season. Hope LVG and Woodward find someone before the end of the pre-season tour.

[Resfeber]

Still can't digest the fact that Liverpool got £49m for Raheem! I know he's young and has a bright future and all that but this market is bloody inflated!

The Barca team that won the CL 5 yrs ago was around €80m.

[Chetan_Rao]

'Pool made a killing on Raheem. He isn't worth half the money, if that. What exactly does he have to show for the price tag, except the over-hyped 'next big thing' tag that every half-decent English lad seems to carry and most never materialize into the real thing? I don't believe he's half as good as City's starting XI wingers anyway so the warm bench beckons, good riddance I say. Acting like a petulant child at the club where the manager gave him regular first-team football as a teenager? Bah! Rodgers is pure class to say even now that he has no trouble with him. More importantly, he was 'developing' under Rodgers at Anfield, but will now be expected to 'perform' immediately to make up his price tag.

Cech is a top signing for Arsenal, though I don't buy the 'difference between winning the league and also-rans' argument just yet. They still need the top holding midfielder they've been missing since Vieira left, plus a genuine striker up-front (Giroud doesn't count as one).

RvP was a passenger the moment LvG overlooked him for the captain's armband at United, no wonder he's moving on.

Back to 'Pool, I'm still concerned we're signing too many 'next big thing' players and no 'in their prime' players. Missing CL football is hardly the advertisement to lure big names though. Mediocrity begets mediocrity, ad infinitum.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by saildrive

I agree.. there is no point in hating a player so much, but most AFC fans believe that another year or two and the Gunners would have blossomed!

2012/13 the difference between the winner and the remaining teams was 11 - 16 odd points and BELIEVE me, it was RvP who made that difference scoring all important goals as even Rooney could'nt match him that year.

Anyways, we stayed in CL and some would say, that most of AFC is now just keen to stay up in top 4.

Cech is a good add on...and remember watching them them play when they first lifted the EPL title - Drogba and Cech; stood out. I personally like Ospina and really dont want him to go away.

We need a - Striker (Killer ala Costa), Defensive midfield (Schneiderline, whom some say has moved to ManU) and a solid backie!

I guess he just got tired playing the waiting game! Arsenal were never gonna win the league even with RVP. Too many holes in the team. For starters wheres the defense? Every side that has won the league (at least since Abrahimovich era) has done so on the back of a very solid defense. United had the likes of Rio, Vidic, Evra, VDS; Chelsea had Terry, Cech and Mekelele; City has had Kompany & Co. Who did Arsenal have? Sir Alex always said its defenses that win you championships. That what he mostly got right during his reign at United. Its another matter if you have anything like the Barca forward line then perhaps defense is not such a crucial factor. But in current PL it surely is. For me Arsenal defense is still not good enough.

Schniderlin is a United player now How happy I am, finally we have a midfield after so many years!

[RedDevil_KP]

Finally Wenger was able to put one over Jose by winning the community shield. With no hand shakes at the end, Jose did caught the eye of everyone by tossing his medal to the crowd.

With less than a week for the start of the premier league, last season's top 4 looks all set & what I feel is :-

Chelsea :- Champions are the team to beat this season too. Looks a solid team, regardless of a poor pre-season. Anything can happen under Jose.

ManCity :- I feel the blue moon will crumble and this would be the last season for Pellegrini at the Etihad. Buying sterlling was similar to apple's acquisition of beats.

Arsenal :- They look promising. With the community shield win, they will be full of confidence. Cech is an excellent signing & if they can get hold of a world class finisher, they would be serious title contenders.

Manchester United :- I can easily be biased here. Been an adherent fan for couple of decades. LVG has got some decent signings. With the SCHmidfield the team looks stable. With Di Maria almost gone, a suitable replacement & a Centre Back is required. Yet the team is in transition and would be a surprise if we can reclaim our trophy. All i can say is "Write us off, You're off your head, Don't you know the Devils are RED".

Liverpool:

Let the season begin!!

[naveenroy]

So Arsenal win the Community Shield. Don't know what the big deal is.

Thats what every other teams' fan says. I say - awesome. Nice start to the season! Wasn't a great second half but still nice. We still need a striker and Benzema - not sure how well he will fit in.

Nice to see Wenger not bother to shake Mourinho's hand.

[vb-saan]

Arsenal 0 - Liverpool 0
0-0 results are normally a drab but this was quite an interesting one. It would have been nice if Liverpool had won but overall I think it was a fair result. Goal keepers on both sides were brilliant, especially Cech.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Arsenal 0 - Liverpool 0
0-0 results are normally a drab but this was quite an interesting one. It would have been nice if Liverpool had won but overall I think it was a fair result. Goal keepers on both sides were brilliant, especially Cech.

Yeah! I thought it was a good match in the end. Wanted Arsenal to win this but well, they played really well. And I must say thanks to Cech - I wasn't convinced about his signing but he more than made up for his mistakes in the first game.

Unlucky for Sanchez though - hitting the woodwork. But Ramsey's was surely not off-side. Stupid decision and that spectacular pass from Santi went wasted!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

But Ramsey's was surely not off-side. Stupid decision and that spectacular pass from Santi went wasted!

Indeed! I must admit that Liverpool got lucky there (and also last weekend with the allowed goal ). And that fingertip save by Cech of Coutinho shot was sensational.

[bhargavgunreddy]

Champions league

So, its the same old story again with London boys (Chelsea & Arsenal) flying high in champions league with miraculous fight back.
Manchester is surely turning blue now. Lol ManU !!

Wish Chelsea would strike back in EPL to seal top four spot. Long way to go though. Willian is turning into Mr.Dependable this season.
His work rate is just terrific.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by bhargavgunreddy

Champions league

So, its the same old story again with London boys (Chelsea & Arsenal) flying high in champions league with miraculous fight back.
Manchester is surely turning blue now. Lol ManU !!

Wish Chelsea would strike back in EPL to seal top four spot. Long way to go though. Willian is turning into Mr.Dependable this season.
His work rate is just terrific.

Yeah, what a nice match! Arsenal pulled it back to go through. Very nice, solid work from Giroud - the man who most Arsenal fans don't like! And Campbell - wow, he had a very good game too. He is getting more confident with every game. I wish he would turn out to be a very good player in the future.

Good ManU are out of the Champions League. Happy to see Mourinho's team at the bottom half of the table. Notice I said Mourinho's team

He must be thinking about Karma.