On the Eve of the new Season...

[godsshoeshine]

to be fair, adu was bought by a manager that was sacked something like 3 weeks into that first season at benfica. comparing donovan and adu as players isnt even close. i dont think landon was right to call out becks, but donovan's too young for italy anyway

[godsshoeshine]

anyway, keegan gets £2m:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=681944&sec=england&cc=5901
he sought £25m though. i'm glad he didnt get the whole lot, and i'm glad this is over, but unreal. door is open for a sale though

[vansmack]

Adu is nowhere near as good a player as Donovan..

Your reading comprehension is the only thing worse than your love of everything Argentine.  Nobody said that...

I wasn't talking about the players now.  I'm talking about Landon when he went to Bayer Leverkusen at a young age, made virtually no impact in his early 20's and returned to America where he "figured it out" which is code for "the competition came back to him."

All I said was I expect the same to happen to Freddy - he will return to the states and succeed by American standards and then the rumors will swirl again that it's time for him to return to Europe and no European team will take the chance on him. 

[vansmack]

Finally.....am I the only one seriously concerned about Uniteds defense. (okay, that question is for smackie, the rest of you are probably loving it) Same players who were as solid as a Mt. Rushmore now look very spongey, and it's not an age thing, they're still relatively young for fullbacks. Also, Berbatov actually looked like he gave a crap the other night v Wolfsburg. I have a bad feeling he's going to be Uniteds Esa Tikkanen (spelling?) remember him? He played like crap  for the Caps all season then when the playoffs came around he became the franchise player? Ronaldo was the opposite...looked great against average teams then invisible when playing top teams or in big games. That's why I didn't think we'd miss him........much, and we aren't really are we?

Obviously, Rio's not healthy.  United has relied on their middle two and allowed the left and right backs to go forward, but without a fully healthy Rio they're leaving the defense exposed.  Unfortunately, lacking a play maker in the middle, United has gone back to the crossing approach a la the Beckham days.  With the backs forward for crosses, an unhealthy Rio (or Evans who also has a penchant for knocks) in the middle the D is left exposed.  I agree with you, this is going to be a problem.

Berbatov is frustrating for United supporters.  He's the only tall striker we have and if we continue to this crossing offense, he's gonna have to step it up.  I don't even want to know what would happen if Rooney were to get hurt.  But yes, he did look good at the start of the Wolfsburg match, but he doesn't have the endurance.  I think he also felt slighted that Owen was given the start and that might have inspired him a bit.  That being said, I no longer have faith in him taking it up a notch on a consistent basis.

As for Ronaldo...I love watching the squad without him.  The offense doesn't have to be run through him any longer, the play is much more wide open, and the team generally seems to be having more fun.  As long as Giggs continues to play like he's in his 20's - he's been absolutely brilliant in the last 3 matches - Ronaldo will not be missed.  The question is how long can he keep this up because there really isn't a playmaker right now in the midfiled (Carrick has fallen out with SAF, no?) and Hargreaves is going to need some time to get back to speed. 

[vansmack]

Saturday, October 3

9:55am Wolverhampton vs Portsmouth (Set)
10:00AM Bolton Wanderers vs. Tottenham Hotspur (ESPN2)
10:00AM Hull City v Wigan (FSC)
12:30PM Manchester Utd. v Sunderland (FSC)
5:00pm Burnley vs Birmingham (Set)
 

Sunday, October 4

8:25am Arsenal vs Blackburn (Set)
11:00AM Chelsea v Liverpool (FSC)
1:00pm Everton vs Stoke (Set)
5:00PM West Ham v Fulham (FSC)


Monday, October 5

2:45PM Aston Villa vs. Manchester City (ESPN2HD) 

[hutch]

Adu is nowhere near as good a player as Donovan..

Your reading comprehension is the only thing worse than your love of everything Argentine.  Nobody said that...

I wasn't talking about the players now.  I'm talking about Landon when he went to Bayer Leverkusen at a young age, made virtually no impact in his early 20's and returned to America where he "figured it out" which is code for "the competition came back to him."

All I said was I expect the same to happen to Freddy - he will return to the states and succeed by American standards and then the rumors will swirl again that it's time for him to return to Europe and no European team will take the chance on him. 

You know I wish you'd cut the insults man.. Its really rude.

