Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

Haha even if that had been true you'd have thought an 18-year career in professional football might have led him out of his innocence.

wtf is credit suisse sports award?

(oops sorry for the swearing)

Three games. Ryan Shawcross will continue to walk the streets with impunity

some sort of football game between reading and arsenal atm

lol at baby feo playing #9

every time i watch an epl, i'm happy the national hockey league uses a salary cap system

'Course there's that whole lockout thing.

epl vs nhl enforcers

i'd rather have a lockout that manchester city or psg situation. honestly.

this proves that arsenal can beat a league two team away

Wenger heard the vocal travelling hoards urge him to secure the England player to a new contract

tut tut

they're Arsenal fans, i bet that's exactly how they said it, too

"we urge you to secure former southampton man theo walcott to a new contract, tell us you will have signed him up"

repeat x 4 to the tune of opening phrase of cosi fan tutte

'we have doubts over your recent tactical decision' in high chant

"return to the managerial seat, for we are now beginning to raise questions about your definition of appropriate boundaries in your dealings with the youth team, however we would not, of course, raise them in earnest before evidence is presented."

'masturbator. masturbator. masturbator.'

thanks for making me lol in the middle of the office, guys

http://i.imgur.com/bvx8G.jpg

paulince-shoot.gif

yay transfer window. daniel sturridge and tom ince to liverpool for around £18m.

how are you feeling about joe allen?

Good 'til the last couple of games, then of a sudden terrifyingly lightweight

he is tiny, but without that sort of puggish stockiness of players like cazorla that makes them harder to knock off the ball

cleverley seems to be developing into a pretty useful dynamic cm as well as a neat combination player but i'm not really sure allen is a £15m player (or borini a £11m one for that matter)

Radamel Falcao Garcia is aged 26 year olds and currently plys his trade for Athletico Madrid in La Liga, he looks almost certain to leave Athletico this transfer window with just 6 months left on his contract and not being cup-tied in Europe due to Athletico not playing him in the Europa League it looks like it’s not a question of when but who to when discussing Falcao’s transfer. With and out of sorts Torres, Chelsea have been heavily linked and Real Madrid have shown some interest but with the rivalry between Real and Athletico would be unlikely to do anything.

He has everything you look at in a striker, he is strong with both feet and great in the air. His ability to be able to hold the line by himself would make him ideal for Arsenal’s formation. He can hold the ball when played up to him or spin runs in behind as well as being a lethal dribbler. Due to the number of clubs after his signing I reckon £15-18 million may be needed for him or he even may stay till the summer to get a bumper bosman deal.

http://arsenalghana.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/evaluating-arsenals-potential-january-transfer-buys/

At Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers is sometimes criticised for his decision to spend big on bringing Joe Allen with him when he moved to Anfield in the summer, though given the fact that Allen wins the ball so much, it may not have been solely due to his passing abilities, as many might believe. Allen has won the ball a massive 86 times in the middle third of the pitch this season; a tally at least 16 greater than any other player in the Premier League, with Mikel Arteta and Marouane Fellaini following on 70. ... He has also won the ball more times in total over the whole of the pitch than any other player in the English top flight this season, gaining possession back for his side an incredible 147 times.

http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/nfjguoozpumzj-wg7xluca/Show/Player-Focus-Premier-Possession-Winners

On another subject I count myself a Benítez fan, respect his tactical knowledge, and think it's reasonable to rest Oscar some, he's so young and the Brazilian domestic game is so much slower-paced, but was surprised to hear he saiid that Hazard (as well as Mata, less problematically) "can do more or less the same job" as him. Although I guess he might not take his own comments to the media very seriously.

I hope you're right and it means Rafa's already given up on making a silk purse out of this lot, and is now going to devote the rest of the season to trolling

I like Allen. Borini tho is a worry. He has shown very little so far and a long injury is hardly going to help. I don't know much about Tom Ince, Sturridge seemed good before going back to Chelsea, I would have worries he just never scores and ends up another 6/7m player bought for 10m more than that.

rafa just isn't going to play three attacking midfielders. Oscar rip.

Sturridge is prob shit, Rafa is Rafa, Ismael's implication that this Chelsea squad is a sow's ear is mental, Wenger out, morning guys

otm but wenger

Who exactly does Walcott think his next club is going to be anyway? Do City or Chelsea or whoever even look particularly arsed about signing him?

a lot of clubs looking for a pacey centre forward who can't play on either wing i guess

http://www.thefootballramble.com/images/blog/Duffparkingspacecrop.jpg

idk, i mean stats suggest he's not shit but you'd assume managers see beyond that

Obviously planted, but one of the Sundays was reporting that Utd and somebody else, it would've been one of the big clubs but I can't remember who, they're all much of a muchness to me atm; still, it'll've been City or Chelsea - or maybe Derby, could it've been Derby? - anyway two big guns were now officially in the chase to sssign the Arsszzenal zzztri

Preferred Harriet Wheeler when she was writing songs than sports news

tom ince is v good and worth the punt, kinda like a nippier adam johnson. not the finished article but as near as you'll get coming from the champo

studge... idk he wouldnt be an bad buy but if you've only got so much money and brendan isnt going to play with the system i'd question the wisdom

otoh i'm not really sure who would be the right forward signing for pool ideally. backup to suarez? studge doesnt put the same work in, will get mardy on the bench. backup to suarez who can also play deeper? def not studge, got borini coming back anyway. move suarez deeper? eh dunno

I know. I mentioned di Natale a while back and still can't be any more sensible than that. Sturridge not bad probably, though seems like a dick.

need a big cf presence to take advantage of suarez's movement imo, kevin davies type player

Studge will find himself shunted out wide again probably, moving Suarez from centre forward is lunacy given how he's been playing. But the likelihood of Liverpool cashing in on Suarez in the summer is pretty high and Sturridge will be useful to have in the squad until then. Especially if Suarez gets injured/contrives to pick up a massive suspension.

xp only if he's playing two up top, which he won't, so suarez goes inside wing forward, which would be a shame

studge most looked the part at bolton next to davies. said this before but he doesnt look like a modern striker to me, more like a 1994 kind of guy

if 12m's lying around then is llorente really so out of the question?

not sure what happened to the demba ba talk, personally i'd like us to sign someone who is currently scoring goals.

rory forgethisname from the times seems to reckon ince and studge are both done deals, anyway.

jordan rhodes

collosus of

more likely to sign someone actually called kolososov imo

still not sure why we let ince go in the first place.

tbf he wasn't gonna renew his contract iirc

ah well, while we're at it can we re-sign maxi and dirk please.