Euro Division Homepage LXXVI

Nice Arsenal signings there, I think they will still sign a striker though which I think is what they need.

Azzy are you feeling any different about West Brom's transfer business?

Looks like De Vrij is off to Lazio

1 step closer to Vermaelen goes United   

Afternoon all,

I'm at work, just the occasional comment from me.

Same here though refreshing my Twitter feed constantly in desperate hope for a glimmer of hope regarding Vidal...

So far today, a photo of him in a car. That's about it.

Hero wrote:Same here though refreshing my Twitter feed constantly in desperate hope for a glimmer of hope regarding Vidal...

So far today, a photo of him in a car. That's about it.

Was "Old Trafford" programmed into the satnav?

Haven't they gone in with a £48m bid to beat off the competition.

I bet he ends up being signed by Fan

Just has him playing in his backgarden with a load of Slovakian 12 year olds.

A couple of years ago that would have sounded completely innocuous #Savile

I hope he doesn't go in with a hard tackle

I've only got Azzys tactics so far

Holymiky wrote:Azzy are you feeling any different about West Brom's transfer business?

Nope. It's been a horrific transfer window.

- Lost two RBs in Billy Jones and Steven Reid. Jones was excelling and Reid is a great veteran backup.
- Lost two LBs in Liam Ridgewell and Goran Popov. Didn't mind this as they're both caque.
- Lost George Thorne, our England U21 midfielder with bags of promise. And now he's injured for 9 months. Poor kid.
- Lost Diego Lugano, Zoltan Gera, Scott Allan, Markus Rosenberg and Nicolas Anelka - great on the first and last ones, who cares about Allan, gutted to lose Zolly and Markus.
- Returned loanees Amalfitano, Thievy, Vydra, Sinclair. Gutted our depth, Amalfitano was outstanding on his day (see his goal against United at Old Trafford!).

- Signed Joleon Lescott on a free. Waste of £60k a week, former Dingle. I hate this signing.
- Signed Brown Ideye for £10m rising to £13.5m. Worst signing in club history (for the price), easily beating out the £6m we spent in Victor Sodding Anichebe.
- Signed Sebastien Pocognoli for £1.5m, decent enough LB, and Belgian. Only signing I like.
- Signed Chris Baird on a free, hopefully because he makes a good cuppa. Not even Championship standard.
- Signed Craig Gardner on a free, okay signing, nowt to get excited about though. Also, he shouldn't start ahead of Yacob-Mulumbu-Morrison/Dorrans/Sessegnon
- Signing Cristian Gamboa for £2m, God knows what he'll be like. Apparently more of a wing back than a standard right back. Sounds dodgy.
- Signed Andre Wisdom on loan, although with Baird/Gardner/Gamboa ahead of him at RB, he can only play CB for us, where we have Lescott/Olsson/McAuley/Dawson ahead of him. Baffling signing.


Is the worst team in the PL, just about.

Wag1 pussyclarts, it's slow because I'm not around. Azzy good luck bro I'm going to send you a message reply back.

Sagna > Debuchy all day for me Sagna is the best right back in England. 

I'll try and get my tactics in sometime today.

Sagna of two years ago, maybe. The Sagna of last season? Jenkinson should have played more. Sagna was poo last season.

And now he's a back up to Zabaleta...

Sagnas been fairly poor lately

I agree on Sagna. The best in the league 2 or 3 years ago. Not even the best at Arsenal last year and no more than a squad filler at Citeh

Saw that Scott Sinclair scored for City the other day. I thought he was dead?

I want Sinclair on loan.

Saw a story the other day that we were getting 500m over 10 years to rename the City ground the Kuwait City Ground

Anyway, more tactics

Sent mine you lily-livered land-lover.

Olly wrote:Nando/GSC - don't you just want Rosberg to win the F1 title to p1ss off the f1 board. Man they get on my jubblies

Someones actually arguing Vettel isn't as good as Alonso because hes losing to a teammate.

If you put all the F1 drivers in the same car, Alonso and Hamilton would be fighting for 1st, Rosberg and Vettel for 3rd, and a bunch of Ricciardo types for 5th down.

If you put them in the same car for a season, Vettel would be battling Alonso for 1st. 

Its all hypothetical though, there are some seriously good drivers in crappy cars. The car makes 99% of the difference.

That's how Jenson won his world title, Ross Brawn stole march on everyone and basically won Jenson a world title in half a season.

Vettel isn't as good a driver as Alonso or Hamilton, nor imo Rosberg either. He got the best out of probably the greatest F1 car of all time, now he's struggling in a much poorer car. Alonso in a poor Ferrari makes a much better fist of things.

Theres a better car this season than any of his RBs.

The only thing thats stopped Mercedes winning every race is Mercedes. Ultimately in this era of F1, nobody wins WDCs in uncompetitive cars though.