But nevertheless since you insist on getting into an argument: you're wrong. Plain and simple Donovan is a much better player which is why he "triumphed" in the MLS.

Adu is nowhere near and will not succeed by American standards. He wasn't very good with DC United why would we expect him to be better now? Landon- when he went to BL - was a far better player than Adu when he went to Europe.

Adu is done. He was never anything more than hype. He's failed to make an impact at every team he has ever played. There is no reason to expect him- based on his track record- to do any better where he to return to MLS than he did last time.

You know man.. it gets old to read your really rude posts. If you don't like something I say by all means just say that you disagree or better yet don't read my posts..since you have such stellar comprehension when you see "posted by: Hutch" just ignore it..Do us both a favor!.. but the "your reading comprehension...".. Thats uncalled for... Don't be a jerk.

And by the way: YOU'RE the one with the obsession with Argentina for whatever reason.. I dont' remember mentioning it with reference to Adu or pretty much anything else.. the last two times its been mentioned has been by you..Its YOU who keeps bringing it up for some odd reason..

[vansmack]

Honestly people don't seem very informed on this over here..

Hutch, if you think I'm ever going to forget that you said this and then never admitted that you were wrong, you're sorely mistaken.  Petty perhaps, but I'm fine with my stance.

[vansmack]

But nevertheless since you insist on getting into an argument: you're wrong. Plain and simple Donovan is a much better player which is why he "triumphed" in the MLS.

Again, nobody is arguing that Adu is or will be a better player than Donovan.  I don't why you're harping on this.  All I said was that the pattern Donovan went through will repeat itself with Adu.  This is not about a comparison of the two players. 

[hutch]

Honestly people don't seem very informed on this over here..

Hutch, if you think I'm ever going to forget that you said this and then never admitted that you were wrong, you're sorely mistaken.  Petty perhaps, but I'm fine with my stance.

Ok you're fine being petty..great for you! Be petty..

Do I look like I give a fuck?

In the end you're just another guy in an internet forum  throwing  insults around..

Doesn't make you much better than a person that may have been uninformed..I don't know...Maybe I was maybe I wasn't... To me it seems like you presented a side of the whole production... a side that is the ManU official story..

But  we'll see as far as how the deal will work out..we got a long ways to go.. so far Owen is working well for ManU and Tevez is working well for ManCity.

Keep on keeping on being petty though and let me k now how that works out for you..

In the meantime, given this is a public forum last time I checked, I will continue to post when I damn well please and if you want want to insist on resorting to insults I think it just makes you look like a lemming.

[godsshoeshine]

can we stop talking about freddy adu already. i mean really i'd rather talk about torres (the american one) or torres (the girly-looking one)

[sweetcell]

(the above are dedicated to hutch, who is acting a bit like a pr*ck today... no one ever said you weren't allowed to post what you damn well please.  however, misconstrue what others said and expect to be called out)

[vansmack]

Adu is done. He was never anything more than hype. He's failed to make an impact at every team he has ever played. There is no reason to expect him- based on his track record- to do any better where he to return to MLS than he did last time.

And this is where we can agree to disagree.  I think he's 20 years old and could never deal with the pressure he's been under since the cover of every magazine at age 14.  He has tremendous individual skills but never took the time to really understand the game and be one of eleven on the pitch.  I think he'll figure it out at some point, but the only way that happens is with first team experience, experience he's only going to get in America because he's not good enough for top division European football, even on the bottom feeders.

[hutch]

Allright.. we have one guy saying Adu will return to the MLS and be relatively succesful - like Donovan was (maybe not to the same degree though? I mean does anyone see him as MLS MVP? but ok maybe not same degree but similar arc..)- and we have another guy saying Adu won't succeed anywhere cause he ain't that good..

The first guy told the second guy to work on his reading comprehension.. the second guy didn't like it and said so....some jawing ensued and old scores were brough up (by the first guy of course).. then a clown showed up and  carded the second guy who storms off in dramatic fashion...

[vansmack]

Moving on...

Sunday, October 4

11:00AM Chelsea v Liverpool (FSC)
 

0-0 Draw or 1-1 draw?

[godsshoeshine]

both sides are scoring a little better than usual, so 1-1

and even if i wasnt running the army 10 miler i would refuse to watch