I'd argue that the 2011 RB was the best car:

18/19 podiums for the cars (15 Vettel, 3 Webber)
12/19 wins for the cars (11 Vettel, 1 Webber)
15 other podium finishes
650 points between them (392 Vettel, 258 Webber)
Vettel's only non-podium races were a 4th and a DNF

It could not be stopped.

TheSecondComing wrote:If you put all the F1 drivers in the same car, Alonso and Hamilton would be fighting for 1st, Rosberg and Vettel for 3rd, and a bunch of Ricciardo types for 5th down.

I'm with Azzy on this ^

I'd put Raikonnen in with Rosberg and Vettel too

Its 10/11 pole positions and 9/11 race wins for this Merc though. Rosberg and Hamilton have failed to reach the podium when they finish the race just 1 between them. That RB was a seriously quick car, but this Merc is in a class of its own.

Your wasting your time GSC they only see what's blown out of Hamilton's arse. They going on about a brilliant drive yesterday yet it's the same as Vettel in 2012 at Abu Dhabi yet they were all going it got handed to him on a plate by safety cars   

They did that series where every driver had the same car, A1 or something? That was crap.

F1 go too far the other way, they make so many rules and design stipulations that there ends up being a total dominance by a couple of teams with the best designers and technicians.

GSC wrote:Its 10/11 pole positions and 9/11 race wins for this Merc though. Rosberg and Hamilton have failed to reach the podium when they finish the race just 1 between them. That RB was a seriously quick car, but this Merc is in a class of its own.

Bizarrely, given how close they are together, it is comparing different eras.

The RB is aerodynamically the strongest car still. However, aerodynamic advantage has been diluted this season where power of engines has more impact. Mercedes developing their own engines are head and shoulders ahead of everyone. Even the Mercedes customer engine is nowhere near the works engine. The Renault engine has been poor.

Different eras is somewhat negated when you compare relative to the competition as we're doing though.

In fairness to Merc, their chassis is actually pretty good.

Okay, I am now in over my head.

Stick any Adrian Newey chassis on a Merce engine.

Now that would be a car!

RB are really going to miss his genius on next years car

also to be fair to that RB it took Vettel adopting an unorthodox style to get the best of it, Webber finished 3rd, and only because RB gave him a throwaway win in Brazil.

I'm fairly confident any driver on the grid except Maldonado or Chilton could finish 2nd at worse in this Merc. To me thats why its the more dominant car.

I have a question. Why do crap teams participate?

Like Marussia or Caterham. Do they make anything out of being terrible? It's be like having Grimsby in the Premiership and not allowing them to be relegated despite losing every game each year.

Same reason billionaires chuck millions into crap clubs like QPR and Forest. Prestige mainly.

Better ways to throw away cash.

sodhat wrote:I have a question. Why do crap teams participate?

Like Marussia or Caterham. Do they make anything out of being terrible? It's be like having Grimsby in the Premiership and not allowing them to be relegated despite losing every game each year.

Because they break even still. This year they will make a profit due to Bianchi in Monaco   

Sorry to. disturb your car racing debate. 

I was watching some cricket on YouTube and got thinking what's your top 5 batsmen of all time and bowlers. I'll go first. 

1.) Sachin Tendulkar 
2.) Brian Lara 
3.) Ricky Ponting 
4.) Jaques Kallis 
5.) Sangakara 

1.) McGrath 
2.) murathalin (Sri Lanka spinner) 
3.) Warne 
4.) Pollock 
5.) Ambrose

Bradman
Lara
Tendulkar
Richards
S Waugh

Warne
Ambrose
Donald
Murali (dodgy action though)
Wasim Akram

VivaPaulScholes wrote:Sorry to. disturb your car racing debate. 

I was watching some cricket on YouTube and got thinking what's your top 5 batsmen of all time and bowlers. I'll go first. 

1.) Sachin Tendulkar 
2.) Brian Lara 
3.) Ricky Ponting 
4.) Jaques Kallis 
5.) Sangakara 

1.) McGrath 
2.) murathalin (Sri Lanka spinner) 
3.) Warne 
4.) Pollock 
5.) Ambrose

Based on players I have seen play, I agree with 4 of your batsmen, but would have Sir Viv instead of Ponting. And bowlers is tough. You could easily argue a case for Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Allan Donald, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Beefy. Ireckon I would definately take out Pollock and have Marshall in there from your list.

WHat about top 5 all rounders?

Definately:
Kapil Dev
Kallis
Beefy

Paul Collingwood is top in all 3 categories of batting, bowling, and all-rounder. So the debate is settled.

Ginger too.

Anyway tactics.

I have some from Azzy, Sodhat and Afro so far.

Imran Khan? Or was he like Gerrard living off that world cup 92 when he wasn't even the best player.

His wife is fit though.

He was a ball tamperer.

And I don't think she's his wife anymore

Wasim Akram was the biggest ball tamperer ever but people have him in their list.

Good point.

Don't all race at once to sign this guy tomorrow:

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/viorel-moldovan/profil/spieler/5519

Was a good striker back in the day though.